Once Ogata could see Tōyama’s sword, everything became much simpler.
He turned sideways and let the thrust pass beside him.
Then he stepped forward and drove his own bokken straight toward Tōyama’s chest.
Just as he had sensed, his Bird Thrust was now faster, stronger, and more accurate.
The wooden point carried frightening momentum as it shot toward its target.
Ogata thought the strike certain to fell Tōyama.
Yet just before it landed, a violent tremor ran through the bokken in his hands.
With astonishing speed, Tōyama had recovered from his missed thrust and knocked Ogata’s weapon aside.
The counterattack veered harmlessly away.
After parrying it, Tōyama immediately retreated several steps beyond Ogata’s reach.
Ogata stared at him in surprise.
It seemed he had still underestimated this man.
Bird Thrust was now an Advanced technique, and Ogata’s counter had come without warning, yet Tōyama had blocked it.
Tōyama was even more shocked.
This bastard!
His movements are nothing like they were in the first match!
Tōyama had not held back.
And yet Ogata—the man who had floundered helplessly before and could not even follow his sword—had evaded the thrust and counterattacked in the same motion.
The transformation was too complete to dismiss as luck.
In their first exchange, Ogata’s body had lagged behind every attack; now his eyes followed the sword, his feet carried him clear of danger, and his counter arrived before an ordinary opponent could have recovered.
It was as though the man Tōyama had knocked to the ground and the man standing before him were two different swordsmen.
The Sakakibara and Ishikawa dojos were bitter rivals.
Naturally, Tōyama had investigated Sakakibara Ittō-ryū and knew its techniques and their characteristics.
Ogata’s attack had unquestionably been the school’s thrusting technique, Bird Thrust.
Its speed and power sent a chill through him even in recollection.
For one fleeting instant while facing it, Tōyama had remembered sparring with his own master, Ishikawa Hyōma, the present head of the Ishikawa Dojo.
The pressure Ogata had just exerted felt almost identical to the pressure of facing his master.
“You…” Tōyama’s face darkened.
“You truly were hiding your strength.”
“And weren’t you doing the same?” Ogata shot back.
“I didn’t expect you could move even faster.”
Tōyama had to abandon every trace of contempt.
If he did not fight with all his strength, he might lose.
He hated admitting it, but the truth could no longer be denied.
Exhaling slowly, he raised his bokken above his head and assumed jōdan-no-kamae. Get faster updates on g.com.
His fellow disciples cried out in surprise.
Jōdan was Tōyama’s finest stance, and his specialty was launching an unbroken storm of attacks.
By adopting it, he had declared that he was finally serious.
Ogata instinctively felt that the man before him had grown still more dangerous.
He loosened his right wrist, then returned to chūdan-no-kamae.
The air itself seemed to freeze.
Neither swordsman moved.
Each watched the other without blinking.
The tense atmosphere spread through the crowd until no one dared breathe too loudly.
As though they had agreed upon the moment in advance, both men suddenly moved.
Clack!
Their swords collided and separated.
Clack!
They struck again, then sprang apart.
Whoosh!
Tōyama thrust.
Ogata slipped aside, leaving the bokken to tear through empty air with a sharp hiss.
The furious exchange left the Ishikawa disciples staring in disbelief.
Most spectators knew too little of swordsmanship to understand what they were seeing, but to Tōyama’s fellow students, the two men looked like monsters.
Attack and defense changed hands at dizzying speed.
Neither yielded an inch.
Wood cracked against wood again and again.
Whenever Tōyama’s blade descended, Ogata caught it or slipped beyond its path; whenever Ogata tried to seize the opening, Tōyama’s defense closed before the strike could land.
Their footwork churned the dust beneath them, and the ring of spectators instinctively leaned back each time the duel swept near its edge.
Watching Ogata fight Tōyama on equal terms, Itagaki and his three companions went pale and unconsciously drew in their necks.
To an outsider, the match appeared perfectly even.
To Ogata, it did not.
At first they truly had been evenly matched.
As the contest continued, however, Ogata felt himself gradually falling behind.
His stamina could not keep up.
Every attack, evasion, and defense consumed strength—especially parrying.
Little by little, his stamina began to fail.
His breathing grew heavier, and the ache in his wrist spread toward his elbow.
Speed alone was not enough when every rapid movement demanded more from a body that had already fought once and taken a hard blow to the chest.
If the tempo remained unchanged, his technique would eventually slow by a fraction—and against Tōyama, a fraction would decide everything.
Tōyama, by contrast, still appeared composed and comfortable.
This won’t work.
I cannot allow the battle to continue like this.
If it becomes a contest of endurance, I will certainly lose.
Clack!
After parrying another blow, Ogata retreated several steps and opened the distance between them.
He needed to steady his ragged breathing—and enough time to devise a new plan.
Tōyama apparently welcomed the chance to rest as well.
He did not pursue.
Maintaining chūdan-no-kamae, he watched Ogata intently while regulating his own breathing and relaxing his muscles.
Ogata flexed his aching right wrist.
If we keep grinding away at each other, I cannot outlast him.
Should I spend my remaining two skill points?
If I put both into Stamina, my total might surpass his.
But that would probably raise only my maximum stamina; it wouldn’t restore what I have already spent.
Perhaps I should add them to Strength or Agility, increase my ability at once, and defeat him in a single burst…
No—wait!
An idea flashed through Ogata’s mind like lightning.
I have it.
This plan might let me defeat Tōyama without spending those final two points.
In that instant of inspiration, Ogata conceived a stratagem—one that might win the match while preserving the last of his precious skill points.
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