Training

[Afternoon — Training Grounds, Underground Kuoh Facility]

{Rias Gremory}

I knew he was talented, even blessed.

He could use magic in ways that shouldn't be possible for humans.

Taking down two fallen angels after awakening his powers for just a few days.

And now, going toe to toe with my peerage.

"That was a quick reaction, Reo," Kiba praised as Reo dodged his blade with only a millimeter of distance between him and the blade while also outspeeding Koneko, who lunged from the side.

His moves were sloppy, clearly a sign of inexperience. His footwork was poor, using excessive movement for attacks and dodges that required only a simple turn.

But here, none of that mattered.

He was quick enough to match Kiba's speed, strong enough to take a hit from Koneko's punch, and powerful enough to counter Akeno's lightning with one of his own.

He was matching them—no, he was outperforming them.

But how?

<>

A wall erected before him and Koneko, stopping her punch from even reaching him.

Meanwhile, Kiba used the wall as a stepping tool to gain a height advantage and jumped from it towards Reo, hoping for a critical hit.

It was amusing to see Reo shout out his spells, just like Akeno.

I had asked if it was a requirement, but just like Akeno, he said he only yelled because he found it cool.

It was the exact same reasoning Akeno gave me for always yelling out the name of her attacks.

However, Reo did use his spells without chanting loudly at times.

"Huh?"

Like now, as Kiba looked at him in stunned silence while solid spikes sprouted from the ground—forming crosses that defended Reo from Kiba's blade.

"I call it Earthen Spike. What do you think?" Reo joked while my team struggled to even reach him.

That was the difference between him and Akeno.

Akeno always yelled the names of her spells, alerting enemies and giving them a chance to prepare.

Reo, however, only yelled the spell name if he knew it wouldn't matter even if they were prepared.

And that gave him the edge.

Kiba laughed. "Maybe I should get serious."

True, he wasn't using his full potential yet. Hearing this, Reo looked surprised.

"This will be tough for me," Reo laughed. "Hope you don't end up chopping off any of my limbs."

"Don't worry about that—"

Kiba immediately switched to dual blades, pulling out two blades and unleashing their power.

This much was enough to slice through any low-level fallen angel.

But Reo wasn't a low-level fallen.

He still managed to dodge Kiba, moving opposite to his blades in a fraction of a second.

It's like he possessed a devil's physique. But I know he doesn't; he is purely human.

Then how?

Magic?

Was he enchanting his body with magic? And if so, how?

How did his magic advance this much in such a short period? I haven't even seen him train his magic except for the time we first found out about him.

"Kiba," he said as he kept dodging the blades.

Koneko and Akeno didn't attack; instead, they too watched with impressed eyes.

"Do you know that high voltage current travels through any medium?" 

"Wha—" Kiba couldn't understand anything as, in seconds, we saw Reo conjure a field of electricity around him.

"Ughhh!"

At the same time, we saw Kiba getting shocked—his hair standing on end and his clothes getting damaged.

He took a direct hit from the electrical field.

But how?

"No matter how well you think you are insulated, strong electricity always finds a way—be it through imperfections in the insulation or through moisture that you cannot even see or feel."

This… this is something new.

"Then I think this means you are out?" Reo asked, amused.

Kiba couldn't say anything.

If he attacked after this, it wouldn't be honorable, and Kiba valued honor.

He had lost, and if Reo wanted, he could have hurt Kiba very badly.

But while Kiba was out, the rest weren't.

"Lightning Empress!"

That was Akeno's new spell.

"And here I was thinking when you would start attacking."

However, once again, Reo managed to remain unscathed.

How?

With his magic.

<>

He was confident.

Each time he yelled the spell name, it meant that it didn't matter what the opponent did—his spell was stronger and would work.

I wanted to warn them about it, but I didn't.

While I was the strategist of the team, they needed to learn and figure out the basics on their own.

