Having fully charged his spell, Lieren let it loose at most opportune moment.
Two invisible arrows, visible only by the distortion it left in its wake, merged together into one as it arced through the fabric of space.
"…?!" Shock and surprise was apparent in the lying giant's face.
There was a cold glint of resolution in his eyes. Fortifying his arms, he threw them up and narrowed his gaze. His skin seemingly grew even deeper in color as though darkness was seeping through it.
With a cold look, he swung his arms in a cross chop, cutting air… and Lieren's most powerful spell. With an ear-piercing shriek, the spell shattered into absolutely nothing.
…But Lieren didn't see any of that. Rather, he hadn't paid any attention to it as he used his distortion spell as a mere distraction while he dismissed his presence and thickened his Resistance, making himself as small as possible while he encircled the lying giant and sneaked up behind him as fast as he could. The striking blade of the brilliant dagger seemed to shimmer as he reapplied his mana to it finally.
As he grew closer, so did the giant's awareness of the situation become, and he began to turn… and what could have been worst than that? Forcing mana to his hips, legs, and feet, Lieren overloaded it with so much force, that for a second he seemed to become nothing more than a hazy blur.
It was as though he was using Mana Burst.
Gripping the hilt of his dagger even tighter than before, he gritted his teeth and gnarled, looking more like a vicious beast than a trained warrior or a mundane human. Still, that didn't matter. Not right now, anyways.
Pushing mana to his arm, forearm, and shoulder, he swung his blade with the ferocity of a mad man on his end days, and the will to continue on.
'This is it!'
*chink*
A small, sharp noise made his head blank. And for a second, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
His blade… his desperate swing… had been stopped with but two fingers.
Life truly was unfair.
"Nice try, kid. You really did your best. But, I'm sorry, this id as far as you go. If you're lucky—"
His body and mind may have given up, but his soul hadn't.
"Invisible Abjuration: Libera."
"…?!" The giant had clearly not expected that.
And why would he? Not when he had hidden how much time it actually required for his distortion spell to fully charge.
A barrage of tiny, but numerous arrows streaked across the small space between the two of them, ripping through the tough skin and rolling muscles of the lying giant, drawing fresh crimson.
A pained grimace overtook Vesba, but unlike earlier, this setback seemed to be more on the expected side.
Gritting his teeth, the giant bared his fangs and rushed onward, his eyes blazing with hate and fury. Lieren did not miss that and dislodged his blade from in-between his index and middle fingers. Now that the lying giant was agitated, it was much easier than if he weren't.
'Duck!'
Sucking in a breath, he enhanced his knee's flexibility and let them naturally bend and bring him down. At the same time, he focused his mana on his arms, as well.
When the attempted grab of his neck missed, Lieren immediately flung himself forward and turned his blade into a mirage, swinging wildly through the giant's chest. The lying giant's skin and muscle is more durable than steel, that much he was certain about, and so that only left trial and error. To determine where his weak spot is.
The brilliant dagger flashed erratically, casting blinding light everywhere. He swung wildly and without tactics, truly becoming a wild animal, and sliced through the lying giant's arm as though he was chipping through a mighty oak log, one carving at a time.
His skin and muscles may have been more durable than steel, but was it more durable than mana-imbued steel? Not likely.
But of course, things are never that easy.
Despite how many times he produced a laceration on the giant's arm, it never shed any blood, as though it was evading him. It was completely unexpected and out of this world; it was different from his first two strikes.
'In that case…'
But there was an easy fix for that. Spreading open his Resistance's seam, he allowed his mana to flow more freely and wildly, capitalizing on its willful characteristic. Now, he wasn't just pouring into the striking blade, but coating it entirely; the alternate use of Imbuement, doubling its enhancement property.
Theoretically, that is. Since this was an external manipulation, that meant that his mastery and precision over it is significantly worse.
'Oh well.'
But that's enough, he only needed a little bit more power, anyways. To ask for anything more would border on sinful avarice. It was strangely exciting, which was an unnecessary emotion right now, and was thus thrown away.
No thoughts could bother him right now other than certain death.
Swinging his blade another time, he felt the murky blade rip through a blood vessel, and draw fresh crimson once again. A single drop stained the cold asphalt.
And a bright grin appeared on the inquisitive boy's face.
"That's mean I win, doesn't it?"
The tall giant remained silent for a second, then scratched the back of his head, as if to play along.
"Yeah, I guess so."
But his eyes said otherwise.
Feeling a cold chill run down his spine, Lieren jumped away… only to stop dead in his tracks, caught and confused. From the corner of his periphery, he could just barely make out the image of the giant's overbearing shadow, extending unnaturally to his and extending what seemed to be a shadow hand and grab the throat of his own shadow. Despite that, though, he didn't feel any pain, and he felt like he could still speak. He was just… trapped, caught, and imprisoned.
"I told you, didn't I? I'm an expert when it comes to deception."
The lying giant walked over to him with a friendly smile on his face; it looked much darker than usual.
'Cheater, liar… bastard.'
Lieren, however, could only think of one thing. Glancing over to the tall giant, he muttered in a cold tone once he was close enough:
"Invisible Abjuration: Maxima."
"…?!" Surprise dawned on the tall man's face once again.
Truly, deception and surprises are the deadliest weapons of all.
◇◆◇◆◇
"Do I really have to wear this? It's so stuffy, grimy, and restricting. How am I supposed to fight in an outfit like this?"
*sigh~*
"It's not for fighting, you buffoon. It's for looking like a respectable human being, for once."
"Then I throw away my humanity!"
"What?! You can't do that. Who do you think you are?"
"…The master of my own fate?"
"Do you mean to say delusional"
"No, I said master. Were you not listening, or are you just that old? Should I call you granny now?"
"..."
"..."
"I hate you."
"And I don't care about what you say."
"I double hate you."
"Hehe."
*another sigh~*
"Well, are you ready for the ball? …Who am I kidding, of course you're not."
"Did you just answer your own question?"
"Yes, I did. It's called being a rhetoric."
"No, it's not."
*third sigh~*
"Well, you better go out there, I guess. At this point, you might as well."
"Wow, thanks for the encouragement. What would I ever do without you."
"Did you just—wait!"
"Uh huh, now that's how you be a rhetoric."