As Rei was sent flying through the air like a pebble once more, he thought of what he had just seen.

What had Noiz done while holding his sword?

Rei believed he was probably the only person in the whole stadium who had clearly seen it.

Yes, Noiz hadn’t used any extraordinary magic like teleportation. He had just moved normally.

The only difference was that he had moved so fast that you could hardly see him.

And, despite having moved at such a speed, the ground which Noiz had been standing on earlier was still clean and showed no signs of damage, clearly due to whatever method he used.

Activating the Shoes of Sleipnir, Rei regained his balance as he landed on the arena.

For a moment, a dull pain rain through his right side, but it wasn’t as bad as before.

「Oh, did you manage to react?」

As Rei readied the Death Scythe and faced the voice, he heard such words.

There was an unmistakable look of admiration on his face.

It was unusual for Noiz, who hardly showed any change in his expressions normally.

Seeing Noiz like that, Rei couldn’t help clicking his tongue.

「Tch, punching the Death Scythe and not even getting hurt. What kind of body do you have?」

Yes. Although he didn’t know how, Rei had caught Noiz moving at a speed so fast it could be mistaken for teleportation.

He had only caught the movement with his eyes and hadn’t been able to completely avoid Noiz’s fist.

But even if he couldn’t avoid the attack, he was at least able to pull his arm back.

The Death Scythe weigh barely anything in Rei and Set’s hands.

In other words, he had managed to block Noiz’s attack by using the shaft of the Death Scythe as a shield.

Still……even after punching Rei’s Death Scythe, which weighed over 100kg, Noiz didn’t seem to show any signs of pain, which was unexpected for Rei.

(I thought I could do some damage. ……S ranks are real monsters.)

Even though he thought like that, there was no sign of despair on Rei’s face.

He was certainly still at a huge disadvantage, judging from Noiz’s actions. However, that was just a disadvantage, not a situation to despair.

If Noiz was really teleporting, there probably wouldn’t have been anything he could have done. But, if it was just high speed movement, then Rei had just proved he could still deal with it.

(If I want to handle it perfectly, I’ll probably need to learn how to move at that speed myself……)

Though he thought that for a moment, he immediately shook his head.

It was true that if he could move at the same speed, he would be able to handle Noiz’s movements as well. However, it was a technique being used by the S rank Noiz. There was no way he could do that right now.

(Then, for now, all I have to do is to respond to his movements. As long as I do that, there is a way to deal with him.)

Tightening his grip on the Death Scythe, Rei spoke out.

「Magic Shield.」

With those words, the skill was activated and a shield of light appeared at Rei’s side.

A shield that blocked any attack once. With that shield, Rei would be able to deal with Noiz, whose movements were barely visible to him.

Rei thought that, but he was still underestimating the existence that was an S rank adventurer.

Next, he had to deal with Noiz’s movement. The moment Rei thought that, Noiz dashed forward as his appearance blurred.

Rei, who was waiting for that moment, immediately focused his strength on the Death Scythe while defending himself with the Magic Shield. ……At the same time, Noiz closed the gap at blinding speed.

By the time Rei had moved his arm several mm, or several cm at most, Noiz had crossed a distance of several meters.

Even so, with the sharp senses possessed by the body carefully crafted by Zepairu, Rei was barely able to capture Noiz’s inhuman speed.

However, to the surrounding audience and other tournament participants, they were unable to detect any of Noiz’s movements and even the bodyguards in the royal family’s viewing room were only able to see a faint shadow.

Still, whether or not it was a stroke of luck, Rei succeeded in moving the Death Scythe in his hands and thrusting out with the shaft.

His plan was to block Noiz’s attack with the magic shield and pierce his body with the shaft of the Death Scythe in a counter. That was what he had planned……

With the sound of the Magic Shield shattering, the Death Scythe was parried and a moment later, he was struck by another impact.

「Guh-!」

However, the difference was that instead of being sent flying ot the edge of the arena, he was only sent sliding a short 3m away.

He was still close to Noiz. Judging that, Rei ignored the pain in his right side, that had been struck again, as he shouted out.

「Flying Slash-!」

It wasn’t an attack to hurt Noiz. Instead, it was a deterrent to keep him from getting close.

The flying slash, which was sent out with such thoughts, was indeed successful in blocking Noiz’s pursuit.

Since Noiz had misunderstood the Death Scythe’s skills as magic, he matched wind magic with wind magic as he wrapped wind around his blade and swung it like a small typhoon, cutting Rei’s attack apart.

「Haah, haah……phew.」

Using the flying slash to keep his distance, Rei calmed his breathing after realising that Noiz wouldn’t attack him.

As he touched his right side, he felt a dull pain.

(I’m lucky that my bones have yet to break.)

He groaned internally as he felt the pain, if he had been hit at the same spot as before earlier, his ribs would probably have been broken.

Even thought it was almost purely reflex, the attack didn’t hurt as much because he had managed to shift the point of contact.

Frowning slightly at the pain in his side, Rei thought to himself as he readied the Death Scythe again.

(What happened? No, that’s obvious. He destroyed the magic shield with the sword in his right hand and attacked an additional attack with his left hand at the same time. I remember seeing him do that before, so I should have expected that. Maybe I was too focused on his high speed movement.)

Indeed, Noiz’s high speed movement that was close to teleportation was very eye catching. Then, just as his attention was drawn to that, Noiz unleashed a series of attacks.

Rei guessed it was something Noiz was used to doing.

That said, it was only possible if it was someone like Rei, who could handle his high speed to some extent.

「But……I have no choice but to deal with it!」

As he said that, Noiz’s figure blurred again.

