During the course of his research into this world, Levi had found comparatively little information on the exalted Ascendants. Despite them being the highest tier of adventurers, he didn’t know how many there were, what they were capable of, or what one needed to do to become one. All he knew was that they were exceedingly rare and powerful. It was said that the gap between an Ascendant and a Mythmaker was greater than the gap between a Mythmaker and a bronze-tier. How much of that was exaggeration and how much was fact, Levi wasn’t certain.
He had asked Qorbin about the Ascendants once. The Grand Assassin had merely snorted, shaken his head, and told him to avoid fucking with them at all costs.
In retrospect, Levi probably should’ve known that fuckery-avoidance would be an impossible task for him.
The rowboat swayed precariously beneath them as the three Ascendants looked down from above. Next to Levi, Selene seemed inquisitive, Anastasia was tense, and the Huntsman had straight-up stopped breathing altogether. Both sides took a moment to appraise each other.
The lancer who’d nearly impaled Levi’s heart stood in the front. He had short dark green hair and a dangerous grin on his face. His spear, made of some unknown material, was slung over his shoulder.
Behind him was a druid clothed in flowing robes woven from kelp. Life energy rolled off him in waves, and though their magic had yet to interact, he was already examining Levi with a look of slight distaste, no doubt sensing on some subconscious level Levi’s lingering connection to Death.
The final Ascendant was a mage of some sort. What subtype, Levi couldn’t tell. She held a polished oak staff in her hands, controlling the anti-gravity spell that held her and her companions aloft. She looked bored, as though she would much rather be researching some ancient grimoire than dealing with this.
“Who are you?” Levi called up to them.
The lancer smirked. “We’re the Three Pillars.”
There was a moment of silence.
“... who?”
The lancer blinked. “What? What do you mean ‘who?’ You haven’t heard of us before?”
“No, not really…”
“You’re in the middle of Yukihasa! How do you not know who we are?” The lancer sounded genuinely put-off. “The Three Pillars of Yukihasa? The slayers of the mighty Great Serpent? The Bane of Volcanoes?”
Levi coughed. “Sorry, never heard of you…”
“Huh.” The lancer considered it. “Just when you think you’ve seen it all… Well. I’m the Spear Sage Minato, the Sea Druid next to me is Kaito, and the Archmage is Ayako.”
Now it was Levi’s turn to blink. “Archmage?”
Minato grinned. “Oh yeah.”
Levi regarded him, filing that information away for later use. “Why are you attacking us?”
It didn’t make any sense. How did the Ascendants discover them? They’d avoided getting detected by the Curtain. Nobody had seen through their disguises in Oroppo. News of the border incident had yet to spread.
Unless… Levi cast a glance at the Huntsman. Did he betray them? No, unlikely. The Huntsman seemed even more surprised, and worried, than they were. Levi didn’t think he was putting on an act.
How did the Ascendants even know they were in the country, much less track them down? Was it just a coincidence? It must be. They had probably just been out patrolling, saw some unidentified people on an unauthorized rowboat, and decided to intervene. Which meant there was still a chance Levi could salvage this situation, with enough trickery, bluffing, and diplomacy–
Minato’s smile took on a dangerous edge. “Why? The answer should be obvious, shouldn’t it? You’re intruding on our territory, Levi Ironwood. We don’t take too kindly to that.”
Levi let out a long breath.
Fuck.
Okay.
They knew.
He dispelled the glamour concealing his appearance, revealing his true form. Selene, using that as a cue, shapeshifted back to her original form as well. Levi did keep Anastasia’s glamour intact; he didn’t know if they knew about her yet, and he wanted to keep some cards close to the chest.
Minato whistled. “And you brought an archdemon with you?” he said, recognizing what she was at a single glance. “You’re too kind. On that note, this is your one and only chance to surrender. Please don’t take it. I’ve been bored out of my mind these past few weeks, and if you give me a good fight, I’ll actually love you forever.”
“Minato,” Kaito said in warning. “Behave.”
Minato rolled his eyes. “Right, right. Killjoy. Anyhow… What do you say?” He raised his spear. “Fancy resisting?”
Levi was silent for a long moment, long enough to make Minato frown.
Then he smiled, and his magic exploded out from him, forcing back all the mist in a hundred-meter radius. Water droplets hit the sea around them in a perfect circle.
“I’ve always wanted to see how strong Ascendants are.”
A wild grin tore across Minato’s face. “Now we’re TALKING!”
And then he was right in front of Levi, the sea bursting up in his wake. Levi’s eyes widened as he hastily shoved magic through his muscles, reinforcing them to their utmost limit. Even then, he was barely able to dodge the devastating point-blank thrust, leaping backward onto the surface of the waves. Minato was fast, faster than most enemies Levi had faced before, even including those from his old life. In that single moment, Levi knew he was facing the real deal.
In the span of a second, Minato unleashed hundreds of strikes. The air around them heated up as countless booms rang out in the air, bleeding into one homogenous deathly hum. Levi dodged them all, flowing around them like water, though not without cost. Dozens of cracks echoed out as his bones fractured and healed a split second later in a continuous loop. Damn it, even with his reinforcement magic, his body was still far too weak to keep up with his level.
Intellectually, Levi knew it couldn’t be helped. He had only reincarnated a month ago. Even with extensive physical conditioning, there was no way for his current body to reach the level of his old one in such a short amount of time. Even still, it was frustrating, like trying to play the piano with his elbows.
From above, tiny water bullets the size of grapes blasted forth from Ayako’s oak staff, warping into teardrop shapes from the hypersonic speed. There were hundreds, thousands of them, so dense it was like directed rainfall. Levi’s attention was thus split between dodging Minato’s strikes and avoiding Ayako’s water bullets, two attacks from seventy degrees apart. A difficult feat by anyone’s standards, made even more impossible by the giant mass of seaweed that suddenly erupted from below, writhing and whipping toward Levi.
