Inside the stadium, the audience cheered at the scene unfolding before them……no, rather, they were all speechless in shock, just staring in amazement.

At the center of the arena, a magic sword and scythe clashed.

The fact that both were top class magic weapons was something almost everyone who had watched the matches knew.

The people swinging the respective weapons were also top class fighters.

Water Dragon Digma and Crimson Rei.

The two titled adventurers were demonstrating a fight that almost felt like a dance.

『Spirit of water, appear.』

As Digma used his spirit magic, water suddenly appeared from nowhere.

However, the water didn’t take the form of an arrow or a whip to attack Rei like before, the water just appeared in the form of a ball.

But, as something created by the Water Dragon, Rei didn’t believe it was there for nothing. Evading Digma’s magic sword, Rei slashed the water with the Death Scythe.

With a whistling sound, the Death Scythe cut through the water ball.

Nothing special happened and the water simply spilled onto the ground.

「Wha……-!?」

Rei was stunned for a moment……just a moment, as he realised it had been plain water.

By the time he realised that it was the opening Digma had been aiming for, the magic sword was already swinging towards him.

Digma’s target was Rei’s legs, in order to slow his speed……before Rei even realised it, he started moving the Death Scythe.

There wasn’t enough time to pull the Death Scythe’s blade back to block it, so Rei decided to use the shaft instead.

Kiiin~ A metallic sound echoed out.

The scene gave the audience a sense of deja vu.

That was right, Digma had closed in fast enough to stop Rei from attacking him first and Rei had blocked the incoming attack with the shaft of the Death Scythe.

It was the same as what they had seen before.

However, there was one big difference.

Last time, Digma had made a big leap back after, or more accurately, he was sent flying away by Rei. This time, he held his ground.

Rei already knew why.

The water that Rei had cut apart earlier and had fallen to the ground.

That water was now wrapped around Digma’s feet, preventing him from being sent flying.

(Damn, I never thought it would be this troublesome to deal with spirit magic and close combat together-!)

While feeling frustrated inwardly, Rei parried away the magic sword with the shaft of the Death Scythe.

The next person to feel shocked was Digma.

He had been pushing up against the Death Scythe when all resistance suddenly disappeared.

Normally, he would have been able to recover his stance instantly, but due to the timing of Rei’s parry, Digma had been completely caught off guard.

With that parry, his entire upper body balance was lost.

Thanks to the water holding onto his feet, he didn’t leave any openings. But……

「HAAAAAAH-!」

With the momentum from the parry, Rei swung the blade of the Death Scyth around.

Digma didn’t have enough time to bring back his magic sword to block the attack.

Realising that, he immediately shouted out.

『Spirit of water, wall!』

In an instant, the water beneath Digma’s and Rei’s feet rose up as it formed a wall.

It was a thin wall……even if it hadn’t been Rei, it wouldn’t have been hard to break through. But if it slowed the Death Scythe’s movement for even a moment, it would be enough of an opening for Digma.

As the water holding his feet had been used to form the wall, he was now able to move himself.

He crouched down to avoid the incoming Death Scythe as it cut through the water wall and slashed at Rei’s ankles in the same motion.

The water wall had not only delayed Rei’s attack momentarily, it had also blinded him.

It was a spur of the moment decision that Digma was only able to make as an A rank adventurer. In comparison, despite only having come to this world for a short time, Rei was able to keep up due to the sheer amount of combat experience he had gained in this period of time.

Following his intuition, Rei jumped into the air, spinning as he slashed towards Digma.

『Spirit of water, form into a whip!』

With another incantation, Digma activated his spirit magic again and swung the water whip towards Rei.

Digma made that decision, seeing that Rei had dodged his crouching attack by jumping, but he was a bit too slow.

The water whip was swung towards Rei, but Rei activated the Shoes of Sleipnir as he slashed Digma, dashing forwards against the air.

Even Digma was surprised by the way Rei was able to move in mid air while swinging the Death Scythe.

Even so, he was able to absorb most of the impact from the Death Scythe and barely suffered any injuries.

Using that force, he opened up some distance between as Rei rushed towards him.

『……』

The two of them stared at each other across the arena, silently observing each other’s state.

Naturally, the audience watching them also fell silent.

It was so quiet that it was hard to believe how many people had gathered here to watch……eventually, it was Digma who broke the silence.

With his good looking Elven looks, he spoke up with a smile on his face.

「You certainly are a formidable enemy. I’ll admit that.」

Hearing Digma’s words, the audience started buzzing.

Even though Rei and Noiz had completely stolen the spotlight in the tournament, Digma was still a titled A rank adventurer. Naturally, he was very famous in the Imperial Capital and the fact that he recognised Rei as a formidable opponent brought a huge shock to the audience.

But of course, Digma’s words didn’t end there.

He spun his words with a smile typical of someone who was confident in their own strength.

「That’s why I’m going to challenge you with all my might……I know that you created a tornado of flames, resulting in your title of Crimson.」

Even as he said that, Digma’s body filled with magic power.

Although he couldn’t see magic power, he could still tell from the increasing force and pressure he felt from Digma.

What was most strange was the amount of water that was forming behind Digma.

The water that had been used to form the wall and whip from earlier were also absorbed and the amount of water was already enough to swallow ten people.

Although Rei knew that Digma was clearly preparing his next move, he didn’t stop him.

