novelsite Chapter 2216-2214 True Sword Duel
Chapter 2216-2214 True Sword Duel
Chapter 2216-2.214 True Sword Duel
One glance, and life or death was decided.
This caught everyone sitting in the dojo off guard.
"Thump!" Masukonosuke coughed up a fountain of blood and knelt down, dying. He should have fallen backward, but due to the second throw, he had a forward thrust. When his throat was pierced, his forward-leaning body reflexively tightened, causing him to kneel and die.
After being killed in one blow, the ten swords disguised with optical camouflage mysteriously flew back and reassembled into the hand hook, one of the Seven Ninja Weapons.
The hand hook is a legendary melee weapon used by Japanese ninjas, combining offensive and climbing functions. It comes in various shapes, designed to resemble the back of the hand or fingers, resembling a hook with sharp spikes. It can be slipped onto the back of the hand or attached to a fingernail for flexible concealment.
Broadly speaking, the one worn on the back of the hand resembles a fist blade; the one attached to the fingernail resembles a claw blade. Therefore, they are collectively called "hand nail hooks".
It perfectly complements the "Snake Form" of the Totsuka Blade. Combined with optical camouflage, it is flawless.
At this moment, Princess Takahime, acting as the "chief witness" to this real sword duel, gently clapped her hands. The princess's wet nurse and the female thief from Atago Shrine both stood up and carried Masukomomonosuke's body aside. The noodle shop girl, Tsuya, and the woman from Tenryu Chaya got up again to wipe the bloodstains off the floor, then silently returned to their seats.
Wearing a three-layered hat, the "White Bird Assassin" Ume gently rang a bell, and Sakakibara Kiheita, one of the "Five Swords of White Bird," suddenly stood up and entered the arena with his gun.
Since the Kikuchi clan, a powerful family in Kyushu, began using the Kikuchi spear, the spear had always been a popular weapon among foot soldiers (lower-ranking infantry) and even military commanders. As Japan's armor-making capabilities improved, many lower-ranking samurai could also fight in armor. The lethality of swords and blades could not keep up with the times, and the spear, capable of piercing enemy armor, eventually became one of the five main weapons of Japan and a mainstream weapon on the battlefield.
Japanese spears were mostly of the "tang" type. This means the slender shaft below the spearhead was embedded in a hollowed-out hardwood or bamboo/wood shaft split into narrow slits, then tightly bound with layers of thin leather rope, and finally wrapped with lacquered bamboo to prevent water damage. During the Sengoku period, Japanese people were generally short, with 140-150 cm being a common height for samurai. The renowned warlord Takeda Shingen was only 153 cm tall, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi was only 140 cm. Therefore, the spear effectively compensated for the short stature of Japanese samurai. The Japanese called spear length "ken," equivalent to 1.6 meters. It wasn't uncommon for Sengoku samurai to have spears three and a half ken long, while the "ken-ya" spear, used for ease of carrying, was most common among Edo ronin (masterless samurai).
As the saying goes, "An inch longer, an inch stronger." The two-piece spear and three-piece spear, which possessed a length advantage on the battlefield, gradually faded from the historical stage due to the disappearance of the tachi and nodachi. Edo samurai carried two swords: the main sword, the "katana," with a blade length of 60-80 cm and a slightly curved blade, was worn with the blade facing upwards and inserted into the belt for quick draw; the secondary sword, the "wakizashi," with a blade length of 30-60 cm, was similar in shape to the katana but shorter, and could be used with one hand for close combat, fighting in confined spaces, or as a backup.
A gun with a total length of 1.8 meters, including both ends, is sufficient.
Kiheita Sakakibara is the younger brother of Saheiji Sakakibara, a wandering swordsman with a straightforward and honest heart. Because his elder brother died at the hands of the swordsman protagonist in a wooden sword duel, Kiheita Sakakibara is determined to avenge his brother. As a result, he is easily recruited into the "Five Ronin Group" of the "White Bird Five Swords" by the "White Bird Assassin" Ume.
