Sneak Attack

"Haaa!" Ainz roared, swinging his two massive swords at Shido the moment an opening appeared.

Shido didn't dodge. Instead, he met the strike head-on with his Elucidator. The clash sent a shockwave through the air, and the sheer force of Ainz's blow hurled Shido back ten meters before he slid to a stop.

"That's a heavy strike." Shido said with a grin, clearly enjoying the battle.

"Aren't yours just as fierce?" Ainz replied, remaining in a guarded stance. Despite being on the defensive most of the time, he wasn't frustrated. In fact, he looked exhilarated, finally, a worthy opponent he could truly exchange blows with.

"Alright, it's time to end this," Shido declared, tightening his grip on his sword.

"Hmph! Come!" Ainz growled, lowering into a solid defensive stance. He was ready, he would end it the moment Shido made his move.

Everyone was both expectant and worried on what would happen next. They were excited to see such incredible battle between monsters and they were also worried that they might be hurt, however, this battle is inevitable.

Nabe became even more tense since the winner of their fight would be decided with the next move. She wanted to appear in front of Ainz and defeat Shido who was humiliating her master, but she was also concerned that Ainz would reprimand her for intervening. But protecting her master is still her top priority so even if Ainz scolded her later, she would still accept it even if he gave her punishment. Nabe became determined and choose to act according to the situation.

"Then, be careful." Shido let out a small smile before he another sword appeared in his left hand which surprised everyone. 

"Spacial Magic?" Ainz narrowed his eyes as he stare at the sword that suddenly appeared on Shido's hands. Unlike his other sword which was a pitch black double-edge sword. The sword that suddenly appeared on his hands had a sleek, curved blade. Also shrouded in darkness, its design was unmistakably that of a katana, it was the Gravity sword.

"Well, similar to that." Shido didn't really want to explain so he just nodded and took an offensive stance then he muttered in slow voice. "Starburst Stream."

Shido lunged forward. In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance between them. This time, he didn't use Flash steps and only used the maximum speed he could exert with his normal stats. 

Ainz was prepared and also swung his two swords towards the incoming attack from Shido's sword.

*CLANG!*

*CLANG!*

*CLANG!*

"HAAA!!!" 2x

Shido and Ainz clashed in a storm of sword, their blades slicing through the air with blinding speed. They traded horizontal and vertical slashes, each blow met with a counter, each strike sending out showers of sparks.

Yet as the exchange continued, it became clear, Shido held the advantage. His attacks flowed faster, more precise, and with sharper timing. His speed, paired with his dual-wielding technique, gradually pushed Ainz back.

The final exchange was fierce and the onlookers could only see the sparks of their swords.

With Shido's observation haki and Ainz not really knowing how to fight using sword. Shido found a gap in Ainz's attack and use it as his advantage to defeat him.

"Shit!"

Ainz also noticed his mistake but it was already too late. 

"This is the end." Just as Shido was about to do a finishing strike, he suddenly felt danger on his side and abandoned the idea of continuing his attack. Instead, Shido defended against the incoming sneak attack.

"Lightning Shock!"

A lightning attack hit Shido as soon as it has been casted causing sparks to appear in Shido's body. Fortunately, he had redirected the lightning on the so he minimize the effect of the attack. But still, his hands felt a little numb due to the paralysis effect of the lightning.

"Nabe!" Ainz shouted at Nabe seeing how she suddenly attacked Shido. It was one thing if they did it when there was no one around, but there were the Sword of Darkness and and Nfirea around. A little mistake could blown up their cover so Ainz was angry at Nabe.

Despite Ainz's shout, Nabe didn't react much and only lowered her head ready to receive her punishment. However, she looked at Shido once and couldn't help but click her tongue. There was not even a scratch or burn on Shido's outfit. There was only the sparks caused by the lightnings effect.

Initially she wanted to kill Shido with this attack but she was disappointed to see that he wasn't even harmed. 

The others was also shocked by the sudden development of the battle and they couldn't react on time. 

