Kapitel 113: Apotheosis

The surroundings turned noisy once again as Haruto returned back to the stage. He suffered several frost bite on his body as well as grazes and yet he still brimming with vitality and vigor.

He was eyeing his opponent with his cold green eyes that was emitting fighting spirit and excitement. From the expression of Lotus, he could sense a hint of surprise and disbelief so his lip curved up into a smirk.

*Dash*

Kicking on the ground, Haruto advanced towards the target in a different level of speed than before. This successfully caught the opponent off guard as a blow landed on her front. She was sent flying in the air, barely managed to guard her chest from receiving direct hit.

Unfortunately, she didn't have time to relief yet as right behind her, the youth already swung his arm, smacking her back to the arena before he once again appeared below her and kicked her upwards.

"...Ngh!"

Twisting her body in midair, Lotus regained her balance. Her opponent's strength was raising significantly ever since he reemerged from her last attack. She noticed his figure was changing slightly compared to before.

'Did that form of him have more than one level?'

She drew a conjecture based on her observation. By feeling the blows she received just now, it wouldn't be wrong to say that Haruto's power was increasing twice the previous amount. And then, just when she's exchanging attacks on him like this, his power level still rising little by little, overwhelming her completely.

*BAM*

A whip-like roundhouse kick landed on her shoulder, it knocked her out a few meters away. Despite protecting herself using layers of ice barrier, they weren't enough to keep her from the bone-shattering attacks unleashed by the opponent.

The arena was filled with explosions of ice and energy blasts, covering the sight of the audiences watching the fight. They could see giant snake-like ice structures Lotus sent on the golden haired boy, lurking on the air and releasing thick mist and shards every time they were shattered by the ki blasts fired from the other side. The constant shockwaves and eruptions shook the entire place without end.

"Those two really are freaks."

"If they fought in a free environment, you think they would destroy several islands already?"

"How should I know? What I know is that I don't wanna get close even miles away from them if that happened."

"This is the first time I saw the White Monarch on the losing side. She always crushed her opponents under three minutes before..."

"Hahaha! This is what I like to see!"

The spectators were happily chatting while keeping their eyes on the spot. They're very satisfied with the match and it wasn't even the climax as both sides still holding a lot of cards on their sleeves. It could be seen from the way both of them still maintained their breathing.

*VWOOO----*

A large blue energy beam pierced through the towering ice lotus shield the female elf formed using her ability. She withstood the attack after suffering from some damages. At this time, her face was grim and cold, she realized she was overpowered in the match. The two people once again stood at the battered arena platform, having distance around ten meters away between each other.

Haruto did not rush again just like before, he stood on his place while crossing his arms.

"I don't want to be seen as a bully so I just say it now. If you keep on holding back, you're just going to suffer humiliation. It's not my hobby to defeat you while you're hiding your true strength. I won't hold back anymore after this so don't say I didn't warn you."

Lotus widened her eyes. Until now, she was repeatedly shocked by the might of the boy in front of her. There wasn't any doubt that she was in a disadvantage despite fighting with her full efforts.

Before the match begin, she still believed she could achieve victory without having to resort into a desperate tactic. One that compels her to sacrifice a lot of things, everything that should be important to her dreams. That's why she was reluctant and decided to win the way she was.

For the first time in her life, she was outdone by someone younger than her. It's not like she grew arrogant like Erick did, she never was. She always tried to improve herself, training harshly and went through deathly battles, all so she could become stronger.

Because her strength was not derived from talent only but also through sweat and blood, she was proud of herself. Proud for being able to work hard, ridiculing everyone similar to Erick who thought they could become strong without putting in any efforts.

She was repeatedly educated like that by her guardian, the true way for someone to become strong. Wasn't she follow through her teachings perfectly? Shouldn't her current path was the rightful one now? No....

"Remember, your main weakness is your own stubbornness."

That was that her guardian, Lumina said a long time ago to her.

'Could it be that despite I loathe haughtiness.....Without knowing, I started to grow haughty?'

'Could it be what I did was no different than looking down on my opponent....?'

'Was this... what are you trying to say at that time? Okaa-sama....'

...

Haruto who was making no movement was suddenly become perplexed. Lotus' body turned stiff and she was hanging down her head, mumbling some kind of muzzy words. Her condition was very strange and it wasn't only him who thought so. Even other people in here was showing confusion, discussing what might going on.

For the boy himself, he was having a foreboding that something was coming. Something great he unintentionally drawn on himself. This kind of feeling was without doubt the feeling of the calm before storm and it caused him to gulp his saliva. The alarm bell on his mind reached the peak when Lotus finally raised her head.

".....Very well."

