"Ishmael huh, it would be suicide if you pick him".

Mordred warned as Noctis scrolled through the list and stopping on Ishmael, he glanced towards him for a moment and scoffed.

"Unlike you, I'm not terrified of him, I have my cards".

Mordred tilt his head a little not feeling slighted by the statement at all "you can't blame me for being terrified of him, I'm in my right mind here you know".

New contestants became available as he finished speaking and Noctis took a look at them as did Mordred, both their eyes widened a bit seeing one person in particular, Mordred looked up at Noctis seeing his eyes linger on her for so long causing him to raise a brow.

"Tell me you're not thinking it".

His words caused him to snap out of his little trance and he scrolled back to Ishmael, Avistro was part of the new available contestants but he had no interest in fighting him like he did Ishmael.

"No, it just occurred to me that she's practically a stranger to us".

"Based on how this goes she is to be the one who leads us in the future and we've practically never spoken to her once".

"It's just a little observation".

He looked towards the mini-announcer and told him of his choice then turned his attention back towards Mordred while waiting for the response to his challenge.

"Maybe once this tournament is over I'll try establishing contact, not like there's any animosity on both sides so why not go for it".

Mordred pondered his words for a moment and then shrugged "ehn, I see no problem, guess I'll do the same".

Noctis smiled and turned towards the mini-announcer who had returned with the reply-

"Rejected!".

His eyes widened as he exclaimed "Huh!??"

"Reasons, annoying and also too flashy".

At that he could not help but roll his eyes and cast a stern look towards Mordred who was snickering on the side and soon broke into a full belly laughter.

"Oh you have no idea how vindicated I feel if even Ishmael finds you annoying".

"Bless the gods".

"Rozaria would be delighted to know this, I have to see her".

He requested for the announcer to take him away from the battlefield while still laughing uncontrollably, Noctis shook his head and sighed to himself seeing Mordred teleported away as he turned back to the scrolling through the having decided to go for Avistro this time but he was unfortunately too late as the announcer of his choice to challenge Hope which she accepted.

"Tsk".

Noctis clicked his tongue in annoyance but then raised a brow seeing a new contestant was available, his gaze lingered on him for a few seconds before sighing to himself as he made his choice.

[A little while ago].

"An elf who prefers being a sponge, you break every logic known to both man and beast".

"The symbol of your race comes from being one of the natural fastest, most nimble and also blessed with godlike accuracy in all that you do plus being one of mana's top 10 favourite children in the world".

"You're quite the incredible mutant even for a dark elf known for being much tougher than the lighter half of your species".

Emrys lauded Bahu with praise as they stood opposite one another, violent streaks of lightning still running all around fresh from the monstrous attack he had unleashed yet his opponent remained unscathed and he wasn't even putting up a natural mana cloak yet, his body was simply that strong.

"Mhm, you're most definitely an incredible one".

"However–

Suddenly Bahu had a premonition, like his head and half his torso were simply blown away to and immediately reacted by coating himself in mana. Emrys seeing this put his hands down and smiled, a muses expression on his face.

"Hoh? Your senses aren't dull also it seems".

"Sponges always seem to lack that instinct, impressive".

Bahu squint his eyes a little and then raised a hand to draw a perfect circle in the air with mana, once completed he gave a gentle push to it's center causing the circle to spin and form more concentric lines around which spread out like a wave stirring the air only to soon fade away but doing nothing in the end that's Emrys could discern at a casual glance.

To run a little test he circled a bolt of lightning around his finger tips and struck it forward at him only to be met with a thin honey colored barrier that spread a second wave of ripples over the entire place, but what surprised him was the fact he now had a huge hole at the side of his torso.

Within moments he figured it out as his wound regenerated, Bahu had casted a barrier than reflects and amplifies attacks far beyond their original capability back at the aggressor.

"I see, with a barrier like this one would be discouraged in simply thinking of attacking you let alone with powerful spells if something so harmless can do this to me".

