“Phantom Blade Style Secret Technique – Ken Form, Heavenly Sword.”

Shikibu, leaping high into the sky, unleashed one of the strongest Kei techniques of the Phantom Blade Style’s secret teachings upon Sora. It was the same technique Ragna had used earlier, but its power and sharpness were far beyond Ragna’s reach. While Sora had been able to defend against Ragna’s Kei technique without using his soul equipment, he was forced to use his full defensive capabilities against Shikibu.

From beside Sora, the humanoid figure of light lunged forward, swinging its sword at close range. The blade, engulfed in blue flames, could incinerate Mitsurugi’s residence and its inhabitants in an instant if it so desired.

“Phantom Blade Style Secret Technique – Ri Form, Wrathful Fire.”

A male voice, different from both Shikibu’s and Sora’s, echoed around. The voice was beautifully clear yet lacked intonation, giving it an inhuman quality.

Naturally, the voice belonged to the split entity of Shikibu – the Light God Baldur. It made sense for it to lack human warmth.

Hearing the voice of the Light God Baldur, Sora reflexively contorted his face.

With Shikibu’s Ken form being defended against, Sora had no way to evade the Ri form of the Light God Baldur. If it was impossible to dodge, the only option was to withstand it.

“Tch!”

Clicking his tongue sharply, Sora released his left hand from the hilt of his soul equipment to catch the Ri form attack from the Light God Baldur with his bare hand.

Having caught attacks from Ragna and Lucius barehanded before, it wasn’t entirely reckless for Sora – although he didn’t believe he could perfectly defend against it. Even a few seconds of withstanding the Light God Baldur’s strike would suffice.

Ultimately, Sora’s barrier of Kei managed to buy two seconds against the attack of the Light God Baldur. Whether that should be described as “lasting two seconds” or “only lasting two seconds” was unclear even to Sora himself.

“Nu, guh…!”

The blue flames quickly melted the barrier, and his left fingers evaporated. Before the evaporation could spread to his entire left arm, Sora kicked the floor of the dueling ground with full force, propelling himself backward.

With a loud explosion, the ground shattered under the impact of Sora’s Kei-enhanced jump, raising a cloud of dust in the dueling area. The ground couldn’t withstand Sora’s leap.

Simultaneously, this was exactly what Sora intended. Even a slight cloud of dust might not serve as a significant smokescreen against a Sword Saint, but if it could restrain the enemy’s movements, even for a fraction of a second, it was worth it.

Moreover, Sora wanted to observe how the Light God Baldur would move when its vision was obscured. If the Light God Baldur could accurately pinpoint Sora’s location amidst the dust cloud, it would mean it was relying on senses other than sight.

While contemplating this, Sora regenerated his incinerated left hand and also healed a large gash that ran from his right shoulder down to his chest.

The slash that shattered Sora’s collarbone and nearly reached his heart was the result of Shikibu’s Ken form. Sora had sacrificed his left hand to defend against the Light God Baldur’s attack. Consequently, he was forced to block the Ken form with just his right hand, and just before he leaped backward, Shikibu’s slash caught his right shoulder.

The surrounding banner knights gasped at the sight of Sora instantly healing his hand and shoulder wounds.

Many of them had witnessed Sora’s battle with Doga from Southern Heaven Fortress and knew of his advanced healing abilities. Yet, they were still astonished to see Sora instantly heal a near-fatal wound and his evaporated left hand. To them, Sora’s healing abilities seemed to step into the realm of immortality. Their surprise was unavoidable.

However, not everyone was taken aback. Shikibu, currently engaged in battle with Sora, was one of them.

Just as Sora had shown no surprise when Shikibu dispersed Void Devourer earlier, Shikibu wasn’t surprised that Sora withstood the double onslaught of secret techniques.

It was unclear whether Shikibu had precisely gauged Sora’s abilities or was simply confident that Sora wouldn’t fall so easily.

In any case, Shikibu, without any hesitation, plunged into the dust cloud and the next moment, burst through it to appear right before Sora. The dust cloud had done nothing to hinder him.

And then, Shikibu unleashed another secret technique.

