[V] Elements

The sound of breaking rocks and clashing swords could be heard in the arena - on the stage where Walter and his enemy are continuing their battle.

[ Take this! ] with a swift of his hand, the floor sent spikes of rocks that rushes towards Walter at a fast speed. Each of the spikes was larger than any man and is all sharp as spears. If one failed to dodge them, it will surely impale their skins, passing then through their very bones.

But Walter was not even fazed in this dangerous sight, and as he usually does, he just swung his sword sideways. The force and speed of his sword were enough to send waves of strong winds that are able to deflect and destroy the spikes of rocks before it even reaches him - sending the debris of scattered rocks and the still forceful wind back to the enemy, getting countered by his own attack.

This result made the enemy frown. He gritted his teeth in regret as he was not able to prepare something that will block the debris and the strong winds fast enough, leaving him with no other choice but to shield his eyes, tanking all the damage he would receive and accepting it as his own fault.

Though, luckily enough, he did not take that much damage as he was far from Walter, having the velocity of the scattered rocks already decreased and the wind, already weakened.

But this did not make his expression any lighter, as he now needs to deal with Walter who had already closed his gap to him.

[ Too bad... Your magic is weak against someone like me. ] Walter - who had already closed their distance spoke, not really belittling his enemy, but only stating the facts.

The person in question realizes this too; He could just throw him all his magic at the same time and they will all just end up scattering back at him with Walter's forceful swipes that are enough to create destructive winds.

[ It's over. ]

Seeing Walter is already only a meter away from him - ready to swing down his sword, he goes for his own weapon for a block, but before he could even raise it up...

[ I lose... You win, Ainzach-sama... ]

He announced his own defeat as he looks at Walter's sword, which blade is already pointed on top of his head.

~~~

The second round is just about to begin, and Walter's thoughts are flying towards the noisy crowd.

He could feel that they are now more excited after witnessing the first fight and are all now cheering for him. And he's sure - in the middle of these seats, in what seems to be a VIP area with a high view and a spacious room, are the figures of Arthur and Sofia watching him, together with people with golden hairs - which he guesses must be the rest of the Brunhild family.

( Should I at least give them a chance...? Well... the previous one is already really strong, I just hope these people realize that. I don't want to make them feel bad about themselves... )

[ Especially that they're the celebrants of this party. ] the last of his thoughts escape his mouth as he continues to look at the figures of the Brunhild family.

And there, he could see Sofia waving at him. He cannot really see the expression on their faces this far away, but he can at least guess that she has a huge shining smile on her face.

Of course, he waved back, only after, the crowd went noisy again as his next opponent finally arrives. And just like the first one, he introduces himself respectfully as soon as he reaches a close distance.

[ Ainzach-sama, I thank you for this opportunity. I watched the fight earlier and I'm sure that I can do better than my brother, I witnessed a little of how you fight. ] practically, he's saying that he's on the advantage. But knowing how strong Walter is and how he has so low of a chance to win, that 'advantage' is still almost non-existent.

[ Please, I want you to go all out on me so that I will be able to see the limit of my skills and improve them after. ]

[ Of course... I hold back a little with your brother, but that's just to gauge out his strength. But since I can at least now guess how strong you are, I won't hold back anymore. I'm sure you're fine with that, right? ]

[ Holding back is a sign of disrespect, and I sure don't want that to happen. Please, do your best to defeat me, just as how I will do my best to try and defeat you. ]

[ Hmph... You guys are really all like your father. ]

[ I hope that is a compliment, Ainzach-sama. ]

They continue their friendly exchange, and when it finally reaches its end, their expressions both turns serious as they prepared their weapons.

With Walter still using his practice sword, and as for the enemy, a longbow.

And for a moment, they both step back a little. The enemy - as a sign of awareness and caution, while Walter's as a sign of respect and for giving a sort of handicap. Their distance - Walter won't be able to close their gap as fast as possible, making the fight a little more advantageous for his enemy.

With this, they're now prepared to duel.

And as their eyes met for the second time, their bodies start to move to perform.

*Swoosh!!!

Then, without a second past, the enemy took one arrow and shoot it towards Walter with undodgeable speed. Surely, the audiences were not able to clearly see it, only he and Walter does. However, for both of them, the speed of the arrow is as normal as it could possibly be, seeing it as a mere signal to start the fight.

And to it, Walter ran to his side, making his first move - obviously letting the arrow miss its target as he starts to circle around the enemy.

[ Let's see how he deals with me first... ] Walter plans first to see how he would be able to shoot down a moving target. How will he deal with it? Although he said earlier that he won't hold back anymore, it's still necessary to gauge out the enemy's strength.

And, with eyes that observe his surrounding, the enemy took three arrows all at the same time - pull the string of his bow and shoots them to one direction, only then to split up in three different ways, reaching Walter in three different spots, leaving him no choice but to block them with his own sword.

Luckily, their speed is still normal for Walter and he would not have trouble dodging them, but he grew anxious as he realizes something...

( I see... He's also testing me... Attacks like this are unique even for archery masters, they can only do this kind of thing with magic... is it wind or is something else? )

What element his enemy is using to control his arrows? The only thing he could think of is the wind element.

The first time he saw his previous enemy use magic, he was a bit surprised, but now, seeing his brother also does the same, he didn't have the same reaction anymore. Only now, he grows anxious as he still hasn't figured out what it is.

( For now, let's try something else... ) he thought as he changes direction and goes straight ahead for the enemy, but his eyes opened wide when he saw exactly three arrows in front about to hit him.

Immediately, he moves his sword fast to block them, which he does easily, but then, they were almost instantly replaced by slow arrows that don't have much force on them. But because it's too many, they're a bit harder to block.

So, Walter uses the wind that his sword can produce to swift them away, scattering them lifeless into the ground he's about to reach.

( He can use unique techniques, but once I reach him, it'll be over. ) he utters as he's now able to close their gap in half, only then, as he looks at the face of his enemy, he saw there - a big smirk. And before he could even react...

*Boom!!!

Explosions happened from all around him, or rather, from all the scattered arrows on the ground that he blocked earlier.

[ What the hell...!? ] luckily, Walter was able to step away instinctively, leaving him unscratched, only his clothes were affected as they're now covered in ashes and some of its parts are scorched.

As he processes what had happened, he looks ahead again to see his enemy, again only to see the heads of arrows about to hit him.

[ Tsk! ] with a click of his tongue, he swipes them all away with his sword. And again, they all explode from all around him.

[ Explosives...? That doesn't seem to be the case... His element... It's fire. ] he reaches this conclusion when he sees the edges of the last batch of arrows that just fade and explode.

The arrows, they're not normal at all. They are all produced by the enemy's magic. The element of fire, that is why their edges have tiny red dots that turn out to be flames when seen close.

He recites his conclusion, and while at it, he was also able to fathom the figures of his attacks that consist of three kinds of arrows to shoot.

1. Fast arrows - normal arrows that can't do anything special, but still fast.

2. Swift arrows - fast and can change directions.

3. Explosives arrows - slow, can change directions, large in numbers, and especially - can explode at will.

[ This enemy is dangerous... ] he whispers to himself as he observes him more.

He's at the same level as his previous opponent. But unlike earlier, who he was the one with the advantage, this time, he's at the opposite end.

But this can't have him afraid and lose composure. In fact, he's excited to see an opponent that he will have a bit of trouble - evident to the taunting smile on his face.

Patting off the ashes on his clothes, he readied his sword. And as his first move on the enemy, he ran. He runs circles around him.

[ I guess it's also time for me to use some magic... ]