Only I Am A Reader

"Besides, you wouldn't want to be a burden and make it worse, right?"

'Burden? You sure are one to talk, Mr. Parasite.'

The blue-haired man in question was naturally Leo. If his purpose was just to get into the Gate, he could have just snuck in using Shadow Movement and no one would have noticed, but…

'Forget it.'

Every play needed a proper stage to fall into place. Clearing the Gate correctly was still Leo's primary object, but so was Aurora's tempering.

While Leo could always help Aurora once or twice, he couldn't be expected to save the day every time. There were limits to even a Law Ability User, otherwise, Aurora wouldn't have ended up dead.

In order to twist off the naivety that inherently came along with Aurora's Ability, Leo had to be a little harsh, but with the help of Cassian's decisiveness, he had no problem with that.

"But-"

Although felt a strong urge to call out the parasitic blonde man, he refrained from doing anything aside from continuing to act on his flustered amateur persona.

He was only going to adopt this persona for a very short while, but Leo earnestly wanted to sell it off correctly!

"Wait, I didn't finish. We don't know what to expect so we can't help doubting you, that's why I will give you the chance to prove yourself first. What do you say?"

While the blonde guy himself underwent no such thing, he now wanted to impose such a restriction on the newcomer.

In reality, another scammer joining the team wasn't detrimental to him, that was how this team worked. However, the blonde guy felt extremely irritated for some reason, so he decided to squash the newcomer on a whim.

Well, the fact that he liked to show off was also a contributing factor. In any case, this was also a good chance to test whether this tenth applicant was serious or just trying to get lucky.

If he was scared off by this…

"I accept!"

Naturally, the earnest Swordsman Hero wouldn't back off at any challenge!

"Good. What should I call you? I'm Ken by the way." 𝗶𝐧𝐧𝗿𝐞𝐚𝗱.𝗰𝗼𝐦

"My name is…"

Changing names and faces was always a fun experience for Leo. He always found it interesting to use familiar names in different words.

Since he was pretending to be a normal who practiced the sword his entire life, there was no better name to use than that of the Sword Master himself.

It also just so happened that the blonde guy had a different variation of his name. Though their names had different meanings.

"Ray."

Looking at Ken's extended hand, Leo only unsheathed the sword attached to his waist. No matter what his persona was, he didn't want to get in contact with this slimy person.

This sword wasn't a product of Leo's abilities, but a store-bought one. Of course, Leo made sure to pick a sturdy one even if it was only meant for limited use.

"I'm ready, please test me so we can get this over with."

Originally, Leo leaned more toward the idea of posing as a Spearman instead of a Swordsman. After all, during his stay on Earth, he had already adopted such a character.

Now that he had the impartial Shadow Armament which gave him equal lethality on all weapons, it felt like a more interesting choice.

That being said, he still decided against it in the end. In order to match his story, being a Swordsman made the most sense. After all, there were many sports or principles that taught the sword in this day and age. As for the spear…

'The closest thing is javelin throwing.'

Naturally, with the Heroes' emergence, the practical spear was also getting popular, but it was still rarely practiced by non-Ability Users. Saying that he practiced the spear his whole life would have made Leo even more suspicious.

'Not that it matters.'

In the end, this prelude was no different from a little roleplaying game for Leo. Nothing really mattered as long as things worked out in the end. It was just part of Leo's nature to be meticulous.

"Of course."

Ken closed his eyes as he smiled, feeling even more pissed off by this so-called 'Ray'.

'I will show you.'

Almost everyone on Aurora's team was bluffing, but the reason they have yet to be exposed was because everyone minded their own business. They didn't call each other's bluff no matter how obvious it became.

However, Ken decided that he would call Leo's bluff right from the start!

Without further hesitation, Ken clasped his hands together and twisted his hands before opening them up as a film of shiny light unfolded between them.

"If you can make a dent in my Light Weave, then you will count as good enough."

'You are out of luck.'

As flashy as the ability looked, it was in reality a very useless one, even a normal hand chop could cut it, but that was only in its initial state.

The ability's real name was actually Weave Barrier. Ken could use things he was in contact with to weave a barrier. The ability's basic form was weaving the barrier out of light.

While that would normally be very powerful with Aurora as an example, Ken's ability rating was too low to bring any properties of light aside from the visual ones.

In order to use his ability more effectively, Ken had to weave things like rocks and concrete. He often used the walls inside Gates as the origin of his weaving to count as passable.

Surprisingly, that still wasn't the strongest form that Ken could muster, but he never really overdid it unless his life was in danger, something that rarely happened while accompanying Aurora.

Nonetheless, standing in front of Leo…

'Or should I say you are lucky instead?'

Ken decided to use his trump card!

Although Weave Barrier had a hard time handling any form of energy, it worked extremely well with solid matter. It took him a bit of effort and money, but Ken made sure to obtain the strongest metal he could handle. A Gate Metal!

While it was undisputed that Gates couldn't be exploited for anything other than Enigma Gates, there were very rare chances that one would obtain a metal fragment from a monster's body and be able to keep it.

Such fragments were too small to make something of, so they only functioned as a collectible item. However, in Ken's case, it was the perfect item. He just had to attach it somewhere to his body and he could weave it into his strongest barrier!

'Cutting light should feel easy, right?'

The reason this remained a trump card was due to its hidden nature. After years of practice, Ken no longer needed to weave his barrier into the form of the item, he could keep the stunning visual while only weaving the properties of said item into that light barrier.

In the end, his ability was truly a Light Weave! The idiotic swordsman was only bound to embarrass himself… Or so Ken thought.

"What are you waiting-"

Swish!

Ken was just about to accuse Leo of cowering as he dilly-dallied, but before he could finish his words, the sword had already hit his Weave Barrier. Moreover, the sword was covered by the same light as the barrier!

'What the-'

Unfortunately, it wasn't time for Ken to be shocked just yet. His connection with the barrier was distorted as he felt the sword smoothly cut through it like butter.

At this point, horror sank its fangs into Ken's heart. Just who did he mess with… Eh?

"This should be enough of a dent, right?"

Just as Ken was about to regret his life choices, Leo pulled back his swords. He had only left a cut that went through a fifth of the barrier, leaving Ken even more dumbfounded.