Rei was once again blown away by Noiz’s attack. But, now that he was able to respond to Noiz’s movements, he blocked his fist with the shaft of the Death Scythe and used the power to gain some distance, regaining his balance mid air before landing on the arena.

However, Noiz understood that as well. By the time Rei noticed, Noiz was already closing the distance already in pursuit of him.

Rei responded with the Death Scythe.

For some reason, Noiz didn’t use his magic sword to attack, instead focusing on his fists. In order to resolve his question on Noiz’s behaviour, Rei swung the Death Scythe towards Noiz.

Fortunately, the distance between him and Noiz was still quite wide, so he had time to use a skill.

「Power Slash!」

The skill used, Power Slash, boost the raw power behind an attack rather than its cutting power.

Above all, moving at such high speeds, long range attacks, including magic, would be easily avoided and ineffective.

Since that was the case, Rei judged that a melee attack would be more useful at close range.

(Originally, I was planning to make effective use of my magic power to overwhelm Noiz, but!)

With that thought in mind, Rei swung the Death Scythe with just his right arm.

Noiz didn’t block it with the sword in his hand……but evaded it by moving his body instead.

……Yes. From Noiz’s position, the best move would have been to block the Death Scythe’s blade with his sword before moving onto his next action.

However, Noiz still chose to evade instead of using his sword to block it.

Seeing that, Rei’s suspicions turned to confirmation.

In other words, Noiz was avoiding contact between the Death Scythe and his magic sword.

(I don’t know what, but if I can take advantage of it, I’ll just take advantage of it!)

As that thought passed through his mind, Noiz entered his range and he pulled the Death Scythe back. While doing that, Rei’s left hand, which was free, formed a fist and collided with Noiz’s fist.

「Wha-!?」

Noiz probably didn’t expect Rei to meet him head on. Their fists collided into one another.

The dull sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed out around them and only Noiz and Rei were able to here the sound of bone hitting bone.

As they crossed fists, it was Noiz, not Rei, who was sent flying from the clash.

In terms of pure physical strength, Rei won out and Noiz’s expression distorted with pain as he twisted in the air and landed on the arena……

「Flying Slash-!」

It was the first time Rei had dealt anything that seemed like damage to Noiz.

There was no way Rei would let that opportunity slip away and he unleashed a follow up attack without wasting any time.

However, the only action Noiz made in response to the slash flying towards him was to swing his own sword.

When he raised his sword, there was no change, but as he swung it down, the blade was wrapped in wind.

The wind empowered magic sword easily cut apart the flying slash coming towards him.

At the the flying slash was cut apart, it flew off the arena, eventually creating a large gash in dirt as it hit the ground. However, Rei didn’t care as he started an incantation.

With the distance between him and Noiz, there was enough time for a long incantation.

(If a point attack doesn’t work, I’ll use a wide area magic to eliminate the slightest chance of avoidance!)

If point attacks don’t work, just use line attacks. Rei judged that line attacks wouldn’t work, so he chose to use a wide area attack……

『Fire, show your destruction, one of your ideals. Bring about great destruction and use it as a sacrifice for new rebirth.』

As the incantation was spoken, a ball of fire formed near the Death Scythe’s blade.

It looked just like a ball of fire to every except for Rei.

However……the magic power contained inside it was the equivalent to the full magic power that could be produced by a dozen average mages.

『Scorching Hellfire!』

With those words, the magic was activated, and the ball of fire was released.

Following the trajectory of Rei’s Death Scythe, it flew straight towards Noiz.

However……seeing that, instead of taking evasive action, he focused his magic power into his sword.

The next moment, the ball of fire, that was compressed to its limits by Rei’s high density magic power, exploded. Almost half the arena where Noiz was standing was filled with explosive flames.

「Well……I’ve never done it before, but to still cover suck a large area……」

Rei didn’t finish his words.

Ahead of his line of sight, a figure appeared in the scene that was best described as a fiery hell.

The one who appeared was Noiz, who appeared almost unharmed, although his gear was slightly charred. In his hands, his magic sword was engulfed in flames.

A sort of thin layer of light covered his entire body.

(What is that?)

Rei groaned internally at Noiz’s appearance, but he sensed it almost instinctively. That……that was the secret to Noiz’s strength, the secret to his high speed movement.

However, Noiz spoke up, as if Rei’s feelings were irrelevant.

「I see. It’s true that if I avoid all your attacks, all you need to do is to make it so I can’t avoid it. In that sense, it really is a simple attack method, but……I guess it’s only because you can unleash such magic.」

Muttering out loud, he looked at the flames still roaring behind him and took a few steps forward.

Seeing that, Rei held some doubt over Noiz’s actions.

Even after being directly hit by such a magic, he showed no particular signs of injury. If that was the case, there shouldn’t have been a need to look so uncomfortable.

Thinking that far, he realised something. The light covering Noiz’s body had some sort of limit.

(Does that mean that there’s a limit to high speed movement based on magic power? For an ordinary mage’s magic……power. Wait. Wait, wait, wait. What was I just thinking? Magic power? Covered in light? That means……maybe……)

「Do you have magic power?」

Noiz’s mouth curled up at the whisper that escaped from Rei.

Looking at it, it was definitely a smile, but it also couldn’t really be called a smile. It was a rather complicated expression.

The best way to express it would be to say it was the face of a starving carnivore who had found its prey.

「Oh, you got it?」

Upon hearing those words, Noiz simply nodded without hiding it as Rei revealed a looked of understanding.

