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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Heart Sword
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—Smash!
The fierce duel between Stardus and Katana seemed to be drawing to a close as Stardus, in an instant, shattered Katana's sword.
As Katana stared in shock at her broken katana, Stardus swiftly lunged, delivering a punch.
"Tch."
Quickly, she flung the remaining hilt to the ground and agilely threw herself backward.
She then continued to retreat, kicking off the walls of several nearby buildings, until she finally came to a halt, placing a hand on a rooftop.
Her white martial arts uniform and hair swayed as she swallowed a sigh.
"Hoo..."
And towards Katana, who now appeared helpless without a sword, Stardus flew, her fist radiating an intense yellow light.
*
[Is this really the end?????]
[How to deal with a swordsman: (1) Shatter their sword (2) The End LOLOLOL]
[Mango, it looks like the broadcast is going to end less than an hour after it started???]
*
While even the chat room was bewildered that the fight was ending so anticlimactically...
Katana, standing on the rooftop, took a quiet deep breath, then simply reached her hand towards where her scabbard had been.
"I never thought I'd have to use this here...."
She said this calmly, despite what appeared to be a moment of desperate crisis.
And so, she reached out as if there were something in the empty scabbard.
And then,
*
[?????]
[What the heck?????]
*
Beside her, from that empty space,
a sword glowing with blue light emerged, as if from an invisible scabbard.
No, to be precise, the sword was 'forming' in the air with a blue light.
And so,
pulling out the Heart Sword (心劍), which glowed with a blue light and radiated a mysterious aura, Katana extended her arm to her side.
Then, a gust of wind began to blow, flapping loudly.
'...I didn't think it would come to this.'
Controlling the sword of fluctuating blue energy in her hand, Katana thought to herself.
Katana, Japan's S-rank villain. The one who, with her swordsmanship alone, quelled all the rampaging villain factions that numbered in the dozens across Japan, established the Sanhyup-pa, and even succeeded in pressuring the Association, effectively rising to the top in Japan.
In other words, she had never lost in a one-on-one combat situation.
'....I didn't expect to have to exert myself this much today.'
Katana regulated her breathing, thinking quietly to herself.
Unexpectedly, this hero, Stardus, was too strong. Much stronger than she appeared in the old videos Katana had watched. As if her abilities had evolved.
Among all the adversaries she had faced in Japan so far, Stardus was the strongest. No, seeing Stardus, who seemed even stronger than that, Katana...
Katana decided to unleash her full power, here in this foreign land.
...For today's events seemed likely to grant her a new realization.
"Hup!"
Having drawn her blue sword,
she swung it directly at Stardus, who was flying towards her.
Whoosh-
CRASH!
"Ugh...!"
A chilling premonition, the tearing sound of the wind, and the immense energy felt before her—
Stardus quickly blocked her front with her glowing arm.
Immediately, a blue sword energy, extending from Katana's sword, collided with Stardus.
BOOOOOOOOOM.
In the sky, an enormous roar echoed, as if a bomb had exploded.
And so, a thick smoke dispersed across the sky.
While the chat room clamored, asking what had happened,
As the smoke cleared,
"Haa... haa..."
"...Hup."
Stardus, gritting her teeth, stared at Katana.
And Katana, her black hair fluttering, quietly and calmly aimed her blue sword at Stardus.
At that moment, as Katana's blue sword energy flared, Stardus's yellow light gleamed, and the chat room rapidly ignited,
"Haha, now, ladies and gentlemen, the real show begins!"
To the ears of those watching the live stream, a familiar, mirthful laugh resounded.
Egoistic, who had quietly disappeared from the screen, began to speak again.
***
"Indeed."
After Katana's sword broke,
I nodded, watching Katana, who had drawn her blue Heart Sword and was fighting Stardus.
Katana's ultimate armament, the 'Heart Sword of the Azure Soul'.
Though it sounded incredibly cheesy, it was an actual secret art that appeared in the original work.
To be precise, it was a trump card she pulled out at the moment her comrades were falling one by one due to an insider's betrayal.
'...Honestly, I didn't expect it to come to this, as that sword itself was said to be made of a material that doesn't break easily.'
Originally, Katana could just shatter most opponents with her regular sword, so there was no need for her to draw the Heart Sword. It wasn't even necessary for one-on-one combat.
However, in moments like now, when her sword is brutally shattered, she'd have no choice but to pull it out.
Currently, Katana was on par with Stardus.
They would likely be able to engage in a very fierce, evenly matched battle.
In the original work, Katana was known for her extraordinary feat of slicing through a building with a single swing of her sword.
