Chapter 142 – The Paper-Thin World
[Now, the semifinals of the chosen men! Facing off, the supernova and the veteran warrior. Truly, this is a composition of the new era and tradition!]
Me and Wacha. We face each other in our signature stances
I flicker. And step lightly.
On the other hand, Wacha’s stance was, contrary to me, with his dominant hand in front of him, pointing at me with his fingers spread out instead of clenching his fist.
『The dominant hand upfront… Southpaw style. And by having the right in front, it makes landing hits with your left more difficult.』
Southpaw style. I never really thought about that.
But……
“Hard to hit with the left? I can strike the guy! Without restraint!”
“?”
If I can’t overcome a bit of difficulty, I won’t make it in the world ahead.
[Now, do show us what you got! Reveal the outcome of this showdown! Let the semifinals…… Begin!!]
With the start signal, I jumped out.
To land hits in a difficult situation, as much as you want, is proof that you can dominate the world with your left hand.
“【Great Demon Flicker】!!”
“Huacha!!”
Left. It bent like a whip, and carved Wacha at an irregular trajectory.
However, unlike the opponents in the first and second rounds, Wacha was not hit.
“Whoa…”
“Even if it’s irregular, your left is… always aiming at my head from the front aye! If so, this much!”
With the right hand put out in front, he was fending off the lefts.
I see. Certainly, this is the merit of the southpaw stance, isn’t it?
But……
“Then, what if I don’t come at you head-on?”
“Nu?”
Dominating on the left does not mean stopping still and just punching like an idiot with your left hand to win.
You have to be able to put together a plan to apply the left, which is your weapon.
“Magical Footwork”
“Eh?!”
In the large arena, I accelerate and move in a circle around Wacha.
Sure enough, he doesn’t seem able to keep up with my footwork.
Don in the middle, inviting me in.
Then……
“【Great Demon Goose Step】!”
“Here, aye!”
I move my shoulder slightly as I accelerate into Wacha’s blind spot, diagonally behind him, and released the left.
However, Wacha, who had predicted my dive from the blind spot, reacted immediately.
He tried to put a counter on my left side with the finger jab that he showed in the first round…
“Gotcha!”
“Eh!?”
I never underestimated Wacha, either.
Therefore, I was properly reading what was being read.
The left I was trying to release was a feint.
I stopped just before, and a rather simple right straight finger jab from Wacha was released, then I reintroduced the left I stopped to cover that right.
“【Great Demon Left Cross】!”
With this, it’s in…..
“Just kidding, aye♪.”
“Eh…”
However, when it came to reading the undersurface, Wacha had more experience than I did.
Did you read up to the left cross?
A finger jab that I thought was straight. But suddenly, his right elbow bent, changing the trajectory of my cross counter!
“【Arcane True Zenith Cross Counter Return】 aye!”
And, aiming at my defenseless jaw, Wacha stretched his piercing left… toward my eyeball. But……
“Kuuka!”
“What the!?”
Upper body evasion. Avoid with the 【Great Demon Swayback】.
“O, ooh… I thought I could cut the area around the eyelids a little without a direct hit, but… you have extraordinary dynamic vision…”
“Of course. I’ve been secretly training hard ever since I lost thoroughly to Jamdi’el in Magical Vision Training!”
Improving the basic ability of dynamic visual acuity, eye movement, and peripheral vision.
Without these last three months of training, that might have been a bit dangerous.
“And I was using this left three months ago…”
“Nuh?”
“And after three months, now… I can hit lefts like this, right?”
I resume my attack.
I took some distance with the backstep and flickered again.
Wacha also tried to get poised again with the same stance as before, but … it’s not the same.
“【Great Demon Jab】!”
“This left aye!”
It looked like a flicker, but then I changed my stance, and it’s just a straight left.
The left is the basics of the basics, no gimmicks or anomalies.
But Wacha, who would have seen the trajectory and rhythm of my Flicker, was a moment too late in reacting.
“Habu!?”
“Ora! There are still a lot of shots… hnn?”
I got in. On the left… nuh?
No, there was no response. This is…… a neck twist! He twisted his neck in the same direction as my straight left to reduce damage… and slipped away!
“Fui~, really… I can’t let my guard down for even a moment.”
Could he, just like me, perform this sort of defense?
But this is not something just anyone can do.
That’s the power of the trained eye…
『Tis intuition based on experience… is it not?』
Avoiding direct hits with experience and intuition that I did not have.
Tre’ainar’s calm words made me chuckle inwardly.
“Hehe… you’re… amazing.”
Tre’ainar described Wacha as, “having more power, speed, and overall strength than I do”.
In fact, even as we face each other like this, I felt the same way.
However, Tre’ainar also said this about Wacha.
“Technique…”
A man of great skill. So much so that Tre’ainar praised him.
And, that’s why he said that there was no better opponent when going out into the world.
“By all possible means, I’ll have you take one left shot with all my might!”
“Haha, go easy on me, aye.”
I’ll hit you. Without fail. I began carving out the steps again, building them up to hit the left.
[There is… no direct hit from either side! By a skin, by the flesh, they are fighting each other with merely a paper thin world between them! Wh, what we are witnessing here is, al, already, a, a hit landed… no, that didn’t connect either! Wow, I was sure… I saw it, didn’t I? Ah, ugh, ah…]
Unusually, the host was unable to calmly explain the situation.
And then, the audience forgot their cheers and jeers and became silent.
The host was finally speechless before long, perhaps everyone was staring breathlessly, fascinated by the paper thin offense and defense, and before he knew it, only the sound of the air being blown by our attacks echoed in the arena.
Author’s Note
Rugby World Cup! Japan has defeated Ireland, the no.2 in the world ranking! The excitement breakthrough, piercing the heavens, I couldn’t stand it any longer and wrote about it.
Strong! It’s not a miraculous Giant Killing anymore, it’s real ability! It’s impossible not to write about this historic moment!
Well, during Anikki’s college days… the yearling who once beat Anikki’s team in a practice match against the University of the East Sea, is now the captain of the Japanese national team and has beaten a world contender.
I know I’m halfway through, and this is a little shorter than usual, but please forgive me! I can’t sleep with all this excitement unless I update two chapters today!
For those who aren’t interested in rugby at all, it may not really matter, but please forgive me.
Nuoooooooh!