Mushoku Tensei: Reincarnated as a Beast Race-Chapter 337 - A Whim Made Real

As soon as Aisha reached her spot in the arena, she stopped and looked toward Jino and his companions, wearing a calm smile.

Jino didn’t waste time. He leapt into the arena and began walking toward his challenger.

When the spectators saw Jino step onto the field, they erupted again in celebration, growing even more excited.

He was the most powerful blade under Rygar’s command, and his fame was especially strong among warriors who lived only to fight.

After all, the Kingdom of Gaia had also been shaped by cultures where only strength was respected—even if that had changed in part, such change had only happened because someone infinitely stronger had emerged to impose order.

Jino seemed satisfied to be cheered as much as Aisha.

Soon, he got close enough to speak to her.

"Hey, Aisha!" he greeted casually. "It’s been a while... a few months, actually."

As he spoke, Jino analyzed Aisha’s intent and read her heart. After reaching God level in the Beast God Style, interpreting people’s intent was pretty simple for him.

And that was exactly what made him more worried.

She was calm. More than that—she almost seemed excited and expectant. There was no anxiety, no hesitation, like most of his opponents had.

Aisha replied with a mischievous smile.

"Yeah, it’s been a while," she said. "You look worried, Jino..."

Jino’s heart jumped. He almost let it show—until he realized something else.

She was probing him.

Aisha was testing his attitude because she knew he had an extremely sharp Sixth Sense. Realizing that, Jino immediately composed himself, adopting a carefree posture.

"Not really," he answered. "But I’m interested in what you’re going to show..."

Of course, Jino had no intention of giving her time to use magic, but she didn’t need to know that.

And since she wasn’t a practitioner of the Beast God Style, there was no way she could tell if he was lying—after all, Jino was exceptional at controlling his own reactions.

Aisha raised an eyebrow slightly.

Then, she activated the Clairvoyant Eye and looked toward where Jino had been before he came down into the arena.

Her mastery of that ability was so refined that she could clearly observe anything within her field of vision, even from kilometers away.

After analyzing the expressions of Eris, Rygar, Jaly... and even Kody, she smiled again.

"Is that so?" she said. "Then if you’re so interested, you’ll definitely give me some time to prepare at the start of the battle, won’t you?"

Jino smiled bitterly, knowing he’d been found out.

"Well... who knows."

He thought for a moment and decided to ask something before the fight.

"Before we start, there’s something I’m curious about. Actually, Rygar has the same question. I just don’t know if you’re keeping it secret on purpose."

Aisha tilted her head.

"Oh?" she replied. "Go ahead and ask. I don’t think I’m hiding any secret that important."

Jino studied her carefully. He didn’t sense any deceit coming from her. Her heart and her intentions seemed sincere and transparent.

That made him feel a little more relieved.

"Why did you choose to fight now?" he asked. "You spent years not caring about the ranking, and suddenly you challenge me. Do you want more influence in the Kingdom? Or maybe to surpass your brother, since he’s one of the Seven Great Powers?"

The crowd was still cheering—though more quietly—while the two of them chatted nonchalantly.

The spectators couldn’t hear the conversation, but Rygar, in the upper stands, was paying attention. He also wanted to know Aisha’s reasons—knowing her, it had to be something important.

Aisha looked surprised by the question.

Then, she laughed.

"Is that what you think?" she replied sarcastically. "That I challenged you to surpass Rudeus?"

Jino looked a bit awkward.

"Yeah... maybe not exactly that," he admitted. "But maybe to intimidate our enemies by showing strength? Or lure Hitogami’s apostles into some crazy trap? I don’t know... sounds like the kind of thing you’d do."

Aisha didn’t answer right away. She just looked at him strangely.

Jino continued:

"Nina thinks you want to prove your strength to get Rygar’s attention. Eris said you want to teach me a lesson because I’m getting too arrogant..."

He stopped speaking when he felt Aisha’s intent again.

