Chapter 93 - Mundane Human [1]

A/N: chaps twice as long as normal, cause I took almost twice as long to drop it compared to the amount of time it should've taken if that makes sense.

A/N: I dislike using narrator POV, but I don't think I can properly describe what's happening without it. Also, there's probably gonna be some POV changes.

Leon's POV:

Valier stood before me and Artorius. His presence was... weird. I had never felt fear like this before. There was something about Valier that was... different. Normally, his eyes were much more calculative. Normally, it was as if he saw far into a future that nobody else could bear witness to. But now, Valier didn't have that look on him. He had a different feel around him as well, as if the limiters that he had played upon himself had been broken.

Then, Artorius ran towards him, but as Valier took a deep breath, the air around him changed. In fact, it felt as if the air was trembling before his might. Then, Valier disappeared from my sight for a second and then reappeared before Artorius, slamming his fist into Artorius' solar plexus, causing him to gasp in pain. However, by some miracle, Artorius had managed to use his 'sword' to deflect the blow to some extent.

I then ran towards Valier and once I got close enough, Artorius stepped to the side and I thrust my spear into Valier's heart.

Or so I thought, but Valier had ducked. He took a step forward, making the ground beneath us tremble.

He took a deep breath, the air around him vibrated as he reeled his fist back.

It was then that I realized that I was going to die. Valier's fist was going to crush my insides and shatter my bones. There was no stopping an attack of this magnitude, any attempt at blocking it would just prolong suffering.

'Twang!'

Then, from out of nowhere came an arrow. The arrow flew towards Valier's head at terrifying speeds. The arrow was behind him so he shouldn't have been able to see it, but he turned around, fast. As the arrow was traveling towards him, he used its momentum and the momentum he was gaining by turning to return the arrow to its sender.

But, an arrow came again, sending the one Valier threw off course.

'It's strange, normally he's so much more... talkative. And the way he's fighting is weird. It's like I'm not fighting something that values its life… it's like I'm fighting something mechanical.'

I took a good look at Valier's eyes, and understood that he wasn't actually conscious at the moment. It was no wonder he had been restrained to such an extent, if he had been able to use his full physical power along with that mind of his, then I wouldn't be surprised if he could beat a mage with his raw physical power.

Breaking me out of my thoughts, I heard the sound of a bow string being drawn. Then, a sword was launched and landed before Artorius. Artorius let go of his stick and picked up the sword.

When Artorius picked up the sword, Valier charged at him. Then, a flurry of arrows were sent at Valier. Valier dodged them all, but by the time he had regained his footing, I was behind him, aiming for his lower back as Artorius was aiming for his heart.

Valier jumped and kicked off my shoulder to create distance. The difference between our speeds and his was immense. Valier looked at the both of us and then he looked for the Archer in our vicinity.

"Artorius, I'm going to speed up now. Keep up. And you, Archer. Don't worry about the both of us, just shoot."

With that, another two arrows were released. One was launched into the sky. And when that arrow came crashing down, another was released to change its direction. But Valier had no issues catching the arrows that flew towards him. His eyes seemed to have no issues following such fast projectiles.

Valier truly was an abnormally strong person. His speed and power were bordering human limits. Actually, I take that back. That power of his was beyond human limits.

Then, I heard a weird noise. I could see that Valier's breathing pattern had changed. And I could've sworn that he seemed to have gotten more muscular. The Aura around him also changed.

Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong. Previously, I had noticed that Valier's breathing seemed to change on certain occasions, and that was when he was going to deliver a killing blow to me.

Then, Artorius ran towards him, and swung his sword downwards. Valier took a step back, however, the step seemed to be a precisely calculated one. He had taken a step that left quite literally almost no space between Artorius's sword and Valier's body.

He looked at Artorius, the expression on his face made it look like he was disappointed in him for even trying to perform such a pathetic excuse of an attack. Valier then disappeared from my sight and reappeared before me. I had no idea how on earth he had covered over a dozen meters in a single second, but I didn't have time to think. Valier's fist came flying at me, but it stopped just before it reached my stomach.

And then, a small, a very small gust of wind was formed.

It was a shockwave. A human with no Mana, no Runes, not even a Physique had just formed a shockwave. Not only that, he had moved faster than a human could perceive. I had no idea how this was even possible, and I had no idea why I even thought I should try fighting Valier.

