The roar of the Steel Convergence was absolutely deafening. Ten thousand martial artists, soldiers, and citizens of Gifu slammed their fists against the stone steps, their rhythm matching the steady, ominous thud of Senior Ephraim's heavy boots as he marched onto the arena sands.
Ephraim did not hear any of it.
He looked like a man walking onto a battlefield. His wild, purple-black hair hung in clumps over his face, completely obscuring his eyes, but the absolute stillness of his upper body radiated a terrifying focus. In his right hand, the long, slender, dark-purple spear was held perfectly parallel to the ground.
The Martial Seniors of Kinzoku weren't the most powerful of their realm within Sekigahara. There were plenty of other Seniors that they couldn't hold a candle to. But it wasn't because they trained less, or that they were less talented than others.
It was the fact that they weren't alone in their paths; they had to grow strong alongside their weapons. Giving an additional wall to climb as esoteric material powerful enough to be wielded at their realm was rare; and only the Kinzoku was able to help them in this regard...
Which is why the Steel Convergence is really important to the Martial Seniors. Winning Senior level Kinzoku Steel would make their partners much more powerful, as the closer their weapons was to Kinzoku Steel purity, the more they could exert their strength with every blow.
Ephraim's Reginlief Spear was currently at 96% Ore purity. Winning this tournament could possibly allow him enough ore to finally purify his weapon for the Senior Realm.
But that wasn't his sole motivation.
He wanted to teach this mountain of a newbie a lesson.
The stadium speakers violently crackled to life, the announcer's voice straining over the screech of the amplification arrays.
"AND HIS OPPONENT! THE MONSTROUS NEWCOMER FROM OUT OF NOWHERE... THE 'COMMONER'S WRATH'—MORETSUNA!"
The response from the stands was a sudden, sharp ripple of noise. It wasn't a unified chant yet, but a growing murmur of curiosity and shifting allegiance. Thousands of common laborers and low-ranking martial artists leaned forward, their eyes glued to the western tunnel.
His clean victory over Senior Roro and his unexpected show of honor had sparked something. Among the ordinary citizens of Gifu, he was slowly becoming a favorite—a quiet symbol for everyone who had ever been looked down upon by the noble houses.
He was a striking figure, appearing entirely invincible, and that aura was pulling people in.
From the tunnel, Merun stepped into the blinding light. His white cape fluttered lazily behind him as he walked with a slow, casual gait.
Over his left eye, the glowing green lens of his scouter beeped frantically, processing the sudden spike of kinetic energy radiating from across the field.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
The numbers on the display whirled into a blur before settling on a value that caused Merun's thumb to gently tap the side dial, recalibrating the internal sensors.
"...That's possible?" Merun murmured, his voice easily carrying across the sand despite the noise of the crowd.
He stopped twenty paces away, his dark eyes locking onto the hidden gaze beneath Ephraim's fringe.
"...You didn't take any kind of steroids or drugs before this, right?"
Ephraim didn't answer. He didn't even shift his stance.
But the space around his greaves suddenly distorted. Small pebbles on the sand began to lift into the air, floating upward for a fraction of a second before being utterly crushed into dust by an invisible weight.
BADUMP.
A single golden pulse of energy detonated from the center of Ephraim's chest. The light was dense and bright, a testament to his years within the realm. As a veteran Martial Senior, his Martial Heart had grown exceptionally stable over decades of combat. His glowing, pulsing veins seemed to draw the surrounding light and air tightly around his forearms. The skin split slightly, revealing the burning gold beneath.
He had ignited his Martial Heart before the opening bell had even been rung.
Up in the Toyotomi balcony, Hideyoshi leaned so far over the marble rail that his knuckles creaked against the stone, his face locked in sharp focus.
He plans to finish this quickly, Hideyoshi thought.
The Martial Heart unlocked the full potential of a veteran's body, but it could only be sustained for a limited duration. Using it this early meant Ephraim was completely convinced he could end the bout before it ran out.
It was a silent command:
Face me and go all out.
Ephraim spoke, loud enough for the crowd to hear.
"You better use your Martial Heart, or else you'll die."
A feral grin pulled at the corner of Hideyoshi's mouth.
Merun knows. My brother won't fall for such an obvious provocation!
Merun didn't keep his arms crossed. His eyes widened slightly through the green tint of his lens as he instantly dropped into a solid, heavy stance.
His feet anchored deep into the stone underbed, his forearms rising to form a rigid defensive frame.
He prepared his wall, ready to meet the kinetic momentum head-on.
But there were no signs of him using his own Martial Heart.
A Martial Senior without it was basically just a peak Squire, after all... and yet Moretsuna won't even give him the honor of using his Martial Heart.
How stubborn.
Ephraim sighed as a vein popped on his face in irritation.
"...So be it."
Down on the sands, the referee—a seasoned Martial Senior himself—took three massive leaps backward, entirely unwilling to be caught in the initial crossfire. He raised his hand, his eyes darting between the unyielding spear point and the man in the white cape.
"Quarter-finals... First Bout..." the referee's voice boomed. "BEGIN!"
The referee's hand dropped.
