《Rebirth: Monarchs》Chapter 176: Devising the Perfect Stratagem
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"Our opponent this time is too dangerous, we can't defeat him no matter what techniques we use."
Kai's expression was dark. He wasn't sure yet but the chance that it would be him was likely. He didn't want to take the chance.
"Is he as good as Wake with the sword?"
Arata asked upon seeing his face.
"No, he's far better. In fact, the two of them can't even be mentioned in the same breath. Wake is talented but he isn't omnipotent but the man I just fought, he can even cut space and time."
Hearing Kai praise the man so highly, all of them were shocked.
"I suppose I can match him in swordsmanship for a few minutes at most but that's it. Wake would be wiped out in an instant."
After all, this blind swordsman was someone he knew in the future.
"...Isn't Wake better than you in swordsmanship?"
Kei asked a bit skeptical.
"Of course not. I just held back, I could defeat him with a single strike if I wanted."
Though I can't say the same for the future Wake, he's a true prodigy after all.
Kai was a product of the training from all the members of Memento Mori. All of the members had awakened their innate abilities but only Kai stepped into divine. Because of this, all of the members poured everything they could into Kai, Wake also taught him about the sword and could match him evenly.
Hearing Kai, they felt that he was even more unfathomable than before. He looked like he struggled to even block against Wake but now they were told that he was holding back?
Erina on the other hand, didn't seem surprised. She can see the truth with her eyes after all.
Not just Kai's abilities, even his acting was superb. Nobody other than Erina realized that his battle with Wake was simply an act.
Now, he had to figure out a solution to this threat. The enemy now was someone he couldn't do anything against even if he were to use everything in his current arsenal. Making new Enchanted Gear? that wouldn't do anything. A wooden sword in the hands of a master swordsman was more dangerous than a sword held by an amateur.
But Kai wasn't out of plans, he was simply limited to only a few.
"Kenji, before you say anything, no."
Erina's voice was cold as she berated Kai.
"..."
Kai was tongue-tied. He hadn't even said anything, he was just glancing at everyone.
"What are you even disagreeing with?"
"You're thinking of going to fight him alone, aren't you?"
"..."
Once again, Kai was speechless. Was he really that predictable?
"There are various circumstances..."
"No."
"But..."
"I said no, don't make me hate you."
"..."
Everyone looked on speechless. The domineering Kai was being tame in front of his girlfriend. And the fact that the threat Erina used to make Kai close his mouth was that she would hate him.
"I'm sorry."
Erina finally broke a smile after seeing Kai apologize.
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He keeps on taking burdens by himself, if they could come then even if it was insignificant, even if they could just help Kai the tiniest bit, then it would be worth it.
"As long as you understand."
Seeing the two's public display of affection, they turned a blind eye and continued on with the previous topic.
"Then, how are we going to defeat him? If he's as strong as you say he is, then there's no chance we're going win."
Kai revealed a slight smirk at Arata's query.
"I said he's strong, but I never said that he was invincible. Remember the Immortal, he had eternal life and an invincible body yet what happened to him? Nothing is truly invincible."
His words were arrogant but they were all convinced because it came out of Kai's mouth. Their trust in Kai was leaps and bounds higher than when they all first met.
After all, time and time again, he's shown them that what they deemed impossible was actually possible.
"Since we've found the anomaly, I'm going to do some research in my room for the next few days, I will teach you all a set of techniques and when I'm done, you must all be able to implement these."
"""..."""
It was once said that Flash Step was something that can be taught in a day, used in a week, but needed years of honing. The way Kai talked about the techniques was as if he was putting them all on the same level as Flash Step which made them all shudder.
Sure enough, all of the techniques he had passed on and demonstrated were on the same level as Flash Step, some were even higher than that.
In Kai's room, Kai and Reo were talking to each other while the former was writing on the notebook in front of him. Together, they formed various stratagems while Kai pointed out everything he knew about the swordsman.
Blindness was one of the swordsman's qualities but this didn't make his performance with the sword worse, in fact, it was actually sharpened. Without the visual distractions, the blind swordsman could focus on his sword and his enemy. This even helped him eventually able to cut even immaterial items.
"This one sounds quite troublesome, doesn't he?"
Kai sighed while listening to Reo's comment but he didn't deny it.
"To be honest, my chances of defeating him are less than five percent in a real battle. If we fight in terms of techniques, then less than one percent."
Kai closed his eyes to search his memories for any other thing he remembers about the blind swordsman.
"...Reo, what color was the man's hair?"
"Hair? It was blue. Why are you asking me that? Your memory is practically flawless."
"It was to confirm something."
Kai opened his eyes and began writing on his notebook with a serious expression. Reo knew that Kai had a sudden idea and he had to write it down before he forgot the specific details. As Kai was writing, Reo's eyes kept slowly widening until they were as round as saucers.
