Infinite Skill Devourer
Chapter 50: Joining A Guild IV

Chapter 50: Joining A Guild IV

Unfortunately, she forgot she was fighting with a human like herself.

On a normal day, human senses tend to sharpen when one of their sensory organs cannot function as it is supposed to.

Take a blind person, for example.

Their ears, skin, and nose perceive everything more intensely than before—especially if they lost their sight in an accident or similar event.

And for most, darkness is akin to blindness itself.

Unfortunately for Yurei, Ryuen’s senses had been heightened years ago.

Let alone what they would be like in the dark.

He remained still, his expression calm as he reached for the bandana in his pocket—the same one he had initially intended to use to wipe off sweat.

Yurei watched from the shadows, one eyebrow raised, following his every move.

Then, two daggers appeared in his hands. Both blue, with frost designs engraved along the faintly glowing blades.

A supposed reward for defeating—no, subjugating—Yuki.

"Blindfolding yourself, huh?" she whispered, her voice echoing through the hall. "What do you think you can accomplish with that?"

Ryuen shrugged. "This way, it’s fair."

She narrowed her eyes—intrigued, but unimpressed.

To her, he was too confident. Maybe even too bold for someone in the D-class.

Darkness was her domain.

She was certain he wouldn’t last long.

Then she moved in silence. Her feet made no sound despite the hard soles of her boots.

And with her cloak now discarded, there was nothing left to catch the wind and betray her movements.

A blade slashed toward his abdomen.

He sidestepped with ease, able to feel and hear her breathing.

She spun, changing angles almost instantly, and struck from above.

He ducked.

Her dagger whistled past his ear, cutting through the air—but not through flesh.

Impossible.

Yurei thought with slightly widened eyes as she landed behind him.

Her brows furrowed. Frustration began to creep in.

She attacked again—faster, quieter.

Each strike should have landed.

Instead, he evaded them with ease—like it was nothing.

She aimed for his throat.

He tilted backward, effortlessly avoiding her attack, and smirked.

Then, as if mocking her, Ryuen countered.

He attacked the same way she did—but with an added twist.

He began predicting her movements.

When he aimed for her throat, she ducked.

And that was when he used the other blade to strike at her side.

Finally, the tip of his dagger brushed against the cloth of her sleeve.

She sucked her teeth and stepped back, visibly annoyed.

But she couldn’t deny it.

She was impressed.

He had predicted her moves without breaking a sweat.

Yurei exhaled slowly, masking her surprise.

She had underestimated him.

Fine. If it’s a fight he actually wants, then he’ll get it.

Without warning, she plunged the entire arena into absolute darkness, severing all traces of light—including the faint glow from the entrance sigil.

Then, in one swift movement, she closed the distance and slashed upward.

The bandana around his eyes tore cleanly in half.

Now, he would be completely disoriented.

Except... he wasn’t.

Ryuen’s smirk widened.

Yurei flinched.

He didn’t even need the bandana.

He had already adapted to the darkness long before she made her move.

Meanwhile, inside a dimly lit surveillance room, Sora Manabu leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, watching the live feed through an infrared device.

His gaze flickered between the two heat signatures dancing across the screen—their movements so rapid they blurred together.

He couldn’t see the exact details of their fight, only the shifting figures.

The bursts of heat where blades clashed.

The sudden temperature drops.

The way their bodies twisted and maneuvered around each other.

And yet, even without seeing their faces, he already knew how this would end.

_____

Yurei’s shadow tendrils lashed out, like tentacles moving with strange precision, and well calculated aim.

Each one struck where Ryuen should have been.

But he was never there.

He twisted, ducked, and countered with ease, his twin daggers glowing faintly like silver fangs.

But then one of his blades dropped, and he didn’t have time to pick it up.

Yurei’s frustration was little, barely noticeable—just the slightest curve of her brows.

She was fast.

But so was he.

Then, they both struck at the same time.

Motion.

A flip over two strikes.

The hiss of a dagger slicing through cloth.

A long exhale and panting.

Then silence.

When the darkness fell, they were locked in place.

Ryuen stood with one of his daggers pressed to Yurei’s throat.

But Yurei had two blades, one she had gotten back from him.

One dagger against his chest, right over his heart.

The second pressing into his side, just enough to threaten a deep cut.

Silver pearls met golden hazel pools with faint blue within.

Sora, watching from the infrared, couldn’t see their expressions, but he could sense the moment.

Neither had won, and neither had lost.

But they were not evenly matched, Yurei couldn’t use that much of her power in a test.

She was on her day off too, and she was already wasting it with him, and that annoyed hwe

Finally, she broke the silence.

"...You’re better than I expected."

Ryuen tilted his head slightly, with a small smile. "You’re not bad yourself."

No, she was worse, very dangerous at that, she might as well be evenly matched with Yuki.

’I was about to summon Yuki to actually handle you,’ he thought and chuckled in his head.

She was actually hard to battle, and her speed always increased, adapting every single time.

However, none of the blades moved, and Ryuen was cornered against the wall, with no way to escape.

He wondered why she still held him in place, but the second he moved his dagger, she shifted hers, piercing deeper.

"Still thinking I’d attack?"

Yurei shrugged. "Someone like you would still attack if I dropped my hands, so why not drop yours first?"

"Hey, this is a test, not a fight to the death... I’d appreciate it if you let me go now."

"Hm?" She hummed and then leaned closer. "I would like to talk to you after leaving here. I don’t want the walls to hear what I have to say."

She shifted her gaze to the camera hidden in the corner.

Then she exhaled. "It’s nothing serious. I just want to confirm something."

Ryuen just smiled. "Won’t be an issue, Miss Shinigami."