Rei charged forward with the Death Scythe in hand.
Noiz responded with his own magic sword.
Crimson and Immovable. The two, both carrying titles, clashed on the battlefield of the final battle in the Bestir Empire’s civil war.
Rei and Noiz clashed in the middle of the punitive force’s rear guard.
Both of them were using Overlord’s Armour, compressing their magic power to the point it visible, clashing in a 100m open space after Noiz warned the soldiers to leave.
Rei’s weapon, the Death Scythe, was named after the grim reaper’s weapon……and was also a symbol representing Crimson.
Clad in Overlord’s Armour, Rei poured his magic power into the Death Scythe as he unleashed a sharp and powerful blow, strong enough to cut through not just metal armour, but even armour made with magic metals like Mithril and Orichalcum.
However……
A high pitched metallic screech echoed out.
The soldiers watching on held their breathes, captivated by the sight unfolding before their eyes……as if their souls had been stolen away.
Their eyes could barely sense what was happening.
The Death Scythe and magic sword were swung at high speed.
From the outside, the fight between Noiz and Rei looked like a kind of dance.
However, it wad a dance where one wrong move could lead to the death of either dancer.
Even as they fought a battle that ordinary soldiers could understand, both Rei and Noiz held no signs of desperation on their faces.
To them, this was merely a warm up. It was also a way for them to gauge their opponent’s condition and their own condition.
For Noiz, it was to see how much Rei had grown since the finals of the fighting tournament, and for Rei, it was a way of checking how much the skill gap between he and Noiz had narrowed.
Everyone around them……not just the ordinary soldiers, but even skilled knights, would have struggled to believe what they were seeing.
Neither of them said a word. Yet, by the clashes of their weapons, they could sense each other’s intentions.
As a result……
(I guess I’m still no match in terms of skill.)
Even as they exchanged attacks all over the place, up, down, left, and right, Rei calmly confirmed the thoughts in his mind.
He still couldn’t keep up with Noiz in terms of pure skill.
The feel of his attacks as they made contact made that clear.
Noiz had been able to counter every attack Rei unleashed.
Neither of them had used their full strength yet.
It was clear that each of them still had several trumps cards up their sleeves, but Rei could still instinctively tell that there was a huge difference between their skill levels.
(Of course, that was something I knew from the start. Still, if Mercurio’s army is to win, I absolutely need to keep this guy under control……)
Rei crouched down to avoid the magic sword as it slashed at his neck and thrust the Death Scythe’s shaft towards Noiz’s belly.
Noiz deflected Rei’s attack with another swing of his magic sword before putting some distance between them.
Taking stock of his surroundings, Rei noticed that the punitive force’s rear guard, excluding the ones watching their duel, were preparing to attack Mercurio’s army.
(I can’t just focus on Noiz. Right now, I need to inflict damage on the punitive force as well. In other words……)
Quickly deciding on what he needed to do, Rei poured magic power into the Death Scythe.
『Flames, burn the enemy according to my will.』
The short incantation, finished in an instant, created a fireball at the butt of the Death Scythe.
『Fireball.』
With those words, Rei swung the Death Scythe, sending the fireball flying towards Noiz.
For a moment, Noiz didn’t seem to understand why Rei had launched a fireball at him, but after realising what was behind him, he swung his magic sword with a small smile on his face.
The fireball was destroyed by the magic sword, causing it to dissipate in mid air.
Seeing that, Rei grit his teeth at how his intention had been seen through so easily. He decided that what he needed to do now was to attack Noiz while also causing collateral to the surroundings. Putting his right had, which had been holding onto the Death Scythe, under his Dragon Robe, he activated Nebula’s Eye at his waist.
Grabbing hold of several arrowheads that appeared, Rei threw them out.
Naturally, the speed of the arrowheads was beyond what ordinary soldiers could respond to.
「Uwah-!」
「Ahh-!」
「Eh!?」
「Ouch-! ……Eh? My hand……」
The screams of those hit by arrows echoed into the surroundings.
Though they were just arrowheads, they had been thrown by Rei with Overlord’s Armour active.
Anyone hit would have their head, hands, legs, bones, or armour shattered, in the worst case, dying.
Of course, the arrowheads flying towards Noiz were all deflected by his magic sword, but his attack range wasn’t wide enough to deflect all of Rei’s attacks.
Noiz’s specialty was one on one combat.
Of course, he could always use Overlord’s Armour to charge into enemy lines, but his true strength was in single target attacks.
And, because of that, Noiz couldn’t properly deal with all of Rei’s arrowheads, which were fired in a wide arc.
「Do you think you still have time to worry about other things when you’re up against me?」
Noiz glanced at the soldiers as he muttered briefly before readying his magic sword again……and, as if suddenly realising something, jumping to the side.
The next moment, Set’s front claw swung down from above, smashing into the ground.
「Gururururu~!」
Set gave a sharp cry and sprang forward again after landing on the ground.
He swung his front claws out again.
It would have been a fatal blow to an ordinary human, but Noiz manage to block it with his magic sword.
A metallic grating sound echoed out.
Seeing what was happening, Noiz’s expression changed, albeit only for a moment, to a look of shock.
That was only natural. As his personal magic sword, Noiz’s weapon was incomparable to that of ordinary magic swords.
If someone were to do what Set had just done, it wouldn’t have been strange for the monster’s front legs to be sliced off.
But Set’s attack had matched that of the magic sword.
In other words, Set was just that strong.
Noiz swiftly jumped away a second time.
