What did Arthur's enemies feel when fighting him?
Because he had never imagined the situation of facing him before, Naoki had never paid attention to it. But now, after truly gripping a sword and facing Arthur, even if it was just an imitation born from the power of a Class Card, he felt a profound pressure.
In terms of pure physical ability, Naoki was superior to Pseudo-Arthur. The ability scores of a Shadow Servant were lower than the original version, while his ability scores were the same as the real Arthur, plus Reinforcement Magecraft, in terms of pure ability Naoki was already two levels above him.
But that was all.
*CLANG!* *CLING!* *CLANG!* *CLING!*
The Black Holy Sword and the Flame Sword collided in the air. In a few breaths, they had clashed dozens of times. Black mist and hot sparks flew around, gradually turning the area around them into a chaotic sea of fire.
'Regarding swordsmanship... am I not superior here?'
Naoki had never studied swordsmanship systematically. Actually, fighting Vlov was the first time he held a sword. Before that, he had always fought empty-handed, and the training he did was also empty-handed combat techniques. The swordsmanship he used now came entirely from the muscle memory of his body that had assimilated with Arthur.
Under normal circumstances, this was certainly enough to use, but if the opponent was Pseudo-Arthur, who possessed the same and even more skilled swordsmanship than him, then it would feel somewhat overwhelming. The most obvious shortcomings were proficiency in swordsmanship and how to deal with various situations.
Simply put, the difference in experience as a swordsman.
Naoki mostly imitated the swordsmanship and situations he knew, but Pseudo-Arthur could use techniques that he had never even thought of based on the situation on the field.
Several times Naoki had used strength and speed to suppress Pseudo-Arthur and gain an advantage, but each time he managed to break free and distance himself, bringing the situation back to square one. The fight he expected to end in a few minutes had now lasted for more than ten minutes.
"A swordsman who possesses the same swordsmanship as me, and whose skill is even above mine?"
[Unbelievable?]
Manaka's cold laughter echoed in his mind.
[Although the swordsmanship is the same, your swordsmanship is too honest]
"Using predetermined patterns without innovation, as if you don't know what cunning is..."
[With your swordsmanship like this, you won't be able to—]
"—Defeat the imitation Arthur before my eyes. Right?"
*TING!*
Deflecting the Mana slash flying from Pseudo-Arthur, Naoki unconsciously felt somewhat helpless: "Is it just me? Why does it feel like we have some kind of 'compatibility'? That just now could be said to be of one mind?"
[I'm just saying what you've known for a long time but never intended to do. Don't get a big head, vixen, there's absolutely no possibility of compatibility between you and me. That's exclusive to me and the Prince—above!]
"Not below?"
Looking down in the opposite direction of Manaka's warning, towards Pseudo-Arthur who was about to enter his attack range, Naoki directly raised his sword with both hands upwards, a wave of fire instantly erupted from the ground!
[Tch, didn't fall for it...]
'Even if you lower your voice, I can still hear you, you know!'
Although they 'seemed' to reach an agreement, but for Manaka, as long as there was an opportunity to kill Naoki, she would definitely do it. She had already done such a thing as deliberately giving the wrong warning several times in the previous rounds of fighting.
Couldn't human relationships be a little more honest? At least now we have the same opinion.
[Then, how much longer do you plan to play around like this?]
"That..."
*BANG!*
Just as Naoki and Manaka communicated in their minds, the Black Holy Sword suddenly split the wave of fire right from the middle, taking a step forward without hesitation into Naoki's attack range. Pseudo-Arthur's Holy Sword suddenly emitted a jet-black light!
Arthur's Holy Sword, just by infusing mana and swinging it, its power could rival an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm. Even if it had been weakened, its power wouldn't weaken too much.
Like magma erupting from underground, a jet-black slash instantly exploded from beneath Naoki. Catching the gap after he raised his sword, the slash struck his body from point-blank range!
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
The ground looked like it had been ravaged by an excavator, a trench appeared, and the black sword light ruthlessly destroyed everything in front of it. However, just as Pseudo-Arthur's eyes clearly saw whether there was a human figure in front of him—
*SWISH!* *SWISH!* *SWISH!*
Hundreds of stone spears appeared without warning from below, instantly piercing his body until it looked like a honeycomb.
"Elemental Magecraft used under the condition of Fairy Armament, although the process involves magic, the result is not the same."
In front of Pseudo-Arthur, Naoki, whose entire body was wrapped in extremely strong stone armor, revealed himself.
"After all, fairies and spirits are fundamentally the senses of the stars. For them, influencing the world is a natural thing."
Fire Spirits could influence things related to fire, Wind Spirits could freely control the wind element and even influence the weather... now the stone spears piercing Pseudo-Arthur were just Earth Spirits changing a portion of the earth's form.
"Then that's enough. Thank you for demonstrating my swordsmanship directly. Rather than just relying on feeling, it's indeed more effective to feel it with the body, thank you."
Raising his foot, he kicked.
*BAM!*
The stone spears instantly shattered. Pseudo-Arthur was directly kicked by Naoki, flying almost a hundred meters!
*CREAK!*
Sticking the Holy Sword into the ground to stabilize his body, Pseudo-Arthur had just wanted to reorganize himself, but when his eyes looked forward, Naoki had already entered his field of vision, the heavy stone sword crashing down hard!