The Fox and the Blooming Lightning
His skin and blood burned away in a wild, fleeting blaze. Enoch instinctively sensed that the time he could maintain Thunder God Incarnation was not long.
Enoch spread his arms. Lightning obeyed his will. Countless bolts traced a magic circle in the air, and with the chant as their trigger—
They fired all at once.
CRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR—!!!
The world crumbled. A tidal wave of lightning poured down as if announcing the end of this era.
The fox sighed.
At the same time, nine tails swayed and moved. Each tail claimed one of the eight directions and the center, forming the Nine Palaces.
Fwaaaaaaaa—
The tidal wave of lightning that touched the fox’s domain vanished as if melting away. Yet at that exact moment, Enoch’s figure arrived right before the fox.
A colossal energy gathered in Enoch’s hand. An absurdly condensed mass of power. His enlightenment still seemed lacking, but it was unmistakably close to Gang Qi.
Kiiiiiiiiing—!!!
The halo above his head spun. At the same time, inside Enoch’s middle dantian, Eri desperately regulated the energy.
With Eri’s scream, a faint starlight infused the Gang Qi. Heavenly Slaughter Purple Lightning Claw First Form – Revised – Massacre: One Origin. A single swipe.
The aftermath carved a massive scar across the forest.
Kugugugugugugugu—!!!
Watching the shattered fragments of earth collapse, the fox sighed again.
But it was still too early. Sensing the pulsating energy, the fox looked up at the sky.
Enoch’s strike seemed to have reached the clouds. Faint claw marks were etched into the clouds visible beneath the moonlight. And those clouds—now glowing violet after absorbing Enoch’s lightning—
Kwarururung—!!!
Dropped a single massive bolt straight toward the fox.
No matter what, this was a problem. The power looked even greater than the previous technique. At this rate, the entire surrounding forest would be obliterated.
The fox exhaled and drew forth his power. The mere fragment he casually raised caused his eyes to flash blue for an instant.
The moment that incantation—carrying the meaning of “act as swiftly as a decree”—was imprinted upon the world, the result manifested instantly.
Crackle—
The falling lightning vanished before it could even reach the ground. At the same time, the fox’s gaze turned toward Enoch.
The fox’s body vanished in a blink. When he reappeared, he was directly behind Enoch.
One tail gently tapped Enoch’s body.
……!!
His mind grew distant. Enoch desperately clung to his scattering consciousness, reassembled it, and detonated lightning across his entire body.
Urrrrrrrrrrng—!!!
Startled by the intensity, the fox drifted slightly away from Enoch.
He couldn’t understand the reason. Was there any need to be this desperate? No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason to burn even his own body like this.
But Enoch seemed to have a different opinion. Lightning around him began taking shape. All of them were swords. Hundreds of lightning blades aimed at the fox.
Rionne’s technique. The fox forgot the urgency of the situation and marveled.
Kugugugung—!
Hundreds of lightning swords devastated the entire area. Enoch did not relax. As he adapted to Thunder God Incarnation, he began growing familiar with the upper dantian’s functions, which he had replaced with Circles.
The upper dantian was the brain. Enoch’s already exceptional intellect burned itself brighter. Rionne’s mental method, Heavenly Slaughter Purple Lightning Claw, Heavenly Slaughter Purple Lightning Step, every other foot technique, fist technique, and the haphazardly made lightness skills—he no longer needed to distinguish them since they all fell under martial arts.
Unified under Heavenly Slaughter Purple Lightning Art, Enoch’s movements grew faster and stronger. The natural flow was so seamless it seemed as if the art had been created as one from the beginning.
Flash—!!!
The forest shattered under the barrage of attacks. The fox remained completely unharmed, yet his expression looked slightly sorrowful.
A spell empowered by his words swept through Enoch’s body. Enoch staggered. But that was all.
Crack—!
Clenching his teeth hard enough to shatter them, lightning pouring from his entire body like blood, Enoch refused to lose consciousness.
The fox felt like he was truly going insane. Suppressing the rampaging Enoch? Honestly, it wasn’t that difficult for him. But there were limits. That kid was a blood clot who hadn’t even lived a hundred years. If he used too much force, the boy might never open his eyes again.
If that happened…
The fox’s body trembled. That lady elf cherished this child so much… An elf driven mad by rage would be quite a burdensome opponent even for him.
Yet if he held back too much, this energetic little brat somehow overcame it. When he matched the level, the boy grew explosively and coped. When he raised the spell just a little higher, the child grew even further.
Truly insane talent! At the very least, his talent for driving a fox completely mad had reached the heavens!
Enoch, unaware of the fox’s feelings, continued to surpass his limits again and again. His survival instinct, having sensed the fox’s true strength, rang alarm bells like crazy.
If he wanted to live, if he wanted to see Rionne again, he had to shatter every wall before him!
Enoch obeyed his instincts.
Kiiiiiiiiiiiiing—!!!
The halo spun wildly. Blood tears made of lightning poured from Enoch’s eyes like a waterfall. In the slowed time, his overloaded brain spat out fragmented images. Rionne, martial arts, magic, spirits, the forest, the fox, and Rionne again. The moment the elf’s face appeared, Enoch’s eyes grew even clearer.
At the same time, something inside him broke through a dam.
Martial arts, magic, spirit arts—they were all simply different expressions of the same phenomenon. There was no need to distinguish them in detail. Close range, long range, support. Even if he grouped them into three categories, the difference from before was negligible. He discarded the consciousness that had divided their roles.
