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The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

Chapter 160: Imitation

Fiera finished her exam with Rai and returned to Lewis looking unusually dejected.

“Hey, welcome back!”

“I lost.”

“You sure did.”

Fiera stopped in front of Lewis, clenched her fists, and told him she lost, her gaze cast downward in frustration.

“Why do you think you lost?”

“…I couldn’t land my attacks. I couldn’t defend against theirs either, and I ran out of stamina.”

“Well, that’s true. Anything else?”

“I think it was the difference in skill.”

As Lewis continued to question her, Fiera verbalized her own understanding of the reasons behind her defeat, but it seemed to be lacking because Lewis pressed on with more questions.

“Is that all?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Haah.”

Hearing Lewis’s sigh caused Fiera to flinch, filling her mind with worries that she might have disappointed him and that she could even be discarded.

“Fiera, when you transformed into a beast and had your hands on the ground, what were you thinking?”

“What… I thought if I was going to get countered, I should move quickly to avoid it.”

“Exactly.”

“Huh?”

“That’s where you lost.”

“What do you mean?”

For Fiera, her speed was her greatest weapon.

When she fought Might in the forest of the Town of Adonia and when she battled the assassin Zaid in the Magic Kingdom, she was able to win because she outpaced them.

However, now being told that her speed was the reason for her loss left her confused, and she couldn’t think of anything further.

“There’s nothing wrong with being fast, and I get that speed is your weapon. But relying solely on that isn’t good.

You might have won before because you were faster than your opponents, but that’s going to change. There are those out there who may be slow but have tough scales or shells for protection, and there are some like the opponent this time who simply won’t be hit. Against those kind of opponents, speed alone won’t cut it.”

“So, what should I do…?”

“It’s simple. Sharpen your skills outside of speed. Your last attack that didn’t fall into a predictable pattern was good, and if you think about it, there are ways.”

“…Got it.”

(Telling her the answer is easy, but that won’t help Fiera grow. It’s better to let her figure it out on her own.)

After listening to Lewis’s words, Fiera’s earlier despondent atmosphere faded, and her eyes sparkled with a desire for strength and a firm will not to lose again.

“Are you frustrated?”

“Mm.”

“Ha ha. That’s good. Losing to someone other than me from time to time isn’t so bad, is it?”

“Mm.”

“Don’t forget that frustration; use it as motivation. That frustration will guide you higher.”

“Understood.”

Lewis lightly patted Fiera’s head before passing her by and slowly walked toward the training ground where Olga was waiting.

“Well then, I guess it’s time for me to have fun too.”

“Do your best!”

“Yeah.”

Lewis waved goodbye to Fiera and faced off against Olga at the center of the training ground, both of them sharing cheerful smiles.

“Are we good to go?”

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Don’t worry about it. Frankly, I was happy to see this new side of you. You’re surprisingly caring about your teammates.”

“Well, we’ve known each other long enough for that. Now let’s get started quickly.”

“Right. I’ve been itching to fight as well. Roushe, please signal the start.”

“Understood.”

Called by Olga, Roushe stood between Lewis and Olga and checked if they were ready.

“Are you both ready?”

“Anytime.”

“All good here.”

“Then, let’s begin!”

With Roushe signaling the start, Lewis’s promotion exam finally commenced.

It had already been about two minutes since Roushe’s signal, yet Lewis and Olga hadn’t budged from their spots, simply staring at each other.

(Hmm. This isn’t working either.)

The adventurers watching were puzzled as to why they weren’t moving, chattering among themselves, but Lewis and Olga had completely tuned out the noise.

“…This is no good. I can’t attack at all.”

“I feel the same. You’re big but surprisingly fast.”

“Ha ha! If you’re going to say that, then you are too, right?”

Lewis and Olga hadn’t spent those two minutes idly. Instead, they were scanning for any openings, mentally attacking while countering or blocking against even the slightest movements of their opponent’s body.

“It seems clear that we need to actually fight.”

