I Refused To Be Reincarnated
Chapter 535: The Last Dance of the Dragon

Chapter 535: The Last Dance of the Dragon

’Can I win?’

The question rumbled in his mind as his eyes narrowed on the charging elf.

He saw the man’s milky white hair sparkle under the dark sky. His intricate blade flared with flames of the same colors, evaporating the air in a line of billowing smoke homing at his face.

Breath ragged and glistening sweat covering his body, he moved his arm in a silver flash.

CLANK

Sparks danced around them, the incredible heat licking his skin like a wild beast’s tongue for a split second before the flames vanished.

He frowned, the elf’s bizarre tactic tickling his nerves. Still, he imbued more Qi into his blade and struck again.

His movements melded into one another, a graceful dance swift as the wind and of utmost lethality. Yet, the elf’s dark leather clothes flashed at the same speed, countering each of his strikes with an equivalent amount of energy, just enough to brush them off and follow up with a counterattack. Worst, occasional projectiles hurled by the emperor whistled by his ears, distracting and forcing him to expend energy on evasive manoeuvres and parries.

His pupils constricted as he bent back, Selene’s blade cutting locks of hair that swirled before his eyes as he understood what they aimed for.

’With how thoroughly they devastated the kingdom, I can’t use natural life forms to replenish my Qi. He won’t let me absorb his flames now that he knows about it and aims for a war of attrition. The moment I run out of energy, those insidious bastards will cut my head.’

A muttered curse escaped his lips as his leg rose, a blur aimed to shatter the elf’s kneecap.

However, who was Selene? An ancient elf lucky enough to escape the meanders of oblivion to rise from the past? An arrogant fool who thought himself better than what he was because of his rare sun affinity? Or were the legends depicting him as the fiercest fighter the magic world ever gave birth to more than myths?

He chuckled, a broad grin stretching his lips. "Hahaha! It’s been a while since I enjoyed a battle. It’s truly a shame I didn’t meet you earlier. I wouldn’t have refused an alliance with you, Lin Yao." His knee rose to block the strike. Unfacted by the collision, he continued.

"Unfortunately, my vision of the future doesn’t include you. You’re a variable too dangerous to be left alive. No, that’s not it... Your potential hasn’t run dry yet."

His smile vanished, a solemn expression and a burning gaze replacing it as he lept back to stand by the emperor.

"You’ll become as powerful as the magus in a few centuries, and with today’s grudge, I don’t doubt you’ll knock on our doors to seek revenge. But don’t be too sad and die with pride, for I, the sun, recognise your strength."

Arrogance and righteousness blended in Selene’s thundering voice as he raised his palm. Mana crackled in his improved tier-seven circuits, and his eyes ignited like two suns.

Scalding arcs pooled onto his palm, swirling and compressing to form a sizzling ball of blinding radiance. Just gazing at it jolted everyone into a world of immaculate dread. Wild tremors rocked through their limbs as the air became suffocating, and a silence only found in the realm of the dead engulfed the place.

’Not good! This spell absorbs the surrounding matter!’

Lin Yao’s breath caught in his throat, and his heart drummed in his ears as he watched winds, dust, and rocks converge to hover around the sphere like a disk in horror.

Despite his shallow knowledge about the stars, he felt it in his bones: the elf’s spell mirrored a natural cosmic occurrence of devastating proportions.

’I must escape!’

The idea overwhelmed any other thoughts. Still, he had accomplished his mission and delayed the emperor long enough for his friends to disappear into the wilds, safe from their enemies’ pursuit.

Without wasting a second, his muscles tensed, and Qi flooded his legs as he rocketed away from Selene’s horrible spell.

The wind battered his torso for a second before the earth rumbled under his feet.

Several layers of colossal walls glinting with a metallic luster emerged to block his path. Worse, he noticed their semi-circle form, like that of a furnace, and understood Selene and the emperor had worked on this combo.

Simultaneously, Ossian emerged from the shadows, his scythe, a misty blur collapsing on him to reap his soul before he could leap over them.

Heart drumming in his ears and cursing the ghost’s sudden interference under his breath, he failed to dodge the strike completely, letting the sharp edges graze his cheek. Unlike a physical wound, he didn’t bleed, yet his fists clenched, and his jaws bulged as a searing pain assaulted his soul.

His veins bulged, pulsing a darker color, and blood rushed to his eyes as he roared.

"Raah!"

His arm sliced through the wind, his blade glinting as he returned Ossian the favor in rage.

"Trying to poison a cultivator’s soul as a ghost? Have a taste of my life force!"

"Argh!"

Ossian’s agonising howl reverberated next as an ethereal arm flew above them.

Like the insidious poison he had sent into Lin Yao, he felt the man’s fierce Qi infiltrate his soul. Worst, the burning element ravaged him and felt like a natural enemy to all spectral forms.

Meanwhile, the emperor moved again. He used an earth spell to engulf the wounded ghost king, leaving only Lin Yao standing inside the walls.

His lips curled into a cruel smirk as his voice thundered.

"Do it, Selene! He has no way out!"

"Witness the spell I developed using the only individual who ever beat me in a duel as a reference! Solar Nova!"

Selene declared, his arm blurring as he hurled the sphere.

Space melted in its wake as the hydrogen and other materials collected in its disk reached twenty million degrees and ignited.

A chain of nuclear fusions followed, casting a blinding radiance on the world.

Before Lin Yao could move, the sphere collapsed on him, engulfing his vision in a scalding white veil only seen in the depth of space.

BOOM

Massive explosions followed, raising the heat further inside the oven and pulverising anything it touched.

The ground sank and melted several dozen kilometers downwards. The walls vanished like an illusion after containing the initial blast.

Visible from the faraway sea, a pillar of flames and dark smoke reached for the sky, enveloping the eastern continent in a blanket of toxic fumes blown by the raging winds.

In the middle of the inferno, Lin Yao, a man who fought back four tier-seven individuals, killing two of them against all odds. A cultivator who almost claimed the notorious beast emperor’s life before Selene’s timely appearance, and a once wise king acclaimed by his citizens, closed his eyes.

Lips twisting in his last moments, he remembered his friend’s smile and all the warm moments they had spent together before he lost himself in this magic world.

’I hope they’ll find and bring you back to Lóngshān Valley. I’m going first, but please live a long and happy life.’

Yet, his eyes snapped open the next second, a steely glint flashing in their depth despite his evaporating body.

’I still have one last mission to carry.’ The thought reverberated, overwhelming the agony as he gazed in the distance. ’I’ve observed you, brat. You’re still deluding yourself about your path, but you’ll one day see you can’t escape it. Not when you hold so many things dear.’

He plunged his hand, a sack of darkened bones moving only because of his Qi, into his abdomen and ripped out a round organ.

’Take it!’

Using his last bit of strength, he hurled it towards Adam’s hiding spot and, finally, relaxed.

"I’ll watch you from the other side."

With this last movement of defiance, his body dissolved into bright particles, leaving nothing behind but his charred sword and the murmur of his last words.