"Does It reflect spiritual and mental attacks too, lets find out".

He sent a mental shock at him and groaned in annoyance as it was instead returned to his mind multiple folds causing blood to flow from his eyes and lips.

"That's confirmed now I guess".

"How about internally".

<>

<>

As he had half expected, it didn't work. His own heart exploded in his chest which still stung quite a bit even if his body wasn't really flesh, it regenerated seconds later and he smiled.

"It's definitely the far better version to what you used against Sarang in that realm".

"Guess this is what you meant to show him".

For the first time Bahu had a visible reaction to his words.

"Oh don't look so surprised, even if I did not want to it was impossible to miss".

"Both of you were always flaring your mana even if suppressed as it were".

"It was like a universal beacon of light in a realm where everything is so much weaker and irrelevant".

He sighed and flexed his fingers a little "with that being said, there's so many ways around this little thing".

"But I'll just overpower it, you're not at the level where you can force me into being truly cautious".

At this point a random thought suddenly popped into his head, Emrys had always felt something off about his 'normal' mana, he had the same feeling about his lightning affinity which was simply just that. It gave him the highest possible affinity with the lightning element but had no real nature or effect to it, something of a bloodline inheritance.

Could not even be called simply possessing lightning magic, he felt like he possessed something more akin to a container. This was the same feeling he had with his 'normal' mana, like it was a container because if he were to compare it to the top 5 amongst his peers it would pale so terribly in comparison to the point calling it garbage would be an honour yet something like that could exist alongside the ice dragon emperors element in it's true essence.

As his sisters had said, there were a few blessed with this element but they only had access to one half and even that half was but a tiny fraction but it was true, yet the full essence of it existed in his body with a mana like that to bear the weight of it, something just wasn't right.

His dark mana was absolute and he could even feel it wasn't fully awakened yet it put him above everyone with his equal being only Hope in the aspect of how potent their mana was and if this was the only mana he awakened or possessed first then he would have no qualms or question his power but it wasn't, this simply just stuck out like a sore thumb and he could not ignore it any longer.

'Hm, a container huh'.

A new idea struck him prompting him to look down at his nails, he curled his fingers and released his claws which brought a dangerous feeling so great it unerved Bahu even under the protection of his barrier. But Emrys wasn't intending to use his claws for anything concerning his opponent, in fact he did something surprising as Bahu saw him stab into his own chest causing a frown to crease his brows as he looked on in confusion.

"Excuse me for a moment, there's something I'm testing out".

Emrys dug deeper into his body and caused slight ripple to occur as he phased through to reach the separate space where his cores reside, once at his destination he paused for a moment and then pierced his own cores.

Instantly he felt the damage, his mana was going haywire but he pushed through in his quest to test his theory, calling forth the phoenix nature he had absorbed from his aunt he steadily injected it's power directly into his fist core containing the 'normal' mana.

He sunk his consciousness into the core to directly monitor and guide the process, the nature of the phoenix blend well into his first core changing it from the inside out and transforming the very nature of his mana into something entirely different. His violet colored mana now bore an extra hue of reddish gold streaks and a warped mixture of both at it's very epicenter, he took in a deep breath feeling the wave of fresh new overwhelming power flowing through his body overwriting every trace of what once was.

His presence rose by a multitude of degrees higher even while suppressed, now his mana wasn't just some empty container anymore, it bore a true affinity and quality unto itself, with this he was satisfied.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

'I've grown stronger again huh'.

Though he wanted to introduce the ancient dragon's blood into his dark mana he had a strong feeling it would be a most terrible idea trying that now so he set it aside for later, right now he had to get back to his opponent whom he had kept waiting more than long enough.

"My apologies, I'll end this quickly now".

He walked forward and placed his hand onto the barrier surrounding Bahu then coat his hand in his newly improved mana which caused ripples to occur on the barrier but he made no motion for attack yet, his hand was still and then an instant later it shattered as did every piece of flesh, muscle and organ in his body but it all returned back to being whole in moments.

