Chapter 75 - Heavenly Hell

As the hot magma fell from its new white body, the phoenix which Yuki had seemingly had arisen from the dead. Its eyes gleamed in the stage as it looked at Yuki with the intent to kill. It was as if it had completely changed from what it used to be.

"A vitality skill? Or could it just be part of the stage's programming?"

"It would make sense I guess, haven given me such a boost in strength should also mean I should face stronger enemies. However this is a bit too far. Even with 9 potions to help boost my stats, it looks like it could match me if not annihilate me if we compare our strength," said Yuki to himself.

"Activate skill: Scale"

When Yuki used his ability to check how he compared to the new and improved phoenix, he was shocked.

"I mean, I expected a large increase in power but this is too much," said Yuki.

[Eternal Phoenix Mini Boss: Juventas]

Yuki stared at the red title of the monster in front of him. Yuki laughed in fear as it was the only thing he could do. He couldn't believe what he saw. How was he supposed to defeat such an absurdly strong enemy?

The white phoenix charged towards Yuki at top speeds, instantly ramming its head into his chest and pushing him towards the black stone towers which stemmed from the same point on the ground. Yuki experienced excruciating pain as he crashed into the black stone towers, crushing everything with his back as he kept getting forced into them by the phoenix. Yuki felt himself about to cry from the pain, clenching his teeth so as to not show weakness.

The phoenix finally pushed Yuki into the central tower. The main tower was much larger than all the other ones. While the surrounding towers stemmed from the same point, they all pointed to a different direction. However the central one, pointed directly to the ceiling of the stage. Once the phoenix reached the central tower, it engraved Yuki's body into it before moving away for a mere moment.

As Yuki opened his eyes to gain control over his movement, all that he could see was a giant fireball 5 inches from his face. Before he could even block it, it exploded right in his face. Yuki fell down from the halfway point on the central wall. He rolled around on the ground, constantly rubbing his eyes. Every single inch of his body hurt. His face and arms were completely burned.

Yuki thought for a second to take a full restore potion and recover his body however he quickly scratched that idea. Instead, Yuki walked towards the central tower, both eyes closed and banged his head on its wall as hard as he possibly could.

"I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN ALLOW MYSELF TO BE BEATEN MERCILESSLY," said Yuki as he remembered all the times he would stand still as his bullies beat him. Even though every punch and kick he took was agonizing, Yuki never spoke up in fear that he'd just be harassed more.

"I WON'T GO BACK TO BEING AFRAID," said Yuki as he opened his eyes. In truth Yuki wasn't scared to be beaten or die as he had already gotten over those fears. What he feared the most was getting left behind, he didn't want to be looked down upon and have nothing to live for. A life without meaning is worse than being dead.

"Activate ability: Fire control"

"Heavenly Hell!" Yuki said at the moment. He had just randomly spoken out as he was under a lot of stress and pressure which exposed what he had truly wanted. Yuki was always eager to have a named attack like in the video games he played or the cartoons he had watched. It made him feel like he was cool and important. The exact opposite of what he had been in his previous life. Yuki seeked to be the person he had always wanted to be.

Pulling both his arms back as he stretched them, Yuki enveloped both his palms in his deep crimson flames, continuously pumping them with his ability, Yuki was able to use them as a flamethrower.

A direct hit.

Maybe it was because Yuki was so excited and exhausted at the same time but his attack landed perfectly. Not letting the opportunity go to waste, Yuki covered his feet in his flames and propelled himself towards his enemy, crashing head first into the phoenix's new white body.

Wasting not a single moment, Yuki wrapped his arms around the white phoenix and activated his ability once more. Even though the phoenix's body burned him, Yuki didn't care at all. He could instantly regenerate it with a potion so no injury was permanent. Using his ability, Yuki engulfed himself as well as the phoenix in a solid fireball. While the phoenix's flames burned him, Yuki's own ability never caused damage to him.

"ROT IN THESE FLAMES," said Yuki engulfed in rage.

Once he had finished using his fire ball technique, Yuki began to move on to the next step of his named attack.

Pulling away from his enemy by only 2 metres for a mere moment, Yuki clenched his hand as hard as he could as he covered it in flames. Yuki got on his knees and punched through the ground as he pumped his flames into it. After a few moments of waiting, the ground began to rumble as it had done when the phoenix was reborn.

The ground broke open, allowing Yuki's flames to come out of it and envelope the phoenix in a solid dome of flames. Yuki stood inside the dome as well as he had no reason to fear his own powers. Once the flames died down, Yuki began to breathe heavily.

"A cool move combo attack but it can use some work. I'll stick with the name though, heavenly hell sounds cool," said Yuki.

"Well it's time to finish this off," he continued.

Yuki walked towards the immobilized white phoenix.

"All that for nothing," said Yuki as he grabbed the phoenix by the neck.

Without wasting any more of his breath, Yuki punched the white phoenix with his right arm, and then his left. Constantly pummeling his enemy with no mercy. Once his arms began to grow weak, Yuki relaxed both of them and allowed the phoenix's head to hit the ground. However Yuki was not finished. Yuki pulled his head back and without any hesitation, he smashed it into the phoenix's head, counseling the battle once and for all.