The drake could sense he was doing something and clearly recognized the threat G. Jun posed.

  Something he’d been hoping distance and arrogance would prevent, much like it had with the Undying Lich. In retrospect, he supposed he’d been the arrogant one, to think such a convergence of fortuitous events would happen twice. No, instead he’d barely managed fifteen seconds of the several minute long charge time and already the Monarch was onto him.

  Not good.

  One of the major downsides of this ability was the fact that he was literally incapable of shifting trajectories once he’d locked onto a target. Meaning that all the Black-Scaled Drake would need to do to negate his attack entirely, was shift a scant few meters to the right.

  Worse yet, after he’d failed to land anything, he would effectively be spent. Drained of all his willpower, he’d be completely open to a counterattack.

  Foolish! Careless!

  He’d initially thought to capitalize on the mythos surrounding dragons and their ilk. Dragon's pride. Elite of the elite. True apex predators. In that context, the thought that even the descendants of dragons would in any way be threatened by someone like him should’ve been ridiculous.

  A belief that would’ve worked entirely to his benefit.

  But of course, myths, fairy tales, and bedtimes stories were not a sound foundation one should willingly risk their life upon. Unless…?

  On second glance, the Monarch hadn’t actually deigned to move out of the way just yet. In fact, it merely continued to sit there, unbothered. As if studying him with… was that… could it be…?

  An arrogant glint in its eyes?

  Jun tempered his expectations, not wanting to get his hopes up, but as the minutes ticked by, and still the beast refused to move, he actually began to believe he’d been right on the money. And then, his mantra reached its maximum charge. Jun released the pent-up aura before the Monarch could change its mind.

  Once again, just as the massive beam ripped forth, Jun immediately slipped into unconsciousness. In this way he never bore witness to the snort of derision that escaped the drake’s nostrils in an acrid cloud.

  Nor the horrifying reveal as it opened its jaw wide—a shimmering ball of liquid plasma lighting up the back of its throat.

  He wasn’t subject to the release of its Ruler’s Domain, immediately weakening all invasive energies whilst empowering its own abilities severalfold. The expanding wave of its superior will and intent crippling the souls of every astral being in its near vicinity.

  Completely oblivious to the effects of its Dragon’s Breath, as the few rift spawn that’d survived its domain were instantly fried to a crisp—the pillar of plasma, so-called Dragon’s Breath, which surged from between its jaws, making the very air scream in the wake of its passage.

  Utterly blind, as the two howling beams streaked forward, crossing the half kilometer in the blink of an eye, only to converge halfway. Straining, pressing, writhing against the other in a desperate struggle.

  Their convergence a calamity.

  An unnatural disaster. Scarring the land with consecutive waves of heat, force, and buckling reality. The very fabric of the astral realm they inhabited visibly shuddering under the combined weight of their attacks.

  Space rippled, lightning arced, stone began to shift, and bubble, and glow. And at the center of it all, two indomitable forces collided. One fueled by the instinct, and will, and pride of a draconic spirit claiming the greatest of all heritages, and the other…? By the universal concept of doggedness itself. What it means to punch through.

  To advance.

  The Black-Scaled Drake wasn’t even given a moment to look surprised, before its Dragon’s Breath was overwhelmed, and its body consumed, by a pillar of piercing emerald green. Or, before half of it was, at any rate. Instinct overtaking pride at the very last moment.

  In the end, the distinction made very little difference.

  Jun threw himself to the side as the massive war hammer came crashing down where he’d just been standing.

  There was a WHOOMPH, a sudden blast of arctic winds. And then he was sent flying across the flat tundra, skipping over ice and snow for several hundred yards. The deafening CRACK that immediately followed enough to rattle his bones down to their very marrow, even from several kilometers away. As, in the far far distance, a single snow-capped mountain abruptly shuddered, slanted, then visibly split.

  A jagged line carving it straight down the middle. The right-side first shifting, sloughing, then cascading down entirely, in a roaring avalanche of seismic proportions. The winding fissure that extended from the giant's hammer tracing a snaking line from one end of the frigid expanse to the other.

