Ascension of the Dark Seraph - Chapter 274

Chapter 274: So Much Like Me
Just like that, the second stage started with full force.

Participants sprinted as fast as they could, keeping their eyes vigilant for any other lurking kingdoms.

Reaching the first checkpoint is what all of them were aiming for right now.

At least, once they reached the first checkpoint, even if they came in contact with another kingdom and lost, they wouldn’t be thrown back to the starting line. Having that happen to them would almost be a certain defeat.

But not all of them thought the same thing.

“Come on, move! We need to move quickly and get out of this open space!”

A kingdom led by a man with bluish scales covering the back of his arms—and part of his face, a Naga Hybrid. Another comrade of his was following well, a few steps behind, but the other one was lagging behind hard.

He was trying to sprint as fast as he could, but what could a Yeti Hybrid like him do?

Naturally, he was blessed in strength, but speed is not his forte.

‘I should call for them,’ He thought, seeing that the other two were already gaining distance from him, and growing by the second. ‘I should call for them and tell them to slow down, but that would make me look like a burden… I can’t have that.’

Gritting his teeth, he glanced above, finding a spherical drone following him.

‘Not when everyone is watching.’ He thought with pride.

Suddenly, a loud commotion rang from the side.

Almost instantly, the Yeti Hybrid snapped his head in the direction of the commotion and frowned when he saw another kingdom charging straight at him. All three of them weren’t running to the checkpoint, but they were running straight at him.

‘Shit!’ The man cursed inside. “Are they going to jump me?! This early?!’

Just as he thought that, he saw something chasing from behind the three participants.

It took only a moment for the man to realize that there was a monster chasing after them, a massive, elephant-size deer with active lava dripping down from the cracks of its skin. Seeing this, the man was about to begin running again.

He was going to run because that massive deer was a Chrysalis rank-strong.

Fighting that kind of monster this early would be bad for him.

But as he was turning, one of the three participants reached him in a flash.

For a second there, he was stunned due to how fast this participant was but that trance didn’t last long.

Bam!

“Kaahk!”

“Out of my way!”

Out of nowhere, the participant shoulder charged the man right on his chest, knocking the wind out of his lungs. He fell to the ground, clutching his chest as he gasped for breath. He was utterly paralyzed by the sheer force of the shoulder-charge.

Before he could recover, his eyes widened when he sensed heat coming from behind.

Roar!!

Bam!!

Unable to catch the other three, the deer monster tilted its head down and struck the man with its strong antlers. It swept the man away, leaving behind the three participants watching from the side, seemingly contemplating the situation.

“Did he die?” One of them asked.

“I don’t know,” Another shrugged. “But we’re here to help Renis, so focus on that.”

Nodding his head, the extremely well-built man with his face covered by a black expressionless mask gazed upward. He stared straight at the spherical drone and squinted, “Go and check that guy. See if he is really dead.”

One of them went to check, and after a moment, he came back.

“Saved,” He said flatly. “I think he’s saved by a protection artifact from his sponsor.”

“Oh…” The masked man smiled inside. “Then what are you waiting for? Make sure he’s dead.”

Just as the other two were about to make their move, the deer circled back.

Charging its antlers with a massive amount of crosser energy, turning its antlers scorching hot and red, it circled back and roared once again. On the other hand, the Yeti Hybrid, who barely managed to survive the initial charge, turned.

His face paled when he saw the deer charging at him again.

“No… No, wait!”

Crash!!

Mercilessly, the deer head-butted him again.

But this time, the Yeti Hybrid wasn’t as lucky, there was no more protection artifact saving him.

Now, the burning antlers impaled him completely.

Like a rabid dog, the deer raised its head, still with the Yeti Hybrid impaled on its antlers, and shook its head hard. For a moment there, the Yeti Hybrid screamed in pain, feeling his insides being mixed into mashed intestines.

Fortunately for him, the torture didn’t last long.

Swoosh!

Once again, the deer charged its antlers and caused them to burn brighter, scorching the Yeti Hybrid.

All that was left of him was his roasted corpse.

“Guess we don’t need to, the deer did it for us,” The masked man smiled inside

For the second time, he turned to face the spherical drone, waiting.

But nothing came.

“I see now,” He nodded his head firmly.

Pivoting to the other two—the masked man instructed.

“Go inform Renis, killing with our own hands is against the rules, but if the participant dies through the crossers, it’s fine,” He said before looking down at his radar, noticing the number one emerging at the top corner. “But don’t kill too much, I think there are limits as to how much we could kill.”

…

“What the fuck is wrong with this guy?”

A man with blazing fire hair was levitating above the battlefield, throwing fireball after fireball at this man with a pair of piercing golden eyes, Lucivar. He was a Fire Wizard Hybrid, capable of long-range attack and devastating firepower.

Reaching the Chrysalis rank was the ultimate breakthrough for him.

