Shirou successfully hit Isolte, and did not trigger the Water God Style's parry or deflection.
The reason he was able to do this was because Shirou saw through the biggest weakness of the Water God Style: it only focuses on defense and lacks any intention to attack.
Although everyone in this world knows that the Water God Style is famous for its defense and is not good at attacking head-on, most people's understanding is only superficial. They only have a shallow understanding of the Water God Style and do not realize its fundamental logic and rules.
Moreover, Shirou had a clearer understanding of the essence of the Water God Style.
That is, the core method of Water God Style swordsmanship is not defense and counterattack, but absolute perception.
The reason why the successors of the Water God Style can counterattack their opponents' attacks in any situation and can parry enemies' methods from various angles is not just because the Water God Style's moves are too unique, with each move and style able to see through the opponent's reaction and counterattack.
In a sense, this is very similar to the Mind's Eye skill possessed by Servant Emiya.
Both use experience and skill to react and judge unknown moves out of thin air, and even anticipate the opponent's actions in advance to respond accordingly.
However, the perception of the Water God Style is still very different from the Mind's Eye of Servant Emiya.
The former is an ability obtained little by little through complex training and systematic improvement. It is a huge knowledge base accumulated by generations of Water God Style swordsmen. Later generations only need to constantly study and hone themselves according to the content in the knowledge base to be able to deal with most enemies and opponents in the realm of consciousness.
And Servant Emiya's Mind's Eye is something of a higher level than the perception acquired through training. The skill he possesses comes from the thousands or tens of thousands of battles he experienced as a guardian, the mark engraved in his soul through endless killing.
Compared with the Water God Style, Servant Emiya's Mind's Eye is clearly a higher-level ability. The Mind's Eye he displays can be used not only for combat, but also for archery in Shirou's daily life, producing extremely good results.
In short, it was precisely because he possessed this superior Mind's Eye skill that Shirou saw Isolte's biggest flaw in the Water God Style at a glance.
Because Isolte and other Water God Style disciples generally obtain extraordinary perception by learning the knowledge and skills taught by their predecessors through systematic research, their thinking is unknowingly covered by the predecessors' knowledge, passively believing that the Water God Style is simply a move for defense and counterattack.
However, in reality, the perception possessed by the Water God Style is the same as Servant Emiya's Mind's Eye. Its essence should be able to attack and defend, and be easily released at any time, and even be used to chase enemies' moves.
Isolte and other Water God Style disciples stubbornly believe that the Water God Style is mainly inclined to defense. This undoubtedly locks their own potential and is equivalent to breaking their own arm, making it impossible to turn the knowledge left by the countless strong people of the Water God Style into real strength.
"Pa!"
As Shirou hit Isolte with another sword and made a flexible dodging movement, easily ending Isolte's possible counterattack.
All the swordsmen present finally realized that something was wrong.
Originally, many Water God Style swordsmen felt that Isolte was just holding back, letting this outsider swordsman win.
But now, they also realized that Isolte was not deliberately holding back, but really had no way to deal with Shirou's attack.
Shirou's moves at this time were more like the Water God Style than the Sword God Style. He used slow but solid attacks to firmly block every place where Isolte could counterattack, and directly pushed Isolte into a dead end with the Sword God Style's speed, which was much faster than ordinary swordsmanship.
"How could this be..."
The Water God Style swordsmen all fell into chaos for a while. They never expected that Isolte, the strongest of the younger generation, would be so suppressed.
"..."
The teacher of the Water God Style dojo was in a complicated mood.
He thought that Isolte, who was personally trained by the current Water God and given countless trials and training, was undoubtedly the next Water God.
Such a child would be unrivaled in the younger generation.
It was also for this reason that he was so eager for Isolte to defeat Ghislaine's disciple and avenge the Water God Style of the past.
But he never expected that even Isolte would fall into a bitter battle when facing Ghislaine's disciple Shirou.
This was an unbelievable scene for him, not to mention the huge blow it would be to him if Isolte lost.
While all the Water God Style disciples and teachers were hoping that Isolte could win, Isolte herself was in a state completely different from everyone else.
