Everyone Else Has a System

Elaric Leeway is a long sword user with the S-Ranked System, [Smoke Manipulation System], though he focuses more on his sword skills rather than his System. If I remember correctly, currently he is strong enough to defeat a peak A grade despite being so old… it has something to do with his past… I don't exactly remember why, but he has skipped many years of training in the past decade.

In the future… he survived for about a decade after the Second Cataclysm arrived, but in the end he succumbed to his own weaknesses. Though, that Elaric and this Elaric are way too different to be even compared properly.

I then took out my spear, which I had bought online when I was in Bryxton. It isn't as excellent as the weapons I am used to, but still it should do the job for now.

...….

[3rd person's Pov]

The night time was favourable to both Zero and Elaric. Elaric with his smoke can easily make use of the darkness to his advantage, but in this regard Zero wasn't much different from him either. In fact, living in the darkness all those years made Zero adapt to it as if it were his own. His shadow style played a major role in it as well, along with his ability to use the Dark Magic.

-Dash

The first one to dash was Elaric. He swiftly and sharply moved towards Zero before Zero could even make a move, reaching extremely close to him and then…

-Clank

The tip of the spear parried the long sword before the spear was hurled in the direction of Elaric. Elaric barely managed to dodge it. Once again, gaining back his momentum and attacking Zero from a direction opposite to the previous one.

-Clank

Zero once again parries his attack and takes a step back. Once again, he hurled the spear artistically towards Elaric, making him look at Zero with a slightly horrified look as he jumped back.

-Slash

Elaric, as he was jumping back, was pricked by the spear's tip on his shoulder, making him bleed a little as he tried to hold it. Elaric used his smoke magic to form some kind of barrier on his wound, stopping the blood flow before it could flow even more.

All this happened within a few moments and Elaric once again jumped back to his original position as he stared at Zero with a wide grin before he spoke,"You are strong… no! Calling you strong would be an understatement… you are a monster.. Just where did father and uncle find you?"

Altough he was speaking clearly without his expressions changing, one could still find traces of pain in his eyes. Well, of course there would be pain because…

'Looks like the pain enhancer is working its magic,' Zero thought as he kept looking at Elaric with a smirk on his face. While it could be considered cheating, in real battle anything goes, right?

Elaric didn't look like he minded what Zero did because he had witnessed Zero's spearmanship with his own two eyes and he could tell that it was anything but simple. To easily counter the swordsmanship which he practised for years wasn't something a simple man… or perhaps a child in this case could have done.

Still…

-Dash

Once again, Elaric moved as swiftly as he could, this time half of his body covered in smoke. He looked like he had used one of his skills this time… going by his speed and strength…

-Clank

He must have used a body enhancement skill that focuses on speed and power. Zero saw the change, not only in power and speed but also in his swordsmanship…

'Looks like he is finally getting serious,' Zero thought as he too changed his stance and his eyes turned slightly darker from the previous bright green. He observed Elaric moving with a purely orthodox move before changing it to completely something else.

It was like fighting a tamed monster that could turn into a wild monster any moment and then once again back to being tamed.

While he was completely orthodox, each of his moves were calculated, making it hard to counter them successively as the fight progressed. Though as soon as you get adapted to that fighting style, he changes it to something completely random, making it impossible to calculate the next move.

-Slash

-Slash

Some of those attacks actually made it through Zero's defence, making him bleed a little, but still he was able to heal back immediately using Regeneration Magic.

Both Zero's and Elaric's eyes got more and more concentrated as the fight progressed, while Elaric was the first one to show his skills, Zero too displayed his Shadow Spear Style more and more, making the fight drag longer than it should have been.

With Zero's regeneration ability, a longer battle would only result in Zero's inevitable win and Elaric knew it… he had to do something about it to make sure he defeats Zero before it gets too late.

'Though I would rather not show my complete power,' Elaric gazed at Zero before he sighed and then began chanting something once again.

'While this isn't my strongest move, it still is one of my trump cards… I wonder if you could take it Zero,' Elaric thought before beginning to charge his long sword once again as he created some distance from Zero before

-Dash

The smoke began engulfing the whole area furthermore and the intensity of Elaric's attack increased marginally before… 4 clones of Elaric came into play from multiple directions, all of them lunging at Zero.

Zero looked at those clones along with Elaric, before smiling a little before muttering,"Shadow Style: Spearmanship of the Blind God," and then…

-Slash

-Slash

-Slash

-Slash

-Slash

-Slash

-Slash

-Slash

-Slash

-Slash

-Slash

-Slash

-Slash

Zero did as many slashes in every direction as possible at once, making all the clones take a step back. While this move wastes a lot of energy at once, it is actually a nice move for situations like this…

'Last time, something like this was used against me… I almost died, didn't I?' Zero thought as he made a really bitter expression before analysing the clones. Though it took a few more seconds, Zero did figure about the real Elaric Leeway among those clones and…

-Dash

Dashed at him. Elaric, who was also ready to jump at him, saw Zero coming at him rather than his clones and realised that Zero had already figured out the real one among his clones. Though it made him quite shocked because it was extremely difficult to figure out even for his father which one of the clones is the real him.

"I give… up," Elaric spoke as he looked at Zero with his spear pointing at Elaric's neck. Elaric, however, was more concentrated on the person who was holding the spear, Zero…

He was smirking, without even a scratch on his body. Though, Elaric was sure, he had at least 'scratched' Zero more than once in this fight… and Zero must have some form of regeneration ability to heal himself during the fight.

"Satisfied?" Zero asked with the same smirk as before, which made Elaric look at him with a bit of an annoyed look before he nodded,"yeah… I guess."

Elaric looked really tired as he let his power go and sweat began pouring out of his body as he tried his best not to shame himself further by falling on the ground in front of Zero. Noticing what Elaric was trying to do, Zero chuckled a little before moving towards Elaric and then touching his shoulders as he spoke,

"Me too enjoyed this small brawl of ours… heal."

Elaric's mana and strength began refilling in his body at a much faster rate, making him look at Zero with a slightly scared look. He gulped at least 3 or 4 times before realising that,'I had no chance of winning… with this enhanced regeneration… I could only have a chance of defeating him if I go all out and I need to finish the battle within the first 5 minutes or else, my own power will start lacking compared to his. Though… that is assuming that what he showed was his actual limit and there is nothing beyond that… which I highly doubt.'

Zero then looked at Elaric with a slightly awkward look before speaking,"with the fight and all, I kinda forgot to ask… do you know where my room is?"

He looked at me with a slight questioning look and I 'honestly' answered him,"Actually, I thought of checking the rooftop once before I hit the bed, but then I saw you here and we started this brawl. While I know the way from the office to the room… going back from here.. I think I might get lost."

He looked at me with a slightly doubtful gaze before sighing and speaking,"well… It is on the way to my room, so I guess you can come along with me."

I just nodded at him with a smile on my really grateful face, at which he nodded back before he began walking towards the stairs.