45- Dix Perdix

As soon as the man said that more people emerged from the shadows of the forest.

However, Calvin frowned at this sensing more people than before but he then realized what that meant.

'Some sort of Stealth or assassin-type skill, it's true that people here also have those' he thought suddenly feeling stupid for underestimating the people of this world.

Then the man in front of Calvin took out a red spear and spoke.

"Sword prince… or Calvin Gadsint, was it?" he said making Calvin frown at the stupid name.

"I was going to leave you on the spotlight along with Ais Wallenstein but you see… you've been a real thorn in my plans since the moment you started to roam the middle floors". He said, pointing the tip of his spear to Calvin.

"And especially now, that you are ruining my business by Guarding that Vouivre… and those who get in the way-" he said but got cut off by Calvin.

"Deserve to die?" Calvin scoffed at the cliché statement.

"Dix…" a man was beside 'Dix' said taking a step forwards.

"Not now Gran, we can't underestimate this guy" Dix said, making 'Gran' take a step back.

"I guess you already know what comes *snap*" Dix said lifting his free hand and snapping his fingers.

Suddenly a volley of arrows and Magic projectiles shot towards Calvin in all directions, and even if he could just phase through all of them but he couldn't really attack when he was in the middle of [Phasing] and he wasn't invisible either, that would give the enemy more time to think, so, he let [External Bent Circulation] do its thing.

With some effort on his part, he made every projectile that entered his range change direction just slightly so they would miss him, he could also make the arrows go slower and even stop completely but with how many projectiles there were he couldn't concentrate that much.

As the barrage stopped, everyone but Dix widened their eyes at the Untouched Calvin.

'As expected, he wouldn't go down that easily'

"I'm going to have to do things the old way then" Dix said walking towards Calvin.

Calvin was looking at him very wary of what he might do, as the guy in front of him seemed quite the foe, if he was honest, he could be even worse than Ais because of the way he did things this 'Dix' was very similar to himself, and if he learned something when he duplicated himself is that he hated cunning people like himself.

Seeing Dix's spear made him remember something…

*Flashback*

In a somewhat rural village close to a lake and next to the forest.

A 10-year-old Calvin sat on a stool in what seemed to be a training ground of sorts.

'Such idiocy, why learn to use weapons when you can destroy everything with a swipe of your hand' Calvin thought, not putting any attention on the person in front of him, and imagining himself as the 'Magic King Calvin'.

"…and that's how the spear came to be…" a younger Karen said, she was a tall woman, that could dwarf the majority of adult men in the village, she had blond short hair and tanned skin, she was around 35ish but even if she was not that old, signs of age were starting to show in her face, that didn't have any scars or signs of battle, something that was incredible for such a talented swordswoman but as she liked to say 'only mediocre knights have scars, it shows their incompetence'.

"*Bang!* Are you listening!?" She exclaimed bonking Calvin in the head with the butt of a wooden spear.

"Agh! You B- *Bang*" Calvin exclaimed Holding his head only to get hit again.

'You… you brute!' He thought tightening his teeth, suppressing the urge to say something he would surely regret later.

"Pay attention! If you ever get in a Sword-Spear fight, be aware that the Spear always has the advantage, got it?" She said making Calvin nod While massaging his head.

"Be it in range or even Blocking and thrusting, the spear always has the upper hand" she said doing motions with the wooden spear.

"But in real fights the only thing that counts is strength!" She said breaking the spear in half with her bare hands.

'Barbarian' Calvin thought looking at the Strength-obsessed woman that said to be his mother.

*Flashback End*

Back to the present, Dix swung his spear at Calvin, making him dodge backward.

'I was daydreaming for too long' Calvin thought, Taking out Gram to block the incoming strike and covering his arms in Bent.

*Ting!*

As the two traded strikes Calvin's arms felt numb.

'Solid bent doesn't have Shock-absorbing properties and [Sword Circulation] isn't helping either' Calvin thought, Making a copy of Gram and Dual wielding it.

[Splitting]

[35/40 Bent Remaining]

Calvin then swung both swords at Dix, making him block with his spear.

Kept swinging until Dix could hold no more and leaped back.

'Now' Calvin thought swinging the real Gram at Dix who was confused as he was a few meters away from Calvin.

[Space-cut]

[34/40]

Just as the almost invisible Blade was about to hit Dix, he blocked it with his spear, after all, he felt something wasn't right, his decades of experience told him to block at the last second.

'An instantaneous attack? That almost got me, but I can see it coming when he swings at nothing' Dix thought.

'He blocked it…' Calvin thought swinging Gram again.

[Space-cut]

[Space-cut]

[Space-cut]

[31/40]

Calvin swung gram again and again but Dix blocked every single attack.

'Too predictable? Let's see how do you predict this!' he swung Gram one more time.

[Suspended spell (Space-cut)]

[30/40]

When Calvin swung his blade Dix prepared to block but nothing came his way.

After a few seconds, he dropped his guard and looked at Calvin with a raised eyebrow.

"What was that supposed to be?" He asked.

