Waiting against a better opponent would put you at a disadvantage.

Judging so, Rei dashed forward and closed the distance to Noiz as the Emperor’s voice echoed through the stadium, signalling the start of the match.

Of course, he didn’t approach silently. He gave a loud shout as he swung the Death Scythe.

「Flying Slash-!」

The flying slash flew out with his shout, tearing everything apart in Rei’s direction.

In response to the flying slahs coming towards him, Noiz swung the magic sword in his hand without any particular expression on his face.

It was nothing much……it really was nothing much, just a simple swing. But even though that was all it was, the flying slash that was heading towards Noiz was easily dispersed.

(Tch-, is that magic sword the same one I saw in the semi-finals? The sheath is different……does it have some special ability?)

Rei mumbled internally as he checked the distance between him and Noiz, which was rapidly shrinking.

But, he had to be the first to land a blow and take control of the fight.

With those those thoughts in mind, he closed the gap……

「HAAAAAaaAH-!」

The Death Scythe was swung as a greeting.

The huge blade went straight towards Noiz’s shoulder……

Kiin-!

With such a metallic sound, the blade of the Death Scythe was flicked away.

……Yes, it was easily deflected.

The Death Scythe that was over 100kg in weight and swung with Rei’s inhuman strength.

However, the strength behind that blow was still unexpected even for Noiz. Rei noticed Noiz’s eyebrows twitch slightly in surprise and judged that as expected as he immediately used the Death Scythe’s momentum to thrust the shaft towards him.

It was hardest to avoid attacked directed towards the body. Rei’s attack would have hurt greatly if it connected, even for Noiz.

That’s right, if it connected.

The shaft made contact with the blade of Noiz’s magic sword and at the same time, Noiz’s sword shifted slightly.

Naturally, that movement was transferred to where it made contact with the shaft of the Death Scythe, causing it to slip diagonally and be parried.

「-!?」

Rei noticed that movement and immediately tensed his body to stop the thrust.

Fortunately, the Death Scythe’s shaft stopped halfway down the blade of Noiz’s sword, perhaps because it wasn’t fully parried.

But still……

「-!? Argh-!」

At that moment, Rei thought he saw something in the corner of his vision before receiving a violent impact that sent him flying.

It was only thanks to his sharp senses that he was able to use his Dragon Robe as a shield and avoid getting hit by the attack directly.

The Dragon Robe was made from dragon skin and scales. It’s sturdiness was by no means inferior to that of full plate mail.

Despite having such a strong defense, Rei was still blown back to his starting position.

It wasn’t that Noiz had used all his strength to send Rei flying. If he had simply hit Rei as hard as he could, Rei would certainly have been sent flying, but he also wouldn’t have taken any particular injuries.

However, Rei frowned as he felt a dull pain in his right side, where he had been hit.

(Fortunately, it’s just a bruise and my ribs don’t seem to be broken……but did he damage the Dragon Robe?)

Muttering to himself, Rei held the Death Scythe in his left hand while rubbing his side with his right hand and rejecting the idea.

That was because the Dragon Robe itself had no damage at all. In other words……

「He passed the shock straight through?」

Hearing Rei’s mutters, Noiz gave a small nod.

「That’s right. If it were a normal opponent, they would have fainted in agony from the attack without understanding what had happened. As expected, this is only possible for people I have high hopes in.」

It was impressive words from an S rank adventurer.

If Rei had been an ordinary adventurer, he would probably have been trembling with joy.

Unfortunately, Rei wasn’t ordinary in many ways.

「I see, I’ll take you compliments after beating you up……!」

Ignoring the tingling pain he felt in his right side, Rei dashed forward again.

「HAAAAAAAAAaaaAAah-!」

The Death Scythe was swung with a roar.

The blade was swung such that it couldn’t be parried and the moment Noiz tried to parry, Rei spun the shaft in his hand.

It wasn’t a rotational movement to thrust with the shaft, but rather to change the position of the blade.

As Noiz tried to parry the blade, it moved to strike his face, causing him to take a step back.

Normally, such a movement would have caused a momentary delay in reaction due to shock. However, Noiz showed no such signs of confusion and moved his body calmly, easily dodging the attack targeting his head.

But, even as Rei caught the surprise on his opponent’s face, he spoke without stopping the flow of his attacks.

「Corrosion.」

Rei activated the skill Corrosion. As its name suggested, it had the effect of corroding an opponent’s weapons, although limited to metal, when the blade of the Death Scythe clashed with another weapon.

Even Noiz’s magic sword was unlikely to be able to defend against the Death Scythe’s blade with corrosion active.

……Yes, only if the weapons clashed.

When using the Death Scythe’s skills, it was necessary to say the skill name. That also meant that Rei’s opponents could hear what skill Rei was using.

Of course, just hearing it didn’t mean you could deal with it and there were many people who didn’t know the requirement for Rei to use his skills.

However……for an S rank adventurer like Noiz, it wasn’t that difficult to sense something semi-instinctively and respond.

The fact that Rei had also used skills in the semi-finals against Digma two days ago was probably a big factor as well.

「-!?」

In any case, Noiz sensed the ominous sound in Rei’s words and instead of blocking the Death Scythe’s attack with his magic sword, he avoided the attack by arching his body.

「Tch-, don’t run! Corrosion!」

Since the effect of corrosion wore off after a single swing, Rei had to use the skill again as he swung the Death Scythe.

