Chapter 380: Challenge

Lara waited for Valdel to reply but he only glared at her as if she was his worst enemy. Lara was surprised to see Valdel looked at her like that. Not only was he glaring at her but there was this heavy bloodlust that she felt emanating from Valdel. Lara couldn't help but be shocked, this was the same guy who used to abhor the thought of killing anyone.

Valdel looked at Lara with an angry glare on his face. He then proceeded to point his two-handed sword at Lara.

"Ren this, Ren that, Ren, Ren REN REN! Everything is all about Ren with you! Your sister died, a lot of those we know from the village have ceased to exist, but all you can say is REN! You have nothing else but Ren in your brain! I'm not even sure if you have ever seen me as your friend. Am I truly your friend, do you even see me?! All you see from me is a way to talk more about Ren! I don't want to talk to a barking dog that can only say REN!"

Lara was at a loss for words, as she looked at Valdel. At first, she was stunned, but then a wave of intense anger was starting to grow within her.

"How dare you! What did you say about my sister?! You're telling me that I was unaffected by her death?!" Lara was now also emitting heavy bloodlust.

"Aren't I right, in your eyes, there's no one but Ren? Heck, I'm pretty sure right now you're thinking of ways of how to eliminate the other wh*res that surrounds Ren. You have never treated me as a friend. Your sister Lisa is gone, but that doesn't' seem to faze you. I bet that in your head it was a good thing that she was gone, so you can focus more on your precious Ren!"

Lara no longer said anything as all the emotions disappeared from her face, and she returned to her stoic look. Lara then took a fighting stance and the intensity of her bloodlust was fully exhibited.

"As I expected, since you can't win an argument you now show me your true colors. You have always wanted to eliminate me since I always got between you and Ren. I already knew that you were never my friend! Fine, if you want to kill me, then come! I already beaten you once, beating you again won't be a problem!"

Valdel provoked Lara even more and was about ready to receive her attack. Unlike yesterday these two were truly thinking of killing each other. As they were about ready to attack each other Ren stood in between them.

"Ren I-" Ren raised his hand and signaled Lara to step aside. Seeing that Lara reluctantly stood to the side. Valdel showed a mocking smile as he spoke to Ren.

"So here he comes, the all-powerful Ren. Once again you're telling us what to do like a puppet master looking down on all of us."

"Hmph, I have always told you that you can do whatever you want Val. You were the one who chose to follow what I say. I have never once ordered you to do anything without your consent."

"A choice, there was a choice? Hahaha, that's pretty funny Ren. How naive do you think I am? There was never a choice, we never had a choice from the beginning! You have always guided our actions with the way you talk, and the things that you do behind the scenes. You have always, always, look down on us! We aren't your friends, we're your pawns! Your slaves! You trained us simply to be used later!"

"Heh, so that's what you truly believe, that's what you think of me?... I guess if that's what you were thinking from the very beginning then it wasn't me that didn't treat you as a friend, it was you that has never seen me as a friend."

"There you go again twisting my words to make you sound righteous! I hate it, I hate you!"

"I haven't done anything like that. Well, it's pretty clear that there's something wrong going in your head. The influence of Nyarlom's malice might be affecting you. So how about you calm down Val and start thinking about what you just said. Also if possible how about you stop pointing that sword at me."

"There's nothing wrong with me, Ren. In fact, for the first time in my whole everything seems so much clearer. My dream, and my ideals, the reason for me being unable to achieve them is because of you. It's because you always stood in my way. You make it seem like you're helping me but in truth, you have always been hindering me! It's obvious now that you're doing all this because you're afraid of me."

Valdel's thoughts and emotions were a total mess as he was saying everything he was currently feeling. There was little to no logic in what Valdel was saying, and he couldn't understand most of what he said, all Valdel knew was that at this moment Ren was the root of all of his misfortune.

"Hahaha! That's pretty funny Val, me afraid of you? Are you sure it isn't the other way around?"

"Hmph, keep on denying it, Ren. All the time you were looking down on me, all the time acting like you're so much better me, bringing me down all the time. You did all that because you were threatened by my abilities."

"This is getting us nowhere, so what do you want to do Val? Are you going to attack me, or do you want to continue talking? It's not like I hate listening to a lunatic, but this is getting boring. You keep on saying the same thing over and over again. You hate me, it's all my fault, you know what I hear, a weakling blaming his weakness on someone else."

Valdel gnashed his teeth when he heard what Ren said. The hatred he was feeling towards Ren grew to an unbelievable level.

"I challenge you to a duel Ren!"

"If that's all you wanted, you should've said that in the beginning, instead, you kept on pouting and barking like the weakling you are."

"Sure, say whatever you want, but in this duel, you and I will fight solely on technique alone, there will be no use of mana or any outside energy. We will be using our pure physical abilities. Obviously, the omnipotent, omniscient Ren wouldn't back out from this kind of challenge, right?"

"You can add even more rules if you want. You can say that I'm not allowed to use my right hand in this duel, that kind of handicap should be fair right? Heck if you want I will not even move from my spot."

"I don't need that kind of handicap! Bring out your sword and let's begin!"

Ren shrugged his shoulders as he pulled out a sword from his shadow. The sword he pulled out was a curved, slender, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. It was in a sheath, compared to Valdel's Zweihander this sword looked like a twig.

When Valdel saw the sword Ren wielded he grew even more furious. He already saw the weapon Ren used as he defeated that odd-looking monster from before. The weapon he used was a powerful looking broadsword that emitted a dominating presence.

"Must you keep on looking down on me, Ren! Use that broadsword you have the one you used to defeat that monster and fight me! Or perhaps you're doing all this just so that when you lose you can blame the weapon."

"Hearing you talk Val, I'm pretty sure now that you're not the Valdel that I know. I would never blame my weapon for losing. Also, me losing to you, in your condition, if I did it would be the greatest shame of my life. To lose to embarrassment such as you, a person whose beliefs can be swayed by some little outside influence, I would rather die."

"Die then!" Valdel could no longer hold it in as he charged forward. Ren then took a stance that neither Lara nor Valdel have seen him use.

Though he was being controlled at the time, and he only saw a bit of it, but Ren and his body remember a tiny bit of its movements. Ren held the sheath of his sword by the waist and didn't unsheathe. Seeing him not draw his sword despite the fact that the fight had started simply infuriated the current Valdel even more.

When Valdel got close enough, and as he was about to swing his sword downward he felt danger. Valdel quickly placed his sword to his right and all of sudden he felt a strong impact making him slide a few feet to the left. Valdel looked at Ren who still had his sword sheathed and was surprised. It was quick but for a brief moment, Valdel saw Ren returning the sword back to its scabbard. That would mean that Valdel wasn't able to see the moment Ren drew the sword. This was a new technique, something he hasn't seen Ren use before.

Ren had used one of his past incarnation's sword technique. 'Moon Edge Style, Cresent Moon.' After successfully pulling off the Cresent Moon, Ren looked a bit disappointed.

'Based on some of the bits I saw of Edge's memory, that move was meant as a surprise attack that no one could see. The first move should be the last move, yet I failed. Either I suck at using this technique or Val is better than I expected.' Ren shrugged his shoulders as he looked at the stunned Valdel.

"So are we going to keep on going, or are you going to surrender now?"