The technique of covering his body in magic power wasn’t done with any kind of magic item, but rather using Noiz’s own skill.

In the sense of using magic items to materialise magic power, Vihera’s gauntlets and leg armour were such examples. However, Noiz was able to do the same with pure skill, without utilising any external help.

Rei normally didn’t have the ability to sense magic power, but when it was visible and covering Noiz, he could see and feel it.

……An ordinary person wouldn’t have been able to detect it as they couldn’t utilise magic power in the same way. It was purely due to Rei’s intuition that he was able to see through it.

That was why Noiz so confidently acknowledged Rei’s words.

Even if you understood how it worked, it didn’t mean you could find a way to deal with it.

If there was only one miscalculation, it was probably Rei’s existence as a whole.

It was true that Rei couldn’t sense the magic power of his opponents and his magic skills were no match for Zepairu, who had created his body.

However, still……no, rather, that was why Rei had knowledge from the manga and novels he had read while in Japan.

And, unlike when Noiz was moving at high speed, he could now see with his own eyes how it was done and it wasn’t hard to imitate it with his own methods.

「Like, this!?」

Radiating the magic power sleeping within his body, Rei made it stick around himself. He released his magic power with such an image in his mind.

「What are you doing?」

But, at that moment, a voice was heard from right next to Rei.

How many punches had it been? Just before the attack hit him, Rei moved the Death Scythe back and blocked it.

With all his focus on releasing magic power, he normally wouldn’t have been able to block the attack in time. Despite that, Noiz’s fist was intercepted by the Death Scythe.

In such a state, it was naturally impossible to parry the attack, so the force was enough to knock the Death Scythe aside.

「What is this?」

However, Noiz let out a voice of surprise at Rei’s reaction.

It was the first time since the tournament had started……or rather, in the past few years, since he had let out a voice of surprise.

Yes, what was covering Rei was definitely a technique that was unique to him until now. But now, a dense, compressed, layer of magic power was surrounding Rei, enough to be visualised.

Of course, compared to Noiz, who had honed his skilled over many years, there was a huge difference between the two of them, to the point that calling Rei’s version immature would be presumptuous.

What Noiz could do with 10 units magic power, Rei would need 5000 or more.

However, the effect still wasn’t even 10% of Noiz’s.

It was horribly wasteful, an extremely brute force method that could only be done with the overwhelming amount of magic power that Rei had.

But, still……it was true that he had activated Overlord’s Armour, a skill that only Noiz had mastered.

「Hah-, hahaha……ahahahaha, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-!」

He couldn’t help but laugh as he watched Rei regain his posture in mid air before landing on the arena.

(Since when? When have I had this much fun……)

Even though he thought that in his mind, Noiz couldn’t stop laughing.

……No, it couldn’t even be called laughter. It was true that the sounds echoing out was that of laughter, but the feeling it gave off felt more manic.

At the very least, it was a far cry from what the average person would imagine when they thought of laughter.

As such a voice echoed out around them, it suddenly stopped.

Naturally, Noiz’s gaze turned to Rei.

No, there wasn’t anyone else in Noiz’s eyes except for Rei.

「…..Let’s go.」

Noiz muttered before vanishing again.

Although his high speed movement was invisible to anyone other than Rei, Rei was now able to keep up by activating his own version of Overlord’s Armour, albeit a poorer version.

In terms of performance, it was overwhelmingly weaker than Noiz’s. But, with the same skill active, it was much better than when Rei was was fighting without any support.

The greatest luck for Rei was that this skill called Overlord’s Armour wasn’t a magic, but a pure technique.

Since Rei only had affinity for fire magic, if Overlord’s Armour was a magic rather than a skill, it would have been impossible for him to use.

A skill……meant that it was a technique used by warriors who couldn’t use magic using magic power.

Another reason why Rei was able to use Overlord’s Armour without much trouble was because he had seen people use similar skills several times in the past.

Rei felt the ability to move normally while time seemed to slow down around him. Seeing the Death Scythe in his left hand, he put his right hand under his Dragon Robe. Magic power flowed into Nebula’s Eye, the magic item he had purchased just the day before.

An action that would have been impossible before now because of the difference in Rei and Noiz’s movement speeds.

Of course, even now, with the difference in performance of their Overlord’s Armours, Noiz was still faster, but the gap was no longer as large.

Yes, up until now, Rei hadn’t been able to put any magic power into Nebula’s Eye, but now he could.

Confirming that Noiz was moving towards him, he created an arrowhead with Nebula’s Eye and threw it with a snap of his wrist.

The arrowhead flew towards Noiz as its sharp tip sliced through the air.

It wasn’t just one or two either. Thanks to Rei’s continuous flow of magic power into Nebula’s Eye, arrowheads were created and fired out one after another.

The barrage could best be described as a machine gun of arrowheads, but it was easily repelled by the power of Noiz’s Overlord Armour.

（Tch-!）

Rei clicked his tongue as he saw that and judged that what he needed wasn’t a series of low power attacks, but a single, extremely strong attack. As he moved the Death Scythe in his left hand……Noiz disappeared from his vision.

……That was right, Noiz disappeared from his vision, even as he wore the Overlord’s Armour, albeit a weaker version.

Then, he heard a voice.

「I commend you for wearing the Overlord’s Armour. But……your skill level is still too low.」

The moment he heard that voice, Rei felt a sense of crisis. Then, in an attempt to escape, Rei gathered his Overlord’s Armour to his feet in an almost instinctive response. After that……as he tried to move away from Noiz, who was close by, his consciousness came to a sudden halt.

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