Chapter 317 — When Arrogance Meets Seriousness (and Reality Perspires)
Ravna watched Eldric blink, still lying on the ground.
— …Huh?
— Wasn't I… dead, just now?
He sat up suddenly, patting his chest, arms, face.
— Wait.
— I very clearly remember being burned to ashes.
Ravna gave a tired smile.
— Technically, yes.
— Practically, no.
Eldric turned his head and saw Valor in the distance, abusing a primordial being like a training dummy.
— …Who's that?
— Valor, answered Ravna.
— Without him, you'd really be dead this time.
Eldric frowned and raised his grimoire.
— Wait…
— That's not my grimoire.
The book floated lightly, covered in new symbols, its pages breathing like a living thing.
— It is, corrected Ravna.
— It's yours.
— It just… evolved after coming into contact with Valor.
Eldric stayed silent for a moment.
— …I hate when people break my stuff.
— But this time, I'll let it slide.
He looked at her, narrowing his eyes.
— But…
— How are you still standing with a hole like that in your chest?
Ravna lowered her gaze to her torso.
A gaping hole, clean, as if a part of her had been neatly removed.
— Oh, that?
— Nothing serious.
— Nothing—
— Ravna, we can literally see the background through you.
She shrugged.
— My body stopped considering that a wound a long time ago.
She explained calmly:
— It's not mana.
— Nor classic regeneration.
— It's traumatic adaptation.
Eldric listened, pale.
— After taking mortal wounds over and over, my body learned to…
— redistribute vital functions.
— The heart, the lungs, all that… they're not really centralized anymore.
She smiled, almost embarrassed.
— As long as the general structure holds, I stay conscious.
— The rest is just detail.
Eldric swallowed hard.
— …I understand better why the children didn't panic.
— For them, if you're calm… then everything's fine.
— Exactly, said Ravna simply.
— Still, heal yourself, sighed Eldric.
The scars on Ravna's body began to glow.
No mana.
No spell.
Her cells accelerated their division, guided by an ancient bodily technique:
absolute mastery of bio‑adaptation, where the body imposes its will on its own flesh.
The hole closed quickly.
She stood, clenching her fist.
— I don't know about you…
— But I really want to make him pay for what he did.
Eldric turned his head toward the battlefield.
— Let's wait to see what Valor does.
— For now… he's having fun.
In the distance.
Valor grabbed Agniryos by the head.
— Alright kids, watch closely!
— This is what we call hands‑on teaching.
He chained right hooks, left hooks, monumental slaps.
— Wham.
— Wham.
— Wham.
Each blow cracked reality, as if space itself was in pain.
— Take note, Solan: wrist loose.
— Lyane: eyes fixed on the target.
— Kaor: always hit harder than necessary.
A kick to the stomach.
Agniryos spat blood and was hurled away.
Valor was already behind him.
— And this is the "return to sender" version.
BAM.
Agniryos flew again.
Then Valor reproduced, almost lazily, the Absolute and Eternal Flame Tempest.
A gigantic whirlwind of fire rose, engulfing Agniryos.
— Seriously…
— Are you weak, or am I, the great Valor, just too strong?
He thought for half a second.
— Nah.
— It's me.
Within the flames, Agniryos slowly stood.
— First them… Oris and Kae…
— Then you…
He clenched his teeth.
— Copying my attack…
— I already told you fire has no effect on me!
— Yeah, replied Valor.
— I just wanted to see what it looked like.
Agniryos's aura exploded.
The environment changed.
The air grew scorching, heavy, almost solid.
The ground began to melt in places.
The trees dried instantly, reduced to drifting ashes.
The sky turned a dark red, as if the world itself was sweating.
Valor turned calmly toward the children and teachers.
— Alright.
— Now it's getting a little less funny.
He teleported them away.
— Put them somewhere safe.
— This version… burns even the scenery.
He turned back to Agniryos.
— Looks like mister wants to bring out the big guns.
Agniryos's hair came loose, floating freely.
His gaze grew calm.
Cold.
His presence crushed everything.
— Oh, said Valor.
— You stopped barking.
Agniryos appeared before him in an instant.
— You are arrogant.
— Talkative.
— Selfish.
He fixed Valor without hatred.
— But I don't blame you.
— Maybe it's in your nature… humans.
He raised his hand.
— I will purify you.
Valor smiled.
— Oh.
