Chapter 18 Machine hero vs Skotótopia’s valkyrie

The chatter of the people ran wild as they excitedly waited for the next battle and went over the previous one.

"They- they nearly killed each other…" Sora looked at his shaky hands as he shook in fear and worry.

'How could they? They could've died. Do their own lives not matter to them? Don't they value human life? Wait… they're not human anymore, are they… is that why? Does that mean Kuro is…' Sora looked up with a worried look in his eyes as he saw Takashi's figure frowning at him.

Takashi growled as he looked down in disappointment at where his sister's body was being taken away, feeling as if she was weak for not being able to beat her opponent easily as he would have then. "Stupid girl, she almost lost, and then you…" Takashi frowned heavily with a look of disgust on his face as he turned and glared intensely at Sora before going over and grabbing him by the collar.

"You better not make us heroes look bad, you damn weakling. I swear if you lose your fight and make us look bad, I'll make sure you regret it, you got it, you punk."

"I-" shaking some more, not only in terror for what happened in the match but now having Takashi pressuring him like this, he was however saved from trying to and most likely failing at getting Takashi off him when the teacher Aruji appeared next to them with a hand on Takashi's wrist.

"What do you think you're doing? Boy, didn't I tell you not to do that again?" Aruji, who had seen this and decided to interfere, put his hand on Takashi's hand after moving here using his own speed instead of the technique he had used last time.

Looking back at the short but strong teacher, Takashi gritted his teeth in annoyance as he glared at the teacher who looked as if nothing was happening apart from a stern look of disappointment on his face as he looked at him.

"What's wrong? Can't you hear me? Boy. Do I need to teach you a lesson before class itself starts like a child throwing a temper tantrum?"

Bulging Veins appeared on Takashi's neck as he restrained himself from smashing Sora's head in the teacher's face and killing the both of them. But thanks to his anger, his eyes became red from the veins spreading in them as well as he angrily dropped Sora to the ground and scoffed, trying to yank his hand away, only for him to fail and angrily shout.

"Let me go, I was just making sure he knew to try hard and do his best when it was his turn with some motivation."

Aruji stood there looking at Sora's fallen form as Takashi kept speaking on before he let go of him after a while, making sure he understood that he could only escape because he wanted him to and nothing more.

"Do not forget this strength in this world is not an option; you must have it or else you will be nothing no matter how kind your heart may be. So work hard and remember I'll be here to help you as your teacher."

Without waiting any more time, Aruji vanished in a quick use of his instant teleportation boost, getting him back to his position next to Vivie.

As all of this happened, Kuro and the strange girl in the hood stood face to face looking at each other as they faced off in the middle of the arena where the previous fight had been happening before.

"Hello, I am Kuro, one of the summoned heroes." reaching his hand out, Kuro offered a handshake. "And you are?" he questioned with a smile on his face.

A smirk spread across the hooded girl's face as she reached for and shook Kuro's hand in good-natured sportsmanship. "I am Aurora Valor," the girl spoke as she looked at the hero intensely for any sign of recognition, as she was quite known around the place, especially in this kingdom.

"Well then, Miss Aurora Valor, I hope we can have a good battle and both come out alright in the end." Kuro spoke with a friendly smile as he got ready to take a step back and start.

She did the same before reaching inside of her cloak, pulling a thin-looking longsword that seemed to be made of a white metal of sorts, or at least it looked that way to the naked eye. It was quite a beautiful sword with a red rose-like pattern on its hilt.

"That's a nice sword you have there, Miss Aurora Valor." Kuro thought about it for a moment before he decided that he needed a sword as well, as his opponent had one and he was not confident in beating her without one.

"Thank you, it is a very precious sword to me as it was given to me by someone very important to me."

"I see, then in that case!" Kuro's hand suddenly blurred and shifted before it happened. It was no longer a hand but where his hand had been a little over the wrist, a long black metallic jet black spike came out. It seemed to be a sword; however, as much as it seemed to have been a well-designed and purposeful weapon, it was as if the one forging it had no experience in the forge or was simply doing his best to fail at making it a properly crafted weapon.

Aurora Valor watched the newly summoned hero cautiously as he did something weird, and his hand literally became a sword in front of her.

'What the hell? Is he not human or is this some new spell maybe? He must be strong with something like this, but then again…' looking at the sword, she frowned. It seemed to be not only poorly made, it almost just seemed like a bunch of sharp metals put on a longer piece to create a sword. 'Did he do it like that on purpose? Maybe to cause as much pain as possible perhaps? But then again… he was not summoned too long ago, so it must mean that he simply isn't used to using it yet, so he couldn't make it come out the way he wanted it. However, still, even while not experienced with it, this was a potentially very dangerous ability, especially if he could use this in more than one limb or get close to his target under the guise of being friendly and then use it when they are hugging each other or some other type of physical contact. I better watch out; he can be really dangerous even though he seems nice.'

