The next day, at the Duel Arena.
Watching the "intense battle" unfolding inside the arena, the audience in the stands were excitedly discussing.
"Amazing! This guy is actually a powerful swordsman at the One-Sword Realm!"
"So what? Yesterday there was even a swordsman at the Two-Sword Realm!"
"What do you mean by One-Sword or Two-Sword Realm? I don't really get it."
"Dummy, someone who can withstand one strike from the great swordsman Aizen is considered at the One-Sword Realm, and someone who can withstand two strikes is at the Two-Sword Realm!"
"Eh? Is it actually categorized like that?"
At first, many people objected and were filled with bitter resentment, but after a few days, they'd been defeated and discouraged so often that they eventually accepted it.
Ninjas had always looked down on samurais, but now that a powerful samurai had appeared and defeated them, wasn't that a good thing?
Once they accepted this idea, they no longer felt shame at being defeated but instead felt honored.
That's why the current scene appeared.
Hearing the explanation from one of the spectators and seeing the proud expressions on the defeated samurais leaving the arena, Mifune felt like this world had become somewhat unfamiliar.
Where's the pride of being samurais?
However, after witnessing the immense strength displayed by that man named Aizen, he somewhat understood their feelings.
"He really is strong!" Mifune's eyes gleamed with fighting spirit, recalling his humiliating defeat at the hands of Sanshouo Hanzo.
"The next challenger... Mifune..." The announcer's excited voice suddenly stopped when he reached that name, as if seeing something unbelievable. He let out an odd cry, "M-Mifune General?!"
Hearing the announcer's exclamation, the audience stands once again erupted in excitement.
"What? The General is actually here too!"
"Can General Mifune win?"
"Hard to say. Although he's the strongest swordsman in our Land of Iron, his opponent is also incredibly powerful!"
"This is so exciting! Both of them are men standing at the peak of samurai prowess!"
Hearing the announcer's call, Mifune took a deep breath and solemnly stepped forward one step at a time.
At forty-eight, he should be at the peak of his life as a swordsman.
Though his experience and swordsmanship still had room to grow, his physical prime was already beginning to fade.
"Meeting such a strong opponent at this stage must also be a kind of luck!" Mifune muttered this to himself while standing opposite Aizen.
"General Mifune, I've been waiting for you for a long time," Aizen smiled. "Please let me witness the pinnacle of samurai prowess!"
Mifune was slightly surprised, "Aren't you that already?"
"Regretfully, I only defeated them using strength, speed, perspective, and experience," Aizen sighed. "When it comes to pure sword technique, I'm definitely inferior to you all."
"You give yourself too little credit, Lord Aizen," Mifune responded with a positive feeling toward Aizen's admission of having physical advantages. "Swordsmanship combines mind, body, and technique. Pure technique is only part of the sword way."
"In any case, please let me witness it through battle!"
"Then, please allow me to proceed!"
[Seppa Zangetsu - Crescent Moon Slash!]
Mifune poured all his energy into the strike. With a flash of blade light, a crescent slash tore through the air and flew toward Aizen.
"Slash wave indeed!"
Aizen was secretly astonished. No wonder it's said that ordinary ninjas don't even have time to form hand seals when facing experts of quick-draw swordsmanship.
In terms of pure attack speed, even a weaker Kage might not reach this level.
However, for him, this was still somewhat weak.
Aizen executed a draw slash as well. The blade aura he released directly deflected his opponent's strike.
The deflected attack landed aside, leaving a long, narrow gash on the thick ground.
"You actually deflected my slash with your own slash!" Mifune's heart was shaken, but his hands didn't stop for even a moment. While moving quickly, he launched several more fierce and violent slashes.
[Swift·Meteor Slash!]
Blade auras danced wildly in the sky like meteors. The blade aura and chakra interwove, unleashing an immensely powerful presence.
Compared to Mifune's dazzling slashes, Aizen simply swung his long sword. With powerful and pure strength, he instantly unleashed a gigantic blade wave over ten meters long.
The slashes from both sides collided, creating a huge whirlwind piercing through heaven and earth above the Duel Arena.
