Life in Vain: Jobles 56 – Child – Unwinnable Fight

56 – Child – Unwinnable Fight

White crashed against Orsted as Sylphy's icy attack reached him.

At the sa ti, a crimson blur shot through the air and slashed towards Orsted's neck. My sword, flying out at close to light speed just like the attack Ghyslaine used on .

It connected. But instead of doing any damage, sparks flew out. The edge of my sword bit into Orsted's neck, but nothing happened. As if he was made of steel, all my sword did was bounce off.

And the reason for that was clear.

Faint silver and gold threads, barely visible beneath the already bright glow of Orsted's mana.

I didn't know how it worked, but he was reinforcing his body with mana. And not in the way Ghyslaine and my dad did when they fight.

Those two flooded their muscles with mana to move faster and hit harder.

But Orsted...

I could see it. Myriads of tiny mana threads, just like silk or spiderweb. Those wove around every strand of muscle in Orsted's body and into his bones in an intricate sh. And while I couldn't see all the details, I was sure that there were more than a few tapping into his nerves as well to increase his reaction speed beyond the ordinary physical limitations.

My sword flew through the air and back into my hand.

Orsted didn't move, only watching

with his golden eyes.

But that made sense. He didn't need to move if he had that level of insane defense.

...Though it was an insane level of defense that could only be done because he had so much mana. If his mana wasn't so dense, it wouldn't even be a tenth as effective as it was now.

After all, woven string wasn't as strong as woven steel.

But while impressive, it was a problem.

I grit my teeth and continued running forward, sword in my left hand. As I did, I wracked my head on what to do.

My sword skills were far from enough to engage in close combat. But at the sa ti, he was definitely too fast for

to take the ti to cast spells. And while I was... about 70% sure he couldn't see mana, he definitely could sense it in so way.

So I had to distract him. Engage him enough to where I could use that ti to set up powerful spells to pierce through that protection.

Except... Did I even have anything like that?

Unlike us re mortals, Orsted didn't seem to have a squishy human body.

And as if to prove my point, Orsted raised his right hand in the midst of Sylphy's blizzard and ford a fist. After that, he swung it down. The mont he did, the snow collapsed, falling down to the ground in a heap around him.

It wasn't like before with . No, this ti was pure physical strength. A shockwave that shoved everything down because of his attack, not a dispersal of the mana behind it.

And that was what I had to match.

Not beat, match.

Because there was no way I could beat him right now. In a few years, maybe. If I had ti to set up a trap and lay down formations, yes. But a straight fight-

A white blur. Not from Sylphy.

The sound of shattering glass. At the sa ti my body instinctively moved to the side and swung my sword.

Sparks flew as my crimson blade bit into Orsted's outstretched hand- No. It didn't bite into the hand. Rather than my sword's edge piercing Orsted's skin, his hand was eating away at my sword's edge.

My eyes widened and I quickly flooded my sword with mana to counteract it before blowing myself away with a gust of wind.

Orsted straightened, glancing at the sword in my hand before looking up to . He didn't say a word, but the faint glimr in his eyes showed he was... mildly impressed.

But that was it.

He gave

a break, as if waiting for my next move.

But we both knew it. If he pursued, it would have been over.

I saw a few more magic barriers form around

to replace the few that Orsted shattered. And at the sa ti, I saw icicles fire towards him from behind. Sylphy, trying to get in so sneak attacks.

Orsted didn't move. Again, he didn't need to. The icicles shot towards him like bullets, but they just exploded into glistening dust, not even scratching his coat.

He just waited for my next move. Ignoring Sylphy and Roxy completely, he looked just at .

I took a deep breath and then focused. My sword flew out in front of

again, held as if an invisible warrior was fighting alongside .

...It wasn't enough. Against ordinary humans, probably. An attack that fast with my sword as reinforced as it was could cut through the average person. Maybe sufficient to fight off against a small platoon.

But it was a similar issue with Master Roxy. While good against numbers, it wasn't enough raw might to counteract soone like Orsted.

So I needed to think outside the box. Just like when fighting against Ghyslaine.

