italics - Thoughts

Bold underlined - Spells/Sword Skills

[Bold] - Ddraig

[Ddraig] - Ddraig mental speech

{Bold} - Albion speech

[Issei] - Issei mental speech with Ddraig

[Issei] - Issei speaking with Ddraig

Underlined - Timeskips/Flashbacks

"Bold" - Rating Game Announcement

Disclaimer: I do not own Highchool Dxd, Sword Art Online, or any of its characters. All rights belong to their creators.


Chapter 28: Kendo Matches Pt.2

"My my young lady, that was quite the match!" Judging by the smiling face of Kochiro as he took off his headgear, Kazuto could tell that the man was rather impressed with Asuna. "I would have never expected you to slash with that foil of yours instead of sticking to fencing only! This is soundly my loss."

"Thank you for your compliments, Kochiro-san." Asuna bowed her head slightly towards the kendo veteran, taking off her headgear before she did so. "But I would rather not celebrate yet. I still have to fight one more match against you after our break."

"Hmm, I nearly forgot about that." Kochiro frowned lightly. "Well then, how about this? We change the next match into a first-hit style match, like the usual kendo matches."

"…Would Julian even allow that change?" Asuna frowned. Kazuto could understand what she was implying: Julian would rather make them exhaust through their stamina, before he came up and finished him off with little effort on his part. Plus… "Besides, even if we did that, what is the point demerit for me going to be, should you win our match?"

"…Yes, I forgot about that brat." Kochiro sighed heavily. "For the first time in a while, I can actually cut loose, but instead of being allowed to, I have to oblige by the rules that have been set for this duel. Such a pain, but it must be done."

"What's on your mind, little man?" Suddenly, an arm slung itself across Kazuto's shoulders, forcing the boy to be pushed against a lean and hard body whilst also preventing him from focusing more on Asuna's conversation with Kochiro. "You seem to have quite a bit on your mind."

"Dante-san…" Sighing, Kazuto used his free hand to remove Dante's slung arm. "I know that you spend more time in other countries, but I am feeling very uncomfortable from how close you are to me." Although he reminds me of Klein, it feels weird being treated like I am close with Dante-san, even though we are practically strangers.

"Oh yeah, sorry." Abiding by Kazuto's wishes, Dante removed his arm from Kazuto's shoulders and stepped back a little. Although, the extra space between them was rather minimal, so although Dante was in Kazuto's personal space, it was not as uncomfortable as before. "Your fighting style is more similar to that of a westerner then that of a Japanese kendoka, so I forgot that you were still a young Japanese boy who had not stepped out of his country, unlike us."

Well, SAO's Sword Skills were based on the real skills of various swordsman, including those from Asian and European countries, so that makes sense. "Yeah, I practised kendo before, but I lost interest when I was younger. This…stye…feels more natural for me."

"That so?" Dante raised an eyebrow. Not too far away, the twins who were overhearing their conversation did the same thing. "Well, I pegged you as someone who had formal training once when I saw your first match, regardless of what you said, but I did not expect your roots to be in kendo! The way kendoka fight and the way you fight seem to be like oil and water."

"Ahahaha…" Rubbing his head, Kazuto tried to direct the conversation away from himself. He wanted to get this over with and get to help Issei and the rest. As they were sitting there and chatting, their devil friends were most likely risking their lives to help defend the capital from any damage the Hero Faction was causing. It just did not sit right with him to be on the sidelines when he could be actually helping. "Asuna lost 4 points, while I lost 5. So, that leaves us with how many points right now?"

"21." Taichi supplied, after a quick glance at the scoreboard that had been erected.

"Plenty of wriggle room for the two of you!" Dante chuckled, thumping Kazuto on his back. Keeping up the act of being his weaker human self, Kazuto let out a grunt of pain from the 'pats' Dante gave him as he laughed. "Especially since you lost our first bout."

"You surprised me." Kazuto said in a somewhat dry tone.

Well, to be fair, he had noticed those feints that Dante had utilised. But because his body was limited to that of a human's he was not able to move as fast as he would have liked. Especially since this was not SAO.

Yet another reason why he will never make an appearance.

Shaking his head free from those thoughts, Kazuto looked at Dante. "Say, would you like to have a small change?"

"What sort of changes?" Dante asked, curious about what he was going to say.

"Instead of going for two matches, why not we do one match. Our health would be doubled, and the health we would have before we lose would be lowered to 5 percent instead." Kazuto proposed, before he started to explain his reasoning. "I am proposing this because the two of us want to finish this up as soon as possible. We would rather not spend any time more than necessary with Julian-san. Also…" Kazuto's eyes flashed towards Asuna's person, who was talking with Kochiro about something as well. "…Asuna and I have to continue with the school trip tomorrow. We would like to rest up as much as possible for the last day of this trip."

"Hmm…" Dante mulled over the idea in his head. "…I can kinda see the reasoning behind your changes. You have some things to do after this, so you want to rest up to be sufficiently energised for it."

Will Dante-san agree with this? Kazuto got his hopes up slightly. If he agrees to this, this would mean our matches would be shorter, and therefore, we would be able to go and help out Issei and the rest faster.

