Chapter 324: Chapter 324
Raon entered the arena alongside the Light Wind squad just like the day before.
"Woaaah!"
"Zieghart has arrived!"
"The Frostfire Sword of Valor is here!"
"The Blade of Tempest is also right next to him!"
"Azure Lunar Blade! I want to see your smile!"
The spectators' reaction was the complete opposite from the day before. Even though they used to look down on them and laugh at them, their cheers as they shouted Zieghart's name were loud enough to rupture eardrums.
That enormous support was all thanks to Burren and Runaan, who fought each other until they fainted despite being on the same team, and Raon, who saved everyone's lives then even managed to defeat Borini Kitten despite his injuries.
Raon walked up to the platform with the Light Wind squad behind him. Unlike the day before, the heads of the Six Kings were sitting on the platform.
'I can see their personalities.'
Glenn was completely expressionless, King Lecross was smiling gently, and Chamber was continuously asking questions directed at Glenn, who wasn't responding to her.
Ogram looked like he was bored, as he was yawning, and Derus was still maintaining his fake smile from the day before.
"Your presence is an honor for us all!"
Raon and the Light Wind squad bowed politely before heading to the waiting area seats on the left side.
"They keep calling the name Blade of Tempest. Who the hell is that?"
Burren looked around him and tilted his head.
"You."
Raon chuckled and pointed at Burren.
"M-me?"
Burren widened his eyes, which were half-closed before because he was still not completely healed.
"Yes, the Blade of Tempest is your nickname. They started calling you the Blade of Tempest after they saw you using the wind coming from your sword."
"Nickname. My own nickname..."
His neck was trembling as he clenched his fist. Burren kept mentioning that he wanted a nickname for himself, and he must've been moved by the nice nickname that people gave him.
"Runaan, you are the Azure Lunar Blade. They said that the azure frost emanating from your blade looked like the moonlight in winter."
"Azure Lunar Blade..."
Runaan murmured the name Azure Lunar Blade a few times and nodded. Her lips were very slightly curved into a smile. She seemed to like that beautiful nickname even though she didn't tend to express her feelings.
"How about me?"
"You got none."
"Why nwaht!"
It had been a while since the last time Martha's tongue got twisted.
"You didn't lweave a strong impression like Burren or Runaan because you won by default."
Raon giggled and copied Martha's accent.
"It's only natural that you didn't get a nickname since you didn't show them anything."
He raised the corners of his lips into a sneer. He said that with the intention of provoking her, but it wasn't exactly wrong. Martha's impression wasn't as strong as Burren's or Runaan's because she reached the semifinals without fighting the previous match.
"Damn it. I didn't win by default because I wanted to..."
She bit her lip. She seemed irritated that she was the only one without a nickname.
"You will get one even if you don't want it if you manage to defeat Princess Jayna and Prince Greer today."
Raon's eyes turned serious as he lowered his gaze to look at Martha.
"Can you do it?"
"Of course."
Martha immediately nodded without even considering it.
Aren't you going to tell her about it?
'Tell her what?'
That you told that bitch all of Beef Girl's strengths and weaknesses.
'I'll tell her, but later.'
Hmm?
'It will be more fun to tell her when she notices that something's going wrong during the fight.'
Revealing the secret when Jayna was getting the upper hand by exploiting her weakness would be even more effective.
Huh...
Wrath dropped his jaw while blankly staring at Raon.
Don't tell anyone that you are a demon.
'Hmm? Why?'
No one is as crazy as you even in Devildom!
* * *
The master of ceremonies went onto the stage and raised his finger towards the sky. His voice was filled with aura and resounded throughout the entire arena.
"Thank you for waiting! The semifinals of the Six Kings Expert division tournament is starting now!"
"Woaaah!"
"It's finally starting!"
"I didn't even sleep last night!"
"Third prince, I believe in you!"
"Princess Jayna! Bring honor to Balkar!"
"Martha! Destroy them all like the other Ziegharts did!"
