Chapter 10 - Uriel Ilya VS Urek Mazino (1)

The grass, once a brown color, was tinged red. The red blood glistened beautifully in the sun's rays.

A hooded man with a huge sword around his waist and about 1.67 meters tall walked across the bloody grass. Behind him, an extremely beautiful young woman of 1.62 meters with long shiny white hair, silvery-white eyes, and red, plump lips followed him.

'That guy made a mess around here.'

Uriel was walking calmly, with his hands behind his back. His gaze stared at the bloody grass above his feet.

"Where are we going, master?"

Arisha followed him from behind. Her gaze was still wary as she looked at Uriel.

"Just follow me quietly," Uriel replied dryly.

'Humph.'

Arisha snorted internally but followed him obediently.

Soon, several corpses entered their fields of vision. Arisha made a serious expression looking at these corpses.

'It's only been 16 minutes since the test started. For someone to be able to defeat so many regulars... Who is this person? Maybe, he is as strong as—'

Thud!

"Ack! Why did you stop?!"

Arisha held her red nose looking with indignation at Uriel who had suddenly stopped his steps. However, when her face turned upwards, her pupil shrank and mixed feelings of surprise and shock appeared on her face.

A pile of corpses rose up from the bloody grass. Some corpses had their limbs bent in strange directions. Some were without arms or other limbs, some without heads. Blood slid and dripped down the corpses until they fell onto the grass.

"T-t-that's..."

Arisha covered her mouth holding back the urge to vomit. Unlike her, Uriel was looking at the pile of corpses with a small amused smile on his face.

"Hmm? Have more arrived?"

At that moment, a voice resounded from above the pile of corpses and a pair of piercing red eyes fixed themselves on Arisha and Uriel.

Arisha took a deep breath. Her expression showed fear. She looked at the shadow of a young man sitting on the corpse pile with fear deep in her heart.

'He is a real monster... One even stronger than the master.'

The moment those red eyes looked at her, she felt that she was facing a terrible predator that could kill her in a single instant. The pressure that that red-eyed young man was transmitting was even greater than the pressure emitted by her master.

Uriel also looked solemnly at the young man's shadow.

'Now that I can read Shinsu, I understand. He is stronger than I initially thought, much stronger. His Shinsu flow... is completely different...'

After thinking this, Uriel held the Cloak of Stealth in one hand and pulled it from his body revealing his appearance again. An extremely handsome and somewhat effeminate face, with sharp golden eyes, black hair, and pink lips. His skin was snow white and a calm, confident atmosphere surrounded him.

"Whoa..." Arisha let out a sigh of admiration. He was without a doubt one of the most handsome men she had ever met.

'There's no point in wearing that anymore.'

Uriel stowed the Cloak of Stealth again in his Storage Ring. His slightly long black hair swayed in the wind and a small smile appeared on his face and he complimented the red-eyed young man.

"It's been a long time. I'm glad you passed the test, Mazino-ssi."

"Oh? You are...?"

The young man stood up from the pile of corpses and the sunlight hit his face revealing his appearance. A muscular body, silver blond hair, and piercing red eyes—it was Urek Mazino!

He was with an excited smile on his face looking at Uriel.

"Hahaha! Good thing you showed up, I was already bored of fighting those wimps. Besides, your eyes look different?"

"Oh, that. They're just now back to their normal color."

"Oh, so it was always golden then?"

"You could say so. Let's just say that the previous black was not the original color of my eyes."

"...??" Arisha was confused. What was happening in front of her? The terrible monster and her master were chatting happily as if they were long-time acquaintances. Yet...

'Don't they separate the Regulars who knew each other before entering the Tower?'

She frowned slightly pondering this. When suddenly...

[Arie... Oh, now that I realize, I still don't know your name].

'...!'

A voice resounded in her mind.

Arisha was surprised, and a moment later, she realized a slight connection between her and Uriel. She focused on that connection and whispered in her mind, 'M-master?'

[Yes, yes. Ignoring the name issue, I want you to do something].

'What?'

[Collect as many hearts as you can. Whether they are from humans or some other race. When you get them, put them in this ring].

When Arisha was going to ask why that was, she thought he probably wouldn't answer. She picked up the ring he tossed to her and, although, in doubt, she could only agree with him.

'Yes, master.'

[Go.]

At his command, Arisha quickly began to run away from that place.

"Hm...? Your companion is leaving." Urek looked at Arisha running and turned to Uriel.

"Don't worry, she's just making room for us to fight."

Urek smiled brightly.

"So... Shall we begin?"

Uriel looked deeply at him, before smiling and nodding in agreement. "Let's."