Shido after recovering from the numbness of his body stood once again and look without a hint of emotion at Nabe. Seeing his eyes Nabe felt her body became colder under his stare. His eyes were as if the a black hole pulling her deeper into the abyss. 

A hint of black aura was surrounding Shido making his appearance more terrifying.

Although the being in Nazarick were all monsters, demons, undead and various other creature that have abilities related to darkness and death. She had never felt something like what she currently feeling from Shido.

An invisible pressure weight on her body making it hard for her to breath. Just as Nabe was about to fall into her knees, Ainz , although angry at her move, walked in front of her and shield her from the pressure that Shido was emitting.

 The pressure that Nabe was experiencing was directly transferred to Ainz when he appeared in front of her. Ainz widened his eyes slightly when he felt the strange power coming from Shido. It was the combination of darkness, death and even something that could stir emotion like hatred and despair.

If Ainz wasn't an undead then he would probably boke apart like those fragile humans. Staring at Shido who was devoid of any emotion, Ainz sighed inside and said. "Acheval-san, I truly apologize for my subordinate's action. She was just worried about me, I hope you would forgive her. Nabe apologized to him."

Hearing the command of her master, she looked at Ainz pitifully for a while before she let out a sigh since she know that it was impossible to change his mind.

"I'm sorry." 

Nabe said in a monotone voice only for her to receive a hand chop from Ainz. 

"Ow!" Nabe turned her head at Ainz and looked at him like an abandoned puppy. But Ainz were merciless and told her to apologize properly.

"I'm sorry for sneak attacking you, I hope you forgive me." With a helpless sigh, Nabe once again apologized to Shido but this time, it was a proper way. 

The others slowly woke up from their dazed state when Ainz spoke and they immediately saw the seriousness of the matter.

"R-Right, Acheval-san, Nabe-chan may be used acting on impulse and she had already apologized." Lukrut said stutteringly trying to ease the situation.

"Y-Yeah, Dyne could heal your injuries if your injured somewhere. Right Dyne?" Peter added to Lukrut's words.

They didn't know about the spell that Nabe used and thought that it was only a paralyzing skill since Shido blocked the attack easily. However, they didn't know that the spell that Nabe used was a 4th tier spell. If the target of that spell was a Mithril or Orichalcum rank adventurers then even if they survive, they would sustain heavy injuries and they might even become paralyzed forever. That's how dangerous Nabe's attack was. 

Seeing them trying to calm him down, Shido looked at them for a bit before he shifted his eyes at Nabe again. Even though the attack couldn't harm him at all, and even if Shido was injured, he could easily regenerate. But what made Shido angry was that Nabe attacked without hesitation. The personality of the being in Nazarick are really inhuman.

Shido thought about the crazy people in Nazarick before he closed his eyes and calm his anger. 

After a moment, Shido opened his eyes and his anger was subdued. "Thanks." He thanks Peter and the others since Shido didn't really want to escalate things especially when he was up with Ainz and Nazarick. He wasn't ready yet.

Shido then turned his eyes at Nabe who looked at him with complex emotion. Shido could see reluctance, regret, anger, distain and fear in her eyes. Seeing such complicated emotion from Nabe, Shido felt that she was funny making his mood lighter.

"Alright. I forgive you. But I hope that it wouldn't happen again." Shido said with a small sigh thinking that Nabe was just a dumb girl. However, Nabe's reply made Shido speechless and made him rethink if he should forgive her easily.

"Huh? Don't order me around. I only listened to Momon-san- Ahk!" Nabe said while revealing a scornful gaze but before she could finish, her head receive another hand chop from Ainz.

"Really sorry about her. She was just dumb and didn't know much about the world." Ainz said as he scratch his helmet. However, inside, he was shouting at Nabe for being an idiot trying to provoke Shido again.

'You absolute fool,' Ainz screamed internally.' Are you trying to ruin everything!?'

"..." Shido didn't say anything but the corner of his lips kept twitching uncontrollably.