A picture—or a demonstration, in this case—was worth a thousand words. I looked back down at the arena, just in time to see Nirva entering the ring. The crowd’s cheers reached a fever pitch, and I looked down at the imposing swordsman I’d met just once a few days before. He left such a strong impression that it was impossible to forget any part of his features.
【Nirva】
LV: 70
HP: 2120
MP: 385
Strength: 975 (SS)
Vitality: 975 (SS)
Intelligence: 300 (B)
Mind: 450 (A-)
Agility: 825 (S+)
Focus: 525 (A+)
As always, a shiver ran down my spine as I stared at Nirva’s stats. General Sergen was strong, but Nirva was on a whole different level.
Still, Sergen didn’t balk when Nirva stepped into the ring. In fact, he glared ferociously at his opponent and shouted, “Blademaster! You may be strong, but today is the day I knock you off your throne! As the leader of an army, I can’t afford to lose here!”
With a roar, Sergen launched forward. Despite his graying hair, he moved with the speed of someone half his age. In-game, there was a scene where Sergen told the protagonist about how he didn’t want the people of the military to fall behind adventurers or coliseum fighters since it was a Soldier’s job to be the shield that protects the people. That was in fact why it vexed him so much that the title of strongest belonged to Nirva and not a Soldier like him.
“Watch closely, Radd,” I said. It wasn’t just fighting spirit that was propelling Sergen forward. Mana surged from his body and he shouted, “Unyielding!” The mana coalesced into a glowing aura that wrapped around him.
“H-He did that before too! When I was fighting him he was suddenly enveloped in light and got a lot stronger!” Radd exclaimed.
I nodded. “That’s General Sergen’s trump card. It’s his unique skill. Unique skills are something only certain people can learn, and only once they reach a certain level.”
“Those exist?”
“Yeah, leveling up doesn’t just make your stats go up. Certain people, and members of certain races acquire unique skills only they can use after reaching a certain level.”
Rex’s extremely hard to use dark element skill, Sinner’s Cross, was also a unique skill. However, the unique skills that were truly great were buff skills like Sergen’s. Damage-based unique skills generally had at least one Art or spell counterpart that functioned somewhat similarly, but buff skills were a lot rarer. Sergen’s Unyielding skill was a buff that lasted only one minute, and after the buff wore off he was immobilized for a short while. In return for that glaring drawback though, the buff itself was immense. It raised his Attack by one and a half times and tripled his Defense. That was why he’d been able to overwhelm Radd so easily. The buff was powerful enough that it let him go toe to toe against enemies he’d normally not stand a chance against.
Sergen let out another roar and charged forward, bringing my attention back to the duel playing out before me. The frontal assault was probably the right move—Sergen needed to stay on the offensive and end the match as quickly as possible. Unyielding gave him a huge boost, but once his minute was up he’d be rendered immobile and lose for sure. Most people were probably thinking the match would be decided based on whether or not Sergen could land a decisive blow within the time limit, or if Nirva would manage to hold Sergen off for the duration of the buff. But of course, I knew that Nirva wasn’t that weak.
With a spirited shout, Sergen swung his weapon down with all his might. Nirva responded by moving both of his swords in a strange pattern. Or rather, a pattern that probably seemed strange to everyone but me. I could immediately tell that was actually the starting motions for two different Arts—Thunderclap, and Moonlight Dance.
It happened in an instant. The moment Sergen’s weapon was about to make contact with Nirva, Nirva’s two swords shot out. The battle was decided immediately. Despite the tripled defense that Sergen had, he was sent flying and slammed into the ground at high speed. He lay in the center of the arena, unmoving. Knowing that Sergen wouldn’t be getting up from that, Nirva sheathed his two blades, then turned to the referee.
After a moment, the man finally remembered his job and shouted, “Th-The winner is Nirva, the coliseum champion!”
There was a moment of stunned silence, and then the crowd erupted into cheers. “Nirva! Nirva! Nirva! Nirva!”
The undefeated champion of the coliseum had once again secured an overwhelming victory. Or at least, that was how it looked to the layperson. But those who knew even a little bit about fighting had seen something in Nirva’s swordplay that stood out to them.
“H-Hey. Did he just...”
“I... I think so.”
Amidst the cheers, you could hear warriors muttering to each other in awe. Honestly, even I was surprised, so you’d expect the average adventurer who knew far less than me to be absolutely floored.
“P-Please wait!” one of the coliseum commentators shouted at Nirva, who was leisurely making his way to the exit. “L-Let me first congratulate you on your splendid victory!”
“It was the expected result. I haven’t slacked in my training, after all,” Nirva said bluntly.
The commentator didn’t seem to mind the brusqueness though. “O-Of course! But, forgive me if I’m mistaken, for the attack you used to end the match, did you...?” The commentator sucked in a breath, then said with conviction, “It seemed to me that you used different Arts at the same time with your left and right hand weapons.”
Using two Arts at once was something only the player could do in-game. At the very least, I’d never seen an NPC do it. But of course, that was exactly what Nirva had done. Though there was more to it than just that.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I did,” Nirva said with a casual nod.
“F-Furthermore, it seemed to me those two Arts were used at a different angle than normal! How on earth did you manage to...?” the man trailed off, pressing Nirva for an answer. He seemed like he was asking more to satisfy his own curiosity than to fulfill his duty as a commentator.
Nirva waved him off, looking mildly irritated. “I learned this technique from a certain swordsman the other day. If you want to know the secret, ask him.”
“Wh-What?! Th-There’s someone out there who was able to teach you something new?! Just who...”
Despite the distance between us, I could clearly see Nirva’s lips curling up into a devilish grin.
“R-Recilia, we need to get out of here right now!” I got to my feet, knowing that something very bad was about to happen. Sadly, I was too late.
“The man who taught me is right over there.” Nirva pointed directly at me. “He is the only person in the world who has ever bested me in a one-on-one duel.”
Everyone in the coliseum froze upon hearing that.
“Uh, old man?” Radd looked up at me in disbelief.
“What is the meaning of this, brother?” Recilia asked, her voice as cold as ice.
“W-Well, you see...”
Nyuuk was so stunned his glasses had slipped off, and Mana was looking worriedly up at me. Prana, however, seemed to be enjoying the commotion and grinned wickedly at me. The commentator and all of the spectators in the stands turned to me, their expressions a mixture of disbelief and awe.
I-It’s not supposed to be like this! I’m not the star of today’s show! Goddamnit, why is this happening to me?!
I plastered on a wan smile and cast my gaze across the numerous spectators staring at me.
I’m not the protagonist here! I screamed inside my head.