WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Copy Skills with Affinity! ◈
Chapter 109: Competition (2)
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“...That’s pretty brutal.”
Aiden spoke as he looked around.
The sound of clashing weapons was already ringing out all over the place.
No one would have claimed much land yet, but everyone owned their own starting point.
That probably meant plenty of people had decided it would pay to take out weaker opponents quickly and claim as much land as possible. Hence the vicious fighting right from the start.
‘I didn’t expect things to get this heated already...’
The real problem would come once people started claiming large amounts of land.
Some had been serious about the succession from the beginning and would wage all-out war. Others would hide and wait for a chance to land a decisive surprise attack... All sorts would come crawling out.
Even this frenzy was only a sign of what was to come.
They had probably all understood the meaning behind the Pontiff’s words.
In this Succession Ceremony, all the strength they had built up beforehand would count for nothing.
Everyone would stand at the same starting line and compete under the same conditions.
Only those with real skills of their own would pull ahead...
‘...What’s the Pontiff thinking?’
Aiden had entered this place to stop people from dying. Conditions that drove everyone into such a frenzy were hardly welcome.
In that sense...
The person he encountered just after the competition began might be the most effective means of calming things down.
“...”
“...”
Julius and Aiden blinked at each other.
Neither had expected to run into someone like this right at the start.
“...Why are you alone?”
Despite being one of the biggest players in this Succession Ceremony, Julius was completely alone. Not a single follower was with him as he faced Aiden.
“I was just on my way to find my companions...”
Julius gave Aiden an awkward look as he answered.
Then cold sweat ran down his forehead when Aiden immediately readied his weapon.
“...Hold on. Are you serious?”
“I’m not actually planning to kill you.”
Aiden continued calmly.
“I just figured that if I eliminated you early, the others following you would give up too.”
Compared to the other factions, the royals following Julius were especially loyal to him. Having him become Pontiff mattered far more to them than claiming the position themselves.
If Aiden could eliminate Julius and reduce the number of participants that way, he could prevent a great deal of needless fighting. It was simple logic.
“...Tch.”
Realizing his opponent was serious, Julius immediately drew the sword at his waist.
▣
As if to prove that the medals he had worn all over his clothes before were not just decorations, Julius was fairly confident in his fighting ability.
He did not possess Alester’s brilliant talent, but his abilities, honed through every real battle he could find, were nothing to scoff at.
His knowledge of each field might not run deep, but the overall combat strength he gained by combining abilities from all sorts of fields was far from low.
In that sense...
‘...I’m not going down that easily.’
He had seen the abilities of the man named Aiden Kellermain during the Preliminaries. But he had already heard that Aiden’s monstrous strength had come from using multiple abilities.
Knowing what was behind it meant Julius could deal with him. He had always been someone who found a way to win.
In fact, on his way here, he had easily defeated a dozen or so other royals who had attacked him out of confidence in their own skills.
He might not be a monster on the level of Alester or Milene, but he was undoubtedly a genius in the top one percent.
At the very least, he should be able to hold his own.
...That was what he had thought a minute ago.
‘This bastard’s a monster!’
Julius broke into a cold sweat as he pulled back his deflected sword, his hand still stinging.
The aurora clinging to the tip of Aiden Kellermain’s sword shone with a chilling light.
Aiden had just deflected a swing Julius had put all his strength into without moving a single step.
The Divine Power within the liquid metal burned white. It was a light Julius had never seen before.
“Are you going to keep going?”
“...”
Aiden’s calm voice urged him to surrender.
Julius gritted his teeth and gripped his trembling arm.
He had just tried every combat tactic he could think of against Aiden.
In a close-range melee, his sword had been knocked aside the moment their blades met, leaving him helpless.
In a ranged bombardment, he was overwhelmed by the ability blasts shooting out of that liquid metal.
Aiden stayed in place, pressing him with a solid, heavy presence. He had not used any particularly impressive moves, yet he responded to everything Julius tried as though he already knew every card Julius held.
‘There’s nothing special about him...!’
Was his Divine Power output exceptional? No.
Then did he possess extraordinary physical ability or strength? That was not it either.
Even with a generous assessment, his natural foundations barely reached the average for a superhuman. Compared to those monsters mentioned earlier, the people whose very presence felt overwhelming, he was practically insignificant.
But when it came to drawing on his abilities and using them at exactly the right moment, this man was extraordinarily skilled.
It was ridiculous.
Julius wore all sorts of medals, yet this man far surpassed him in the very thing he considered his greatest strength: combat instincts!
‘He’s strong. I have to give this everything I’ve got!’
As that thought crossed his mind, a strange ability flowed through Julius’s body.
‘...Runes?’
