I teach judo in Tokyo.

"Break!"

"No!" Despair filled the eyes of Yae Meixuan and Sakura.

Rin, who was closest to his feet, trembled as she faced the oncoming blade.

Turn small things into a whole!

Sousuke's eyes narrowed, and with his extremely keen intuition, he had already activated the effect of turning the fragments into a whole the instant before Shinnosuke Kagami swung his sword.

It was as if a grand, resounding symphony had appeared out of nowhere in my ears.

The bones, fascia, and muscles of the whole body instantly meshed together, transforming into a perfect whole.

Asura Flash!

It was as if he had shrunk the distance to an inch; without moving his feet, he had already taken three steps in an instant and was within two steps of Shinnosuke Kagami!

At the same time, his right hand flashed, and the dazzling blade transformed into a bolt of lightning the moment it was drawn, slashing towards Shinnosuke Kagami's neck.

Mist Slash!

At this moment, the blade that Jia Shen had slashed down had only fallen halfway.

If it continues to fall, it will certainly be able to easily kill Rin.

However, Atobe Sousuke's long sword will surely behead him!

Jia Shen's pupils narrowed, and he quickly pulled his sword back up, blocking Atobe Sousuke's lightning-fast draw slash at the very last moment.

"clang!"

A tremendous metallic clanging sound reverberated throughout the area.

The knives in both of their hands were no ordinary weapons, yet they remained unscathed even under such a terrifying clash.

However, Atobe Sousuke's power far exceeded Yoshinosuke Kagami's expectations.

Jia Shen was sent flying backward several meters by the impact of the attack.

In the next instant, Sousuke lunged forward and launched an even more ferocious attack on Shinnosuke Kagami, who had fallen into a slight disadvantage!

In a single second, nine swords were unleashed simultaneously.

Nine-Headed Dragon Flash!

The high-speed slash, reaching its peak, instantly overwhelmed Shinnosuke Kagami's figure.

Jia Shen calmly raised his sword to block the attacks, but his eyes revealed shock.

What a sharp knife! What a heavy knife!

This kid wasn't lying; his swordsmanship even surpassed his hand-to-hand combat skills!

Even—in terms of swordsmanship alone, he is no less skilled than me!

A "young man" whose swordsmanship is no less than mine, the champion of swordsmanship?

Upon realizing this, Shinnosuke Yoshigami was startled.

Then, an expression of excitement and longing appeared on his face.

A perfect opponent!!!

At the same time, Sousuke's lightning-fast combo had reached its final thrust.

Suddenly, Shinnosuke Kagami switched from defense to offense. Facing Sousuke's finishing thrust, he neither dodged nor avoided, but instead swung his sword backhand to strike!

Flame Roar!

Seeing the opponent's desperate, life-for-life attack, Sosuke's lips curled into a sinister smile.

Surprisingly, he didn't dodge or evade either, but instead thrust his longsword out at an accelerated speed!

Are these two really going to die together?!

The moment the Yae sisters screamed.

"Ding!"

The blades that struck each other's bodies did not produce the sound of cutting through flesh.

It was the sound of metal clashing!

The two were blasted away by the heavy blows from each other.

Sosuke quickly adjusted his body and landed in mid-air, a trace of blood spilling from his mouth.

Shinnosuke Kagami flew even further.

He flipped in mid-air more than ten meters away and landed firmly on the ground, with specks of bloodstains on his white trench coat.

Kagami's chest and Atobe Sousuke's shoulder where he was slashed.

The clothes were visibly torn.

Beneath the marks, the metallic sheen of Orichalco gleamed.

Clearly, both men were wearing specially made protective gear under their coats.

"Old man, did that assassination attempt break any bones?" Sosuke spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, his smile as rampant as a wolf's.

Even with the protection of his indestructible special metal armor, the impact of his swift attack, amplified by the power of combining fragments into a single strike, should not be underestimated.

Faced with Sosuke's unrestrained attitude.

Shinnosuke Kagami returned the sneer with a straight posture, his eyes fixed on Sousuke Atobe with fervent eyes.

"It's just a minor impact; it can't hinder the guardian of Suzaku's will..."

He stood tall, his white cloak fluttering slowly in the night breeze.

“Cowardly… stubborn fellow.” Sousuke slowly tightened his grip on the long sword.

The two faced off in silence.

Just then, the weather changed dramatically.

As the fierce wind blew, countless large white snowflakes slowly drifted down.

Yae Meixuan, Sakura Rin, and the other two who were watching the battle nervously felt the snowflakes falling on their faces being icy cold, and then slowly melting after touching their skin.

