Editors: Speedphoenix, Joker
"And the winner of this round is once again the man that almost appears to be an unstoppable force, Ypsilon!"
A mix of cheers and jeers erupted from the crowd the moment the MC announced the fight's results. Heh. Looks like Operation Stand The Fuck Out is moving along pretty smoothly.
Discounting the preliminaries, I had already fought in a total of three matches, and I had played the part of the heel in each. In wrestling, heels had the tendency to scream at their opponents, call them weaklings, and proclaim that they would never be defeated by the likes of whoever it was they were up against. I, however, had not. I had instead drawn the audience's ire through the actions I took in battle. Strangely enough, a good chunk of the crowd had taken a liking to me regardless. Talk about having weird tastes.
My supporters weren't the only ones growing in number. Those that wished to interfere with my matches were too. More and more red dots appeared on my map after each of my fights, but they never got the chance to actually do any harm. The hooded agents that served as my allies were doing their jobs well; they would always erase my would-be assailants before they could do any harm. The reason that the enemy count was increasing regardless was because the person in charge of deploying them was sending an even larger wave each time the last was destroyed. Man, having good allies sure makes life easy. They're handling this way better than I ever could have. And yeah, I know what you're thinking. You want to smack me and say, "What the fuck, dude? Weren't you just bitching about how your allies were going to be weak and useless a few days ago?" I can't lie. You're totally right. I was being stupid and looking down on people I hadn't even met yet. I was jumping to conclusions when I really shouldn't have been. I probably owe them an apology.
"So what do you think, Enne? Of this whole tourney thing, I mean." I turned to the girl sitting beside me as I spoke. The two of us were currently located on top of a bench inside of my personal waiting room. Naturally, we had made sure to check that no one else was around before she changed forms.
"It's…" She paused for a moment to think. "Really loud."
"Yeah, it totally is," I laughed.
"And I hate that people are booing you." She looked towards the audience as her face warped in disappointment.
Seeing her like that led me to start scratching one of my cheeks with a troubled smile; it took me a good few moments to formulate an explanation.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, they're not actually doing it because they hate me. I'm doing mean stuff on purpose, and they're just playing along," I said.
As Enne didn't know much about wrestling or any other combat-based sport, she lacked the knowledge required for her to understand that booing wasn't necessarily representative of genuine hate. I didn't expect her to immediately come to understand that heels and booing went hand in hand. The audience was an important part of the performance. A strong negative reaction was needed to contribute in order to perfect the beauty that came with the art of acting like a badass villain. I mean, at least that's how I think it works. I'm pretty sure they don't actually hate me, right? Right…?
"Really…?"
"Y-Yeah, I think so," I stuttered. "You know how you girls play pretend? It's basically the same thing."
They would pretend to be demon lords, while I would pretend to be a hero. And then they would proceed to defeat me.
"Then you can't do it anymore," she pouted. "You have to make everyone see how cool you are. Like a real demon lord would."
"Uhh… I'm pretty sure playing the bad guy is way more demon lord-like than just being cool."
"Still. You can't. No more playing the bad guy."
Enne turned her gaze upwards and looked right at me as she made the demand.
"Alright, alright, fine. I get it." I flashed a strained smile as I patted her on the head. "I'll act more like a demon lord and make everyone think I'm cool. Okay?"
"Okay," she said with a satisfied nod.
Our conversation seemed to have ended at just the right time, as Enne's expression of content was immediately followed by a knock. I had the blade girl return to her real body before opening the door. Standing in the doorway was one of the event's staff members, a demon girl with horns and a tail.
"It's almost time for your next match, sir," she said. "Please make your way to the arena's entrance once you're ready to go."
It was just the usual announcement, so I did the same thing I'd done the past few times and used my hand to signal that I had received the message. All of the other staff members understood that it was my way of dismissing them. They would immediately leave in order to attend to the rest of their duties. This one, however, did not. She remained in the doorway and fidgeted about for a bit before finally plucking up enough courage to see her intentions through.
"Y-Your matches are some of the most exciting I've ever seen, Mr. Ypsilon!" she spoke in a bit of a rushed tone, fumbling over her words as she presented me with whatever it was she had been holding behind her back the whole time. "C-Could I please have your autograph?"
