Chapter 69: Durandal, The Peerless Holy Sword
In the distant past, Ryomen Sukuna had never truly experienced a feeling similar to what he was feeling now.
After all, once your strength reaches a certain level, it's hard to find even slightly evenly matched opponents, let alone being suppressed and beaten like this.
He wasn't a masochist who would intentionally hold back his power to fight others. It was fine to challenge him, but if he accidentally crushed his opponent, it was simply because that individual was too weak.
Ryomen Sukuna was, however, quite fond of fighting.
In pure combat, a person's spirit easily becomes immersed, followed by a variety of emotions: excitement, pleasure, tension, and anticipation.
Of course, he enjoyed these emotions. After all, humans are the kind of creature that craves more the more they have, always insatiably greedy, aren't they?
"It doesn't matter, just try to amuse me!"
Boom!
As Ryomen Sukuna recklessly shattered the ground beneath his feet, Emiya instantly lost sight of him.
"So..."
Why would his speed increase this much just by absorbing one finger? Or had Ryomen Sukuna not been fighting with his full strength just now?
Emiya immediately enhanced his eyes with Cursed Energy. His normally brown pupils gradually turned golden, shining brightly in the dark underground space.
"I see you!"
"Trace on!"
Dozens of blades glowed blue and materialized behind Emiya, covering the rapidly moving Ryomen Sukuna and all his possible landing spots.
Boom——Boom——Boom——!
Deafening explosions continuously echoed through this massive underground space, covering nearly a third of it.
However, the next second, Ryomen Sukuna's figure emerged from the firelight completely unscathed, beginning to run at extreme speed along the walls, in defiance of physics.
Emiya was absolutely certain his attacks had hit, but the intensity simply couldn't break through the Cursed Energy barrier on Sukuna's body.
The situation seemed quite tricky.
Without using a powerful Noble Phantasm, it would be difficult to inflict effective damage on Ryomen Sukuna, and his Reverse Cursed Technique could likely heal even many fatal injuries. But if he used an excessively powerful Noble Phantasm, it would be hard to control the resulting damage... What should he choose?
"What is this? A Cursed Technique for creating objects out of thin air, or one that stores objects in another space beforehand?
How novel! How about I study it thoroughly?"
Ryomen Sukuna obviously had no idea what Emiya was thinking, otherwise, he would definitely feel that Emiya was underestimating him and fall into a fit of rage.
"As for my Cursed Technique, I don't mind telling you, it's quite a mundane one: 'Cleave'.
Releasing a slash and cutting the object in front of me—it's a very simple attack method. But the power of the technique ultimately comes down to who is using it.
Like this."
With that, Ryomen Sukuna extended his left hand, using his finger as a blade to lightly slash toward Emiya.
"Dismantle."
"?!"
Emiya, dimly sensing the danger, immediately shifted his body. The invisible slash passed through his original location and continued until it hit the wall not far away, leaving a crack dozens of meters long. It looked as if a truly colossal blade had struck it.
"Quite sensitive, aren't you? Keep it up, keep it up."
Like he had found a new and exciting toy, Ryomen Sukuna continued to launch 'Dismantle' with his left hand, forcing Emiya to constantly twist and shift across the entire space to avoid being hit head-on.
It seemed that in an instant, the offensive and defensive positions had been reversed.
Slish——
Even while dodging, Emiya was momentarily careless, and the invisible 'Dismantle' grazed his shoulder, causing blood to spray out without any obstruction.
If he just maintained this situation, he would purely be toyed with by Ryomen Sukuna—a frog being boiled in lukewarm water.
'No, I must figure out a way...'
Emiya knew that continuing like this would only make the situation progressively worse.
However, Ryomen Sukuna was clearly the type whose actions wouldn't be affected even by conventionally serious injuries, allowing him to recklessly withstand Emiya's attacks.
But Emiya, conversely, could not do the same.
His body was far less robust, and he completely lacked the Reverse Cursed Technique to rapidly heal injuries; trading blows would absolutely be the most foolish strategy.
Furthermore, this 'Cleave' was invisible and colorless; only the air being subtly consumed indicated its presence. Was the way Ryomen Sukuna swung his finger a prerequisite for activating the technique? Or was he deliberately misleading others' judgment?
"I'll use this blade to deal with you, Sukuna.
Your Cursed Technique is to cut all objects, correct? So, what happens when it encounters the Indestructible Holy Sword that can never be destroyed?"
"Trace on!"
Emiya slightly clenched his hand at his side, and a longsword with a gilded guard and a silver-white blade appeared in his grasp.
Its name was—
"Durandal: The Peerless Holy Sword."
The Holy Sword Durandal, a legendary sword that cuts all things and is itself unbreakable, often mentioned alongside Excalibur: Sword of Promised Victory as an eternal, immortal Holy Sword.
This blade, symbolizing holiness and justice, was the personal sword of the Paladin Roland. Before him, the owner of the Holy Sword Durandal was Hector from Greek mythology.
Even if Ryomen Sukuna's slash could truly interact with space, it might not be able to cut through this Indestructible Holy Sword.
"You certainly have a collection of strange weapons, one after another. An Indestructible Holy Sword?
Such big talk. Let me see what this so-called Holy Sword looks like when it breaks."
"Dismantle!"
As Sukuna's finger slashed down, the invisible slash once again hurtled toward Emiya. However, Emiya chose not to dodge this time. Instead, after pinpointing the slash's direction, he unhesitatingly raised the blade in his hand to meet it.
Bang!
"What?!"
The slash, as always, destroyed the already unsightly wall, but Emiya, who remained standing in place, and the Durandal in his hand, showed no flaws whatsoever.
Undoubtedly, this level of Cleave couldn't damage this legendary Holy Sword.
Although, aside from its indestructibility, it was useless to Emiya, the cautious Sorcerer had stored it in his Innate Domain beforehand, and it had now successfully come in handy.
"Now, it's my turn to counterattack... Sukuna!"
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