Ruler Vol 5 Chapter 2
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Author: Anit666
Editor: Weasalopes
Somewhere in a room inside the arena.
A lone girl was sitting on a sofa, her eyes fixated on the screen constructed through magic in front of her. As her mind assessed the various scenarios that could unfold from here, her heart already knew the outcome of this battle.
The scene reflected on that screen was what was currently happening outside: the final round between Samael, the new Ruby ranked Adventurer, and Arthur, the sixth participant who entered the tournament by the Third Princess’s recommendation. They hadn’t started their fight yet, and seemed to be talking about something.
Just then, the figure of Samael vanished and appeared in front of Arthur, but the girl didn’t panic as she knew that the latter would be able to cope, for she was aware of the real identity of Arthur; that he was leader of the group of Heroes summoned from Earth, Michael Fortner.
As the girl intently waited for their next moves, the door of the room opened, and someone stepped in. But the girl didn’t pay him any heed and continued watching that screen, for she knew just who would dare to enter the room without knocking.
“So, what do you think, Sherry?”
“Think what? No, before that, just how many times do I have to ask you to knock on that damned door?”
She asked as she sighed in annoyance.
“About who would win this match.”
“Isn’t the answer obvious?” The girl sighed again as he ignored her complaint. “Michael will win this match.”
“So, it would seem………”
“Hmm?” The girl finally found the heart to spare her guest a glance. “You seem to have a different opinion, Sir Lantz.”
“It’s just that……” His words trailed off in the end, but he managed to find his voice again. “There’s something, something about that man that isn’t normal.”
“You should have known that when he challenged Cecile to a bet.”
“It was his eyes.”
“Could you be a bit more specific please?”
The girl, Sherry, frowned.
“I actually accidentally called Michael by his true name in front of Samael.”
The girl raised her eyebrow.
“I don’t see why that would be a problem. No one knows his true identity.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” Lantz pursed his lips. “But…… it was at that exact moment when my eyes met Samael’s. And………… it seemed that he had seen through everything.”
“Eyes that see through everything?” Sherry held her temple. “That sounds just too familiar for my convenience. Anyway, I think you are overthinking it, Sir Lantz.”
“I do hope that’s the case.”
【Sam’s POV】
Michael Fortner. The Hero.
Or that’s what he should be according to my estimations. He was the leader of my class, so it’s only natural that the class would choose him to be their main hero. Of course, I could be wrong about that, so let’s find out, shall we?
“Michael.”
“I’m Arthur.”
Geez.
“Michael Fortner, the Hero.”
His hand that was reaching for his sword stopped.
“Geez, the princess took my bet so seriously that she sent the fucking Hero to be my opponent. My LUC really is zero.”
“It was your fault for saying something so outrageous. You wanted to fight by our side, so it’s only natural that she’ll want to test your strength.”
Michael was clearly shaken up by his identity being discovered, but he didn’t ask any meaningless questions like my identity or why I knew about his.
“Then we could have settled with just Lantz, no?”
“Believe me.” He took out his sword. “You do not want to fight him.”
“Oh? So you think you’re a match for me?”
“I think I’m more than enough.”
He took his stance.
“Geez, kids these days. I’m afraid I’ll have to have you.” I appeared before him. “Reconsider.”
“Hup!”
He launched a lunge, which I nimbly dodged by stepping to the side. As his sword was outdrawn, I got even closer and touched his chest with my hand. The level of ‘Limit’ was at 5, so my stats were already 6 times that of Michael’s.
But Michael managed to jump back and create distance before I could use ‘Wave Explosion’.
“Ohh, I’m impressed.”
Dodging from point blank range was no easy feat, and required a fair amount of experience. It’s another story that I deliberately gave him time to retreat; it would be no fun to end it so soon, would it?
“Of course.” Michael pointed his sword at me. “I’m not the Hero for nothing!”
He shouted as he lunged at me again, albeit his sword was faster this time. I dodged it by tilting my body a little, but he swiftly changed the direction of his sword and aimed at my head (is he seriously trying to kill me?), which I again dodged by stepping back.
“By the way, since you are the Hero, have you already met the Demon King?”
He ignored my words and continued slashing. But he wasn’t trying to use any magic or skills; does he want me to get serious as well?
Dodging another strike, I tried to continue the one-sided conversation.
“Yo you are breaking my heart by ignoring me.” My complaint was met by a diagonal slash. “I’m talking about the Demon King, you know. That obnoxious, conceited, Solomon El Maxwell.”
Forgive me for bad mouthing you, Solomon.
Upon hearing the name of the Demon King, the sword that was coming for my abs wavered a bit, and I got out of its way.
“Ah, I see.” Michael frowned(?) as his attacks continued. “Are you perhaps too scared to talk about how you lost to him?”
“Hurk!”
He grunted and continued his onslaught. He had grown even faster now, while his attacks had grown more vicious.
“If that is the case, then don’t worry, I already understand.”
I caught his sword with my bare hands and held it in place. His eyes widened in disbelief as he tried to free his sword from my clutches.
“You’ve already shown me that you are simply too weak to be his opponent.”
I released his sword with that, and he jumped back to create some distance. While gnashing his teeth, he raised his sword overhead, and a torrent of mana swirled around him, creating a small tornado.
Just like in the match with Pars, the sword grew exponentially in size to turn into a large light sabre. Michael clenched the hilt harder and prepared to bring that sword down on me.
But of course-
“Quite slow, aren’t you?”
Before he could attack me with that large sword, I dashed to him and kicked him hard in the stomach.
“Gaagh!”
He groaned in pain as he was sent flying by that sudden kick, releasing his sword in the process. The huge sword fell down beside me with a loud boom and got lodged in the ground. Then it simply disintegrated, leaving behind only the hilt.
“Whew.” I looked at Michael who was still standing while clutching his sides. “Isn’t your skill really slow? I would have been in trouble if it was Lantz instead of you.”
He flinched and looked down. After taking a long hard breath, he looked at me again with a raging fire burning fiercely in his eyes. He cast his mask aside and then spoke.
“The Princess asked me to hold back, but it doesn’t seem like that’s possible against you.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Thank you.” Michael frowned. “But before that, Michael, just what is a Hero?”
“…………What do you mean?”
He remained vigilant.
“You know, it has always been my dream to be a Hero, but I definitely cannot be one. So I want to ask you, just what does it mean to be a Hero?”
It goes without saying that I never wanted to be a Hero or a Villain; being on the sidelines or in the shadows suits me best.
“To be a Hero is to be justice.” He started, as if reciting a chant. “To be the sword of humanity and-”
“All right, that’s enough.”
I can already guess what he’s going to say. That gives me a rough idea of where he stands and what motivates him.
“………………”
He silently glared at me, perhaps being unhappy over being interrupted like that.
“I already know what you’re going to say. But that is not what I was asking. What I want to know is; just what is a Hero to you?”
“………To, me?”
His eyes started wavering at this unexpected question, which told me even more about his current situation.
All right then, let’s do this.
“You clearly haven’t thought of true meaning yet, and I don’t…… think the battlefield is the right place to contemplate the meaning of your existence.”
He seemed taken aback when such an obvious fact was pointed out to him by an enemy. And he has been a Hero for what, a year? Either he was taught by some bad teachers or went through some bad experiences.
“So, I have a proposal.”
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