Ascension of the last Celestial

"[Fire Gods Descend]"

The second Arthur muttered the name of the [Skill], fire mana erupted from his body. His eyes turned into a blazing inferno of orange and red flames, the tips of his raven-black hair became a glowing orange with sparks and embers rising into the air, like they were the source of a small fire.

Not wasting any time inside this new form, Arthur reached his hands upwards to the incoming wall of fire. Pushing the [Skill], which was still just at the first stage, to its absolute limit, he tried to control the flames created by the elemental spirit.

At first, they didn’t budge. Since they were created by a being that was made from elemental mana, it had great control over its attacks, so now Arthur and the spirit were in a tug-of-war for the control of the flames.

Arthur’s [Fire Gods Descend] against the natural mana manipulation of the elemental, Arthur should have lost instantly. He was an entire rank below; the difference between an A+ and S+ should not be something someone should be able to bridge. On top of that, Arthur tried to wrestle control of an elemental spell from an elemental spirit; he should have lost and died right there.

But he didn’t. He endured, and the reason was partly because the [Skill], [Elemental Ascension], was more than just a buff; it made him resonate with the very essence of an element, slowly turning the user into the element itself. But no matter how powerful the [Skill] could be, it couldn’t bridge the gap between them alone. The reason he was still standing was his burning defiance.

The refusal to accept death even if something far stronger was the opponent; the defiance to just die as a nobody after getting reincarnated, and something else. The defiance to fall behind. That last defiance burned brighter and hotter than any of the others. He was the reincarnator with the system, for God’s sake! So how could he fall behind Valerian now? He couldn’t; he didn’t want to.

With his will burning in the conviction to survive this and become stronger, he refused the situation he was faced with; he refused the outcome of death.

His will reached the flames, and they answered like loyal servants answering the divine call of their God.

The descending fire wall stopped like reality itself pressed pause. The elemental felt its grip on the flames lessen. It tried to fight it to regain control, but no matter how much mana it sent to the fire, it refused to move; it refused the command of the elemental spirit.

The flames began to move again, but they didn’t descend to the ground, they dispersed. They snuffed out like the god of fire decided they were no longer needed.

As the sky cleared and the beautiful blue sky became visible again, the elemental spirit couldn’t believe what had just happened.

It lost in a contest of mana control.

But Arthur didn’t have the luxury to enjoy his small victory. Without hesitation, he deactivated his fire form. His eyes turned back to their normal crimson, but now there was a certain tiredness within them. The tips of his hair turned back to raven-black, and the fire aura around him disappeared.

He couldn’t waste any more time, and with his tired body, he began to move forward. Calling upon his wind mana, he augmented his legs, but now there was something different in the way he used the mana.

And Valerian, who was watching everything from above, didn’t miss a single mana movement in the entire fight. He knew exactly what happened and what Arthur was doing right now.

During his short transformation, Arthur did something that was supposed to be impossible for someone of his rank: he used his Will to take control of mana from the elemental.

Will was something someone was only able to access when they left the mortal ranks and achieved the Ascendant rank. G to SSS weren’t called mortal ranks for no reason. In these ranks, people fight with their mana and bodies, but once they breach past the wall that is SSS, they gain the recognition of the universe. They can influence their surroundings, their own mana, and the mana of others with their will.

So to survive the attack of the elemental, Arthur used his will to strip the elemental of its control of the mana, something impossible. But the reincarnator did it. Not his system, he did.

And now, after that impossible feat, his perspective on mana and magic fundamentally shifted. Valerian saw it in the way he was using wind to make himself faster. Before, he just coated his legs with wind in a crude attempt to enhance his speed. But now, wind was in every muscle movement. Every time he stepped, the wind was beneath his soles propelling him forward, while also manipulating the wind and air in front of him to reduce the air resistance.

’That’s so cool...’

Valerian wasn’t jealous that his friend achieved something even he himself wasn’t able to. The only thing he felt right now was excitement. He was excited that his friend got stronger, that he broke through the mental wall he built when he reincarnated, and left his dependence on the system.

