CHAPTER 42: FOUR SWORDS

"You know what?" Ryouta said, rolling his shoulders to loosen them up. "I was having a pretty boring day anyway."

Haruto closed his eyes for just a moment, reaching deep inside himself for that wellspring of energy. When he opened them again, three points of brilliant light were already forming in the air around him.

The light solidified into three gleaming swords made of pure energy. They were beautiful in their simplicity - no fancy decorations or elaborate designs, just perfect blades of concentrated light that seemed to cut through the very air around them. They floated around Haruto like loyal guardians, responding to his thoughts and emotions.

"Holy shit," Kazuma breathed.

Azame leaned forward, her eyes bright with interest. This was what she’d wanted to see.

Ryouta’s grin faltered for just a second before coming back full force. "Well, well. Looks like you’ve got some tricks of your own. This is gonna be even more fun than I thought."

The quantum blade hummed ominously as Ryouta raised it above his head. "Let’s see how your pretty light swords handle this!"

He lunged forward with surprising speed, bringing the plasma blade down in a vicious arc. Haruto barely had time to think before one of his light swords shot forward to intercept it.

The collision was spectacular. Where the two weapons met, reality itself seemed to ripple and distort. The quantum blade’s molecular disruption field clashed against the pure energy of the light sword, creating a shower of sparks that looked like tiny stars exploding.

Haruto felt the impact through his connection to the blade, like someone had just punched him in the gut. But his sword held, the light burning even brighter as it pushed back against Ryouta’s weapon.

"Not bad!" Ryouta called out, pressing harder. "But can you handle this?"

He suddenly spun away from the blade lock and came at Haruto from the side, the quantum sword leaving a trail of distorted air in its wake. Haruto sent his second light sword to block while using the first to attack, the blade shooting forward like a bolt of lightning.

Ryouta slashed even harder into the air, creating a shockwave that shattered the four light swords into pieces. But suddenly the light swords from the fragments immediately reconnected, shooting straight at Ryouta.

Ryouta barely managed to dodge, the light sword passing so close to his face that it singed his hair. "Damn, it’s fast!"

But Haruto was already moving, his third sword joining the dance. Now all three blades were in motion, weaving around each other in a deadly ballet as they attacked from different angles. Haruto found that he could control them almost instinctively - where his mind went, the swords followed.

"This is insane," Kazuma muttered, pressing himself against the wall to stay out of the way.

Azame was watching with rapt attention, her eyes tracking every move. "Oh," she whispered.

The fight was like something out of an anime. Ryouta would parry one light sword only to have another come at him from behind. He’d dodge that one and find the third waiting for him. The quantum blade’s molecular disruption field was powerful, but it could only be in one place at a time, and can only release shockwaves within a radius of 100 meters every 5 minutes.

"You think you’re so special with your light show?" he taunted, deflecting another attack. "Let me show you what real power looks like!"

He suddenly stopped dodging and planted his feet firmly on the ground. The quantum blade’s humming grew louder, more intense, and the plasma edge began to expand.

The blade erupted outward in a wave of quantum energy, a field of molecular disruption that expanded in all directions. Haruto felt his light swords flicker as they hit the edge of the field - whatever that thing was, it was interfering with his power.

"The Quantum Burst," Ryouta said, his voice distorted by the energy field around him. "Everything within ten feet gets torn apart at the molecular level. Hope you can fly, Haruto!"

But Haruto was already moving. He couldn’t get close enough to attack with his swords while that field was active, but maybe he didn’t need to. He’d been thinking about his power all wrong - the swords weren’t just melee weapons.

He pulled all three blades back to him, then sent them shooting forward not at Ryouta, but past him. They curved through the air in a wide arc, moving faster than Haruto had ever made them go before.

Ryouta frowned, confused. "Missing your target? Getting desperate?"

That’s when the swords curved back around, coming at him from behind while he was focused on maintaining the Quantum Burst. He realized what was happening just a split second too late.

But just as the swords were about to strike, Ryouta’s eyes flashed with determination. At the last second, he spun around, the quantum blade reigniting in his hand as he brought it up in a desperate block. The collision sent shockwaves across the rooftop, cracking the concrete beneath their feet.

"Not... done... yet!" Ryouta grunted through gritted teeth, pushing back against all three light swords with his single blade. The quantum energy field around his weapon was going haywire, sparks of distorted reality flying everywhere.

Haruto felt the strain through his connection to the swords. This wasn’t just about overpowering Ryouta anymore - the guy was actually holding his own against all three blades. The quantum sword was adapting, learning from each clash.

"Tou crazy bastard," Kazuma shouted. "You’re gonna bring the whole roof down!"

"Then we’ll go down fighting!" Ryouta laughed, his eyes wild with battle lust. The quantum blade began to pulse with increasing intensity. "Quantum Resonance!"

Suddenly, the plasma blade started vibrating at multiple frequencies simultaneously. Each time Haruto’s light swords made contact, they were repelled by a different quantum signature. It was like trying to grab smoke - every time he thought he had Ryouta cornered, the quantum blade would shift and slip away.

Haruto gasped, his swords flickering as they struggled to maintain cohesion against the chaotic quantum field.

"Adaptive quantum matrix," Ryouta grinned savagely. "The blade learns from every attack and develops countermeasures. The longer we fight, the stronger it gets!"

And he was right. What had started as an even match was slowly turning in Ryouta’s favor. The quantum blade was becoming more aggressive, its disruption field expanding with each clash. Haruto found himself being pushed back, his light swords barely able to keep up with Ryouta’s increasingly frenzied attacks.

The quantum blade suddenly erupted in a controlled burst, and one of Haruto’s light swords simply... ceased. Not destroyed, not shattered - it just stopped existing, the light fading away like it had never been there.

"One down!" Ryouta roared, pressing his advantage. "How long can you keep up with just two?"

Haruto was running out of options. The quantum blade was getting stronger with every exchange, and he could feel his own power starting to waver. His remaining two swords were holding their ground, but barely.

But Ryouta wasn’t giving him time to think. The quantum blade came at him in a flurry of strikes, each one accompanied by a wave of molecular disruption. Haruto’s swords danced desperately through the air, blocking and parrying, but it was clear he was on the defensive now.

Then Ryouta did something unexpected. Instead of attacking with the blade directly, he thrust it into the concrete roof.

"Quantum Cascade!" he shouted.