“It’s snowing…” Sakura said instinctively.

The instant she finished speaking.

The figures of Atobe Sousuke and Yoshinosuke, who were in a standoff, vanished in an instant.

Where their figures disappeared, the falling snowflakes suddenly swirled and danced.

As if they had skipped through time, the two appeared directly on the midline between them.

"Clang!"

Blades clashed!

Then came a fierce counterattack!

The two were of similar skill level in swordsmanship.

Shinnosuke Kagami's "Scorched Blade - Vermilion Bird" sword technique is at a level of "74".

Atobe Sousuke's "Nenryu" level is "53", but with the overall boost from teaching and learning, it happens to be "74"!

Shinnosuke Kagami has been immersed in swordsmanship for decades, experiencing countless dangerous sword battles and possessing extremely rich experience—he has reached the "Saki of Saki" level, which is no different from the old butler.

While Atobe Sousuke lacked the same extensive experience as his opponent, he possessed the physical advantage of "combining fragments into a whole."

With his near-predictable combat awareness, Kagami is always able to seize the initiative in attacking by anticipating Sousuke's attacks.

However, thanks to his amazing sixth sense and the effect of "mind's eye illusion", Sosuke keenly sensed the impending danger and then turned the tide in time by using his speed and strength to surpass his opponent.

The two fighters were strangely evenly matched, locked in a stalemate.

Counterattack!

Entangling Knife!

Shake the knife!

Retreat immediately!

The blizzard turned the world into a vast expanse of white.

The two figures appeared and collided in an instant amidst the dense snow, then separated just as quickly.

"I...I can't see clearly..." Rin, who was being held in Yae Meixuan's arms, rubbed her eyes.

While she was rubbing her eyes and speaking, the two on the battlefield had already exchanged blows more than ten times!

Fast! Incredibly fast!

The sharp glint of the blade flashed amidst the dense snowflakes.

Each flash represents a fierce clash.

Each collision was like two snowballs colliding and exploding, turning into a flurry of snowflakes.

And so, it seemed like a long time had passed, but in reality, less than a minute had gone by.

The exchange of fire between the two sides quietly ceased.

Sousuke and Kagami Shinnosuke were several meters apart, breathing rapidly.

Both of them were enveloped in a large amount of mist, which was water droplets formed by the heat generated by their rapid movements condensing upon encountering the cold air.

"I never expected that the person who could push me to this point wouldn't be my good disciple, but you—"

Shinnosuke Kagami's face was filled with fervor, and the way he looked at Sousuke was like a lecherous fiend staring at a stunningly beautiful woman.

"Sousuke Atobe—now, I'll show you my true strength!"

Shinnosuke Kagami raised his treasured sword to level!

"This sword is named—Ruifeng!"

"Among them resides the Vermilion Bird!"

***

Ending preview and update adjustment instructions

Good evening, dear readers!

After thinking about it, I think I should give them a heads-up.

I wonder if any of you have noticed that this book is actually nearing its finale.

That's right, the ending I designed for this book is actually between the points before and after the world's sublimation.

This is the climax of the tournament, after defeating all the bosses and the final boss, the ending will begin.

It has nothing to do with grades. In fact, the book has reached a million words, starting with 1600 initial subscriptions and now averaging over 3000 subscriptions, and still has nearly a thousand readers following it. The results are quite good for me.

If I keep writing, I could easily write hundreds of thousands more words.

But there was no way around it; when I was planning the book, I envisioned the story to be around a million words long.

There are several main reasons.

First, the setting is limited to Tokyo, with battle as the main plot and romance/harem as a secondary plot. Essentially, for me, it's a genre that I can't write for very long.

Second, the world setting—when I created the book, the world I planned was a "highly realistic" world. Under this basic setting, although I kept laying the groundwork for a "surreal" "grand world", it was only to serve the final battle.

In other words, the final boss and many minor bosses may involve extraordinary power, but that's already the climax. I don't plan to continue telling the story of the world's subsequent sublimation into an extraordinary world. If I force a connection, it will create a conflict with the setting when the book was first published.

Thirdly, I've been planning my new book for a while now. Simply put, I really want to write a new book, and I can hardly contain my urge to express myself.

(The new book will be a really exciting story! -- I think so...)

So, let me give a formal explanation.

As this book progresses towards its conclusion, the update schedule will be adjusted to "daily 4K".

The book will likely conclude around the end of this month, and there may also be a few side stories.

I will use the free time to continue refining my new book, and may even save some manuscripts.