The Extra is a Genius!? Chapter 614: Noel vs Roberto [I]

Emerging directly from Roberto’s shadow, Noel stood ready with Revenant Fang gripped firmly in his hand.

Roberto merely turned his head to observe him, his countenance remaining remarkably serene, as if the battlefield behind them had not been decimated by a spell capable of altering the very landscape. For a fleeting moment, neither combatant stirred.

Then, a subtle smile touched Roberto’s lips. "That maneuver was quite unexpected. I recall witnessing it previously, but never executed at this level of mastery."

"You are too kind," Noel replied.

A soft exhale escaped Roberto’s nostrils. "I speak the truth. Your strategy is far from mediocre; you have truly exceeded my expectations." His gaze lingered on Noel. "Although, in all fairness, you have been doing so for quite some time now."

Noel remained silent for a beat. His eyes darted momentarily toward the ongoing chaos behind them and then to the desolate, ruined plains further afield. He had no intention of inciting a full-scale confrontation here, not with the active war still raging and thousands of soldiers and beasts locked in survival. Engaging in a earnest battle within such proximity would result in catastrophic collateral damage.

He opted to move first. "Spatial Shift!"

Noel vanished, instantaneously reappearing across a vast stretch of decimated land—a zone sufficiently ruined and desolate that their lethal exchange would not wipe out the nearby frontlines. Roberto grasped his intent immediately. A heartbeat later, he materialized nearby, traversing the gap as effortlessly as if distance were of no consequence.

No further words were exchanged.

Noel initiated the assault with "Ignition Surge," causing flames to cloak the Revenant Fang in a blistering, orange-red sheath as he lunged forward. He seamlessly chained this into "Stormpiercer." Blinding arcs of electricity surged around his form, propelling him forward in a single, violent, high-speed streak. The sheer speed rent the air asunder, shattering the stone beneath his feet.

Roberto countered with "Lumina Veil," a thin shroud of light enveloping his body just before the impact, followed immediately by a "Radiant Slash." An intensely compressed beam of light projected forward with chilling precision. Noel attempted to pivot through the strike, but as blades and light collided, the surrounding space rippled with such intensity that a pressure wave cascaded across the ruined plains. The earth cleaved open in jagged fissures; a nearby ridge was sliced so cleanly that it crumbled seconds later.

The impact resonated even far across the battlefield. The shockwave rolled through the war zone like a tremor of subterranean thunder. Soldiers faltered momentarily. Many gazed upward, and even the beasts hesitated.

Then, the atmosphere surrounding Roberto warped. Light expanded outward in a broad, stable domain, and the fractured landscape beneath them seemed to stabilize under its influence. "Solar Dominion." It was not blinding—which only made it more formidable. The radiance was pure, disciplined, and total, suffusing the area until the very rhythm of their combat shifted. Noel felt the change instantly; his limbs grew heavy, and his offensive volleys lost their fluidity. Even the temporal gaps between maneuvers seemed to bow to Roberto’s command.

Noel retorted immediately. "Fire Arc!" A searing crescent of flames sliced through the light-field, but before it reached its target, he had already surged forward using "Shadow Rift," emerging from a different angle through a thin tear in the darkness. "Chain Flash!" Lightning flickered outward, the primary bolt lashing at Roberto while its branches tore through the luminous air. Roberto stepped through the barrage using "Sanctified Step," a technique that forcefully compressed the distance between them. His riposte was instantaneous.

"Flashbind!" An intense pulse of radiance erupted. Noel’s vision turned to white for a split second, enough to fracture the continuity of his chain. Roberto exploited the opening with clinical efficiency. "Radiant Slash." The compressed light tore through the area in a line so pristine it appeared harmless, until the ground behind Noel splintered into pieces a moment thereafter.

Noel thrust his hand forward. "Glacialis." A spear of concentrated frost streaked toward Roberto’s chest. Roberto deflected it with another flick of light and retorted with "Corona Breaker." The discharge slammed forward with devastating density, shredding Noel’s hastily erected "Frost Wall" and vaporizing the ridge behind him into a cloud of stone dust and icy debris.

This was no graceful duel; it was a collision between two titans capable of unleashing localized cataclysms, struggling to contain the destruction they rained upon one another.

Noel pressed the assault again. "Stormpiercer!" Electricity detonated around him as he launched forward in a crackling, white-blue streak, layering a second technique atop it. "Gravity Collapse." The air around Roberto buckled under immense pressure and slammed downward. The ground caved in, causing a ring of fractured stone to erupt outward. Roberto neutralized the force with "Sanctum Pulse," a circular burst of light that collided with the crushing pressure and sent a shockwave expanding across the terrain, flattening the remaining earthwork of a nearby hill.

Far in the distance, the battlefield continued to tremble. Every few seconds, fresh tremors rattled the war. Warriors cast nervous glances over their shoulders between skirmishes. Mages delayed their castings a second too long. Even the dragons and colossal monsters displayed visible agitation, their instincts screaming that a power beyond their comprehension was tearing itself apart in the distance.

Noel attacked from yet another vector, layering sword, shadow, fire, ice, and lightning with increasing speed, eventually forcing Roberto into a more reactive, less perfect defensive pattern.

Noel intensified his pressure. He was done testing defenses; he was fighting in earnest. The Revenant Fang flared with "Ignition Surge," flames wrapping the blade in a savage crimson glow, and the pace of his assault accelerated until the world around them seemed to slow by comparison. "Spatial Shift." Noel vanished and reappeared at Roberto’s side. "Ice Spike." Jagged frozen pillars erupted from the earth, compelling Roberto to shift his stance. Before the final spike had fully ascended, Noel had carved a new path with "Shadow Rift," arriving from a fresh angle while a "Cooling Veil" swept outward, plummeting the temperature and leaving the air brittle and volatile.

Roberto merely sliced through the complexity. "Judgment Line." The light did not detonate; it simply manifested—a silent, straight line that erased everything it touched. The earth split for miles. A section of a ridge was parted with such surgical accuracy that it remained standing for half a second before collapsing into ruin. Noel narrowly evaded the blow with "Spatial Shift," but the edge of the attack tore open the very space he had occupied moments before.

Then he lunged again. "Gravity Collapse." The atmosphere around Roberto twisted into chaos, crashing down with enough force to crater the landscape. Roberto answered with "Sanctum Pulse," the resulting shockwave flattening everything in a ring of absolute destruction that rolled like a tidal wave of ruin.

The magnitude of their battle had become sheer madness. Mountainsides fractured, the terrain buckled, and vast swathes of land were either carved, incinerated, or erased by the raw potency of their spells. Every clash reverberated back to the soldiers. Rank and file troops stumbled; mages shielded their faces; humans, elves, dwarves, and monsters stood in frozen shock, all reaching the same conclusion.

If this duel continued to rage in Vaelterra, the collateral devastation would be beyond salvation.

Noel seized another opening, his assault now brutal and frantic, stacking blade and arcane energy into a single, devastating chain. "Eclipse Rend." Shadows swallowed the light before the Revenant Fang, and a black arc tore forward, erasing a massive section of ruins behind Roberto, leaving nothing but an empty void where stone had existed.

That was the tipping point. Roberto’s expression shifted marginally as he surveyed the decimated land before locking eyes with Noel once more. Light folded eerily around them. Reality shuddered.

Noel’s gaze tightened. "What have you done?"

Roberto responded with his typical, chilling calm. "I do not intend to destroy the world, either. Where would I reside once all of this is finished?"