"However…" Dante frowned. "I can't help but think of the question, 'Why?'. After all, not many people get to brag and say that they managed to fight against kendoka veterans who competed on a world scale, and managed to win a modified duel. If I were any other kendoka, I would be treating this as seriously as possible, and would even forsake sleep for such an opportunity, regardless of whatever they have planned for the next day. So why the rush?"

"Well…" Kazuto once more glanced at Asuna, before quickly looking away from her, as if he was embarrassed to look at her for the moment. "I would rather not say. It is a…private matter between the two of us." I mean, I can't exactly tell them that we are devils who need to be protecting Kyoto from humans who are attacking supernatural entities not with them indiscriminately, regardless of their nature and stances on things.

"Oh ho~" After but a few seconds, Dante started to grin widely, a knowing look on his face. "I see, I see…So you wanted to do that after all of this is over?"

Eh? Kazuto was unsure as to what Dante as saying at first, but his mind quickly caught on when he saw the suggestive grin on Dante's face. That, and the fact that Dante was giving off vibes very similar to Klein. Blushing lightly at what Dante was insinuating, Kazuto acted the part of the embarrassed teen who had been caught, even if the reasoning why they wanted to leave earlier was quite far from what he had assumed. "I…will neither confirm nor deny what you are assuming." If this is what it takes for us to finish this faster-!

"Ok, I'll talk to Julian-san." Dante patted Kazuto's shoulder, a smirk still plastered on his face. "I'll try to convince him without letting him know about the real reason why you want to end this faster."


Timeskip

After that, the short break they had quickly came to an end. True to his word, Dante had gone ahead and spoken to Julian, along with Kochiro, who followed behind the larger man, surprisingly enough. The result was, if what he saw from Kochiro's face, was successful. Although… Why was Julian-san so grumpy, I wonder? I mean, I would understand if it is because I asked if my two matches became one, since it would mean he would have to face me when I am a tad less exhausted, but him shooting dirty looks at both me and Asuna does not make sense. Unless…

Just as he was thinking of a plausible reason as to why Julian was shooting Asuna dirty looks, Yui popped into sight out of the corner of his HUD. "Papa!"

"Hi Yui." Kazuto whispered softly, trying not to draw any attention to himself as he did so. After all, he would rather not try to explain why he was able to talk to his adoptive AI daughter on the HUD of his kendo mask. A HUD which was connected to a system which was supposed to be secure. "Is there something wrong?"

"Mm-mm." Yui shook her head, a joyous look on her face. "I saw that you were curious why Julian-san was looking so grumpy, so I decided to come tell you papa! Mama also wanted to change her match to a first-hit style duel, and Kochiro agreed to that change, since he wanted to see who had the faster reaction time. From what I managed to overhear, Mama has the advantage in terms of how fast she strikes, while the both of them are equal in terms of precision with their attacks. So now, Kochiro-san wants to test out who has the better experience and reaction time between the two of them."

Did they forget that we are not part of the kendo circle or something? Kazuto could not help but think that when he heard his daughter speak. I can understand if you want to see who is the better swordsman between two swordsmen, but this seems a little much. Then again…I guess we are lighting a figurative fire under their butts, since we, no-name amateurs in kendo, have managed to win matches against them. Sure, it is not the traditional one-hit one-point match that we see in professional settings, but it does not take away the fact that we are a bunch of teenagers who have not once stepped into the world of kendo to compete, yet here we are, being able to manage to win against them, veteran kendoka. Looks like my guess was right.

Kazuto sighed. Well, if this is what it takes to get us to help Issei and the rest faster, so be it.

Now, although the duo wanted to get out of this unfortunate roadblock of a sham of an engagement, that did not mean they were forgetting about the task Azazel had told them to do: To observe Julian, and to see if the he, and by extension, the Yuuki family, had any ties with the Hero Faction. It was just that they were choosing to focus more on finishing the fights as soon as possible. If they managed to finish the fights within one and half hours, it would be very suspicious if Julian tried to get them to stay.

And out of that 90 minutes, only a single hour had passed. Which was cause for Julian, should he have any ties to the Hero Faction, to start panicking about them leaving to help out the devils setting up the defences and, most probably, starting the fights to save Yasaka and Kyoto from whatever machinations the Hero Faction had. And if they missed anything? Well, Yui had already hacked all the cameras in the building, as well as the surrounding area. Should she pick up any suspicious activity, she could save a recording of the footage, and then send to Azazel. Plus, she was also backing up the recordings that Julian had done of their fights, in case the young adult had tried to deny their wins and force the engagement through.

…Well, that and for the family of three to look back on this moment whenever they wanted in the future.

Did Kazuto mention that he loved and doted his daughter?

..

..

Due to how the matches were changed, it was decided that there would only be one match happening at a time, instead of the usual two matches at a time, like before. Mainly because Julian said that he 'did not want ay distractions which would interfere with the results of the matches'.

