'I knew.'
**BOOOMMM!!!!!
Slamming through the roof of the high-rise building, and crashing through all twenty floors down into the ground was the frail-looking body of a teenage girl.
'I knew he had gotten stronger.'
A golden serpentine dragon smashed through the walls of the collapsing building and snapped her up in its jaws, biting down on her body as it carried her out at supersonic speed all while charging up energy within its maw.
'I could see the power his soul held; I could see he had many more skills.'
***BOOOOOMMMM!!!!!
A deafening explosion, a cacophony of destructive force, echoed through the empty city as the serpentine dragon released a blast of power that exploded upon contact with her body, erupting in a spectacular display of magic energy.
The shockwaves rippled through the urban landscape, shattering high-rise buildings like delicate glass sculptures. The city's towering edifices succumbed to the whims of this fantastical force, disintegrating into cascading showers of shimmering debris.
'But to think it was to this extent!!'
In a mesmerizing display of prismatic flame explosions, vivid hues of magical energy engulfed the skyline, refracting in a dazzling array of colours.
Such was the sight I was greeted with as I felt my body crash to the ground, beaten and battered all over.
A person appeared in my field of view, and though he was very high up in the sky, I could perceive his appearance as clear as day.
Since this was my Soul Realm, I could give myself normal 'sight', allowing me to see how he looked without having to read his soul's metadata.
Black hair with a few white highlights, a handsome face that I was sure made girls all over swoon when graced with a smile, and striking grey eyes that resembled my own.
His whole body was coated in a thin layer of crimson gold light, and this light caused the surrounding space to distort.
'He's damaging my soul realm with his mere presence…it's interfering with my control.'
"So even an explosion with the force of a nuclear weapon couldn't take you out, huh? Well, that's expected, considering you're a grandmaster as well.
I need something more concentrated to kill you."
The moment those words reached my ears, my instincts screamed at me to get away from where I was.
I obeyed them, forcing my wounded body up and rolling out of the way, just in time to avoid the dozen or so holes that were suddenly blasted open on the ground where I was a second ago.
The shockwaves knocked me aside and sent me flying, but I exerted my control over the surrounding space and stabilized my body before landing on my feet.
"Burst Cannon + Concealment and you still detected them? This ability to see souls that you have is quite annoying."
**BAMM!!
He dropped to the ground in the same spot he had just rained down 'something' on, kicking up a cloud of dust and dirt in the process.
"?!"
I immediately leapt into the air the moment I saw his Soul glow slightly, avoiding the condensed beam of prismatic flames that were released from a portal right in front of him.
'I cannot sense his skill activations. The only thing that lets me know he's using a skill is the fact that I can see the glow of the runes on his soul.'
Deciding that grounding myself wasn't exactly the best idea now, I stayed airborne and kept my eyes trained on him while noting my current energy levels.
My Level was 350, and I was only an Intermediate Grandmaster, but I possessed an energy stat of S.
Normally, Level 300s had stats at the A rank, and mage classes on my level who had more energy had A+ ranks.
'But the reason why I have so much energy is because of my abundant Soul Power. Which in turn, is because my soul is STRONG.'
My Ability which let me see souls caused me to have a greater understanding of Soul Strength than most people.
'I'm sure that he also realises that as well. He can tell how strong my Soul is.'
Looking at the soul of the boy named 'Evan Eris' was something I could never get tired of. From its Uniqueness to its high Skill Capacity or the Law energies in it.
'His soul is STRONG. Even Stronger than mine, but the gap isn't so much that it's not salvageable.
It's a gap I can make up for, with my Soul Power.'
Holding my hand to my chest, I could feel the pain that the destructive law essence that he constantly emanated caused my soul.
It was something that was very hard to heal, although I knew that the fact that could even heal from it in the first place was due to my own law essence.
"You really are strong, Evan Eris."
"I know."
Evan closed the distance that separated us in a split second, and by the next, his sword was already thrusting towards me, releasing a mass of spiralling energies.
'Multi-Barrier.'
I quickly created a barrier of Soul Power and Ether to block the attack, adding over a dozen layers despite knowing he would be shredding through it all in the next second.
'Soul Chains'.
Patches in space opened up around me and greyish white chains of soul power shot out towards Evan, forcing him to teleport to keep them from ensnaring him.
With a snap of my fingers, the chains redirected themselves through the air and charged towards him, coated in potent life and death law essences.
Although Evan teleported all around and even tried using that Concealment skill of his, he could not hide from me.
This was my Soul Realm, hiding from me was impossible here.
"You're not the only one who can chain things."
The moment he said that, he released his own flood of crimson gold chains, ones I remember seeing him use against that White Dragon he killed in Lacertilia.
I multiplied the number of my chains and he replicated my actions.
Within seconds, the whole area was filled with the sounds of chains clanking against each other.
Just when I was deliberating on what skill to use next, I sensed something wrapped around my stomach.
'Huh?'
My vision blurred and it took me a moment to realise that he had snuck a chain around my torso and used it to drag me all the way over to him.
I had no intention of delivering myself to him on a silver platter so I prepared two iterations of the Fire Magic: Spiral Flames spell on both of my hands as fast as I could, ready to launch blasts of flames towards him when I felt my both arms suddenly freeze up.
'His ice skill!'
He easily neutralized my spells and I had no time to conjure up another one.
My body slammed into his, and almost immediately, I felt his arm wrap around my waist and pull my body even closer to him as if he were trying to glue us together.
'Ah, his chest is…firm…'
*BA-THUMP!
'Huh?'
Although I was confused by this sudden strange sensation that filled me when I felt my chest press up against his, I did not forget the fact that currently, Evan was trying to kill me.
So, I deployed multiple barriers at my back to block the dagger which he was about to use and stab me in the heart, though that did little other than slow him down.
'He seems to have some sort of skill that lets him penetrate barriers…'
In the same moment I thought that, I quickly cast a dual lightning magic spell, with rings of white light manifesting around my wrists and crackling white lightning bursting forth from my palms.
**BOOMM!!
I sent one lightning strike to hit the dagger and knock it out of his hands, while the other was fired towards him to knock his body off me. His vice-like grip on me seemed to have loosened up when the first bolt hit his wrist and the dagger, so I was able to easily escape and warp myself a good distance away.
"That feeling…I liked it…OW!"
A sudden surge of pain snapped me out of my daze and I looked down to see that parts of my clothes had been 'destroyed' and I was bleeding on my skin.
'He did pull me close while having that destructive aura around him. It makes sense I took more damage.'
I quickly healed myself with Soul Power, 'recreating' my 'clothes' as well in that same moment. Since both Evan and I were here with Spiritual Bodies, our 'clothes' could be very easily manipulated like this.
His clothes appeared to have changed from what he was wearing outside as well, and he was now dressed in a black dress shirt tucked into similarly coloured suit trousers.
Mine remained the same, but they not only served to cover my 'body', but as an armour to protect me from his destructive energy.
'That isn't working out well though…'
Evan jumped out of the cloud of dust he created when he crashed to the ground, before charging straight at me with his sword in hand.
In response, I crafted a blade of soul power and law essence, kicking off the ground and leaping up to meet him.
♧ ♧ ♧
Hey y'all, it's your friendly neighbourhood author, _michael here.👋🏽
So, I've been meaning to ask this, but do you guys have any problems with the story so far?
Is there anything about it you don't like and all?
What aspects do you want me to improve on going forward?
Please let me know in the comments. Your input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your understanding and I look forward to you continuing on our Reincarnated Hero's journey.
This has been _michael.
Over and Out!✌🏽
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