“Are you the Chorus?” Levi demanded. His magic poured out from him in unending waves, the air filling with an overwhelming pressure.
Selene had described two extradimensional entities. The first was the Devourer, the entity that was attached to the System and draining the Life and Time from every living being in this world. The second was the Chorus, the entity that possessed the inhabitants of a world to manipulate events and facilitate the Devourer. It was presumably the thing that had possessed Montague to send the assassins, both Qorbin and the Last Order, to eliminate Levi.
Minato smiled. “The Chorus? What is that? I am MiNaTO tHE sPeAR sAGe–”
His form flickered and his voice distorted. Several of his facial muscles spasmed while several others froze in place, as though he were being controlled by a puppeteer that didn’t fully understand how to pilot a human vehicle. His left pupil expanded until his entire left eye was black, while his right eye independently vibrated back and forth. Then, he twitched, and his face was back to normal, as if nothing had happened.
“–and I’ll be the reason you die today,” Minato continued, his voice pleasant. He raised his spear and lowered into a stance. “[Folding Pierce].”
Space rippled and folded, and suddenly Minato was right in front of him, thrusting his spear into Levi’s heart. Levi didn’t even have time to widen his eyes. Minato’s skill had folded the space between him and Levi so that he didn’t actually have to traverse the distance in between. There was no time to dodge–
CLANG!
– Minato’s spear struck the magical shield that Levi hastily projected over his chest. Unlike when he’d been dealing with the Huntsmen at the border, Levi knew that if he sustained even a single mortal injury, then even if he healed it nearly instantly afterward, the small opening created would be enough for Minato to press his advantage and potentially win the entire fight.
His back exploded with pain as the impact of the blow forced him through the seaweed prison. Sea spray whipped at their exposed skin and the wind whistled around them as they flew through the air, Minato straining to pierce the shield. In a second, they crossed the distance of several hundred meters, the sea rising up in massive walls on either side of them.
Levi grunted and blasted a Sever and Cleave at Minato’s face–
His eyes widened as Minato opened his mouth and bit through it, a silver glow to his teeth somehow penetrating and absorbing the magic. What the hell kind of a skill was that?!
“Die, Levi Ironwood, just die!” Minato shouted. He finally finished his charge and disengaged, backflipping into the sky. Levi skidded to a stop on the surface of the sea, breathing hard as he stared up at Minato above. The Spear Sage had drawn back his spear, and with a mighty roar, he unleashed his attack.
A straight line of solid mana shot forth from Minato’s spear and carved a ceaseless path through the air. Concentrated mana so powerful it could punch a hole through an Elder Wyvern’s hide like paper. Any magical barrier would be punctured like an afterthought.
Levi raised his hand and roared in return. Minato gaped from high in the air as Levi caught the line with his bare hand. Not blocking or absorbing but reflecting and redirecting the attack into the water below. Steam curled up around Levi as the sea bubbled and boiled angrily.
“What the hell kind of a skill was that?” Minato gasped.
“Allow me,” Kaito said as he and Ayako appeared next to him.
The Sea Druid brought his hands together in a deafening clap, and seaweed burst from the ocean once more, this time taller and wider than even the largest redwood tree. Levi exploded into a flurry of motion as he leaped from strand to strand. However, the kelp kept on sprouting, and before long there was simply too much for him to dodge.
It seemed Kaito had also wised up. Previously, all the seaweed would be interconnected, so severing a single death line counted for all of it. Now, all the strands were independent, so even if Levi killed one, all the others would be unaffected.
Which meant there was only one thing Levi could do.
Kill it with fire.
There was a loud crack, like a million volts of static electricity being discharged all at once. Then, flames bloomed into the world, so blisteringly hot and terrible that the kelp immediately dried and crumbled to dust the moment they came into contact. Kaito grunted and strained, trying to bolster the plants with mana, but there was no point. The ravenous conflagration devoured the seaweed, and in a few seconds, there was nothing but ash floating on the sea.
Levi stood in the center, exhaling evenly to prevent the resultant vacuum from ripping out his lungs.
…
Wait. Was it just him, or was the sea lower than before…?
He looked around, and what he saw genuinely made his heart skip a few beats.
“Oh, fuck me,” he breathed.
The sea was receding all around him, pulling back and rising into the air on all sides like a basin being drained in reverse. Except it wasn’t stopping. The sea level rapidly dropped and decreased as the wall of water grew higher, the unbelievable displacement releasing a steady staggering roar. An incredible pressure pressed down on Levi, so much mana in the air that it was practically suffocating, and high in the air, he saw Ayako’s face tense in a rictus of concentration as she held her staff high in the air, pouring forth ungodly amounts of mana while muttering incantations under her breath.
Levi probably should’ve moved, but he was rooted in place, even as the water he stood on sank lower and lower. Layers upon layers of barriers settled on him: anti-teleportation, anti-warping, gravity manipulation, and so on.
They weren’t the reason for his immobility, though. That was himself; he couldn't bring himself to do anything. Just stare up in awe.
This was incredible. Phenomenal. One of the grandest, purest, most beautiful displays of magic he’d ever had the joy and pleasure of witnessing.