'...It's almost upon us now, and Stardus needs an opponent of this caliber to grow quickly.'
The day the Moonlight Sect brings forth their monster army isn't far off, and as the world slowly shows signs of collapse, it's natural that I'm very concerned about Stardus's power growth. There's no harm in her getting stronger quickly, so I planned to maximize Stardus's growth while my body was still fine and the Cathedral was operating normally.
'Especially since there's more and more to do now....'
As we're slowly moving past the mid-point of the original story, named villains are appearing one by one, and I need to pay attention to them too. Especially considering the presence and public fear that the main villains of the mid-to-late stages showed, it means the Ego Stream members will need to start stepping up to control public opinion.
In other words, by then, I might not be able to focus as much on Stardus as I am now, so I'm getting her to grow as much as possible while I still can.
'...And once her growth is complete.'
I'll probably retire soon and focus on other things while resting. It'll be a shame not to see Stardus directly, but given her personality, she'd probably prefer it, so it doesn't matter. She'd probably stretch out her legs and sleep soundly, thinking she doesn't have to worry about Egoistic anymore.
"I'll think about that when the time comes..."
For now, should I focus on Stardus?
Thinking that, I used my telekinesis to bring the camera, which had been filming their battle from a distance, over to me. Time to do some battle commentary. Of course, while pretending to commentate, my main goal would essentially be to hype up Stardus.
And so, I revealed myself in front of the camera.
"Haha, now, ladies and gentlemen, the real show begins!"
Alright, time to start talking.
Until the fight concludes.
***
"And here... Ah! Stardus successfully blocks it! I heard no one had ever managed to block Katana's sword energy before, but Stardus does it!"
*
[Whoa, LOL!]
[Seriously, I'd only heard about Katana, but she's super strong lol. But Stardus is amazing too.]
[Overall, can't tell who's gonna win? It's super intense.]
[Coooh, look at Stardus blocking all of Japan's top fighter's attacks with her bare body! Bartender, another round!!!]
[But seriously, Egoistic explaining everything makes it so much more fun. I felt like something was 2% missing earlier, and it was because Mango wasn't here hahahaha.]
[But why isn't Egoistic fighting? Why's he just commentating from behind?? How dare he! Show us Mango fighting directly!!!]
[Whoa, if Mango fights directly now, Stardus will be knocked out in one hit and kidnapped by the Association... And *censored*]
[But why is Katana fighting Stardus here? I really don't know.]
[Whoa, Egoistic asked her, didn't he? It's 'common sense' for everyone to grant Mango's requests, isn't it??]
[Mango's charm is spreading globally, captivating even Japan after Korea, damn LOL]
[They even seem quite close, could it be? Oh no....]
*
Glancing at the chat room, which was now even more active than before, I continued my commentary. Of course, some useless chatter popped up occasionally, but that wasn't important.
The fight between Stardus and Katana proceeded quite fiercely.
Katana had told me she wanted to overcome a wall with this opportunity, so she was definitely giving it her all. And Stardus, for reasons I wasn't entirely sure of, seemed to be fighting with much more anger and intensity than when she fought me before. ...It was scary.
As a little more time passed,
and their fight grew increasingly fierce, to the point where if you got too close, the wind would make it hard to open your eyes.
Finally, the end of the long, drawn-out battle seemed to be in sight.
"...Take that!"
"....!!"
Stardus, seizing a moment when Katana let her guard down,
again threw a punch at Katana's Heart Sword, just like before.
The Heart Sword wasn't made of material; it was formed of energy, so I was surprised to see Stardus fearlessly bring her fist to it.
But my fears were unfounded.
—Shatter!
"....Huh?"
*
[????????????????]
[What the heck, that could be broken???]
[Stardus Punch! Stardus Punch! Stardus Punch! Stardus Punch! Stardus Punch! Stardus Punch! Stardus Punch! Stardus Punch! Stardus Punch! Stardus Punch! Stardus Punch! Stardus Punch!]
[The punch tears the Heart Sword LOL]
[Stardus, yay! Stardus, yay! This is K-Hero, whoa hahahahaha]
*
Stardus had simply driven her starlight fist into it, shattering even the blue Heart Sword.
At that moment, with her eyes wide in utter disbelief, as if she had never once considered this possibility, Katana momentarily lost her balance in mid-air.
It was then that I finally teleported.
To support Katana from behind, as if embracing her, and to end today's "terror" here.
In truth, Katana could just summon her Heart Sword again and the fight would continue, but it had already been quite a while and the intensity was too high; it was time to end it.
I'd just grab Katana's hand, make the broadcast ending remarks, and then head home. Situation over!
I had thought it that simply.
...At the time.