Set’s skill, Poison Claws.

It was Set’s highest level skill and, thanks to Set’s physical strength as a Griffon and the effects of the Bracelet of Herculean Strength, it was an attack with incredibly overwhelming power.

Even for Noiz, clad in Overlord’s Armour, a hit from that would inflict heavy injuries……not to mention the continuous poison damage as well.

But, no matter how powerful the attack, it would be useless if it didn’t hit.

And for Noiz, with Overlord’s Armour, dodging with his ability to move at incredibly high speeds wasn’t that difficult.

……Unless his feet were bound by wind tentacles.

It was Rei’s……or more precisely, the Death Scythe’s skill, Wind Hand.

Tentacles of wind extended out from the Death Scythe.

Only the tip of the tentacle could interact with objects and it wasn’t strong enough to crush limbs.

But, as it was made of wind, it was hard to see and impossible to notice when your attention was on something else.

「What-!」

Set was about to attack, swinging down his poison empowered front claws.

Noiz dodged the attack just before it hit as he prepared to counterattack.

However, dodging at the very last moment created a huge opportunity.

As he moved to dodge, a Wind Hand grabbed his foot for just a moment……just a split second, slowing his movement.

Of course, Wind Hand’s power was nowhere near enough to stop Noiz with Overlord’s Armour.

In fact, the Wind Hand that grabbed Noiz’s foot dissipated the next moment.

But, it had still managed to slow him in that moment, for just that moment……

「GURURURURURU~!」

Set unleashed a singular attack towards Noiz.

「Ngh-!」

Noiz had probably realised he could no longer dodge Set’s attack and that counterattacking was impossible.

He gave up on the counterattack as he focused on trying to avoid the attack somehow.

Set’s attack was briefly matched by Overlord’s Armour, but quickly destroyed the concentrated magic power.

If it had been an attack similar to Wind Hand, it might have been able to target areas where Noiz didn’t have Overlord’s Armour active in order to attack him directly. However, it was impossible for Noiz to not know where Set’s attack would hit him.

Set’s attack, increased in power by bother his own weight as well as speed from diving down, broke through Noiz’s Overlord’s armour as it went for his body.

Holding his magic sword in front of himself, Noiz managed to block the attack from Set’s claws with his blade.

Noiz’s physical strength, enhanced by Overlord’s Armour, managed to match Set’s as he parried the attack.

With a thunderous roar, the ground under Noiz caved in from Set’s attack.

The soldiers in the surroundings shouted out loud in joy, but……

「GURURURURURURURU~!」

Along with that roar, flames spewed out from within the dust cloud cause by Set’s attack.

It was Set’s skill, Fire Breath.

He had seen it used several times before, but even Noiz was surprised to see the attack from the dust cloud.

Still, making a large leap, he managed to avoid the flames.

However, Noiz was the only one able to avoid it.

The punitive force soldiers behind Noiz were hit by the attack head on.

「AHHHHHHHHHHHH-!」

「It’s hot-, it’s hot-, it’s hot-!」

「Damn it, there’s no time to wait for water! Dirt, throw dirt over them to put out the fire!」

Such screams echoed all around.

Noiz glanced behind him for a moment, but didn’t make any moves to help put the fires out. Instead, he turned his attention to Set, who had moved back next to Rei after using Fire Breath.

「Even if he’s a rare species, isn’t that a bit too many skills?」

Noiz muttered as he turned to look at the blade of his magic sword that had blocked Set’s attack, making sure it was undamaged.

「I know that. That’s why I’ve been hiding it all this time, I don’t want to get caught up in anything troublesome.」

Rei readied the Death Scythe as he spoke.

Set gave a cry, matching Rei’s movements and moving a step or two away to not get in Rei’s way.

「I see. I’ll commend you for hiding it this well. But……you might have a variety of attacks, but if you think you can hurt me with them then, that’s a bit……no, I can only say that you’re being a bit……no, quite naive.」

「……I guess so.」

Rei understood what Noiz was saying.

