Chapter 151 – The Life of a Star (Valor's Version)
The arena was still trembling from the last blow when Valor calmly lifted his artificial star, as if it were just a juggling ball.
Valor (proudly):
— Did you see that, Drake? I'm very strong. And now… a scientific demonstration. Valor's version, of course, so more stylish.
Little by little, he increased the mass and density of his star. The air vibrated, the barriers crackled, and the spectators sweated despite ten dimensional layers of protection.
Lya:
— Does he think he's in an astronomy class or something…
---
Step 1 – The Birth of a Star
Valor snapped his fingers.
A tiny nebula appeared, floating above his palm.
Valor (pedagogical but arrogant):
— Here's the nebula. A cloud of gas. Like Drake when he's thinking.
Drake:
— You're starting again.
The nebula contracted, glowed, and *poof*: a swirling proto‑star formed.
---
Step 2 – The Proto‑Star
Valor spun three little planets around it.
The first began to melt.
The second started trembling.
The third… exploded just because Valor "thought it was funny."
Nova in the stands:
— Honestly, I should never have agreed to be referee for this tournament…
---
Step 3 – Main Sequence
The star became more stable and brighter.
Valor:
— This is the stage where it's calm. Like me, usually.
All the spectators raised an eyebrow.
Valor ignored them.
---
Step 4 – Red Giant
With a gesture, the star swelled until it became gigantic.
All the little planets were swallowed except one, which Valor deliberately pushed to the edge:
Valor:
— Look, Drake, that's you. Always on the brink of disaster.
Drake:
— You exaggerate.
---
Step 5 – End of Life… almost
The star began to tremble.
Lya opened her third eye, then immediately closed it:
Lya:
— Okay no, I'm not crazy enough to copy THAT.
Valor lifted his head, his smile far too wide to be reassuring.
Valor:
— We're reaching the interesting stage… the collapse. Hypernova.
Everyone:
— …
Valor:
— And hypernova means… GRB. Gamma‑Ray Burst.
Drake (turning pale):
— Don't tell me you're going to do that here.
Valor:
— Of course I am. What did you think? I put on all this spectacle for nothing?
Nova:
— Lya… prepare a portal to escape just in case…
Lya: — Already done.
---
Valor's Plan: Calculated Madness
Valor snapped his fingers: a massive portal appeared just above them.
Drake:
— Don't tell me you're going to channel the explosion toward US.
Valor:
— Exactly. Nothing will be directed at the spectators! You should thank me.
Drake:
— You're insane.
Valor spun his mini‑planets around the star just to flex, then tossed them into the portal for fun.
The star grew unstable.
Very unstable.
Valor:
— Here comes… the final stage… HYPERNOVA!
The star collapsed in on itself, creating absurd compression, and Valor focused the entire blast into a single point, a luminous core as bright as a million suns.
Valor (demonic grin):
— PYRO‑EXPLOSION… or if you prefer… GRB, Valor‑style.
Drake:
— YOU'RE TRYING TO KILL US!
Valor:
— No, just carbonize you a little. Nuance.
Then…
BOOOOOOOM.
A condensed ray of light shot through the portal, flooding the entire arena with a controlled flash that was utterly ridiculous in power.
Chapter 152 – The Silence After the Burst
A silence… no, a void fell.
No sound, no breath.
Even Drake, though used to the cosmic catastrophes created by Valor, froze, eyes wide open.
The explosion had just happened.
A gigantic beam of blue‑white light burst from the portal above them, so bright that even the spectators—protected behind forty layers of compacted dimensional barriers—instinctively turned away.
On the arena floor, a crater… but not a normal crater.
A crater so smooth… so smooth that even a mirror would have felt ashamed.
Nova timidly raised his hand:
— Uh… are you sure this is a friendly match? Because it feels more like a documentary called "How to Destroy a Planet in Ten Easy Lessons."
Lya replied:
— It's Valor. That's literally what he's been doing since the start.
Then she added with a smile:
— Too bad I didn't open my third eye… it would've made a nice poster.
Ryn:
— No, it would've just burned your eyebrows off.