And that's why his Lightning Spiral could outscale Akeno's Lightning Empress and shroud her attack with swirling beams of lightning, absorbing the lightning into his attack and aiming that swirling, now unstable ray of lightning at my queen.

"Akeno, dodge!" Koneko yelled, and she was right to do so.

If Akeno hadn't dodged, she would have definitely been burned by it.

"Sorry about that…" Reo looked a little worried. "I'm still trying to figure out my magic and can't scale it down very well."

"It's fine," I assured. "As long as none of you lose any limbs, I can ask Asia to heal you."

They nodded and continued.

Not Akeno, but Koneko.

Akeno wasn't hurt badly, but she still took a small hit. The lightning Reo threw was spiraled and had many ends; it turned chaotic after absorbing Akeno's lightning and exploded into smaller strikes, one of which hit her leg.

"Sorry, but I'll be using magic," Reo told Koneko. "I'm not as skilled with my punches as you are."

"It's fine," my rook said and immediately rushed at him—dodging his lightning, learning from her mistake, and using the elevated walls as steps to gain a ground advantage.

However,

"I'm sorry," Reo said. "But physical melee heroes are the easiest for a magician to defeat."

And instantly, without chanting, he formed a massive orb of water around Koneko—trapping her inside.

She was unable to break free. She couldn't smash it; it was just water. If she punched a spot, the water simply wrapped around that side.

She struggled inside the orb for a while before feeling suffocated and asking to be let out.

"Alright~"

Reo complied by exploding the orb into tiny droplets—freeing my rook and letting her land on the ground, gasping for air.

This was bad.

He was skilled with magic, but he wasn't impossible to defeat. However, if we were having trouble against someone who had awakened his powers not long ago, dealing with Riser—who had been playing Rating Games for much longer—would be a challenge.

I might need to take a much bigger stand.

And I did.

"Guess it's just us now," I said, making him nod.

"Until now, I don't know what your power exactly is," he said, and it made me smile.

"Why don't you try to find out?"

Seeing my smile, he laughed.

"Why not."

<>

Immediately, a massive sphere made entirely of fire shot towards me.

However, it wasn't difficult to stop it.

Power of Destruction.

I didn't yell; instead, I quietly formed an orb of Power of Destruction in my palm and shot it towards his fireball.

He looked amused, watching the sphere move towards the fireball.

"What is—"

And the moment the orb made contact with his fireball, his eyes went wide.

"What… is that?"

The fireball vanished instantly.

No explosion, no burn damage.

It simply disappeared.

"How?" he asked.

"It's called the Power of Destruction," I said. "It's my family's special ability. It consumes and destroys anything it comes in contact with. As long as something has mass, it will be destroyed."

He was shocked.

"That… is overpowered."

It was.

But it wasn't enough to destroy the Phenex ability—Immortality.

Which was actually a very advanced form of regeneration, which meant any damage dealt would be repaired faster than one could process.

"Then…" he frowned, "I don't think I have anything that can surpass your ability."

True, all of his magic had mass. And while it was strong, it wasn't at the Ultimate level. If it were, it could overpower my Power of Destruction, as my ability scales directly with my own level and strength.

So it could devour any mass, as long as the power of the attack or magic didn't outscale me by a significant margin.

"However—" he grinned, confusing me. "I don't need to overpower you to make you surrender."

What does he—

No!

"Stop!" I yelled immediately. "I will surrender."

This guy…

"Then is it my win?"

He's a monster.

"Yes. I surrender." He didn't find a way to bypass my ability, so he used another method.

An underhanded one.

"Are you sure you're not a devil, Reo?" Akeno asked, unable to move because of her injured feet. "Because this will kill us if it hits."

Arrows—pure lightning arrows.

I didn't even know he was capable of this.

He had conjured lightning arrows that floated close to the chests of Akeno, Koneko, and Kiba.

They were aimed at their hearts, and if I made any move—it would impale them.

I know he wouldn't, but he still showed that he could defeat opponents with his wits even if his strength wasn't enough.

Truly a monster.

"This is our loss."

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