152 Show of strength

"Hey bro, why don't I go first in a fight and show you what I'm capable of?" Vex asked Rei.

"You don't really need to, but what brought this up?" Rei gave Vex a side glance.

"Well, think of it as an interview. Mc needs a good side kick rather than one being a baggage all the time no? Imagine how annoying it would be when you're fighting a massive battle and they pull out your old pal me. Wouldn't that be annoying?" Vex grinned.

"No I'll kill him while he has his guard lowered by having you." Rei replied coldly but was smiling inside.

"Bro! Don't do this to me!" Vex cried out.

"Fine, I'll also punch through your body so that you don't need to live with the trauma." Rei continued.

"Oh come on! Of course I won't live with it cos I'll be fucking dead!" Vex replied.

"I'm only joking, I should be able to prevent anything like that to happen. Of course if it did then don't worry I'll keep you safe..." Rei said.

"Bro..." Vex muttered looking at Rei with gratitude.

"Your grave that is. I'll keep your grave safe." Rei grinned.

"FUCK!" Vex cursed.

Reaching the area where the contestants apply, Rei watched as Vex signed up for a fight against another rank 6.

"I thought you weren't adept in utilising your rank 6 powers, yet you're facing another rank 6?" Rei asked slightly surprised.

"Well you're not wrong in that fact that I'm not adept in using my powers. But My combat skills allow me to fight people on equal standing even though I can't use my powers fully." Vex replied as he and Rei walked towards the stage.

His opponent had just won his match as he waited for Vex.

The man of the stage had a long traditional cultivator hair style which reached his waist. His features were sharp as his aura seemed to radiate like the cold edge of a blade.

"He's a sword cultivator huh?" Vex muttered feeling the aura.

Rei stood silent as he looked at Vex to see what he was going to do against his opponent.

Stepping on stage, Vex smiled as he opened his palm.

"Bro watch carefully ok?! This is my application to be your kick ass sidekick!" Vex shouted out as his hand clutched down in empty space.

"COME!" Vex shouted out as he swung his clenched fist backwards causing a three-section staff to appear in his hands. The staff was pitch black in colour as it had gold dragon carving along each shaft of the three-section staff. On the two tips were spear heads as Vex swung the staff around his with swiftness.

The sword cultivator unsheathed his pristine white sword as he held the sword in a reverse grip.

"MATCH START!" The announcer shouted out as they charged at each other.

Vex kept a smile of his face as he controlled the three-section staff like his own body. As he swung the three-section staff, the end sections would collide with the sword blade.

Flowing through his movements, Vex was able to defend while also attack with the two end shafts of the staff.

"Hou~ Pretty interesting weapon." Rei muttered seeing the staff in action.

Vex's speed started to increase as he controlled the momentum to his advantage ensuring the staff gained speed as he swung the connected sections around. His movement didn't stay idle either as he was using a strange set of foot work that kept his base low and solid while also letting him close in on his enemy.

"Tch!" The sword cultivator clicked his tongue as he blocked the attacks.

His eyes narrowed as he sent out sword energy that started to duplicate and eventually envelop Vex's entire body.

"AH TA!!!!" Vex shouted out comically as the sections of the staff seemed to disappear as he increased his already fast speed even further.

*PING! PING! PING! PING!

The sword energy shattered constantly around him as Vex kept his smile.

"How is it bro! Pretty good right!" Vex shouted out to Rei leisurely.

"Not bad, but not great either." Rei replied simply. It focused on too much defence as the offence was lacking a lot. It meant that he couldn't take the initiative of a fight most of the time.

"Now I know what you think bro, but watch this. I'll finish it in an instant so don't blink!" Vex shouted out with slight laughter.

"Arrogant!" The sword cultivator shouted back in anger as it seemed as if Vex was looking down on him.

While his right hand send out waves after waves of sword energy to ensnare Vex, the cultivator's left hand summoned a lance made of fire. The lance started to gather energy rapidly as it started to float.

"Hey cultivator bro! Don't you know you shouldn't charge up attacks that has a long charge up time mid fight!" Vex shouted out as he suddenly snapped the three segments together forming a singular dual ended spear.

*BANG!

Smashing the bottom of the spear behind him, Vex created a huge crater as it had shattered all of the sword energy around him giving him room to breathe while also propelling him upwards.

"You lose!" Vex shouted. His staff seemed to disappear as his body flashed forward. It wasn't that it disappeared with speed but rather it seemed to slip pass everyone's recognition.

When spectators snapped out of it, Vex had the bladed end of the staff on the cultivator's throat.

"W-WINNER!" The announcer called out a little late as Vex grinned as hopped lightly towards Rei while putting away his staff.

"Hey bro what do you think? Pretty good no?" Vex asked.

"Misdirection right?" Rei replied as Vex only laughed.

"You saw through it in one go?" He replied.

Rei nodded.

"It's not too hard since I'm used to exerting my other senses to the max. But if anything, I'm surprised you could use what was a basketball 'ability' in a spear." Rei said expressing his surprise.

