Chapter 52: Anima.

Rigel opened his eyes and found Esmael had already gone back into his coffin. He looked at the rapier on the ground and went to grab it, but then the coffin exploded this time. Esmael was furious and in disbelief that Rigel had come back to life even though he had turned Rigel's body into liquid.

Esmael released a powerful lightning bolt at Rigel, but Rigel dodged them, leaving an afterimage. He released multiple lightning bolts, but none of them hit Rigel as if he was trying to hit air.

Rigel felt that he could control every part of his body and moved to his wish. He felt lighter and his perception of his surroundings became more sensitive and easier to predict. Not only that, ever since he came back, he felt some kind of string that connected to his body, but he didn't know what it was or where it led to.

Esmael who got frustrated, created a ball of light that turned the whole floor bright white. It released a shockwave and obliterated everything on that floor, but he was in disbelief when Rigel had a barrier made of Mana.

"No! No!" Esmael screamed and his body started to catch on fire. "Die! All of you must die!" He flew toward Rigel and threw that blazing fist at the barrier.

Rigel couldn't stop it at all and he got sent to the wall so hard that he almost fainted. He rolled over and Esmael's fist cracked the wall and his hand was deep buried inside it.

When Rigel was about to stab Esmael, Esmael sent a gust of wind, pushing him away. Rigel didn't know what he could do because Esmael was invincible with his amazing and terrifying magic. He decided to fight Esmael with magic, but he realized the moment Esmael could dispel his Mana in an instant that he was no match for him.

"As expected someone who has been blessed," Rigel dropped his rapier because he knew he couldn't do anything in that fight. "I'm going to rely on you now, Stryg," he said as his white eyes turned black and his pupils turned dark red.

Rigel could see the immense flow of Mana around Esmael. It was so overwhelming that he felt intimidated for a moment when he saw it. He then charged in as he turned his nails into claws and dodged the lightning bolts and shattered the earth magic that blocked his path.

Esmael could feel the Dragon's power and that was when he decided to take the battle to another level. He levitated and created balls of lights around his back, and released beams at Rigel. It melted everything it touched, even Rigel's skin melted and he could smell the smokiness of his own flesh.

Rigel couldn't reach Esmael at all because he was up high in the air, and it was impossible for him to get near him knowing Esmael could fly away. He didn't have any plan or solution to his current situation, he could only dodge until his body could no longer move.

"Is it a karma for doing the same thing to that monster earlier?" Rigel muttered as he rolled over and dashed to the side.

With the rich amount of Mana inside the dungeon, Esmael could use everything without having to worry about anything. Rigel was deep in thought and realized the strength that had been attached to him grew in his body. He decided to focus on it as he kept dodging the beams.

An hour had passed and Rigel started to catch his breath as his body could no longer move as easily as before. But the string within his body, he realized it affected the Mana flow inside his body as if the string was something even more powerful than Mana and tried to replace Mana from his body.

He released all his Mana from his body because he believed the string had something to do with Stryg's power. The reason was because when he tried to unseal Stryg's power, his Mana was no match to Stryg's and no matter how much Mana he gathered, it didn't satisfy Stryg's hunger. The answer to that was the string overpower Mana, and he found out he could still use magic without using a single Mana.

When a beam of light moved toward him, he created a barrier from borrowing power from the string. To his surprise, the barrier managed to stop the beam and the barrier was strong enough to handle all of the beams at once.

Esmael saw his magic no longer threaten Rigel, and so he gathered the balls of light behind him into his hands. His hands were on fire, but it was a white fire. He dove and flew toward Rigel at full speed, and when he was about to break the barrier, Rigel released the barrier and grabbed Esmael's head.

Esmael pierced Rigel's chest with his hands, but at the same time Rigel crushed his head. They both killed each other and collapsed at the same time.

"You're back already?" Lysara'elmaris looked down at Rigel. "Oh, you managed to bring him here..." She noticed a soul wandering into her place.

"You have given me a lot of things. Bringing him here is your first specific order, so I don't want to let you down," Rigel answered as he could still feel the pain in his chest.

"Would you like to go back immediately?" Lysara'elmaris asked as her gaze was somewhere else.

"I have a question. Something is off about my body. I feel a weird connection, like a string inside my body, and I don't what that is," Rigel responded as he shook his head.

"It's called Anima, an energy that's superior than Mana. Something that doesn't rely energy on its surroundings like Mana. The source of Anima is that string that connected to the one who gave it to them. In your case, it was Stryg as an Elder Dragon, a being close to a divine being," Lysara'elmaris explained. "Although you have replaced Mana with Anima in your body, you can still use Mana to enhance the power even further," she continued.

"Is that why Esmael so powerful? He possessed Anima?" Rigel furrowed and wondered if the reason Esmael's magic was so powerful and seemed infinite. "The reason why you want him back is because you bestowed him that Anima," he speculated.

Lysara'elmaris nodded and smiled again, seeing how sharp Rigel's observation was.

"Yes. I don't want them to get my power, that's why I want it back," Lysara'elmaris answered. "Esmael wasn't the only one. The others also possessed my power, and I want you to bring them all back here. The more my power grows back, the stronger you and I are," she pointed out.

"Can't you cut the connection?" Rigel asked.

"With my current state, I can't reach them, and at the same time, my power is being drained because of it," Lysara'elmaris answered as she shook her head and sat on the spectator's seat, staring at how massive the chamber was. "You don't have much time. Someone is coming, and you must go back now," she snapped her fingers and sent Rigel into the portal.

Rigel came back to life and looked at all the aftermath of the fight with Esmael. He was naked and there was nothing to put on until he found the white robe that Esmael wore, but then he heard a gasp from the entrance. He saw Aria covering his eyes as he looked away after he saw Rigel's naked body.

"What are you doing here?" Rigel asked.

"Making sure you're alive," Aria answered and didn't dare to look at Rigel. "You defeated Esmael?" He asked.

"Yes," Rigel answered as he put on the white robe. He noticed Esmael's body had become a skeleton which meant the soul was no longer trapped in the dungeon. "Now that you're here, I have something that I want to ask you," he approached Aria.

Aria looked at Rigel and saw the white silk robe with gold thread around it.

"Are you here to see me, or is there another reason?" Rigel stood in front of Aria, releasing an intimidating aura using Anima. "For example, the next floor that could be your ancestor," he said.

Aria was surprised that Rigel could see through him, but at the same time, he wondered how Rigel knew about his identity. There was no information related to the past, and she hadn't told Rigel about the past, and Hondo didn't say a word about it either. He didn't know who or how Rigel knew about it, but asking was the last thing he wanted to do.

Rigel's intimidating aura was too overwhelming even for Aria. He had never seen such an aura before even though he could easily surpass Hondo's Dragon's aura. He thought if it was because the one inside Rigel's body was an Elder Dragon. When he saw Rigel's eyes turn black with red narrow-shaped pupils, he was petrified by it.

"You have a weird body, and if I have to make a guess, you're Serena's descendant, the Shapeshifter," Rigel said after he looked at Aria's body's anatomy where he didn't have a genital on his body.

"How? How do you know about all that? There are no records or information related to them," Aria asked and he couldn't help but become suspicious of Rigel.

"You hid it from me because it was a secret, so why would I give away my secret?" Rigel asked back and stared into Aria's eyes. "If you want to come, then come. You must have been wanting to see your ancestor," he said as he walked away to the 18th floor.