A Reincarnator's Tale In A New World: Volume 2 (Part IX)
Chapter 16
It was Raine!
That's right, to Number Four's great shock, the person fighting the masked man was none other than Raine himself.
The scene in front of her was out of Number Four's calculation. She had expected to see the masked man fighting an agent from either her or other unit's.
But never in a million year did she ever expected to see what she's seeing right now.
The boy that she thought to be helpless would actually have the courage to fight his abductor. What's more shocking was the fact that he's not disadvantaged at all!
"Just how!?"
Number Four felt a fang of dizziness. The scene before her had subverted all of her expectations. It was as if the world before her was turned upside-down!
The female dark elf was not the only one whose world had turned upside-down. The person that was most confused right now was none other than masked man himself.
"What the hell is going on here?!" The masked man shouted inside his head as he desperately parries the incoming attacks. He could not understand how things came to be.
Let's go back several minutes before the arrival of Number Four to the site of battle.
A dozen kilometer from the camp, a disturbance in the space could be observed. The empty space started bending weirdly for a second or two before stabilizing. After the space stabilized, two figures could be seen---one big and one small.
Of course, the two figures in question were none other than the mysterious masked man and Raine.
The large figure; the masked man threw the small figure; Raine to the ground without care.
First, his final attempt to kidnap the little princess failed spectacularly. The moment he was about to grab the little princess, some nameless brat got in his way and pushed the princess out of the way!
Instead of nabbing the princess, he nabbed some unknown brat instead. No matter how you sliced it, he was made a fool of!
Out of teleportation talisman to use, the masked man could no longer replicate the plan earlier. Besides, even if he had another such talisman, the chance of him succeeding was slim to none. In other words, that was his last chance.
Furious and frustrated, the masked man wanted to kill the boy to vent out his anger. But the moment he wanted to put his thoughts into action, Raine actually attacked him first!
At first he simply sneered at what he thought was the boy's futile attempt to fight back. But the moment he blocked the boy's attack, he realized, to his horror, that the power behind the boy's attack was enough to seriously injure him!
This realization greatly alarmed the masked man which made him take Raine's threat very seriously.
The masked man countered with a fierce downward swing of his sword only for Raine to dodge his attack by side-stepping. And before he could raise his sword, Raine countered with quick round house kick to the face much to the masked man's surprise.
Knowing that he wouldn't make it in time if he tries blocking the kick with his sword; the masked man bend backward which allows him to dodge the attack and counter using a horizontal slash---forcing Raine to take several steps back.
Taking advantage of the situation, the masked man also slides back which allow him to recover his bearings.
The masked man touched his mask and discovered that it was damaged. Although he could not see the damage to his mask, he could tell through touch that there's a long horizontal gashed just below the eyes-holes of the mask.
This could only mean one thing---Raine's last kick could have taken both of his eyes if he failed to dodge it!
Realizing this, cold sweats started pouring on the masked man's back. If he reacted half a beat late, he would have lost both of his eyes!
Raine and the masked man stared at each other without blinking. Raine took advantage of the masked man's non-existence vigilance against him to launch a surprise attack in an attempt to bring down the masked man while he was defenseless.
Unfortunately, the masked man was much more skillful than he anticipated which resulted to the failure of his surprise attack.
Well, to be honest, Raine himself did not believe that he would be able to take down the masked man even if his surprise attack succeeds. The most he could achieve with his current power was to seriously injure the masked man. But even so, having the masked man sustain injuries would allow Raine a chance to escape.
And as to defeat the masked man? Raine's not arrogant enough to even think of that!
One cannot become the leader of a group of skilled assailants if one doesn't possess enough skill.
But how did Raine figured out that the masked man was the leader of the assailants that attacked the camp earlier? It's not that complicated. Raine simply knew through his instinct.
It might not be scientific but in a fantasy world this should not come as a surprise.
One must not forget that this world's much more dangerous compared to Raine's former world. Here, conflict and wars are everywhere, and in order to survive in this world; people must learn to develop instinct for danger.
"Good! Very good indeed! You surprised me there brat. But to think that you would be able to push me this far. But that's far as you goes! Now that your surprise attack failed, I'll make sure to pay you back tenfold for your action!" The masked man finally spoke after several seconds of silence and threatened Raine.
Raine frown hearing after hearing the masked man's threat. Seeing how the masked man deal with his surprise attack earlier, Raine was certain that the masked was capable of acting upon those threats.
