Chapter 767: Lazy
Her attendants had never seen their swordmistress so shocked. They thought she already knew that. “Yes, swordmistress. He was a demi-human, not a human or a Beastfolk.”
The old lady took a second to process that information before she eventually started smiling. “Hahahaha… forgive me for being blind and deaf.”
It should have been obvious, given the cloth that wrapped around the old lady’s eyes and ears, but her attendants had been so used to their swordsmistress seeing things much better than others that they completely forgot that she was even disabled.
“I really thought he was human because of that thing in his chest. It seems that there’s more to him that meets the eye,” the old woman said.
Her attendants looked at each other, confused. “Saw what in his chest, swordmistress?”
“It’s nothing,” the old lady replied. “It’s a shame. It seems that fate already has something in store for that unpolished stone. If not, I would have liked to take him in as my student.”
As soon as she said that, her attendants suddenly went into a complete uproar.
“WHAT?!”
“There will be a riot if people find out that a nobody became your student!”
“Swordmistress, you cannot be serious!”
The old lady simply chuckled seeing her attendants act this way. “Maybe, maybe not. We’ll see. I’ll let the strings of fate work her magic.”
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…
Jaku stood up again, his face indignant, before he charged towards Mauricio again and kept on barraging him with ultra fast moves.
The two kept exchanging clashes, with Jaku on the offensive and Mauricio on the defensive.
Many thought this would be an easy win for Mauricio, but as the seconds passed by and the fur burned in the Werewolf judge’s hands, people noticed that the two were on equal footing.
This was surprising.
Mauricio noticed it too. The only time that he could ‘hit’ Jaku was if he countered one of his wild attacks that seemed to have no rhyme or reason.
However, when he attacked Jaku, forcing Jaku on the defensive, the demi-human seemed to suddenly become an impenetrable fortress!
It was weird. On the offensive, Jaku’s speed made his moves chaotic and unorganized, making him look like an amateur. But on the defensive, his speed complemented perfectly when trying to evade or block attacks. His moves were efficient and confident, as if he was a master!
‘Did his teacher only train him in defensive moves?’ Mauricio wondered.
Despite this obvious flaw, Mauricio still couldn’t get the finishing blow on Jaku. The two were evenly matched.
The worst part was that the other people were beginning to notice this as well.
“Why isn’t he defeating Jaku?”
“Does he want to let the time run out?”
“Or maybe… he can’t.”
Gritting his teeth, Mauricio decided to establish his dominance over Jaku.
“I’m getting tired of you,” he said to Jaku. “I’ll show you why demi-humans can never become the best swordsman.”
A powerful shockwave emanated out of Mauricio as he began to tap into a power hidden deep inside his chest.
Threads of Aubility Power unleashed out of his GodForge pieces, allowing the Diva above his head to manifest.
A human-like figure with a black hood that obscured half his face appeared above Mauricio. It had about ten arms in total, going around his body and even on the back of his neck. Each of its arms held different swords, some small, some thin, and some curved.
However, its tenth arm was still manifested only up to its wrist, showing that more arms would develop as he cultivated to the upper stages of the Body Formation stage.
Once the Diva had shown itself, the gap between the two swordsmen immediately became as wide as a chasm.
Jaku found himself unable to move forwards. His instincts told him that this was someone he could not yet defeat.
It was no longer a battle between swordsmen. It was a battle between Maugnetics. And as of right now, Jaku had no connection to his GodForge pieces.
Mauricio raised his greatsword and swung it towards Jaku, its speed not faster or slower than his swing from before.
But now, the Diva above his head shuffled its hands around, becoming a blur.
Jaku took a step back and positioned his katana diagonally, intending to deflect the greatsword just enough for him to evade.
But just as Mauricio’s blade was about to clash with his katana, Mauricio’s Diva finally decided upon its weapon.
It stopped moving, showing a single weapon in all of its arms: a rapier.
The Greatsword in Mauricio’s hands suddenly started to shift and morph into an entirely different weapon, becoming thinner and lighter than its original properties.
Jaku’s defensive move was proven moot.
Mauricio changed his moves at the very last instant, easily bypassing Jaku’s katana and straight into his chest.
The weapon was about to pierce Jaku’s scales, but an invisible prismatic shield appeared and clashed with the tip of the rapier, causing a miniature explosion that knocked Mauricio a step back, and Jaku flying off into the crowd.
“Woww… as expected of Mauricio!”
“His Aubility is truly overpowered. How can anyone counter that?”
“Even Jaku’s insane speed can’t keep up with the reality-altering speed of Mauricio’s Aubilty.”
But while everyone was praising Mauricio, thinking he’d already won, the man himself was staring at his weapon, surprised.
It was now a greatsword again, but now, there was a single scratch on the tip.
Somehow, his Mithril Relic weapon was damaged just from that attack.
Yet, when he looked back at Jaku, he was still uninjured. Hurt, but not bleeding.
Mauricio couldn’t understand how that was even possible! His attack was laced with Aubility Power—no metal or magic should stand a chance against it!
“There’s something wrong with you,” he grumbled to Jaku.
And with much more ferocity than before, he charged at Jaku and began to barrage him with unrelenting attack after attack.
With each swing, his weapon changed its shape, speed, and size randomly, giving Jaku no chance at all to dodge.
Jaku got battered constantly, with his only saving grace being the prismatic shield that protected him from harm. But even that won’t last forever.
Mauricio’s weapon turned back into a greatsword as he swung it down towards Jaku’s chest, finally breaking through the [Lesser Unity Defense]. It shattered like glass, its pieces flowing in the wind.
Jaku crashed on his back, blood spewing out of his mouth.
He was on the verge of losing.
“This is why the Aubert Company will prevail in New Sparta. We have discipline and prioritize order over anything else, unlike other companies. Lazy people will never succeed,” Mauricio declared.
Suddenly, Jaku raised his head and remembered something.
Even though he’d been lazy all this time, never once did Michael reprimand him or try to change who he was.
Michael always wanted them to be comfortable. That was his goal. That was what he wanted everyone to be. That was what he always told him and everyone in the Nation of Reborn.
And if he lost to Mauricio, then this meant that Michael was wrong.
And that was impossible. Their boss wasn’t wrong.
Jaku realized what he had to do. If he can’t win by being lazy, then he’ll win by being lazy.