"Dodge? Are you talking about me?"
Glancing at Luo, who stood three meters away, Merlin's face broke into a smile.
Then, in the blink of an eye, Merlin appeared right in front of Luo. He held the sheathed Night across Luo's neck and tilted his head at him, the corners of his mouth lifting. "And then?"
Luo swallowed hard, completely unable to react. He stammered, "Y-you..."
"I-I...?" Merlin echoed, then smiled and withdrew his sword. He patted Luo on the shoulder and said meaningfully, "Kid, you're not the only one who's been getting stronger. Your big brother hasn't been wasting his time. If anything, I've worked harder than you."
"You jerk!" Luo slapped at Merlin's hand on his shoulder, but Merlin had already pulled it away again. Luo was thoroughly annoyed. "You're only stronger because you're a few years older than me. Once I'm your age, I'll definitely be stronger than you."
"Pfft, pfft, pfft!" Just then, seeing the two of them finish fooling around, Baby-5 covered her mouth and giggled as she walked over. She smacked Luo on the back, then rolled her eyes. "What are you thinking, Luo? I can tell Merlin is only playing around with you! If he used his sword, he could probably take your head off with a single strike."
"Not bad, eh?" Buffalo grinned and joined in, laughing at Luo. At the same time, he looked at Merlin in shock. He couldn't easily beat Luo—in fact, the two of them were about evenly matched. Merlin had taken Luo down with such ease, so that meant... I probably can't beat him either?
No, no. I'm an Ability User.
I'm definitely not some weakling like Luo.
"Looks like..." Merlin spread his left hand and chuckled. "The public really does see things clearly."
Luo glared at