---
In the crater, a cloud of smoke slowly dissipated.
And Valor appeared, standing, floating, arms crossed, completely proud of himself as if what he had just done was perfectly reasonable.
His coat floated in the nonexistent wind, purely for style.
The artificial star had vanished, but the burning aura that remained made it feel like the air itself hesitated to approach him.
Valor:
— Well! That's what we call a pedagogical demonstration! You learned something, I hope?
Nova:
— Yes. That you have zero survival instinct.
Valor turned toward Drake, who was…
… still alive.
Covered in smoke, standing, sword planted in the ground, breathing heavily.
Drake, panting:
— Valor… this was supposed to be a fight… NOT A SPACE PHYSICS CLASS!
Valor, smiling:
— Well… someone had to educate you on what a real star is. Do you realize the privilege? Most people only ever see the sun, but you just saw seven different versions in ten minutes!
Drake:
— And I almost died seven times!
Valor, raising a finger:
— Correction: six and a half. The gamma burst was calibrated so you'd survive with… hmm… 1.4% of your HP.
Drake:
— YOU'RE LYING.
Valor:
— Yes.
---
In the stands, Liora in Orvyn mode sighed:
— This guy is a psychopath…
Lya:
— No, an astronomy enthusiast.
Even the barriers began to heat up from Valor's lingering aura.
Some started to crackle as if they were losing patience.
Nova looked at the crater:
— Drake… are you getting up or declaring forfeit?
Drake raised his hand… slowly… then lowered it.
— I'm getting up… but I promise nothing.
He pushed himself to his feet, trembling slightly.
Valor, still in cosmic‑pyromaniac professor mode:
— So, Drake? Shall we continue?
Drake, gripping his sword:
— Yes. Because if I lose now, you'll brag for three centuries.
Valor nodded:
— Acceptable argument.
Then Valor's aura changed.
He no longer burned.
He radiated.
The air around him began to bend, as if his very presence was altering the geometry of space.
Valor declared, with a carnivorous smile:
— Next chapter: the birth of a black hole.
Everyone:
— NO!!
Valor:
— I'm joking!
Pause.
— …maybe.
And Drake, in his head:
Why did I accept this fight again?
Nova:
— Because Valor called you a fraud.
Chapter 153 – The Blow That Decides Everything
Drake said calmly, as if everything that had just happened was nothing more than a warm‑up:
— Well. It's time to end this fight once and for all.
Valor raised an eyebrow.
— Seriously? You think you can finish the fight with the next strike?
Drake answered without hesitation:
— I don't think it. I know it.
His aura began to rise… no, to rise abnormally.
The ground shook. The seats trembled. Even the dimensional barriers bent like plastic under heat.
Valor felt a chill run down his spine.
Then he smiled.
— Looks like you're going all out… I warn you, there's nothing you can do that will surprise me. After all, you've only got one technique, right?
Drake didn't answer.
He was too focused.
And that was already a bad sign.
Valor clenched his fist and tried to compress the space around Drake's torso, to slice his body in two like a cosmic sandwich.
Nothing.
Not even a vibration.
Valor's eyes widened:
— Wait… are you getting serious or just being stupid?
He teleported onto Drake's shoulder and fired an overcharged energy beam, concentrated into a needle‑fine point meant to pierce everything.
Drake's aura… deflected it.
As if it were a mosquito.
Valor burst out laughing.
— OH! The old man is SERIOUS serious this time!
Drake kept charging.
It looked like he was gathering every micron of mana in his body, his soul, his past, his future, his school calendar, everything.
In his head, only one thought spun:
"I must create a new technique… or I lose."
Meanwhile, Valor was living his best life:
He rose into the air and shouted:
— ULTIMATE REPULSIONNN!
A gigantic wave surged.
Multi‑layered dimensional barriers? Destroyed.
Rocks? Disintegrated.
The audience? Protected (thankfully).
Drake? Still standing. He had planted his feet into the ground and his sword to resist.
Valor descended slowly, serious for the first time in thirty chapters.
Then he activated a monstrous gravitational field, stronger than a star.
Everything was pulled toward him.