There was an item in each of the girl's hands. In her left was a freshly-inked feather pen, and in her right was a piece of parchment that looked more durable than usual. I guess that must be what they use in place of autograph sheets.
Oh, I see now. It wasn't that she didn't get the hand signal or anything. She was just hanging around 'cause she wanted an autograph. Wait… She wants an autograph…?
I hadn't thought my actions through until after accepting everything she wanted to hand me, so I ended up freezing up the moment I finally processed the fact that she was asking for my signature. Crap. What do? How am I supposed to sign something for her if I don't actually have a god damned signature? …Alright, fuck it. I'mma just write Ypsilon in katakana and call it a day. She probably won't know the difference anyway.
With that decided, I pressed the parchment against the wall, "signed" it, and returned it to its owner.
"Thank you so much!" she squealed excitedly before running right off.
"What a weirdo…" said Enne, telepathically.
"I know, right?"
So uh… I should probably practise my signature, huh? You know, just in case I ever get asked for another autograph.
***
There wasn't much for me to do in terms of getting ready, so I headed over to the stage right after the demon girl left. Upon entering it, I found myself greeted by even more noise than usual. The audience was hyped, with a capital everything.
"And against him is a man not to be underestimated, a man whose appearance belies the extent of his strength! His blade is so charming and graceful that it can be likened to a vicious, deadly dance! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a man that has one-sidedly destroyed every single opponent he's faced despite never having participated in Destia Trome! Please give a warm welcome to Remiero!"
The man that entered from the opposite side of the arena could only be described as an old butler. The expression on his face matched his age; he was wearing the kind of gentle smile you would expect to see on an old, refined gentleman's face. That, however, was the only part of him that looked his age. Despite having lived long enough to justify retirement, his back was straight as a rod and his steps were firm. The composed, dauntless way he carried himself made him seem much younger than he really was. Wait. He's human.
"Are you… one of Nell's buddies?"
"I suppose you must be the ally that she was speaking of?" said the old man with a dandy smile.
"You could tell?"
"We were given a quick overview of your traits and features," he said. "The biggest giveaway was your sword. We were told that it was curved, of an absurd length, and had a black and red ribbon on its handle. It gave you away on sight."
Ohhh, I see. So he used Enne to ID me. It was a reasonable approach. I had basically never put Enne away ever since she had become more sentient. That said, it wasn't as if I paraded her around either. I made sure to keep both her and her sheath wrapped up in a large cloth save for when I was in the arena. Wow. Nell's got a pretty good memory. Could've sworn I only took her out of the cloth for a few seconds when we were back at the bar. I'm surprised that was enough for her to remember so many details.
"Now let's get this match underway!" said the MC. "Ready? Fight!"
The gong rang throughout the stadium, but neither of us sprung into action immediately.
"Well, I would have loved to continue to chat, but it appears that it's time for us to begin. Wouldn't want to keep the crowd waiting, after all," he said with a smile. "Why don't we save the small talk for later? I would hate to waste the opportunity to face you in battle. I'm sure it would make for an excellent round of practice."
His aura changed as he drew the rustic blade hanging from his waist. The old butler's aura suddenly swelled in size; he began giving off an overwhelming sense of pressure and intimidation.
"Practice, my ass! Dude, I can totally tell that you're trying to murder me!"
"Not at all, good sir, not at all," denied the butler. "Please do forgive me, the hero's description of you happened to spark my curiosity. I can't help but wonder the extent of your strength."
"Oh okay. So when all's said and done, all you really wanted to do was test me, huh?"
"I suppose you could say that," he said with a ferocious smile.
It was clear as day that the opponent I was faced with was no ordinary Joe, so I analyzed him in order to get a better idea of what I would be up against.
