Reborn as an Extra

Chapter 417: My dream was to... Part-1.

Ten hours after the battle started at Floor 100.

Ashtel and Neo kept fighting continuously for several hours without rest, all along Ashtel. 'I guess he hasn't noticed it after all...'

For a while, Ashtel had been scattering broken shards of his shield made out of world's blessing with a bit of his own mana inside them; Neo didn't notice them at all.

The two of them kept throwing immensely powerful attacks at each other for several hours straight, and Floors 100 to 90 were all destroyed by the two of them in the battle.

"Will you stop flailing around like an idiot already! This is why I have always hated you, Ashtel Rex!"

"You always get in my way; no matter what I do, I just can't get rid of you! You are seriously very annoying and a very big obstacle in my way!"

[Divinity: Broken Mana Currents!]

Neo waved his arm, and the mana in the surroundings became chaotic; this caused the mana in the area to be difficult to use!

"That shield of yours! It's working by using mana in the void! Do you think I won't notice it after so long!? I am literally in contact with the law of mana right now!!"

"I can see the 'flow' of mana itself! I can even see your mana's movements too! Your mana will never reach me! You are completely powerless and a piece of garbage in front of me, Ashtel Rex!"

Hearing the insults from Neo, a smirk appeared on Ashtel's face.

'Well, I guess you know that much about me at least...'

Learning one technique about the world was enough for Ashtel to figure out more of them on his own.

He used the 'Fool Art' of his 'Cosmic Law Martial Art' to achieve a state of near-perfect compatibility with the world.

In his current state, Ashtel has already earned himself more than half the qualifications to be considered a 'Chosen of the World'.

But that is his limit; he can only reach half compatibility with the powers of the world.

Still, this much is enough; he earned it with his own hard work after all.

[Cosmic Law: Fool's Dream: World's Assistance!]

The chaotic mana created by Neo immediately solidified, as if the world itself had ordered the mana to lose the chaotic state and become calm.

From the perspective of an ordinary person, controlling the world's power to this degree would have been the work of a 'God' itself.

The empty void seemed to have brightened up with the glowing mana and various elements.

Looking at the mana and all the elements assisting him, Ashtel couldn't help but smile to himself.

'I am useless?... sigh, I guess you aren't wrong either; after all, I am always chasing a dream that's too much for me...'

[Divinity: Cosmic Stretch: Mana Rampage!]

A single nanosecond of delay is fatal in combat between demi-gods; in the instant when Ashtel tried to use the world's blessing for the second time, his previous blessing weakened for a mere nanosecond.

In ordinary battles, that small timeframe wouldn't have mattered much, but Neo, who's insanely sensitive to the changes in the mana 'Flow' right now, easily sensed the weakened state.

He raised his palm towards Ashtel and fired a gigantic beam of mana; the beam of mana was so huge and so fast that it surpassed the speed of light itself.

The power in that mana beam was enough to destroy a star and reduce it to space debris.

It was a fatal mistake.

*BOOOM*

The mana beam hit the shield of blessing around Ashtel's, and the shield was shattered in an instant as if it were made of paper!

It couldn't resist such a powerful attack in that weakened state!

"AHAHAHAHA! SEE!! This is what you get for not obeying my commands!!"

The mana beam blasted off the entire arm off of Ashtel's body, and his entire left side of the body was burned to the point that it seemed like it had turned into charcoal!

The shield of blessing immediately covered him again to protect him, but it was too late. In a battle between peak powerhouses, a single attack can decide victory and defeat.

In most scenarios, the person who makes a mistake first tends to lose, and in this particular scenario, Ashtel's inability to control the 'world's blessing' was the reason for his defeat.

He had only recently learned 'world's blessing' and controlling one of them at a time was already a great problem.

Even using one of them puts an immense mental burden on him; the moment Ashtel used a second one, the mental burden that appeared on him was so immense that he nearly lost

control for a second.

That's why he got hit.

His body flew away like a cannonball and hit hundreds of pieces of broken space debris before finally stopping and falling on a gigantic broken part of an entire planet.

"Cough! Urk...Cough!"

Looking at the distant figure of Neo standing with immense mana blessing him from everywhere, Ashtel's eyes became a bit moist.

'Ah... I feel it again... the taste of defeat, how long has it been? Years? Decades?...'

