Gathering Techniques

It was High Noon.

Mitsuna stood up from her bed.

'I kinda feel like wearing something else today.'

Sitting down, Mitsuna made a new pair of clothes.

A long-sleeved black undershirt, a pair of long black cloth tight pants, a beige short-sleeved sweater with thick dark yellow edges, a scarf made of the same material as the sweater in the colour of the same dark yellow and a white coat with a hazard pattern stripe on the coat's sleeves.

'It stands out a bit. Whatever. It's not like I'm hiding my identity. During this life, I haven't stolen anything or committed any mass genocide on civilians so people have no reason to search for me anyway.'

Changing her clothes and placing her short hoodie outfit in her [Item Box], Mitsuna walked to the dojo.

When she entered, she noticed the sword saint standing near the reception.

The two made eye contact as the sword saint started walking towards the sparring grounds.

Mitsuna followed behind.

Reaching the place, Mitsuna took out her sword and readied herself.

"I am sorry for my behaviour yesterday."

The sword saint suddenly spoke.

"Yeah. Yeah. Let's just go already."

The sword saint nodded with an understanding look.

'I really was rude. From what I can tell, her teacher is dead. I wonder if that is the reason she is trying to increase the power of her blade?'

As the sword saint got into position, Mitsuna stepped forward and the battle began.

Starting off with [Sakura Monsoon], the sword saint cut all the petals in half as Mitsuna used [Sakura Step] to appear next to her.

Swinging her sword while using [Cresent Eclipse], Mitsuna's blade was met by another.

A semi-invisible sword appeared out of nowhere.

The sword saint turned towards Mitsuna as the last petal was cut in half and used her full speed to strike at Mitsuna.

Mitsuna however jumped back and used [Full Eclipse] to parry the first wave of attacks.

The unseen second wave however left her with a few scratches.

Using [Sakura Step] to close the distance as the sword saints weapon was thrust forwards, Mitsuna was about to land an attack when she sensed danger and pulled back.

Barely parrying the two swords that were aimed at her fingers, Mitsuna finally saw what the sword saint's cards were.

Four semi-invisible hands held swords of different types behind her back.

They seemed to be made of blue light.

'So that's her main Technique I guess.'

Switching up her sword grip, Mitsuna held her sword from the handle that was next to her head while her left hand was grabbing the sword from the blade with two fingers.

Taking a sudden step forward, Mitsuna turned, jumped and spun as she closed the distance and kicked one of the hands away.

As she did, she thrust her sword by pushing it from the hilt using her right hand while aiming the blade with her left.

The sword pierced two of the hands made of light.

Grabbing the handle of her sword with her right hand again, she swung it upwards while activating [Cresent Eclipse] and the two hands were cut in half.

Sensing danger, she raised her left hand in front of her as it was pierced by a sword.

Grabbing onto it, Mitsuna swung her own blade at the one piercing her hand and broke it in half.

Retreating with a broken blade of light still stuck in her hand, Mitsuna observed as the hands were slowly regenerating.

'Seems like she can't attack herself when using that Technique since all her focus is on controlling the four hands this Technique grants.'

Suddenly, however, Mitsuna felt pressure assault her as danger filled her senses.

Using [Sakura Step] to escape, Mitsuna appeared some ways away as she felt the multiple cuts on her neck.

The sword saint thought to herself as she watched Mitsuna hold her neck tightly.

'She's good. But she only uses one Style of Techniques. She is also not alert enough. Just because I summoned four of my Azur Hands behind me doesn't mean that's the only place I can summon them. It also doesn't mean I can only summon four.'

"Ah. I get it."

Mitsuna suddenly spoke.

'So that's how it works. This is some good inspiration... Why don't I try.'

Mitsuna focused on her sword.

'Let's try to create a new Technique Style why don't we?'

Mitsuna picked Twilight as the base.

'If she can attack with as many swords as she wants. I just need to be fast enough to either dodge or parry them all.'

Mitsuna then picked Lightning as the Sub.

'Okay. Let's try.'

Focusing her mind completely on her blade, Mitsuna held it like a knife.

Imagining what she wants to achieve, Mitsuna pictured the Technique.

Holding her sword in front of her face, she closed her eyes.

A purple glowing mist slowly expanded outwards.

The mist seemed to hold countless specks of light, stars if you will.

As the mist expanded to cover the entire room, the sword saint was patiently waiting for Mitsuna to finish.

'Whatever it is, I can block it. For now, I'll just observe.'

As the mist stopped spreading, the faint white lights started to shake and glow brighter.

Mitsuna then opened her eyes.

A small crackle could be heard as all of the specks of light were connected to each other with a straight white line.

A flash of white and purple emanated from Mitsuna as the mist was blown away and dissipated shortly after.

What was left were the tens of swords that the sword saint had concealed in the surroundings.

Each was cut to shreds.

The sword saint herself however remained unscathed.

Mitsuna was the first to react.

'Haha! It worked!'

She thought.

'Let's try another!'

With inspiration and a focus on speed, Mitsuna had entered something pro athletes call The Zone.

Crouching down, Mitsuna pictured what she wanted.

A thin layer of crackling twilight covered her sword, it was aura.

Aura was something rarely used as most swordsmen never get to the point of manifesting it.

It can only be used under certain circumstances. Some prerequisites also being complete mastery over a Style of Techniques, good mastery and control over the sword and lastly, Talent.

Mitsuna pressed her left hand against the floor and took off into the air.

The sword saint was done with observing for now as she felt slightly threatened.

Hundreds of hands holding swords appeared as each of them used a different battle style and some even used Techniques.

At this point, Mitsuna had completed another Technique.

A loud rumble was heard as Mitsuna disappeared and reappeared in a different location with a smirk on her face.

A few of the floating hands were cut in half.

'So I need to work on controlling this one. But let's get to Bladework first before doing anything else.'

As she landed, she thought of an interesting technique.

Placing her left hand on the tip of her blade while her right hand was still holding said sword like a knife, Mitsuna pictured the Technique.

At this point, tens of swords were heading toward her.

Just as they were a single meter away from her, each of them was parried as Mitsuna didn't even move a muscle.

After each parry, all that was left in its place was a twilight coloured spark.

With all the blades being parried, it sounded like it was crackling electricity.

Changing her sword grip, Mitsuna was thinking about her last Technique of this Style.

Holding her sword like normal with both hands, Mitsuna pictured the outcome.

Stomping the ground, her figure turned into a twilight lightning bolt that sped across the room, cutting down everything in its path.

Arriving in front of the sword saint, Mitsuna already knew what type of Bladework she wanted for this style.

Picking a debuff type that would complement her Eclipse Technique set, Mitsuna swung and managed to scratch the sword saint on the cheek.

At that moment, the sword saint was paralyzed for a second as her body was momentarily covered by twilight coloured lightning.

Backing off using [Sakura Step], Mitsuna checked the notifications that the System has been sending her.

[New Techniques Gathered. Automatic Naming in Effect.]

[Twilight Lightning: Divide Twilight, Thunder, Crackle, Lightning, Twilight Bladework.]

['Speed' has been implemented into Sword Style: Cresent.]