Heathcliff pulled his slender sword out of his shield and put it in a battle position. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

His posture of facing the shield to this side, exposing only the upper half of his body, was quite relaxed and natural, and it seemed that he did not use any extra force at all. I knew that anticipating the enemy's first move would only add to my doubts, so I made up my mind to attack with all my might at the beginning.

Although neither of them looked at the window, they rushed out at the same time when the text "DUEL" appeared.

I lunged forward with a thud, almost sliding against the ground.

Turning around as he was about to reach Heathcliff, the sword slashed diagonally to the left. The crossshield met my attack, and a fierce spark erupted. But I did a two-stage attack, and the second attack was only a tenths of a second slower than the first attack, and I slid into the inside of the shield. This is a one-handed sword advance technique "Double Fan Slash".

The left blow was blocked by the sword as it was about to reach the enemy's flank, and only the circular light effect was hollowly circled. It's a pity, but the blow was just a welcome to the beginning of the fight. I used the remaining momentum of my sword skills to gain distance and re-struck.

As a result, this time it was Heatscliff who attacked me with a shield as if he wanted to return the favor. His right arm was hidden in the shadow of the huge cross shield, making it impossible to see at all.

"Tsk!"

I stumbled as I sprinted to the right, trying to dodge the attack. This is because I think that if you go around the shield, you will have more time to react to the opponent's attack, even if you can't see the initial trajectory.

But Heathcliff lifted the shield in its entirety—

"Drink! Syllable! ”

With a heavy shout, the tip of the shield stabbed at me. The huge crossbow dragged the white effect light towards me.

"Woo!"

I immediately raised my sword to withstand the attack. This caused a strong impact to spread all over my body, and my whole body was ejected several meters away. The first sword plunged into the ground to prevent him from falling, and then landed in a spin in the air.

I didn't expect that shield to have an attack judgment, just like Kirito's second sword. Originally, I thought that the two weapons would have a large number of attacks and would have an advantage in the first hit, but the current situation is really unexpected.

Heathcliff didn't give me time to regroup, and once again used the sprint to close the distance. The long sword with the hilt of the cross on his right hand stabbed at a speed that even Asuna couldn't match.

The enemy began to attack continuously, and I could only defend with all my strength with the sword on both hands. I've done as much research as I can on the Divine Sword's sword skills beforehand, but this kind of improvised knowledge is really unreliable. You can only use your instant reaction to resist attacks from up and down.

After using [Devil Cry] to bounce off the final upper stage of the eight combos, the right hand immediately unleashes a single heavy attack "Nightmare Slash".

"Uh...... Ahh

The spike glowed red, and the metallic sound of a jet engine stabbed the center of the crossbow. I ignored the heavy feel like hitting a rock wall, and I just tried to pull out the moves.

"Click!" An explosion rang out, and this time Heathcliff was bounced away. Although there is no way to penetrate the shield, the slight damage has the feeling of "penetrating" the past. The opponent's HP bar has been reduced slightly. However, this damage is not enough to determine the victory.

Heathcliff landed lightly on the ground, pulling us apart.

"Amazing reaction speed......"

"Your defense is perfect!" The Holy Sword's defense is indeed the highest of all hidden classes.

I said and rushed out again. Heathcliff also re-positioned himself and leaned over to this side.

This is followed by a super-high-speed continuous performance. My sword skills were resisted by his shield, and his sword was ricocheted off by mine. Around the two of them, a variety of colors and rays of light were constantly scattered, and the sound of impact permeated the stone floor of the entire arena. Small attacks on each other will occasionally hit each other, and the HP of both of them will begin to decrease little by little. Even if you don't get hit by a heavy attack, if one of your HP bars is less than half, the other person wins.

But I didn't even think about winning that way. Since being imprisoned in SAO, this is the second time I have encountered an opponent who can be called a strong enemy, and I have tasted an unprecedented sense of acceleration. Every time you feel your perception go up a notch, your attack speed will also increase.

It's not the limit yet. It could be a little faster. Hurry up, Heathcliff!

