The same speed as before—no, maybe even faster.
Even with distance and a wider field of view, Yūki still couldn't clearly see Shirazumi once he accelerated.
"Tch!"
Shiki dodged a slash aimed at her chest. Her kimono tore at the left shoulder. A shallow cut opened there, blood spilling.
Before Shiki could reset her stance, a storm of attacks hammered down. She blocked most with the short blade but was driven back again and again. In moments, fine cuts bloomed across her.
She had no "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception." No hardened combat experience.
And she was only sixteen.
Against Shirazumi's inhuman speed and strength, she was losing.
Yūki forced himself upright in the shadow under the bridge. Watching the battle by the riverbank, he quietly placed a hand near his thigh—where the second weapon lay cold against his skin.
When Shiki arrived, the relief nearly shattered the thread Yūki had been holding. He could still move, still breathe, but he understood: this fight was beyond him.
His heart thundered, yet his mind sharpened into clarity—along with the helplessness of being unable to act.
He hated that feeling.
Clang!
Clang—clang!
Just as Yūki feared, Shiki's wounds grew deeper and more numerous.
"Aha…"
Seeing her weaken, Shirazumi attacked with even more zeal, laughing as he carved her where she couldn't defend.
"Even you can't beat me now… How about it! How about it! Beg! Say—"
His voice stopped.
"Ah… I remember now."
Shiki didn't fully evade the next strike. Her left forearm opened—six or seven centimeters long, deep enough to show bone.
In exchange, Shirazumi's neck was cut open at the side.
If the cut had gone half a centimeter deeper, his windpipe would have been severed.
Shiki didn't even look at her own wound. She flicked the blood from the blade and advanced on Shirazumi, whose movement had paused from shock.
"So you're the… weak one."
Shirazumi stared at the bleeding cut on his neck, disbelief on his face.
In contrast, Shiki's voice was cold, casual.
"Even with speed and strength, you still only know how to bite and claw like an animal…"
"Shut up!"
Shirazumi lunged—this time truly aiming for Shiki's throat.
Shiki "lightly" avoided it.
In truth, it was a narrow dodge; a fine cut appeared near her throat. She hadn't completely escaped.
Yet to both Yūki and Shirazumi, it looked effortless.
And then came the counter.
Thick—fast—final.
Shiki drove the short blade through Shirazumi's right elbow from the inside, piercing clean through. His knife dropped with a clang.
"Aaaagh!"
He staggered back, then dropped to one knee, overwhelmed by pain.
Shiki left the blade embedded. Shirazumi had no capacity to continue fighting.
At this point, with his dominant arm ruined, he no longer posed a threat to her.
"You weren't wrong earlier," Shiki said, staring down at the "killer." "Even with borrowed power, you're still weak inside. You only swagger at those you think are beneath you."
She looked more battered than he did, yet she towered over him.
"Even my unlucky friend is stronger than you. Look—he hasn't even collapsed."
Shirazumi turned toward Yūki. His shoulders sank.
"Ah… so that's how it is… I lost. I'll turn myself in."
Shiki glanced toward Yūki, who had emerged from the shadows, a complicated expression on his face.
But when Yūki's gaze shifted from Shiki to Shirazumi, Yūki went pale.
[Fairy Eyes (Pseudo)] activated on its own.
Even at only C+ rank, he could see it: a vague red mist clinging to Shirazumi—like fog.
Something else was mixed into it.
"Maybe you're right," Shirazumi murmured. "Maybe I'm just a beast with power…"
He smiled.
"But when a beast runs at full speed… even a hunter can't catch it."
"What?"
"Shiki—watch out!"
Yūki shouted the moment he saw the "lie mist," without thought.
But the real danger wasn't Shiki.
Shirazumi truly could no longer threaten Shiki directly.
Yet in pure speed and power, he still surpassed her.
In raw numbers, she couldn't stop him.
Shiki judged it instantly.
She couldn't catch him.
[Fate Power +1]
Intuition screamed. The system chimed.
But by the time Yūki processed it, Shirazumi had ripped the short blade from his own arm and rushed Yūki instead.
Slash—
Yūki had no room to draw his hidden weapon. He could only block with his arm.
Blood and flesh sprayed.
His earlier wound hadn't fully healed beneath fresh bandages. Now the cut went deep—deepest yet.
Shirazumi didn't expect it.
Yūki looked sickly at school—always with dark circles, always half-dead.
But his bones were surprisingly hard.
This wasn't like dismembering others. It wouldn't cut through.
"Damn… Is it the blade?" Shirazumi snarled.
He refused to admit any weakness in himself. He blamed the weapon in his hand—ignoring the fact that Shiki had just used that same blade to pierce his elbow clean through.
They locked for half a second.
Then Yūki heard something slice the air.
Thud.
Shiki—knowing she couldn't catch him—snatched up Shirazumi's fallen knife and threw it.
It pierced Shirazumi from behind, straight through the heart.
Shirazumi's strength drained away.
Yūki's face went paper-white—like he'd remembered something terrible.
He didn't hesitate.
He drew the gold short sword from his thigh and, teeth clenched, drove it into Shirazumi's corpse—up through the throat.
Morning pushed back the night haze.
In the dawn light, the golden blade ran with blood, shining brilliantly.
-------
Enjoy 20% off our Patreon membership to celebrate Christmas. You can join starting today
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (200 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (180 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (180 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (110 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (190 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (78 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (130 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (80 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (140 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (50 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (60 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (110 Chapter)
Arknights : Batman System (30 Chapter)
Chat Group: Swapping Bodies with the Bad-Ending Herta from the Start (54 Chapter)
DanMachi: Why Did My Dungeon Turn Into a Soulslike Game? (63 Chapter)
Losing Money on Uma Musume...What Do You Mean You Actually Won? (77 Chapter)
I'm Gotou Hitori—Who Are You? (40 Chapter)
Were You Ever Even a Uma Musume? Stop Making Things Up! (58 Chapter)
Moon Project: A Full-Time Love Adventure for the Lobotomy Corporation (60 Chapter)
The Leisurely Days of the Hyuga Main House (50 Chapter)
Arknights : A Draco Surviving in a Matriarchal Terra (40 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it