I Reincarnated As A Stick

As the faint light in the recesses of Aurus's mind continued to flicker, it moved throughout, wanting to know what had happened to it. Utilizing its control over the various senses, it eventually found out that something else was occupying the body it was supposed to control. However, it knew for a fact that it did not have enough strength to fight against it yet.

Continuing to watch what was unfolding on the other side, the faint light could not help but inwardly let out a sigh as it had finally remembered why it seemed to have gone into a slumber in the first place. "Although I'm not certain as to how it did it, the awakening of that instinct in my body should have been the thing controlling my body as of now. Since it's currently fighting against a being that's incredibly strong, I shouldn't disturb it for now."

"However, that doesn't mean I'm going to gather my strength back and take control over this body once more," it muttered, slightly exerting force on the thing controlling Aurus's body, causing it to delay in its judgment as Aurus's body could only defend against the attack that was aiming for him at the very last second. Knowing very well that disturbing the thing currently controlling Aurus's body would jeopardize its survival as well, the faint light gradually dimmed down as it said, "I'll wait for the right moment to strike back."

"At that point, it would be the perfect time to take back what is mine."

…

Slash! Slash! Slash!

As the fight continued on between Aurus and King Zeldrion, the ruler of the Seraph Kingdom, it seemed that one side was finally gaining an advantage after seemingly being in a stalemate for quite some time. Unfortunately for Aurus, the one that was gaining an advantage was the one he was fighting against.

"[Cutthroat Blade Arts]."

"Pierce!"

Crash!

With Zeldrion sending out another one of his ultimate moves to make Aurus admit defeat, Aurus quickly set up a few layers of defense against it, slightly being late in doing so due to a lapse in judgment. Naturally, such a lapse in judgment would place in a precarious situation, with Aurus's left limb and a part of his upper torso being carved from the sheer strength of the attack.

Seeing as to how the attack that would normally create a small hole form a big hole that would sever one's limbs, Zeldrion could not help but become more and more excited as he knew that he was familiarizing himself with the feeling of touching upon a Principle, a level of understanding that he had wanted to achieve so long ago.

At the very beginning of his breakthrough of understanding what a Principle meant, his power had greatly increased, but his control suffered because of it. With a strong foe in front of him, he had to quickly adapt to his newfound power and make it his own. At this point, he was certain that after this battle, he would have at least an 80% chance of transforming his Conjecture into a Principle, which would then allow him to enter the ranks of Transcendents.

But of course, as the ruler of a kingdom, he wanted to increase this chance to where he would be certain that he would eventually obtain a Principle with enough time. Although that was obviously the case from another standpoint, to King Zeldrion, the amount of time that he wanted to take to form his Principle was obviously hundreds to thousands of times less than what others think.

Nevertheless, with that in mind, he continued to fight against Aurus, sending blade after blade of attack towards a foe that seemed to be on its legs. Controlling the level of strength in his attacks that would be enough to delay the other side from retaliating, he continued to refine the control he had over his blade, as well as expand his comprehension regarding the Principle that he had touched.

…

While Zeldrion and Aurus were continuing to fight against one another, all of the bystanders that were watching the fight unfold were left astounded by the various techniques that had been shown by both sides. After all, to almost all of them, fights among those that have Rank 9 classes were few and far between. With the barrier containing the two of them being very sturdy, even children watched the fight, becoming inspired to be as strong as the two beings that were fighting in front of them.

As for those that had higher ranks, they instead comprehended something else from the fights, finding ways to improve upon their control or their strength just from looking at the fight. It was even more so for those that were inclined towards the Wind element, or those that were that were inclined towards the blade. For them, the fight was more or less an impromptu lesson on how to hone their control and mastery over those two things, allowing them to enter a state of enlightenment and epiphany. In fact, some had even entered the next rank of classes due to the fight.

And then…there was Dalton. As his friend was fighting for the safety of the kingdom, his eyes were clearly fixated on the fight. Of course, he knew for a fact that his friend wouldn't die from a fight like this. After all, he was there to save him at the very last moment if need be. However, after watching their fight for a while, even he wondered if he even had the ability to save him, given how Zeldrion's power had greatly increased throughout the fight.

"At the beginning, his combat power was equivalent to that of a Pseudo-Transcendent, which is around the same as my combat power," Dalton muttered as he tried to make a sense of things. "However, after he changed how he wielded his blade, his control over the blade, as well as his strength has vastly improved, giving me the feeling that I'm looking at someone far stronger than me…someone that is on another level of existence altogether."

As he continued to ponder over it, everything finally clicked in Dalton's mind as he could not help but exclaim, "Ah! That's it! Zeldrion has finally touched upon the level of a—"

Whoosh!

Just before he could finish his sentence, a barrier appeared around him, isolating him from those that were beside him a while ago. Looking at the expressions of the people that were previously beside him, it seemed like they haven't noticed the barrier beside them. Wondering as to who had conjured the barrier, the faint sounds of footsteps soon resounded throughout the barrier as a stern yet soft voice asked Dalton, "You don't want others to be shocked now, do you…"

"Dalton?"

