Chapter 150 – The Sun of the Great Valor
Valor, laughing almost like a kid who had just found a new toy, declared:
— Too late!
Drake stomped the ground with such force that the entire arena shook. The shockwave rushed toward Valor…
But walls shot up from the floor to absorb the impact. They were instantly sliced apart by Drake's slashes.
Valor sighed, exasperated:
— Why are you so stubborn? If I were you, I would've given up long ago.
Drake vanished and reappeared in front of him, fist raised. Valor conjured a barrier as thin as a sheet of paper:
— What a nuisance…
The punch bounced off it, and Valor flicked Drake away with a casual wave of his hand, as if brushing off dust.
Drake soared, stabbed his sword into the air like an anchor, stabilized himself, then vanished again to charge once more at Valor.
This time, gigantic magic circles awaited him.
— Oh no… not those things again! Drake exclaimed.
BOOM!
Explosions of spiritual energy burst forth, forcing him back, his chest smoking.
He growled:
— Attacks that strike the spirit and soul are forbidden!
Valor smiled mischievously, innocent as if accused of stealing a cookie:
— Ah… I forgot. My apologies!
Behind him, the sphere of heat finally condensed into a brilliant orb. Valor announced proudly:
— It's almost done!
Drake vanished again, appeared behind Valor, attempted a strike—
But Valor held him suspended in the air with telekinesis.
— Stop being annoying for five seconds, grumbled Valor.
Drake:
— I don't have much time, and the temperature's rising every nanosecond!
The heat had become so crushing that even the stands, protected by multi-layered dimensional barriers, began to ripple as if under a fusion sun.
Drake shouted:
— I've got no choice! I'll cut everything with my next strike!
Valor raised an eyebrow:
— And you're not thinking about the spectators? You want to slice the arena, the ground, the whole domain too while you're at it?
— If I let you finish your technique, your explosion will be even worse! Drake retorted.
Valor, thoughtful:
— Hmm… true, cutting me now would force me to start over. I don't want that. So… I'll do this.
Drake stepped back, took a deep breath.
— Titan's Strike… Cut-Everything Version!
A colossal slash split space, time, dimensions—everything in its path.
Valor instantly layered dozens of dimensions, walls of energy and mana stacked infinitely.
But Drake's slash tore through them like wet paper.
Valor's eyes widened:
— Damn… he's going to cut me, but he'll also cut the entire arena!
He looked at the camera as if an invisible narrator existed:
— Who gave authorization for this? Huh? Who?!
The attack tore through Valor's repulsion field and finally reached the solar core he was condensing.
Everything stopped—PSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—the light went out like a burnt-out lamp.
Drake exhaled, relieved:
— Good thing I programmed my slash to stop exactly when it touched you.
A smile echoed behind him.
Drake spun around instantly:
Valor was holding another solar sphere in his hand.
It burned at around 15 million degrees, already reddening the space around it.
Valor grinned:
— I made a clone for you. A clone with an aura almost as strong as mine. You didn't notice because your brain was crushed under its presence.
Then I teleported into a dimensional portal, nice and easy.
Drake stood speechless.
— …You cloned yourself, teleported, and made a sun while I was fighting your decoy?!
— Yeah, Valor said with a shrug. Basic.
Valor raised his solar sphere. The heat made the air tremble in a terrifying way.
Then, just to flex, he conjured tiny planets orbiting around it.
— Alright. Say your prayers.
In the stands, Lya nearly choked.
— He… he's adding planets just for decoration?!
Nova:
— It's Valor. We're immune now.
Ryn:
— Not me, I suffer every time.
And Valor, grandiose, arm outstretched:
— Drake… behold the first Artificial Sun of the Great Valor!
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.