Ephraim vanished.
A vacuum snapped where he had just stood, the surrounding air cracking like a whip and leaving behind a thunderous sonic boom.
In a single millisecond, the dark-purple spear tip arrived.
It was spinning.
A violent, microscopic vortex of torque wrapped around the point, driven by the absolute compression of Ephraim's ignited Martial Heart.
Ephraim compressed his entire kinetic existence into a single point of pure, armor-piercing intent.
A True Strike.
The blurred purple spearhead met Moretsuna's right shoulder frame as his eyes widened at the very last second.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
The shockwave tore through the arena sands. The sheer technical application and raw power of the piercing force bypassed the external density of Moretsuna's defensive technique, violently blasting his right shoulder backward.
Finally, it seemed Moretsuna's arrogant expression had been wiped from his face as the fabric of his cape and shoulder pauldron exploded into threads and fragments.
To the crowd, it looked like an absolute disaster—the horrific illusion of a body being completely skewered.
The absolute fortress of his static defense had been shattered.
A collective gasp sucked the air straight out of the stadium, and up in the Furutsu box, Nashi and her daughters let out a choked cry, hands flying to their mouths.
But instead of being flung across the arena, Moretsuna miraculously twisted his body, and the stone beneath his legs crunched and cratered as they absorbed the remainder of the brutal momentum.
His right arm, seemingly ruined and hanging limp from the force of the strike, dropped.
But his left arm moved fluidly, his bracers slapping the side of the spear shaft and violently redirecting the weapon away from his chest.
Before Ephraim could even register that his opponent was somehow still standing, an unexpected, overwhelming burst of raw speed exploded from Moretsuna.
He rushed forward like a crazed beast, stepping far too close between Ephraim's arms and preventing him from utilizing his spear properly.
Ephraim's eyes widened beneath his fringe.
He had only known of Merun's defensive capabilities from the previous match. He hadn't expected this immediate, vicious counter-pressure!
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Ephraim desperately fired a continuous barrage of micro-range thrusts, but Merun was already outside the weapon's optimal reach, denying him the momentum required to generate another armor-piercing True Strike and allowing his Sanchin to maintain its effectiveness.
Shifting into a fluid, compressing flow, Merun's left hand systematically drowned the veteran.
His left forearm glued itself to the wooden shaft, spiraling off Ephraim's momentum and throwing the spear's trajectory completely out of alignment.
With his right arm swinging uselessly at his side, Merun delivered three brutal left hooks straight into Ephraim's ribs.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Ephraim's breath caught as the heavy blows were much more powerful than expected, and began to wear him down.
Desperate to break the lock, he drove a knee straight into Merun's stomach.
CLANG!
The knee bounced off the man's core like wood striking iron as he reeled from the numbness of his knee.
Only the precision and power of his True Strike could pierce that density—the same problem Senior Roro Nora had encountered.
Yet, even with one arm completely dead and dangling, the newcomer was systematically dominating the close-range exchange, returning a knee of his own.
THUD. THUD. THUD.
He's unshakeable! Ephraim realized, his chest heaving.
He had absolutely no opportunity to utilize his footwork and movement techniques, as Moretsuna seemed to know exactly where to grab, pull, and push to prevent any escape.
Those techniques were his bread and butter, especially as a spearman since spacing was crucial for this type of combat! The issue was, normally if he were grabbed, he could very easily just cut the hand off. But—
CLANG!
He grimaced as the newbie's skin was like a suit of armor made of thorns!
He could just rely on his observation skills to predict the trajectory of Merun's left hand and slip away by a hair's breadth.
Deep regret settled into his chest.
He had failed to finish it with the first strike, and now he was being completely overwhelmed by a newcomer.
It was a hit to his reputation and fame. The True Strike of Gifu failed to pierce a no-name commoner Martial Senior who wasn't even using their Martial Heart...
He just needed a single opening, and he was confident the battle would end.
He hadn't wanted to use this move here, but he had no choice.
Ephraim intentionally dropped his left shoulder, exposing a deliberate opening.
Moretsuna instantly took the bait, striking toward the weak point like a beast.
The moment Moretsuna's foot planted and he crouched for an uppercut, Ephraim locked his frame, staring directly at him.
You forced my hand.
"True Strike: Silent Thunder!"
The ultimate culmination of his style:
A True Strike generated from a total standstill.
He required no charge time, no wind-up, and no follow-through. He could even do it one handed!
There was just a massive burden on his muscles and his heart that put him in a near-death state that took at least a month's worth of recovery.
For Ephraim, this was more than worth being bedridden for a month or two!
Even with Moretsuna's left arm mid-attack and his own position ultra-close, Ephraim generated maximum, fatal piercing power within a mere few inches of space, driving the purple spear point directly toward Moretsuna's exposed head and scouter.
This strike was far more powerful than his first strike.
What more, Moretsuna couldn't defend with his left arm. His right arm was limp. And he was positioned far too close to dodge.
He had practically placed himself in his own grave.
He saw eye-to-eye as Moretsuna's pitch black eyes still faced him unyieldingly.
Stubborn till the end. Farewell, newbie...