He stared straight into the eyes of Bahu who did not back down from his gaze, he looked unmoved by what had just occurred and Emrys could not help but wonder.

"What were you thinking using this, I'm immortal, you're immortal".

"We can recover from almost anything with ease, you may be a sponge but you've proven yourself not to be a slow one".

Bahu looked to the side for a moment and then back at him, he smiled "because it's enjoyable doing this".

<>

Instantly and without warning his body burst to pieces once again along with his clothes but recovered to it's normal state only to burst again, with each new round it's power grew stronger but yet could not shake his bones in the slightest.

Emrys watched him with curious eyes as he continuously burst to pieces over and over again, he felt he had to be missing something. Admittedly the barrier's effect staying active even after it's destruction in this form made it truly one of a kind, this was easy to admit but still it was too little, he had to be missing something.

Lo and behold he would turn out to be correct, he felt something off and looked down at his arm. The flesh had reformed but it was different, it looked and felt like the barrier he had just destroyed minutes ago. The rest of his body still kept bursting to pieces only to reform again but the barrier kept growing every time it occurred and he could tell that at some point his whole body would become the very barrier itself.

"A barrier puppet is the endgame huh, what a weird spell this is".

"But I can see the possibilities of having such a thing on your side, especially if they retain their abilities also".

Bahu smiled "normally it shouldn't take anywhere near this long".

"This is just a testament to your strength".

Emrys hummed, his eyes still carrying a look of curiosity.

"But is it not too risky, you're defenseless.....relatively speaking I guess".

"What happens if I simply just defeat you before it's completion".

Bahu clasped his hands together "then it continues unfetered".

Emrys raised a brow "I see, truly a great spell".

"But something bugs me, no one without a recovery rate like ours is surviving the first destruction".

"Doesn't that render the endgame of this spell practically useless in most situations".

"Looks too situational to be productive".

Bahu shook his head "accounted for, the target will be forcefully reconstructed by the barrier for as long as I can supply mana to it untill it's completion".

A realisation shone in his eyes "ah.....how unfair of a spell it is".

"Yes, a most proud creation of mine".

Emrys scrunched his brows together for a moment "why make something like this".

"Our enemies already bear of massive disadvantage by virtue of what we are and how absurdingly potent our manas are".

"Normal spells are already taken to enough absurdities, or do you aim for true invincibility".

"Yes" Bahu answered without hesitation, a flame of desire lit up in his eyes.

"I aim to be the very strongest!".

Emrys remained silent for a few moments upon hearing his declaration, then he smiled-

"That will never happen".

"And it is not that I disregard your dream so disrespectfully, there are some things that just cannot and will never be done".

"The game was rigged from the start ambitious one".

Bahu's gaze turned hardened "then you shall watch me".

"No need, I already know how this ends".

"But I am intrigued by something, from your desire I sense a strong rejection against authority, or more specifically the authority of she, whom is destined to lead you".

He gave no verbal reply but that wasn't needed, his eyes already told everything as it were.

"I see".

"Only absolute violence shall convince you then, her burden to bear".

Bahu scoffed "and what about you, where do you fit in this equation as the odd one out".

Emrys smiled "I even the numbers actually, but who knows".

"I could end up as the one who sits above it".

He scoffed again hearing his response "what a lofty option you've given yourself".

"Lofty? Doubtful, I'm simply realistic".

Bahus gaze shifted and turned piercing "or you could end up as the one who stands against the throne".

Emrys felt the very obvious meaning in his words but remained unmoved by it and calmly replied-

"Also doubtful, it is more likely that it will be against I".

Bahu raised a brow "what do you mean by that" he questioned.

"You'll find out eventually, our little talk ends here".

