This chapter was supposed to be finished tomorrow but guess I ended up finishing it today for some reason.

    I know I’ve already said this before but, I’m having issues with sentences here and there, which makes me worry a bit about the quality of the releases from now on.

    Anyway, just another “short” chapter and we’ll be caught up with the previous group!

    Enjoy, and as always, thanks to all the people that are helping me in the comments.

    I was walking with Chester, the place Sheryl was waiting at, was the courtyard.

    When he mentioned a courtyard, I pictured a garden where flowers grew, but due to the owner’s design…it seems like it ended up being a training ground. Instead of deciding to make it gorgeous like the interior of the mansion, it was quite the plain space.

    However, the ground was pretty smooth and even, and with plenty of space to exercise. I see, it was the perfect place to fight.

    Under the bleak sky, without hiding her bloodlust, a girl in white stood in the middle of the courtyard.

    「…You are late」

    As if her previous innocence had gone somewhere else. She was emitting enough bloodlust that would make certain people want to run away.

    She’s someone that lost her temper to that degree just because her grandpa returned late, in that regard, she resembles her grandfather.

    「Sorry to keep you waiting. However, you could have at least told me your destination」

    That being said, she’s still just 15 years old. No matter how strong he says she is, she hasn’t caught up with her grandfather yet.

    I’m strong enough to compete with Chester. That’s why, I won’t flinch from something of this degree.

    Seeing me reply to her without much care, Sheryl’s eyes, which had been full of anger, relaxed.

    「I see…in that case, it’s fine. …I’m sorry」

    I was slightly surprised when I saw her retract all her bloodlust instantly.

    They that say women have fickle hearts but, this was just too extreme.

    Good grief, what kind of education does Chester give her? I’m worried about her future.

    「…Hey」

    「Hmm? What is it?」

    As I shook my head and sighed, I noticed Sheryl’s crimson eyes focusing on me.

    She tilted her head and looked like she wanted to ask something.

    「Slava-kun…are you strong?」

    Well then, how should I answer that question?

    It’s true that I’m confident to a certain point, but the current me, is far from the strength I seek.

    …Not to mention, I suffered defeat at Chester’s hands just recently.

    While I was having trouble answering that question, Chester approached me.

    What is he planning to do?

    Not knowing what he was thinking, I gave Chester a suspicious look, then, he placed his hand on top of my shoulder.

    「He’s strong. That’s why, you can go all out, Sheryl」

    Because of his unexpected action, I unconsciously opened my eyes wide.

    I had been been dragging it out for too long, huh?

    Even if I say so myself, being this much of a sore loser is quite troubling. It’s not the time to grow timid when the 2nd strongest person in history, as far as I know, is giving me his approval.

    「Yes, I’m strong. That’s why, you don’t have to hold back」

    I walked towards Sheryl, left some distance between us, and took my stance.

    Sheryl looked at me and Chester, then, a bitter smile appeared on her face.

    「…I see, I’m looking forward to it」

    Sheryl’s face loosened, and her mouth turned into a grin.

    As expected of a djinn. They are quite sensitive to blood.

    Killing intent…like that of a child who crushed the insects crawling in the area.

    While being wrapped in an aura of pure evil, Sheryl showed an aggressive smile one would think impossible for a kid, and took her stance.

    …She relaxed her whole body. Her body changed into a whip, and she threw a deadly left punch to show off. It was a Prime style technique passed down directly by Chester.

    To think I’d be able to see someone other than its creator take that stance before I died.

    That’s not right, this is my second life after all.

    However…it was a stance unthinkable for a 15 old girl.

    The muddy stream of dark magic power was winding like a vortex, the degree of perfection of her stance was…half baked, far from Chester’s level, but still higher than some martial artists.

    Of course, as someone that has fought Chester for a long time, I can spot the flaws in her stance. Even then…

    「（Even then, this is some terrifying talent）」

    Many martial artist probably wouldn’t be able to win against this girl. It was an astonishing natural talent.

    「Come at me whenever you want」

    I have definitely found quite the interesting girl. I probably wouldn’t be able to stop smiling if she was my granddaughter.

    「…Here I come!」

    However, she still has a long way to go. If it was the me from my previous life, I would definitely feel jealousy at this talent that would become part of the next generation. However, the me right now, is a martial artist of the same generation.

    The one who will attain the title of strongest first, will be me.

    At the same time I proclaimed that…Sheryl closed the distance, the strong fist she had inherited from Chester approached my face.

    Seeing the approaching fist, I bent my body downwards.

