Noel and Anna were standing outside the town. Since they were going to fight seriously, they had to do it outside if they didn't want to destroy all the things they worked hard for.
"Are you sure about this?" Duke Lorelei asked with a serious expression.
"Yes, Sir. If you're worried about injuring us, we have our own plan. It won't hinder us or anything." Noel nodded.
"In that case, I won't hold back. I won't deal any damage that would last for a lifetime, but I might break a few of your bones in my attack. And you are also free to do the same thing if you are capable of doing that." Duke Lorelei ultimately agreed after a lot of persuasion from Noel yesterday.
"Thank you, Sir. And I hope that there won't be any grudges after this battle." Noel smiled.
"Of course." Duke Lorelei placed his left hand on his scabbard and his right hand on the sword's handle, ready to pull it out.
Anna and Noel pulled out their swords and raised their stances.
As someone who had been chasing after the sword, Duke Lorelei noticed something different from these two.
Her sword felt sharp and mysterious, as though it were waiting for the right time to unleash its might to catch its prey. Meanwhile, Noel's sword appeared to be changing. At first, it looked like a fiery blaze and the next second it was as cold as winter.
"Interesting." Duke Lorelei smirked. He knew that these two were not normal, but not to this extent. It seemed that he would be able to have some fun in this battle. "You both can come at me together!"
Noel and Anna took a deep breath. Their spiritual energy erupted, forming a shock wave that blew away the grass around them.
With just a glance at each other, both of them made the same movement.
They both disappeared from Duke Lorelei's vision.
Duke Lorelei's vision turned left, focusing on Anna. Her speed seemed to be faster than Noel's, so she would be the first one to attack.
But surprisingly, at the very last second, Anna took the step a little too late, causing Noel to catch up.
"!!!" Duke Lorelei was surprised to see Anna changing her pace at the last moment. Instead of blocking only her, Evan had no choice but to block these two youngsters at the same time. He flicked the cross guard, causing the blade to unsheathe a little bit. A sharp energy flowed out of the scabbard and split into two.
They both swung their blades at Evan, but this energy stopped them.
Anna and Noel were startled, but they weren't done just with this. Anna snapped her fingers, forming a rune underneath the three of them.
Evan didn't know what kind of rune this was, but he didn't sense any danger. But the next thing he realized, Noel suddenly split the energy apart and his sword continued moving toward him.
This was actually the same rune Anna used to amplify the soldiers' strengths during the exploration. Noel took this chance to strike him down. At the same time, lightning sparked around Anna as she spun her body, looping around the energy and striking the duke from behind.
'They are truly in sync, but…' Duke Lorelei suddenly ducked down, letting their swords hit each other.
Cling!
The clicking sound surprised Anna and Noel. Seeing how the duke was below them, it was clear that a single slash would end their lives.
That was why Noel used the Fear Emotion in his sword style, amplifying his speed. He then switched the direction of his blade and struck Duke Lorelei from above.
Evan jumped to the side to avoid that slash, noticing the change in Noel's sword again.
"That's an interesting swordplay you have there." Evan started to get fired up. He poured a bit of energy into his sword and shot it out. "Shadow Blade."
Anna and Noel felt danger coming from the front. Even though the duke didn't draw his sword, they felt like the duke had pulled out that sword and released a sword strike.
Both of them hurriedly spun their bodies and struck whatever was coming, matching the timing with their instinct. Lightning covered Anna's sword while Noel activated the Surprise Emotion to amplify the defense.
All of a sudden, they felt friction. Anna's lightning spread around it, revealing an invisible sword strike.
However, their balance was off because of the previous movement, so both of them got pushed back by this sword strike until it ran out of energy.
'What? Even though we're not ready to receive that attack, we are blocking it together.' Noel frowned.
'Yet, he can actually push us this far without even unsheathing that blade.' Anna finally understood the level of the Duke.
In fact, they were at a similar level in their previous lives. But back then, they did have the power to defeat a Spirit Transcendence. It meant that the current duke actually had that kind of power as well. It was no wonder why he could become the strongest Arbiter, only second to the Marshall.
But surprisingly, Noel actually smiled and said, "Duke! That power is amusing."
"Is it?" Duke Lorelei smirked.
They both seemed to have the same intention as Noel actually moved first instead of waiting for Anna this time.
He stopped three meters before the duke and swung his blade.
"!!!" The duke was startled as he instinctively raised the sword to the side. There was a little friction but the power was too low. Even so, what Noel did actually shocked the duke and Anna.
"What? Did you copy…" Anna gasped.
Duke Lorelei noticed a little bit of similarity between his sword and Noel's sword. He couldn't help but say, "If I knew about your talent in the past, I would have made you my disciple."
Noel smirked. What Noel did was actually use the Disgust to create a blunt force. He then swung that blunt force. Unfortunately, this was the first time he did such a thing, so it was too sloppy and didn't pack too much force. In fact, most of the energy was flowing in different directions.
"Follow me if you can." Evan swung downward.
