It was time for the final battle.
Me, versus S-class mage Raymond Kirk, headmaster of Aurora University.
It had been 2 days since the free for all battle, during which I'd been recovering after my draw with Kane.
I stepped out into the large stadium for what was likely to be the last time.
My heart was pounding in my chest, and I could barely hear the crowd's cheers of support over the loud and constant ringing in my ears as I focused on just me and Headmaster Kirk.
He stood opposite me, wearing simple training clothes similar to my own. I fuelled mana into my artefact, the ring, and {Miracle Eye} powered up. I saw the flow of mana inside Raymond, and I could see what his artefact was.
It was a pocket watch. What kind of skills it had I did not know. I should know, since ordinarily I would have been able to copy one of his skills. We had shared a handshake a few days ago. However, I found out that I had not copied one of his skills. I chalked it down to it being due to an S-class artefact or that he was just that much stronger than me.
It didn't matter. I was going to destroy him now and then reach even further into the realm of the Gods themselves.
If I have to, I'll use all my skills available to crush him in this fight. Doing so would reveal my powers, but if it meant proving that I was strong enough to defeat an S-class, the pinnacle of artefacts and mages, then I was on track for defeating the Gods. Nowhere near the destination, but heading in the right direction.
We stood roughly 20 feet apart and looked at one another.
"Are you ready, Lough?" Raymond asked politely.
I nodded, my eyes still looking through the {Miracle Eye} lens at his flow of mana, trying to figure out what his artefact did.
"Then let's begin," he said before pulling out his pocket watch.
I couldn't even see him move. His fist connected with my stomach, and I was sent flying away. I coughed up some bile from the impact and wiped my mouth.
What the...?! I couldn't even see that... I have to use everything otherwise I'm done for!
I stood up and immediately cast {Elemental Body: Lightning}. Blue lightning crackled along my body, and my azure eyes shone an ever deeper blue as they charged with electricity, enhancing my perception speeds and reaction times.
Raymond's eyes went wide as he saw my lightning, and he laughed. I was done playing with my opponents.
My hair fell out of its knot, and I caught the bobbel that Jessica had given me and stashed it away in my pocket. My hair spiked and stood rigid as the electricity coursed through and along me.
"I'm gonna destroy you with everything I have... let's hope you don't regret this," I growled at Raymond, who seemed quite taken aback by my change in attitude. I hadn't meant to growl like an animal, but at that moment, I had been focusing on surpassing an S-ranker and soaring higher. I had bigger things on my mind than a little duel.
I unleashed my repertoire of skills and controlled my mana flow to retain as much as possible. I was ready to end this as soon as possible.
I cast {Elemental Field: Lightning}, and the entire stadium became encased in a blue orb. Streaks of lightning crashed down all around us. This was the first time I'd used the lighting form of the elemental body technique. I could feel the lighting in my body, speeding me up, powering me. Activating {Muffled Footsteps}, I leant forward, and my body began to shift to a state of lightning and tended towards a no-mass body, essentially allowing light speed travel.
I grinned, and I became lighting as I zipped forward. Everything around me slowed down to a near standstill. I could see the lightning in the sky travelling slowly, the sweat dropping from Raymond's forehead, the faces of each and every person as they saw the impossible.
I raced towards Raymond and struck his face with my fist, still encased with lightning, in the blink of an eye.
Everything sped up to normal, and I was still in the same spot I had just been standing in. However, Raymond went crashing into the wall due to my punch. The entire stadium was silent as excitement became confusion and suddenly everything seemed unreal to everyone as they had witnessed me blink from one place to another and the headmaster, a supposed S-rank mage, crashing into the wall.
I didn't pause to give Raymond time to recover, however. I zipped to where he was pulling himself out the wall and hit him with another fist of electricity. The lighting broke off in tendrils and zapped him, causing little jolts and spasms, which rendered him unable to retaliate as I continued to lay into him with blow after blow. Each blow sent shock waves of electricity and pressure throughout the arena, and each wave of lightning affected all of the electrical equipment present.
The stadium had gone silent at that point, and I let the grip of apathy take me back to my true core. The Neofelis Soldier I once was.
Guards rushed out onto the field and entered my domain. With a single glare at them, torrents of lightning bolts struck down on them like artillary fire and obliterated the earth. It didn't kill them, but it left every guard unconscious with no chance of confident reinforcements.
I turned back to face Raymond, who had held up both hands to me, palms open. "In all the futures I tried out... I did not forsee this outcome... never in my wildest dreams..." he said with a terrified voice, blood flowing out his nose.
"Then remember this future... just watch... I'll kill all the Gods... try and see that," I answered in a cold and emotionless voice as I stepped away from the immobile Raymond.
I had reduced an S-class mage to this state. The internal damage from Raymond's punch earlier had already healed thanks to {Regeneration}.
"You're a user of a time artefact, aren't you?" I asked calmly. Raymond nodded slowly as if expecting me to ask more. Which I did. "How far have you seen into the future before resetting?"
