Ryu had thought it was fine to lose the mock battle against Iraira.

He might be seen through if he deliberately lost, but if he lost giving it his all, there would be no complaints.

But Iraira's swordsmanship, beyond his expectations, had piqued Ryu's interest. He felt it would be a waste to end the mock battle so easily. He wanted to have more fun.

Ryu, having unsealed his time magic, was already in a state of peak concentration.

Time stopped.

Ryu had dodged the large sword, which was swinging down from above and to his left, by leaning his upper body forward. But Iraira's thrust with the small sword was already following his movement. It was about to hit Ryu's throat.

From Ryu's perspective, it seemed like a nonsensical attack to deliver the large sword swing and the thrust in rapid succession at that speed. But it was effective for dealing with people who couldn't move fast enough. Those who couldn't do unnatural things effortlessly were easy to kill. It was the strong who could make strained, unnatural movements effortlessly through intense training.

Ryu deflected the small sword, and time resumed.

"!?"

Iraira had a look of shock. She was certain that her sword had hit Ryu. The timing had been perfect. But there was no resistance.

But she immediately reacted, pulling back and creating distance, as if to guard against a counter attack. Her response was impressive.

"...I see. You have some strange skill..."

Iraira couldn't understand exactly what had happened. But she was sure it was an unavoidable attack. The fact that it had been evaded meant that he had used some kind of supernatural skill.

"Time-out. Can I use another sword?"

Dual wielding is stronger than single-sword wielding if...you can handle a sword with one hand like you can with both hands. I get it.

And Ryu had incredible strength and arm strength. So Ryu thought that if he used two swords, he wouldn't be at a disadvantage in terms of number of attacks.

"Hmph, go ahead. But have you ever used dual wielding before?"

"No, this is my first time."

"You're underestimating me. Dual wielding takes long training, it's not something you can just do on a whim!"

"I know that."

But even as he said that, Ryu went and got another practice wooden sword and got into a fighting stance.

"Hmph, you'll regret not staying with one sword!"

Iraira was irritated that Ryu had so easily started using dual wielding without any experience. She started attacking.

But Ryu's two swords blocked and deflected all her attacks. And his movements, clumsy at first, gradually became more refined.

It was impossible to catch Ryu, who had given up on self-control and was using his abilities to the fullest. The accelerate pedal made time slow down (from his perspective). He even stopped it sometimes. And he was reading her mind and predicting her next attack with the Divine Eye.

But the more he observed her calmly, the more he realized that Iraira's attacks were incredibly refined. It was a series of attacks, impossible to avoid with normal skills, perfectly timed and positioned.

Her attacks were varied and cunning. She'd pretend to strike from the top right, but would come from the bottom left. She'd pretend to come from the bottom right, but would come from the top left. She would attack from the farthest, diagonal angle, making it hard to see her attack as she approached.

From above, below, horizontally, thrusts. Feints, simultaneous dual-sword attacks. There were even attacks where one sword assisted the other.

And the timing of her attacks was impeccable. Even with foresight and mind reading, sometimes she would strike at a perfect time, making it unavoidable.

It was a masterful technique, requiring him to occasionally stop time to handle it.

But after dozens of exchanges, Iraira's repertoire began to run out. Ryu had been observing her and now started to counterattack.

But that just gave Iraira another option in her attack - countering from a defensive position.

She could block and counterattack simultaneously, a technique where defense and attack were united using dual swords. This seemed to be her true forte.

But that was a technique for dealing with single-sword wielders. Now Ryu also had two swords. He could match each of her swords with one of his, so there wouldn't be a shortage of attacks.

And it seemed that Ryu had greater physical strength. He could block Iraira's powerful strikes with fewer movements.

Of course, there were dual wielders in this world. Iraira had prepared for them, naturally. But dual wielding and two-sword style are two different things. Iraira didn't have much experience fighting against a true dual wielder, someone who used two swords like her.

She didn't have many dual-wielding techniques in her repertoire, and the attack and defense gradually came to a stalemate.

Ryu also had no repertoire since he was using dual wielding for the first time. He was stuck. It was two swords against two swords, an equal number of attacks.

...What if two swords weren't enough? What if he used a third?

But she was thinking the same thing. As he was about to block her swords and kick her in the exposed stomach, Iraira's foot came out first.

She kicked Ryu's knee, which he had lifted to prepare for the kick, and was sent flying backward.

Ryu had a habit of using gravity magic to increase his weight while fighting. It made sense that the lighter person would be knocked back if they hit each other with the same force.

Next Episode

Iraira: "Who are you? This is starting to make me mad!"

Stay tuned!