What are deviants exactly?

  They are those people who messes up timelines, fates, and stuff like that.

  Sometimes, they appear in the game as event characters, changing the flow of the story multiple of times.

  Thankfully, they're all not cannon.

  I've also encountered some before, but I ignored most of them since I'm weak anyways.

  I'm a mob, what am I supposed to do? Beat them up?

  But this, this is going too far.

  Changing a major side character's skill set is a bit of a too much deviation.

  Although he might be doing better than the original game, it's still not good since the main cast now cks a good tank character.

  Especially since they are going to need his blocking ability in this event.

  But, why do I suspect that the girl Reinhardt has as a teammate is a deviant? Wouldn't she just happens to be hand picked by Reinhardt?

  Well, There's 3 reasons for that.

  First, there's no way a random would team up with Reinhardt in this event, furthermore, they're the only team that's composed of 2 members, which will inevitably garner more attention the the 2 randoms Cude has.

  Secondly, she looks too beautiful to be a mob. And this girl's actively engaging in the main cast, which might be a problem in the future.

  Lastly, I know absolutely nothing about her. If only she had appeared once, I would've remembered(vaguely).

  This leaves me with no other choice.

  "Hey, do you know who that girl is?" I asked my mob friend, who is still busy in her fight watching.

  She turned around to look at me, a bit confused but nodded nonetheless.

  Hey, aren't you agreeing too much with my requests? It makes you feel like a girl errand mob, not a expining the attack mob.

  Anyways, she looked at where I'm pointing at and started expining her origins.

  "Oh, her. Elise Von Elwine. She's the second daughter of the Elwine family. Her father is a contender for the strongest earth magician in the current era. Her nature for mana is water, coming from an Earth specialised house, some specuted that she's an illegitimate daughter, but that has yet been proven," she finished, monotonely.

  Wait, why are you sounding so robotic? Aren't you supposed to be enthusiastic whenever you introduce a character?

  Ignoring my inner protest, I nodded meaningfully and let her do her own thing again, watching fights.

  Hmm, honestly, I almost didn't get a single thing.

  Thankfully, I managed to reread everything inside my head so it was all good.

  "Still," I murmured...

  Mana nature becoming water instead of earth, illegitimate child of the duke family, strongest magician in the current era.

  These points are intriguing, but something is puzzling me...

  It's the fact that the house she came from was burned to the ground before the game had started.

  ***

  "Hey, hey, hey!! Is that all you've got?!!" A loud voice echoed throughout the whole forest.

  Explosions happening left and right, onlookers could barely survive.

  Smoke, dusts, debris are accelerating in all directions.

  Sometimes even cutting the trees themselves.

  In the middle of this said chaos, 2 people are fighting each other.

  One with a long spear, swishing around violently, ignoring obstacles like trees and boulders like they're thin paper.

  And the other one whose wielding his sword, defending desperately against the wild nature of the attacker.

  Usually, in a fight between swords and spears, the sword must close the distance whilst the spear must maintain its middle range advantage.

  But what's happening here is quite the opposite.

  "Is this the number one spot?!!" The man with the spear shouts in anger. "Is this the guy that beat me to the number one spot?!?"

  To that provocation, Cude simply smiled.

  This made Lloyd even more pissed.

  After a few more exchange, they both stepped backwards and gauges each other's strengths and weaknesses.

  "Lloyd," the first to speak is Cude. "It's just the two of us right now huh?"

  "YEAH DUMBASS, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT?!!" Lloyd excimed pointing at their own respective groupmates.

  Both of their teams are now down, not able to keep up against them.

  The both of them are just on a whole another league.

  At Lloyd's sudden remark, Cude scratches his head.

  "Well, you did ambushed us at the beginning," Cude muttered, scratching his head a bit.

  To that retort, Lloyd humps in disdain.

  "Isn't that obvious? In a fight, there are no rules, all is fair in the art of war," he replied, resting his spear to his shoulder. "Besides, after that surprise attack, you quickly took care of my trash teammates, so consider that as a tie."

  Cude just tilted his head, not knowing what he was talking about.

  "But still," he muttered, preparing a basic sword stance. "Since there is only the 2 of us, I no longer have any reason to hold back now, do I?"

  At that sudden remark, Lloyd's pupil shrank, as he began to notice a change.

  No, That's not the right word.

  The Cude from earlier, clumsy and easily overwhelmed, seemingly dissipate at this very moment.

  An overwhelming force is overtaking.

  Did he get physically stronger? No. Did his mana capacity jump up? No. There's no change at all. He would've noticed it if it's just that.

  At this point, Lloyd felt intimidated.

  Instinctively, he prepared his stance.

  He felt scared.

  But, at the same time, he felt excitement.

  His heart rate soared through its peak, his adrenaline ignored his primal instinct. All he could care about is to fight this man.

  No, fight this monstrous being.

  "Lloyd," he spoke calmly. "I challenge you to a duel."

  "I GRACIOUSLY ACCEPT!!!"

  With those words, he jumps towards Cude like a wild boar hunting its prey.

  [Eidis spear technique: first fang, simple thrust]

  Lloyd lunges towards his neck, reinforcing the tip of his spear with mana, but Cude managed to parry it just in time.

  He then steps to the side and prepared a huge vertical ssh.

  [Eidis spear technique: second fang, dash]

  He got thrown off banced due to the initial parry leaving him open, but he managed to gain some space by using his spear as a lever to the ground to make him rapidly go outside Cude's range, effectively dodging the counter.

  [Eidis spear technique: Third fang, Csh]

  Almost immediately, Lloyd recovered and quickly went to an airtight stance. Whittling Cude's defence, attacking simultaneously at fast speeds.

  The surroundings tattered.

  The Trees flying outwards just from the sheer pressure.

  The ground shakes, as if an earthquake is occuring.

  All the while two people cshing in the center of all chaos, dealing no visible damage to each other.

  Lloyd is beggining to get desperate, lounging his spear faster and faster.

  Yet Cude still manages to defend all way too perfectly.

  "Are you holding back?!" Lloyd shouted, a bit more pissed off than usual.

  "Are you underestimating me!?!" He grips his spear, seeing that he's not taking the offensive.

  "ARE YOU MOCKING ME?!! CLAUDE EADS!!!"

  *Pang*

  There, in just one moment. The sound of the two weapon kicked in.

  Lloyd Eidis slipped up.

  Cude managed to parry one of his furious attacks, temporarily dispcing his spear to the side. Leaving Lloyd completely open.

  He then swiftly recovers his sword stance, getting ready for another basic vertical strike.

  But this time, Lloyd doesn't have any means to dodge it. He doesn't have his spear to block it.

  From his perspective, the world slowed down time.

  The sword swung down slowly, but he couldn't do anything about it.

  Only one thought is all Lloyd could think of in that moment.

  It's pure untainted defeat.

  Jailbreak571