Chapter 07: Ronald vs Erza

After their names were announced, Ronald and Erza stood face to face on the arena. Meanwhile, the other young devils sat on a bench that was provided for the participants.

The audiences set their sights on them. Both of the participants came from two of the respected clans in Underworld. Lucifer clan was the direct descendant from the Original Lucifer and Lilith's marriage, while the Gremory Clan was seen to be one of the clans that lately rose to power.

I saw Erza looking so confident. I heard that she was considered as the best sword-wielder in the underworld. I was sure that she would fight hard in order to keep her honor.

"My family and my friends have expected me as one of the strongest young devils. Therefore, I would defeat you now."

"Such a vigorous words, Erza. But, my honor sense that you must be defeated."

Both I and Erza simultaneously made a fighting stances. I made a sword by using my Mirage Blade technique, while the red haired devil simply took out two swords from her dimensional storage.

'So, that's the Requip Magic, a magic technique that allows her to swap the equipments at her will. Interesting.'

I had already known that abilities since I had ever watched the Fairy Tail series on my previous life. As I could remember, Erza had numerous armors in which each of them had different abilities. However, I forgot about the details of her armors. Thus, I needed to do some trials to make her showing me the abilities of her armors, so I could then arrange the proper strategy to defeat her.

"For the first match of the round of sixteen, Ronald Lucifer will face Erza Scarlet Gremory. The rules are pretty simple. You guys are prohibited to kill each other, but you are allowed to inflict damage as big as you can to your enemy." Tsufaame announced to the audience. "Is there any inquiry before the battle begin?"

"No, Leviathan-sama." I and Erza replied to Tsufaame.

"Then, let's begin the match! Three, two, one. Begin!"

I heard many audiences cheered on Erza. I didn't feel angry on that. I realized that this happened because the Lucifer Clan member often withdrew themselves from public area. So, many Underworld citizens didn't know much about us.

"I am sure that Erza would win this match! Everyone on the Underworld knows that she never failed any missions that she took."

"Yes, me too. I believe Erza's excellency was the another cause of the rise of Gremory Clan besides Sirzech's might."

On the other side, I knew that Erza was known for her unbeatable record in taking missions. As far as I knew, she was even assigned to accompany Sirzech and Serafall in a battle against Kokabiel's troops to defend Kuoh Town, the place where Gremory and Sitri clan ran their businesses.

However, I didn't get discouraged by those facts. Instead, I was getting motivated to fight strong figures, like Erza. During my six years training, my father would bring me to numerous places and then I would be pushed to defeat many strong enemies. Through such experiences, I got stronger as time went by.

Now, I would prove that I, the descendant of Lucifer Clan, was more stronger than Erza. I would defeat her, that's my words.

Erza took the opening step. She dashed to me and swang her blade to me. I had to admit that her speed was above the normal devil, but unfortunately for her, I might clearly saw her movement.

"Such a quick movement, Erza." I complimented her as I withheld her attack by using my mirage sword. "However, that is not enough to beat me."

I pushed my mirage blade forward, trying to slash Erza. Being overpowered by me, she jumped backward to dodge my attack.

This time, it was me that rushed to her, only to be thrown by numerous spheres that were made by Power of Destruction. Thanks to my observation technique, I was able to early see the upcoming spheres, so I could dodge them without any problem.

"Soru."

I moved right to Erza's front side in the blink of eyes. Being unwilling to waste this chance, I swang my mirage sword to attack her.

"Adamantine Armor!"

I was amazed for seeing Erza covered herself with a sky blue and navy blue armor. She easily withheld my attack by using two armor plates on her hands.

I used one of her armor plates as my foothold for jumping backward. I inhale the air as much as I could. After that, I blowed away a single large wind sphere to Erza.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!"

In addition, I infused my demonic power to make that sphere being more powerful. I wanted to test how absolute her defense when she was in that mode. Judging from the appearance, her adamantine armor was quite dense and strong. I needed to examine that.

I slightly smiled when I saw Erza didn't dodge my attack. It seemed that my wind sphere was too large to be dodged. I bet she was still trying hard to tank it by using her armor. After a few of seconds it made contact with her adamantine armor, my wind sphere caused an explosion.

"Adamantine Barrier."

I could see Erza was standing still. Her front side was covered by a green round barrier. Therefore, my wind sphere didn't cause any damage to her.

Erza's supporters cheered happily since their idol could thank my attack. Their shouts teared my ears apart. However, I didn't want to put my attention on them. Now, I needed to focus on how I could break her dense defense.

'I get it. Judging by her stances, I bet that she could only protect her front side. I would be able to defeat her if I managed to distract her and then, I launch a flank attack or ambush her from behind.' I analysed Erza's Adamantine Armor. 'Alright then. Let's target her back side.'

"Such a strong attack, Ronald. It will give me a knockout if I only use my usual armor." Erza complimented my technique. "Now, it's my turn to attack."

I saw the red haired devil created a green round barrier like the previous one. However, she covered it with her Power of Destruction at this time. Next, she directed her barrier to me.

'I had a feeling that the technique that she is going to perform is an offensive one.'

"Barrier Crash!"

My feeling became true. This time, Erza create the Power-of-Destruction-infused barrier to attack me. With a high speed, she launched her barrier towards me. I jumped to my side to dodge the attack. I would surely be knocked out if I let myself getting hit by such dense barrier.

Unbeknownst to me, Erza used this chance to rush at me. She changed her armor to clean heart clothing. That made her movement became swifter than before. She managed to dash in front of me in a flash.

"Benizakura Flash!"

I could feel that Erza focused her magical power into her sword. I would surely meet my end if I got slashed by her attack. Unfortunately for me, I was not in the right position since I just landed on my current spot.

'There is nothing that I can do besides withholding her attack.'

Slowly but surely, Erza's katana-like sword approached my body. Even though I could read her movement, but I couldn't do anything to dodge her attack. I could hear Erza's supporters shouts became louder.

Was this the end of me? Hmph. Of course, it wasn't.

Probably, your current attire gave you more strength and speed.

But, those weren't enough to defeat me.

"Luciferio."