That Time an American was Reincarnated into Another World Chapter 122: Dominance

“Is there anything else I should be prepared for? Any more surprises like that… fire magic?”

“That wasn’t magic. And yes, I suppose I should discuss sothing with you. Later though.”

The Puppet Master had co to see in my exclusive staging room. Umara was still in the dical room recovering, unfortunately unable to co and see my match.

I, anwhile, was still perfectly fine, having not actually expended much Psyka while burning Ravon.

Cooking my enemies with fire wasn’t of particular concern; I proved it would work and knights could just tough out the flas. I was more worried about the effects of my other weapons.

World War One and Two was a ti of extensive weapons engineering in all sectors. Plenty of weapon types diverged from the standard “launch rock very fast” type of weapon I was most familiar with; I wasn’t sure if they would accidentally kill a knight or not, to say nothing of a warlock’s fragility.

Those weapons could co later, when I was in a pinch. I would rely on conventional firearms for now.

The Puppet Master sighed.

”Ravon’s armor wasn’t suited to handle what you threw at him given the existing record on your arsenal. You got lucky this ti, but now that they know, they won’t make the sa mistake. Every knight and warlock will be prepared for your fire.”

“Obviously. I was thinking about saving it for later but I was curious how effective it’d be. Turns out, it’s just as good as everything else in my arsenal.”

“Yes, it was quite shockingly effective. The attack is entirely physical so Magika-oriented defenses are nearly useless. The synergy is almost too good. Ravon crumbled despite being on the tougher end of Authority 6. Whatever dinsion, whatever world, that continues to feed you those weapons, was obviously extrely good at making them. I can’t imagine the kind of place it was.”

“Yeah, it’s a real headscratcher.”

My lips contorted into a half grimace, half smirk. If only I could show him how much worse it could get.

The wars themselves, although horrifying in terms of sheer scale, paled in comparison to the re concepts behind the weapons they necessitated. The arms of this world were optimized for the Scourgebeast; they could be used against man in a pinch, but were primarily designed around eliminating the ever-present existential threat. Nobody even considered creating weaponry to facilitate killing another person with the greatest efficiency. In this world, battles between humans were one-on-one, the scarcity of the Magus limiting the number of combatants who fought.

Now, I, with the technological prowess of my ho and the Psyka of another world, could focus their great destructive power against the barrier of magic.

And when that barrier collapsed, the recipient would taste a hint of the horror dispensed upon every other earthling in history who had to face them.

I had to admit. I was having so fun.

It was even more satisfying to be kicking the asses of the goons they were sending to try and kill . It was all legitimate self defense — there was no remorse to be felt. I was letting them off generously with just so wounds.

There were still four more ahead of before Ponteck though, three warlocks and one more knight. I could have all the fun I wanted, but I still needed to be efficient. I had to incapacitate all of them while preserving enough energy to win the final battle.

It had to be done, but it would be difficult.

I looked over to Maxwell.

“Would you happen to have anything that can give Psyka if I need it?”

“I would. It cos with backlash, however.”

“Anything permanent?”

“...No.”

“Then I don’t care. I may be coming to you later.”

“I never agreed.”

He offered his refusal to my back. It was ti for the next battle.

The warlock whom I walked to was geared in thick robes and a hood. I didn’t know their na and didn’t care to listen to it as it was announced.

They would be gone before long anyway.

I equipped my hood and pulled up my gloves, getting comfortable before the judge’s hand went down.

The Browning A5, four shells in the tube, appeared in my hands. I chambered a shell and slipped another in before shouldering it in preparation for the spell formations popping up before the warlock.

A barrage of fireballs flew toward . I simply emptied the tube into the oncoming spells, balls of fla dispersing as their integral formation was torn to shreds.

The opposing mage froze, wand paused in the midst of another formation. In that ti, I dropped the shotgun and swapped to my StG, letting off a burst at the warlock.

The bullets were minimally empowered when they collided with the barrier and didn’t even make it ripple. I continuously poured Psyka into them until I noticed reactions.

The last few rounds in the magazine were charged full of Psyka, three of them outright shattering the barrier and catching the warlock off guard.

That’s when I took out the M1 Garand, lining up a quick shot that when through his shin, shattering his tibia.

“Ahh!!”

His scream rang in the silence between gunshots. That shot was fully empowered as well, so although the robes had so defensive asures, they folded like paper before the projectile.

Right after that, the barrier ca back up, but its formation was unsteady and its surface disturbed. I emptied another magazine into it for good asure before putting a few more holes into the warlock’s legs.