With a slight frown on his face, Dalton turned around to see who the person that had conjured the barrier was, only for the frown to quickly disappear as he instantly knew he wasn't anything in front of this man. Just from the aura the man exuded, danger signs constantly appeared in Dalton's mind as he tried his best to maintain calm.

Although he was someone that was only known by a select few people in the kingdom, Dalton knew of the man due to how he was the Supreme Sage of the Arcana Tower. With the man having a similar appearance to the current ruler of the Seraph Kingdom, it wouldn't be surprising for others to have their mouths agape when they looked at him.

However, to Dalton, once he saw this man, he could only give the man a respectful bow as he told the man, "My apologies, Sir Wilhelm. I was just carried by my emotions."

Indeed. The one Zeldrion contacted while fighting against Aurus was the same person Dalton was talking to right now. Wilhelm Seraph, the grandfather of current ruler Zeldrion Seraph, as well as the Seraph Kingdom's guardian. But his greatest achievement among all of that is the fact that…he's a Rank 3 Transcendent.

Nodding in response to Dalton's words, Wilhelm stepped forward as he looked at his grandson fight against the being that was called The Great Calamity. After watching for a while, his eyes could not help but glisten as he muttered, "It seems that kid has finally found out a thing or two about Principles. Although it's still a little bit rough around the edges, I can definitely tell that that's a bona fide Principle right there."

"Sir Wilhelm, does that mean that Zeldrion is already…?" Listening to Wilhelm's words only confirmed Dalton's suspicion. With that, he asked his question, to which Wilhelm lightly smiled as he said in response, "It seems that I won't be staying here for longer, seeing that someone is going to take my spot as the kingdom's guardian very soon."

Hearing that, Dalton could not help but let out a long sigh as he said, "To think that Zeldrion is the first one among us four to break through to the Transcendent level." After saying that to himself, he could not help but let out a chuckle, muttering, "Then again, he's the only one among us that hasn't really stopped training."

"In any case, I guess he's finally achieved his lifelong dream of being a true Super Animate," he said soon after, only for him to notice Wilhelm looking at him with the same light smile still on his face. Seeing that, he could not help but shudder as he focused his sights back on the fight, prompting Wilhelm to let out a light chuckle as he inwardly muttered to himself, 'Although he says that, it won't be long until he finds his path as well.'

'To think I'll become double useless, what a satisfying sight to see.'

…

At this point, over a quarter of a day had already passed since the two started to fight. Surprisingly, all of the people that were watching the fight did not become bored at all as any move the two made on each other had the possibility of turning the tides. As for those that had higher-ranked classes, they even wanted the two to fight for even longer in order to understand more of their shortcomings and improve upon it.

However, as all of them had noticed by now, it was apparent to them as to who was going to be the victor of the fight. After all, seeing as to how he looked to others, Aurus was truly on his last legs at this point, having relied on doing the bare minimum to defend against Zeldrion's devastating attacks.

Then again, it was also at this point that everything finally clicked in Aurus's mind as he now thoroughly understood what he was up against. Although it was something daunting and terrifying to fight against at the very start, after being exposed to it for quite some time, his comprehension speed had finally allowed him to grasp the principles behind Zeldrion's attacks, waiting for the right moment to truly retaliate and tip the scales back to him.

Eventually, Aurus had finally been given the right chance to retaliate, seeing Zeldrion raise Valtyrisk up in the air once more, aiming to send out an attack that would truly put him out of commission. As he waited for the attack to land, he went ahead and started to conjure a great number of blades behind his back, making it seem like he was going to defend against once more.

Seeing what Aurus was about to do, Zeldrion could only smirk as he swung his awakened Valtyrisk downward as he exclaimed, "[Cutthroat Blade Arts]!"

"Rend!"

Swoosh!

At that instant, Aurus had finally used his teleportation skill to warp in front of Zeldrion, something he had only done at the beginning of the fight. After that, a large dark green domain wrapped around the two of them, catching Zeldrion off guard as Aurus muttered, "[Ruler of All]."

"You do not possess the power to fight against me," he soon said, seemingly removing all of the strength that was coursing throughout Zeldrion's body. Then, with great speed, he assembled the blades to form a large claw, truly leaving no room for Zeldrion to retaliate as he even went one step further, activating the skill [Omnipresence], turning all of his attacks into deadly long-ranged attacks, which meant that it was useless for Zeldrion to escape.

Mustering all of the strength in his body, Aurus was about to swipe the claw towards Zeldrion, aiming for the sure kill. Unfortunately, as if heaven didn't want him to have it his way, an even larger domain covered the two of them as a third person had finally entered the barrier.

"Hey, friend. How about…"

"You stop bullying my grandson like that?"