Chapter 31: Just a Fluke, Huh?

The other Alberoth siblings start whispering things like,

"She has to be joking..."

And,

"That thing's probably just broken..."

Thorden, the eldest of the Alberoth siblings, interrupts the whispers and firmly shouts,

"That's preposterous. A rookie like him has no chance against Aldrich."

A little shocked, Aldrich says,

"Hero, I do not wish to engage in combat with you and potentially cause trouble for my family. If you would just move aside and I will promise the safety of Lazaro and the other two."

Something seems to have changed within Saiba as he says in a different tone,

"Huh? Injure me? What makes you think you can even touch me, insect?"

Saiba's tone seems more confident than he already was. Very annoyed, Aldrich shouts,

"You insolent fool! How dare you call me an insect! Would you like to incur the wrath of the, 'Storm Lord'!?"

Saiba replies,

"[Storm Lord]? Oh please! Your skills are nothing more than little sparks! My buddy could make you short-circuit without lifting a finger!"

Aldrich scowls and brings his spear up and down while shouting,

"Charge Strike!"

A lightning bolt comes down from the sky, above Saiba, but it disappears as it comes in contact with the black aura coming off of him. Aldrich shouts,

"I-Impossible! There has never been anyone who was able to take the attack and stay standing! Th-That was definitely a fluke! Someone like you definitely shouldn't be able to do that!"

Saiba shouts back,

"A fluke, huh? You wanna test out if it really was a fluke?"

Annoyed, Aldrich shouts,

"Are you making fun of me, insect!? Fine then. I will expose you as the lucky insect you really are!"

He points his spear at Saiba and shouts,

"Multi-Shot: Charge Strike!"

A storm cloud appears behind Aldrich as seven bolts of lightning shoot out towards Saiba. Saiba shouts,

"That's not fair! Shooting out this many all at once! Not like it matters though..."

Saiba purposely flashes in front of each lightning bolt and tanks through all of them. Saiba walks back to his spot and asks,

"Do you still think it was a fluke?"

In denial, Aldrich shouts,

"Th-That's impossible! You must be cheating! What Skill are you using!?"

Saiba answers,

"Sorry, that's a secret! I can't reveal my cards just yet!"

He adds,

"Anyways, I don't wanna take too much time, so let's get this over with!"

In a blink of an eye, Saiba rushes over to Aldrich and holds his sword against Aldrich's neck. He whispers,

"Don't mess with me or any of my friends again."

Aldrich falls back on the ground and shouts in fear,

"H-Have mercy on me! P-Please! I will promise the safety of Lazaro and the other two! Just please have mercy on me!"

Saiba shakes his head disappointedly before bringing his weapon up. He brings it down to slash Aldrich, but before the sword hits, Saiba regains his former self and says,

"Who are you? Wait, don't kill that guy! I know he's bad, but killing him would make me even worse!"

The other voice says,

"Oh! It seems like my time is up! Time to go!"

Aldrich has his hands up as he shouts,

"Please don't kill me!"

Saiba bargains with Aldrich and says,

"Hm... I won't kill you, but you have to stay true to your promise of keeping Lazaro, Klaus and Raffael safe!"

At the same time, the aura around Saiba seems to be disappearing. Aldrich notices while standing up and chuckling before saying,

"It seems like it really was a fluke! I will not promise anything! Time to squash you like the insect you are!"

For a moment, the other Saiba comes back and grins while saying,

"What was that... Insect?"

Aldrich quickly kneels back on the ground with his hands up and says,

"N-Nothing! Thank you for sparing me! I promise the safety of your companions!"

Saiba puts his sword back in the sheath and lets out a sigh of relief. He says to himself,

"I'm glad that all worked out okay... Who was that guy anyways?.. It was like my body got taken over..."

The Alberoth Family and the people in the crowd sit in shock from what they just saw. Zaphry starts announcing,

"Despite an unexpected turn of events, it seems the winner is Saiba Okumura, the [Legendary Hero]!"

The people in the crowd start discussing things like,

"The Legendary Hero? Is that really him?"

And,

"It would make sense if someone like him would be able to beat the Storm Lord."

All at once, the crowd cheers for their new hero. Zaphry announces,

"A-And with that, it's the end of today's duel! Please enjoy the rest of your stay at the Alberoth Stronghold!"

The crowd swiftly clears out, leaving only Lily, Saiba, Lazaro and the Alberoth Family.