Chapter 133.2 : VS Bertram Kingdom Strongest

.. .. ..

Though Rio was extremely cautious so as to not involve Celia and co behind him, there was something slightly weighing in his mind.

Alfred didn’t take the initiative and go on the offense.

Either he not taking any initiative to attack Celia and co or it might just be that he had his hands full in dealing with Rio’s onslaught. They seem to be exchanging numerous slashes on the surface but, Alfred looked as if he still had some leeway.

But in that case, it was more to Rio’s advantage. He decided to give his all in order for them to escape safely from this place so that they won’t be affected by the aftermath of the battle.

After such fierce exchange of slashes, they stopped at the same time on their tracks for a while and started again.

And then, after tens of seconds of such a fierce exchange, Celia and co had more or less escaped from the danger zone of their battle.

And then, Charles who was looking at these series of events from a distance,

「Ceh, Alfred is useless. Well whatever, let him restrain that guy while we’re secure her highness. The rest of you follow me.」

He then ordered the rest of the subordinate knights . Charles and co then began moving by circling around Alfred and Rio.

Rio sent a sidelong glance at Charles and co’s movement. Alfred using the gap created when Rio looked away sent a slash from the side.

But, Rio stooped over to avoid Alfred’s strike by a hairbreadth while at the same time poured his magical power into his sword.

At that instant the magic formation that was carved on the body of the sword let out a faint light as a response to Rio’s magical power.

「M-MOVE OUT OF THAT PLACE! 」

Alfred who quickly sensed the change in Rio’s sword immediately shouted at Charles.　And with his body still stooping down, he aimed his slash towards Charles and co. Rio slashed at empty air and yet a storm was created, devastating the surroundings along with his slash.

Charles and co who couldn’t react in time was blown away several tens of metres by that storm. Though it didn’t cause too much damage to them, it was enough to immobilise them.

(I used too little magical power huh.)

The power of spirit arts depended on the amount of magical power. It seemed that he put insufficient power into th sword, caused by him making use of the opening after Alfred’s slash to pour his magical power.

Nevertheless, he managed to stop them. Charles and co fell and were injured due to the crash during their fall.

「Stay put if you still want to keep your life! 」

Alfred warned Charles and co.

「Na! 　KUH.......」

That moment, Charles’ face turned red due to anger. “It’s your job to stop that man right?.”, so he thought.

But, he didn’t have any power left to say that and was unable to get involved anymore.

Charles looked at Christina who had already fled from that place with a vexed expression. And then, his gaze returned to Alfred and Rio again.

Their combat was still as fierce as before. There was no leeway to force through.

No, it would be more appropriate to say that they were just testing the waters during their previous exchange and in fact the two of them were still raising their gear. After Celia and co had reached a safe distance, Rio gradually increased the degree of his strengthening bit by bit, and the same thing was being done by Alfred.

The field of their battle was also wide so they gradually moved from their original place while still locked in combat.

But, a short time later,

「........ No way?　Alfred is...... Pushed back? 」

Charles muttered while chewing his lips.

Yes, the progress of the battle started to tilt in Rio’s favor.

Rio made the best use of movement with wind spirit arts on the vast plain field.

Since this movement skill had a weak point, namely “it’s too fast to the point of lacking in flexibility”, thus it exhibits it’s true worth when he has more space to move around, allowing him to keep distance during the fight.

Therefore, having to fight in a vast plain without anything to hinder his movements, Rio started overwhelming Alfred with his speed.

Though Alfred managed to avoid several fatal hits due to his own abilities and powerful body strengthening magic from his demon sword, Alfred kept getting into dangerous situations since a while ago. Nevertheless, he was yet to lose his fighting spirit.

Rio also didn’t let his guard down. He harbored a sense of respect towards Alfred who was still patiently waiting for an opening to make a comeback despite being in a disadvantageous situation.

Rio moved around as if to distract Alfred and then suddenly came to attack from his side at times.

But, Alfred’s awesome reflex allowed him to catch Rio’s attack on time. He stooped over to the side, avoiding Rio’s sword by hair breadth and then sent a counter while still in a disadvantageous stance towards Rio.

