Is this guy stupid or something? Who does he even think he is? Do you think the guildmasters will even entertain your selfish request? This guy is definitely not Onii-chan. He's not that foolish. This guy is just beyond help.
"No— this is something that he'll definitely do," uttered Lily.
"W— what? Are you serious? Onii-chan has never acted so arrogantly before! This cannot be him. I'm not believing this is him until I see this face. This person is not acting like him at all," I crossed my arms.
"One thing I didn't tell you, Rose, is that your brother is insanely strong right now. Even while we were training in the elven forest, which is my turf, I had never been able to beat him even once. It was like something changed in him after being exiled. Who knows how much stronger he had gotten after two years in the Eastern continent," explained Lily.
"Yet you beat me with ease as well. I guess I can hand over my prodigy title to him now. Har har," I laughed with sarcasm.
"You just need the right teacher to bring out your full potential. You might need to travel elsewhere to search, though. I doubt there is anyone in this continent who is good enough to teach you," she continued.
"Alright, let's get back on topic. How certain are you that this guy is him? He looked unarmed. I don't see him carrying any weapons at all. If this is Onii-chan, did he abandon all his weapons? His precious legendary weapons?" I asked her.
"Hm, that is odd indeed. Zen always brought along his four weapons no matter where he went. Inazuma, Tengu-kaze, his gauntlets, and the elven dagger that I blessed for him," answered Lily with a thinking face.
"You— blessed the elven dagger for him? Did you, like, sprinkle some water on it for him or something?" I chuckled.
"Oh no, I just needed to hold his— ahh, never mind. It was just a simple process. Think nothing of it," she smiled awkwardly. Hmm, like what Onii-chan used to say. Very sus indeed.
I wonder what the guildmasters are going to do. Will they actually entertain him or will they ignore his request? Ah, someone opened the window of the guildmasters' glass chamber. It would appear they have a megaphone of their own too.
"Outsider, if you're that confident in yourself, then we shall honour your request. You shall be fighting with three of our selected adventurers. Should you win, then you can challenge our two great champions. However, should you fail to claim victory in any of the matches, you will be barred from this city forever. We do not tolerate such arrogance within this city, and there will be consequences for it. However, should you win all the matches, we will kneel before you as a sign of respect for your strength. What say you, Mister Outsider? Dare to pick up the challenge?" smirked the Paladin Lord.
I am surprised that my guildmaster would be the one announcing. You would think that John will be the one speaking as he's the youngest among them. But hold up, what did he just say? They are actually entertaining his request? How absurd.
Who's going to be sparring with him then? Fighting three strong opponents at the same time is not an easy feat on its own. Not even I can do it. You're talking about elite veterans that have served the guild for many years. Their combat experience alone is enough to deter many from thinking about fighting them one-on-one. I am certain that all of them, at the very least, have experienced fighting a dragon throughout their length of service.
Looks like the first veteran is up. Wade, huh? As expected. He gave me quite a bit of trouble when we sparred last time. His spear can lengthen and shorten at will, which catches you off guard easily. Along with his unpredictable combat style, he was certainly troublesome to fight with. Who's next then? Ah, Jorge from the Viking guild. I thought John would have been tempted to join the sparring as he was always looking for tough opponents, but I guess that would be too entertaining for the crowd. Jorge is definitely one of the strongest in the Viking guild. He is the perfect tanker that can really take on a lot of punishment. He's probably one of the very few people that can actually withstand Lily's punches. He's also one of the few Vikings that doesn't use an axe exclusively. He favours using a shield and a small axe instead. His shield certainly gave me some problems as it was pretty large and difficult to pierce through, but once you figure out his weak spots, it was easy to avoid it. Who's the last person then?
W—wait, what? Rhododendron is the last person? He was the running champion before I took over his position. This outsider is in for a trashing of his life. Who knew that a Dark guild member would be a long-running champion for many years until I took over from him? He is strong for sure. Certainly the toughest Dark Knight I ever fought against. He really showed me the reason why he was reigning champion for such a long time and not some fluke.
The announcer came on stage, but the three members waved him off. They asked for his megaphone instead.
"Last chance to surrender, lad," said Jorge.
