"[The Warden of Justice] B-Tier vs [The Stardust Weaver] C-Tier," Agatha stated as a few gasps could be heard from the students on the stands. Some from amusement and others from gasps of horror. "Please withhold the rules as stated in class, and from the rules brought up on the board if you need a reminder."

 

Agatha then pointed with her hand to the billboard that showed the fighters, only this time also showed their [Shift] identity and the rules again. Neither Akira nor Elizabeth turned to see them, Elizabeth glaring at Akira, and Akira leering at Elizabeth.

 

Neither seemed to take notice of those around them, so Agatha only sighed once more and said "Fight!" and then immediately afterward she shone in bright light as her witch outfit changed into one more stylized, it turned into the time of clothing a royal mage would wear. A black night dress that seemed dotted with a whole constellation on the dark fabric, her witch hat had turned more stylized and regal and she wore elegant jewelry, but what was more obvious were her eyes.

 

They had turned purple, as if to symbolize how pure her mana presence was becoming.

 

But Elizabeth didn't take too much notice of this, nor did Akira for that matter.

 

"We can play this easy or we can play this hard, what will it be? Lizzy?" Said the black-haired [Hero] as he looked up and down Elizabeth.

 

"Those words I say them back to you, release Rena from her suffering, and [Purge] the [Leadership], [Heroic Charisma] and multiple [Slave] skills you have, leave to not return ever. And we can maybe try to pretend you don't exist." Elizabeth fought back.

 

This made Akira's demeanor change as his eyes turned serious "[Identify]" and intoned the name of her former skill.

 

She felt the mana wave hit her straight on, but the mana was pitiful at best since the [Hero] hadn't bothered to either level up the skill or allot stat points on the status. So she simply rebuffed it.

 

"Was that all? I didn't even need to use [Privacy]." Elizabeth smirked as she pretended to dust the dirt from her shoulder with disdain. "So? What will it be? The Easy way? Or the hard way?"

 

And taking this chance Elizabeth fired back the same words Akira had said to her. For his part, Akira's eyes only narrowed more and more, and she felt the mana within him start to thrum with power.

 

"How dare you..." He started as a distortion in the air behind him started to expand, it looked as if someone had thrown a stone in a calm lake, as if waves in the space seemed to be formed behind him. "...A mere side character....a toy to be enjoyed...to mock me? ME?!?"

 

And then, for half a second, Elizabeth could swear that his eyes had changed from his black color to red.

 

"[Hero's Armory: Hrunting]" Akira intoned as behind him those distortions seemed to focus on an array of multiple metallic points coming from empty air. "[The Sword that never fails.]" Of course, these tips of swords didn't say as such.

 

And with a flick of his wrist, they got shot at Elizabeth with amazing speed. There were about fifteen such swords flying toward her, each an exact replica of the next, all with ill-boding patterns in red on the side of their blade.

 

But she didn't have time to think about it, nor about the weird red glint she had seen in Akira's eyes, instead, she prepared her defense, it wasn't something complicated nor hard. "[Rhongomyniad Units Online]" She activated the inbuilt system in her [Shift].

 

That was all she did while jumping backward as she turned on her [Flight] unit and hovered on as her bits flew straight at the swords. They turned on a yellowish energy barrier to try and stop the swords, half of them managed to either deviate or straight up stop them, but some managed to past her impromptu defense.

 

To those she raised her arms and fired the cannons on her arms, most of these were preloaded with her spare [Mana Regeneration] so she wasn't losing anything on it.

 

"I thought it would be harder to fight a [True Hero]," Elizabeth said as she stopped the last sword, it fell onto the arena floor and turned into motes of light. Mere replicas, she had studied some legends while preparing for this.

 

Since Akira's [Hero Armory] seemed to summon weapons from ancient heroes...Or attempted to do so at least, since the ones he had summoned while seemed to be in line with the story of the object...They failed at bringing the more [Fantasy] aspect of the weapon in question.

 

The Spear he used against Rossie was of the right design and materials, but didn't live up to the story it held in the media, the shield he had used to defend itself was the same. And now these swords...

 

"For being a Sword that [Never failed], it failed quite well didn't?" Elizabeth mocked Akira as she dismissed the robot drone units that had been destroyed or damaged. They re-materialized as part of her [Shift], but were mere decorations.