"Y—!" Before Noel could answer, he felt a strike fall right on top of him. So, he hurriedly blocked it with his sword, only to find the energy fly past him, cutting the ground next to him. The force alone actually created a hole a few meters deep.
And Noel had no time to be amazed as an immeasurable pressure suddenly dropped on him.
Bam!
A crater was formed by the pressure alone, knocking Noel to the ground. If not for Noel activating the Reduce Impact Rune on his body as well as summoning the Spiritual Barrier Rune on top of his hand, he would have fallen to his knees.
The crater started to spread, showing the massive force that Noel endured. And the duke created this powerful strike without even pulling out his blade.
"Hahaha!" Noel couldn't help but smile, seeing the amazing person before him. If he were an opponent, he couldn't smile like this, but it was truly a blessing to have this kind of person show him the trick to being a better swordsman.
Seeing Noel in trouble, Anna hurriedly looped around to strike Evan to cancel that power. At the same time, she summoned the Energy Dispersion Rune on top of Noel, trying to free him.
"Your man is not that weak!" Duke Lorelei muttered before striking Anna's blade. This time, he used all his brute strength, launching Anna away. Because she was too far from the rune, she couldn't supply it anymore, resulting in the rune disappearing.
Anna changed her approach by shooting out a lightning dragon toward the duke. And she even attached herself to the dragon as it stopped her momentum before dragging her back toward the duke.
Both Noel and Evan did the same thing.
Evan released another sword strike at the dragon, splitting it into two. Meanwhile, Noel activated the anger and split the pressure apart.
"Good work." Duke Lorelei praised Noel for being able to do such a thing.
"It's because the pressure directly hit me, unlike you who can do it remotely." Noel clicked his tongue. All of a sudden, Noel pulled back his sword as if he were about to thrust Duke Lorelei.
"!!!" Anna was the one surprised, but soon matched Noel's movement in the air.
Both of them thrust their swords at the same time and used the same rune—the Extension Rune.
Their swords expanded to the front, startling Duke Lorelei.
"This power is too mysterious." Duke Lorelei jumped away while striking down the two swords. Even he felt a bit pressured by that attack earlier. If it were a normal Spirit Grandmaster, they wouldn't expect it.
Noel used the Enhance Forward Rune to blast himself forward while Anna gathered the spiritual energy in her sword.
Noel suddenly pointed his hand at Anna and a rune appeared, allowing Anna to land on that rune, slightly delaying her movement.
As a result, Noel reached the duke first and struck him from the side with his Sword Transmutation. Ardagan sucked up a lot of his energy and unleashed it in a single swing.
This was what Dimitri used back then, but he used it horizontally this time. It felt like Noel's blade expanded as the energy started curving. At this pace, it would bend so much that it ended up creating a circle and cutting the duke.
To avoid it, the duke actually took a few steps to the side, only to realize it was Noel's aim the whole time. After all, he was right beneath Anna.
Anna stabbed the platform with both hands. "Lightning Executioner!"
The lightning concentrated on Anna's sword was unleashed.
"You got me." Evan smiled and actually raised his other hand to catch the lightning with his bare hand.
"What?!" Anna gasped. No one had ever caught her lightning just like that.
"This is the difference between both of you and me. Do you think that this is my only weapon? No, everything I have is my sword, including my body." Duke Lorelei simply explained that his hand was also considered a sword. And that sword just clashed with her lightning before tossing it to the side, causing a massive explosion.
Noel took this chance to spin his body and kick Duke Lorelei, only to be blocked by his scabbard again.
However, Noel actually used his rune this time.
"!!!" The Duke felt something was wrong as a force suddenly kicked his entire body into the air and caused him to land more than ten meters away from him. "Seriously, the runes are mystical to the point where I can see how our race will defeat the demons in the future."
"Then, you can experience it first hand!" Noel formed the Rain of Light Rune above Evan's head.
Seeing the incoming energy balls that were about to fall on top of him, Duke Lorelei actually pulled out his blade halfway and unleashed an extraordinary might.
He swung downward, causing the energy to split the rune before it could release its attack before falling to the ground. Surprisingly, the moment it touched the ground, the energy expanded and ran toward Noel. The energy was so violent that the eruption created a wall-shaped trail as high as two meters.
Anna suddenly landed in front of Noel while striking this energy with her lightning sword. "I'll stop this!"
The clash between them caused a massive shock wave that could be felt by the people on the wall one hundred meters away.
"Hiding behind a woman?!" Duke Lorelei taunted Noel with a cheeky smirk.
"No. I simply trust her." Noel looped around Anna and let his blade slide on the wall-shaped trail. The trail suddenly started to freeze and the movement he completed his swing, a line of ice continued moving forward, freezing the entire trail.
This was Ice Infusion. In the past, Noel only utilized it by expanding the ice, but after training with Raincart, he could expand that ice while freezing everything around it.
The ice was moving on the trail's surface and continued until it reached the end of the trail before erupting, forming a long spike toward Duke Lorelei.
Unfortunately, it was one meter short of reaching him.
"Amazing." Duke Lorelei smiled.