  A crater, turned fissure, turned mile wide ravine. A simple swing of it’s hammer enough to shear a literal mountain in two.

  And just like that, the frozen landscape was forever changed… for what had to have been the thirtieth time in twice as many seconds.

  [Crusher of Ice & Bone (Monarch Class | S Grade Rift Spawn)]

  Abilities:

  Titan’s Stature, Titan’s Strength, Titan’s Speed, Shimmer Step, Unbreakable Bones, Toughened Hide, War-Hammer Mastery, Hand to Hand Mastery, Improvised Weapon Mastery, Ice Manipulation, Glacial Aura, Intimidating Roar, Descending Avalanche, Field of Ice & Bone.

  Weaknesses:

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  ???

  Skidding to a halt, Y. Jun lashed out with a splitting chop, his attack closing the considerable distance between them in a flash. Streaking forth with great promise, he actually dared to hope. Only for his elastic projection, the yellow extension of his will, to then be casually batted aside with a single swing of the Monarch’s war-hammer. As one might swat away a bothersome fly.

  The giant, this Crusher of Ice & Bone, stood at ten and a half feet tall, with muscle enough to fill out its enormous frame and then some—harboring a penchant for destruction and wholesale violence that put even Crushing to shame.

  It was bare chested, covered in arcane scarification, with only a plain loincloth to protect its modesty.

  Ropy coils of white hair draped down to its lower back, while a bushy mess of unkempt beard fell nearly to its navel. Its skin was tinted the blue of severe frostbite while its eyes resembled pitch-black orbs, sky blue irises gleaming menacingly from orbs of pure darkness.

  With its titan’s strength and propensity for crushing, at first glance, it was not a matchup that seemed altogether favorable for Cleaving. The Monarch’s superior martial abilities, coupled with its surprising levels of agility, making it quite possibly the worst kind of opponent for him to face.

  All valid points one would be in their right to criticize. To ridicule Y. Jun for his stubborn insistence that he be the one to confront this particular foe. And you would be right to think all of these things, were it not for one very important fact.

  “WHY RUN PUNY MAN?!” the giant boomed. “COME! TEST YOUR FACE AGAINST THE FLAT OF MY HAMMER! HAVE THE STONES TO DIE A WARRIOR’S DEATH, IF YOU CANNOT WALK THE PATH OF A TRUE CHAMPION!”

  That this giant had proven itself a worthy and honorable combatant. One he might even go so far as to call a rival.

  Jun castigated himself, the giant’s words cutting him deep.

  It was true that all he’d done since touching down upon this cold and desolate place, was run. Evading every heartfelt challenge, every fervent call to action. Choosing cowardice, again and again and again, instead of facing the other man head on, as his every fiber screamed for him to do.

  Self preservation making a mockery of his self-proclaimed creed. His internal ideals. As if avoiding something so fleeting as death was worth the trampling of his honor.

  Well, not anymore.

  A churning discontentment roiled in his chest. Discontent with the situation. Discontent with his actions. It ate at him. Ate away at him. Gnawing on his fighting spirit from the inside out.

  No longer.

  With a sudden, overwhelming conviction he decided he would meet the next attack aimed his way head on. It, and all those that came after, until all sensation had left his body. That he would rather die, here and now, than take even another step down that irredeemable path. To evade now was to spit upon his potential rival’s many ardent convictions.

  Something he would not allow himself to do.

  “Come then! Let us engage in a rousing contest to prove the true worth of our convictions! Pray show me how deeply your well of spirit runs, and I promise you, I will do the same!”

  And though he couldn’t see it, he could practically feel the giant's anticipatory grin. Suddenly, an explosion of glacial cold erupted from its far-off form, like a glittering shroud of swirling ice shards, slowing everything in its near vicinity by half.

  Then, with a bellow that shook the earth, rattled his bones, and made as if to subjugate his very will, the S Grade Monarch’s form shimmered, taking on an illusive quality.