While true to an extent, Dante could not help but feel the Yuuki male was hiding something. Well, not my problem. I just want to finish this up as soon as possible so that Kirigaya-san can have some alone time with his girlfriend! Plus…

Dante eyed Kazuto as he slowly got ready, settling into the usual two-handed stance every kendoka used instead of his usual open-faced, body slightly bent forwards one. A tiny grin made its way onto his face, before it was quickly replaced by a mask of perfect zen. I can't help but feel this would be a really good fight.

Assuming his own stance, Dante waited until Taiki stopped between them, a flag raised in the air.

"Are both kendoka ready?" Upon receiving nods from their helmets, Taiki quickly swung the white flag down, before stepping out of the ring. "Start!"

"Oryah!" Stepping forwards rather aggressively, Dante swung his shinai in an obvious left to right vertical slash, his eyes watching Kazuto closely to see what move he would make in response.

Almost on instinct Kazuto stepped backwards, his shinai also held in a two-handed grip as it blocked his attack, which was aimed at his right shoulder.

As I thought… Dante smiled behind his headgear. This kid…he can read my moves!


Dante is a veteran kendoka who was born in Japan. However, growing up, he spent most of his time in other countries. Some were a few days. Others, a few months. Most of the time, they were about a month.

As a child of a single mother who had to travel often, he had to go to other countries more often than not, which resulted in him having to spend his childhood in the care of different people, in different countries, all the while being home-schooled until the age of 12. In that time, he spent learning not only his birth mother's language of Japanese, but his deceased father's language of English as well. He also picked up the languages of French, Chinese, some Korean, and German. All of these languages, sans Korean, he managed to pick up and learn to speak conversationally before the tender age of 16.

And during these years, while not quite lonely thanks to his mother spending as much time as possible to ensure he was not neglected, was also boring. Due to not being able to spend much time in a single place for too often, he was unable to make friends his age. After all, not many people would bring their kids to large office buildings to discuss business deals, both shady and legitimate.

Then, came the time he was 14. The first time he witnessed a sparring match between two kendoka. The swing of each shinai. The quick, yet decisive actions of the kendoka. Movements that could not be caught completely by the naked eye, especially by someone who was but a child not even hitting puberty.

And yet, he was able to see their movements clear as day, while also being able to tell how the match would end, and why.

His mother, the first one to chance upon her son's ability to follow veteran kendoka's movements, took him to the doctor when he complained that his body seemed to be not acting to his wishes, sometimes being too slow to respond or being too clumsy.

The result of said trip was both shocking and disheartening.

Dante had perfect 20/20 vision that was better than the average person, but he also had a form of muscle disease called Sarcopenia, also called geriatric muscle disease. Thankfully, the disease was a variation of the usual one, so the effects of chronic illness and hormone level reduction was not as severe. Unfortunately, it also meant that his muscles would degrade faster than normal without a certain level of fitness that required the use of the entire body's muscles. If he remained inactive, like he had for much of his childhood, he would be confined to a bed until technology reached the level where it could artificially induce muscle growth quickly in the span of a few weeks.

The doctor suggested Dante pick up a physical activity. An activity which fit his mother's, and by extension, Dante's life, that was not to dissimilar to that of a travelling salesman. At the very least, the doctor wanted the physical activity to be either intense enough or long enough for it to halt the degradation of his muscles. The doctor gave Dante a list of the muscles he needed to make sure remained active to prevent his muscle degradation and gave him a week to think over what activity he should choose.

When the time came, his mother and doctor were expecting him to take something simple, yet effective, like martial arts, squash, or maybe just simple weightlifting and muscle building. After all, the first two could be easily carried out within the confines of a building, while the third could be easily done, with the only problem being the weights itself. A problem which could be easily rectified by the fact that in every location Dante has been to so far, there has always been a gym nearby, be it public, or a private one.

Instead, much to the surprise of everyone, Dante chose to practise kendo. A martial art from his mother's homeland.

And, much to the surprise of all parties involved, including Dante, he took to the art like a fish in water. No, even better than one.

His brain, coupled with his perfect sight and hand eye coordination, allowed him to be able to match most veterans point for point. But in a competitive setting, he would be quickly demolished. After all, while his skills were practically on par with those of veterans thanks to his response time and quick thinking, his body was unable to meet the standards of what he wished to do.

Every time he swung his shinai, he would think, 'Faster'.

Every time he hit it against a dummy target or another shinai, he would think, 'Harder'.

Every time he blocked an attack, whether he faltered or not from the strain, he would think, 'Stronger'.

Every time he pushed himself beyond his limits and increased his strength, speed and experience, he would think, 'Not enough'.

He wanted to push harder and harder, until he overcame his muscle disease, until he was able to help support his mother instead of the other way around. They were not pushed for money by any means, but it was the thought that counted.

And then, when he lost yet against for the thousandth time against his teacher when they were simulating a competitive setting match, he had an epiphany of sorts. Obviously, his body would never reach the peak he wanted, for his muscle disease prevented that. But his mind…it could always predict what his opponent would do, and most of the time, it ended in his favour. Why not make use of this tool at his disposal?

With that thought in mind, and with some training and mental conditioning, he was able to come up with the first version of his own 'style' of swordsmanship.