***
General Information
Name: Remiero Gillbert
Race: Human
Class: Butler (Sword Saint)
Level: 158
HP: 3116/3116
MP: 2509/2509
Strength: 994
Vitality: 992
Agility: 910
Magic: 606
Dexterity: 2999
Luck: 155
Unique Skills
Mind's Eye
Skills
Sword Mastery X
Rapier Mastery VII
Dagger Mastery VII
Martial Arts Mastery VIII
Crisis Detection VII
Blade Seer VIII
Titles
God's Blade
Limit Reacher
Survivor of Death's Embrace
***
Dude! What the fuck!? What the actual fuck!? Dude's the type of guy you're not supposed to run into until the tournament's starting to come to an end! Look at how OP he is! Holy shit! Oh man, this is bad. The assassin I met yesterday has got better stats, but this dude's definitely way better with a sword. He's got sword mastery at level fucking ten! That shit's capped, bro! It literally doesn't get any higher! Hell, every single one of his skills is at least at level seven. Look at his class too! He's a sword saint! A fucking sword saint! He's even got a friggin' matching title. And don't even get me started on that dex stat! What the fuck!
My newest opponent was so confident in his overwhelming power that he didn't even bother hiding the fact that he was human. It didn't take a genius to guess his reasoning. He was strong enough to deal with just about anything, even should a situation ever go sour. And he would probably be respected for it too. As far as the demon realm was concerned, might meant right. Oh, I get it. He's probably not hiding his humanity because standing out will help everyone he's working with blend in better with the crowd. Yeah, sounds about right. He seems more than capable of handling any danger that comes his way as a result.
Man, I really need to stop meeting OP people. They're really throwing off my sense of how strong the average person is supposed to be and it's messing with my head. Though, I guess that is just kinda what demon realms do. They mess with you and throw you off. Not that the old man's affiliated with the demon realm. Whatever, you get the point.
One of the first decisions I came to after seeing his stat page was to avoid pure swordplay. I was almost positive that he would best me ten times out of ten if I relied on my terrible sword arm. My stats were way higher than his, but that wasn't to say that he couldn't beat me. Lopping off my head or stabbing me through the heart were both easy ways for him to ensure my death. Errr, wait a second. I think I might be jumping to a few too many conclusions there. Honestly, I wouldn't be all that surprised if I managed to survive what would otherwise have been a fatal injury, but I'm not about to go test it. I can't really imagine anything good coming from testing something like that.
While the tourney didn't endorse fatalities, I had to consider the possibility that it could happen given the butler's might; I was sure to lose if I didn't take him seriously. Welp. Time to try my best. Enne did just tell me to show off and make everyone think I'm cool and whatnot, after all.
"It doesn't look like you're the type of opponent I can go easy on." I drew my sword, put its sheath in my inventory, and muttered a line under my breath. "Let's do this, Enne."
"Let's," she replied telepathically.
Her crimson blade glittered as it reflected the sun's rays.
"Would you look at that! Ypsilon has finally drawn his weapon! What do you think, ladies and gentlemen? Does this mean Remiero really is just as strong as we've all thought!?"
The MC began to do his usual commentary, but I didn't pay it mind. I purged both it and the crowd's cheers from my mind in order to focus my mind on the foe standing before me.
After calming myself down, I let out a short exhale before kicking off the ground with all the force of an explosion and diving right at my opponent.
"Come at me, old-timer!"
My attack marked the battle's true start. I backed a heavy, downwards swing with all the forward momentum of my charge. All the power put into the strike made it incredibly fast, but the butler dodged it with ease. His dodge was so practiced and deliberate that it almost made avoiding the blade look the most natural thing to do. With its target missing, my sword ended up cleaving into the stage instead, causing a conspicuously loud crash in the process.
I grunted as I pulled the weapon out of the ground and quickly turned the motion into a sideways swing. Of course, that wasn't the only thing I did. I kicked up some of the debris that my first attack had knocked all over the place at my opponent as I went in to bolster my chances of success.
Much to my displeasure, he managed to not only drain my projectiles of their momentum by splitting them to pieces before they reached him, but also dodge Enne's blade by stepping out of her range. And he did it all with only the slightest bit of effort. The look on his face was literally as composed as it possibly could have been.
"Those are some terrifyingly quick attacks," said the butler.
"Yeah, totally sounds legit coming from the guy dodging them without even breaking a sweat."
I knew that I had to crank my engines up as far as they would go if I didn't want to lose, so I conjured up a series of water dragons and had them charge at the old butler. The spell was one that I employed often; I was so used to it that it no longer had any cast time whatsoever.
Each of the serpentine fabrications roared as they opened their jaws and coiled around each other in the middle of their suicidal charge. Yeah, I know the roaring doesn't really make sense, especially since it's not a part of the spell. I'm not really sure when they started doing it either, but they just kinda did.