No. I had to be smarter than when fighting with Ghyslaine.

Because while Orsted was humoring

right now, tides could turn in a single mont. He was soone who was entertaining a whimsy right now. But he was also soone who could change that whim at any ti and go back to just eliminating

because I knew about Being W... or Hitogami. Whatever that guy was really called.

So think.

How do you beat an invincible opponent like this with your limited resources?

In terms of mana density, we were about equal. Since I was still recovering, he had the edge, but even at full, it would be a stalemate.

I was outclassed in terms of physique and physical range because I was still just a child. And in terms of technique... that wasn't even a question.

Orsted could freaking use his hand as an actual sword. He was a guy who took Bruce Lee's philosophy about training every part of his body literally.

Like seriously. I could even see faint traces of mana threads in Orsted's hair, aning that even *those* could be lethal weapons if he decided to use them. Like, he could probably rip one off and throw it as a projectile.

And from his casual stance... and the fact that he didn't have a weapon on him, I really didn't want to test that hypothesis.

The only advantages I had on him were that he wasn't going full force against .

Yet.

And that I had a repository of knowledge about various techniques and physical phenona in my head as well as theories and systems that weren't conceivable in this world due to a divergence in technological advancents.

...Only, considering how strong that guy was, the number of things I could use...

"Well," I muttered. "Let's start with what I can see."

I didn't have ti to waste. If I wanted more, I had to buy more with effort. So then, to impress him enough to give

more ti to think...

I focused inward.

My mana wouldn't cling to my body. I could hold it in place, but it was basically like water spilling through cloth.

But seeing Orsted gave

an idea.

I couldn't replicate that intricate shed network he had. That would take up way too much ti.

But I *could* do sothing similar. At least in theory.

Pulling out countless threads, weaving them together through and over my muscles. Off-setting the physical load my body had to deal with by adjusting in real-ti with a control module, similar to how I did noise cancelling...

A faint thrum of power. My body imdiately felt lighter than before. More limber.

At the sa ti, there was a synergy between

and my sword. Maybe it was because I was wreathed in my own mana... or maybe it was that weird effect where tension improved mana power and control, I could feel the sword as if it was an extension of my own body.

But I didn't have ti to think.

Perhaps recognizing the flow of mana as a threat, Orsted imdiately shot forward again.

This ti though, I could see it.

A faint ripple as his coat fluttered behind him. His entire body barely moving while his fist was outstretched to strike my head, giving the illusion that he was teleporting.

In a fraction of a second, his fist would connect.

I... probably wouldn't die. But I would definitely be incapacitated.

So before then.

My blade shot forward. Crimson blurred at the sa ti as Orsted's body, aiming for his eyes.

He noticed and then subtly turned his head so that the blade would strike the left side of his temple instead of his eyes.

But he kept moving. His eyes continued to track

as he continued advancing to attack.

It would still connect. I would still be struck.

So I moved as well.

-The circle and the line. The underlying principle in martial arts. And a principle that I had seen repeated in the Water God style since I started learning sword fighting with Dad.

A linear attack was defeated by a circular defense. And a circular attack was defeated by a linear defense.

Of course, like could clash against like, but that required equal force and skill.

I didn't have that, so I had to take advantage of the difference.

Orsted's attack was force directed in a single attack vector.

So, like when I stalled Ghyslaine in water, I had to divert that attack vector.

I pivoted on my back foot and grabbed Orsted's outstretched arm. At the sa ti, muscle mory from practicing Water God and half-rembered mories of tai chi flickered through my mind. I bent down, twisting my body forward with Orsted's montum but also diverting it an angle to toss him over .

It worked.

Whether because Orsted wasn't expecting

to act like that, or because he allowed it, the guy flew over

and spun through the air.

As he did, I slashed out with my sword again, directing it with my mana. A flurry of rapid slashes perford at supersonic speed, aid at Orsted's weak points.

Upper arm, collarbone, windpipe, temple, diaphragm, rib, groin, thighs, and then a stab through the heart.

Those were my targets.

