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Clang...!
The sharp sound rang out like a tolling bell, sending a chill down the spine.
The blade, rippling like water, came straight down onto the golden bear's body. The gust of wind it carried blew his golden fur aside, but it only cut through the outer layer of his hide, it didn't pierce his muscles at all.
So tough!
Even Ryoji couldn't help but think, feeling a mix of respect and frustration.
"Hum hum, is that so? No matter how pretty your words sound, in the end, Kuhah!"
Beo curled his lips into a snarl, making his beastly face appear terrifyingly vicious.
His confidence surged. Earlier, he must have been careless. This human was indeed strong, among humans, certainly exceptional, but as long as he focused, he could never lose to a creature like this.
That thought lasted less than three seconds.
Suddenly, a sharp sweetness struck his throat, his insides convulsed, and a mouthful of fresh blood gushed from his lungs, spewing onto the ground.
"What happened?"
Beo froze.
The wound healed in less than a second. The strange sensation in his organs didn't even have time to register.
Because it didn't leave a trace, he had no idea what had just happened.
Magecraft? Impossible. He was the natural enemy of Magecraft! Modern Magecraft was as fragile as tofu in his presence!
Another blade slashed toward him.
Ryoji's expression remained cold and unreadable.
For a moment, the sound of steel clashing echoed endlessly.
Silver blades collided with Beo's body one after another, like waves crashing relentlessly.
"Eh...ah… cough ha!"
Beo could only let out a scream before vomiting another mouthful of blood.
Upon closer inspection, fragments of organs were mixed in the blood he spat out.
Under the barrage of continuous blade strikes, his internal organs had been shattered, even though outwardly he appeared unharmed. The speed of regeneration could not keep up with the destruction.
He instinctively tried to retreat, but though his bear form granted him monstrous strength and defense several times over, it also slowed his movements, making it impossible to evade the relentless silver slashes.
His aura quickly wilted.
Not just his body, but his spirit as well.
"Impossible! How could this…?"
Since birth, every creature had treated him with utmost reverence. Every being he attacked, even the revered Magecraft of the world, would crumble like an avalanche.
In his hundred-year life, he had never encountered anyone capable of matching him.
Thus, he naturally assumed himself to be invincible.
"You don't know how to fight at all!"
Ryoji let out a low roar, a mocking smile on his face.
This? This is what invincibility looks like?
In truth, he was just a spoiled child who had never experienced real hardship! Never honed in combat, always preying on the weak, never striving for improvement… such a golden wolf was bound to meet its Waterloo!
Under the Skill Enforcement of Brave Sword Heart, Ryoji's strikes grew increasingly vicious.
Beo, meanwhile, had his organs twisted and destroyed repeatedly, unable to concentrate his power into a coherent force.
"Shut up!"
Beo's mental state finally broke.
He flailed his arms wildly, like a child swatting at flies, his movements clumsy and uncoordinated.
Puchi!
In an instant, Ryoji's gaze sharpened to its peak, his entire imposing aura reaching its zenith.
The blade pierced past the slackened muscles, following the grain of the fibers, plunging straight into the center of Beo's chest... and emerged through the other side!
"Broken?"
Beo's eyes widened.
Even his proud defensive power had been torn apart head-on by Ryoji.
Unintentionally, he met those eyes.
Fearless, relentless, unstoppable.
As if a thousand armies stood before him, yet he would tear them apart alone... nothing could withstand him.
"Stop… don't come any closer!"
I'll die! I'll definitely die!
Those eyes shattered the last of the brat's mental defenses; his whole body trembled and he finally understood what fear was. He couldn't help but scream.
The Sisters' Duel
"So strong…"
Aozaki Aoko murmured.
"…"
Touko pinched her cigarette between her fingers, momentarily forgetting to put it to her lips.
The two sisters watched the mythic duel unfolding before them, and neither could find words. It was unquestionably a fight on the level of legend... the aftershock alone made the air tremble; the sword-wind blew across the ground and tore it apart.
There was no magecraft or other mysterious element in it... a pure, primal clash of bodies. Yet within that brawl, a clear superiority had emerged.
Ryoji was decisively on top.
Beo fought in agile forms and got his face covered in blade-light; when he shifted to a stronger shape, some unknown method kept making him cough up blood again and again.
"That boy is an expert in combat," Touko said, shoulders dropping, a helpless smile on her face.
In truth, Beo's raw potential far exceeded Ryoji's: hyper-fast regeneration and boundless transformational power gave him an enormous ceiling. But he merely sat atop a treasure-mountain without knowing how to turn that treasure into capital for himself.
By contrast, Ryoji had already been tempered in countless fights; he'd maximized his potential into power, mastered every asset he had, and turned one unit of force into two.
Beo's defeat was only a matter of time.
"Sss... "
Touko raised a hand and traced a rune in the air with her cigarette. Then she aimed it toward Aoko.
"You... !"
Aoko was shocked; she hurriedly activated the magic array on her right arm and layered three defensive magic bullets in front of herself at once.
"At this point, what are you still struggling for?"
Rude as it was, the outcome of Ryoji and Beo's fight would decide who won tonight. Whichever one of them prevailed would determine the victory for their whole side.
Aoko couldn't beat the golden wolf, and Touko couldn't defeat Ryoji... not here. Magecraft practitioners can only show their full strength in a properly prepared workshop; if this were happening in Touko's lab she might have a chance, but she was now several kilometers away from any such preparation.
"Do you think I risked coming back here for nothing? Of course I'm going to struggle! At least I have to take you down!"
"You fruit-selling hag!"
"You brat!"
The two women quickly began fighting amid a flurry of curses.
That said, it was entirely Touko on the offensive: the runes she wrote transformed into flames and lightning that swept around Aoko. Aoko could only keep firing magic bullets to block the attacks.
And the more she moved, the worse the wound in her left side bled.
As Aoko was gradually being forced back... "Hit her! Hit her hard! Tear her clothes! Pull her hair!"
A certain someone shouted excitedly from the side.
(End of chapter)