Now down below, Arthur was racing towards the elemental, which was still shocked and confused at the loss.

Once Arthur got close enough, he gathered wind under his boots; additionally, he gathered fire mana that exploded, launching him even faster than just wind would be able to.

He readied his twin daggers and prepared to end the elemental.

But at this point, it was already back in reality and moved its mana to intercept him. But Valerian saw it clearly now: it was hesitant and unsure if the same thing could happen again.

The elemental’s body turned into pure mist, and Arthur’s daggers passed through it without hitting anything.

Fast, the surroundings filled with the mist of the elemental. Arthur lost vision of anything more than 2 meters away, and when he tried to spread out his mana sense, all he felt was the elemental’s mana everywhere.

’This is dangerous.’

The spirit already showed that it can change elements mid-attack, and now that he was surrounded, it could attack from everywhere.

But the Arthur that was now standing surrounded wasn’t the same as before. His rigid way of thinking about mana changed into a more primal way.

Sending short bursts of lightning to his brain, he could feel his senses enhance beyond a normal degree. Normally, he wouldn’t try something as dangerous as sending lightning into his brain, especially since that was something that happened passively when he entered his [Lightning Gods Descend] form. But his sensitivity for mana increased by a huge amount, and he felt confident he could pull it off.

With his enhanced senses, he felt the movement of mana behind him. He turned around and was met with an icicle that was already in his 2-meter sight range. Without the time to think about what to do, he let the lightning also flow through his mana channels and spread through his limbs.

With explosive speed, he moved his body to the side, narrowly avoiding the icicle. But the elemental wasn’t done, as 10 more icicles came at him from all directions, ready to impale him.

Calling now also on wind and enhancing it the same way he did before with his legs, he moved between the icicles with the fluidity of a dancer. His lightning-charged senses, plus his body that crackled with blue lightning and lines of compressed wind, guided him where he had to be to avoid getting hit.

’Is this what they call enlightenment?’

What he felt right now was awfully similar to the enlightenment that was described in the novels he read back on Earth. Even in this situation, where an elemental spirit was bombarding him with an endless barrage of attacks, he felt calm. He saw, he dodged, and repeated.

It felt a bit too easy, so Arthur went on the offense.

Dodging another ice spike, he spun around, and in the same motion, summoned his fire. Weaving wind into the flame, it grew and grew until Arthur let it expand outward, evaporating the mist in the surroundings.

The flawless combination of two elements was previously extremely hard, but now it felt so easy he didn’t even think twice about it in the moment.

The elemental retreated now that its mist was cleared and took on a form that looked like a living rock.

With a roar, it slammed its arms on the ground, and a massive shockwave expanded from the impact.

The ground fractured and broke, leaving only devastation in its path. Once it reached Arthur, he jumped into the air. The jump was assisted by both earth that catapulted him high up and wind that cleared the path so he flew without resistance.

Now high in the air, Arthur looked down at the elemental, deciding to end this fight with the next attack.

The wind around him moved and propelled him towards the elemental. Turning his fast flight towards it, he raised his daggers in a thrusting motion.

Around the blades, fire exploded, followed by arcs of lightning. Chunks of earth gathered at the tips, enhancing the durability. The wind compressed to increase the range of the daggers, and lastly, water appeared and, like the wind, began to compress into a near-solid state.

The elemental saw Arthur fly towards it with the attack enhanced by 5 elements readied. It roared, and like an agreement formed, also decided to end this with this one attack.

Its body, which was constantly shifting between elements before, now turned into an amalgamation of all the elements it had access to, and strangely, it didn’t include elements like space, time, or void. Its body became a mix between earth, water, fire, lightning, darkness, metal, light, plant, ice, crystal, and wind.

It didn’t have a fixed form; it was the personification of all these elements. It raised its hand and, in a punching motion, met the daggers.

What followed was an explosion that destroyed everything in a 5-kilometer area.