Arthur's rest was short. Unlike other spirit beings who had to wait upon their core essence to be restored, Arthur's core, reinforced by soul energy and his will exerted a pull upon the surrounding energy drawing it into his core and replenishing his internal essence.
After Battle Arthur had collected 10 cores from his fallen foes. Even though he had actively shattered the cores as a quick way to end them, the essence that made up cores was unique in that it tried to coalesce back into their original forms. He found them floating, spiraling balls of essence, about where their owners had been anniliated and he took them for himself.
After filling his core from the ambient energy on Ra's guidance, he begun to absorb the Blue swirling balls of essence that had sustained the spirit hawks, adding their power to his own. All the while meditating within their pool of essence at the slopes of the mountain.
The pool has a rejuvenating effect upon the spirit body, nourishing it with spiritual essence and life.
With each core he absorbed, flashes of memory from the hawks hit his consciousness, seeing glimpses of the hawks lives from spawning to their death. The final hawk had been terrified of Arthur, who had slain his kin and came for him without mercy.
Arthur refused to let himself be influenced by the hawk's final feelings of him. After all they had attacked him first. Had they not advanced upon him, he would have kept to himself and continued his descent up the mountain.
There was a thrill and sense of excitement Arthur had felt during the battle but he wasn't ready to to open that can just yet.
The essence of the cores dissolved within his own core, filling it and pushing it to its bounds. From the flashing memories of the hawks, he seemed to gain something else. An understanding of lightning as an element. The hawk's essence was of lightning nature and they wielded it instinctively.
Arthur felt that innate connection the hawks had with lightning imprint upon his consciousness.
He had used fire to fight them, not because his essence was of a fiery nature, but because manifesting fire from essence had been the easiest thing he had done while training with Ra.
As for his fighting style, that was largely inspired from watching the hero and his companions fight against demons and monsters for over 10 years. In particular, One of the Hero's mentors Who was known as the Wild inferno in battle. She wielded explosive flames as a weapon and could dominate a wide battle area.
Arthur had simply adopted her fighting style since it suited him who didn't know how to use a weapon currently. Something Arthur hoped to change.
After his respite and recharge, Arthur's ascent up the mountain continued.
He floated over cliffs, ridges and outcrops amid currents of essence.
He was assaulted by spirit beasts whenever he passed through their territory. And he responded in kind.
Many of the beasts he encountered were spirit lord level beasts. He did not shy away from fighting them. And after he killed them, he took their cores for himself, adding them to his power.
He faced wind serpents, water dragons, light salamanders that tried to destroy his body with thick lasers of light. He used his fighting style tested against the hawks to destroy them and continue his way up the mountain.
With each core he absorbed, his own approached the limits of a spirit lord.
Past half way up the mountain, he was assaulted by a flock of black crows. They covered him in a fog of essence that trapped the target in a field of terrifying illusions while they tried to feed off his spirit energy. He set the entire fog on fire consuming the entire host and ending the feast of crows as it begun.
spirit lords had stopped being a serious challenge by the time he was half way up the great mountain.
The climb felt endless, the mountain never ending, battle after battle. If he had a body of flesh he wouldn't have been able to keep at this as long as he had. The spirit body needed no sleep as long as spirit energy dwelt within him and He had enough reserves of Soul energy to keep fueling his will.
As Arthur climbed ever higher with the mountain top seeming even closer, the mountain side opened into a vast outcrop that jutted from its side like a broken ledge, wide and exposed, its surface carved by currents of spirit force.
The moment he floated upon it, he felt invisible waves of concentrated spirit energy surge across the outcrop, pressing down and outward at the same time, distorting the air and dragging at everything within its reach. It was not just weight. It was force with direction, shifting, unstable, crushing.
Arthur's cacoon reacted at once, wind and essence tightening around him as he tried to push against the gravitational currents and continue his ascension to the mountain top.
Yet his efforts did not move him any further as the pull held him in place.
He pushed harder, forcing more essence into the cacoon, trying to rise above the ledge but the gravitational flux dragged at him relentlessly, pinning him to the outcrop, denying him any height or escape.
He steadied himself and looked ahead. A cave sat at the far end of the ledge, its entrance dark, its edges warped by the same energy that filled the space.
Something moved inside. Then it stepped out. The creature was massive, towering over Arthur with a humanoid frame that carried unnatural proportions.
Its body was layered in dense, dark red fur that shifted with its movement, muscles rolling beneath it with restrained power. Its head was that of a great ape, heavy and brutal, its jaw wide, its eyes locked onto Arthur with a dull, crushing intent.