It took loads of time, sleepless nights, sore muscles and tired eyes, but Dante finally stood on the competitive stage at the age of 20. And eight years later, he was considered a veteran kendoka, having won 95 percent of the bouts.

As for the 5 percent? Well, another story for another time(Most likely never).


So, here he was, eight years later, at the age of 28, fighting against a boy who was a decade his junior. A junior that did not have the experience in the competitive setting. A junior, who had managed to read his moves, despite having only faced Dante for the first time.

Amazing. A grin which could only be considered bloodthirsty appeared on Dante's face. Absolutely amazing. This kid, he manged to read my moves, even if he was unable to keep up with all my feints in the beginning. People older than him and my equal in terms of skill were unable to grasp my moves upon their first meeting, yet this kid, a decade younger than me, could?

..

See, the thing was about Dante's kendo style, was that he created feints with any and every move that he made.

A strike that telegraphed his intent to swing downwards from left to right? Well, it could follow through, which would be easy to counter or block, especially if said strike was aimed at the shoulder or upper arm of a person. But what if the target was different? What if it was aimed at the lower part of the arm of a person? If defended wrongly, that would result in Dante's victory in a professional setting.

In that single stoke, he could have planned to hit five different areas: The usual left shoulder, the upper arm or chest of a person, the lower arm of a person, the head, or the lower abdomen of the body. And even if you guessed correctly, there was no way to tell if your defence would be correct, as he could simply pull back from the hit and strike at another area, on the complete opposite of where he aimed for in the beginning if he was given enough time to respond.

It was why many people said that his style was to overwhelm his opponent. By creating so many feints, he would be able to overwhelm the opponent's thinking process into being full of suspicion and second guesses, which is a vicious and bad cycle to fall into. And should they be right in their guess and successfully block, there is no telling whether one would be able to successfully defend themselves. Years of training and intense muscle building has made him very strong. Any attack he makes would be like having a 15 kg weight being pushed against your arms by a bodybuilder's full strength.

This part was easier to explain. With a simple application of physics, and his day to day training to ensure his muscles never degraded enough to affect his kendoka lifestyle negatively, any attack he made would be heavier than a regular kendoka's. Simply put, unless one had enough experience, they would be able to somewhat deal with Dante and not turn a simple duel into a one-sided curb stomp heavily slated towards Dante's favour.

That, and the fact that if one fought against Dante long enough, they would be able to gauge whether his next attack would be a feint, or the real deal thanks to his breathing and footing.

If he aimed for a feint that would be aimed somewhere else, he would breath in, before breathing out slowly and shifting his outer foot's toes inwards. If he was following through, he would breath out in a single moment swiftly, while also making his upper body taut as possible. It was hard to tell if one was not directly face to face, as the protective gear made it hard to detect these subtle changes his body made, but if you face Dante a few times, the process became easier for them to spot. Though, knowing and acting were two very different things.

…And it was also because of this fact, that Dante was pleasantly surprised by the fact that Kazuto was able to somehow read and make his body move to defend the exact spot his mind had decided to attack. Plus…he was a bit of battle maniac. Not that you could blame the guy too much, as this change was necessary to ensure that he would never have his muscles atrophy too much.

..

Shinai still locked together, Dante pushed against Kazuto for a bit, before suddenly stepping backwards a few steps, drawing his shinai away from Kazuto at the last moment as he did so. This made Kazuto lose his footing due to the sudden change in balance. As the young teen had to take a step forwards to prevent himself from falling flat on his face, Dante was already having his shinai spin towards Kazuto's unprotected upper right arm, when in actuality, he was aiming for his left lower arm. An attack that missed when Kazuto allowed himself to fall forwards and tucked himself into a roll, missing the shinai by a few centimetres as he rolled past it.

Getting out of the roll, the boy was barely able to dodge the next swing Dante made, this time a straightforward downward cleave, by using his own shinai to force Dante's weapon to slide past the boy at an angle. Using all his muscles, Dante prevented the shinai from sliding further, and with a twist of his waist, attempted to smash it against the still kneeling boy's lithe frame. Visibly straining against the exertion, Kazuto removed one of his hand's from the hilt of his shinai to press against the area above the hilt: Now, his left hand was holding the shinai, while the right acted as another force to prevent Dante's shinai from overpowering him and scoring a point.

"…Grr…GRAAAHHH!" Grunting out loud in a shout, Kazuto managed to push Dante's shinai away for just a moment. A moment that surprised Dante, but he recovered from it in but a fraction of a second, following through with his right to left cleaving motion. And in that moment, Kazuto also managed to stand up and position his shinai better.

When the two carbon-fibre weapons hit each other with a resounding *clack* , Kazuto had been propelled into the air, having leapt back at the same time the shinai hit his own.

Unable to reach Kazuto, Dante could only watch as the teen landed on his feet a short distance away. They were basically in the same positions they had started in, if a little worse for wear. Glancing up to the corner of his HUD, Dante could see that their health bars had not seemed to budge an inch. But, when his eyes drew themselves to the centre of the bars, he could see, clear as day, the real states of their health.