— He's speaking softly now.
He cracked his fingers.
— Now it's getting interesting.
Chapter 318 — The Memory of Fire
The primordial flames covered Agniryos's body.
It was not combustion.
It was a memory imposing itself upon reality.
The fire did not appear around him — it emerged from within, passing through flesh, soul, and concept without meeting resistance. The laws retreated. Time hesitated. Space folded, as if the world itself had just realized it was unqualified to witness this.
Opposite him, unmoving, Valor watched.
Arms crossed.
Expression neutral.
Slightly… bored.
— Hm.
He tilted his head.
— "Embodied memory, primordial fire, cosmic hatred… classic. I was hoping for a bit more originality."
The world shifted.
Agniryos was not born.
He remembered.
When the Being of the Void fell under the blow of the End, there was neither cry nor revolt.
Death — incarnation of the Inevitable, silent messenger of Vael — delivered its sentence without hatred, without emotion. A pure act. Definitive.
One does not struggle against the End.
Power left the throne.
Torn away.
Uprooted from existence itself.
It was transferred elsewhere — into a human named Nova.
Not by choice.
By necessity.
Valor raised an eyebrow.
— "Ah. So you're what's left when you empty even the void…
He smiled faintly.
— No wonder you're so angry."
In the emptiness left behind, something ignited.
Not a creation.
A residue.
Agniryos understood what he was the very moment he burned for the first time.
A shell born of a shell.
A fire born of a void already emptied.
A remainder turned incarnation.
And yet…
he burned.
The Eltarions watched.
All of them.
They had seen Death strike.
They had seen the End impose itself.
They had seen their creator fall without a single prayer being heard.
But above all, they saw what Death left behind.
The shell.
Intact.
Seated upon the throne.
Valor let out an amused breath.
— "Leaving the corpse as decoration… cruel. Very educational, though."
From the moment of his birth, Agniryos felt their gazes weigh upon him.
Not prayers.
Not supplications.
Raw helplessness.
He then understood the truth Valor already knew:
This world did not hold together because of him.
It held because the cosmic corpse still persisted.
Agniryos was not the pillar.
He was the threshold.
— "So in summary," Valor said calmly,
— "you kept a tomb doing all the work while everyone stared at you like you were responsible."
Silence.
— "Yeah. I'd have been in a bad mood too."
From that day, Agniryos never spoke to them.
He was neither king.
Nor guide.
Nor god.
He was a flame born to watch, not to explain.
So he isolated himself.
He shaped a domain of primordial flames.
The *Ignivar Primordialis.*
A fire older than creation.
A fire even Valor now regarded with greater attention.
— "Okay."
He uncrossed his arms.
— "Now we're talking."
The Ignivar do not burn to destroy.
They burn because existence cannot resist them.
They consume matter, soul, time, concepts…
and even stories.
What they touch does not disappear:
it never existed.
Then came Kae and Oris.
Agniryos lost.
And when he was killed, it was neither fear nor exhaustion.
It was hatred.
A hatred so pure that even Valor frowned.
— "Hm… that one, I know."
Then came the heat.
A human fire.
Imperfect.
Violent.
Determined.
Kael.
The Ignivar blazed anew.
Agniryos returned.
Not as before.
And now, facing Valor, the memory of fire finished imposing itself.
The primordial flames once again covered his body.
It was not a transformation.
It was a sentence.
Agniryos finally raised his eyes to him.
No pity.
No contempt.
Absolute hatred.
Valor sighed… then smiled.
— "Well.
He stepped forward.
— Looks like you've finished your tragic monologue."
He lifted his eyes to the flames.
— "My turn to remind you of something, Memory of Fire.
— Memories burn bright…
but they always lose to someone who's still alive."
Chapter 319 – The Festival of Arrogance
Valor gazed at the devastated horizon, hands in his pockets, a satisfied smile plastered on his face.
— Well.
He snapped his fingers.
— The festival can resume.
He tilted his head slightly toward Agniryos, as if speaking to someone who had just arrived late.
— I already know that anything involving fire, explosions, annihilation…
He shrugged.
— …affects you about as much as a summer breeze.
But that was precisely the point.
His smile widened.
— You're the perfect candidate to test my new spells.
Agniryos did not respond.
He didn't even blink.
A second later, Valor was upside down, suspended in the void, arms crossed — just… to flex.
— Seriously, you could at least react a little, couldn't you?
