Chapter 134: Rite of Passage [5]

We clashed with our blades right in the middle of the clearing.

The ground cracked beneath our feet as grass was uprooted and thrown into the air from the force of our collision.

For a moment, we both looked directly into each other’s eyes before our figures flickered into streaks of black and purple.

Then we collided again.

And again.

And again.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Our blades sang a loud symphony as they collided against each other.

Our hands blurred back and forth as we attacked and blocked each other’s strikes. The earth that had looked pristine only moments ago was now completely destroyed, covered in sword marks and scattered patches of torn-up grass.

We never stopped.

Not even once.

We kept going, each of us aiming for the other’s vital points, yet somehow, not a single attack landed.

Josh was different from the other weaklings.

He was strong.

Very strong.

And experienced.

His katana moved without hesitation, always carrying the intent to cut me down, but I didn’t let him.

We had only been fighting for five seconds, yet we had already exchanged over a hundred sword attacks.

Josh never allowed me to get inside his guard. He constantly kept me at a safe distance, and his spatial awareness was so refined that finding an opening was incredibly difficult.

It was for a reason he was the oldest brother and one of the best katana users in the family.

The only exception was our older sister.

She was a monster.

Josh’s swordsmanship was calm but deadly. One moment, he would effortlessly block my attack, and the next, his blade would already be moving toward my neck.

His katana flashed forward.

A wide horizontal arc came toward my head.

I stepped to the side and dodged it.

At the same time, my own katana flashed forward, releasing a diagonal slash toward him.

Josh simply twisted his wrist and blocked the attack effortlessly.

Then, like a whip, his arm blurred forward, throwing a vertical cut toward my chest.

Using my footwork, I spun to the left, and his blade cut through nothing but air.

I immediately used my toes to launch myself forward and thrust my katana toward him.

However—

His fist was already covering my field of vision, coming straight toward my face.

I tilted my head to the side.

His fist missed my nose by an inch, and I felt the air from the punch brush against my cheek.

My hand shot up to grab his arm, but his katana was already coming down toward my outstretched hand.

I abandoned the idea and raised my own katana.

Clang!

The ground beneath me cracked from the sheer power behind his swing.

Despite all that strength, I still didn’t feel much struggle.

"Your growth is... remarkable, youngest." Josh said calmly as he looked at me.

"You wield the katana as if you’ve been doing it for years..."

I looked at him and smiled faintly.

"Thanks for the compliment. There are a lot more surprises coming up."

My figure blinked.

Then I disappeared from where I stood.

I materialized on his left, my katana cleaving through the air toward his neck.

Josh flicked his katana with his wrist and met my attack.

Clang!

We held there for a moment before both jumping backward, creating a ten-meter distance between us.

We began circling each other.

"I genuinely thought you probably wouldn’t have survived this long, but you’ve proved me wrong." He narrowed his eyes. "You must have defeated quite a lot of people."

Eh?

He was actually wrong.

I had just been lazily sitting on a tree branch, waiting patiently for everyone else to eliminate each other.

"Maybe." I tilted my head.

Josh stopped moving.

"I haven’t actually fought anyone yet who entertained me or lasted this long..."

His grip tightened around his katana. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"So let’s do our best."

As soon as he said that, his aura increased immensely.

A purple aura wrapped around his body.

"Give me your all."

We had both been holding back, trying to study each other’s abilities.

Well...

More accurately, he had been trying to figure out mine.

I already knew him like the back of my hand.

A black aura wrapped around my body.

The earth beneath my feet cracked under the intensity of my power.

"I was planning to anyway."

We both took a stance.

Then our figures blurred.

We disappeared from our positions and tore through the forest like bullets.

Everywhere we passed, trees were cut down, the ground was destroyed, and the earth trembled whenever our blades collided.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sparks exploded around us every time our swords met.

Any living thing unfortunate enough to be nearby was caught in the middle of our clash.

Birds.

Squirrels.

Deer.

Monsters.

They were all cut apart as our battle tore through the forest.

The air groaned as our blades tore through it over and over again.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

For the first time since fighting Ezio, someone else had actually forced me to lock in during a clash of swords.

