Chapter 104

Episode 104. The Scoundrel of the Liu Family (5)

The day of the decisive battle has dawned.

Berald and I headed to Rios’s Private Training Grounds right on time.

“Hoo.”

On the way to Rios’s Private Training Grounds, Berald kept swallowing dry saliva and repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists.

I slowed my pace slightly to match Berald’s speed as he followed behind.

“Why, are you nervous?”

“Uh, huh? Hahaha! Me, nervous? T-that can’t be, right?!”

For someone saying that, he was stuttering quite badly.

“Haha.”

Berald seemed to realize it himself, scratching his head with a bitter smile.

“Well, since Rios and I are around the same age, we’ve been compared a lot since we were kids.”

“Compared…”

From a young age, Rios was hailed as a genius destined to inherit the legacy of the Brain God, Raonel Liu, while Berald was called the scoundrel of the Liu family. It’s not hard to imagine what kind of comparisons were made.

“To me, he was someone I could never hope to match… But now that I’m about to face him, my head is a mess.”

“For someone who says that, you sure beat him up pretty good last time?”

“T-that was because I was heated up back then!”

I chuckled and patted Berald on the shoulder.

“Relax, man. Just do as I taught you.”

“Ahem! Got it, bro.”

And so, Berald and I entered the building where Rios’s Private Training Grounds were located.

“Ah, right.”

“Huh? Did you forget something?”

“You’re wearing the Hero Watch, right?”

“Of course.”

Berald showed me the Hero Watch on his left wrist.

“Let me hold onto that for a bit.”

“You think it might break during the fight?”

“Something like that.”

“Hmm. Alright.”

After taking the Hero Watch from Berald, I entered Rios’s Private Training Grounds.

Inside the Training Grounds, which were embarrassingly larger and more advanced compared to Berald’s, Rios Liu was waiting for us.

“You actually showed up instead of running away?”

Rios asked with a smug look, arms crossed.

“Ready to get beaten to a pulp?”

“Hoho. I won’t go down that easily.”

Berald stood confidently in front of him, a smirk on his face.

Rios’s expression twisted fiercely.

“Alright, show me what you’ve been preparing all this time.”

He then glanced at me.

“You know how to set up the duel device, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then go turn it on to ‘Magic Duel Only’ mode.”

Magic Duel Only mode.

As the name suggests, it’s a special mode where any direct physical contact between duelists results in an immediate loss for the one who initiated the contact.

Following Rios’s instructions, I turned on the duel device installed on one side of the wall.

[Duel mode has been set to ‘Magic Duel Only.’]

[Duel starting in 5 seconds.]

[4, 3, 2, 1.]

“Strike down.”

Zap!

As the countdown ended, a short incantation was followed by a flash of blue lightning.

“Huup!”

Berald swiftly dodged the blue lightning and extended his hand forward.

Whooosh!

The Holy Mark glowed as magic power surged.

“Haap!”

A Magic Power Orb the size of a fist was created with a rough shout.

“All that practice, and all you’ve got is a Magic Power Orb?”

Rios let out a scoff as he noticed the translucent orb.

“And that… is a Magic Power Orb that you’ve given up on controlling, right?”

As if to prove why he was called a magic genius since childhood, Rios immediately spotted the flaw in Berald’s Magic Power Orb.

“What do you plan to do with a magic that can’t even move?”

Rios chuckled as he looked at the Magic Power Orb floating motionlessly in the air.

“If your body is strong, your mind doesn’t have to suffer.”

“…What?”

“Huhu. Watch closely, senior.”

Berald grabbed the floating Magic Power Orb and ‘threw’ it.

“This is my magic!”

Whooosh!

The Magic Power Orb shot forward with a terrifying sonic boom.

“What the hell…!”

Rios twisted his body in panic.

Whoosh, Kwaaang!

Berald’s Magic Power Orb narrowly missed him and crashed into the Training Grounds wall.

The sound of an explosion echoed, and a heavy shockwave shook the Training Grounds.

“Ha.”

Rios looked at Berald with a dumbfounded expression.

“You… threw magic?”

It’s not theoretically impossible.

But it’s extremely inefficient.

Who would throw a finely sharpened arrow instead of shooting it with a bow?

“It’s not over yet!”

Berald shouted and threw the Magic Power Orbs he had created one after another.

Whoosh! Hwung! Whooosh!

Magic Power Orbs the size of fists surged forward with terrifying sonic booms.

“Kuh.”

Rios gritted his teeth and quickly drew in magic power.

“Where do you think you’re going with these cheap tricks…!”

Zap, zapzapzap!

Blue lightning flashed and shot down the surging Magic Power Orbs.

“Call of Thunder!”

With an incantation, a wave of blue lightning surged toward Berald.

“Kuuuh!”

A high-level magic incomparable to the basic Magic Power Orb.

Black smoke rose from Berald’s body as he was swept up in the wave of lightning.

“Cough, cough!”

Berald crouched down, groaning in pain.

