Blackout Ascension: Return of Primordial Heir-Chapter 21: Kind Prince

Luna stood unmoved in the absolute center of the black obsidian arena. Both of his eyes were glowing with a piercing silver light. High above him, the anomalous, summoned moon radiance fulminating. It hung in the sky like an ancient deity quietly watching the battle unfold. The shadows on the polished floor stretched out long and sharp.

Xenomyst Xynoria implicitly refused to kneel. His athletic legs were shaking visibly under the crushing gravity. The neon blue runes carved across his skin were flickering. But he smiled warmly, even through the agonizing pain.

"I finally understand," Xenomyst wheezed, casually smearing a streak of bright red blood from his nose. "I finally understand exactly why they call you the Night Emperor."

Luna blinked his silver eyes very slowly.

"That is absolutely not a royal title, Xenomyst," Luna replied, his quiet voice becoming empty of joy or pride. "It is a heavy curse."

High above them, the bronze bell rang out with a loud sound.

GONG!!

Phase Two commences!

Xenomyst’s body disintegrated with a crystalline shriek, turning into a cascade of fragmentary light. He instantly reappeared directly above Luna’s head. He wielded twin, swirling streams of icicle-fire tightly in his bare hands. He slammed them together, thrusting forward, weaving the opposing elements into a terrifying, trident-shaped weapon. "Duality Calamity: Judgement Shatter!"

The trident descended with a supersonic boom from the sky exactly like a falling guillotine made of burning fire and freezing frost. It was heavy enough to crush a large steel tank.

Luna simply drifted his left hand toward the sky. "Halt."

The enchanted weapon froze, petrified. It stopped dead in mid-air, a mere two inches from Luna’s messy silver hair. It looked as if the lethal weapon had hit a solid, invisible ceiling of hardened glass.

Xenomyst’s neon eyes widened in pure, unadulterated shock. He pushed down the spear with all of his physical might, thick veins bulged visibly on his forehead and neck. He screamed loudly with the sheer, agonizing effort.

ARGHHHHHHH!!

But he could not move the trident down even a single millimeter.

Luna murmured softly, his quiet voice echoing strangely in the silence of the stadium. "Moonlight naturally binds gravity, Xenomyst. Your spell absolutely cannot fall unless I allow it to fall."

Luna thrusted the empty air upward with his palm, completely without touching the physical weapon.

CRACKKKK!!

The terrifying trident shattered instantly into millions of hovering sparks of red and blue mana.

The kinetic backlash pushed Xenomyst backward through the air. He landed heavily on the black stone ground. But he didn’t stop. He immediately teleported again, stubbornly refusing to surrender.

Zip!

Five jagged spears of yellow lightning shot forward. Luna stood perfectly still. The lightning spears instantly shattered into static sparks right before touching his skin.

ZIIPP!

Xenomyst teleported again, moving faster. Ten explosive firebolts screamed across the arena.

Luna took a slow, calm breath. The raging firebolts vanished into absolute nothingness, eaten by the void.

ZIP! ZIP! ZIP!

A roaring tsunami of burning water. A swinging blade of condensed, time-slowing ice. A terrifying, hyper-compressed gravity bomb.

Xenomyst’s vision, obscured by the neon glare, struck everything he had. His mana core is exhausted. He flashily cast high-tier spells that would have easily killed almost any other general participating in the tournament.

But against Luna Zephyros... it was like throwing tiny, useless pebbles at the vast night sky.

Every single devastating attack stopped moving and disintegrated into dust right before touching his physical body.

Xenomyst was panting heavily with severe exhaustion of the mana core. The blood dripped from his pale lips and nose. His powerful magic was wavering and ripped away from his own body due to severe overuse, tearing his internal mana veins apart from the inside out.

Yet, he smiled even wider. His blue eyes were completely manic, wild with a terrifying thrill.

"Yes... YES... this is exactly it...!" Xenomyst laughed loudly, the blood-choked from mouth droplets splattered out. "If I can actually manage to survive THIS specific version of you... I will absolutely surpass every single mage who has ever lived!"

Luna simply stared at him with sad, silver eyes.

"You never actually cared about winning this tournament.." Luna suddenly realized, lowering his hand.

Xenomyst laughed breathlessly, clutching his chest with his trembling hand.

"Winning a shiny medal is a game for small children," Xenomyst said, spitting blood. "I only care about absolute improvement. I only care about evolution, and you, Luna... you are the absolute perfect wall for me to break my limits. You are the infinite, unbeatable silence!"

Luna closed his eyes tightly for a brief moment. A flash of genuine pain crossed his pale face. It was the agonizing pain of having to watch someone completely destroy themselves for no good reason.

"Why is everyone in this world so fiercely determined to break themselves?" Luna whispered softly up to the artificial moon.

Xenomyst stomped his heavy boot down firmly onto the black obsidian ground.

"Because people are exactly like you..." Xenomyst shouted wildly, his voice cracking with emotion. "...stand far too high in the sky! And the rest of us desperately have to climb!"

The platform rattled into spider-web design under his boots. Xenomyst began unleashing his final, ultimate spell. But it wasn’t aimed at Luna. It was aimed directly at himself.

A highly unstable sphere of pure mystic energy violently coalesced in Xenomyst’s right palm. It was completely chaotic mana, and dangerously dense. It was strictly forbidden by Monarchs because it was a Self-Destructive spell. He was actively trying to force his own body to magically evolve by pushing his physical core right to the absolute brink of death.

"Core Overload: Genesis!"

Luna’s silver eyes snapped open. The silver glow shone bright in sudden, genuine panic.

"Don’t do it...!!" Luna warned, taking a quick step forward.

