章 133: chapter 34

Standing in the middle of the Colosseum spectated by thousands of players, Leonard was having a staring contest with one of the greatest player in Sword Art Online, Heathcliff- guild leader of the guild Knights of the Blood Oath, the holder of the skill "Holy Sword" and with a secret identity of Akihiko Kayaba himself.

"I'd always wanted to have the chance of fighting against the best damage dealer Sword Art Online had to offer…" Heathcliff broke their silence.

"You could just go ahead and asked me to a duel you know, without trying to pull off such bullshit tactic as removing our guild looting priority in the next raid, and if I were to lose I had to disband the guild and bring all of our members to join your." Leonard shot back at the man with an unamused expression on his face.

"I apologized for that, but I had to guarantee that you're going to show up somehow," Heathcliff told him while having a smile on his face- before that smile broke and his expression turned serious as he ready his sword and shield.

"Let just get this over with, since you're a tank- do allow me to make the first move!" Leonard vanished from where he stands and instantaneously appeared right behind of Heathcliff- who seen to have foreseen this turn of event and swung his shield back into a blocking position.

"Negative- Burst!" *booooooom!

When Leonard Vengeance meets with Heathcliff shield, a blast of energy exploded forth and managed to push the shield user back by a few steps.

"Not bad! So that's the Holy Sword skill huh?" Seeing that Heathcliff managed to hold his own against one of his strikes, he couldn't help but show a battle-crazed smile.

"That's some power there," Heathcliff commented on the powerful sword strike before he charges with his shield- ready to bash Leonard.

Seeing that Heathcliff decide to charge at him to initiate his attack, Leonard decides to meet the clash head-on with a skill of his own.

The sound of steel clashing against one another vibrated through the entire Colosseum, riling up the spectators as they spectate the scene of the strongest shield clashing against the strongest blade.

From the audience Leonard could somewhat hear his guild cheering on for him, also included people such as Ballsdeep69 and his Fuurinkazan as well- it was them and Kibaou who were the loudest in the entire section.

Some even start placing bets on who would win as well, however it seems like the odd was not with Leonard as the result showed on the board was 1 to 3.

"God damn! At least have some confidence in me!" Leonard curse inside one of his inner monologue as he looks at the odd that was stacked against him.

"Pay attention! Your opponent is me! Holy Sword!" Heathcliff roared as he saw Leonard drifted his attention away from him for a mere second and activated his one of his strongest skill against Leonard.

"Not happening!" Leonard activates his Negative Burst once more to parry the incoming skill, which created another explosion of dust when the skills clashed against one another.

Both of the players then disengaged to create some distance from their opponent.

"This is getting nowhere at all, we're just trading blow for blow against one another, without a decisive victory in skill, there will not be any winner," Leonard told him as he noticed both of them stuck on the same health level, yellow zone- bordering that of red.

"I see, so you are planning to use that ultimate skill of yours? But do you think that I would allow that to happen?" Heathcliff says jokingly.

"Then I would have to find out if it's possible or not." Leonard grinned as he held his sword up- the moment his blade was up in the air- dark energy began to suck into the blade itself before exploded out in a blast of energy, darkening the entire Colosseum.

This move riled up the spectators even more as some of them had finally witnessed the Leonard infamous boss slayer technique.

"That's not going to happen!" Heathcliff senses the danger of the skill and exploded in a burst of speed in order to try and interrupt Leonard from fully charge his blade.

"Watch out LEONARD!" on the audience ring, Sachi shouted out to Leonard as she saw that Leonard was in a dangerous position- however the moment she saw his grin she calmed down.

"I was waiting for this moment." Leonard grin turned into that of a sadistic smile as he saw the incoming Akihiko Kayaba was within less than two meters from him.

"DEMON WRATH!" Leonard quickly brought his blade down toward the now opened Kayaba in his attacking mode.

-However just before the blade meet with the wide open body of Kayaba- his shield somehow defied all logic and quickly slid over to protect him.

"NOT HAPPENING!" upon seeing that action, Vengeance exploded out in even more darker power to meet with the shield.

*Boooooooom! Once again, an explosion erupted within the Colosseum floor with unrivaled force.

For just a moment, Leonard could swear that he saw the icon [Immortal Object] appeared on Kagaba- however surprisingly, his sword broke through the system protection that was placed on Kagaba and cut his body directly.

"What?! HOW?!" Kayaba shouted out in surprise as the Cardinal system protection was being bypassed.

"Oh, you're not the only one cheating, Akihiko Kayaba!" Leonard spoke in a low tone to which only he and "Heathcliff" himself could hear.

The explosion sent Akihiko Kayaba flying backward crashing into the dirt floor of the Colosseum with his health into the red zone.

The whole arena was silent, no sound was made for a full minutes before the system informed them of who the winner of the duel was.

[Winner: Leonard] the pop-up message displayed for all to see.

"He won…" Klein (Ballsdeep69) muttered out in a low voice.

"LEONARD WON!!!" he then cheered loudly breaking the eerie silence of the arena

Immediately an eruption of cheering and crying could be heard from the audience.

The cheering was for the part that they had the chance to witness a fight of a lifetime- while the crying was for the players that had made a bet on Heathcliff previously- to which now they had lost most if not all of their saving.

(that's why you shouldn't gambling kids.)

On the Arena floor.

"Heathcliff" struggled to get up on his feet as he then looked at the shield that was missing on his one of his hand.

"Tell me...what kind of skill was that?" he asked Leonard with a face full of interest.

"It's a secret skill," Leonard smirked as he replied to the man.

When "Heathcliff" heard of Leonard response- he could help but to show a faint smile before leaving through the Arena door in silence.

"wait...THERE'S NO REWARD OR WHATSOEVER?!" Leonard finally realized that he indeed got nothing about of this duel, it was a complete waste of time!

But Akihiko Kayaba seen to heard Leonard outburst.

"Just wait, that reward will soon come to you...just beat the boss of Floor 99th and reach the Ruby Palace." Akihiko Kayaba responded in a faint voice before disappeared from Leonard sight.

"...defeat the boss of floor number 99..." Leonard manages to picked up those words from the mouth of Kayaba, it was then that his face broke into a smile.