I Possessed The Villain’s Childhood Friend

16 – Dance Contest Final – 2

“I saw it?”

The emotion in the prince’s voice was clearly embarrassment.

Well, it would be absurd to say that an opponent who is bleeding all over can now win.

But it wasn’t a lie.

He gave up when his initial plan collapsed.

But the more I was cornered, the more I couldn’t understand.

Seeing that last stab, that doubt turned into certainty.

It’s not impossible to win.

“Being a knight requires perseverance. I can admit that too. But more than that, you need to know your limits. It’s arrogant to think that persistence can turn everything upside down, Ike.”

“You can see for yourself whether it is arrogant or not.”

“… Okay.”

Slowly got into a suspended position.

The prince lowered his center of gravity as if he was going to attack at any moment.

And the one who moved first was, of course, the crown prince.

The swords collided with each other to form a cross.

The prince seemed to be trying to pierce my defense, but when he saw my sword still motionless, he clicked his tongue.

“That sword. I was thinking of breaking it earlier, but it’s sturdy.”

“It’s a sword I got through a lot of hard work.”

Hildegrim.

A general term for arms that never break.

Hildegrim is not made with magic.

It is a kind of skill that can only be made by a blacksmith who has reached the highest level, using the best materials and putting all his strength into it.

Even if all the hildegrims in the empire were combined, there were no more than 10.

It was Hildegrim who treated hundreds of platinum coins as such.

And the ‘Neia’ and ‘Diana’ that Marinen made for us were both Hildegrims.

She thought that she couldn’t get it for free, but Marinen said she was reciprocated, and she refused to take the money.

She eventually compromised by telling her that she would call at any time if she needed help.

Anyway, Hildegrim. Neia’s performance was literally certain.

If it had been an ordinary sword, it would have already been broken and I would have no choice but to surrender.

“However, no matter how good the sword is, it is meaningless if the user is weak.”

The prince quickly widened the distance and swung his sword four times.

If it can’t break through from the front, it will gradually gnaw away and knock it down.

From nob le mt l dot com

Perhaps that was the picture the prince wanted.

But.

“… Uh?”

“Didn’t I tell you? I see.”

As I parried all the attacks, his voice was tinged with amazement.

“What is that… !”

The prince gritted his teeth and continued his attack.

A silver sword strikes like a raging sword.

But I didn’t panic at all and blocked almost all of his attacks.

“How….”

“Well? It works because I do it somehow.”

The prince is strong.

I was able to fully admit that the saying that he was the greatest genius in the history of the empire was true.

Defeat all enemies from the front with overwhelming strength and ridiculous skills.

Knocked down only from the front.

Yes.

The current prince knows nothing but head-to-head combat.

And there is a limit to the skills that can be shown in a head-to-head match.

It’s a matter of course, but it wasn’t that I had any kind of awakening or anything like that.

Because I honestly memorized all of his skills.

No matter how much faster the basic movement is than me, if you can move one beat earlier, you can stop it.

To give an easy example, it is a boss monster in a game that is incredibly strong, but has a pattern.

“Is it really visible?”

“There is no need to lie.”

But it shouldn’t take too long.

The prince will immediately notice how I am dodging and will fight back.

In other words, if there is a chance to catch the flow, it’s only now that I stopped attacking because I was taken aback by my movements.

“Ha!”

I closed the distance again and swung my sword horizontally.

It was so slow that the black from accumulated fatigue let out a blank laugh, so the prince lightly stepped back and avoided it.

As I raised his arm without stopping, he too took a position to block the attack this time.

I took a step forward and swept the floor.

The center of the prince who kicked his leg shook.

“Kuh?!”

As expected, the prince, who was accustomed to competing with power from the front, slightly slowed down his reaction just by digging into the side.

A future crown prince would have snorted and blocked an attack like this, but at least not now.

If I hadn’t gone to Vulcanus, even if I had this opportunity, I would have fought head-on and lost.

When sparring with Marinen, I fought with a mass-produced sword that broke quickly.

At that time, the method I chose was speedy.

But that didn’t overwhelm her from her front.

Marinen was not an easy opponent enough to take down from the front with a mass-produced sword.

I managed to subdue them through the gap I made by digging into a square somehow.

It was thanks to him that I was able to find a loophole in an opponent I had no information about and find a way to fight.

I never thought that sparring would be so helpful.

Thought so, I pushed the prince again.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha.”

I am short of breath.

Because I was still bleeding a lot and moving violently, my mind became more hazy.

If I hadn’t forced the magic power through my body to flow, it was clear that I would have collapsed already.

“… I think I know roughly what happened.”

The prince who thought he had pushed him. Was still alive

It left a deep cut on his right side, but it was not fatal.

I wanted to ask what kind of monster this is if there is a god in this world.

“Thanks, Ike. Thanks to you, I know where I am lacking.”

Still, the sound of her breathing was clearly shaking.

Can I really poke that gap?

The loopholes were no longer visible.

I’m sure you’ve already noticed how I’m blocking attacks.

“I’ll admit that what I said earlier was a mistake. You are not weak.”

The prince lowered his center of gravity and drew the sword in his right hand all the way behind him.

It was the stabbing posture I showed you earlier.

“So let’s finish now.”

I noticed that too.

If the opponent memorizes all the attacks and blocks them, aiming for a powerful unblockable shot is the solution.

And with the current state of my body, I didn’t even have the confidence to avoid that attack.

“Whoa.”

He took a slow breath and took his suspension position.