But my opponent cut them down.
"The fuck!? Bro, you've gotta be kidding me!"
A single slash was all he needed to cleave through the spell. He had raised his sword above his head and split my attack into two neat halves as he brought it back down. The magically constructed fluids immediately lost its form before vanishing as if it had never existed in the first place. Bruh. Hold up. I didn't even know that cutting magic was possible. What the fuck?
"I would advise against lowering your guard."
"Woah!"
My reaction speed was dulled by my surprise, so I didn't notice that the butler had attacked until he was right in my face. I lowered Enne to guard against his blade as he thrust it at me, but my foe reacted to my attempt at defence and negated it. His blade suddenly changed trajectories and slithered over my own. The fuck!?
And that wasn't all. He continued to demonstrate that it was far removed from the norm. Both his arm and his blade seemed to split into two, with one closing in on me from each side.
I stepped back far enough to avoid losing my arms, but I took a good bit of damage regardless. He had cut deep enough into my shoulders to cause a spray of blood to erupt from each.
"T-The fuck was that!?"
As far as I could tell, he had launched a pair of synchronized attacks fast enough to create after images.
"Just a clever little trick," he said. "I'm sure that you too would be able to perform it with a bit of practice."
Uhh… dude. Not everyone's a superman like you, y'know? My dexterity stat had risen a lot since my reincarnation. And as a result, I had gotten a lot better at using magic. My ability to wield a sword, however, had improved by only a questionable margin. The change it experienced was so tiny that I wasn't even sure whether I had really improved or if it was all just a placebo. Unfortunately, I was well aware of the fact that I simply had no talent for swordplay. My only option was to fake it by brute-forcing my way through my opponents with numbers and skill levels. Oh, god damn it. I totally would have leveled up both my sword and greatsword mastery before leaving home if I knew this was going to happen. Their effects stack, so boosting both would probably help me a tonne. Er, actually probably not. At least not against this dude.
Alright, Yuki. You can do this. Calm down, use your head. I had known from the start that beating a literal sword saint at swordplay was a fool's errand. I was much faster than him and his old, creaky frame, but he made better use of his body. Unlike mine, his movements weren't anywhere near as wasteful. He was both efficient and as hard to read as a leaf fluttering its way to the ground.
That said, it wasn't as if I didn't have anything over him. Alright, let's see… I've got strength on him. I could totally crush him if it came down to a contest of brute force, physical or magical. He can't fly either, so there's always that. Oh yeah, and I've got Enne. That's gotta be a huge plus. Alright, I think I've got a pretty solid game plan. Let's do this!
"Enne! Activate wind magic!" I barked an order as I materialized my wings.
"Okay!" she said with a telepathic nod. The sword girl had immediately grasped my intentions.
I positioned her behind me and began channelling my magical energy through her to wreath her blade in flames. She followed up the action by beginning to eject the air around her. There was a sudden explosion; I shot forward with all the force of a missile.
"You better get ready to stop, drop, and roll if you don't want to burn to death, old-timer!"
I literally flew at him and attempted to maul him with my engine. He knew just as well as I did that taking a hit from a literal flaming blade was a recipe for disaster, so he leapt backwards in order to avoid the attack by a large margin. That, however, wasn't anywhere near enough to avoid me.
My swing had caused the engine to momentarily shift in front of me and provide me with a burst of backwards acceleration. It seemed like he was going to gain on me, but I flapped my wings while reorienting my blade in order to make a U-turn and continue firing myself in his direction. I gave my wings another flap right before I reached him in order to change my trajectory in an attempt to subvert his guard.
"How irksome!" The old man groaned as he evaded my blade. Wait. Wait! He's calling ME irksome! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
"Says the guy that's stupidly hard to read!"
I yelled back at him out of pure obligation as I flew circles around him and continued my assault. Enne's flames grazed him over and over. The butler uniform he was wearing took severe damage. The man himself, however, did not. He had avoided taking even a single critical hit. The lack of progress started to tilt me, so my attacks lost their form as time progressed. They grew wilder and less thoughtful, a fact the old-timer took advantage of immediately. He made use of the increase in the number of openings I had to counter with a slash to the flank.