With that his body burst once more along the barrier which had nearly taken over half of him, the pieces of flesh, clothing, muscle, organs and barrier shards hung in the air refusing the reform back onto him. Bahu felt a cold chill go down his spine staring into the bright flaming violet eyes of a golden skeleton until suddenly his body and clothes reformed but that shards remained in the air, a mountainous pressure like no other descended upon Bahu with so much force it hurt him internally causing his organs to rupture even with his mana defence active.

Emrys slowly raised his index towards him and with one word commanded-

<>

As of this moment the eyes of Bahu who had fallen to his knees atop the sea of lava were wide open in shock, his mind flashed back to a certain similar event and he looked up to meet the gaze of Emrys.

"Word magic, so you do indeed have it, that's what you used that time wasn't it".

Emrys raised a brow and gently shook his head "No".

"That was simply suggestion magic, far easier and less complicated".

"Word magic operates entirely on one word commands, at least for the level of which I can use it at now".

".........I see" he replied.

Closing his eyes for a few moments he breathed in deeply then exhaled, his eyes sprang wide open burning a strong gold as a tsunami of silver white mana shot out of his body repelling Emrys far back. A giant mana circle was summoned behind him and the moment it appeared his mana seemed almost alive but then paused it's turbulent movements to break of into a sphere of hexagonal shapes varying in size surrounding Bahu which suddenly clung to his body melding together to form a great armor around him and finally a helmet leaving only room for his burning golden eyes dead set on Emrys.

Every ounce of pressure vanished from his almost like it was never there, his presence down to near zero and it seemed almost like one was staring at a ghost. All that was lost the moment he took the first step, instantly a pressure like never before descended upon this very space causing a slight tremor to occur in the sea of lava below. Then he took another and it tripled, with each step it continuously multiplied until his walk turned into a small jog and then a full on run with an overbearing presence warping and tearing at the space all around.

<>

And with that he vanished, appearing before Emrys and ramming into him with such force that he was sent for nearly a hundred miles crushing a multitude of rock formations into dust. Once Emrys stabilized himself his senses alerted him and he flew up high to dodge the incoming charge but his eyes widened feeling the same attack coming from above and put up a mana shield to block but it got torn to pieces like a piece of paper and once again his body was sent flying off like a rocket with so much force than the first.

He stabilized himself in a fraction of a second just before smashing into the sea of lava and looked to the side to just barely catch a glimpse of a small ripple in space occurring before suddenly being sent flying once more for hundreds of miles.

'I see now, physically moving himself through space akin to teleportation'.

'And even if I can track him the continuously increasing mountainous pressure he brings with him causes an instance of small delay just enough for him to exploit as he also continuously increases in speed while my time of delay also further increases'.

'I'm sure his form is also to adapt to situations where intangibility could be present, but how about teleportation'.

'......No, I'm sure he has a lock on that too'.

'Anti-teleportation magic is quite easy to implement, all he needs is a small inconspicuous artifact on him if he can't cast the spell himself'.

'Still, how unfortunate'.

Bahu's eyes widened seeing a little pillar of dark light all of a sudden in place of where Emrys once was and his charge hitting nothing only for Emrys to suddenly reappear before him once more and kick him away sending him flying for hundreds of meters before he stabilized himself by coming to a stop.

He looked straight ahead at Emrys who was smiling and then got himself ready for a charge once more, the power he had built within him wasn't gone yet but in a minute it could begin to dwindle. Though he could not understand why Emrys had been able to teleport he was not to be discouraged, all he to do was become faster than he could think.

"It's because natures differ".

He paused for a moment and looked up as the calm voice of Emrys reached him-

"Teleportation, not everyone's nature is the same especially if it reigns as a personal innate skill rather than a spell with an often common signature".

"Mine is far different from the norm and opposes the lockdown effect".

"I'm sure it would have been the same for that guy also".

'Avistro'.

That was the one word that came to his mind, anti-teleportation artifacts or spells had no effect on him, he knew this well from the one time they sparred.