Whether I like it or not, I had an intuition that the tournament would be over with this sum.

Can I really do it?

No, I’m not worried about that.

Now I think I have to win. That’s it.

And we stepped out at the same time for the first time in this match.

The prince’s movements were obviously slower than before.

A wound on his side seemed to grab his ankle.

But even then I was much slower.

“aaa!!”

With a shout, all remaining mana is burned.

My whole body ran forward with a creaking sound.

Five meters remaining.

The prince’s sword flies into my chest.

The moment the sword touches the chest, the match is over.

It was a clear goal no matter who saw it.

Earlier, I tried to block it from the front, but I was pushed back by her power and flew backwards.

So this time I aimed for the side of the sword.

Using Neia’s characteristics, she breaks the sword of the crown prince.

3 Meters remaining.

I twisted my body very slightly just before the sword touched, and struck Neia with all my strength.

The moment Neia touched the crown prince’s sword like that.

“… Uh?”

The strength in my wrist was loosened.

Neia couldn’t overcome her recoil and flew to the other side of her.

With only the trajectory of the prince’s sword slightly shifted, it pierced her side.

“Big, billion!”

The sides were hot like burning.

My mouth was filled with blood in an instant.

My mana was on the verge of being completely exhausted.

But I didn’t stop.

With his side pierced with a sword, he advanced toward the prince.

“What?! Stop it, Ike! No matter how close….”

The prince seemed shocked.

But I couldn’t hear what he was saying.

There was no time to focus on his words.

I strangled the prince, then hooked him by the leg and forcibly knocked him down.

Neia was already flying to the corner of the arena and couldn’t use it.

Her fists didn’t have enough magic power to subdue him.

But it remained with me.

“Give up.”

I glared at the prince, feeling the taste of the blood flowing from my mouth.

The prince couldn’t move at all.

Because Diana, the dagger Reina gave me, was touching his neck.

“I won.”

The moment Diana touches the crown prince’s neck, the match is over.

Even if I passed out from excessive blood loss, I could have cut my neck before that.

The prince held onto the sword in his right hand for the last time. He slowly let go of his hand.

“… Lost.”

No sound could be heard from the audience.

There must have been a lot of spectators watching, but only silence lingered.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.”

I slowly turned my gaze to the center of the audience.

Finally, I focused my magic on my eyes and looked at her face.

Raina covered her mouth with her hand and shed a single tear.

I finally did it.

I smiled slowly, extending my right hand and giving a thumbs up.

“I won, Reina.”

Listening to the belated cheers of the audience, I lost my mind.

★

It’s magic.

That was the first thought I had when I came to my senses.

I was worried that I was going to die before I lost consciousness, but when I opened my eyes, my body was perfectly fine.

Well, the last wound on his side was so deep that it left a scar like the chest from the last time.

“Congratulations on winning, Ike.”

The person who entered the medical room where he was lying alone was the crown prince.

He was taking off his mask and wig.

“Your Highness.”

“It’s okay. Don’t wake up Ordinary healing magic only heals the body, it does not return health.”

“… Thank you.”

I slowly leaned back on the bed and looked at him.

“How did the match go?”

“Of course it ended with your victory. But the award ceremony was canceled because you passed out completely. But don’t worry, the prize money will be sent to the Axus family.”

The prince said that and slowly sat down on the chair next to the bed.

“I thought I was going to win, of course.”

There was little confidence in those words.

It was definitely me who won, but I couldn’t laugh at that.

Actually, I was driven to the brink of losing.

“But I lost to you.”

I wasn’t particularly curious, but the prince started talking by himself.

“You got it wrong. On the outside, I told you that I was expecting you, but in my heart, of course, I thought I would win. Even knowing how stupid it is to be careless and conceited.”

“Is that so?”

“Thanks to you, I learned something good this time. Thanks, Ike. And congratulations on winning.”

“… Thank you.”

“Enough then.”

The prince left the room at the end of those words.

A few minutes after the prince left, it was Raina who came in this time.

“Ike.”

“Oh, Raina.”

“I’m sorry.”

And as soon as Raina entered the room, she bowed her head to me and apologized.

“… What?”

“I knew my final opponent was to convey. Even though I knew it, I kept it a secret for reasons of equity.”

“That is natural.”

“But I thought that winning would be difficult, it wouldn’t be easy, and I provoked you for no reason! Even so, I asked you to win! Even knowing who the opponent is, because of my selfishness!”

A tear fell down Reina’s cheek.

When I saw them at the stadium earlier, I thought they were tears of joy, but they weren’t.

“I’m sorry. If I had known you were going to push yourself like this, I wouldn’t have asked you that.”

Those were tears of regret.

“The scar has grown again because of me. And because of me, I’m until the end….”

“Reina. I think you’re thinking about something wrong.”

“Huh?”

At that, Reina raised her head and looked at me.

It shouldn’t be, but I thought she was cute when she shed tears, so I thought she would laugh.

“It is true that you provoked me. It is true that it was a difficult request. But like I said before, I was aiming to win from the beginning.”

There was a bit of bravado mixed in, but these words were unmistakably my sincerity.

“Well, as you said, it left a scar. It doesn’t matter if you think of it as a symbol of victory. Rather, isn’t it cool?”

“….”

“So there is something I want to hear more than that apology that is difficult to understand right now.”

“… You, as a person, seem to have changed a lot.”

Well, it’s because he’s a really different person.

I couldn’t say that.

After Reina slowly wiped away her tears, she said with a wide smile.

“Congratulations on winning, Ike.”