Chapter 196: Exildra Wakes Up. Immediate Ascension

The ground shattered, and both of them vanished. The clash began instantly. Sel appeared first, right in front of Ivan. Ivan’s pupils shrank, but he reacted too late. Sel’s fist drove forward, space itself warping faintly around it as it connected with Ivan’s guard.

BOOM!

The impact distorted the air, sending Ivan skidding backward, his feet carving trenches into the ground as his arms trembled from the force. At the same time, Bahamut crashed into Rexi. Their collision sounded like two boulders slamming into each other. Flames erupted, and wind exploded. Their fists met mid-air.

BOOOOM!

A shockwave blasted outward, forcing the remaining four to brace themselves. Rexi’s flames surged, coiling around his arm as he twisted and launched a barrage of strikes, each one faster than the last. Bahamut didn’t retreat; he met them, blow for blow. Each clash sent bursts of fire scattering. The other four finally moved.

"Split them!"

Two rushed Sel, and the other two rushed Bahamut. Big mistake. Sel didn’t even turn. The moment they entered his range, the ground warped, and their footing vanished.

"What?!"

In a single step, he was behind them, delivering two clean strikes.

THUD! THUD!

Both bodies hit the ground before they even realized what had happened.

Meanwhile, Bahamut laughed.

"You think numbers matter?"

One of the remaining disciples lunged at him from behind, blade glowing with condensed energy. Before it could reach, Bahamut’s body twisted unnaturally, his sword already moving.

CLANG!

The blade was deflected, and a kick followed. The disciple was launched into a nearby pillar, shattering it on impact. The last one hesitated, and that hesitation cost him. Bahamut’s eyes flickered a faint crimson glow beneath his blindfold. A pulse resonated out, and the air compressed violently around the disciple.

BOOM!

He dropped to his knees instantly, crushed under invisible pressure.

"W-what... is?!"

"Stay down."

Rexi roared. Flames exploded outward in a wide arc, forcing Bahamut back a step.

"Don’t ignore me!"

"I’m not."

Bahamut stepped forward.

"You’re just not enough."

Rexi’s eyes burned. His tails lashed behind him as flames condensed, turning from wild fire into something denser and hotter. He dashed forward, a streak of red. Bahamut met him halfway, and their clash this time was different. It was faster, sharper, and deadlier.

Everything collided in a chaotic rhythm of destruction. Each exchange tore apart the ground beneath them, and each impact sent shockwaves rippling outward. Rexi was strong, but he was angry.

While Bahamut was calm and composed. The irony.

Ivan rejoined the fight. His movements shifted again, that strange ripple beneath his feet returning. He appeared beside Bahamut, hand coated in hardened earth, and aimed straight for his ribs.

Sel appeared to intercept it.

CRACK!

Their clash sent both sliding apart. Ivan’s expression tightened.

"You’re annoying."

Sel shrugged lightly.

"You’re weird."

"I’ll kill you."

"Get in line."

The battlefield settled for a brief second. Six had become two standing, four down, with some still hiding. Bahamut had sensed about fifty hostile auras, and he knew that unless something happened, they would be fighting for a very long time.

Ivan and Rexi stood side by side now, their auras flaring in sync. Across from them, the duo looked unbothered and even carefree, as if they weren’t worth their energy.

A tense silence fell. Bahamut exhaled.

"Is that all?"

Rexi’s jaw tightened. Ivan’s eyes darkened.

They moved again and were about to clash with them when...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The thunderstrike of ascension.

"Wha-!"

"Another one?!"

Bahamut’s gaze met Sel’s, and they realized...

"Exildra!"

They instantly turned to run, but found out they’d been locked in place.

"Fuck!"

"Calm down. An ascension is happening. You can’t move unless you are two tiers above the Tier the person is ascending to," Sel said calmly to Bahamut.

"Then what of these people?" 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"They can’t either. They are all at Tier 2."

CRAAAACK! BOOOM!

Under the stunned gazes of everyone, Exildra appeared in the sky with her hair floating and glowing with a white light. Unlike the previous ascensions, when everyone appeared unconscious, she appeared rather conscious. Her right eye glowed with a variety of colors while the left glowed with its normal gold color.

But what was more shocking was what was behind her. It wasn’t a projection like the earlier ones, but an actual being. It looked like another version of Exildra with long white hair that fell to its feet in white robes. It held a wooden staff with a glowing, colorful gem floating inside an opening at the top of it. What was even stranger about the being was its eyes. It had five eyes, two on the left, two on the right, and one positioned vertically on its forehead.

The eyes all glowed with different colors, like a rainbow. Apart from the eyes, there was nothing else on its face. Even its ears couldn’t be seen.

"The ascension of a Seer..." Someone whispered. As if waiting for that comment, the world shook. The ascension of a Seer was different. The heavenly lightning was just a support. The actual ascension lay in the thing that appeared in the sky.

It was a massive eye that seemed to pierce into the very existence of everyone. It felt as if they were being looked down on by a god... a Judge.

The moment that the eye fully opened, everything stopped. Breath froze in lungs, hearts stalled mid-beat. Even the crackling remnants of lightning hanging in the sky fell into absolute stillness, suspended like fragments of a broken world. Silence swallowed everything.

Exildra’s body trembled mid-air, but she did not fall. Her glowing eye widened slightly, as if something far beyond her current existence had taken hold of her sight. Behind her, the five-eyed figure lifted its staff slowly, as if acknowledging the presence above.

The Eye in the sky... shifted and focused. A pressure descended. Below, disciples collapsed one after another because something in them... rejected being seen.

"Don’t... look..." someone whispered hoarsely, clawing at their own face as their body trembled uncontrollably.

Even the elders stiffened. Even Elder Silvia’s expression hardened, her fingers tightening slightly at her side.

"This is... too early..."

Exildra inhaled: a sharp, trembling breath, raised her hand, and pointed at the Eye. The world... reacted. The five-eyed being behind her moved in unison, its staff tilting forward as the gem at its center ignited with blinding color.

The Eye pulsed.

CRACK!

A fracture spread across the sky as if reality itself had been scored by an unseen blade. Then everything moved again. At once.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The backlash exploded outward, a violent surge of invisible force that ripped across the sect, flattening structures, tearing up the ground, and forcing even the strongest to their knees. Exildra screamed, not in pain, but in acceptance, and the Eye... Closed.