Dante was at 199 percent, while Kazuto was at 195.

If this was before, this would have been some cause for concern for the young Kirigaya-san. Dante focused on the boy, who was slowly shifting about. His weapon was still held in its two-handed grip. But because our health has been doubled, and because our losing percentage is even lower, Kirigaya-san can afford to take a few more risks. So why is he defending? If he can read my moves, can't he see my openings as well?

Mentally shaking his head, Dante threw away that last thought. No, I am expecting too much of him. This is not a point-based match, no need for the kid to needlessly open himself up and lose the match. But, I do hope he gets it together soon.

Danete focused on a small area on Kazuto's body. An area, which he had been struck by Kazuto in the previous match. I do hope my hopes on you were not just a fluke. After all, being able to read and defend my attacks are something else compared to being able to catch me off-guard.


This is getting us nowhere! Kazuto thought as he pretended to catch his breath, exaggerating his chest movements to throw off any suspicion that he was not winded by that last ditch attempt he made to escape that deadlock.

If I use my usual style, I know I would be able to beat him, but I can't afford to lose more points before we fight against Julian-san! Furiously, Kazuto's mind whirled with thoughts on how to overcome this particular situation he found himself in. If I try to figure out Dante's moves, I would not be able to counterattack, much less attack Dante-san and knock some health off him as well. I can read his moves pretty well, since our physiologies are different, but if we are talking about my human form, he is better than me in terms of strength and stamina. I can only hold on for so long by relying on my reaction time and agility to defend!

And there is also the fact that I know I am able to overcome this. Internally, Kazuto growled in frustration. If I used dual blades, I would be able to win. An onslaught of attacks, and Dante would be hard pressed to counter properly. Especially if I us my muscle memory to execute the highest hit count sword skills run its course continuously, like The Eclipse, or Starburst Stream.

Kazuto was, essentially, stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he used his dual blades skills now, he would be able to win this match. However, the emotional baggage and feelings he had about the unique skill he acquired, and managed to ingrain into himself, would crush him should he lose. After all, it was thanks to this skill that he managed to elevate himself into someone who could not lose, and would fail at the most crucial moment.

If he chose not to use dual blades, and instead stuck to trying to figure out a way to beat Dante, it would take even more time compared to having two matches. And, there would also be a high chance of himself loosing, as such a method would have been easily figured out by Dante already. He could win, but the chances of him winning without losing any more points than necessary was slim, for the fight would devolve into a fight to see who would lose first.

Screw it. Clicking his tongue, Kazuto decided to stop being so hesitant on what to do. Being so hesitant does not suit me. Now, what is the best way to approach this…


Oh? Dante raised an eyebrow when he saw Kazuto finally switch back to his usual style, shinai held parallel to the ground and his body bent forwards slightly. Looks like he is in the zone now. "Kid, you taking this seriously now? Kept me waiting."

"…Sorry for the wait then." Despite not being able to see Kazuto's face clearly, Date could tell that the boy was smiling a little. "Let's see who will win."

With that, Kazuto dashed towards Dante, shinai held close to his back like he was a ninja. Within a few moments, he had reached Dante, his shinai already in motion to strike Dante's unprotected side!

With a fluent movement, Dante flicked away the oncoming shinai, parrying it away from his body. But much to his surprise, Kazuto did not stumble from the parry. In fact, he was already preparing and executing his next move, a sharp cleave downwards from right to left, not allowing Dante a single quarter.

Hmm…. Frowning a little from the rather obvious attack, Dante stepped to the side, his own shinai held before him protectively on the off chance the cleave managed to hit him. This seems too straightforward an attack…Was my intuition actually wrong this time?

As he predicted, the shinai harmlessly struck the space beside him. Not even looking at the rather disappointing attack, Dante pivoted his body to strike at Kazuto's own vulnerable back, but he caught something coming at him out of the corner of his eye.

Acting on instinct, he quickly turned to face Kazuto fully, shinai held before him to block his chest are. Just in time too, for the moment his feet firmly touched the ground, the clacking sound of two shinai hitting one another echoed in the large hall. The shinai, which he had expected to impact against the wooden floor below, was actually resting against his own shinai, pushing against it like a cork in a champagne bottle.

Amazing! He pivoted at the same time he swung his shinai up, allowing himself to be able to execute a swift counter that also saved himself at the same time! Dante correctly deduced what had happened, struggling a little from the unexpected attack. Had he been in a proper stance, he would have been able to defend and overwhelm Kazuto easily. Alas, because his centre of gravity was not cantered well, his stance was not stable enough to block against Kazuto's attack. Even now, he was sure that if he shifted his body, he was sure that he would lose his balance and be unable to properly defend against the attack Kazuto was executing.

Rookie mistake of mine. Internally, Dante grimaced at his mistake, but he had to give Kazuto props for managing to catch him off guard, as short as it was.

"You managed to recover from that? Good execution, I suppose." Dante approved of Kazuto's action that allowed him to surprise Dante. He had fully expected the young boy to be unable to redirect the missed attack, much less turn the situation into an advantageous one from himself by catching the veteran kendoka off guard with a move that came from the bottom. "Impressive."

