A brand new world.

  Sasaki had already prepared himself for it. heless, he still caught off guard.

  First was his strength. It was several times strohan usual. He k himself that his sword strikes—even Tsubame Gaeshi—would not affect the enviro as much as now.

  It was as if a pair of shackles were broken in this world.

  That brought him to the sed thing…

  ‘A sword to hit swallows.’

  An unpreted freedom.

  It was Sasaki’s first time to experienething as such.

  ‘Like the birds in the sky.’

  He stared at the fox-eared girl in front of him. Numerous sweat beads crawled from his forehead. His nodachi’s long handle felt a bit heavier as he faced a challenging enemy.

  Sakura far outcssed him in almost everything.

  Her blows, no matter how infrequent they were, took a toll on his body.

  Her rea speed was on a pletely different level.

  In a fair fight, he would have lost his head in an instant.

  However, both of them khey wanted a csh of pure swordsmanship. Sakura gave all of her advantages just to be able to do so.

  her time-stopping teique break his three bdes?

  Unfortunately for her, Sasaki’s sole advantage y in swordsmanship.

  ‘...was three the limit?’

  Feeling his body turning lighter, an idea sprouted in his mind.

  It was no longer enough to strike a swallow. In other worlds, there surely existed people far faster than it.

  He had to move forward.

  g-!

  Sou-!

  Once again, their teiques cshed. Sasaki ushed back by several steps. Gusts of wind came from their bdes, sweeping through the grassnd.

  A line of blood appeared on Sakura’s face. It was noticeably shorter than the previous ohat appeared fourteen minutes ago.

  ‘She already tacted the third strike.’

  Sasaki reached a state of unpreted ess. His prided teique was about to be defeated. His bde, which defeated his formidable enemies, was about to be broken by the girl opposite of him.

  Sakura’s improvements were extremely visible. Her time-stopping teique became so lethal she nearly blocked the third mystical strike from Sasaki’s Tsubame Gaeshi.

  ‘A path to infinity.’

  ‘A road none had ever walked.’

  ‘It is not necessary to walk in such a path. Having a glimpse is enough.’

  Tick.

  Tick.

  g-!

  Sou-!

  Sakura’s eyes widened as she felt an additional line of blood appear on her face.

  Turns out…

  “One more.”

  …she wasn’t just the only person who improved.

  *****

  The fight went beyond Aleph’s expectations.

  ‘I thought they would settle it quickly.’

  Oftentimes, a fight will be decided in a fsh. In a duel’s case, it stops when a vierges.

  Be it Sakura’s time-stopping teique or Sasaki’s Tsubame Gaeshi, both of them were extremely special.

  ‘She’s the releype…’

  He facepalmed inwardly as he bmed his stupid self.

  ‘I should’ve expected she wouldn’t stop.’

  It has been fourteen minutes sihe beginning of the fight. His elemental sight alone was enough to feed Aleph everything that happened just now.

  Sasaki’s Tsubame Gaeshi was on the verge of being cracked. Though, Aleph knew Sasaki wasn’t the type to stop at this, either.

  At the very least, he bees pletely different when it es to swordsmanship.

  g-!

  Sou-!

  Aleph pced his right hand on Rin’s back, preventing her from being tripped by the winds. The area around her was already enveloped with Aleph’s ralizing domain. What was left were the bits of phenomena deemed to be ‘weak’ by it.

  ‘I k.’

  His attention was taken by Sasaki’s sudden ges. His inal Tsubame Gaeshi had three simultaneous strikes; now, it has four.

  ‘Was this the difference of worlds? It’s truly… iing.’

  A desire was lit up in Aleph’s heart. Beyond his current duty of defeating the honkai, there y a road beyond it.

  It was that thought which fueled him a sense of excitement.

  ‘Expl other worlds...’

  Tick.

  Fifteen minutes had exactly passed sihe beginning of their duel. Sakura bnkly stared at the blood on her fiips.

  She knew she had lost.

  ‘A sword focused on defending.’

  Throughout their duel, Sakura noticed how Sasaki was always kept on the defensive, yet he utilized that same predit to his advantage. His nodachi’s reach was far enough to employ such a tactic.

  ‘A sword to protect.’

  Her thoughts went in another simir yet different dire.

  To whom was she doing it for?

  For most of the time, it was for her sister. She killed numerous people for her safety’s sake. She followed the orders from above. She willingly dirtied her hands for her.

  “Are you still unsatisfied? I fight you.”

  Aleph’s casual remark resounded in her ears.

  “No, thank you.”

  “If you say so.”

  The child beside him finally spoke after being in awe of the earlier fight.

  “That was very cool, Big Sis!”

  Rin ran straight to her side. Her small hands held her right hand.

  “ you show it to me again..?! Please~”

  “...Later, when we have the time.”

  “Alright! That’s a deal!”

  Looking towards the man who ged it all…

  ‘If it’s him…’

  …her swained a new meaning.

  *****

  [Achievement Obtained: A Loyal Sword]

  [Reward: Red Strings of Fate (Upgrade)]

  [A Loyal Swain a loyal guardian who fights by your side.]

  Aleph stared bnkly at the prompt that appeared earlier.

  ‘...It must be Sakura. There’s no other way.’

  After his achievement streak during the secutive fessions, it became silent for a few days. Only now did it appear again.

  ‘Why this again..?’

  Aleph could uand if it was reted to the three women who shared an intimate retionship with him.

  However, it wasn’t the case with Sakura.

  ‘This is seriously pushing me in that dire.’

  [Red Strings of Fate (Upgrade): Teleports the bound parto your side for an hour. Ohe duration ends, they will reutrn to their prior locations.]

  First, it was the transfer of Aleph’s power through a kiss. Then, what came was the increased growth as well as sensing each others’ statuses. The third upgrade took the ig on the cake.

  ‘It’s a time-limited thing? Well…’

  “I’m sorry you had to stay up this te, Sir Aleph.”

  “No, it’s not a big problem.”

  Aleph looked at Rin who was sleeping on the couch. She fell asleep watg projes of numerous fights against honkai beasts. It was akin to her stayi night to watch a movie.

  “I came here for ahing.”

  He briefly expihe effects of his newly-obtaireasure, the Evolution Cube. Sakura uood its use and agreed to using it.

  “Then, I’ll leave first—”

  Before Aleph could finish his words, Sakura interrupted him.

  “Sir Aleph. What about staying here for a night or two? We have an unused room…”

  All it took was a few words to ge the atmosphere.