Shirou's swordsmanship was completely different from most swordsmen she had ever encountered. The other party's sword was more like wielding a weapon through some higher-dimensional judgment.
There were no moves in it, only to hit the enemy and achieve the goal.
This kind of swordsmanship is very common among North God Style swordsmen.
Most North God Style swordsmen only use the sword as a tool, and some extreme North God Style swordsmen don't even use swords. For them, any suitable weapon can be called a sword.
However, Shirou's swordsmanship has not yet reached that extreme level.
The other party is still a normal swordsman, but the sword he wields is no longer limited to the shape of the sword, but attacks through some higher belief.
Isolte had experienced this feeling before.
That was when she fought against her master, the current Water God Reida Reia, she could clearly feel that the other party's sword was not on the same level as her own.
Although the swords are clashing, the thoughts of both sides are not on the same level at all!
But does this mean that Shirou's swordsmanship is at the same level as the Water God?
This is obviously impossible...
Strange thoughts arose in Isolte's heart, and her movements did not stagnate at all, always maintaining a high-intensity confrontation with Shirou.
However, after a long battle, Isolte has realized that she is completely impossible to defeat Shirou in ordinary swordsmanship confrontation.
Shirou's Mind's Eye is the absolute superior of the Water God Style's perception ability.
As long as the moves are used based on perception, Water God Style swordsmen will not be able to surpass Shirou unless they reach the level of Water Emperor or Water God.
Of course, there is another way, which is to use absolute powerful battle aura to crush the opponent.
But Isolte is only an advanced-level Water God Style swordsman after all, and it is impossible for her to have that level of battle aura.
Now, Isolte has realized that she cannot hold back in any way, and must exert her strength to the extreme to have a chance to defeat the opponent in front of her!
"Hoo!"
Just as she was about to retreat to the edge of the field, and would be defeated if she retreated further, Isolte suddenly took a deep breath.
She erased all her attention from perceiving Shirou's movements, and instead focused all her attention on the wooden sword in her hand.
Sensing Isolte's actions, Shirou immediately changed his formation and made a silent sword movement.
He knew very well that he was able to suppress Isolte so easily just now entirely due to the Mind's Eye. The Mind's Eye from Servant Emiya is a perception ability far beyond the Water God Style of this world, so as long as the perception skills are used in the same way, the people of the Water God Style will definitely not be as good as him.
However, this does not mean that Shirou will definitely win this battle.
The Water God Style, as a system that has been passed down for thousands of years, has accumulated the foundation of countless strong people, and definitely has more than just perception.
Shirou did not dare to underestimate her in any way.
"Sorry!"
At the same time, Isolte did indeed make a new move. She suddenly raised the long sword in her hand and made a strange movement.
The Water God Style has five secret arts, which are the strongest secret arts realized by the first Water God.
Of the five, anyone who can use three can be called a Water God.
Although many Water Gods in the past have learned four secret arts, the only one who has mastered all five secret arts is the first Water God.
The current Water God Reida Reia is no exception. She has only learned three secret arts.
However, the current Water God is still a powerful existence, because she has learned the two strongest of them, she can still be called the Water God even at such an old age.
Of course, that is not what matters now.
For Isolte, since she can become an upper-level Water God Style swordsman, it is naturally because she has learned one of the Water God Style's secret arts.
"Pa!"
Isolte slowly waved the sword in her hand. The bright sword was now attached with obvious battle aura, winding around it.
Such a rich battle aura cannot be easily condensed even with the battle aura of a Water Saint.
It is conceivable what kind of hard training Isolte has experienced, through nearly unimaginable grinding and torture, she has successfully condensed the current strength.
"This is..."
However, to Shirou's surprise, Isolte's battle aura did not continue to be maintained after being completely wrapped around the sword, but attached to her whole body in a diffuse form.
Water God Style, the Secret Art of Bedrock.
Condensing the whole body with battle aura, using nearly high-intensity battle aura to instantly increase the flesh body to nearly the level of steel.
This is one of the Water God Style secret arts, and also the strongest ability that Isolte has mastered today, and the main reason why she can be called a half-step Water Saint.
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