'I wonder how strong Urek Mazino is when he has just entered the Tower.'

While carefully watching Urek's every move, Uriel pulled a sword from his waist. It was a sword with a pure white double-edged blade with a length of just under 1 meter, and a silver handle with a cross design in the center. It was the sword given by Arisha to Uriel.

"Hehe, I was quite bored."

Trak! Trak!

Urek snapped his fingers with an excited smile on his face. His red eyes stared at Uriel intently.

'Let's start lightly...'

Uriel raised the huge sword. His two hands gripped the hilt of the sword tightly, and just as he was about to strike...

Whoosh!

"Take that!"

The wind blew and Urek appeared in front of him with his fist clenched in his direction.

'Quick!'

Uriel was surprised. He quickly recovered, his foot on the ground turned and he twisted his waist slightly. His body made a 120-degree turn and his sword slashed toward the side of Urek's neck. Urek's body also moved, he rotated his fist and punched the sword.

Baaaaaaang!

The fist and the blade collided. A shockwave arose and the wind blew everywhere.

Uriel did not stop his advance and stepped forward, shortening the distance between himself and Urek. His sword applied even more pressure and deflected Urek's fist to the side.

"Not bad!"

Urek was not intimidated and laughed out loud. He raised his other arm and threw a punch toward Uriel's face.

Whoosh!

Uriel, still holding his sword with both hands, pressed one of his legs into the ground hard and, twisting his waist down, he raised his other leg and kicked the side of Urek's arm.

BANG!!

The wind whipped up.

Before he could react, Uriel saw everything in front of him spin and his body was sent flying.

Crack!

With his body upside down as he flew, Uriel drove his sword into the ground. Placing his feet on the ground again, he frowned as he wiped the blood at the corners of his lips.

'He's strong...'

He didn't expect that a casual punch from Urek would be so strong that a kick from him couldn't stop it.

"Hahaha, you are really very interesting!"

Urek laughed animatedly. His body radiated unprecedented confidence and pride as he slowly approached Uriel.

"Aren't you going to use that flower you used to burn those eels?"

"Not yet..."

Actually, Uriel did not plan to use the Flame Lotus in this fight. His body was already extremely worn out. If he overdid it, even more, he didn't know what could happen.

'This body is too weak.'

Besides not being able to use Flame Lotus, he couldn't overuse his techniques either.

'It must have been about 18 minutes since the test started if I hold it for another 12 minutes...'

Uriel looked at Urek seriously. He raised his sword upwards and, squeezing its handle tightly, he struck it downwards.

'Devil's Swordsmanship - First Cut.'

Swoosh!!!

White energy came out of the tip of the sword and advanced towards Urek.

'Interesting.'

Urek smiled and slightly bent his body to the side. He clenched his fist and punched forward.

'Whoosh!

Shinsu shuddered and a gust of wind blew forward.

Boom!

A thunderous sound rang out as the two attacks met. Suddenly, just as Urek was getting ready to attack Uriel again, a total of two other white slashing energies appeared in front of him.

"Come!"

He stepped forward without retreating. The two white energies were about to collide with his body. Urek clenched his fist and threw it forward.

When—

Boom!

From Urek's punch, a strong gale blew and collided with the two cutting white energies.

A moment later, Uriel instantly appeared in front of Urek and slashed with his sword again. Urek answered his attack with a smile and his fist moved forward again.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Their attacks were incessant. The fight between them seemed like it would never end.

If anyone watched their fight, they doubted that they were only F Rank Regulars.

The wind blew, stirring the bloody grass. The ground was full of cracks and cuts everywhere. The pile of corpses was scattered everywhere and some unlucky corpses were completely pulverized by the collisions of attacks.

BOOM!!

Uriel's sword and Urek's hilt met once again and the ground shook.

"Huff... Huff... Huff..."

Uriel took a few steps back. His body was covered in sweat and his gaze was solemn. His hand holding the sword was trembling slightly. Urek's attacks were very heavy.

Unlike him, Urek was still smiling cheerfully. However, a red coloration could be seen on his fists, it was blood! After responding to so many sword attacks with his bare fist, even Urek Mazino ended up slightly bruised.

"Hahahaha! Good, good! You are really very impressive."

"Thank you...?" Uriel replied awkwardly.

"So, now...."

Uriel's breathing became cloudy. His pupil shrank to the fineness of a needle and he couldn't help but be surprised. Electric sparks danced around Urek's arms and a transparent aura covered his body.

'Shinsu!'

With Shinsu covering his body, Urek crouched slightly and looked at Uriel with an amused smile on his face.

"...I'm going to get serious."