But Raine's no soft persimmon either. He would not simply stand idly and wait for his death. Besides... Raine's not truly powerless against the masked man. He still have several trump cards at his disposals that he has yet to use.
The masked man lowered his posture with his sword to his side and then with a powerful dash appeared in front of Raine and slashed his sword diagonally!
Swish!
The sword slash was so fast that simply leave a quick flash of light. But despite the speed of the sword, it still failed to hit Raine who manages to dodge the slash by jumping backward.
Seeing the failure of his attack, the masked man simply let out a snort, not surprise that Raine manages to dodge his attack.
Nonetheless, the masked man did not let up and slashed at Raine again and again---forcing the boy to desperately dodge. From the looks of it; the masked man was just waiting for Raine to lose concentration and make a mistake. And considering the difference in their physics and stature; Raine would surely be the one to get tired first.
Once tired, it would be easy for Raine to lose his concentration.
"I can't just keep dodging like this, and let him control the flow of the fight.... It this continues, I'll surely die!"
Knowing the masked man's plan, Raine knew that he could not just keep dodging forever. As such he must use one of his trump cards---quick-cast chantless magic!
While desperately dodging the attacks, Raine home in on the masked man and unleashed his magic!
Fire ball! Ice Needle! Wind Blade! Earth Bullet!
Four elemental spells attacked the masked man from all four directions much to his shock!
If he continues attacking Raine, the masked man would surely be hit by the four spells attacking him in all four directions. And even though those spells are not too strong, taking them on without any form of defense would surely result to serious injuries!
The timing of the spells was incredible and very difficult to depend against. If the masked man was just a regular swordsman, depending against those spells would be very difficult if not impossible.
But the masked man was no ordinary person. He was a seasoned swordsman who had fought hundreds of battle! With a ferocious roar; the masked man let out four slashes in the blink of the eyes!
The four elemental spells that Raine casted exploded in mid-air after clashing with those slashes much to Raine's chagrin.
But even though Raine's spells did no damage to the masked man, it did succeed in temporarily halting the masked man's barrage of attacks---allowing Raine to have a little reprieve.
Raine took advantage of this and used the surrounding trees as cover. But Raine did not plan of escaping. Considering the strength of the masked man, Raine is aware that he would not be able to escape even if try.
Instead, he would use the trees as cover when firing his spells. Raine plan to create as much commotion as he could. Even though the masked man used teleportation to teleport the both of them away from the ogre camp; they shouldn't be too far off and should still be inside this nameless forest.
Such a commotion should be enough to alarm the others of his current location. After all, there are two academy teachers at the camp, and with their abilities; locating the both of them should not be too difficult!
The only thing he could do right now is to stay alive....
Seeing Raine use the trees a cover instead of escaping; the masked man was furious. The four elemental spells that attacked him in all four directions caught him off-guard which allowed the boy to hide from him.
But if the boy thinks that using the trees as cover would be enough to evade him then he's being too naive!
The masked man hold his sword with two hand and quickly gathered mana inside his body and with a loud grunt, rotates his entire body along with his sword.
Seeing the masked man's action, Raine quickly dive towards the ground!
Shiiinnnggggg!!!!!!!
The masked man's rotational attack creates a circular blade of energy that cut everything in its path into two.
"Damn it!
The surrounding trees where cut in half by the attack much to Raine's horror who narrowly avoided being cut in half and being turn into pancakes by the falling trees!
The falling trees created a giant cloud of dust that covered a large area. Raine wanted to use the cloud of dust as cover to escape the masked man but upon feeling a horrifying killing intent aimed at him, Raine knew that he would not be able to escape.
"Do I really need to use it? Our pursuer should be close but at this rate, I'll be killed before that person arrived."
Raine's priority right now is to survive until the arrival of his rescuer.
Who was the rescuer you asked? Why it should be one of those mysterious people observing them during the negotiation!
Yes, Raine was aware that there were people observing them while he and the teachers were negotiating with the ogres.
The reason he knew that they were being observed was because the party in question where very close to the camp. Even though these mysterious people were very skilled in hiding their presence to the point that the others didn't noticed; they still could not escape Raine's detection.
Back then, Raine was actually pondering that if he should inform the others that they were being observed. But upon realizing that they did not have any killing intent, Raine realized that these people should be allies and not enemies. As such, he decided against the idea.
After all, these people could help them if the negotiation with the ogres suddenly falls through.
"I guess there's no other choice...."