 

"YOU DARE MOCK ME?!?" Akira screamed while pointing at her with his sword, the sword started shining with golden light, but to her [Dragon Eyes], that light wasn't golden at all and seemed more black and murky.

 

She had noticed that most of the people around shone with different colors and textures under her [Eyes], some held a degree of color depending on their nature of course.

 

Rena for example shone in red warm light, but her color was muted under a thick coat of black sludge.

 

Michael shone in blue cold light, not hostile cold, but more of a refreshing cold you wanted under a summer night.

 

Rossie shone in pastel pink light, but hers was a color that seemed to be full of thorns hiding a sweet scent.

 

And then it was Akira...He was bathed in a sludge-like dark color that seemed to irradiate and stick to those around him, she could see evidence of his mana in some girls on the stands. And while most males seemed to be absent of it, those that seated near the girls affected were under his influence to some degree.

 

"I'M THE ONE AND TRUE HERO HERE! NOT YOU WANNABES! I WAS CHOSEN!" He started raving on about his place, "I WILL SAVE THE WORLD!"

 

And as if that wasn't enough, he started shining with the usual golden light that one expected a true [Hero] to have, even if to her eyes it wasn't golden at all and was more of a sludge-like dark.

 

"[True Hero Shift - Envoy of the gods]!" Said Akira as his whole body was covered in a golden-like armor. She noticed that under her eyes a chain made of black mana extended from his right arm straight towards Rena.

 

"[Mistress there is an unknown mana siphon stuck into Hero Cadet Watanabe Rena, she seems to be fueling some kind of mana matrix. We can't interrupt nor cut the connection, it seems to be a one-way-only connection with Watanabe Rena providing 99% of her mana as of right now.]" Her Royal mages reported.

 

That [Chain] seemed awfully familiar, it looked like the one she shared with Rossie, but...Unlike theirs, this one seemed to be one way only...One way only to Akira that is.

 

And unlike hers that connected at her [Heart], Akira's connected to his right hand...The bastard didn't even make a proper connection.

 

"SEE? THIS IS THE [PROOF] OF MY CLAIM! I HAVE A [Second Form]!" Akira said as he pranced around the Arena floor, as if everyone needed to see him. "I will grant you one last chance Lizzy, [Kneel]."

 

He said as if it was the most obvious thing. As if it was the right thing. She even felt a new mana thread try to form her way, this one from his left hand. "I may even [Allow] you to play with Rena...Hell, I may even let you keep her as a [Pet] like what you have with Lina."

 

...A pet?

 

He thought her relationship with Rossie was that of an owner and a [Pet]?

 

"Hahahahahah." Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh, "I had wondered what you would say, what would you try to do when trying to get under my skin."

 

She felt the mana thread try to worm into her [Heart] as she was speaking, and with a flick of her will she [DEVOURED] it, her mana ripped it apart and feasted on it, then tried to follow the line straight to its source.

 

"GAH!" And it was a quick reaction from Akira's sword that severed it as her mana was closer to getting to him. "...what are you?"

 

He asked her as he nursed his left hand, "Me? I have been many things." Elizabeth said as she landed on the arena floor once more, "I was the daughter of a world-class model and an Engineer of a power plant."

 

That had been an interesting combination her parents had for normal civilian life. "I was the daughter of a top-class S-tier Hero and Arch wizard-class Magical Girl." Not that her Mother was stuck at that tier, but mostly because she didn't want to deal with otherworldly entities, aka gods or devils.

 

"In another world and another life, I was the [Scion] of a multi-world company that encroached the whole world..." Of course, Akira had no idea what she was speaking about, or so she thought, but his face said otherwise. "And then in a parallel universe of this world...I was the daughter of the most powerful powered couple to ever exist."

 

Not that she knew how that life went about, since [Alice] never shared too much of that, even if she implied that she was the version of her that was the daughter of Echidna.

 

"But here? Right now?" Elizabeth smiled as her shadows started to expand all around them. "I'm [The D̴͓̟̪͓̘̼̑̀̓̊̀͘͠ͅE̷̢̛̛͈̬͎͔͍͍͈͓̤̬͉͒̈͊̄̐̌̇̂͒͘̕͠V̶̧͔̺̤͚͇̤̭̖͕̘̻̜̍̾̋͝͠O̸̻̗̮̹͒́̍̓͋̊͌̌͊̋͒̃̓̾͠U̶̧̧̠̻̱̭̠͈͉͔̣̭̓͗̊̏̈́̍̆̓͆͝R̵̜̺̔̆E̶̟̳͇̗̭̟̤̳̟͓̝̝͊͐͒̄̍̅͘R̵̡͇̘̰̹̭̣̘̽̀̈͜] and your time is running out ♪."

