Ancient Dragon Colosseum, Audience Seats.
"I wonder what princess Selain has in her arsenal that brings her such amazing confidence..." With a look of curiosity on his face, Link glanced at the Colosseum ground.
Unlike Lia, others haven't seen Selain's swordsmanship yet, so they aren't really sure of her capabilities.
Link has first-hand witnessed Rio's strength; he was the one who received the most brutal beating from Rio's sword.
He even had to face being corrupted by miasma and being cut by time-accelerated sword attacks.
Rio still held back when fighting Liam and Lia, but Link was the one who faced him at his full strength, so he knows how strong Rio can be.
Blocking a single full-powered attack from him is like trying to jump in the way of a bullet train as an ordinary person.
Despite being focused purely on speed, Rio doesn't lack in terms of strength, and his attack power further gets enhanced by 'Sword Intent' to the extreme.
"Dealing with Rio's sword intent alone is a nightmare... ugh, I still remember how awful it feels to get your heart pierced by sword intent..."
"That was one of the few attacks that I don't want to face ever again..."
Just as Rio respects Link's awesome strength and defensive capabilities, Link also respects how insanely broken Rio is.
'Truthfully speaking, I still can't believe it that Rio's just a C-rank talent... The person who tested his talent must have been mentally retarded...'
Link obviously ran a background check on Rio way back when Rio had saved Riya during the New Year festival.
So, he knew that Rio was tested as a mere C rank talent holder, which can't be farther from the truth.
'In my opinion, Rio's talent in swordsmanship is likely not lower than my talent in martial arts... which is already quite terrifying...'
'But why didn't heavenly punishment fall on him... Is it because he's not being targeted by the heavenly luck?'
Link has a lot of unanswered questions in his head, but there's no answer to them.
While Link was contemplating this matter, Liam also nodded his head and spoke in a calm voice.
"I hate to admit it, but... I don't think I can win against him as of yet..."
"Originally I didn't have mana field, so I wasn't so sure about legendary skills, but now that I can vaguely see his mastery over sword intent... I can see that there's still a big gap..."
"But I guess the princess should be able to at least withstand one attack, right?"
Selain is also a peak A ranker after all; if she can't even withstand one attack from a fellow A ranker, wouldn't that mean that she's too weak?
However, that comparison is usually only accurate against other ordinary A rankers.
For anomalies like Rio, there's no point in even comparing.
Half an hour passed by in a flash.
Rio and Selain walked out of the two entrances of the Colosseum grounds and stood against each other.
*Ladies and gentlemen! The next match is a duel between two great talents!!*
*On one side is the pride of the dragon race, the sole heir to the dragon throne and the princess of the dragon valley, Selaindhux Raos De Draconia!*
*And on the other hand is the champion of the tournament of supreme talents! The one bestowed with the title of a great knight, 'Supreme Sword', Rio Flash!*
*Let's not dilly-dally and start the legendary battle!*
*3....2...1.. FIGHT!!*
The very moment the announcement was made, people in the audience cheered loudly for Selain while shouting at the top of their lungs.
Selain is after all their princess; they can't bear the thought of her losing; her loss would mean that the whole younger generation of the dragon race has been defeated.
Right now, Rio as the champion of the tournament of supreme tournament represents that he's the strongest among the whole younger generation.
If Selain wins, she will win herself the title of the 'Champion' and will automatically be revered by all dragons.
If she loses, people won't be that upset; after all, losing to the world champion is not a shameful thing; in fact, it would already be a great feat if you could actually fight him as an equal.
Up until now, only Link has managed to fight the Rio at full power, and even that was before Rio got 'Imperfect Sword Heart'.
"Well then, I will use my all three greatest attacks, champion... Let's see what you have got..." Hearing Selain's words, Rio unsheathed his sword and nodded his head; the expression on his face remained as expressionless as ever.
"Let's see what the strongest among the younger generation has got in her arsenal..."
Rio raised one of his hands towards Selain and urged her to come and attack him.
A smile appeared on Selain's face after seeing that blatant mockery, and she unsheathed her sword.
'It's really annoying how he can mock others with that straight face...'
Selain bent her knees a bit and put her sword around her waist.
[Golden Petal Sword Art: Thousand Petal Barrage!]
