What’s more, his body was capable of movements precise enough to split a grain of wheat at a distance.
And—
All life ends when their vitals are cut. That was all he needed.
Instead of learning versatile skills, it was better to focus on just one aspect; a step faster than the opponent, a fatal attack that will always hit. Born from those ideals, was his second original martial art— 「Instant Slash」
Even after achieving a high-speed slash that was nigh impossible to avoid, he did not stop.
‘Difficult’ didn’t even begin to describe his training. He practiced his 「Instant Slash」 hundreds of thousands, no, millions of times, until the calluses on his hands hardened, until the katana’s grip resembled the shape of his palms.
In the endless pursuit of the limit, a new skill was born.
A slash so fast that not even a drop of blood remains on the blade, 「God Slash」, a skill he felt was bordering on the realm of the gods.
Once the blade left its sheath, it was impossible for the enemy to even see it coming.
These two martial arts; an absolute awareness and a godlike slash, an unavoidable attack combining both 「Field」 and 「God Slash」 formed to create his trump card.
The target to aim for was the vitals.
Ideally, the neck.
This was his Hidden Skill— Wind of the Great Forest.
It was named after the sound of blood sprouting shortly after severing the neck.
Even if the vampire didn’t bleed, cutting off her head would secure his victory.
“Are you ready now?”
In front of Brain, in his imposing silence and sharp breathing, Shalltear merely shrugged her shoulders in boredom.
“I’m going to assume you are and start attacking. If you have anything to say, now would be the time.”
After a brief moment—
“—I’m going to crush you.”
With a joyful declaration, Shalltear stepped forward.
Keep talking while you can. Let’s see if you can keep that composure after I separate your head from your body.
He didn’t say it out loud, if he opened his mouth, it felt as if his concentration so far would be wasted.
Shalltear, seemingly without a care in the world, approached him. She walked completely defenseless, as if she was going to a picnic.
Seeing his opponent so full of openings, Brain fought to keep the smirk off his face.
Foolish, would be the only way to describe it. Nevertheless, he won’t give her the chance.
While activating 「Raise Stats」, Brain waited for his adversary to enter his 「Field」. He concentrated everything to the moment when she would enter the range of his blade. These foolish monsters that think they’re the strongest, they’re all the same. They think that humans are weak, that our bodies are fragile, our abilities nonexistent.
But I will teach you how dangerous it is to underestimate us.
Brain swore in his heart. Martial arts were created so humans could fight enemies far beyond them.
— I’ll kill her with one attack.
The prouder they were, the more desperate they become once cornered. If he couldn’t kill her with the first attack, she would no doubt order her servant to join the fight. Then the situation would become two versus one, and even Brain couldn’t be confident against those odds.
That’s why he had to settle it in one blow.
His face unmoving, Brain silently ridiculed her.
Approaching without care, she didn’t understand that she was walking towards a guillotine.
Just three more steps, two steps.
… one.
And then—
— your head is mine!
Thinking so in his head, Brain put everything into his slash.
“Tsuu!”
His breath was sharp and short.
The katana exploded from its sheath and cut through the air towards Shalltear’s bare neck.
The speed was like a flash of lightning. So fast that by the time the light entered your vision, your head would already be falling to the ground. Millions of repetitions had finally resulted in a speed that entered the realm of gods.
I got her.
Brain was certain—
— and couldn’t help but widen his eyes.
The slash that cut through the air had all of his strength behind it. If she had managed to dodge, then he would have been forced to admit that an opponent stronger than even his wildest imagination had finally appeared before him.
However—
Shalltear had caught it with her fingers.
— a slash near the speed of light.
And with a delicate motion like holding the wings of a butterfly—.
The air around him seemed to freeze. Brain exhaled a large breath.
“… I–Impossible.”
His voice carried barely a whisper.
Brain forcefully held back his body that was threatening to tremble uncontrollably. He couldn’t believe the sight in front of him. But without a doubt, resting on his outstretched blade were two fingers, both white as pearls— her thumb and index finger.
Not only that, her wrist was bent at a 90 degrees angle while holding the flat side of the blade, instead of the sharp edge. Rather than stopping it head on, she had caught up to the katana’s speed— caught up to his 「God Slash」 from behind.
Although it looked as if she was holding it lightly, no matter how hard Brain pushed and pulled against her, the katana didn’t budge. It felt as if the sword was chained to a boulder hundreds of times his size.
Suddenly, the power exerted on the katana rose, causing Brain to almost lose his balance.
“Hmph. Cocytus has a few swords too, but it seems they’re not even worth being wary about when there’s this much of a difference between the wielders.”
Shalltear peered at the blade while drawing it closer to her face.
Brain, who had no idea what she was talking about, felt the inside of his head turn white.
It was the despair of having his entire way of life denied in front of him.
But it was thanks to his defeat in the past that he could stay standing. Similar to how a broken bone grows stronger after it’s mended; his experience with defeat was what kept him strong.
It was impossible, but he had no choice but to admit it.
She had easily caught his light-speed slash.
Brain looked pale. Shalltear was surprised to see him this way and frowned. She then sighed in disappointment.
“Do you understand now? I’m not an opponent you can beat without using martial arts. If you finally get it, shouldn’t you start getting serious?”