Chapter 109 - Team Competition (2)

“... This is vicious.”

Aiden spoke as he surveyed his surroundings.

The clash of weapons was already ringing out everywhere.

No one would have taken much land yet, but everyone owned their starting point, at least. That meant plenty of contestants had decided it would pay to eliminate the weak as quickly as possible and seize more territory. Hence the vicious fighting right from the start.

‘I didn't expect things to get this heated right away...’

The problem was the competition that would begin once people really started accumulating land.

Besides those seriously aiming for the succession who would wage all-out war from the outset, there would be others lying in wait to launch a surprise attack and snatch victory at the last moment... All sorts would come crawling out.

Even this frenzy was only a prelude.

Probably because everyone had understood the meaning beneath the Pontiff's words.

In this succession ceremony, every advantage they had built up beforehand would count for nothing.

Everyone would stand at the same starting line and compete under the same conditions.

Only those with skills of their own would pull ahead...

‘... What is that woman thinking?’

Aiden had gotten involved to stop people from dying. From his perspective, conditions that whipped everyone into this much of a frenzy were hardly welcome.

In that respect, perhaps the man he encountered immediately after the team competition began was the most effective means available to curb that frenzy.

“...”

“...”

Julius and Aiden blinked at one another.

Neither had expected to run into someone like the other right at the start.

“... Why are you alone?”

For one of the central figures in this succession ceremony, Julius was remarkably alone. He was facing Aiden without a single follower at his side.

“I was just on my way to find my companions...”

Julius looked at Aiden awkwardly as he spoke.

Then cold sweat beaded on his forehead when Aiden immediately readied his weapon.

“... Hold on. Are you serious?”

“I'm not actually planning to kill you.”

Aiden continued calmly.

“I figure if I knock you out of the running now, your followers will give up too.”

Even compared with the other factions, the royals following Julius were particularly loyal to him. Seeing him become Pontiff mattered far more to them than winning the position themselves.

If eliminating Julius could thin their numbers, Aiden could prevent a great many unnecessary battles. Simple enough.

“... Tch.”

Realizing Aiden was serious, Julius immediately drew the sword at his waist.

▣

Julius was fairly confident in his combat ability, and the medals that had adorned his clothes before were proof that confidence wasn't for show.

He might not possess Alester's dazzling talent, but abilities honed through every kind of real battle were nothing to scoff at.

His skills lacked depth, but combined, his proficiency in a wide range of fields made him a formidable fighter.

With that in mind:

‘... I'm not going down without a fight.’

He had witnessed Aiden Kellermain's abilities in the preliminary round, but he had already heard that the man's monstrous strength had been possible because he wielded multiple supernatural powers.

Knowing what lay behind that strength made him an opponent Julius could handle. Julius always found a way to win.

Indeed, on his way here, he had easily defeated fifteen or so royals who had attacked him, confident in their own abilities.

He might not be a monster on the level of Alester or Mylène, but he was unquestionably a genius in the top one percent.

At the very least, he should be able to hold his own.

... That had been his thinking a minute ago.

‘This bastard's a monster!’

Sweat streamed down Julius's face as he recovered his deflected sword, his hand still stinging.

An auroral glow clinging to the tip of Aiden Kellermain's sword shone with a spine-chilling light.

He had just deflected Julius's full-strength swing without moving a single step.

The divinity within the liquid metal burned white, with a light Julius had never seen in his life.

“Want to keep going?”

“...”

Aiden's voice was calm as he urged Julius to surrender.

Julius gritted his teeth and gripped his trembling arm.

He had already tried every combat tactic he could think of against Aiden.

In close quarters, as the exchange just now had shown, he was knocked back helplessly the moment their blades met.

At long range, the rate of supernatural-power blasts from that liquid metal overwhelmed him.

Aiden remained rooted to the spot, exerting solid, relentless pressure. He hadn't even employed any particularly impressive moves, yet he countered everything Julius tried as though he already knew what was coming.

‘There's nothing special about him...!’

Was his divinity output exceptional? No.

Then did he possess extraordinary innate strength or physical ability? Not that, either.

At best, his natural fundamentals barely reached the average for a superhuman. Compared with the aforementioned monsters, those people who felt utterly overwhelming, he was practically insignificant.

But when it came to knowing exactly when and where to put his abilities to use, this man was an extraordinarily seasoned fighter.

Ridiculous as it sounded, his combat instincts far surpassed those of Julius, a man with medals of every description whose greatest strength was precisely that!

‘He's strong. I'll have to go all out!’

As that thought crossed Julius's mind, his expression hardened, and an unfamiliar supernatural power flowed over his body.

