My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 292: Chapter 122: Aoto vs. Shinno! Copy Talent [Beautiful Hair] (Part 3)

But because he already had some relevant experience, coupled with the continuous heart-wrenching experiences since crossing over, Aoto’s current mental state has been well-trained... So facing the current one-on-one situation with Shinno, he didn’t feel panic or hesitation.

Shinno’s strength far exceeded Aoto, who had only learned swordsmanship for a few months. Just from Shinno’s recent strike aimed at Aoto’s head, he sensed that Shinno’s power was far above his.

Therefore—Aoto’s ”Lone Brave” had already been activated just moments ago!

His heart was pounding rapidly, adrenaline surging.

Aoto calmly sidestepped, exposing his left shoulder and stood in a lower right sword position, facing Shinno motionlessly.

Shinno was the first to break the deadlock.

After gauging the distance between them, he fiercely thrust his sword towards Aoto’s throat, carrying the style of the Mirror Heart Mingzhi School—elegant yet full of killing intent.

The ”Eagle Eye” with enhanced dynamic vision and the ”See Through” with stronger spatial perception made Aoto quite adept at dodging.

Aoto retreated half a step, smoothly evading Shinno’s attack, and in the same motion swung his sword towards Shinno’s neck.

Aoto’s strike was equally full of killing intent; had Shinno not swiftly raised his sword to block, his head would certainly have been removed.

Realizing Aoto’s strength was far greater than he had imagined, Shinno’s pupils slightly contracted, then he shouted lowly, pushing back Aoto’s Ghost-Slaying.

Retreating half a step, adjusting his stance, middle rank to upper rank, the sword slicing from above towards Aoto’s head.

Shinno remembered the intelligence provided by the young samurai earlier—Aoto and his group wore chain armor, so Shinno targeted Aoto’s head and neck as primary attack points.

Glancing at the sword coming down from above, Aoto refused to be outdone, quickly adjusting his stance to lower rank, blade facing upward, swinging his sword up from below.

The blades clashed directly above Aoto’s head, sparking a shower of sparks.

Aoto felt a slight pang for his new sword—after this battle, his Ghost-Slaying would definitely need to be repaired.

This was the sword’s fate.

The fate of a sword is to repeatedly go through the process of ”damaged, repaired, damaged again, repaired again.”

The armor on Aoto played a significant role because the positions for Shinno to effectively attack were very limited; slashing at Aoto’s upper body or forearm was useless, making Shinno’s actions somewhat restrained, unable to execute many powerful moves.

However, despite having the power boost from ”Lone Brave” and the protection of armor, overall, Aoto still couldn’t truly rival Shinno, at best achieving a forty-sixty split against Shinno.

Nevertheless—though he was clearly the disadvantaged party, Aoto fought with exceptional ferocity.

The Natural Reasoning Heart Stream focuses on fierce offense, only through aggressive attack can it truly unleash its intended power.

Thus, to maximize the advantages of the Natural Reasoning Heart Stream, Aoto charged forward like a raging tide, quickly slashing with Ghost-Slaying, strike after strike, launching a fierce offensive against Shinno.

His Ghost-Slaying and Shinno’s sword drew two streaks of light, repeatedly colliding along the wooden corridor, the flying sparks continuously illuminating Aoto and Shinno’s faces.

The constant flashing of the two streaks of light... Contrastly, the night wind leaking through the windows seemed somewhat sluggish.

Shinno didn’t recognize what swordsmanship Aoto used, but he could see that Aoto’s swordsmanship was a style focused on offense.

Letting Aoto continue attacking like this would allow Aoto to gradually dictate the battle rhythm most comfortable for him.

To disrupt Aoto’s rhythm, Shinno began a proactive counterattack.

With a shift of his steps, killing intent fully apparent, as the white blade flashed, Shinno seized a gap in Aoto’s attack, slashing diagonally towards Aoto’s left thigh.

Aoto’s movement slowed slightly, his left thigh being sliced open by Shinno’s blade, creating a 4cm long wound. Fortunately, the cut was shallow, painful but not greatly affecting Aoto’s performance.

Without looking at his injured thigh, Aoto adjusted his stance and breathing, then charged at Shinno once more.

Judging by the battle situation, Shinno had the upper hand, yet there was no ease or exhilaration on his face.

—Watch me slash you in one go!

At the start of the battle, Shinno’s expression implied such a sentiment.

But as the battle with Aoto continued, his gaze gradually filled with shock.

In these two months, Shinno had thoroughly studied this opponent who caused significant losses to their Anti-foreigner Group.

He diligently asked the survivors of the ”Snowy Night Chaos” about Aoto’s strength.

According to his investigations, Aoto, who barely won against Mogami Shofu, should not be as strong as him!

But why was this Tachibana Aoto now able to go toe-to-toe with him, only slightly at a disadvantage?!

Though credit must be given to Aoto’s armor for reaching the forty-sixty balance, the strength Aoto exhibited far surpassed Shinno’s expectations.

Shinno being shocked by Aoto’s current strength was understandable, after all, who would have thought Aoto’s growth could not be evaluated by normal standards?

```