Xenomyst ignored the warning. He struck the chaotic, glowing orb directly into his own chest.

BOOM!!

A devastating, manic surge of wild energy shot vigorously through his entire body. It compulsively ripped open magical seals inside his soul that were never meant to be opened by mortals. His flawless skin began to crack like dry porcelain, glowing intensely with a blinding, lethal purple light from the inside out.

If Luna tried to block the explosion, the kinetic impact would instantly kill Xenomyst.

If Luna tried to attack him to stop the cast, Xenomyst’s fragile body would completely shatter like glass.

Luna understood the horrific truth instantly. There was only one possible way to actually save the foolish elf’s life.

He reacted instantly, completely without hesitation. "Moonlight Domain: Stasis."

Blinding, white moonlight burst outward directly beneath Luna’s feet. For a single, impossible second, the entire battlefield froze, petrified. The drifting dust stopped moving mid-air, and the deafening sound of the crowd stopped echoing.

Luna vanished, instantly reappeared behind Xenomyst, stepping right inside the highly lethal, expanding explosion of chaotic purple mana.

He rigidly grabbed the Half-Elf by the collar of his shirt with his bare hands. He brutally slammed Xenomyst face down onto the hard obsidian ground.

THUD!!

Luna skewered the overloaded mystic core down with his knee. He locked both of Xenomyst’s flailing arms in place so he couldn’t resist.

Luna placed his glowing, silver right hand over Xenomyst’s heaving chest where the lethal spell was expanding.

"Dispel!" Luna commanded, his voice shaking with effort.

Luna poured his own pure, cooling mana into Xenomyst’s burning chest. He sucked the chaotic, exploding mystic core into his unconscious mind realm to dispel the power. Luckily Luna made it in time before the Seal ruptured.

Luna gritted his teeth hard, ignoring the searing pain in his palm. "Sleep."

The purple light died. The catastrophic explosion vanished into thin air. The heavy dust settled over the obsidian platform.

Only one single figure remained standing in the center of the arena. Luna Zephyros.

Xenomyst lay unconscious on the ground beneath him. His chest heaving for a second, and then he was breathing steadily, alive.

Luna knelt there quietly on the hard floor for a long moment, his right hand trembling slightly from the volatile magic. He slowly reached up and wiped a bead of sweat from his pale forehead.

He whispered quietly to himself, "Why do you constantly force me to hurt people... just to save them?"

High above, the heavy bronze bell rang out across the silent stadium.

"The match is concluded! Luna Freyr Zephyros is the winner!"

Deafening cheers shook the entire stadium. The applause was absolutely louder than any other battle before it. The audience cheered because they had just witnessed something beyond battle.

****

In the competitor’s box, Lucy Smith leaned forward, her eyes wide with total disbelief.

"He actually absorbed the explosive impact," Lucy whispered, completely stunned. "He purposefully held back his own lethal power that whole time... just to make absolutely sure he didn’t accidentally kill him."

Everyone thought that Luna absorbed the power, but they don’t know that no one can contain that power, as per the power advantage and luck he drove the blast impact into unconscious mind.

Velanor Banner slammed his thick fist into the armrest and laughed loudly.

"Night Emperor my foot!" Velanor shouted happily, grinning from ear to ear. "He’s just Luna! He’s just a completely kind bastard!"

Kairos smiled a genuine, warm smile.

"Language, Velanor. But yes, that is exactly his true strength," Kairos said softly, folding his arms. "He flawlessly conquers his enemies without ever destroying them."

Seal Rupture, huh!! Many years have passed, I don’t even remember when I witnessed this. You are lucky, Luna! It’s not that lethal when you dispel it. Kairos thought with a faint grin on his face. Arghhhh!! This system sucks, why is this screeching sound always roaring in my head?

[KAIROS VA£&@§, BE READY!!]

Up in the Royal Pavilion, Princess Seyana clapped her hands joyfully. She was incredibly proud of her best friend. She personally knew how much Luna deeply hated his own overwhelming power, but he was the kindest person.

"He really did it!" she whispered happily.

A few seats away, Brandon Sylphyros sat silently and watched her smile.

She smiles for the monster friend, Brandon thought to himself, his perfect teeth gritting. You truly love all of them, don’t you? You freely give your warm heart to absolutely everyone in this world... except for the one man who rightfully owns you. Brandon thought with serious grin.

****

Down in the dark arena, Luna slowly stood up. He carefully reached down and lifted the unconscious Xenomyst gently into his arms. He calmly carried his defeated rival all the way to the outer edge of the stone platform where the royal healers were frantically waiting. He laid the Half-Elf down safely onto the white medical stretcher.

Right before completely stepping off the black arena floor, Luna looked down quietly at Xenomyst’s peaceful face. He said only four words. "Thank you... for living."

Then he simply turned and walked away. He walked quietly back down the dark tunnel with his hands shoved casually in his pockets. He looked tired, an agonising pain strikes in his head. "Damn what the hell is that forbidden spell, whatever it is.. IT WAS TOO POWERFUL if I didn’t make it in time, the entire arena along with me would be dead for sure." Luna thought undoubtedly.

****

High in the sky, the summoned artificial moon faded away into nothingness.

The brutal Infernal Bracket was officially over. The dark red, ominous glow of the Colosseum finally died out. The black obsidian glass and the jagged volcanic rock began to rumble loudly, sinking deep back into the depths of the abyss.

The beautiful, terrifying Crystal Colosseum was finally waking up. The final battles of the tournament were eagerly awaited. The true, terrifying monsters of the next highly anticipated bracket were already quietly stepping forward toward the heavy iron gates.

R I S E O F D R A G O N S!