Aiden narrowed his eyes at the glowing letters carved into Julius’s body.
Inscription arts. A technique that changed the nature of an ability by carving pictographic symbols directly into one’s own spirit.
Like Morrigan’s mana, which Aiden wielded, it was an ability that should have vanished into history. Its line of transmission was believed to have died out entirely.
For a royal to wield something like this was unconventional at best, downright sinister at worst.
Sure enough, everyone had at least one hidden trump card.
Alester, Milene, this fellow, or any of the other dark horses seriously competing for the succession.
Soon, a strange energy entered Julius’s Divine Power through the glowing letters on his body.
ᛞ <Dagaz>
A rune symbolizing change and destruction imbued his Divine Power.
Then the Divine Power flowing over his body gained “brightness.”
It was like a sphere of light made from Spiritual Power. But it felt far more violent and destructive.
Divine Power was already an ability specialized for attacks. Now it was being fired with physical destructive force added to it.
The problem was...
-System Message
▶ You activate “Skill: Purifier.”
Julius was not the only one hiding something.
The Divine Power shot toward Aiden’s face struck a barrier that appeared in front of him and vanished without a trace. Julius’s eyes widened in shock.
‘...Just now.’
It had been “extinguished” on contact.
He could have assumed the barrier was simply sturdier than his attack. But failing to break through because he lacked firepower and having his attack erased without any effect at all were entirely different matters.
‘...This bastard’s got them too...!’
He still had countless hidden cards. Just like Julius!
Julius’s expression hardened as he realized that.
“So.”
“Are you going to keep going?”
“...”
Julius’s expression grew even stiffer.
Seeing that, Aiden took a deep breath and readied himself again.
They had each revealed one card. Now it was time for the next...
“I surrender.”
“...?”
“I give up. You win. You can take all the ‘land’ I own.”
Aiden frowned at him.
He wanted to confirm that he had heard correctly, but Julius’s face had already returned to its usual drooping eyes and lazy smile.
As if he truly had no intention of fighting any further.
‘This guy...’
Aiden stared at him.
Julius had been on the back foot throughout the fight, but he had never revealed the final card he was keeping hidden.
As though he would rather die once than reveal any more of what he had here.
“...”
This man...
Was definitely hiding something.
Something even more secret than the runes he had just revealed.
But rather than press him on it, Aiden quietly put his sword away.
Julius’s eyebrows rose in puzzlement as he watched.
“I told you I wasn’t here to kill you.”
Aiden answered his questioning look calmly.
“For now, it’s enough if you and your faction withdraw.”
He was curious about what Julius was hiding. But preserving his strength to stop the incident that would happen during the competition was more important than digging into that right now.
If Julius was willing to drop out like this, Aiden welcomed it.
Apparently finding that reaction quite unexpected, Julius stared at him before replying in a bewildered voice.
“...Thanks.”
He clearly meant it too.
-System Message
▶ The Affinity of target “Julius” increases.
▶ You can copy 1 skill!
...Oh.
Another big catch.
The runes he had just seen were a type of ability Aiden had never encountered before. He did not know how effective they would be, but they were certainly worth studying.
“By the way, can I ask you something?”
While he was thinking that, Julius spoke.
“To be honest, I thought no other royal could match me when it came to actual combat experience.”
“That sounds right.”
Julius’s combat instincts and overall experience really were top-notch. He was a seasoned veteran whom none of the other young royals his age could match.
Julius narrowed his eyes at Aiden’s calm agreement.
“...Then how have you reached a level so far above mine? What kind of training have you been doing?”
Well.
Aiden did not know what sort of answer he expected, but he could only answer honestly.
“Dying about 100,000 times.”
“...What?”
“It’s a thing.”
...Really.
There was nothing else he could say.
▣
So, it was good that he had dealt with the biggest potential source of trouble for now.
But immediately afterward, he ran into another one.
“Hi.”
“...Hello.”
Aiden simply returned the greeting.
Well.
A terrifying sense of danger ran through his entire body.
His instincts, honed through battle after battle, were sounding the alarm about just how “dangerous” the person before him was.
He could say this for certain.
In terms of feeling that his life was in danger, not even Noel or Katia had made him feel like this.
“...Have you been well?”
Yet the words were spoken in a remarkably peaceful tone for someone who inspired such fear.
He knew who was responsible for this scene.
Aiden looked at the person greeting him awkwardly, her expression stiff.
“...Hello, Princess Milene.”
“Yeah.”
After a brief pause, the woman in armor quietly spoke.
“Listen, I’ve been thinking about what you said before.”
“Sorry?”
“Would you like to come with me for a while?”
“...”
...Hmm.
It was a good thing Noel and Katia were not nearby.
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