[AN: I went to hang out with my friends so there was no chapter yesterday ;D

Since I felt bad for you guys I didn't wait for PR so there will be mistakes (I'm sure) but bear with me ;3]

P.S. Fixed with our Miaowdom-san and nf_zeta-san help! Applause!

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Nova Aria

Occupation: Cadet in Athena's Institute

Focus: Soldier

Power: 10th HST

Special Characteristics: Witch

Known Abilities: Barrier Psychic, Runes

There was also a photo of a Blue haired, blue eyed young woman in her late teens. Her delicate facial features were complemented with her serious and determined eyes. Most importantly she didn't have any animal characteristics so she was actually, besides her azure hair, very similar to the Neo-Aris. However, no matter how similar they were, Witches were actually an UHigh sub-race...

[--Calla--: She's cute m'lord, you're lucky.]

[--Marc--: ...]

Vorst’s gaze locked onto the opponent's M-Armor.

M-Armors were built in the image of their users, and the one before him certainly had womanly curves. With a slender build she certainly had that style... She was totally in his strike zone! Too bad he realized that he himself was only 11. As he was daydreaming, the other party called out to him.

[Nova: Golden Knight! Ever since I saw you in the Inter-school Tournament, I knew that it was you! The one I've been waiting for all this time! Leave the White Wolf Princess and become mine! The Knight of Nova Aria!]

[--Marc--: ...]

[--Calla--: That girl, she doesn't even know what she asks for.]

[--Lily--: Haha, so it begins.]

[--Calla--: Requests like those are rejected by default though.]

[--Lily--: That's right, at most she can beg to become Marc's, not the other way around.]

[--Calla--: *Nods* How can one take the for herself?]

[--Marc--: ...]

[AN: Regis (latin) stands for King/Ruler, it is one of the main themes in the Flow World where Marc came from.]

Marc was speechless, how does that little girl dare to ask for that... In his old world he was the . It was where his authority reigned. That authority was his pride. Marc only has three principles. One of them is to protect his pride. Once anyone dares to touch it he'll teach them a lesson... It seems like he'll need to beat her no matter what!

[Vorst: Rejected.]

[Nova: W-wha?]

[Vorst: I'm mine. I'll never belong to anyone.]

[Nova: It seems like I'll have to defeat you. Once I beat you you'll be mine!]

[Vorst: Huh...]

[Nova: I-If by a-any chance, like in a one in a million chance that i lose, t-then I-I'll become y-yours...]

[Vorst: ...]

[--Lily--: Though that line was expected... How sly.]

[--Calla--: ... *Nods* A good move.]

Golden Knight was visibly troubled. With a resignation he shook his head...

Vorst reached out as he accessed his Photon Space.

Then on his had a sword appeared.

[--Marc--: I made this one for you Calla, but I guess I'll be using it first.]

[--Calla--: What's mine is m'lords. *sweet smile*]

The slightly curved long blade was over 2 meters long and 30 centimeters wide. But that wasn't all, the hilt was masterfully crafted. A grip that was filled with dark golden scales as the motif made it lie firmly in his hand, on the tip of the wavy blade was a carving of the tail of a long golden serpent that ended with a dragon's head biting into the guard. The one sided undulating edge was darker than night. As the Golden Knight raised it, the black alchemical metal emanated pure blackness.

On the side of the edge there was a minuscule inscription: Marcdrak -

One must know that once Marcdrak leaves his mark on an object it shows that he fully recognizes it as his creation. Hence, once he truly makes a weapon it is no longer merely a weapon. It is also a piece of art. That mark is was the proof - it was his pride.

He took a side stance with both of his hands grasping that beautiful black blade. With the photons pouring in to the alchemical metal, the black aura that was emanating from it reformed. Previously it was radiating indiscriminately, but right now the flow was moving in one direction forming an illusionary second edge.

Blink.

A golden line appeared.

As with previous encounters he seamlessly closed in at an incredible speed...