The festival got even more heated because of the spectators' cheers.
"We unfortunately only have a single match for the semifinals, but I'm sure it will be even more exciting than two matches combined! The first match of the day! Martha Zieghart versus Jayna Ruin Balkar! Please enter the arena!"
Martha briefly exhaled and entered the arena upon hearing his call. Jayna looked like she was still frustrated from what happened the day before as she entered from the other side, glaring at Raon before jumping onto the arena.
"Are you both ready?"
"Yes."
"I'm ready."
They both nodded, and the master of ceremonies left the stage.
"The first match of the semifinals for the Six Kings tournament is starting now!"
As soon as he raised his hand, Martha kicked the ground. She violently charged at her opponent like a wild boar and slammed down her sword.
"Hmm..."
Jayna quietly watched her before getting out from Martha's distance by leaping through the space. The technique she used was Folding Wind, a movement skill utilizing space magic.
Whaam!
Martha used the power of her sword slamming onto the ground to turn around. She chased Jayna once again and applied even more aura to increase her speed.
Thud!
Martha's footwork rapidly increased her speed right before she entered Jayna's range to close the distance in an instant.
"Hmph."
Jayna wasn't surprised and used the Folding Wind to move to the other side as if she knew it was going to happen.
'It really was true...'
Raon hadn't lied about Martha's movement and flow. The explosive footwork could've reached her if she hadn't heard about it in advance.
'I don't understand his intentions, but... I'll use this in my favor.'
Jayna smiled coldly and dodged Martha's fierce strike.
"Mirror Reflection!"
She grasped thin air with her right hand and pushed it towards her left, and Martha was bounced back violently, as if she had been struck by an iron hammer.
"Kuh..."
Martha wiped the blood flowing out from her lips away with the back of her hand and charged at Jayna once again. The speed was even faster since she had warmed up, but the flow of her martial arts remained the same.
By utilizing Raon's advice, Jayna used the Folding Wind multiple times in a row to escape from Martha's attack before she flicked her finger.
Cring!
The space folded into a thin shape and red blood gushed from Martha's shoulder and arm. It was a cutting spell with increased power through space magic.
"Huhu."
Jayna smiled coldly while looking down at Martha, who was frowning at her.
'You are going to lose because your vice squad leader is crazy.'
* * *
Whaam!
Martha bit her lip while escaping from the space that Jayna had ripped apart.
'What the hell is wrong with her?'
She was aware that Jayna's space magic was dangerous, but she didn't know that she was also talented at moving her body.
She couldn't hit Jayna at all because it almost felt like Jayna knew all of her movements and aura flows.
Moreover, Jayna's movement spell, which she could use at the most dangerous moment, prevented Martha from taking her by surprise through a feint. It almost felt like Jayna had already seen through all of her cards.
"Tsk."
Martha briefly clicked her tongue and kicked the ground. She predicted Jayna's next move and charged at her while blocking the left side, but Jayna used a spell similar to Blink to escape to the right.
Martha tried to chase again, but the space magic cast on the floor halted her footwork once again.
Cring!
Martha frowned and severed the space magic that emerged around her ankles and above her head before scattering her aura blades one after the other.
Whaam!
She blocked Jayna's vision with aura blades and charged from the left side. She also gathered her aura on her left hand, just in case Jayna had withdrawn to the back. Since she was attacking her from all directions, she was certain it was going to work as she slammed down her sword.
"Too slow."
Jayna snorted and jumped into the air that wasn't affected by the aura blades. She grasped thin air and pushed it back, which teleported her to the opposite side.
'Did she even notice that I was planning to attack from behind?'
Considering the fact that she immediately teleported to a different location, she must've noticed that she was planning to attack from behind at the same time as the left and right sides.
'It almost feels like she knows all the flows of my attacks. I didn't show enough yet to be analyzed though.'
[First team leader.]
As Martha was biting her lip while finding it strange, she could hear Raon's aura message.