    Her fist inevitably missed. Her first strike was a Prime style technique that would have defeated many people in a single blow. Seeing I had dodged the deadly blow she had inherited, slight surprise showed on Sheryl’s face.

    However, that only lasted for a second. It’s true that the first strike of the Prime style was powerful, but it wasn’t a martial art that only excelled at that.

    The essence of the Prime style was like that of a swordsman, who made it seem like he had placed all his power into a single slash, but that was done to deceive its opponent,that slash then turned into 2 and then 3, like an illusion.

    Her slender and delicate snow-like arms bent like a whip.

    A full-power blow that one would think impossible to defend with a kibisu gaeshi. How many people dreamt of performing such a technique? The blows she threw out while being composed and laughing, were unthinkable for such a girl.

    …However, something of this level won’t work on me.

    It was certainly fast. It’s true that a blow so fast that other’s can’t defend against, is something martial artists seek as a form of cheating.

    However, I was looking further ahead than that. A more refined way of cheating.

    「…Eh?」

    I lowered my posture further, to the point that my elbows were touching the ground.

    Because of all the energy she had put into her blow, her body moved forward, and couldn’t be stopped.

    With her own force, Sheryl’s stance broke, and she rolled forward.

    Having lost her freedom, her silver hair waved in the air.

    However, the one over there, is Chester’s disciple. With her overwhelming sense of balance. she quickly took her stance again, and threw a left punch.

    「…However, that’s too naive」

    It was impressive that she was able to fix her awareness, while her field of view was shaking at a high speed due to her carelessness, and even make a counterattack.

    However, she was still in the middle of getting her balance back.

    A blow thrown forcibly from a broken stance, was like a treat for the Shijima style.

    Instead of the right arm that still retained its form, I took her extended left arm. I can’t perform any powerful techniques because I had bent down my body, but if it’s just redirecting the direction of the force, that’s something I can do.

    No matter how much magic power she put into it, it was a blow from a girl without any weight behind it. From the moment her stance collapsed until now, this fist of hers had gone through many changes.

    Naturally, it was just a punch that was thrown. She was gradually putting weight behind it, in its incomplete state, I lightly drew her in.

    If it was Chester, he would have put all his body weight behind the blow the moment he threw the punch, but it seems like the inexperienced Sheryl was not able to do that.

    As a result, because her blow suddenly had more weight behind it than she expected, her feet were pulled forward.

    To begin with, her posture had already collapsed, having no means to control her light body, Sheryl landed face-first on the lawn.

    「-!?」

    The one that was surprised, was obviously Sheryl.

    I was the one that had countered her technique, the one that was watching the flow of the match was Chester, and he could predict this result.

    That’s why, the only one that didn’t understand what had happened was Sheryl.

    From her porcelain nose, drops of blood were dripping. While her fingers were dying crimson from holding her nose, drops of blood were falling to the ground.

    「A-Ah, Sheryl, did you just…lose?」

    It seems like, he’s not only being soft on her.

    Sheryl turned to face Chester, she didn’t understand what had happened and blood was still flowing from her nose.

    「I-I didn’t lose…I’m still standing」

    「He only let you stand up out of pity. If he wanted to, he could have stepped on your head and smashed your skull, you know? So pathetic, you didn’t even notice this much?」

    Sheryl’s expression changed, now it was filled with pure anger.

    …It was somewhat childish compared to her previous smile.

    Compared to the otherworldly feeling she gave, her anger seemed to have substance.

    …A gust of wind blew. It was an unpleasant gale accompanied by tepid moisture.

    Even if we were outdoors, the courtyard was surrounded by high walls, this wind was too strong.

    From Sheryl’s body, an enormous amount of magic power swept over. The reason he said those words to provoke her, was for this, huh?

    「That was done in bad taste, old man」

    「Kakaka! However, this is amazing, right? Right?」

    Shut up, old man! While shouting, I couldn’t take my eyes off Sheryl.

    If you were to say that the previous magic power was like a muddy stream, this was like a well regulated furious waterfall.

    She was filled with pure rage. They say that a djinn’s magic power rises the more excited they get, but to think it would be to this extent.

    「…You won’t break from this much, right? It’s fine, right? Right!?」

    Following her rage, her smile was full of insanity now.

    As if she completely forgot her usual quiet demeanor, she became high spirited and innocent.

    This is why people detest djinns.

    People would shrink back when this amount of bloodlust was pointed their way.

    However, that would be the case for a normal person. The one standing here…is a martial artist. I’ve found something extremely interesting.

    Compared to her previous punches, they were now filled with a clear intent to kill and an enormous amount of magic power.

