Sword Master.
All his skills are in swordsmanship, in the body honed day and night.
Miyamoto faced Linto's pressure head-on, his expression still cold.
"Ever since I held a sword, I knew that to win, you must remain absolutely calm in any fight."
Click.
Miyamoto's thumb pushed the scabbard, a long and a short sword at his waist slowly drawing out, the crisp, long sword sounds like a drop of water falling into an old well.
A trace of ripple appeared in Miyamoto's greyish-white eyes, and then—
An avalanche!
Just the action of drawing the sword, the crowd seemed to see rushing mountain fires, exploding thunder, and hurricanes rolling up sea waves.
Soaring fighting spirit roared, Miyamoto quietly watched Linto.
"I heard many people call you 'Invincible'."
He took a step and said softly:
"Coincidentally, so do I."
Miyamoto twisted his wrist, the blade deflected, cutting off the wind, and also cutting off the distance between him and Linto.
"Two Heavens as One Style - Godspeed!"
A loud bang exploded.
The ground under Miyamoto's feet cracked, the air exploded, the streetlights flickered on and off, and in the space between one flash and another -
Miyamoto had reached Linto.
The long sword in his hand was raised high, power transmitted from his body, shoulders to his arms, and finally into the sword, falling with the force of splitting mountains and seas!
"Two Heavens as One Style - Iron Cut"
It was just a thin samurai sword, just a simple slashing motion, but for some reason, in the eyes of everyone, it became incredibly heavy, like a falling mountain.
This slowness was not the slowness of the falling sword, but the natural perception of changes in the flow of time when humans face death.
This one strike actually made many strong people present feel the idea of "death."
But—
"Ora!"
Star Platinum threw a punch.
This roar forcibly tore apart the power of Miyamoto's strike.
The huge fist landed on the blade.
The two appeared to be frozen in that split second.
Each other's thoughts flowed between breaths, transmitted along the blade and fist.
Linto felt Miyamoto's pure fighting spirit, every swing of his sword was to challenge the stronger, to break through his own limits.
On the other side, Miyamoto also felt Linto's forthrightness.
The collision was fleeting, Miyamoto jumped backwards in the air, unloading the force of Star Platinum's punch.
Linto raised a finger, aiming for a fraction of a second.
"Meteor Finger Jab!"
Star Platinum's index and middle fingers stabbed towards Miyamoto in mid-air like a spear, looking like it was about to pierce Miyamoto's chest and abdomen.
Clang—
Miyamoto's left-hand short sword appeared strangely, blocking the Meteor Finger Jab.
Still in mid-air, Miyamoto used the force of this touch and block, like a swimming dragon, turning in the air for a circle, approaching Linto again.
The short sword in his hand cut towards Star Platinum's throat at almost imperceptible speed.
"Two Heavens as One Style - Soul Cut"
But no matter how fast the sword, it could not be faster than Star Platinum's dynamic vision at close range.
It raised a hand to block the attack, and quickly threw a punch with the other.
Shhh—
A tiny scratch appeared on Linto's face.
Didn't hit, but could hurt the body... this is the soul cutting sword?
Swordsmanship, somewhat interesting.
Linto touched the scratch on his face, the wound fleeting.
Star Platinum slightly turned its head to look at him, gesturing with its eyes:
"Not going to use time stop?"
Linto shook his head.
Said three strikes, there's still one more.
He wanted to see the samurai's means.
Star Platinum nodded slightly, waving its fists, directly suppressing Miyamoto.
If it were any other opponent, they would have been blown away by Star Platinum's flurry of punches, Miyamoto stubbornly relied on two swords to block all the punches coming at him.
"Two Heavens as One Style - Shisui No Mind"
Responding to the enemy's attacks as smoothly as water, the blade unloading the force of the attack, while absorbing and accumulating the enemy's power, waiting for the opponent to reveal a flaw, and then killing them with one strike.
This was Miyamoto's strongest strike, in the past, as long as he used this move, any form of attack would be transferred and nullified.
But today...
Bang!
Bang!!
Bang!!!
Patches of blood appeared on Miyamoto's body, and the sound of bones cracking could be faintly heard.
Star Platinum's punches were too heavy, too strong, and too fast, Miyamoto simply could not completely transfer and digest them.
In just one second, his body had reached the edge of collapse.
But the fighting spirit in his eyes grew more and more fanatical.
