"Curses!! How are you keeping up?!" roared Ra Mehn in fury and disbelief.

While he wasn't losing, he wasn't gaining any ground either, despite his conjured flaming sword.

Five whole minutes had already passed since they began their high-intensity exchange.

If this continued, his mana wouldn't hold.

This was exactly Daru's plan.

From what he read in the forums, Aetherborns were used to fighting with mana, and this was the main source of their arrogance.

They had internal energy that they could use, while the other three races did not.

The problem was that when they ran out, their combat power tended to drop drastically, similar to a modern-day professional gamer who was suddenly not allowed to use the keyboard he had used all his life and was given a shitty one.

The decrease in combat power wasn't as simple as seven minus one equals six.

Aetherborns were usually used to suppressing their enemy from the get-go, knowing how to snowball from there.

This is what makes them dangerous.

However, if they failed at this, cracks would emerge in their confidence, slowly becoming the poison that would make them self-destruct.

At least the less-experienced novices, that is.

The veterans had long learned of their weaknesses, having a more controlled yet still incinerating ego.

Ra Mehn was a novice.

So, his reaction was to erupt more, rushing to end the battle.

Sliding his index and middle fingers along the sides of his flaming blade, four wisps of flame appeared, turning into fire clones.

He then slashed his sword once, summoning two more flaming swords.

"Dance of the Holy Flames…" Ra Mehn muttered coldly, glaring at his opponent as if sending a message that he was about to end the arrogant human.

However, the first thing Daru noticed was the runic veins on the Aetherborn's body.

It wasn't pulsing like earlier and was fully lit, as though on overdrive.

He could tell that the SS-ranker Aetherborn was going all out.

Four clones and three flaming swords were what he had to deal with, and Daru was sure that if all of them moved in the most efficient way possible, then he would be easily overwhelmed.

But at the same time, if he could deal with them, victory was his.

Iris and Paxton grew nervous.

Daru could only go even against the Aetherborn with a single floating sword, so how could he deal with the fire clones and two more?

It was then that they saw him jump high, turning into an azure sword.

The right pathway of the fork was spacious, but it didn't allow both parties to utilize their speed much.

Ra Mehn and his clones tried dodging to the side through an all-out sprint, but the sword's tip turned and pointed whenever they went, as if following them.

Then the azure image descended like a comet.

"YOU DAMNED HUMAN!!" cursed the Aetherborn, willing his clones to stand in front and block the meteoric attack while he jumped back at the perfect timing.

But Daru didn't care that he wasn't able to finish Ra Mehn off.

In fact, his target was the clones.

*BOOM!*

A large crater that occupied more than half the width of the pathway formed as a loud explosion occurred, dirt and crystal fragments flying everywhere.

Ra Mehn slashed his sword once, swatting away an incoming shard.

Only then did he notice that a massive azure crescent was headed his way.

The Aetherborn's eyes widened, in utter bitterness that the hateful, arrogant human had a counter to his innate sword skill.

He felt as though the gods were siding with Onimaru Kunitsuna.

Yeah, how else would a mere human defeat him, otherwise?

Ra Mehn was forced yet again to sacrifice his floating swords.

All three.

Still, they were able to stop Daru's SS-tier sword skill, the Azure Swordfall.

A thick smokescreen prevented the two from seeing each other, and both had the wits and experience to try and use this to their advantage.

Ra Mehn still had sword skills and mana.

He wasn't done yet.

Raising his flaming, spear-like sword heavenwards, he repeatedly slashed forward, firing four flaming crescents Daru's way.

They tore through the smoke and cleared it enough for the Aetherborn to see that his opponent was now gone.

The flaming crescents struck nothing.

In the next moment, two figures burst out of the now-dissipating smokescreen, one attacking from the left and the other from the right.

Ra Mehn gritted his teeth in anger and displeasure.

He found it utterly irritating to accept that the human also had quite a number of useful sword skills in his arsenal.

But he, too, has a counter.

"Hmph!" with a furious snort, he stabbed his sword at the ground, causing flames to erupt around him.

Daru was forced to skid to a halt, his Havoc Rush dealt with.

For humans, a sword skill required burning a portion of their stamina, and while Daru had a fair amount, he hadn't prioritized it too much.

He, too, was starting to run low.

The two breathed heavily, locking eyes in fighting stances.

The only difference was that one was smiling and one was angry.

Ra Mehn felt ashamed that a human one rank lower than him was dragging him to the depths of combat, his patience constantly thinned, and his brain overwhelmed with unnecessary thoughts.

He was completely out of mana, flames snuffed out.

However, his sword skills don't completely rely on them.

Aetherborns, too, can utilize stamina only, and this is what makes them more dangerous than the other races.

With a slash of his sword, he summoned two transparent, floating sword images, but this time without the flames.

Daru's eyes narrowed.

He had learned another important fact about the enemy race: mana only enhances their abilities with an element.

Their sword skills can still be used without them.

Noticing that the irritating faint grin on his opponent's face temporarily disappeared, Ra Mehn's confidence shot back up.

"Heh, it seems like you're spent. Well done for dragging me this far. But unfortunately, you're still lacking," the Aetherborn taunted.

However, the faint smile on Daru's face only returned with his words, igniting his anger once more.

"You would've fought better if only you talked less," Daru responded with not a hint of nervousness. "Just come. Let's see who's the better bladeborn."

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