5.10. Conflict is an Internal Battle

The main phase of the New Dawn Series most people had been anticipating. Many royal authority figures had come physically to see the climax of the event.

Preluding this second and last phase of the tournament, Shiro and Risa stepped upon the dusty field.

Roaring cheers erupted throughout Suntory Amphitheater.

The competition was entering its second phase. The first phase had settled a week ago, narrowing the few hundred contests down to the top 32.

["To begin today's main event to celebrate the top 32 contestants, we shall have the heroes battle against each other as a show of their growth since their arrival to this world."]

"Ready?" Risa asked, extending her hand.

"Yeah," Shiro received it with a firm grip.

They bumped fist.

The two heroes then proceeded to their starting line. Risa pulled out a black sheath from the inventory and hung it on her waist.

Shiro took out a holy silver coin and buckle shield.

The discrepancy caused some doubts to surface in the minds of the audience as there had been rumors going around that hero Shiro wasn't actually all that strong. One might even add that he was weaker than most mercenaries out there.

["Please show your best performance to the spectators! I'm excited to see what would unfold!"]

Risa and Shiro raised their hands into the air. The crowd went abuzz.. but soon went silent at the growing tension.

Risa gripped the handle of her weapon.

["Begin!"]

"Big bro, good luck."

BOOOMMM!!!

A trail of dust left in Risa's wake as she exploded forth.

Shiro took in a deep breath, lowered his center of gravity and widened the position between his feet.

Click.

Pushing her thumb at the guard, a small portion of the jet black katana revealed itself. A sharp red line painted along the sleek surface of the blade–

Five meters.

Shing–

A beautiful curved blade painted in the darkness of the abyss.

A red trail traced the tip of the blade.

The sight caused a chill to run across the backs of the crowd.

[Activated Skill: Aimbot]

[Scientific Magic: False Physics]

Parrying the blow, Risa was thrown halfway across the field.

Shiro put aside his buckle shield and immediately raised his right hand.

"A certain.." Shiro muttered.

His index finger bent over his thumb with a coin on top..

[Activated Skill: Aimbot]

He flipped the coin.

[Scientific Magic: False Physics]

BLITTZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ–

A white laser blew through the battlefield. Risa's figure disappeared as soon as she hit the ground. The laser passed through where she once landed, hitting the barrier beyond.

The sound of glass shattering was heard obviously as the thick beam continued onwards and collided with the reinforced plate of the wall. A cave-in bellowing smoking was the resulting outcome. In the center of the crater was a silver holy silver stuck deep inside.

They weren't kidding when they said that holy metals were one of the strongest metals out there.

Risa stood there, watching as the supposedly 'indestructible' barrier repair the hole in itself. Heck, even grand spells couldn't rip through these.

Risa gulped.

["WOOOOOO!!!!!"]

The crowd was thrown into disarray, Risa turned back to Shiro in a dramatic fashion.

"Right. Now that we've made it clear who's OP, I should get serious too," red lightning flickered across the surface of the sheath.

"Come at me," Shiro said, readying his shield.

[Blessing: Holy Severance]

A blazing red lightning arc blazed.

[Scientific Magic: False Physics]

[Activated Skill: Aimbot]

Shiro swung the buckle shield towards the lightning. Enchanted with false physics, the lightning arc was reflected in amplification towards Risa. She drew another arc, they canceled out each other in an explosion of electricity.

Risa's figure blurred forward.

Splitting the distance of a hundred meters in mere seconds, Risa slid towards his flank and struck.

[Scientific Magic: False Physics]

[Activated Skill: Aimbot]

By the sheer force of abnormal physics, the area around the blade's time stopped in place. Shiro didn't even turn around.

The hearts of the crowd stopped– but weirder yet. Shiro didn't try to confront Risa. He ran away instead.

"W-What?!"

Risa was desperately trying to pull out her katana from an impossibly hardened block of air.

The reason for his move was revealed two seconds later when a powerful explosion occurred due to the compression of time stasis.

"Geh.."

Risa was flung high into the sky. Tears in her clothes, blood dripping from wounds, her figure slammed against the protective barrier– no. She landed upside down with her legs bent in position.

She kicked off and fired towards Shiro like a ray of lightning.

[Scientific Magic: False Physics]

[Activated Skill: Aimbot]

BLITZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ–

– It was a mistake.

Without caring to flip the coin in hand, Shiro had fired the railgun.

Risa, out of panic took out a shield from her inventory and used it as a cushion to alter her trajectory. She managed to hop away.

By the amazing power of electromagnetic force, a hole was blown into the barrier and fired off far into the sky. There was a sparkle or explosion somewhere in the distance– perhaps it hit a UFO.

Risa landed on the ground, her figure disappeared immediately as numerous magic circles appeared following behind her afterimage– all of which were aimed at Shiro.

'I'm screwed..'

Altering the physics of the world was the most absolute cheat in the world. However, even the slightest adjustment to the world law drained his mana painfully. For his B grade reservoir which he had bled to get, in a battle of attrition, he was bound to lose. Even though he was wearing a few accessories to boost his mana reservoir, they had already all run out.

In a normal duel, Shiro would've won as Risa went out of bounds. But because this was a performance, some adjustments had been made.