It roared at the intruder. The sound tore across the outcrop, and with it came pressure. A crushing force slammed into Arthur carried within the creature's aura and roar. It pressed into him from all sides, forcing him down, forcing him to brace as his cocoon strained to hold its shape.
Arthur locked his stance, forcing his essence to stabilize into a firm barrier that pushed against the weight.
He focused on the creature and it's information appeared before his sight.
{ RACE: Spirit Beast
SPIRIT RANK: Spirit Titan
SPIRIT ENERGY RANK: A
AFFINITY: Gravity. }
Spirit Titan. Rank A. A spirit Beast Superior to Arthur's current power!
The pressure increased. Arthur moved to attack.
Ten spinning balls of fire formed around him, each one rotating with controlled force, while a spear of lightning condensed in his grasp, sharp and unstable. He launched them all at once, the fireballs surging forward in arcs while the spear cut straight through the center, aimed directly at the creature.
The creature did not move and instead raised its hand. With a single wide motion, the currents of essence shifted. Arthur's attacks shattered mid flight, breaking apart into raw essence that scattered and dissolved before they could reach their target.
The creature's presence deepened as it extended its control, and the currents of essence around Arthur reversed pulling him towards the Beasts great maw. Arthur felt it instantly as the force seized him and dragged him forward, the same gravitational pressure now focused into a direct pull toward the creature. His cocoon flared as he resisted, pushing against it with everything he had.
He held for only a moment, Then he began to float towards the beast.
The pull intensified, dragging him across the outcrop, his caccoon of essence the only protection against the currents of essence flowing around the spirit titan. He pushed harder, forcing more essence into his defense, but the force did not weaken.
Arthur's control strained as he resisted, his movement slowing but not stopping. Arthur exhaled sharply acknowledging his defeat and reached inward.
'Ra.' He called to the titan. 'An idea or two would be welcome now!'
Ra' presence stirred within his psyche. A low laugh echoed through his mind, calm and amused despite the situation.
'You have been doing rather well till now. i wanted to see how you would win this one!'
'Yeah well i have nothing!' Arthur responded even as he held his focus as the pull dragged him closer.
'I thought it would be obvious to you,' Ra said. 'But you have been fighting with spirit energy this entire time that you have forgotten about your reserves of soul energy!'
Arthur's eyes sharpened with realization.Of course!
The pull increased again, dragging him faster now. He stopped resisting blindly.
Instead, he gathered essence. A single sphere of fire formed in his hand, small, dense, its surface unstable as he compressed it further. Then he reached deeper, past his core, into the reserves within his soul.
He funnelled his soul energy into the ball of flame.
The fire changed. Red shifting to blue, the flame condensing further as his will pressed into it, shaping it, strengthening it beyond its previous limits. The sphere brightened, its heat sharpening into something more focused, and absolute. The heat it generated distorted the ambient essence, disrupting the waves of gravity.
Arthur steadied his aim as he was dragged forward. The creature opened its mouth in a challenging roar.
Arthur released the ball of fire. The sphere shot forward at once, cutting through the space between them at the speed of a bullet. It struck directly into the creature's open mouth before it could react. Then it detonated.
The explosion was dense and contained, a burst of bright blue flame that erupted from within the creature's head and upper body. Fire tore outward from its mouth and eyes, consuming its face and burning through the upper mass as the creature staggered under the sudden impact.
The pull on Arthur weakened. Not gone but reduced. The creature roared within the flames, its body resisting even as the fire consumed it.
Arthur did not let up. He gathered essence for a second attack.
Lightning formed in his hand, a jagged bolt, sharper this time, more concentrated as he forced soul energy into it, augmenting it. The spear darkened, its color deepening into a heavy blue as the energy compressed and stabilized. The air became electric within its presence.
Arthur drew back and hurled it with the full push of his will behind it. The javelin cut through the air like a true bolt of lightning, its speed overwhelming as it crossed the distance in an instant.
It struck the creature at its center.
The impact detonated through its body, the force tearing through its torso and breaking it apart from within. The lightning ripped through its middle mass, splitting it open even as the blue flames continued to devour what remained of its upper form.
The creature staggered. Then it broke, what was left of it collapsing. The pull and the currents of gravity about the outcrop vanished.
Arthur remained where he stood, his cocoon settling around him as the pressure finally released.
He noticed something new. The creatures remains did not break into fragments of essence right away. Perhaps the spirit energy of spirit Titans was of a higher quality than the rest.
However that was of no concern to Arthur. Floating above the beast was a vibrant red core. The spirit core of a Titan!