'It's been so long that I had nearly forgotten this sensation... this sensation of being in a near- death state, the feeling of internal organs broken to bits... difficulty in breathing and blurry

eyes...'

'Been so long since I had the taste of such a thorough defeat...'

*BOOM*

Neo flew over towards Ashtel and glance at him with a look of disgust from high above.

"Strongest in the world? Unbeatable? You see it now, Ashtel!? I worked myself to the bone to achieve today's results!"

"While you were busy playing house and protecting those worthless vermins everywhere, I was working hard on my plan to finally deal with you!!"

"And see!! I have succeeded!! JUST ONE ATTACK, ALL I NEEDED TO DEFEAT THE STRONGEST

OF THE WORLD WAS JUST ONE ATTACK!!!"

"I am now beyond everyone from this world; I am beyond the realm of you pathetic creatures!! I am on the 'Path' to become a 'True God' now!!"

"The laws of this world will bow in front of me; the power of fate and destiny will be mine to

control; everything in this world will belong to me and me alone!!"

"Only when everything in the world is mine can I be free!! I will finally be FREE!!"

"And a pathetic useless person like you will be nothing in front of me!!!"

Ignoring all the nonsense spouted by Neo, Ashtel slowly sat up. He leaned his back against a

boulder nearby and glanced at Neo with a smile on his face.

Despite such a fatal injury, he wasn't bothered by the pain or anything else; in that near-death state, what Ashtel saw was much more precious than any other treasure in the world.

'Ah, it's all coming back... all the memories that I had forgotten long ago... those days of

dreaming and happiness...'

...

(A Forgotten Memory)

Military fortress Shaya.

Night, rooftop.

"Oi, Neo! I was looking for you all over the place; where were you the whole day? After we got posted to this new place and became fully fledged awakeners, you have been avoiding me a lot

lately!"

He glanced at young Neo, who was standing on the rooftop and watching the night sky, and asked with concern.

"Idiot, why would I ignore you? It's just that I am shocked that someone as useless as you awakened the talent potential to be a 'demi-god'..."

"I just can't believe it's true... you? A demi-god? Such a lame joke, it's not even funny..." The young Ashtel gritted his teeth at those words and denied them with his whole might.

"What are you saying! I am going to become strong! I will always stand shoulder to shoulder with you! We both can now become as strong as Nicolas, and we can go on great adventures!!" Hearing Ashtel's words, Neo became angry for some reason and immediately shouted back at Ashtel in a loud voice.

"Idiot! You can become my equal!? Your useless piece of garbage! You are completely

useless!!"

"You lose your wits the moment you see a monster! You charge head-on into battles like an idiot and don't even follow proper plans!!"

"Do you really think an idiot like you, a weirdo like you, can become strong enough to beat

me!?"

That day, Ashtel and Neo had a big fight; the two of them beat up each other with fists and kicks to the point that they both lost consciousness.

This was the first time Ashtel fought for his 'Dream'.

Before that, he was just a random fool with a little bit more talent than others, but the

moment he finally learned to fight for his dreams was the moment when he finally started to

walk on the 'Path' to become the strongest.

No matter how strong or weak an awakener is, an 'Awakener' without a 'dream', an

'Ambition', and a 'Path' is nothing but an empty shell.

Without these few important things, no matter how talented and how hardworking a person

might be, it's all just a waste.

Neo's dream and ambition was to achieve complete freedom.

Although he was an arrogant and bad-tempered guy, he was always very earnest when it came

to achieving his dreams. Ashtel and Neo were basically the two sides of the same coin from the very start.

Ashtel worked to protect the peaceful lives of the people he swore to protect; he created a

peaceful utopia for his country and his nation.

His very existence brought a sense of protection and comfort to the innocent and brought absolute dread to those who were tainted with 'Sin'.

Neo, on the other hand, had a completely opposite mentality from the start; he never cared about anyone else, and his opinions were completely opposite of Ashtel's.

He wanted happiness and peace for only himself and himself alone.

He wanted freedom and wanted to break away from the ties of the world that were shackles

for him.

He never cared about how many lives he destroyed and how many people's freedoms he took away when pursuing his own freedom.

There were no heroes or villains at all; it was all but a difference in 'ideologies' and 'beliefs'.