Friend Or Foe? 3

Back at arena.

"Transforming concept... Adding concept... And distorting concept... Those are the basic abilities of 'shadow'." Arthur explained to his friend, "That means, the boy earlier held back probably too much because he could probably defeat his opponent by just standing still and using his other abilities."

"Wait, I thought that shadow is similar to darkness..." William expression became confused.

"Well, basically, it also work similar to darkness since copying other abilities is easy since you can control the concept of transformations, adding concept, distorting concept, like what I've mentioned earlier. In other words, it's much more powerful than the darkness..."

After hearing this, William's expression became more confused than earlier, his mouth was slightly opened as he look at Arthur, blinking his eyes a few times. "If it's more powerful than the crest of darkness, why is it only 4th in the rankings of the strongest crest?"

"If you listened to our professor when he mentioned the weaknesses of each crest, which I know you didn't because you were sleeping, the main reason why shadow is only ranked as the 4th is because the moment he's exposed to sun he'll be weakened, however, it'll be the exact opposite the moment it become night."

[𝘞𝘰𝘸, 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨...]

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘮𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 109 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮...

[𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵...]

Before Arthur could even continue explaining more about the crest of shadow, he suddenly felt uncomfortable after noticing a strange gaze from a nearby distance.

He quickly turned his attention around to survey the whole arena when his eyes landed towards the boy from earlier who was now sitting on the opposite side of the arena.

Although he was far, his mere gaze bought attention to the lad as they began staring at each other in silent.

Suddenly, the boy decided to stand up from his seat and walked away towards the exit. Because of this, Arthur also stood up from his seat and followed him by going to the exit nearby.

"Sorry, guys, I have something to finish first." Arthur didn't wait for any of their reply as he left the arena. The others were dumbfounded because of this, but they remained silent and watched the students fighting at the center of the arena.

After Arthur left, he took his time and went to look around for the boy around the whole school.

"Where did he-?!"

By the time he noticed it, after for about an hour had passed, he suddenly felt an ominous presence crept out behind him. When he turned around, he saw that it was the same boy he was looking for.

"You really are pathetic for not being able to find me this quickly, Arthur... No, Mr. Protagonist."

"What do you mean?'

The two was looking at each other in the eyes. Neither of them move even the slightest. It was until the boy decided to let out a cold smile.

"Arthur, if it wasn't for the fact that you're the protagonist of this world and... if not for the fact that he already asked me not to touch you even after you killed him that time, I would have find it better for you to just die." He tilted his head to the side as his smile became much more colder, that it sent chills down in Arthur's spine. He wasn't sure what meant, however, he got a feeling that the boy before him is dangerous to be kept alone.

Exhaling, Arthur didn't let himself get consumed by fear, but instead, he fought back. His demeanor suddenly changed as he did so.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The golden eyes of his shone more brighter and fierce than ever before his hair that was comb neatly cascaded as a golden lightning was suddenly released in the air.

Clenching his fist, Arthur exploded with great speed and appeared in front of the boy with his fist aimed towards his head.

But...

"What's this?"

The boy grinned as he didn't bother on moving from his spot.

He merely raised his hands and used his index finger to catch Arthur's fist at ease. "How pathetic... You're weak. You're not as strong as you are supposed to be in the novel. Do you think that you have the slightest chance to defeat me? Don't think that this is a daydream because I'll make sure that you snap out of reality."

"Who are you..."

"A companion of yours, I suppose but that change since the storyline had already changed after 'he' appeared... Including you."

Arthur became even more confused after hearing the lad in front of him. He wasn't sure why, but he knew that the boy was merely holding back almost all of his strength, while he wasn't... He was going all out when he attacked him.

For a second after being consumed by his thoughts, Arthur didn't realized that the boy before him had left his spot and turned his back towards him, while he... Remained. His body remained in the air. He couldn't even move a muscle, nor his eyes, even though he could still see clearly.

[Time Confinement]

The whole world had it's colors diverted. He watched as the boy walked away from his direction, all while not being able to move at all. The lad before him released a small particles of green lights from his wrist... Not the back his hand, but to his wrist. The glowing thing on his wrist was a symbol of a broken hourglass that had it's grail of sand falling out of the hourglass.

Arthur wanted to scream the boy's name before him, but he couldn't... It was not because he couldn't his mouth, but because he couldn't remember who the lad was at all.

Suddenly, as he watched the boy walked away, the lad's hair started growing longer as it slowly turned pale white. When he turned around, his face began to glitched as it began to change. What's more is that the boy before him suddenly became a few inches taller as his body began to reshape into... A girl.

"If you can't do your job as the protagonist of this world... And also, saved him from becoming 'that' person, I'll make sure that you won't be able to reincarnate nor regress the next round, Mr. Protagonist." Upon saying his last sentence, her body began glitching in and out of reality before disappearing into thin air.

-Shuuuuop!

-Ziiiiiip!

"Urk!?" By the time he was now able to move, Arthur fell flat on the ground. "What the... What just happened?" He sat up on the ground and scratched the back of his head as he turned his head too look at his surroundings.