"Well, you were blocking all my attacks so I thought that doing nothing would distract you" Calvin said.

"Distract me? For wha- Agh!" Dix was about to ask only to scream in pain when his chest was suddenly cut by an invisible force making him fall to his knees and grab his bleeding wound.

'What!?' Dix thought looking all around the room looking for an answer but coming back to Calvin.

'He… he somehow delayed his previous attack?! Dammit! It was just a distraction! But it doesn't matter, I still have an ace up my sleeve' Dix thought looking at Calvin that was ready to strike again.

'Got you! now you are wide open!' Calvin thought swinging gram for the last time.

But in the middle of his swing, he noticed Dix's Smile despite him being on his knees.

This instantly alarmed Calvin but it was too late.

*Thunk*

He heard the sound of an arrow being shot, and he 'saw' this Black pointed arrow fly silently through the air and enter [Beli Ma]'s range going straight to the back of his head.

He expected it to change direction but the arrow kept going having enough speed and force so that [Beli Ma] was rendered useless against it.

As it came closer and closer, Calvin's body suddenly moved by itself Bending back unnaturally and barely keeping itself standing with the tip of his feet making the arrow miss by millimeters.

As the arrow missed its intended target it kept going in a straight line before colliding with a tree after which the black tip of the arrow shattered.

[Body awareness cooldown: 23hrs]

Calvin felt a tingle in the back of his neck and sighed in relief, he knew of the skill but he never tried it so he wasn't sure of how accurate it would be.

But as he was regaining his balance, he saw Dix in front of him ready to do a thrust with his spear.

'Crap! It was a distraction!' he thought Barely having any time to block Calvin put the real Gram between himself and the red spear making them collide with each other.

*Kling!*

As the 2 meet each other, the Red spear shattered Gram and stabbed Calvin in the shoulder going through his [Bent Hardening] and making Calvin unable to move his left arm.

Calvin jumped back, dropping the broken Gram unable to hold it due to his injured arm.

"I missed" Dix said, flicking the blood off his spear and drinking a potion, making the wound on his chest heal.

'I was aiming for his heart, but he managed to deviate my attack in the last second'

Calvin was clenching his teeth at the pain he was feeling, after all, his pain resistance could only go so far and he wasn't able to use [Sense grafting] on himself as something seemed to be blocking it.

Taking advantage of the situation, he difficultly grabbed a potion from his pouch, bit off the cork, and let the red liquid fall into his mouth thinking it would relieve his pain.

But surprising him the relief never came.

"It won't heal" Dix said making Calvin look at Dix questioningly.

"This is a 'Cursed Weapon' this one, in particular, inflicts unhealable wounds, perfect for Torturing" Dix said as a shady smile appeared on his face.

"I see…" Calvin said tightening the hold he had on the copy of Gram.

As soon as he said that, Dix ran at Calvin, slashing with his spear.

Calvin barely blocked his attacks as Dix was suppressing him making him take a step back in each encounter.

"You are finished little prince, just give up!" Dix said as he continued his assault.

'This fucker…'

Suddenly a dark aura appeared on the duped Gram.

[Charged attack x1]

When Dix saw this, he prepared his last attack lifting his spear and slashing downwards with all his strength aiming to split Calvin in half.

But Calvin didn't Block it in any way, in fact, the Dark aura on his swords just became denser and denser until it was pitch-black and Black cracks were appearing on the copied sword.

[Charged attack x9]

[21/40]

'That's all the bent this copy can take, any more and it will explode'

As Dix swung his spear, Calvin swung his sword diagonally ready to unleash all the power accumulated.

*Crack* *Boom…!*

The copy broke the red spear in half and exploded on Dix's face, sending him flying backward before impacting with a tree.

*Crash!*

"Dix! You…!" Gran exclaimed, swinging his greatsword at Calvin making him dodge as he didn't have a weapon to defend himself.

Calvin quickly took a glance at the broken Gram and red spear and had an idea.

"[Shaping]" Calvin said making the broken sword merge with the point of the spear fixing Gram, and putting the edge of the spear onto the sword thus making the edge a malicious dark red.

[19/40]

Calvin then made it fly towards him with [Speed control].

Finally having a weapon in hand, he stopped dodging Gran's attacks and blocked them instead, using that same force to counterattack.

Meanwhile, Dix was slowly getting up, he had burn marks on his face and his eyes were filled with rage.

'This fucking brat, forcing me to do this…! Maybe killing his "sister" in front of him will repay the trouble' he thought finally managing to stand straight.

"Become lost in an endless nightmare" He chanted pointing his hand at Calvin that had Gran barely standing with multiple cuts on his body.

"Phobetor Daedalus!" as soon as Dix said that a wave of red light came from his hand passing through Gran and Calvin.

'What was that?' Calvin thought.

Suddenly a strong headache came and his vision turned blurry.

"W-what… did you do…?" Calvin struggled to say as his vision got darker and darker.

"Just got to sleep, little prince" Dix said with an evil smile on his face.

Falling to his knees Calvin struggled as the strength left his body and finally fell into Darkness.