Chapter 238 - Since you want a duel, I'll give you one. Prepare yourself, Roy Flott!
Kurono raised her hand to rub the spot on her waist where Roy had slapped her with the flat of his blade.
The corners of her mouth twitched involuntarily.
'It hurts.'
She knew the skin under her clothes must be red and swollen by now, but in this situation, she couldn't exactly lift her shirt to check the injury.
"He actually hit the Chairwoman in a single exchange!"
Ayase watched in shock from the stands.
Kurono was the former World No. 3. The weight of that title was leagues above a Top 8 finalist in a student tournament.
Even if she hadn't taken it seriously and hadn't summoned her Device, her strength shouldn't have been underestimated.
To put it bluntly, even without her Device, Kurono could crush most Blazers relying solely on her immense mana capacity and rich combat experience.
Yet, Roy had landed a clean hit in the first exchange. And there was an even scarier realization: Roy had used the flat of the blade.
If he had used the edge, Kurono would have been injured. In a sense, Roy had just injured the former World No. 3 because she wasn't taking him seriously.
"Boy, your strength isn't bad. It seems I really underestimated you just now," Kurono said, her face darkening slightly.
She forced a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "But don't you know you should respect your teacher a little bit?"
"Showing the attitude you deserve is the greatest form of respect," Roy raised an eyebrow and smiled.
The strike just now didn't count toward completing his system task. At most, it was an appetizer before the real battle with a World-Class opponent.
Hearing this, Kurono's complexion darkened further. She could hear the sarcasm dripping from his words.
His calm, breezy attitude only made it more infuriating.
"You have quite the mouth on you. It's been a long time since anyone dared to speak to me like that."
Kurono rubbed her waist to relieve the pain temporarily, then straightened up with a proud smile. "I hope you won't regret this later."
She intended to get serious and reclaim her dignity.
She had arrogantly boasted that Roy could try to force her to use her Device.
Who knew she would be slapped in the face literally? It was a serious blow to her pride as the Chairwoman.
Fortunately, there were only three people in the arena. If word of this got out, she would never hear the end of it from her old rivals.
Kurono dropped her contemptuous attitude.
As proof, she raised her hands. Dark black and pure white magical light surged in her left and right palms, manifesting into two ornate pistols.
Device: Propator and Ennoia.
The twin pistols one black, one white were the medium through which she displayed her terrifying Noble Art.
Noble Art: World Clock.
Her ability allowed her to manipulate time itself. She could accelerate, decelerate, or even suspend the time of her targets without limit.
As long as a bullet from Propator or Ennoia hit the opponent, victory was all but guaranteed. With this power, Kurono had dominated the world stage in her early twenties.
"What was that strike just now?" Kurono asked, holding her pistols ready. "It didn't look like a normal slash."
She hadn't felt any fluctuation of mana from Roy, yet his sword had moved with unreasonable speed. The sudden change in trajectory had caught her completely off guard.
"It was just two consecutive slashes in an instant," Roy replied casually.
Roy had replicated Kuraudo Kurashiki's Marginal.
Marginal wasn't an active skill but a passive trait, a special enhancement brought by one's magic.
It amplified the user's reflexes far beyond human limits. However, the same ability could yield vastly different results depending on the user.
In Kuraudo's hands, Marginal allowed him to unleash Orochi powers. But in Roy's hands, he could unleash sixteen or even more strikes in the same timeframe.
If Kuraudo had attempted the same feint against Kurono, she would have dodged it easily. But against Roy, she was hit.
That was the difference in fundamental skill.
"Two slashes in an instant?" Kurono twitched her mouth. He made it sound so simple.
Few people in her memory could achieve that level of speed and precision. Even some specialized swordsmen she had fought in the leagues couldn't land a hit on her in the first exchange.
"Never mind."
Kurono shook her head, dismissing the thought. She raised one of her pistols and fired a shot at her own waist.
Bang!
This wasn't self-harm. She used her World Clock to temporarily reverse the time of the specific area of her body, eliminating the pain so it wouldn't affect the upcoming battle.
At this moment, she truly regarded Roy as an opponent.
"Since you want a duel, I'll give you one. Prepare yourself, Roy Flott."
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