Nova reacted a bit too late. She was mesmerized by the beautiful and elegant black blade. Though it was tardy, just before the black blade connected she still managed to pull out a psychic barrier.

One must know that the shields and psychic barriers belonged to two completely different worlds. No matter how strong shields are they are only a pure nano-photon protection erected to absorb some damage. Psychic barriers on the other hand are additionally reinforced by the innate psychic power of the individual.

His first strike was blocked, but Marc immediately connected a second strike. Then a third. Fourth. Fifth.

[Nova: (Restriction).]

Freeze. His movements halted.

It felt as if the air around him condensed. As if one was sinking into mud.

[Vorst: HAA!]

His response was immediate.

An explosion. An extreme radiance gushed outwards. Nano-photons indiscriminately flew out disrupting the restriction barrier placed on him.

It was however, still too late. BOOM. The Golden Knight was shot backwards and crashed into the wall of the arena.

[Nova: Such a savage method...]

It was first time someone used something other than psychic powers to break her (Restriction). And it was such a wild method. He just simply overloaded the barrier with his photon pool. It was easy to say but to immediately cause his photons to expand outwards in a second was incredibly difficult...

The Golden Knight walked out of a crater without much damage. At the last moment he managed to shield himself with his tail. Several scars appeared on the scales of the vicious whip that was swaying behind him.

Nova was quite shocked. In the last exchange he managed to bring down 20% of her barrier, in that split-second he had managed to deal more damage to her than in any duel she had after she reached 10th HST!

[Nova Aria: Just as I thought, he's really the one...]

As she muttered happily, the Golden Knight raised his double handed sword again.

Dash.

But this time she was prepared to receive his charge. Only one of his strikes hit. After that he was put inside the restriction barrier. Once he was pushed back by a sword strike empowered by the mysterious power of runes.

[--Marc--: (Impact Rune), and her swordsmanship is not too shabby either.]

[--Calla--: Though it's not plainly bad, she needs tons of improvement, even those shabby official Swordsmen before were a level above her.]

The Demoness seeing Marc in quite the predicament whispered sweetly.

[--Lily--: What are you going to do Marc? At this rate you're going to lose~]

[--Calla--: What are you talking about? She's done as long as m'lord uses my 'Omen of Destruction'.]

[--Lily--: True, but is it worth using that power right now?]

[--Marc--: *Nods* It's not the time to use that, I'll just wait for the moment she makes a mistake, also there is another method, though I don't want to use it either...]

Nova seeing that her opponent stopped attacking smiled inside her M-Armor. That's right, getting close to the Witch of Restriction will bring you in the range of her (Restriction), but Nova also has a method for those who want to keep their distance.

[Nova: (Runic Shot)]

As she pointed the sword towards Neo-Aris a white bullet flew out at incredible speed.

Vorst made lightning-like sidestep to avoid it. Comparing it to the normal photon bullet it was like heaven and earth. This one was completely packed with nano-photons. That was the power of runes, as long as one mastered a particular rune, creating it was fast and easy.

[--Lily--: Combined rune of (Explosion), (Speed) and (Wind). Though it's clumsily made it's not bad.]

The Former Lord of Betrayal was currently sitting next to a stylish white table that she summoned herself. Brining a porcelain cup of scented tea towards her cute lips, she was commenting as if the battle amused her.

[--Calla--: *Nods, gulp.*]

The Archangel of Slaughter sitting next to her enjoyed the tea together with her without any care too.

After dodging another (Runic Shot), the Golden Knight made another attempt at the Witch only to be pushed back once again.

The battle continued.

(Runic Shot). Explosions. Dodge. Hit. (Restriction). (Impact Blade).

The Vicious cycle was repeatedly draining his barrier strength.

The Golden Knight's tail was tattered with only a few remaining scales on it. With a crack noise it moved to the front to protect it's owner... For the last time. After another crash at the arena it broke away from the main body and remained within the crash.

Vorst's barrier: 25%

Nova's barrier: 65%

Swish.