'What? I'm busy right now—'
[Don't you think that the bitch princess knows you too well?]
'Huh?'
Martha's chin started to tremble upon hearing his playful voice.
'Don't tell me, you...'
[Yes, you guessed right. It was me who told her about you.]
Martha turned her head while gritting her teeth. Raon was winking at her with a smile on his face.
'Seriously, that damn bastard...'
[Do your best, then.]
Raon waved his hand to cheer for her. Martha got the urge to pluck his stupid hand off. Raon's blabbering mouth was making her even angrier than Princess Jayna, who was swaggering in front of her.
"Are you done struggling?"
Jayna smiled coldly and lowered her hands in. The space folded down from both sides of Martha and started pressing down on her shoulders.
"Struggle? Struggle you said? You dirty bastards!"
Martha unleashed all of her Titan's aura with exploding anger. The yellow energy bursting from her energy center pushed Jayna's space magic back and created a huge flame.
"Huuuuh!"
White steam was flowing from her mouth.
"Try as much as you want. Your magic is even weaker than rusted scissors, and it's not going to work against me!"
"How dare you!"
Jayna frowned and increased the intensity of her space magic. The folding space became even longer and larger, but it was unable to push Martha's aura back.
Whaam!
Martha stomped the ground with a fire burning in her eyes. The floor of the arena collapsed despite the two layers of protective spells covering it, and fissures appeared all around her like rice paddies in a drought.
"Kuh..."
Jayna only lost her balance for an instant, but it was enough time for Martha. She instantly leaped to reach in front of Jayna.
'Blink!'
Jayna didn't have time to use the Folding Wind, instead having to use Blink to reach behind Martha.
'It's now my turn to attac—Huh?'
She was planning to attack Martha's leg with space magic once again, but a large fist was already in front of her eyes.
"Die!"
Martha had immediately followed up by predicting the Blink's simple movement pattern.
"You will lose your arm if you keep stretching it!"
"I don't care!"
Jayna managed to set up space magic in that short period of time since she was a member of Balkar's direct line, after all, but Martha didn't care about the scratch on her hand and continued to punch Jayna's chin.
Smaack!
The tearing sound of a drum resounded throughout the arena. Jayna's eyes rolled back upon getting hit by Martha's fist. She rolled on the floor.
"Kuh..."
"Huh..."
The master of ceremonies was staring blankly at them, then came back to his senses upon hearing Jayna's groan.
"M-Martha Zieghart emerges victor—"
"You crazy bastard!"
Martha jumped down the stage before the master of ceremonies even finished to announce her victory and grabbed Raon by his collar.
"What the fuck is this? Why did you sell my information to her? What did she even give you?"
"She gave me nothing."
"Then why?!"
"You managed to increase your aura and realm by a large margin, didn't you?"
Raon calmly smiled, even though he was grabbed by his collar.
"What are you talking abou—Hmm?"
Martha released his collar and fell silent.
'They did increase, and they increased quite a lot...'
She'd mustered all of her power because she got so angry from Raon's betrayal despite how much she trusted him, yet her aura and realm had clearly increased when she thought about it.
"You've been suppressing your anger recently in order to maintain your reason while using Berserk, right?"
"How did you know...?"
"Anger is one of the origins of your power, and there's no way you can properly use your strength by suppressing it. Reason is important, but you have to unleash it sometimes."
Raon chuckled and shook his hand.
"Just like the head of house said, you are too focused on one thing most of the time. Berserk is nice, but you should widen the range of your thoughts. After all, you should be looking for more possibilities right now."
"I-is that why you told that bitch about me?"
"Just get treated for now."
Raon pointed at the temporary medical center next to the stage instead of answering her question.
Martha couldn't say anything and absent-mindedly stood there.
"Team leader, let's get treated for now."
The first team's vice team leader, Yeddi, brought Martha to the healer.
"Haa..."
