“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Dudley, who had been launched into the air, let out a scream as he plummeted down.

Thud!!

It was impressive that he didn’t slam his entire body into the ground upon landing. He managed to absorb the impact with his right hand and only dropped to one knee.

Even if only barely, he was still a Sword Saint candidate.
He was no longer the same C-rank adventurer from the past.

“Tch… damn it…!”

The Sword Saint candidate was completely enraged.

“Damn it alllllll! You gotta be kidding me! What the hell was that!?”

“Engen Style.”

Without breaking my stance, I quietly answered.

“It’s the legendary technique created by the first-ever Sword Saint.”

“E-Engen Style…!?”

Dudley ground his teeth, his bloodshot eyes glaring.

“I won’t accept this! I won’t accept it! I’m supposed to be the strongest! I, who have mastered the Macba Style alongside the 《Silver Sword Saint》, should be the strongest!”

“Ah… I see.”

Dudley was certainly strong.
I could acknowledge that.
That’s exactly why I wouldn’t let my guard down.

I had to observe his movements carefully and strike with precision.

“Raaaaaaaah!!”

With a war cry, Dudley charged at me.

But his movements were completely readable.
His speed was quite high, but his gaze was locked onto his attack trajectory. It was like he was asking me to block it.

“Daahhh!!”

0.8 seconds later.
I casually blocked his downward strike.

…Huh?
That’s it?
Is he holding back?
Or is this some kind of advanced psychological warfare?

“Derya! Tourya! Hahaha, how about this!?”

Dudley continued his high-speed barrage of sword strikes.

Something was definitely off.
His attacks were absurdly weak.

“How’s that, you piece of junk!? All you can do is defend, huh!?”

“Nah… at this level… it’s not really that difficult.”

“Huh…?”

“I mean, you’re not even serious, are you? No need to hold back.”

There’s no way the 《Silver Sword Saint》 is this weak.
Winning like this would be meaningless.

“Hah… hahaha. Fine, if you’re gonna talk that big, I’ll go all out!”

With a shout, Dudley increased the intensity of his sword strikes.

One strike.
Two strikes.
I blocked them all.

“Hey.”

Three strikes.
Four strikes.
Again, I blocked them all.

“Are you messing with me? You’re not going all out at all—”

“Hah… hah…”

Huh?
Wait, wait, wait.
Dudley… he looks really exhausted.

No way.
Is he seriously getting tired?

“…Here.”

Feeling a certain premonition, I swept my leg at Dudley.

And—

“Bwuhhh!!”

He tripped.
Slammed the back of his head hard against the ground.

Yep.
He’s totally messing around.
That’s the only explanation.

He still wasn’t willing to take me seriously.

When I glanced at the audience, even the ones who had been loudly cheering for Dudley were now silent.
On the contrary, murmurs of doubt about Dudley’s strength were beginning to spread.

“Hey… this isn’t going how I expected.”

“Could it be… that Sword Saint candidate is actually weak?”

“I-I don’t know? To me, it just looks like Arios is too strong.”

Well, it’s understandable.
Even from my perspective, Dudley just looks like a fool right now.

“Hey, get up.”

I looked down at the Sword Saint candidate and called out.

“The warm-up is over. Let’s get serious.”

“Y-you’re serious about that…?”

For some reason, Dudley looked like he was about to cry.

Meanwhile, at the upper seats of the Battle Arena.

Sword Saint Leon Macba was experiencing an unprecedented sense of urgency.

—This is bad.
This is very bad.

Dudley’s full strength wasn’t working on Arios at all.
The details were unclear, but Arios had mysteriously grown far stronger—strong enough to make even his feat of taking down the Arceus Salvation Party seem plausible.

“—Lord On. Lord Leon. Are you listening?”

“…Ah.”

The voice of First Prince Rayfar brought me back to reality.

“My apologies. I was lost in thought…”

“Lost in thought, in a situation like this? That seems rather carefree.”

“Y-your Highness…”

Rayfar rarely showed emotion.
Even now, his expression remained neutral—but the sheer anger radiating from him made even Leon flinch.

“Leon. If Arios wins, Raymira is granted an extended leave. That was the agreement, wasn’t it?”

“Y-yes…”

“But that was only under the assumption that Dudley would win without a doubt. Who was it that made that claim?”

“Th-that would be…”

Leon was at a loss for words.

—This was completely unforeseen.
That Arios would grow this strong.
That he would surpass Dudley by such an overwhelming margin.

It should have been impossible.

“…Dudley must win. No matter what.”

“I’m counting on you.”

Fortunately, I had prepared a contingency plan.

If Arios had truly single-handedly taken down members of the Arceus Salvation Party, then even Dudley would struggle against him.
That’s why, as a precaution, I had someone set things in motion.

“—Do you hear me? Enhance Dudley’s physical abilities. Enhance Dudley’s physical abilities—”