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.

way to explain

as he kept denying the reality that was presented before his

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

Impossible!

he was suppressed, he was still a Duke-ranked

A Duke-ranked demon!

the apex of all worlds. A figure who had the ability to squash Counts

at least that was how

Drip. Drip.

the sound of his own blood dripping toward the ground, he

'How is this possible?'

a sharp pain on

hand to cover his wound, Duke Azenoch raised his

"…!"

moment on, he could see all the stares coming from the participants above. They stared at him with obvious shock on

But that wasn't all.

themselves, they also displayed a

the Duke only

really weaker than

is playing around,

voices, but as the whispers grew, so did the noise, and their voices were heard by the Duke whose face

How

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

was still

his

'Huh?'

a chill run down

audience's observation, who became

you see that? The Duke took

Duke actually

"…This is pathetic."

his head with each passing

despite all of the voices against him, Duke Azenoch's focus

his trembling arms,

'A…am I scared?'

when he looked at him

fluke? ..Or

Reaper, the sensation he felt before vanished the moment his eyes

'…A fluke.'

Duke thought

Yes.

had to be a

wasn't even Duke rank scare

Impossible.

of all the voices around

was simply

"Huuu…"

breath, Duke Azenoch calmed himself down. Drowning out the noise coming from the

Count rank doesn't work, I will just take

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

his

was already nearing White Reaper's head. It

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

Swoosh-!

from below, the Duke twisted his body. He too was

avoided the attack, he raised his head and proceeded to sweep his leg in a whipping

Bang-!

His leg was connected.

with his arm which was raised

his teeth

"Huh?"

found a hand grasping his foot. Without giving him a

doom rose within the Duke's mind as he watched the hand reach

strange angle and swung his other foot toward his opponent's

made sure to

a slight change in White Reaper's expression, as his lips slowly curled into a grin and his left hand shot toward the side of his

'Fuck!'

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

Bang-!

banging sound, the Duke suddenly felt a hand grasp his other leg. Suddenly, he found himself being thrown up in the air before

Bang-!

into the ground, sand swept into the air as a crater formed beneath him. In addition, the Duke felt a great deal of pain running

he didn't even have time

"Again."

realized what his words meant,