>
As I stepped out of the Zephia Coliseum, an incredible roar of applause filled the air.
And in the center of the coliseum stood Prince Lethers, already waiting for me.
The muscular prince, with tanned skin 10cm taller than me, was donned in the blue martial arts uniform of the Kingdom of Ra, which was alsoQurie’s attire.
“Haha! You seem pretty nervous, Yuren!”
“This is my first time being the center of attention in front of so many people. Are you alright, Your Highness?”
The Zephia Coliseum was packed to the brim, just like during the Tetric event.
At least tens of thousands were watching me and the prince, and the overwhelming interest made it impossible for me not to feel nervous.
However, Prince Lethers spoke calmly.
“Haha! It’s only natural for royalty to attract the attention of the public! Isn’t it actually exciting? What better stage could we have than this? Haha!”
“Hahaha… I see.”
No matter how I looked at it, Prince Lethers would have been a popular fighter had he been born in my previous world.
He seemed genuinely excited, almost joyful.
But after saying that, he pondered for a moment before speaking again.
“Hmm, thinking about it, that last stage of the Legend Fighter might not be too bad either.”
Was he referring to the burning coliseum as the last stage of the Legend Fighter?
Perhaps Prince Lethers wanted to set this place ablaze.
Imagining myself on the gallows while he casually joked around, I had to admit he was a crazy lunatic.
“Haha! Just kidding!”
“Hahahaha…”
With that prince, it felt like he might actually do it, and it scared me.
In the meantime, a sturdy-looking man with a black beard, who seemed to be the judge, approached.
Not a bard since this wasn’t a game, he appeared to be the official judge of the coliseum and began to announce loudly.
“Let us first pay our respects to Her Majesty the Empress and His Majesty the Emperor!”
At the judge’s declaration, the audience fell silent.
Along with the prince, we bowed towards the queen and emperor.
Each time I did this, I couldn’t help but think about how cumbersome the formalities of monarchies from movies were.
“Then, both of you, swear to the God of War, Vellum!”
“I will fight honorably as a warrior!”
“I will fight honorably as a warrior.”
In this other world, such fights are sworn upon the God of War, Vellum.
It’s a ritual to pledge honor as a warrior and to promise fair fights, but I was neither a warrior nor a gladiator, so I kept it casual.
“Now, warriors, please take your positions!”
Prince Lethers and I moved to our designated spots.
As the duel’s start approached, the audience’s cheering in the coliseum began to heat up even more.
“Yuren, do your best!!”
“Show the strength of the Zers Empire!”
“Use what you learned from me! Fight as if your life depends on it!”
Most of the cheers were support for me, mixed with some anger towards the Kingdom of Ra.
However, it wasn’t as if there were no shouts for the Kingdom of Ra either.
Surprisingly, many from the Kingdom of Ra had come, and I could hear cheers for the prince.
“Go, Prince Lethers!!”
“O dragon of victory, achieve victory once more!!!”
Prince Lethers took his stance.
With his left foot thrust forward in a way that suggested he could unleash a powerful kick anytime, it was the ‘Plema’ stance.
Unlike the graceful stances of Karen that I was used to seeing, Prince Lethers seemed much like an aggressive kickboxer when he positioned himself.
I too steadied my pounding heart and extended my hands forward like a zombie to take the stance of ‘Yudra.’
“Now then, Yuren, the joyful festival begins. Please don’t disappoint me.”
“Don’t worry, I have a lot on the line, so I’ll give it my all.”
“Good, that’s how it should be! Shall we take a look at my ‘Yudra’ this time!”
Prince Lethers looked ready to dash at any moment.
I concentrated on the prince, who looked like he might charge at me at any moment.
The world began to quiet down, and time felt like it was slowing down.
And then…
Ding!
“Here I come!”
The bell announcing the start rang.
Prince Lethers exploded off his foot and rushed towards me with explosive speed.
It was the same charging technique I had seen Karen perform a few times.
‘(He’s fast. But!)’
The prince’s speed was definitely faster than Karen’s.
But it wasn’t fast enough that I couldn’t respond, so I created a vine whip from my hand, the ‘Yudra’ whip, and threw it towards Prince Lethers.
Swish!
“He’s caught!”
The whip of Yudra bound around the prince’s leg, and I pulled hard, toppling him off balance.
“Oooh!”
Boom!
With his posture broken, the prince dramatically crashed onto the ground with a loud thud.