Again. Martial arts as the main, magic as support, spirit arts as the link. Discarded.
Again. He merged all of it into one.
The idea was good. But his ability was insufficient. Discarded.
Again.
What resided in his middle dantian was a spirit. What he mainly used was martial arts. What he used according to the situation was magic. He melted magic into his techniques. No—he turned magic itself into techniques.
A path appeared. All the divided consciousness merged and pioneered a single road. Magic circles were replaced by the flow of mana within his body, and chants were replaced by physical movements. The spirit maintained Thunder God Incarnation and supported everything. Martial arts formed the foundation, and beneath it, he melted magic and spirit arts together.
It was crude and unstable because it had been improvised, but it was enough. The rest would be filled by talent and instinct.
Heavenly Slaughter Purple Lightning Divine Art. An arrogant name. Yet something worthy of that name had been completed.
Kiiiiing—!
The halo spun violently. At the same time, the lightning bolts rampaging inside his body struck against Enoch’s wall. The Conception and Governing Vessels. The very gates that should have been opened before the middle dantian if following the normal path. Another gateway toward Master.
His enlightenment sublimated into starlight and infused the lightning. The star-bearing lightning shattered the wall with ease.
KWAAAAANG—!
What had been blocked was pierced. Violet radiance poured out from Enoch’s eyes in streams.
The enlightenment that would become the foundation of his elevated realm flowed from his lips. It was engraved at the very front of the mental method he had created himself, and with it, Heavenly Slaughter Purple Lightning Divine Art took another step forward.
Uuuuuuuuung—
The lightning flowing from Enoch gathered behind him and took form. Three flowers. The flowers of lightning bloomed brilliantly for a moment, then scattered.
The fox was genuinely shocked. What kind of kid who hadn’t even lived a hundred years had reached Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown!? That state occurred when the three dantians were unified and one’s will could directly command mana. It was a realm normally only reached around the Grandmaster stage.
Yet no matter how he looked, that kid was at best a Master. Of course he was strong for his realm, but he was still nowhere near a Grandmaster.
It was then that the fox realized.
Ah, this one is going to ascend soon.
Whether he would burn himself up, rise high into the sky, and become a star, or crumble into ash and dust before that.
Incidentally, “soon” here meant within a few hours. And most likely, the boy’s breath would stop before then, wouldn’t it?
It had become a real crisis. If he left him like this, he would seriously end up fighting a life-or-death battle with that elf.
The fox urgently drew out his full power. The old injury caused his mana to begin flowing backward, but that wasn’t the urgent issue right now.
The fox’s full-powered incantation seized Enoch. Enoch’s eyes flashed as he tried to break the binding, but it was not something he could overcome with the fox’s full strength.
The grand spell spread out and began seeping into Enoch’s body. Yet he endured. The fox truly didn’t know what to do anymore. Was it even possible to endure this with pure mental strength?
The fox, cold sweat dripping down his face, shouted.
Enoch froze. His eyes widened slightly.
“Ah.”
Did the sudden release of tension cause it? The Thunder God Incarnation Enoch had been maintaining unraveled. At the same time, the grand spell dug into his consciousness and led him into sleep.
The fox let out a sigh of relief. However, it was still too early to relax. Thunder God Incarnation was a miracle achieved by burning one’s own body. As a result, Enoch’s body began to disintegrate.
The fox, now in a panic, used every means at his disposal to prevent Enoch’s death. He invigorated the energy of Wood and Water to heal the wounds, drew out the Fire energy from his body to cool the heat, simultaneously cast spells to maintain the connection between soul and body, and sealed the wounds that had burst from being unable to endure his own power.
But there was one thing that did not go according to the fox’s will.
A presence was approaching at insane speed. Though it was hidden by fur, the fox’s complexion had already turned deathly pale.
There were things that could be done and things that could not. The fox did not possess the power to stop time, and so he ended up facing an unexpected catastrophe.
“…Enoch?”
An elf in her nightclothes. Her eyes, heavily disheveled as if she had run here in a hurry, lost their focus and trembled.
The foundation of Thunder God Incarnation was the replacement of mana and blood with lightning. When the technique ended, they returned to their original state—which meant Enoch’s entire body was now drenched in blood.
And the wounds. His body had burst open in hideous gashes that would make a faint-hearted person faint on the spot. The devastating traces left across the surrounding forest proved just how fierce the battle here had been.
Upon witnessing this scene, the elf could only think one thing.
“…E…noch?”
She didn’t want to admit it, couldn’t possibly accept it, but reality came at her in its cruel, unaltered form.
…Enoch was dead.
No human could possibly be alive looking like that.
The elf despaired. She cursed her own complacency and incompetence. Endless tears streamed down her cheeks. She tried to turn her eyes away from a reality she didn’t want to face, but what had already happened would not change.
Even if it were possible to change the past, it was impossible for Rionne.
She was powerless.
The only thing she could do was regret.
I should have stopped him from leaving. I should have asked where he was going. He hadn’t looked well lately—I should have asked if he was okay and comforted him. Even though I’ve lived so many years, I acted like a child and sulked. I should have hugged him at least one more time…
Enoch. My Enoch. My gentle, adorable child. The happiest times we ever shared were now buried in the past under the name of memory, and the long future that might have continued became nothing but delusion, wandering lost in a fog of illusion.
Even if it was fate to bloom brilliantly and scatter without a trace, why did the end have to come so soon?
Her swamp-green eyes, sunk deep into darkness, spat out pure hatred.