Targets that were imdiately blocked as Orsted's limbs blurred in mid-air to parry all of them. And with the last, my sword was knocked back towards , spinning like a top to cut

in half.

But I wasn't worried.

Instead of stopping my sword, I whipped it around

to attack Orsted again.

This ti, he smashed it directly with a fist and shattered the sword, sending steel shards falling to the ground.

All of this, within the span of a single second while Orsted was still falling down to the ground.

Insane.

The fact that I could perceive him moving at all, and the fact that he was freely moving on such miniscule ti intervals.

I couldn't stop and marvel at it though.

My movents were straining my body. As trained as I was, and as much as my rough copy of Orsted's mana reinforcent technique helped, I lacked the years of experience and ti to be proficient at fighting like this. My body just wasn't accustod to fighting at such a level.

But I had bought ti.

Like how Orsted was moving in fractions of seconds, my awareness had expanded as well. Instead of perceiving in seconds, I was perceiving things on a smaller tiscale.

...Wasn't entirely sure how this was all working though. Probably a combination of mana and nerves aligning and creating an extrasensory phenonon to shift perception in a subjective manner, giving the illusion of ti slowing down.

But that didn't matter.

What did was that I could move faster. And that didn't just an my body.

I didn't know how it was for others, but for

mana moved at the speed of thought.

That didn't help much when my opponents moved faster than I could perceive. But when they didn't...

I focused.

One wasn't enough. Five wasn't enough. Ten wasn't either.

If I wanted to break Orsted's protection, I needed an attack that could go beyond it. And sothing like that...

My sword was already moving at a supersonic speed, and Orsted didn't even care. He moved faster than it and even managed to shatter the blade.

So a 'slash' wasn't enough. The force was too diffuse to cut through his mana reinforcent.

Maybe if I was bigger and had more mass to weave with mana to generate more force... but I didn't.

But sheer mass wasn't enough either. If I tried to send a block of iron at him or so giant boulder, even at high speeds, Orsted would just cut it apart.

No. The only hope I had to break through that reinforcent was to focus everything on a single point.

Except, focus what?

tal, stone, and other physical matter wouldn't be sufficient. Maybe if I could create sothing like tungsten, it might work. But I didn't know how to make iron, let alone tungsten. Manipulate it, sure. But make? No way.

Wind? No. Too diffuse.

Water? Sa issue.

Fire? Maybe. Except that I didn't think I could make one hot enough for it to be a problem to the guy.

Lightning? Possible. But my gut was telling

he would just bat it away.

Not only that... but Master Roxy had tried it all when she attacked earlier with her . And I was sure that I couldn't do much better than her in that regard.

Plus, even if I did... it would be my loss if I sohow managed to seriously injure or kill Orsted. That guy seed to be against Being W as well, and the only person who would win if one of us died was that insidious bastard.

So those were out.

The lethal techinques I had in mind like creating a vacuum and filling it with poison gas, diamond dust, and other things to attack the guy on the inside were out too.

No, I needed sothing else. Sothing that showed power without being pure lethality. I just needed a proof of concept. A way to show him that I was soone worth fighting alongside. That I had the potential to grow to be an ally against Being W.

So.

A repeated magic circle, spiraling in a a three-dinsional pattern. At the center of it, a single crimson bead. My mana, slowly condensing to form a single bullet.

It was the sa basic principle as the first spell I learned. .

But instead of forming water, it was my own mana. And instead of one magic circle focusing on converting mana to water, it was a myriad of magic circles focusing on solidifying my mana to a physical form.

It was possible. Mana crystals and mana stones existed, so it was definitely possible to crystallize raw mana into a physical form. And when it did, that physical form carried the properties of the mana that made it.

Ti seed to slow to a crawl. In the corner of my eye, I saw Sylphy frozen, snow flickering around her as she prepared another attack. A few steps away from her, Master Roxy held out her staff, watching with fear and trepidation in her eyes as she stared at Orsted.

But even as ti was slowed to a crawl, Orsted moved at normal speed. He landed on the ground and then turned to look at , his eyes widening in shock.

