Reborn as an Extra Chapter 582: Raika and The Lyre of Faith. Part-5.

Rio refused to give up his personal 'Path,' nor would he forsake Liam, given his vow to rescue him by any means necessary.

He had selected the 'Path' toward future happiness and serenity, yet turning into a 'hero' would force Rio's 'Path' to shift into an undesired, entirely different direction.

Rio remained clueless about Raika's true scheme, his motives toward him, or the reason for his persistent harassment, but one certainty stood out: Rio would not yield an inch.

When neither side agrees to yield, refuses to alter their 'paths,' or steps aside for the other, those 'paths' inevitably clash, forcing a direct confrontation.

At such a moment, no further discussions or deals remained possible; it fell solely to Rio to eliminate Raika from his 'path' and eliminate this blockage ahead.

Skills of the fire type excel at shattering abilities based on illusions.

Illusions often arise from tampering with nearby light elements, water elements, or even the wind in the environment.

As a result, fire elementals serve as a frequent and effective counter against numerous illusion varieties.

So far, Rio couldn't unravel how Raika materialized and vanished without a trace, leaving no ripples in space or mana.

His detection through mana sensing, miasma sensing, and sword intent—all these methods had utterly failed to detect Raika's true nature or actions.

With no alternatives, Rio resorted to unleashing a barrage of diverse skills, employing trial and error via attacks and abilities to uncover Raika's hidden truths.

To begin, Rio launched a fire assault at Raika, who positioned himself mid-charge and slashed his sword in an upward vertical sweep!

The blade gleamed with fire elementals so intensely packed that the flames encircling it burned a deep blue, signaling immense potency.

"Hoh~ you don’t really think I’d charge at you directly without gauging your power, Rio?"

"I came prepared!!"

A broad smile spread across Raika’s features as he vanished from his position in an instant, materializing directly behind Rio.

Raika lightly plucked a string on his lyre with a grin, and suddenly, all of Rio’s instincts blared warnings of peril, but the moment had already passed.

A resounding echo boomed through the vicinity, unleashing a shockwave that pierced straight through the space-time fabric, evading Rio’s sword intent and all his protective measures!

Rio hurtled backward like a projectile from the strike, crashing through countless trees before slamming into the earth!

The force of Rio’s landing proved so immense that it demolished most puppets and phantom trees within this vast enclosure, carving out a crater spanning hundreds of meters!

Fragments scattered everywhere, and the currents of miasma and mana throughout the enormous cage grew chaotic.

Rio spat out a gush of blood while scrambling to his feet from the dirt, his expression etched with astonishment.

"This attack!?... This is Ashtel Rex’s signature move!!"

Ashtel Rex, the planet’s mightiest warrior, wields the world authority known as 'Shockwave'; it empowers him to generate devastating shockwaves that outpace light itself, traveling via the space-time fabric.

These shockwaves can warp the space-time fabric or even fracture it as required, and every strike they deliver effortlessly bypasses any defenses an opponent possesses.

The primary cause of Ashtel Rex’s dread among countless SS-rankers lies in how his assaults prove almost impossible to parry!

To counter his blows, one must first reinforce the space-time fabric across the board just to stand a fair chance against him!

Though Rio’s sword intent holds great strength, it functions mainly as an aggressive tool; defense isn't its core purpose.

Until Rio achieves flawless mastery of sword intent, he lacks the means to repel world authorities or strikes that exploit the space-time fabric to inflict damage!

Rio had witnessed Ashtel deploy his skills and powers repeatedly in the past, including several displays of his 'World Authority,' making him well-acquainted with that force.

Thus, he quickly recognized that Raika’s technique closely mirrored the one Ashtel Rex frequently employed!

"Oho~ You caught on to that swiftly. I figured you’d need a couple more strikes to piece it together... but then again, that’s precisely why you stand out, isn’t it?"

"You are Rio Flash, after all, the master copier of others’ skills and abilities... naturally, you’d recognize ones you’ve observed before..."

As Rio channeled healing elementals to mend his wounds, Raika popped up right next to him; he lounged atop a rock, utterly at ease, as though he hadn’t exerted himself in the slightest.

"Now that you realize... my energy draws from miasma... you could unravel more if I don’t wrap this fight up quickly..."

Raika drew power from miasma, confirming he couldn’t hail from the World Alliance or count among independent awakeners.

The options narrowed down sharply; he had to be a demon, a human twisted by demonic influence, an malevolent spirit, or perhaps a mutated beast.

Before Rio could delve deeper into his thoughts, Raika strummed his lyre anew, and Rio sensed a surge of miasma emanating from him, yet before the skill could activate, Rio pushed past his agony and responded swiftly.

Rio extended his sword intent across the surroundings while directing his blade toward the earth.

Through this, he disrupted the regional miasma currents with his mastery over it!

Raika’s miasma circulation faltered from the widespread interference Rio caused, halting his skill halfway and triggering a miasma backlash!

"Hoh?... It looks like your extended time in the spirit realm has honed your miasma control to an impressive degree..."

"You disrupted my grip on miasma even without detecting my location through sword intent..."

Brushing off Raika’s remarks, Rio hoisted his sword overhead into position.

With fire elementals proving ineffective, Rio pivoted to his backup approach, opting for space-type skills against Raika.

Rio wielded his sword as if it were a needle, the space-time fabric like fabric to stitch, and sword intent as the binding thread.

He dashed to Raika’s flank, warped the space-time fabric, and attempted to stitch it around Raika, trapping him in place.

"That won’t stop me either~"

Even as Rio sought to lock down the space and harness the space-time fabric to halt him, Raika still slipped away!

’He’s immune to space-type abilities as well!?’

This revelation truly stunned Rio; not even SS-rankers could casually dismiss alterations to the surrounding space-time fabric.

Rio managed spatial suture within the spirit realm thanks to the fragile space compared to the outer realms.

His stitching and binding speed was remarkably quick; without Raika countering with another space skill, escaping that restraint should have been impossible.

Yet, astonishingly, Raika evaded without relying on any space or time powers!

He erased himself from being and then rematerialized behind Rio, as though untouched by the world’s shifts around him.

’What sort of bizarre power is this!? A world authority!? Yet I detect no distinctive spatial or mental pulses that SS-rankers release with world authorities from him!’

Rio felt utterly baffled, and upon noticing Raika’s easy escape, he swiftly adapted tactics by swinging his sword backward, but Raika anticipated it.

"You truly are remarkable, Rio Flash; without my abilities’ singular traits... I’d have no choice but to unleash my full strength against you..."

"Fortunately, your sword intent hasn’t reached flawless command yet, or our encounter would’ve waited for a distant future..."

"That’d be disappointing, wouldn’t it?"

As Raika prepared another skill, Rio tried once more to sever the miasma flow, but that proved a grave error.

This round, Raika had fueled his skill with 'mana' instead!

"What!? You can use mana too!?"

The surprise left Rio frozen, unable to evade, and he took the hit squarely!

Though Rio failed to respond in time, luckily, 'True Immunity' fully neutralized that strange assault targeting his vital essence.

"Hmm? What? I figured that would land? Strange... you’ve got tricks I haven’t uncovered?"

Raika’s face twisted in surprise upon realizing Rio emerged unscathed from the prior strike.

"Interesting... you’re truly fascinating, Rio Flash~"