Burst. Vorst made an immediate movement to dodge the incoming runic bullet.

Swish. Swish. Swish.

As usual he dodged with seamless movements... But this time it was different, maybe because he lost his tail his sense of balance was a bit off...

The third one hit directly at his shoulder pushing him back.

Nova didn't miss it, she moved the photons to her sword as she charged up another (Runic Shot), this one however had thrice times more power than the last one.

The oval sphere shot out.

Then it happened.

His bad reaction was a blatant lie, and as if nothing ever happened the Golden Knight instantly regained his balance as he shot out at the speed faster than anything before.

A full Accel.

The white bullet grazed him. Golden Scales turned into scraps. Then, he was before the Witch.

Strike. Strike. Strike.

Recklessly. Ferociously.

[Nova: (Restriction), (Impact Blade)]

With those two his offensive was halted and again he was pushed back. Nova bit her lip, in his last offense she couldn't put a psychic barrier in time. In fact she was admiring him more and more.

Vorst's barrier: 14%

Nova's barrier: 38%

The Golden Knight's movements halted. That was his last card. Just as she showed an opening he aimed to exploit it completely but Nova's reaction was incredibly quick. It seems like even in surprise she doesn't lose her head... Seeing him stop the Witch correctly guessed his thoughts.

[Nova: Your last move was excellent, but I guess you're out of options right? You can just surrender now. I still can't believe you are just 2nd HST, no one else pushed me back this far, you can be proud of yourself. Now surrender and let this onee-san take care of you.]

She said that as her hands were caressing her long sword. The Golden Knight shook his head in resignation...

[Vorst: I didn't want to use it... But since I hate losing, it can't be helped.]

Nova eyes squinted, what will he do? She really wanted to find out...

With that he accessed his PSpace again.

A white sphere appeared.

[Vorst: Battle mode.]

Red lines appeared on the previously pure white surface and as mechanical sounds resounded the white thing transformed. The sphere became smaller, in exchange it grew out four 1m curved blades on it's sides.

System: Object? Power level: Low HST

[Nova: No way. Photon Transfer.]

That was a special ability that only Circle Tier Engineers were supposed to be able to possess. Since their fighting abilities were quite weak they would just employ the bots in their stead. They would transfer their photons to the bot and let it fight. Of course there were some major drawbacks like the attack pattern being repetitive and lack of flexibility, but user would be relatively safe.

[Vorst: No need to hold back. Camouflage.]

With additional command the bot started spinning and it's color started to fade away, until it turned transparent. Optical Camouflage - with it, the spinning bot was nearly invisible, there was just a barely noticeable outline left.

[--Lily--: Huhu, I'll just refrain from using the 'Omen of Deceit'.]

Once that special blessing was activated the Intelligence Drone would truly become undetectable.

The barely visible object moved, but the Witch didn't have the leisure to follow it as she was fully occupied with the golden flash that went straight for her.

[Nova: Kuh, (Restriction), Impa. Ah.]

As usual Vorst was caught in her barrier, but just as she was about to create a rune on her sword 'something' hit it with perfect timing. The Golden Knight was waiting for this moment, he broke past the restriction barrier and slashed repeatedly.

Slash. Slash. Slash. Slash. Slash.

A dark flare appeared on the sword.

Suddenly, an explosion happened.

The Golden Knight yet again crashed into the wall. Yet he stood up once again, a circular blur appeared next to him. One of the weaknesses of the Photon Transfer was the need to recharge, that meant if the two of them fought, it was a double photon consumption.

[Vorst: Fufu, this feels like the usual routine for me, but tell me. How does the wall taste?]

Indeed! This time the Witch, for the first time, also created a crash mark on the opposite side. It was a desperate move! If the last dark flare move connected she would have lost, so she fired off 'Explosion' rune at point blank that damaged both of them.

[Nova: That sword is good, to be able to take (Explosion) and be unscathed...]

