NOVEL WEB Chapter 35: Light vs Darkness!
She was thinking about what to do right now.
For one part her opponent was... Special...
Not in a good way...
Well, he was kinda special in what one could say was a 'Good way'. Especially with all those titles of his.
So even if he had run away from his work, he was supposed to be good enough to do it right?
So he might be dangerous later on when all his talents blooms.
But right now...
Well...
"Justice Sneaky Stab!" He was only making a fool of himself.
Since he was screaming the name of his attacks, the armored girl only had to deflect and get out of the way.
And the crowd was cheering them since it must be hilarious from an outside perspective.
The black-haired kid screamed out, "Fight me you coward!" He must have been really frustrated with this situation.
"Yeah... I really should...Amm..." Answered the armored girl while looking at the crowd. All the while keeping an eye on the kid.
It wouldn't do to get done by a sneaky attack... But then again, the idea of 'Sneaky attacks' of that kid was screaming the name of the attack...
"Do I need to say the names of my... Techniques?" The girl asked of the crazy old man.
She really didn't want to do it, but rules being rules and all she wanted to be sure.
"Not necessary, if your [Skill] requires it go for it, we aren't mages. We don't need the vocal factor unless our [Skill] asks for it." Answered the crazy old man.
"But saying the names make them more powerful and cool!" Added the black-haired kid.
Yeah nope, not doing it.
"Good to know." And so she raised her hand pointing at the black-haired kid.
He instantly went on guard and took a serious position, that stop looking serious after he said "Counter of Justice" and instantly ruined the moment.
" *sigh* Here is a freebie." Said the girl while a mass of darkness separated from her shadow and coalesced into an obsidian-looking sword. " Shadow Flying Slash " Intoned the armored girl.
Her obsidian sword finished materializing and she made the motion as if she was going to send a flying wave with her sword.
Of course, the black-haired kid instantly held his ground and put his sword in a vertical position to guard himself against the flying slash...
Only to be sucker punched in by the horizontal attack of the black-haired girl.
Instead of telegraphing her attack, after confirming Akira wasn't paying attention to her, she started running towards him and used her obsidian sword as a baseball bat to hit him in his right arm.
His dominant arm.
Sending him flying a few meters while groaning. Akira quickly recovered his stance and rolled with the attack to minimize the damage.
So he had that going for himself at the very least.
Not that he was happy "YOU CHEATER!" Said the kid while nursing his arm. "THAT WASN'T A WAVE ATTACK!" And kept complaining.
"Only an idiot tells his opponent his movement if they can help it. " Said the armored girl while laughing.
That only made the fury in the face of Akira more prominent.
"And on that note... Shadow Backstab of...Evil?" Intoned the armored girl while smirking and hiding her left hand behind her.
Quickly Akira did a 180 turn and prepared for an attack...That wasn't there.
Instead, he felt another attack in his back that made him lose his breath for a few moments.
The armored girl had made a lump of shadows in her left hand and then when Akira turned his back to her...
She threw it with all her strength, and this lump transformed into a missile that hit him in the back and while part of it was destroyed in the impact, a few motes of shadow got stuck to him as if it was tar.
"Would you look at that...That was indeed a back attack... It wasn't a stab though...Nor was it really Evil..." Said in a mocking tone the armored girl.
The crowd was loving it though.
They were cheering at her attacks and laughing at Akira for being made into a fool.
She was still being careful though, even if her [Identify] told her that she was faster than him (Even if by only 4 points) he still was stronger than her.
Perhaps she should [Identify] the skill?
She didn't want to do it in combat though, because if she got hit by a backslash against an angry opponent...
"YOU ARE CHEATING!" Said the black-haired kid. "YOU ARE USING BACKHANDED ATTACKS!" Yeah...
Better to not risk it yet.
"I'm cheating?" Asked the girl again looking at the crowd.
"Mister Akira, no foul play has been detected. No Magical means have been used...So stop being a brat and start fighting back." Was the answer of the crazy old man.
To that, Akira just huffed and glared once again at the armored girl.
"And [Shadow Empress]...I know that isn't against the rules, but stop abusing the...Amm...Just fight fair...?" Added to the girl. Akira smiled maliciously at that like the cat that just got to eat the canary.
" Aye, sir... I will fight seriously then." Was all the answer the girl said.
"Let's see if you can do something without your cheap tricks!" Said the black-haired kid while smirking and brandishing his sword.
He gave himself a long breath and after focusing once again on the girl said " [I'm Justice!]" No cheesy lines after that.
If she didn't know the name of his skill she might have thought nothing of this.
Since to anyone else, it would be just more meaningless words coming out of the mouth of a brat.
But she knew the name of his skill, so she took precautions.
"..." And following the example of [Shadow Pact] acting instead of doing anything.
She quickly formed several tendrils of darkness (Shadows) that climbed outwards from her back as if the wings of a majestic phoenix.
From there, she turned the tips into sharp spears points that pointed directly at Akira who was...
Glaring at her?
He was just glaring, even if he started to glow slowly but surely.
As his glow started ramping up he started smiling more maliciously by the second.
"[And you are Evil...]" So he said while pointing at the armored girl with his sword.
At this point the glow of his body started spreading from his whole body to his feet and hands, some of it going into his sword even.
