Author's Reincarnation in a Fantasy Setting - Chapter 369: Collision [1]

“Come, Excalibur!” Akumi, and pulled out a sword from the portal near him. The sword had a golden blade and a blue-colored hilt.

Zero was a little surprised at this since even he was not expecting him to pull out an Excalibur. Excalibur was a famous sword and he’d read about it in many novels.

It was supposed to be an extremely powerful sword however here he didn’t know what it was capable of.

In response he went ahead and pulled out the Requiem sword from its sheath, wielding it toward Akumi.

“Die you fucker!” Akumi screamed and dashed toward Zero.

Adjusting his sword in a defensive stance, Zero firmly planted his feet on the ground. However, this defensive maneuver served merely as a deceptive feint, for in the next instant, he swiftly transitioned into an offensive posture and propelled himself forward with a decisive lunge.

Both of them came close and swung their sword, the blades clashed and the two most powerful swords in the world collided. A shockwave was released that was strong enough to crack the walls of the room they were in.

They stood rigid in their positions, applying as much force as they could in order to push the other back. The struggle went on for a few seconds and then Zero slowly started getting pushed back.

“DIE!” Akumi screamed, pushing forward which forced Zero to take a step back.

“Magiken!” Zero said, and the blade of the Requiem sword was shrouded in black. Increasing his overall strength with magiken he pushed forward again, regaining his balance.

“Sun of death!” Akumi said and right after his sword began to emit a bright, blinding light. Zero tried to resist however the light was so bright he had no choice but to close his eyes for a few seconds.

It was such a short amount of time but when he opened his eyes again Akumi was gone. He looked around but he was nowhere in the room. Understanding the situation Zero closed his eyes again and increased his focus on his surroundings.

In the blink of an eye, Zero’s intuition detected a presence behind him. In an instant, he propelled himself into the air, narrowly evading Akumi’s swift slash that sliced precisely where he had stood a mere moment ago.

In the air, Zero tracked Akumi’s location and used elemental magic. On the ground ice appeared below Akumi’s feet and soon captured his legs, trapping him in one location.

“Dark Edge,” Zero said and swung his sword down toward Akumi while being in the air. An arc of dark energy was released that rapidly moved toward Akumi.

Akumi swung the Excalibur down, releasing a similar form of energy with the only difference being that it was golden in color. Both of the attacks collided in mid-air and exploded, making the ground shake as a result.

Zero landed on the ground and raised his left hand toward Akumi.

“Maelstrom: Red!” he said, and a ball of red swirling energy materialized in front of his palm. Then the ball compressed in size and rapidly spun on its axis before being launched toward Akumi at a speed faster than that of sound, causing a sonic boom.

The attack was insanely fast yet Akumi was able to see and react to it. Using his physical strength he freed himself from the ice trapping his feet and stepped back. Raising his sword he swung it in front of himself.

The blade of his sword came in contact with the shining destructive ball of energy. The energy ball was split apart by the sword and instead of exploding all the energy released was absorbed by the Excalibur.

Without wasting a single millisecond Akumi kicked off the ground, launching himself toward Zero while simultaneously raising his sword for an upcoming attack.

Zero used elemental magic and created multiple walls of thick rock between Akumi and himself however it wasn’t of much use since they weren’t able to stop him at all. Cutting through the walls Akumi arrived right before Zero and swung his sword down toward him.

In his defense Zero put up the Requiem sword, obstructing Akumi’s strike. The two blades collided again and the energy released was so high that it caused a small explosion.

“For a side character, you aren’t supposed to be this strong!” Akumi said, gritting his teeth.

“Well, that’s not my problem,” Zero replied and poured more mana into the Requiem sword. The black shadows covering the blades ignited with darkness, devouring the light coming from the Excalibur.

Zero took a step forward, pushing Akumi back despite his resistance. Akumi hadn’t been able to notice but it wasn’t due to his lack of strength that he was getting pushed back.

Zero had turned the ground beneath Akumi’s feet into ice which decreased the friction between his feet and the ground, making it easier to push him back.

Finally with some precise and calculated moment, Zero jerked Akumi’s sword away. However, his respite was short-lived. With lightning speed, Akumi unleashed another relentless slash, forcing Zero to duck low to avoid the blade.

He stood back up and concentrated all his physical strength and mana in his legs, Zero kicked Akumi on the side of his abdomen, hurling him back.

Akumi flew in the air for a few seconds before crashing brutally into the ball behind him. His vision went blurry for a second since he had hit his head on the wall as well, however, he was able to force himself back into consciousness.

Despite that Akumi was in a vulnerable state for a few seconds there. The thought of using Maelstrom Purple on him did cross Zero’s mind however since that attack would also blow up this entire place and gather the attention of the entire Havenreach, he decided to avoid that.

Through the support of his sword, Akumi stood back up and looked at Zero. He was devastated with anger and frustration.

How could he be struggling against a mere side character inside a novel? That was straight-up pathetic. He wanted none of it.

His temper was reaching its limits and it showed in his eyes, and in the bloodthirsty way he looked at Zero.

It was enough now, he wasn’t going to take any of this shit now.