Surrounded by a field of rocks and dust, the two competitors waited for the over to make a move. Bradnen's new armour had fully formed and made him look like a fusion between a horned beetle and a human.
How would I kill a bigger bug? More firepower obviously!
Mort was getting ready to unleash another wave of Dife, but before he could even move, Bradnen had already closed the distance between the two and launched a barrage of spiked punches. Each hit left a hole in Mort's body.
His body sizzled as it regenerated, much slower this time. It seemed that Mort was keeping all the Life energy reserved for something else, only using minimal power to heal himself.
"Not bad, not bad!" Bradnen laughed as he viciously attacked the boy, being distracted enough for Mort to summon 'Soul-blade' right through his body. "More tricks?" Bradnen tried to move, but he couldn't. "What?"
Paralysis had been successful and Mort removed the sharp-edged blade. No longer was the sword a sloppy imitation formed from cluttered energy, now being formed into a solid structure with a handle and a hilt. "You'll see that this blade is magical in nature."
He placed his palm on the paralysed body of Bradnen unleashed another large wave of devastating energy. It seemed that the carapace wasn't just for show as the damage was minimised. "I'm not going to let some brat take me down that easily!" The armour reshaped itself. It cut on the bulk and prioritised flexibility, ensuring the joints were protected. "I saw you eyeing them!" launched Bradnen.
He was right. Mort had used 'Weak Eyes' and focused on trying to incapacitate Bradnen by rendering his joints, particularly his arms, useless, but he caught on. This left a sour taste in Mort's mouth. "Was I that predictable?"
This sleeker build made Bradnen much faster than before, yet still hit just as hard as before. Mort used the Soul hands to force his body to dodge the rapid-fire punches, countering with the sword when possible. The only downside with using the sword was that it lacked actual damage. During all the testing and training, all Mort could use it for was to debuff.
"Where did that vigor disappear? You were so cruel only moments ago!" Bradnen criticised and laughed as he continuously attacked. Mort was only wasting his energy dodging, he needed an opening to strike.
Mort smiled as he was about to try something new. "Watch this!" Before Bradnen landed a hit, Mort replicated the same move. Although at a lower level, Mort was able to morph his skin into a similar carapace. This stunned Bradnen only for a moment, the moment that Mort was looking for. He placed his palm on the Bradnen's chest and didn't unleash a 'Dife Explosion', instead he used 'Decay'.
The effect spread thoroughly across the body and disintegrated the shell, only adding to the confusion. Mort pierced the body, striking through the heart with the 'Soul Blade', causing the opponent to go numb and fall. "Impossible! How could I lose to a mere brat…"
"That's the fight! Mort, standing victorious over the barbarian, moves on to the next round! And, using the authority given by the Emperor, reveal to the people- what is your element?"
This was it. I looked at my body, regenerating slowly as Dife had nearly run out. From here on out, I was an Imprinted one. "I am Mort, Imprinted and avatar of the Element of Life, and Death."
****
The aftermath of the fight left me in a terrible state. I thought I would regenerate and be fine, but as soon as I ran out of Dife, an overwhelming pain crushed my nerves. I nearly collapsed walking into the changing rooms. One of the staff members had to help me get to my room.
"Congratulations!" Weak and miniature fireworks went off in my face as I entered. The little gang that started off 3 was now at 5. My friends came to surprise me.
I was tearing up. "You guys!" I wanted to say more, but at that point, my body finally gave in and I fell. All I remember was Nova catching my body before hitting the floor, before I passed out.
While Mort was taken to rest in the infirmary, there were a dozen reporters holed up outside the arena, trying to get any answers about what the Element of Life and Death was.
"Sir! You must say something."
"We need an explanation!"
But that was outside the arena. Inside the arena, the first rounds progressed, until it was time for Martin to go.
"Good luck" the twins told him, while Nova pestered him to be careful.
"Don't worry. This will be a fight unlike any other."
Martin entered the arena and saw his opponent was already there.
"I thought you had run off."
"Nonsense, I was simply taking my time."
"Cocky like the other brat, I guess that's the standard of Everlong." The opponent was dressed in yellow and brown cloth that resembled the colour of sand. He formed a staff of a translucent material from Will and slammed it into the ground. "We'll see if your skills are up to standard too."
"Welcome everyone to another long-awaited fight!" The announcer's voice seemed to be going due to the long day of talking. "From Everlong Academy, another recommended student takes the stage, Mage Martin Glacier. And from the Day Kingdom, we have Mage Design of the Sandy Towers. Begin!"
In a flash, both contestants unleashed their spells. Design summoned glass shards and spread them around the field, while Martin conjured a frozen ice weapon. Martin stepped on one of the shards. Instinctly, he moved backwards. From that little shard cluster, a huge spike had pierced through the air.
"Here we have it folks, an unforeseen match up! Who will win this fight, glass or ice?"
Martin placed his hand on the spike and lowered its temperature, and then simply poked it, causing it to shatter. Then, he knelt down and touched the ground, causing it to freeze.
"Good play I have to admit. Causing frost to form on top of the spikes to prevent them from going off."
Design moved his hand and seemed to have launched a barrage of dust that accelerated towards Martin. Just as they were about to touch him, they stopped and hovered in the air. This was a distraction.
