Reborn as an Extra

Lia knew all too well what Rio was talking about.

She immediately got up from the ground and jumped away to make some distance.

[Uhh… How about you surrender now?... I certainly don't want to get hit by 'that' attack…]

'No… I must fight till the end…'

[He has already figured out how your talent works…]

'That's what I am confused about too… it should have been impossible...'

The Lia talent is based on mana, soul, and fate.

If she can't read these three things, then her talent will have no effect on the opponent.

From the start of the match, Lia wasn't able to sense Rio's soul and fate because of 'True Immunity', and the only thing she was using to predict Rio's moves was his mana.

After seeing Lia's relentless attacks, Rio eventually figured out that she was reading his mana flow.

And for someone who can use sword intent with extreme precision, controlling his mana flow was obviously quite easy.

He created feints and successfully figured out her moves.

If it were someone else, this situation would not have happened; Lia would have been able to detect mana, soul, and fate.

With these three factors working together, her predictions would have been extremely accurate.

You can temper with your mana, but not with your soul or fate; only Rio is doing so with the help of 'True Immunity'.

Seeing that Rio has already figured out all of her tricks, Lia was also surprised.

'Even after fighting beside him for so long, I still do not know the depths of his strength; he has so many techniques and skills that I really can't figure out the end of them.'

Even Lia didn't know about 'true immunity' and 'soul splitting'; these are Rio's trump cards, and he has never told anyone about them, not even Lia.

Rio has always had the habit of keeping some hidden cards for himself in case a desperate situation arises.

'Now that it has come to this, I am going to go full force on my last attack.'

Lia still has one more advantage that Rio doesn't: she has Kai's massive spiritual mana output.

As long as she uses a lot of mana in her attack, she can still overpower Rio, like she did to Miki.

Lia poured all of her mana into her spirit armor and enhanced her speed and agility.

Her silver wings enlarged, and particles of silver mana started to condense around them.

She took her stance and bent her knees a bit.

'Now it's do or die… I will gamble it all on this one attack.'

[Silver Lion's swordsmanship: Obliteration type: Maximum output!]

...

Seeing Lia's determination, Rio nodded his head in satisfaction.

In the previous attacks, Lia had already pushed him to a corner quite a bit; he even had to purposely create feints with his mana to confuse Lia.

'She is preparing to end it with one attack…'

Rio could see what Lia was trying to do; now that he has gotten rid of her advantages, she's adapting quickly without wasting time.

'Very well then…'

Rio placed his sword beside his waist, and a small spark of excitement flashed through his eyes.

'It's been a while since I enjoyed battles like this…'

[Elemental Sword Art: Water Type: Flow of Slithering Waters!]

...

Lia launched at Rio as she thrust her sword forward; the two massive wings gave her enough push to increase her speed multiple times.

Right now, she was putting a massive amount of mana into her attack, and thus her speed became a bit faster than that of Rio.

Despite the helmet covering her face, a serious expression lingered on her face.

'In a head-on confrontation, I will win!'

When Lia was about to reach Rio, his sword flowed like a stream of water and hit Lia's sword from the side.

'He's trying to change the trajectory... but it's useless!'

[Divine Spirit's Blessing: Spiritual Mana Overload!]

Lia's output increased even further, and even Rio was surprised by her amazing power.

Not only had he to constantly guard himself against her prediction abilities, but he also had to face the onslaught of her insanely strong attacks.

'She's improved a lot…'

A slight smile appeared on Rio's face at that moment.

'If it was any other completion, I would have already admitted defeat, but… I must win this tournament… So forgive me, Lia, but you must lose today…'

[Concentration]

[Handling]

[Lightening Sword]

Rio hasn't used his 'lightening sword' skill for a long time now; that's because he never needed to use it a lot after he learned sword intent.

The lightening sword is more of an auxiliary skill; he awakened it when his elemental sword art was improved.

This skill lightens his sword, making it easy to parry and push away other attacks.

It is basically a cheap counter to the opponent's attacks.

Usually this skill won't work on strong attacks, but if you combine it with 'handling' and 'concentration', then its effectiveness increases by more than a hundred times.