Martha looked at Raon while getting her shoulder and hand treated by the healer.
'Did he really give my information to Jayna in order to make me stronger?'
That was the only possibility considering the composure in Raon's voice and behavior.
He must've done that in order to help her reach a higher realm.
'Seriously, he must be an idiot.'
He should've had his hands full with his own fight and his own business, yet he was still caring about her and the other Light Wind swordsmen. It almost felt foolish to her.
"Idiot? Foolish?"
Who am I even calling a fool?
Martha bit her lip tightly while looking at the ground. Blood dripped from her lip and soaked into the ground.
'I'm the real idiot here.'
The gratitude pulled her heartstrings, and the tingling sensation she got felt like sandpaper was rubbing against her heart.
'This isn't the only time he helped me. Yet I...have never done anything for him. I've only been bothering him instead of giving him something in return.'
Back when they were trainees, she'd even attacked Raon, laughed at him, and kept picking fights with him.
It was immature behavior stemming from her sense of inferiority over being an adopted daughter, with her anger towards the White Blood Religion added on top of it, but it didn't change the fact that she had attacked Raon.
'Moreover, I've never apologized to him.'
She avoided confronting the issue after she lost to Raon and had never apologized to him for making fun of him.
She had just casually moved on by saying that the loser would obey the winner, and nothing special happened thanks to Raon's kindness.
"Haa..."
Martha slapped her cheeks and looked at Raon and the Light Wind squad.
Just looking at them filled her heart with warmth. Even though she couldn't even stand the sight of them in the past, they had become family to her, and she could even risk her life for their sake.
'Is it about time?'
It felt like the time was ripe for her to open her heart and tell her story to her companions, just like the head of house had advised her.
'If I manage to win today...'
She decided to defeat the third prince in the finals and tell her story to everyone in the Light Wind squad afterward. And...
Martha clenched her fist while looking at Raon.
'I'm going to apologize no matter what.'
"Ahahaha!"
Chamber burst into laughter while looking at Raon standing next to the arena. She must've really found it fun since she was even swinging her legs on the chair.
"He sold the information about his companion without getting anything in return!"
She was aware of their entire conversation. She must've read the aura message that Raon had sent to Martha.
"That guy is really nuts! He's so funny!"
Chamber was grinning on the chair while swinging her legs.
"He's definitely a peculiar one."
King Lecross laughed like an old man while stroking his beard. His face was also expressing his joy.
"I can tell that he's always watching over his companions."
"I thought he was a real man, but he was just a madman!"
Ogram twisted his lips while suppressing his laughter. Even though he called him a madman, he looked even more interested in Raon.
"Huhu."
Derus silently stared at Raon. His smile was excessively deep and made him look like a doll.
"Mister!"
Chamber stood on her chair and called out to Glenn on the opposite side of her.
"How did you even raise him? How do you make someone like him?! Tell me all about it, including how you made him so handsome!"
"I've done nothing."
Glenn even used his aura to suppress his trembling lips and shook his head.
"Ever since he was small, he's always decided and solved his problems by himself. Neither myself nor the others did anything for him."
He gave all the credit to Raon by saying that he didn't do anything.
"It might be because he'd always been thinking on his own that he managed to grow up like that. His might isn't even a question, and his insight, righteousness, and even his appearance..."
Glenn's voice was originally composed, but it gradually became faster and more enthusiastic.
"Mister?"
"Geezer?"
Chamber and Ogram tilted their heads as they looked at Glenn. They looked rather surprised because they'd never seen him acting like that before.
"Ahem!"
Glenn cleared his throat and stopped speaking.
"A-anyway, that's how it is."
They couldn't understand what it was exactly, but they simply nodded because Glenn said so.
"Since there was only a single match for the Expert division's semifinals and the swordsman Martha Zieghart has been injured, we will continue with the Master division's semifinal instead of the Expert division's final!"
The master of ceremonies announced that the semifinals for the Masters would come before Martha's match in order to give her some time to heal.
