Chapter 434: Chapter 156: Copying "Eternal Talent": [Eightfold Banner of No Regrets]!

It was another formidable and cunning strike... If the mysterious figure had been holding a knife instead of a branch, this strike would have definitely been deadly to over ninety-nine percent of ordinary people who’ve never learned any martial arts.

Having already experienced the might of the mysterious figure and refusing to underestimate him in any way, Aoto opened his eyes wide, taking in the sword path—or "branch route"—crafted by the figure, while spinning the blade of Orange Water, holding it back towards the mysterious figure.

Since he needed to unravel the identity of this mysterious figure, Aoto decided to engage using the non-lethal back side of his blade.

Aoto agilely flashed, dodging the branch slashed by the mysterious figure.

After evading the figure’s attack, Aoto adopted a lower stance, swinging Orange Water upwards from the lower right towards the figure’s chest.

A flash, then another.

What a pity there were no spectators here; otherwise, they would see Aoto’s blade rapidly flashing twice.

The first flash swung from the lower right to the upper left aiming at the mysterious figure’s chest, only to be easily dodged by the figure.

For the second flash, seeing the first upward strike miss, Aoto swiftly spun the sword blade wielded above the figure’s right side, reversing it back with the blade downwards for a Kasaya Slash from the upper left to the lower right, but again the figure slipped past it.

At this moment, Kinoshita launched her attack.

It must be said, Kinoshita chose an excellent timing for the assault.

Standing slightly to the rear of the mysterious figure, she seized the moment when he stepped back to dodge Aoto’s dual blades to launch her attack.

Kinoshita leaned her body weight down, whipped out her right leg like a lash, sweeping towards the figure’s lower body.

However... like he had eyes on his back, the mysterious figure didn’t turn to glance at Kinoshita but seemed to precisely grasp her attack style and direction.

The figure lightly leaped, causing Kinoshita’s sweeping kick to fall short.

Having consecutively dodged Aoto and Kinoshita’s combined raid... the mysterious figure began his counterattack!

Effortlessly lowering his left hand and holding the branch in his right, he floated stepwise closer to Aoto.

To push him back, Aoto slashed diagonally, but the figure sidestepped, continuing straight towards him.

In the moment they crossed paths, the figure swiftly raised the branch in his hand, fiercely striking Aoto’s side twice.

The scorching sting from his side forced Aoto to take a sharp breath.

The branch was thin and robust, striking like a whip; while not fatal, the pain was intense, certainly leaving behind two welts on the skin...

The mysterious figure’s strength was formidable... whether it was the step technique to evade their attacks or the sharp flurry of wind whipped up using a ’branch for a sword,’ it was far superior to Aoto’s current skill!

"Lone Brave" had automatically triggered earlier.

Yet even with "Lone Brave" active and Kinoshita assisting, Aoto’s sword failed to touch the mysterious figure scoring even by a hair!

No matter how fiercely he slashed, the figure easily dodged all of his strikes.

As for the branches swung toward him, he had to concentrate fully on avoiding them... and yet the success rate wasn’t absolute, Aoto had suffered multiple hits from the mysterious figure’s attacks.

What was more terrifying... as someone who had gained certain swordsmanship skills, Aoto realized earlier that: the mysterious figure wielded the branch without any "swordsmanship" or "sword techniques."

Only plain, horizontal and vertical slashes...

It was as though the figure hadn’t even unveiled his sword techniques, merely subduing Aoto and Kinoshita effortlessly using simple "ordinary attacks."

It seemed that due to his weapon, the mysterious figure regarded him as the greatest threat, and Aoto noticed that the figure consistently targeted him as the primary attack objective...

The branch predominantly struck him, with visible welts from the strikes marking Aoto’s body.

On the other hand, Kinoshita... the figure barely bothered about Kinoshita, sparing her from attacks, persistently dodging her fists and kicks.

The mysterious figure with its approach fully suppressed Aoto and Kinoshita, indulging leisurely in the battle against the duo.

Suddenly, the mysterious figure stopped waving the branch—he swiftly kicked Aoto’s right leg, catching him off guard.

The kick by the mysterious figure was astoundingly precise.

He hit directly at the nerve in Aoto’s right leg.

The nerve pain and numbness spreading swiftly throughout Aoto’s right leg deprived him of balance, sending him tumbling heavily to the ground.

Seeing Aoto fall, Kinoshita’s expression turned anxious; she launched a furious assault on the mysterious figure using fists and feet, hoping to entangle him and buy time for Aoto to get back up.

Yet, the mysterious figure afforded Kinoshita no such opportunity.

The figure ducked under one of Kinoshita’s high kicks, then performed the same maneuver as he had against Aoto—flying a kick that struck Kinoshita’s right leg.

Also struck precisely on the tendon nerve, Kinoshita followed Aoto’s lead in falling heavily to the ground.

Having successfully knocked down both Aoto and Kinoshita, the mysterious figure refrained from pursuing further.

His eyes swept over the fallen Aoto and Kinoshita, then he casually tossed the branch to the ground and dashed towards the distant road intersection.

Watching the mysterious figure nearly vanish from his field of vision, Aoto gritted his teeth, enduring residual numbness in his leg, struggling to stand upright.

But, just at this moment.

A system notification sounded in Aoto’s mind for the second time that night.

A sequence... unfamiliar system audio Aoto had never heard before.

[Ding! Talent detected]

[Beep beep beep! Successfully replicated [Eternal Talent]: "Eightfold Banner of No Regrets"!]

[Talent Description:

When United in Heart and Mind, without perplexity, unleash a supreme strike akin to Hachimantai Myojin’s embodiment!

Heart Without Confusion, Sword Without Regrets!]

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Seeking monthly votes! Seeking recommendation votes! (Picture of a crying leopard)

Some events happened in the author’s real life yesterday, so today’s word count is slightly shorter, I will try to write more tomorrow (Picture of a crying leopard)

You can guess what this "Eternal Talent" means~