Chapter 164
Chapter 164
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 164
Chapter Title: Autumn, New Semester (7)
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Shadows enveloped Belnoa's body. The writhing shadows formed armor, shielding his form. Belnoa let out a short breath.
Shadow Armor.
The strongest spell he could currently wield. A incantation activated by offering four fingers. The effects of Shadow Armor far surpassed any ordinary reinforcement spell.
Sensory expansion.
Physical enhancement.
It placed a burden on the body, but he needed to pull out this level of power. Belnoa stared ahead. There was Rak, crouched low and glaring at him. His eyes burned red like a beast's.
Tsssss.
Steam rose from Rak's body. Veins bulged on his forearms. Even from this distance, his pounding heartbeat rang out like a warning.
'He's coming.'
The moment Belnoa thought that.
Rak's figure blurred. He took one step forward. But that single step didn't cover just one step's distance.
Boom!
One step closed the distance of ten.
Rak's red pupils gleamed right before Belnoa's eyes. Their clash was over in an instant. Rak, charging right up to his face, swung his axe.
Whoosh!
A silver-white flash targeted Belnoa's neck. Thanks to his enhanced physical abilities from the Shadow Armor, Belnoa could barely react to the attack. But reacting didn't mean he could fully block it.
Crack!
His body floated up.
His forearm that blocked the axe throbbed with pain. The shadows scattered and reformed. In that instant, the armor had been breached.
"...Ha."
Belnoa let out a hollow laugh.
This was ridiculous. Even enduring the strain on his body to boost his physical prowess... all he could manage was a bare reaction. Trading blows head-on was still impossible.
However, Belnoa was a shaman.
He hadn't forgotten his essence. While airborne, Belnoa twitched his fingers. The preloaded stakes fired all at once.
Shhk!
The shadow stakes lacked the power and speed of shadow daggers. The spinning stakes targeted Rak. Nearly ten of them. Stakes that had once shattered a black knight's helmet in a single hit.
Their power was proven.
He wouldn't dodge or shatter them easily.
Belnoa thought that as he prepared his next spell. He closed in on Rak, who had turned to block the stakes. And in that moment, Belnoa's pupils shook violently.
Crack.
Rak's axe shattered the stakes.
All too easily.
'...How?'
Disbelief flashed across Belnoa's face. But only briefly. He quickly understood. Rak possessed hyper-senses. It was as good as reading all of Belnoa's moves.
He knew everything—what was coming, how it was approaching.
And Rak wasn't encountering the shadow stakes for the first time. He'd seen them before. He knew their weaknesses precisely.
'He knows the weakness...'
Shadow stakes focused on power and speed.
They boosted penetration through rotation, but their durability wasn't much different from shadow daggers.
'Not the front—the side.'
Rak relentlessly smashed the stakes from the side. A feat enabled by his hyper-senses. The axe blade drew silver-white flashes. The white light sliced through the shadows.
Attack and evasion continued.
And evasion led back to counterattack.
"...!"
Belnoa, who had aimed for Rak's back, hurriedly lowered his stance. The axe blade grazed over his head. Rak hadn't even looked back—just extended his arm behind him. Belnoa clicked his tongue at the near-martial artistry of the move.
He'd shattered all the stakes.
Rak, who had briefly been on the defensive, switched to offense.
Movements flowed into one another. Rak spun in place and thrust his leg out. It slammed into Belnoa's abdomen. The shadows blocked it, but couldn't fully absorb the impact.
Tsssss.
Belnoa dragged his feet back.
Rak's attacks pressed on, forcing Belnoa to keep retreating. He had no choice. No openings for counterattack appeared.
'Tough.'
It was tough.
Reading the axe swings right before his eyes and protecting himself was all he could do. All of Belnoa's focus was locked on Rak's axe.
And the enemy's weapons weren't just the axe.
"Guh!"
Knees, legs, sometimes elbows battered Belnoa's body. The accelerated, reinforced physique was a weapon in itself. Belnoa groaned as he retreated.
Thud.
When he came to his senses, he was cornered.
He felt the coliseum wall against his back. Belnoa looked ahead. The ferocious red-glowing eyes showed no sign of stopping.
Belnoa turned his head. Bam! The axe grazed his ear and embedded in the wall. Belnoa threw himself sideways. Thud, crack! The axe tore into the wall repeatedly.
Scraaaape!
The axe scraped the wall, relentlessly targeting Belnoa. He couldn't escape the corner, reduced to frantic evasion. He was constantly forced into defense.
No chance to cast spells.