Miyamoto hadn't encountered an opponent that made his blood boil like this in a long time, the greater the injuries in his body, the more power he absorbed and transformed.
The next strike would be the most brilliant and powerful strike of Miyamoto's life.
He ignored the injuries on his body, stomped fiercely on the ground, blood splattered all over his body, bones shattered, the light of his soul burned at this moment, pouring into the two swords.
"Linto! This is me! This is the sword of the 'Samurai'!"
Burning out in swords, this is Miyamoto's path.
Everyone present held their breath.
Two dazzling lights of the swords, one positive and one reverse, burst out with Miyamoto's strongest power, slashing towards Linto.
"Star Platinum - The World!"
Whoosh—
A gust of night wind blew.
Miyamoto stood blankly in place, his hands maintaining the forward swing, the posture of a cross slash.
But the swords in his hands disappeared.
Where did they go?
Could it be…knocked away?!
For a samurai to have his sword knocked away by someone, that was the most shameful thing.
Miyamoto looked around, unable to find where his swords were.
Until he met Saito Ayane's eyes, following her gaze, he looked at his waist.
The two swords were actually hanging on his waist, as if they had never been drawn!
Miyamoto's brain was in a mess, his body stiff, maintaining the posture of swinging the sword forward, but because there were no swords in his hand, it looked like he was reaching out to ask Linto for something, ridiculous and laughable.
How is this possible! What kind of power is this?!
Has everything up to now been my imagination!
I don't even have the courage to draw my sword against him?
His thoughts came to an abrupt stop.
A clean white towel was placed in Miyamoto's outstretched palm.
"Wipe it."
Wipe... wipe what?
Miyamoto was stunned, looked down, and saw white marks on his throat and heart, it was...
His eyes fell on Linto's hand, on a white chalk.
What if it wasn't chalk?
Swords, kunai, shuriken, or Linto's fist, could easily kill Miyamoto.
The victory or defeat has been decided.
"I said, you would lose after swinging three swords, but let's forget about that last strike."
Linto said: "For someone like you to die in this place, for this reason... is too meaningless."
Miyamoto touched the swords at his waist, silent for a long time, then sighed softly:
"I lost."
"Linto, you are truly invincible."
He bowed slightly to Linto, the simple action causing blood to splatter again, then slowly straightened his back, his eyes returned to greyish-white, and he was about to leave.
"Where are you going?" Linto asked.
"To become stronger."
Miyamoto turned his head: "Or are you changing your mind and planning to kill me?"
"No, if you have nowhere to go, why don't you stay here for a while?"
Linto pointed to Sasuke and Momo-chan behind him:
"I want to hire you as their swordsmanship teacher, and when you're free, we can spar again."
Miyamoto thought for a moment, then slowly nodded.
Sasuke very considerately went helped him, Miyamoto sat heavily on the chair.
"Teacher, eat."
Momo-chan handed over an orange.
"Thanks."
Miyamoto peeled the orange, threw a piece into his mouth, swallowing it along with the bloody taste in his mouth.
A strange taste.
He looked at Linto's back.
And the strange people.
Linto put down the chalk in his hand, wiped his hands on his clothes, and said to Saito Ayane:
"One year of taxes?"
Saito Ayane's face was not very good.
She thought Linto was strong, but she didn't expect him to be so beyond reason and logic.
But Saito Ayane immediately adjusted her posture and said with a smile:
"That's natural, from today until this day next year, all taxes within the Land of Water are waived."
Linto nodded: "That's all the better. I hope things like today will never happen again in the future. I admit, when it comes to playing tricks, ten of me are no match for you."
Saito Ayane covered her mouth and chuckled: "Mr. Linto, you're joking—"
"I'm not joking with you."
Linto said: "Fortunately, I don't need to enter the areas you're familiar with and play tricks with you."
If the Daimyo was like the previous Land of Water Daimyo, then Linto could still fight a bit.
But if it was a group of real politicians, there was no way Linto could outsmart them.
What he had to do was to be a fire, a spear that shatters the darkness, as for the aftermath—
Linto said calmly: "The rolling torrent of the general trend will naturally crush you all."
Politics, tricks, are meaningless in the face of the real tides of the era.
Saito Ayane's smile froze on her face.
She didn't understand what Linto was saying, just…
Felt a chill down her spine from the bottom of her heart.
---
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