Clenching his fist, Raine waited nervously as the dust settles. Not long after, he saw the masked man standing at the middle of the devastation looking at his direction.
"You sure caused me a lot of trouble brat. Who would have thought that a brat like you would be so strong? Nonetheless, it's over now so I suggest that you surrender peacefully if you wanted to live." The masked man said.
"Hm? You don't want to kill me anymore?"
Raine was a little startled after hearing what the masked man said. The masked man should have hated him to the point that he wanted to tear him apart.
...And yet, he no longer want to kill him? What made him changed his mind?
Perplexed, Raine looked at the mask man, awaiting confirmation.
"I really do want to kill you. And that feeling hasn’t changed even now. But after seeing your talent, I also felt like that it would be a shame if you die just like that." The masked man answered coldly.
Raine could not help but smile bitterly after hearing the masked man's respond. Who would have thought that the person who was itching to kill him just a moment ago was not trying to recruit him?
Life sure is unpredictable....
"I'm honored that you think so highly of me but... I would like to refuse your offer."
The masked man frowns at Raine's unexpected answer. Considering the brat's precarious predicament, shouldn't he be doing everything to survive?
If so, why did he refused his offer?
"That's a foolish answer. Such a shame, I really do appreciate your talent but since you're refusing my good will then you should die now!" The masked man said with suppressed emotion.
Seeing how riled up the masked man was, Raine let out a long breath.
...And then, he attacked!
Chapter 16
"What!?"
Raine disappeared right before the eyes of the masked man which startled him greatly that his reaction was momentarily slowed.
Before he could even recover, the masked man felt something hitting him on the abdomen with incredible force!
The masked man's body curved into an arc as his body uncontrollably flew into the nearby trees.
Bang!!!
The masked man's body smashed into a tree with such a force that all of the air inside his lungs were forcefully expelled!
Seeing the masked man flew and smashed into a tree, Raine lowered his right leg and exhaled slowly.
That's right, after Raine vanished out of sight of the masked man's view, he delivered a devastatingly powerful kick to the man's abdomen which resulted in the earlier scene.
In reality, Raine did not actually vanished but rather he moved so fast that it looks like he disappeared from the masked man's perspective!
This sudden burst of power did not came out of nowhere but rather the result of him using "awakening"!
After sending the masked man flying, Raine did not follow up on his attack. Even though the attack look devastating, Raine is fully aware that it would not be enough to defeat his opponent.
Raine waited for the dust to settle and as Raine feared; the masked man was completely unharmed!
"You really did it this time, you brat. You were this close at killing me!"
The masked man walked out of the fallen trees and looked at Raine menacingly, only to be stunned when he saw the boy's current appearance.
"You... What are you?"
Seeing Raine's current appearance, the masked man could not help but asked the boy in an incredulous voice.
Raine's current appearance did actually look much difference from his earlier appearance except for two glowing horns at the opposite sides of his head!
Yes, two horns!
At the opposite sides of Raine's head are two horns that made out of unknown energy emitting out bluish light.
As everyone should already know by now, Raine, despite being a daemon, was born without a horn. A child born without horn is an extremely rare occurrence in the daemon race. According to statistics collected over the years, one daemon child out of a million was born without a horn!
From this statistic alone, one could deduce how low the possibility of a daemon being born hornless. As such children like Raine were incredibly unique in the daemon race.
Unfortunately, this was one of those instance where being one of a kind was a curse rather than blessing.
Daemon children without horns were considered defective, and would, more often than not, ostracized, or look down upon. After all, unlike normal children born with the natural ability to use magic; hornless children like Raine usually could not!
Well, that was normally the case but Raine, for some reason could actually use magic more efficiently than other normal daemon children.
Of course, the reason for this was because Raine experienced awakening when he was just five!
Yes, "awakening", was the name Raine used for his ability to grow horns made out of mysterious energy!
Raine is unsure why he could use this ability but he got a suspicion that it has something to do with the fact that he was a reincarnator.
Did the person(?) who reincarnated him into this world responsible for his awakening? Raine did not know but he did know that he was unique even among the hornless daemon children since he could actually use magic without a horn.
"I really wanted to know the answers to my questions one of this day. But for now, I should take care of this guy!" Raine thought as he clenched his fists hard.
Receiving no answer from Raine, the masked man knew that he won't be able to squeeze out any answer from the boy no matter how many times he asked. Even though he was really curious, the masked man knew that he should subdue or kill the boy before someone catches up to them.