And so, the armored girl braced herself for any kind of attack on her person. But even after a few moments with no changes, she relaxed her stance.
Nothing was happening, not to her at the very least. Since Akira's glow now had settled into a pair of silver boots and silver gauntlets, his sword was more ornamented now too.
It looked like the armor a paladin might use.
"You...Are okay? Even under my light of [Judgement]?" Asked the black-haired kid.
'So it was a debuff type of skill after all?' Thought the armored girl.
" Not sure what you mean. I'm suffering several types of internal wounds right now. " Answered in a mocking tone the girl. An obvious lie. After that, she readjusted the aim on her shadowy wing spears and primed them for an attack.
"Hah! I knew Justice always triumphs!" Screamed Akira while rushing forward with renewed speed.
If she took the time to [Identify] him she might have noticed several bonuses in his stats.
Well most of his stats, a couple were still terribly low.
But she didn't have the time nor the liberty of using her skill right now.
So with a flick of her hand, she sent the tendrils of shadows to attack the self-proclaimed hero " Shadow Aegis - Deploy." Said the armored girl.
No way of knowing if her tactics would work, but she still deployed them.
First, the shadows in her back shot forward forming a kind of shield. Of course, this was but a deception!
Since the shadows would bury into the floor and keep traveling forward. When she noticed Akira was right on top of them she made them rise from under the ground.
"What?" Was all Akira could say while from under him several spears made of shadow emerged attacking him all over the place.
Of course, he defended himself as best as he could. But the sheer amount of shadowy spears was overwhelming.
Soon enough a few started to get past of his defenses and striking true.
His dark coat soon found itself full of holes; the little body armor he had wasn't enough to protect himself.
And the armored girl?
She was still unharmed and with an obsidian sword in hand.
She started walking slowly towards him as if to make a point.
"Treachery!" Said the black-haired kid. "How dare you fight without honor!" He continued saying.
At this point he had lost his sword, a shadowy spear had struck him at the right angle and sent the sword flying.
The other shadowy spears were restraining him as he fought with all his strength to release himself.
But as soon as he broke one, they would just reform and tie him back. She couldn't keep this for long, but so long as her mana could keep feeding his skill, she had enough time to burst the shield of the arena and earn herself a win.
" You claimed I was a [Villain] and yet...You complain that I don't fight with honor? " Said the armored girl. "When did you show honor towards me? When you insulted me? When you mocked me? You started this on your own. And after losing you claim yet again treachery?" Spat the girl.
She was getting annoyed at the antics of this brat.
After he didn't answer her, she raised her sword " There isn't honor for the losers. They either run with the tail between their legs or die. "And so she released a downward slash toward the black-haired kid.
It had enough strength behind it to burst the shield the crazy old man had told them the arena had.
But not enough to do critical damage, she didn't want to get expelled or worse... Get a mark on her history.
Not that her attack hit the mark.
For a red-haired girl with a demon mask appeared in the way of her attack blocking it with a katana.
"That's enough." Said the red-haired girl.
"Aaaand we have a newcomer to the fight!" Said the crazy old man, at some point he had got himself a mic and was acting as announcer.
"How will the [Shadow Empress] deal with a 2 vs 1?" Said hyping up the crowd. "We got the [Warden of Justice] and the [Demon Slaying Sword] vs [Shadow Empress]!" continued saying the crazy old man.
Wait...Was she supposed to fight 2 vs 1?
"And we are ready to start round 2!" And at that point, the billboard with the fights updated again showing that information.
" 2 vs 1...That doesn't seem...fair." Said the armored girl.
Rena had cut all her shadow tendrils and she didn't regenerate them, something told her it was a bad idea to keep Akira like that if she was supposed to fight 2 vs 1.
"Hah! Justice always finds a way!" Said Akira in a cheery tone.
"...You will pay for bullying Akira." Added Rena in a cold tone.
Yeah...That definitely isn't Hero Behaviour. Where they that... Dense?
They were acting more like villains!
"A [Hero] must fight and find the way to deal with any problems that come their way." Said the crazy old man announcer. "And so. Round 2, Start!"
And on that note, the fighting resumed once again.
Akira of course kept screaming the description of his attacks. So she had an easy time dealing with them.
But Rena... She was silent and efficient. And her Sword somehow could pierce her armor easily enough.
Case in point, after one 'Justice downward slash' that the armored girl dodged, Rena was waiting for an ambush.
She struck quickly and relentlessly at Elizabeth with a quick stab, so she tried to parry it with her left armored arm.
Only to find that the sword of Rena somehow could penetrate her armor and struck her flesh. So she now had one bloody arm and part of her armor destroyed.
"Hmm...Not that good of an armor." Said the red-haired girl after the attack while spreading her blood on the arena floor.
"AAAAND WE HAVE FIRST BLOOD!" Said the crazy old man, wait. What about the goddamed shield?!?
"As a note, the shield will only protect you from deadly force. Small wounds are free game!" Finished saying the crazy old man.
"GOOD WORK RENA!" Celebrated Akira, throwing the secret identity of her friend into the winds.
The red-haired girl for her part didn't say anything, but she could swear her ears were somewhat more reddish than before.
Ugh...
Yeah, this might be a problem.
Would she need to take this more seriously?