The tension and pressure, plus excitement from Bahamut’s ascension and his recent dominating display, had barely faded when another phenomenon happened. The night was silent. It settled gently over the land, draping the sect in a calm, almost sacred stillness.

The sky stretched endlessly above, deep and vast, painted in shades of midnight blue. Stars scattered across it like fragments of shattered glass, shimmering softly. A cool breeze flowed through the courtyards and rooftops, rustling leaves and carrying the faint scent of earth and stone.

Lanterns flickered lazily along the pathways, their warm glow dancing against the quiet darkness. Disciples rested in their quarters, some asleep, some meditating, and others lying awake, their minds still replaying events of the past few days. Somewhere in the distance, water trickled softly. An owl hooted, only for silence to reclaim everything the next second. It was peaceful, and still... when...

CRACK!

The sky split apart. A blinding bolt of lightning tore through the heavens, ripping across it and carving a jagged line from one end of the sky to the other. It was so massive and so violently bright that night turned into day in an instant.

It swallowed everything, ridding everywhere of shadows. Then it came... what followed after such a massive and bright lightning.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The earth trembled violently, as if it had been struck by an unseen force. Windows rattled, roof tiles shifted, the very air compressed, slamming outward in a shockwave that rolled across the entire sect. Disciples shot awake and rushed out of their residences, eyes wide with shock, and their hearts pounding loudly.

"What was that?!"

"The sky! Look!"

"Another one?! It hasn’t even been a week!"

Above them, the tear remained: a glowing fracture stretching across the heavens, crackling with residual lightning as if something had clawed at the fabric of the world itself.

Before they could do anything, the tear closed in with a resounding BOOM that shook the earth. Everyone instantly knew what was coming. It was a breakthrough and ascension!

And the perpetrator of the event could be seen slowly floating upwards, his silver hair literally glowing. He appeared unconscious, but those with good eyesight instantly recognized him.

"Sel..." Bahamut muttered from the rooftop of their residence with a smile. "You are really my rival. Haha!"

Bahamut burst out laughing when suddenly space fractured and ripped into two, and something or someone burst out of it. Ren.

He had teleported there and his expression...

"Fuck! That is so damn scary! Just what are you two fuckers made of?!" Ren didn’t even bother greeting and started cursing.

"It’s good to see you too..." Bahamut said with a chuckle as he stared at the five-foot-tall white bunny. Ren had changed. Though they weren’t really standing out, his aura gave him away, especially to someone like Bahamut.

"You got stronger... You can kill the scorpion with just a kick."

Ren looked at Bahamut with an annoyed gaze and said.

"Do you see me as some crazy person like you and Sel? I’m not that strong yet."

"Prove it."

"Huh? How do I prove that I am not strong?"

"See?"

"Ugh! Just focus on Sel!"

"Hahaha! I actually missed you..."

"Getting sentimental, are we?"

"Cut me some slack, man. And I know Sel will succeed."

"You’re right. You two are some different breed of monsters."

"It will shock you to find out that there are monsters above us."

"I doubt."

BOOOOOOOOM!

Before Bahamut could retort, they heard a loud boom as the sky ripped in two places beside Sel. Out of one came a small version of the projection that appeared on his First Awakening, the tree-like woman, and out of one came a sword so huge it cast a shadow over about half of the sect.

"Just what the hell?!" Bahamut couldn’t help but exclaim in shock. That sword was dangerous. He could feel the aura radiating from it clearly... It could cut through the soul! He didn’t understand why he felt that, but he was now more than sure that Sel’s background wasn’t as simple as he tried to make it look.

"Now that is a monster..." Ren couldn’t help but whisper in shock. He could also feel, even better than Bahamut, after all, he had helped Sel cultivate his Space element. And that element was more than just space. It was evident from what he was feeling from the sword.

First it was Bahamut, and now Sel. These two were going to break the sect into two. If only Ren knew just how true that was...

Back to Sel, lightning gathered over him as the projections beside him shimmered. The tree woman’s projection quickly moved and hugged him from behind, its vine-like hair falling over him protectively like a curtain, while the sword moved protectively in front of him, just in time to block the first lightning strike.

PRAK! BOOM!

The sky lit up again as the sword absorbed the lightning and passed it on to the tree woman, who then fed it to Sel. The second lightning strike built up, causing the earth to shake. Space cracked as it slowly formed.

Just like Bahamut, Sel was defying the heavenly lightning, but his wasn’t as aggressive as Bahamut’s. Elder Silvia, who was watching Sel’s ascension, couldn’t help but sigh in exhaustion.

"Just what kind of monsters do I have for disciples? And to think I didn’t want at the beginning..."

’People who can defy the heavenly lightning turn out stronger than their peers, and they all ascend with 100% elemental affinity...’

She recalled what Chief Elder Sekhem had told her when Bahamut ascended. The chief elder had gone on to say that anyone who awakened and formed a living projection meant that the person had more than 80% elemental affinity, but if the person’s projection fought against the lightning strikes, it was a certainty that they ascended with 100% elemental affinity.

This meant that both Bahamut and Sel had ascended with 100% elemental affinity, and the shocking part? They were multi-elementalists! 100% affinity in more than three elements. That was crazy! Even Silvia herself hadn’t seen that much craziness in such a short period of time.

CRACK! BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The second lightning struck, almost cracking the sword.

The real ascension was beginning...