Chapter 29 - Superior Stage Master Realm

"Superior stage.. since when was this, why didn't I know?"

Cattleya asked Creuserey, who replied while chuckling,

"It was supposed to be a surprise so I gave him my concealment ring, certainly did its job." As he spoke, he stretched his hand out and the ring Arthur threw to the ground flew towards him.

Meanwhile Arthur was laughing at Layla's surprise,

"I was born in the intermediate stage, that was eight years ago, don't you think i should have improved by now, even you have gotten to the intermediate stage too."

He remarked on Layla's increased strength, she was originally born in the inferior stage of the master realm and over the years, he had absorbed magic cores from beasts of the master realm, improving here strength by a stage.

She could have improved further, but her absorption efficiency was low, as she has not had her magic blooming yet. Although it was a trivial matter to get inferior stage master realm energy cores for her family, she did not have a habit of wastage so she decided to wait until she had her magic blooming at ten so she could have better efficiency.

As Arthur was a prince, she believed he must have done the same but his next words refuted that.

"I haven't absorbed any cores if that's what you're thinking, for some reason I can't manipulate my energy at all, so naturally I can't use any cores to get stronger, quite the pity, hopefully I'm able to do so after my magic blooming. Advancing in strength through normal means is quite tiring"

His words were said casually but the weight of them was far from it. Hearing this Grand Duke Eryrth frowned.

'He is eight already, even if he has not had his magic blooming, he should be able to use his energy, something's wrong somewhere.'

He looked towards the royals seated at his left but they showed no surprise as if they already knew about this. He decided to think about it later and focus on the duel that continued.

"Just because you're a stage higher, doesn't mean you can't lose."

"That's what i like to hear." Arthur smiled in response to Layla's words.

**Pshoo!

From the gun Layla had in her right hand, a shining bullet that seemed to consist of condensed light was fired. It left a sparkly trail behind as it drew near Arthur. It was faster than the light arrows produced by most bow artifacts.

"?!"

Arthur took a huge leap to the side to avoid it. Perhaps, that was a wrong move on his part as the second bullet deployed by Layla was already well on its way as though she had been aiming for Arthur's landing spot from the start.

"——!!?"

Arthur felt he had made a blunder, he did not have much experience fighting gun users, which was why he was being over cautious. Had he evaded it with minimal actions, such a blunder would not have taken place.

'But——this is not a mistake, just yet!'

**Crrank!

An ice sword appeared in Arthur's right hand. It was generated by the artifact on his right wrist, one that absorbed the user's energy to create weapons of ice. As Arthur could not manipulate his energy, he was stuck using the default setting, sword creation.

He had used it for so long he could now deploy it almost instantaneously. That was why he could repel Layla's bullet on the spur of the moment.

**Ka-pyung!

After creating a clear, resonating sound, the bullet that aimed for Arthur's feet was repelled away.

"How's this?!"

Layla fired three more bullets as she spoke. Normally, some magi-tech guns had a shortcoming in the form of needing a few moments to reload the bullet into the cartridge. However, the weapons Layla picked had no such shortcomings. She fired her gun rapidly.

Arthur repelled all three bullets. Layla's gaze, the muzzle's angle, the finger's movement. If he kept a close observation of those places, Arthur could estimate the bullets' trajectory. He was beginning to appreciate the harsh training Creuserey made him go through.

"Ah!? Shoot!"

As for why he raised his voice, that was because the bullet he repelled went flying towards the spectators. However, a thin transparent wall stopped that bullet. Having its momentum stopped, the bullet fell towards the ground and rolled momentarily. It appeared that some kind of protective barrier was erected between them.

"Don't worry, there's no way such a small thing could harm us even if it hit."

Cattleya spoke up seeing Arthur's reaction.

"Of course it won't, in that case, I'll hold nothing back!"

Arthur replied and stepped forwards. Nothing would start unless he closed the distance between them and went for the offense.

No, strictly speaking, he still could retaliate by shooting with the guns on his waist. However, there would be no meaning to do that. Layla's strength lied in controlling the distance between her and her opponent by gunning them down and leaving little gaps to be taken advantage of, and then defeat them just like so.

If that was the case, then the best way to gain experience and enjoy the fight against her was to dodge the rain of bullets and challenge her in melee attacks.

Play by the opponent's game and take the victory. That was how Arthur felt like fighting today.

Whilst evading the gunfire by a paper-thin margin, Arthur stepped forward and only warded off bullets that would likely hit him with his sword. Evasion, stepping in, and warding off, he made instantaneous decisions for each action as he drew nearer.

"I'm not stopping either, you know!"

Right. What was most troubling with fighting Layla was that she herself was keen and agile with extraordinary physical prowess unlike other ranged fighters who had more of agility than physical strength.

'Which is why it's fun. It's worth the challenge!'

"I'll show you I can reach you!"

The gap between Arthur and Layla was gradually closing up.

"Look how much you're enjoying this! If you're that thrilled, then so am I!" Arthur shouted as he repelled her onslaught of bullets.

However, Layla still had her composure. This meant she still had an ace up her sleeve. The question was; when would she use it?

Still——Even as it was now, Arthur was amazing enough. His perceivability was dead accurate due to the sharp senses he inherited from his mother's bloodline and his movement was exceptionally keen and agile. Moreover, his gestures were fluid and graceful. It made Layla question if he was actually an eight year old like her.

