Journey to Become the Zenith

After that Victor picked up his spear and took a stance. The remaining Ashgrey wolves, plus the Arcane Ashgrey wolf dashed forward, attacking Victor on all sides. Victor then swung his spear in a circular motion, pushing the Ashgrey Wolves, and the Arcane Ashgrey wolf upward into the air.

No wasted force.

Just one flowing arc—

The spear hummed as it turned.

The surviving beasts, lunging from every angle moments before, were caught by that rotating surge of force and lifted into the sky like leaves seized by a cyclone.

"That... was one move?"

But her dark eyes gleamed.

and more like a storm teaching the world how violence should move.

Frozen bodies.

Flame twisting around the horned Arcane beast.

Victor then jumped upward as he danced and darted about among the confused and hapless opponents. An overwhelming, six meters long aura exploded out from the sharp blade of his weapon as he swung his spear around.

No hesitation.

His body cut upward through icy air with terrifying grace.

Aura erupted.

Not mere mana.

Condensed killing will.

Victor moved within that radiance as though dancing.

A pivot.

Every motion connected to the next with impossible rhythm.

Ancient battlefield arts.

Things no one in this age should have remembered.

It remembered.

With this one move, Victor was able to cleave the opponents in half. Yet after he finished using the move, and landed on the ground the spear he held shattered and turned into dust. Now all that remains of the opponents were charred bodies, frozen pieces, and chunks of flesh. Still Victor was able to control his attacks well enough that the the Arcane Ashgrey wolf was still fully intact with only a single piercing hole in the middle of its body.

Silence followed.

Bodies rained down.

Some burned black.

The grassland became a field of ruin—scorched, iced, torn.

The smell of blood mixed with ozone.

Boots touching cracked earth.

The spear trembled.

Tiny fissures spread along the shaft.

Dust.

Clara stared.

Victor looked at the remains almost fondly.

Lane stepped forward half a pace, eyes fixed on the dead Arcane beast.

Center mass.

Not shredded.

Even amid overwhelming destruction—

That somehow frightened Clara more than the power itself.

Power with control—

Inside Victor’s mind, Diana’s voice whispered with dark admiration.

Victor almost agreed aloud.

Lane’s face remained composed.

Unreadable.

But inside—

There was fierce pride there.

Her Victor.

She remembered him before.

Dangerous.

But this—

Something becoming legend.

but exhilaration.

she would have smiled and followed.

"Powerful."

But it carried reverence.

Measured herself against it.

But what she had just witnessed felt beyond the ordinary scale she understood.

Only awe remained.

"...Battle freak monster," she muttered under her breath.

Smirked.

Victor on the other hand was also surprised. This was the first time he used these techniques, as he only saw them in a dream like vision. He was expecting these techniques to be strong based on what he saw, but he wasn’t expecting them to be this strong. Still the overall mana consumption with using these techniques was nothing to joke about. After that battle Victor only had around six percent of his mana remaining. It would take three days for his mana pool to fill up again. Still using those techniques was worth it.

Measured.

He could feel the emptiness.

Veins burning faintly from strain.

Dangerously low.

Tested his balance.

Still lethal.

There was cost.

He glanced at his palm.

Three days to replenish.

Acceptable.

Absolutely worth it.

was only the threshold.

There were deeper techniques.

Deadlier ones.

That realization sent a thrill through him far stronger than fatigue.

"You burned nearly the whole field."

"Only nearly."

"You’re exhausted."

"Alive."

"You say that like it solves everything."

Even Lane almost smiled.

"So ordinary weapons really can’t handle you."

"No."

Then—

That old ambition returned sharper now.

Forge God Mountain.

Eventually.

Not wanted.

"How incredible." Victor whispered to himself as he got excited just thinking about using the other techniques he witnessed at that time.