BATTLE OR ALIVE
Chapter 18: The Last Duel

“AITIS!”

The pledge mentioned. Unlike the pledge that Jell and Lhava had made, when mentioning the pledge the four of them did not teleport, and were only where they were at the moment.

(The pledge chain appeared and locked our battle arena, but we did not teleport anywhere. Are there some conditions that need to be met?)

For this situation Mai still can not fully understand about how the pledge in this world works like a system, he said, but one thing he knows is that the chain of pledges will come up when and where you go when you make your pledge and duel.

The match began and Mai was still looking at the principles of the world pledge, and the three Lvaha women were ready with their respective positions.

For their position, they use the position 1-1-1, or Fighter-Mage-Suport. A brilliant position for the three of them, Mai praised their battle prowess. Unlike Lhava fighting Jell, these three women put up a strong defensive and attacking position, just like they were professionals.

For now Mai can not be uploaded, three-on-one what is sportive? Mai blabbed in her heart. But it didn't matter at all, and this was just a small matter that he had to solve in order to search for Jell's whereabouts who had somehow gone since morning.

“Alright, let's finish this quickly.”

“Don't underestimate us you're blurring.”

Mai put up Job and took out her Dual Knife. After obtaining the Duel Knife she had obtained in the dungeon, Mai had not tried it at all, so this would be a good trial.

Mai took a position, with her head down, one leg was in front and the other leg was in the back with a distance wide and straight, one leg was in front, his hands also followed forward and the other one behind, his butt rising past the head height, creating the position of the fearsome horses.

These horses are fast attack positions that are in the martial art of assasin, making an assassin as stylish as in the main character in the Spi*erman story.

Putting on the horses, Mai focusedly looked straight at the three Lhava women. As well as the three of them, they also looked straight at Mai who was in the position of her horses.

(Shuu!) (Mai darting)

Mai attacked first, took off the horses and darted forward. Skill in use, “Slow Watch” makes the rotating time very slow. The speed reached 60 km/sec, no one was able to rival the current speed of Mai, and so were the women.

Towards one of the women, Raina, job Fighter. Raina could not blind her eyes to what had happened to her, in less than a second, her body and head were separated into different parts. Falling and being eliminated from the battle, Raina lost with the blink of an eye.

(What is it! Raina was there, now that her head was gone, what happened just now?!)

In her heart Wilata did not understand and was unable to digest what had happened in less than a second, but she knew that Raina's head was now out of place.

In this situation also he was able to see Mai who had already sliced Raina's head and was currently heading towards him. Under the influence of the “Slow Watch” skill, marked enemies will feel time running so slowly, but their consciousness is still there, as if they were being very slow.

With the influence of that skill as well, Wilata was able to see who and how Mai was able to decapitate Raina neatly in such a short time, and he also knew that he was the next one who would accept his attack.

Mai manages to decapitate the first woman and goes on attacking the second woman, she lands after going up to attack the first woman's head, Mai lands and takes a foothold for the second quick attack.

For the second attack Mai will try to cut off both hands of the enemy to see how accurate he is if attacking two places at once. So far Mai has always attacked the enemy in their head, and it is very rare to attack with two-way attacks, so to try and improve it she will make this second woman as a training material.

Mai looked at the second woman after landing and made a crazy suppressing aura. The expression of the second woman was not good, she was pale in her eyes and could not restore her composure to make the battle reversible. But that was impossible, because their opponent was Mai, who was known to be able to rival Jell in terms of fast attacks.

(Can't move! No, my body won't move!)

Wilata is unable to restore her bodily functions due to pressure from Mai. After the attack regarding Reina, Mai had already unleashed the “Slow Watch” skill and decided to attack Wilata with an attack without any additional skill, so she would slash with her physical strength, so she would slash through it, this way Mai was able to see how powerful her physical attacks were.

Wilata fell into despair, she could only see the darkness in front of her, unable to get up and her body unwilling to follow her either. He is already devastated in mental terms and will not be able to recover in the near future.