It was true that both Set and the Death Scythe had a range of skills.

However, when it came to skills that could deliver a fatal blow, that was a different matter.

Up until now, ordinary attacks from the Death Scythe or Set’s claws had been enough to be fatal attacks……

(In that case, ultimately, the key is still Overlord’s Armour.)

Just like Rei……or even more so, Noiz’ Overlord’s Armour turned ordinary attacks into fatal blows.

The best way to counter it was to also use Overlord’s ARmour.

(But, it’s also true that I can’t win by using the same Overlord’s Armour as Noiz!)

High pitched metallic clashes echoed out.

It was the sound of Rei’s Death Scythe and Noiz’s magic sword clashing repeatedly.

A metallic clang echoed out each time the weapons clashed, but the time between each clash was miniscule……because their weapons were colliding more than a dozen times each second, making it sound more like a continuous screech.

Even as they continued to fight in this inhuman realm, Rei’s impatience didn’t fade.

That was only natural.

Even as Rei and Set fought with all their might, Noiz still looked quite composed.

Also, because Rei was forcibly sustaining Overlord’s Armour with his immense magic power, the magic power consumption was ludicrously high compared to Noiz, who was the creator of the skill.

Rei did have the Bracelet of Magic Absorption, stealing magic power every time he hit Noiz, but even inflicting enough damage to trigger it was a difficult task.

(What should I do? How can I defeat this monster?)

Rei deflected a thrust towards his belly with the shaft of the Death Scythe as he tried to use the blade of the Death Scythe to cut off Noiz’s left arm, but that was easily avoid with a half twist of his body.

Up until now, Rei had been treated like a monster by his enemies, but right now, Noiz was a monster to Rei.

Set used Bubble Breath from right next to Noiz.

Countless bubbles, each just a few cm in diameter, were released. Noiz seemed to sense the danger the moment he saw them. Pushing against the ground lightly, he leaped up, dodging the bubble breath, and flying over Set, using the opportunity to kick Set.

Set wanted to respond with an attack with his tail, but was unable to withstand a kick from Overlord’s Armour and crouched to avoid the attack instead.

Landing behind Set, Noiz turned around to make a horizontal slash……

「I won’t let you!」

Rei dashed around Set only to take the hit with the Death Scythe.

Seeing the battle resume behind him, Set turned around as the bubbles from the earlier bubble breath burst on the ground.

Set’s gaze fell onto Rei and Noiz, who were engaged in a fierce fight.

Dashing away, he leaped into the air, flapping his wings to fly into the sky.

He continued to rain a range of attacks on Noiz from above.

Water Ball, Wind Arrow, Ice Arrow, Evil Eye Impact.

Each attack wasn’t that powerful, but with so many different attacks flying towards him, Noiz was forced to pay a certain level of attention towards them.

The Wind Arrows were particularly troublesome because they were fast and invisible. Even more troublesome was Evil Eye Impact, which, despite barely any power behind it, could deliver an impact instantly.

Every time he was sure that he would hit Rei with his magic sword, Evil Eye Impact would target his limbs. Although he didn’t suffer any injuries as a result of it, it still threw off the accuracy of his attacks.

In addition, while water balls and ice arrows weren’t hard to intercept, when mixed with wind arrows, Noiz needed time to check carefully, even if only for a split second.

Water balls were slow, wind arrows were fast, and ice arrows were somewhere in between.

No matter how powerful Noiz was, there would still be some impact every time one of them his his Overlord’s Armour.

It wouldn’t be a problem when fighting an opponent of a much lower rank.

However, while Rei was inferior to Noiz in ability, he still had a level of skill that could match him to some extent.

More importantly, since Rei was also using Overlord’s Armour, there was no denying the possibility that even a moment of slight carelessness could lead to a major loss.

「Haaaaaaaah-!」

Rei gave a roar as he swung his Death Scythe multiple times.

He used full use of his enhanced physical abilities due to Overlord’s Armour to make the attacks.

