『WAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaAAaaaaaAAaaaAH』

Cheers echoed out around him as Rei walked onto the arena.

He had spent some time touring the stadium, but in the end, it wasn’t that interesting to tour alone, so he eventually went back to the waiting room to wait on his own.

Fortunately, the other participants must have felt that staying in the waiting room didn’t feel good as well. Most of them had gone outside and Rei was especially lucky that the few participants that had been glaring at him earlier were not around, so nothing troublesome happened.

The matches continued as Rei waited and, eventually, the management staff called out his name to let him know it was his turn next.

Rei was a little puzzled that the matches seemed to be progressing faster than expected, but according to the staff, it wasn’t that unusual.

After all, this fighting tournament brought the whole Bestir Empire together every year. The participant were all fired up, so the pace of the matches would inevitably go faster.

Furthermore, due to the effect of the ancient relic, as long as the participants had the slightest breath left in them, their injuries would disappear after being taken off the stage, which meant that they could fight with all their strength.

As a result of all this, the matches had gone by much faster than he expected, which was why he was now on the arena.

『It’s here, it’s here, it’s here! It’s Crimson’s turn, the eye of the hurricane in this tournament! The previous battle between Glass, the magic swordsman who wields the wind, and Beeson, the great swordsman who destroys everything, was exciting to watch, but this battles is sure to be even more exciting! Everyone please look forward to it.』

The excitement of the audience continued to rise as the voice of the commentator riled them up.

Hearing that, Rei turned to look at his opponent while holding his Death Scythe, which he had taken out of the Misty Ring before coming out.

Whether he sensed Rei’s actions or not, the commentator chose the perfect time to start introducing his opponent.

『The name of the brave warrior facing Crimson is Anasel, the brilliant dual sword wielder! With curved blades in his hand, this man has bloodied multiple opponents in the qualifying rounds with his mesmerising, dance like battles! As you can see by the colour of his skin, he’s from a race not commonly seen around here. Of course, this man is a true warrior who has honed his skills while traveling! That’s why I can’t wait to see what kind of battle he will have against Crimson!』

As the commentator said, Rei’s opponent seemed confident in his skills. The man, who looked to be in his his 30’s, didn’t look nervous at all even though he was facing Rei, swords readied in hand.

His swords weren’t the swords that Rei was used to seeing since he had come to this world. The swords had curved blades and were commonly known as shamshirs or scimitars.

Furthermore, the man’s getup was something had seen either. He wore a turban on his head and didn’t seem to have any sort of armour, probably to allow him ease of movement. His clothes probably gave him a fair bit of protection, but his highest priority was likely easy movement.

The man himself was also quite different from the people he had seen so far.

OF course, Rei had seen many different things among people in this world, including hair colours he had never seen in Japan before. However, the man surprised Rei in a different way.

His skin was a bit paler than that of a Dark Elf and his facial features were quite chiseled.

In Rei’s mind, his opponent looked like someone from the Middle East back on Earth.

In fact, Anasel came from a unique family that called themselves the Desert People, just as Rei had imagined.

However, the Desert People didn’t live close to the Bestir Empire. They lived quite far away……so far away that it would take several years to travel to the Bestir Empire.

「Crimson, huh. I heard you were strong. ……Show me that power!」

Anasel shouted out as he held both curved swords in his hands.

As if to reply, Rei also readied his Death Scythe.

The referee looked at the two of them and, judging they were ready, shouted out loud.

「Begin!」

『WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaAAAaaah-!』

As soon as the signal was given, cheers from the audience echoed throughout the stadium.

Pushed on by such cheers, Anasel dashed forwards first as he closed the gap between him and Rei.

「HAAAaAah-!」

His two curved blades swung out with a roar.

Each swords attacked Rei with seemingly different intentions, best described as a sword dance.

It was a continuous storm of slashing attacks.

But……the sounds that rang out weren’t the sounds of slicing into flesh, cloth, or Rei’s voice of pain. It was just the sound of metal hitting metal.

Kin- Kin- Kin- Kin- Kin- Kin-, a series of metallic sounds rang out.

Even as Anasel attacked with his dual swords, Rei responded with just the Death Scythe.

The difference was that Rei was using both the blade and the shaft of the Death Scythe.

「KOOOOOOOH-!！」

Anasel seemed to change the way he breathed. Unlike before, the speed of his curved swords started to swing out at an even faster pace.

「Don’t think I’ll let you do whatever you want!」

Rei had been observing how Anasel used his dual blades, focusing on defense, but when Anasel’s movements changed, so did Rei’s.

The result was that Rei continued to block the curved blades, but in a more aggressive manner……in other words, he moved forward to block as he clashed with the curved blades.

(If they can clash with the Death Scythe, that means they are also magic weapons.)

Rei thought to himself as he felt the shock travel back through his hands.

Contrary to Rei’s thoughts, Anasel’s expression became more serious with each clash.

A flowing sword dance based on circular movements. Two curved blades continued to swing out without pause.

But……even so, the blades failed to reach Rei completely.

It felt like he was facing an impregnable wall, and his hands had started to numb with each clash against the Death Scythe.

