"Now tell me who you are," Julien said as he stood up again as if nothing had happened.
Even Ryder was stunned to see how easily this guy shrugged off the attack. It was as if he didn't care that he was attacked. He didn't even realize that he was attacked, it seemed.
Instead, he was more curious about Ryder.
"Tell me. Who are you?" he asked again as he didn't get the answer the first time.
Ryder didn't answer. Instead, it was the tree creature that once again reached Julien before he attacked.
This time Julien didn't resist either as he let himself be attacked. The attack once again hit him, making him fly far again, but Julien again stood up like before.
He seemed carefree as he again asked, "Come on! Who are you? Are you one of us? Or someone's pet?"
The tree-being again reached Julien as he attacked. This time, however, Julien didn't get hit. Instead, he gently raised one of his fingers. He seemed to have raised his finger slowly, but it also seemed too fast at the same time. There was something really mystical about his attack.
Ryder didn't understand what was happening? Why was his movement so mysterious?
It wasn't just his movement but his strength as well. A single finger of his managed to block the attack of the giant tree creature.
"Two times is enough. Go play somewhere else," Julien said as he used his other hand to catch what seemed like the arm of this creature.
Holding the arms, Julien swung the tree creature before he tossed it away.
The being that Ryder had created flew far away before it crashed on the ground.
"You still didn't answer. Who are you?" Julien again asked.
Ryder was stunned. This was the first time where he was in a direct battle, and he was surprised at the strength he was seeing. This strength was so powerful. It was just like the strength he possessed.
"You wanted to know the chances of your victory?'"
Just as Ryder was standing frowning, he heard Janus's voice.
"Yeah," Ryder replied.
If you just keep standing like that, the chances of your victory are going to be zero," Janus replied.
"You're right. I can't use toys on him. I need to give it my all!" Ryder said, frowning.
He had decided. He wasn't going to treat it as a real-world battle. He was going to treat it like he was in a game since that's what it was. Each death resulted in a respawn back at the village, and he needed to defeat the boss monster.
"I am Ryder Flynn, the person who is going to kill you. But don't worry. It doesn't matter even if I tell you all this since either you'll die today, or you won't remember anything when I go back. As for why I'm here, I guess it should be easy to understand," Ryder said, smiling.
Dark clouds had started covering the sky under the effect of Ryder's skill. It also started raining soon after. It wasn't ordinary rain, though. It was working to make Ryder stronger while making Julien weaker.
Julien started stepping towards Ryder, not seeming to be in any kind of hurry.
"You're here to kill me?" Julien asked again. "May I ask why you want to kill me?"
" You misunderstood me. I don't want to kill you. You're wrong there. It's not about want but about need! I need to kill you!" Ryder declared as he raised his right hand in the sky.
His clothes were already wet by now, but he didn't care. As Ryder raised his hand, water started collecting around his hand, taking the shape of a weapon.
It didn't take long before it became a bow, made entirely of water. A string of water also appeared like magic. Strangely enough, it acted like a working bow.
" You really aren't human, are you? But you're not one of us seven that came on a trial. Are you something like a wild card entry?" He asked, frowning. "Is your trial to kill us?"
"Wild card? I guess you can call me that," Ryder answered as he raised his bow before he also made an arrow from the water.
One after another, Ryder fired tens of such arrows. He knew that Julien wouldn't die or be hurt from these arrows, but he had a different thought in his mind.
Since the water of the rain was not normal water, it could effectively decrease the strength of Julien just like the rain did. That's why he wanted to attack with the arrow.
" It's alright then. Since you have a valid reason, I allow you to fight me," Julien said, nodding.
He didn't even bother dodging the arrow and let them hit him.
"Come out, Micaster!" He said softly.
He stomped his foot on the ground, making a shining circle appear on the ground, which seemed like a formation.
A mysterious sword started coming out of the formation, which was caught by Julien.
" A weapon?" Ryder asked, frowning.
It didn't seem like a normal weapon either.
"Is this something like the holy sword?" Ryder muttered, frowning.
He didn't feel intimidated and kept trying to attack, again and again, using the special arrows. Each arrow decreased the strength of Julien even more.
He wanted to make him as weak as he could before it was the final clash time.
Unfortunately, his plans seemed to be destroyed immediately. As soon as Julien caught the sword, he raised the sword towards the sky.
Tens of golden swords appeared above Ryder's heads, hanging like they could cut him in half.
"I allowed you to fight me, but you also need to be worthy to survive. If you don't, then you can just die," Julien said, bringing his sword down.
As if flowing the movement of his sword, the golden swords that were flying in the sky also came down at once towards Ryder.
"This annoying thing!" Ryder said, frowning. He tried to dodge the swords that were coming down, but as the swords were too many, he couldn't escape entirely as his arm was slightly cut.
"You can heal too? Very intriguing. Who is your father? You seemed to have a mix of abilities. You seem like the son of the Goddess of Water since you can use water and control it. But at the same time, you seem like the God of Wind since you can control wind too."
"At the same time, you can heal similarly to the Goddess of Nature. You're very intriguing. Who is your father?" Julien asked, frowning.
Ryder didn't play around this time, though. He didn't answer. He also stopped using the bow, which returned to the water.
This time, Ryder seemed absolutely serious. The trying to weaken, the delay, waiting for Itsuki, it all started annoying him now since Julien's attack had almost killed him. Since he already held the risk of a retry, he decided to die while fighting.
"Fine! If I keep using these things, I'll only suffer since you aren't playing around. So I'll give you the same in return!" He declared as he brought the Moon Scythe out.
Against a Divine weapon, he was going to use another special weapon.
Without delaying for even a second, he started flying towards Julien, intending to seriously fight him.
"Fine. I won't kill you. I still need my answer. Can't let you die before my curiosity is gone," Julien said as he also ran towards Ryder.
The two enemies soon reached each other under the heavy rain.
Clank!
The Scythe clashed with the Sword, but as the strength of both the owners was the same, no one was pushed back.
Unfortunately, this wasn't all as Scythe's specialty came into play. The Scythe, which was being kept back by the sword, changed into a short sword that passed through the defense of the Sword.
Julien's eyes opened in surprise at the sight of the changing weapon. He moved back to dodge since he wasn't sure what kind of a weapon it was, but even then, he was cut.
....
Back in his office, Ion was watching the live telecast of the battles.
"So that woman was none other than Itsuki. I know his abilities. It's him," Ion said, looking at Itsuki fighting the two subordinates of Julien.
On a different screen, Ryder's battle with Julien was showing.
"I still don't understand one thing, though. Why are these two trying to kill Julien? Just what is this Ryder trying to do? First, he seemed like he wanted to fight Itsuki. Then he joined Itsuki, and now they're fighting Julien? Strangely," Ion said in confusion.
The door of the office suddenly opened as a girl barged inside.
"Sir! There's a problem!"
"What problem?"
"Someone seemed to have interfered in the competition in a big way. All the players that took part in the event are dead and expelled," The assistant answered.
"So fast?" Ion asked.
"Yeah. Apparently, someone informed their targets what their goals were. Instead of them trying to finish their targets, it seemed like their targets finished them," the assistant answered.