“Looks that way.”

With that said, Olga took a weapon from his waist, a weapon the likes of which Lewis had never seen before, and he curiously asked what it was.

“This is a tonfa. It’s got a pretty interesting shape, doesn’t it?”

The tonfa was a straight piece of wood with a handle branching out like a limb, measuring from Olga’s fist to about his elbow, surprisingly long.

“Heh. I’m looking forward to the fight.”

In response, Lewis pulled out two daggers, crouched slightly, pulled back his right foot, and held the dagger in his left hand backward while gripping the other dagger normally in his right hand.

“That stance of yours…”

“As a thank you for showing me something unique, I’ll show you something fun in return.”

That stance was precisely that of Rai’s Dream Duel Arts, the same one he had used against Fiera just moments ago, and it made Olga laugh at Lewis’s unexpected action.

“Ha ha ha!! Nice! Now I’ll see if that’s just bravado or if you’re serious!”

“Yeah, feel free to check it out.”

After a moment of staring each other down, Olga was the first to move. Using body enhancement, he closed the distance to Lewis and thrust his tonfa towards his body.

However, Lewis vanished like mist to dodge it, and instead of creating distance, he entered Olga’s personal space and, with momentum, struck upward at Olga’s chin.

“Guah!!”

Surprised by the sudden shock, Olga stepped back slightly, but Lewis pressed forward, grabbing both Olga’s arm and collar and slamming him forcefully to the ground.

“Khah!!”

The impact of being slammed down made Olga expel the air from his lungs, but he quickly rolled away and stood up as if he hadn’t taken any damage at all.

“Feels like I’m really fighting Rai. Are you, by chance, half-breed too?”

“No way. I’m just human.”

“Then how on earth…?”

“If I told you, it would spoil the fun, wouldn’t it?”

As Lewis said this, he vanished once again, appearing behind Olga the next moment. He swept Olga’s legs, disrupting his balance, and then kicked him in the side with his aura-covered foot.

“Goh!!”

Olga hit the wall with his back and slowly stood up, shaking his somewhat dazed head.

“That’s magic, isn’t it? Moreover, you transformed yourself into mist using some advanced techniques.”

“Correct.”

The magic Lewis was using was Mist Mirage, a water spell that allowed him to become mist and blend into the moisture in the air, enabling him to move or defend against attacks.

However, this magic was very difficult to use, even more challenging than the Sea Dragon King’s spell Iris had used before.

The reason was that turning into mist meant that when reverting back to his original form, he needed to gather all the scattered pieces of his body, requiring deep understanding of the human body, extraordinary brain processing ability, and meticulous manipulation of magic power.

If he failed to return to his original form, the best-case scenario would be losing a limb, while the worst would be never being able to regain human form, literally fading away like mist.

“To use such a terrifying magic so easily, you’ve got some serious issues.”

“Ha ha. I get told that a lot.”

“But I guess you can do it because you fully understand your own abilities. I got to see something great. Now it’s my turn to show my skills!”

Olga firmly stomped the ground, rapidly closing the distance to Lewis while preparing to unleash a punch from a short distance.

(Huh? Clearly out of range here. What’s his plan? I don’t feel any aura…)

“!!”

As Lewis pondered Olga’s mysterious behavior, the tonfa spun around, and the long part extending near his elbow struck at his head.

Caught off-guard by the unexpected attack, Lewis could not react in time and was hit on the temple by the tonfa, the sound of cracking echoing through the training ground as he was sent flying.

“Ku…ugh.”

Thanks to enveloping himself in aura, he didn’t lose consciousness, but with damage to his brain and perhaps a crack in his skull, he stood unsteadily and roughly wiped the blood streaming from his head.

“Haah, damn… I let my guard down…”

Olga’s weapon was something Lewis had never seen before, and ideally, he should have been more cautious. Engaging with Olga felt exciting, and he had allowed himself to become too relaxed.

“Looks like I cracked my skull. My consciousness is a bit hazy and I can’t use Mist Mirage anymore.”

