Chereads / Isekai: The Eight Soul Fragments / Chapter 6 - The Mock Battle

Chapter 6 - The Mock Battle

Ulysses took a defensive stance for the mock battle as if testing Draxus. However, to Serkyrio's eyes, he had already made a major mistake. Because of that, his smile reflexively became noticeable by Oswald and Olivia. Draxus slowly walked around while circling around Ulysses. The latter followed Draxus which made them start positioning themselves around. Their eyes are still peering at the other while maintaining a ready stance. Just as Ulysses was about to step over Draxus's former position, he dashed forward and took the initiative. Ice spikes were erected from the ground and extended to the front of Draxus, as if intercepting Ulysses.

Ulysses used his glaive to try and cut down as many ice spikes as possible. But more of them immediately came up to strike him from behind as well. After defending from behind, Draxus had farmed a pair of gauntlets to coat his jacket sleeves and gloves all the way to just before the elbows. He then performed a pincer attack by generating multiple ice spikes from the direction of where he circled from. He then dashed towards behind Ulysses's position while he was busy defending from the half circle of ice spikes. Draxus landed a powerful strike on Ulysses's back with his coated fists. "Nuoo!" Ulysses let out a bit of a shock as he was easily damaged. He regained his balance and used his glaive to slash Draxus who is behind him while turning. The latter, stepped back once and defended against the attack by performing the peek-a-boo hand block with his icy gauntlets. The slash badly damaged the ice gauntlets and shattered it completely. However, Draxus was aiming for that. He gathered wind on his left palm and directed it at Ulysses, which he blew after a split second of gathering. It caused multiple ice shards from the broken gauntlet to fly at Ulysses's position. But due to sheer instinct, he rotated his glaive like a spinning shield to defend from the attack. After defending from the shards of ice, he swiped forward which Draxus dodged by dashing backward. Ulysses made a follow-up to ensure that Draxus isn't allowed any form of escape by twisting it to the other end and thrusting it forward. Draxus who noticed the danger immediately brought out an ice pillar that's curved to the side, completely redirecting the thrust to a different direction. Draxus repositioned himself with a set distance away from Ulysses as he started generating some ice on the ground.

"You're pretty good so far, being able to use ice magic that proficiently. Moreover, doing it chantless as well? I may have underestimated the likes of you." Ulysses reformed his stance while facing Draxus. "Well, I'm flattered by your opinion there, but I'm more impressed of you who is able to get through all those attacks." Draxus smiled and generated two crystal swords while forming a different stance. Among the audience, Oswald became captive of the mock battle and is asking question which Serkyrio and Remuel could respond to him. "You see, Draxus's fighting style is to force the enemy to take the initiative. If the enemy doesn't attack, he will be able to set up a lot of attacks and defenses within the area." The two young ladies were watching while asking Arlesk some questions about the battle. Arlesk gave a bit of a tease to Olivia and Celestine while smiling. "Our versatile fighter really is amazing eh?" The two girls who had no idea what Arlesk is trying to do simply agreed to his words while staring at Draxus. Remuel came over from Serkyrio's side and immediately asked Arlesk something. "Dude, fifty silver that Draxus wins." Arlesk turned his gaze to Remuel and turned back to Draxus and Ulysses who are fighting. "I'd say that this is a draw to be completely honest." The two young ladies who overheard the conversation asked Remuel some questions. "You think the hero of my country would lose?" Celestine showed doubtful eyes which surprised Remuel for a bit. He then pushed up his glasses and looked at the battlefield. "Sure Ulysses may be the strongest of your country, and probably one of the strongest in the world. But us? Who came from a different world with so much information already in stock. There's no way we could lose easily if we train extremely well." Remuel stared intently at the battlefield with a confident smile. Which shows that they are not to be underestimated, even by seasoned warriors who fought for years.

Back on the battlefield, Draxus and Ulysses began their second round. The sound of hardened titanium breaking crystal objects resonated throughout the battlefield. They exchanged blows which started to damage both of them pretty badly. A single impact from Ulysses's attack brought an effect to Draxus's wrist. Crystal swords broke into fragments as he purposely blocked the attacks of Ulysses and used the shards that flew off as minor attacks by gathering wind magic. Ulysses was able to block some of those shards but Draxus wouldn't allow that by creating an even bigger threat of multiple ice spikes behind Ulysses. Because of that, Ulysses had to focus on the ice spikes that came from behind while receiving some damage from shards of ice. Draxus replenished the damaged crystal swords and landed a few slashes on the back of Ulysses. The latter distanced himself from Draxus and set his glaive in front. Draxus, going by his gut dispersed the crystal swords and materialized a crystal bow instead. He formed multiple crystal arrows that are ready to be shot from the bow. With sleight of hand, he fired multiple arrows in succession but everything was blocked and dispersed by a barrier. Upon taking a closer look, Draxus noticed that the glaive was floating in place and Ulysses was standing straight while focusing some energy into something in between his hands. "[Hero's Card, Unlocked Limiter]" Draxus once again, dispersed his crystal weapon, stretched his wrists, and then materialized a claymore this time.

