"I hope you die! You cheeky little brat!"
Shinya's bright red right arm swings down. The sharp clawed arm is so powerful that it could easily gouge rocks and cut through a human body like butter.
This 'Devil's Right Arm' - it is Shinya's last trump card. It is a concealed weapon for deceit.
Its power is immense. It is a special attack from his hidden right arm that kills the opponent the first time he sees it.
"Ah, that's right. You're that kind of guy"
I murmur to myself as I look at his approaching right arm emotionlessly.
Shinya Kushinagi is a peerless swordsman.
He is the second strongest opponent after the demon king of the Four Heavenly Kings, and his brilliant swordsmanship surpasses Leon's and Nagisa's.
But then again...
Although Shinya is a powerful swordsman, he is by no means a samurai.
The reason why Shinya was able to defeat Nagisa's father, the master of the Seikai Itto-ryu style, was not because of his superior swordsmanship. He won by a surprise attack with his 'demon's right arm' just as he does now.
Anyhow, Shinya was not a fair and square warrior.
He is a despicable murderer who is willing to cheat and take hostages if necessary to win the battle.
"Yeah... I know you, I know you well."
"What...?"
Shinya's right arm slices through the air.
It was indeed the demon's right arm that caught me, but just before it hit me, my body vanished like a mirage.
"Dark magic — Illusion Ghost."
It is a magic that creates illusions to avoid enemy attacks.
And what Shinya sliced through was just an illusion. As for me, I stayed behind him, a few feet away from my shadow.
"Too bad, you're out of luck."
"No way! Did you read my attack?"
"I didn't read it. But I knew it... because I've been sick and tired of your ugly right arm."
To win, he'll go to any length, even the most despicable means. It may be a shameful thing for a samurai to do, but it is a way that I can relate to.
What is important is the result of 'victory'. To get it, I also don't hesitate to dope myself with items or to cheat with magic.
In a sense, Shinya and I may have been the same kind of people.
"Damn...!"
Shinya's missed a big blow, which he had intended to kill me with certainty, has created a clear opening.
I have no right to let him get away with that. So, I stepped into Shinya's pocket this time and delivered a counter slash.
"If you can avoid it, avoid it. If you can't... you can die."
"...You brattttttttt!"
Shinya lets out a desperate cry. Of course, no amount of shouting will stop the attack.
The slash from the bottom up is still swung straight into Shinya's body.
"Damn it... Nooooooooooooo!"
But... after all, Shinya is also a first-rate warrior. He did not take the attack in silence.
From the posture in which he swung his "demon's right arm" down, he twisted his waist forcibly and twisted his body as if he used the right half of his body as a shield.
As a result, my slash hit the 'demon's right arm' and slashed diagonally from the forearm to the middle of the elbow, and stopped.
"Heh... you're good!"
"I stopped it, you sad brat!"
"It's you who's sad! Hellfire Dragon Blast (獄炎龍破)!"
My attack is not over yet.
With my sword still embedded in Shinya's right arm, I activate the Dark Magic Sword.
Jet-black flames pour out from Amanohazamaru, burning Shinya's right arm from the inside.
"Gugaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Hmph!"
With the sword covered in hellfire, I rotate my hips and swing the sword.
The demon's right arm is finally severed by a heated slash and flies through the air. It spins around and flies away, but as soon as it hits the ground, it turns to white ashes and vanishes.
"Gggrrrrrrhh! How dare you, how dare you take my armmmmm!"
Shinya leaps backward to get away from me after losing his right arm, his trump card.
Shinya's right arm has been burned off, and he is now a one-armed man again, but the wariness in his eyes has not disappeared yet.
His handsome face is contorted into a vicious, yasha-like expression, and he glares at me with searing hatred.
"How dare you, how dare you...! I will cut off your limbs from end to end, turn you into daruma, and then give you all kinds of pain!"
"You can't do it, you know."
"Yeah, it's impossible."
My coldly assured words are overlaid by a voice as clear as the sound of wind chimes.
The sentence of despair, like a bottomless sea, was released from right behind Shinya.
"What!?"
Shinya's expression changes to one of surprise.
He turns to look back at the voice coming from such a close distance that he is horrified, but a silent slash cuts his neck before he can turn around.
"Seikai Itto-ryu hidden technique — 'Watatsumi no Tachi'."
"...!"
It was a silent yet powerful slash.
Nagisa, who had somehow gotten behind Shinya, released a slash that left no sound behind and sliced Shinya's neck with a speed that left no sound behind.
A little later, the sound of 'Plop' severed the neck bone is heard, and Shinya's head flies away from his body.
Slowly, in a slow motion, the headless body falls to the ground.
The head, which is flying in the air, looks at both eyes wide open in shock, as if it still does not understand what has happened to it.
"’I've been watching your back’ just like you told me, Master."
Nagisa said with a smile and sheathed her sword in a beautiful, flowing motion.
The white blade disappears into the scabbard, leaving a blue afterglow like the sea on a clear day.
"The enemy is defeated!"
The blade and scabbard clink, and Shinya's head crashes to the ground at the same time.
The fallen head does not turn to ashes like the 'Demon's Right Arm', but instead bleeds and forms a black puddle on the ground.