"I’ll kill you!" Ralf shouted, swinging his sword at Ellan. The flames burned through the air, and his strength, being at the inept Transcendant stage, was nothing to scoff at.
But Ellan was ready. He extended one finger, and a large magic circle was erected in front of him, stopping the sword in its tracks.
The circle glowed, pulsed, and finally fired a powerful beam of light magic that engulfed Ralf’s body.
"You think that’ll stop me?!" Ralf swung his sword at the air, and arc beams of fire were launched at Ellan, each with enough power to slice through mountains.
Ellan dodged, flew out of the way, and teleported to avoid the oncoming onslaught of fire. He pointed his staff forward, and hundreds of mana swords formed in the air and were simultaneously fired toward his enemy.
But Ralf was fast and nimble. He flew out of the way, slicing the blades that came too close. Landing on the ground, he jumped, dodged, and blocked even more. The ones he avoided came back around, flying at him at high speeds at all angles. So he stomped his foot, and a jet of flames burst from the ground, shielding him from the mana blades.
"Impressive. You’ve gotten stronger since the last time we fought!" Ellan complemented, preparing his next spell.
"I don’t need your compliments!" Ralf jetted up to Ellan, appearing right behind the mage. "I only need you to die!" His fist, charged with flames, delivered a devastating blow to Ellan.
Ellan managed to form a barrier in time, but it was shattered upon contact, and he was sent hurdling to the ground, creating a crater on impact.
Ralf didn’t give Ellan any time to recover, charging back in with a fierce determination to end his enemy’s life. "DIE!"
"Interesting." Ellan smiled, standing up as if nothing had happened. Once more, he pointed his staff at Ralf, who was charging at him, and orbs of mana formed over his head, each of them shooting beams of mana toward the man.
"Furtile!" Ralf cut through or dodged them all with ease, slowly closing the gap between them. But as he deflected another beam off his sword, Ellan had suddenly vanished. "What?"
"That pebble brain of yours is the reason why you’ll die today," Ellan spoke from behind Ralf.
Ralf was stunned. He didn’t see him move at all. It was too fast. ’How?! When did he appear behind me? How did I not sense him?’ He tried to turn around, but his side was struck by an explosion before he could.
"Dammit!" Getting up after crashing into the ground, Ralf looked up and readied his blade once more, but when he did, Ellan was nowhere to be found.
"You think I’ll fall for the same tricks twice?!" He yelled, swinging his sword behind him as a massive wave of fire burned anything in its path to ash.
When he hit no one, he was left confused. But another explosion hit him in the back, causing Ralf to stumble and use his sword for support.
Ellan, who was cloaked in the air, reappeared in front of Ralf. "You come here, attack my home, accuse me of something you won’t elaborate on, and think you’ll walk away here alive? Do you have any final words?"
’No! I won’t fall! I’ll avenge you, my grandson!’ Ralf’s body completely burst into flames as he stood up. He had used Body Arts, the ultimate technique of a martial artist. Either he was going to kill Ellan, or die trying.
Ellan shook his head. "So be it. Today, the Canon line ends."
"I’LL KILL YOU FOR KILLING MY GRANDSON!" He swung, but missed, so he swung again, but missed a second time as well.
Ralf kept swinging, slashing, stabbing, and punching at Ellan, trying, hoping to land a blow. But every attack was met by his opponent teleporting, matching his strike with a spell, or a barrier.
’How?! Why can’t I hit him?!’ Ralf thought as he followed Ellan into the air to continue his assault. He quickly burned through his stamina, not being able to land any hits, and he was breathing heavily, still in a battle stance, as he had not yet given up.
"Your grandson? Beryl? What do I have to do with him?"
"Don’t play dumb!" Ralf yelled. "I know you killed him! I know what you did, what Lapis did. Princess Amber told me everything!"
"Pwahaahahahahahahahaha! You really are an idiot! Don’t tell me you actually believed what she said? The same woman who completely wiped out the church’s forces. You fell right into her trap. She just wanted to get rid of you and me in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, that won’t be happening." Ellan pointed downward at Ralf’s army, telling him to look down at his men, who were all dead by now.
"Do you see this? The death? The destruction? You lost your forces, and your house will fall. If you and your grandson didn’t share the same level of intelligence, then this wouldn’t have happened. But alas, fate works in mysterious ways. I’ve always wanted to kill you anyway."
Ellan powered up to maximum, completely shocking Ralf. He had assumed that he was now on the same level as Ellan, an Inept Transcendant, but he was wrong, completely wrong.
Ellan wasn’t just a Transcendant, he was a True Transcendant, someone who reached the peak of that stage. Even though they were on the same main stage, the gap in power between sub-stages was drastic and evident. Ralf, since the beginning, stood no chance and was just being toyed with.
"Now, as you sit there and contemplate your life choices, remember to pick up a book in your next life, and maybe you won’t make idiotic decisions that’ll cost you your life."
Ellan raised his staff, and over one million orbs of mana formed in the air, each pulsing with enough energy to level a city.
A cold sweat ran down Ralf’s face as he readied himself for the last time. "I-I won’t fall here!"
Ellan smiled. "Yes, you will."
The last thing Ralf saw was a white orb of mana fly in his face before he died.