Prison Break [3]: Number One Under The Sun

Expedition Team, Outside the Barrier— During Maintenance

"ARRGHHHHH"

Even after taking a full blast head on, Tetsuro was still standing, protecting the other expedition team members from Melissa's wrath.

"Hahaha, Stark was right, you are tough. However, without your army to cover you, you will die just as easy, Tetsuro Amami"

"Why are you doing this, Melissa? We're comrades, aren't we?"

Shu asked, his voice shaken from the betrayal. The dirty look she shot in response made it evident she saw them as nothing less than insects, which saddened Shu greatly as well as the other expedition members who had a slight crush on her for some reason.

"Comrades? Please, the only reason I played along with this charade was to get rid of your leader once and for all"

Tetsuro started moving again, conviction in his eyes

"Are you saying your aim was separating me from my men?"

"That's right, with your power and influence, it's way too risky to keep you alive. Problem is, your men respect you so much, they'd even lay down their lives for you, so normally, to kill you, we'll end up killing all your men as well in the process, and our little establishment can't handle such losses...."

She flashed an evil smile as she continued

"..... Honestly, this expedition was like a godsend for us, we'd be foolish to waste this chance. Stark anticipated you'd take the girl's place if the little brat got captured and he was right, hahaha"

"I.....see..."

There were signs of visible shock in Tetsuro's voice. However, it wasn't Melissa's speech exactly that had him shocked, it was because he'd heard those words before.

Specifically 4 nights ago, after Rei carried a sleeping Arc back to their cell, Yuki said something similar while discussing his plan with him.

Tetsuro was shocked things were playing out precisely as Yuki predicted.

He also remembered something Yuki told him to keep in mind

"In the event you're attacked by the female human, do your best to hold out for one minute after maintenance begins. After one minute, the tide will turn"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Haha.... just wait for the lightning"

Regaining his composure, Tetsuro assumed a fighting stance.

"So you want to go down fighting, huh? As expected from the man once known as the number one under the sun. Don't expect a quick death"

"Since we're fighting to the death, may I have your name?"

"Huh? I am one of Princess Selene's personal knights, the fourth sword, Melissa Bloodfallen"

"I am Tetsuro Amami, chief of the Oni clan. Let's have a clean fight"

"Hahaha, well aren't you chivalrous..."

Melissa sensed something approaching and instantly deployed a barrier behind her, shielding herself from the purple lightning wave

She turned to look in the direction it came from

"Who shot that? Well, no matter... If they wanted to hurt me, they should've used something more powerf—"

At that moment, Melissa felt a powerful presence behind her as the temperature of the surrounding area rapidly started rising.

She turned around, assuming a defensive stance..... and that's when she saw.

"Number one under the Sun" was a moniker given to the onis chief by those who faced him in battle, and they meant it literally

The extreme heat exuding from his body, making the surrounding area hot as a furnace, the floor turning molten just because he was standing on it, not to mention the miniature sun hovering behind him and the burning aura surrounding his body....

The collar had been damaged from the lightning and Tetsuro had regained his power, forming a miniature sun on his palm, he said— each word imposing his presence and filling Melissa with terror

"Like I said... Let's have a clean fight"

*********************

Inside the Prison— Stark vs Rei

*BOOM CRASH BOOM

"MILLION LASERS!!!!"

Stark fired countless beams of light at Rei while the undead Rose was taking her on in close quarters combat.

She managed to dodge the endless beams while blocking the strikes of the Slayer 1 whose moves had gotten much sharperz and overall power increased.

[The unique skill, necromancer.... From what I can tell, by infusing his ygg into a corpse, said corpse turns into an undead soldier that follows his every command. In addition, he can draw out their latent potential and utilize them to the best of their abilities. The tomboy's in a really tough spot]

"We have to help her!"

Arc said, about to rush to Rei's side before Yuki held him.

"You're still suffering from the aftereffects of that cage, you'll only get in the way.... and so will I."

"BUT—"

Before he could finish, he noticed something down in the fight between Rei and the two knights— they were standing apart, each side catching their breath.... And that's when Rei raised a thumbs up for them to see

"Just stay there and watch me dispatch these freaks, I've got this, no problem!"

She screamed, a confident smile on her face— She hadn't been in a real fight for a while so she was clearly enjoying herself.

She could finally let loose.

Upon witnessing her proclamation, Arc couldn't interfere. He watched as a spectator as she stood on business.

"That's quite the mouth on you, girl. You're clearly underestimating me"

"That so? I can't see a future where I'm bested by a mere weasel"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA....You must think you're real funny, huh.... Alright..."

Suddenly, orbs of flames started forming around him, and they turned black

"Black flames.....TIMES TEN THOUSAND!"

