Vol 4 Chapter 30 (1/2)
Chapter 30: Reversers with Swift Footing
If you wish to reverse the momentum
Then overturn it all
And turn back
Point Allocation (Just Barely)
Futayo leaped through the air She used each swift step to fill the gap between pillars and launched herself forward
Similarly, her enemy fukushi+ma fell horizontally She flipped her body around in a never-ending fall that dropped her horizontally between pillars with a set tempo
When Futayo attacked, fukushi+ma would block it When fukushi+ma attacked, Futayo would block it They both held their spears near the front, used their footwork to rotate their bodies even as they continued forward, and leaped through the town’s sky as their paths intersected
To Futayo, fukushi+ma seemed wholly focused on her movements
…She ht about what fukushi+ma had said before
…Her duty is to defeat me
Was that in reference to this battle alone? If not, she had likely desired this confrontation for a long tihly trained for it
“But…”
Futayo did not know this opponent This was her first tiahara, she would have been on the Azuchi Castle with Hashi+ba, but Futayo had been too focused on Hashi+ba
…So ere the other nine?
She did not reht to ht while dodging an attack andthe spear tip forith her fingers
…Haven’t I been careless far too often lately?
In the past, it had only been about three times a day, but she was already up to two today Her pace was clearly increasing In the past few days, she had experienced earlyhome carelessness, which both seemed to be a type of chronic carelessness
I can only allow myself to be careless three times a day, she told herself
“…Oh!?”
fukushi+ before her eyes, so she quickly dodged She only had to move her head to avoid it, but that was due to fukushi+ood luck
She has accurate and precise e Headfirst Fall’s direction, her bodily control when falling, and her attacks were all straightforward
Then, thought Futayo
…What does that say about her feelings toward defeating me?
Futayo kicked off a pillar and heard a voice
“Kh…”
It sounded like a groan of anguish, frustration, and anger
Just as she wondered why her ene her head and fell Her raised spear hid her expression, so Futayo could only hear her voice
“Honda Futayo-saure out why fukushi+ma would use the respectful ‘sama’ honorific But fukushi+ma continued the very next ainst the likes of rasp what that question ainst who? The opponent before her obviously
And as it directed toward? Toward her, the one exchanging attacks with that opponent, of course Then…
Oh, no, she thought
…Of course I do…
She had accepted that fukushi+ma was powerful and she understood that fukushi+ht her
She viewed her as an ene to fukushi+ of these sorry excuses for attacks!?”
Futayo felt her body freeze up as the enemy kicked off a pillar toward her
This isn’t good, Futayo said in her heart
Sorry, she also said in her heart
She suddenly re when she had tried to follow Muneshi+ge in cli the outer hull
…But then…
She was a coward
There had been so it and she had failed
She had been a coward
If she could not focus on herself and made mistakes for unclear reasons, could she really take control of a confrontation with so with her cowardly body would defile the official battlefield
This was not about winning or losing As so on the battlefield, was she or was she not pure?
Her cowardly heart would only defile the battlefield
Muneshi+ge had to have realized hoardly she was the day before That hy he had reached doard her
And what had she done then?
Had she reached back up in search of someone to save her?
She did not know and she spoke her next thought aloud
“Well, even if I did, I should be able to focus myself for at least ten seconds”
She decided not to think any further, twisted her upper body backwards, and used all her strength to ainst fukushi+ like a light
Her opponent’s strength had sunk into the darkness and was not rising to the surface Her enemy’s attacks had struck or swept aside her own, but they had not been fully developed into true attacks Those were the spear strikes she had been blocking this entire time and that had spoken to her opponent’s cowardice, but…
…What is this?
Futayo’s attack seeht in the darkness, but it was still accurate and straightforward
This attack was clearly extended differently from before
Her opponent’s movements looked the same, but each of her joints was stretched just a little further toward fukushi+ether, it provided an extra dozen centiht fukushi+ up, but an attack needed a core of strength fukushi+ the core of the attack and nothing else Her opponent was beco her movements for attack
“This is more like it!”
fukushi+ht in midair Futayo’s spear was aimed a bit below her face In other words, her throat As it was near the face, she could not help but focus on it, but it was also difficult to grasp its exact position just by e on instinct without getting an accurate look
fukushi+ma increased the speed of her spin She tried to avoid the attack by as closer to a cheek’s width than a full head’s width
Her intent was to avoid her opponent’s counterattack and slareatest attack she could ain that power…
…I th to rotate her body in s
“Tah!!”
She leaned back to dodge…or so she thought Her opponent’s spear tip followed her razed her ear, but she still escaped hared in front of her eyes
The wooden pillar they were going to use as their next foothold was collapsing in the opposite direction
They were losing their next foothold
fukushi+ over It was a sound that answered that question
She heard a solid thunk Her opponent had extended the bottom of her spear with its extensionme!?
The speed hich the pillar collapsed answered that question all too well
The enemy was a bit ahead of fukushi+ma, so she would be able to use it as a foothold before it collapsed
fukushi+ma however would not be able to
She did not think of this as unfair If she had been the one in the lead, she would probably have used the same method to disrupt her opponent
This just meant the enemy had moved out ahead and been more skillful
…Has her cowardice vanished for the moment!?
So she decided to respond in kind To face the present danger and to thank her opponent by using her full strength and every method available to her, she re her full strength and by any means necessary
She then enacted a solution to the current probleed
She held it as if to steal the eneripped the metal shaft near the tip Immediately afterwards, she pulled in her left arht hand out from her chest for a one-handed strike with the spear held in those fingers
She aiht shoulder forward and extended her forearm out from in front of her armpit
“Ohhh!”
She used the extension ht She knew she had to keep that thought inunexpected
The eneo of her own spear
The one-handed spear jab lost its balance a little and Futayo avoided it with a swing of her head
“Toh”
She reached for the enerabbed the base of the blade and confirmed what she assumed to be the case