"…." Head looking downwards, Kazuto whispered something under his breath, shifting his body as he did so.

"Hmm? What did you say?" Dante took that momentary lapse in action to shift his body into a better position to push against the rising up shinai.

"…." Not saying a word, Kazuto's entire posture and demeanour changed as he looked straight at Dante. So much so that Dante could have sworn that his eyes flickered from its onyx colour, to a fiery gold one. "ORA!"

Stepping backwards, Kazuto quickly retracted his shinai, causing Dante to lose his balance from the to be expected, yet still surprisingly swift removal of the pressure that had been pressing up against his own shinai a few seconds earlier. He managed to recover, preventing his carbon-fibre weapon from touching the floor, but it was not fast enough.

"HAARRRGGHHH!" With a large shout, not too dissimilar in nature to when a kendoka shouted 'Kiia' when attacking, Kazuto made an upward right to left diagonal slash, followed by a left to right horizontal slash, ending with a downward right to left diagonal slash, quickly followed by yet another combo consisting of a nearly vertical slash from Kazuto's left shoulder, hitting Dante's right side, after which the shinai instantly shot back into a high position and slashed vertically downwards again, aimed at Dante's left side, before it leapt up once again and slashed down vertically at the centre of Dante.(*1*)

Dante hastily brought up his shinai to defend himself, but it the end, he was unable to fully endure the onslaught.

The first three hits, while a little on the weak side, manage to jostle Dante's grip on his shinai enough that it was unable to properly defend against the next three hits properly.

The fourth hit, a nearly parallel swipe, very nearly tore Dante's grip from his shinai, while also manging to impact against Dante's lower left arm. The final two strikes, both quick yet heavy downward cleaves, hit Dante's shoulders as the veteran tried to dodge them instead of blocking them. A partial success, and instead of being hit on his head, which would have taken off my health, he was hit on the shoulders instead.

All in all, he was down 48 percent of his health from that one encounter, bringing Kazuto to the lead.

Damn…. Dante, despite the fact he was now losing in the health department, could not help but grin in excitement. "Nice hits, Kirigaya-san." Dante took the opportunity to step away from Kazuto, rolling his shoulders a little to get rid of what little pain he was experiencing from the diminished impact that his body felt. "But, that must have winded you right?"

Dante was not saying this. Rather, he was asking the boy. For as he watched, Kazuto's shoulders rose and fell rather rapidly, like his body could not take in enough oxygen for what he did earlier.

"Well…" Kazuto panted. "I have never done that before in a row, but looks like it was worth it."

"But at what cost?" Dante took the opportunity that was laid out before him. Putting all his weight on one foot, the veteran made a single, overhead cleave. From its trajectory, it could be seen that it was a strike aimed at the head, plain and simple. "You're exposed!"

*tak*

The sound of two objects hitting each other was easily heard. Yet…

"…Not quite."

…Dante's shinai did not quite reach Kazuto. In fact, it had not even managed to get close to him. After all…

"…Colour me surprised." Despite the nonchalant way Dante was speaking, his eyes were focused on the scene before his eyes, unable to completely shake off the shock and awe he was seeing before him.

For his own shinai was stopped by the very tip of Kazuto's own weapon. A surreal sight, but one that Dante could not easily break out of. His shinai was at the apex of its swing, held up by Kazuto's shinai. He could not draw enough power from his upper arms to bring the thing down. Nor could he muster enough strength, too shocked was he by the unexpected move. If he had missed by even a millimetre, he would have been struck straight on the shoulder I was aiming for!

"Huah!" Swinging down, Kazuto allowed Dante's shinai to be free. But at the same time, he aimed at Dante's chest, aiming to take off more health before Dante could.

Can't block this! So- Dante immediately moved to the side, setting himself up to launch his own counterattack. Sure, he may get hit and lose 10 percent more of his health, but it would be a worthwhile loss. After all, he did not have the need to worry about losing points.

At the exact moment Kazuto's shinai contacted his chest, Dante's own shinai landed a rather heavy hit on Kazuto's shoulder, very nearly bringing the boy down to one knee from how heavy it was. Now, Dante had managed to not only make Kazuto lose a point, but his health also dropped down. Not enough to make a significant dent, but it was a start.

Not willing to lose the momentary advantage he had, Dante quickly stepped in close, preventing Kazuto from making any moves with his shinai as it was pressed between the two competitor's bodies, whilst allowing him to raise his own shinai into the air and prepare to strike once more.

Seeing the preparatory action, Kazuto tried to get out of the way, or even make enough space for himself to block the attack aimed on the upper part of his body. But to no avail, for with a swift motion, Dante's shinai acted like a homing missile, impacting Kazuto's body solidly as he attempted to dodge the attack.

That's another 20 percent. Dante thought to himself as he watched the health bar of Kazuto drop down. At the same time, he witnessed Kazuto's wincing face out of the corner of his eyes, indicating the pain he was feeling from having taken two heavy hits to the shoulders. Sorry kid. That'll sting in the morning.

