I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 47

[EP.47] Charlotte vs. Kraush

Having tucked Bianca into bed, Kraush was lost in thought.

‘I never expected I’d end up dueling Charlotte.’

In his entire life, Kraush had never once dueled with Charlotte.

Of course, it was a matter of course.

From the time Kraush was born, Charlotte was already blooming with talent, and comparison between them was impossible.

Therefore, naturally, there had never been a scenario where Kraush could duel with Charlotte.

Neither did Kraush wish for it, nor did Charlotte have any reason to duel with Kraush.

That’s why, ironically, today was the first time Kraush ever dueled with Charlotte.
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‘Am I nervous right now?’
T h i s wa s copie d f r o m kin gm tl . or g

For some reason, his hand was covered in a cold sweat.

All his life, he had lived overshadowed by Charlotte.

Perhaps that’s why the thought of the duel even made Kraush himself feel tense.

‘It’s ridiculous to be nervous about a duel.’

Just as Kraush was about to wipe his hand, he felt a soft touch.

When he looked up, Bianca was holding his hand.

“Master Kraush, your hand is sweating.”

Bianca, who normally would have scorned sweaty hands, now quietly held his hand.

Watching her, Kraush suddenly felt his tension dissipate.

‘Right, it’s just drawing some interest.’

Charlotte was always a battle freak.

She’d even dress in a way that deliberately provoked challenges in the Starry Land.

It was because of his victory over the Butcher Hound that she took an interest in him.

Meanwhile, Bianca had fallen asleep again while holding Kraush’s hand.

Perhaps it was just sleep talking.

After the ordeal with the Butcher Hound, Bianca hadn’t fully recovered yet.

Seeing her spending more time asleep recently, Kraush caressed her head once more and then stood up.

Aliod was waiting outside as he emerged.

“Master Kraush.”

“Why are you here worrying over a mere duel with my sister?”

Even though Kraush said that, Aliod’s expression was not bright.

He too was concerned about Kraush.

‘Right, this is the feeling.’

Perhaps he had forgotten his place temporarily, having beaten up a few geniuses recently.

The real reason he had been labeled a halfwit was none other than Charlotte herself.

‘It’s time to overcome the trauma.’

Kraush had no intention of ending up like Velorkin.

Even though it was just a duel, he was determined to face it head-on.

‘I might not win, but I refuse to be broken.’

With that resolve, Kraush set off for the dueling grounds.

The dueling grounds outside had mostly cleared of snow and were clean.

Charlotte stood there alone, holding a wooden training sword pointing downward, her hair slowly fluttering in the still-cold wind.

That alone seemed to create a sense of pressure.

In that instant, her eyes slowly lifted up.

Blue irises identical to Kraush’s sparkled clearly.

“Little brother, so you came. I thought you might run away. Admirable.”

“If I ran, you’d chase me to the ends of hell, wouldn’t you?”

“You know my nature well; that earns you some extra points.”

She said and smiled slowly.

“You have quite a few tricks up your sleeve, don’t you?”

It would be nice if intuition wasn’t quite this sharp.

“I won’t be easy on you. If you displease me, I’ll genuinely crush you.”

With that declaration, Charlotte raised her training sword.
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“Show me everything you’ve got.”

That was certainly genuine.

If Kraush hid any techniques, Charlotte wouldn’t hesitate to beat him down.

‘I have no intention of hiding anything anyway.’

He knew well enough that she was not an opponent to withstand with secrets.

Besides, it was Charlotte.

‘Where would I go to tell others what I have? I have nothing to hide.’

She didn’t have friends to begin with.

A lion doesn’t need friends among a crowd of foxes.

“Should I also fight with a real sword?”

“Yes, this is a duel to see your true skills.”

A wooden training sword wouldn’t put Charlotte at a disadvantage anyway.

So, Kraush exhaled and took his stance.

“Understood.”

“Let’s begin.”

Charlotte loosened her grip, adopting a seemingly defenseless posture.

Kraush simply watched her, not moving.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes.

Eventually, after about three minutes had passed, Charlotte frowned slightly.

“Aren’t you going to attack?”

Kraush did not respond.

He just watched Charlotte silently, without even drawing his sword.

Charlotte tapped her training sword on the ground.

It was an obvious provocation, a little too obvious.
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Charlotte swallowed a mocking laugh.

‘A cunning little brother.’

Kraush had no reason to strike first.

Charlotte requested the duel, not him.

“It seems I make the first move.”

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The moment Charlotte spoke, her figure blurred.

Just as Kraush thought she barely kicked the ground.

