Chương 217: Chapter 214 - Rise

What if you gave Valee or Zedart another two decades in the fourth realm? What if you gave them enough time to master every single avenue of power that was available to them? Zedart with aura? Valee with a mana core? Maxed all of their skills including their epics? Would they have been able to beat Ryan when he had received his undisputed apex title? The world warped around [The Knight] that had thrown away her helmet and her shield.

Ryan threw a knife that seemed to slow against her aura enough for her to dodge with a flick of her head at the last moment. She let the knife graze her skin and it— Sped her up. Every single step she took seemed to take her further than it should, she shattered the sound barrier with contemptuous ease as she was… still getting faster. Ryan dashed to the right and her maneuverability was almost as good—no it was that he was slower, as if the world was pulling him into [The Knight].

[The Knight] wasn't getting faster from her charge, it was slowing him down. Debuffs weren't supposed to be part of the skill. How much had she changed her skill afterwards? He took too much time to think, before he realized it, she was right on him. Speeding up even faster, as if she had been hiding her true speed the entire time. Ryan used everything he could to dodge. [Aura Command: MOVE] + [Aura of Self-Momentum] + [Instant Dodge] It was like half of his skills were being weakened by the world itself.

Anything that wasn't an Epic was being destroyed by the overbearing might of the [Reckless Charge]. She was overwriting and controlling the world with a single damned skill. It took him everything he had to zip out of the way of the oncoming bull of a [Knight]. Luneia laughed as she smashed into an enchanted wall and demolished it. Her voice booming out.

"Not bad! [Face Me]! [Pivot Charge]!" What? She stacked two more skills on top of her already insane [Reckless Charge] and a shifted the world once more as it started to influence even his Epic skill. She shout out the dust as Ryan had once again underestimated how fast she currently was. Though it had been enough time to think of a counter to whatever her skill was doing. If she was using her skill to influence the world then he could do something similar. Ryan called upon his class.

[Conceptual Meditation] The Veilpiercer Assassin, getting caught, needed to dodge. A [Reckless Charge] was only good if you were caught unawares. Less so when you showed it twice against a professional. Whatever the skill was doing had started to come loose, Ryan felt himself getting faster again—Luneia's eyes went wide as she seemed to notice the difference in her skill instantly, she grinned Then started to call upon her own class. But The Knight countered assassins when they were caught.

There was nothing an assassin could do in the face of overwhelming might and armor. This time it was Ryan's turn for him to be in shock. His body froze up as he hadn't been prepared for her to just overwrite his control over concepts like that. [Face Me] was a taunt skill that shouldn't have worked on him considering his titles and his ability with aura. Apparently less so when it worked together with a max leveled [Reckless Charge] alongside a [Knight] that triumphed over [Assassins].

[Face Me] stopped being a mental skill and more a flat skill enforced by concepts. The lance started to pierce his chest, crushing bone and tearing his flesh as Ryan barely managed to leap away. Blood and viscera ripped out from him as a certain invisible [Mage] gasped in horror. [The Knight] hadn't finished, this wasn't her first rodeo against slippery targets.

"[Power Slam]! Not done yet!" She shot forward, still buffed with [Reckless Charge]. The lance came flying towards Ryan's head as he tried to pull away. She was still so damned fast. Ryan didn't remember the last time he'd been outsped by an opponent before. His instinctive reaction was to use condensed aura to soften the blow. It didn't work, the lance was cutting through it like a hot knife with butter. The blazing silver aura of righteous justice tearing through his one of unrelenting fear.

The first swipe missed as he took another step back. This wouldn't work, one swipe and he was dead and he only had— The Rogue Adventurer escaped by a hair's breadth once again. A single Knight? One opening was all it needed to scatter away. She tried to take another step when Ryan finally felt all his skills back on him once again. [Hastened] and [Aura of Self-Momentum] came back in full effect as he finally realized just how much slower he had been because of her skill.

He shot backwards and maintained the gap due to his maneuverability. He had enough to spare to take a potion out of his pocket too. [The Knight] tutted and stopped chasing him. It finally gave time for Ryan to pour his medium grade potion on his chest. Muscle and bone started to knit themselves as he coughed up blood. [The Knight] just whistled, her skill finally having ran out.

"Good instincts. If you'd have used that [Aura Control] thing to command me or the world I would have pierced your heart. If you hadn't pulled out that second concept I would have crushed your skull. Hmm, I actually tried to kill you and you survived, that's not bad for a newbie."