In truth, he didn’t even need to feel anything.

She was... laughing.

Aisha held a hand in front of her mouth, clearly trying to hold it back. When she noticed Jino had stopped talking, she replied, still smiling:

"Well... sorry to disappoint you all."

She took a deep breath.

"When I finally finished creating this last spell, I felt a little stuck. I realized everything I did always had some bigger reason behind it. So I decided to do something impulsive and cool... and pointless. No prior planning."

Jino was stunned.

Rygar, in the stands, was also surprised.

Aisha drew her sword as she laughed.

"Well, you’ve got your answer," she said. "You can tell if I’m lying, so I’ll say it clearly."

She pointed the blade at the ground.

"This challenge... is just a simple whim of mine."

Drawing the sword served as the signal for the referee.

He raised an enormous bongo mallet and struck it with force.

Boooooooonng!

The sound echoed through the mountains, silencing the crowd.

Then, the referee announced in a shout that drowned out every other noise:

"Today, the challenger is Aisha Greyrat! Direct disciple of the Beast God, Headmistress of the Star Rise Academy, and Divine Sorceress of the Kingdom of Gaia!"

His voice reverberated across the entire arena.

"She fights for the position of First Place in the Gaia Twelve Kings Ranking!"

The referee took a deep breath.

"The challenged is Jino Britz! The First Blade of the Apocalypse Beast, the Supreme Swordsman... the Martial God of the Kingdom of Gaia!"

The introductions echoed through the mountains and the stands.

Jino only fully came back to himself in the middle of the announcement.

Then, he smiled.

But there was a certain irritation in that smile.

That brat... challenged me on a whim?

At that moment, another shout rang out:

"FIGHT!"

Boooooooonng!

The gong was struck once more, officially marking the start of the battle.

Jino was faster.

His nerves, muscles, and Battle Aura ranked among the fastest in the world.

Having mastered the Beast God Style, the fastest movement style in existence, and the Sword God Style, known for the fastest strike, he could decide most fights in a single instant.

Even facing Eris or Reida required no more than a moment of seriousness.

He was one of the few in the world capable of fighting head-on against the true monsters of the Six-Faced World—like Rygar and Orsted.

Though he still hadn’t fully reached their level, he was far above conventional God tier. Beating the Sword God or the North God, for example, wouldn’t pose any difficulty at all.

Simply put, if Jino wanted to win, it was impossible for Aisha to react faster than him.

Even being a Water Emperor wouldn’t change that. Not even the Water God Reida was capable of reacting to Jino’s attacks.

It was true that Aisha was known as the fastest caster in the Kingdom, second only to Rygar—but how fast could a chant be compared to swordplay?

For all intents and purposes... it should have been impossible for Aisha to win that battle.

And yet...

Why did he feel so much danger?

Jino cut off the flow of thought and decided to act.

But the instant the gong rang out, Aisha’s voice came out at the same time:

"Nina is pregnant again!!"

Jino froze.

His ability to reason and react far surpassed that of any ordinary human. But this time, it worked against him.

Those words triggered a chaotic chain of thoughts and emotions.

Pregnant? Again? A fourth child? Nina didn’t tell me three was the limit?

Panic.

Then, joy. A new child.

Right after, confusion. Why would she say that now?

Finally, doubt. Does that make any sense?

And then—too late—the realization. I was tricked.

All of it happened in fractions of a second, a delay caused by words spoken at the perfect moment.

Even realizing his mistake, Jino attacked with everything he had, trusting he’d still be faster than anything Aisha could do.

But those fractions of a second... were all Aisha needed.

The space around Aisha warped abruptly as she smiled and spoke calmly:

"Axiom Frame."

Jino didn’t retreat at the sight of space folding, nor even at hearing the name of the spell.

He just accelerated.

The world became a blur. His body surged forward like lightning, and his blade cut the air even faster. Only a few meters remained between them when he executed the Longsword of Light, aiming for his opponent’s neck.