Her sword sliced through the air, targeting Kraush’s neck instantly.

She took the initiative to attack.

But she wasn’t lenient.

Intending to finish with a single strike, her sword rushed at Kraush’s neck at that instant.

Whiiiiiiiish!

Kraush had been waiting precisely for this.

So he was relentlessly pressing down on the Sword Demon’s Art of Fusion.

Chiiiiiiiiiiik!

And at that moment, Charlotte’s sword thrust forward.

The heat boiling from his body combusted the World Erosion, breaking through the limits of his physique.

Without a second’s hesitation, Kraush activated Annihilation Erosion.

Suddenly, his perception accelerated.

Pushed to its limits, his inherent senses barely caught Charlotte’s wooden sword.

‘One second.’

Inside Kraush’s scabbard, amidst the storming aura, flames of Annihilation Erosion crept in.

The black flames explosively covered the interior of the scabbard in an instant, and that explosive force broke through in a moment.

Just as the Annihilation Erosion creeping inside the scabbard transformed into a massive explosion.

Fwoosh!

With the brief sound of flames burning, Kraush unsheathed his sword.

Annihilation Erosion

First Form

Annihilation Draw

Bangbangbangbangbangbangbang!

Kraush’s extending sword collided with Charlotte’s, raising a fierce storm of flames.

However, the real action was elsewhere.

At the epicenter of the noise.

Charlotte’s wooden sword was being sliced through by Kraush’s sword.

The Sword Demon’s Art of Fusion, bearing the storm of fully gathered aura and the Annihilation Erosion.

Had the aura been properly drawn for lethal purposes from the outset, who knows?

But the current exchange was a duel after all.

Thus, Charlotte’s wooden sword, not fully wrapped in aura, was being mercilessly split.

Realizing what was happening, Charlotte’s eyes widened for a moment.

She had sensed what Kraush was targeting.

Crack!

Simultaneously, she twisted her path before the blade was entirely lost, escaping Kraush’s sword.

The flames from Kraush’s full-force Flame Unsheathe passed by Charlotte, crashing into the training ground’s wall.

Changing the flow of force with just the flick of a sword was a feat close to artistry.

Charlotte’s eyes then changed.

Entirely earnest, without hesitation.

Charlotte felt a moment of thrill at Kraush’s uncompromising charge.

But she failed to notice one thing.

Although Charlotte had twisted her sword’s trajectory to escape Kraush’s, his sword showed no sign of stopping.

‘Two seconds.’

In that moment, Kraush’s mind compressed into a space of focus.

Deep within Kraush’s mind, a single drop of water on the shore of a lake spread outwards.

Gradually, it surged forth, jolting Kraush’s consciousness awake.

Above the sword he wielded.

The storm of aura struck all at once, meeting Annihilation Erosion.

In a blaze of shiny black flames, Kraush’s eyes glowed fiery red.

One Sword.

And the storm tore through the training ground.

Kraush’s mightiest slash not only halved the training ground but also bore down on Charlotte.

Following the unsheathe, the strike was immediate.

It was a continuous use of his most powerful attacks, wringing his own body twice in a row.
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Before Kraush’s strike, Charlotte swung her half-blunt wooden sword sideways in an attempt to fend it off.

Surely the sword that had twisted away to escape returned at an astonishing speed.

Bangbangbangbangbang!

The black flames surrounding that single strike collided with Charlotte’s wooden sword.

It was the very strike that had obliterated Crimson Garden’s celestial technique in one blow.

Even if it was Charlotte’s wooden sword, it couldn’t withstand the force and was again reduced by half.
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The storm from the single strike exploded around Charlotte, tearing everything in its vicinity.

However, the place where her feet touched remained untouched.

In the end, when the storm from the single strike exhausted its power.

Charlotte’s line of sight was devoid of Kraush.

However, instead, his released sword flew straight towards her face.

Charlotte swallowed a hollow laugh.

Right below the sword, Kraush, with both fists clenched, burrowed towards her.

‘Sharp enough to twice notch the wooden sword, and when my own blade is at its farthest, you throw it and then strike from below at the same time.’

A sprightly smile visited Charlotte’s lips.

Her face filled with delight.

“Wonderful!”

In that instant, a blade made of aura burst upward from the wooden sword.

Pure aura blade, only possible at master level.

With its appearance, the length of the wooden sword was irrelevant.

At that moment, the surroundings around Charlotte went still.

Within the calm, Kraush’s movements, and the approaching sword seemed infinitely slow.

Charlotte’s aura dominated the vicinity in a flash.