Everything… except Drake.
Who, exhaling slightly, remained immobile.
Still focused.
Valor, amused, then launched giant tsunamis, waves so massive even the oceans would have resigned.
Drake? Still immobile.
Still focused.
Still thinking.
Valor:
— What are you doing? Meditating? Sleeping? Running a system update?
No answer.
Valor then summoned a titanic tornado, a monster of wind so concentrated it could grind a mountain into play‑dough.
The tornado rushed at Drake…
… and Drake still didn't move.
He remained there.
Calm.
Serious.
Thinking about what technique could FINALLY bring Valor down.
And that worried everyone.
Even Valor.
---
Valor crossed his arms, wearing a fake serious look.
Drake didn't move a millimeter. Not a breath. Not a blink. Nothing.
— Still not deciding to move? Very well… Let's see, murmured Valor.
He sat down calmly in the middle of the arena, as if he were about to do void yoga.
He formed mudras, recited incantations… one, two, three… ten incantations, with utterly disproportionate seriousness.
Nova, in the stands:
— What's he plotting this time…?
The sky suddenly darkened.
Ten meteorites appeared above the arena.
— Drake, said Valor with a smile, if you don't move… I'll flatten you like a cosmic pancake.
He gestured with his hand.
The ten meteorites exploded, shattering into thousands of fragments.
Then Valor clenched his fist:
FWOOOM.
All the fragments compacted, fused, compressed…
To form a mega‑meteorite the size of a small continent.
Valor lowered his hand.
— Good luck.
The meteorite hurtled at absurd speed toward Drake.
Drake raised his sword…
… and with a single cut, silent, invisible, almost philosophical…
The meteorite was sliced into a thousand pieces.
Without anyone even seeing Drake move.
Valor, nervous:
— …The old man is seriously starting to get on my nerves.
He took a dramatic breath, raised his hands to the sky:
— APPEAR, ARTIFICIAL STARS OF COSMIC DOMINATION!
Ten new luminous spheres appeared around him.
Ryn frowned:
— Wait… those aren't normal stars…
Valor replied with a carnivorous smile:
— Correct. They're neutron stars. Now that I've figured out how to make one… I can spam them.
Lya, shocked:
— What do you mean, SPAM them? And his mana never goes down or what??
Valor, proud:
— You see… a gamma ray burst can come from three things:
1 – A concentrated hypernova.
2 – A collision of two neutron stars.
3 – A collision between a neutron star and a black hole, which can annihilate entire galaxies, even a universe.
He raised a finger, theatrically:
— Me? I'm going to trigger five at once.
The spectators:
— NO NO NO NO THAT'S TOO MUCH—
— SOMEONE STOP THIS COSMIC CLOWN—
— WE'RE ALL GOING TO BURN—
Valor clapped once. CLAP.
The ten neutron stars split into pairs…
Then slammed into each other with astronomical violence.
BOOOOOM!
Five collisions. Five mini‑apocalypses.
Five gamma bursts ready to wipe out entire constellations.
Valor concentrated each explosion, compressed the energy flows, made them linear, direct, lethal.
Then he opened a portal right above Drake.
— MEGA PYRO EXPLOSION!
Or if you prefer… Mega Gamma Burst, Valor‑style.
A gigantic gamma ray descended from the portal straight onto Drake.
Drake, seeing it:
— VALOR YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US—
ZZZZHHHHHHHOOOOOOMMMM
The ray devoured everything in its path.
Light engulfed the arena.
The ground shook as if it would explode.
The barriers screamed.
The stands prayed.
Ryn held Lya back so she wouldn't copy it (again).
And above it all…
Valor, arms crossed, smiled as if it were a children's fireworks show.
Chapter 154 – The Old Man Truly Awakens
The entire arena was illuminated by the mega gamma ray burst Valor had just unleashed.
The portal spewed light so intense that even Nova's sunglasses would have melted.
A silence fell.
A silence… far too strange.
Even Valor blinked.
— Uh… where is he?
He burst out laughing:
— Hahaha, I disintegrated him! Where the blast hit, it became pure void. Nothing. I'm sad… I thought at least his torso would remain.
