The Winter Shogun is a Grand Spirit of Winter who protects the Snow Sprites.
How strong is he?
In another world (Konosuba), the Winter Shogun is an extremely powerful monster, comparable to a Demon King General.
For more detail, let's use the example below:
An Archwizard named Megumin is capable of creating a crater 20 meters in diameter with her Explosion Magic.
For those who don't understand, perhaps an explosion that size doesn't sound extraordinary by high fantasy fiction standards.
That's not wrong either.
Nevertheless, it's not an explosion to be underestimated. That explosion is strong enough to destroy a small hill if properly directed, or a military base.
According to scientific estimates, it's equivalent to a 500 kg aerial bomb!
Even so, Megumin admitted she couldn't kill the Winter Shogun in a single attack with her magic.
Not to mention the speed factor. The Winter Shogun moves at minimum sound speed, if not faster!
Unfortunately, Azlan didn't know how strong his opponent was. However, thanks to his caution gained from life in war zones, he had activated his Mystic Eye of Heavenly Eyes as soon as he detected the other party.
Thanks to that, he saw various futures, and in almost every scenario he saw, his head was decapitated!
"Bad!"
He saw the Winter Shogun taking a stance: his right hand raised and ready to draw the katana from its sheath, his posture very low, ready to execute a deadly Iaido technique in the blink of an eye.
*SWOOSH!*
A second before the enemy's attack was launched—an attack moving at the speed of sound—Azlan was able to act. He pushed Akane away with full force, and at the same time enveloped his body with thick Touki.
*BAM!*
The katana blade struck precisely at its intended target: Azlan's neck.
However, that lightning slash didn't find flesh and bone. Instead, it was caught between Azlan's two palms that had snatched forward at nearly the same speed, wrapped in shimmering Touki. However, he underestimated the Winter Shogun's strength.
*RUMBLE!*
Irresistible force pushed Azlan until one knee plunged into the snow and frozen ground beneath. Spider-web cracks spread from the impact point, breaking the ice layer.
More frightening, the razor-sharp wind blast accompanying that slash—just its side shockwave—managed to penetrate his Touki layer. Thin, bleeding cut lines immediately appeared on Azlan's cheeks, forehead, and arms.
(He's strong! Just his attack's shockwave damaged my Touki! If that attack had succeeded, I fear my head would already be flying in the air.)
Thinking that for a fraction of a second, Azlan gritted his teeth. The leg still on the ground pushed his body up against the sword's pressure, and the other leg coated in Touki swept in a kick toward the Winter Shogun's stomach.
*BAM!*
The kick that could shatter two meters of concrete hit the Winter Shogun's armor layer. A loud sound echoed, but what happened only made his figure retreat three steps. No visible damage.
But that was enough. Azlan freed his hands and leaped backward, maintaining distance while calling his true power.
"Divine Dividing!"
*ZING!*
A pair of white-blue wings appeared from his back.
"Azlan-kun!"
Akane's anxious scream was heard from afar. She had fallen into a pile of soft snow due to Azlan's push, her face pale with fear seeing the wounds on Azlan's body.
"Don't come closer, Akane!"
"This creature is stronger than any enemy I've ever faced. Don't worry, if I can't win, we can always escape. You forgot I can fly, right? Just watch from there."
Perhaps due to strange bushido ethics or simply absolute confidence, the Winter Shogun didn't disturb Azlan giving his warning. He just stood, his katana now unsheathed and shining coldly beside him, waiting.
"I understand!"
Akane bit her lower lip until it nearly bled. Tears of panic and worry gathered at the corners of her eyes, but she tried hard to hold them back.
"Don't push yourself! Fleeing isn't shameful!"
Azlan heard that. A small smile appeared on his bloodied face.
"A protagonist is someone who can turn the situation around. Someone who can achieve things others can't. How could a protagonist like me die here?"
That was a lie.
Azlan never once considered himself a protagonist. He said that for Akane's sake, to win the girl's trust and calm.
[Don't be reckless, Azlan. This opponent is extremely powerful. Based on the speed and raw strength he just displayed, he's at least equivalent to a High-Class Devil from my original world.]
Albion's voice resonated in Azlan's mind, not panicked but full of warning.
He didn't immediately tell his host to flee as Akane suggested. For him, every generation of the White Dragon Emperor matured and grew through life-and-death battles that tested their limits. So, it was better to guide Azlan through this fight rather than tell him to avoid it.
"I know." Azlan answered seriously.
His sharp blue eyes continued tracking every minimal movement of the Winter Shogun.
*WHOOSH!*
Without warning, the Winter Shogun moved again. He closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Only a pale blue shadow remained in the air before his ice sword slashed again, this time with a series of rapid movements forming a web of death.
Azlan clearly couldn't compete in terms of raw speed. But he had eyes that could see slightly ahead.
His Mystic Eye of Heavenly Eyes kept working, projecting various future possibilities.
He tilted his head, jumped backward, twisted his body—each movement appeared barely sufficient, but always managed to avoid the deadly blade by millimeters. His clothes were torn, strands of his hair cut, but his body remained intact.
(It's not working...) Azlan's thoughts spun rapidly amid the evasions.
(As I suspected, the Heavenly Eyes have limitations. It's proven that if my opponent is too strong, I won't be able to 'see the path' to defeat them.)
He realized the fatal shortcoming of his Mystic Eyes at this moment. The Heavenly Eyes allowed the user to see the 'path' or 'possibilities' toward victory—focusing infinite futures into a single advantageous course.
However, the user still had to be physically capable of following that 'path'. If the user's muscles, speed, or strength weren't sufficient to execute the required movements within that 'path', then the vision would be useless.
And most importantly, these Heavenly Eyes were ineffective against opponents objectively far beyond the user's ability to defeat, no matter how. These Mystic Eyes couldn't create victory from nothing; they could only maximize existing possibilities.
In short, this was the power to narrow down the means needed to achieve a goal into one most probable 'path'. It limited reality's infinite possibilities into a single achievable course.
However, if there was no course leading to victory among all possibilities, then those eyes would only show various versions of defeat—as Azlan kept seeing: himself beheaded, stabbed, sliced, or cut to pieces.
Currently, what he saw was only a maze with no exit. Every 'path' he tried to follow ended with his death within seconds.
The Winter Shogun was too fast, too strong, and his defenses too perfect. Azlan could avoid immediate death for now, but he couldn't see a single 'path' where his attacks could hit the opponent, or where he could escape with Akane without being cut down midway.
This was the bitter reality: his Heavenly Eyes, which had been his mainstay all this time, had encountered an impenetrable wall. Against an entity as powerful as the Winter Shogun, he couldn't rely on future vision to win.