Chapter 25: The Final match

Well, the tournament continued, but I know the backstory, even though I've forgotten most of it. Basically, the arrival of the Doctor is being exploited by all kinds of factions, though the biggest one is the group that aimed to banish Margaret in the first place. Now, many of their top leaders are changing over this tournament. Seriously, seeing it from afar just confirms that I'm really not good with political stuff.

Still, what remains the same is the way this tournament is progressing. Just like in the game, Margaret ends up replacing Maria, who, to be fair, wasn't really suited to being a knight since she was more of an engineer. Though, for an engineer, she put up a good fight, which just shows how good Zofia's training is and how hard she trained.

Then there's a fight that isn't really a fight, but more of a show: Margaret's match against Viviana. Both of them use light as their power, though Viviana was closer to her operator version instead of when she was a boss character. She mainly used sword fighting and used light as a show instead of the explosions she used when she was a boss character.

However, the difference from the game was in the semi-final, because Margaret's opponent wasn't Tola, the last Kheshig, but the Blood Knight himself. Their match was legendary, with Margaret using the light to fight against the blood swarm. It really gives you the feeling that sometimes game characters may have a weak performance in-game, but in the lore, their power is sometimes just overwhelming. Though in Arknights, there are a lot of moments like that.

But as for Tola himself, well... he was instead facing me, and let's just say he was scarier in real life than as a game character. While he did give me a lot of headaches in the game, when you read about and know his mechanics, he's not that bad compared to other bosses. Though in real life, it was a different story.

The reason for that is because his art manipulates shadow, and worse, any shadow can be used for his art. Though not like a certain ninja in Naruto who manipulates shadow to bind or manipulate people, Tola was more about spawning soldiers from the shadows. In fact, while I was focused on fighting him, this bastard was using the shadows to his advantage.

Since every time my sword crossed with his spear, my shadow would just spawn his knight, who would try to stab me. What's worse is that because I was using my rose, there were plenty of shadows that he spawned his knight into, but luckily, because of my fight with the Blood Knight, I invented, or more like found, a new use of the rose, and we reached a stalemate. Every shadow he spawned was shredded with my rose.

Still, his mastery of art is so good that he even makes it look like illusory arts that summon phantom knights, which I guess are a sort of spirit of his ancestor, because the way they battle is different compared to him. But what is more annoying is this fog that he summoned as well, which tried to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies.

In the end, I began to wonder: was his real art the shadow, or his illusions? Somehow, it became a battle of attrition, but I felt it was becoming boring. Though there was a chance it was a bait, I decided to push through, changing the rose into fire that set the stage ablaze, while ensuring the audience and the duel's referee remained unharmed.

While his spear technique was good, he was too reliant on his shadow, and his experience was lacking. I managed to achieve victory, meaning I was going to the final. I glanced at the screen showing Margaret and the Blood Knight's match; they were pretty evenly matched, though the Blood Knight's mastery of his art was high, which was why he was still standing.

Looking at him, I really wanted his art, because it involved manipulating blood. Depending on its use, I could basically upgrade my own art towards blood, since all of my blood-related techniques were just something I brute-forced. Having a technique that supported them would be good for me.

The way he manipulated blood to cover his wounds was impressive, which showed he wasn't serious when he fought me. It also showed how much of a hypocrite he was, but maybe he didn't know me well, or thought I was a child. As a Nero, my height is rather small, and the Nero body is more lean than muscular, which is probably why he underestimated me.

Still, it was a good match. Since Tola had been defeated, I wondered if he would travel or stay for a third-place match. Either way, I already knew the result of this match. Just as I thought, Margaret shone a bright light that temporarily blinded everyone, including the audience, if I wasn't protecting them along with the referee. This was good enough, because even blinded, the Blood Knight was indeed a formidable opponent, as he could still slightly keep up with Margaret.

But, in the end, lacking vision was a huge drawback, and he ended up defeated. Margaret upped her speed so much that she almost looked like she was floating. Remembering her race is basically a pegasus, which is a flying horse, it really just showed how different the Nearl bloodline is compared to regular Kuranta.

She waved at the audience, and so did the Blood Knight. Then, our gazes met, and she made a happy expression, which turned into a serious one. I felt like it was a bit cliché, but I somehow got what she wanted to say: she couldn't wait to face me in the final.

If it was her game version, I could come up with a lot of ways to win, but seeing her real-life version gave me a weird feeling. Art really defied physics, since when can light become a physical being that you can touch? I feel like if you master it, you can become that Marine guy from One Piece, and probably even stronger if she can control when it becomes normal light and when it becomes physical.