‘... Runes?’

Aiden narrowed his eyes at the glowing characters inscribed on Julius's body.

Inscription arts: engraving pictographs directly onto one's own spirit to alter the nature of one's supernatural power.

Like the Mana Aiden wielded, copied from Morrigan, this was a power that should have vanished into the mists of history. Its tradition was supposedly extinct.

For a royal to wield something like this was unconventional at best, downright sinister at worst.

Sure enough, everyone had a trump card hidden away.

Alester, Mylène, this man, or any of the other dark horses seriously contending for the succession.

Soon, a strange energy infused Julius's divinity through the glowing characters on his body.

ᛞ <Dagaz>

A rune symbolizing change and destruction imbued the divinity.

Then the divinity flowing over Alester's body took on a new brightness.

It resembled an orb of dharmic light, but felt far fiercer and more destructive.

Divinity was already a power specialized for offense. Now it felt as though raw physical destructive force had been added to its blasts.

The problem was...

-System Message

▶ Activating ‘Skill: Purifier’.

Julius wasn't the only one hiding something.

Julius's eyes widened in shock as the divinity he had fired at Aiden vanished without a trace upon striking the barrier that appeared before him.

‘... Just now.’

It had been annihilated on contact.

He could have assumed the barrier was simply tougher than his attack. But failing to break through for lack of firepower was an entirely different matter from being erased without having the slightest effect.

‘... This bastard, too...!’

He still had countless cards hidden away. Just like Julius!

Julius's expression stiffened at the realization.

“So.”

“Want to keep going?”

“...”

Julius's expression hardened further.

Seeing that, Aiden took a deep breath and readied himself again.

They had each revealed a card. Now it was time for the next—

“I surrender.”

“...?”

“I give up. You win. You can take all my land.”

Aiden frowned at him.

He wanted to confirm he'd heard correctly, but Julius's face wore its usual drooping eyes and languid smile.

As though he truly had no intention of fighting any further.

‘This guy...’

Aiden stared him down.

He had been on the back foot the entire time, but in the end, he hadn't revealed his final hidden move.

As though he would rather die once than reveal any more of what he had up his sleeve.

“...”

This man was hiding something. Definitely.

Something even more secret than the runes he had just revealed.

But instead of pressing him, Aiden simply put his sword away.

So readily that Julius raised an eyebrow in puzzlement as he watched.

“I told you I wasn't here to kill you.”

Aiden answered that look calmly.

“For now, you and your faction dropping out is enough.”

He was curious about Julius's secrets, but conserving his strength to stop the incidents that would occur during the team competition took priority over uncovering them.

If Julius was willing to bow out early like this, all the better.

His reaction must have been quite unexpected. Julius stared at him before answering in bewilderment.

“... Thank you.”

Clearly, they weren't empty words.

-System Message

▶ Target ‘Julius’'s affection increases.

▶ You may copy one skill!

... Oh.

Another big catch.

The runes alone were a type of supernatural power Aiden had never encountered before. He didn't know how effective they would be, but they were certainly worth researching.

“Still, may I ask you one thing?”

As Aiden entertained that thought, Julius spoke.

“I thought there was practically no one among the royals who could match my actual combat experience.”

“That's true, isn't it?”

Indeed, Julius's combat instincts and overall experience deserved full marks. He was a seasoned veteran unmatched among the younger royals his age.

Julius narrowed his eyes at Aiden's matter-of-fact agreement.

“... Then how have you reached a level so far beyond mine? What on earth have you been doing to train?”

Well.

Aiden didn't know what answer he was expecting, but he could only tell him the truth.

“Dying about a hundred thousand times.”

“... What?”

“It's a thing.”

... Really.

There was nothing else he could tell him.

▣

So. Removing the biggest potential source of trouble for the moment was all well and good.

But he immediately ran into another.

“Hello.”

“... Hello.”

Aiden offered a greeting without another word.

Well.

A terrifying sense of danger coursed through his entire body.

His instincts, honed through battle after battle, sounded the alarm about just how dangerous the person before him was.

He could say with certainty that not even Noel or Katya had ever made him feel this threatened with death.

“... Have you been well?”

Yet the tone was utterly peaceful for someone so dangerous.

He knew who was responsible for the scene before him.

Aiden looked at the person awkwardly greeting him with a rigid expression.

“... Hello, Princess Mylène.”

“Mm.”

After a brief hesitation, the armored woman spoke quietly.

“Um, I've been thinking. About what you said before.”

“Pardon?”

“Would you like to come along with me for a while?”

“...”

... Hmm.

Thank goodness Noel and Katya weren't nearby.