Reborn As Noble

The next moment was a blur. A single step forward. A flash of white.

The sound was sharp, clean, like silk tearing.

In one fluid motion, Javier's hand gripped the hilt at his side and drew.

A White Ore Katana, gleaming faintly with divine light, sliced in a perfect horizontal arc. The blade's movement was so fast the miasma itself seemed to split apart.

A heartbeat later, the four heroes froze mid-step. Then, without a word, their forms fractured into thousands of faint silver particles, dispersing into nothingness. Gone....erased from existence for the second and final time.

Javier stood in place.

His eyes opened slowly, the White Ore Katana still humming faintly in his grip.

"You should've kept them buried, old man," Javier said flatly, flicking the blade once. Not a single trace of blood clung to it.

"Twice dead… that's your mercy wasted."

Edmund's grin faltered for the first time, a shadow of disbelief crossing his crimson-lit eyes.

"You… you cut them down without even—"

"Thinking?" Javier tilted his head, his calm gaze locking on him.

"No. I didn't need to think. I've already fought them before. I know every flaw, every hesitation they had. Bringing them back doesn't erase that, they're still just corpses you're moving around. Just like you."

Edmund's trembled, his jaw slack and eyes widening as he stared at Javier.

His body froze mid-breath, too shocked, too stunned to process what he was seeing.

The suffocating miasma surrounding them was swept away in an instant, dissolving into nothing as if erased by an unseen force.

All around them, the blackened soil turned vibrant again, grass and flowers bursting back to life, trees regaining their lush leaves in seconds.

"What… what is that!!?"

"A… a solid mass of magical energy…? But… how!!?"

His breath hitched, panic crawling into his tone.

"No… no, no…!! No human, no race in this world could ever do that!!! Even the Demon King couldn't do this!"

Javier's gaze stayed steady, his aura flaring like a sun locked in human form.

"Hmm? You're surprised, Celestial? You even fought my father long before, right?" His voice was calm.

"NO!! Garius is not like that!!!" Edmund barked back.

Javier's eyes narrowed slightly, his lips curling into the faintest smirk.

"Hmm? That's because he's never shown his true power to anyone… not even me."

"Besides… controlling mana and magic like this is… hmm… how do you say it? Easy?" Javier's tone was casual, almost teasing, as the golden-white light around him swirled in a controlled, unbroken flow.

"No!! There's no way it would be easy!!" Edmund snapped.

"Yeah, it takes a bit of time and learning," Javier admitted with a lazy smile,

"Modifying old techniques of magic patterns, mana flow, spell structures… but thanks to my father's research and journals, it's really simple. No need to steal power that doesn't belong to you."

"That's not possible for a human being!!! Not even for the other KINGS!!!" Edmund roared, his miasma surging in agitation.

"It is possible," Javier replied without flinching.

"You've never even seen my father's full power… and you call it impossible? No. This power of mine—" his aura pulsed, shaking the ground underfoot, "—isn't even close to the real power of Garius De Armand."

Javier's eyes sharpened, a faint smirk touching his lips. "You know, he was supposed to be here right now. But I commanded my knights to hold them off. To make sure they don't come."

"It's not like I'm scared something might happen to him… well—"

Javier's smirk twitched into something wry.

"—I do, because I'd hate to inherit his position and get buried in endless paperwork."

He lifted the White cube.

"If he were here, he'd finish you and your celestial in, what… ten minutes? Maybe less?"

"Guhhh!!!" Edmund's voice cracked with fury, his claws digging into the ground as his miasma pulsed violently. "You mock me again!!! Garius is not that powerful!!!"

"Hm? I already said it before, didn't I?" Javier's gaze sharpened, unwavering.

"You've never fought his real power, his real potential. The only reason he even concerns himself with Celestials isn't fear. It's because of what they bring to the world: corruption, famine, people suffering."

The swirling aura around Javier pulsed once, clearing another wave of dark miasma.

"You know what his only weakness is? His heart. He cares too much, even for those who aren't his people, not his citizens. Remember the Amazarak prisoners? They have farmland now, they live in peace. And the refugees from countries destroyed by the halflings? He took them in too."

Javier tilted his head slightly, his expression unreadable.

"The moment the First Celestial was claimed,he gathered a team and moved to purify every trace of miasma in Armand. And he didn't stop there, he went straight to the Demon Kingdom, the Beastkin Kingdom, the Elven Kingdom… anywhere the corruption had touched."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"He even shared his knowledge, how to rebuild an economy, how to give the homeless and starving a place to belong. All for nations he had no stake in. No payment, no reward waiting at the end of it."

Javier's tone lowered, steady and certain.

"But I saw why. When he looked at those hungry children finally eating… the way he smiled. A smile he never shows anyone else." Javier's lips curled faintly.

"I saw it through Sky Eye from above. Whether he noticed me or not… ah, maybe he did. I'm not sure."

The smile faded as his gaze locked back onto Edmund, cold and unyielding.

"And that's the reason I don't want him to fight you. Because he's kind enough to spare your life, Edmund. Even after all you've done. That's who my father is."

Javier's aura surged as he raised his hand. A pure-white cube spun above his palm, its surface glowing with layered magical patterns.

"But me? I won't. Because of your stupidity, people have suffered. Everyone has suffered. And I've had to waste time cleaning up your mess… and your stupid Celestial trash."

Javier tilted his head slightly, eyes locked on Edmund and the Celestial bound to him.

"And now?"

His tone dropped, steady and cold.

"Enough of testing your power. Because…"

The words that followed were barely above a whisper, yet carried a crushing weight.

"…your trash… means nothing."

The anger in his voice suddenly vanished, replaced by an eerie calm.

In that instant, countless chains of pure white light erupted from the ground and air, lashing out to bind Edmund and the Celestial in place. Each link pulsed with a sealing pattern, constricting tighter the more they struggled.

Javier tossed the glowing cube in his hand toward Edmund, letting it hover just above him.

"Oh, I won't seal you this time," he said flatly. "After I crush you… the Celestial I took from Gumarak, trapped in this cube?"

He reached into his storage magic and pulled out another white cube, the one sealed long before, its surface swirling with contained energy.

"I will crush it."

( End Of Chapter )