Rather than reaching out to manipulate shadows, he had to extend his arms to block the axe in front of him.
'This is cheating, isn't it?'
A complaint nearly escaped him.
The opponent read the future from the tiniest actions. When he reached to block the axe, its trajectory curved to strike elsewhere.
Tiny movements.
Muscle contractions, gaze shifts.
All of it was 'information' to the opponent. From information, he drew the future. With every move read, it felt like dancing in the palm of his hand.
'An enemy always one step ahead.'
He read and acted from habits. The opponent fought from the future. Too busy handling the present, and it would end like this.
Cornered.
Continuously pushed back.
He had to devise a way out. Use a move the opponent couldn't predict. What could that be? Belnoa desperately racked his brain.
'A new move.'
In other words.
'An unpredictable move.'
As he desperately sought that.
Suddenly, his own forearm entered Belnoa's view. Shadows that had repeatedly scattered and reformed dripped to the floor like blood. Trailing behind Belnoa, who had been fleeing along the wall, the shadows stretched out.
Connected shadows.
Remnants of mana left on the floor.
Something flashed in his mind. Belnoa shifted his thinking. The opponent read the future from minute movements. He couldn't seal that. Then, simply change the approach entirely.
'Something he knows but can't avoid.'
Force a move on the opponent.
Belnoa put the idea into action.
Crunch.
Belnoa offered one finger. The shadows on the floor rippled. In that instant, Rak's axe paused, if only briefly.
Rak turned to look behind him.
Belnoa curled his lips into a grin.
The scattered shadows all returned to their master. They converged on Belnoa from the floor. To him, it was material to reinforce his armor. But not to Rak.
Each one was a dagger.
Hundreds of daggers flying in.
'Dodging would be easy.'
But he couldn't dodge.
If he dodged and let Belnoa absorb them... the armor would strengthen beyond compare to before.
'Can't dodge—must shatter them. All of them.'
Rak was also forced into a move.
'But I'll have to expose my back.'
A smile spread across Rak's lips.
He wasn't the only one who'd grown stronger. The opponent had too. And he kept growing. For a warrior, a rival to compete and grow with was more precious than anything. Rak smiled at the fortune that had come his way.
More.
A little more.
He longed for Belnoa to close the gap between them... yet hoped to claim victory in the end. With that, Rak swung his axe.
The axe cleaved shadows.
Shadows engulfed the silver-white flash.
Black and white intertwined endlessly.
2.
The fight kept intensifying. The spectators could no longer even cheer. They held their breath, absorbing the duel. Every moment felt like the peak of drama. It captivated their gaze.
Shadows surged, exploded, enveloped.
The axe slashed, tore, shattered.
The most primal battle unfolded there. They read each other's moves. Disrupted each other's gazes. A fight far beyond student level... the crowd gave up predicting the outcome.
They could only express awe and worry.
It looked like they were moving to kill each other. All-out attacks always bordered on lethal blows. A duel trading lethal strikes was brutally fierce. To the point where one might think someone would die.
Thus, the spectators didn't realize.
That the participants in this brutal duel were genuinely enjoying it.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Belnoa had found a way to force moves.
A way to bind an opponent who moved from the future to reality. Normally, implementing a newly discovered tactic in real combat was extremely difficult.
But that didn't apply to Belnoa.
He had lived feeling death since childhood. There was no time to leisurely adapt. Every realization had to be applied immediately in battle. For Belnoa, accustomed to this, utilizing a fresh concept wasn't hard.
Embed two options in every attack.
Force a choice on the opponent.
The moment the opponent picked one, he bought time to prepare the next. Belnoa repeated this.
Thwack!
The shadows writhed endlessly. Even Rak no longer had the luxury to fight from the future. Defense and offense swapped repeatedly. The gap between them narrowed bit by bit.
"...Ha!"
Rak laughed as he swung his axe.
Belnoa wasn't the only one gaining insights in the duel. Rak did too. He handled his strengthened body more adeptly.
Movements grew concise.
He disrupted the opponent with speed variations.
Mimicking Belnoa's dagger techniques... Rak repeatedly closed and widened the interval at will, pressuring him.
"......"
Belnoa smiled silently.
For some reason, he enjoyed this situation. He wasn't a battle maniac. He didn't like duels like this. Yet it was fun. So fun that a smile formed.
A fight without risking life.
A situation where someone would block even all-out efforts.
Sparring with an equal—or superior—being in such conditions. Gaining insights and growing in the clash. Growth brought joy to anyone. Even Belnoa was no different.
It was enjoyable.
