But for this week,
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“New Shadow Style: Simple Domain!”
Faced with Atsushi steadily approaching while holding Dragon-Bone, Miwa Kasumi finally made her move.
With a sharp shout, her expression instantly became focused.
She smoothly sheathed her katana at her waist, lowered her stance, and shifted her center of gravity.
Then she settled into an iai stance and stood firmly in Atsushi’s path.
Cursed energy surged violently through Miwa’s body…
No.
Not just through her body.
An invisible field of cursed energy spread outward from her, covering everything within a radius of 2.21 meters.
“Simple Domain…”
Faced with Miwa’s sudden counterattack, Atsushi showed no surprise.
He already knew how her technique worked.
“A barrier technique constructed from cursed energy.
It’s nowhere near the level of that octopus curse’s innate domain, but this is still my first time seeing a sorcerer use a barrier technique up close.”
Holding Dragon-Bone, Atsushi calmly walked forward until he was roughly three meters away from Miwa, then stopped.
He looked at the area enclosed by cursed energy, then at Miwa, who stood ready in an iai stance, waiting for him to enter her range.
“A Binding Vow prevents both of your feet from leaving the ground.
In exchange, everything within a 2.21-meter radius becomes your Simple Domain.”
“The moment anything enters that range, your body automatically counterattacks.”
Miwa remained completely focused, and beads of sweat had already begun forming on her forehead.
Yet Atsushi casually exposed the mechanics of her trump card right in front of her.
“And because you remain in an iai stance, cursed energy reinforces the blade while the confined space inside the sheath allows you to accelerate the draw.”
“So even though my cursed energy output is higher than yours, if I enter your Simple Domain, I’d probably be the one at a disadvantage.”
As he calmly analyzed Miwa’s technique, Atsushi bent down and picked up a branch from the ground.
Then he hurled it toward her.
“Ah!”
A flash of steel.
The instant the branch crossed the invisible 2.21-meter boundary, it was sliced cleanly in half.
Before the two pieces even hit the ground, Miwa had already completed the entire sequence.
Draw.
Slash.
Resheathe.
She remained in the exact same iai stance, almost as though she had never drawn her blade at all.
“That’s seriously fast.”
“But it’s too rigid.”
“You rely completely on the automatic counterattack built into Simple Domain, which means you can’t choose what your body reacts to.”
“Once something is recognized as entering your range, even a branch or a rock with no cursed energy at all will trigger the attack.”
As Atsushi exposed the weaknesses of her trump card one by one, Miwa’s expression gradually darkened.
“All I have to do is stall until you run out of cursed energy or you’re forced to release Simple Domain.”
“Then beating you would be easy.”
But even as he said that, Atsushi tightened his grip around Dragon-Bone.
“That’s the theory, anyway…”
Veins rose faintly across the back of his pale hand.
His previously relaxed body became wrapped in surging cursed energy.
A faint smile appeared in his dark eyes as they met Miwa’s shocked gaze.
“But that’s how someone who expects to lose would think.”
The instant those words left his mouth, a dull explosion erupted beneath Atsushi’s feet.
He stomped hard against the ground.
His figure shot forward like a streak of black lightning as he charged straight into Miwa’s Simple Domain without hesitation.
Boom!
The moment Atsushi crossed the boundary, the automatic counterattack built into Miwa’s Simple Domain activated.
Her cursed energy-coated katana exploded from its sheath through the fastest draw of the New Shadow Style.
The blade moved too quickly for the naked eye to follow, tracing a brilliant crescent through the air as it slashed directly toward Atsushi.
At the same time, however, Atsushi had already calculated the timing.
Dragon-Bone, filled with his surging cursed energy, tore through the air and crashed toward the incoming katana.
In an instant, the two blades, one massive and dark, the other slender and bright, collided head-on.
A shower of blinding sparks erupted between them.
During that exchange, which lasted less than a second, Miwa’s mind raced.
If this is purely a contest of cursed energy reinforcement, I can’t beat him.
But if I’m using New Shadow Style’s sword draw inside Simple Domain, reinforced with cursed energy…
Then overall, I should have the advantage.
The difference in cursed energy output can be compensated for with speed.
I don’t need to win with this strike…
As long as I can create an opening…
Then Miwa heard a sharp metallic sound.
Crack!
It was the sound of metal being destroyed in an instant.