Then, without warning, he appeared before Agniryos, fist charged with dense, condensed mana, violent, ready to tear existence itself apart.
But the punch never reached its target.
The *Ignivar Primordialis* erupted.
Not a normal explosion.
A negation.
Flames burst from Agniryos's body and spread like a memory too ancient to be contained.
Matter vanished.
The soul dissolved.
Time tore apart.
Space folded.
Concepts burned.
Stories themselves reduced to absolute silence.
What the Ignivar touched was not destroyed.
It had never existed.
Valor took the attack head‑on.
His body was engulfed, devoured, erased…
then reappeared, smoking, cracked, covered in pure mana pulsing like a second skin.
He leapt back, landed heavily, inhaled deeply.
— …
Then he smiled.
— That's it?
He shook his head, almost disappointed.
— Honestly, I expected more.
His mana had adapted.
Not by resisting the flames.
By refusing to be erased.
Valor did not survive because the laws protected him —
he survived because his very existence crushed the idea of disappearance itself.
Agniryos watched calmly.
The flames shifted.
They became clearer.
Purer.
More… severe.
— Don't worry, arrogant human, he finally said.
— My flames can do everything.
He raised his hand.
— Purification.
The flames surged instantly, striking Valor directly, without detour, without warning.
Valor smiled again.
He swept the Ignivar aside with a simple flick of his hand.
— You're mistaken.
He tilted his head slightly.
— The nature of the great Valor never changes.
Chains burst from the void and wrapped around Agniryos.
Valor, still with his hands in his pockets, pummeled his face with kicks delivered with insulting nonchalance.
Agniryos shattered the chains.
He grabbed Valor's foot.
And slammed him into the ground.
Reality cracked like glass.
Dimensions screamed.
The ground gave way down to the foundations of the universe.
Valor vanished.
Then reappeared instantly, face bloodied, and struck Agniryos with a simultaneous kick to the torso.
He pointed a finger before his face.
— Composite Annihilation: *Orbis Cataclysmæ.*
A gigantic sphere formed, a blend of wind, light, darkness, and lightning.
It did not spin.
It devoured.
The orb was hurled forward.
Everything in its path was pulverized, erased, scattered into total chaos.
Valor landed, smile intact.
He ran a hand through his hair, his face regenerating casually.
— Who can resist the almighty great Valor, huh?
He didn't have time to finish his sentence.
He was hurled across the universe and crashed into mountains of lava.
He slowed, still smiling.
The next instant…
The entire universe froze.
Ice.
But not ordinary ice.
Absolute ice, frozen outside of time, indestructible, so cold it immobilized even concepts.
Heat could not exist in its presence.
Even fire hesitated.
Agniryos smiled.
— Ice?
He shook his head.
— Sorry for you, human. My flames are not ordinary.
He adjusted them.
Creation through the Ignivar.
— I can forge gods of fire.
— Conscious stars.
— Divine weapons.
— Entire worlds.
Ten fire gods appeared and surrounded Valor.
— Everything I create carries an irreversible part of my fire.
Valor raised his hand.
Pulled them toward him.
Spikes of shadow erupted from the ground and pierced the gods.
They counterattacked.
Valor repelled them with such violent force they were reduced to dust.
Agniryos appeared behind him.
— Instant Freeze.
Everything stopped.
He could have frozen the entire universe.
But the children were still there.
So he limited it.
Even time itself halted.
He walked slowly toward Agniryos.
— You see… I could have done worse.
He struck him.
Sent Agniryos flying.
He was already behind him, frost blade in hand, and slashed—
The blade stopped dead.
— Oh?
Valor smiled.
— You managed to break free from my indestructible ice?
Agniryos shoved him back with a flaming punch that ignited space‑time.
Valor stepped back.
— Hm.
He smiled again.
— The insect's not doing too badly.
Agniryos created twenty fire gods.
He fused ten.
Then another ten.
Two entities appeared, red‑haired, crushing presence, their aura warping reality around them.
— Ignir, said Agniryos.
— And Pyraxis.
Ignir fixed his gaze on Valor.
— Human, surrender. You have no chance against us.
Valor looked at them.
Silence.
— …
— Oh, pardon.
He smiled.
— Insects don't deserve to be spoken to.
Pyraxis lunged.
He was sliced into a thousand pieces.
Ravna appeared beside Valor.
Her presence was different.
