Anime Tournament of Power 2 (ATOP 2)

Chapter 29: Cutting Thread

The small village was still burning down steadily with flames consuming the terrain as Escanor and Irene both continued to stare each other down. Giyu coughed as he slowly sat up covering his mouth to protect his lungs from all the ash in the air. What in the world was that just now?!

Rengoku was kneeling with a hand over his mouth as he cautiously observed the muscular physique of Escanor, he was standing there basking in the glory of pride. Irene seemed to gain her cocky composure once again as she straightened her posture, putting one hand on her hip when she admitted.

"I'll admit just now you did give me a bit of a scare but that's only because you interrupted me while I was playing with my toys."

Escanor raised one eyebrow hinting at a sign of confusion as he also wrapped his huge finger around his chin when he implied.

"Well that can't be right, if I recall correctly. Just a moment ago you were dead set on spotting me, I'm sure by that time you put your prey aside to search for the lion that was hunting you."

Irene kept her smile on display even she was clearly getting agitated by Escanor's prideful speech pattern, which caused her to mention.

"You know for a human I'll admit you have a great physique and your magical power is clearly that of high caliber. Dare I say close to mine may-."

"Far greater than your own magical prowess. It's good to have some confidence but let's not get ahead of ourselves now." interrupted Escanor who was almost laughing.

Irene had to stop putting on her act of fake kindness when she frowned upon Escanor who's mustache barely hid his smile. Rengoku had used some hand signals from afar to communicate with Giyu who nodded his head in acknowledgement. With that being done and over with Rengoku slowly crept back out of sight, as Giyu did the same. While Giyu was being stealthy during his retreat he couldn't help but think to himself.

Those two are on completely different levels, getting caught in the crossfire would be a grave mistake. Although I wonder . . .

Escanor continued to tower over Irene who's grip on her staff tightened immensely as Giyu's voice could be heard softly narrating in a sense . . . I wonder who would emerge the victor between the two.

Irene stated in a firm tone quickly losing her patience.

"So tell me, what was the reason for you trying to attack me?"

Escanor answered.

"Oh that, right that's the reason I came over here in the first place. You see earlier I had a run in with this pesky fly, annoy little thing really. I found myself trying to swat it away but I guess I swung a bit too hard . . .

A few minutes ago about two terrains away from Irene's current location . . .

Escanor was seen reeling his divine axe back using one hand which had quite the grip on the handle before he swung it at his unseen foe. All that was seen was a flash of golden light, this arc of heat was summoned by the simple swing of Escanor's might. The nameless attack traveled through the ground like a burning flame trail with no destination. Escanor had a dumbfounded look on his face as he lifted his axe up onto his shoulder when he thought out loud.

"Well that's not good . . ."

Escanor finished up his little story chuckling a bit realizing how silly the whole thing sounded coming out of his mouth.

"So my attack wasn't aimed at you at all. Heh heh. I wanted to apologize about that. Hmm? What's wrong, you don't seem too happy."

Irene formed an evil smile on her face with one of her eyes covered by some of her bright red hair and a bit of her witch hat. Escanor sensed her bloodlust but completely ignored it as he turned around and started walking away when he explained.