The Extra is a Genius!? Chapter 616: Noel vs Roberto [III]

They lunged almost simultaneously, the short distance between them vanishing under a surge of renewed intent. Noel initiated with purely raw sword pressure, eschewing spells for precise, rapid strikes designed to push Roberto’s defenses higher and reclaim the center through sheer force and rhythm. Revenant Fang darted low, slashed upwards, then pivoted in his grip as Noel lunged forward, throwing his weight into the follow-up. Roberto parried with his signature, frustratingly effortless economy of movement, deflecting one strike, grabbing Noel’s wrist for a heartbeat, and then closing the distance until the duel transformed from a game of blades into a struggle of leverage.

"I have been trapped in this cycle for entirely too long," Roberto remarked, his tone disturbingly calm given the intensity of their exchange.

Noel thrust a knee toward his side. Roberto adjusted his hip just enough to deflect the impact, checked Noel’s shoulder with his elbow, and evaded the subsequent swing by a hair's breadth.

"It is not the type of exhaustion that sleep can remedy. Rest is meaningless. Time itself holds no sway. You simply endure until the next loop restarts, and everything you almost grasped is snatched away once more."

Noel pressed the attack, his blade clashing violently against Roberto’s as sparks cascaded between them. He pivoted, attempting to break the angle and drag the engagement into something messier and more chaotic, yet Roberto mirrored him at every turn.

"It is finally reaching its conclusion, one way or another," Roberto continued. "That ought to feel divine, shouldn’t it? Freedom. A release. An ending." His smile was fragile, mirroring his underlying fatigue. "And yet, I find myself adrift."

Their weapons remained interlocked for a moment. Noel shoved forward, forcing Roberto to retreat just enough to disengage, yet he kept talking.

"The most agonizing part isn't the death, Noel. It is the realization that I might not possess any of them anymore. Not you. Not Marcus. Not Garron or Laziel. Not Seraphina. Neither Class S nor the academy." His gaze stayed locked onto Noel’s through another clash of steel. "Perhaps that isn't really a loss, though. I never truly possessed anything to begin with. Having nothing again would hardly be a novel experience."

A shift occurred in Noel’s expression—subtle, more of a quiet sorrow than anything blatant—but Roberto identified it instantly.

Roberto’s expression hardened. Their blades screeched as he forced Noel’s sword aside, stepping so close that his voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper.

"No..." His eyes remained fixed on Noel’s. "Stop that." A pause followed. "Do not give me that look." His jaw set in frustration. "I loathe it. I despise it." His tone plummeted, barely audible over the tension vibrating between them. "Stop... pitying me."

Roberto ignited the next phase of the fight, and the shift in his demeanor was palpable. The outward calm lingered, yet an underlying intensity sharpened his movements. His blade met Noel’s with increased ferocity, the ringing echoes intensifying in the void as he stepped in to force a brawl. After one exchange, he seized Noel’s forearm, threw him off balance, and struck toward his ribs with his hilt. Noel pivoted with the force, absorbing most of the blow with his frame, before retaliating with a rapid strike aimed at Roberto’s shoulder. Roberto deflected it and shoved him back.

"I refuse to be the object of your pity."

Their swords locked again. Noel bore down with tighter control, keeping his center of gravity low, attempting to compel Roberto to respond from awkward angles. Roberto matched his intensity, their shoulders colliding for an instant before they recoiled to crash back together.

"You were identical to me," Roberto stated, his voice losing its composure. "In your former life, you had nothing as well." He deflected Noel’s blade, stepped inward, and struck his thigh with his knee. "You were solitary." As Noel countered with a short elbow strike toward his jaw, Roberto ducked and continued through the flurry. "That dreary existence of yours... hollow and pathetic. Did you assume I failed to notice? We understood one another because we were the same."

Steel scraped violently as Noel forced the bind upward, breaking free.

"Empty inside," Roberto finished.

Noel’s eyes turned icy. "No. We are not the same."

That retort struck deeper than any physical blow.

Roberto’s expression wavered, irritation masking a deeper offense, but Noel provided no reprieve. Revenant Fang slashed low, then reversed high, compelling Roberto to parry twice before Noel stepped in, speaking through the mounting pressure.

"You chose to give up."

Roberto fended off the next blow and shoved him away, but Noel’s voice remained resolute. "That is why you remain alone. You had an alternative. You could have resisted. You could have stopped." He paused, steel clashing against steel again. "I could have aided you."

For the first time since the duel commenced, Roberto refrained from an immediate retort. Their swords engaged once more, radiant and harsh in the white expanse, before he forced them apart with raw, unrefined strength. Although his breathing remained steady, his eyes told a different story.

"How, Noel..."

The inquiry was softer than anything he had uttered before.

"Pray tell. Enlighten me." His gaze was pinned to Noel’s, and hidden beneath the demand lay something deeper—something ancient and infinitely more exhausted than mere hostility. "In what manner would you have helped me?"

Noel forced the blades downward, shattered the lock with a violent flick of his wrist, and slashed low. Roberto caught the strike, countered with a hilt-strike toward Noel’s face, and spoke before Noel had even regained his footing.

"We are discussing gods." His voice betrayed genuine exasperation, stripped of his earlier refined demeanor. "You cannot possess power exceeding a god."

Noel stepped into the subsequent slash rather than retreating, their weapons grinding as he jammed Roberto’s angle and drove a knee into his flank. Roberto rotated to minimize the impact, shoved him back, and lunged with a lethal diagonal slash that Noel barely parried in time.

"And what of you?"

The words halted Roberto more than any sword strike could.

Noel pressed the advantage, his blade blurring—high, low, then rising—as he compelled Roberto to respond with steel rather than rhetoric. "You forged an entire dimension autonomously." Their blades sparked, close enough that Noel could observe the tension in Roberto’s jaw. "Do you truly believe you could not have achieved something for yourself?" He stepped in, his forearm impacting Roberto’s sword arm to sabotage his next motion. "Or that I could not have assisted?"

Roberto fell silent for the first time.

He continued to duel, retreating and attacking with lethal accuracy, yet the silence now carried a palpable weight. It was the heavy sort of stillness that only arrives when a truth strikes deeper than indignation can mask.

Noel sensed it and maintained the pressure. Their blades continued to collide, their boots carving patterns into the white floor, shoulders and elbows filling the gaps where swordsmanship faltered. Both men remained lethal. Both possessed the capacity to extinguish the other.

Nevertheless, the balance had tipped, and it had nothing to do with mere technique.

Roberto had been profoundly honest, and Noel had finally pierced something far more vital than his guard.