"I'm sorry? I can only rewind by a minute at the most," he responded with a disbelieving look.
I replied casually again, "I see... how many times did you reset against me?"
"20 times..." he muttered honestly.
"And you didn't see this outcome at all?" I asked. He shook his head, and I nodded. "I know why... this will be the only version of me that let it come back..." I said absentmindedly.
"Let what come back?" Raymond enquired as he rose, rather crudely, to his feet.
"I was once a Neofelis Soldier," I stated matter-of-factly.
Raymond's eyes went wide with shock, and the pieces started forming and connecting in his mind. He tried to speak but he knew the answer already. "I see..." he uttered quietly.
"I think..." I began, but a powerful force closed my mouth, and I shivered at the sheer magnitude of this strength. I directed more mana to my lightning body skill and reinforced the lightning domain I'd created.
No one else seemed to notice this presence, however, and I knew straight away it was one of the Gods sending me a warning that they would kill me in an instant. Then, a bolt of purple lightning shot down from the heavens and struck the centre of the arena.
As the dust and smoke cleared, what remained terrified me.
The being was a giant combination of a robot and a dragon, but this 'thing' stood on two legs and had a pair of arms. It had a single eye that was shaped like a V, which glowed a deep ocean blue. Its black mechanical tail swished gently like an organic tail. At its core was a blue gem that shone brightly with a miniature storm inside it. Lighting tendrils broke off the storm and struck the inner layer of the blue orb like a contained hurricane trying to break free. Sleek black metal made up its composition, and each foot and hand ended with claws like a true dragon. There was no noticeable mouth or appendage to speak with, though I doubted this being was incapable of speech. Glowing blue lights lined its throat like layers of armour, and its torso looked like it had permenant armour built into it. Spikes of black metal jutted out its spine, and a pair of mechanical similar black wings hovered a few inches away from the shoulder blades, each wing with glowing blue energy and lights that lined the rims and the underside.
My whole body was racked with fear and anticipation as it turned its head to look around, and I became rigid when it fixed on me and then likely the ring.
It began to walk towards me, each step leaving a trail of crackling purple lightning. "You. Are you the sovereign?" It asked me. I squinted as it wasn't heard through my ears. "What? But that doesn't..." I said, confused.
In my head? But how?
"You can hear me. That means you are the sovereign." It continued. "Prepare to be purged, sovereign of the new era." My eyes widened as I realised who this being was. Purple lighting, the acknowledgement of me being the 'Sovereign', the clear animosity it had for the ring.
It was the God of lightning!
I let my body shift to become more towards a body of lightning, but my spell was suddenly cancelled as the God snapped his fingers. Shit!
I barely avoided a bolt of purple lighting as it raced past my head.
Why now?! It's been nearly a month since Adia appeared. Why is there a god here now?! I thought frantically as I tried to weigh my options of escape versus actually fighting this God.
There was no way I could win as I was now. I was too weak. Even I knew that.
Without even time to see or react, a fist clad in the same purple lightning struck my hip and sent me spinning off and tumbling across the floor. I gasped in pain as I felt a numb feeling spread through me. I looked down and saw a hole in my hip where the God had hit me. Blood gushed out, and I couldn't speak. My thoughts raced.
Am I going to die? Well... with this injury... yeah, I probably will...
I could see my own ribcage, and I tried crawling away as I projectile vomited. As I was moving, a shadow loomed over me, and I saw the single blue eye looking down at me.
So this is despair? True fear...
Tears formed in my eyes, and I couldn't breathe, speak, think. Nothing was possible in the face of this insurmountable wall of difference in power. The spells I'd cast, including the {Lightning Field} spell, shattered and faded away from my lack of strength.
I remained still and awaited my fate. Another cold and numb feeling spread from my left arm's region. When I looked, my elbow had been crushed. Bones scattered and lay everywhere. Blood was splattered in a gory mess, and the other half of my arm with my hand had flew off into the distance. Where my elbow had been was the God's solid metallic foot.
A guttural scream escaped my throat, and I coughed up blood. Tears streamed down my face as the pain was even worse than when I'd received the ring's insight for the first time.
My vision blurred due to the tears, and I could just about see a giant ball of purple lighting held above the being's head. I realised at that moment that this would not just kill me. But everyone for miles. All the tens of thousands of people here, Headmaster Kirk... Erik... Kane... Darius. Jessica!
But it was useless. I had no strength left at all. All I could do was watch as the God would descend the orb down upon me and disintegrate everything and everyone around me into nothing but ash.
However, that wasn't what happened.
As the ball of lightning began to condense even further, my body began to sink into the ground and it wasn't until I saw the God previously stood above me through a little circle did I realise that a portal had opened and I'd fallen through it.
The God's single eye shone a glimmer of red, and I knew that meant it was angry. It reached for me through the portal, but it closed on its hand, and it retracted its hand to preserve it. I saw with grateful eyes, through the tiny circle that was the portal, as the ball dissipated and the God vanished before the portal fully closed, leaving me in a completely unknown place, in potentially an unknown country.
----------------------------------