When he couldn’t stand, I lowered my gun and turned to the judge.

The judge glanced between and my opponent, not imdiately calling the battle even though it was pretty obvious I had won.

It didn’t matter though. I just stood there as the warlock continued to suffer, his blood pooling under his shattered legs.

Still, it took almost 2 minutes for the judge to call it.

“The winner is John Cooper. Next battle will be in 5 minutes.”

“Seriously?”

I stared at the judge for a second, the man turning away from .

I rolled my eyes. This was just what he was being told to do. So I simply stayed on the arena, watching the warlock get carried off and the next step on.

Two warlocks back to back. Seed they were doing their best to put in a difficult position.

My eyes narrowed as the Judge’s hand moved, my coat activating when it was only halfway down.

Ti slowed, and as soon as the battle officially started, I brought out my M1 Garand with the fastest speed I could muster.

It appeared as my arms raised, settling into an aiming position before the judge’s hand even retracted. And it wasn’t even a second and a half before I had her in my sights.

I saw the spell formation for her barrier glimr around her. It wasn’t ford yet, and I was a full step ahead.

I fired, an unempowered bullet tearing straight through her shin just like the last warlock. She buckled involuntarily, the pain barely registering in her mind before I fired again, another bullet going through her arm and tearing a chunk of flesh off it as she collapsed to the floor.

Her gripped staff released, falling to the ground and all spell formations flickering out of existence. Like that, my ti dilation ceased, everything around speeding up, her screams entering my ears.

I walked over, glancing at the judge who didn’t want to call the battle. It had barely been 7 seconds, and she was already finished.

So I simply approached her, silence reigning as she grunted and glared up at .

I looked down at her, and then suddenly saw a few spell formations flicker around her hands. To that, I brought my leg back and sent a swift kick across her jaw, knocking her dizzy, the spells flickering away.

Then, I reached down and grabbed the back of her throat, my arm flexing as I lifted her up off the floor. She hung above the ground as I faced her toward the judge.

And then a knife appeared in my hand. Guns weren’t all there was in those dinsions, so I brought out a trench knife in my other hand, putting the blade against her jugular.

“Call the match, dumbass. I’m sure her parents don’t like seeing her like this, and it’ll be your fault that she continues to suffer.”

“...”

Everyone watched as the girl continued to choke and sob, blood streaming down her arm and leg, her face swelling up from my kick. It was obvious who won, and now it was obvious that the judge was hesitant to declare the obvious.

Finally, he raised his arm.

“The winner is John Cooper. Next battle is in 30 minutes.

“Finally.”

I dropped the girl and turned, healers running up on stage as I walked off.

Maxwell muttered when I entered the staging room.

“...You know why they’re stalling?”

“Yeah, because they want to give my enemies more ti to try and wear down. I can’t just point a gun at them and expect to deliver the sa ssage of dominance as if I were holding a knife.”

“Mm. That, and they want Ponteck to have more ti to rest. The Puppet Master told his status. He lost a significant amount of blood and they’re feeding him a bunch of dicine. He’ll recover a noticeable amount within the next few hours, but at the very least, he shouldn’t be 100%. You just need to preserve your energy and use the opportunity your girlfriend gave you.”

“I will. How is she anyway?”

“She’s fine. She just ran through every ounce of mana she had. Given an hour she’ll be lucid enough to watch.”

“Good.”

“Focus on recovering. That ans clearing your mind.”

“Like ditation?”

“Yes. Just relax. Sleeping if you’re able would be good as well.”

“Hm.”

I nodded, and right then, Maxwell spawned an entire couch.

My brows raised.

“For ?”

“No, for my dog.”

“Hey, I’m not your dog.”

“I didn’t… Nevermind. Just sit.”

He waved off, making chuckle as I plopped down on the couch.

It was plush, it cradled my butt, and it slled nice. I kicked my feet up and heard a scoff.

“Boots off my couch.”

“Fine, fine.”

I rolled my eyes and slipped the boots off. Couldn’t he just get it cleaned with so magic? This couch probably had a self-cleaning function anyway.

After that, I got comfy and closed my eyes. With the control over my thoughts the Spark gave , it was fairly easy to blank out and doze off.

However, I didn’t have long. After 20 minutes of a power nap, I felt a sharp poking in my mind.

“Get up. Next battle is here.”

“Hmm…”

I yawned and climbed off the couch, slipping my boots back on and heading out the door. My yawns were incessant as I stepped onto the arena. The next opponent was a knight, a girl a head shorter than .