I dashed to the side, maneuvering so that my projectile would shoot out towards the mountains instead of anywhere important.

Orsted turned as well and quickly started to chant. And as he did, I felt a ripple of the disruptive magic he used earlier.

But before the second word could co out, I fired.

A single beam of pure red light aid at Orsted's right arm.

A sure hit. It definitely was on target and faster than anyone could react. The mont it fired, my attack was bound to connect.

But Orsted still managed to dodge. Not completely, but enough.

Instead of the center of his right arm like I planned, Orsted moved enough to where my attack struck the side instead.

Blood sprayed from where my mana bullet connected, shredding through Orsted's mana reinforced muscles and flesh.

And then, off in the distance, I saw the peak of a mountain explode, snow tumbling down in an avalanche.

But that was all.

With all my prep, all I could achieve was a glancing blow.

I heard sothing crack. At the sa ti, the limberness I felt in my body and the hyperfocus I had slowing ti to a crawl vanished. In its place, I had a pounding headache and felt like my body was made of lead.

Orsted glanced at his right arm, watching as crimson spread along his pure white coat. After that, he slowly turned back to look at , a thoughtful expression in his gaze.

I felt my body start to give out, but forced myself to stand, glaring defiantly at Orsted.

I couldn't show weakness now. Not after putting on that play. So-

"The mana in that attack was on par with Laplace." Orsted started walking towards .

"Rudy!"

Sylphy called out and tried to attack again with a barrage of snow.

But Orsted just flung out his hand.

A sonic boom erupted and then Sylphy flew through the air.

"SYLPHY!" I scread and tried to run towards her. But I couldn't. My limbs didn't cooperate and just collapsed beneath , forcing

to kneel.

Fortunately, Master Roxy was prepared and quickly moved to catch Sylphy as well as heal her.

But this fucking guy! Hurting Sylphy...!

Should I just off him?

No, that was definitely what Being W wanted. But...!

"The ability to reproduce the Saint Dragon Battle Aura, even in part, also shows your worth." Orsted took a step forward again, looking down on .

I raised my head and glared at him.

"Rudeus Greyrat." Orsted stared at

and said, "The one who inherited Laplace's abilities and will." He held out his hand and said, "Join . Not as a follower, but as-"

A sudden silver flash. A knife, thrown through the air at Orsted's back.

It crumpled, bent like it was made of tinfoil.

Orsted paused and turned around.

I did as well and saw Mama Lily standing there, holding knives in both hands and a sword sheathed at her left side.

She wasn't alone either. Mom was standing there as well, her hands out and chanting.

It seed like the two ran out after all the commotion.

My eyes widened. "Wait! Mom! Mama Lily! Don't-!"

"...!"

A water ball shot out from my mom's hands. At the sa ti, Mama Lily threw her knives.

Orsted turned to face both and muttered, "Lilia and Zenith Greyrat... are the sa. But to not fear

at all... It seems to not be a coincidence. Then-"

The knives and water ball collided with Orsted. But like with everything else, they had no effect.

...What the heck even was this guy? A Po*emon? Did he have

or sothing?

My attack *definitely* disrupted his reinforcent. But he still shrugged those off like it was nothing.

Mama Lily pursed her lips and then drew her blade.

At the sa ti, Mom pointed at Orsted and said, "Stay away from my son!"

Mama Lily nodded and said, "I will not let you harm my child!"

Orsted blinked and then turned back to look at . After that, he smiled and said, "It seems you are well-loved. Enough to unite those two won who were fated to be at odds with each other."

It was a genuine expression. Like he received a pleasant surprise.

Of course, on his face it just looked like a sinister smirk.

Mom and Mama Lily ran forward. In the back, I saw Master Roxy finish tending to Sylphy and then look towards Mom and Mama Lily. Her eyes widened and then she let out a sigh before resolving herself, holding her staff out to fight as well.

Faint cries echoed in the distance. Norn and Aisha, probably disturbed by all the ruckus.

A ss. This was a giant ss that wouldn't end well.

It seed like Orsted realized it too since he started to frown.

