( I guess I need to be careful not to kill him. ) Shiro thought as he prepared himself.

[ Say, you said that we"re on a bet, right? ]

[ Of course. ] Arthur answered with a large smile on his face.

[ Then, how about if I win, I get to fight with the hero? ] Shiro said in a voice that his companion and the hero could hear too.

[ Hmm... I don"t like betting Hana, but if that will satisfy you, then it"s okay. It"s not like you have the chance to win anyway. ] he answered with confidence.

[ I-Is ththat really okay...? Be-Betting the hero...? ]

[ That Arthur...! Doing all these things without our permission...! ]

While the priest girl and the mage girl were not concerned about their companion, but rather to the fact that he had selfishly bet the hero without any permission from them and the hero herself, Caiden, on the other hand, was angry to Arthur himself. Caiden was the only person in the arena who was very cautious of Shiro. He was the only one that understands what position his companion is currently in.

[ I don"t know but if that guy gets angered... I don"t think even the hero will be able to stop him from killing Arthur...! ] he only muttered to himself.

Of course, Shiro was able to hear their voices with his keen ears. But he ignored all of them and looked at the hero. He looked at him as if he was asking for permission.

[ ... ] the hero, Hana, nodded without saying a single word.

[ Then, I guess everything"s settled now. How about we start now? ]

[ Hmph! I should be the one to say that. But are you really sure you"re not going to use any weapons? ]

[ I"m a mage, I don"t need any. ]

[ A mage, huh? Then I guess this would be easy. ]

And so, the battle finally started -

Looking at each other"s eyes, Arthur made the first move. He ran towards Shiro, holding his sword with both of his hands.

SFX: SWOOSH!!!

Smoke of dust came out from Arthur"s feet as he dashed towards Shiro. His speed was so fast that the normal inspectors were not able to comprehend what just happened.

But of course, to Shiro"s eyes, his movements were nothing but slow. His movement is as slow as it could be.

As if his senses multiplied to a hundred times; Shiro could now hear all the voices of the people, he was now able to feel the air putting pressure on his skin, and finally, his vision was now able turn all the movements of his surroundings very slow.

( So this is a level 150 body is able to do when faced with a threat, huh...? )

Faced with a threat, his senses were now heightened to a hundred times; and they"re telling him to either dodge or attack the person running in front of him.

( What a cheat... )

Everything in his vision right now was slow. If Shiro wanted it, he could even finish the fight right now without suffering or wasting any time.

But of course, Shiro wouldn"t do that. He wants to experiment and learn all the secrets and functions of his current body. Just a second in this fight, he was able to learn and experience one of them, he thought that if he prolongs the fight, he might learn even more things about his body.

***

( I hate this guy... I bet the reason why he wanted to join us was to attract the females in my party... I"m the only one that"s allowed to do that...! I also hate that Caiden guy! If it wasn"t for him, I might"ve already got a taste with one of them...! Tsk! I really hate that guy! Maybe I"ll go report him to the king for what he just did... Yes, the king might consider removing him to our party if he hears that! ) with this thought inside his head, Arthur recklessly swung his sword at Shiro. Every single slash has enough force to slice a man in half and its speed was also faster than the blink of an eye.

But no matter how many strikes he makes, Shiro was able to dodge them all swiftly.

[ Tsk...! ] Arthur clicked his tongue.

( So he can dodge this level of attacks, huh? )

Realizing this, Arthur stopped his attacks and change his stance. He threw an arm backward while he used his other to support it. Then, Arthur took a deep breath and a dim light suddenly appeared, covering the entirety of his body.

[ Oho~? So you can also use different abilities, huh? A power-up maybe...? ] Shiro muttered without getting concern about the ability his enemy would use.

( I guess he"s not at least as stupid as he looks, huh? )

What Shiro had said was spot-on. Arthur now is powering up his body so that he will be able to use more powerful and faster attacks.

( But still... He clearly has an idea of what I"m doing... Yet he"s not doing anything stop me. Is he really that arrogant or is he just dumb? )

Power-up spells are supposed to take a small amount of time to work. Doing a power-up can leave him vulnerable to attacks and he also could easily be interrupted. That was why, the fact that Shiro wasn"t doing anything at all left him baffled.

( He"s mocking me. I will definitely show this guy who"s superior...! ) reaching this conclusion, Arthur"s face made a twisted and angry expression.

Soon later, the dim light on Arthur"s body disappeared. With his power-up now finished, he started to swing his sword in the air. The speed of his slash is now much great than it was earlier. The power of his strikes was also now much heavier, that it was now able to leave physical manifestations of the wind in the air.

This act was to show and to scare Shiro off with the current power of his strikes. He wants Shiro to fear him and know that he was superior.

...

...

But Shiro was still unmoved by this act and was still quiet.

( Huh...? Why is he still just standing there without showing any kinds of expression!?)

Getting angered by this fact, Arthur dashed towards Shiro. Closing the gap between them, he started to swing his sword endlessly again towards Shiro.

( Hehe! I bet he"s having trouble dodging my attacks now! )

Arthur"s strikes are now much stronger and faster than earlier.