The katana in her hands, filled with every bit of cursed energy she could pour into it and carrying all her hopes for the exchange, split cleanly in half.
Atsushi’s brutal-looking Dragon-Bone sliced through her katana as though it were made of something fragile.
Then it continued straight toward her neck.
It broke…
Why now?
Was the difference in weapon quality really that huge?
No…
I didn’t even feel their cursed energy clash…
How…?
Countless questions flooded Miwa’s mind.
But reality gave her no time to think.
Dragon-Bone was already closing in on her neck.
With her katana broken, Miwa had no choice but to abandon Simple Domain.
She bent her legs, pushed off, and flipped backward.
“I told you already.”
“I’m not going to kill you.”
Miwa had only just completed the backflip.
Her feet hadn’t even touched the ground yet.
But when she raised her head, she realized the supposedly lethal slash that had cut through her katana had only been a feint.
The moment Miwa broke the condition of her Binding Vow by leaving the ground and caused Simple Domain to collapse, Atsushi released Dragon-Bone without hesitation.
The heavy cursed tool flew from his hand and slammed into the dirt nearby.
At the same time, freed from the weapon’s weight, Atsushi carried the momentum of his previous swing forward without wasting a single step.
His body shot ahead almost parallel to the ground.
In an instant, he crossed the gap and closed in on Miwa before she could regain her footing.
Miwa’s brain hadn’t even finished processing Atsushi’s previous sequence of attacks when the next thing entered her vision.
A fist.
Rapidly growing larger.
And closer.
“Relax.”
“Take a deep breath.”
“It’ll be over quickly.”
The moment the punch landed, the voice that reached Miwa’s ears was almost disturbingly gentle.
Then came the sharp pain exploding through her jaw.
The jaw is closely connected to the trigeminal nerve.
If enough upward force is transferred through the mandible, the impact can jolt the skull and brain.
That makes it relatively easy to cause a concussion and force the body into temporary unconsciousness.
Atsushi lowered his head and looked at Miwa, who had been knocked flat onto the ground by a single uppercut.
She was unconscious, with a little foam at the corner of her mouth.
“Sorry.”
“That was a little rough, but it’s still more practical than trying to knock someone out with a chop to the back of the neck when I can’t properly control the force.”
With the fight over, Atsushi walked over and picked Dragon-Bone back up.
“I see.”
“So there are two conditions for triggering true damage.”
“First, I have to consciously recognize what I’m doing as an attack.”
“Second, my cursed energy has to be directly involved in the attack itself.”
Atsushi examined Dragon-Bone carefully.
During the first exchange, I didn’t channel cursed energy into Dragon-Bone.
I only reinforced my own body with cursed energy and attacked using physical force.
That’s why Miwa’s katana didn’t break.
Atsushi stared at the weapon in his hand.
Even after slicing through Miwa’s katana, the dark edge of Dragon-Bone didn’t have a single mark on it.
“But against her sword draw inside Simple Domain, I poured cursed energy directly into Dragon-Bone.”
“And that strike cut straight through her katana.”
After confirming that Miwa had completely lost consciousness, Atsushi carefully inspected the half of the katana still clenched in her hand.
The broken edge was smooth as a mirror.
There was no warping, cracking, or tearing that would normally appear after a physical impact.
That confirmed it.
The blade had been severed by the true damage effect of [Glass Cannon].
“The same thing happened with the punch to her jaw.”
“If I only use cursed energy to reinforce my fist without channeling it directly into the impact, the true damage doesn’t activate.”
“So I don’t end up blowing her jaw apart with one punch…”
[Grade 3 Sorcerer Miwa Kasumi defeated.
65 EXP absorbed.
20 gold obtained.
Current EXP: 1,453.
Current gold: 811.
267 EXP required to reach the next level.]
The system’s crisp, emotionless notification sounded again.
“Defeated?”
Atsushi blinked.
“Oh?”
“So I don’t actually have to kill someone.”
“Defeating them still gives EXP and gold?”
Boom!
Before Atsushi could figure out the difference in rewards between defeating and killing a target, a massive crash echoed through the forest.
A broad figure slowly emerged from the trees he had knocked aside.
“Curse user…”
The man’s voice was low.
“Before anything else, let me ask you something.”
“What kind of woman is your type?”
(To be continued.)
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