“Hoo. Now do you understand? Real magic is like this…”

“Yah!”

Before Rios could finish his sentence, Berald, who had been crouching, threw a Magic Power Orb he was holding.

“Kuh!”

A fragment of a scream escaped Rios’s mouth as he was hit by the Magic Power Orb.

“You… scoundrel…!”

Rios spread his arms wide with a fierce expression.

Zap! Zapzapzapzap!

Blue lightning surged around his body as magic power swirled.

“Thunder!”

Kurururung!

With a loud roar, a massive wall of lightning formed around Rios’s body.

From a distance, I frowned as I watched the lightning wall.

‘Thunder Wall.’

The magic that earned Rios the title of ‘Thunder Emperor.’

‘The Thunder Emperor is more famous for defensive magic than offensive magic.’

Especially the ‘Thunder Wall,’ a powerful magic that creates a wall of lightning to protect the surroundings, is considered the signature move of the Thunder Emperor.

‘Compared to what I saw in my past life, it’s smaller and much thinner.’

Bang! Pang! Pabang!

Berald’s Magic Power Orbs exploded helplessly against the lightning wall.

‘It’s a tough magic for Berald to break through right now.’

I frowned and watched Berald, who was still throwing Magic Power Orbs while breathing heavily.

I couldn’t step in to help directly.

All I could do was trust Berald and watch.

“Haa, haa!”

“Still don’t get it?”

Rios flicked his fingers leisurely as he watched Berald gasping for breath.

Zapzapzapzap!

Blue lightning shot out from the Thunder Wall protecting his body.

“Kuh!”

Berald groaned and stepped back.

‘This won’t do.’

Small Magic Power Orbs couldn’t break through that Thunder Wall.

“Huuuuuuh!”

Berald squeezed out all the magic power in his body and stretched his arms forward.

Whoooosh!

More magic power surged than when Rios had created the Thunder Wall.

“Haaaaaaat!”

What he created was a massive Magic Power Orb the size of a human torso.

The largest Magic Power Orb he could create at the moment.

“All that fuss, and all you’ve got is a Magic Power Orb?”

Rios looked at the Magic Power Orb Berald had created with cold eyes.

“After over a decade of learning magic, the only thing you can use is a Magic Power Orb?”

“Senior Rios… no, I can’t compare to your magic, but this is the best I can do with my efforts.”

“Efforts? Bullshit.”

Rios smirked with a bitter smile.

“Well, yeah. You must have put in some effort. You’ve been training magic like a madman since you were a kid.”

Having known Berald since childhood, Rios was well aware of how much effort Berald had put into learning magic.

So much so that the Brain God, Raonel Liu, had taken a special liking to Berald.

But.

“No matter how much effort you put in, if there’s no result, can you really call it effort?”

“……”

“Do you know what they call someone who puts in effort but still fails? Huh?”

Rios clicked his tongue in disdain and continued.

“They call it a waste of effort, a waste.”

With a single word, he trampled on Berald’s years of effort and laughed.

“A waste of effort…”

Berald smiled faintly at Rios’s words.

“You’re right, senior. After all this time, the only magic I can use is a Magic Power Orb.”

And even that was a half-baked Magic Power Orb that couldn’t move unless thrown.

Rios had mastered a magic in three days that Berald still couldn’t properly execute after over a decade.

It wasn’t just the Magic Power Orb; other magics were the same.

For Berald, the magics Rios had mastered in a few days were fruits hanging at an unreachable height.

Effort was a futile waste of time.

The sweat he shed was nothing but unpleasant waste.

But.

Even so.

“I don’t regret that time.”

Even if there was no reward. Even if there was no compensation.

I don’t regret it.

“Because there was someone who didn’t give up on me, even though I’m so lacking.”

Berald turned to me and grinned.

Rios let out a laugh of disbelief.

“What are you going to do if you don’t regret it? Huh? What can you do?”

“I’ll show you.”

Berald looked at the massive Magic Power Orb he had created.

“That my efforts weren’t in vain.”

It was too big to throw.

He could throw it with both hands, but the power would be too weak.

Then.

He drew in magic power.

He pulled back his clenched fist like drawing a bowstring.

His stance was low. His elbows slightly raised.

“Haa.”

A strange sensation spread through his body.

An indescribable thrill.

Suddenly, the memory of when Dale first taught him martial arts flashed through his mind.

“Hmm. So what’s the name of that martial art?”

“It doesn’t have a name.”

“Huh? A martial art of that level doesn’t even have a name?”

Seeing Berald’s disappointed expression, Dale smiled and suggested.

“Then how about this?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“If you fully master this martial art… you can name it after yourself.”

Berald couldn’t understand why Dale would suggest naming it after him instead of himself.

‘If that’s what you want, I’ll follow your wishes.’

Berald stepped roughly and thrust forward the fist he had pulled back.

“Berald Martial Arts.”

Mountain Splitting Strike.

Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!!!

With a terrifying roar, the Magic Power Orb shot through the Thunder Wall and struck Rios’s body.