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"Be brave in the face of your opponent, no matter who is in front of you" This was the advice I often heard from my father when he was alive.
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Viscount Elmer is known as the "Indomitable One" because of his terrifying endurance and superior martial arts skills, which are moulded into a strong and agile body.
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I sat alone in the tea room in the middle of a flower garden in Elmer-sama's family mansion.
Frozen is the name of the mansion, and it is also one of the largest noble residences in the city of Clitus.
Because it is so large, the scope and tools for learning and training are always fully available and operational.
"What am I going to do now?" I muttered over and over as I looked at myself through the shiny mythril blade.
The Frozen Mansion's training ground is equipped with an Eclipse Network, a magical space where real battles can take place.
Why is this?
Because when you step out of the space, any injuries you sustained inside are instantly healed.
Being free to fight like that is what worries me the most. I had a feeling that with the way he was looking at me, I wouldn't just break a few ribs like last time...
"No" I had to slap my face a few times to forget the thought of losing and to regain my composure at the same time, "Anos, you weren't that immature boy..."
"You've trained very hard!" I gritted my teeth and vowed never to be a sandbag for him again.
No sooner had I said that than I heard the voices of Charlotte and her father approaching this tea room.
Charlotte hoped her father would call off the match, but judging by Elmer-sama's bullet-shaped eyes and clenched hands, he would definitely say no!
Ignoring that for the moment, I wondered why some of the maids were preparing tea and cakes behind me. They were telling me to serve and nourish my body immediately after the end of this training match.
I was quite confused at first, but after this match I understood!
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"Anos-kun, are you ready?"
"Yes..." I took a deep breath and stepped into a hemispherical space made of large transparent hexagonal fragments, placing my hand on a marble pillar.
/pip pip/
/Eclipse protocol set up, engrave Eclipse mark!/
"Eclipse mark?" I asked a question.
"It is a small black dot on your left hand. It will absorb some of the shock, and if the shock exceeds the danger level, you will be blown out of this room immediately" Elmer-sama replied.
"rea..lly ?" I was somewhat relieved to hear that.
"But rest assured, I won't let you out of this place easily," he muttered, gritting his teeth jealously as he watched Charlotte cheering me on outside.
"To see how you've progressed" he picked up a super-heavy greatsword stuck in the ground and looked at me very intently.
"Yes, I really want to judge my level through this match," I also held the mythril sword, defensively.
/BATTLE/
Elmer-sama roared and swung his greatsword at me.
***
"Rumble"
The weight of the greatsword was terrible, it made my arms and legs tired after having to block it dozens of times.
I didn't know if I could withstand a few more blows, Elmer-sama's blade was now close to my head.
"You only know how to defend?" He swung his fist at my body while I blocked the sword.
"I just wait for the opportunity!"
I said, for the greatsword had lost half of its weight when held in one hand, enough for me to push it away and carry out the counter-attack plan I had been thinking about since the beginning of the match.
"Where did you go?" Elmer-sama showed interest in my 'Cicada Escape' technique, his head turned back slightly...
Elmer-sama is an invincible warrior when confronted head-on, so I wouldn't be foolish to approach him in the usual way. I could have used the technique I had just used to distract him and then suddenly approached him from behind.
Behind his back, I attacked many different weaknesses with my hands!
But there was one thing I could not foresee...
"Keeng"
"Your skills and thinking have improved a lot" The greatsword Elmer-sama wassuddenly threw straight at me forced me to dodge sideways, and at that moment hundreds of long thorny vines growing out of the ground bound my legs.
As I used my sword to neutralise the vines that were deep in my legs, he casually walked up to me and said, "But this is not enough to win against me"
Gritting his teeth, he swung a powerful fist at me.
*
"What happened?" The fist touched me lightly, like a piece of soft cotton, without the slightest force.
Elmer-sama's normal biceps suddenly became bruised and swollen to his surprise...
"How..." Elmer-sama looked at his hand in a daze, he tried to move it but couldn't.
"I attacked the acupuncture points on your shoulder" I said excitedly. My body was free and I could move normally. At that moment, I raised the blade to the level of my face, preparing to unleash my full attack.
"Acupuncture point?" Elmer-sama looked at me a little surprised.
"Good.." he smiled mysteriously...
"What is that smile about ?" I was a bit nervous, but also in a hurry, because this was my only chance to win against him.
"Secret technique: Dragon.... Slash"
As soon as I spoke, my heart suddenly tightened, my lungs ached, and my mind became dizzy. I lost my momentum and hit my head on the ground.
"hhh..."
"hhhhh !"
I was in excruciating pain. I was bleeding from the wound on top of my head, and my mouth was vomiting and vomiting, and there was a black liquid in it!
Only then did I realise that the vines were poisonous...
"Don't think you're the only one with the trump card" Elmer-sama hugged his arm and walked over to the greatsword, holding it up and pulling it towards me...
I couldn't lift my head, but I could still feel the blade falling, and in a few seconds it would finish me off.
The moment it pierced my flesh, a cold sensation filled the space around me, turning the greatsword into a cold lump of iron and shattering as it fell before me.
At first I thought it was Charlotte's magic, but the intensity of this thing was actually a hundred times more terrifying than hers.
My blood froze in my veins, the air around me condensed, and I saw the shards of ice begin to fall?
The Eclipse space had somehow collapsed, but because of that, my body was gradually recovering.
When I raised my head, Elmer-sama was begging with a bruised face for a woman who looked very much like Charlotte...
"Hey, Wasn't she Charlotte's mother, Larissa-sama?"
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