Just like before, Noiz’s figure seemed to stretch out like candy as he closed in on Rei.

Even as Rei moved the Death Scythe several mm and cm in an attempt to defend himself, Noiz moved like he was outside the flow of time. As Rei saw that, he couldn’t help but panic.

Before the start of the match, he had planned to use magic to deal with Noiz somehow, but like before, fire magic would blow up large amount of flames and smoke into the surroundings, hampering vision.

As if seizing the moment of Rei’s panic, Noiz closed in towards attack range in an instant as he swung his fist……

(Wait. Fist?)

Even as Rei pulled the Death Scythe closer to him, his mind was spinning at a ferocious speed.

Just as the question formed in his mind in a few tenths of a second, Noiz was only 5m away from Rei.

Because he had been careful earlier, the Death Scythe was already ready to defend. Judging that he he wouldn’t take a direct hit regardless, Rei suddenly realised that there was something he could do, even in his current situation.

Normally, this skill would have little use in battle, but it was one that could be activated immediately.

「Terrain Manipulation!」

With those words, the skill was activated.

Terrain Manipulation was only a level 1 skill. Its effect was to simply raise or lower the ground in a 10m radius around him by 10cm vertically.

But……to someone in Noiz’s current state, what would happen if ground were to shift by 10cm under his feet while moving at speed close to teleportation?

「What-!?」

The result was that Noiz’s foot was caught as he moved, sending him flying forward at the same speed.

「UOOOOOOOH-!」

An opportunity. Seeing that, Rei forcibly spun the Death Scythe around with a flick of his wrist from its current position.

Due to that movement, which was only possible with Rei’s physical ability, the shaft flicked upwards sharply.

A metallic clash echoed out as Noiz continued to fly straight past Rei.

Quickly spinning around, Rei did a half turn on the spot as he turned to face Noiz, who had moved past him.

(A metallic clash?)

As he moved, he wondered what the sound he heard a moment ago had been, but he understood right away as soon as he saw Noiz’s magic sword buried in the ground to slow his momentum.

「In that instant, you used your sword as a shield. ……You monster.」

It was supposed to be Rei’s comeback.

As there was no way such an attack would work a second time against Noiz, Rei had hoped his attack would cause significant injury, if not win him the match. However, the results were unexpected.

However, Noiz, who was called a monster by Rei, pulled his sword out of the arena as he spoke with a smile on his face.

「Using a weapon as a shield is not a technique unique to you. It’s a common skill……but in your case, Rei, thanks to your scythe, it provides a very high level of defense even as a common skill.」

Noiz addressed Rei by name.

It probably meant that he had recognised Rei level.

Even though Rei understood that, he didn’t feel happy about it as he clicked his tongue bitterly.

Noiz recognised him. He could imagine that this meant Noiz would no longer be as lax as before.

「You’re exactly what I thought you were, Rei. Unlike my previous opponents, you’re enough to fill my boredom.」

「……If you’re that bored, you should just fight high ranking monsters. There are S rank dragons, right?」

The act of speaking with an opponent to create an opening during conversation was something that had been done many times before.

However, Rei currently felt a level of mental fatigue that he had never experienced in battle before.

The only reason it didn’t show on his face was due to his extensive combat experience.

(When it comes to feeling this threatened……it’s like the first time I met Grimm.)

Muttering to himself, the figure of the familiar lich appeared in Rei’s mind.

As a lich, the figure in Rei’s mind was just bones.

But even so, that alone had been enough to sap the strength from Rei’s body.

Although Rei was not aware of it, he was actually less nervous dealing with Noiz because he had the experience of dealing with what could be considered paranormal.

「Then……let’s go from here!」

If he continued to focus on defense, it would only increase the time it would take for him to lose. Reaching that conclusion, Rei tried to move forward first……

「I won’t let you.」

With those words, Noiz sped towards Rei again.

As Noiz’s figure rapidly sped towards him, Rei moved to thrust the shaft of the Death Scythe into the arena, hoping to impede Noiz’s movements if even just a little.

As Rei moved the Death Scythe in slow motion…….very slow motion, Noiz got closer as if it didn’t matter at all.

Still, before Noiz could completely reach him, the shaft of the Death Scythe pierced the arena and……

「Terrain Manipulation!」

He used the same skill again.

Still, it wasn’t exactly the same as before.

Earlier, the ground Noiz was running across had been raised to trip him.

If Rei was lucky, it might have sent him flying off the arena, giving him the win. Rei definitely had some thoughts of doing that.

However, he didn’t really think that Noiz would be defeated by such a simple move, and in reality, Rei had hoped it would make him more cautious of moving at high speeds.

What Rei did this time was to lower the ground instead of raise it.

Even though it was a little different, it was still better than using that exact same trick. Rei acted based on that judgement, but there was no way that Noiz would be caught but such small tricks so many times. While moving at high speed, he easily avoided Rei’s trap by changing the direction of his movement.

Another strike.

Rei had seen Noiz’s movement many times and was now starting to get used to his attacks. He succeeded in using the Death Scythe’s shaft as a shield just before Noiz’s fist hit his body.

No matter how many times he had seen Noiz’s attack, it was still to Rei’s credit that he was able to react to Noiz’s movements, which normal people would see as simply disappearing

Rei was convinced of something as he used the shaft of the Death Scythe to catch Noiz’s fist from below. Using the force from the attack, Rei sent himself into the air rather than be planted into the ground.

(As expected, Why is he attacking with his fist and not his sword?)

Understanding Noiz’s action could be the key to a reversal. Thinking like that, Rei adjusted his position in the air before landing onto the arena and facing Noiz.

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