For Belnoa, without such experiences, this was immensely enjoyable. The boy raised in back alleys had no one to grow alongside. Having such a presence was a rare fortune granted to few.
His barren life left no room to hope for fortune.
It was a life too busy protecting the light named Chloe granted to him. Thus, with this leisure now, Belnoa was grateful for the fortune bestowed upon him.
Crack.
He snapped a finger to activate a spell.
He showed everything he could do. No longer hiding moves. Belnoa laid himself bare to the opponent.
Thud, scraaaape!
The opponent was the same.
True to Rak, who always charged with full power, straightforward and brutish, he broke through everything head-on.
Clang, claaang!
Attacks were exchanged.
Moves and calculations traded.
They found joy in the back-and-forth.
But even that came to an end.
In the stalemated battle, both accelerated their thinking to find a way to overturn it.
'More.'
Each sought their best option.
'More, a little more.'
They pursued one perfect move. With the gap between them nearly closed, they reached the optimal conclusion almost simultaneously.
A hesitation.
Both halted their movements at once.
Their thoughts overlapped.
'Found it.'
Rak's axe stopped.
His pupils contracted into red dots. Steam rose from his body. The spell Stocked in the axe blade emitted light.
Belnoa's shadows calmed.
The Shadow Armor gathered in one hand. Eyes wide, Belnoa wrapped himself in the highly compressed shadows.
Tap.
The pair, who had stopped together, moved together.
Point Breakthrough.
Abandoning defense. Rak, devoting himself to attack, shot forward like a streak of light. The axe blade gleamed sharper than ever.
Point Explosion.
Belnoa thrust out his hand and clenched his fist. The maximally compressed shadow exploded. It swallowed Rak head-on.
Would the shadows engulf first?
Or the axe blade rend first?
Thwack!
Rak burst through the exploding shadows. He'd read Belnoa's move and created an opening with the shock.
'My victory!'
But the moment he was certain of victory, Rak realized.
Belnoa knew his move had been read. Yet he'd still cast the spell. Inferring the reason wasn't hard.
'He has another move.'
Belnoa reached out to Rak emerging from the shadows. The shadows Rak had cleaved reformed and converged on him once more. Like a wave.
'Faster than my axe.'
The future was read. A future of being torn apart by the returning shadows unfolded before his eyes. The determined future approached. How to escape it?
'More.'
As always.
'More, faster.'
Rak chose frontal breakthrough.
The distance he'd planned to close in one step, he deliberately inserted another. Crunch, his toes ground loudly. Thus, Rak accelerated once more. Acceleration upon acceleration.
Pierce.
His back was pierced by the returning shadows, but only briefly. The momentarily accelerated Rak outpaced the shadows. Belnoa's pupils widened.
No way to block it.
Because there was none, victory was decided.
And.
"Stop."
A familiar voice echoed through the arena.
3.
"That's enough."
It wasn't just the voice that spread.
With a clang, chains appeared from nowhere, binding everything in the arena. Not just bodies, but even the phenomena permeating the space.
Rak and Belnoa stopped moving.
Even the returning shadows froze in place.
Click.
As everything halted, someone walked into the arena. The sound of heels striking the floor echoed. At that footstep, Belnoa and Rak let out hollow laughs.
It felt like déjà vu.
Just like the day they first clashed.
However, there were clear differences too.
"The match ends here."
Rak and Belnoa turned only their gazes to the side.
There stood Lania. Unlike during the class assignment exam, she wore a soft smile... and gave a slight nod.
"Winner: Rak van Grace."
She said it as if praising their efforts.
Then, with a casual wave, she dispersed the shadows. As the binding chains released, Belnoa collapsed limply to the ground.
His legs gave out.
From wringing every last drop from his spells.
"...Hoo."
He'd come so close, but miscalculated at the very last moment. If he'd known, he would've scattered shadows on the floor too. With such thoughts, Belnoa looked up.
Victory was decided.
Time to accept the result.
"I lost."
Words Rak had once said himself during the class assignment exam. Now, they came from Belnoa's mouth.
He'd lost.
The first defeat he'd ever acknowledged.
Yet Belnoa's expression, accepting defeat, was refreshingly clear.
"Is that so."
Rak exhaled shortly and set his axe on the ground. Empty-handed now, he extended a hand to Belnoa.
"Good fight, Belnoa."
Belnoa chuckled and took Rak's hand, standing. The two faced each other and burst into laughter. At that sight, the hushed crowd finally erupted in cheers.
Waaaaaaaaah!
It was the moment the top spot in the Combat Magic Department changed hands.