This girl was the top knight before Ponteck arrived. Her na was Kevala and she wore armor that was particularly intricate.

She wielded a spear, but interestingly, also had a whip coiled around her waist. I noticed the bladed tassel on the end.

Worse than all that though was how threatening she felt. I was quick to sober up when I felt her snake-like gaze on .

And perhaps another detail I was curious about was how I couldn’t rember her na from the Elite leaderboard. I rembered them all, courtesy of my enhanced mory, and she wasn't there.

Which ant she wasn’t good enough to be on it, or the more likely explanation, she didn’t care to compete for a position.

Perhaps she just never went on the expeditions, training on her own in whatever way her family insisted. Regardless, she caused my neck to tingle, and not in the sexy way Umara did.

I tilted my head.

“I’ve never seen you around before. Too good for the Magisterium excursions?”

“Sothing like that. I wouldn't be here if it weren’t a special request… and I was curious.”

“Man, they must want to kill pretty bad if they’re bringing you out. Just forewarning you though, I’m not into the whipping or bondage stuff like that.”

“...Like what?”

“You know. Spanky spanky?”

I made so whipping motions and sound effects, getting confused silence in response. The judge's hand slamd down.

“Battle start!”

“I had a girl convince to try it without realizing that she wanted to tie to the bed. It took spanking her ass red to finally get her to-”

“S-Shut up!”

She charged at , making laugh a bit as my hood wrapped over my head.

This ti, I didn’t bring out a flathrower. It would be useless. I could sense the mana around her armor. It probably wouldn’t even make her sweat.

So I took out a Lewis Gun and started unloading.

The pan atop the gun chugged along with chanical clicking to match the blasts coming out the front. Kevala faced a storm of lead.

However, so of the bullets actually ricocheted off her armor, while most didn’t do any noticeable damage. They were moderately empowered so it was surprising.

I started kiting as she continued forward. She wasn’t incredibly fast, unlike Feiden, so it was pretty easy to keep my distance with the pressure of my machine gun.

However, eventually the pan went dry, and she took the opportunity to charge forward.

An StG appeared in my hands the next mont, fully empowered shots emptying into her chest. This ti, I saw sparks fly as they managed to pierce the tal. However, the effects seed minimal. They probably couldn’t break much further past her skin.

She completely disregarded them and stabbed out with her spear. My Aura scread at .

I made a split second decision and spread.

A clone appeared, taking my place as I ducked out of the way. We both barely dodged before sprinting off in different directions.

She looked between us for a few seconds, not able to decide. And then, she shot toward the wrong .

I kept my face neutral even though I wanted to laugh. My clone continued to run as I took out my M1 Garand.

My eyes zood in through the iron sights, finding a gap between the helt and collar piece of Kevala’s armor.

And I stuffed my gun so full of Psyka that she actually turned around toward .

I fired before she could respond.

The gun slamd back with more force than usual and blood blood from her collar as it pierced through the leather underneath her armor and into her flesh.

She staggered for a second before suddenly dropping the spear and grabbing her whip.

I watched as it flicked about with her arm, emptying my clip but not hitting any more significant shots.

She finally stopped having wait and beat the whip toward like a bullet. I created another clone, sidestepping a bit and letting the tip crack past .

It snapped right where my body was, the bladed tassels letting off a sound no less explosive than my bullets. There was even a shockwave. I would get turned to paste if I let that hit .

Although I still presented a facade of calmness, my mind worked overti to co up with alternative strategies. My Psyka would only go down the longer this continued.

But she still couldn’t pressure much. It turned into an almost comical bout of target practice, her shots whipping naught but air or the occasional clone.

It went on for a minute or so. I thought I could sustain my current situation since she couldn’t seem to hit .

I thought wrong. She shot forward and slashed her whip horizontally, the whip’s length striking my shoulder and beginning to wrap around .

Ti dilation and my Crown’s agility saved , letting duck under the path of the strike and have it slide off just before it could wrap up completely. In my mont of distraction, however, Kelava closed the distance.

I generated another clone, but luck was not on my side today and she ca after . The clone disappeared as I devoted the entirety of Aura and Spark to dodging and analyzing her patterns. This was a worst case scenario.

She slipped out a pair of knives from her sleeves and tried to slash at . Occasionally, one of my clones would distract her long enough to get so breathing room, but it was clear that I wasn’t getting away. Even pulling out a machine gun didn’t deter her; she still ca at like nothing could hurt her.

Gradually, her threat started to grow. I had to do sothing now before I got overwheld.