"Urk…" Kazuto dropped to one knee, chest and shoulders heaving as he took in more oxygen, his own shinai acting as a prop to ensure he remained upright and not got onto all fours, whilst also ensuring that should he get acted, he would be able to defend himself. His reflexes were fast enough to allow him to do so. Meanwhile, Dante did not feel too winded, his breathing steady as when he started.

"So, this the end of your limit?" Dante allowed himself to relax, bringing his shinai to his shoulder. After all, Kazuto was winded and needed to take a break. If he pushed himself even further without take a small breather, he was sure to make mistakes that he could not afford to make. "Impressive you managed to make it this far."

And impressed he was. Kazuto had gone on for what could be said as 6 consecutive matches with little rest. What's more, his opponents were veteran kendoka. These two factors combined was sure to have taken a toll on him, both physically and mentally. For him to get as far as he did without losing a single match was pretty impressive on its own right, even if he did lose a few points. If this was any other situation, I would actually give Kirigaya-san a few minutes to take a breather. It would be unfair of me, as well as unsportsmanlike of me, to push this young man further then his body can handle. Unfortunately-

Discreetly, Dante levelled a glare at Julian, who was smirking widely when he saw the state Kazuto was in. -That Yuuki heir is full of himself and wants to see you exhaust yourself to the point he would not have to do a thing to win. "Sorry Kirigaya-san…" Apologising beforehand, Dante prepared to deliver consecutive attacks on Kazuto's head. If the boy was going to lose might as well make it such that he lose with the least amount of points possible. "Take a break and concede this match to me, okay? Otherwise, you won't be able to defeat Yuuki-san."

"…I…won't…concede...Dante-san…" Panting, Kazuto slowly straightened up, his chest still heaving. "And there is...no need to apologise…I will…still be able to win...even if I am exhausted…against Julian-san…"

"And how would you do so?" Flicking his shinai forwards, he watched as Kazuto was barely able to defend against the hit in time, his shinai barely grazing pas his forearms. "See? You could barely block my light attack. Just take a breather, okay?"

As he spoke, Dante's eyes drifted towards his HUD. He could see his green health bar sitting at a lower level compared to Kazuto's health bar. Kazuto's 175 percent, compared to his own 151 percent of health. But this rate, there was a high chance Kazuto was going to lose. He had already lost two points, meaning that his and Asuna's remaining points were now sitting at 19. Based on his quick calculations, should he hit Kazuto's shoulders instead of his head, he would be removing 9 more points, which would shrink Kazuto's number of points available to him.

Following this same line of logic, Kazuto would need to make him lose 146 percent of health. That would consist of either 6 head strikes, 8 shoulder hits, 15 chest hits, or 30 arm strikes. And each number, while not unfeasible given time, was unlikely to happen given Kazuto's current state. If he attacked, he would be unable to properly defend himself against Dante's attacks. Dante wanted to give Kazuto a chance, but he knew that if he tried to give Kazuto openings on purpose, Julian was sure to catch on and declare the match void, and make the entire thing restart. Dante may dislike the Yuuki boy, but he could not deny that his eyes were sharp enough to tell if someone was trying to throw a match. His eyes were very sharp, even if he wore glasses.

"Don't…underestimate…my WILL!"

With a roar that seemed to come from a lion instead of a boy, Kazuto charged at Dante with a surprising burst of speed, his shinai running parallel to his body as he held it next to him.

Honestly, he is overexerting himself... Dante sighed with a hint of sadness. Well, I admit, I am impressed by his willpower and tenacity to keep going. Guess I'll help the kid out by hitting his head to reduce the amount of points he is going to take from this death charge of his. Swinging his shinai into position as he thought this, Dante prepared himself to deflect Kazuto's thrust aimed at his chest. But for some reason, his gut told him that the next move would decide everything.

If he were any other person, Dante would have just ignored this feeling. Or perhaps even scoffed at it. After all, Kazuto's attack could be seen as a last ditch attack from a person running on fumes. Something like that can be easily dealt with, like swatting a fly,

Bu it was because it was Dante that he treated his gut instinct seriously. His instincts, which was exactly what had brought him to this position, was something he would trust, no matter the situation. It guided him to being a veteran kendoka that was hard to defeat, after all. So, when his instincts started to scream at him to avoid the oncoming attack, Dante listened to it, shifting his body away from the running boy as he leapt towards Dante.

And not a moment too soon.

His shinai and arm blurring a little from how fast he was attacking, Dante's eyes could barely make out the action of Kazuto drawing his arm back and thrusting forwards, each one aimed at his chest. And out of all of them, Dante was hit weakly , on the left of his chest. A hit, that due to being weakly felt through the protective gear, meant it counted as a hit.

Even as Dante's health bar dwindled down, Kazuto still continued his onslaught, this time pushing forwards with his back foot to propel him enough for his shinai to reach Dante. Arm raised, Kazuto cut downwards with his shinai. Unable to block in time, Dante decided to only allow his arm to get hit instead of his chest by raising his arm to block the attack. An action that was the wrong decision, for immediately afterwards, Kazuto sliced upwards, jumping as he did so and managing to hit Dante's chest and arm on the way up.