But still, he"s yet to land a hit on Shiro.

( ...! )

Arthur continued to repeatedly attack Shiro with different combos he developed himself, yet Shiro was able to dodge them all without even raising an arm.

( Why...!? ) the word came into Arthur"s mind.

( Why is it not working!? Why can"t I hit him at all? He"s a mage, right!? Aren"t they supposed to be slow!? )

Arthur"s face was now getting redder and more stressed as the time pasts. He started to lose his total confidence of winning the fight. He realized that Shiro was definitely not just an ordinary n.o.ble which if he was, he could definitely defeat without pa.s.sing a minute.

He looked at Shiro"s face again and saw that he made a smile as if he was mocking him for not being able to hit him once.

( He! He"s toying with me! )

Getting angered, Arthur used the same attacks over and over again, throwing his sword in every direction he possibly could to hit Shiro.

But all of them wasn"t even able to get close to him, Shiro continued to swiftly invade his attacks.

( Tsk! Why is it not working! I guess I have no other choice! I need to get serious! )

Realizing that he was still not able to land a hit on Shiro, Arthur decided to use one of his special attacks.

[ Haa!!! ]

Arthur jumped into the air in front of Shiro and raised his sword above his head.

[ Sword Strike! ]

With that chant, Arthur"s swords glowed, and he swings it down towards Shiro"s head.

( I"ll definitely crush his head with this! )

SFX: BANG!!!

[ ... ]

A crack appeared on the floor.

Shiro again, as always, had dodged it like what he did to all of his attacks.

[ A Sword Strike, huh? ] Shiro muttered, uninterested.

[ Wh-Why you! ]

Arthur"s blood started to gather in his head and he wasn"t able to control himself anymore in anger. He started to use the same attack, throwing it recklessly towards Shiro.

[ Haah!!! Sword Strike! Sword Strike! Sword Strike! ] Arthur shouted the words repeatedly.

Continuously using a very difficult attack, Arthur"s arms started to weaken, and pain gradually started to p.r.i.c.kle his muscles.

It did not take long before he finally gave up in swinging his sword and decided to back up and take a rest.

[ Wha... What is this guy!? ] he muttered angrily in a very quiet voice as he started to breathe heavily to fill up the empty air on his lungs.

He then took a look at the figure of his teammates.

Everyone was looking at him with the expression he was not expecting to get when he decided to fight Shiro. They were not looking at him with amazement, but instead, with pity and fear. The audiences that were watching were quiet and has the same expression as his teammates too.

( This... This is a nightmare! ) shouting those words inside his head, he took a look at Shiro. Shiro was only smiling with his well-bred face. Seeing the smile Shiro was making, the negative emotions that shivering his inside grew stronger.

This was the most shameful moment Arthur has ever experienced.

[ Well, I guess it"s my turn now? ] Shiro muttered as he calmly walked towards Arthur.

[ Power-up! ] hearing those words from Shiro, Arthur Instinctively shouted as fear swelled up inside him.

Arthur was yet to handle a double power-up but his body told him to do it again even if it will make his already pained body suffer even more pain.

( I-I hate to admit it, but I won"t be able to defeat this guy by simply repeating all my attacks... I guess I have no other choice but to use it! )

Not having any more choice, Arthur decided to use his most powerful attack.

He prepared himself and used a different swords stand. His next attack was an attack he had practice to master in a very long time. It was a very powerful attack that was said to be able to slice a higher demon in half.

Knowing this, Arthur leaped high into the sky and shouted -

[ Lighting Fall!!! ]

His most powerful attack - Lighting Fall.

He"s still yet to master it and it might cause him after-effects after using it, but Arthur decided to ignore that fact and continued to use it.

As his sword was raised up high in the sky, it started to manifest electricity.

[ You"ll die for shaming me! ] he shouted as he looked down at Shiro below him.

And so, he closed his eyes and swung down his heavy sword to Shiro.

SFX: BANG!!!

A flash was made from the strike and everyone was not able to resist themselves from closing their eyes.

...

...

Everyone was quiet.

Everyone was able to see that Shiro was got hit by that attack. Everyone who was watching will say that no one will be able to survive that attack; a normal person would turn into crisp, they would say.

And yet -

[ Wha... What is this...? N-No... What are you? ] Arthur murmured in a very quiet voice that only he and Shiro could hear.

[ And here I thought that giving you the chance to show off your abilities to me would at least be entertaining... it was not. It was boring. And here you say you will break all of my bones... All you did was threw reckless attacks, you know? ] Shiro mockingly said as he held the edge of Arthur"s sword with only his fingers.

[ It"s my turn now, you p.i.s.sed me off so I won"t hold back against you. ]

( ...! )

It took a moment for Arthur to realize what he meant, but now that he does, his face showed the expression of fear.

[ Wai-Wait!!! ] Arthur shouted to the top of his lungs.

[ S-Stop him, everyone!!! ] ordered the hero, Hana, with a desperate look on her face to all of her companion on top of the stage, and as ordered, all of them ran towards the two, in the middle of the stage.

[ It"s too late now... Crippling Darkness. ] as Shiro uttered those words, Arthur"s vision turned black.