I Refused To Be Reincarnated

"Stop!" Luna yelled, her voice cracking in despair as the magus' slow, deliberate steps echoed through the cave, each sound a grating reminder of her impending doom, assaulting her tense nerves.

She pushed herself off the ground, her swift movement causing the wind to whip her clothes. Unbeknownst to her, an item slipped from her pocket, glinting faintly under her core's light. Despite her sorrow and unwillingness to leave Prometheus' side in his darkest moment, she knew she had to act. If she didn't protect herself, all their sacrifices would have been in vain.

Drawing courage from his unwavering will to survive, her body blurred. In a blink, she stood between her vibrant core and the dreadful magus.

"Leave fiend!" She roared, mobilising all her mana to launch a devastating strike.

However, her eyes enlarged, and her pupils trembled before she could. Not because the unafraid magus kept his leisure pace but because of what stood behind him.

"Don't rise! You already did more than anything I could have hoped for!"

Tears blurred her vision as she watched Prometheus shakily rise from the ground, her lips curling in despair.

"You can't waste energy," he said, his hoarse voice reverberating in the cave.

Drawn by the disturbance, the magus turned to gaze at him.

Meanwhile, Prometheus used mana to support himself. He drew a profound inspiration to adjust his voice and calm his beating heart. Finally, he glared the magus in the eyes before speaking.

"How long until you complete our arrangements?" He asked, his tone calm and void of any worries. He felt at peace for the first time in eleven years.

Because everything will end now.

"I-I can have it ready in a dozen minutes if I can focus."

Luna's terrified voice entered his ears, conveying her turmoil and hesitations. Yet, he could only hear its charm and tenderness. Even when he gazed at the anxious grimace distorting her face, he only saw the dream-like beauty that struck him so many years ago.

A tense silence lingered as the magus waited, intrigued to witness his vain resistance.

Regardless, he took his time, not letting this monster wearing human skin pressure him into action. Instead, the memories he had made with Luna, Atlas, and the excited citizens flashed before his eyes. His lips rose as his heart warmed with the echo of their encouragements.

'Will they be mad if I do it now?' He thought with a hint of amusement, recalling the citizen's demands. 'Might as well to depart with... style!'

Clenching his fists, he mobilised his mana, boosting his voice's intensity and causing Luna's hair to bristle.

"Your transgression ceases now!"

His words resounded like a celestial edict as his fists trembled and the fire in his heart blazed brighter than ever.

"Witness the all power of humanity!"

Clenching his teeth, he mobilised everything he had to feed the inferno, making it roar with his defiance. Like a wildfire, it engulfed his body, making the marks branded over it brighten under his coat.

"I"

His vine-like hair blazed, fluttering like a torch to guide and protect humanity, and a chaotic storm of energy ignited his eyes.

"AM"

His clothes vaporised, revealing his mangled and rickety body while his mask flew in the wind. Yet, despite his appearance, his aura was more threatening than that of a genuine titan.

Luna's eyes widened in pure terror as she understood what he was doing. She had foreseen it a year ago and planned to stop him. But the situation was different. She couldn't. Instead, she forced a smile despite the tears streaming down her multi-colored eyes.

"Show him who you are! Adam!" She screamed, her heart pounding painfully in her chest.

Then, she vanished, using a portion of mana to displace her core deeper underground to protect it. Yet, despite the distance, she still heard his power-imbued voice and shuddered, recalling why she loved him.

"ATOMIC!"

As the words thundered, the world lost its colors, turning into a canvas of black and white forms under the magus' enlarging eyes. Sadly, he wasn't given time to think before Adam detonated his heart and the eight circles hovering around it like an atom.

Yet, only a deafening silence followed despite the rumbling and shattering cave. Gradually, the magus witnessed the blast propagate like a scourge ravaging everything in its path. Stunned into mutism, an icy shiver ran down his spine. He could see it because of his unnatural strength, yet the real speed was horrifying.

'I should have come with my real body!' He thought, feeling space crack as a scalding heat assaulted him. Trying to dodge such an immense spell would be a fool's choice. He knew it. So, guided by experience, he chose the best option.

He mobilised all his mana, heart bleeding as he sacrificed the souls he had collected to survive. If he endured, nothing could stop him from retrieving Luna's core. So he gritted his teeth and swallowed the loss.

In the blink of an eye, a whirlwind of souls grimacing in agony twirled around him like a multi-layered shell just in time.

Yet, his eyes bulged as he saw long fissures run on the outer barriers before they shattered like glass one by one.

His proud and confident demeanor crumbled upon realising he might perish so close to his goal!

"NO!" He roared, decisively cutting a part of his soul to feed the last barrier separating him from his doom.

Despite the atrocious pain, his eyes lit up. The shell held! It stopped the blast's advancement like an impregnable wall.

Meanwhile, Adam's body faltered. His legs buckled as he felt the damaged strings of his life break. Yet his eyes still burned.

'Burn your mana! Burn your body! Burn your soul!' His voice thundered in his mind as the marks branded into his soul pulsed and blazed like the rest of his body.

Simultaneously, he touched onto something no mortal should have, alarming ancient and terrifying beings. He didn't realise it, but his conflagrations became pure white and surpassed the perfect affinity rating, becoming something else entirely.

Something the magus would experience and remember for years.

The next moment, the world turned totally white as his last protection shattered in a split second.

Before he could scream, the halted blast engulfed him, vaporising his monstrous energy and body in its wake before continuing its relentless charge for hundreds of kilometers. Nothing resisted it. Rocks melted, lava evaporated, and the world shook.

Then, as if the halted time had resumed its course, the world recovered its colors and sounds.

BOOM

Rubbles rained from the ceiling as the eviscerated earth left the sky's dim light filter through the monstrous crater. A colossal cloud of dust rose, engulfing everything in sight in a veil of glistening particles.

Meanwhile, Adam plopped to the ground, his charred body unable to stand. His circuits had melted, his heart exploded, and his soul almost entirely burned in his last effort. Yet, he weakly smiled.

'I... protected... everyone,' he thought, darkness engulfing his mind and death whispering in his ears.

'Now... I... can... rest...'

Honestly, he was satisfied and didn't have any reason to live. His life had been meaningful and would pave the way for humanity's rise. He could disappear in peace.

As darkness filled his vision, a cheeky voice he recognised reverberated in his ears, making him doubt his sanity.

"You won't!"

Then, he felt his soul leave his body and rush towards the item Luna had dropped: Atlas' eyes.