Ow… I groaned internally. Fortunately, the cut was a shallow one, but it was an impressive feat nonetheless. Even monsters with stats that matched my own would have to get pretty lucky if they wanted to evade my Ennegine based attacks. What the hell, man? The fuck's up with this guy's reflexes? I can't believe he managed to throw a counter while I was moving around that quickly.
Frankly, the butler was terrifying. One's stats had the tendency to drop as one's body succumbed to age, which meant that he would have been even stronger in his prime. I had the sneaking suspicion that the man before me had once been strong enough to go toe to toe with dragons.
"What an amazing display of skill from both sides!" shouted the caster. "Can you believe that we're only in round four, ladies and gentlemen!?"
His voice was immediately followed by a series of cheers. Again, I groaned internally, and not from pain this time. I was starting to get annoyed by both the MC and the crowd. They were too noisy and it was hard to focus.
Upon realizing that I was letting myself get a bit too tilted for comfort, I decided to stop and take a deep breath. Alright Yuki, calm down. You can do this. You just gotta stay calm.
I dispelled the flames enveloping Enne's body and got her to stop casting wind magic before taking a moment to erase everything but my foe from my mind.
"Master. How are your wounds?" she asked, telepathically.
"I'm fine. How's your mana holding up?"
"I have about… ten percent left."
Shit. I let myself get carried away and used up a bit too much for comfort. Man, times like these, I really wish potions actually worked on Enne.
"So that sword of yours is an intelligent weapon?" asked the butler. "This is my first time ever seeing one in person."
"I'm surprised you could tell."
"I could sense it abiding by your will," he said. "It is quite the splendid blade. Do treat it well."
"That's been the plan from the start," I said. "She's pretty much the most adorable little thing ever, so I don't see any reason I wouldn't."
The air around my opponent eased for just a moment as his expression reverted to the kind you'd see on any other nice old man. Likewise, Enne also seemed to react by doing the telepathic equivalent of squirming around in embarrassment. See what I mean? She's so cute!
"Would you mind doing me the favour of descending and meeting me on the ground?" asked the butler.
"Oh, hell naw. That sounds dangerous as fuck, and I'm not about that life," I said. You see, up here, I don't need to worry about you hitting me, oldtimer.
"Well, then I suppose I will have to resort to something a little less orthodox."
Crisis detection suddenly kicked in and warned me that I was in trouble. And lots of it. I didn't think I could face the incoming attack head-on, so I flapped my wings as hard as I could in order to force myself to evade. The wind roared. A sword beam came at me and cleaved through the airspace I had been occupying just a moment prior. It missed my face by no more than just a few centimetres. THE FUCK WAS THAT!? I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THAT WAS POSSIBLE! IS THAT WHAT MAXING SWORD MASTERY DOES!? GIVE YOU FUCKING SWORD BEAMS!?
Though I was screaming in confusion, I had, in fact, processed his attack. My magic eye allowed me to understand that he had filled his blade with magical energy and released it as he swung it. Shit man, that surprised me as much as a jack in the box would surprise a toddler.
"I'm surprised you avoided that."
"Dude, what the fuck! I thought I was about to die, fuck me, holy shit!"
The first thing I did after firing off a series of complaints was pay him back in kind. I did the exact same thing he did: I filled Enne with mana and took extra care not to activate crimson blaze. Instead, I imagined the magical energy flying off into the distance as I released it.
And that was exactly what happened. I managed to send a sword beam flying right at the old butler. He avoided the attack, but it managed to prove itself a significant source of power by carving a large gash into the arena's floor. Wow. That worked a lot better than I thought it would.
"You have learned the attack just by seeing it?" asked the butler. "How outstanding. I expected nothing less."
"Mark my words, old-timer, I'm going to wipe that confident smile off your face!"
It's time for round two! Let's do this!
The old butler was one hell of a foe. I tried all sorts of attacks, but none were able to truly find their mark. If I were to seek a cause, I would likely label his skills. Namely, Mind's Eye and Blade Seer. It felt as if he foresaw each and every single one of my attacks; I got read like Dr. Seuss.