"Well you see, I was quite the fan of Kuroko no Basket. I think it was pretty amazing how Kuroko could fool most people with his lack of presence. Naturally people got used to it overtime but if it happened suddenly mid fight it would be pretty devastating." Vex explained with a smile.

"Indeed, which is why you have to aim for a one hit kill and not less." Rei nodded since it made sense.

"So do you think I'm good as a side kick?" Vex asked placing his arm of Rei's shoulder.

Gently flicking the arm off, Rei only shrugged.

"I don't hunt in pairs or above unless it's my wife." Rei replied.

"Che, so bro what's your ability? Since we get a starter pack with the system, you should have gotten a pretty good first ability." Vex said as he and Rei leaned on the wall.

"My first ability huh? It was fire demon slayer magic." Rei said reminiscing.

"Though it had long evolved into something else entirely." Rei continued.

It was true, most of his fundamental abilities had evolved and combined into something completely different while technically still being same as the base forms. From fire demon slayer, it combined several times to become gluttony.

'Wait fire demon.... LUCIFER!' Rei shouted out mentally as he had totally forgot about Lucifer ever since he went to douluo dalu.

'Ah? What is it? I was sleeping. How long has it been?' A nostalgic voice rang out in Rei's mind.

'It's been around a few million years maybe.' Rei replied.

'FUCK! A Million years! Mother fucker! Why didn't you wake me up!' Lucifer's annoyed voice rang out suddenly causing Rei to flinch slightly.

"Eh bro why did you flinch? You hurt?" Vex asked with concern.

"Nothing, just remembered something important." Rei replied.

'I'm pretty sure that my existence is more than important. BUT! I was absent for a million years, do you know how much fun I could have had!' Lucifer complained.

'I know you probably seen everything that has happened. I'll let you out when I go to another realm.'

'Don't you fucking dare forget! Trust me, if you do I'll make sure to fuck you up inside so hard that you can't move.' Lucifer retorted.

Rei felt a vein pop on his forehead hearing how Lucifer had quoted that.

'I don't know about your preferences but I, yours truly has a wife and kid.' Rei replied as it took a moment for Lucifer to understand.

'£^%"&%£!!!! This ancestor here is the fucking Origin Demon! Do you think I hadn't had my share of 3000 beauties hah!?' Lucifer continued to rant as Rei blocked out all the noise coming from Lucifer.

"Bro! BRO!"

"Hm? What is it?" Rei asked hearing Vex shout for him.

"Nah just worried, you lookin' a little pissed." Vex replied as he gestured at Rei with his left hand.

"Hm, for a moment I thought the devil Lucifer was gay." Rei replied as Vex made a 'what the fuck' face.

"I don't know what made you think that, nor do I want to know. But bro why don't you fight in the arena as well. The more fights we win, the higher our rank, the longer we get in the cultivation tower." Vex decided to forget the image of a gay Lucifer boning another dude that had surface in his mind.

Should Lucifer see what Vex had thought, he would have done everything he could to break Vex's leg.

Rei registered for a randomised match while Vex was musing to himself.

Walking on the stage, Rei could see that his opponent had a very muscular frame. Clad in white heavy armour from head to toe.his opponent wielded a heavy shield and a long sword. On his armour, there were highlight of metallic red forming a cross on his chest. On his shield, the red highlights also formed a cross much like the hilt of his sword.

Red looked at his opponent up and down before opening his mouth.

"Which religion are you crusading against?"

Rei could almost feel the animosity radiate of the knight cultivator after that quote.

"You, you who has three gods watching you. Prepare to fight, should I win here it would prove my worth in front of the three gods." He said as he pointed his sword at Rei.

"Whatever, but let me ask you this. What weapon do you want me to use? Long swords? Dual wield? Staff? Spear? Glaive? Halberd? Any weapon or do you want me to use my bare fists?" Rei asked while gesturing at his opponent with one hand.

"Use everything you have, weapons, magic, abilities. Anything. Otherwise it wouldn't be meaningful to defeat you." He said whilst getting into a stance.

"Fine since that is what you want, your request shall be granted." Rei took a deep breath as his aura started to emit outwards.

"MATCH START!" The announcer shouted out as he saw that everyone was ready.

Hearing the announcer, Rei slammed his hands downwards as he created a giant pillar of Earth instantly giving him the high ground.

Stomping his foot down, his created waves of Earthen spikes shooting towards the knight cultivator.

While that was happening, Rei clenched his fist as neon blue circuits surface on his arms as a bow appeared in his hands.

"With my bow and arrows, I respectfully ask for the divine protection of the sun god Apollo and the moon goddess Artemis. I offer thee this calamity - Phoebus Catastrophe." Rei chanted in one go as his aimed the neon blue arrow that had formed upwards.

"Holy fuck?! Bro is using noble phantasms?!!!" Vex shouted out as he instantly recognised Phoebus Catastrophe.

Rei watched as the arrow shot upwards broke into hundreds to thousands of shards. After he got stronger, he was able to increase the effectiveness of some noble phantasms such as Phoebus Catastrophe.

