66 An Old Friend(Part 2)

The frozen continent was quite the unwelcoming place. You would have to be an extremely strong adventurer or monster in order to be able to survive stepping a foot in it. The entire land was at a temperature of -120°C(-184°F) Not to mention all of the strong monsters that had been born by all of the magicules in the air. Magicules Velzard had released.

We were standing on a large well-worn battle ring. It was a gigantic piece of land that was protected from the blizzards raging on the outside. The ground had traces of scratches and previous battles.

"Alright! The battle will commence soon! Rules are as they have always been! Try to keep the destruction controlled. We are here to fight not to destroy the planet. Etc etc." Velzard was standing in between us as she announce the beginning of the fight.

"I will create a barrier around the field. Since my sister is not here to assist I will add another rule. Whoever breaks the barrier will be declared a loser. I'm the one who had to clean up your mess every time…"

Velzard continued to explain with a happy expression. It seemed that Guy wasn't the only one to miss this event.

Guy was warming up in front of me. He had a wide grin on his face as he said.

"Do you want me to hold back? It would be too boring if the fight ended instantly."

"No, actually, I might want to stretch out my muscles too. Plus I wouldn't want you to complain that you were holding back when you lost." I responded.

I was actually feeling a bit excited to fight. I don't think there had ever been a chance for me to go all out since I got here.

"Oh? Well, aren't you confident?" Guy said as he felt his blood begin to burn with excitement.

"Go!" Velzard exclaimed as a gigantic barrier formed around us. Yet neither of us moved.

"Velzard. How did it go in that book you were reading? Wait, I remember now. It was, The World."

Guy activated one of his most powerful skills, a skill that would usually cost a lot of magicules to activate for only a moment. But that was not something Guy had to worry about ever since he fought Milim and copied a skill from her. The skill he had activated was the power to stop time.

In an instant, the world stopped moving. The constant harsh winds that blew on the outside became quiet. And Guy began to walk slowly in my direction. He was taking his time moving towards me and he began to laugh like a madman as he got nearer.

"There is a lot you have missed, maybe I never should have started that bet. You lost yourself by doing your reincarnation tricks. You don't even remember me. What will Velgrynd say when she finds out?"

He was talking to himself as he moved closer.

"Rudra, no, Rimuru. I think I have finally grown stronger than you."

Guy said with a solemn expression.

"Ya think?"

He heard those words as he got punched in the chest with enough force to get sent flying backward. Guy Crimson was able to stop himself after a few meters.

"KufufuawbWAhWHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA." And that is when his mad laughter began.

"You are taking your time laughing in the middle of a battle, you really must be underestimating me."

One of the few skills that were capable of defeating me even with all the power I had gained, the power of time. And for that reason, that was one of the first skills created by my skill Veldanava. The magicule cost of using the skill was horrendous, yet I didn't have to worry about that. Guy was the one who was holding time in its place. All I had to do was move in it.

I drew a new sword Kurobe had made for me not too long ago. Thanks to it being bathed in my magicules since I evolved into a true dragon it had turned into Mythical grade. It was not the only weapon in my arsenal at the moment. Yet it was one of my new favorites. A sword I had given the name Musabori Kuu.

I launched myself towards the laughing guy crimson and he barely reacted by drawing out his sword and blocking. Yet the moment our swords touched the energy inside his weapon began to be consumed by mine. The rainbow-like luster shining from his sword began to diminish slightly.

The demon sword world, the sword Guy had created. It was supposed to be formed from the hardest physical element known as the "Start Heart". A sword Guy had left to soak up his aura for the longest time. Yet it was meeting up against the bane of every item filled with magic. A sword partially made with Dimeritium and Ramantium. Capable of both devouring magicules and of conducting them with ease.

Since I had given it the name Musabori Kuu(Devourer) it had bonded with me. Giving me full control of it. I could channel my own magicules without a problem while it would devour anyone else's.

Noticing this, Guy quickly jumped backward to gain some space. Guy took a look at his sword before glancing at me.

"I guess we really aren't holding back anything." He readied his sword and prepared to attack. "Just like the good old days. I like it."

We both jumped to attack at the same time with our blades. But Guy was at a disadvantage. I had learned the skills of Hakuro, Hinata, and most recently Albert in my last visit to Jistav. They were some of the best swordsmen in the world, and even at this very moment, I was learning from Guy with every swing.

I felt as if I was one with the blade I held. Guy was great with a sword, but that wasn't his main fighting style. So with every swing, he received a few cuts in his body. Cuts that also fed the hungry sword. The cuts quickly healed but soon enough Guy realized that he was at a disadvantage.