As if her mana had condensed into golden flower petals, Selain's attack was unpredictable and extremely lethal.
Each of the thousand petals represented an extremely strong sword slash, and due to the flexibility of those petal-like attacks, the area of effect was also extremely wide.
With that one attack, Selain shattered half of the Colosseum arena.
The ground cracked and several sword slash marks appeared on it; even the barrier protecting
the audience was hit by that attack.
If it was any other person, including Link and the others, even they would not have been able to dodge this attack as the area was too wide.
[Darkwing movement art!]
[Handling!]
Yet, for Rio, dodging that attack was a child's play.
In fact, he had already dodged the very moment she was about to attack; what she hit was a
mere after-image of his.
"Not bad, I had a hunch that it would be a wide area attack, but even I didn't expect it would cover such a wide area... As expected of the princess of the dragon valley, I guess, you are
indeed strong..."
Rio nodded his head in acknowledgement.
No matter what others may say, Rio has already seen it all. Selain is definitely not weak; she's talented enough to become a member of Team Astra easily.
"W-what the!?"
Unlike Rio, who had the same expression over his face as usual, Selain was shocked to the core; this is the first time in her life she has seen someone dodge her attack so effortlessly.
'H-how did he predict my attack!? We have never fought before, and this is likely the first time he has seen the golden petal sword art!'
Selain wouldn't have been so surprised if Rio had known about her techniques for a long time.
But right now, Rio is facing her for the first time, and he still easily predicted what move she
will pull out. It's as if he's seeing the future!
Selain gritted her teeth and took her stance again.,
[Selain Style: Golden Phantom Mirage!]
As if Selain had created an illusion, hundreds of her clones appeared and surrounded Rio from
every angle.
'This is the greatest level of optical illusion I have that can confuse the senses of even S
rankers!'
Selain created this by using the golden petals and making them extremely reflective, just like
a mirror.
This way, her opponent can't tell which one is the real one, and it would be near impossible to block the next attack.
[Golden Dragon: True Dragon Magic: Golden Thunder Bombardment!]
Selain pointed her sword towards Rio and fired an enormous and condensed bolt of golden thunder, which could directly obliterate an A ranker to bits.
But to her surprise, Rio directly ignored the fake clones and glanced in the real Selain's eyes
before easily dodging the thunder attack by side-stepping.
"Ah, I forgot to tell you, but I am immune to illusions actually... Also, that was the third attack, so it's my turn now, okay, grit your teeth; this one will hurt a bit..."
The first attack was that wide area one; the second one was the illusion; and the third was the
golden thunder. (Illusions are also a form of attacking...)
Seeing Rio stay unharmed, Selain gritted her teeth and immediately used her golden thunder
to cover her body and protect her from damage.
Rio waited patiently in the meantime so that she could enhance her defenses.
Fighting against him is already an unfair thing, so it isn't a bad thing to give the other party
some time to prepare.
"Defend this..."
[Sword Intent!]
[Elemental Sword Art: Thunder Type: Golden Thunder Thousand Mirage!]
Rio directly copy-pasted Selain's skill and used it as his own. Matter of fact, all of the illusions he created are actually his afterimages, so he can attack
from any direction, and thus, his usage of this skill was even better than Selain herself. In other words, Rio learned this skill, added it to his sword technique, and then used it even
better than the actual owner, and he did all that in a matter of seconds. (That 'X' level sword aptitude is no joke...)
The golden thunder enveloped his sword and slashed at Selain. The sword's intent forcefully dissipated the golden thunder around her, shattering the sword she used to defend herself in an instant. Rio's sword reached her neck and stopped right there.
If Rio hadn't stopped there, Selain's head would have been chopped off by him right there.
Although healers can save people from any fatal injury, Rio doesn't want to take a massive risk.
Chopping the head of a princess while still in her empire would be a great mistake.
"I-I admit defeat..."
At that moment, Selain directly admitted her defeat; she was beaten one-sidedly.
It was a very unfair battle; there was no suspense in it, and the battle didn't even last more
than five minutes.
...
...
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here!
Question of the day.
Don't you think Rio's copying ability is a bit too overpowered?
(Tell me your thoughts in the comments)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones!!