"USE YOUR MARTIAL HEART!"
The booming command tore through the stadium, echoing off the high stone walls and completely stunning the surrounding nobles in the VIP pavilion. Their fans froze mid-flutter, and the casual gossip vanished instantly.
Down below, the lower-tier crowd of commoners and warriors gasped, their heads whipping toward the prestigious Toyotomi balcony in sheer confusion.
The golden boy of the clan, known for his perfect, unshakeable composure, was screaming his lungs out over a nameless newcomer.
Down in the center of the arena, amidst the deafening shrieks of the golden gale, Moretsuna's eyes flickered.
Even under the constant, brutal impact of a hundred intersecting paths of steel, he casually tilted his head upward, tracking the exact direction of his brother's voice.
Yet, even after that desperate warning, he did nothing. The crowd and everyone in the arena expected him to activate his Martial Heart, but... He didn't do anything at all.
He simply stood there, hands tucked at his sides, absorbing the blinding, supersonic attacks of the Martial Senior as if they were a light summer rain.
Hideyoshi was utterly confused as to why his brother refused to take his advice.
CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!
WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS MARTIAL ARTS?! Roro screamed inside her own mind, her panic growing alongside her bloodlust. HOW TOUGH IS THIS SON OF A—?!
Her muscles were screaming, and the soles of her boots burned from the raw friction as she ricocheted off the stadium walls, diving in to strike and tearing away to the opposite side over and over.
In all her years of combat, this was the first time she had ever fought a battle that lasted this long... this was also the first time she'd fought without a single drop of blood being drawn!
Her Twin Heavens: Storm was operating at absolute capacity, pushed even higher by the golden, burning energy of her Martial Heart. She had aimed for the soft skin under his jaw, the arteries behind his knees, the thin flesh of his temples... but none of it worked!
None of her attacks could fucking break through his skin!
Slowly, even with her extensive combat experience and the dulled pain receptors of a Martial Senior, the horrific physical toll of the momentum rejection began to set in.
A sharp, throbbing heat radiated from her hands, bleeding through the hilt of her swords and scorching her palms. Because her blades utterly failed to deliver their impact, the reflected kinetic force created a dull, sickening grinding sensation in her wrists and elbows as her own joints were forced to take the brunt of the damage.
The constant physical shock against the man's unyielding stance left her limbs feeling momentarily dead, going numb from the fingertips up.
Worse was the weapon trauma. Every time her steel hit Moretsuna's steel-tempered body, the force of her strikes not only failed to penetrate his skin; they also stacked and bounced back, bruising her own knuckles and joints with the terrifying recoil. Each time her full-momentum strikes were instantly stopped, her wrist joints bore the brunt of the damage.
Still, Senior Roro Noa was not just any martial artist; only a select few individuals have enough martial individuality, talent and drive to become a Martial Senior.
If such amount of pain could prevent one from fighting, it only proves the inexperience and weakness unfitting of them realm.
THIS PAIN IS NOTHING! I AM THE STORM!
Even if a limb is torn, a true Sekigaharan martial artist would gladly sacrifice the other in order to win.
But, in a fraction of a millisecond, her heart nearly stopped. Mid-stride, the man's pitch-black eyes suddenly tracked her high-speed location.
Huh?
Moretsuna looked her dead in the eye and threw a powerful, heavy fist.
Roro was shocked, but her reflexes were still far faster. She casually twisted her head to the side, the wind of his passing fist grazing her cheek as she narrowly avoided the blow.
Her momentum carried her forward, and she shot across the stadium diameter, her boots slamming hard into the stone as she landed at the far, opposite side of the arena.
She skidded to a halt, a maniacal grin returning to her face as she exhaled a sharp breath. Ahahaha! So my attacks did have an effect! Now he's forced to strike back!
She quickly twisted her momentum back around, coiling her legs to launch herself back into her relentless assault.
Since he's moving, he must have abandoned his defenses and I could—
But as she turned around to face the center of the ring, her breath caught in her throat. The unthinkable had happened.
The center of the ring was empty.
He was... right behind her.
Her mind shrieked in absolute terror. How did I not feel him cross the distance? Danger sense? honed instincts—nothing?!
Merun was already mid-downswing, his raised hands locked together to slam her into the earth. Relying on pure survival instinct, Roro flawlessly twisted her body mid-air, bringing her twin katanas around in a desperate, lethal counter-arc aimed directly at his vulnerable eyes.
Both his arms were in no position to block such a strike.
"YOU UNDERESTIMATE ME, BRAT!"
Her blades, Wado and Sandai, were forged from Senior-level Kinzoku ore. They were crafted to handle her explosive power efficiently but also to possess a durability fit for the Senior Realm.
It was extremely rare to have a esoteric steel that can handle strengths of a Martial Artist of a higher realm. It was also a reason why weapon users were rare in the entirety of Panama.
But in this exact split-second, she doubted if it could truly cut Senior level materials as her katanas struck his closed eyelids.
CLANG!
Her momentum was stopped dead in its tracks as her dual katanas failed and bounced off.
Moretsuna's eyes opened as she felt despair take over her body.
"What—"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Merun's two-handed slam struck true, smashing into her shoulders and driving her into the ground with the force of a falling meteor.
An cataclysmic explosion of fractured stone and blinding dust flooded the arena, swallowing the entire ring.
The crowd was completely speechless.
Not a single voice was heard throughout the entire coliseum, from the lowest commoner stands to the highest noble balconies. It was as if every spectator believed that speaking aloud would somehow change the impossible reality of the battle they had just witnessed. Hideyoshi stood paralyzed at the railing, his breath hitched in his throat, staring into the smoke.
Finally, the dust cleared.
And there he stood. Moretsuna. His white cape fluttered softly in the wind as he stood completely upright over the crater, looking down at the unconscious Hail of Blades resting at his feet.
Her body as surprisingly as her dual katanas took most of the force as she had used them to block at the very last moment, but they still failed to block all the damage and ended up knocking her out.
While he... he was completely unharmed.
If not for the punchable smirk on his face, he truly would have looked cool.
The spell binding the stadium was only broken when the announcer's voice cut through the silence, cracking with sheer, unscripted disbelief:
"T-THE WINNER IS... THE COMMONER'S WRATH, MORETSUNA!"