"Glad to hear I can impress."

"I didn't say impress."

"I was flipping burgers half a year ago."

"Hmph." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Ryan's bloody hand was shaking. It wasn't because of the fear of death, he had long since stopped shaking during and after near-death encounters. No, his hand was shaking because he was excited. Just when he was getting disappointed by the adventurers in his realm grade, another layer of The Realm had revealed itself to him.

But more than that, the current situation reminded him of when he ended up in a deathmatch against Zedart. Completely outmatched. He wasn't sure when it had happened but he had been waiting for a situation like this.

"You really haven't passed the fifth realm?"

"Hah! If I raised my realm grade then I wouldn't be able to stop people like you from claiming the [Strongest of the Fifth Realm] title." Her tone had changed after their little encounter, it was almost as if she didn't seem to like him.

"What? Didn't I make it clear that all of my actions are because of the Witch Tyrant?"

"I can feel it in your concepts, you're someone that gets up to no good. I can't stop you from leaving, but you're not getting the strongest title from me."

"Well that's classist." Did [Knights] have a instinctive dislike towards… Ryan thought about all of his classes. [Saboteur], [Rogue], [Tyrant] and currently [Assassin]... Perhaps there was a reason why someone like [The Knight] wouldn't like him.

"Weird cause all I feel like doing is beating you and teaching you a lesson… oh."

"See?"

"Yeah, but I do that with everyone." Luneia put her lance on her shoulder. Somewhere in that clash she had decided that she was going to put him down. She gave him a smile.

"Unlike the fourther tournament, beating me guarantees you the title. Trust me, it makes it worth more. So… are you going to run away like a coward with his tail between his legs?" Ryan shook his head at the obvious ploy. Of course he was going to fight her but he couldn't let her believe that she was using her wits to outsmart him. He gave her a bow.

"Your plans are as guileless as the idol you adore." [The Knight] bared her teeth.

"I'm going to enjoy caving in that mouth of yours." Ryan stood up, still grinning.

"That's funny, I think Seffara once told me the same thing." Luneia snarled, "[Reset Cooldowns]!" And here came [The Knight's] Epic. The skill that had let her win the fourther tourney without a contest. Ryan laughed.

"And I can't believe you still shout your skills! You know that's really old fashioned right?"

"[Reckless Charge]!" Ryan shot back as he mentally rifled through his skills and abilities and came to a simple conclusion. Not only was he outmatched but he was utterly and completely countered. Skills, classes, even aura and concepts he couldn't think of a way to beat [The Knight]. The question popped up in his head as [The Knight] began to ramp up her speed again. Would someone like Valee or Zedart be capable of beating him at his peak in the fourth realm if they were given twenty years?

The answer was an overwhelming, resounding yes. He still had a grin on his face. Ryan had surpassed the prodigies of his generation, now it was time to surpass the prodigy of the previous generation. But most of all? He was just glad it was against someone that he could have some banter with. —— Sector Ten… There was no greater creature than the Passive Tyrant.

Dragons, Lu Baizhen, krakens, concepts, skills, masterclass weapons, ancient spells, natural disasters, the Passive Tyrant had overcome every single obstacle The Realm could throw at her with her body alone. For a [Shapeshifter] there was no greater prize than the monster in front of her. But copying such a monster wasn't as simple as just activating a skill and taking their form.

More powerful creatures needed her to understand them better, sometimes needing her to rip them apart while they were alive to see how their supernatural organs functioned as a whole. Naturally, that wasn't possible with the Tyrant so Pinkie had often stalked her closely, watching her fights as the Tyrant got torn apart picking fights with some of the strongest monsters in The Realm. She had witnessed the Passive Tyrant's arm be ripped apart by a kraken once.

Pinkie remembered weaving around during that battle to devour as much of the blood and flesh she could find. Then she hit a wall. As if watching the Passive Tyrant fight countless times wasn't enough. As if a proper transformation needed more… Pinkie had thought perspective and concepts would be the final piece. It wasn't. That was the reason why Pinkie was fighting the Passive Tyrant at all. She had confirmed it with that skin she had just absorbed during the battle.

It was as if the Passive Tyrant's very DNA demanded her to prove herself worthy. As if her very nature was written in her blood and would reject anything that wasn't good enough. Pinkie's form became slimmer as she consolidated her understanding of the Passive Tyrant's body. She kept the scales and the extra pair of arms but each refinement was pushing her along, faster, stronger, tougher, reinforcing her body.