  Now, with shimmering steps that appeared to seamlessly cross vast distances, the giant advanced. Half a dozen ice golems nearly twice its size already clawing their way from the frozen tundra, to join in on the valiant charge—an array of ice weapons held aloft and ready to strike.

  Jun merely braced himself for impact. Ready and willing to sacrifice his very life if it meant he had even the iotaof a chance to-!

  *Ding!*

  Congratulations!

  You have formed a Triple Aspected Mantra.

  Mantra: [Body’s Temple | Limiter Removal] (3rd Tier)

  ERROR: ASPECTS NOT FOUND; MANTRA UNALIGNED. STABILITY HAS BEEN LOST.

  Grade: (Trash Quality)

  Note: Due to the advent of your Ascendant Level Boon, this Mantra’s default grade has been raised.

  [Body’s Temple | Limiter Removal] (Poor Quality) +2 resonance.

  *Ding!*

  Congratulations!

  You have formed a Triple Aspected Mantra.

  Mantra: [Heartfelt Arsenal] (3rd Tier)

  ERROR: ASPECTS NOT FOUND; MANTRA UNALIGNED. STABILITY HAS BEEN LOST.

  Grade: (Trash Quality)

  Note: Due to the advent of your Ascendant Level Boon, this Mantra’s default grade has been raised.

  [Heartfelt Arsenal] (Poor Quality) +2 resonance.

  Then, before he could even blink, the descriptions for both seemed to open all on their own.

  Mantra: [Body’s Temple | Limiter Removal]

  Description: Who even needs limits?! If you’re just going to throw yourself blithely into the jaws of death anyway, might as well do so with style, am I right? Like all of my “body’s temple” mantras, this is an extension on the “condense,” boon plus “body saturation” idea, taken to its furthest extreme. Instead of growing axe blades from my hands, however, it ended up tapping into the more metaphysical concepts of fortitude, belief, and the surpassing of one’s limits. Don’t ask me how. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around it for months, and still this whole damn system makes absolutely no sense. As idiotic as it sounds, the more you believe in yourself, despite all sane evidence to the contrary, the stronger you’ll become. Not that our body is really equipped to handle the kind of strain that will inevitably put us through, but I digress.

  Can’t make an omelette and all that. Just try not to lose hope. Doubt yourself for even a moment and the cleaving energies will literally split you in two.

  Limited Time Uses: NOT APPLICABLE

  Charge Time: Instantaneous

  Ability Duration: 30 minutes

  Ability Cooldown: 72 hours

  Etheric Concession: Conviction Unwavering

  Mantra: [Heartfelt Arsenal]

  Description: Second verse, same as the first, only with conjured weapons this time. Believe in yourself hard enough and anything is possible. I’d always thought the concept to be so much bull, but apparently the universe has other ideas. It doesn’t really grant you a weapon, so much as the possibility of one. The deeper your need, the more likely your next swing will conjure up the facsimile of some ultimate, legendary, and awfully convenientchopper. Axe, broadsword, butcher’s knife or the like. So long as it falls within the “cleaving” archetype, you’re golden. Only lasts for one swing though, and I’ve never seen the same weapon appear twice. I’ll be honest, I could never really get this one to work for me, but I figured you’d have an easier go of it.

  Limited Time Uses: 3

  Charge Time: Instantaneous

  Ability Duration: 15 minutes

  Ability Cooldown: 24 hours

  Etheric Concession: Conviction Unwavering

  No doubt to the great annoyance of their creator, Y. Jun barely gave them a glance, before he was blinking the long-winded descriptions away.

  That wasn’t to say he would not cherish such a gracious boon of course.

  Merely that he’d intuited the gist of each the very moment they’d been assimilated into his being. And he was gratified to note they did not, as it so happened, disappoint. Jun took in a deep steady breath, felt his face light up in a broad smile, before his body erupted with golden light, and his hair stood up on end.