Laid-Back Life in Tokyo: I Really Didn't Want to Work Hard

Chapter 599 - 384: Promotion

The Fifth Round.After the referee signaled for both sides to enter the arena, the atmosphere both inside and outside the field became much quieter.

Uesugi Sakura put on her helmet, tightened the straps at the back of the face mask, picked up the bamboo sword placed on her left side, and slowly stepped into the arena at the referee’s cue.

Naito Genichiro did the same, both of them walking in sync towards the center of the rectangular game field.

They each carried their swords in one hand, bowed facing the audience, then bowed to each other, and then gripped the bamboo sword handles with both hands, squatting while maintaining eye contact.

Squatting is a courtesy, starting from the middle stance, with the heels turned inward and brought together, then squatting down while keeping the upper body posture unchanged.

In Sword Dao, this is a reflection of "formulating a strategy to defeat the opponent before the battle, indicating confidence and cultivation."

The image of the two in black armor holding swords appeared on the big screen at the Tokyo Martial Arts Hall.

The referee holding the red and white flags looked at each side once before waving the flag to announce the start of the match.

"Begin!!"

Right at the start,

Naito Genichiro launched an unexpected face strike with such speed that even the people in the stands couldn’t keep up with their eyes, his whole body seemed to fly forward—out of the break, strike at the hand, forcing the opponent to defend, and then use Collapse Skill to unravel the strange quick attack from Uesugi Sakura just now.

Uesugi Sakura had won her previous two rounds by attacking first.

Naito Genichiro was well aware of this.

Seizing the initiative could gain a big advantage, but as long as he flew forward with a face strike quickly, then his Jigen Style would be greatly diminished.

Naito Genichiro slashed, just hitting Uesugi Sakura’s defensive posture.

Her defense was still so swift and powerful.

But that didn’t matter; Naito Genichiro didn’t expect to defeat her with a long-range face strike.

She was a very talented and skilled young person.

Now... after four and a half rounds and half an hour of fighting, as the Vice Master of the Katori Shinto Style Kyoto Branch, he was confident to defeat her within ten rounds and take the last point to advance to the finals.

Naito Genichiro’s eyes kept moving, watching.

After the face strike... come the hand strikes!

Naito Genichiro quickly adjusted the direction of his bamboo sword, blocking a counterattack from Uesugi Sakura, then striking back at the bamboo sword she swung down, using that brief moment to spin his sword with both hands, aiming to slash Uesugi Sakura’s wrist.

The series of moves flowed so smoothly it dazzled the eyes!

In the spectators’ eyes, his bamboo sword was on the left side one second and the next it was at the lower right diagonal side.

Naito Genichiro wanted to lure her into defending her wrist—but... Uesugi Sakura wasn’t being polite; she struck straight ahead, unleashing the Cutting-off Strike.

The next second, just when Naito Genichiro thought she would feint to attack his face, the tip of the bamboo sword abruptly appeared below his face.

What!?

Naito Genichiro had not expected to be stabbed in the throat from this position.

He hastily changed his posture to defend, while his body quickly moved back a step, but unfortunately, the tip of the bamboo sword had already hit his face mask.

"Men!!"

Uesugi Sakura immediately shouted loudly, bypassing Naito Genichiro’s body that hadn’t reacted yet, maintaining a very stylish Residual Heart posture behind him, with both hands holding the sword.

Face?

What happened!?

The three judges were dazed for quite a while after hearing the loud shout before they realized that Uesugi Sakura and Naito Genichiro’s figures had completely diverged, and Uesugi Sakura was currently maintaining a Residual Heart posture after scoring.

Hanamaru Hiroki outside the field was also surprised and quickly furrowed his brows after the shock.

That strike just now... what was it? He didn’t quite understand, how did a face strike happen so inexplicably?

The senior apprentices watching at the edge of the arena were also so astonished they subconsciously opened their mouths.

Whether it was the organizers or the audience, it was only three seconds after Uesugi Sakura shouted "Men" that they realized someone had scored!

The whole arena was silent.

What followed was a round of applause from the spectators, gradually spreading until it filled the entire Martial Arts Hall.

Reporter Miyata Kazuhiko had stopped tapping his notebook with his pen, and the continuous applause lingered in his ears.

He was recalling, what exactly had he seen just now?

Uesugi Sakura had already returned to her position and sat down, the big screen showed her taking off her helmet to rest.

Naito Genichiro still stood in place, a bit dazed.

The three referees were also somewhat uncertain, for none of them had clearly seen what just happened.

The referee first went to confirm with the presidium, and five minutes later, the referee and the Sword Dao league assessor confirmed that the strike just now indeed counted as a valid score.

Now, this semifinal match could be considered concluded.

Naito Genichiro was stunned in place, still contemplating, not understanding how Uesugi Sakura had broken his moves just now.

A single Counter Cutting-off Strike shouldn’t have been that outrageous.

At this moment, the big screen in the Martial Arts Hall showed the replay.

Naito Genichiro took off his helmet and looked over. Read complete versıon only at ????????????????????⁂????????????????⁂????????????

In the footage, he initiated the attack.

The first strike, the second strike, the third strike, the fourth strike, all had no issues.

He attacked, Uesugi Sakura defended, and she used the Cutting-off Strike to counter, all of which he blocked one by one.

Everything looked completely normal.

The issue was...

Naito Genichiro’s expression became serious as he realized his mistake.

The problem was with their seventh and eighth strike exchanges.

During the sixth strike, Uesugi Sakura’s sudden backward half-step pressure after his attack, her counterattack was fierce, the angle extremely tricky.