He took out from his inventory a crude magic staff and waved it towards the magic circle. A barrier appeared, reflecting the lightning bolts right back.

"Loser," Risa's voice echoed.

"Haha.."

[Activated Skill: Aimbot]

[Scientific Magic: False Physics]

Just as a flickering blade pointed at Shiro's back, he formed his fingers into the shape of a gun and fired a cyclone.

As it was slower than the railgun, Risa simply shifted her position and appeared beside him. She struck at the shield he rammed towards her.

Shiro was blown a couple meters off the ground from the impact, landing on his back.

Risa raised her sword. A red magic circle appeared above his head.

[Scientific Magic: False Physics]

– Lightning scattered everywhere.

The air crackled as the pillar of thick electricity subsided. Shiro, whose hair had become an afro, extended his hands towards her with yet another coin.

".. Scientific railgun!!"

– The chunni dream of his life had come true.

BLITTTTZZZ!!

Risa of course, dodged with ease.

A black blade pointed right at his neck. Shiro raised both his hands into the air.

"I concede," He said.

"Compared to the battle royales, ours seemed quite lackluster, doesn't it?"

"We're talking about a battle between a weak guy and the strongest hero. Obviously."

"Hahaha! A weak guy huh?" Risa showed a smile, blood dripping from her lips.

– The overture to the competition's second phase.

["The victor goes to Hero Risa!"]

The crowd erupted in cheers.

"To think they would grow to this level in but a short six months, they are truly blessed by the Goddess," His Majesty said.

"I can see why there are those who believe the hero to be a threat after the subjugation of the demon lord. If they are not regulated well, they could very well become an existence worse than the demon army," Her Majesty Esther added.

"That is the choice of our ancestors which I don't wish to follow. I believe that this should be handled in a delicate manner."

"Perhaps it would be a good idea to push more resources into studying the summoning circle."

Soles nodded. Esther looked at her daughter Evelyn who was watching the battle while leaning on Quilin's shoulder.

"What do you think about the boy?" Esther asked, refreshing the topic.

"I believe she has the right to decide what she should do with him. As parents, we can only watch over. Too much interference would hinder her growth."

"I sense an irregularity in the way spirits interact with him."

"What is that supposed to imply?"

Her Majesty reclined on her empress throne and closed her eyes. "He's just as much of an anomaly as Anna. However he feels about the royal family, I believe we shouldn't pass up this chance to strengthen our future heirs. It's especially crucial during this time when he is still immature."

===

"Sequencee. A warning. I may not be able to arrive on time to assist you should you find yourself in times of trouble for this mission."

"I know."

Sequencee, following Iona from behind entered the backstreets of buildings. The sound of eruptions and cheers from Suntory Amphitheater transmitted from hundreds of meters away, clearly heard even from where they were at.

The sun was falling, stars were shining. The tournament was being drawn out to the late evening.

Iona's presence disappeared, Sequencee pulled down the cloak over his face.

They came upon a small denigrate bar selling booze. He pushed through the entrance, and behind the bar was a scruffy old man wiping glass with a tablecloth. The place itself wasn't packed with people, just a couple beggars taking shelter here from the open streets.

Sequencee noticed a poverty-stricken mother hugging her child at one corner. She looked at him warily.

Sequencee turned a blind eye to that and walked up to the counter.

"Cu de Loux, 30 years old."

"We've run out of stock," the bartender said without taking his eyes off his hands.

Sequencee took note of the silver ring he wore. Iona mentioned that it was an artifact.

"Well that's too bad," Sequencee reached underneath the counter and pressed the button which had just opened up. There was the sound of earth moving, and the churning of gears. "I'll just take a look at the stock you have then."

The old man didn't even bat an eye as Sequencee got up and forced his way past the counter.

"I've never seen you before," he remarked.

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"Don't cause any problems, newbie."

Sequencee said nothing and entered the back rooms. Varying specimens of wine arranged on racks, some Sequencee believed to be a hundred years old. At the corner of the dark room was a stairwell leading downwards, the trap door hiding it had been pulled open.

Sequencee climbed down. The deeper he got, the brighter the torches were, the more eerie the ambient felt.

"Iona," Sequencee whispered out to her.

He received no response.

'So I'm really alone in this huh?'

Reaching the last step, a drawing room appeared before him. The air felt crisp despite being underground. It was most likely the effect of the green sigil emitting green light on multiple pieces of mana cores scattered along the path.

He came to the main room. Around the table, Sequencee saw three demons. An incubus, and two majins. The incubus had no horn, but a visible tail behind him. The two majins had one horn each growing from their forehead. One was centered, the other was deformed to the side a little.

"Who are you?" The incubus asked.

Sequencee lowered his hood and revealed his face. Dispelling illusion magic, he allowed his incomplete horn to show and released his suppressed demon lord auro..

There was a light gasp from one of the majins.

"Hold on.. brown hair, blue eyes.. one horn.. isn't he the one from the description?"

"From the description? Wait, don't tell me you're.."

The three of them quickly pulled themselves into a fighting formation. Of course, they didn't dare to make any sudden moves as it could very well destroy this place.

Faster than them of course, Sequencee had already scattered traps.

"I'm Sequencee Arch. Pleased to make an acquaintance with my brethren," he smiled.