System vs Rebirth

On the other hand, the knight captain was stunned, watching Noel fighting the demons.

"What is this?"

"How in the world a kid can do all that?"

"Is it because of his Spirit?"

"Has he trained so much before entering the Demon Banner Army?"

"But Noel Ardagan is known as a lazy noble who never does anything."

The Holy Knights were watching Noel's overwhelming strength in shock.

Noel jumped to a Mid Level Demon and swung his sword. The Mid Level Demon easily struck his sword with its claws covered in Spiritual Energy.

But Noel's sword was far sharper. The Spiritual Energy from the Sword Aura was concentrated in the spot where the blade would hit the claws, enhancing its power by two to three times.

With that kind of sharpness, the claws were cut in an instant. Noel even used Mega Slash to provide with the necessary power.

This was the control he learned from the Master Blacksmith.

After cutting down the claws, Noel spun his body and kicked the demon in the stomach, releasing the Spiritual Energy with his Four Points Circulation.

*Bam!*

The demon was knocked back, but Noel's attack hadn't finished yet. As soon as there was a distance between them, Noel swung his sword and released a sword strike that bounced from one spot to another.

The sword strike pierced through the demon's body and bounced back to pierce another spot until there were many holes in the demon's body, killing it.

After that, Noel ducked down as two Low Level Demons almost struck him. Unbeknownst to them, the moment Noel dodged, he left behind the Snowflake Symbol on top of his head.

That was why both demons ended up running through it as the symbol popped, creating a blast of ice that froze everything around it. The two demons turned into ice crystals in an instant as Noel immediately shattered them with his Mega Slash.

Noel wanted to continue fighting this way, but he could see that the Advanced Level Demon was overwhelming Anna and the Saintess with its firepower alone. Noel glanced at the Holy Knights who were fighting the demons. "Alright. I'll leave everything to you guys."

"Leave it to us. We should be able to handle it." The knight captain nodded.

"Should? I don't like the way you phrase it." Noel snorted and used his Strength Blessing Rune and Increase Agility Rune to increase their abilities.

"This is…" The Holy Knights were stunned by the surge of strength they suddenly received. With just a look of the runes in front of Noel, it was clear this was his ability. The knight captain understood the meaning behind this action and said with confident. "We shall handle these demons. Please rest assured."

"That's better." Noel smiled as he turned around, rushing to the mushroom.

The mushroom was releasing another burst of Spiritual Energy to crush Anna and the Saintess, but a giant sword suddenly fell from the air and split the Spiritual Energy into two so that they wouldn't get affected. It was clear that the Saintess would be more corrupted if this continued, so he wanted to take a bit of her burden.

He smiled, assuring them. "Are both of you alright?"

"Thank you for the help, Mr. Noel." The Saintess smiled.

"Ready to take down an Advanced Level Demon?" Anna smirked as she could finally go all out with Noel here.

"Of course." Noel nodded in agreement as they stood next to each other, preparing to kill this demon.

But the first thing the mushroom did was pointing its finger to Noel and Anna.

"!!!" Noel and Anna widened their eyes in shock because they could feel the same thing. The spores in their brain were trying to take over their mind. Now that they were together, the mushroom could control both of them at the same time without making any suspicion.

The mushroom poured some Spiritual Energy to give the command to their brains. Even though the mushroom didn't say anything, they could hear a sentence in their minds.

'Kill each other.'

Noel had been waiting for this command. He used his Freezing Crystal to freeze his brain. But with the help of Heisk, the brain didn't freeze, only the spores.

However, Noel still turned around and headed straight to Anna with his sword.

Meanwhile, Anna experienced the same thing and burned the spore in her head before turning to Noel. But because Noel was the one to make the first move, Noel had reached her before she could swing her sword.

In Noel's mind, a memory about Anna's apology flashed in his mind. It truly made his heart uncomfortable because he would hesitate in killing her. On the other hand, she was still her enemy. Not a single day he had forgotten that fact.

'I will stab her here. Even though I won't kill her right now because she still has some uses to me. I'll make her suffer as much as possible. I can claim this accident was caused by the spores and build up this coincidental suffering so that when she realizes I'm under control of these accidents, she'll lose her trust and feel betrayed and ultimately…'

Noel's plan was perfect. Not only could he inflict some suffering to Anna, but he could use this chance to sneak attack on the demon by making the demon think he was still under his control.

When he was one step away from Anna and prepared to thrust his sword to the side of her stomach to make it look more dramatic, he smiled excitedly in his heart, thinking, 'She'll ultimately hate me and at that time, it will be easier for me to kill h—"

But what Anna did completely blew his mind. Instead of using her sword, she actually let it go so that her body could turn faster. And she spread that arm and grabbed Noel's head.

Instead of snapping his neck like the mushroom intended too, she actually put Noel's head in her embrace as she stroked Noel's hair.

"Good boy, good boy…" She smiled gently while trying to remove the spores with her hand. The technique she got from the Thunder Berserker Spirit allowed her to channel a small amount of lightning to his brain to the point it wouldn't impact it. But she had to pull him in her embrace because she had to take him by surprise to place her hand all around his head.

But at the same time, both of them realized the same thing. Anna could move this way instead of killing him meant she had removed the mind control. As for Anna, she noticed there was nothing to remove in Noel's brain.

Both of them looked at each other with a pale face and thought in panic.

'He (She) isn't affected by the mind control?!'