Bang! Boom!
Soemon used a powerful sword technique, Kazan, to attack Ogata, but because Ogata dodged in time, his naginata only hit the empty roof.
With a loud "bang", the place that was cut immediately collapsed as if it was hit by a cannon, and a big hole collapsed downwards.
After dodging Soemon's blow with exquisite body movements, Ogata wanted to rush over to counterattack him immediately, but suddenly he heard a "squeaking" sound of breaking under his feet that made his teeth ache.
Before he could lower his eyes to look down, Xu Fang heard a "click" sound, and his body's center of gravity instantly lost balance, and his whole body fell downwards.
It turned out that the roof where he and Soemon were standing had collapsed completely.
The blow that Soemon had just made, which created a big hole in the roof, completely unbalanced the structure of the wooden roof, which was not very solid to begin with.
The roof cracked and shattered in all directions with the big hole as the center.
Not only Ogata fell down, but Soemon also fell down because he was unable to dodge and fell into the house below.
Although both Ogata and Soemon were caught off guard by the shattering of the roof, this level of surprise was far from enough to cause them to panic.
As soon as their bodies began to fall, they immediately adjusted their postures so that they could land smoothly.
Soemon was the first to fall.
So naturally he was the first to fall back to the ground.
Soemon landed first - which gave him the upper hand.
As soon as his feet landed back on the ground, he impatiently swung the naginata in his hand and slashed at Ogata.
And when he swung his naginata, Ogata had just fallen back to the ground.
The expression on Ogata's face turned stern in an instant.
He immediately determined that he was falling back to the ground half a step later than Soemon, and it was too late for him to use a step to avoid Soemon's attack.
Since there is no time to dodge, let’s just fight head-on!
Ogata took a deep breath, tightly grasped the two swords in his hands, and placed the wakizashi in his left hand and the katana in his right hand into a cross, blocking in front of himself.
clang--!!
The sound was so loud that it felt like the eardrums were about to be torn apart.
Soemon's large naginata collided heavily with Ogata's double swords.
Strong gusts of wind pressure dissipated from the point where the two men's weapons were connected, blowing away most of the dust stirred up by the shattered roof.
Ogata now only felt severe pain in his arms.
Muga Nisō-ryu's Blade Reversal is the only sword skill of Ogata that has reached the highest level, "Grandmaster Level", besides Origin's Breathing.
With the blessing of the "state of no self", Ogata's Blade Counter was improved to the level of a "divine skill".
Just now, when Obe was taking Soemon's attack head-on, he used his blade to neutralize most of the power contained in the large naginata.
But even so, after the blade in his hand connected with Soemon's large naginata, the force that was transmitted back to his arms along the sword was still strong enough to make Ogata's face change slightly.
Looking at Ogata in front of him who was able to take his attack head-on, Soemon raised his eyebrows and a look of surprise appeared on his face.
clang!
Ogata used both arms to push forward and block Soemon's naginata.
The house was too narrow, and it would be too disadvantageous for Ogata to fight with Soemon inside, so after blocking Soemon's naginata, Ogata immediately jumped out of the house.
As he jumped toward the street outside the house, Ogata lowered his eyes and glanced at the katana in his right hand.
He just used the katana in his right hand mainly to block Soemon's slashing blow head-on.
There was now a huge gap at the part where the katana and the naginata collided.
——It would be nice if both Mahakala and Mahadeva were here…
This was the first time tonight that Ogata wished so strongly that his two swords were within his hands.
When he was fighting with Soemon just now, the reason why Ogata had been trying his best to avoid a head-on confrontation with him and tried not to take his sword was mainly because Ogata did not have a good sword in his hand.
The wakizashi in his hand at this moment, which he had taken from Yuhachiro's body, and the katana he had exchanged from Ishikawa, although both were considered fine swords, were far inferior to Daishikatsu and Daijizai in terms of quality.
Ogata estimated that if he used the two swords in his hands to fight against Soemon head-on, both swords would probably break after just a few hits.
