Reborn as an Extra Chapter 584: Raika and The Lyre of Faith. Part-7.

Despite suffering a grave injury, Rio had grown numb to agony over time, and with his inability to experience fear or dread, he felt no terror whatsoever.

Rio was utterly astonished, however, by the incredible way Raika had replicated every ability from those familiar to Rio.

'For some odd reason, he knows all about me... but how on earth...'

Rio recalled then that Raika appeared clueless about 'True Immunity,' and he had shown clear surprise when Rio effortlessly dispelled his grip on the miasma.

'If I consider it from this angle, he doesn't know absolutely everything... yet what prevents him from grasping 'True Immunity'?...'

'Could it be that this ability is beyond anyone's detection or foresight?'

From the moment Rio acquired 'True Immunity,' its prowess in effortlessly handling countless perilous scenarios had left him in awe!

In the original story, Fade possessed a similar 'True Immunity,' though his was far less potent and couldn't achieve even half of what Rio's version accomplished.

Rio's seemed like a vastly enhanced iteration compared to Fade's from the tale.

'Come on, Rio, think hard... I must uncover this fellow's mysteries, or defeat will be mine...'

As he stayed vigilant against Raika's impending action, Rio channeled healing magic to stem the bleeding and hastily sealed that critical gash.

S-rankers boast tremendous resilience, with vitality so overwhelming that mere punctures won't end them; only the destruction of their brain or soul brings true death.

'Phew~ Stay sharp...'

Though it felt like ages since the punch hurled him away, mere milliseconds had ticked by in reality.

The chaos unfolded at breakneck speed, meaning any other S-ranker would have perished from Raika's opening strike.

'Miasma detection, mana sensing, and sword intent perception... all fail against him...'

'Yet there's a slim method left to counter him barely.

Rio deployed his sword intent to manipulate the surrounding miasma, instantly forming a vast unseen barrier where no miasma could intrude.

He deliberately pulled away from the miasma, establishing a ten-meter radius free of both mana and miasma.

By pushing his mental focus to its peak, Rio concentrated his sword intent and psychic energy within that ten-meter space.

In the instant that followed, Raika materialized directly next to Rio, reaching to seize his arm and hurl him with devastating might to cause harm, yet this time Rio responded just in time!

Rio precisely traced the hand's path and executed a precise counter using his expert parry technique, 'Handling,' to alter its course.

The grasping hand missed its mark entirely and veered off path!

"What!?"

For the first time, Rio countered Raika's assault successfully, leaving him stunned.

"We've only clashed for mere seconds, and you're already adjusting to my style!?"

"Monster!"

Brushing off Raika's astonishment, Rio sheathed his sword at his side, shut his eyes, and assumed his ready position.

Before Rio could unleash his blade, Raika vanished once more and popped up at a distance, but shockingly, Rio adjusted his swing's direction in mid-motion.

He charged straight to Raika's new spot, unleashing a barrage of thousands of thunder-infused strikes in less than a heartbeat.

The might of those focused thunder blows was immense, cracking the miasmic crystal ground and scattering the area's miasmic mist through raw force!

Raika, caught off guard by Rio's abrupt shift, failed to respond swiftly, and every one of those thousand strikes connected!

He frantically lifted his arms to shield himself, but in a flash, both limbs were severed clean.

As desperation loomed, Raika blinked out of sight and rematerialized a full kilometer high in the air!

To Rio's disbelief, though, Raika emerged totally unscathed upon arrival!

All the wounds from Rio's rapid barrage had vanished completely, as though the hits never landed.

"You caught me off guard there... I get it now, you're tapping into your raw instincts to strike at me... smart move, hehe~"

Rio's eyes snapped open at Raika's distant words, his brow furrowing without a word in return.

'How does he remain untouched... I detected no healing magic from him... perhaps he's employing duplicates of himself?'

'No, duplicates require teleportation and must adhere to the world's rigid rules and 'laws'...'

Rio had battled Alverto's duplicate before, and even that one needed teleportation into the dungeon to engage.

It couldn't just flicker in and out at will, nor mend itself sans skills or artifacts.

Thus, Rio dismissed any notion of Raika using duplicates or proxies; something else entirely was at play.

'Not an illusion, not world authority, not a legendary skill, and definitely not a duplicate...'

Gazing steadily into Raika's eyes, Rio voiced his deduction.

That term from Rio's lips widened Raika's grin as he burst into booming laughter.

"AHAHAHAHAH!!!! YOU TRULY ARE EXTRAORDINARY, RIO FLASH!!!!"

"IT'S NO SHOCK YOU'RE SUCH AN ODD AND PECULIAR ENTITY! YOU'RE A MONSTER!"

Rio arrived at that insight through rigorous testing and analysis.

Raika evaded all detection methods, employing neither teleportation nor motion techniques.

Rio systematically discarded each option, but the clincher was Raika's seamless blend of miasma and mana alongside total immunity to inflicted harm.

This pointed to just one explanation.

Raika served as a 'projection' from some mighty entity.

Controlled by another, a projection could assume any form, vanish into nothingness as if never there, and reemerge wherever its controller desired, wielding any power bounded only by the original's might and the user's creativity.

What sealed Rio's certainty was landing those initial blows via his unadulterated instincts foreseeing the threats nearby.

Since stepping into the spirit realm, the pervasive miasma had stifled Rio's gut feelings and innate senses.

Even the cube of possibilities faced heavy suppression, unable to forecast Raika's next emergence.

Rio exhausted every tactic, yet couldn't detect Raika.

Rather than squander more effort sensing a projection that could spawn and dissolve at whim, Rio turned inward.

He crafted a short-term fix to bypass miasma's disruption and revive his senses and instincts.

By deploying sword intent in a protective array and shunning miasma altogether, he cleared the interference.

This meant forgoing miasma as an energy fuel, forcing reliance on personal mana for skills, but it restored Rio's instincts and intuition.

Should Raika enter Rio's ten-meter zone or attempt harm, Rio's sharpened senses would alert him to the peril.

Projections lack independent souls, rendering soul-based assaults ineffective; that's why Rio's earlier soul strike was nullified so simply by Raika.

'It all clicks into place now... I see why he kept popping up before me as I journeyed the spirit realm...'

Raika had even manifested within the millennium-sealing cage holding Ellie!

Not through miasma mastery like Rio's or some piercing power, but by projecting directly inside.

With knowledge of a site's precise location, the controller could summon the projection there effortlessly!

'Still, one puzzle lingers...'

"Who are you?"

Rio posed the query anew, yet Raika dodged a straight answer once more.

"I am Raika, The Master of the Holy Lyre of Eternal Faith! Merely a wandering minstrel!"

"All I seek is friendship with you, the universe's premier 'Anomaly,' Rio Flash."

Rio no longer batted an eye at Raika's awareness of his 'Anomaly' status in this cosmos.

King Allen knew, as did the shadow dragon king; it stood to reason other ancient powerhouses might as well.

'Sigh... being this infamous sure draws endless headaches, with everyone itching to stir up chaos for me...'