Josh was just that good.

He wasn’t one of those arrogant noble children who became complacent because of their talent and stopped working hard to improve themselves.

Josh was a hardworking guy.

And his terrifying swordsmanship spoke loudly for him.

At first, someone watching us would think we were already moving at an incredible speed.

Then we’d suddenly accelerate again.

It was almost like a living vehicle shifting gears to go even faster.

Dark energy gathered around my blade.

I swung forward.

A huge horizontal black arc tore through the air at immense speed, heading straight toward Josh and threatening to split him in half.

Instead of dodging, Josh remained completely still.

He waited.

The attack approached.

Closer.

Closer.

And then—

His blade blurred forward.

Clang!

He parried my attack.

The black arc was redirected toward the opposite side, tearing through dozens of trees before finally disappearing into the forest.

Then I heard it.

Click.

It sounded like the mechanism of a moving clock.

I narrowed my eyes.

He finally started using that Gift.

I looked at his katana.

Its blade now carried a faint purple glow.

I had to be very careful with Josh’s ability.

All I needed to do was make sure he couldn’t parry my attacks.

If he did, I’d be feeding power directly into his Gift.

But that was easier said than done.

"Get ready, youngest." Josh said as he lowered his stance.

Then he burst forward.

I did the same.

Mana hummed through my blade as I slashed forward, leaving a horizontal black arc behind it.

The attack aimed directly for his chest.

But his sword was already there.

Clang!

He parried it.

My arm was knocked backward.

Click.

That damn clock sound rang out again.

The purple aura surrounding his blade intensified.

Before I could regain my stance, Josh spoke the words I had desperately been trying to prevent him from saying.

It all happened too fast.

I couldn’t dodge.

I couldn’t raise a construct.

"Counter Edge: Twofold Reprisal."

The moment he said those words, his katana flashed with purple light.

His figure vanished.

He had moved so fast that I didn’t even have time to think of a way to block.

Shiiing!

The loud sound of his katana tearing through the air echoed throughout the forest.

Josh appeared several meters behind me.

"You managed to block it... interesting."

He turned his head slightly.

"But you still got hit."

At first, I thought I was fine.

Then—

A diagonal white line appeared across my chest.

Blood suddenly spilled from the wound, staining my clothes.

"Ugh!"

I dropped onto one knee and coughed up blood.

[Calm Mind] wasn’t activated.

So it hurt like hell.

Hot, white pain burned through my chest.

I had genuinely planned to make sure he never managed to parry my attacks.

But I failed.

"Are you not going to get up?" Josh asked.

I spat more blood onto the ground before speaking.

"I really hate that ability of yours. It forces me to attack you despite the conditions."

"Oh?"

Josh raised an eyebrow.

"So you know about my ability. Who told you?"

"No one. I saw it when I was younger, when you were sparring with our older sister."

I tasted the coppery flavor of blood in my mouth.

"That makes sense." Josh nodded.

Josh wasn’t the strongest in the family.

Nor was he the weakest.

I could even say Arnold could beat him if he fought intelligently.

Though Arnold probably wouldn’t come out of that fight unscathed.

[Counter Edge.]

That was the name of his Gift.

It was a Gift that converted successfully parried attacks into accumulated force.

The condition was simple.

He had to perfectly parry an incoming attack for the Gift to activate.

Every successful parry allowed him to accumulate power within his blade.

Because of that, Josh had developed a technique that allowed him to stack that accumulated power up to five times.

And he could choose whether to release those stacks or continue accumulating them.

The more attacks he successfully parried, the stronger his Counter Edge became.

And that wasn’t even his only Gift.

He also possessed [Momentum], an ability that complemented Counter Edge perfectly.

Every successful parry increased Josh’s movement speed and attack speed for a short period of time.

It was unfortunate for anyone who didn’t know about his Gift.

All they would see was Josh parrying their attack.

Then, in the next moment—

Their head would be separated from their shoulders.

It was a very powerful ability.

One that would become troublesome if Josh remained alive much further into the story.

However...

It wasn’t as overpowered as it seemed.