"But worry not, I'm not too fond of using this little thing".

"Come, I'll end this with something you're quite familiar with".

Using supremely delicate control an influx of mana flowed to his eyes making the starry violet shine even brighter as the fist of his right hand became encapsulated in a silvery fluid mana which began vibrating at a high frequency and Bahu's eyes widened as he recognized that very same technique but unlike what Sarang had manifested at the time his went further than that.

The silver mana hardened around his fist forming a scale-like armor and five silver rings spun in an orbit round his arm each shining like little stars which gave off a multitude of rising flares. Space visibly warped and contorted in an almost agonizing manner as the power he had gathered settled waiting to be released, Bahu seeing this got ready to execute his charge once more.

He gathered every ounce of mana in his body and pushed the spell to high extremes achieving a power and speed nearly a thousand times greater, a smile formed on the face of Emrys as he wait in anticipation.

"There's this little age old riddle, it usually goes like this".

"What happens when an unstoppable force meets the immovable object".

"This situation flips that riddle on it's head to propose a new one".

"What happens when two unstoppable forces meet".

His right arm vanished as did Bahu and at the point of impact a translucent wave of power spread for miles accompanied by a dome of explosion which grew thousands of kilometres high and spread for more than five hundred miles causing strong shockwaves heavily disrupting the sea of lava like a turbulent wave.

"You lose".

A crack appeared on his armor and it kept spreading until it suddenly splintered into a thousand pieces as did his body which burst into a cloud of red mist only to begin slowly reforming seconds later, Emrys watched as the unconscious form of Bahu fell atop the sea of lava unconscious and utterly devoid of mana with his heart which served as his core still missing.

Though Bahu may be immortal and can regenerate from almost anything it still did not mean there wasn't a way to keep him sedated, the heart was the core of most humanoid races and removing that meant an instant death for most.

Taking this into account Emrys had injected some mana into Bahu's body as it reformed to keep his heart from regenerating and the mana would disperse in a few hours but in this way Bahu would be forced into a state of limbo, a practical coma if you will.

It was a method similar to the one he had used before, it worked quite well as one of the few ways to incapacitate an immortal without the use of mind spells, sealing spells or anti-regeneration spells. Of course Bahu's physique as a humanoid race also played an important role in this method working even if he was immortal, it would gave failed had he tried this on anyone with a spiritual body for instance.

He looked away from the body and stood in wait for the announcer who popped up seconds later, while he browsed the list looking for his next challenge and seeing two very good ones but unfortunately he would have to make a choice so he was about choosing until something surprising happened

He was challenged, not simply just challenged but by two people at the same time, Noctis and Ishmael. Emrys furrowed his brow in thought of how to go about this, for one thing the greed in his heart was refusing to let him think of leaving anyone out anymore.

Just then an idea came up in his mind and he turned to the announcer "is it possible to accept a challenge but put it on hold so long as both parties agree".

The mini-announcers eyes shone with a mysterious light as he smiled "quite the greedy one aren't you".

"Hmm, let's see. There is nothing against or for such a situation in the rules. But-

"As I possess an absolute authority over this tournament, I can bend the limits one more time".

"Count yourself fortunate young one, you have permission to proceed just this once".

His heart thumped in joy, nothing was settled yet as he had to get the other party's agreement but this chance alone was already more than enough.

"I accept the challenges of both Noctis and Ishmael and would like to request the latter if he could please wait for me".

"By my core I swear it that my battle with Noctis shall be a quick one if he accepts".

A violet magic circle was summoned before his chest, it's process half complete and only needing now the word of the other party to determine if the oath would take effect or not.

The min-announcer's smile grew wider as he relayed everything directly as stated to Ishmael and now only the wait remained, the circle steadily spun before his chest and then suddenly his heart thumped as a crossed chain was manifested before the circle.

Even without hearing it he already knew-

"Your request, has been accepted".

EnD.