Dismissing the bow, Rei controlled the shards as they were sent around the knight cultivator who was fending off the Earth spikes.

Clutching his hand, the arrows detonated creating over a thousand portals which showed a gateway to hell.

Slowly, blades started to emerge from the portals causing Vex to widen his eyes.

"T-t-that's Gae Bolg! Rule Breaker! Excalibur! Caladbolg 2! The flag of Jeanne d'arc! FUCK! BRO ISN'T THAT CHEATING!!!! YOU GOT UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS!!!!" Vex cried out as he realised what the ability was.

Rei ignored his cries as he look towards the knight cultivator with Kyoki and Tengoku in his hands.

"Are you satisfied?" Rei asked as he could almost hear the cultivator grit his teeth.

"COME!" He shouted which caused Rei to frown as he saw how his body glowed with gold and his shield seemed to enlarge creating a barrier around him.

His frown only grew as he lost control over his noble phantasms. Seeing each one charging towards the cultivator without his command Rei didn't know what the knight cultivator was planning.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!

Countless noble phantasms crashed against the barrier causing it to fluctuate while some were able to directly go pass and damage him.

*PING!!!

Not too long after, the barrier broke as countless wounds appeared on his body.

Rei was still frowning but widened his eyes when he saw the knight's long sword grow in energy emission every time he was hit.

"Retract!" Rei called out as he threw up Kyoki and clutched his hand. Veins was visible on Rei's arm as he was forcing the control back under his grasps. When he did, he sent the weapons back.

"Kuhuhuhu you realised a bit too late. You're not the only one who can skip ranks!" The knight cultivator shouted out as the glow on his long sword intensified almost blinding anyone looking at him.

"Sever all who stands before me! Hexus!" The knight cultivator shouted as a giant blade of light shot out before anyone realised.

Rei dismissed both Kyoki and Tengoku as a new glow of light appeared in his hands. A smirk appeared on his face for a split second before light overwhelmed the world.

*BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

"haha...HaHa....HAHAHAHA! I won!" The knight cultivator laughed out in joy seeing his hit land on Rei.

"Not quite." Rei's voice broke out destroying his initial joy.

But when he looked back at Rei his eyes widened.

"I won't lie, the attack power was quite unexpected. A surprise to be sure but a welcome one since the power is now mine." Rei spoke as his figure came into view.

His was lacking his left arm as blood mist was slowly gathering towards it. There were trails of blood on the corners of his mouth as he grinned. But what was most surprising was the sword in his right hand. The familiar glow gave the knight cultivator despair.

"Hexus, the sword of legend originating from your world. Legend has it that the knight who wielded this was able to sever the continent due to the damage he took in the war with the world. While this is just a replica, it is able to store all the damage took in the last 30 seconds before amplifying the damage by two and send it as a single attack." Rei spoke the sword's story as the knight broke out in cold sweat.

"H-how do you know!" He shouted.

"I'm able to read the history of any weapon I came into contact with." Rei smiled.

"But since it's just a replica, it's not working towards its full capacity. And since I was working with fakes quite a while ago I know how to make this real." Rei continued as Vex had a sudden thought.

'No way, does bro mean that he was working with the fakes in unlimited blade works and now the noble phantasms are real ones?! Then that means.....'

"Cleans and sever this hideous world. Hexus Arcaeus." Rei spoke the real name of the sword.

"No way...." The knight spoke out weakly as he saw the sword become the real sword of legend. Light swept over him as he flinched and closed his eyes.

But the pain never came as he hesitantly opened his eyes.

"Surprised? Hexus Arcaeus the sword that fights evil. The sword works best with fighting evil entities, it fights and defeats all who the wielder deems an enemy. By inserting my own mana, I am also able to increase the damage dealt just a little. Since I obtained the true sword from you I'll do you a favour." Rei said with a smile as he reached out and beckoned the sword to come to him. The sword in the knight's hands flew over and floated in front of Rei.

Rei bit his finger before tracing the flat side of the blade. It started to glow with a holy light before the silver parts of the sword were replaced with a white gold.

Waving his hand, Rei sent the sword back to the knight.

"Ha...It's my loss. Thank you for granting me the real sword." The knight said with a weary smile. Rei had completely overwhelmed him.

"Winner! REI TODOROKI!" The announcer called out as Rei walked towards Vex.

"Br- no SENSEI! Please teach me the ways!!!" Vex cried out as he gave Rei a dogeza.

*CRACK!

The floor cracked with the power behind Vex as he slammed his head on the floor.

"What the fuck!?"

"Sensei please teach me the ways to Unlimited Blade Works!" Vex asked again.

"You have the system so you should you I can't right?"

"Ha....I wanted to try anyways. Oh well." Vex said as he got up with a shrug.

'Are you fine? Jesus look at the amount of blood.' Rei thought as he saw blood flow out continuously from Vex's head due to his dogeza.

"Right then, lets fight a few more times so that we can rake up more time in the tower." Vex smiled as he registered for another fight.

Rei smiled slightly as he followed Vex.