In other words, when Rio used this skill on Lia's sword attack, he easily changed the trajectory of her thrust attack by a few angles.

That small change was enough for Rio.

He dodged her attack in a time frame that lasted less than a blink of an eye.

Moreover, before Lia could react to all this, Rio swung his sword in a downward motion towards her right arm from the side.

[Sword Intent]

[Elemental Sword Art: Thunder Type: Descending Thunder Arc!]

Sword intent and other legendary class skills are direct counters to any spirit-related things.

Lia's spirit armor would have been un-destructible if she fought someone else, but for Rio, it was as frail as a sheet of paper.

*clang!*

In an instant, the attack landed, severing Lia's right arm and causing blood to flow out like a fountain.

Rio himself felt a sudden ache in his heart after injuring her like that, but he had no other choice; she's too strong now.

Even Rio can't win if he doesn't use 'sword intent' on her, and he had to win no matter what.

The reward for completion is a chance for Fade, and Rio doesn't want to let go of it.

He was hoping that he wouldn't end up fighting Lia, but things turned out like this, so he couldn't do anything at all.

Just when Rio was distracted after injuring her, Lia gritted her teeth and raised her left hand towards the sky.

[Divine Spirit's Blessing: Heavenly Judgment!]

Spiritual mana formed a massive magic circle that erupted in the sky, unleashing a massive beam of silver light at Rio and Lia.

[Kiddo, you will get hit too if you use that!]

'Who cares! I'm about to lose anyway!'

Lia hadn't used these ranged attacks on him in this duel because she knew that Rio could dodge them easily.

But now that he was distracted while still being in her close proximity, she was certain that this attack would land on him.

Yet, contrary to what Lia thought, Rio raised his sword above his shoulder and swung it toward the descending beam of light.

[Sword Intent!]

[Elemental Sword Art: Thunder Type: Heaven-

Splitting Thunder!]

A gigantic arc, composed of condensed thunder and enhanced by sword intent, fired at the beam of silver light, splitting the entire beam and the magic circle in two.

Rio's pure display of overwhelming power shocked the whole audience, and even the SS-rankers couldn't help but shake their heads.

Even they were surprised at how one-sided Rio was in ending this match.

Aside from a few small cuts, Rio didn't suffer much.

As Lia had used all of her mana, her armor and wings disappeared, and she collapsed on the ground.

She lost her sword as well as her right hand.

Rio walked over to Lia's side, and ignoring her heavy breathing, he placed his sword around her neck. (His hand is trembling at the moment.)

"You lose… Lia…"

No matter how hard Rio tried to hide it, Lia could see that Rio's eyes were trembling and looked at her severed hand with concern.

When she saw this, a smile appeared on her face.

'In the end, he still didn't go all out on me… Perhaps even an emotionless guy like you can hesitate, huh?'

Lia was right; Rio could have easily aimed his attack at Lia's stomach, neck, or face, but his hand trembled and landed on her hand.

If it had been someone else, Rio wouldn't have hesitated, and his sword would have severely injured the other party.

However, when he was about to injure Lia, he nearly lost his grip on his sword.

It took immense determination and willpower for him to do this.

'Sigh… and here I thought I would be able to go toe to toe with him after reaching rank A… I need to train more…'

A teleportation circle appeared under Lia as she was thinking all this in her mind.

"Yeah, I lose… but that was a good match…"

Hearing Lia's words, Rio nodded his head and sheathed his sword with a slightly trembling hand.

Rio summoned his courage and spoke before Lia's teleportation began.

"You have become strong…. I acknowledge that I couldn't have defeated you without using my sword intent… You are strong, Lia…"

Hearing those words, Lia was taken aback for a moment, but then a smile appeared on her face.

"Thanks.."

Lia was pleased that he acknowledged her, even though she didn't win the match.

That was all she needed.

…

…

Author's Notes.

Yo! It's your beloved author here!

Truthfully speaking, guys, even my hands trembled while writing this chapter. Making Rio fight Lia is really a difficult thing…

Question of the day.

How much willpower and determination do you think it took Rio to attack Lia?

(Tell me in the comments.)

By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.