However, that only convinced Noiz of its effect, that it would be a fatal blow if it connected, and swung his magic sword before the blade of the Death Scythe came close. ……However, instead of swinging sword towards the Death Scythe, Noiz aimed it at the arena below his feet.

「Wind.」

At the same time as he spoke, the blade of his magic sword became wrapped in wind as he swung it.

A strong wind slammed into the ground and struck Rei as it reflected off the arena.

Judging that it would be dangerous to confront the Death Scythe directly, the wind also sent sand and stone fragments from previous exchanges flying towards Rei.

「Gah, tch-!」

Since he was wearing the Dragon Robe, Rei suffered basically no injuries, but it still hut when sand and stones struck his exposed body, mainly his face and hands. The wind blowing towards him also stopped him from moving.

If things continued, Noiz would catch up to him from the other side of the wind.

Making that judgement, Rei acted quickly.

『Flame, appear before me.』

He quickly finished the incantation and stabbed the shaft of the Death Scythe into the arena, activating the magic.

『Flame Wall.』

Although the incantation was short, a wall of flame appeared, fanned by the wind.

At the same time, the wind blowing towards Rei was burned by the flames and the sand and pebbles where similarly burned away.

「Phew.」

He gave a sigh of relief, just for a moment. It was only a moment.

「Can you afford to relax?」

That’s why he froze for a moment when he heard a voice at his ears.

At the same time, he felt a shock in his right side as he was sent flying again, like a pebble kicked by a child.

This was despite Rei holding on the 100kg+ Death Scythe.

「Gaaah-!」

Even as he was sent flying, Rei activated the Shoes of Sleipnir while holding his right side, pushing off the air as he regained his balance and landed on the arena.

As he slid across the arena, he thrust the shaft of the Death Scythe into the ground, stopping him from sliding any further.

「Haa, haa, haa……」

It was exact same spot that he had be struck previously. Rei frowned at the pain from the attack, which had bypassed the Dragon Robe’s defenses like before.

Still, he directed his eyes towards the place where the wall of flames had been……that is, the place where Rei had been punched earlier, because another moment of laxity could result in a repeat of what just happened.

Reflected in his line of sight was the figure of Noiz, who was holding his magic sword as he looked towards Rei.

After taking a few breaths, he regained his composure and readied the Death Scythe in his hand.

(He’s strong……stronger than I expected. No, far stronger than I expected. But this is an advantageous position for me!)

Complaining internally, Rei spoke while facing Noiz, who showed not even the slightest gap.

『Fire, become arrows that will fall like rain and burn everything.』

Along with his incantation, flaming arrows were created behind Rei.

About 50 in total.

『Fire Arrow Rain!』

With those words, the magic was activated and the flaming arrows, imbued with a large amount of Rei’s magic power, rushed toward Noiz all at once.

The amount of magic power contained in the arrows was enough that an ordinary opponent would have been seriously burned just by touching it.

Such flaming arrows flew towards Noiz……

「ARGH-!」

Rei didn’t understand what had happened in that moment.

All he knew was that he was flying through the air. ……No, he had been sent flying.

Rei regained consciousness, which he had lost for a brief moment, and in his eyes, he saw the flaming arrows that he had shot out hit the ground, creating a large amount of fire.

(What happened?)

Although confused, he used the Shoes of Sleipnir to push against the air again.

However, unlike before, he dashed through the air several times to create as much distance between himself and Noiz as possible before landing on the arena.

「Ugh-!」

The reason for that sound was the dull pain that ran through his right side as he landed on the arena……the same place he had been hit before.

The attacks that had struck the same spot three times in a row were definitely hurting Rei’s ribs.

Fortunately, his ribs had yet to break, but the damage had definitely accumulated.

(Is this the so called penetrating strike?)

As he held down his right side, which was still giving off a dull pain, he recalled something similar from the manga and novels he had read back in Japan.

That said, it wasn’t quite the same to Rei. Perhaps it was the difference between chi and magic.

(No, more than that……the biggest problem is his speed. When did he avoid my magic? And, before I knew it, it was right next to me……)

Noiz had appeared next to him so suddenly that it almost seemed believable to say he teleported.

Gripping the Death Scythe, Rei became alert to Noiz’s movement, who was a considerable distance from him, unlike before. He remained cautious, ready to immediately counter if the same thing were to happen again.

Ahead of his line of sight, Noiz was staring intently at Rei with his magic sword in hand.

Noiz’s movment a few seconds ago was done with magic power. In other words, Rei couldn’t really see how it was done.

Because of that, he had to carefully observe Noiz’s movements, so as to not miss anything.

(Considering how suddenly he appeared next to me, he couldn’t really have teleported, right?)

The phenomenon of teleportation existed in this world, Rei knew that, but it wasn’t possible without the use of expensive magic items, or the relics of ancient magical civilisations.

It was hard to believe that someone could use it on their own, even if it was an S rank adventurer.

(In other words, there must be some initial sign.)

Noiz could tell that Rei was carefully observing his movements, although he couldn’t read Rei’s thoughts.

Even so, his expression didn’t change, probably because he didn’t think anyone could understand what he was doing.

「……That’s fine. If you can, try it.」

Muttering to himself, Noiz used the technique that had let him slaughter and defeat countless opponents.

To the audience, it must have seemed like Noiz had disappeared.

And, the next moment, just as Noiz disappeared, he reappeared next to Rei……and sent Rei flying through the air again.

(Gah, but……I saw it!)

Along side Rei’s internal thoughts.

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