Ascension of the last Celestial

After finishing the talk with Aurelia, Valerian decided to go back outside. He had only promised that he wouldn’t use mana when he was playing with the others, so he decided to go into the big backyard of the orphanage and practice his mana control alone. He knew that he was way better than any of the other children, and not just the ones that were his age. Even the older ones that had already awakened their mana core were barely able to keep up.

’I guess some are just born better, hehe,’ Valerian thought proudly.

After a few minutes of walking, he reached the big yard of the building. Knowing that the children would want something to practice their mana control, and the older ones their affinities, Aurelia had created target dummies made out of earth magic and had even inscribed runes on the dummies that rebuilt them when destroyed. That just showed again how powerful Aurelia truly was, and left some of the children wondering what she was doing so far out in the kingdom.

Standing by the earthen target dummies was a group of older kids, around the age of 12 to 16 years old. All of them had already awakened their mana core and could wield an affinity; some of them even had a second one.

’Haa... not them again...’ Remembering how they had reacted the last time he wanted to use the dummies, Valerian couldn’t help but sigh.

A few weeks ago, he had gotten bored of just using his mana control for small things. He wanted to test his ability to form things like bullets or swords, but they decided that it was hilarious that a 5-year-old wanted to learn anything beyond light mana enhancement. So, they made fun of him. While Valerian was just 5 years old, he was pretty prideful because everyone praised him for his abilities with mana, so it hurt this inflated pride of his when they didn’t take him seriously.

’Not today. I will show them what this "baby" can do with just pure mana!’

Once he was only a few meters away, the teens noticed the white-haired boy coming closer.

"Oh look, it’s him again."

"Will he run away again to Headmistress Aurelia?"

"Of course he will, hahaha. He almost cried last time!"

’I didn’t cry!’ Valerian screamed internally, but didn’t show any of the anger he felt on his face.

"If I’m so pathetic, then you surely wouldn’t mind fighting with me!"

’I know I promised not to use mana when playing with the others, but it should be fine because they are older, right? If anything, they shouldn’t use mana when "playing" with me!’

Taken back by his bold statement, they didn’t know how to reply for a few seconds. But soon, their faces burned red with anger.

"I will show you how weak you are!"

"No! I will beat him up! You stay back!"

"Who says that you can just tell me what to do?!"

Two boys of the group of teens soon began to engage in a heated debate, fueled by their hormones acting up and not wanting to seem afraid in front of the girls of the group.

"Stop fighting, you idiots!"

A clear voice rang in the yard. Knowing who the voice belonged to, the boys reluctantly stopped their idiotic debate about who could beat the 5-year-old boy the easiest. Walking up to the group was a young boy around 15 years old. He had black hair that almost reached his shoulders and black eyes. His face was somewhat handsome, paired with his tall build of 170 cm, and he was considered to be the leader of the friend group. His name was Tristan.

"If he wants to fight someone, I gladly present myself."

Seeing Tristan accept the provocation to fight, Valerian couldn’t help but click his tongue. ’Tch, it had to be him.’

The reason Valerian was so displeased with Tristan accepting the fight was because Tristan was at the G+ rank. While it may seem like a low rank, one couldn’t forget that Valerian himself was only 5 years old and hadn’t awakened his mana core yet.

"Fine, I guess it’s better if I show your leader just how much better I am than you."

While his arrogant statement angered the group again, this time they didn’t fight among themselves because they knew how strong Tristan was.

"Don’t hold back just because he is a child!"

"Yeah, show him what it means to mess with us!"

The crowd of hormone-loaded teens began to cheer for the 15-year-old to beat up the child that was a third of his age. Realizing the absurdity of the situation, Tristan couldn’t help but sigh. ’Just what is wrong with them? That’s a literal child, you idiots!’

Even though he knew how dumb this must seem from the outside, Tristan still wanted to fight with Valerian. As someone who had awakened and actually used his head, unlike his group of "friends", he knew that the boy standing in front of him was no ordinary 5-year-old.

’Just standing across from him feels like there is less mana in the air. Damn, what a monster.’

