Heroic Spirits

---- 3rd Pov ----

All of them heard the voice of the world announcement. Karna and Shizue had gained a golden aura encircling their bodies; the aura was so bright that if people ever saw them, they would mistake it for the sun.

A tremendous surge of energy filled his soul, nearly quintupling his previous power, thus accelerating Shizue's evolution through the force of their intertwined destinies.

<<Evolution of individual 'Karna' and individual 'Shizue' from saints to heroic spirits... successful.>>

The energy surge from the two humans evolving into heroic spirits had stopped, and their power levels had increased. Guy watched the two humans with interest.

'How can one human cause another's evolution? Is it through the soul corridor? Well, their souls do seem very similar; there are only small differences between the two,' he thought, observing a tremendous difference in energy levels from the humans' previous state.

'And heroic spirits? I've never heard of them before. Are they a new species? I can't let them fall into his hands.' He thought about his old friend, his rival, and the one who proposed the game they were currently playing a thousand years ago.

"Hey! Guy, we're leaving!" His thought process was interrupted when the newly-born heroic spirits were about to leave.

He was about to invite Karna once more, but he couldn't open his mouth as Karna was already answering his unspoken question.

"No, I won't join the demon lords. And I don't know who this 'other guy' is, but as I rejected you, I won't join him either; I act according to my own will." Guy was surprised to find out that this lad had figured out something was happening, and he even had the audacity to say that he'd only move according to his own will.

"Very well, you can go, but just so you know, I won't hesitate to kill you two if I deem it necessary." He said it with an indifferent expression as Karna wordlessly nodded, his face betraying no emotion.

But somewhere inside his courageous soul, helplessness and dread began to fill the warm sea of energy that represented his courage and strength.

'I will never give up! I will fight; even if God comes down to claim my head, I will die like a warrior.' With his pride as a warrior and hero, he could never hope to give up fighting for what he believed.

Unbeknownst to him, deep inside the depths of his soul, a small flicker of red flames was lit—the flames that would destroy, the flames that would burn—the opposite of life, that is, Death.

The flames were born just now, when his fight with the most powerful foe had ended. Born from the helplessness he felt, it would take some time, but it would eventually burst forth, unable to be contained inside the depths of his soul, and destroy everything around it, bringing death and dread. The Flames of Destruction.

At the same time these flames were lit inside his soul; Another soul was also feeling the same helplessness he felt, but had hope.

'I trust in Karna, and I will not let anyone I hold dear die; even if God comes down to do it, I will live as myself.'

The surface of the soul was filled with warm and gentle flames, representing kindness and hope.

It was not remotely similar to the flames on Karna's soul, which would destroy; these flames were completely different, the opposite of death, which is Life.

The flames that do not burn, the flames that don't destroy but preserve, the eternal flames—these flames have been there for a while now, only a matter of time before they burst forth, unable to be contained only on the surface and bring life and joy to others around them—The Flames of Creation.

Together, they would merge and become the Flames of Life and Death, the beginning and the end. His courage and strength, along with her kindness and hope, would bring a world of peace after the chaos.

They vanished from the Frozen continent in a blur as they took off into the air, cracking the surface with the strength of their leap.

Guy turned to his trusted partner, Velzard. "Did you get the numbers?" he asked as she smiled slightly and nodded in response.

"The boy had 3,622,222 before, and after the evolution, it had been multiplied by 5, that is, 18,111,110; the girl had 3,119,998; her energy was also multiplied by 5, which makes for 15,999,990," she said.

As he processed the information, Guy had quite a hard time believing this. Velzard can measure a creature's energy levels with one glance from her eyes alone.

Humans always had low levels of energy inside their bodies, but these two humans that were here a few seconds ago multiplied their energy, and even before that, their energy was monstrous for humans.

'I better keep an eye on them; the evolution power upgrade is too fast,' Guy thought as he massaged his head with a sigh. He has a lot on his table already; he didn't want any more trouble to deal with.

---Karna pov---

"You lost." Shizue's voice broke the silence as we traveled through the air towards Ulgresia. Even though she said that I lost, she didn't feel sad or happy about that; she had mixed feelings about it. "Everyone loses once in a while; even I lose to you, so don't worry. I will always be here for you."

"Hm." I nodded as she turned her head to look at me. "This new evolution increased our power by 5. I've been feeling that there's something inside my soul, like it's waiting to be unleashed." That's new; I haven't heard anything about this in my life.

"Maybe let's ask Ramiris when we reach the labyrinth, and Guy might send his demons to keep us in check," I said as she wordlessly nodded once again. We increased our pace and left behind a trail of golden energy that covered us.

Reaching the labyrinth, we went inside and saw Ramiris working on something as she turned around and greeted us.

"Did you get them?" She excitedly asked as she went in front of our faces. We nodded and opened "Spatial Storage" and dropped a portion of the ores on the ground.

She went on to examine it as she took some of them in her hands, turning around with a bright smile. She took more and snapped her fingers.

She began to emit rainbow-colored, dense magicules. The magicules began to surround the ores, shaping them into weapons.

She took the roughly-made spear with no struggle and put it in front of my face, urging me to take it.

"Take this and inject your magic into it." I did as I was told and injected a lot of my magic into the spear. When about 1/3 of my magic was inside the spear, she once again put her hands on it and said, "Give it a name and imagine how you want it to be."

"Vasavi Shakti," I named the spear as it began to emit a golden, rainbowish aura and shifted into my desired form, a long golden spear that was even taller than me.

I named the spear after the weapon that the king of gods, Indra, gave Karna in exchange for his Kavacha and Kundala. In a way, I'm becoming Karna of this universe; I'm in no way as noble as he is, and I'm no match for his techniques and such. I may as well be a mere cheap imitation, but I'm a warrior with pride.

And I built this technique from scratch, using the anime adaptation of Fate Apocrypha that I had watched once in my previous life as a reference.

"You guys have evolved, right?" Ramiris asked as we nodded. "I've been feeling something heavy in my soul lately," Shizue suddenly said something that caught her attention.

Ramiris looked inside her soul, and she nodded to herself as she turned to us with a bright smile. "You are pregnant!"

"WHAT!" We were shocked as we heard that, before we could think anymore, we heard Ramiris laughing hysterically and pointing a finger at us as she did, "Your guys should've seen your faces! It was totally hilarious!"

This fairy is lucky that we consider her our friend; otherwise, I would've taken away her cookies and cake.

"So, what is it then?" Shizue once again asked as she calmed down after getting a shock. I feel that she is disappointed that she wasn't pregnant, 'can we even reproduce in the first place?'

"It's the foundation of an ultimate skill; you have one too, Karna, but I can feel that Shizue's has been there for a long time, so it is only a matter of time before it forms one, but yours is still in its structure-building stage."

"Ultimate skill?"

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So, how was this chapter? If you liked this, put some reviews in there. We don't have enough ratings currently, so let's hopefully change that!

I'm building a structure around the MCs to further explore in the future, and also, what do you think about this evolution and the Ultimate skill foundation inside their soul?

And I've dropped many foreshadowings in this one chapter.

Their EP was also revealed, so is there something interesting to say? Say it in the comments.

Don't forget to drop some stones; there is no need to be shy about it.

Next time: Next Ruler?

see you in the next chapter of Tensura: Karna.

Good luck, and God bless you.

                                                         ~ Author