Who is the Strongest Swordsman in anime ?

"In depicting this power called the Truth of God, LET YOUR MERCY RISE TO THE HEAVENS!"

The moment Acqua roared, he stomped onto the ceiling and quickly descended upon her. Having already been damaged beyond its limits, the fake sky was completely destroyed with this final blow, and the blue silhouette above them became the darkest of blacks once again.

A vertical drop.

A giant mace bore down.

What followed was not a strike, a stab, a shot, an explosion, a break, a split, or even simply a crushing blow.

It was just ordinary pressure.

The sudden charge from above had more than enough destructive power to shatter everything in its path, giving the impression of an asteroid crashing into the Earth.

The world vanished.

Even the sight and sound of the Earth buckling from beneath disappeared.

With the harbinger of this unstoppable blow at the center, everything within a one-hundred meter radius of the fourth level of Academy City's District 22 collapsed. Acqua's falling impact caused the steel and concrete floor to collapse into dust and leave a massive hole in its wake, a floor with the same hardness as those used in safety shelters.

The world around them collapsed, everything within one-hundred meters falling to the 5th level.

The booms and tremors and dust exploded and scattered everywhere.

The sound of destruction echoed throughout the area.

The water streams and turbine generator were cut off, and the water began to flow downward like a waterfall.

Amidst the shattered aftermath, Kanzaki Kaori lay where she had fallen to the ground.

She had blocked the attack itself using the Shichiten Shichitou, but the ground beneath her feet was ill-suited to withstanding such impact.

Having endured such an unstoppable pressure and falling more than twenty meters, Kanzaki lay atop a pile of concrete, looking up.

She was thoroughly covered in wounds, and even though it was not a direct hit, the force of Acqua's most recent blow corroded her body through her weapon. Trapped between the massive mace in Acqua's hands and the artificial ground beneath her, regardless of whether it was her arms, legs, or torso, a reddish-black liquid gushed out of Kanzaki's body.

Even this one of less than twenty Saints was now in such a pitiful state.

If she endured an attack of the same caliber again, the only possible outcome was death.

However...

Biting her teeth as hard as possible, Kanzaki Kaori wore a look of neither fear nor shock on her face. The only expression on her face was anger.

This was the 5th level below, maybe Kanzaki just so happened to land on a plaza, but the miraculous thing was there were no innocent victims who lost their lives because of this battle. This thought was just a theory at the moment, however: If their battleground was a residential area, or if anyone was simply walking around the plaza... the idea sent chills racing up Kanzaki's back. Though Academy City seemed to have taken some measures to counter such a possibility, this place was much different from the 4th level. There was not even the bare minimum of a 'dispel bystander' spell.

There was no doubt they were both Saints. There was no doubt they were two of only twenty people blessed with such power.

So why? Why must they clash swords for such stupid reasons?

Kanzaki finally managed to lift her thoroughly-wounded upper body, tightly gripped the Shichiten Shichitou which had fallen among the rubble, and said in a lifeless voice, "Acqua..."

In perfect contrast, standing on a thoroughly devastated 5th level, Acqua merely said, "Where is Imagine Breaker?"

He easily carried the mace that had such destructive power on his shoulder, "If I were to destroy every level, one by one, will I find him?"

Giving the impression she was shaking the fresh blood off her body, Kanzaki abruptly stood up, "AAAAAAACQUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

The Shichiten Shichitou swayed in both hands, moving left and right in unsteady coordination.

Maybe she gripped the sword too tightly, as broken fragments fell off her fingernails. Blood continued to flow through the gaps between her fingers, and Kanzaki's insides were severely damaged from being unable to completely endure the most recent of Acqua's crushing impacts. Blobs of blood spurted out of the lips she was trying her hardest to breathe through.

Kanzaki's eyes showed no signs of weaknesses despite her pitiful state. So long as this expression remained on her face, she would continue to swing the sword in her hands.

Maybe she was simply trying to encourage herself, as Kanzaki used her hand to press against her damaged respiratory system and gave a hoarse roar, sending a strike Acqua blocked with his mace. The sound of metal slamming against metal, quickly followed by several more metallic clashes, caused the surrounding air to explode.

A deafening sound exploded through the environment.

The Saints, and the weapons they wielded, collided with one another yet again.

Kanzaki Kaori swung the Shichiten Shichitou at an extremely high velocity, and the seven steel wires moved about as if covering any opening created by her attack. Once she bought enough time, she would sheath her sword and use another quick-draw technique at a blindingly-fast speed. The steel wires would trace a three-dimensional array in the air or aid in her movement, using the rhythm of steel colliding with steel to discharge fire or ice spells. She continued to employ such ambush tactics.

Acqua of the Back, in contrast, used the mace in his hands to block Kanzaki's sword, absorbing the moonlight representing the attribute of The Power of God to greatly increase the offensive power of his attacks. He used the special effects of the Divine Mother's Mercy to relieve the punishment, surpassing the limit placed on members of God's Right Seat which forbade them from using ordinary magic. He maintained a steady barrage of supersonic attacks as he bombarded Kanzaki from all angles with spells like vacuum blades and rocks.

Sparks littered the air as the two clashed. The environment surrounding Kanzaki and Acqua was similar to the night sky they were unable to see.

"Ack, ack?!"

The results were obvious.

