Chapter 111 111 A winning battle
[OP: ]
On one side, El was thanking Nes while hugging her, and on the other side, Lucy was backed off to a wall, looking back at his opponent with a defeated smile.
"You are a strong swordsman, Ras."
His sword was not in his hand anymore, he had raised his hands, it was a clear indication of surrender, and his opponent bought it happily.
"You are too, Lucifer. It was an enjoyable match."
His opponent had put his sword back, or it had just vanished the way it had come outta nowhere so, he did the same and put it back in his sheath. And then he extended a hand to the opponent, a little happy smile present on his face.
He had won the duel, though he had to resort to the power that he wanted to avoid using in a place like this, he certainly won the battle.
He didn't even have to actually use the active ability of that powerful skill, the opponent recognized the lethal power of that skill from only its initialization.
He was amazing to have realized it with just that much, and even more amazing to surrender without any further struggles.
He was admirable to give up on a close victory while only trusting his senses.
He was amazing… so admirable that he let his guard down for real this time.
-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish.
-Sketch!
Lucy walked forward while extending his hand for the handshake, the bitter smile still present on his face.
But just after taking a step, Lucy vanished and reappeared behind Ras at such a high speed that even his high senses failed to react in time.
The sword that had suddenly vanished, was back in his hands and it had graced his opponent's neck just a little so there was a mark on it as well, something that could have been a fatal injury had he so much as wished for it.
And the system recognized it as an undeniable loss.
[One of the participants has received a critical wound. The duel has been concluded.]
[The preservation system around the area in question has been lifted. The participants in question are forbidden from any further combat for 10 minutes.]
[The winning participant will take all the possessed points of the defeated one.]
[The achievements have been recorded in the data logs.]
They both had received these messages and then Lucy received the message that he had obtained a large amount of points that pushed him into the top twenty rankings. And, Ras was suddenly surprised.
"I apologize for doing such a dishonest thing but I promised my sister that I would win. I couldn't go back on my words since the consequences of that would be worse than simply losing to you.
I wish we can have a better and more honest battle in the future."
His voice was sad again as he retracted his sword, went before Ras, and bowed sincerely. He also didn't like this. Ras was the clear winner of the battle since he was willing to even use his ultimate skill.
But he told her that he would win, so he had to win in this match or else she would have asked for a wish as compensation for breaking their promise.
And that was something he couldn't afford.
"Ha… hahahaha."
Ras covered his face after realizing what had just happened and laughed heartily as if this situation was even more fun to him than the pleasure of victory.
"The duels recognized by the system are only concluded after one receives a fatal injury or an injury that could have been fatal, hunh?
Haha, I didn't know this one. And besides, that speed you had at the end, the way you exploded your Mana in those specific muscles and at the end of your feet to gain it, haaa… amazing. Just amazing.
You got me there this time, Lucifer."
He was smiling even brighter than a moment ago. The defeat seemed more attractive to him than the momentary happiness of an unfinished battle's victory.
"Haha, Lucifer oh Lucifer… thank you."
He patted Lucy's shoulder and looked at him with a deeper admiring gaze, smiling at him like he had found something he had been searching for all this time.
"And yes, let's have another match when we get the chance."
Lucy also looked up at him with a helpless and bitter expression but, his victory was a fact and everything had concluded already so he nodded at Ras.
He knew what kind of person this battle-crazy swordsman was, so he didn't dislike him particularly.
He was a unique person, certainly a wonderful swordsman, but above all, his tendency to consider every person he had lost against his eternal rivals was Lucy's favorite.
He would fight them and get stronger to win against them until he wins against them in a fair fight. And he was stubborn about this. The most stubborn one in this entire world perhaps.
But that very stubbornness was one of his greatest strengths, and Lucy admired it.
"By the way, did you say you promised your sister that you would win against me? How's that though? Did you already know you would have to fight me or something?"
He was asking that question with genuine curiosity, trying to figure out a little more about this new rival of his, but… Lucy was a lord when it came to acting.
"Hmm? No, no. Nothing like that. We just have a telepathy skill to talk even while being away so I was talking with her when you arrived.
She seems to be busy with someone else right now though."
The way he answered was so perfect and natural that it was impossible to gather any kind of information from his visible actions.
He was able to perfectly control his body so he could even hide the micro-movements of the body that are usually involuntary during things like this.
He could lie to someone's face and they would naturally believe his words, he was that proficient in this field. Perhaps that's why he was a global superstar in his previous life.
"A telepathy skill, hun? Isn't that convenient…"
Ras tried his best to analyze him but he found absolutely nothing strange, wrong, or different about him.
His intention hinted that there was something more to this but, the fact that this person at least didn't possess something like a future-seeing ability had been confirmed.
"Well, the battle's over, and so is the first day. We should get going now, right?"
They couldn't fight each other anymore and there was no need to fight. They had exhausted a significant amount of stamina from that fight so they had to first recover from that, and they had shown each other some pretty amazing things too, so they also had to make a new strategy to fight against the opponent who now knew their moves.
"Yes, it looks like that. Ok then, I will be going. I look forward to the next time."
"Yes, I will be the one on top of you next time."
"…sure."
With great power comes great disabilities, and his was the habit of saying sus things at the sus? time.
But Lucy was already familiar with it so he bid his farewell and used [Light walk] to vanish from his place, and continued forward towards the center of the labyrinth at their meeting spot.
It was a nice time, and he had his fair share of fun, but now he needed to get serious.
El was doing unexpectedly well to get that wish from their bet.
"But now that I think about it…
He knew El tried to hide her feelings a while back and also that she was unusually happy right now. Something must have happened and he wanted to ask what, but he was in the middle of a duel so he couldn't.
[ "El, what's happening?" ]
But now that his duel was over, he asked her and, the excited reply he got from her was not something he was expecting along with the name she mentioned.
[ "Lucy~. Baby~. I love Nes~." ]
Alright not this one, she was doing her weird love announcements that were perfectly normal.
[ "I met that Natalian bastard~. He was with Nes and was trying to pick her up with his usual techniques, but then they met me~.
Lololol, darling~. I provoked him first and he attacked us but even before I started my counterattacks, Nes used her powers and obliterated that guy hahahahahaha~.
The way he died lol, It was Amrita to these thirsty eyes, keke. Kekekeke.
She was angry for the first time since he attacked us and tried to hurt me, hehehehe.
Nes asked me if she could punish him with the SWEETEST smile until now~! How could have I said no to that~?" ]
She spoke a little too much in that too little time and Lucy definitely missed many things but most of it was her strange laughter so they can be ignored this time.
He focused on her words more closely and he understood most of the things, but it still didn't go well with him.
The first day had just ended and she had already met Nes. And they even killed a minor villain too.
It was too much for him to wrap his head around at once so he first found a good spot and sat down after killing the bunch of dogs over there.
[ "Auriel. Start from the start." ]
That bastard shouldn't have been with Nes but he was, which meant more things had changed and, Nes was able to kill him with her dust powers without the restriction brake investigation of the system, which meant the headmaster also interfered this time.
It wasn't natural… and he couldn't possibly overlook this for their proper future and plans.
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