Next was Rei’s Death Scythe.
The ground where Noiz had been standing on was neatly sliced apart by the sharp attack.
「I see, your true strength lies in working together with the Griffon. And, it seems that this Griffon is quite different from ordinary Griffons.」
「Well, who knows. If you really want to know, why don’t you take a direct hit? You’ll probably find out then.」
Noiz smiled at Rei’s provocative words.
「That might be good, but first……I have something I need to do. Now, with Overlord’s Armour……let me see how well you’ve mastered it. I’m going to put in a bit of strength, so if you can’t keep up……you’ll die.」
With those words, Noiz disappeared from Rei’s sight in an instant.
Rei swung the Death Scythe out on reflex.
In an instant, a metallic clash echoed out into the surroundings.
「H-Hey……did Noiz just vanish?」
「Yeah. Then the next thing I know, he was right next to Crimson……what’s going on?」
「I don’t know! Rather, make more space! If we keep staying here, we’ll get caught up and die!」
「No, wouldn’t it just be better for everyone to leave?」
「No! It’s only because we’re here that their fight has been limited to this space. If we let Crimson move freely from here, the one on one fight between the two will rapidly cross the entire battlefield in a blink of an eye! If that happens, the rear guard of our army will suffer overwhelming casualties!」
The commander shouted sharply.
His words were, in effect, telling the soldiers to form a human wall to protect the rest of the rear guard from Rei and Noiz’s fight. As soldiers in the army, they couldn’t disobey their superior’s orders.
It might have been a different situation if the army was in chaos and on the edge of defeat, but the battle had only just begun.
The soldiers in the rear guard couldn’t see the state of the rest of the battlefield, but it was hard to imagine that their own army was on the verge of defeat.
In other words, the soldiers unlucky enough to still be around had no choice but to help form the human wall.
As the soldiers cursed their bad luck, the battle between Rei and Noiz intensified.
「Gurururururu~!」
Set gave a loud cry as he struck out with is claws, but Noiz easily dodged it.
Just as he was about to drive his magic sword into Set’s body, he suddenly thrust it out sideways.
The next moment, Rei’s Death Scythe collided with the magic sword, sending out a high pitch screech.
The next moment, Rei and Noiz, who had been standing next to each other, were several dozens of meters away from each other before clashing weapons again at a completely different location.
To anyone watching, it was a completely incomprehensible scene as the two seemed to blink in and out of existence at different locations.
That was only natural.
With each attack, they would move to a different location where Death Scythe and magic sword would clash, repeating again and again.
As they fought in 100 square meter space, the soldiers could hardly keep track of them with their eyes.
As the battle continued, the Death Scythe and magic sword once again clashed at the center of the clearing as Rei and Noiz came to a halt.
Noiz looked at Rei from that close distance before eventually speaking.
「Your skills have certainly improved compared to before. I’ll admit that……but honestly, I thought you’d be a little stronger.」
「Oh, really? Considering that, it doesn’t seem like you’re overwhelming me……! Penetrate!」
As their weapons clashed, Rei used it as a fulcrum to point the shaft of the Death Scythe towards Noiz as he activated the Pentrate skill.
The skill powered up the Death Scythe, increasing the power behind Rei’s thrust, but by the time he made his attack, Noiz had already disappeared from his sight.
「Magic Shield!」
Rei immediately used another skill, Magic Shield, creating a shield of light……and leaping away as he heard a sound.
The next moment, a stone pierced where Rei had been standing just before.
「For an S rank adventurer, you’re pretty stingy, aren’t you!?」
Rei said that as he used the Death Scythe to cut apart the stone flying towards him.
It would be a waste to use Magic Shield against a stone like that.
With that thought in mind, he dashed in the direction the stone had come from.
Rei’s speed was so fast that he went unnoticed by the surrounding soldiers.
But even so……Noiz’s handling of Overlord’s Armour was still superior.
Even if their linear speed was the same, Noiz’s fine control was overwhelmingly higher.
The only reason Rei was able to match Noiz was thanks to his immense magic power.
He made up for his lack of fine control with sheer throughput of magic power.
It was a fighting style best described as overwhelming Noiz with brute force.
This was all only possible because Rei’s magic power vastly surpassed Noiz’s.
For every 10 units of magic power Noiz consumed, Rei would match with 100……or even 1000 units of magic power.
Naturally, using that much magic power to match meant the drain on Rei’s magic power was massive.
Overlord’s Armour was already formed by compressing magic power to the point it was visible, a skill that didn’t take magic power consumption into account.
Rei was forcibly activating Overlord’s Armour to keep it in that state, so he naturally couldn’t use it for very long.
That much was clear from his defense of the camp.
(Damn it, even with the Bracelet of Magic Absorption, it’s so difficult to even land a scratch. It’s just too difficult!)
Cursing internally at Noiz’s strength, Rei deflected the magic sword with the Death Scythe.
Deflecting one attack, moving, and deflecting another attack or attacking himself.
As their fight continued……Rei realised that if things stayed like this, he would eventually lose. And not because of being injured, but because he would run out of magic power first……and at that point, no matter what he did, it would be hard to turn the situation around.
(So, what should I do then? If I’m no match for Noiz on my own and I can’t defeat him……then I’ll have to find strength where I have it!)
Rei knew that this method would cause a lot of trouble later on.
But even so……Rei knew that if he didn’t try something different, he would lose, and if he lost, Mercurio’s army would lose as well. Shaking off his momentary hesitation, he shouted out.
「Set, use your skills!」