Everything had changed. The name of the boy, which was supposed to be written in the list of the participants that was on the screen above the arena, had disappeared. He, too, couldn't remember his name at all... As if the lad had never existed at all.

[𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘳...] The system who had became silent since earlier had finally decided to speak up, [𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘺-𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭... 𝘐𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥.]

"Not from this world...? Can you elaborate more clearly?" Arthur raised his head to look at the sky with a impassive expression. After what happened earlier, it became clear to him that he was far too weak.

[𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 '𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵' 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘵, 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘭 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴... 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭. 𝘞𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬.] Said the system as her voice sounded worried.

When he heard this, Arthur's expression softened as he replied, "I see... Thanks, but don't worry, I'm not planning on regressing this round. I already did everything I could to change his outcome. It's now up to him how he'll be able to handle it himself..."

***

Clang-!

A sound of sword clashing was heard at the mirror world on the arena.

"Is that all you got?" Sariell taunted, pushing himself through the barrier Deus had conjured to protect himself.

"Shut it. I'm not done yet!"

Deus then enhanced his body with mana as the barrier protecting him from Sariell's sword shattered. He hopped backwards and took his sword out from the scabbard that was hanging on his waist.

"Do you think I'll let you attack? Dream on!" Before he could even proper his stance, Sariell came flying in his direction while holding his great sword above his head, not even giving him any time to react.

Clang-!

Shiiiiii-!

Fortunately, he noticed this and managed to react on time. Deus redirected his attack away as Sariell's sword slides through his blade.

"What a great expression you're making~" Sariell grinned as he saw Deus grit his teeth, forcing himself to remain standing.

It's been around an hour since they started this battle. The whole time Deus had been struggling to fight Sariell while trying his hardest not reveal his real strength. If for some reason he accidentally released it in the mirror world, Evangeline will know it since the [Mirror World] is created by her in her pocket dimension. Meaning, inside the mirror dimension, she had absolutely control of everything happening and will know if something was wrong.

He knew that he had to be cautious all the time and only choose few trustworthy people to reveal his secret. Even though Athan was fine about revealing his strength to Evangeline, Deus knows that being cautious all the time will probably give him advantage if ever something went wrong like a betrayal, or something...

"Haaaaaa!" Sariell pushed Deus away with his strength, he continuesly hacked and slashed forward not giving him time to take a break.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘶𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴... 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮? Deus thought desperately as he took his time looking at the whole surroundings, Sariell on the other hand, merely propelled himself in the air and prepared his sword attack.

"Stop worrying about other things and fight me!"

"I'm just a goddamn kid! What do you expect me to do, you dumbass!"

Feeling pissed, Deus had unconsciously released some of small percentage of his mana, that ended up covering his whole body with black fog. Almost immediately, the world around them were drowned in immense mass of darkness. Whispers emitted from the black mass, and the air around the two grew denser.

He then vanished from his spot and reappeared in front of Sariell.

-Clang!

Both of their swords clashed against each other, it released a spark each time they hit as the speed of each clash continued to grew exponentially.

"Don't stop!"

"That's what your mother said last night."

Hearing his taunt, veins grew on Sariell's forehead as his brow began twitching. Angered, he roared loudly with an expression similar to an ogre, as his eyes released a small spark of white light.

Next, he began to follow Deus' every movements. His muscle movements, the creaking sound of his bones, the sword he drew that was covered with darkness, and the amount of strength he was putting in.

Everything is taking form in his eyes.

He could see Deus' flowing movements.

He could see it before Deus could even execute the attack. It was as if... he could see a few seconds in the future!

"What did you say!?"

Sariell raised his sword above his head, blocking the incoming attack that he saw earlier with the help of his ability, and then pushed Deus away before leaping towards him again.

"I will send you to Jesus!"

Deus grinned after realizing that he could finally execute his final attack.

The same sword attack he often used before getting sealed.

Almost immediately after forcefully stopping himself from flying by using his feet that was strengthened with mana, Deus held his katana with both hands and turned his head towards Sariell's direction.

[Soul Parade]

Suddenly, when he slashed his katana in the air, the space around him distorted, it revealed countless of skull that had green colored light in their eyes as they glared at Sariell coldly.

-Zuuuup!

Creak-!

When their sword clashed against each other, Sariell's great sword shattered. However, Deus couldn't even celebrate after noticing the smirk on his opponent's face.

It was then, he realized that something was wrong too late.

"You could have won under normal circumstances, but... Unfortunately for you, I'm your opponent."

This was the last thing he heard when he saw him release the same attack he executed, Sariell's appearance became similar to Athan as his great sword suddenly changed it's form to the same katana that Deus was currently using.

Unlike the green colored lights in the eyes of the countless skulls from Deus, the eyes of the skulls that was inside the broken space of Sariell's slash were crimson-red.

[Soul Parade]

[A/N : I was having second thoughts uploading some chapter that reveals something about the new girl. This is also the main reason I didn't upload this chapter yesterday... Sorry.]