 

All around them the shadows rose and enclosed them in a dark sphere, from the outside it was your average dark barrier, but on the inside... Thousands upon thousands of azure sky eyes opened and they all looked at Akira.

 

"...So you weren't a mere NPC but [Evil]." Akira said as he turned around and saw all the eyes and dragon maws surrounding them, "...You will need [Punishment], but it's okay...I will REDEEM you. It is my job as a [True Hero] after all."

 

And while Elizabeth hadn't changed her [Shift] like Akira had, she had fully opened her [Eyes], a azure blue flame had started burning in her eyes and they turned from those of a human, to those that resembled more a [Dragon].

 

Her [Heart] had started beating faster too, and her mana was flooding her veins, she could feel her skin cracking under her armor too, and then mending itself back as her [Body Tempering] and [Endurance] skills started working overtime.

 

"[Hero's Armory: Excalibur]" Akira intoned as a new distortion in space manifested and his katana changed from a traditional Izanami sword to a traditional knight's sword.

 

From the single curved blade form into a double-edged sword, it shrank a few centimeters too and its handle turned from an ornamented to a more practical one.

 

It seemed incredibly mundane for a sword with that kind of name, and she found that funny in some degree, even if she shouldn't, as her next course of action was more dangerous.

 

"[Mistress, no further mana incursion has been detected within DOMAIN it seems that the teachers will let this go. There are some passive detection spells that feed the current life force of Akira and yourself, but those seem to be easy enough to hijack when needed.]"

 

So she could theoretically kill Akira and disguise it as either an accident or a mistake, and she would be burned for that in her file...Or not, since Akira could get away with raping women she should be able to get away with murder. And if anything, Rossie was a proof that you could get away with that so long you were valuable enough.

 

So she needed to prove her value huh?

 

Time to showcase her value then.

 

Akira was probably getting by with his [Skill] that allowed him to summon allegedly legendary weaponry and armors from legends, even if their appearance was substandard and their power was dependent on Akira's overpowered stats thanks to his [I'm Justice] skill.

 

"[KNEEL!]" And then after saying as such Akira swung his sword down. He was far away from her, the swing would never hit anything besides the air. What was he even trying to do? Wind pressure never hurted anyone unless you got at least 20 levels or 100 stat points above the other in strength vs constitution. Or whatever one used as a defense.

 

This wasn't a children's book-

 

"[DODGE!]" The order came almost as soon as Akira's downward swing started to shine in her eyes. The murky mana-like substance sticking to his sword started expanding in a beam-like energy.

 

The bastard was projecting his mana into the sword and then shooting it as if nothing, swords didn't work like that, and aura blade didn't work like that. It wasn't even a real thing unless you had a [Skill] that made it work like that. And Akira didn't have one.

 

So how had he done that?

 

[Skills], his godgranted godbullshit skill!

 

"[Shadow Puppeteer]" Elizabeth intoned as she activated her trump card for this whole event. She felt the influence of the skill embedded into her body and with a flick of her will her body gracefully danced around the attack.

 

She felt herself do a step back in a diagonal as the thruster in her armor started firing up granting her more speed, the attack of Akira was not only fast and sharp, but she could see the immense amount of mana packed into it, she wasn't sure how he was doing that. He shouldn't have nearly enough [Mana] to do it.

 

"[Appraisal]" Elizabeth intoned as she directed the skill towards Akira.

 

He only smirked at her "That will no-" and then his face fell, it turned into an ugly scowl as he glared her way "How did you get past my [Divine Heroic Defenses]?"

 

Elizabeth for her part only focused on what her skill was telling her, she had used the shadow scouts that had wormed themselves into Akira's Shadow, his murky mana didn't seem to focus too much there, so for now her scouts were okay...For now.

"You increased the amount of [Intelligence] and yet you don't know?" Taunted Elizabeth as she saw his new status sheet, he had pumped his constitution too. That may be a problem, she had expected him to waste more points in other parts. Just like how he had wasted 100 extra points in his [Agility] that was probably his ego being struck by how fast Rena could move.

 

Or going about how she had gracefully dodged his attack.

