Episodes 145. Refuse or Accept

Ctak!

With just a snap of my fingers, I sent dozens of solid earth flying towards him.

Right now, I don't want to hold back anymore. The more I do, the less conscious I become of my own power. Sometimes, I often forget that my strength is quite terrifying.

...

My brother, seeing the direction of the attack, immediately dodged using light magic.

An opportunity!

At that moment, I also activated my light magic and walked to the place where he would stop.

Ctang!

My sword swung and struck a piece of rather hard wooden board.

"Damn, that coffin is protecting you!" I shouted.

The coffin had started to move to protect its master, which meant he was starting to fight seriously.

Suddenly, light came out from the seams of the coffin's door.

Light?! Is it going to explode?!

Seeing what was about to happen, I instantly backed off and created a wall of earth.

Boom!

A loud explosion made the rooftop floor even more shapeless, and the arena shrank due to the explosion.

"Blowing up this place?! Are you crazy?!" I yelled from behind the sturdy wall I had created.

"If that makes you want to kill me, then it's fine with me!" The voice from the sky grew closer and closer above me.

Hearing the strangeness from the direction of the voice, I instantly created a shield of earth and held it tightly to withstand an attack.

Grak!

As expected, a giant foot made of earth kicked the shield I was using, pushing me back several meters.

I quickly infused my sword with a water aura and slashed the giant foot into pieces.

As I jumped on the pieces of leg that I just destroyed and reached the top of the foot, my brother floated in the air, staring down at me, ready for his next attack.

"I hold the highest ground, Rasyid!" A fire whale, the size of a real one, plunged towards me, trying to burn me alive.

I immediately created a giant spear from the water and hurled it towards the whale. "Did you forget that we're on the same level?!"

The giant water spear pierced the whale, going through its back and embedding in its stomach. In just a fraction of a second, a massive explosion occurred as water and fire collided.

The weather in the battle arena instantly changed to a heavy downpour of scalding hot water.

"Gyah!" (Rizki)

"Argh! Damn it, I didn't think this would happen!" (Me)

Both my brother and I were drenched by the hot water, feeling numb as if we were being boiled alive.

*Crash!

We both fell and landed hard on the terrace floor. The impact was so strong that the floor we hit collapsed and shattered.

What had been a battle witnessed by the sun and moon had now turned into a fight that was witnessed by the broken things inside the classroom. Yeah, both of us fell into the building.

The lighting in this place was minimal; even my naked eyes couldn't see anything around me.

"Darkness has arrived, and the fight still hasn't ended. Seriously..." I regretted my delay in finishing him off earlier.

If I had known he didn't want to live anymore from the start, the battle might have ended before Ryan arrived here.

Fire suddenly blazed, illuminating the pitch-dark classroom. The flames lit up one by one as if showing a path for me.

"Huh? What does this mean?" I was confused but still followed the path created by the fire.

The fire led me to a corner of the room near the window and the teacher's desk.

When the fire illuminated the corner, a pile of tables and chairs stacked haphazardly formed a pyramid.

"You...?!"

At the very top, I saw my brother's body, utterly helpless and bluish from the hot water earlier. He neither attacked nor acknowledged my presence. His eyes were locked between open and shut. It seemed he had resigned himself to let me take his life.

"Why didn't Anitya protect you?" I asked him.

But he didn't answer. My only clue was the fire that led me to him.

"You want to die?!"

There was no response, but I already knew the answer must be 'yes'. He stopped Anitya's regeneration and used his last power to make a fire to illuminate my path to him.

The voice recorder had already explained everything.

Seeing the situation, I took a deep breath and prepared for something significant.

"I've been ready for this. I've long wanted to do this, but seeing you in this condition makes me sad, brother." While drawing my weapon, I bid him a final farewell and prepared to stab him with the power of CODE magic.

From the start, this battle wasn't about who was stronger. It was merely his way of saying goodbye to me; it could be seen from how I hadn't lost from the beginning. If he had been a bit serious, I might have been dead by now.

Moreover, the coffin he carried didn't seem to protect him consistently. Although the coffin was a shield for its master.

Or... was there another purpose?

I suddenly lowered my eyes to hold back the sadness.

I remembered... I remembered that the coffin was made from our parents' skin and meat. So, they should have tried to protect my brother from all kinds of danger, but as seen from the previous battle...

Both my brother and the coffin seemed to be at odds. The coffin only saved him once from me. As I recalled the battle, the coffin seemed to cry and wanted to stop us. But its efforts failed, ending up only as a spectator. A spectator at the death event of one of their children.

"Don't worry, I just have to stab him like before and destroy his Anitya's core with CODE magic," I said to myself.

I steeled my resolve and walked while pointing my sword's tip towards him.

"Hyargggh!" Someone is coming with butting its head.

Clang!

Someone knocked my sword until it hit the foothold of the classroom desk.

.......

A few minutes back when Rasyid and Rizki were battling in the air, clashing their water and fire magic.

Ryan and Linda, whose wrists were bound by Rizki's elemental magic, whispered to each other.

"Linda, can you use your water to break this earth handcuff?!" He whispered to his girlfriend.

"I-I'm trying, but it's very difficult..." Linda showed how she struggled to direct her wrist towards Ryan but always failed.

"Are we going to remain like this? We came to stop them, but it ended like this."

"We should wait for the right moment."

"What do you mean by the right moment?" Ryan was wide-eyed.

"You're as stupid as always, can't you see that they're currently clashing magic? Just pray that one of them uses fire or water and accidentally targets one of us. At that moment, use your wind magic to deflect the stray attack to the cuffs binding us."

"Your idea is pretty smart, hehe." Ryan flashed his white teeth to the newly awakened moon.

"But remember! Fire to break my cuffs, and water to break yours! Don't mix it up, or the cuffs holding us will become even harder!"

Even though they were dating, Linda's trust in Ryan's brain was still small, or perhaps he was just unreliable?

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." His smile instantly changed to regret.

In his expression, it seemed like he was saying, ("Why am I dating this nagging woman?")

He was indeed different in front of others compared to when he was with me. (RYAN)

As they were about to prepare to execute their plan, something unexpected happened and hit both of them.

"Gyahh!!" (Ryan and Linda)

Hot water hit both of them, breaking the cuffs.

"What happened?!" Ryan immediately stood up and walked towards Linda.

When close to her, Ryan instantly created a whirlwind to protect them both from the scalding rain.

"Something fell from above like a meteor!" Linda pointed at the falling object.

*Boom!

Something hit the floor, causing it to collapse.

Both of them fell into one of the classrooms.

Their backs were in critical condition, but fortunately, they were fighters, accustomed to such situations.

"Are you alright?!" Ryan asked Linda.

He hugged his girlfriend tightly from the collapsing floor. But it seemed in vain as they were both severely injured.

In the darkness that haunted them, a light emerged from a chest.

"What is that a chest?!" Seeing closely, Ryan's eyes widened in surprise. "I-it's a coffin!"

He immediately ran towards Rizki's coffin, and as he touched the coffin's texture.

*Kring!!!

A light blinded his vision, forcing him to close his eyes.

However, when he opened his eyes again, he was in an unknown place, all white.

"Ryan..." Someone called him in a soft, gentle tone.

Ryan turned and saw a man and woman standing side by side. Their faces looked familiar in Ryan's memory, but he was a bit forgetful of who they were.

However, within seconds, Ryan remembered who they were.

"You two! You're Rizki and Rasyid's parents, right?!" Ryan looked shocked and in disbelief, taking a slow step back.