Though she joked, she knew she was in a crisis. This was one of her few weaknesses - her (Restriction) could only hold back one object!

[Vorst: Hehe, this little one is my pride.]

And he bestowed the black blade with a tender caress. Nova didn't know why but she felt a little jealous...

With a burst she arrived at the middle of the arena again. For her, being pushed back to a wall in a melee was a major disadvantage. The Golden Knight just stood there as he allowed her to position herself.

Again, both of her opponents moved. The Witch didn't dare to waste her breath with (Runic Shot) anymore.

[Nova: (Restriction), Impac..]

The situation repeated itself, she was able to lock the Golden Knight, but her runic invocation was disrupted. This time she immediately slashed towards the blur which fell down. She knew that expending her energy on that one would cost her quite a bit... As she predicted Vorst went all out. Myriad of strikes went for her deployed psychic barrier.

BOOM. Yet again an explosion occurred.

Vorst's Barrier: 10%

Nova's Barrier: 3%

That's right the situation was reversed!

The Golden Armor for the umpteenth time stood up. Holding his black blade, he positioned himself once again. Most of the scales on his armor were already crushed, the auxiliary armor behind it was bent all over the place but his steps were still steady. Inside his helmet hundreds of red warning messages were popping, alerting him to the failure of nearly all of the M-Armor’s systems.

The Female Golden Witch also appeared from the haze. From the look of it she was in a better shape, though her armor only had dozens of cuts on the surface they were quite deep and her barrier was threatening to break at any moment now. In the last exchange she also suffered a cut to her side. Though it was relatively shallow (for a cut from a 2m blade) blood was constantly pouring out, and the Virtual Game realistically transmitted her reduced pain and the nausea.

Nova Aria's heart was pounding wildly. The Golden Knight in front of her displayed a prowess that surpassed all of her wildest imaginations. In all of the previous matches it was all over once she used the (Restriction) two or three times. The Golden Knight was still standing after receiving tens of them!

Creak. Clang. Creak.

Pitiful sounds echoed as he forcefully moved his Golden Dragon. Again accelerating to the full Accel speed. The last of the dark golden scales which were holding on desperately started falling off due to enormous pressure leaving a golden trail after him. He didn't care. Right now defeating the opponent before him was a priority. BOOM. A Sonic boom had occured, Vorst expended the last of his photons as he surpassed the speed of sound.

Seeing the golden line moving towards her, Nova raised both of her hands. She didn't care about the (Restriction) anymore. She didn't care about psychic barrier either.

Clash.

A black flash cut through the Golden Witch, and she in her last move threw at him a (Runic Shot) that in scale surpassed previous explosions by many times.

BOOM.

With another crash the Golden Armor was thrown into the wall, this time after he crashed a huge explosion occurred...

...

Everyone was silent. Since the moment Vorst took out his white bot and reversed the situation even Mistglan was too surprised to say a word.

Right now everyone's eyes were glued into the holo-monitor that displayed the smoke that was left after the last explosion.

What happened to the tournament?

Did both of them lose?

A Tie?

How would this be resolved?

Then a blurred figure emerged from the crater. The Golden Knight, which right now did not have a shred of golden color left on him, was slowly walking through the flames. With the movement system on 0%, he was in fact forcing it to move by directly pouring his nano-photons into it.

...

In his left hand there was a completely ruined white bot which had turned into the shape of a shield. It was thanks to Lily that he had avoided the complete destruction of his armor.

[--Lily--: Such sacrifice for his master. Rest in peace Intelligence Drone *Sob sob*]

With a theatrical movement she brought white handkerchief to her eyes.

[--Calla--: Just fix it... "And it's not even happening in the real world in the first place."]

Only after walking out of the crater did the Golden M-Armor shut down while standing.

That was Marc's pride. If he won, then he would show that he did so while standing tall, so that the opponents would not be shamed.

While basking in the light of victory three lines pierced through his soul... That characteristic sting...

Although he won, why did it feel like he lost?