And then, the elven girl reached her hands on her hood. Without hesitating, she took it off, throwing her entire hood cape to the air. It revealed her true appearance alongside the snowy pale blue dress she wore in her body, flourishing her gorgeous figure and radiant skin like an elegant fairy.

*Whoosh...*

There's no time for anybody to be shocked on her actions as the atmosphere around the area was changing dramatically.

The light dimmed, darkening the whole place. The air was making an intense buzzing sound, shrouding the space with swirling cold breeze. The only thing that was illuminating the shaded area was Lotus gleaming figure. It wasn't the usual milky white aura, her aura was now pale pink, fluctuating erratically.

*WHOOSH!!*

The cold wind now grew into a violent turbulence, resembling a raging tornado with Lotus as the center. She was ascending to the air slowly as her hair and dress flutter with astonishing speed. The pale pinkish aura was shining brighter and brighter before it erupted into a blinding light that made Haruto tightly shut his eyes.

Once he opened his closed eyes, what ahead of him was no longer the same Lotus he knew. Her hair was now silver with tinge of pink mixed together. Furthermore, her previously deep blue eyes was turning into a pair of glowing rosy eyes, looking at him without emotions. Her height increase slightly and on her back grew a ring of pink halo.

"What? What is happening...?"

Rikka voiced her bewilderment from her seat. On both of her sides, the other girls were also making similar expression like her. Only Selianna was having different reaction as her face contained shock, surprise, and disbelief, like she was seeing something unimaginable.

"Impossible....That was...."

"Selianna-san? You know something about it?" Asami asked. She was constantly being surprised of the vast knowledge this knight woman possessed.

"....I only saw it on a book before. That was something that should have been disappeared from this world. A unique ability belonged to being with divine bloodline..... Apotheosis."

"Divine..bloodline?" Kaori repeated Selianna's words.

"Yes... just as the word implied, it was a lineage originated from divine beings. Unlike a Transcendent that was achieve by mortals ascending to godhood, they were a natural deity, beings who should already gone extinct since a very long time ago alongside their descendants, mortals who possessed their lineage."

"A natural deity!" They were all astonished.

"And out of all of them, there's one natural deity that used to rule the entire elven race, including the royalties. That deity was called.... as the Star Elf."

"...."

Star Elf...?

....

Haruto was looking above in a daze. The fluttering figure surrounded by pale pinkish aura. The figure of his opponent that looked very dazzling and mighty, as if a god had descended on the place.

In fact, he was not wrong. What he sensed from Lotus' current energy was without doubt a Godly Ki, the energy signature exclusive to divine beings. He felt similar thing when Lumina shown her power a few days ago. Was it possible for her to be in the realm of gods?

'No... It's a bit different.'

But the instant he calmed himself he reworked his own judgement. Although he still unable to sense a divine energy, but the fact he could do so on Lotus meant her divinity was incomplete, it was not perfect. Through this, he could guess whatever transformation his opponent did, she hadn't mastered it just yet for unknown reason.

....

On the spectator's seats.

"H-Hey look at that!"

"Somehow that looks familiar.... No way, could it be an Apotheosis!?"

"Such thing, how could it be....?"

"T-T-The White Monarch was a descendant from the Star Elf, what a shocking thing!!"

The people were making ruckus. The knowledgeable one was able to discern the truth regarding Lotus's transformation. The main reason was the ring of halo appeared on her back, that was the prove of an Apotheosis, the divinity awakening ability belonged to beings with divine bloodline. Now they could see that the elven lady ahead of them was the divine guardian of the entire elves! Race that should have been perished by now.

....

Even if they were outside the barrier, Haruto and Lotus were still capable of hearing the voices from the audiences. It made Haruto frowned as he never thought the thing his opponent did was such a great deal. He realized he might have done a bad thing by inciting her to release all of her hidden strength at the cost of her identity. His face became awkward as a result. Lotus noticed this and opened her mouth,

"...It's alright, this is my own decision, you don't have to worry about it."

"Are you sure...?" Haruto seemed doubtful.

"....Yes. This is what I supposed to do from a long time ago." She nodded.

"...I see. Then I won't mind it anymore."

He put back his posture and regained his intense fighting spirit. There's no way he would believe everything was alright, Lotus must be sacrificing a lot of things without him knowing.

Even so, he couldn't waver now because it was pathetic to draw back when the other side was showing this kind of determination just to fight and won against him. He'll care about other things once the match was over but as for now...

"Uu...oooo!"

Haruto roared loudly. The golden aura was flared once again that filled his body with strength and power. He was finally drawing out all of his power in the Super Saiyan 2 form. The intensity of the aura was raising greatly with pressure incomparable to when he first achieved the form.