Anastasia and Selene made to move, but Levi’s head snapped over to them. “No! Stay back!”
“What? Why?” Anastasia shouted. “At this rate, you’re going to–”
She froze.
Levi was smiling. Grinning fiercely ear-to-ear, as though he were having the time of his life.
He’d missed this. Battling opponents who could actually give him a good fight. Ever since he’d awoken in this new world – no, before even that. Ever since he’d retired as Death’s servant, he hadn’t really gone up against anything or anyone who’d given him a genuine challenge. Other than the System, of course, but that didn’t count.
How long had it been since he’d faced someone who made his heart beat so fast? How long had it been since he’d been able to go all-out without having to worry about accidentally killing his opponent?
Too long. Far too long.
He gathered a staggering amount of magic in his hand, condensed it into a tiny sphere that threatened to burst apart in his palm, then slashed across the air. Dozens of Sever and Cleaves blasted forth, cutting through the magically-enhanced seaweed all around like butter. Kaito drew in a sharp breath, his entire body shuddering heavily as he sensed death overcome his plants. As a Sea Druid, he would be extremely sensitive to such matters, and indeed he stared at Levi with wide, horrified eyes.
Then the second part of Levi’s spell activated, and massive gales of wind rotating outward in a powerful vortex. The water bullets lost all form and cohesion as they were blown astray. Minato himself was forced backward, covering his face with one hand as he squinted through the storm.
This temporary lapse gave Levi enough time to gather himself. He raised his hand high into the air, his cloak materializing around him, and dark heavy clouds swirled into existence overhead. The three Ascendants stared at him in disbelief as Levi let out a resounding roar and brought his hand down. Lightning slammed to the sea on his command, and Ayako was barely able to erect a spherical barrier around them in time.
Levi grinned. Blocking instead of evading? Bold.
Ayako had clearly only expected him to call down several bolts of lightning at most. Her eyes grew wider and wider as the lightning continued surging down from the sky, hammering against her barrier with deafening booms, showing no signs of stopping. Her bored expression slowly disappeared, replaced by one of mild alarm, and as her barrier began cracking, she looked at Levi.
Levi gave a challenging smile back.
What was going to give first? His lightning, or her barrier?
The latter, as it turned out. The barrier gave one pulse of azure light before it shattered into a million pieces, leaving nothing in between them and the lightning.
Well. Nothing except them and Minato himself. The Spear Sage leaped upward and met the lightning head-on with his spear, repelling it with nothing but sheer force and mana.
Levi raised his eyebrows, impressed, before turning his attention to the seaweed tendrils rising from the ocean depths. They were thicker and larger than the previous ones, filled to the brim with mana, causing them to be stronger and sharper than steel while retaining maximum flexibility. They encircled Levi, forming a hollow cylinder two hundred meters tall.
A shadow appeared over Levi. Directly above, framed by the backdrop of the full moon, Ayako hovered in the air. Mana accumulated at the end of her staff before blasting downward in a massive jet of water, contained by the surrounding cylinder. The night sky disappeared as the entire seaweed prison was filled with water.
Gusts of wind blasted from Levi’s hands, preventing the water from reaching him–
Then Minato exploded from within the stream, meeting Levi in the enclosed space. The sea underneath them, the seaweed wall encircling them, the stream of water overhead… It was just the two of them as they exchanged dozens of blows. Sever and Cleaves clashed against the spear, and though they were unable to penetrate the strange material, the Cleaves had enough stopping power to knock the spear back.
“Incredible, Levi Ironwood!” Minato shouted in glee. “How are you this strong?”
“I ate my vegetables!” Levi shouted back. Minato laughed as Levi returned with a question of his own. “How did you find us?”
This entire time, he’d been wondering that question. No matter what possibility he considered, he couldn’t come up with a realistic reason. Unless a clairvoyant had somehow detected them ahead of time…
“What do you mean?” Minato asked, swinging his spear to the side.
Levi ducked underneath it before snapping his fingers at the water underneath Minato. It stabbed upward in multiple solid water spikes. Minato didn’t even look at them; he just stomped down on them, dispersing the water, before charging ahead with another strike.
“Our infiltration into Yukihasa was flawless,” Levi said. “How did you know where we were? How did you even know we were in the country?”
Minato laughed. “Do you even have to ask, Levi Ironwood? It’s because–”
He froze, so suddenly that the rapid deceleration caused a shockwave to explode off him. Levi’s clothes rippled as he too paused, stopping himself from firing a chain of flames.
“Wait, that’s right,” Minato said slowly. A look of absolute bewilderment appeared on his face as he stood up from his stance. “How did we find you?” He clutched his head with one hand. “Hold on, what am I even doing here–?”
His head whipped to the side, so fast his neck let out an audible crack, to stare at something to his right.
Levi glanced over as well. There was nothing there. Just empty space. Even with his True Sight, he couldn’t detect anything.
Hold on. He was getting a sense of deja vu here. Didn’t the same thing happen with Montague…?
And then Minato screamed.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH – STOP OKAY STOP STOP I’M SORRY I’LL DO BETTER I’LL KILL HIM I’LL KILL HIM WE’LL KILL HIM WE’LL RIP HIM APART AND CRUSH HIS BONES AND BLEED HIM DRY AND TEAR OUT HIS BEATING HEART–!”
His head snapped back to Levi.
“Sorry, friend,” he said, his tone returning to normal, almost apologetic. “But you’re gonna have to die now.”