Rio promptly avoided Alfred’s counter elegantly by back stepping. But, Alfred’s sword suddenly filled with magical power and fired a light wave slash at Rio.

「!!!!! ? 」

Rio’s eyes opened slightly, he then injected his magical power into his own sword and mowed down the incoming sword wave.

(It’s the power of that demon sword huh.)

It changed the magical power inserted into the sword to heat energy and fires it as a slash attack. The power of that attack just now was slightly above lower rank attack magic but, Rio believed that the power would rise according to the amount of magic power injected into the sword.

The next moment, Alfred swung his sword so many times as if trying to cut the space. Then, numerous slashes of waves of light were fired towards Rio. Rio accelerated with his wind spirit arts and escaped from that spot immediately.

Though the slashes of light came at him lightning fast, it wasn’t even able to put a scratch on Rio.

After firing several slashes, Alfred who didn’t want to waste his power stopped his attack. Maybe because of that, Rio suddenly closed in towards Alfred right from the front.

The two of them readied their swords and put more power on the grip of their swords while yelling at the top of their lungs. Maybe because both of their sword were injected with magical power, it cast off a faint light.

In a flash, both sides swung their sword and their figures overlapped. A shockwave resulted from their clash rattling their surroundings as their swords were locked with each other.

Then, Rio swung his sword upwards and fired a squall with spirit arts and sent Alfred’s body high towards the sky. That height was close to hundred metres.

「Muh? 」

Alfred was slightly bewildered by the out of place sense of separating from the ground.

If he fell to the ground at such a height, no matter how many times he strengthened his body, he won’t be able to escape from the severe impact. Let alone injured, he might even die. And to avoid that, he had to fire a slash of light towards the ground moment he was about to land.

But by doing so will inevitably create a gap the moment he landed on the ground. And doing so when facing against Rio would be a fatal mistake that must be paid with his life.

（It’s do or die.）

But, despite the impending danger, Alfred calmly finished his calculation and decided to bet his life in the do-or-die last chance. He grasped his sword as he kept injecting more magical power into it.

Alfred’s sword started shining even stronger than before.

（That’s............. Oh crap!）

Rio frowned in seeing that. Alfred was injecting too much of his magical power to offset his falling momentum during the landing.

Alfred’s eyes was focused on nothing but Rio’s figure. Where he was going to aim his attack was clear.

（I’ll meet your attack from the front.）

Though he might be able to avoid that strike by running from that place, doing so would make him miss the gap created during Alfred’s landing which will return them to the starting point again. Rio decided to end their battle with the next attack. Rio poured in an extraordinary amount of magical power into his sword which then started to emit a brilliant light.

Both of them were grasping tightly on the handle of their swords with both their hands while aiming for their opponent and released their attack. Alfred’s sword released a torrent of light but, a devastating tornado was being released from Rio’s sword.

The next moment, their attacks clashed against each other causing a storm and a gigantic explosion of light.

「Kyaa」

Celia and Christina who were watching over the battle from a safe distance screamed as they were blown off by the wave.

（W-What a battle! This is......... Rio’s power.)

Celia who saw Rio fighting seriously for the first time was looking at the battle, completely captivated by it.

Rio was once being looked down in the royal academy for his inability to use magic.

But, such an evaluation was meaningless. In reality, Rio was fighting against the best knight in the kingdom.

historical

「Amakawa-dono.......... Amakawa-dono is safe, right? 」

Christina muttered so in a worried tone while looking at the vicinities of the battle. Because the storm that blossomed in the center of that battle had given raise to a cloud of dust that blocked their view.

「Maybe........ Haruto is..................... Haruto’s sword can manipulate the wind, so he should be fine in the middle of that storm. AH..........」

When Celia replied so, the smoke and sandstorm that was swirling at the center of the battle rapidly cleared up. It cleared to the point of being able to see the situation.

And what they saw was the fallen Alfred who was no longer holding his sword and an uninjured Rio.