Seizing the opportunity, I propelled myself towards him, delivering a soccer kick.
Thud!
“How!? The prince was hit!”
I landed the first hit.
But even after hitting him, I felt like I had been the one struck.
The heavy sensation from my foot was definitely not the feeling of hitting a human.
It felt more like striking a huge, tough hide of a hippo or an elephant, to the point that my foot went numb.
Prince Lethers rose without much of a reaction, dusting himself off coolly.
“Interesting, is this the Yudra whip? It’s faster than I saw in the Legend Fighter.”
He loosened his body as if he had been curious to be hit.
Could that be the power of the Ra royal bloodline, the body of a dragon? It was truly terrifying.
Prince Lethers regained his stance and said, “But… if that’s all you have, then I’m disappointed. Yuren!”
Prince Lethers charged at me again.
I matched him by launching the Yudra whip.
Swish! Swish!
“Ha! Claws of the Fire Dragon!”
The incoming whips aimed true, and the prince countered with a burning backward kick.
With his kick, tremendous flames roared forth, wrapping around and incinerating the Yudra whip.
“My Yudra whip is on fire!!”
Although created with magic, the vine of Yudra, being a plant, was ultimately burning to ash.
“Here I come!!”
Prince Lethers charged at me and executed a descending strike from the air.
His flaming foot slammed down like a meteor onto the coliseum floor.
Boom!
“Whoa!”
Fortunately, I dodged just in time before impact.
Where I had been was singed like dynamite had exploded, with smoke swirling up.
Was that prince really trying to kill me?
As I tried to catch my breath, he burst out of the smoke with fiery eyes.
“Not even close!”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Waaah!”
The prince unleashed his earlier technique on me five times in a row.
I felt like I had seen a similar technique in a past-life manga, but it was from the martial arts genre.
“Come on, prince, let’s refrain from using techniques like the ‘Celestial Demon Secret Art’ in this world!”
As I barely escaped, the prince remarked, “I concede, you’re indeed fast, at least in the speed of retreat, you might be faster than me.”
“Uh… Thank you for the compliment.”
Honestly, I expected it, but it was a headache.
While it wasn’t implemented in the game, I had felt it during my sparring sessions with Karen.
It was similar to the concept of the matchup in the Capsule Monster game; it was—
“I anticipated it, but indeed, Yudra is weak against Plema.”
“Haha! Fire is naturally strong against plants!”
The Yudra whip was a plant, and that posed a problem.
Though Karen’s lack of skill allowed me to handle her easily, I felt the grip weak as the whip started to char.
If a prince like him used it, I had no doubt he could burn it to a crisp, and my concern came true.
“What will you do now? You’re not seriously planning on just running away, are you?”
Having gained momentum, the prince didn’t press me further.
Instead, he spoke casually, “Haha! If you have some kind of other Yudra secret, you’d better reveal it before the duel is over.”
This isn’t fun if you win this way; if you’ve got something hidden, show it quickly!
Though he exuded the confidence of a strong warrior, it didn’t come off as arrogance.
“Well then, I suppose I have no choice. This is sooner than I expected, but I’ll have to bring this out.”
I slowly retrieved my trump card.
*
When Yuren revealed his secret weapon, the entire coliseum was unable to suppress their astonishment.
“That’s!?”
“That stance is?”
Yuren’s stance even surprised the members of the Irene School.
The spectators, who were fervently cheering from the stands, couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
Especially Karen, who looked shocked.
“Isn’t that what I think it is?”
“Indeed, Yuren’s stance is… Plema!”
The stance Yuren took was none other than the martial art of the Kingdom of Ra, the same martial art that Karen had learned—‘Plema.’
Mirroring the same stance perfectly, the prince’s expression shifted from surprise to incredulity.
“Are you kidding me? You’d challenge me with ‘Plema’?”
Prince Lethers took great pride in his martial arts.
So much so that after the event, he wanted to correct Qurie’s Plema using his own to buff it.
For him to face me with the same martial art felt like an act of suicide in his eyes.
“Whether it’s a joke or not, you’ll find out when you come at me.”
But Yuren was completely serious.
Prince Lethers could sense that the intensity in Yuren’s eyes was no laughing matter, and a wave of excitement washed over him.
This was fun.
As Yuren began to reveal the unexpected, Prince Lethers’ enjoyment in the duel grow.
“Well then, let’s… see for ourselves!”
As Prince Lethers charged forward again to gauge Yuren’s Plema,
The real fight was about to begin.
