Chapter 240: The Strongest Rose (3)

Perseus POV

I took my time getting to the arena, I wanted to agitate my opponent just a bit. I remember the story of Miyamoto Musashi, the man was a menace and would always come hours late to a duel.

There were several reasons for doing so, like in my case, by making my opponent wait, I'll unnerve and frustrate him. This will now give us a psychological advantage in the duel, the man must be quite pissed by now, my record of always being punctual should make him even more pissed cuz I chose to be late to his match.

And by arriving late I asserted my dominance and superiority. I am showing that I was in control of the situation and that I'm afraid of the upcoming duel.

Though the differences between our strategies are that, unlike Musashi, I don't have time to observe my opponent's movement as they're waiting for me, I can maybe spy on him from the shadows, but I can't risk him sensing me.

His agitation should even be worse now that Buddy is attacking his base while running around without a chance of getting caught, man his thoughts must sure be funny knowing that someone is reporting every one of my actions.

*****

I arrived in the nick of time, I was barely on time and everyone rushed me to get into the arena, I can see Finn on the other side walking out quickly to the center of the arena, he is fidgeting more than he should be. I got on his nerves.

He's probably thinking that I'm involved in the attack on his base, but even then, I know that he can't be sure about it. He can suspect that the chief and Leilah are the ones attacking his base, but even he would have some doubt in his head.

I was just walking normally to greet my opponent, enraging him even more.

"Well, you're quite pissed, what happened?"

"Perseus Silver, I want a yes or no." he demanded "Are you carrying out a cowardly attack on my base?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Then why are you late for the first time right when everything in the world is working in your favor? Why is my base being attacked? Why are my comrades dying?" he got even more aggressive "You're delaying me from saving my comrades."

"I don't know what you're talking about, am I late on purpose? Sure, I read somewhere about some dude coming late to unnerve his opponent and I thought about carrying it out. Seems like it's working."

He's now feeling estranged about my confidence in just revealing my plan aloud, he's walking within the palm of my hands. And the more I talk, the more delayed this becomes, and the more agitated he becomes.

"And your base is being attacked, a protagonist's luck sure is interesting, the world is just helping me move forward towards my ideal outcome."

And we were then told to separate where he quickly got into his stance and it seems like he was preparing to end this as quickly as possible, he isn't gonna try for his 100% chance-winning method, he's going to rush it. That's gonna leave him open.

This match in particular, thanks to our talk, have several more referees and even stronger barrier mages on site to create this large barrier to contain anything and everything inside it with no chance of anything having a chance of leaking out. It's to protect the lives of the audience.

They let the demon lord come out and rung the bell personally for the start of this match, Finn then quickly charged at me with a blade which I was able to quickly intercept with my sword, though I was struggling to hold on, even as a 7 star now, I am still much weaker than him.

"Say, Finn, do you know who and what is the strongest rose?"

"I don't-" he didn't get to finish his sentence as he then quickly backed away once he saw something swirling around me.

Well, the world can now confirm that I'm the lord of the black rose, I need it to win against this guy, it's the only way.

"Have you heard the rumor surrounding the last rose, Finn?" I asked as his eye quietly shook "Just a scent can drive you mad and eventually that madness turns into death."

He now charged at me even more recklessly than before, his hits are stronger, but no point if it misses, I'm now using my superior speed as Lucifer instead of using Satan's overwhelming power to win.

Phineas POV

In Perseus' right hand holds a black rose, which he took a small whiff of and smiles. I heard its rumors alright, the rose of death, the strongest rose...no one in the world hasn't heard of it...the rumors of him being the lord of the black rose were true after all.

The stories that my parents told me about that rose, I've heard it a lot, even though it's the least known about, it's undeniable that it's that strong, just a small sniff of it will kill you, no matter how strong you are.

No wonder he wanted the barrier mages and contacted the referee committee, this guy was doing it for my safety, and not in a good way.

"Do you know what's the most powerful weapon I possess?" he asked as he then blew at the rose.

The rose dissolved and turned into dust.

"It's not a sword, nor is it my magical prowess." he chuckled as I surround myself with a thick layer of air magic "It's the human mind. I have mastered the art of psychological warfare. With just a few carefully chosen words, I can make even the strongest of minds crumble. But fortunately for you, I'm not gonna use it this time."

Black dust started to fly and spread around the arena, I know that once I lose my thin outer armor of air magic, I have only about an extra 5 minutes to breathe before I pass out or be forced to inhale air. He can absorb my light, he can outspeed me, he plans on prolonging this fight from the start, he plans on slowly exhausting me until I no longer have mana or stamina.

It's not an entertaining way to fight, but...I hate to say it, but it's definitely a way to beat me now that I'm stuck in this barrier, we even have a ceiling and everything, I'm trapped in here with him.