“What is your name stranger?”

Greer asked me with a strange calm.

“Well I-----“

I was rudely cut off when he immediately rushed forward to attack.

I leaped backwards but he changed in to a thrust from his axe slam.

I had the wind knocked out of me as I was sent backwards.

Fortunately, I didn’t fall backwards and pushed myself off the ground with my hand.

Since he just did a preemptive strike, I’m going to use some magic.

Enhancement magic could also be considered a martial skill depending on the region and variation.

But I wasn’t going to use it in the first place.

Small foes were usually trickier in their fighting styles.

This fight started to get my fighting spirit going.

No, normal enhancement wasn’t going to be enough.

I wanted to beat him but I still had some things I wanted to hide.

[Valkyrie’s Call]

I went for an extremely flashy spell.

Lightning started to surround me and form a light armor around me.

This spell gave minimal defense boosts but it increased my speed and imbued my attacks with lighting and wind magic.

I pulled my sheath up and decided to give them a show.

I couldn’t draw this blade but it would prove a point if I didn’t use it.

And as expected, the crowd started to marvel at my spell.

“Oh? You’re right this may become an actual fight. I’ve got an armor spell of my own”

[Titans’ Forge]

The earth started to crumble around him and it crawled up his body.

Then it melted and turned in steel gray armor on him.

“AND IT LOOKS LIKE THE TWO FIGHTERS ARE GOING TO GO ALL OUT ON THIS”

The announcer screamed out jubilantly as he moved further and further away.

This time we stared at each for a while, awaiting the other to move.

I decided to try out my own hybrid move that I had been developing.

[Shadow Variance]

In an intense moment of concentration, I increased my reaction time so much that time slowed down.

This move basically made it so that I could strike twice.

My eyes would exude so much fury that they would be distracted by the main strike.

But I would also hit them a second time.

“OH, AND THE MYSTERY CHALLENGER MOVES FIRST, BUT WILL IT WORK?”

I rushed forward and prepared to hit Greer’s face with the bottom of my sheath.

He tried to stop me by stomping me.

But right before he hit me, the second blow happened.

“!?”

Greer fell over and crashed in the ground backwards.

My [Shadow Variance] didn’t rely on speed for a second strike but an artificial “mana clone” that came out.

This time I made it come from below to strike behind his raised knee.

“OUCH AND DOWN GOES GREER, IS THIS ENOUGH?”

I jumped on top of his chest and was about to strike him.

“Let’s see what happens when a metal can gets hit by lightning”

I poured more mana than I should in to this strike and the sheath hit his chest with ten times the amount of lightning as

normal.

“GAAAHHHH”

Greer slammed his arms down and used the momentum to try to head butt me.

It missed but it got me off of him.

“Not bad, I haven’t used this in a while”

His gray armor was still on but it slowly turned red.

Yes, this was . . .

[Berserker’s Rage]

“LOOKS LIKE GREER IS GOING ALL OUT NOW AND NO LONGER HOLDING BACK”

He charged at me and swung that axe of his for the first time in a while.

Before his swings were slow, precise and deliberate.

Now he was one handing the axe and swinging it wildly.

Not to mention the fact that he was starting the carve out the ground around me.

I dodged for a bit but then he suddenly increased the speed of his swing and nearly took my face off.

“AND A CLOSE SHAVE FOR THE CHALLENGER!!!”

He managed to chop a part off the front of my hood though.

He was faking the speed of his attacks so that he could actually use his real speed in a single lethal strike.

Not bad, this means the hero should be just as strong or most likely, way stronger.

[Lightning Fang]

Looks like my theme for my time here is going to be Lightning based spells.

Usually only one projectile would form behind you, but stronger people can make more.

So, I formed eight behind me and stretched them in to spears.

”WHATS THIS? EIGHT SPEARS???”

I hurled two at Greer but he deflected them.

I rushed directly at him and forced four spears to converge on me creating a lightning vortex.

Just as I predicted, he raised his axe and was about to crash it on me.

[Star Crusher]

“HERE COMES GREER’S SIGNATURE MOVE”

Greer started to glow again but . . . .

“KUH!?”

He stopped and his axe crashed backwards behind him.

I had sent the final spears at his armpits and the simultaneous hits stunned him.

But just in case, I collapsed [Valkyrie’s Call] and sent the remaining lightning in to his chest.

His armor finally shattered when I did this.

When it happened though, Greer suddenly hugged me and started to crush me.

This wasn’t good, If I ever took enough damage, my human form would fail.

This illusion magic would only take enough damage that I designated my human form would take.

That means to the people that a giant green dragon that could blow buildings away with its wings would appear.

“Huh!?”

Greer loosened for a second and I head bashed him.

“It can’t be, you’re a . . .”

“YEP”

Time for the finale. I removed my hood and uncovered my mouth.

[Thunder God’s Judgement]

The sky turned dark and a single bolt of lightning shot down.

I caught it in my right hand and it formed in to a spear.

At the same time, Greer was preparing his move as well.

Then we leaped at each other, my lightning spear vs his axe.

[Star Crusher]

[Shadow Variance]

[Light Lord’s Shield]