"THUNDER SPEAR KAI... X 500!!!!!"

The clash from the massive superpowers restarted the battle, Rose and Rei charged at each other, exchanging strikes faster than the eyes could see while Stark prepared another volley of lasers.

"MILLION LASERS!!!!!!!"

The moment they were inches away from Rei, she increased her speed significantly, breaking through Rose's defense and grabbing her by the face, then swinging her around like nunchucks, using her to block all the incoming blasts.

Once the volley was over, she threw Rose mid-air and kicked her like a soccer ball straight for Stark, who blasted the floor, propelling himself into the air and out of the way.

Predicting where he'd end up, Rei closed in on that location and was right in front of his face as he was mid-air.

With a purple lightning coated fist, she rammed it straight into his body, BUT—

Stark reacted quickly, and deployed a reflective barrier and that spot— the same kind as the prison's barrier, in fact.

*CRASH

The force of her own power reflected sent her crashing into the wall. However, this didn't even slow her down.... Infact, in less than a fraction of a second later, she dove right back in, striking him in another location.

But.... Stark deployed a barrier there just in time again, pushing her back again

"How infuriating....."

She said, landing on her feet. Although, surprisingly, she was grinning more than ever right now

"..... So a contest of speed, huh? Alright let's play"

She bent over with her fingers on the floor, assuming the rocketstarter position of a sprinter as she took a deep breath then..

"Max speed....."

With the trails of purple lightning behind her as the only proof of her immense speed, she burst forward, attacking Stark from every direction at the same time.

Well.... anyone looking would think it was at the same time, but she was actually attacking in succession, getting reflected and bouncing back instantly.

Matching her pace, Stark was deploying barriers at the exact point of impact each time, as erecting a barrier to cover his whole body will stretch it too thin and get broken by Rei's destructive power.

At this moment, they were at a deadlock

Stark had all his focus on deploying barriers and thus couldn't launch any attack spells, moreover, deploying several barriers in succession was burning through his ygg reserves. In Rei's case, she was constantly receiving the brunt of her reflected attacks, accumulating damage.

Was this going to turn into a battle of attrition? Ofcourse not.

As the deadlock raged on, Rose appeared behind Rei as she hit another barrier, about to use the opening to land a critical hit.

HOWEVER— Without even looking in her direction, Rei grabbed her on the face again, then spun around, engulfing Rose in purple lightning and throwing her like a shot put into Stark's barrier before instantly following up with—

"LIGHTNING HAMMER!"

—Breaking Stark's barrier. And through that opening, Rei didn't miss the chance....

"LIGHTNING ARROW!"

..... Creating a giant bow out of lightning, she sent a twenty-foot long arrow made of concentrated purple lightning through that opening, striking Stark dead on and sending him flying into the wall

*BOOOOOMMMMMM

The impact reverberated through the prison

Seconds later, Stark stepped out of the rubble, severely injured

"Impressive, young lady"

"*Huff huff huff..... How are you not dead after that, you weasel"

"Hahaha, well.... A regular master 5 mage would've been toast after that, true. However, I am no ordinary mage"

"What are you on about?!"

"Hahaha, I'll have you know I'm one of the chosen..... One who has bloomed"

In any endeavor, after years of hardwork and training, you'll eventually hit a wall— the limit of your natural ability and potential that can't be overcome, the same is true for ygg practitioners.

However, unlike other disciplines, this wall cannot be overcome by hardwork, only talent and once that wall is overcome, one is said to have bloomed.

For a bloomed hunter, there are no limits to how powerful they can become through training, as the wall of their limits no longer exists.

In order to bloom, there are three conditions that must be fulfilled— one, you must have reached the absolute limit of your potential. Two, you must see your life flashing before your eyes I.e. you are about to die.

Third and most importantly, you must be incredibly lucky.

This third factor is why bloomed hunters are rare. Infact, there are probably less than 100 hunters in the world who have bloomed, and Stark was one of them.

In addition to infinite growth potential, there is one more thing a bloomed hunter has that regulars don't, as the term "bloom" refers to the fact that the ygg sap had bloomed to a proper seedling. That is—

"Yggdrasil Bloom.... DEADMAN'S WONDERLAND!"

Suddenly, the entire area around Stark became a pool of blood, extending even beyond where Rei was standing.

And out from the blood came corpses... Dead men walking—knights, soldiers and even onis..... And yes, Rose's corpse was also among them.

[A yggdrasil Bloom carves out a space around it's user where the user has complete control.... Not just that, an evolved version of their unique skill is active within that space. In this case, he can spawn every corpse he's ever used necromancy on to fight at the same time]

At the sight of being outnumbered, a drop of cold sweat trickled down Rei's face as Stark said grinning

"So then, What will you do against this many?"