    They still have a long way to go until they reach Chester’s level but, in the surface world, I doubt many would be able to win against this amount of magic power.

    Due to her rage, her blows were sharper.

    The speed and power, were also higher than before. Even if it was me, I would probably lose consciousness if I was hit directly by them. However, in exchange, the blows had become dull.

    The Prime style was like that, because it possessed its snake-like complexity. This was just a machine throwing punches.

    Each blow raining down on me was deflected, rendering them powerless.

    I was not allowing a single blow to hit. I looked at Sheryl, thinking she would be feeling irritated, but she was smiling.

    「Ahahaha! Amazing, why won’t you break!? Hey, why!?」

    The fact that she was enjoying it from the bottom of her heart, while imbuing each blow with killing intent, was scary.

    …It was, just too much. It’s not the kind of madness someone this young should carry.

    Once this is over, I’ll give Chester a piece of my mind.

    …Well then, I should end this as gently as I can.

    I deflected the punch that held no acceleration due her exhausted state, held back, and hit her with 「Strength」.

    The magic power burst when it hit her defenseless abdomen, and Sheryl was blown away.

    Even if I had held back, it was still strong enough to crush her internal organs.

    She was supposed to be rolling on the ground from experiencing extreme pain but…without any care, Sheryl kicked the ground.

    The distance that was made between us, was shortened in an instant, and Sheryl threw another punch.

    …Perfect. Guess I’ll show her.

    I let all strength drain from my right arm. As if its strings were cut, my arm fell from the stance I was making.

    On top of her body being young, she had the same reach as me.

    Once she reached a suitable distance, Sheryl’s left arm dissolved into space.

    She has good eyes, to be able to properly gauge the distance when fighting at this speed.

    However, her fist was not able to reach me.

    At the same time her fist reappeared…Sheryl slowly collapsed on the lawn.

    Even though she had thrown that punch, I was the one that stood victorious.

    Why was Sheryl’s punch unable to reach me?

    That’s simple.

    「…You bastard, Slava…that technique just now…」

    My technique, had hit Sheryl in the jaw before she could reach me.

    With an acceleration from zero to maximum speed. Usually, a counter thrown after having lost the initiative won’t work.

    「…Isn’t that my 「Vanish」!」

    …That’s right, it was a secret technique that used the fundamentals of the Prime style. Born from nothingness to its utmost limits after relaxing.

    Originally, 「Vanish」 would use the whole body as a spring to achieve the fastest speed, but I arranged it, and made it into a 「Slava style」 technique so to speak.

    「It’s still inferior to yours because I’m only using my arm as a spring. However, you could say that thanks to that, I’m able to do it with both arms. Let’s see…I’ll name it 「Night serpent」」

    A blow that’s like a snake, melting its body with the darkness of the night.

    It was a blow that imitated my old enemy, a 「Strong fist」 technique that took a step away from the Shijima style.

    As one would expect, it was still inferior to Chester’s in speed but, having efficiently made the technique from just theory, I was able to strike first against someone of her level.

    It was still well made enough to strike any fool that tried to look down on the Shijima style’s techniques.

    I picked Sheryl up, who was lying face down on the ground, with both hands.

    Because I only used my arm as a spring, it couldn’t compare to his 「Vanish」 in terms of power, but you could say it was a sure-kill blow if I hit someone in the head with it.

    「This is quite impressive, she took a counter and still remained unharmed」

    I started walking towards Chester, while holding Sheryl, who was sleeping like a girl her age after having fainted.

    While presenting her to him in the so called 「Princess carry」, Chester was trembling.

    Had I gone too far? However, if I didn’t make her faint, I wonder how long the fight would have go on.

    Well then, what kind of excuse should I make?

    While I was thinking carefully, Chester, who was holding Sheryl gently, erupted.

    「You bastard! Don’t go around stealing the techniques others went through so much effort to create, idiot! Fool!」

    …What? What did this man just say?

    So, he doesn’t care about what happened to his granddaughter?

    True, it was a situation where I had to stop her no matter what. I’m sure he understood that.

    …However, I can’t ignore that.

    「Hah! This level of skill I can memorize just from looking at it! If it’s that important to you, go ahead and lock it in a jewel case!」

    「Ah!? Don’t get conceited from a defective imitation, you shitty brat! If it wasn’t because of Sheryl, I’d be fine with settling things with you right now, you know!?」

    Even though he was at that age, he was making a great fuss.

    It’s not like he had the rights to the technique, what is this old man complaining about?

    We both refused to back down. Our first argument in decades, lasted until Sheryl woke up and Chester returned to his idiotic self.