Within it, her sword struck first against Kraush’s incoming strike.

Kraush’s sword was deflected effortlessly, spiraling skyward.

Yet even as Charlotte did so, Kraush’s fists still hadn’t reached her.

Such was the gap between them.

An insurmountable gap—if Charlotte had wished so, the first strike would have finished it.

Charlotte’s wooden sword, having fended off Kraush’s, swiftly returned to him.

The distance between Kraush’s fist and Charlotte’s body was about 50 centimeters.

But that gap was unbridgeable, no matter what was done.

Unless, of course, Kraush had no skills.

‘Black Hood.’

The moment Kraush’s sixth sense perilously perceived Charlotte’s counter, his Black Hood activated.

A move Charlotte herself hadn’t detected.

Within that single technique.

Kraush’s extended fist caught his sword.

Charlotte’s eyes widened in that moment.

Clang! Bang!

Accompanied by the sound of collision, Kraush tumbled roughly to the ground.

Having dropped his sword, he rolled for a while before coming to a stop, gasping for air without even trying to rise.

‘Three seconds.’

As the Annihilation Erosion faded, the heat vanished from his body.

Simultaneously, feeling his body weakened, he faintly raised his head.

His sword lay forlorn before Charlotte.

Still, Charlotte stood frozen in place.

Naturally, not a scratch was left on Charlotte.

Her body was always wrapped in an immense flow of aura.

It was akin to a unique power, and that aura shielding Charlotte could not be penetrated unless equaled or exceeded by another aura.

Every god’s beloved prodigy, Charlotte was invulnerable, never bearing a wound from one weaker than herself.

Even Kraush, in his past, cited that peculiar flow as the most overpowered aspect of her.

Yet his sword had touched that flow.

Charlotte’s aura at the master level.

Understandably, it was an area Kraush could not penetrate.

But the contact had been made.

And that was the problem.

That aura flow was directly above Charlotte’s skin.
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Up to now, she had never allowed anyone, not even those on par with her, to even touch that layer.

Kraush’s sword had made contact.

Charlotte’s gaze slowly turned towards Kraush.

Even as his sword swung towards her, Kraush didn’t hesitate, pressing on until the very end.

He knew full well that the attack wouldn’t penetrate.

What did that mean?

Had the attack reached, Charlotte might have been defeated.

Undoubtedly, she had been lenient from beginning to end.

She’d let her guard down, she’d allow him that, and she hadn’t used her sword skills at all, only conjuring the aura blade at the very end.

Yet she had been beaten.

An occurrence that should never happen to Charlotte.

“Little brother, you…”

“Haha…”

Suddenly, a chuckle escaped from Kraush’s lips.

As Charlotte gazed at him dumbfounded, he let out the words with his laughter.

“Got you with one hit.”

And with that, Kraush’s head dropped, and he passed out.

The toll of using Annihilation Erosion, the Sword Demon’s Art of Fusion, and Black Hood—twice in a row—was significant.

Watching him, Charlotte sighed deeply.

Knocking oneself out by going all out alone.

‘How selfish.’

It seemed he had taken after her in that aspect, to some extent.

Somewhat drained, Charlotte shook her head and approached Kraush.

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Then she glanced at his right arm.

From his recent attack, it seemed there were no issues using his right arm.

That was enough.

The duel was also meant to verify that.
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As Charlotte was about to lift him up, someone suddenly sprang before her.

Astounded, she recognized Bianca, Kraush’s fiancée.

“You.”

“I will take him.”

How long had she been watching?

Thinking of the child who had no presence, Bianca struggled to lift Kraush.

But Bianca, even smaller than Kraush, couldn’t possibly lift him.

Kraush was dragged across the floor with his legs trailing, and Charlotte let out a mirthless laugh.

They were quite a matched pair indeed.

“Caw-”

Amidst this, the sound of a crow’s call echoed once.

Glancing at the crow sitting atop the training hall, Charlotte spoke.

“Aliod.”

“Yes, Miss Charlotte.”

At her call, Aliod appeared before her.

Looking at him, Charlotte asked.

“Kraush is planning to go to Rahelrn Academy, right?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

After Aliod responded, Charlotte placed her hands upon her hips.

Then, with a nod that suggested satisfaction, she spun around.

“Alright then. You took good care of things while I was around. Go and attend to Kraush.”

With these words, Aliod vanished immediately.

Seeing that, she began striding towards the outside of Green Pine Mansion.

Only about three weeks until the anticipated opening ceremony of Rahelrn Academy.

It was indeed a tight schedule, but sufficient.

After all, she was Charlotte.