Chapter 53 - New semester and First-Year War [5] (1/2)

53. New semester and First-Year War [5]

Rose, who expressed her soul dress〈Winter Sakura〉, raised the beautiful scarlet sword high.

「-Dance,〈Sakura Blizzard〉!」

At that moment.

The petals of the sakura blossoms that bloomed behind her, flew towards me with tremendous force.

「What!?」

My entire field of view was dyed scarlet.

The number of petals easily surpassed 10 000, which would be absurd to count.

(Kuh … As long as Rose’s ability is unknown, I can’t carelessly come into contact with those sakura petals…)

「First Sword – Flying Shadow!」

I shot Flying Shadow for the time being to shoot down a large number of the approaching sakura petals.

However,

「Naive!」

As she swung her left hand – and in conjunction with it, the petals also curved and easily avoided my slash.

(Similar to Raise-san’s〈Three Skeletons〉, her soul dress is one that can be controlled remotely…)

In front of the Sakura Blizzard that closed in towards me like a wave,

「Eighth Sword – Yatagarasu!」

Eight slashes were spread out in all directions, creating a barrier to protect me.

However,

「There!」

A handful of sakura petals, which pierced through the gap in the barrier, grazed my side.

「Guh!?」

A sharp pain ran, which showed on my face through my pained expression.

As I dropped my gaze on my side, it was torn up as if it had been cut with sharp knives.

(As expected, it’s not normal sakura petals…)

What a terrifying sharpness. It seems that each petal is a small slash.

It is a much more troublesome ability than the similar remotely controlled〈Three Skeletons〉, because of the overwhelming number.

「I see…The ability of〈Winter Sakura〉 is to manipulate the sharp sakura petals … 」

「Half correct. But the other half – is a miss!」

Saying that, she attacked me directly from the front without any tricks.

「Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style – Evening Sakura!」

The diagonal slash that was released towards my chest was incomparably faster than before.

「Wha!?」

I held my sword horizontally and somehow managed to prevent the blow.

But her blow was not just faster.

(Dammit… what power…!?)

A shock that I have never experienced before was transmitted from the sword to both my hands and from both hands to the whole body.

「HAAAAAAAA!」

From there on, Rose added more power,

「Guh!? 」

I was pushed back in a pure strength contest, and was blown away.

Right then,

「Not yet!」

Without delay, Rose started showering fierce attacks on me.

「Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style – Consecutive Sakura Flash!」

Flash-like thrusts were unleashed consecutively.

「Kuh …!?」

Dodging it, cutting it down, letting it slightly graze my skin – I somehow managed to avoid all the thrusts and jumped back greatly.

(Unlike before, Rose is now completely ahead in physical ability…)

The trigger for that was definitely when she activated her soul dress.

There is only one conclusion to draw from here.

「That overwhelming physical ability… -〈Winter Sakura〉is a strengthening-type soul dress…」

「Fufu, correct. This cherry tree is just an enormous mass of power.〈Winter Sakura〉’s ability is to manipulate that power at will.」

Saying that, she picked up a single petal.

(I see. She absorbs the enormous power contained in the sakura trees and greatly improves her physical abilities …)

The attack that manipulated the sakura petals was just a by-product.

(Despite being a strengthening-type, it has the power of a manipulation-type… It’s an extremely troublesome power…)

But that’s not to say there’s no way to deal with it.

「If so … how about this move?」

I switched the target from Rose to〈Winter Sakura〉, the main body.

And then,

「HAAAAAAAAA!」

The moment I swung my sword overhead and unleashed a downward slash containing my full body weight,

「Kuh!?」

A strong impact ran through both hands, as if hitting steel.

(H-Hard…!?)

It’s not like I thought it was just a normal tree, but I couldn’t even get a scratch on it.

When my eyes widened in astonishment, Rose’s voice came from behind.

「-That’s not a physical tree. It is the 『concept of tree』which is being anchored to this world. It can’t be cut so easily.」

I immediately looked back and she had already pulled out her sword.

「Sakura Blossom One-Sword Style – Lightning Sakura!」

Thunderclap-like Iai slash was unleashed.

「Kuh…!」