Aurora Valor made the first move and went in for a stab aiming for his face. However, as she expected, it was dodged, and he put his feet in the way and lightly pushed her feet, making her stumble forwards. However, she managed to catch herself right before.

Jumping forwards, she had to roll on the ground before getting back to her feet and catching herself as she saw the swords she could only describe as a good sword made by a novice who did not finish the swords leaving a weird sharp bunch of metal in its place. The sword had come down where she had been cutting in the ground.

"Come at me, hero!" Aurora screamed as she dashed towards to meet Kuro's coming attack, making them both meet in the center after having had both dash towards each other and their blades met.

"Wow, they're so strong!"

"He's holding his own against Lady Aurora Valor!"

"That's a hero for you; his strength is the real deal, no doubt about it!"

The crowd cheered as they marveled at the display of the two strong opponents fighting each other; the two seemed to only have been getting warmed up as the fight intensified.

They slashed, cut, parried, dodged, and all types of attacks at each other as they tried catching the other off guard. However, they seemed evenly matched in many ways. Kuro had the speed and reflexes to catch her attacks. Thanks to him being essentially a supercomputer even while in his human form, he could calculate her attacks, where they would land, how to block them, counter-attack, or even dodge. It also told him the way to do certain things almost as if some other machine was telling him. However, he knew it was instead himself, his own brain working so fast.

It was unreal; he could see it all, the students cheering for him as the hero! Everyone around them as they moved to cheer him on, even the ripples on their clothes as they jumped up and down.

The birds flying, flapping their wings each time, causing the wind to be pushed down, moving almost using the wind as a footstool but with their wings instead of their feet, causing them to eventually fly in a desperate attempt to be free, free from the world, free from gravity, free from people.

And he could even see all of the sparks as his flawed sword and swordsman technique met against his opponent's proper one and yet managed to stop and parry it each time thanks to this great ability he had now gained as a super futuristic robot!

"This is…" Muttering to himself, the smile that had appeared on his face sometime during the battle that had lasted much longer than the previous one, going on for over thirty minutes.

"It's over!" He thought and saw it happen; her sword came at him again. However, this time it was not just a clash but a full lock as her smaller sword made its way in between one of the metal pieces on his sword, making her have the opportunity to use her sword's ability.

"Divine slash!" Her sword glowed a bright, entrancing divine blue color light as the sword suddenly did a big slash, letting a wave of the blue energy appear in front of him. It was like a crescent moon-shaped ray of energy before it came shooting at him, hitting him in the chest as he had not had any time to move whatsoever, sending him flying and breaking his sword as it tried to yank to cloaked woman who seemed almost unmoved by the weapon trying to pull her before it broke showing just how strong she really was.

Walking over at her downed opponent, the cloaked woman reached up with her free left hand and gripped her cloak before yanking and pulling it off, revealing the one underneath it.

It was a beautiful white and blue-haired young woman. Most of her hair was blue with some strands of white mixed in it; however, it seemed to be much less than the blue. She looked to be about nineteen years old. She had a sharp face; her blue hair flowed down her back almost like a river, reaching her lower back. However, it moved constantly in a way making it seem as if it never ended. Her eyes matched; however, hers were heterochromia with her right eye being white with a golden-tainted outline while her left was an oceanic fiery, lively blue. She had a great body with decently sized breasts and a nice but slim waist and hips. She stood at a height of five feet six and was wearing a uniform-like outfit, with a white shirt underneath and an open military blue jacket and a blue miniskirt with white edges to match. To finish it off, she wore high stockings and shoes to match her eyes with the left ones being blue and the right being white.

As she continued walking towards him, she started to speak loudly. "I am Aurora Valor, the future head of the Skotótopia Kingdom's valkyries warriors."

"Wow, it's really her, she's as beautiful as they say!"

"Lady Aurora! Lady Aurora!" The sounds of the cheering students, mostly the male ones, were heard as she seemed to be quite popular and well-liked.

"I didn't think it was actually her, but I'm so happy that it's her I could die right now!" one of the particularly loud voices shouted in joy.

Pointing her sword at him as she reached near him before she stared for a while almost as if looking deeply into his very soul.

"You, hero Kuro, I would like you to marry me."

And so the hero Kuro R was defeated in battle for the first time in his life, and followed after was being proposed to by someone considered to be one of the most beautiful and talented women in not just the kingdom but the very world itself had proposed to him just after defeating him.