Three-Foot Strike, Blade that Splits Time

In the cramped and eerie women's restroom, Kamiyagawa felt an unprecedented pressure facing four evil spirits.

After all, this was Hanako's family, a derivative product of the famous Strange Tales.

They were certainly not a run-of-the-mill creature like the mass-produced Kikis that could be found anywhere on the street.

"It's not like I've never died before, just bring it on!"

But instead of showing fear, Kamiyagawa was the first to burst forth, launching an attack.

In the confined space, using a Wild Greatsword would actually be a hindrance to his movements.

The chopper, which didn't quite match the combat skills he mastered, turned out to be surprisingly versatile with its relatively short blade, whether for chopping, slashing, sweeping, or stabbing.

Wielding the Bloodstained Chopper, Kamiyagawa lunged forward as agile and swift as a spry lynx.

His speed was almost twice that of his usual battles with the Kikis.

This shocked Kamiyagawa himself.

In that moment of charging forth, Kamiyagawa experienced a bizarre sense of enlightenment—

What is the blade that divides time?

To divide time down to a single breath.

"One breath of a human, the pulse beats four and a half times."

To divide time down to a second.

"One breath, one-eighth of the four and a half times the pulse beats."

To divide time down to the finest thread.

"One-tenth of a second, the fastest strike a swordsman practicing Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style could deal to an enemy within three feet."

To be able to slice time into threads meant being able to perform the fundamental Mystical Three-Foot Strike of the Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style.

Using breathing techniques and the blade to split time, or "to grasp the essence of time division," was the theoretical knowledge of the swordsmanship school known as Self-Manifestation Style.

From the moment Kamiyagawa mastered the Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style, these theories had been ingrained in his mind.

However, in his petty fights with the Kikis, Kamiyagawa never applied this theoretical knowledge.

It couldn't be helped.

What with dividing time, and the time units of "breath, second, thread, instant, and moment," these theories were too profound and abstruse, completely elusive, not to mention integrating theory with practice.

But under the immense pressure from Hanako's family and the struggle of fighting to the death, Kamiyagawa started to comprehend these theories enough to apply them in reality.

That was a pleasant surprise.

The moment of enlightenment in his mind quickly faded, with his actions even outpacing his thoughts.

His steps flew across the distance, and his blade divided the time.

The Three-Foot Strike!

In half a breath's time, Kamiyagawa, with ghost-like speed, had lunged toward the slow-reacting Hanako's dad.

Clang!

The extreme speed brought tremendous kinetic energy and momentum.

The slumped-over, puppet-like man was knocked directly to the ground.

Kamiyagawa didn't think twice and swiftly mounted the man.

"To kill one is to be ahead!"

All thoughts of dividing time and the Mystical Three-Foot Strike were cast aside by Kamiyagawa for the moment.

A real brute, at that instant, had only one thought in mind—

Go straight for the opponent's kidneys!

The shining point of the Bloodstained Chopper was raised high before plunging down fiercely!

If the opponent was a humanoid creature, the location of the kidneys would be fixed.

Having dealt with so many Kikis these days, Kamiyagawa had become quite experienced in this.

The blade pierced right into the abdominal cavity, not stopping for an instant, blasting through the organs.

Though it was a frontal stab, the feel at the end was unmistakable, it was a hit.

Feeling elated, Kamiyagawa, well-versed in taking down kidneys, triggered the effect of [Kidney Strike], dealing extra massive damage, causing the Hanako's dad he was pinning down to emit a piercingly agonizing scream.

"He's not dead yet?"

Kamiyagawa couldn't afford to dwell on it and pulled the Bloodstained Chopper out with a strong tug of his right hand.

Fortunately, kidneys usually come in pairs.

```

Stabbing with precision, you can trigger the novice period god-level effect [Kidney Smash] twice!

Thud.

Kamiyagawa hurried to strike again.

Sitting astride Hanako's father, his face ferocious and even slightly overexcited, he looked more like an evil spirit than the four evil spirits present.

After the second stab, Hanako's father's wails weakened, and his body turned to ashes and vanished.

[You have slain Hanako's puppet father and obtained 18 Soul Crystals!]

After dealing with Hanako's father, Kamiyagawa could no longer hold on.

In fact, after executing the decisive Three-Foot Strike, Kamiyagawa's strength had already been drained.

The two consecutive Kidney Smash strikes that followed were essentially carried out on sheer willpower.

Moreover, as soon as he stabbed Hanako's father with the first strike, the remaining members of Hanako's family had already surrounded him, almost mad with tearing and biting.

But Kamiyagawa, intent only on trading one for another, completely disregarded the fatal wounds inflicted on Hanako's family members.

Now that the passionate struggle had ended, he finally had to let out the breath that was hanging in his throat.

His vision gradually darkened, right before he completely lost consciousness.

Squeak—

The door of the third toilet stall, which had been shut tight, opened.

In the dim haze, Kamiyagawa seemed to see a girl wearing a red suspender dress and with short hair in a bob cut walking out from inside.

"Is that Hanako?"

As the last thought flashed through his mind, darkness fell before Kamiyagawa's eyes.

[Life Depleted]

…

The real world.

Underneath the cherry blossom tree.

Kamiyagawa came to, and not sure whether it was because he had barely used the Three-Foot Strike to fight for his life in the Strange Tale World, he felt incredibly tired and exhausted.

Buzz buzz.

Buzz buzz.

Since Kamiyagawa woke up, his phone hadn't stopped vibrating, with all the notifications popping up from "Strange Tales."

[Your enlightenment during battle has increased the proficiency of your [Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style] by 500 points!]

The first notification was about skill proficiency.

Kamiyagawa was not surprised by this.

Being able to integrate theory with practice and use the Three-Foot Strike (even if a variant with a chopper) during the battle was bound to greatly advance his proficiency in [Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style].

But isn't 500 proficiency points a bit too much?

To think, hanging around the red ogre teacher for a day only yielded 20 proficiency points.

And to upgrade [Wild Tachi Self-Manifestation Style] to the next level of proficiency, one only needs 1000 points.

One fight snagging half of that, not too shabby, huh?

But on second thought, it wasn't incomprehensible.

Steady, hard training is certainly a foundation for improving swordsmanship, but a life-and-death struggle can lead to a qualitative leap in the sword heart.

In the traditional Japanese Sword Dao concept, the sword heart is the soul of a swordsman.

With solid fundamentals, and having gone through one or two life-and-death battles to temper the sword heart, there's no doubt that such a person is an excellent and outstanding swordsman.

And Kamiyagawa, who has repeatedly fought and failed in the Strange Tale World thanks to the Substitute Paper Person, lacks for nothing but opportunities for life-and-death struggles.

"But previously, when I died in battles with the Kikimora children, I didn't come to understand the true essence of the Three-Foot Strike," Kamiyagawa mused, gently pressing the joint of his right index finger against his upper front teeth.

This may be because the pressure from the opponents was insufficient.

Fighting with Kikimora, even if it ends in death, still felt somewhat trivial.

Hanako's family was different. After slaying Hanako's father, the yield of Soul Crystals was as many as 18, nine times that of regular Kikimora.

In the map of Karyou Ghost School, he's definitely considered a super elite monster.

And like such an elite, not counting Hanako, there were a total of four in that ladies' toilet!

"Moreover, from the game's perspective, overcoming a high-level elite monster to gain an enormous amount of growth experience seems reasonable as well?"

Perhaps, my approach to playing games has been too conservative before.

I could try being a bit more daring, seek out tougher Strange Tales to fight?

```