This wasn't an ordinary whirlwind, but rather a storm composed of countless tiny blade attacks—a blade storm!
The surrounding audience all widened their eyes, not wanting to miss a single moment of the action.
"Incredible! So we warriors can also be this strong!"
"They're too powerful. In ancient times, they would have surely been called Sword Saints!"
Within the freely surging waves of energy, Mifune seized the opportunity to rush forward and engage in close combat.
Aizen elegantly swung his sword, moving at extreme speed, and in an instant materialized right before his opponent's face.
Instinctively, Mifune raised his sword to block, but as soon as he stopped the attack, his expression changed.
The force from the opponent's blade was overwhelming—it nearly tore the sword from his grasp.
Mifune took a deep breath. His arm muscles swelled and the veins twisted like thick ropes.
"Haaa!" Mifune roared fiercely, and the sudden burst of power sent the opponent flying backward.
Aizen, on the other hand, lightly tapped the ground with the tip of his foot midair and rushed back even faster than he had been sent flying.
Using the added speed, the impact force became overwhelming. Even with secret techniques enhancing his muscles, Mifune couldn't withstand it.
The moment they collided, Mifune was flung away by an irresistible force and heavily smashed into the wall.
However, he didn't have time to recover slowly.
While still "embedded" in the wall, a sharp blade aura from his opponent slashed toward him.
Mifune slapped the wall behind him with his left hand, spinning to dodge the attack. Then, he slightly bent both legs, pushed off powerfully, and used the recoil force to leap toward his opponent.
He executed an aerial jumping slash, as if he intended to split the earth, descending with unstoppable momentum.
Standing still with his sword, Aizen only lifted the blade upward into the sky when the opponent's slash was about to land.
Boom!
A powerful surge of energy erupted, like thunder rumbling.
The scattered blade auras left densely packed holes in the surrounding hard ground.
Then, Mifune was flung back once again.
Seeing this, the four spirits in the observation room fell silent. After a while, they struggled to speak.
"Monster!"
"A monster among monsters!"
Even by their standards, that samurai named Mifune was already impressive enough.
Yet against Aizen, he couldn't even put up a fight.
The most crucial point was, they also knew Aizen had only bought that sword on a whim when coming here.
In other words, his swordsmanship was merely playful dabbling. Yet even such casual skill left General Mifune barely able to keep up.
...
The battle in the arena continued.
"What an incredible opponent!" Mifune thought to himself.
Although his opponent claimed to be unskilled in swordplay, every strike hit vital spots, stripping complex sword techniques down to their core essence. That was why the movements appeared utterly chaotic.
"Is this the realm of ultimate simplification—where complexity becomes simplicity?" Mifune murmured to himself. He then sheathed his long sword and assumed the Draw Slash stance. "Lord Aizen, please witness my final blade!"
"Simplification? I really don't know swordsmanship at all! I've never even learned the 'complex' way!" Aizen thought silently, without bothering to explain. He simply stood there calmly. "Come!"
[Iai: Soul Sever!]
A dazzling flash lit up the field—Mifune seemed to cross space itself, appearing before Aizen in an instant and slashing downward with a single stroke.
At such speed, even Aizen felt a slight sense of danger.
Unfortunately, it was only ever going to be a slight one.
Once he unleashed his full power, the outcome had already been decided.
With a loud boom, Mifune flew backward, his sword spinning away from his grasp.
A warrior who'd lost his sword—clearly, the battle was over!
Although the spectators had already sensed Mifune's disadvantage, when this moment actually arrived, they still struggled to believe it.
After all, he was their General of the Land of Iron—the mightiest warrior among them all!
"Surely this is a joke? General Mifune actually lost!"
"He was already extremely powerful; at the very least, he reached the Hundred Sword Stage!"
Even the four observers in the spectator chamber were stunned into silence.
"Who exactly is Lord Aizen?"
"First his Genjutsu, now swordsmanship too—could he even be skilled in the Five Elemental Techniques and Medical Ninjutsu?"
"Why don't you say he's also a master of Sealing Techniques and Space-Time Ninjutsu while you're at it?"
"Haha, come on, you know that's impossible!"
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