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

the reality that was presented before his

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

Impossible!

he was still a

A Duke-ranked demon!

existence that was supposed to stand at the apex of all worlds. A figure who

was how

Drip. Drip.

own blood

'How is this possible?'

step before feeling a sharp pain on the right

cover his wound, Duke Azenoch

"…!"

the participants above. They stared at him

But that wasn't all.

whispering among themselves, they also

Duke

weaker than that

playing

faint with their voices, but as the whispers grew, so did the noise, and

up! How dare

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

situation was

at his opponent, the Duke stared deeply into his

'Huh?'

Duke suddenly felt a chill run down his body as he subconsciously took a step

no avoiding the audience's observation,

The Duke

Duke

"…This is pathetic."

of his head with each passing second. All he could hear were voices

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

at his trembling arms, he

'A…am I scared?'

he

..Or was he

Reaper, the sensation he felt before vanished the

'…A fluke.'

Duke thought to

Yes.

had to be

could someone that wasn't even Duke

Impossible.

of all the voices around

simply no

"Huuu…"

Duke Azenoch calmed himself down. Drowning out the noise coming from the arena, he slowly started to

rank doesn't work, I will just take

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

before, his movements were

his hand was already nearing White Reaper's head. It was

as White Reaper managed to avoid the attack by moving his head back by a narrow margin. Even so, he did manage

Swoosh-!

the Duke twisted his body. He

the attack, he raised his head and proceeded to sweep his leg

Bang-!

His leg was connected.

Duke's disappointment, his leg came into contact with

gritted his teeth and

"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,

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

his body as he twisted his body at a strange angle and

he performed this movement, he made sure to keep his gaze focused on

White Reaper's expression, as his lips slowly curled into a

'Fuck!'

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

Bang-!

loud banging sound, the Duke suddenly felt a hand grasp his other leg. Suddenly,

Bang-!

him. In addition, the Duke felt a great deal of pain running down his back as he struggled to open

impact was so powerful that he didn't

"Again."

voice echoed in his ears. By the time he realized what his words meant, his body had once again been