Mai by using both her Dual Knife and this perfect momentum, Mai was confidently able to cut off both of the second woman's hands perfectly.

(Dzing!) (Dzing!)

His second Duel Knife cut off the second woman's hand. Mai after cutting back and to take her position again, besides she wanted to see how the cut was going, so she did not decide to directly kill the second woman in that momentum.

“AaAKKkhHH!!”

Wilata screamed in pain, losing both of her hands giving a delay from the pain she was receiving.

Wilata could not understand what exactly he was facing, the speed that exceeded the sound, he was unable to see what the enemy had done to him, but only one he knew, he knew, that he had challenged the wrong person, he had challenged the supreme power.

Mai came back to look at the results of the piece, but it was disappointing, the left-hand piece was not as smooth as the right-hand piece. Knowing Mai's face was only black and could not open her mouth.

(Ahh, shit! Not cut perfectly, if only I had done this back then, maybe the cut could have been smoother.)

Mai made an annoyed face after seeing the results of her untidy slashes, so because it was not perfect she decided she would just kill him. Mai advanced from her place and walked towards the second woman, she was going to kill him smoothly, and that was for sure.

(Dzing!)

His head was gone, the second woman had lost her head and was no longer moving. Remaining the last woman, and difficult to make sure victory is on Mai's side, however the woman he fought is only the weakest user of job Support of all jobs.

(Although it's the weakest job, I wonder if there are strong job Support users who can match other jobs.)

Mai towards the last woman, the third woman is job support. He did not look desperate in his eyes, instead he gave eyes filled with determination. His eyes were burning with mixed feelings, he was angry, scared, and disappointed. The first anger in his life that he had ever felt, he could not express himself like what, but one thing he knew, that he would not be able to win.

The third woman neither resisted nor persisted, she just kept quiet and did nothing but stare at Mai with sharp eyes as sharp as needles.

Mai who got her gaze only made a difficult face, because her opponent's determination was serious to be able to defeat her, even though she was not serious against them.

(What is that? Face scary. Is he still serious about fighting me? Hey, stop, your face scares me.)

Mai made a difficult face because of the sharp gaze of the third woman, she was going to kill him as well as the two women earlier, it seemed like she could not experiment on this woman, she scared Mai.

Mai approached and beheaded the last woman without any resistance, rather physical resistance, she fought back mentally. Mai was awkward against such a person, especially if making such a person as a trial ingredient. The last woman was different from the previous two women.

The first woman is strong physically and mentally, but she is slow in precarious terms, the first woman is the type of person who is slow in digesting information and conditions.

For the second woman she had a strong physique, was able to digest information quickly surpassing the other two women, but she had a very fragile mentality, so among these three women, she was, he is the most desperate.

And for the third woman she had a very strong mentality beyond the other two women, had firm thoughts, and was able to absorb information from the circumstances quickly, but not as fast as the second woman. But among other women she is the one who has the weakest physique, and her job is also unable to improve her weak physique.

***

The duel ended in an absolute victory from Mai. The three women were defeated in less than 5 minutes, which made it a slow possibility of pressure from the third woman giving Mai a sense of discomfort.

For Mai's victory, she was entitled to all the treasures that were being carried by these three women, including sets of armor, weapons, money, and clothes. It was indeed very inhumane to risk all their possessions, but Mai also gave a bet that was not small.

The arena barrier chain had disappeared, the three Lhava women were lying on the ground helplessly. But only one person cared about them, it was the little girl they had hurt before the match.

(Oh yeah, I don't know the name of this kid yet.)

Mai approached and sat in front of the girl's gaze, equalizing the position of their sight Mai smiled brightly. Pouring Mai's hand said.

“Greetings, I'm Mai Ogawa, nice to meet you.”

Mai introduced herself, with a smile capable of deceiving it, Mai let out her charm in front of the girl, and of course that was important. He wanted the girl to know and have good thoughts and views towards Mai, moreover he had already defeated the three women, she said, so he thought maybe this girl would challenge him forward, and to avoid that he had to make a good impression on her.