But unlike earlier, the masked man was no longer as confident that he could kill overpower the boy like he did earlier. With the appearance of those strange glowing horns, Raine's power increased by multitude of times!
The only reason he survived that attack earlier was because of a protective talisman that would automatically protect his body if he encountered an attack that would kill him!
The moment his body received that kick, the talisman automatically shattered and released an unseen barrier that negates the effect of Raine's kick.
Unfortunately, such rare life-saving talisman was incredibly rare and despite his status inside the organization, he only had one such talisman...
Hmph!
With a grunt, the masked man sprinted towards Raine and slashed only to cut air as the boy's no longer at his previous location.
"He’s really fast!"
Even though he already expected Raine to dodge his attack, the masked man was still surprise at Raine's incredible speed.
Sensing danger at his right side, the masked man used his sword the block the incoming attack. But despite blocking the attack, the masked man was still forced to take several steps to neutralize the force of the attack!
"Damn it!"
The masked man cursed under his breath as he parries Raine's flurry of kicks and punches.
"I can't win like this!"
Forced into a cornet, the masked man gritted his teeth and quickly swallowed a pill.
Raine was startled after seeing the masked man swallow a pill. He did not know what the effect of the pill was but he instinctively felt danger.
Without hesitation, Raine increased the ferocity of his attacks in an attempt to overpower him but was forced to dodge to the right after sensing something very dangerous!
Slash!!! Bang!!!
Something slashed and destroyed the ground where Raine was a moment ago. If Raine did choose to continue his attacks instead of dodging to the side, he would have been cut in half!
"What just happened?!
Seeing the damage done to the ground, Raine could not help but shiver in fright. If he was a beat slower when dodging, he would have died!
Raine leaped back several times to distance himself from his opponent and stared at the masked man grimly.
Observing the masked man, he could see no visible change in his appearance.
"No wait! Something did change."
Due to soft light given by the moon, Raine did not notice any visible change from his opponent's appearance. But after observing carefully, he noticed black veins on his opponent's neck!
"You, did you just use a drug?"
Seeing those black veins Raine could not help but recall the unknown pill that the masked man swallowed earlier. Putting the two together, Raine came to the conclusion that the masked man doped himself to increase his power!
"Indeed, and it was you who forced me! Who would think that I would encounter a monster like you here? First it was that annoying female dark elf, and now you! I don't know why but nothing seemed to be going my way in this mission!" The masked man grumbled.
"A female dark elf? Mission?"
Hearing the masked man's words, Raine could help but frown. He could not help but think that the situation he was in was more complicated than he originally thought.
At first he thought that they were just dealing with a corrupt aristocrat but to think that something much bigger and more sinister was a foot!
"Just what did I get myself into?"
Raine could not help but lament his luck. He just wanted to be an ordinary student and enjoy an ordinary school life. But to think that his first school field activity would turn into abduction and now this!
Incensed, at the absurdity of it all, Raine's bottled-up frustration exploded and he attacked the masked man.
"Hah, such foolishness!" The masked man mocked as he welcomed Raine's attacks.
The two; a man and a boy, attacked each other with ferocity. Both of them have already revealed all of their cards and were no longer holding back.
Countless small cuts and bruises appeared on the combatant' bodies as they relentlessly attacked one another.
Due to the nature of their ultimate trump cards, the two combatants knew that they could not prolong the fight. Even though their powers increased after using their respective trump cards, the increase is only temporary.
In other words, the first person to lose their power-ups would definitely lose!
The ferocious attacks rained on each other relentlessly but a disparity in power soon became apparent.
Raine's attacks are hitting more and the masked man was being slowly pushed back.
"How could have this happened!"
The masked man could not believe that he was the weaker of the two. He thought that after using the pill given by the organization, he would be able to dominate the brat. But from what was happening, he could not be more wrong!
From the looks of things, the effect of the pill was running out.
"This is impossible! How could I lose to a brat like you!
Raine was also surprised at the sudden change of in the situation. He thought that he would be put in a tight spot after the masked man's doping. But not only is he matching his opponent, his attacks are also getting stronger!
"Did my sudden surge of anger have something to do with it?"
From to the looks of it, his emotion have something to do with his power surging. Raine really curious at this unexpected discovery but he knew that now's not the right time for it.
Taking advantage of the situation, Raine increased the ferocity of his attacks much to the masked man's chagrin.
But as the fight was about to reach its conclusion, a figure suddenly appeared!
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