And then to top it all off... From the direction of the Citadel of Roa, a silver blur approached at blinding speed before colliding with Orsted.

He quickly stepped back, shoving off his attacker and moving to the side.

At the sa ti, his attacker moved to stand in front of , physically blocking Orsted from moving towards .

And as for the identity of Orsted's attacker...

"Sorry I'm late. Dad had to tie up so loose ends first." My dad rested his sword over his right shoulder and looked back towards , his face uncharacteristically serious. "Are you alright, Rudy?"

"No. I'm not alright." I glared at him and said, "What kind of Dad knocks his kid out for a week after forcing him into a life-or-death fight with so unknown swordsman and thinks the kid will be fine?"

"Haha... Yeah. ssed up pretty big there. Dad's never been the smartest, you know? But you can yell at

later. Right now..." He looked at Orsted and said, "What are you doing here, Dragon God Orsted?"

I blinked. "Wait. Dragon God?"

Orsted stared at my dad. After that, he glanced at my mom, Mama Lily, Sylphy, and Master Roxy... and then he turned to look at . Staring straight into my eyes, he said, "This is my mistake. It seems that the situation has turned hostile, so I will seek you out once more in the future. Until then, think carefully on my words, Rudeus Greyrat."

With that, Orsted vanished.

No, it wasn't that he vanished. Instead, he quickly dashed away, heading towards the mountain that got its top blown off from my attack.

Seeing that, my dad lowered his sword and frowned. But he quickly put on a smile and turned towards . "Well look at that, Rudy. Seems like your old man's strong enough to send even the Dragon God running away with his tail between his legs!"

"Uh-huh." I glanced towards Mom and Mama Lily slowly walking towards us. "Then since my dad's so great, he won't do the sa now that his lovely wives are coming to have a long talk, right?"

My dad blinked and then finally noticed my moms approaching. Sweat started to form on his brow and he laughed. "Ahaha... Right. Definitely won't. But, er..." He looked back at

and said, "This is completely hypothetical. But say that Dad managed to hook you up with a super hot wife for the future. Do you think your moms would be mad?"

"Wait, what?"

"Think like double Ds, top-class noble beauty... and unlike most noblewon, she'll be super fit and actually good to tumble with. Ah, and of course you can still have Sylphy. Just like your old man, you know? If it's you, I'm sure you can handle at least two won."

I blinked, scattered bits of info slowly starting to connect in my head.

My dad running off, showing back up after saying he was running a coup... now rambling about a 'hot wife'...

Strength ca back to my worn-out body and I stood up. After that, I reached out to grab my dad's shirt and said, "You fucker! Tell

you didn't sign a betrothal contract or sothing to so noble family to help you run the coup!"

"Ahaha... M-Maybe?"

"YOU DID WHAT!?"

That wasn't . That was my mom.

It seed like she heard him.

My dad turned to look at her and held up his hands. "L-Let

explain-"

Mama Lily glared at my dad and said, "Paul. I'm disappointed in you."

"L-Lily. Honestly, if you just let -"

I let go of my dad and stepped back, glaring at him as well.

But the mont I stepped back, Mom stepped forward, grabbing his shirt just like I did. "What about Sylphy!? Who gave you the right to decide that!?"

"U-Um..."

Mama Lily stepped forward as well, crossing her arms. "I thought that you had matured, Paul. No, that at least you were better than those Asuran nobles who sold their children off to curry favors. But to think you would do that with Rudy as well..." Her eyes turned cold and she said, "What of Aisha? Did you sell her off as well?"

Mom's eyes widened and she glared at Paul. "You had *better* not tell

you signed a betrothal contract for Norn as well."

"I didn't! I promise! And really, it's not that bad! Just... let

explain." My dad looked at

and said, "Co on, Rudy. Help your dad out a bit. Rudy? ...Rudy?!"

I turned around and waved the back of my hand at him. "We'll talk later. I have a lot of things I want to say to you, Father."

Silence. And then my dad let out a sigh and muttered, "Well. Guess I should have seen this coming."