Then, slipping past through Layla's right hand, Arthur finally arrived right in front of her eyes. He came around to Layla's left side, making sure that the muzzle would have a hard time aiming at him. One more step in and Layla would be within the reach of Arthur's sword.

This was the perfect chance for Arthur to attack.

'He will certainly take that one step, and I'll shoot right then!'

Towards Arthur who was already on the offense, Layla struck out her empty left hand. Then, in her grasp, another gun made its appearance.

'Shit. I forgot the about other gun!"

**Bang!

"Kguhh!"

In the nick of time, Arthur managed to twist his body to avoid a direct hit, but the bullet grazed his shoulder. A part of his clothes was blown away and the shockwave of the bullet pushed him back.

"An opening! And there!"

"Not yet!"

Even if Arthur was shoved back, he attempted to reposition himself and regain her posture. He somehow managed to repel the bullets that mercilessly pursued him with his ice sword whilst he retreated, but by the time his stance was fixed, the distance between him and Layla was wider than before he went for the offense.

"Now our role switches! Can you still get closer?"

There was not enough room to slip amidst the barrage of bullets. Layla's guns would not run out of ammunition quickly and, while she would not hit him, Arthur did not have the leeway to get close to her.

Just evading and warding them off took his everything. If this continued on, would Layla eventually run out of energy? Or would Arthur to be the one to exhaust himself first…?

'I see what I need to strike!'

With their role switched, Arthur was the only one moving around while Layla's feet were locked in place.

If so, Arthur deliberately put one foot back and readied himself in a side stance. He grasped the hilt of his ice sword with both hands then set it horizontal to his waist. It was all to maximize the velocity and the maneuverability of his sword.

**Pshoo pshoo pshooo!!

Layla's rapid triple shots came flying at close intervals to hit Arthur's narrow stance. Arthur's eyes then glittered like a bird of prey. Although it was for a short moment, he could feel everything in the area around him slow.

"I see it! HAaaat!"

Arthur's ice sword flashed!

**Plank plank plankk!!!

Three dry noises resounded, and the sight that came right after that shocked Layla out of her mind. Her light bullets were rebounded and went straight towards herself. Even the spectators were slightly surprised. Creuserey on the other hand laughed while saying,

"He finally learnt it."

As for Layla,

"EEEeeeehh!?!"

Layla was so astonished that she could not help but shout. Ever since she began training with her household's knights, even if she had seen time and time again her bullets getting warded off by a sword, this was the first time she had her own bullets sent straight back to her.

Layla's feet were unmoving as she had become the one on the offense, so Arthur had aimed to hit her squarely by rebounding her projectiles.

Truly a frightening skill to behold. This was no longer a matter of physical power, how could an eight year old like her possess such frightening skill. Was this what they called a 'true genius'?

Layla countered the incoming bullets by shooting bullets into them. She managed to repel two of the three, but

'The last one will hit me!'

She was left with no choice but to leap away. In that slight moment, her rapid shooting had to stop. She didn't have any intention to take her eyes off Arthur, even so——

'He's gone!'

The moment that thought came up, Layla's field of vision caught beautiful, silvery threads fluttering nearby. It was the sight of Arthur's hair. That meant one thing, he was already up close.

'He sneaked into my reach!'

"!"

**DOON!!

Riding the momentum, Arthur slammed into Layla with his shoulder.

"UWAaahh!?!"

Layla's light body was blown quite far away by the force of the impact. She flew towards the barrier in the spectators direction. However, defying Arthur's expectation from the pinging sound of the collision, Layla was actually not repelled by the barrier and landed quite softly.

The barrier was probably set up this way to prevent injuries.

**Crack Crack Crack!

Three cracking sounds signifying that her sacrificial artifacts had been broken resounded in the training room.

Hearing this, Arthur laughed and walked over to her to help her stand up.

"I didn't use the guns I took in the end, still you're quite good."

"Thank you for the praise your highness."

"Don't be so stiff, just call me Arthur."

"But your hi-"

"Arthur."

"Yo-"

"Arthur."

Seeing that Arthur was not going to let this matter pass, she finally agreed to call him by his name, to which he smiled. She was mesmerized by his bright smile and couldn't help staring.

'He's pretty, prettier than some girls. If he grew his hair out it'd be-!'

Upon realizing her thoughts were going in a strange direction, she blushed and shook his hand off lightly, taking distance from him.

Arthur just tilted his head in confusion before saying,

"Uncle Bel, give her the guns."

"My name is Belphegor not Bel, Prince Arthur."

Belphegor remarked as usual as he presented the magic guns which hadn't been unpacked to Layla.

"Your-! Arthur? Why? I lost, didn't I?"

"I never really needed them in the first place, I just wanted to add it to my collection, it'd be of better use in your hands."

Layla smiled brightly and thanked Arthur before running to her dad while squealing happily. Seeing this, Grand Duke Eryrth patted her head before bowing to Arthur.

"Thank you your highness."

"It's nothing much, just a whim of mine." Turning around to Creuserey he spoke,

"I won, no training for a month, plus I learnt that technique so no training for two months!"

He made a guts pose then looked at Layla saying,

"You'd accompany me quite a lot in the next two months, brace yourself, I enjoy wandering around a lot."

After saying this, he ran to the changing room to change out of his torn shirt.

The others who were left in the room all looked at Layla with sympathetic eyes. As for Layla, she was confused,

"Huh? What's wrong, why's everyone looking at me funny, even you too dad?"

Belphegor walked up to her and spoke,

"I'll try to restrain him but, my condolences."

"Huh? Can someone please explain what's going on?!"