Level Up Legacy

Fumes rose from Erin's body as his frame began to grow larger. The blood chains pulsed with life as they absorbed every fragment of mana that they could obtain. Arthur watched Erin through the chains, his muscles bulging beyond their normal limits like inflating balloons.

"I am no expert in anatomy, but this man has more muscles than a human should have," said Gray from behind Arthur. "How are we going to get out of here?"

"Have you ever tried cannonball diving into a pool?" asked Arthur, with half of his face made of flames. The forger stared at him with confusion. "You run as fast as you can and then ball your body, and that is how we'll leave this place."

"I don't think balling my body is going to defeat this berserker," said Gray while gulping down, and Arthur turned toward him and pointed at the corner.

"Stand in that corner away from the door," said Arthur. "The next explosion is going to fill this corridor. After I take Erin out of this place, go and rescue the rest of the prisoners. They will be a good help in your escape."

"And what about you?" asked Gray.

"Cannonball!" shouted Arthur as he ran forward, passing through the chains as his body turned to flames. As he ran toward Erin, the flames sprawling out of his body began to gather around him, conjuring on his body.

"No flames can protect you, Arthur Silvera!" roared Erin as he stomped on the ground and darted forward, like an arrow leaving the bow.

Arthur grinned as he saw the berserker losing his composure, and he threw away what was left of his robes before bursting into flames. The chains cut through the fire but couldn't absorb the mana within them.

As they passed through his body, Arthur had an epiphany. The flames he used against Erin couldn't be absorbed because those flames were his body, not an element summoned or transmuted. This was why Erin couldn't force him into submission, and the emperor was eager to make astral contractors his knights.

The expanding Erin Voldor, who looked inflated several times, appeared in front of Arthur instantly. He interlocked both hands and brought them down toward Arthur, slamming his head to the ground.

Arthur burst into flames as the attack passed through him before he started to conjure into a ball that positioned itself below Erin Voldor. All flames inside the corridor compressed into a small sphere, beginning to grow unstable as the fire grew more violent.

"These puny flames will never defeat me…."

"Arrogance is a sin, berserker," Arthur answered before the flames burst like a ruptured balloon gushing upward.

BOOM!

With a deafening explosion, the pillar of flames slammed into the berserk's stomach, hurling him upward. Finally, he hit the ceiling, demolishing it and passing through it.

This was what Arthur intended. Although arrays and mana fortified this place, the chains weakened the surrounding since no mana or arrays could exist in them. The thick walls crumbled easily, revealing the main building before Erin soared to destroy its ceiling.

Arthur was still underground even when the rubbles crushed him, but he was unharmed. He materialized out of flames but couldn't restore his original appearance. Instead, he looked like a humanoid fire monster.

Arthur aimed at the locks and shot several fire bullets, melting them down. He opened his mouth to call for Gray, but he no longer had a throat to produce sounds. Another telepathic rune would send him into a comatose state.

In the end, Arthur decided that Gray would know when to run on his own. Instead, his legs exploded into flames, making him soar through the hole he created and follow after Erin Voldor.

Once he reached outside, Arthur looked around to see Erin descending to the ground. He caught up to him before he landed in the estate's yard and attacked him again while he was mid-air. Again, the flames exploded to strike Erin toward the ground, causing another explosion that destroyed half of the training ground.

"AGH!" roared Erin Voldor as the flames burned his flesh, and Arthur landed beside him to watch. The fire died down eventually, revealing a badly burned man who started shrinking. "Hah, hah… why am I… losing again…?" asked the berserk full of frustration, before falling to his knees.

Arthur wanted to answer, but he couldn't do that. Reversing the process of turning into runes would take a long time, not to mention tremendous amounts of spiritual energy. He would have lost his body forever if he weren't overflowing with that already.

"Tell me, outsider. Does it feel good to win for no reason other than being the chosen one?" asked Erin Voldor as he stared at the ground, steam rising from his body. "It has been over a year since I last met you, and I trained every day. I trained even before my wounds healed and became a deme-ranker. But now, I lose again."

Hearing his words, Arthur was full of rage. In the end, he entered his sea of consciousness to destroy the Reality Gate and use his mana to recreate his body again. However, before he did that, Arthur found a difference inside it.

"It seems that someone out there is looking after you," said the King, staring at the same thing Arthur was staring at. "It appeared here in pieces the more you turned into flames."

"This is unexpected," answered Arthur within his sea of consciousness. "What is my body… doing here?"

Standing beside the Reality Gate was Arthur's body, unharmed but unconscious. It seemed like it was in a coma, the eyes shut and limbs unmoving.

"This must be how an astral blessing works," muttered Arthur as he walked around his body in his spiritual form. "The element replaces the user, but his body is preserved inside the sea of consciousness. However, how is it possible?"

"This is the work of an astral being indeed," said King Arthur as he stared at the body. "Someone is looking after us after all these years, making sure to help in whatever way they can."

"Who can it be?" asked Arthur, but the King didn't answer. "Forget it. There is no time for this. I need to take this body out and reuse it. How do I do that?"

"It is simple. Just go into it and regain control," suggested the King, and Arthur nodded. Then, he did as he was told and entered the body before his consciousness started to head toward the outside world.

Once he regained consciousness, Arthur was still standing in front of Erin, but the flames were turning back into his body. This time, he had a voice to express his rage over what Erin said.

"Do you think I wanted to be chosen?" Arthur asked as he walked toward Erin and grabbed his tattered shirt by the collar. "Do you think that I wanted to fight since the beginning?"

Erin stared at him with disdain as if Arthur was a cheater, unworthy of winning against him. Seeing his face, Arthur raised his fist and slammed it to the berserk's face before following with another and another.

The berserk no longer had his domain to augment his strength, so the rain of punches started to have an effect. His nose and mouth started bleeding while the rest of his face turned full of blue bruises.

"It doesn't fucking matter what you do with the power, Erin!" said Arthur as he punched his face again. "It is what you do with the power that makes all the difference. You raped, killed, and tortured with this power, and you feel sad because you lost? You fucking had it coming and more!"

Whew!

Something flew from the main building behind them and landed a few feet away. Arthur kept punching Erin, even when the man stopped resisting. Finally, however, the threatening aura behind him forced Arthur to stop and turn to look at the newcomer.

"You did quite a number on our prince," said the man wearing white armor with a red cross. "Another punch, and you will lose that arm. Let go of him, Arthur Silvera."

"You must be one of the Trinity, the strongest knights in Ilios," said Arthur with a smile while still holding onto Erin. "I made a mistake of letting him go once, and I'm not about to do that again."

Arthur raised his fist and brought it down on Erin's head, wanting to crush it. However, the man exploded into blinding lights before Arthur felt something slam into him, pushing him away from the berserk and slamming him to the mansion's wall.

The air left his lung as Arthur coughed, his eyes focusing to see the knight holding his neck and placing the sword on it. The eyes under the helmet were eerie and dark as if Arthur was staring at a starving beast.

"The moment you revealed yourself and came to Ilios, you became a dead man," said the knight. "There are no defenders to give you their strength here, Arthur Silvera!"