Valor looked at Nova.
— So? Aren't you announcing the winner, Mr. Referee?
Nova opened his mouth to answer…
A sharp clack echoed behind Valor.
An aura appeared. Heavy. Dense.
Valor turned slowly.
Too slowly.
Far, far too slowly.
Drake was there.
Standing. Calm.
His body had reformed, simply because it refused to be annihilated.
His clothes were scorched, but his expression… no, it was worse:
he had the look.
The look of "okay, now I'm actually playing for real."
Valor swallowed hard.
— Ah. The old man is really pissed.
Drake exhaled deeply, as if he had just finished a marathon.
— Valor…
— Yes…?
— You have officially surpassed the scale of energetic stupidity.
Valor narrowed his eyes.
— Thanks… is that a compliment?
— No.
A tremor shook the arena.
Then a second.
Then a third, even stronger.
Ryn panicked:
— Wait… is that his aura or is he having a cosmic stroke?
Nova tilted his head:
— No… it's worse. He's stacking his energy.
It's aura compression. Like Valor does with his stars… but Drake‑style, meaning "I break everything."
Lya pulled out a notebook, fascinated:
— I'm writing this down. Maybe I can copy it later. But if it were me, I'd have assassinated Valor without him noticing.
Ryn grabbed her by the collar:
— YOU DO NOT COPY THAT! Do you want your soul to sizzle or what?!
Arthur sighed:
— Lya, always so disloyal. You don't attack an opponent from behind.
Lya shrugged:
— How is that wrong? I don't see the point of fighting someone stronger than you. That's suicidal.
Nova corrected her:
— Arthur Pendragon is right: show at least some respect for your opponent.
Beatrice added:
— As my darling Arthur said, it's wrong to attack treacherously.
Lya:
— Anyway, nobody's going to tell me what to do.
Ryn sighed:
— Forget it… and don't disrespect your superiors.
— Fine, fine… I won't say anything else.
---
At the center of the arena, Drake raised his sword.
The air grew heavy.
Very heavy.
Even Valor felt his aura vibrate, as if reality itself hesitated to remain.
— Valor, Drake said calmly,
You exploded stars.
Manipulated hypernovas.
Summoned gamma bursts as if they were firecrackers.
Valor nodded proudly:
— Yes, my specialty, my brother.
Drake continued:
— Then I will answer… with a technique even I would have preferred never to use.
Valor raised an eyebrow.
— Oh? Interesting. I'm listening.
Drake lifted his weapon even higher.
His aura now formed an ultra‑dense spiral, a stable cyclone.
— This attack…
Condensed Slash Zero…
It's the first I've invented in a hundred years.
Valor burst out:
— Wait, a hundred years?! You're lying! You're not even a hundred! Did you fry your neurons or what?
Nova commented from the stands:
— He's exaggerating, the old man… he's not even a hundred.
Drake ignored everything.
The ground at his feet cracked — not like a floor breaking — but as if matter politely stepped aside to make room for him.
Even space itself recoiled.
Valor clenched his teeth. His smile vanished.
— Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm not joking anymore.
He activated a maximum repulsion field, the "I want to survive" version.
Nova shouted:
— VALOR! RAISE YOUR BARRIERS!
Valor yelled:
— I'M DOING IT, I'M NOT STUPID!!
Drake lowered his sword.
— Titan's Strike: Absolute Zero.
A white flash devoured everything.
The arena shook, the sky changed color, the dimensions all had a simultaneous stroke.
And Valor…
Valor was hurled to the far end of the field, crashing through twenty layers of energy, before smashing into a wall he himself had created several chapters earlier "just in case."
He bounced.
Fell to the ground.
Coughed.
He stood back up, wiped a bead of sweat.
— Oh…
Oh, the old man…
He was NOT joking…
He raised his head.
Drake stood immobile, sword lowered.
— Valor, he asked calmly,
Do you get back up?
Valor smiled, trembling.
— Of course I get back up…
But now… I'll be honest…
He raised his trembling hand.
— I officially declare… that I just saw my life flash before my eyes.