I donned another gas mask, different from the one I used with the flathrower, and dropped a grenade loaded with Psyka a little behind just as she lunged. She managed an incredible Vigor-aided feat of agility, twisting out of the way of the grenade and jumping to the side as it exploded.

The shockwave washed over , but I landed unhard as the coat absorbed the majority of the energy.

It shocked Kevala too. She landed several ters away and righted herself.

We looked at each other. I pulled out another canister.

I sighed, tightening up my coat a bit.

“Let’s see how this works. At the very least, you'll be sorry you ever fought .”

I pulled a tab and threw the canister between the two of us.

She naturally backed away as yellow vapor started spewing from the canister.

I tossed a few more in her direction, saturating the entire area with one of the most feared chemical weapons in Earth’s history.

“Mustard Gas is quite the fitting na, isn’t it? Although I don’t think you guys have mustard here.”

“What is…”

Kevala rushed around, but was eventually enveloped. I also continued to shoot her in order to keep her away, and I suppose she decided to test her luck inside the gas cloud to try and get to .

That turned out to be her biggest mistake.

I backed away to a corner of the arena where the gas hadn’t spread, staying as far away from it as I could. Between bursts of fire I could hear whimpers and muffled cries sounded from the gas cloud.

The gas was contained by the invisible protective barrier around the arena, so she had nowhere to go to escape it.

Unless she wanted to lose of course. I watched her faintly through the gas as she scrambled around, even bringing out so water and dousing herself with it, all while trying to protect herself from my barrage.

Of course, nothing worked. I stopped shooting and after a few screams, my brows raised.

Seed the gas was incredibly effective. From what I knew, mustard gas didn't work imdiately. It took a while for the effects to kick in and really cause so damage. It also seeped into everything it touched, adding to the fear factor.

I knew that my Psyka made my summons better. They made my shots sharper so they could pierce and destroy barriers and knights, and it also made flas more effective, otherwise my flathrower would have been useless against Ravon.

Now, it seed it was making this gas more effective as well. Maybe not more potent, but definitely faster acting. It burned Kevala's skin and whatever got into her lungs was no doubt wreaking havoc as well.

I realized it was even worse than I expected when she threw herself off the arena, ripping off her helt and armor. After that I saw her bare arms, completely red with yellow blisters already forming. She looked like she was choking on her own throat before vomiting and coughing, streams of tears going down her twisted, agonized face. At the very least she was still breathing, for now.

I suddenly looked at the judge, getting a bit worried at how well the stuff was working. I also wanted to get the hell away from the vapor that gradually started to settle in my direction.

“Hey! Call the match! She ran off the arena!”

“... The winner is John Cooper.”

“Good. Puppet Master!”

I called and ran off the arena, escaping the gas as the Puppet Master appeared by my side.

“What did you do now?”

“She’ll probably be fine. It’s a poison that causes blisters and irritation.”

“Do you have an antidote?”

“Of course not. You guys can treat poisons, right? Besides, she’s a knight. It won’t be as horrible as it would with a normal person. Also, if you can, I would try to contain all that gas in the arena. If you disperse it, so spectators might get affected. It likes to linger.”

“My god. What the hell did you leave with… ”

He sighed as I walked off. It was no longer my issue so long as Kevala wasn’t weaker than she looked.

I walked back to my private room as the Puppet Master started to gather warlocks to contain the gas.

Maxwell looked dead in the eye.

“What the hell was that?”

“A poison gas. Not as deadly as it is extrely painful and terrifying.”

“I saw you staying away from it. I’ve never seen soone so afraid of their own weapon.”

“You’ve also never seen a weapon like that. You don’t know what it’s capable of. I do. I'd say it's a war cri in a can, but hey, nothing's a war cri the first ti. Either way, I respect the weapons I use. I know that all of them could kill even easier than they do anything else. That’s not fear.”

“Mm.”

He nodded as I sat down.

After so silence, I smiled.

“Looks like it was quite effective. I just can’t use that one against Ponteck now. I would end up hurting myself. A mask might protect my lungs, but not my skin.”

“Do you have another card like that to play?”

“No, nothing so exotic. I’m preserving my energy, like you said. Now, I only need to face one more warlock before fighting Ponteck.”

“If you let that battle drag, you may be screwed.”

“So I’ll start by going all out. A blitzkrieg, as we call it where I’m from. Maybe the shock and awe will give the edge I need.”

I rubbed my chin while laying down to take another nap.

“Wake when it’s ti.”

“Mm.”

I heard a hum before closing my eyes, falling into a state of half-sleep.

It was almost ti for the finale.