The Strongest Villain Sets Out: Reincarnated into a Merit-Based Clan, I Become the World's Strongest Swordsman - Chapter 69: That Was Too Much

Aiden’s match ended, and the tournament continued without incident.

Now it was the second round.

Since opponents were randomly selected each time, I could face anyone.

But… I never expected to clash with her this early.

“We’re meeting sooner than expected, Sheila.”

“Mm. I won’t lose.”

Sheila Calera, standing before me, made a fist with determined spirit.

“Don’t hold back, okay? Use that composite magic I taught you and attack me with everything you’ve got.”

“I understand. I won’t let Luka-sama get bored.”

Sheila smiled and began gathering her mana.

The announcer signaled the start of the match, and immediately after, Sheila launched her attack.

—The ground froze first.

“Nice, composite magic right off the bat.”

Sheila’s composite magic combined wind and water—ice.

While freezing the ground, she created a thick ice wall in front of her.

This ice was magically generated.

I could clearly see Sheila’s figure, supposedly hidden behind the ice wall.

She could see me too.

“I’m going all out. With intent to kill.”

She mixed attributes again.

While Lucia excelled in the power of composite magic, Sheila excelled in the variety of composite magic.

Naturally, she could use many different types.

This time she mixed fire and earth to create flowing lava.

Sheila’s magic attack approached me while destroying the colosseum ring.

The audience and announcer were speechless.

But it wouldn’t work on me.

Following Sheila’s example, I froze the lava with ice magic.

“Tch. I knew that wouldn’t work.”

“Creating the ice wall first was a good idea. I think it’s interesting.”

She had a thick defensive ice wall in front of her.

Without breaking that wall, attacks couldn’t reach Sheila, allowing her to attack almost one-sidedly.

Magic was suited for long-range attacks. A very reasonable fighting style.

“I’m not done yet!”

“Hmm?”

Rumble rumble rumble—the ground shook.

Wondering what was happening, I noticed massive amounts of mana flowing through the ground around the ring.

This reaction was…

“I see, earth and water composite.”

As soon as I said it, the ground cracked and vine-like things sprouted.

The vines extended and entangled my body.

“How about this too?”

In front of me, restrained by plants, Sheila created a large sphere of fire.

Massive attack magic using fire and wind.

Even I would take some damage if I took that hit while defenseless.

I grinned and said:

“Adaptability. That’s your strength.”

I released my aura.

Putting strength into my arms, I forcibly destroyed the plant restraints.

“What⁉ I put considerable mana into those!”

“Too soft. You should have put all your power into the restraints instead.”

The plants kept moving to prevent my escape, but flames erupted from beneath my feet.

My magic attacked Sheila’s magic.

“Fire doesn’t work on earth or water… but it works on grass.”

“Tch. But I’ve finished preparing this!”

A massive fireball with perfect magical control fell toward my head.

It was large enough to cover the ring, and tournament rules forbade leaving the ring.

An unavoidable attack.

But that just meant it couldn’t be avoided.

I could break through it head-on.

Without changing my smile, I drew my sword from the scabbard at my waist.

A wooden sword.

Normally, this wouldn’t have enough power to break through Sheila’s magic.

Even with mediocre aura, it would just burn up.

That’s why I poured in massive amounts of aura.

For aura users, strength is proportional to total aura capacity.

Basically, with enough aura, you can do anything.

I bet Norn-nee-san could easily blow away Sheila’s magic with a twig lying on the ground.

I could do something similar. But that would be insulting to Sheila.

A wooden sword was fine for now.

I held the wooden sword in a high stance and swung down sharply.

Immediately after—I cut the magic.

Aura’s ability interfered with mana, severing the magic itself.

A phenomenon where abilities repel each other. It happens with other abilities too.

“…As expected, no good.”

Sheila shrugged and plopped down.

Her fighting spirit was already gone.

Understandably so.

At the same time I cut through her attack magic, the ice wall protecting her also shattered into pieces from my single strike.

I even cut through the ring itself, leaving a large gash in the ground as the match quietly ended.

There were no cheers or boos for our fight anymore.

Everyone was equally speechless.

…No, only two people were clapping and cheering.

Cornelia and Lucia.

Both were laughing happily, saying “That was a good match.”

That made the atmosphere feel even heavier.

To break the awkward silence, I called out to the fallen Sheila:

“Ah… Sheila. That was a good fight. You’ve grown.”

“Luka-sama… Hehe, it doesn’t suit you to give compliments.”

“Shut up.”

We both laughed, took each other’s hands, and returned to our seats.

The ring we’d destroyed was hastily repaired by earth magic users.

Sorry about that.