Now that he has control over the fire attribute, he would be deadly in a battle like this.

But Lucivar was like a cockroach.

No matter how fast the Fire Wizard Hybrid threw fire spells at him, he was able to dodge them.

Boom!

Boom!

After another volley of fireballs, the Fire Wizard Hybrid grinds his teeth in anger.

Lucivar emerged from the smoke, completely unharmed.

But what he hated the most wasn’t the fact that he couldn’t touch Lucivar.

It was the fact that Lucivar’s attention was somewhere else entirely.

Throughout the entire battle, his eyes were fixated on Caldaros.

He wasn’t paying attention to the Fire Wizard Hybrid, but he was still capable of dodging the fire spells.

‘Is he underestimating me…? Me?!’ The Fire Wizard Hybrid burned with rage. ‘I’m not weak!!’

On the other hand, Lucivar was smiling proudly.

‘Can you begin to see it now, Ciri?’ He thought inside, looking at Caldaros, who was overpowering two other participants with relative ease—an excited smile donning his face. ‘He’s so much like me. Just like me, he also did something bad—and made enemies. He also thought of using me to his advantage, so that I could fight his enemies for him. Just like me, he’s also excited and thirsty for power…’

A single tear drizzled down Lucivar’s face.

Not a tear of sadness, but a tear of complete happiness.

‘Good Gods don’t exist, not when Karma favors the bad,’ Lucivar chuckled in hubris, his smile growing wider by the second. ‘If the Gods become good, they would lose their power, they would lose their own Godhood. None of them wanted that, so they had to become bad…’

Sometimes, Lucivar thought that his mind was broken from all the trauma.

That… something was wrong with him.

But he’s not, he was right, nobody who has power is good.

Not that power corrupts, but power was only attracted to the corrupt.

And now, at this moment, Caldaros was proving to him that he was right about this matter.

Caldaros’ mask was slipping.

A good person wouldn’t have enemies, a good person wouldn’t smile in the heat of the battle, and more importantly, a good person doesn’t use anyone around them, even if it was someone who wanted to kill them—that’s the essence of good.

Optimism and forgiveness, the core of good.

‘And now, in this tournament, I’d show it to you, Ciri,’ Lucivar thought. ‘I’d show you the truth.’

Swoosh!

Lucivar raised an eyebrow when he sensed a scorching air brushing against his body.

He looked up nonchalantly and saw the Fire Wizard Hybrid summoning a massive fireball, its heat far greater than anything he’d cast before, held overhead with both hands. Rage burned in his eyes, fueled by the humiliation of being treated as harmless by Lucivar.

“I’m going to make you pay and make sure to wipe that arrogance of yours!” He roared.

Seeing the great ball of fire, Lucivar didn’t react.

He still looked at the Fire Wizard Hybrid as if he was nothing.

A Chrysalis-rank Hybrid is powerful, but with a barely green-grade bloodline like a Fire Wizard, he was nothing compared to Lucivar. There are levels that this Fire Wizard Hybrid must comprehend, even though they were at the same rank.

Not all Chrysalis-rank Hybrids stood at the same stage.

And Lucivar was going to show it to him.

‘Oh, this is perfect to try out my new ability.’ Lucivar thought, the corner of his lips curling slightly.

Swoosh!

In a surge of power, the massive fireball swelled before the Fire Wizard Hybrid made his move.

“Eat this!” He shouted, hauling it towards Lucivar.

As he extended his hands forward, focusing on maintaining the massive fireball until impact, the Fire Hybrid Wizard smiled with a crazed excitement. ‘Thanks to you for making me angry, I exceeded my own limitation. I’ve never made one this strong, and you’re going to be its first victim!’

Just then, the massive fireball struck Lucivar.

At the point of impact, Lucivar unfurled his wings and used them to protect himself.

But the Fire Wizard Hybrid didn’t care.

No way Lucivar’s wings could endure the heat from the massive fireball.

A booming laughter escaped the Fire Wizard Hybrid’s mouth as he watched Lucivar trying to hold back the massive fireball with his wings, “Don’t fight it, you damn fool! Do you realize now—how foolish you are to underestimate me?!”

Suddenly, the Fire Wizard Hybrid’s smile froze.

The long-awaited explosion never came—Lucivar was able to hold back the force from the fireball.

Then, an invasive energy, swirling with both white and black, crawled over to the fireball’s surface.

In the next second, it cracked.

Splash!

Suddenly, the fireball burst apart, sending flames hurling back toward the Fire Wizard Hybrid.

He threw up a wall of fire to shield himself, but amidst the blaze, his eyes widened slightly as grains of sand stung his cheek. Black grains of sand. Frowning, he unleashed a torrent of flames from his body to clear his vision.

Only then did he see Lucivar was still standing where he was earlier.

But unlike earlier, there was a devious smirk crossing his lips.

It was then the Fire Wizard Hybrid realized something, “What did he do…?”