Reborn as an Extra Chapter 418: My dream was to... Part-2

A stormy night.

"Hey, where is Neo? There's a massive storm going on outside the fortress, and he isn't in the fortress..."

With a worried look on his face, Ashtel questioned the fellow soldiers, but none of them knew where Neo was.

In search of Neo, Ashtel reached the rooftop again, but Neo was nowhere to be found.

"Where the heck did he go? tch such a pain in the a*s, our squad will have to go on patrol early in the morning tomorrow, and he's gone missing-"

"Hmm? What's that..."

Suddenly Ashtel noticed a familiar figure on the training grounds.

"D-don't tell me, he's training so late in night?"

Ashtel rushed down to the training ground, and sure enough, Neo was there; he was training.

"Oi! Neo! We have to get up early in the morning! Why are you still here in the training grounds?"

Neo gritted his teeth after hearing Ashtel's voice and replied in an irritated tone,

"It has nothing to do with you! I am training! I am training to bee stronger! I won't be outdone by the likes of you, Ashtel!"

Lately, Ashtel had started to show his talents; after just a few months of being an awakener, Ashtel won people's admiration with his strength.

Although he was still an idiot who never knew how to make proper plans for bat and always liked to charge head-on into enemy groups, he was still winning various battles.

Ashtel had already started to bee better than Neo.

Neo's intuition told him that if he doesn't work hard now, Ashtel will leave him behind in dust, and his dream of being pletely free from the shackles of the world will not e true.

"Oh! So you are training to bee better no matter if there's a storm or rain? Y-you are quite the hard worker, Neo..."

Neo got irritated by those words and shouted at Ashtel,

"If you are done staring, then p*ss off from here!"

Ashtel did leave the training grounds at those words, but at some point, a look of

determination had appeared in his eyes.

'Neo is training so late in the night; he's working so hard to achieve his dreams; he wants to bee strong, end the battles, and make everyone free from this pointless war...'

'I should also try my best...'

Neo wanted to bee better than Ashtel; thus, he was training day and night for it, but he didn't know that his actions had a plete opposite effect.

Ashtel used to admire Neo from the very start.

Ashtel liked the fact that Neo was such a confident and smart person; he liked the fact that Neo could stand up to others for his dreams and how he works hard to achieve his dreams.

In truth, Neo was the biggest source of inspiration for the future strongest man.

Neo and Ashtel were in the same squad, and Neo was working super hard to bee strong; thus, Ashtel didn't slack off either.

He learned to be confident from Neo; he learned to fight for his dreams and his existence from Neo.

In truth, it had all started with Neo.

Neo was indeed a selfish and arrogant person, but his never-wavering thirst to achieve his dream was a great source of motivation for those around him.

Nicolas Arsene went on to sacrifice himself to end the war because he saw how his juniors were training so hard and he wanted to do something in return for his junior's favors.

Neo's pursuit for freedom might have bee twisted and tainted with darkness as it continued, but it sure changed the fates of many people around him.

...

(Day of the treaty after the war)

"Neo! Stop doing all those ridiculous things you have been doing up until now!"

"We are friends; that's why I have been overlooking your actions up until now, but you are being too reckless now!"

"The war has already ended; free all the orcs that you are forcefully using as your summoned beasts! They are also living beings, you know!"

"They have families; they have children waiting for them back at home... Sign this treat, Neo; the war is over; there is no need to hold grudges anymore!"

"Both sides have suffered immense loss; if you don't stop now, things will just worsen! Don't tarnish Nicolas's sacrifice!"

That day, Ashtel came to meet Neo with good intentions.

It was to end the pointless acts of violence that Neo was carrying out, and it was to protect

their friendship.

"Friend!? Me and you were never friends!! Don't say things that will cause misunderstandings! We are enemies, Ashtel!!"

"You are the biggest obstacle in my way of freedom!!"

That day, Ashtel and Neo fought once again, but this time there was no one to stop them.

Ashtel brutally beat Neo with only his fists, to the point where Neo could no longer even sit

up.