At this moment, the pleasure of freeing all my power to swing the sword enveloped my whole body. I guess I should have a smile on my face. As the struggle between swords and swords became more and more intense, the HP bars on both sides continued to decrease, and finally reached the level of about fifty percent left.

In the next moment, Heathcliff, who had been expressionless all along, suddenly flashed a look of emotion on his face. What's wrong with him. Started to get impatient? I could feel the pace of the enemy's attacks gradually starting to slow down.

"Wow, aa

In a moment, I abandoned all my defenses, and the swords in both hands began to attack. I turned on "Frenzy" and used the sword skill "Doomsday" with the highest number of hits I have so far. The sword slashed at Heatscliff like a stream of fire from the stars.

"Wow......!"

Heathcliff raised his cross shield to fend off the attack. I ignored his defenses and continued to slash at him from top to bottom, left and right. The other party is becoming slower and slower.

- He can't stop it!

I'm sure the final blow has broken through his defenses. Taking advantage of the swung of the cross shield too far to the left, my right hand attack dragged the light and beckoned towards Heathcliff. As long as this attack works, his HP will definitely drop to less than fifty percent, and the duel will be over-

- At this time, the world began to distort.

“……!”

I don't know how to describe it. Or should I say that time seems to have been stolen by someone.

It felt like everything except Heatscliffe was paused for a few tenths of a second, including my body. And his shield, which was supposed to be on the right, moved to the left like a VCR spinning in an instant, deflecting my fatal blow away.

"W-"

The combo skill was resisted, and I fell into a fatal stiff time. And Heathcliff, of course, will not let go of this opportunity.

A single thrust from his right hand gave me hateful damage that was just enough to end the fight, and I fell in embarrassment. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a purple system message announcing the end of the duel flickering.

"Did you use the GM's permissions?" The corners of my mouth twitched twice, and it seemed that if I wanted to defeat Akihiko Kayaba, I would have to wait until I cleared the level.

"Oh!" A deafening cheer from outside the arena resounded through the arena and pulled me out of my thoughts.

"You're strong." I glanced at Heathcliff and said pointedly.

"I conceded." Heathcliff narrowed his eyes and didn't say anything.

What happened in that moment just now should only be known to me and Heathcliff, and the speed that exploded in that moment was completely impossible for players to accomplish at this stage.

"Although you lost, I still agreed to your request, but the time is only today." Heathcliffe said.

"Yes, thank you." I nodded slightly, and left the venue without looking back.

.............................................................................. I'm the dividing line back home......................................................................................................

"Don (brother), are you okay?" As soon as I got home, such a strange picture greeted me, and the two girls who were very close to me walked up with concern and asked with great concern.

"Uh, it's alright, how did you hear about my duel with Heathcliff?" I didn't know who to answer first, so I changed the subject.

"You just decided to duel with the leader, and then our guild's chat channel spread, and then Sirika also learned about this latest news from the Raiders Daily." Asuna walked up to me and looked at me worriedly.

"Well, it's not hurt, it's okay if you lose."

"Hehe, how can I have anything, if I lose, I will lose, I am not such a person who can't afford to lose. But I'll help you take a leave of absence! I smiled, looking indifferent.

"Fool!" Asuna laughed angrily and raised her little fist and slammed it into my chest.

Celica looked at the two people in front of her, and for some reason, she felt a little stuffy in her heart, rubbed her sore eyes, and ran away quietly.

"Don, let's get married today, I don't want any big ceremony, I just want to marry you as soon as possible." Asuna turned her back to Sirika and didn't see the scene of Sirika rubbing her eyes and running away.

"Yes." I didn't pay attention to Celica who had been on the side at this time, and after hearing Asuna's words, I nodded seriously, and then said:

"You should know what you need to get married."

"Huh? Isn't it possible to get married after registration? Asuna looked up and said with some consternation.

"So you don't know anything, you're just talking!" I opened my mouth wide in surprise.

"What! Really, are you already experienced? Asuna said with a blushing face and some anger.

"That's not true, I heard from Kiritori and Yuki, I heard that they did a three-day marriage mission, but with our current level, it should be done in one day." I shook my head, I got the news from Kirito.

"So what are you waiting for, let's go," Asuna said, grabbing my wrist and impatiently.