"You sure are tough, I'll give you that. Never did I see Balgruuf running scared at anyone before. Not even my Fear spell can send him packing like a little girl," said Rhododendron.
The outsider yawned at them. Are you being serious? There is a limit to how cocky you can be. You better not be my brother in disguise. I don't have such a disrespectful brother!
"Let's start. I'm itching to beat the shit out of this outsider," said Wade as he threw the megaphone back to the announcer.
All three of them got their weapons ready. The next few milliseconds were unbelievable. The outsider literally vanished from my sight as I blinked. The next moment, he gave a palm strike to Jorge's shield, which was surprisingly strong enough to push him out of the arena ring. I might have been mistaken, but I thought I saw a familiar gauntlet appearing on his fist. The next moment, he gave an elbow strike towards Wade, which he managed to block but was not expecting a successive punch that came along with it. He too flew out of the arena ring.
Rhododendron was the last one standing, but he didn't manage to react in time to save them. He finally made his move and swung his sword towards the outsider with his Dark Slash spell. But the outsider had already predicted the move and blocked with his gauntlets and slammed his palm onto Rhododendron's face. Ouch, that got to hurt. What is happening to his gauntlets? One moment it was there, and the next moment it was gone. All it took was three heartbeats, and he took down three of the most elite adventurers. Just one heartbeat each. This outsider is ridiculously strong. I doubt the spectators even understood what just happened. How the hell did this guy beat all three of them while being unarmed? Onii-chan, are you really that strong now?
I turn my gaze towards Lily with a surprised Pikachu face. How are we going to beat this guy?! She responded the exact same as me with her mouth open. The two of us sighed at the same time. I guess we better get ready to head down then. And here I thought that we could compete with each other to figure out once and for all who is stronger. So much for preparing myself during that one year. But perhaps I can take it out on this outsider. I hope we don't suffer as much humiliation as those three. I thought the outsider was just being cocky, but who knew he would actually be this strong.
***
Both Lily and I headed down to the arena. She had changed her gauntlets to a much more powerful one after she returned to the city. I definitely don't want to get punched by her as it'll hurt really bad. Even a glancing blow from her punch cuts through my flesh the last time I sparred with her. I shudder to think what a direct hit would do to your bones.
I had upgraded my rapier to a superior version too. This one was made with a much stronger steel that is capable of piercing through rocks or tree trunks with ease. While it might not be able to pierce the Underwater Dragon King's scales, it is certainly much stronger, durable, and lighter than my previous one.
"Are you all ready, folks? What an unexpected turn of events! To think both champions will be showing this outsider his place. Will he actually win, or will he finally allow us to resume our regularly scheduled event? Let us show this outsider that he doesn't mess with our adventurer guilds! Rose and Daisy, show him everything you've got!" shouted the announcer. Geez, he sure is noisy.
We both readied our stance. I still cannot see his face clearly as he pulled down his hood really low. How can he even see anything? I thought Lily would have rushed to attack him, but she seems to be taking extra caution against him.
"W— would you mind taking off your hood?" I asked him.
"Hm? Oh, how about you make me instead?" he smirked. Arrogant bastard, I won't have mercy on you!
I thought of rushing towards him with my rapier, but I stopped myself from doing something rash. He decided to show us his eyes now. They're— glowing. Is that— no, it can't be— Concentration? This guy can use Concentration?! Shit, this isn't good. I tried learning it myself, but I had no idea where to even begin. John seemed to have skipped this and went straight to using Bloodlust, but even he was just getting the gist of using it. He couldn't explain how he even managed to achieve his Higher State of Mind. All he remembered was feeling sorrow and anger at the thought of Lily's death.
Hang on— what is that behind him? What is with that aura? That— is scary. I can't stop shaking myself. What the hell is going on?!
I turned my head slowly to see how Lily is faring. One of her hands was shaking uncontrollably, but she held it with her other arm. This is not your normal fear spell; this is like the end of everything. No wonder Balgruuf ran away. Every inch of my soul is telling me to run away!
Calm yourself, Rose. Calm yourself! This is all just an illusion. It's not real. But shit, I still cannot stop myself from shaking. My mind is registering that it isn't real, but my body still refuses to listen to me. I can feel my legs giving way, and the entrance to the exit is starting to look really appealing now.
