Haruto froze.
’That’s impossible.’ Haruto thought to himself as his mind tried hard to figure out what had happened.
It had been fast, but now that he looked back at it, it felt impossible.
"That’s the Petal Descent of the Demon king of the sixth heaven style." Haruto muttered.
The Demon King of the sixth heaven style was not a demonic technique, even though it had demon in its name.
This technique was first created hundreds of years ago and witnessed in battle by Nobunaga’s own retainers who named it.
The story said that a storm had already begun when Nobunaga found him.
General Matsudaira Ujichika — the famous name histories remembered, but feared in his time.
He had held the eastern pass for eleven years without a single defeat in personal combat.
Forty-three duels. Forty-three men buried.
He carried a nodachi longer than most men were tall and was known to split a charging horse in half at the shoulder.
This was just one of his unbelievable feats without the use of mana—just pure brute strength.
When Nobunaga’s scouts reported that Ujichika had separated from the Imagawa vanguard to shelter his men from the storm, Nobunaga did not send soldiers.
No, he went himself.
The battle was so legendary, the gods might have taken notes.
What the three surviving retainers who witnessed it later described contradicted each other on almost every detail — except one.
They all said Nobunaga smiled before he drew.
Ujichika attacked first.
A downward cleave that split the mud where Nobunaga had been standing.
But Nobunaga had already moved — not backward, but sideways — and his left arm rose in the rain like he was greeting the storm. His body turned. His sword was still not raised.
Ujichika swung again.
And again Nobunaga turned into the swing rather than away, the blade passing his chest by a finger’s width, his own katana rising in that reversed crescent that seemed to defy the direction of his body.
By the time Ujichika understood what was happening, the sixth petal had already fallen.
They found him standing.
A saying was born that day: Dead men sometimes stand in the rain.
Nobunaga cleaned his blade on the man’s sleeve, looked at his retainers, and said only:
"The Sixth Heaven does not fight. It descends."
The technique was never formally taught as the first of the Demon king of the sixth heaven style.
It was so engrained in the family that it was only passed through blood — through watching, through surviving — and every Oda swordsman who carried it forward added something else that perfected the technique over many years.
That was what Ohta sensed when he saw Haruto use it.
An accumulation of great warriors send forth the blessing of an unbelievable technique into the next generation.
It was all in honor of the night Nobunaga greeted the storm.
And that was why Haruto was speechless. Because Ohta had stopped it causally with two bullets from a gun.
The bullets had not even been covered by mana.
How did he do it?
"Your family technique is impressive." Ohta complimented. "But you are a long distance away from fully utilizing its capabilities."
Haruto had questions. What did Ohta mean?
Ohta saw those wuestions in his eyes.
"You cannot even use it without activating your mana, and you are wondering why I was able to stop it?
I can tell that technique should have six sword movements that compound all the way to the last strike, but you barely executed one."
Again, Haruto was shocked that Ohta figured that much about his technique.
The muscle strength to execute the Petal Descent of the Demon king of the sixth heaven style was no small feat. A lot of his muscles would have to pull and push against each other at the same time.
There were those of the Nobunaga family that had ripped themselves apart when learning this technique.
That was how dangerous it was.
For this reason, the clan elders always advised that the use of mana was necessary—until the individual’s body had gotten a good feel for it.
But there was a problem with doing things this way.
"If you do not learn the technique without mana, you will develop fear towards performing the technique without mana, and that will be a heart demon that will forever limit your growth."
Ohta spoke subtle.
Right now, Haruto did no longer saw him as the new ordinary boy that entered class, but like a profound sage.
In fact, he could have sworn that the words from Ohta’s mouth were those of an old wise man.
After all, these were very profound indeed.
In his previous world, Ohta had trained men many times.
He understood how the mind and muscle worked at a foundational level.
Every Magia boss needed this much knowledge, else he would not be able to read the body language of the assassins that came for his life.
Ohta was no wise sage. But that did not mean that he was wrong.
Haruto knew it. He had been trying to learn the technique without using mana for a long time, but fear of ripping apart had always stopped him.
Fear of death.
His curiosity still had the better of him and he had to ask.
"But how do you know?"
Ohta placed a hand under his jaw, "Human nature." He answered.
Ohta did not explain further.
In truth, he did see the justice and honor in Haruto’s swinging of his sword, and a kind of respect was subconsciously developed for the young man.
Also, Haruto had not used this powerful technique during the mid semester test yesterday.
Since mana was not allowed, then they was no way he could have used it.
Ohta paused, eyes widening a bit.
Mana was not allowed in yesterday’s mid semester test.
And while he is incapable of using mana, he did sense its usage when Sofia fired off her gun.
It had been a subtle shift. But he had trained his senses for sixteen years on ways he could navigate around his inability to be able to use mana because of those annoying clan elders.
His instincts told him something was not right.