Rezero: The Mastermind and His Mistress

Chapter 2: Challenged by a God

I knew I stood no chance. I couldn't use my authority, magic was out of the question, and my skills with the sword are subpar compared to him. I knew my place. It was not there. Not anywhere near there. 

But I was curious. I saw a glimpse of his power against Elsa but that was all. Besides that, I've only heard tales of his greatness and power. He was so powerful that a law had been issued, preventing him from ever leaving the capitol without the permission of the royals. 

And now, I was going to see a slimmer more of his power, except it was directed towards me. 

...

...

...

As for the fight itself, there's not much to talk about. 

Echidna: (You gave it your best shot. He's too powerful for you to take on. Magic doesn't even work on him and even if you used your authority, I don't think it's strong enough to pierce through his body just yet. You had no chance.)

Thank you for interrupting my monologue. 

She smiled. 

Echidna: (Of course. I'm glad you see my value.)

As I was saying, there wasn't much to talk about. I predicted the fight would end in 3 minutes if I was being generous. And I was too generous. 

Felt had ordered Reinhard to hold nothing back aside from killing me. And of course, he followed her every word. 

I attempted to buff my body with magic but instantly, I felt my mana breaking down back into small particles and retracting into my gate. No matter how much I tried, my mana couldn't conjure a spell. 

It must have been because of his presence. I've heard that he can't use magic, but that wasn't the whole story. He supposedly had a defective gate but instead of releasing mana, he can absorb it. But it didn't make sense. He's not even attempting to absorb my mana, and yet, I can't properly use my magic. 

There are only two reasonable reasons for this. 

One- He's willingly taking my mana despite not taking me seriously. 

Two- His pull towards my mana is unique and it's disabling my ability to use spells. 

Whatever it is, the fact remains magic in this fight... is completely useless.  

...

We used wooden swords so the wounds we inflicted were not fatal. I slashed across his body only to be parried in one, swift motion. This continued for a minute or so. All he did was evade and parry. There was not a single shred of killing intent or aggravation. 

And I was rather lucky he didn't go on the offensive on the start. I couldn't even hear his footsteps. He was completely silent. His stealth was on another level. 

His face gave off a stone-cold smile, while casually changing the grip of his blade to pin mine into the dirt ground. 

I was able to prevent him from pinning my weapon and therefore extending the duel another minute as I changed my pattern of attack. 

I would aim low and use only sweeping attacks. The only way to contend even slightly, would be to get him off balance. 

My intention was to at least force him to throw one serious attack. I wanted to see how fast he truly was.

And I got my wish when I surprised him. 

While I was aiming low, I started to stomp repeatedly across the ground to create a cloud of dust that obscured his vision.