Lancelot stood at the center of the battlefield. His breathing was controlled, but no longer effortless. Each breath carried weight now, drawn through lungs strained by repeated exertion. His amor hung in tatters, edges singed black, thin lines of blood traced down one forearm, they were shallow wounds irritating.
This opponent was different.
Across from him, Aisha remained upright through sheer will.
Her uniform had almost tore finished, one shoulder sagged slightly lower than the other the joint beneath no longer aligning perfectly, she tried using fire skin but the situation got worse instead her skin was burned ashes droped from her skin continusly and her aura was fading slowly.
She inhaled and exhaled the fire spirit core within was compressing inward, as though the air itself were being folded tighter and tighter around a single point. Ash on the ground lifted and got blown away.
Lancelot felt it immediately. He look paled and was wondering what skill is she going to use.
He did not move.
Not because he was careful but because he understood what is coming.
Aisha's hand pressed into the broken ground.
Her fingers trembled.
Fire essence surged through the channels that connects her spirit core with her body, It burned its way forward, tearing through pathways that had already been overused. Pain flared across her expression, sharp and immediate, but she did not falter.
The ground beneath her palm glowed.
Crimson lines etched outward in a massive circular formation. Sound itself warped as pressure crushed inward, collapsing into a single, roaring note that drowned out the crackle of fire and the groan of stone.
Lancelot felt a high pressure then activate Affinity to increase his defence and reduce the pressure.
The pressure came down towards him like a physical weight, forcing his boots deeper into the ground.
Aisha's breathing broke rhythm.
Her knees bent.
Blood ran freely now, trailing down her chin and dripping into the glowing circle beneath her hand, where it evaporated instantly and ignited.
Flames condensing into a towering pillar of incandescent heat that tore into the sky. Clouds above twisted violently, pulled into a spiraling vortex as the summoning took hold.
Then a roar.
Fire surged in a blinding expansion, forcing Lancelot to brace fully, boots skidding back as the shockwave flattened everything in its path.
Stone liquefied. Metal warped. And from within the inferno it emerged.
A dragon appeared. It's aura was overwhelming, body was composed of living flame and condensed heat, scales forming and dissolving in constant motion, wings unfurled, each beat distorting the air violently enough to fracture what remained of the surrounding structures the dragon eyes where filled with rage, devoid of emotion, bound entirely to the will that had summoned it.
Aisha fell to one knee the next second her hand left the ground and she collapsed.
The dragon moved.
It surged forward, flame spilling from its maw in uncontrolled torrents. The battlefield turned waves of fire, heat pressure smashing downward like a hammer from the sky.
Lancelot vanished. He turned invincible just as the flames crashed through his last position. The dragon roared again, sweeping its head wildly, incinerating everything in reach.
It could not see him.
Confusion rippled through its massive form then start to lash out blindly, scorching the land indiscriminately.
Lancelot moved through the inferno unseen he felt the damage in his spirit core, the fine cracks spreading wider each time he forced essence through them. Electricity no longer be used, if used invisibility one more time the core will collapsed, he could no longer fly, the enemy has an impenetrable defence and high offence.
A single clone separated from him. The clone revealed itself deliberately, stepping into the dragon's awareness without concealment. Flame converged instantly, the dragon's focus snapping toward the visible threat.
Fire descended.
The clone met it head-on.
It did not attack.
It endured.
Flames wrapped around its form, consuming space and air alike. The clone's outline distorted, flickering violently as invincibility and resistance clashed against raw destructive force.
It held.
Barely.
Seconds stretched.
Lancelot moved.
He slipped past the dragon's flank, passing through waves of heat that would have reduced any other being to ash invincibility faded the moment he reappeared beside Aisha.
The clone shattered behind him as the dragon's flames finally overwhelmed it, dispersing into light and ash. The dragon roared.
Lancelot activated the artificial storage.
Aisha's body was drawed into the artificial storage as her body was shrinking into the ring on Lancelot hand she became smaller until she completely vanished.
Hundreds of clones erupted outward from his position, scattering across the battlefield in perfect coordination. Some took to the air using residual momentum. Others charged the dragon directly, drawing its attention.
Lancelot activate another ring.
Teleportation ring activate.
Light swallowed Lancelot whole as the light fade out he's vision was changed he was no longer in the mountains of Stonecliff.
Pride Estate.
The sky was bright, wind blew there was silent in the room Lancelot appeared close to his window as he stared before he sat on the ground not waiting for his spirit cores to recover. Carefully, he removed the ground core from his body and replaced it with the heat pressure core he had extracted from Aisha.
He then delved into the deepest part of his mind, observing all of his cores.