So this was the peak of this world? This was what an Ascendant-tier Archmage was capable of?
His lips tugged up, and he couldn’t help but laugh, laugh and laugh and laugh, as finally his feet touched the ground. The solid, earthy ground of the ocean floor itself, some five kilometers below sea level.
There were shells, bones, detritus and debris scattered all around him. Deep gouges in the floor, sections of obsidian, incomprehensible ravines off in the distance. Then, nothing but a tsunami wall that extended vertically upward for kilometers on all sides, fish and sharks and ocean monsters trapped within, swimming around in a panicked flurry.
From this distance, Levi could barely even see Ayako above. She was nothing but a tiny speck in the air. Even so, he smiled.
“Magnificent.”
And then the might of the entire ocean crashed down on him, hundreds of millions of tons of water that fell upon him like the wrath of the sea god.
Archmage Ayako regarded the scene below her as the ocean settled, her cheeks flushed as her chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. She looked exhausted but her eyes were alight, her dispassionate gaze nowhere to be seen as a certain triumph permeated her entire form.
Levi Ironwood was dead. There was no way he could’ve survived. At the depths he was standing at, the pressure would’ve been so immense that it could crush an entire Elder Wyvern into a tiny ball no larger than a watermelon. He was strong, but not even he could stand against nature itself–
Someone tapped her shoulder from behind.
Ayako spun around, Minato and Kaito swearing in shock, as Levi smiled at her.
He was completely unharmed. Not even a single hair out of place.
“You may be the strongest person I’ve met so far,” he told her, his tone completely sincere and appreciative. “I can see your title isn’t unearned.”
Then he surged forward, shattering her hasty magical defenses like they were nothing. Kaito and Minato rushed to her, but Levi snapped his fingers and a shockwave forced them back. She tried to bring up her staff, but Levi was faster, disarming her with a burst of speed. It dropped to the ocean below as Levi closed the final distance between them.
It was over. She sensed impending death approach her like a silent raven–
Ayako awoke.
Levi was in the zone. His external and internal world had melted away, replaced by a nothingness that flowed like water. He was in the flow state, all conscious thought nonexistent as his instincts and intuition took over, piloting his form with perfect efficiency. He brushed aside the archmage’s defenses before going in for the killing blow–
He froze.
Ayako’s form flickered just like Minato’s had earlier, her facial muscles conflicting and her pupils rapidly dilating and constricting. Then she jerked back, as though suddenly awakening from a long dream, and her eyes widened as she looked around her.
“What… Where…” Her gaze focused on Levi, and several emotions ran through her face before settling on one of pure desperation. “It’s not me. It’s – It’s not me!”
Levi blinked, then swore as the realization hit him. His flow state shattered, and all his thoughts came flooding back.
Fuck, he’d gotten too lost in the life-and-death battle. He’d forgotten that these three Ascendants weren’t his enemies but victims of the Chorus. He’d been about to kill Ayako, or at least inflict a crippling, debilitating injury. Shit. His old habit had kicked in again.
Then, Ayako’s form flickered again before her expression turned to one of rage. “You shouldn’t have hesitated, Levi Ironwood. You will never reach the Source.”
Her staff reappeared in her hand, and a blast of scorching steam forced him back. Kaito and Minato drew in as well, and Levi grit his teeth as the battle began anew.
Anastasia was strong. Despite her relatively young age, her high innate affinity for the Goddess’s holy power allowed her to progress at an exponential rate. That, in turn, led to her being promoted to the rank of High Priestess when she was only twenty six years old, in one of the most meteoric rises in Church history. In the two years since then, she’d been sent on numerous high-level missions and grown only stronger. She’d fought ancient liches, vanquished archdemons, exorcised untold numbers of evil spirits, even brought a Mythmaker or two to their knees.
And yet, she’d never seen a battle quite like this.
Three Ascendants against a former servant of Death.
The world around them was utterly transformed. She, Selene, and the Huntsman had ditched the rowboat long ago, instead flying in the air above and observing in astounded silence. The sheer scale of the magic casually being thrown around was unbelievable. It had seemed like Levi held the upper hand at first, but…
He was losing.
She could see it. Selene could see it. The Ascendants could see it. Levi himself must also be acutely aware.
The rate of his casting was slowing down. His magic’s output was growing weaker and weaker. He was slowing down.
Anastasia knew why, of course. Though Levi’s soul and magic might be strong, his body was not. He’d reincarnated into a brand new body, one clearly unable to meet his magic’s demands, and now he suffered for it. At this rate, she and Selene needed to step in–
It happened so quickly, she almost didn’t notice it. A combination attack by the Sea Druid and the Spear Sage. Trailing seaweed wrapped around the spear that lashed out in a diversion to cloak the thrust behind. Levi normally would’ve never fallen for such a bait, but he must be tired, because the spear impaled his liver.
He choked, and that split second was enough for Minato to skewer him a dozen more times in all his vitals. Seaweed wrapped around him, chaining him in place, before a blast of pure mana blasted forth from Ayako’s staff, so bright that Anastasia had to cover her eyes.
When the light died down, she looked to see not even dust left behind.