Regnum Aetern Dual Rebirth Chapter 174

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[ … words ]

Adrian furrowed his brow as he watched the academy staff carrying the unconscious Evangeline away.

’This… is going to be a problem.’

He could already feel the shift in the crowd’s attitude, though the audience seemed more shocked by the fact that Saria Velcyra Mythrien defeated Evangeline rather than the fact that Evangeline lost.

Maybe it was because of the show Evangeline had put on during the practical exam. Moreover, the fight itself had been rather intense and flashy.

Adrian stood up from the seat and began walking towards the hypogeum.

’Since Evangeline lost, the one I’m going to be fighting will be the daughter of Mythrien.’

And he didn’t like his chances.

The wait inside the hypogeum was much longer than expected. He was assuming that the extra time had to do with treating the injuries Saria may have received in her fight against Evangeline.

But soon his name was called, and he stood up, leaving the hypogeum.

As he climbed up to the stage, he saw his opponent standing in front of him with her eyes closed.

There was a clear frown on her face.

She turned to the referee just as the man was about to signal the start of the fight.

“Hey, you, is my opponent standing in front of me right now?”

The referee seemed momentarily confused by the question but soon nodded.

“He is. Your opponent, Adrian Caelis Ravenshade, is standing on the stage facing you.”

Adrian narrowed his eyes.

House Mythrien’s daughter slowly turned to face the direction where he stood.

“I see. You have somehow completely stopped the mana from leaking out of your body. You have no presence whatsoever, and so my Origin ability doesn’t allow me to see you.”

’So Ravian’s information was indeed correct.’

The girl couldn’t ’see’ Adrian.

He had expected something like this the moment Ravian mentioned the girl’s origin ability. After all, he knew such an Origin ability existed since it was recorded in the compendium.

The name of her Origin ability was Manascape, and its function was exactly as Ravian had described.

But…

The girl sighed and tensed her muscles.

“It’s not as though that’s going to make a difference.”

Indeed, he may be invisible to her right now, but that would stop being the case the moment he used mana. And even if he tried to attack her without using mana, he doubted that it would be all that easy.

The referee raised his hand and signaled.i

“Begin!”

But even after announcing the start of the fight, both of them remained standing in the same spot, motionless. The referee looked at them in confusion, and so did the audience.

With his eyes fixed on her, Adrian tensed his muscles.

’Should I attack without mana? But even if she can’t see me, she will probably be able to sense my movements.’

If there was one thing he was sure of, it was that he had no way to beat her normally. After seeing her fight against Evangeline, he knew that she was better than him in hand-to-hand combat.

And even if he did use mana, the only technique that could defeat her would be space implosion. But of course, that would simply kill the girl, so he couldn’t use it.

Suddenly, the girl raised her chin and spoke in a provocative tone.

“You’re not attacking? Are you scared?”

“…”

’So she’s trying to provoke me into attacking her, huh?’

Their fight wouldn’t be one-sided, but Adrian knew for certain that he’d lose against her. And their fight wouldn’t be as flashy as the one between her and Evangeline, which meant his reputation would take a solid hit.

Suddenly, his opponent channeled her mana through her entire body. Slowly, a platinum armor materialized over her figure. The armor’s design seemed to cover all her vitals but didn’t seem to be restricting her movements.

She smiled as the armor finished materializing.

“Since you are giving me so much time, I thought I should make some preparations. After experiencing the previous fight, I would rather not take any chances.”

“…”

Adrian narrowed his eyes as he observed the platinum armor.

’Doesn’t look like not using mana is an option anymore.’

He sighed.

’I need some time to think.’

Closing his eyes, he made his consciousness fall into the immutable world. Opening his eyes, Adrian found himself lying on the roadside, the last place he had been in the Immutable world.

He quickly twisted the dial of the analog wristwatch and increased the time discrepancy, making the time here flow extremely fast compared to the real world.

Adrian stood up and began walking along the road at an unhurried pace, lost in thought.

’How do I defeat her?’

He really couldn’t think of a way. Based on what he had seen, she seemed to be an infuser but had learned some spells of her element just like him. He hadn’t seen her use the third level of her infusion art, but the fighting style itself didn’t seem limited to a single weapon.

’She doesn’t seem stupid enough to fall for any tricks either—’

Adrian paused as an idea suddenly came to his mind.

’Infinite dimension…’

This was something he had been ignoring for quite a while now. That was largely due to the risk it carried. He didn’t know anything about the strange phenomenon that occurred when he opened its gates during the fight with the assassin six years ago.

And in case that was just a onetime thing, opening the gates again would certainly make his body instantly explode.

’Considering the girl is blind and has Manascape, her senses must be incredibly sensitive to mana.’

So what would happen if she were to sense the mana currently stored within the infinite dimension?

’Hmm… This could work if I play my cards right.’

He wouldn’t even need to risk opening the gates of the dimension.

Adrian closed his eyes and made his consciousness return to the real world. As he opened his eyes, he briefly glanced around.

The girl was still standing in the same position, the referee was still looking at them in confusion, and the crowd was still watching them in silence.

’Here it goes.’

Taking a deep breath, Adrian focused on the door to the infinite dimension connected to his body.

But instead of commanding it to open, he focused his intent and nudged it gently so that the door would briefly open but would close before the mana from the dimension could pass through.

***

Standing still, Saria sharpened her focus even further.

She couldn’t ’see’ anyone standing on the stage, and the only person she could sense nearby was the referee.

Her opponent was sharp. He didn’t speak even when she tried to provoke him, probably realizing that it would reveal his location to her.

’It doesn’t matter. It’s not as though I have never faced something like this before.’

Her Origin ability didn’t allow her to ’see’ anything that wasn’t covered in mana, which included all mundane objects.

This meant that she wouldn’t be able to see a mundane projectile or a normal arrow coming towards her. But she had spent a large part of her childhood training for exactly that.

’Focus. Sense the shift in the air as something moves. Through your feet, feel the tiny vibrations on the ground created when someone takes a step—’

Saria’s thoughts suddenly froze as chills ran down her spine. The hair on her skin stood on end.

’W-What?!’