"I suppose you're about to find out."
As I uttered those words to Legris, I felt a slight tingle within me.
I knew my words lacked proper substance.
"I'm about to find out, huh? Humor me, then!" Legris chuckled.
"You should already know this, but I'm far more powerful than you are."
I did not say a word.
After all, Legris wasn't wrong about that.
'I planned on stopping him by becoming a Grand Constellation, but I didn't account for this.' I thought while looking at him.
The current Legris had far exceeded my expectations in every aspect.
"You can't stop me, Jared. None of you can."
A small smile formed on my face as he said this.
This was where he was wrong.
"You're smiling. You must be pretty confident. I'm pretty excited to see what you can do now."
Legris was confident, but he wasn't stupid. I knew for sure that even though he was being pretty arrogant in his speech, he was exercising caution.
I wasn't going to catch him off guard by using petty tricks, or hoping to get the upper hand through underhanded means.
Legris had tricked and fooled me multiple times in the past.
There was nothing stopping that from happening again.
However…
"I'll try."
… I no longer had any room for hesitation within me.
"You'll need to do more than tha—!"
Before Legris could complete his statement, I whispered words from my lips.
"Grand Constellation Form."
~WHUUUUUUUUSSSSHHHHHH!!!~
An instant explosion, one of multiple colors and overwhelming intensity, rushed from me.
The powers of the Aether Tree connected to me in that moment, and my entire form changed. n)/-()(-)----I-/n
My entire apparel was now coated in stars and galaxies, with a crown of immense glory seated atop my head.
At the center of the crown was an orb, and it gleamed with seemingly infinite depths.
My eyes mirrored the Aether Tree, and my skin reflected nothing short of the celestial beauties.
In this form, I was currently standing at the epitome of the Constellations.
There existed none greater within the Aether Tree than I.
"That's a pretty neat transformation." Legris admitted with a wide grin.
In contrast to my magnificent form, his entire form was shrouded in a murky dark color that lacked description.
His long coat and shabby hair was the antithesis of glamor, yet he seemed to revel in it.
I could see the reason why.
'He's strong.'
I wasn't surprised that he had managed to defeat all the Constellations and every single one of my friends.
Even with all the abilities of the Constellations, defeating him didn't seem like a straightforward answer.
But…
"Are you nervous? Already doubting your abilit—?"
"Nah, I'd win." I responded with a smile.
I had no choice but to win.
~WHOOOOOOSSSSHHHHHH!!!~
The moment I closed the distance between me and Legris, he widened the distance.
As a result, it seemed like we didn't move an inch when we had nearly traversed countless distances that seemed to drag on forever.
'I see he learned a new trick from Kuzon.'
I was able to see Kuzon's Primeval Magic, and it was impressive by all degrees.
He had managed to exceed my expectations with such a complex and flawless Spell.
However, truly Boundless entities wouldn't be held back by such a Spell—especially when they ruled the domain being controlled.
As such, it was foolish to try to manipulate a reality that was under the purview of a Grand Constellation like me.
~WHOOOOSSSSSHHH!!!~
As if time itself reversed, Legris returned to his position, which I now occupied, and I clenched my fist for the first blow.
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!~
I sent my fist flying towards him, coated in several fragments of multifarious lights.
"Hahaha! Seriously? Resorting to your fist?!" Legris laughed as he generated a dark curtain between me and him.
It served as a shield that protected him while also serving as a means of destroying me should I come into contact with it.
However, despite seeing the barrier, I didn't care for it and kept my up charge.
"You fool! You'll—!"
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!~
The moment my fist was about to hit the dark curtain, I controlled the laws of space-time and bent reality to my will.
My hand suddenly wasn't there any longer.
It was implanted at the very center of Legris' face, landing right on the bridge of his nose.
"Guark!" I heard him yell out as his face recoiled backwards.
"Not yet…"
My second hand held his face from behind and pushed it forward where my fist was fast approaching with a second strike.
~POW!~
And another.
~WHAM!~
Yet another one.
~BOOOOOOM!~
Legris suffered multiple hits from me within the fragment of a moment, and while this was ongoing, I noticed a few things.
'I see. The damage amounts to nothing since the quality of Aether is insufficient to damage his current state.'
I was but a stifling wind trying to tear down a monolith.
It was never going to happen.
… Or was it?
'Spellcraft…'
All the energy that I had drawn from the world around me gathered in a single finger—my index—and I thrust it faster than any other blow Inhad delivered thus far.
"H-hold o—!"
Before Legris could fully comprehend what I had just done, my finger pierced his left eye and drilled itself through it.
"G-guarhh!!!"
Legris swiftly vanished from his position using the darkness to lash around, forcing me to retreat as well.
As our distance widened slightly, I stared at my sizzling finger and smiled.
Dark oozes of blood were stuck on it, but they soon dissipated thanks to my excess energy burning through every last drop.
I turned to see Legris, who was now clutching his eye and glaring at me.
"You actually… damaged me?"
I didn't require his energy to do so, and while the area of damage was minimal, the pain Legris suffered as a result was very real.
"Of course." I responded, raising my index finger to my lip and blowing off the smoke on it.
It felt a little overly dramatic, but I indulged in it.
Legris glared at this action of mine, and suddenly it seemed like our roles were reversed.
I took a step forward, my gaze resting entirely on him.
'I currently have all the powers of the Constellations with none of their limitations…'
As I pressed further, my smile widened.
'That ought to count for something.'
*
*
*
