Phew!
Michael had one hand on the Nightray, so his other hand was free, and it wasn't the only weapon he had.
He grabbed the scabbard with his left hand and stabbed it into the right flank of Elijah.
“Thwack!”
Elijah didn't fully dodge. He staggered back.
[Oooh! After countless exchanges of blows, Sir Agnito finally landed his first effective strike! If that had been an attacking sword, the battle might have been won already. Too bad!]
Elijah was getting annoyed. Michael immediately launched his next attack.
He aimed the Nightray straight and level and stabbed Elijah in the shoulder. Elijah quickly raised his dagger to deflect the attack.
Michael didn't bother to retrieve his Nightray but kept digging.
Grunt.
The scraping of metal rang painfully in his ears.
When half of the blade's hilt had met the dagger, Michael shifted his attack.
The Nightray tried to slice Elijah horizontally.
It was too much for the one-handed dagger to block. Elijah immediately raised his main gauche to block Nightray's blade.
Then Michael spoke up.
“The magic stone embedded in main-gauche's side is real.”
It was clear now that he had staggered the contact between the dagger and the main gauche to determine the exact effect of the magic stone.
“Dagger is more of a strength builder, and if you want to deplete my mana, the more you can create a stall, the better. main gauche and daggers aren't weapons that specialize in blocking attacks, but somehow they're good at it.”
“You're a smart one.”
Elijah smirked, not really feeling like a failure.
“Well, just because you know doesn't mean you can do anything about it, does it?”
“That's your call.”
Cha-ching!
Michael added more speed and power to his attacks to keep up the pace.
Elijah, for his part, was doing his best to waste as much of his mana as possible.
The result was a battle that was incredibly fast-paced and dazzling to watch from the stands. The people were in awe. Even the moderator was overwhelmed with excitement.
[This! It's hard to even follow with the eyes, it's like watching a battle between the Gods and the whole body!]
“Waaaaaah!”
It was around that time. Elijah slashed horizontally with his reversed dagger. It was a swift attack, but Michael swung his Nightray inward and outward to deflect the dagger's strike. The swing was so powerful that it created a gaping hole.
Seizing the opportunity, Elijah acted instinctively, immediately raising his main gauche to stab at Michael.
Michael's left arm was in front of the sharp tip of the blade. Elijah pushed harder, expecting to feel a thud.
Then it happened.
Clang!
With the sound of metal engaging, the main gauche closed tightly. Elijah's eyes widened.
“What!
His main gauche was not blocked by the blade as usual but by the scabbard.
Michael had deflected Nightray's attack with the scabbard.
At this moment, panic had become a fatal flaw.
“I'm caught.”
Boom!
Nightray's blade slammed into the main gauche's hilt.
Pow!
The broken magic stones turned into powder and scattered.
[Ouch! An unknown magic stone shattered! Whatever it was, it must have been deadly to Lord Halsten!]
It was only natural for Elijah's face to color with rage.
“You bastard!”
“I apologize, I must have been sparing it.”
Of course, there was no remorse in Michael's voice at all.
Still, the situation wasn't all in Michael's favor. A grim sight caught Elijah's eye. The sword energy on his Night Ray flickered unsteadily.
“What is it, you don't have much mana left, do you?”
“You caught me. Pity.”
Michael admitted meekly. He even showed that he was trying to conserve his mana by withdrawing his sword.
The magic stone was shattered, but it had served its purpose. Elijah laughed gleefully.
“Hahaha! So much for your bluff, Michaelis Agnito!”
Elijah charged straight at him with a tremendous burst of sword energy.
[No, what's going on here?! Lord Halsten suddenly goes on the offensive!]
Of course, it wasn't an honest contest of skill. Rather, he was trying to overwhelm him with an unbeatable amount of mana.
“Cheating.”
Michael raised his scabbard in place of his sword and blocked.
Kwagwagwang!
A crystallized film spread across his vision, shielding him. main gauche and the dagger were blocked, unable to penetrate the crystalline barrier.
A confrontation ensued.
“Yes, you still had Aegis, but for how long?”