"Oh, does that mean that I'm getting to see Raon with a crazy mind and face right away?"
"Kuhahaha!"
Ogram burst into loud laughter and looked at Glenn.
"How unfortunate, geezer's kid is getting eliminated now even though he's been working so hard by himself!"
He raised his chin while pointing at the Dragon Slaying Beast, Garona, who was standing on the opposite side.
"Some sloppy swordsmanship isn't going to work against him."
"I see."
Glenn looked back at Ogram with a cold smile on his face.
"Then he will just destroy him in a non-sloppy way.
"What?"
"Open your eyes and watch."
His red eyes were sparkling like Raon's.
"That boy is about to destroy your son's fashion muscles."
* * *
"Woaaah!"
"Raon! Raon! Raon!"
"Garona! Garona! Garona!"
As the two participants entered the stage, the spectators waved their hands while shouting their names.
"Haa, I'm so nervous. I wonder who's going to win?"
"This is pretty much a battle between a spear and a boulder."
"Did you say a boulder instead of a shield?"
"That's because Garona's defense isn't the only good part about him. The game's over once he gets a single hit in."
"But the same goes for Raon. His astral energy even managed to destroy Borini Kitten's sword. Even Garona won't be able to endure that!"
"So it's a match between Raon's sharp sword that managed to defeat Matisse and Borini Kitten and Garona's heavy fist that sent all his opponents flying so far."
"A match between strength and technique, I see."
"Indeed. Raon's going to target Garona's openings."
The spectators licked their lips while expecting the match to be a fight between strength and technique.
'Strength and technique, huh...'
Raon smiled while listening to the spectators' cheers.
'Unfortunately, I won't be granting that wish.'
Technique wasn't what he was trying to obtain from the fight against Garona.
"Raon Zieghart."
Garona raised his head while warming up his fingers, which were as long and thick as a wooden sword's hilt.
"Let me give you a warning."
His teeth looked as sharp as a beast as he smiled a toothy smile.
"You will get shredded apart in an instant if you rely on that stick."
Energy waves burst violently from Garon's body, as if they were trying to prove his words. That tremendous power was the concentration of his extreme prowess.
"Let me give you a warning as well."
Raon drew Heavenly Drive with a cold smile on his face.
"You will get a hole in that body of yours that has nothing but size to boast if you underestimate this stick."
"Kuhahaha! Alright! Do it if you can!"
Garona slammed his chest, telling him to bring it on.
"Ah, a-are you ready?"
The master of ceremonies must've gotten scared, as he was already outside of the arena.
"Start it already!"
"Yes."
Raon and Garona nodded, and the master of ceremonies pointed his trembling hand at the sky.
"The first match of the Master division's semifinals is starting now!"
The moment his hand fell, Garona's body disappeared from the stage. No, it wasn't just Garona—-Raon also disappeared from the stage.
Baaam!
The astral energies clashed at the center of the arena, and a tremendous shockwave engulfed the entire area.
"Uaaah!"
"Wh-what's going on?!"
"What is this wind...?"
The spectators couldn't even open their eyes and had to lower their heads to protect themselves.
Whoosh!
The gray smoke covering the stage faded away to reveal the two participants' appearances.
Rumble!
Raon and Garona were pushing each other at the center of the stage with sheer strength with a tremendous amount of astral energy spreading around them.
"Wh-what's going on right now...?"
"Raon isn't getting pushed back!?"
"It wasn't a fight between technique and strength, but strength against strength?"
"Moreover, he's not even getting pushed back! The Frostfire Sword of Valor isn't getting pushed back by the Dragon Slaying Beast!"
The spectators widened their eyes as they watched Raon stand his ground against Garona.
Whaam!
The tremendous clash of powers created endless yellow sparks between Raon and Garona.
"Kuuh..."
Raon rolled his lips into a smile while watching Garona's growl.
'Thank you for teaching me how the Beast Union utilizes their strength.'
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