Bab 19: Lick It! Lick It!?

Everyone, including Tatsuya, looked toward the source of this infuriated voice. They saw the fuming Ryota, with his face contorted in anger and the magic within his body spiking up in ferocity. "A duel!" He suddenly shouted, taking everyone away from his countenance and to his words. "What say you, nobody!? Do you accept a duel!?" His anger morphed his neutral expression into a wide, malicious smirk. 'I'll kill this cocky bastard! I am the Main Character, not him!'

Although still reeling from the most recent metamorphic transformation, Tatsuya understood the gist of what was happening here. Furthermore, after looking at his system interface, he realized that his stats could no longer be barely qualified as making the E-Rank mark. He was strong now; he could feel it when he clenched and unclenched his fists.

'I can win.'

A spark of determination flashed past his now-golden irises as he fully turned his body toward the huaghty and overly confident Ryota. "Is a dual acceptable, Holy Priests?" He directed his question to the three who had just risen from their prayers, doing so without even looking in their direction. Although a little taken aback by this development, Priestess Thandria's posture relaxed; same with the others. "You can go through it; just don't go overboard with things. After all, every S-Rank Hero is a valuable asset," she said.

'An asset,' Tatsuya echoed. A dangerous look briefly overwhelmed his facial expression before vanishing as if it were never there to begin with. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before refocusing on the young man whose aura was getting a little out of control. "Do you truly wish to do this?" He asked calmly. "There is no going back from this if we do this and you lose."

Ryota's overconfident expression morphed into one of pure, unadulterated hatred. "Me!? Lose?!?"

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?!?!?"

OOOM!!!

His top-tier S-Rank aura exploded in intensity, causing the other lower-rank Heroes to feel a suffocating sense of pressure. Even Nanami and Akira were affected by his aura, but after activating their own, the effects were completely negated. Everyone had already stopped performing the training stance as the training field was completely cleared, leaving just the two youngsters to face each other. One was more aloof and unbothered about the whole ordeal, while the other was livid, finding it extremely hard to control his temperament.

'I will show everyone here that I am the Main Character!! They are just the Side Characters and Extras!!! Even this new version of Tatsuya is nothing before someone like me!!!'

Ryota's baseless pride had already gotten the better of him, clouding his judgment far beyond what the rest of his brain could make up for.

"What a fool," Nanami sighed under her breath. She felt no need to sit around and watch that buffoon embarrass himself any further, so she walked away, aiming to get some more training in at another, larger part of the Training Grounds. Curious about this departure, Akira looked at her fleeting figure. However, he was more interested in seeing how things went down, so he decided not to follow her and attempt to get closer to the cold beauty. 'Maybe another time,' he thought dejectedly before putting all his focus on the heated tension unfurling between the two S-Rank Heroes.

"As long as you know what could happen, I will duel you," Tatsuya said as he cupped his hand and motioned to Ryota. "You may have the first move."

OOOM!!!

Ryota's rage reached an all-time high as his figure transformed into something devilish and glitchy. "You f*cking bastard!! You actually dare to underestimate me!? ME!?"

Fwooop!

His body blurred as he made use of his full stats. Then, without holding anything back, he used his S-Rank Unique Skill:

|Oblivion: Form 1|

|Chunibyo's Desecnt|

This Skill caused a massive building-sized visage to materialize in the sky. It had eight arms, with different weapons in each hand, was purple in color, and had a skull-faced eyepatch over its right eye. The right side of its arms were also covered in bandages, seemingly concealing within them an immense amount of power. As this imposing visage looked down at all the gathered spectators, it immediately spotted the one its master wanted it to fight. A cold, savage darkness emerged from within the core of its existence as the bandages around its arms started to whirl. Then, with one final outward wave of energy, the eye patch covering its right eye lifted upward, revealing a pitch black abyss-like sphere that had depths unknown.

"That thing is powerful," Akira murmured as his magic power resonated in response to feeling the power contained within that giant spirit, causing his light element to intensely vibrate. "It seems like I underestimated Ryota because of his lack of motivation to train, but, in the end, I must remember that he is also an S-Rank Hero."

If pinned up against that form of the Oblivion Unique Skill, then even he would encounter some trouble, especially with how little he knew about his own Unique Skill 'Judgement.'

"So!? Do you admit defeat, Tatsuya!?" Ryota roared hysterically, his voice verging on insanity. "This is the difference between me, the main character, and you, the Extra! But fret not, there is a way out of this for you!" He lifted up one of his legs before pointing at his foot. "Lick it," he demanded. "If you do that, then I will spare your life!"

Tatsuya's handsome face turned frosty. "Lick it?" He parroted.

"Yes!" Ryota shouted. "Lick it, and I will forgive you for all your heinous transgressions against me, the Main Character! Either that or…" he paused, then his mouth moved a little and the second form of his S-Rank Unique Skill was activated.

...