 

"[IDENTIFY]" Akira intoned while slamming all the extra mana he had gained into the skill.

 

It turned once more into a murky-like thread of mana that shot towards her, and just like those before *[B̸̡̨͕̲̪͉̜̞̐͂̓̓̄̽̀͋́͗̈̄͘̕͜͝Į̵͕̠̭͎͖̯͈̜̘̘͓̀͌̎̏̑̐́̕͝Ţ̸̧͚͕̥̼͇̹̯̪̣̳̠̏E̵̛͈̻̠̘̜̭͐̽̈́͛̀̽̉͂̿̍̔͝͝͝ͅ]̙* she allowed her mana to retaliate as she funneled the [Devourer] within. And as before Akira recoiled as the skill backlash hit him head on.

 

"...Aha!" Akira exclaimed as he smirked at her, "I finally understand it, you aren't an NPC at all are you?"

 

Had this [Idiot] finally got it? That he wasn't the protagonist of a story? That this was the real world? That the girls he was raping were real people that suffered and whose lives he had tarnished?

 

"You...are a [Player] like me aren't you?" Akira said convinced of his reasoning, "You gotta tell that sooner man, for a second I had thought that you were a girl or something."

 

...What?

 

"Man, I know some had kinks like those, but had I known you were a man on the inside I wouldn't have tried to get into your panties, unless you want that is. I don't mind it, the exterior is appetizing enough." Akira smirked at her, as if he had discovered the most important secret of all. As if he had [Won] already.

 

"...Yeah no, you don't have any functioning brain cell in that do you?" Elizabeth asked as she did a quick check of her mana reserves, making sure the murky mana of Akira was being digested and analyzed as they fought.

 

"...haaah." Akira sighed as his grip on the sword was reinforced, "I was thinking...you know, maybe I can let you go. If we both were players, the world is full of fucking stupid NPCs as is. You are good-looking enough to spare your [Disrespect] of a [True Hero] like me...But even if you are a [Player]...No, especially if you are a [Player]. I will [Break] you, [Pound you] into [Submission], and make you regret ever [Crossing] me...Not that there will be something inside that [Empty blonde head] of yours."

 

Elizabeth wasn't sure what was worse of this, the fact that he [THOUGHT] himself some kind of chosen one (Even if he technically was one), or if he thought that she was one too (Even if she technically also was one...Even if only because her parents had become [Gods] and thrown their blessings her way).

 

And that way to refer to himself, [Player], did he think that this world was within a [Game] or something? Granted her Mother had spoken about worlds that had leaked into other planes as [Inspiration] and in turn in those worlds the same history of these planes existed as a narrative, be it a game, book, or animated series. But did he think that those worlds existed because someone could tap into the [History] of those planes?

 

That was stupid, that was beyond stupid, a [Plane] didn't exist because someone could tap into their [History], those people could tap into the [History] because the [Plane] existed in the first place!

 

"You will [Fail]," Elizabeth said as the shadows that had covered the whole place started to stir under her command, Akira only eyed them and grunted, emitting a mana wave that created a circle under his feet where those shadows couldn't get close. "Not because I'm one of those [Players] you speak about, not because I claim to be a [God-chosen Hero]. No...You will [Fail] because you pointed your dirty mana Rossie's way. You will [Fail] because you abused your powers...And more importantly, you will fail for one very important reason."

 

Elizabeth had been building to this important fact, something that could get Akira to lose control over his temper, she needed him to over-commit, she needed him to not think, just so she could [Steal Rena] from him long enough to [Help] her.

 

Even if the red-haired girl didn't want it she would do it...And now that Rena had actually come to her senses (Even if for a moment) and asked for her [Help]. Yeah, she would do it.

 

"And why would a [God-Chosen Hero] lose to someone that claims nothing like you?" Akira smirked at her, "You do know a [Hero] always wins, and an [God-chosen] always is the [Protagonist] of their tale. No matter the world."

 

"You will lose because while you are [The Promised Hero] you also are [The one who ran away]." Elizabeth smiled sweetly as her words trailed and Akira's face morphed from a sneer of victory into pure hatred.

 

And with it, his mana presence, his [Skills], everything of him flared more strongly than ever.

 

And this in turn allowed Elizabeth's [Eyes] to see clearly Akira for what he was. She had finally managed to see the [Origin] of someone else, the more detailed one.