His spirit cores were clearly visible. The first domain was his electricity core which is a twin core only twins poccess, cracked but slowly recovering. The middle domain was his invincibility core, with a slight fracture. The third domain was his clone core, untouched and perfect.
He shifted his consciousness to his magic core. Its energy was being suppressed by the heat pressure core and the multiple layered deception core. Then he focused on his heart, where his human core resided.
The human core was unlike any othe core. Its sole purpose was to suppress spirit cores, create space for them, and refine them. It managed all the cores in the body. Once Lancelot human essence finished, he would die.
Using his human essence, Lancelot refined the heat pressure core and multiple layered deception core, then sent them to integrate with his spirit cores. Now, five cores existed within Lancelot's spirit core. The structure has evolved to an orange sliced into five segments distinct yet connected at the center.
Lancelot opened his eyes and smiled. "What a fortune… why isn't every day like this?"
He raised his hand. Magic essence flowed into the ring on his wrist, and the artificial storage opened. The corpses of the Nigerian soldiers rolled out, lifeless.
"Every core user's body is precious," Lancelot muttered. "I told you all anyone who dares steal from a lion's den will be devoured."
He infused one hand with human essence, the other with magic essence, shaped like a knife. Using the blade formed from magic essence, he stabbed his own stomach, blood pouring freely. Without hesitation, he slashed across Aisha's chest, then used the hand infused with human essence to grasp her heart.
The human essence flowed from her heart into the wound on his stomach, then surged from his body to his own heart, and finally into his human core.
Once he absorbed all of Aisha's human essence, he repeated the process with the corpses of Yoma and Mausa.
Instantly, he felt vitality surge through him. His wounds healed, strength returning, all the cracks in his spirit cores have been healed.
Lancelot spirit core has evolved into a tree with five branches, each branch bearing a fruit. Each fruit represented a core. The cores no longer shared borders but remained connected by the tree's structure, a perfect network of energy and will.
In his Spirit core, which have evolved to Tree core started sprouting leaves, flourishing with vitality, all of his core has evolved. Electricity core no longer sparks endlessly with yellow lightning and pure lighting, violent and alive it no longer has electricity and thunder anymore it has evolved to Light core and it is filled with light energy. While Clone core evolved to self sharing core it is no filled with many mini Lancelot inside there's a Lancelot meditating and lastly invisibility core which was empty, clear, colorless, like glass filled with still air, It held no visible attribute empty like a glass filled with air has evolved to spirit core a invincible Lancelot that reveals itself evey second and turns invincible the next second. Lancelot new cores also evolved heat pressure core evolved to Dragon's breath core, multiple layered deception core evolved to lies core. Lancelot wasn't able to use ground core so he stored it in his artificial storage ring.
Lancelot's eyes gleamed with pride and power, his aura steady and indomitable.
It had been an hour since Lancelot arrived at Pride Estate.
Sitting by the window, he let his gaze drift across the sprawling grounds, but his mind was far from idle.
How long has it been since I've felt this much power? he thought. Ever since reincarnation, he had accomplished more than in his previous life. The memories of that life were fragmented, but they never faded.
He could still recall stabbing Urue Everhour in the head. When he was just five years old, that moment kept replaying in his mind over and over, growing sharper as he aged he started to remember everything.
He remembered… he was Lancelot VIII of Britannia. The man who had slain the immortal tyrant who seized Utopia. The rightful heir to the throne of Britannia. Yet now, in this life, he was merely a noble.
But a noble with the potential to become king.
That thought alone made him grind his teeth. That foolish girl Emilia had allowed herself to be captured. Still, something gnawed at him. Why have i been reincarnated? Did it have something to do with Urue Everhour? No one could answer that.
At the Battle of Edinburgh, he had glimpsed the SS-rank demon, Senryanku. Perhaps the creature knew something about his rebirth—but it was better if it didn't. If Senryanku learned his true identity, Lancelot would not survive an hour.
The past weighed heavily on him, memories sharp and unrelenting. Yet he knew he could not linger there.
It is time to let go of the past, he reminded himself. Focus on this life. The past is useful, yes, but I cannot live in it. I must use my experiences to succeed here, now.
He took a deep breath and shifted his gaze to the window.
"You there!" he shouted.
A man wearing brown amor raising his head to look at where the voice is coming from as soon as his gaze land on Lancelot.
"Go," Lancelot ordered, his voice sharp, commanding. "Inform my knights. Tell them to meet me at Riverview before eight o'clock.
The guard nodded quickly and dashed off, from Lancelot sight.
Lancelot watched him go, the wind rustling through the curtains.