[It appears that Guy is attempting to use his skill Lucifer, Lord of Pride to analyze and copy your sword style. So I have activated the skill Incomplete Records and Plunderer to copy it.

Activating the Usurper protocol.]

The next moment Guy swung his sword in an awkward way with a confused expression on his face. He had to forcefully stop himself from stabbing himself. He was supposed to execute one of the moves he had just seen me use but he had somehow gotten something else.

He was looking at the sword approaching him at a high speed. Activating his Godspeed calculation he began to analyze the situation. And coming to a conclusion he activated a skill he had copied from Velzard.

"Gabriel, Lord of Patience. Decelerate."

My blade suddenly slowed down to a crawl, along with my body. Yet that was what I wanted.

[Hippity, hoppity, your skill is now our property.] Ciel said with a playful tone following my trail of thoughts.

Guy took the opening and jumped backward again to gain more space and faced his palm toward me.

"Napalm Burst"

Infernal flames burst out from his hand and as they traveled they took the shape of a gigantic dragon. The dragon was weaving in unpredictable ways and when it got near me it split into tens of dragons that surrounded me.

"What a coincidence. I can shoot dragons too."

I broke through Gabriel after I had analyzed it and also jumped back to gain some distance from the dragons. I could have canceled the skill with Incomplete Denial but I wanted to test something out.

Pointing my sword once again it began to gather a large wave of magicules. The devouring attribute that made the sword was working together with the skill I was about to launch. Unlike the thunder dragon resembling Veldora that had appeared last time, I used the skill and a different dragon was created. A dragon that was filled with what could only be described as void. With the power to consume anything in its path.

The dragon left my blade as it split to consume the flaming dragons approaching me. The moment they were touched they disappeared into the void dragons. And once they had consumed them they began to head directly towards Guy.

[He is attempting to copy your skill once again with Lucifer. What should we send him now?]

'I know just the thing.'

Extending his hand Guy sends out a large burst of magicules. Yet instead of dragons, only sparkles left his hands.

"Well, aren't you fabulous?"

Guy tried to hold back his laughter in order to focus on dealing with the attack. It was clear now that his Lord of Pride was ineffective.

"You are really making me go all out aren't you? Collapse space."

The location in which the void dragons were was suddenly disturbed and they were destroyed. This skill also broke the skill Guy had forgotten he had activated due to the sudden battle. The time-stop.

All the pressure created by the attacks that had been frozen in time was suddenly released as a massive gust of wind and energy covered the entire arena.

"Quite the sword you have."

"Why thank you."

"Well, I was worried about hurting you if I went all out. But I guess I don't have to worry about it. How about we continue the fight without our weapons? Won't it be more fun that way?"

"Oh? Sure, why not. But that means if I win it counts as two since I am the one putting my sword away."

When I finished speaking those words Guy teleported in front of me with a punch with all of his strength. And since I was expecting this I had prepared to open a portal. Guy's fist got closer and closer to me. Until at the very last second a portal opened in front of his fist. The destination of that portal being in front of Guy.

Guy was launched back with the force of his own punch. And after a few moments of staggering, he was able to focus again only to see another fist in front of him. I will admit it, hand-to-hand combat wasn't my expertise. But since I had someone who was in front of me, I might as well get some classes.

While Plunderer had acquired the skill to steal and copy higher skills it also came with the caveat of not being instantaneous. For Ultimates I had to see them and be affected by them in order to copy them. Anything below Ultimate was free real estate for the taking. I could also fully steal a skill or knowledge but it would take slightly longer and would require direct contact.

Now that I had shown my trick with the portal Guy was able to avoid them. So the fight had turned into only physical attacks at the moment. I was able to block a good portion of Guy's strikes yet some of them still passed and hit me. But it wasn't long before I was beginning to learn from his every strike.

Guy seemed to notice my quick progress in learning, and so he put a serious face for a moment. The full-powered strikes became lighter and as soon as he noticed I had fully learned the attacks he began to switch to different styles. The pace of the battle slowed down as we continued to fight like this for what felt like a long period of time.

After a long period of fighting Guy stopped and said.

"Do you have another sword? Not the one that eats magicules. If you do, pull it out."

"Why are you teaching me all of a sudden?"

"I am returning a favor. Hurry up before I change my mind. You might be better than me with a sword but that doesn't mean I don't know a few tricks you don't."

I pulled out the sword Kurobe had forged for me a long time ago after my previous sword broke.

"Once we finish this we are continuing our fight. So you better prepare to lose." Guy said as the smile appeared again on his face.

The very next moment his sword began to glow once again before he attacked.