But all was not as expected, the girl just kept quiet and did not reply to his words, like freezing, the girl had not noticed him since. That made Mai a little sick.

“K-you.. once again I introduce, my name is Mai Ogawa happy to meet you.”.

To continue to start the conversation Mai introduced herself again, but the response for the second time was different from the one before, this time the girl looked at her from behind a cloak she had never seen open.

“What's okay?”

“Eh?”

The girl asked something less obvious, Mai who received the answer did not know what she meant.

“What did you say?”

Confirming what the girl said, Mai asked her what she meant. And the intent of his words contained a very unreasonable thing even for humans from another world like Mai.

“Do not mind to talk to a slave?”

The cloak-covered eyes had all this time been out of the darkness, the golden-yellow eyes, the eyes that could not be seen the existence of life in those eyes, and were as gripping as seeing a hole of darkness.

Mai was stared at and not looking elsewhere and glued to those golden eyes, Mai could not see any happiness, laughter, or life. As her life all along was like hell for this girl, Mai could not help but feel in her heart. Mai saw a very black and gripping darkness.

And from all that, Mai seemed to know what had happened to this girl, Slavery. Mai and Jell have not seen and have never seen slavery in this world, more precisely in this A district. Like a very severe ignorance, they forgot the theme of the world they live in.

The medieval world, with all the violence and power that was not regulated by the rules. Where each kingdom always acts as they please without seeing what and how the impact they have done, the greed of the nobility, the cruelty of taxes, and poverty is what always happens in every kingdom. And of course slavery is also included in it.

For Mai and Jell who live in the modern world the word slavery is a very inhumane thing and should never happen in any world. But the reality is so cruel to people like them, the cruelty of the middle world is so inhumane and for now Mai finally realized what they have been doing all along.

(What I'm thinking about right now, I think this world is just to see how long we've been trying this world, so I feel like it's going to end in time, but I'm wrong. The world is real, death can happen anywhere, and so can I and Jell, we can die anytime, and I didn't understand that from the beginning.)

The information all along had been collected simultaneously in Mai's brain, she had just received information that she had never been aware of in the first place. Mai who got such a difficult condition could not help but feel in her heart, she was annoyed that it was slow.

He stood up and left from the girl's gaze, all the items that Mai received entered the inn, he did not look at the girl when he left.

Mai sat on one of the chairs in the room, she sat down while contemplating to digest all the information she had gathered and was slow to notice. Using his entire brain to understand everything he wanted in a series he was silent like a statue.

(I was really very slow, why didn't I realize it in the first place! What's in my head there are just flowers? I'm stupid! And all this time Jell's been conscious, she didn't tell me to be aware of it myself, and I just realized it. He's been trying to be alone to keep both of us alive and I'm just getting in the way, I'm stupid!)

Mai fell silent in her contemplation and cried while thinking about how stupid what she had done all along, and one example of that she had forgotten to activate the tracking device while they were in the dungeon, she regretted.

In his reflection, the door to his room was open, which entered was Jell while carrying a bag containing food for their lunch, Jell who always did the activity of buying food and providing ingredients for breakfast, and who was the only one who did not want to do so, lunch, and dinner, and to cook he handed it to Mai.

Jell who entered directly saw Mai who was in contemplation made Jell confused what had become of him, usually he would only sleep or work on him after he came home, but today he had no spirit at all.

“Oi, what's wrong with you? Not feeling well? I'll pour tea for you.”

Jell went a little next to the closet, there was a small table that Mai often used to cut or do other activities that could not be done at the main table. Finished brewing the tea, Jell gave it to Mai and told her to take a break.

“This drink, you better rest first, you look pale.”

But instead of going and sleeping to calm her mind and rest, Mai instead stood up and hugged Jell, she hugged her tightly and had no intention of letting go.

“Mai? What's up, is anyone sick? Want me to buy you some medicine?”