Among the audience, Oswald smiled. Serkyrio who noticed that immediately probed into him. "Seems like your hero there had done something?" Oswald responded calmly while having huge confidence. "Yep, it seems that he has gone all out as an acknowledgement to his abilities." He turned his gaze at Draxus and continued muttering in a low voice. "Better stop the match before Draxus dies~..." Nobody heard that small voice as he watched with a confident smile. Serkyrio started analyzing Ulysses deeply as that barrier starts to disperse.

"He went ahead and used it huh?" Olivia who noticed the surge of magic power coming out from the dissipating barrier could only stare at the match while muttering small words. Celestine who also realized that kind of magic was used in a mock battle. The armored infantry were shouting in excitement as their hero finally brought out his true strength. Remuel and Arlesk narrowed their eyes as if their attention was brought by the threatening aura that appeared before Draxus. Remuel was the first to say something between the two which got the two ladies surprised. "Looks like Draxus will have to [Compensate]..." While holding up his chin, Remuel looked at Draxus who also started to accumulate a lot of energy inside him. He was fairly exhausted earlier from the amount of movement but he's staying completely still despite the amount of energy expended by Ulysses was peaking out. Arlesk who noticed it as well, responded to Remuel. "The music has begun huh?" Olivia and Celestine were surprised once again, from the composed figures of Remuel and Arlesk, Olivia finally spoke out to the two of them. "Umm, can you explain what you just said?" Remuel pushed up his glasses while showing an sharp smile. "Can you see his eyes from here?" The two girls immediately returned their gaze to the battlefield. When they watched Draxus, they realized that his expressions had completely disappeared as he held that giant claymore up. Arlesk filled them in with the explanation: "That expressionless face, means that his concentration had shot up to maximum levels in an instant. Then if you combine that with a near death situation, he turns insane and becomes able to perceive any attack." Remuel continued with the explanation. "Because of that, not many people are able to hold him back when somebody comes around to hard any of his important friends. The trigger for that by the way, is basically some music that's playing on his ears." The girls were confused about the trigger which made Arlesk explain a bit more. "See that white headpiece he has? That's the source. By the way, the closer he is to dying, the faster he becomes." Remuel and Arlesk returned their eyes to the battlefield.

Ulysses had completed his preparation of releasing the limiter that he had. He then looked at Draxus who remained completely still without an expression to show him. "Have you passed out standing in fear?" Without speaking a single word, Draxus simply lowered his stance and prepared the claymore. Ulysses held the glaive and dashed at an almost inconceivable speed. He instantly arrived behind Draxus and almost stabbed him on the right shoulder with the lower blade. With calm and smooth movement, Draxus simply raised up the claymore and blocked the attack. Ulysses disappeared once again and moved to the left of Draxus, where he is unarmed but a large ice pillar appeared from the bottom and blocked the attack completely. The pillar itself was shattered but Ulysses had moved to a different position as he's anticipating a counterattack with the shards of ice. However, Draxus didn't even bother taking or avoiding the shards of ice. He simply let the shards burrow into his clothes and skin, causing him to start bleeding. His expression revealed a little bit of a giggle before returning back to normal. Ulysses then appeared in front while attempting to slash Draxus's head off. Another pillar of ice showed up to slow down the glaive but it was sliced through easily like tofu. Draxus dodged on instinct due to the nature of instakill attacks. Ulysses struck the ice pillar very hard with his fist and shattered it into pieces. Most of the shards flew towards Draxus's direction and further damaged his body more, causing him to laugh a little in hysteria. "Fuhaha..." Ulysses who noticed something was off cancelled the follow-up and set himself on guard. Draxus finally made a move by summoning hundreds of ice spikes at once behind him. Ulysses who was graced with the sight of multiple hundred ice spikes, immediately dashed forward to stop the source of that amount of magic which is Draxus. There was one mistake that Ulysses made however, it was because of being shown a deadly sight, he wavered slightly and tried to remove the threat in panic. He never realized that he actually stepped on Draxus's original position and got instantly frozen in place. Draxus who saw Ulysses fall into his very first trap on the match, laughed hysterically as he raised his hand to add more danger to Ulysses. "Too bad you brought me out~ Superconduction!" He electrified the hundreds of ice spikes which had ate too much of his mana capacity. After a few seconds, he tried to send all the ice spikes at Ulysses but all of it suddenly dispersed. He then passed out on the spot.

Serkyrio who is among the audience, announced the end of the mock battle as a draw.