Science/Magic

"It's finished." Bloed's calm voice reached Nathan's ears as he swung his saber.

Bloed's saber was much slower than Nathan's sword. When he swung his saber, Nathan's sword was about to reach his neck.

But suddenly, Nathan's expression changed.

Because strangely, he realized that Bloed's saber reached his neck before his sword!

Nathan hurriedly pulled back his sword and avoided Bloed's saber. Then, he attacked again.

But just like before, Bloed's swung his saber calmly.

Compared to Nathan's sword, Bloed's saber was much slower. Strangely, though, Nathan realized that Bloed's saber was about to touch his neck again.

If he continued with his attack, he would lose his head before he could defeat Bloed.

'What…?'

Nathan was stupefied. Instinctively, he moved away and attacked again. This time, he attacked from a completely different direction.

But this time, he realized that Bloed's saber was about to pierce his eyebrows.

It was as though Bloed's saber had been waiting for him to appear. As though Bloed could read his movements.

And in fact, it was what was happening.

Right now, Bloed's blue eyes were completely fixed on Nathan, deciphering every one of his movements and using his database to determine his next course of action.

No matter how Nathan attacked, or which direction his attack came from, Bloed's saber was always waiting for him.

'What is happening?' Nathan was stupefied. He hurriedly jumped away, distancing himself from Bloed and looking at him with a confused and stupefied expression.

Even now, he could not understand what was happening.

However, Bloed was already getting tired from this battle.

"It's already time to end this." Bloed simply said.

He then turned part of Leto in a gun and aimed it at Nathan.

Nathan's face changed. After experiencing the power the Bloed's bullets before, he did not dare to take them head-on.

But after he avoided them, he realized that more bullets were coming towards the place where he avoided.

"!!!"

Nathan's eyes opened wide. Flustered, he twisted his body to avoid the bullets, but then, Leto's metallic sand surged up, appearing suddenly and grabbing his leg.

'Damn it!' Nathan cursed in his mind and used mana to blew away the metallic sand before it could release the electric current, however, as soon as he blew away the sand, more bullets came towards him followed by metallic san.

"Damn! What is it!?" Alan cursed angrily and kicked the ground, flashing away from his location and charging towards Bloed again while aiming his broken sword at Bloed's heart.

Bloed, however, just looked at him calmly.

"It's useless."

Just like before, he moved his saber.

And his saber arrived in front of Nathan's neck before Nathan's sword could reach him.

When he saw that, Nathan's face paled.

Finally, he had realized that something was wrong.

He jumped away, only to be greeted by several bullets and metallic sand ready to catch him.

'What is happening?' Nathan avoided the attacks and asked himself. His expression was filled with dread and confusion.

Because he realized that avoiding the attacks was useless. Every time that he did, plasma bullets, metallic sand, or Bloed's saber was waiting for him in the place where he avoided.

For the first time since the battle started, Nathan felt feat.

Right now, he felt like a fly trapped into a spiderweb. It was as though every one of his movements was being predicted by his opponent.

'How is it possible?'

Nathan tried to deny his guess with an expression of fear, but the saber coming towards him forced him to accept the reality.

Since a while ago, it seemed like each one of his moves was in Bloed's hands.

He felt like a puppet being manipulated. Unable to escape from the strings moving it.

No matter how much he struggled, no matter how much he fought back, everything was under his enemy's control.

Nathan's eyes shook. He looked in Bloed's direction, his black eyes meeting Bloed's calm blue ones.

Instantly, he felt as though every one of his thoughts was being read.

"Did you finally understand?" Bloed asked calmly while walking towards him.

Nathan did not reply. He put on an expression of dread and shouted, attacking Bloed fiercely, but Bloed just twisted his body slightly and countered with his saber, creating a cut in his chest.

"Since the moment the battle started, I have been reading every one of your movements. It was a bit hard at the start because your movement technique is something that I had never seen before, but once I understood the underlying principles behind it, it was easy to predict it as well."

Nathan screamed, swinging his broken sword in an attempt to injure Bloed, but he was stopped by metallic sand as bullets rained on him from above.

"It was a bit harder when you released your entire strength. Unfortunately, you were already injured and had used a lot of mana to escape from Oculus's plasma ray. Thus, you became unable to show your true power. Right now, you should be thirty percent slower than normal, right?"

Nathan did not reply. He roared in rage and used his sword to slash at Bloed, but Bloed parried his attack easily and kicked his belly, sending him flying away.

"Perhaps it would have been different if you would have been in top condition, but right now, your attacks are not threatening to me." Bloed's words were completely calm as he walked towards Nathan calmly.

Nathan's mistake was to underestimate Bloed. When he decided to suppress his mana to the peak of B-Rank, his defeat was unavoidable.

If he would have fought with his true strength from the start, Bloed would have surely lost. However, there was no way that Bloed could lose against someone at his level.

In fact, Bloed had not even used his trump cards like [Imaginary Slash] or [Door of Nothingness]. From the start to the end, Bloed only used his most simple attacks.

Nathan did not know it, but he ended helping Bloed test the performance of his improved machines.

Looking at the young man lying on the ground in front of him, Bloed extended his saber and pressed it against his neck.

"Mr. Nathan, it's your loss."

Nathan looked at Bloed blankly. For several seconds, he did not speak up.

But then, tears started to flow out of his eyes.

Covering his eyes with his arms, Nathan started to cry silently.

Just like that, the duel between Bloed and Nathan came to an end.