Zishan Linghu, whom Wu Chen called the "Demon Lord of Myriad Realms," teleported her into the arena in a disordered manner. Before she could even figure out what was going on, she encountered her first real sword duel.
The one who came to challenge the dojo was a female ninja. Although they were all ronin nowadays, and there was no longer a concept of serving different masters, the rule of death upon defeat had never changed. Having finally occupied a dojo that could provide shelter from the wind and rain, and before he could even settle in, it was about to change hands. As a ronin who lived a life of hardship and uncertainty, how could Sakakibara Kiheita easily let it go?
Viewers of the anime "Harakiri" know just how miserable the ronin and samurai of Edo during the peaceful era were.
The significance of this temple is self-evident.
Further discussion is pointless.
Kiheita Sakakibara gripped his gun with both hands and assumed a fighting stance.
The Shinano female ninja, Sanada Yuhi, stood ready, wielding ten swords.
"Drink!" Kiheita Sakakibara shouted, sweeping his gun across the battlefield.
A cold glint flashed from the spear blade as it slashed diagonally at the Shinano female ninja.
In fact, martial artists have long known an important principle: between two points, the shortest distance is a straight line, and the fastest distance is a curve.
Instead of thrusting, the spear is swung and slashed, its trajectory an incredibly fast, almost perfect curve. This is an astonishing martial skill honed through countless practice sessions by the ronin samurai.
The resilience of the spear shaft also caused the attack to suddenly accelerate, making blocking equally difficult. The Shinano female ninja, Sanada Yuhi, almost reflexively swung her Totsuka Blade.
The blades met in mid-air, and one of the gun blades was severed at the root.
Just as she was about to give chase, the Shinano female ninja Sanada Yuhi suddenly felt a chill and retreated.
Sakakihara Kiheita's wrist trembled.
The bare gun barrel followed like a snake's shadow, its blade broken in the middle.
With a "ding!", sparks flew.
The broken blade pierced the air, aiming straight for the throat of the Shinano female ninja.
Good tactic.
That said, if it weren't for the swordsman protagonist's hypnotic full moon killing technique being so bizarre, Kiheita Sakakibara might have actually won.
Fortunately, the Shinano female ninja, Sanada Yui, retreated in advance, creating enough distance to react. Otherwise, she would have been either killed or seriously injured.
As they retreated, a small bundle of swords shot out from under their hands.
The broken blade and the small sword collided head-on, each flying away.
Kiheita Sakakibara swung the spear shaft, entangled the broken blade. The small bundle of swords flew back to the ten bundles of swords on its own.
"A magnet." Wu Chen saw through Sakakibara Kiheita's little trick at a glance. The connection between the gun handle and the blade wasn't the traditional Japanese clamp. Instead, it was firmly held together by a magnetic attraction, similar to a mortise and tenon joint. It would automatically separate under a certain amount of force.
Speaking of which, the battle to defend Athena, which just ended during the adventure in the second level of the Fulong Temple Pagoda, relied on the magnetic attraction effect of the Earth's core magnetic blocks. It's unexpected that someone here uses a similar ability. One can only say that any resemblance to actual events is purely coincidental.
They fought to a draw.
This brought a sigh of relief to everyone present. Masukone Monosuke's instant defeat upon entering the scene was merely an accident.
Perhaps he wasted all his energy on Princess Takahime's bed, where she was widowed and left alone in her old age, and neglected his martial arts skills. He unknowingly became a coward and underestimated the female ninja who came to his door, which led to his death.
Yes, that should be it.
Speaking of Princess Takahime, who was as ruthless as a wolf and sucked the earth dry...
She truly deserves to be the most beautiful daughter of Tokugawa Ienari, the eleventh (Sei-i) shogun who had the most wives, concubines and children among the fifteen shoguns of the Tokugawa shogunate.
The thought that Masukiko Monosuke, the most handsome of the five, had died suddenly made Kiheita Sakakibara's heart burn with desire.
With burning passion for the double crown, their spears flashed like dragons.
"Drink, drink, drink—"