Vol. 15 - Ch. 12 - Ultimate Clan Battle – Qualification Rounds (12/22)

And so, the battle between Cain and Ryuushin began.

"Sei-yah!!"

Right off the bat, Cain swung his massive [Dragon Killer] sword overhead and slashed at Ryuushin, who managed to block it with his dragonized right arm.

"—Gghh!? Ow, ow, ow, that hurtssssss!!!!"

The sword didn’t actually cut through Ryuushin’s Dragon Skin, but he somehow still took a ton of damage.

"I-Is this the power of a dragon slayer?”

"Looks like it. Never used this thing before, so I’m still figuring it out. Honestly, I’d recommend you surrender sooner rather than later."

Thanks to his good command of his rare skill Extreme Intuition, Cain was able to maximize the power of the [Dragon Killer] despite wielding it for the first time today.

Meanwhile, Ryuushin, having recently evolved into a ryujin, was still high on the overwhelming power surging through his body. He thought he could just bulldoze his way to victory. However, things didn’t go as he expected. Cain’s sword was a god-tier weapon that could still hurt Ryuushin even after his evolution. 

The super-tough defenses that he was so proud of was rendered pretty much useless now.

Realizing that tanking hits wasn’t going to cut it, Ryuushin quickly switched up his fighting style.

"Listen, my wife’s cheering me on today, so I can’t afford to lose."

Ryuushin glanced over at Halt’s camp, where his wife, Hinata, was watching nervously. The fire of motivation in his eyes burned even brighter. She’d promised him a special reward if he won, so yeah, he was in it to win it no matter what.

"You’re already married at your age? That’s insane."

"Uh, yeah? Your little brother’s the same age as me, and he’s got fourteen wives, you know. Oh, wait, scratch that. Just made it fifteen a few minutes ago. Compared to that…"

"Yeah, I still can’t believe that kid is my younger brother."

Cain sighed and readied his Dragon Killer sword, while Ryuushin got into a combat stance.

"My fiancée, my parents, my siblings, they’re all cheering for me too. So even if you’re my brother’s friend, I’m still going all out!"

With that, the strongest human – with the exception of the reincarnators – charged at Ryuushin while wielding one of the most powerful weapons in existence. Compared to Halt’s beloved genesis-tier sword [Hakoku], this Dragon Killer was technically lower in rarity, but when it came to fighting dragons, it was superior.

Cain’s lightning-fast slash came for Ryuushin—

“Oof. That’s a close one."

Ryuushin dodged his attack with ease. Even at full speed, Cain was nowhere near fast enough to be a real threat to a fully evolved Dragonian.

"Alright, my turn!"

Ditching his brute-force approach, Ryuushin shifted into a speed-focused fighting style. He disappeared from the sight of the spectators.

Only a handful of people in the arena could actually follow his movements. Tina, Sitri, Akari were some of the top warriors in the Halt’s team, while the opponent side had Anna, Soryuu and Dairon. Of course, Halt could also perfectly follow his movements with Magic Eye.

As for normal humans, they would never be able to see a Dragonian at full speed. Cain was no exception.

Realizing his opponent had lost sight of him, Ryuushin went in for the kill from Cain’s blind spot. His claws—sharp enough to slice through orichalcum armor—were about to dig into Cain’s back when—

"Here?"

"—WHAT!?"

Yes, it was a complete blind spot, and it was impossible for Cain to have seen that attack coming. And yet, his Dragon Killer sword was somehow already positioned right where Ryuushin was about to strike.

Ryuushin barely pulled back in time, backing off before he could get hurt. If he’d gone through with that attack, he would’ve been the one taking damage.

"H-Hold up. How!? How did you…No way. Are you actually tracking me!?"

"Nah. You’re way too fast for me to follow. But see, I’ve got Extreme Intuition."

"…Extreme Intuition?"

"Halt never told you? I’ve got insane gut instincts."

That was definitely an understatement. But Ryuushin, not exactly the deep thinker type, just nodded like that explanation made total sense.

"Got it. A Bakemon’s older brother is just another Bakemon, huh.”

"Hey, don’t lump me in with Halt and Mom, alright? I’m not on that level."

Cain casually glanced toward his faction. The real deal was all grins as she watched the battle. He had been living with her for two decades, and yet he never even had a glimpse of her true power. Anna, his mother, was a woman who could casually summon the Celestial Spirit King and the deities whenever she felt like it, a genuine Bakemono. Even Cain’s Extreme Intuition couldn’t comprehend just how strong she is. When Cain said he wasn’t yet on that level, he was referring not only to Halt, but to Anna as well. Halt was scary. But Anna? Anna was a whole other kind of terrifying.

"Anyway, I just need to dodge your sword and land a hit, right?"

"Then I just need to block your attacks and counter. One mistake, and it’s game over."

Thus began their high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse of whether the Dragon Killer or Ryuushin could land a hit or not.

Now, in theory, since all of Ryuushin’s stats soared up after he evolved, if he just stayed at a distance and spammed Dragon Breaths, he’d have an easy win. Cain wasn’t fast enough to catch him.

However, Ryuushin opted not to do that.

—No. To be exact, he couldn’t.

Cain was subtly guiding the battle, using his Extreme Intuition to steer the conversation and body language, tricking Ryuushin into thinking close-quarters combat was the only option.

On the surface, it looked like Ryuushin had the upper hand, but in reality, Cain was the one pulling all the strings.

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