He just listened to Digma in silence, holding the Death Sythe and waiting for his opponent’s next move.

If he wanted to interfere, it wasn’t that difficult for him to do so.

Even so, Rei didn’t touch Digma and just waited patiently.

There was no point winning by catching his opponent by surprise and preventing them from using their full strength.

If he did that, he would definitely win the match. However, if you were to ask Rei if it would be good for his fight against Noiz, he didn’t have much confidence.

Because of that, he planned to use his own strength to defeat his semi-finals opponent……one of the most prominent adventurers in the Imperial Capital.

For this match, he decided to use his own skills to win, even those he had planned to keep secret before his fight against Noiz in the finals.

It wasn’t like he could read Rei’s thoughts. However, Digma seemed to sense that Rei was waiting for him as he spoke up.

「Now then, let me show you why I have the title of Water Dragon. If you can survive this attack, then I admit you are already at the A rank level.」

As his voice echoed throughout the stadium, the large amount of water behind Digma only grew further as its appearance started to change.

『Spirit of water, crush him with the jaws of the dragon!』

An incantation filled with magic power. As the incantation suggested, the water behind Digma transformed into the head of a giant dragon.

The water in the shape of a dragon’s head rushed towards Rei, following Digma’s orders.

「I was only able to form the head because of the arena, but……this is enough to deal with individuals. Now then, Rei. Can you deal with this water dragon?」

「GYAAAAAAAAAA!」

The water dragon approached Rei with such a roar.

With the Death Scythe in hand, Rei increased the amount of magic power in it as he stared down the water dragon.

(It’s certainly amazing……but doesn’t this violate the rules for tamed or summoned monsters? Is it okay because it’s just manipulating water into the form of a dragon?)

As Rei thought about it, he used his first Death Scythe skill since entering the tournament.

「Flying Slash-!」

With those words, a slash flew out.

「What!?」

Digma’s eyes widened at the slash that flew out. It was probably because he had thought of Rei as a mage who only specialised in fire magic.

The slash that flew out from the Death Scythe struck the water dragon’s head. However, even if it looked like a dragon’s head, it was still a mass of water.

In fact, the slash went straight through the water dragon’s head as it passed through it before flying high into the sky and disappearing.

「Tch, I guess Flying Slashes aren’t enough after all.」

It was an attack for confirmation, but seeing that it had no effect as expected still made Rei depressed.

Even so, he still had a lot of skills to choose from……mostly because the skills came from the Death Scythe.

「Magic Shield.」

With those words a shield of light appeared in front of Rei.

However, the shield wasn’t big enough to defend against the water dragon, which was how Digma judged that Rei’s attack had failed.

「Don’t think such a small shield can block the water dragon’s attack. Go, water dragon!」

As if in response to Digma’s words, the head of the water dragon attacked Rei.

Its jaws opened wide as it tried to crush the magic shield with its huge fangs.

A grinding sound echoed out.

When the audience heard that sound, they couldn’t believe their eyes or ears.

Even though the water dragon was overwhelmingly larger, its fangs were still blocked by the shield of light.

It might have been different if he had been swallowed or chewed up, but either way, the water dragon’s fangs had been successfully blocked by the magic shield.

THe one who was most surprised by this was not the audience……but Digma.

After creating the water dragon, which was also his namesake, even if it was just the head due to the limited arena space, he had never expected it to be blocked.

He was shocked and completely caught off guard. That was why he didn’t noticing Rei starting an incantation from the other side of the magic shield as the water dragon continued in its attempt to destroy it.

『Fire, you are a being made of flames. Flames gather together. Soar on great wings of fire!』

As the incantation progressed, palm sized flames gathered around the blade of the Death Scythe before transforming into the shape of a bird.

The size of the fire bird increased as Rei poured more magic power into it before reaching a size of 5m with its wings spread out.

『Sky Conquering Phoenix!』

The magic was activated

Flapping its flaming wings, it flew towards the water dragon, whose movements were restricted by the magic shield, as if asserting its dominance of the arena.

Under Rei’s control, the phoenix flew straight towards the water dragon.

Then, as the phoenix was about to collide with the water dragon, Rei made the magic shield disappear.

The water dragon, which had been desperately trying to crush the shield, saw its target disappear like mist, creating a momentary opportunity.

……That gap may only have been for a moment, but to Rei, it was a fatal opening.

Without any hesitation……the phoenix charged straight for the head of the water dragon.

The fire bird rushed into the water dragon.

And, the moment they touched, the water started to bubble.

「What-!?」

How many times had he been surprised since this match had started.

The phoenix entered the water dragon and continued to fly around inside without being extinguished by the water. At the same time, the water dragon released a large amount of steam from its body.

Digma’s vision was blocked by the vapour that covered his field of vision……no, everything in the arena. He immediately swung his magic sword wildly as he poured magic power it it.

He did that based on his many years of experience.

However……Rei’s magic power surpassed even what he expected. As the vapour cleared, Digma’s magic sword was caught by Rei’s Death Scythe. As for the phoenix, it was only a size smaller even after evaporating the water dragon as it held its beak to Digma’s face.

Digma gave a small sigh as he let go of his magic sword and raised both his hands.

「Sorry, it’s my loss.」

At the clear surrender, the referee’s voice echoed through the stadium.

「That’s it! The winner is Rei!」

[Previous Chapter] [Table of Contents] [Next Chapter]