Unlike the butler, who happened to be a true master of his craft, I was just another undertrained whelp. If I were to go back in time and ask the me from a year ago whether I knew anything about martial arts, or whether I got into fights all the time, the answer would be a simple "no." My lack of experience put me at a disadvantage despite the difference in our stats.
It wasn't as if I was truly helpless. In fact, seeing Lefi's magic in action had prompted me to develop a spell focused entirely on mass destruction. All I needed to do to delete the butler was use it. But I couldn't. It was too powerful. Casting it would lead to the obliteration of the entire stadium. The happy, festive event currently underway would end up being warped into a tragic "accident" to be remembered for generations. That, however, did not by any means imply that magic-based brute force was off the table.
If large scale spells were off the table, then all I had to do was throw smaller ones at him until one eventually landed. My goal was simple. I would create a literal bullet hell, a barrage so thick that it would be impossible for him to keep up regardless of whether or not he could see through each and every single attack. Alright, time to go all out!
"You better brace yourself, old-timer, 'cause I'm not about to give you any more chances to rest!"
"I really would not take any offence if you were to take pity on these frail old bones of mine."
"Frail old bones my ass!"
I positioned myself in the air right above him and began channelling my magical energy in order to create dozens upon dozens of water dragons.
"Go! Attack the old-timer and take from him the few years he has left!" I shouted an order that even I thought was a bit too malevolent as I showered him with projectiles. The dragons that materialized in my vicinity began darting towards him.
My attacks were met with an onslaught of blades. It was almost like they were being repelled by a literal barrier of swords despite him only wielding a single weapon. Everything, everything that closed in on him would be split in two. But I didn't care.
"ORAORAORAORA!" I screamed like a man in the midst of a bizarre adventure as I kept up the assault. Every dragon that was destroyed was replaced immediately; I showed him what it meant to play a real shoot 'em up.
That said, I was fully aware of the fact that a few dozen water dragons wasn't going to be enough to surmount the butler's strength. He was cutting through them at inhuman speeds and destroying them with ease. That was fine. Because they were just the setup. I used the fact that he was distracted in order to create a massive earth dragon identical to the one I had used against the bandits.
My stone creation roared as it joined the fray. The butler tried cutting through it the same way he had with the water dragons, but unfortunately for him, the earth dragon was of a different make. Even the mana that it was composed of was different. Though I had made it in tandem with my water dragons, I had done so using a separate part of my mana pool. He could still slice it into pieces, but it would simply reconstruct itself and continue attacking him regardless.
He immediately realized that interception fire wasn't going to cut it, so he opted for evasive maneuvers instead. He positioned himself such that it was between him and the water dragons and used it as a shield. Damn, he's good! But this ain't over yet.
The old-timer jumped and rolled around in order to avoid wave after wave of attacks.
Only for the ground underneath him to explode as he took one wrong step. Unlike every other attack I launched at him, the butler hadn't foreseen the one he was just hit by, so he wasn't able to dodge it; his body was immediately engulfed in fire and smoke. The attack that he had been hit by was one of the many traps that I had planted while distracting him with my draconic onslaught. My battle with the douchelord had taught me that traps were extremely useful, so I learned to make them with primordial magic. The specific trap that the butler stepped on was fairly simple. It would activate whenever someone stepped on it and use magic to create an explosion. As it was buried underneath the earth, the bits of arena above it would be transformed into shrapnel. Long story short, it was a magical landmine, one that benefited from the effects of trap mastery. The skill made it not only more powerful but also more difficult to detect.
So powerful was the mine's output that it would have blown any ordinary foe's lower half to bits. The butler, however, was anything but normal. Never once had I assumed that a mere trap would be enough to finish him off. But with that said, it still provided me with the perfect opportunity to win the match. If I was going to end this, I would have to do it here and now.
I had every single dragon charge straight into the center of the explosion whilst doing the same myself. I flapped my wings, oriented myself in his direction, and dove. Going all-in was the name of the game. Or at least it would have been had my crisis detection skill not kicked in.
Danger was headed my way, and fast. I immediately reacted by swivelling around in the air. A blade flew past me with all the speed of a laser mere moments after I dodged. His clothes were torn and his body was covered in soot. But that didn't stop him. He had leapt right at me the moment I entered his range and attempted to deliver a high-speed stab. Damn. You scary, man.