But it wasn’t just Shikibu. The Light God Baldur also prepared to launch the next secret technique.

“Phantom Blade Style Secret Technique – Son Form, Furious Wind.”

“Phantom Blade Style Secret Technique – Son Form, Furious Wind.”

The two voices announced the same technique, and the doubled Son form struck at Sora.

The gust of wind, unleashed from close range and sweeping upwards, blew Sora high into the air like a dry branch.

“Hahaha! Two against one, what absurdity!”

Caught in the tornado-like gust, Sora laughed heartily in the skies above Shuuto.

Though he could have stopped himself mid-air, Sora let himself be carried by the wind. The Mitsurugi residence’s dueling ground was too cramped for a battle against Shikibu. And fighting in the streets of Shuuto with Kei techniques was out of the question – it could lead to casualties from the pressure alone.

Sora didn’t know if Shikibu had used the Son form with this in mind, but being blown outside of Shuuto was also what Sora had hoped for.

Still, he couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of his father’s split entity.

Sora had his own chances of victory against Shikibu. He was prepared for things not going exactly as planned, but he still had a chance.

However, that chance was blown away the moment Shikibu brought forth the Light God Baldur with his soul equipment ability.

The pressure of Kei and the sharpness of technique, both equal to Shikibu’s, emerging in a second entity was something Sora could not have predicted. The strategies he had formed under the premise of a one-on-one battle were rendered meaningless in a two-on-one scenario.

For Sora, who aspired to surpass Shikibu, it would not have been surprising if he had been overwhelmed by despair.

However, what came from Sora was nothing but laughter.

This was not a facade of bravado. Just as when Shikibu had blocked Void Devourer without his soul equipment, the more Shikibu demonstrated his power, the more delighted Sora became.

As Sora confronted an adversary who was not only on par with a Sword Saint but also aspired to go beyond, his admiration for the Sword Saint intensified alongside his own determination to outdo him.

As if to further fuel Sora’s excitement, the luminous humanoid figure above attacked him with its weapon raised high. The Light God Baldur, having blown Sora away with the Son form technique, quickly caught up.

“Phantom Blade Style Secret Technique – Shin Form, Thunderclap.”

The familiar secret technique was met by Sora with the soul equipment in his right hand. The tremendous impact tried to slam Sora into the ground along with his soul equipment.

Sora could have created a foothold in mid-air with Kei and braced himself, but he chose to let himself fall, focusing his attention on the impending attack from Shikibu.

Immediately after, the attack came from the ground he was about to fall upon.

“Phantom Blade Style Secret Technique – Kon Form, Earth Spear.”

As Shikibu swung his sword, scraping the ground, a massive spear resembling a spire erupted from the earth. The spear, as if having its own will, stretched towards Sora at an incredible speed, aiming to impale him.

The Kon form symbolizes the earth; hence, the Earth Spear is a spear of earth created with Kei.

Sora had instantly healed the burns from the Ri form and the slash wound from the Ken form, but being impaled by a physical spear of earth would render restoration meaningless.

One of the reasons Shikibu chose to move the battle outside of Shuuto might have been to use the Kon form. Using this technique within the Mitsurugi residence’s dueling ground could have resulted in the residence being swallowed by the split ground.

Sora’s response to Shikibu’s attack was swift.

“Embrace of death for my enemy – Flame Princess.”

Falling to the ground, Sora extended his left hand sideways and used the fifth circle’s fire magic.

Although he had rarely used magic recently, Kei is essentially an individual’s magical power, Od. Now adept in handling Kei, Sora’s use of magic would be formidable.

The number of flaming arms created exceeded ten. Their number, size, and intensity were incomparable to before. And the recoil from the magic was also significantly greater than before.

The recoil from unleashing the “Flame Princess” altered Sora’s descending trajectory, causing his body to dart off course. As a result, the Earth Spear aimed at him pierced only empty space, missing its target.

Exhaling softly while in mid-air, Sora tried to stabilize himself by creating a foothold with Kei.

However, his adversaries were not about to allow him any control. At this moment, the Light God Baldur above was already preparing for its next attack.