Heavier.
More dangerous.
— I'll help you, she said calmly.
She looked at Agniryos and Ignir.
— Three against one wasn't fair.
Ignir frowned.
— Who is this woman…? I didn't even see her arrive.
Agniryos answered coldly:
— Looks like you forgot what I did to you earlier.
Ravna ignored Agniryos.
She looked at Valor.
— Eldric took the children to a safe zone.
Then she smiled.
— Now we can cut loose.
Valor smiled even wider.
— Even three against one…
He spread his arms.
— Flies will always remain flies.
The festival had truly begun. 😈🔥❄️
Chapter 320 – Separating the Fragile Toys
Pyraxis reformed in an explosion of flames, screaming in rage.
— WOMAN!
He pointed at Ravna, his blazing aura trembling with fury.
— How dare you cut me like that?! I'll vaporize you!
Ravna remained still.
Her body was covered in ancient scars, as if war itself had tried to kill her… and failed.
Her two red eyes shone with a calm, unsettling glow.
She rested her massive sword on her shoulders, the metal groaning under its own weight.
She slowly pointed the blade at Pyraxis.
— You want to burn me?
She tilted her head slightly.
— Then I'll let you try.
Valor raised an eyebrow at her.
— Oh? Why the change?
He smiled.
— You were much friendlier earlier, weren't you?
Ravna's eyes gleamed brighter.
She stayed silent for a moment, as if truly considering the question.
— I'm still just as friendly.
Then she added calmly:
— It's just that some beings deserve to be exterminated.
She smiled.
— And besides… there's something else.
— Oh?
Valor tilted his head.
— And what's that?
— You'll see for yourself.
She stepped forward.
A black aura seeped from her body, heavy, crushing, so dense the air seemed to bend around her.
Even the ground trembled slightly.
Valor narrowed his eyes.
A thought crossed his mind.
> …Impossible.
> Unless…
He observed the fluctuations of her aura, the abnormal stability of her presence, the way space reacted to each of her steps.
> She hasn't just recovered.
> She's evolved.
Not through mana.
Not through technique.
But through existential adaptation.
Her body no longer merely survived.
It learned.
It rewrote its own limits after every extreme wound.
> If that's true… then she's dangerous. Very dangerous.
Ravna pointed her blade at Ignir and Pyraxis.
— You two.
She smiled coldly.
— You're mine.
Then she looked at Valor.
— I'll deal with these two quickly.
— After that, I'll come help you… if you ask me.
Valor almost burst out laughing.
— You imagine the great Valor needing help?
— Honestly…
Ravna shrugged.
— It's possible.
Valor's smile vanished instantly.
— Never compare me to these insects again.
— Understood?
— Fine, no need to make a fuss.
Ravna turned to Ignir and Pyraxis.
— We'll fight farther away.
— Otherwise, we'll get in the way here.
Pyraxis sneered.
— Crushing you won't even take a second, and you dare tell us to move aside?
Ignir, however, said nothing.
He watched Ravna carefully.
Then—
Ravna grabbed Pyraxis.
And hurled him straight at Ignir.
— You talk too much.
Ignir didn't even have time to react.
Both gods were seized by the face.
Then vanished.
The next instant, they reappeared far away.
Ravna released them brutally, slammed them against each other, then said calmly:
— Now we can fight.
Pyraxis rose, screaming, clutching his face.
— How dare a miserable human touch my face?!
Ignir rose as well, more serious.
— She's not just fast…
He clenched his fists.
— She's extremely strong physically.
He tightened his jaw.
— I couldn't even break free from her grip.
He looked at Pyraxis.
— Be careful.
— Don't be impulsive.
Pyraxis sneered.
— You really think a human has any chance against me?
Ravna didn't answer.
She simply stared at them.
Then she slowly raised her blade and declared in a perfectly neutral tone:
— You talk far too much…
— For a worthless god.
— HOW DARE YOU—
Meanwhile…
Valor looked at Agniryos, bored.
— Well.
He sighed.
— The great Valor is tired of this fight.
He vanished.
And reappeared right in front of Agniryos.
— Let's speed things up.
Agniryos's eyes darkened.
— Tornado of Ignivar.
A gigantic whirlwind of absolute flames engulfed Valor, tearing space, burning even silence itself.
The battle had entered its serious phase.
And somewhere…
Ravna was smiling. 😈🔥