After a horizontal slash, he forcefully shifted the shaft with his grip, swinging it straight up, aiming to sever Noiz’s right shoulder.

Noiz deflected the attack with the magic sword in his right hand while extending his free left hand towards Rei’s torso.

It wasn’t a fist. Rather, it seemed as if he was trying to grab onto Rei to prevent him from escaping.

「Huh-!?」

Rei was surprised by Noiz parrying his attack with just a single hand and that gave Noiz the opportunity to get a firm grasp onto Rei’s Dragon Robe.

Keeping his position, Noiz raised his magic sword……

「Tch-!」

Even though the Dragon Robe was sewn together with Dragon scales, Rei didn’t think it would survive an attack from Noiz’s magic sword, boosted by the physical strength provided by Overlord’s Armour.

That was why, even as Rei tried to escape from Noiz’s grasp, Noiz didn’t let go.

He gripped the Dragon Robe even tighter, refusing to let go as he swung his magic sword down……

「GURURURURU~!」

Set gave a cry, followed by Evil Eye Impact.

The Evil Eye Impact struck the hand that Noiz was using to hold his sword, stopping him for just a moment.

Not missing that moment, Rei swung the Death Scythe towards the magic sword……no, towards Noiz’s body.

「I won’t let you!」

Noiz realised that the Death Scythe would also slice through him if he continued his attack.

Letting go of the Dragon Robe, he punched Rei in the chest instead.

With a thud, Rei was sent flying in a way that made it hard to believe it was an attack made by flesh and blood.

If Rei hadn’t been wearing his Dragon Robes, with its high defensive power……and above all, if he didn’t have Overlord’s Armour active, it would have been a near fatal blow.

Because he had those defensive layers, and because he managed to jump back as he was hit, Rei managed to reduce the impact to some extent.

Feeling a dull pain in his ribs, Rei twisted his body in mid air before landing. But, even so, he wasn’t able to fully neutralise the impact as he skidded across the ground to slow his momentum..

Rei found himself blown so far back that he was right next to the wall of punitive soldiers, who had formed an arena wall of sorts.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers behind him brandished a long sword.

They must have thought that Rei had been badly injured by the attack.

Maybe it was a sneak attack looking for glory, or maybe they held a grudge against Rei for killing someone they knew……whatever the case, the soldier swung their long sword towards the back of Rei’s head……

「Idiot.」

With a shout, Rei cut the soldier in half without looking back, send the body to the ground.

At the same time, magic power flowed through the Bracelet of Magic Absorption.

However, the magic power was negligible.

There was barely enough magic power to sustain Rei’s use of Overlord’s Armour for a few seconds.

Even as he sensed the additional magic power, Rei was worried, very worried, very, very, worried.

(At this rate, there’s no way I will be able to defeat Noiz, no matter what I do. I would need to make an even more unexpected attack to catch him off guard.)

As Rei cycled through his options, Noiz just stared at him without doing anything in particular.

As if he was waiting for Rei to unleash some sort of hidden strength.

Set was also closing his distance to Noiz, gathering strength in his body to respond to any potential actions Noiz might make.

(What should I do? What should I do? With the same Overlord’s Armour, I can hold my own against Noiz, but I will still lose in the end……the same?)

Suddenly, as he was venting his frustrations internally, Rei realised something.

(That’s right. The Overlord’s Armour that I’m using right now is what Noiz invented. Of course I can’t defeat him with it. It’s nothing more than a borrowed weapon, so to speak. Then, what I need is to not just copy it……)

An epiphany.

It was as if an itch had finally been scratched……or a final puzzle piece had fallen into place.

「In other words, it had to be my own power, not a borrowed one!」

Once he figured it out, the rest wasn’t that difficult.

He wondered why he hadn’t realised it sooner as he poured his magic power into his Overlord’s Armour.

However, rather than pouring in pure magic power, he envisioned it transformed flames, magic power with his own attributes.

And just like that……the next moment, the Overlord’s Armour covering Rei’s body changed from a white light to a red one……a crimson that matched his title.

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