After Ogata leaped onto the street outside the house, Soemon immediately followed and jumped out of the house like a tiger out of a cage.
…
…
Outside the block——
"The sound of fighting hasn't stopped yet..." The commander of the 6th Division said solemnly, "Has the winner not been decided yet?"
"After all, our opponent is that Shura." The commander of the 2nd Division said calmly, "Even Lord Soemon will not be able to defeat him easily."
"Should we send someone in to check the situation or help Lord Soemon?" asked the commander of the 8th clan.
"No." The commander of the 2nd Division said without hesitation, "In this kind of terrain, if we rashly send someone in, not only might we not be able to help Lord Soemon, but we might even make things worse."
"Just continue to wait patiently."
Commander of Division 6: "...I actually never understood...why do we have to spend so much effort to deal with that Ogata Issei?"
"Isn't our goal to overthrow the Edo Shogunate and rebuild the Toyotomi regime?"
"If that's the case, there should be no reason for us to be enemies with Ogata Issei, right?"
"...Kill Ogata Noriyuki at all costs - this is the order from Lord Toyotomi himself." The commander of the second division said, "Since this is an order from Lord Toyotomi himself, we should just do it. There is no need to worry about why."
…
…
The battlefield between Ogata and Soemon switched from the rooftop to the street.
Although the location of the battlefield has changed, the intensity of the battle has not changed.
The two sides launched a violent attack and defense, and the battle was so intense that even a moment of relaxation would result in a fatal wound on one's body that would declare the victory or defeat.
Compared to the rooftop, the wider street would naturally make it easier for Ogata to use stepping to dodge Soemon's attacks.
The battlefield switched to the street, where the terrain was more favorable to Ogata but less favorable to Soemon.
Because there were too many houses around, which made it difficult for him to reach his full height, Soemon wielded a nearly 2-meter-long naginata.
But this small obstacle would not have much impact on Soemon, who had amazing divine power.
“Drink!”
Soemon turned his body, using the centrifugal force of his body to swing the naginata in his hand like a windmill.
Ogata jumped back in time, and the tip of the naginata only grazed his chest, cutting a little bit of the fabric at the collar.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang…
The naginata drew a perfect arc and slashed towards Ogata, but it did not hit Ogata, but it hit the houses on both sides of the street.
The houses that were struck by the naginata's blade were like delicate flowers struck by lightning from the sky.
The houses here are all made of wood, and most of them are old and dilapidated. How can they withstand the naginata made entirely of steel swung by the extremely powerful Soemon?
The violent way Soemon demolished the house at this moment reminded Ogata of the excavator with a big hammer hanging on it in his previous life, which was used specifically to demolish houses.
Ogata wanted to launch a counterattack immediately, but unexpectedly, Zuoemon launched a new round of attack.
This time, he used a stabbing attack.
Soemon turned the naginata in his hand, pointed the tip of the blade at Ogata, and stabbed him like a rain of pear blossoms, leaving behind a trail of afterimages.
Ogata originally wanted to try to step on the tip of Soemon's naginata when he stabbed it out, but he automatically dismissed the idea as soon as it came to his mind.
His strength is now only comparable to that of Soemon. If one raises his foot to step on the tip of his naginata, he will probably not be able to do so.
Therefore, Ogata could only continue to hide backwards.
Ogata dodged backwards and Soemon followed closely forward.
In just less than 5 breaths, Zuoemon stabbed nearly 20 times.
Ogata, who was trying to dodge backwards, suddenly felt something hit his back.
I turned around and looked back - it turned out to be a public toilet.
In the Edo period, except for the wealthy families, both samurai and commoners shared one public toilet with several or even dozens of households.
Public toilets of this era were basically dry toilets, and their area was designed to be very small, only accommodating one person at a time. The shape of each public toilet was like the public telephone booths in the past, and the internal space could only accommodate 2 or 3 people standing inside.
Seeing that Ogata was blocked by a public toilet behind him, a hint of joy appeared on Soemon's cheeks.
He quickly stepped forward, gathered all his strength, and swung his naginata towards Ogata's chest.