“I'm sorry... I should have noticed it from the beginning.

Jell who saw his behavior understood what was happening to him and he understood that. He thought it would take a long time to make Mai realize how much it means to live in this world, and it seems that she has already realized it, thank God.

Jell was grateful that she had already realized it, for Mai who would not be aware of how cruel the world was, she said, Jell was afraid that Mai would be swallowed with comfort and would be stone-hearted and turn away from the bitter truth. But he seems to understand.

“Already, go to sleep first, you look pale loh.”

Mai just fell silent and did not follow Jell's words, she just looked at Jell, with her regrets.

“Jell you know the girls and women who were with Lhava at that time right?”

“Hm, I know them, why?”

“They challenged me earlier and they lost, then I just found out that the girl was their slave.”

To hear that fact Jell was just shocked, he had expected it and there was no doubt in his chest, but he still could not believe it, but now he understood. Just like Mai, Jell also does not accept the law of slavery in this world, but how else.

“Already, the photo you have to sleep .. Hm? Mai?”

Mai did not release her embrace from Jell, and instead she hugged her even tighter. He stood up and still hugged her without dodging her face from Jell's chest, so spoiled, Jell felt a little claustrophobic but it was fine, to be honest she was very happy.

“Mau streets.”

“Ehh..”.

***

Out of the inn, Jell wanted to take Mai to go to a place that she thought was good, that was where they had first been in this world. By looking at the scenery full of flowers, surely Mai will feel better.

“Wait! Wait a minute!”

A heavy and loud voice stopped Jell's footsteps, as long as the voice was behind them, it was Lhava. Not to forget too, he was together with two women and a girl. For the women present are the first and third women, for the second the sepetinya do not follow.

Jell understood the reason for his arrival here, but Jell's shadow of Lhava understood what they had done would definitely not end up seeing him again, but they were currently standing in front of them.

“What's up? I guess you must understand what they've done, right? So there should be no retaliation for that incident.”

“I know that, but for this incident I can't just let it go. Even if I have to throw away my good name, I will fight for this.”

Jell changed her eyes, her gaze was currently filled with anger that had already reached the crown. What this fool wanted in this moment of Mai's state, was what he maki in his heart when Lhava showed his determination.

If only Jell was currently in quiet mode, he should be able to see how determined Lhava was to challenge Jell to their second duet. But he was already consumed by fire, Jell was already so hot that he was able to kill Lhava right now.

“I think we can understand a little, but it's not.”

Jell advanced towards him with her sharp black eyes, but the gaze this time was different her eyes were black as black as darkness, her eyes did not show kindness nor to Jell's poignancy. As long as Jell's attitude was just a lie, he could currently kill anyone in front of him.

Advancing with a deadly aura terrified Lhava, she could not turn away from the darkness of Jell's eyes. At the same time Jell took out his sword, the pitch-black sword made light swallow easily, ejected from the storage system.

“Wait! Please wait a moment sir!”

“Ha-?”

A small robe appeared in front of Jell's steps. Her face, hair, and eyes could not be seen from under the girl's cloak. But it seemed that the girl still had great luck, for a moment Jell was intending to kill the girl for having blocked her path. And that savior is Mai. He raised his voice in a high tone while leaning his body on one of the trees on the front street of the inn.

“Jell! Cool your head, I'm fine.”

Jell was silent not to step aside to kill the innocent girl, but for a moment Jell just stared blankly at her.

“So what do you want to say?”

Lhava rose from his unconsciousness, he with the same strong determination as before, he said the reason.

“This is a stupid, stupid thing I've ever done. But for that too I will do anything to keep the three of them.

They are traumatized and severely mentally damaged, and cannot heal with just regular treatment. So to avenge him I challenge you to a duel, and bet all the treasures you have taken from us.”

As the two women listening to Lhava's words made them blush on their faces, a few tears came out and they simultaneously let out their love for Lhava.

