System's POV

Chapter 771 A Battle Of Wills [Part 1]

Chapter 771  A Battle Of Wills [Part 1]

'How?!' Roland thought for the umpteenth time. 'How is he able to predict my moves?! How?!'

Ten minutes had lapsed since his duel with Joshua started, and right from the beginning to now, he failed to land even a single attack on his opponent's body.

He was even the one being pushed back by Joshua's barrage of spells, each of them seeming able to predict where he would go and what he was about to do.

For a brief moment, the Hero glanced at the stage, specifically the teenage boy who was watching their battle with a calm expression on his face.

As he looked at the person responsible for the falling out between him and his best friend, Roland couldn't help but feel that Zion had once again played his hand.

Although he didn't have any proof, he could feel it with every fiber of his being.

He even had a vague notion that he was dancing on the palm of the teenage boy's hand, which made his heart shudder.

'I'm just overthinking things,' Roland thought. 'Joshua has never won against me in the past, and it will be the same today. I will not lose! I WILL NOT LOSE!'

Fueled by his determination to win, Roland's entire body shone in a radiant light.

Joshua had been paying close attention to Roland's every move, as per Thirteen's advice, which allowed him to gain the upper hand in battle.

This further solidified his belief that Zion was more mysterious than he originally expected.

Time and time again, Roland's attempt to land a blow on his body was foiled. In fact, the one who was getting injured during their exchange was not him but the Hero, whom he thought he could never win against in the past.

'According to Zion, if Roland's body shines like that, he is using his cheat ability and will enter an invincible state for a period of time,' Joshua thought. 'In order to win, I need to focus on evading his attacks.'

Just as the Sage finished this thought inside of his head, he teleported away from where he stood.

A second later, Roland's sword descended on the place where Joshua had been just now, creating a fissure that extended for several meters.

"Are you trying to catch me, you slowpoke?" Joshua said in disdain. "Zion's grandma moves faster than you!"

The corner of Arthur's lips twitched after hearing Joshua's comment about his wife.

Even Hans couldn't help but shake his head helplessly. Joshua seemed to have gotten carried away and had unknowingly courted death by dragging Zion's Grandma, Lady Callista, in his battle against Roland.

Because of this, Arthur and Hans started rooting for Roland, hoping he'd give Joshua a good smack to make them feel better.

After failing to hit his target again, Roland roared in anger.

"Is running away all you can do?!" Roland taunted. "Come and fight me, coward!"

"Is shouting all you can do?" Joshua chuckled. "The last time I checked, this wasn't a shouting duel. However, I'll give you two out of ten points for the effort of taunting me. "You need to be more creative if you really want to hurt my feelings. Maybe you should take cursing lessons from Erica? At least she knows what she's doing. Roland, who was really not good at cursing people, felt as if he was being oppressed by Joshua's words. He had no doubt in his mind that all he needed was to hit Joshua once, and this duel would come to an end.

However, despite the barrier preventing his opponent from running far away, the latter's teleportation ability was truly hard to deal with.

But Roland was able to confirm that Joshua couldn't teleport more than three times consecutively.

After teleporting three times, the Sage would resort to a barrage of spells to keep him at bay, preventing him from closing the distance between them.

'I just need to put pressure on him!' Roland gritted his teeth as he charged at the Sage, his weapon poised to strike. 'All I need is one strike and I'll win!'

Yes.

This was no longer a battle for revenge, but a battle for victory.

Roland had always been very competitive and had treated Thirteen as his rival. He had long acknowledged that despite being a Rookie, Zion was someone whom he would have to pour all of his strength into to even have a chance to win.

In fact, Roland even subconsciously felt like no matter how hard he tried, he would still not be able to win against Zion, who was supposed to be weaker than him.

While he could accept that Zion was stronger than him, he could never accept that Joshua had surpassed him.

This battle originally started because he wanted revenge.

He wanted to make Joshua understand how hurt he was by his best friend's betrayal.

But now, his thoughts were slowly shifting from wanting to take revenge to wanting to win against Joshua, who seemed to have changed and become strong overnight.

Although Roland wouldn't admit it, he was now starting to feel pressured, thinking that he now had to go all out against his best friend, who had never won against him in the past.

Two minutes later, countless craters had formed in the destroyed arena as Roland pushed himself to land a blow on Joshua's body.

But regardless of what he did and no matter what kind of strategy he used, he felt as if his opponent was always three steps ahead of him.

Even the members of the Hero Party, who were more familiar with Joshua's ability than the spectators in the Colosseum, couldn't help but be surprised that the Sage was giving Roland an extremely hard time.

The Hero's armor was now covered in dirt.

His hair was disheveled.

And the expression on his face was filled with desperation.

This was very different from the confident persona that Roland had always projected to the public, making everyone feel sorry for him.

Slowly but surely, the light enveloping his body slowly dimmed as if the effect of his "cheat mode" was starting to fade.

However, Joshua remained vigilant and dominated the pace of the battle using all the tricks Thirteen had taught him.

"Enough playing around!" Roland stopped running after Joshua and took a fighting stance.

His entire body was now covered with golden particles of light, and these particles were all being sucked by Roland's sword, whose brilliance had become so bright, it was nearly blinding.

'He's now using his ultimate move,' Thirteen thought.

'This is the ultimate move Zion was talking about.' Joshua planted his feet firmly on the ground before chanting the incantation that Thirteen had taught him.

He knew that he only had one chance to do this right, and if he failed, he would be obliterated by Roland's last resort, which had the chance to instantly kill a Rank 7 Sovereign if it was directly hit by the Hero's final gambit.

Thirteen, who was on the stage, pushed the button of the remote control in his hand and strengthened the barrier that protected the spectators from getting harmed by stray attacks.

He knew that Roland's oncoming attack could shatter the barrier in the arena if it wasn't strengthened.

If that happened, the people who came to watch the battle in the Colosseum might get injured.

There was also the possibility of people dying, which was the worst-case scenario.

The Grand Marshal, the Field Marshal, Arthur, Michael, Hans, and Claude also descended on the Arena, encircling it, ready to block anything that would break past the barrier.

Even the representatives of the other Families, who were of the Champion Rank, unleashed their defensive abilities, preparing themselves for the attack that made them feel anxious. "Eradicate…"

Roland's cold voice reverberated in the surroundings. The light coming from his sword now shone like the sun, making people unable to look at it directly.

"Burst Requiem!"

At that moment, the entirety of the Colosseum was covered in radiant light.

It was a light that chased away all darkness and would not tolerate any impurity in the world.

Thirteen, who out of the blue was now wearing dark sunglasses, looked at the arena while shielding Tiona's eyes with his hand. The corner of his lips slowly rose as he watched Roland's ultimate strike obliterate everything in its path as it headed toward Joshua, who was wearing the same dark sunglasses the teenage boy was wearing.

The Sage knew that if he failed to endure this onslaught, there was a chance that he would be erased from existence.

Even the safety feature of the arena might not be able to save him from Roland's last resort.

Even so, Joshua decided to face this attack head-on instead of teleporting outside of the arena and hiding behind the Grand Marshal to ensure his safety.

This was not only a battle of the will, but also a battle of the heart.

Thirteen didn't know who would win this match, but he believed that when everything was over, the Sage and the Hero would finally break the chains that bound their hearts.