The two of them didn't use mana at all; they both were SS-rankers by that point; using mana would have caused immense destruction.

Both of them had something to protect, so they fought like barbarians till the end. "You lose Neo... If mitting atrocious crimes is how you are going to achieve your so- called dream of 'freedom', then yeah, I am the biggest obstacle in your path, Neo..."

"As long as I am there, I will never let you run wild like a beast; if you want to stay in the human empire, you have to forget about that twisted dream of yours..."

Neo gritted his teeth and shouted at the top of his lungs!

"Ashtel Rex! I will definitely defeat you one day!! My dream will definitely e true!! I am not the type of person to give up just like that!"

"A useless piece of sh*t can never stop me, Ashtel!!"

Ignoring those insults, Ashtel walked away and never looked back, although now he stood at the pinnacle of the world, the only person who he considered his friend had bee twisted

now.

Parents that got executed for being frauds and murderers, a family that went bankrupt, a life of solitude, and being insulted by everyone.

Friends who all either ended up dying or became twisted, the sole person he loved, his wife,

also died.

From the start to the end, Ashtel's life was a tragedy. Ashtel was cursed with betrayal and loneliness from the day he was born.

But even he had a dream.

A dream that his closest friend had shown him.

...

(Back to present)

'Sigh... I remember it all... From the start, my dream was to be like you, Neo Aldif...'

The smile on Ashtel's face was filled with sadness.

Neo was the person who taught Ashtel how important a dream is in your life. He was the person who taught Ashtel that he needed to fight for his dreams.

'My dream was to create peace for humanity; I wanted to free everyone from wars...'

'So that no other children will have to be separated from his parents and no other innocent kid will have to sacrifice their youth like us anymore for the sake of war...'

'I know, I know, I was naïve... I am still so useless and such an idiot... Even with all that power, what have I ever achieved in life, I have no friends; I couldn't protect my wife either...'

'Demi-god? I am just a pathetic useless sh*t, just like you said, Neo...'

Ashtel glanced at Neo, who was laughing like a manic.

"You have noticed it, right, Neo? For the past few hours, I was already running out of mana...

And with you keeping an eye, I can't use a mana recovery potion either..."

"So yeah... I had to make a plan in the end... Thank you, Neo Aldif... You have taught me a lot of things in life, and at the end of it all, you also taught me how to make plans too..."

"You really are my greatest benefactor..."

From the start of the battle to now, Neo had plete control over mana, so it was impossible

that any of Ashtel's attacks could ever land on him.

Moreover, even if any of the attacks landed, Neo was blessed with immense amounts of mana; he can easily use the 'Healing Element' and heal himself to full health again. Ashtel, on the other hand, was under several disadvantages; not only was he was running out

of mana at an extremely fast speed.

Using the blessing of the world and the world authority both at the same time again and again was putting immense burden on his mind.

Although he's indeed strong, he doesn't have a legendary technique after all. There were just too many odds stacked against him.

But Ashtel isn't called the strongest just because of his techniques and world authorities.

He's bee the strongest because he kept charging head-on into battles that were disadvantageous for him and still made it out alive as a victor by adapting to every plan the

enemy used against him.

Overing hurdles that seem impossible from others's perspectives, shining a torch of light

in darkness, and creating hope for others when everything's in despair.

That's what it means to be the 'Strongest'.

Ashtel raised his finger and pointed it towards the sky. A smirk appeared on his face as all the shards of his world's blessing's shiel started to shine at his words.

As if time had stopped in that instant, everything became pletely still.

A sensation of absolute dread and terror spread in every direction, and even the void started

to tremble as if it were also in fear of what was about to happen.

[Strings of Life and Strings of Fatality!]

[Null, Vold, and beyond Totality!] [Beyond the realm of Existence and Reality!]

With a look of sadness on his face, Ashtel did what no one had done before; with his final

attack, he achieved the pinnacle and proved his existence as the greatest and strongest.

"Farewell, my friend... and my dream..." [Ultimate Technique: Absolute Singularity!]