Return Of The Strongest Player

Arthur began gathering the energy in the atmosphere, constructing the widely-known object named a "sword."

It was a greatsword, to be precise.

Arthur's eyes glowed a deeper hue, while his hands brushed along the vibrant particles of energy. With his palms in the air, gripping the ethereal hilt of the rather massive, vibrantly-colored greatsword sword that pointed towards the sky, Arthur began leaking a destructive aura into his surroundings.

To quel the rage of the "Oblivion Torrent," as described by Lucien, Arthur planned on simply splitting the condensed energy in half.

It was a rather bold tactic, but one glance at the phenomenon told Arthur it was not possible to use conventional means. Lucien's spell was a spell, unlike any other spell Arthur had ever seen in his life.

Because it didn't use mana as its source.

'Or does it?' Arthur wondered, peering into the architecture of the intricately formed spell with [Divine Sense]. Beyond that, he simply utilized his crimson eyes, that'd seen many, many spells in their lifetime.

Although difficult to see, every single spell had a formula linked to it.

It was similar to a chemical compound. Spells using a single element were usually akin to a covalent bond, while those involving multiple elements, such as the one unfolding before Arthur's eyes, were akin to an ionic bond.

In layman's terms, every spell had a structure, a basis on which it was constructed.

Arthur simply needed to figure that out before efficiently de-constructing the spell.

Now, one may ask why this wasn't possible in a normal situation…

It was because gazing into the structure of the spell was as difficult as absorbing the mana contained within. The two concepts only differed in terms of methods and the proficiency of the user.

'He's vulnerable, right now,' Arthur muttered internally, glancing at Lucien, who seemed to be writhing in pain, sprawled across the damp grass. Visible veins containing mana coursed through beneath his skin.

'If I strike right now, I can probably kill the guy in one hit…' Arthur thought, narrowing his eyes. 'But I'm not sure if the spell will fade away, or spiral out of control because of his idiocy. Seriously, how imbecilic can someone be?'

'To unleash a spell even you can't control over someone to prevent them from stealing a mere key fragment. Just how important is the fragment to this dumbass?'

'No matter how important it may be, this is just stupidity.'

Suddenly, an intense pain emerging from Arthur's course spread across his body. He stiffened up. The crimson-eyed man's eyes widened as he began inspecting the source of his seemingly mysterious pain.

It was bearable.

But it continued to increase in intensity, slowly creeping towards the realm of unbearability.

Suddenly, Arthur noticed a string of a light-orange substance zapping across his fingers, acting as if it were an electric current. Following that, he felt as if several thousand ants were chewing at him simultaneously.

It was similar to the feeling one got when one's leg fell asleep, but ten times more extreme.

'So this is the nature of the spell,' Arthur muttered internally, gazing dumbfoundedly at the light-orange strings, that wrapped around his shoe before slowly disintegrating them. 'The aspect of corrosion.'

Arthur suddenly felt as if things had become complicated.

However, he couldn't rest.

Without fail, he swung the ethereal blade in his hands, leaving a gaping hole in the condensation of energies that swirled across the sky, interrupting their intricate organization of many vibrant colors. 

With tightened muscles, he burst towards Lucien, planning on using [Judgment Regeneration].

He sped through the vast grassland, approaching the man at a terrifying pace. Reaching within proximity, he reached out his hand. 

However, at that moment, a grin formed on Lucien's face.

He mouthed the words, 'Got you.'

At that moment, the corrosion spell vanished, leaving behind an empty sky with a few harmless after-effects. Lucien's eyes glowed with an unusual intensity, following the formation of invisible strings that wrapped around Arthur's body, encasing him in a layer he couldn't escape from.

Arthur attempted to escape, but it was as if he were bound by the chains of reality, unable to even move.

He used Sun Energy to try to burn through the strings but to no avail. None of his abilities seemed to have any effect.

Suddenly, Lucien's palm jerked his face to the side.

Slap!

"Trying to steal the fragment, were you?" Lucien laughed rambunctiously, his eyes displaying a sense of disdain and mockery for the man before him. He felt as if it were laughable, to make such ambitious claims and then be tricked by one's opponents.

