Raziel and Castyel walked together in the arena corridor, deeply engaged in a discussion about novels and their favorite characters. Seizing the opportunity, Castyel decided to show a new novel he had been reading recently. With a grin, he pulled a book from his interdimensional ring and began to introduce it to Raziel.
"Look, this one is called Cultivation of Thunder Body. It's a new release and quickly became one of my favorites. The protagonist isn't too arrogant and has a really good personality, plus the heroines are interesting," Castyel said, handing the book to Raziel.
Raziel nodded, accepting the novel, and picked one from his ring as well, handing it to Castyel.
"Well, try checking out this one called Almighty Emperor and the Twelve Disciples. It's a good novel too. The main character is almost a villain, but only when someone messes with his disciples, who are top-notch beauties."
Castyel let out a small gasp after hearing the name. He had really wanted to read this one but couldn't find it in any library around the empire, which had made him give up searching for it.
The blond boy accepted, thanking Raziel with a tear nearly falling from the corner of his eye, as if he had just accomplished a life-long goal. He then placed the the book into his interdimensional ring.
While they continued their small talk about novels, Raziel suddenly remembered he needed to return to watch the important fight that was about to happen, causing him to curse "shit" under his breath in realization.
Castyel asked what the problem was, and Raziel explained what he needed to do. Castyel nodded understandingly and encouraged him to proceed, mentioning that he also had something to attend. The duo exchanged another friendly handshake before heading off to their respective destinations.
After a few minutes, Raziel returned to his seat. Before he could settle in, he was taken by surprise as four familiar figures appeared on one of the magical screens: Sylfi and Erick stood facing Anya, with Nozomi beside her.
Watching the situation, Raziel recalled that Nozomi and Anya knew each other and even interacted in a friendly manner. Seeing them together now made him somewhat uncertain about what was going to happen next.
In the Unnatural Heaven dimension, Sylfi crossed her arms and stared at Anya, asking, "What do you want?"
"Hello, Sylfi. It's been a while since we've seen each other, right?" Anya greeted with a smile.
"Tsk."
Sylfi clicked her tongue at the pink-haired girl's words, remembering the day they fought. Anya had defeated her in a duel, leading to Sylfi losing her ranking as Third Queen and becoming the Fourth.
She knew that these two hadn't come just to pay a visit, which made her also tense up. Fighting Anya alone would be hard enough, but if Nozomi joined in as well, it would become almost impossible for Sylfi and Erick to win.
"Sylfi, I know you don't like me because I stole your position as Third Queen, but don't blame me..." Anya put on a slightly sad expression after saying these words.
"I don't care about that anymore. Say what you want," Sylfi said, rolling her eyes, trying to end the conversation.
"Hmm, I see... Well, what I want is for us to have another duel, but this time with me and my teammate against you and your boyfriend. What do you think?" Anya flashed a cute smile, her bright pink eyes sparkling.
"I've already said it before, he's not my boyfriend! And no, I—"
"Let's fight!"
Before Sylfi could finish, her words were interrupted by Erick, who accepted Anya's proposal without concern for how strong the two girls might be.
Sylfi stared at Erick with her mouth agape. She hadn't prepared for such a complex battle, and now her teammate had accepted something very troublesome.
If it had been just Anya or Nozomi alone, it might have been somewhat possible, but facing both together without additional help is not a very good idea.
But before she could complain about his dumb answer, the guy drew his sword from its scabbard and activated his aura, rushing towards Nozomi.
Erick was well aware of how formidable Nozomi was due to her powerful presence, but his urge to confront strong enemies outweighed his concern.
Seeing the boy rushing towards her, Nozomi assumed a defensive-offensive stance, wielding one of her two katanas and waiting for him to approach. As he did, she swiftly defended herself by redirecting his sword to the right. In a fluid motion, she disappeared from his sight and struck Erick's face with the pommel of her katana.
Erick lost his balance from the hit, and as he tried to regain a defensive stance, he felt something coming to slash his leg. This forced him to roll backward, creating some distance as he reached Sylfi's side.
Nozomi stepped back too and did not pursue her attack, realizing that Sylfi could intervene to help Erick.
"
As she finished reciting, suddenly a large transparent ice wall erupted from the ground, forming an three meters ice dome around her and Erick, who was recovering from the earlier hit. Outside the dome, some spikes began to appear, shaping themselves into ice lances of various forms aimed directly at Nozomi and Anya.
The lances streaked toward them, but Anya effortlessly dodged them with her speed, while Nozomi swiftly cut through the lances that she couldn't evade.
After a few seconds, the attacks stopped because Sylfi had just been buying time for Erick to advance, while she prepared to offer him support.
Erick enveloped his body in aura as he passed through a hole in the icy dome that Sylfi had created for him. Holding his sword, he ran towards the duo of girls.
Nozomi took a defensive stance, pointing her black-bladed katana in Erick's direction, waiting for the clash. In moments, their blades met with a resounding clash, creating a loud noise that echoed around them.
The two engaged in close combat, the sounds of their clashing blades growing more intense with each passing second. Sylfi noticed that Nozomi wasn't even using her aura yet, while Erick was already sweating.
Quickly, she formed more spears, targeting Nozomi. As the spears took shape and flew toward the girl, a large white wolf suddenly appeared, shattering the ice lances into pieces.
"Let them fight alone, Sylfi. I'm going to be your opponent~ You can even try to get revenge for last time," a sweet voice echoed from Anya, who was resting her back against the ice dome while her wolf continued to destroy any other lances attempting to reach Nozomi.
