"Tsk, a small trick, huh?" Hearing Shirou's description, Saikyo Nene smacked her lips in annoyance. Although displeased, she was speechless, as Shirou indeed hadn't been fooled by her Sokushin. This made her secretly resent that she hadn't learned enough back then, to the point where even her master's ultimate technique was now being dismissed as worthless.
Noticing Saikyo Nene's displeased look, Shirou smiled but didn't explain anything. After all, Sokushin truly was a small trick in his eyes.
"Speaking of which, since you've clearly understood the trick of this move, you should also know this, Ikki!"
"Your sister has no way to break through Sokushin."
Kurono Shinguuji, also noticing Saikyo Nene's displeased expression, immediately changed the subject and said to Ikki.
"Eh?! How can that be?!" Stella and Arisu exclaimed in unison upon hearing this. Ikki's face showed bitterness, but he neither denied nor showed surprise. Because he had already understood this fact.
"Ikki, is this true? Is Sokushin truly unbreakable?"
"No, Sokushin itself certainly has a way to break it. One just needs to actively confront the 'subconscious in conscious awareness.' However, while this sounds easy to say, it's extremely difficult to actually implement." For example, if there's a man holding a gun to you. And that man clearly has hostility towards you, with his finger on the trigger. In this situation, anyone would stare intently at the gun barrel. Because their life might be in danger.
When facing such a situation, who would pay attention to the man's earrings? Would anyone bother to notice the brand of the earrings? Impossible. Human consciousness would categorize that as irrelevant information, abandoning its identification. But to break Sokushin, one must, in such an urgent situation, deliberately shift their gaze away from the gun barrel and instead pay attention to the earrings. This is what it means to actively confront the 'subconscious in conscious awareness.'
"Shizuku is currently in a life-or-death situation. To deliberately ignore an opponent in such a state requires a certain amount of training to freely control one's body and consciousness." To give an example, perhaps Shirou, Ikki, and Stella might be able to do it. Because in the process of refining their martial arts, all three have achieved near-perfect control over their bodies. Shizuku, however, is not like that. She is first-rate in magical control, but when it comes to controlling her physical body, she is an amateur.
Therefore, whenever she thinks she missed something, she wants to focus even more. And her vision will become narrower as a result, the subconscious black mist will become thicker, which is a completely vicious cycle.
"To be honest, this battle is too harsh for Shizuku."
"That's right! In a sense, Touka Toudou is more like a combination of Ikki and Shizuku. Whether in martial arts or mastery of magical power, she is a top-tier existence!"
Even Shirou believed that, at the current stage, Touka Toudou was the Blazer with the best overall combination
of abilities.
"How can that be!" Seeing both of them say this, Stella couldn't help but feel dejected. Ikki, of course, didn't want to imagine Shizuku losing. But sadly, the gap in strength between Shizuku and Touka Toudou, both B-rank Blazers, was too vast. Not to mention, from the start of the match until now, Shizuku hasn't been able to effectively attack Touka Toudou even once. This was true even in her most specialized long-range combat. If she could only maintain a draw by fighting at long range, then the outcome of this match would be hard to predict.
It was almost impossible for Shizuku to win by maintaining long distance and suppressing the enemy.
Touka Toudou would definitely close the distance little by little, and it would be a fatally close distance. And that distance was within the range of Raikiri.
"If Shizuku has a trump card in long-range combat that can contend with Raikiri, she might still have a chance to win. But if not..." Ikki deliberately stopped speaking. But even if Ikki didn't say it, Stella could hear what came next.
"No, Shizuku won't lose here!"
"She won't!"
"Shizuku, go for it!" Stella, who wholeheartedly supported Shizuku, immediately stood up and cheered loudly for Shizuku after hearing their arguments. But even if she shouted loudly, she couldn't stop Shizuku's defeat.
After realizing she couldn't defend against Raikiri's attacks at all, Shizuku used her healing abilities to mend her wounds, then launched a counterattack. Facing Raikiri Touka Toudou's offensive, Shizuku had prepared everything in her mind. Strategy, bravery she used everything to its utmost. But in the end, under the impregnable power of Raikiri, she was still defeated
head-on.
"Raikiri!" With a flash of golden lightning, the ice domain that had covered the entire arena was shattered into ice shards, slowly falling from the sky. Then, with eyes full of unwillingness, she collapsed onto the arena. The winner of this battle was, after all, Raikiri Touka Toudou.
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In the infirmary. After a period of waiting, Shizuku slowly woke up.
"I lost, huh." Looking at the unfamiliar ceiling, Shizuku murmured. What followed was a heavy silence. Don't worry too much? Cheer up? How could Shirou and the others say such things! They, too, were immersed in this world of only victory and defeat; they knew how cold and harsh those words sounded in the ears of a loser. In
this world, for a loser, any words were just futile.
"Shizuku, um, I mean!"
"Sorry." Stella couldn't bear the sorrowful silence and was about to say something, but she was abruptly cut off by Shizuku.
"Can you, can you please let me be alone for a while? I'm really tired today." Shizuku begged everyone, her head bowed. She didn't want to hear anything, nor did she want to see anyone. She just wanted to be alone.
"Alright, Shirou, you guys go back first. I'll stay here with Shizuku!" Feeling Shizuku's sadness, Ikki turned around and said seriously to everyone.
"Understood, then we'll head back first!" Grabbing Stella, who wanted to say more, Shirou and the other two quickly left the infirmary. Standing outside the infirmary door, listening to the heart-wrenching sobs inside, everyone outside felt extremely distressed.
"Big brother, I will absolutely not lose!" Feeling Shizuku's sadness, Stella said seriously and with certainty.
"Ah! Just keep winning!" Looking at the corridor to the side, Shirou, recalling his past, also paused. Shirou rarely failed, but every failure brought him extremely painful memories. Especially now, constantly traversing worlds, he might die if he failed. But even so, he had never
panicked. Just as he said: "Just keep winning!"
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Without lingering outside the infirmary, Shirou and the other two quickly left and walked towards the dormitory together. But their day was destined not to be peaceful.
After Arisu left for another matter, Shirou and Stella encountered something unusual.
In the corridor, a rectangular object suddenly fell to the ground in front of them. It turned out to be a girl carrying some miscellaneous items, but she had simply too many things in her arms! Then she tripped over flat ground! Various items scattered everywhere. But none of these things could attract their attention. Because the girl who tripped was none other than the victor of the earlier battle, Raikiri Touka Toudou!
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--------More Bonus Chapters!!!!
Every 300 power stones = 1 Bonus Chapter