In the sky Kanzaki resided in, blobs of blood continued to flow out of the wounds littering her body. She had reached her limit, and one could tell she had suffered numerous blows despite her trying her best not to show it. The speed she was swinging her sword with had obviously gone down, and she could already picture an image of despair in her mind. She could already predict the moment she would no longer be able to match Acqua's impossible speed and suffer the finishing blow. For Kanzaki, who already struggled to keep up, it was impossible to make a comeback and go on the counter-offensive. She had to keep some moves in reserve, and wait for Acqua to make a mistake. Only then did she have a chance to make a comeback.

For Kanzaki, who had already used all of her trump moves, this opportunity would never come. No battle situation was more difficult than not having a trump card still in reserve.

However...

"I told you to shut up!"

What appeared in her mind were the words she had heard when she first met him in Academy City. Hearing them, the strength returned to Kanzaki. Her power had returned.

"That doesn’t matter! Do you resign yourself to protecting people because you happen have strength!?"

The boy who had stood in front of the Saint with only a fist, all because of Index.

"No, you don’t, do you!? Don’t lie! You worked to gain power because there was something you wanted to protect!"

Though she did not feel the boy had said the most wonderful thing in the world. This thing called "thinking"... there were many people, and thus many ways to do it. Among them, none could conclude the boy stood right at the top. After recognizing the great power of a Saint and God's Right Seat residing in a single body and using this power to attack ordinary citizens, anyone could tell the boy had no chance of winning.

He was an ordinary person, but that boy's act in enduring Acqua of the Back's attack to protect Itsuwa would never lose to those who thought they were "God-chosen" and acted so high and mighty.

Kanzaki Kaori continued to swing her sword, biting her teeth hard as she thought this.

The reason she saw in the boy's action...

The belief he had shown when he risked his life...

She would never let the scumbag in front of her who had so much talent, who was being so selfish with such an unimaginable power, get away from her unscathed.

ZAN! The first water wing of the trio was slashed by Kanzaki's Battojutsu technique.

Before the next hundredth of a second arrived, Kanzaki had already sheathed the Shichiten Shichitou and prepared for the next attack.

Too easy, Kanzaki smiled in that time, but at that moment...

The second water wing actually exploded by itself.

Numerous blades that looked small broken pieces of glass were fired at Kanzaki.

"What...?"

Just as Kanzaki was trying to deal with the torrent of blades, the third water wing rushed over at a speed faster than the torrent of blades.

"...Ugh!"

Kanzaki was barely able to slash that unexpected third wing, but Kanzaki didn't have enough time to sheath the nodachi. If she sheathed it, she wouldn't be able to deal with the torrent of blades that were coming at her. Kanzaki gave up on the iaido and used the drawn nodachi to deal with the torrent of blades.

But it was impossible to block all the thousands of the blades with a nodachi.

Seventeen of the blades landed around Kanzaki (Though being able to knock them all away was already an unbelievable skill on its own). The boom caused a shockwave like explosion, and the sand surrounding her to whipped up.

Her vision was completely taken away by the wall of sand, like a storm in a desert.

At that moment, the water wings attacked from the left, right, and front right direction, ripping through the sand wall like paper doors.

At that moment, the trend for the battle was set.

Kanzaki and the Power of God were ten meters away from each other. In other words, Kanzaki couldn't attack the Power of God, but the Power of God could attack Kanzaki.

And under the quick attacks of the angel, Kanzaki didn't even have time to put her drawn nodachi back into the sheath. She couldn't use her Battojutsu, so Kanzaki could only swing her nodachi desperately. Anyone could tell that Kanzaki was at the disadvantage there.

Kanzaki gritted her teeth.

She was one of the ten strongest magicians in London.

In Kanzaki's lifetime, the number of times she had lost in a one on one matchup could be counted with less than the number of fingers on both hands. And also, the 'one on one' didn't just mean human vs. human. Sometimes, it had been human vs. beast kings or even human vs. weapons.

But such a record seemed like it was going to be tested heavily today.

The record that could be counted with only the fingers on both hands seemed like it was not going to be enough.

However...

There was a huge question mark over whether the battle against that angel, who surpassed all logic, should count.

DOGAGAGAGAZAZAZAZA! Every second, there would be four or five water wings sliced apart in sparks

“There’s no reason from the beginning. This is how the Amakusa does things, especially for our generation. You’re asking why our Priestess is able to be our leader at such a young age? In order to fulfill a child’s wish, she dared to go against an evil dragon that can swallow a mountain. In order to fulfill the dying leader’s wish, she was willing to protect a small village against thousands of enemies. Along the way, we were walking in her shadow. Although the time in which she led us was short, to us, it’s eternal.”

Kamijou’s face was completely defenseless and the pillar of light rushed towards it at a dreadful speed.

“…Salvere000!!”

The instant before the pillar of light struck his face, he heard Kanzaki yell that.

It was not Japanese. He had never heard the word before. However, he had heard a similar word…no, a similar name once before. It had been during his confrontation with Stiyl at the dorm. He had said it was the name he must give when he used magic. His magic name.

Kanzaki’s around two meter long Japanese sword sliced through the air. Her Nanasen attack using seven wires flew towards Index at a speed that seemed to slice through sound itself.

But she was not aiming for Index.

The wires tore through the fragile tatami mat at Index’s feet. Having lost her footing, Index fell backwards. The magic circles linked to her eyes moved and the pillar of light that was supposed to be aiming for Kamijou missed its target by quite a bit.

As if it was a giant sword being swung around, the pillar of light sliced through the wall and ceiling of the apartment. It even sliced through the pitch black clouds floating in the night sky. In fact, it could have even sliced through a satellite outside the atmosphere.