Although there were obstacles blocking his way from behind, Ogata remained calm.
Like Soemon, he also gathered all his strength, then did a backflip, flipped onto the roof of the public toilet behind him, and then leaped back with force, jumping off the roof of the public toilet.
When Ogata jumped off the roof of the public toilet, Soemon's naginata finally arrived and stabbed into the place where Ogata had just stood, piercing the public toilet in half.
He failed to hit Ogata again, and all the attacks so far had failed, which made a trace of gloom appear between Soemon's brows.
In order to vent the frustration in his heart, Zuoemon shouted loudly, pushed the naginata in his hand upwards, and blew the entire public toilet away.
Ogata leaped hard toward the back of the public toilet, drew a beautiful arc in the air, and landed steadily on a wooden bridge.
Six meters behind the public toilet is a rushing river that runs through this poor neighborhood.
The river is about 4 meters wide, the water is turbid, and you can't see the river bottom clearly. The water flows very fast. If someone who can't swim falls into the river, he will probably be in great danger.
There is a wooden bridge across the river.
Although the bridge looks a bit simple at first glance, it is surprisingly strong and has handrails and other equipment that are carefully built.
The only drawback of this bridge is that the bridge deck is a bit narrow, and only two people can walk side by side.
Ogata jumped backwards from the roof of the public toilet and landed in the middle of the wooden bridge.
After flipping over the public toilet, Soemon immediately chased after Ogata with a knife in hand.
The distance between him and Zuoemon is only a few meters.
With the strength of this "giant"'s legs, such a short distance can probably be closed in the blink of an eye.
Ogata raised his right hand and wiped the beads of sweat that were about to drip from his chin to the ground with the back of his right hand. He looked at Soemon with a calm gaze who was about to attack him again.
——It seems... that’s the only way I can use.
Just now, when he was fiercely exchanging offense and defense with Soemon, Ogata had been thinking about how to effectively injure Soemon.
Both he and Soemon are warriors who possess both strength and speed. Each of their attacks and defenses is extremely swift.
Because of this, even though they fought from the roof to the street, and then from the street to the bridge, for more than 30 rounds, in fact, only less than 2 minutes had passed in total.
In less than 2 minutes, Ogata deeply understood the strength and terror of Zuoemon.
This was Ogata's second duel with a master using a large naginata.
The last time he faced off against a naginata wielder was last spring when he dealt with that evil monk on Butterfly Island.
In terms of strength, the sturdy man in front of him is far better than that evil monk.
In terms of naginata wielding skills, Soemon was probably a little inferior to the demon monk, but in terms of strength and speed, Soemon was far superior to the demon monk.
Even when he was in perfect condition, Ogata was no match for Soemon in a pure competition of strength and speed.
But if he had the blessing of the "state of no self", Ogata would be confident that he could defeat Soemon.
The problem is, however, that Ogata's current condition is not perfect.
The "Immortal Poison" did not relapse earlier or later, but relapsed tonight, forcing Ogata to fight against Soemon while dragging a weak body.
Even though Ogata has now entered the "state of no self", he can only barely fight Soemon to a draw and is unable to gain the upper hand.
Until now, Ogata has not hit Soemon with his sword.
And Soemon failed to leave even the slightest injury on Ogata's body.
From a micro perspective, the two are now tied.
But from a macro perspective, it is Ogata who is constantly losing ground.
Because time is not on Ogata's side. The longer this battle drags on, the more disadvantageous it will be for Ogata.
He had just fought with countless enemies, killing over a hundred of them, which had consumed a lot of his physical strength.
If they got stuck in a war of attrition with Soemon, the one who would suffer the most would undoubtedly be Ogata, who had already lost a lot of physical strength.
How to defeat Soemon as quickly as possible?
The first plan that came to Ogata's mind was to use Kasumigata and Umezen to launch a surprise attack on Soemon.
This is the safest and most efficient method.
But the problem is... because he fell into the canal just now, both of his pistols were soaked in water.
Guns of this era were not yet advanced enough to be waterproof. Once a gun got soaked in water, it had to be professionally cleaned before it could be used again.