Slap!
W— what was that? That sounded at my side. I turned my gaze towards Lily and it would appear that she had slapped herself. She continued to slap herself a couple more times and shook her head rapidly. She then performed a few breathing routines similar to what my brother usually does and got herself ready with conviction. I decided to follow after her. I need to keep calm and focus myself if I wish to defeat this outsider.
The outsider was staring at our reactions to his spell. Is he concerned about us? He even looked like he wanted to help us earlier. We don't need your help, Mister Outsider. Wait, is he smiling now?
"Not bad, you two. Not bad at all," he smirked. What an arrogant idiot.
Lily got ready and dashed towards him. She is definitely not hesitating now. She started with a left hook, which the outsider dodged within a hair's breadth. Her fists are leaving shockwaves every time she punches. That is one heck of a punch. She then continued with a punch with her right fist. He dodged skilfully once again. He is nimble, I'll give him that.
But what he doesn't know is that I didn't waste four years of my life doing nothing. I discovered a method to cast two spells simultaneously. By criss-crossing certain words during the chant, I'm able to cast two spells at the same time. I will cast both spells quickly and provide Lily with some backup.
As I was chanting my spells, it seemed that he had taken notice of it. He was still dodging Lily's punches effortlessly. He suddenly grabbed one of Lily's punches and tossed her towards me. I was not expecting that!
We collided with each other. Ouch, that hurts! This damn outsider is toying with us. Lily lifted me up by the arm. It seems that she is taking things more seriously now. Maybe I should too. This guy is treating us like fools instead of the champions that we're supposed to be. I quickly finished my chanting and cast both Accelerate and Light Blessing at the same time. Lily should be much faster and stronger now, but I will be the one that received the highest buffs from both spells. Let's beat the living shit out of this damned outsider.
I nodded to Lily and rushed towards our opponent side by side with her taking the lead. Once again, Lily's punches were avoided by him expertly, even with my buffs. There, I can see his gauntlets now. It looked as though they're fading in and out of existence. But I recognise those gauntlets anywhere. These are definitely Onii-chan's favourite legendary gauntlets. But what's happening to them? Why do they look so differently now?
Lily continued with her punches of fury as I came in to strike his weak points. How is this guy avoiding all of our attacks?! He casually avoided or guided Lily's punches away from him while he constantly avoided my fast strikes within a hair's breadth. At some point, Lily even started using her fire spells. When she swung her arms, there were trails of flames from them. If this hits your eyes, there is a chance you can go blind, which is why the Elemental guild was so strict on its members. I also started using my spells against him. Double stab along with my signature Holy Strike. But none of our attacks are hitting him at all!
Damn it! This guy is like a cockroach, constantly avoiding all of our attacks. We need to stop his movements somehow. He's not even taking us seriously while I'm fighting him with all I've got. Fine then, I will do something stupid that even he won't be expecting. I leapt at him and caught his leg. This should immobilise him for a time. Lily didn't hesitate and went in for a punch fortified with lightning straight to his face.
What happened next was, once again, unbelievable. The fingertips on his left hand started to glow with purple fire. He lifted it to his right shoulder and shouted "Rend!" to which he swung it across his body. Swung? It looked more like he tore through something unreal. A semi-transparent purple cloak draped across his body. It was a very odd-looking cloak. He lifted his left hand to block Lily's attack. Is he nuts? Lily's punch is going to break the bones in your arm!
I was fully expecting to hear bones breaking from the impact of the shockwave, but there was absolutely no sound whatsoever. I lifted my gaze and saw Lily's punch made contact with his arm, but nothing happened? What's going on?
"Retreat!" shouted Lily.
I leapt back to a safer position with Lily. What's with this guy? How did he stop Lily's punch as though it was nothing? I don't believe this. As I tried to figure out what to do next, he disappeared in a blink of an eye and appeared directly in front of us as he placed his palm on my stomach. What happened in the span of two seconds was instantaneous. He whispered to us as I could feel his cold palm on my stomach.
"Very interesting, Rose. Seems like I have something to learn from you. Lily, you have much to improve. You should have followed me to the east instead," whispered the outsider. He then sent both of us flying across the arena zone.