A trail of golden light pierced through the air as Haruto soared against the opponent. His golden hair was fluttering wildly with gazes as sharp as a knife.

The fist he thrust was colliding against the pink colored cold waves sent from the other side. It was making a loud ringing sound, creating force of ripples and energy sparks that were dealing damage on the surroundings.

The second level barrier that could even withstand a peak Demon Lord attacks were shaking furiously. It was constantly making buzzing sounds that caused the audiences to feel anxious. Thankfully, it was somehow still able to withstand without breaking.

But because they couldn't be sure anymore, the third level barrier was deployed in order to guarantee their safety. The third level barrier was even capable of defending against a lower Demon Emperor, a being vastly stronger than a Demon Lord.

Gritting his teeth, Haruto exploded his strength and finally managed to break through the defensive energy wave from the opponent.

Right now, Lotus did not choose to avoid Haruto's attack, she instead blocked the fist using her palm that was covered by pink colored ice shaped like an arm. The pink ice arm was three times larger than Haruto's own, it easily gripped his entire fist like a blanket. Meanwhile, on Lotus' other side, another arm made from pink ice grew out of thin air, it launched on him with incredible force.

"! Oh shi-"

*BAM*

The gigantic arm punched his body and blown him away. He crashed through the barrier several hundreds of meters away within a second. This outcome was entirely different than before as for the first time since the battle began, he lost in a match of pure strength. Even without going on the second level, his physical ability still above Lotus, and yet right now he was outmatched in that aspect.

"Kuh... Don't think you have won yet..."

Pulling himself from the barrier, he once again rose high in the air, channeling power even greater than before as he focused his energy on one spot, his right fist. This time, he wanted to break through the artificial arms Lotus' made and delivered a blow on her body.

And yet, a more pressuring cold wave enveloped his figure. The energy was piercing past his defense, making him felt chill on his bone and flesh. The now bright pink rapier Artifact was swirling with icy pink aura, shooting against Haruto's chest like a lightning strike.

"Gah...!"

Haruto vomited blood from his mouth, the concentration of pink aura was exploded right on hit, dealing a great damage. If not for the fact the rapier did not touch his body directly, he would be blasted with a gaping hole on his chest, similar on how he did on the arrogant prince yesterday.

He was pausing in his spot before being smacked by another ice arm from above. The force of the blow buried him deep past the arena platform like a meteor fall. It was creating a large crater several tens of meters large.

In the finals, the rules of ring out was discarded. It was so the participants could compete more freely as the climax of the tournament. That's why Haruto was not disqualified despite being buried below the soil.

"....The kid was completely outclassed."

"It was indeed an Apotheosis. The differences in power was too great."

"But even if he lost the match, I did not blame him. His performance was more than excellent, it was his opponent that was abnormal."

"Yeah, he's the only one capable of cornering her this far. I'm sure the world would be in chaos once the news of a divine guardian reappearing here *sigh*..."

The audiences were sighing, not because of disappointment, it was completely the opposite. They were all greatly admired Haruto despite being the one losing on the match. No one was able to reach this far with an age of seventeen years old, it was enough to be recorded in history.

"To think she's hiding something like this..." Asami smiled bitterly.

"I can see the divinity she possessed was incomplete, otherwise Haruto-kun would be instantly defeated by her. Maybe her current power was on the realm of Semi-Transcendent." Kaori narrowed her eyes.

"You're right Angel-chan, the current her right now was as strong as that." Lumina nodded. She had known about this and smiled thinking her 'child' was growing up from her stubbornness.

"B-But what would Haruto-nii do now? He couldn't stand a chance against his opponent..." Fia was worried.

"....I don't think he'll give up just yet." Rikka sharpened her gaze.

On the huge crater below, a golden light was raising up from the dark hole in the middle.

"Haa.... haa..."

Haruto was panting heavily while holding his injured chest. Blood was trickling from his mouth as the clothes he wore was torn all over the place, revealing half of his bare torso.

"...Looks like it's going to end soon. I can see that even in that current form of yours, you're unable to stand a chance against me."

"...."

Lotus commented from a twenty meters away. She was fully aware of her opponent's capabilities. The clashes just now had proven her level being above him. But she was still very impressed on Haruto, the fact was she's the cornered to use her trump card she never intended to show. Without doubt, he was the most powerful adversaries she ever fought for someone below her age.

Haruto was smiling. It didn't need to be said by the divine elf as the person himself knew how hopeless the situation was as of currently. What she said just now was completely right.

That's why he said it.

"In that case, I have to become a Super Saiyan that went beyond the ascended Super Saiyan."