Chapter 403: Special Chapter: Ren meets Alex

Ren woke up in a similar place as the one in his soul realm. He looked around and saw no one was there, as he was about to call out to the other incarnations, he suddenly noticed something weird, he could not use mana nor Spirit Aura, in fact, he could not use any form of spiritual energy in this place.

'What is this place? I'm pretty sure this isn't my soul realm... Was I kidnapped by someone and thrown in another dimension deprived of any spiritual energy? The only being I know that could do that to me, without alerting the other incarnations is the ORIGIN. Damn, he could no longer hold it in and trapped me in here. Still, it's a good thing that he at least left me with a weapon.'

In Ren's right hand was his broadsword Snertal. Ren casually swung Snertal around and sighed. The speed of his sword swings was too slow, but with two hands it was barely passable. Ren licked his lips as he showed a vicious smile.

'This couldn't be the work of the ORIGIN. Someone on his level wouldn't need to restrict me like this. Then who could it possibly be, this is getting interesting.' Ren started walking around the empty space while placing Snertal on his shoulders.

...

After walking for a while, Ren finally spotted another human being. 'Was he the one who brought me here? No, upon closer inspection he looks just as lost as I am.' While Ren was thinking, the other person noticed him and approached.

When the person got closer, Ren noticed that the way he walked and moved showed no openings whatsoever. The person had black hair and eyes, he had a stoic look similar to Lara's, and he had a sword at his waist, and two unknown objects at his thighs. As he approached Ren, he was looking at him with an appraising eye, after a second the stoic looking man spoke.

"You, you're Ren from the anime Demon Lord's Reincarnation."

"Huh? You know of me, and what's this anime thing you're talking about?"

"Are you the one who brought me here?"

"You're a rude one aren't you? You know who I am but you never told me who you are, and I asked you a question but instead of answering, you answered with another question. So how about introducing yourself first, before we continue?"

"I'm Alexander Samarita. Now that we are acquainted, can you tell me, are you the one who summoned me here?"

"Unfortunately I wasn't the one who did that. As you can see I'm just as lost as you are." When Alex heard Ren's answer he started to process all the current information he had, after a brief thought he spoke.

"If I remember correctly, you were one of the incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul. You should have the ability to get us out of here."

"Hoh, you even know about that. Well, sorry to say but I can't do anything in this place. There's no Spiritual Energy in here and I cannot contact the other incarnations."

"Then how do we-" Alex couldn't finish what he was going to say as Ren interrupted him.

"Since there's only the two of us in this empty space, we should battle. Who knows maybe, that's what we need to do, and the winner will be able to get out of this place." Ren pointed Snertal at Alex. Seeing this action made Alex sigh.

'I forgot this character has the same personality type as Sir Lyner. When he gets like this he would no longer listen to reason. The only way to make him listen is if I beat him up. If he had the same powers he had in the anime, then I would've stood no chance, but he said that he could not use Spiritual Energy in this place, meaning he's restricted to physical skills. Knowing that my chances of victory have increased exponentially.' Alex drew his two handguns and pointed them at Ren.

"HAHAHA, I see that you want to fight as well!" Ren showed his vicious smile as he readied his stance.

"Not really, but your type won't listen if I don't rough you up a bit," Alex answered with no fluctuation in his expression, he only stared at Ren's stance finding where its weaknesses lay.

"Now you're talking my language!" Ren dashed forward trying to get close, but Alex jumped backward while firing his handguns. Ren didn't know what kind of weapon that was but based on how Ren backed away, it was easy to deduce that it was a long-range weapon.

With his dynamic vision Ren could see the bullets flying towards him, Ren used Snertal's huge frame to block. As he was blocking Alex's rapid-fire, Ren was dashing forward trying to get close.

Alex tried firing at Ren's hands, yet despite being limited to his physical abilities, Ren could react to that move and shift his sword at the proper angle. It was obvious now that the surprise tactic of using a gun against an opponent that doesn't know what it was has failed. Alex then shifted gears and started running towards Ren at full speed.

Ren was rather surprised by Alex's action and was excited to see what he would do next. As Alex got closer, Ren was about to swing his sword upward, but then Alex kicked the broadsword and used it as a board to jump upwards. Once in the air, Alex rained down bullets on Ren.

Since they were quite close, and Ren's stance was disrupted by Alex, Ren couldn't use Snertal to block. So without any hesitation, Ren let go of Snertal and evaded the rain of bullets, by jumping backward. The moment Ren landed, he jumped upward to intercept Alex mid-air.

Alex had no time to reload his handguns, as he saw the approaching Ren. As Ren was flying towards Alex, he was about to deliver a punch. Seeing Ren fast approaching, Alex was unable to evade or use his guns, so he quickly tried to block the punch. Yet the moment Ren's punch hit Alex's forearms he was blasted away.

Alex quickly used RELEASE and tried to stop himself from crashing to the ground.Once he stabilized his balance, Alex saw that Ren was once again in front of him. Alex threw his handguns at Ren to try to block his view. Ren swiped away the handguns and then saw a sword approaching his shoulder.

Ren caught the blade and stopped it from reaching his shoulder. Yet the power behind the strike had surprised Ren.

"Oh I see, you used some sort of technique that allows you to transcend your physical limitations. I too have such a technique."

Alex was now the one surprised as he saw Ren's muscles were starting to bulge a bit, and his veins looked like they were about to pop out.

'How is he able to use RELEASE as well? I don't remember seeing this in the anime?' Seeing Alex show a momentary shock expression, made Ren's vicious smile grow even wider.

"Surprised!" Ren pushed Alex's blade to the side and broke it. Alex quickly released his grip on the sword and kicked at Ren's abdomen. Ren couldn't avoid the attack so he tightened the muscles on his abdomen. Despite doing that, Ren's body was still pushed a few feet away.

Alex tried to continue his attack, but Ren quickly went on the attack as well. The two then began attacking and evading, as they both no longer bothered with defense. Despite being an experienced merc that was the youngest to be given the title of S rank merc, it was obvious that Alex was being overwhelmed by Ren's technique.

This was the difference in their experience, Alex might've been on the battlefield since he was young, but compared to Ren who had been to numerous battles Alex's battle experience was like that of an infant. Still, this wasn't the first time Alex has dealt with someone who was vastly superior to him. The face of his psycho grandfather flashed in his mind.

...

Alex then stopped attacking and went on the defensive. He stood his ground as he was being pounded by Ren. He waited and waited for his opportunity to strike, yet no matter how long he waited Ren's assault didn't let up. After a while, Alex was on his knees, and he looked like he could no longer move his hands.

"That was a pretty nice battle, thank you."

"Thanking the enemy for having a battle... Even that part of you is so similar to my teacher Sir Lyner."

"Oh, I would've liked to meet him."

"Unfortunately he's been long gone."

"I see... Then I hope you two meet in your next lives." Ren raised his right hand and was about to deliver the finishing blow. As a show of respect, Ren used all of his power on this one strike. The moment his right fist penetrated Alex's chest, he was surprised to see that Alex was able to counter. Ren couldn't help but chuckle as he coughed out blood.

"Heh, I was sure that you could no longer move those arms of yours. That was a brilliant counter-attack." Ren looked at his chest that was penetrated by Alex's counter punch.

"I was taught never to give up, even in the last minute."

"I see, truly wonderful." The two then lost consciousness. After that their bodies faded away from the empty space, the two woke up in their respective worlds with no memory of the encounter.