Since the Doctor was already here, the problem over there should be close to over right now. But, remembering there will be two girls who join the "Watch over Doctor from the shadow" group, I think it will only be a matter of time before they decide to spend the night with the Doctor as well, at least if they are the same as their game counterparts.

Thinking about it while standing here on the main stage for the final really shows how Kazimierz values their knights, since this is on a scale of a stadium you often see in soccer World Cup final match type of thing. It really is huge; the game really doesn't give it much justice. Well, now I'm starting to get nervous.

"Well, Nero, let's go all out."

"Umu. To be honest, I wanted to keep my true identity hidden. But, well, this is the final round after all, so sure. If some of my skills are forbidden, it's because Dr. Kal'tsit forbade them. So, if you see me not using a certain skill, it's because of that. I still don't want to get scolded, you see."

"That is rather disappointing, but knowing you, it's probably a dangerous or wild one."

"Umu, I think so as well, but that's the Roman in me."

"Somehow, you're really different from how you normally are."

"Well, every actor needs to act their part, Umu. Even though I'm rather second-rate at best, since, to be honest, I'm not really proud of my acting skills, but oh well. Nero Claudius, here I go."

"Margaret Nearl, I accept your challenge."

Then we start to dash forward as I slash my sword against her, which, surprisingly, she meets. To be honest, in my previous life, real sword techniques often used parrying since defending is a waste of stamina and power, which is understandable. But because this is the world of Terra, where arts give you much more of an advantage compared to normal martial arts, some use defend much more compared to parry.

Though it was mostly because of motion, as you usually need to position yourself to attack, so when you parry, you break the motion of your opponent's attack. But here, because of the existence of arts, some who are good at martial arts can make a motion of attack no matter how awkward their position is, so trying to parry is rather hard, so most, if not all, people here use defend instead of parry.

For example, right now, Margaret was slashing down at me. If I parry it to the side, I can move closer to slash her or even do some attack since her posture is broken. But because of her mastery of arts, even if her posture is broken, she somehow tried to slash my side that was open with her sword, which ended up with me defending against it.

Geez, it really looks ridiculous, but well, I already knew about this, that even if I was limiting myself, I have fun in this, which kinda reminds me of my past and the reason I sometimes play PvP games, even though my skill is not that high. It was because this feeling when you meet someone equal to you.

Not stronger and not weaker but having the same level as you is just giving me a lot of dopamine that I'm probably smiling right now because I can see Margaret was smiling as well as we exchange blows with each other. What's more, because both of us have mastery in medical arts, we literally heal every wound we took.

Seriously, she's already this strong, and I wonder how strong Shining is, whose swordsmanship was higher than Margaret's. Though she's still a powerhouse since her exile from this place, she only used a mace, but her using that sword is so normal that you can't find any awkward movement.

I start to even try to use the advantage of Nero's sword that has a curse shape to wound her, but now she's starting to get used to it as she now defends it perfectly as we both take a step backward after our last blow.

"Geez, Margaret, even though it wasn't that long since you picked up a sword, you kinda make me start to doubt myself. It was especially beautiful, Umu."

"While I often used a mace during my time at Rhodes Island, I never neglected my sword training, Nero. So, this was normal for me."

"Umu, that in itself is a beauty, but now we need to get to the main dish."

"Fufufu, indeed."

I slowly take out a rose. I can see Margaret start to shine brightly as I throw the rose high into the air, mimicking Kuchiki Byakuya's Bankai. A storm of rose petals swirls around me while Margaret charges her attack.

The light shines brighter than before, so I close my eyes, using the arts within my petals to detect her movement. I hear a sound as my petals seem to shred her, but I notice she's using healing arts at the same time, moving much faster. I try to parry her attack, but it's too fast. I end up using one of my arts to power up my leg, kicking her sword upward before grabbing Margaret and throwing her down.

At the same time, I grab a rose, transforming it into Nero, and point the sword at her neck.

"Looks like I win, Margaret."

"Indeed. It seems I let my guard down at a crucial moment."

"Well, it was a beautiful match, umu. Though, to be honest, I was panicking for a moment there. You managed to make me use the arts I was holding back in this form, umu."

I slowly hold out my hand. Margaret grabs it, and I pull her up, smiling slowly at the camera and waving while raising Margaret's hand, which is still holding mine.

Well, with this, the Kazimierz major is ending. But trying to act as someone else is rather hard; I need to think more if I want to do it again.