"Hah. Looks like there's no other way."
"Bulat, get ready."
"Yeah. It's about time."
Staring at the two before him, Bulat's expression under his mask suddenly became extremely dangerous.
"Since the other party has already shown hostility, as a warrior—I've been itching for a fight."
"As a warrior... yeah. But unfortunately, I'm no warrior."
[Ittou Shura, activate!]
"Kiana, you take the green-haired guy over there. Watch out for his threads and your feet."
After tossing out that sentence, Aaron instantly turned the gauntlets he was wearing into Noble Phantasms and charged directly at Bulat.
"This speed...!"
Bulat had already mentally prepared himself, but at this moment, he still showed a trace of astonishment at his opponent's speed.
Before coming here to meet the contact in this city, Lubbock and Bulat had discussed just how strong this group they were about to meet really was.
Assuming the Teigu user they defeated was indeed Zank the Beheader, then they must have Zank's Teigu.
At the same time, during the second battle, that powerful energy didn't dissipate in the end, but returned to the Imperial Capital.
This meant that the team didn't defeat that powerful Teigu head-on, but might have bypassed the Teigu to attack the Teigu user directly.
In addition, considering the commotion in the Imperial Capital wasn't very large when they left, they could deduce one thing.
At the very least, no one in this group should possess overwhelming destructive power.
That's why the two of them felt that even if they couldn't persuade the other party after arriving, they should still be able to take away the core member of their team, or at least take the Teigu they got from Zank.
But now...
After trading the first blow with Aaron, Bulat knew their analysis was completely and utterly wrong.
When this man tossed the Teigu to that girl earlier, Bulat felt something was wrong.
This man wasn't an idiot. He should be able to sense the gap between himself and Bulat.
If he gave up Zank's Teigu, then what method would he use to defeat Bulat?
But now, the answer was clear.
He, just by relying on the power he was unleashing now, had enough to suppress Bulat in close combat.
In the instant his fist clashed with his opponent's, Bulat had actually almost lost his footing.
Immense strength.
And... a speed that even *I* can barely follow?!
Only five seconds had passed, and Bulat felt his opponent's speed getting faster and faster.
The power he was unleashing wasn't even his limit?!
The more they fought, the more surprised Bulat became.
And in turn, the more surprised Bulat was, the more...
——the more he felt the hot blood in his body begin to boil.
This is a good opponent.
A good opponent worthy of me risking everything to defeat!
At this moment, Bulat, after blocking another of his opponent's attacks, actually discarded his weapon, [Neuntote], and chose to rely on his own two fists.
When facing an opponent of his own level, Bulat holding Neuntote was undoubtedly stronger than an empty-handed Bulat.
After all, having a weapon can increase a warrior's strength by several tenths to several times over. And for Bulat, who specialized in polearms, Neuntote's enhancement was obvious.
However, his opponent was too fast.
And while Neuntote had a huge attack range, as a polearm, it also had the negative effect of being inflexible to wield.
If he used Neuntote to fight, Bulat would instead be too slow, causing his attack accuracy to drop.
Therefore—it was better to just fight with his fists and see whose were stronger and harder!
Kiana and Lubbock, off to the side, could even hear the intense sounds of the two clashing in the air.
If not for the fact that they both knew they couldn't be distracted while facing their own enemies, they really would have wanted to see if their comrades were at a disadvantage.
If Bulat was merely amazed by Aaron's sudden burst of strength, then Aaron was getting a massive headache from his opponent's power.
Incursio's performance was inferior to Grand Chariot, but that also depended on the strength of the person wearing it.
Bulat's title of "100-Man Slayer" wasn't just for show. Relying on the skills and experience he'd gained from slaughtering enemies on the battlefield, after activating his Teigu, he was even recognized by Nyau of the Three Beasts as "rivaling Esdeath."
Although that "rivaling Esdeath" was highly exaggerated, Aaron wasn't Esdeath either.
Relying on Ittou Shura plus his Kaslana constitution, he could actually only suppress the opponent in speed, and his gauntlets, enhanced with Knight of Owner, could apparently only, when combined with his strength, cause a certain amount of impact on the enemy's armor.
If this continued, Aaron would slowly adapt to this power, reaching his normal peak strength in about twenty seconds.
But at the same time, Bulat would also slowly adapt to his attack rhythm within these twenty seconds.
And for a veteran, once he adapted to an opponent's rhythm, it was easier to find their flaws.
For Aaron, who only had 'basic martial arts', the moment his opponent seized a flaw, he wouldn't be far from taking a hit.
Moreover, it had only been about eighteen hours since Aaron last activated Ittou Shura.
In other words, his Ittou Shura this time clearly couldn't be used for the full minute.
Calculating the absolute limit, 45 seconds, plus factoring in the time for turning their cloaks, Kiana's short blades, and his own gauntlets into Noble Phantasms, he had to shave off a few more seconds.
In other words, his Ittou Shura this time only had forty seconds of use.
Once those forty seconds were up, even if Bulat was heavily injured by him...
——having lost all combat strength, he would just be easily finished off by the heavily injured Bulat.
.........