So, as he stood with Arthur in his clutches, Lucien couldn't help but feel a sense of triumph.

For him to have destroyed the person who acted so high and mighty was humiliating for the other party.

Yet, Arthur seemed calm, even within death's clutches.

"Do you not understand the situation you're in, right now?" Lucien inquired, chuckling while slapping the crimson-eyed man several times, imprinting his palm upon his cheeks. "A single move and you're dead."

"I'm so scared."

Silence.

Arthur muttered those words so emotionlessly, so uncaringly, that Lucien couldn't help but narrow his eyes while suppressing his rage. 

Lucien released a defeated sigh, lifting his palm. Cyan strings intertwined with each other, embracing an intricate pattern and assuming the shape of a sphere that seemed unbelievably similar to an atom.

The sphere spun at speeds Arthur couldn't comprehend without the usage of [Divine Sense].

However, despite sensing Lucien's killing intent, Arthur remained motionless, unwilling to struggle beyond a certain point, as if having accepted death. The former scrunched his eyebrows but continued.

"Bid your goodbyes."

With those words, Lucien swung his arm. He hurled the sphere towards Arthur as if enacting a certain attack performed by a yellow-headed teenager who dreamed of becoming the leader of his village.

It was as if reality itself was being sucked by the sphere, as it bent the atmosphere around it.

Once the sphere reached within merely a few inches of Arthur's face, the crimson-eyed man quickly reacted.

'I have no intention of dying, idiot,' Arthur clenched his teeth, grinning as he quickly formed an ethereal blade with his retrained hand. Then, he twirled his body, grasping Lucien's arm with the hook of his foot, smashing it towards the ground while utilizing the momentum to fling himself upwards.

Then, he used the few milliseconds, perhaps a couple of seconds he received to prepare the first move of the 'Divine Heavensplitting Resonance Art.'

Using his newfound power, Arthur managed to prepare the first form in merely a couple of seconds before freeing himself. It was a single, concentrated, blade-wave-type move that borrowed from the law of thermodynamics.

By turning a liquid-like, somewhat gaseous substance into a tangible solid, one could add to it while increasing its power and containing it while maintaining a rather tiny surface area to increase efficiency.

Arthur's aura spilled a destructive aura yet again as the strings came free.

'This is amazing,' Arthur muttered internally, feeling a sense of invigoration. It was overwhelming.

*

"Master…"

A few kilometers away, Ouranos watched solemnly using his vision skill, his eyes shimmering as they peered into the distance. His tone was laced with uncertainty as it pierced Leon's ears. "Isn't that your technique?"

Leon remained silent, continuing to watch. However, instead of being indignant, the crimson-haired man seemed rather excited. 'How did he… Even I was never able to complete it…'

Leon hadn't been able to arrange the concepts to construct the first form of the 'Divine Heavensplitting Resonance Art.' Since his comprehension abilities were sub-par at best, it was difficult to visualize and form formulas.

Technique Composition was not so easy and required many years of grueling work.

Even after a few hundred years, Leon had been unable to perfect the first form, which he considered to be the entire movement.

However, not only had Arthur perfected it, but there seemed to be branches to the technique that Leon could estimate the functions and formulas behind. It was akin to enlightenment for Leon, who'd been faced with a bottleneck for so long.

'Now… Now I can create a technique that will rip through the Heavens.'

Little did he know, his wish would remain a mere wish, unable to be fulfilled for years upon years to come.

It was quite a depressing realization, but Leon was somewhat aware of it in his heart. He was doubtful that such a massive gap between a mortal and a transcendent could even be closed. He was uncertain.

If it could, perhaps he wouldn't be the one to achieve it.

Perhaps it would be someone else, but he desperately wished to watch it occur.

'Perhaps it'll be my successors…'

Leon let out soft laughter. Before entering the tower, he couldn't have expected to achieve such a peaceful life. Plagued with the mental wounds and scars that he still couldn't get rid of, but had managed to place in the back of his mind, Leon couldn't help but release a bitter chuckle.

'Perhaps one day, these will fade away.'