He would still win. Even with the delay.

Or at least... that was what he thought.

Suddenly, a blue light enveloped his body completely.

Four meters from Aisha, Jino simply stopped.

But there was no impact.

He didn’t feel any visible barrier.

Even having stopped suddenly at such a massive speed, he didn’t feel any repulsive force.

His movement ceased as if inertia had been erased. His speed reduced to zero in a bizarrely natural way.

Before he could process it, he felt danger.

It was as if space itself were condensing around him, as if an invisible blade hovered over his neck, about to fall.

Without waiting for it to become irreversible, Jino retreated—just as fast as he’d advanced—showing that absurd speed again.

When he looked at Aisha, standing at the center of a constantly expanding dome, he felt as if she were distant.

More and more distant, and more and more unreachable.

Even so, he chose to withdraw completely. Fortunately, the spell still hadn’t fully formed; otherwise, he wasn’t even sure he could enter and exit that space freely.

Now out of reach, Jino watched closely as the new God-Level Magic—created by the Divine Sorceress herself—took shape.

It was as if the air around her had been subjected to her will.

The wind stopped midway, and space seemed... distorted.

Not distorted in a flashy way, but slightly crooked—like an image seen through uneven glass.

Light behaved strangely, and sound seemed muffled.

The dome extended to about forty meters around Aisha, who remained motionless, sword drawn.

With a provocative smile, she said:

"Where are you going, Jino? I thought you were more aggressive in battle."

Jino wasn’t in the mood to fall for the provocation.

He watched the dome with visible apprehension. It was one thing to know Aisha was dangerous; it was another to see it with his own eyes.

After defeating all of his opponents over the past years, it had been a long time since he’d found himself in a situation like that.

The only reason the shock didn’t shake him even more was Rygar.

Rygar always reminded him that there were people above him. Jino had never managed to beat him even once. Still, the impact wasn’t much smaller because of that.

He glanced up at the stands.

Rygar watched the dome around Aisha with genuine interest. His gaze was curious—it was clear that even he didn’t fully understand that spell. That alone was unsettling.

Jino turned his attention back to Aisha and asked in a casual tone:

"Is this your new spell? What exactly does it do?"

He completely ignored the thousands of people in the arena.

Some were roaring, celebrating their unlikely bets on Aisha; others were shouting and cursing, demanding he win no matter what.

Aisha answered naturally:

"Oh, nothing special. It’s just an application of Master Reida’s Deprivation Field... mixed with magic."

Jino accepted that he wouldn’t get a real explanation of how it worked.

From experience, the more you talked to Aisha, the more she understood you. If he wanted to win, he’d have to be unpredictable—aggressive to the extreme.

Without another word, he attacked again.

He charged straight toward the dome. If he could understand how it worked, he could counter it.

He entered the field without hesitation and executed the Longsword of Light again—only to have the motion denied instantly. Just like before, his body froze midair in an incomprehensible way.

He felt space closing in around him.

Without hesitating, he activated Wild Light, forcing his body to move even faster. This time, he felt as if he’d broken through an invisible layer of the dome. Seizing that instant, he leapt and attacked Aisha with everything he had.

But this time, his strike didn’t stop—she seemed to be... sliding? The blade was smoothly deflected by the air, drifting away from the target as Aisha executed a Secret Technique of the Water God Style.

Jino prepared to defend.

But the moment his feet touched the ground, everything around him collapsed.

He felt his body float. Balance vanished. His vision inverted; there was no more left or right, front or back. Aisha seemed to be kilometers away—in every direction at once.

The world turned into a distorted mirrored reflection. His senses stopped making sense.

His Sixth Sense acted on its own as he blocked a blade aimed at his heart.

The instant the swords collided, the space around them condensed suddenly.

And then... everything vanished.

When perception returned, Jino blinked in confusion, trying to understand what had happened.

A short blade rested just one centimeter from his eyes.

Aisha smiled. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"I won."

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