“The mana stored in the magic stone will run out soon enough, and then I'll have to inject your mana.”
As he spoke, Elijah intensified his sword. The crystalline membrane that formed the crystal field began to crumble from the outside. In the area outside the crystal field, the ground was caving in, creating craters.
“Haha, that's the last straw!”
Michael frowned wordlessly.
[Lord Agnito, why are you just letting this deadly confrontation continue without counterattacking? Why aren't you using that Aegis attack you showed us yesterday? That's not like Lord Agnito!]
“Woooooooo!”
The unsuspecting crowd booed.
“You heard me, the crowd hates to be bored. You're going to lose, but at least make one last move.”
“It's not like we're going to win by stalling, so why not give them something to applaud on our way out?”
Elijah wanted Michael to put the final nail in the coffin, just like yesterday. It was a ploy to quickly drain him of his mana to the last drop.
“Do it, do it, do it!”
Elijah's lemon-colored eyes glowed maniacally with excitement. As if on cue, the golden aura intensified even more.
[Lord Agnito! Holding out is not your strong suit!]
It was a bad number, to be precise. At this rate, Elijah's sword energy would strike Michael's entire body when the match was over.
If he wanted to finish the match with his limbs intact, he'd have to shake Elijah off.
Michael let out a sigh.
“Okay, okay.”
Michael summoned all the mana he had left in his body. The silver-gray sword of Aegis pushed back the sword of Elijah
Kwah!
A gust of wind swept through the arena in the aftermath of the explosion.
[Oooh! It's that attack from yesterday! The explosion was huge, as both sides had exerted a terrifying amount of strength].
It was a trick that had already been shown to him once before, but Elijah was no slouch like Sylvestian, and he landed with a glide to a distant safety zone and raised his head. His lemon-colored eyes glared through the dust.
“Nice trick, now let's go home a sore loser!”
With the power of the ventilation magic, the dust clouds quickly thinned. A human figure began to appear in the center of the giant crater. It was then that Elijah smiled his council smile and imbued the main gauche with black energy.
Elijah's eyes widened. His body, about to lunge, went rigid.
His eyes widened in horror as he turned to see Michael running a hand through his bangs.
“You've changed again.”
At that moment, there was a commotion on the other side.
[The reappearance of Lord Agnito, seemingly unharmed... ah, no, what is that?!]
“Uh, uh, is that Sir Agnito's head?”
“Boo, pink?”
“What? Pink?! Where, where?”
Suddenly, the faithful in the audience turned into a frenzy, just in time for the clouds that had been blocking the sun to part, allowing light to pour into the center of the arena.
The emcee's mouth dropped open when he saw the color of Michael's hair glistening in the natural light.
[Oh, my God! Lord Agnito has transformed, and his hair is a blossoming pink!]
“Waaaaaah! It's the best! Pink is the best!”
“The knight is pink! Sir Agnito changes to pink!”
“Pink wins!”
It was an enthusiastic response, but Michael's face turned sour.
“Ha.”
He didn't like this hair color. He'd hoped that only his Princess would see it, but here it was, in front of all the royalty, nobility, and 100,000 subjects.
From the looks of it, it was going to be talked about all over the empire, just like Sylvestian's silver hair.
At this point, Michael's entire body began to throb with an almost deafening life. The target, naturally, was the culprit: Elijah.
“You're going to have to let me see this hair color after all..."
Michael's voice was low and dreary like he was trying to seep into the underworld.
“It's annoying, so let's get this over with, Elijah Halsten.”
“What are you standing around for? Come on.”
“If you won't, I'm coming.”
Michael was undaunted by the fact that his mana was depleted. His movements were faster and bolder than ever. It was as if he'd used a Berserker magic stone.
“Hmph.”
Elijah sucked in a breath. Michael had gotten right up to his nose in the blink of an eye. Even if he'd been sober, he wouldn't have been able to react.
“Your mana, I'll take some.”
Instead of swinging his sword, Michael squeezed Elijah's left shoulder. He immediately cast Mana Drain.
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