The Author's POV

'The chip inside of my head? …What is he talking about?'

I always used the chip inside of my head.

In the split second that 'Eyes of Chronos' was activated, I wouldn't have been able to think if it weren't for the chip.

Was there another function of the chip that I did not know about? ...If there was, I wasn't aware of it.

It was then that the other me spoke. My attention once again shifted.

'Pay attention one more time.'

With his words fading, the Duke's body stumbled backward.

This came as a result of the previous punch.

As he stabilized his body, there was no longer any look of shock on his face, and in its place was an impassive and unreadable expression.

In front of the silent audience, he attempted to keep a straight face.

His figure disappeared once more as he expanded his wings, casting a large shadow over the arena. This time, his movements were clearly different. It was a lot faster than before.

But…

Bang-!

The results were the same.

"Huaaakk!"

Casually elbowing the right side, the Duke's body reappeared. It was only a casual elbow, but it was that casual elbow that caused his eyes to widen and his stomach to cave in.

A glob of spittle flew towards my face, but my face remained unchanged.

'Did you manage to see?'

The echo of his voice reverberated throughout my mind.

Finding it difficult to digest what had happened, it took a while for me to answer back.

But I eventually did.

'…I have.'

While the answer was quite easy, it was the concept that I found difficult to grasp. Or even accept it as something that a human was remotely possible of achieving...

'Observe everything. From muscle movement to the direction that feet and bodies point, and eye movement. Connecting everything together...'

Lowering my hand, I pressed my thumb against the hilt of my sword.

The moment I did that, the Duke once again decided to move.

But…

Click-!

Shifting my body ever so slightly toward the right, a subtle clicking sound resonated throughout the arena.

Following the sound, the whole arena froze as the Duke's figure once again materialized in front of me.

A gaping hole appeared on the right side of his chest.

'...You will be able to predict their movements.'

Drip. Drip.

It was only the sound of blood dripping on the ground that echoed throughout the arena.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Trying to comprehend what had happened, the Duke's head rose and fell repeatedly as he stared at his right chest.

Throughout the silence, my mouth opened.

"…What a pity."

***

A fluke.

A simple and miraculous fluke.

only way to explain

kept denying the reality that was presented before his

no way for someone whose rank was weaker than his to be able

Impossible!

he was suppressed, he was still

A Duke-ranked demon!

A figure who had the ability to squash Counts with a simple wave

at least that was how

Drip. Drip.

heard the sound of his own blood dripping toward the ground, he started to question this

'How is this possible?'

memory was moving one step before feeling a sharp pain on

to cover his wound, Duke Azenoch

"…!"

stares coming from the

But that wasn't all.

whispering among themselves, they also

the Duke only

he really weaker

playing around,

as the whispers grew, so did the noise, and their voices were

up! How dare

to shout at the top of his lungs toward the crowd. But out of sheer willpower, he

situation was

to stare at his opponent, the Duke stared deeply into

'Huh?'

the moment their eyes met, the Duke suddenly felt a chill

observation, who became noisier as the

that? The Duke took a

Duke actually

"…This is pathetic."

more and more voices inside of his head with each passing second.

the voices against him, Duke Azenoch's focus was somewhere

at his trembling

'A…am I scared?'

felt when he looked at

..Or was he just imagining

again at White Reaper, the sensation he felt before

'…A fluke.'

Duke thought to

Yes.

to be

could someone that wasn't even

Impossible.

all the voices

was simply no

"Huuu…"

himself down. Drowning out the noise coming from the arena, he slowly started

will

unnoticeable way, he took a step forward and his vision warped. Reappearing in front of White Reaper, he extended his

before, his movements were incomparably

his hand was already nearing White Reaper's head. It was so close, just a couple of inches away,

back by a narrow margin. Even so, he did manage to graze him just a little bit as

Swoosh-!

from below, the Duke twisted

he raised his head and proceeded to sweep his leg in a

Bang-!

His leg was connected.

came into contact with his arm which was raised to

gritted his teeth and tried

"Huh?"

as he was trying to shift his body, the Duke suddenly found a hand grasping his foot. Without giving him a chance to react,

within the Duke's mind as he watched the hand reach out for his

body as he twisted his body at a strange angle and swung his other foot toward his opponent's head

made sure to keep his gaze focused on his

to notice a slight change in White Reaper's expression, as his lips slowly

'Fuck!'

Duke realized he had been baited into doing such a move,

Bang-!

felt a hand grasp his other leg. Suddenly, he found himself being thrown up in the air

Bang-!

him. In addition, the Duke felt a great deal of pain running

so powerful that he

"Again."

realized what his words meant, his body had once again been flung toward