Reborn As Noble

Javier's gaze hardened, his voice steady but heavy enough to weigh down the air.

"Old man… if you don't take this seriously, you're going to die with your Celestial."

He exhaled slowly.

"I don't know what you've been thinking, old man. Even though you're one of my father's oldest friends, instead of training, focusing, and pushing your power to its limits… you took the shortcut. You claimed a Celestial's power without earning it."

Golden-white light began to flow from Javier's body.

The glow rippled through the cracked ground, pressing against the dark miasma clinging to the air.

He gestured toward Edmund's form, where the stage-five aura of the Celestial burned violently.

"And seeing this....stage five?.....I've already decided that this so-called Celestial of yours is nothing but trash. A useless being. They call themselves powerful enough to wreck the world? Maybe… but only in a way that destroys lives for their own amusement."

Javier's voice dropped, deliberate, as if weighing each word.

"The citizen." His tone was calm, almost pitying.

"The poor." His tone rose a notch, sharpened with contempt.

"The children…"

His voice lowered again, but this time it carried a dangerous edge, each syllable like the calm before a blade's draw.

He stepped forward, his aura pressing against Edmund's, making the air between them whirl and twist.

"And you already know, claiming a Celestial will corrupt the land beneath your feet. The soil, the rivers, the very air… all poisoned."

His eyes never left Edmund's, unblinking.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to purify that corruption? To cleanse every patch of earth, every drop of water, every breath of air in this world?"

The cube in Javier's hand gleamed faintly, as if reacting to his rising power.

"Or did you simply not care?"

Javier's eyes narrowed, voice cutting through the air like a blade.

"Or did you just think about yourself?"

Each question followed with a step forward, the golden-white aura flaring hotter.

"While being the ruler of your people?

Of your kingdom?

Of your country?

Is that how you think?"

The wind howled around him. His tone was no longer calm; it was an accusation sharpened by fury.

"Then you're no different from those pathetic political leaders elected by their people. Leaders who have no real power, who don't even own the land they stand on. Leaders who care only for their own pockets, while being controlled like puppets by greedy lobbyists."

Javier's expression hardened, and his voice dropped to something colder, deadlier.

"But there's a difference between them and you, old man… they're controlled by men. You? You let yourself be a servant to a trash being, a parasite calling itself a Celestial."

The cube in his hand pulsed once, responding to his rising anger. His eyes glowed with dangerous intensity.

"And yet… they're nothing more than TRASH!"

The final word exploded from him, his aura erupting in a violent burst of golden-white light. The wind surged outward in a shockwave, scattering debris, snapping flags.

Javier's gaze was fixed forward, his voice a growl that carried the weight of judgment.

"Trash that poisons this world… and trash that I will burn to ash."

Javier tilted his head slightly.

"So… it's time we fight seriously now, hmm? Or should I say… celestrash?"

The mocking twist in his voice made Edmund's brow twitch.

For a moment, Edmund's eyes widened.

"W-wait! I… I give up! I'm sorry. Let's all calm down and talk it out—"

Then his lips curled into a grin.

"Is that what you thought I would say?"

The crushing weight of Javier's gravity suddenly evaporated. Edmund's body straightened as if released from invisible chains, his aura roaring back in a surge of black-and-crimson light.

"I'll admit," Edmund drawled, his smirk returning, "you might be strong. Strong enough to press me this far. I was surprised to see your real power. Congratulations."

He clapped mockingly, each clap dripping with derision.

Javier smirked and clapped back in return. "Thank you."

Edmund's teeth clenched.

"But all you've shown me are puppets, a cheap gravity trick, and the ability to slap away my magic. That's all you've got. So don't pat yourself on the back too hard yet."

The air warped with a sudden, suffocating heat as Edmund's eyes burned a deep, glowing crimson. The whites vanished under the infernal red light.

With a sickening tear, two jagged black horns sprouted from his skull. His wings, once shadowed, now dripped with pulsating crimson veins, each beat radiating raw malice.

Javier's gaze swept over the transformation, unimpressed. His lips curled into a lazy smirk.

"Whoa. How ugly. The Celestial really is trash. Not just in power, but in looks too. Disgusting from head to toe."

Edmund's distorted grin widened, the monstrous silhouette of his Celestial looming behind him like a nightmare made flesh.

"Talk all you want, snotty brat. But there is still so much magical energy lying dormant inside me, power you can't even begin to fathom! And that means… we can do this!"

His aura exploded outward in a violent surge. The ground beneath his feet cracked in jagged lines, black-crimson mana flooding into the air.

The sky above bled into a stormy darkness, blotting out what little light remained. All around them, the land began to die.

The grass shriveled to dust, tree trunks twisted and crumbled, and the once-crisp air turned foul as a heavy miasma poured in every direction, devouring life at terrifying speed.

Javier didn't flinch. He slowly scanned the dying forest, his golden-white aura flickering faintly against the suffocating gloom. His eyes slid back to Edmund, calm, steady, unreadable.

Edmund smirked and raised one hand, fingers curling in a deliberate, almost mocking gesture.

"Surely you remember them," he said, his voice dripping with amusement.

The mana around him condensed, crackling like a thousand whispering voices. A circle of jagged black glyphs erupted on the ground behind him.

The earth split open in four places, and from within stepped towering figures clad in spectral armor.

Four warriors from another world. Their faces grim, their eyes burned with lifeless red light.

This,"

Edmund declared, his voice booming with triumph

"Is one of my most powerful abilities… the power of SANCTUARY! A skill that lets me call forth the strongest from the past. Even in death, they are mine to command!"

The miasma swirled violently around the four resurrected heroes, their massive weapons glinting faintly under the corrupted light. The air trembled under their combined killing intent.

Javier's gaze was steady, a single eye narrowing as he examined the familiar faces. "A resurrected superhuman army, huh…" His tone was flat, almost bored.

He closed both eyes briefly and exhaled, his tone dropping to something almost respectful.

"Sorry. Your time is already up… ex-heroes."

( End Of Chapter )