"Tsk, I forgot about you," Sylfi clicked her tongue again and conjured an ice spike at the spot where the pink-haired girl was standing.
Before the spike could hit her, the girl disappeared from the spot. Sylfi then began forming more lances, now aiming them towards Anya.
The battle between Erick and Nozomi was not going well for him, as he couldn't find a true opening against her. This reminded him of the time he trained with the captain of the Lionheart Mansion, sensing a similar aura from the girl before him.
Feeling ashamed as he faced defeat, Erick began using the technique Verdana alongside others, while trying to utilize most of the Claws of the Great Lion King swordsmanship techniques to gain any advantage.
The Claws of the Great Lion King swordsmanship techniques mostly consist of powerful attacks while relying more on parrying enemy strikes. The only exception is Verdena, which focuses on changing the cutting direction to target the neck or stomach while using unusual footwork, similar to what Erick did with Belti.
Nozomi sensed the weight of his sword strikes increasing, making it difficult for her to defend. She began to be pushed back, struggling to anticipate Erick's attacks as his footwork drastically changed.
Erick's aura already had increased beyond what his aura core could normally support. Due to his pure aura, it didn't affect him immediately, thanks to his ten percent tolerance for surpassing his usual limits. However, pushing beyond this threshold could risk damaging his body.
With this in mind, he attempted to finish the battle quickly with his final blow, Cry of the King, which he would normally shout out loud, but this situation didn't afford him that opportunity.
In the original plot, Nozomi fought against Erick and Sylfi alone in a 2-on-1 battle, which eventually led her to resort to her family's swordsmanship technique called Kusoken. This style combines dual sword techniques with aura slashes, aiming to disarm the enemy and hit vital points.
But before she could unleash her true strength, Erick signaled to Sylfi to throw ice lances, diverting Nozomi's attention while he prepared his attack.
While Nozomi deflected several lances, Erick hurled a bright dark blue slash of overwhelming power at her. Before she could react, the energy struck the samurai girl, knocking her unconscious.
With the plot altered and Anya now on Nozomi's team, Erick faced a tough situation. Sylfi's help was being suppressed by Anya, and his opponent was entirely focused on him.
Nozomi then picked up her other katana to use her dual sword arts infused with aura, which was very bad news.
Erick sensed the danger and asked for help from Sylfi, who tried again send some ice lances. However, Anya and her spiritual beast consistently shattered them while attempting to breach the dome using powerful essence attacks.
Without any other alternative, Erick decided to take a gamble. He began charging his sword while engaging in a grueling close combat exchange with Nozomi, who sensed that something significant was coming.
In a favorable opportunity for Erick, Nozomi missed a strike, and he swung his sword towards her head. The girl jumped to evade the blow, but then Erick's sword glowed bright blue, creating a horizontal cut that generated a powerful energy slash projection speeding towards Nozomi.
To the spectators watching, it seemed impossible to evade, and even Raziel thought the same. Erick's attack passed through Nozomi's body as if she were a ghost, and her image vanished into thin air, giving the impression that she had been sliced in half.
Nozomi then suddenly appeared behind Erick, surrounded by glowing aura, wielding her two katanas. She swiftly slashed his back, creating a black X mark. She disappeared in blink of eyes, and a huge black explosion burst from the spot.
Raziel watched the scene, his eyes widening in disbelief. He couldn't believe that she had defeated Erick like that.
'This guy plot armor won't let him lose here, right?' Raziel thought to himself.
But after the dark cloud dissipated, Erick's motionless body could be seen lying on the ground.
Sylfi, who had been battling Anya, abruptly ceased her attacks as she gazed at Erick's unconscious body in disbelief.
Anya seized the opportunity to destroy the dome, her white wolf by her side. Together, they broke through Silfy's defenses and launched a combined attack on her.
Despite her condition, Sylfi managed to summon some ice shields and hurl ice lances at Anya and her wolf, attempting to land some hits on them. However, her luck ran out as Nozomi came charging towards her.
Cornered and at a disadvantage, Sylfi faced Anya and Nozomi with a helpless expression.
"Well, Sylfi, what are you going to do now?" Anya said, satisfaction gleaming in her eyes.
"I... I surrender..." Sylfi bit her lip in anger at the humiliating situation she was in.
"Good~ It was a wise decision. So if you don't want to fight anymore, we won't bother you. And, ah, forgive Nozomi for beating your boyfriend."
"HE'S NOT- !!!"
"I'm joking, I'm joking. For an ice mage, you certainly aren't chill," Anya interrupted, remarking with a playful tone.
Nozomi almost laughed at Anya's comment but restrained herself, while Sylfi clicked her tongue, wearing a dissatisfied expression.
The spectators cheered for Anya, including her enthusiastic fan club who shouted her name with fervor. The Sylfi fan club stayed silent, visibly crestfallen by their idol's defeat.
Nozomi also had a fan club, but it was smaller compared to the other two.
Raziel was frozen in his seat, not expecting Erick to actually lose. What about his inner power? He should have awakened it in this situation. As he thought about it, other thing came to his mind.
'Can this guy still be able to save the world in the future?'
With this question echoing in his head, Raziel continued watching until the end. He observed the participants who would fight in the next phase of the tournament among the sixteen winners. He spotted Anya, Nozomi, and Sylfi, who still managed to win even alone, alongside some other interesting people.
The fights were intresting and Raziel liked to watch even still not beliving that Erick lose but this could probably make him come back stronger.
With a somewhat positive mindset, Raziel decided to head home and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, he wouldn't watch the other matches because he planned to visit someone first and then begin training his magic and aura.