Balance lost, Dante was forced to face upwards, arms and shinai at the side, as he witnessed Kazuto made a full force swing from an overhead position, his entire body suspended in the air briefly. For but a moment, Dante could not help but think that the sight of Kazuto, clad in kendo gear and slamming his shinai downwards full force, was a mildly terrifying sight. This was followed by him trying to move his body, or at least his arms, to try and reduce the number of health points that Kazuto was sure to obtain. An effort that was, unfortunately, in vain, for the shinai solidly hit Dante on the head, also managing to drag against Dante's chest on the way down as his body twisted to try and avoid the attack. With that last hit, Dante fell to the ground with a heavy thump, unable to keep his already unstable balance.

Damn it… Dante grit his teeth, trying to bear the pain. He had NOT expected that sort of attack as a last-ditch effort. Eyes glancing to the side, he could see that his health dipped down by a large percentage, now resting at 81 percent overall. A little under half his initial health. He really went all out on that last attack, huh…was his earlier actions preparing himself to make that attack? Or is he really on his last legs?


By the Maou, that was way too close! Kazuto thought to himself, as he faked his panting. If I were still a human, that last Howling Octave would have me on my last legs! But…

Glancing down, Kazuto saw that Dante was slowly getting up. …Thanks to that, Dante-san most likely has a slight concussion from my last attack. Kazuto huffed, even though he did not feel exhausted at all. A good thing for me.

Eyes drawn to the side, Kazuto looked at their respective health bars. I had planned to get him down to 70 percent, but this would have to do for now. I should be fine to do one more combo. Maybe Vertical Square? If I aim it right, that would be just enough to win me the match.

Kazuto took a small moment to catch his breath. …Maybe not. Best to finish this quickly. Less chance of me getting called out too.

And so, with that thought in mind, the longest match yet ended with Kazuto swiftly striking Dante on the had multiple times.


(*1*) - This is the execution of two variations of the Sword Skill, Sharp Nail. The first one is faster compared to the second variation in terms of execution as it's execution is basically waving the sword left to right, leaving behind the shape of a clawed attack. The second variation, while not as fast, is more powerful compared to the first one. This is only speculation on my part, but I believe the second variation is more powerful due to two reasons. One of them being that the very first move requires the user to twist their waist, delivering even more power into that first strike. The second reason is that the next two swings would be weaker than the first one, but still very strong as the two attacks are aimed at the same location and utilises the effect of gravity to help increase the power behind the last two hits. If you are unclear on how it looks like, the first one is basically from the game, SAOMD(May it live on forever in our souls), while the second one is from the first season of SAO:Alicization.

AN

Well, the second part of the double chapter release has arrived! As promised, this AN would be a bit longer compared to the first chapter of the double release.

As I said earlier, fight scenes are not my forte. That said, I think I outdid myself with this one. Some things are not that well explained, but I will try my best to cover those parts in the next chapter. But for now, I will delve into some explanations about Dante.

Dante is a Japanese-European who is modelled after obviously Klein. Not only with the ginger-red hair that we see from Klein in the VR games, but also with his general attitude towards others cultivated by how often he spent his life outside of Japan and surrounded by the rather lackadaisical attitudes of the different countries, especially the European countries. At the same time, he is one of the more skilled swordsman in this AU thanks to not only his swordsmanship style, but also because of his constitution.

Because of his muscle disease, he has to train harder than a regular, average individual. And because he is not satisfied by his current muscle mass, strength, and speed, he trains even more to compensate. This resulted in Dante gaining a near superhuman level of control over his muscles, allowing him to control how his body should act in order to get to the goal he wants.

If he, say, wants to hit the target on the right, but is swing from right to left, he would subconsciously activate more muscles in his left arm to compensate and hit the target on the right successfully. Obviously, his accuracy would decrease with such an attempt, but it does not matter too much as in kendo, all it takes is a single, solid hit to win you a match. That, and the fact his dynamic vision is very good, allowing him to hit his target with an accuracy of 95 percent. Why this number specifically? Well, cause I can't be bother to run calculations, and it is a random number which reflects how Dante is one of the most skilled swordsmen in this AU.

Now, as for why Kazuto is able to unleash these Sword Skills without rest, this relates to the next chapter's explanation, but I will start off with a few words, but the most important one is that there are no cooldowns, as all of them are being executed with pure muscle memory, with a little under the original speed these skills are supposed to be performed at.

After this, Kazuto and Asuna will face Julian. Questions will be asked and answers will be given. Then, there will be the Kyoto finale Not sure if I am going too be splitting the last bit into multiple chapters, or just put them into one chapter. And finally…

The Poll! The harem poll is going to be closed officially by the next chapter. So get your votes in! For those who have not yet voted, here is the new link:

forms .gle/ QANJpxifxCvZQ1pY6 (Remove the spacing)

PS: Klein's girlfriend seems to be Dakira. If you want her to be official, continue to support her!

Anyway, as always, Anime is Life, and please review!