“Phantom Blade Style Secret Technique – Kan Form, Roaring Water.”

A roaring torrent, like a water dragon, surged towards Sora.

The immense volume of water, capable of overwhelming not just the Mitsurugi residence but the entirety of Shuuto, was akin to a river’s flood. To confront it head-on would be suicidal.

Furthermore, if Sora were to suffocate underwater, his regeneration ability would be rendered useless.

Once again forced to evade, Sora found Shikibu already countering his movements.

“Phantom Blade Style Secret Technique – Da Form, Thousand Eyes.”

This Kei technique differed from the previous ones, lacking direct offensive power.

However, in terms of threat, it was no less intimidating than the other techniques, perhaps even surpassing them.

“Guh!?”

As Sora attempted to dodge the Light God Baldur’s attack, he realized his body was enveloped in an invisible force.

He wasn’t immobilized, but his movements were sluggish, like struggling through mud. The more forcefully he tried to move, the stronger the unseen restraints became.

Like an animal trapped in a bottomless swamp or an insect entangled in a spider’s web, Sora found his movements sealed.

Then, the Kan form attack from the Light God Baldur struck, and Sora was helplessly engulfed in the raging current.

Directly hit by a secret technique while his movements were restricted, Sora had no means of resistance and was slammed into the ground almost instantly.

Moreover, the cascading pressure of the Roaring Water from above pinned him to the ground. Any other banner knight would have likely been crushed by the water pressure, their body flattened like a squashed frog.

Sora was still breathing, but the combination of Roaring Water and Thousand Eyes had left his body too constrained and injured to move easily. It was clear that, if the situation persisted, he would soon be crushed or drowned, inevitably meeting a grim end.

Despite recognizing his dire situation, Sora managed a defiant smile at the bottom of the torrent.

“Truly, it’s refreshingly futile to try anything at all.”

Sora didn’t regard his training in the demon realm or his prior efforts as wasted. Far from it, he knew that it was precisely because of these efforts that he could even fight against Shikibu, albeit with difficulty.

However, even with this understanding, being continuously overpowered to this extent was starting to wear down his laughter.

While enduring the water pressure of the Kan form, Sora slightly lifted the corners of his mouth.

And then, he silently muttered in his mind:

“The First of the Four Calamities – ‘Sei’.”

Kei Da is a secret technique passed down among the Kijin clan, and the Four Calamities are its ultimate forms. Sora had decided to play one of his trump cards, which he had acquired during his training in the demon realm.

Instantly, Sora’s Kei began to surge tremendously.

“Sei” is a secret technique that temporarily increases Kei by stimulating the heart. Although it doesn’t double Kei, it significantly boosts its power.

The utility of this technique is beyond question, but naturally, it did not come without a price.

Stimulation sounds benign, but in reality, it’s akin to forcing the heart into overdrive. It’s like grasping the heart and squeezing it violently to increase the blood flow throughout the body for a moment.

The sudden and excessive rise in Kei puts a severe strain on the body. The damage to the overworked heart cannot be overlooked. Prolonged use can injure the heart, making it difficult to even carry out daily activities, let alone combat using Kei. Worst case, it could even be fatal.

Sora possesses regenerative abilities, but there’s no guarantee they extend to his heart. “Sei” is indeed a trump card, but one that should not be used unless absolutely necessary, even against a Sword Saint.

However, faced with Shikibu’s soul equipment, Sora had no luxury to deliberate. It was clear that if he continued to face both Shikibu and the Light God Baldur, his body, including his heart, would soon be torn apart.

“Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!”

With a roar, Sora released his Kei in all directions. First, the restraint of Thousand Eyes was broken, followed by the cascading Roaring Water above starting to reverse its flow.

Simultaneously, Sora’s flesh heated up, searing him with excruciating pain – the cost of “Sei” for the benefit of increased Kei.

This pain set a clear time limit on the battle. Additionally, to minimize the strain on his heart, Sora had to keep the battle as brief as possible.

Choosing a short, decisive battle, Sora, with a ferocious, beast-like grin, powerfully kicked off the ground.