Jell just silently looked at Lhava who was babbling at the length, but she could not resist what she had been listening to earlier, one of her women suffered severe mental damage, as well, so he intended to groom her so that she could pay for the woman's care. What a good bastard this one is, is what Jell said in his heart.

“All right I accept this duel. I'll risk all your possessions, and you'll have to risk the girl.”

The moment Jell said just now made the atmosphere awkward and slow to understand what she was saying. But only Mai understood that and she laughed a little because of her condition, usually she would laugh out loud, but at the moment she was not okay.

And for Lhava and the three women behind him make a confused face and slow in understanding his words. Even for the third woman who was usually able to grasp the situation quickly, she also made a puzzled face.

And for the girl as well she didn't understand what Jell was saying. But Jell came up to the girl and patted her head and said once more with her trademark smile.

“I say again, I will take this girl as my dueling gift. Because slaves are just as expensive as goods, so it's fine. Add again in the taboo list there is no violation about it.”

They understood in the second wave when Jell explained the details, and Lhava agreed to this as well. The final duel between Jell and Lhava has been decided.

““AITIS!””

The pledge was mentioned, and just as Mai and the three women had done, Jell and Lhava had not moved but the chain of vows appeared to form the boundary of the battle arena.

(Not teleported? Are there some conditions that need to be met?)

To answer that question Jell could not understand the situation, so for now let it go first and focus on the battle.

The beginning was done by Lhava by taking his sword which was on his shoulder, he did not swear at his shiny armor like the last time they had a duel.

(He sold it for the girl's treatment, huh? I think he kept it.)

Taking out his great sword and activating it, Lhava was full of determination and a different aura in the duel this time. He was serious and there was only one thing on his mind at the moment, this person was extremely strong.

Similarly to Jell, he put up the horses this time. The last time he did not seriously face Lhava and did not even use his sword against him, but right now he was serious about fighting Lhava. With a grin Jell focused her gaze towards Lhava.

(show me the full power of Lhava black rank!)

Lhava advanced to make the first attack in their duel this time, though, by using a combination of two special Fighter buff skills he advanced using the skill “Mega Sword” and “Multi Sword” is really a combination that is not an amateur, Jell praised him.

For Jell who was not moving from the starting position, Lhava dealt a crushing blow towards him.

Making the dust rise the shockwave from the Lhava attack rattled the arena. From the attack of his own, “Mega Sword” has the effect to strengthen the swing and impact of the sword attack, and for “Multi Sword” has the effect of doubling the attack given, and, giving off an illusion like a sword that he used more than one hit to a point. For Lhava, Multi Sword created 4 attack doubles.

“For a black rank bastard, you are really strong ,ya!”

“Thank you for the compliment, but I will definitely beat you!”

Jell who was in a position to fend off Lhava's crushing attack, he would kick Lhava to create distance to carry out the attack.

Jell made a distance and Lhava was thrown four meters away. Jell made the position of the attack this time, not to defend like earlier, Jell this time will make an attack.

Jell advanced, approaching Lhava Jell swinging his sword at high speed. And of course Lhava can hold it, but it's not as easy as it's in the mind. Jell accelerated the tempo of the attack and the speed of his sword swing by using the skill “Faster Attack” Jell was able to make a sword swing attack that was equal to the attack speed of an assassin.

The Lhava that received the attack could not hold back for long, the gap often opened as he fended off Jell's attacks. Each fend off one sword attack of his own is often carried by Jell's sword intents, so to fend off the second attack must issue extra power so that his sword does not follow the enemy's trajectory.

Sword colliding at high speed occurred in the battle arena. Mai of course saw the battle, and of course the two women were watching it as well.

Mai who saw the battle listened to the movements one by one of the two of them.

(For the size of a great Lhava as well he could withstand a quick attack from Jell. But his wounds could not heal on their own, only taking time for Lhava to lose the battle.)

Jell had absolutely no intention of stopping his swift attack, by twisting his sword and body, creating an extremely beautiful scene for the sword arts.

(For the size of Lhava, he could greatly endure it. But what about this?!)

