Chapter 978 Contest

Thanks to the spells that she knew, Riveria could easily survive the vacuum as long as she had enough Magic Power, [Wait, was Magic always this hard to control? It's not a problem for me now, but I think I can feel something pressing down on my Magic Power.]

[It's always been like this. Probably a rule of this world.]

[What a strange rule.]

Since this was her first time being this far out from the ground, Riveria set aside her questions for now and took her time to stare at the giant jewel in front of her, [...This has really changed my perspective. I know what it looks like from images, but seeing it in person is an entirely different experience.]

[That's how most things are. Seeking knowledge through records is great, but a lasting impression can only be achieved through real experiences.]

Riveria stayed silent while staring at her surroundings and branded this memory into the depths of her mind using all of her senses.

After a few minutes, Riveria spoke up again, [...That's right. I haven't thanked you yet.]

[Hmm? For what?]

Riveria turned to her and realized that she was still holding his hand. Nevertheless, she didn't let go and stared straight into Kisuke's eyes and said, [Thank you for bringing me this high up.]

[No. We just coincidentally ended up here.]

Riveria squeezed his hand and frowned, [You know what I meant. If not for you, I wouldn't be able to witness this wonderful view. Most probably, not in my entire life.]

Kisuke let out a short breath and smiled gently, [Then your gratitude should be to Yoruichi and Serafall who asked you to go to that side. And a bit of credit to you too, for taking that step. I hardly did anything.]

[I'm also thankful to them and I'm glad I took that opportunity. Even then, I know that your influence led to that in the first place... And your humble attitude is really annoying.]

Kisuke chuckled at her and asked, [Fufufu... Humble? Me? Do you think I'm being humble?]

Riveria's eyes widened slightly and she sighed immediately after while holding her forehead as she'd forgotten something important, [...Right... This is just a tiny thing for you. No better than just going out for groceries...] Riveria then looked back at the 'Lower World', [That's actually infuriating and frustrating in its own right. You changed my whole life by just 'going out for groceries'...]

Riveria was about to continue with '...Makes me feel that I don't really matter.', but she was met with a sudden head chop from Kisuke's free hand that was as hard as a brick.

There was no sound but when Kisuke lifted his hand, there was a clear red mark on her forehead that she immediately covered with her free hand, [What are you doing!?]

[All big things start small. Are you really thinking that where you started is more important than where you are right now? Stop thinking about useless things like you're lamenting about the past that you can't change.]

[...Did you have to hit me?]

[...I felt annoyed.], Kisuke answered honestly.

[...I'm sorry.]

[Well... It's alright.], Kisuke then pointed at the small patch of blue to their left that's connected to the sea via a small channel and said, [See that lake? That's Lolog Lake.]

[Ah... It really is.]

[Wanna bet who can reach that fast---er?]

Not even able to finish his words, Riveria instantly let go of Kisuke's hand and blasted herself towards the lake.

[This bi-] Kisuke also wasn't able to finish that as a spear of ice came rushing to his face and he had to dodge.

Kisuke immediately followed after Riveria, who'd already broken the sound barrier and since he was faster than her, he was already rapidly reducing the distance between them.

Riveria saw this and immediately cast a few more spells to create a barrier that would reduce her drag to almost nothing in anticipation of reentry and successive and directed shockwaves at the bottom of her feet, increasing her speed further to twice the speed of sound and she was still speeding up.

Kisuke followed her speed up but he noticed something strange and immediately turned his flight path. The moment he did, a massive explosion occurred in his original path, 'An air mine!?'

But when he looked further below him, he saw hundreds of them scattered on the way down along with Riveria smirking at him.

He could go around the minefield that she'd created, but that would increase his travel distance. And if Riveria could control the placement of these mines, which she probably could, it would not only be a useless effort, but also a wasted one.

Since he was pretty durable, Kisuke decided to just bulldoze through everything and increased his speed even further.

Of course, Kisuke wouldn't just take Riveria's attacks passively and prepared to use several Bala, not just to clear the mines, but also to knock Riveria away.

But Riveria was still one step ahead because she now started creating tens of illusions of her that not only emulated her Magic Power signature, but also her Reiatsu in addition to being able to switch places with them. A countermeasure against Kisuke's sensing ability. He might have great senses, but it'd still take some time for him to figure out which was the real Riveria if it was designed specifically to counter him.

Even then, Kisuke threw his Bala over and over again, reducing the number of mines and clones alike.

Moments before they could reach the surface of the lake, Riveria's clones were already cleaned up. While the mines were still slowing Kisuke a bit, he was only a few meters behind her from the hundreds of meters she'd started with. Nonetheless, the High Elf was still not yet done and pulled out the ace that she had been preparing since she deployed her clones.

All of a sudden, very complex Magic Circles appeared in front of Riveria before the light in front of her began to contort while also 'shrinking' Riveria's height.

'Hmmm?' Kisuke wondered for a moment what was happening when unexpectedly, Riveria's speed doubled and he figured out what she was doing, "Hey! That's cheating!"

Riveria wanted to retort but she couldn't since the spell she was using needed an incredible amount of focus just to keep active.

Currently, Riveria was compressing space itself in front of her and expanding it back as she went through it. So instead of speeding up like what Kisuke was seeing, Riveria was actually just traveling half the distance she originally needed and effectively doubling her relative speed.

Kisuke knew that if he didn't do something, he'd lose and the only way to stop her now was to stop her physically from traveling. Putting forward his hand, Kisuke chanted, "Sajo Sabaku (Winding Binding Chains)!"

A rope of light erupted from Kisuke's fingers and accelerated fast enough to catch up to Riveria. The distance between them was still increasing so Kisuke could only control the rope to grab her foot. But the moment it touched, it went through her ankle before Riveria suddenly disappeared and reappeared a few inches away from her original position. And in that instant, Riveria finally crashed through the surface of the lake followed immediately after by Kisuke while thinking, 'So she still had one last clone.'

Kisuke didn't actually clear out all the clones and the last one was traveling while overlapping with the invisible Riveria by just a few inches. He wasn't able to notice this because of all the fluctuations of Magic Power that obscured her spell. Meaning, all of those spells were ultimately so that Kisuke wouldn't be able to grab her for a single instant and he marvelously fell for her hidden ace.

"I won!!!" Riveria cheered jubilantly as she resurfaced.