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Reo's eyes looked at Kai who was writing with a straight face.
Is this guy really my master? Isn't he a demon king in disguise?
Seeing how evil Kai's plan was, Reo began to shudder. He had made a promise in his heart to never get in Kai's crosshairs. He almost felt bad for the swordsman now. Almost.
Days passed as Kai kept formulating in his room only stopping to eat and sometimes sleeping. Erina and Amelia hadn't looked for him unless it was matters of Kai's health because they knew he couldn't be disturbed at this period. The both of them slept in a different room while Kai had the room to himself.
At the same time during Kai was writing, the others were all diligently practicing with all they had. They were able to use Flash Step but the one with the most proficiency was still Yoko. The other techniques Kai taught were still hard to employ but with a little more time, they'd be successful.
Kai's notebook already had filled over twenty pages of detailed plans yet he kept on writing as if he would never finish. The ink bottle by his side had already been spent twice over. Reo was the one who replaced the ink bottle from time to time as he watched Kai's work very closely.
Any flaws that he found were pointed out and replaced and through this, the both of them finally finished after a little more than a week.
"Done?"
Kai closed the notebook in front of him and closed his tired eyes while massaging the space between them.
"Done."
He tossed the notebook over to Reo who began reading it intently. Although Kai took awhile, it was because he kept on writing plans. There was already a small stack of papers behind him which contained all the trashed drafts of his plans.
"...Entropy?"
Seeing the unfamiliar term scattered across some of the pages, Reo asked.
"It means unpredictable disorder."
"Unpredictable? Don't tell me you're going to risk this happening? You know that if you fail, you're going to explode right?"
It wasn't an exaggeration, Reo looked over at Kai's plans and knew that he was planning on using this to disturb order but one wrong step would be dangerous and now Kai was telling him that it was only a chance.
"If I fail, I explode and if I don't, I get a new technique. High risk, high rewards."
He hadn't tried this in the other timeline either, it was because the higher one's mana capacity, the more dangerous this was going to be.
Reo sighed. He knew that Kai was quite stubborn and was quite suicidal at times.
"Besides, do you think I'd fail?"
Hearing Kai's arrogant words, Reo began to think to himself with a wry smile.
I'm the sin of pride but my master is even more prideful than I am.
Reo inherited the power of the dark spirit dubbed the sin of pride but to date, the personality had barely surfaced.
"Yes, yes, my master is the best. Go get some rest."
Just as he finished his words, he returned the notebook back to Kai before vanishing. After Reo vanished, Kai suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness hit him. He'd only slept for a couple of hours each day so he was quite tired.
It was near nighttime but there was no harm in sleeping early. Kai slipped into his bed and closed his eyes.
Rustle rustle
The bed Kai was sleeping on rustled.
"..."
Kai woke up from his sleep. By the light coming from the window, it was already morning. He used Soul Call to sense who the presence rustling from the bed was and like he had thought, it was Erina but what bemused him was that Amelia was also there.
"Rose, shh."
"You're the noisy one here."
Amelia, who took on the alias of Rose and Erina who took on the alias of Mio were whispering to each other beneath the sheets. To what they were attempting to do, Kai had no clue. By their conversation, it seemed that Erina was the one who thought of this plan.
It'd be bad if I don't stop them soon though.
Following his line of thought, Kai was about to stand up before they discovered his kingdom but his fears were realized as a hand brushed through his pants.
"Wow..."
Erina muttered in surprise.
"It's morning after all."
Amelia said as a matter-of-factly.
When Kai heard their conversation, his expression went dark. Now, he couldn't afford to wake up otherwise it'd just be pure embarrassment for him.
"Do you think he'd mind...?"
Erina asked a bit worried.
"Don't worry, I've done this a ton of times already and he loved it each time."
Amelia's words had a bit of gloating in them.
"But we haven't done it yet..."
Still unconvinced, Erina was about to stop herself but before she could, they heard a groan.
"He's awake!"
Erina quickly went out of the sheets and hid under the bed.
"..."
Seeing as how her partner wasn't here with her, her expression became grim.
"So, dear, how are you feeling?"
"I would've been feeling refreshed but now I'm feeling something different."
"Well, that's good. Let's continue then."
Amelia said in a seductive tone.
After about half an hour only hearing the sounds from those two, Erina was already trembling in anger.
"Mio, you can come out now."
All of a sudden, her anger was dowsed by cold water as she slowly got up from under the bed.
"How long...?"
"Since the start."
"..."
Instead of being embarrassed, the anger in her heart suddenly flared. He knew she was there the whole time yet he made her hear that display?
As if seeing through the girl's thoughts, Kai pulled her over and whispered sweet nothings into her ear until she was satisfied.
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