Due to the severe damage to his head, Lewis no longer had the processing ability to use Mist Mirage, nor could he control magic power like usual.

“How about that?”

“That was a good attack. It was so unexpected that I couldn’t dodge it.”

“Ha ha ha! Everyone says the same about a first-time encounter! You could even take pride in not having your head taken off!”

“Well, since this is an exam, losing my head wouldn’t exactly be ideal.”

Lewis managed a vague smile as he said this, but as Olga pointed out, had he done nothing, his head would definitely have flown off, indicating just how much power was behind that one strike.

“I expected you’d be able to withstand it. Just a sign of my trust in you.”

“That’s quite the compliment. However, thanks to that trust you gave me, it looks like I won’t be able to go for a long fight. So… let me give it my all, ‘White Thunder Garb!'”

Surrounded by white lightning, Lewis’s eyes glowed an icy blue.

“Whoa!…… Ha ha, this is amazing. If this weren’t an exam, I would have loved to go all out, but I suppose that’s how it is. Then, I too must respond with everything I’ve got. Aura Release!”

The aura of fighting spirit released by Olga was a dense golden hue, and even Iris and the others watching from the audience felt short of breath due to the overwhelming presence.

“This time, it’s just an exam, so I can’t use any trump cards. You understand, right?”

“Yeah. I’m not using any trump cards either, but just having that aura directed at me is enough to make me happy.”

“Glad to hear you understand. Now then…”

Olga said this and, in an instant, appeared right in front of Lewis, swinging the tonfa again toward his temple.

Lewis managed to dodge just in time, thanks to the enhanced reflexes from White Thunder Garb, but it was as if Olga had expected this, and followed up with a second strike aimed at Lewis’s body. He wrapped his arm in aura and blocked the blow with all his might.

“Damn…”

Even so, he couldn’t perfectly nullify the force, and this time a crack formed in the bone of his arm, but what Lewis focused on was not the power of the blow but rather Olga’s movements.

(No preliminary movements.)

When Olga had appeared before him, there had been no movements with his feet or arms to signal an attack; he had come at him at full speed from the get-go.

“Remarkable technique. It seems there’s still plenty for me to learn. However, right now, I need to end this fight.”

With determination, Lewis closed the distance with Olga, and the two began trading blows at a speed invisible to the audience.

Olga switched his tonfa around to deliver bludgeons and defend, while Lewis used his daggers to deflect and strike during openings.

Finally, after Olga launched a fully powered strike with his aura-empowered tonfa, Lewis purposely took the hit with his unenchanted left arm, resulting in Olga’s arm being blasted away.

“You…!”

“Ha ha!! Just as I planned!”

With a cheerful laugh, Lewis swung his bleeding left arm toward Olga’s face, splattering blood that deprived him of sight.

“Tch!!”

“This is the end!”

Blinded, Olga momentarily halted, and Lewis seized the opportunity, maneuvering behind him to sever the tendons in his knees, landing a dagger to Olga’s neck.

“Ugh.”

“Are you surrendering?”

“…Haah. Yeah, I can’t do a thing in this situation. I submit.”

“Match over! Due to Olga’s surrender, the winner is Lewis!”

As Roushe proclaimed the victor, Lewis remained vigilant even until the end, lowering the dagger from Olga’s neck to distance himself.

“Seriously. I never expected you to purposely sacrifice your arm like that.”

“If I can beat you, an arm is a small price to pay.”

“Ha ha. You really are something. But I don’t dislike that sort of thing.”

Wiping the blood off his face, Olga stood up and tousled Lewis’s hair playfully before smiling at him.

“That was a good match. You definitely passed the exam. Do well in the interview too.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

The two faced each other, shook hands, and Olga returned to Rai while Lewis headed back to Fiera.

Afterward, Lewis, having received recovery magic from Sephiria for the hit on his head and missing arm, felt overwhelmed with satisfaction and could not stop smiling happily.

 

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