System vs Rebirth
chapter-257

"Tsk." The guy gritted his teeth and smashed the ice, shattering it in one hit. However, Noel had caught up to him and slashed his sword downwards.

He easily used his arm to block Noel's slash, but surprisingly, he felt pain coming through it. "Huh?"

When he took another look at his arm, Noel blade managed to pierce through a little bit of his metal, causing it to start bleeding.

"What?" He was shocked, not expecting Noel's attack to be this strong. "No. You're not this strong. Even your attack is not this strong."

Noel smiled. "Of course, my effort alone might not be enough to pierce through your defense. But I'm not the only one fighting you."

Noel released all his anger in his Everchanging Sword Style. For Noel, anger was a deep resentment that could bring one's potential to the very limit in a single slash. That was why the blade became even sharper during this slash, allowing him to finally penetrate his defense.

"!!!" The guy realized what had actually happened. It was Anna. She had been kicking him in the same spot over and over again. The lightning had been penetrating his defense this whole time, and Anna must have thought that the lightning was enough and the only thing she had to do was to cut it. That was why she made the cutting motion earlier.

But because she was thrown away, Noel took that opportunity to be the first one to cut him.

"You—!" He wanted to grab Ardagan to throw Noel off, but Anna came through the hole that he shattered earlier.

"Thank you for destroying the ice. I can enter now." Anna smiled while slashing her sword. The guy was shocked but it was too late because Anna's sword had struck the back of Noel's sword, giving an additional boost and finally cutting the guy's left arm.

"!!!" He widened his eyes as the intense pain shocked his brain. "Aaaaahhhhh!"

He hurriedly leaped back to regain some distance while holding his left arm, which was still bleeding. Noel and Anna stood there together with a smile on their face as if they had been planning this kind of result the whole time.

"It seems that you've gotten far stronger than I imagine." Noel glanced at her.

"I already told you, you won't be able to surpass me."

"We'll see." Noel turned back to the guy who was trying to escape. "For now…"

"Yeah." Anna smirked and leaped together with Noel. "We have a target to kill."

The guy gritted his teeth, looking at both of them. Noel was the calm but supportive guy, allowing Anna to attack with all her might. At the same time, Anna's attack power was far too powerful. Even he who was proud of his defense didn't dare to take it lightly.

"Kh." He jumped back to gain some distance again, but Anna stomped the ground and leaped as hard as she could to catch up to him.

"I'm sick of it. Haaaa…" The guy roared as he raised his right arm. Suddenly, the metal arm turned into a sharp blade.

'He is gathering a lot of Spiritual Energy to turn his hand into a blade?' Anna widened her eyes and spun her body to attack him with her sword instead of her kick.

*Clink!*

The clicking sound followed by an electric shock occurred. This might be the first time Anna gritted her teeth against him, so Noel had to release all his strength as well to catch up to them.

As expected, the guy started overwhelming Anna and pushed her back before swinging his sword to cut her.

Anna raised her sword to block it, but even she wouldn't be able to take this on. She prepared herself to be blown away again.

However, a pair of chains suddenly circled around the blade as the blade suddenly stopped.

"!!!" Anna and the enemy were startled by the sudden appearance of the chains. However, Anna had recognized this chain since the battle against the mushroom demon, so she was the first to react.

Lightning began to cover her blade as she took a deep breath. "Lightning God's Wrath."

She struck the blade with all her might, releasing a ridiculous amount of lightning. It even brightened the area a little bit and the windows of the mansion began to shatter.

"Haaaa!" The other guy also used all his Spiritual Energy to resist this attack.

It was a clash between Spirit Wielders, a realm that Noel hadn't reached yet. Even Noel was surprised by this amount of power.

But the conclusion came in a sudden.

*Crack!*

The guy's blade started to crack as Anna continued cutting through the blade since Noel still restrained it.

'Noel has gone all the way to restrain it. I can't let this opportunity go.' Anna thought while releasing all her power in this one slash.

"Kh." The guy felt the lightning that kept getting stronger and stronger as time passed. He feared for his life for the first time, but it was too late. The sharp pain had struck his mind again as Anna's blade cut through his metal arm. "Aaarrggh!"

He screamed in pain as both of his arms had been cut by Noel and Anna.

'The only thing that can stop this attack… It might be the Ignition Sword. And that's only dispersing the lightning. The fact that I also have to reveal my other element as well makes it hard to accept. I thought I have managed to catch up to her after the demon invasion, but it seems that I'm still far behind,' Noel muttered inwardly, realizing the gap between them.

Still, he didn't plan on losing. He saw that the guy tried to escape after both of his arms were cut, but he had been sneakily sending his Spiritual Energy around them.

Before the guy could escape, Noel's snowflake had been staying there, waiting to explode. And this was the right time.

Freezing Crystal.

*Boom!*

The snowflake exploded, creating a thick ice wall that stopped the guy.

"Gah!" He smashed his head to the wall, but it only managed to crack it.

Noel leaped forward and tried to pierce his heart from the back.

*Clink!*

Unfortunately, the blade couldn't even pierce him. It didn't even leave a single dent.

"Haha, you're useless. You won't be able to pierce through my defense without her."

"Yeah, so I'll rely on her once more for now." Noel smiled as Anna's figure appeared behind him.

The guy panicked because Anna had a kicking motion. And it was obvious where she would release all that power.

His face became pale and he tried to escape, but it was too late. Anna's kick had landed on the back of Noel's sword, pouncing the sword like a hammer and nail and breaking through the guy's defense.

"Aaaaahhhhh!"