But, I gripped my spear even tighter and slammed it into the side of his face. Yet, Valier had grabbed the wooden shaft below the tip of my spear to block my attack.

Valier's eyes were clouded, once again proving he wasn't conscious. He was solely fighting on instinct, but that didn't explain anything!

"Valier you make no sense."

Then, he grabbed my shoulders and slammed his forehead against my face.

"Being unconscious sounds cool and all, and I won't lie, it's pretty badass. But it doesn't explain why you hit so hard."

Valier then grabbed my face with one hand. His grip tightened as he threw me onto the sandy ground, causing me to quite literally bounce. Blood spilled from my mouth as I made sure to grip my spear as tightly as possible.

"It doesn't explain that superhuman strength of yours either. I really don't get it, Valier."

As I bounced upwards, Valier raised his leg and performed an axe kick, slamming me into the ground.

"Valier. How come you're this strong? Your existence really just is... the epitome of unfairness." I said, as Valier placed his foot on my chest.

Artorius' POV:

I stood and watched as Leon Gladius was quite literally being ragdolled. He was being thrown around as if he were a toy by Valier. Valier was a freak of nature, a being blessed with both a strong body and the talent to harness that body's full power.

Even while unconscious... he was still a monster. I could run away right now. I really wanted to run away. I was so scared that I couldn't even think.

"But it's fine, I don't need to think. I just need to fight."

And so I ran towards Valier at top speed, and thrust my sword at him. But, he turned around and ducked. Then, using his legs, he stood up to generate momentum, and from there, he landed an uppercut on me.

I felt my feet momentarily leaving the ground.

'The hell? How's this even possible?'

While I was still airborne, he jumped into the air and drove both of his knees into my face, causing my teeth to loosen and fall out of my mouth.

I rolled away from him and stood up as a flurry of arrows came towards Valier.

He dodged every one of them.

"Guess I'll have to fight you at my best. I was hoping I wouldn't have to fight as if I was trying to kill you. But... you leave me no choice. You're too strong."

I gripped my sword with two hands and held it in front of me.

"Valier, show me. Show me how strong you really are. Make me feel fear, become the oppressive force that'll kill me. Or, force me to grow."

Narrator POV:

Two warriors stood before each other. One was Valier who was using Demon's Breath to enhance his physical abilities to their limits, while the other was Artorius. Artorius had a look that was different to the one he had throughout the fight. He was going to fight Valier with the intention of winning.

Valier was also taking this fight seriously, not because he felt like he would die, but because there was a small chance, a very small chance that he'd be overwhelmed by the arrows and the blade. Valier was unaware of the Archer's location, and so he was wary.

Valier's expression hadn't changed throughout the entirety of their fight. Leon was behind Valier, and his body was completely messed up. The sun shone above their heads as the Archer hidden in the trees notched another arrow.

"Don't shoot!" Artorius screamed.

He knew the value the Archer had and he was aware that Valier didn't know where they were since they were still breathing, but it was too late. As soon as she released her arrow, the sound of a tree collapsing resounded throughout the forest. Valier could be seen dragging the body of an Elf across the ground. Then, with a light thud, the arrow landed on the ground.

Sweat dripped from Artorius' forehead as Valier threw the Elf away after he had disarmed her.

Then, Valier let out a deep breath, his breath looked like a misty fog.

Valier looked at Artorius, seeing that Artorius was clearly terrified.

Now that Valier was using Demon's Breath, his power had left the realm of a mundane and powerless humans, and he had taken a step into the realm of supernatural power. All while being nothing more than a powerless human.

"Great, this is great! Arthur's gonna love hearing about this fight!"

Artorius screamed frantically as Valier looked at him calmly, Valier crouched down slightly, flexing his calves, he jumped, moving at speeds no ordinary human should move at. Artorius could barely see him. When Valier had closed the distance, Artorius attacked him, slicing downwards.

Valier dodged and then sent a knee towards Artorius' liver. However, Artorius moved fast, faster than he should've been able to move, and used the flat side of his blade to redirect the blow.

Clang!

The sound of bone and blade colliding made a weird noise scream through the forest. Artorius' sword shook in his hand and Valier disappeared from Artorius' sight once again, before appearing behind him.

Predicting this, Artorius was already turning around and aiming for Valier's neck while doing so.

"Got you now!"

Edited By: WorthyAdversary