His lips curled upwards as he said so, gazing down at Stacy like she was nothing compared to him.
However. Matthew only wanted to measure her strength for now. Because they are definitely going to be in conflict in the future.
And provoking her would definitely be the best way to make her use her powers against him.
"...."
Well... that was supposed to work, at least.
But Stacy just looked at Matthew with a cold gaze and didn't do anything more than that.
'Haah... she's really waiting for me to attack; she really grew in just a short span of time.' Matthew sighed inwardly.
He enveloped his finger with red mana and flicked towards Stacy, but this time, the intensity of it had increased severalfold.
Creeaakkk!
The same annoying sound played as the blade of energy met Stacy's holy barrier for the second time.
And surprisingly, just like the first time, it didn't do anything to Stacy's barrier, which made Matthew frown slightly.
"Hahah! You didn't expect this, did you!? Stacy's barrier is made of her special attribute, which is the purest form of mana!"
"And a simple orphan like you can't break the purest form of mana!"
Leon taunted Matthew, speaking harsh words, and the group members looked at him with a disgusted gaze.
After all, Leon usually was more gentle and composed, but now, he was even speaking very harsh words.
Meanwhile, Kennard remained calm and didn't say anything, just seeing how the battle between the two of them unfolded.
It was as if their personalities had been switched.
"...'Orphan'...?" Matthew's eye color changed to a violet one as he muttered those words with a frigid ice tone.
"How dare you..."
Matthew slowly raised his hand and gripped Leon's body in his view. Everyone looked confused at his actions, but suddenly...
Rustle!
Quickly emerging from the earth, a vine encircled Leon's body, and as Matthew slowly closed his fists, Leon's screams became louder.
"AHHRRGGHHHHHA!"
"!!!"
Noticing this, Stacy's eyes narrowed as she created a barrier from underneath them and quickly swung a blade of Aether towards Matthew's vines.
Gasp!
"Haaaahh... huff... huff!"
Leon breathed heavily as he was freed from Matthew's vines.
However, as he continued breathing, Stacy suddenly noticed something abnormal about him.
"Matthew WAIT!!!" She said loudly, reaching out to Leon.
However, she was too late.
Freeze...!
A sudden and intense cold wave swept through Leon's body, turning him into a frozen statue.
Stacy quickly chanted a spell as she carefully held Leon's hand.
"Holy Heal!"
A golden light emanted from her hands, and slowly, Leon's frozen body returned to normal.
"Tsk..." Matthew clicked his tongue.
However, as Stacy continued to unfreeze Leon, he slowly gained consciousness once again.
And when Stacy only had one more arm to heal...
Matthew grinned and clutched his fist.
Crack...!
Leon's frozen arm broke; however, he didn't feel anything. He looked at his right arm, and his eyes seemed to go empty as he looked at the situation.
Her eyes blazed with anger as he grabbed his sword with his left arm and quickly chanted all of the spells he knew.
"Holy Blessing, Holy Spirit, Divine Sword!"
His body shone with a deep golden light as he dashed towards Matthew and swung his sword directly at Matthew's head.
"Leon, STOP!"
BAAANG!
Crack!
"Aghh..."
Leon was forcefully thrown against the dungeon's wall as his blade met Matthew's finger.
As his body, which was cemented into the wall, collapsed onto the floor, he instantly passed out.
Matthew shook his hand as he felt a holy energy trying to enter his body, but it was quickly dismissed.
"...Stupid. What happened to his brain? Did I hit him so much that it's structure changed?" Matthew commented with a faint smile.
Leon's once-beautiful face had become quite ugly due to a bruised nose covered in dirt and blood.
Matthew was quite satisfied with this result.
"LEON!!" Stacy quickly approached Leon and chanted a healing spell.
Sadly, his now ugly face turned back to normal, but he still didn't wake up.
"Mhm~, are you two dating now?" Matthew suddenly asked.
Kennard frowned deeply at these words and directly looked at Stacy, awaiting her answer.
"T-that... what does that have to do with you?" Stacy retorted as she left Leon's body to her group members.
"Nothing. I'm just curious. After all, they do say that 'the childhood friend' always loses, but looking at how you were looking at him... I wonder if that's true."
"Huh...? What do you mean by that?" Stacy tilted her head in confusion; she had never heard that kind of phrase before.
"Ah, nothing."
"Whatever... since you've attacked our group, I'll take action myself." Stacy clutched her fists as a golden light emanated from them.
"Did you forget that it was Leon that started the fight?" Matthew added as he sighed faintly.
"That doesn't matter anymore." She spoke coldly.
'Mhm... it seems that they are indeed dating. So I don't need to worry about her being a masochist.'
Swoosh!
In a split second, Stacy suddenly appeared before Matthew and threw a punch directly at his face.
Matthew's eyes grew wide, but he made a fast movement, guiding her arm to the right, and then punched her in the stomach.
Grip!
But Stacy quickly parried him with a fist, bringing her other hand down to strike Matthew in the neck.
With his other hand, Matthew blocked it, putting the two of them in an awkward position where they were each clutching one other's fist.
They were almost hugging each other. And neither of them would let go of the other's fist.
"Haaahh..." Matthew yawned.
He raised his right knee toward Stacy's stomach, but she quickly reacted and grabbed it with her hand.
Gasp...!
However, Matthew seized the moment to strike her squarely in the left side of the waist, causing her to gasp and take a few steps back.
"Ugh..."
"What's up with you? Did you really think you could beat me in a fist-to-fist fight? Even so, without using your special attribute?" Matthew said casually, cracking his neck.
He didn't understand why Stacy would want to fight him with bare hands.
"Ahh... I finally did what I wanted to do..." Stacy suddenly smiled widely.
Suddenly, in the ground, a brilliant golden circle appeared, and quickly, a barrier rose around Matthew, trapping him inside.
"Ah."
'No wonder her left feet remained on the ground; she was tracing a circle with it. Smart.'
"Now you cannot escape! This barrier is made by Aether, the strongest energy in the entire wor—!!"
Crack...!
"What were you saying again?"
Matthew spoke leisurely as he broke her barrier.
"I didn't get it."