Still with wings, still with a draconic head, but you could see more of the human figure she was trying to copy. The Passive Tyrant pursed her lips.

"A hybrid form is ambitious, those scales are weaker than my skin." Pinkie nodded in agreement without getting annoyed.

"I only wanted to try it… consider it my instincts as a [Shapeshifter], a test that it's possible. That I will surpass you in the future." The Passive Tyrant gave her a huge smile. There was nothing more musical to the Passive Tyrant's ears than that. Pinkie took in a deep breath, her eyes flickering over to the ocean, far, far in the distance.

"But first, allow me to show you how I have surpassed dragons in their biology." Pinkie took in a deep breath. She started to churn her mana sac that was in her stomach, not the top of her lungs. There was, of course, a reason for that. A [Shapeshifter] had not made a major mistake like that without purpose. After all, the stomach was the place she kept her dimensional bag with all of her artifacts.

Her mana sac and stomach churned, destroying priceless artifacts, turning a highly condensed form of qi and mana into a single overwhelming mass of energy. Pinkie flew forward with a light jab, [Extended Blows] enforcing all of her arms and tail as the same move happened again in sequence. The Passive Tyrant was faster. She wasn't interested in repeating the same sequence a third time.

She ducked under the jab and punched Pinkie in the stomach, curious to see what would happen if she punched a stomach that was full of energy. In the Tyrant's mind, if Pinkie had been hoping that the Passive Tyrant would just stand there and take a beam attack then this fight wasn't worth continuing. Fortunately for both of them, Pinkie had already been planning an escape route for the energy in her stomach.

It wasn't through her head, no, she had created an oesophagus and a mouth at the end of the hand she had been holding by her side. The punch to her stomach just let it loose. A beam of pure destructive energy shot out right into the Passive Tyrant's face. The Passive Tyrant smiled as the beam shot out from a Pinkie that was being sent back by her punch. The Tyrant lifted a palm, using a skill for the first time in the fight. A skill she'd picked up after a fight with a cultivator.

[Lu Baizhen's Profound Tortoise Palm] Despite the name, it was considered only a Rare skill. Though in the Passive Tyrant's hands it might as well be comparable to an Epic by a dragonslayer. The beam of mana split between her fingers and shot off into The Realm, destroying everything in its wake. Pinkie's attack was supposed to be a particle style attack, it wasn't supposed to be able to be diverted but that was the power of the Passive Tyrant with a single Rare skill.

The Passive Tyrant looked at her slightly singed hand and nodded in appreciation of the attack. She was about to say something when— Pinkie appeared right above the Passive Tyrant. [Spatial Displacement] + [Rapid Transformation] The Passive Tyrant blocking her beam had given her time to get her bearings and set up the next stage of the fight. Pinkie's scaled arm was hinged at an odd angle, her elbow pointing towards the Passive Tyrant, her fist pointed inwards.

Multiple spurs were holding her arm in position, preventing it from moving. That hadn't been what she used her skill for. The [Rapid Transformation] skill was for her new muscles to contract quicker, nothing else. Like a spring ready to fire. The Passive Tyrant's [Dangersense] went off as she seriously considered dodging. Then she realized she was thinking about dodging and grinned. She changed her palm into a fist and wound it back. A simple haymaker. But this was the first real attack by the Passive Tyrant.

When the muscles had finished condensing, the spurs shattered and Pinkie's arm flew out. If there was a skill name for this it would be called: [Pinkie's Mantis Shrimp Punch] Her research into various animals had found a crustacean that was far more efficient in delivering a punch than a human could. Though the problem had been that when she scaled up with qi it would almost always shatter her arm. But what happened if you used the Passive Tyrant's arm?

Her tendons as the spring and her muscles and bones as the base for the punch? The attack shattered the defensive skill around the Passive Tyrant's hand and threw it backwards. Her body was flying with it. Then the aftershock hit them both. An explosion that rippled space itself threw Pinkie backwards and the Passive Tyrant even faster towards her destination. Far, far across Sector Ten, the Tyrant crashed into an ocean and causing an enormous body of water to fly up.

Pinkie reoriented herself and shot forward, smashing into the water only moments later, her form shifting to adjust to a marine environment, circling the Passive Tyrant. Like a famished shark smelling blood in the water. And around her, reality was warping. For miles around, the air started to fold in on itself. Declaring that a new Legend was manifesting.