I fixed my posture in midair immediately after completing my dodge and swung Enne. He managed to parry her and ward her off right before he lost all momentum and started to fall.
"You're not getting away!"
Flapping my wings, I accelerated downwards and chased with an overhead swing. He blocked and chained his defensive measure into a slash. He managed to draw blood, but the fact that his stance was broken meant that it wasn't actually poised to attack. The attack ultimately amounted to nothing more than just a graze, so I ignored it as I smashed my foot into his torso from above. I made sure to follow through with the attack; I kept my foot on him and slammed him into the arena.
An incredible sense of impact rang throughout my body. The ground beneath us almost seemed to shake.
It was a heavy blow. The butler, who had been unable to defend, coughed out a mouthful of blood. Despite having taken serious damage, he continued to fight regardless. He swung his blade, but it was a much weaker swing than usual, so I kicked it away with the leg I didn't have on his torso and positioned Enne by his neck.
"Looks like I win," I said with a pant.
"It certainly does," he chuckled. "It appears that I've lost despite intending to do the opposite."
He was hurt so bad that there was blood dribbling from his lips, but he smiled regardless. It was a teasing smile, the kind you would see on a child's face immediately following an innocent prank.
"And we have our winner! Ypsilon has taken yet another match by storm!"
The audience, which had been left silent by our display, began to roar with cheers as soon as the MC declared my victory.
I exhaled deeply as I took my foot off of him and hoisted my blade back over my shoulder. "You should probably hit up wherever they keep the doctor around here, and fast. You're getting on in years, old-timer. You really shouldn't be pushing yourself so hard."
"I suppose so," said my opponent with a bit of a laugh. "I will do as you have suggested and head over to the infirmary immediately."
He got up off the ground and began patting off his clothes. The way he carried himself made it seem as if he was completely uninjured.
"I was lucky you were so old." I smiled in a strained manner as I watched him walk away. Though he had borrowed a shoulder from a member of the medical team, he still seemed to have the same firmness in his steps as usual.
I hadn't killed him, but I had done some major damage. And frankly, seeing him just walk it off as if it was no big deal was terrifying, even if he was just putting on a strong front. It was as I said. I was lucky that he was as old as he was. The degradation of his body was the reason I had taken so little damage; I probably would have lost had he still been in his prime.
As I hadn't watched every single fight, I didn't know exactly how skilled the tournament's participants really were. However, my duel against the old butler had at least proven that it wasn't all just fun and games. Some of the event's participants were at the peak of their game, the top of their class. And that wasn't the only thing I had learned from the experience either. I now understood why the demon king was so worried about the human threat.
They lacked brute strength, but humans had technique. They passed their techniques to each generation that followed, thereby refining them over relatively short periods of time. Every batch of humans would be stronger than the last. Of course, humans weren't the only ones to hand down their martial arts. Demons, demi-humans, and beastkin were all sure to do the same. But they were longer lived. Their techniques passed through fewer hands in the same amount of time, and the lack of iteration led to a lesser degree of refinement. Races with longer lifespans didn't evolve as quickly. And neither did their martial arts. That was why the humans, who had started off as a race of little note, had grown into a major power over time. Stats were only one of many measures of strength. I had to make sure to pay attention to more than just the numbers if I didn't want the rug to be swept from under my feet.
"Looks like I've learned a helluva lot from you, old-timer." I muttered a few words of thanks under my breath as I turned my back to the cheering crowd and made my way to the exit.
***
"Ughhh… I'm so tired," I groaned. "That old man was mad scurry."
"Mhm. He was really strong," agreed Enne. "How are your injuries, Master?"
"I'm fine. It's just a few flesh wounds. I'll just rub a few potions into them or something later."
"Mmk."
Enne and I headed towards the waiting room whilst engaging in a bit of a chat.
We weren't the only ones present, however. I realized that we were being approached from behind, so I spun around to greet whoever was following me. And as I did, I was greeted by a pair of familiar faces.
"Oh, hey girls, what's up?" I greeted both Leila and Agent McHoodface whilst tilting my head and speaking in a questioning tone.
Haloria immediately glanced around us in order to check that no one was present before leaning over and whispering into my ear.
"Leila said that you've received an important message. The red orb of correspondence is glowing. There's been an emergency."
Wait. What?