Jell who made a quick attack, changed the attack pattern by activating another skill. But before doing that Jell gave a powerful surprise attack to make a clash of their swordfighting.

Lhava was hit by stun from Jell's surprise attack, and in that fast tempo Jell issued a skill “Long laser”.

“Kgha!”

In that fast tempo Jell managed to land an attack on Lhava's body, the skill he used was the “Long Laser” skill which required a large mana to form a laser on the user's sword, using these elements the user can throw it like throwing a big light on his sword. For this Jell incident he used fire element skill.

Lhava was thrown for receiving a crushing attack far to the limit of the duel arena. But miraculously after receiving a crushing attack on his chest he still stood up and held his sword. He's a lot tougher than I thought, Jell at heart.

“Hei! How do we end this now? I won't hold back anymore.”

“Kofu- (coughs) ahh... let's get this done quickly.”

Jell smirked in response to Lhava's response.

The standing Lhava took the position of the horses he had never used during a duel. He held his greatsword with two hands towards the back crossed to his left waist. From his horses it can be known that he will make the final attack by smashing his sword.

And to Jell, he took the horses while he whipped his sword over his head, using both of his hands the sword of Jell stood perpendicular above his head.

A moment to look at the scene Lhava made a troubled face, not only Lhava but everyone who witnessed it also made a troubled face, not least Mai who was stunned by the position of Jell's sword.

(You're kidding, aren't you? Then how am I going to treat Wilata if I have to deal with something like this.)

Lhava drew and exhaled heavily and long, he was desperate? Afraid? Is correct. Lhava is currently in her greatest fear.

What they saw was the position of the most powerful skill among the strongest in the world, the skill was named “Explosion”.

The strongest skill in this world and only a legend begi them to be able to do or use it, the skill with the difficulty level of ‘SSS’ Explosion is already considered as a legend of its existence.

In comparison, “Mega Sword” is a skill with difficulty level B, “Faster Attack” is B, and “Long Laser” is A. So the difference in strength between each skill was very different from Explosion. That's what makes this skill never and never even mastered.

“Oh god, look at him.. he is a god.”.

“Explosion. How can?”

“One of the seven skill levels ‘SSS’ Explosion. Really beautiful in view.”

To everyone, they unintentionally and unhesitatingly assumed that Jell was the highest figure they had ever seen because of a top-level skill.

...

Jell with a graceful sword position raised her sword perpendicular, instantly mana came out from all over her foothold. Where it's not where nature is, it's where Jell's own belongs. Mana rose and exited due to the activation of the skill, surrounding Jell's body and sword, which gave it a beautiful bright red color, where the fire element.

“Alright! I'm forward!”

Lhava advanced at high speed, leaving a broken foothold on the ground which he had stepped on earlier signifying how fast Lhava was at the moment. With a shout he held his sword, towards Jell who was still in position, creating a gap for Lhava's attack.

But it was all betrayed. Jell's preparations were done and said.

“Ex..Plosion.”

The sword dropped in a cross-direction towards Lhava, an unreasonable large laser beam came out and followed the sword's movement. And...

Uuuaaarrrrr!!!

A large explosion followed by a blinding light, falling in one of the areas in district A, where the duel took place.

.

.

.

Some time the battle arena between Jell and Lhava became bright and left a dust storm that blocked the view.

The people who were around the area tried to circle around the arena to see the result of their battle, but it was betrayed by the thick dust and it would probably take a little while to disappear.

“See! There.”

One of the spectators shouted while pointing at the arena, the people who heard it automatically looked towards that at seven, and the results of the battle had been seen.

The figure of a man was standing among the thick dust, the man was not holding his sword, nor was his sword lying on the ground as it lost its balance. The dust began to thin and the figure of the person was finally seen.

Jell is the winner.

Rousing cheers filled one of the areas in district A, they had seen a legend, someone capable of using the highest skill, Explosion.

Great cheers for Jell Kiyomizu.

***