Nonetheless, he began to go into something akin to a very crude battle stance, bending his knees and bringing his hands in front of him. Seeing the older boy assume what could barely be considered a battle stance, Valerian decided to copy Tristan’s stance.

One of the teens, a girl with brown hair and brown eyes, declared herself to be the referee of the match and went between both boys.

"The first to land on the ground loses!"

After declaring the rules, she held up her right hand and began to count.

"Three."

"Two."

Valerian shifted his feet nervously.

"One!"

As soon as the girl reached one, Tristan started to channel his mana through his affinity into the world. A brownish hue began to cover his body, focusing on his right hand. But Valerian wasn’t going to let Tristan cast a spell while doing nothing to stop him. He enhanced his body with mana, focusing most of it on his legs.

’He has an earth affinity, so he will attack from the ground. If I am fast enough, he will have a hard time predicting where I’m going.’

Solidifying his battle plan, Valerian sprinted toward Tristan as fast as he could. The sheer speed he displayed shocked the onlookers, as they didn’t expect the little boy to be that fast.

While Valerian’s plan wasn’t bad, in fact, it was beyond what any other 5-year-old would think, Tristan wasn’t 5 years old. He had lived with his affinity for three years, used it daily for small things, to fight with the other kids, and practiced on his own, so he knew the weaknesses earth had. Unfortunately, he wasn’t strong enough yet to cast any major, large-scale spells that could stop a fast and nimble opponent. So, seeing Valerian imbue so much mana into his legs and sprinting toward him, he changed his approach. He abandoned his earth mana and decided to fall back on simple mana enhancement.

’You want to fight close range? I will give you close range, you little monster!’

As Valerian saw Tristan cancel his earth affinity, he couldn’t help but flash a cocky grin. ’Yes! If he fights without his affinity, I can actually win!’

As soon as Valerian got close enough, Tristan threw a right punch toward his head. Because Tristan was tall for his age and he was fighting with a fucking child, he had to punch downwards, removing a bit of the force and speed a normal straight punch would have. Parrying the angle, the punch never managed to connect with Valerian’s head as he ducked to the left, pulled his left arm back, and punched Tristan right in the ribs.

’A shame I’m not left-handed.’

As the punch, reinforced by mana, hit Tristan’s ribs, he cried out in pain and moved backwards, trying to increase the distance between himself and Valerian.

’Fuck, I even used mana enhancement, so why does it still have so much force!’

But Valerian, realizing the opening, moved in to end the match by going for Tristan’s legs, who was still in a backwards movement. Fueled by his mana, Valerian kicked Tristan’s legs away, causing him to fall and land on his back. Hitting the grass hard, a shock of pain flashed through Tristan’s back. Paired with his still-aching ribs, he didn’t get back up immediately.

Not caring that the match was technically over since Tristan had landed on the ground, Valerian walked over to him, stepped over the teen’s torso, and began to barrage his face with brutal punches enhanced by mana.

The first punch didn’t do too much damage. The second split Tristan’s lip, causing him to bleed. The third caused his nose to start to bleed. The punches just kept coming, hitting him again and again. After the fifth hit, Tristan’s nose deformed, bending to the side.

Wet noises could be heard as the young boy continued to beat the teenager up. The crowd around them was frozen in fear and disgust, never having seen anything so violent. The most that had ever happened was that a child broke their arm while playing. One of the teens even began to gag, not being able to take all the violence.

One of the older boys, also 15 years old and considered to be Tristan’s best friend, moved to drag Valerian away from his friend. As he tried to take him off, he was hit by an elbow to the face, causing him to bleed.

’Fuck, how does that kid still have mana to enhance himself, and why is no one helping me!’

"Get the fuck over here and help!" Ethan, Tristan’s friend, called out.

After hearing him, they snapped out of the display of violence and moved in to subdue the boy. It took three mana-enhanced 15-year-olds to drag Valerian off Tristan, but by then, his face was already a mess.

"What is going on here?!"

They heard a sharp, elderly female voice call out to the crowd, and Aurelia’s figure appeared among them, breaking up the fight.