As for the professional and delicate work of removing water from a gun... Ogata is not good at it...
Ah-machi is very good at this, so Ogata can't use these two pistols again until he reunites with Ah-machi and asks Ah-machi to help him dewater his guns.
Although he no longer had the great help of the pistol, Ogata still came up with other ways to effectively injure Soemon.
Just as he jumped off the roof of the public toilet, this method finally took shape in Ogata's mind.
Boom! Boom!
At this time, Zuoemon's feet had already stepped onto the wooden bridge, making "dong" and "dong" sounds.
At the same moment when Soemon stepped onto the wooden bridge, Ogata quickly recited to himself:
——Take a step to upgrade to the “Grand Master Level”!
As soon as Ogata finished his silent thoughts, the system sound immediately appeared in his mind as expected.
[Ding! Consume 8 skill points, and the Wuwo Two-Sword Flow Sword Skill: Step Forward is upgraded to a "Grandmaster Level" skill]
[Currently remaining skill points: 2 points]
[Current personal level: Lv40 (3570/6400)]
[Sakakibara Ittoryu Level: 14th stage (6355/14000)]
[Mutual Dual Blade Level: 13th Stage (4220/16000)]
[Shiranui Style Ninjutsu Level: 8th Stage (7410/7500)]
[Iga-ryu forbidden technique level: 3rd stage (740/800)]
Ogata originally had 9 skill points. After causing a big commotion in this neighborhood just now and sending countless enemies to their deaths, he gained a huge amount of experience points.
The personal level is directly upgraded by 1 level, 1 skill point is gained, and the total number of skill points increases to 10 points.
Although the martial arts styles such as Sakakibara Ittoryu and Muga Nito-ryu have not been upgraded, their experience bars have increased sufficiently, and the Shiranui-ryu Ninjutsu and Iga-ryu Forbidden Jutsu are only one step away from being upgraded.
Ogata suddenly felt warm currents emanating from the soles of his feet and then wrapping his legs layer by layer.
Ogata has officially acquired the third Grandmaster-level skill after Breathing of the Source and Blade Counter!
Since he couldn't take this guy's sword head-on, he had to rely on his body skills to get close to him - this was the method Ogata had just come up with that could effectively injure Soemon.
A big part of the reason why he has not been able to inflict even the slightest injury on Soemon's body so far is because his footsteps are not fast enough.
Every time he got close, Soemon was ready to dodge or defend.
In that case, just make your pace faster!
How to make your steps faster and more sophisticated in an instant? This question is too easy for Ogata, who has accumulated 10 skill points.
When Ogata felt his legs being wrapped by a warm current, Soemon had just reached the position where his naginata could hit Ogata.
The naginata slashed out.
call--!
The sharp blade whizzed towards me.
Ogata jumped lightly to the side like a nimble butterfly and jumped onto the handrail of the bridge next to him.
Soemon retracted his naginata and thrust it forward, stabbing at Ogata, who was standing on the bridge railing in a squatting position.
If Ogata jumped to the side again, Soemon would not be surprised. After all, he had seen similar scenes countless times.
Facing the naginata stabbing from Soemon, Ogata dodged it just as he expected.
But he didn't move aside.
Instead, he dodged in a direction that caused Soemon's mouth to drop open in shock.
Xu Xiang, who was standing on the bridge handrail, jumped forward.
With great precision, he leaped onto the tip of the naginata that was stabbing at Soemon.
Ogata stretched out his right foot and stepped on the back of the naginata with the toe of his right foot in mid-air. Then, using the back of the blade as his footing and force point, he pushed back hard, pushing his body straight into Soemon's arms!
Zuoemon's pupils suddenly shrank, and he subconsciously wanted to retract his sword and defend himself, but it was too late -
laugh!
Finally, the dull sound of swords entering bodies was heard between Ogata and Soemon.
The wakizashi in Ogata's left hand pierced Soemon's throat, and the katana in his right hand pierced Soemon's heart.
Both swords pierced Soemon's vital points!