The 100kg weight of the Death Scythe struck him endlessly. Moreover, since Rei didn’t feel the Death Scythe’s weight, no matter where Anasel’s swords swung from, the Death Scythe was always there to block it.

After striking the Death Scythe like that so many times, it was only natural for his hands to become numb.

「What a troublesome sturdiness!」

As if throwing out his grievances, he swung both his swords. Even though the attacks came out at slightly different times, Rei easily blocked the attack with his Death Scythe.

Seeing that, Anasel leapt backwards, as he wasn’t getting anywhere at this point in time, and kept his distance from Rei.

「As expected of someone with a title like Crimson. I can’t believe I’ve attacked this far without inflicting a single scratch on you. I had been quite confident in my speed and skill.」

「That’s right, your attack power certainly ranks among the highest that I’ve fought against.」

The two of them exchanged words while looking for an opportunity.

Even as they spoke, Anasel slightly raised and lowered the tip of his swords while Rei shifted his Death Scythe around in response.

「Among the highest? It’s a bit of a shame that I’m not the best.」

「I have fought against a lot of different people after all.」

As they talked, the tension between them grew.

The next moment, they both leapt at each other, as if both sides had shown an opening.

Anasel’s swords were faster and sharper than before as they drew a complicated trajectory that threatened to slice Rei’s body to pieces.

As for Rei, he started to parry the blades with the Death Scythe.

……Yes. Not just blocking or avoiding the blades. He read the flow of the sword tips and parried both swords.

Previously he would have used all those forms of defense..

And, at first glance, it might look like he was still using various methods to defend himself.

However, now, all he was doing was parrying.

Parrying was the most technically difficult form of defense and required much higher level of skill with the Death Scythe than what it might look like from the outside.

After all, since it was a single technique, the attack could also react accordingly. However, Rei continued to parry while controlling his opponent, preventing him from reacting appropriately.

It was something that Rei definitely wouldn’t have done in the apst.

Instead of just defending normally, which was easy to do, he shackled himself down and continued to just parry.

『WOOOOOOAH, that’s amazing, Anasel! A one sided onslaught against Crimson! Attack, attack, attack, attack! Crimson can only defend against the dance like attacks!』

The voice of the live commentator echoed out as the audience cheered, praising Anasel’s dance like strikes.

It was the same for the nobles in the audience seats.

「Hah, I had heard things about Crimson, but it seems rumours are rumours after all. In reality, he only has this level of skill.」

「It certainly does seem like he’s been pushed back one sidedly. Or maybe he’s just good at wide area magic, like what he used at the Selemus Plains, and he’s not as good at individual battles?」

「I seem, that is a possibility. In fact, it’s extremely troublesome that he can use magic to just destroy our army……but still, since he’s showed his weakness like this, it was worth asking His Majesty for permission to participate.」

Some distance away from the nobles who were discussing like that, other nobles had different expressions on their faces.

「That’s why they don’t understand how battles work……it certainly looks like Crimson is just being cornered…….」

「Yeah. I think Anasel is the one actually being cornered. You can easily tell by the expression on his face.」

As as they said, the expression on Anasel’s face as he continued to attack was so serious that you wouldn’t think he held the advantage.

No, rather than serious, his expression could better described as one being forced to a dead end.

From the outside, it might have looked like Anasel was pushing Rei back, but it was actually Rei who held the advantage.

Naturally, it was Rei’s parrying that had brought this situation about.

Up until now, he had relied on his physical capabilities to some extent despite also using technique. But now, Rei was purely using technique to parry Anasel’s attacks.

Moreover, he wasn’t just parrying. Just before the weapons touched, Rei would push the Death Scythe out slightly, increasing the strain on Anasel’s wrists.

Even though the strain from one attack wasn’t that much, Anasel was swinging his swords relentlessly and the rate and which the recoil added up was accelerating rapidly in his arms……or more precisely, his wrists.

Furthermore, to make so many rapid attacks, Anasel could only hold his breath.

He was basically doing anaerobic exercise.

There was no way he could sustain such actions for long in this situation……or rather, it was surprising that he had managed to go this far.

Even so, there was still a limit.

Even those his face had gone red from breathing difficulties, he continued to perform his sword dance.

It was just a moment……but for a moment, Anasel’s swords slowed down and that was when the Death Scythe struck.

Boom-!

Anasel intercepting the approaching Death Scythe with crossed blades.

Even though they had been fighting in the center of the arena, Ansel was thrown back to the very edge of the stage, like a pebble, with that attack.

That said, even in his oxygen deprived state, he had still been able to block the Death Scythe’s attack and although he was knocked quite far back, he was able to twist his body in mid air and regain his stance.

He had endured it. Because of his momentary relaxation, he didn’t notice Rei disappearing from his sight.

As a result.

「What-!?」

Landing on the arena and regaining his balance, he tried to look back at Rei, but was surprised to see the small robed figure already in front of him.

Rei had closed in before he knew it.

In his moment of shock, the pommel of the Death Scythe struck his belly, knocking him out as he collapsed on the arena.

「That’s it! This battle is won by Rei.」

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