From behind Mort a larger glass spike had formed and pierced through his body, hitting his left kidney. Blood splattered onto the ground, dyeing the frozen glass a striking red.
"Coward."
"I'm no coward, I'm simply using openings."
Martin smashed the piece of glass all the while he made sure the large chunk that struck him remained whole. As he took out the piece of glass, he used another move. He raised the temperature of his own body. The hole in his body began to slowly heal, but left scarring.
Right at that moment, Martin was simultaneously lowering the temperature around him, while raising his own internal body temperature for one reason, to trigger his body to make adrenaline. Once that started, he would be on a timer.
Design summoned more glass spikes, launching them only when he knew they would impede Martin. At this point, the ground had been fully covered by a mix of glass debris and ice.
Martin got closer and closer to Design, waiting for the right moment to activate 'The Garden' in combination with 'Blood-Ice'. The moment was given and he was close enough to activate 'The Garden'. With Martin as the centerpoint, a 25 meter diameter circle formed.
"Agh!" Design felt an uncomfortable cold, yet sweated at the same time. This triggered his nerves to feel pain.
When 'The Garden' was active, Martin had total control over the temperature, becoming a sort of Lord over that area. He approached the Glass Mage, whose feet had frozen to the ground, and launched a drop of blood towards him.
However, the blood made contact with a transparent surface and dribbled down. "I don't know if that was a simple act of disrespect or something more, but it won't work." Surrounding Design was a sort of glass armour.
However, this didn't stop him from experiencing the freezing air touch his hot skin. He was still susceptible to the elements.
Martin used his ice sword to strike the glass, piercing it and shattering it, only for Design to laugh.
"Heres an interesting property of glass, it can refract light, making things seem closer than they truly are." In the few seconds that Martin focused on the glass armour, Design had freed himself and was outside of the Garden's range.
And then it struck him. The glass dust around the two wasn't simple for show, it had another use. Martin refused to believe it, but from the moment he stepped into the arena, he was faced with an illusion.
Still swirling in the air, the glass shards reflected light, projecting the body of the opponent, who was nowhere to be seen. He was using Glass magic and the natural light to conceal himself and to attack Martin.
"It seems you figured it out!" Martin turned his head to see a waterfall of glass shards open like a curtain, to reveal the mage from the Sandy Towers. "Impressive."
This wasn't good for Martin. Not only had the mage not suffered any injury, he still had more cards up his sleeve.
Martin undid 'The Garden', and instead destroyed any floating glass shard. "This trick is really dangerous."
"I know, now watch this!" From behind the mage, a large glass obelist had taken root and condensed bouncing light. With only moving his finger, the mage unleashed a beam of light, so fast that not even Martin's own body could feel what happened.
When he looked down, he saw a perfect small hole straight through his arm. Blood should have poured like water from a faucet, but it didn't. This was it for Martin, he had reached phase two. His skin had adopted a blue-ish hue, and around the new wound, blood crystals formed.
This form was named 'Ice Demon' in Sheol, and rightly so. In this form, the internal body reaches its maximum temperature, and the external body reaches its lowest. Just moving would cause him to feel discomfort and light pain.
But there were some benefits to this form. His body froze the air around him and formed a protective barrier, while his brain had a surplus of hormones transmitting information.
The ice that previously covered the ground had gone red. It was ominous, and the crowd didn't know how to react. "You mean to tell me he's in the same year as us," asked Lucien with discomfort in his voice.
"Yes, and if you don't treat him nicely, he's going to freeze you into a solid block of ice!" Nova teased him.
"No, but seriously, that doesn't look like something someone our age should be able to do." Adrien said as he kept his focus on Martin.
From the red ice, many icicles formed, all aiming at Design's neck. "Woah there, I feel some real bloodlust from these attacks." He tried joking, but there was some truth behind his comments.
Martin's very personality seemed to be darker and harsher from before. One of the ice spikes scratched Design. "Got you." Martin's voice didn't show happiness for hitting his enemy, rather it felt as if he pitied him.
At that wound, some of Martin's own blood entered through the ice spike and started corroding away. "Ah what's this?" Design screamed in pain. A cold pain ate away at him.
"'Cold Necrosis' is a move that fuses my blood with ice. The bloody ice leaves my own blood in the wound, causing infections and frostbite that leads to necrosis. Just as it affects you," Martin said as he lifted his arm, "It affects me too." He revealed a part of him that had succumbed to the rot, which his body tried to heal.
"You're insane! You," the mage said while pointing at him, "A child no older than 15, is using techniques most adults would never dare to!" This was now a fight to see who had the best dexterity, who would fall first to the infection.
Martin seemed to have gained the upper hand, now attacking the real mage and forcing him to use other moves besides 'The Obelisk'. To block a wave of sharp glass needles from the sky, Martin clenched his fist, and sprayed the blood upwards, forming a wall of frozen bloody ice.
At this point, Martin resembled a zombie more than a person, and the mage's infection only grew and afflicted more damage.
Finally, Martin used the one move that drove fear into those who heard it in the Hell he lived before coming to this world.
Martin held his Ice-blade in hand downwards, letting his blood flow onto the icicle and coagulate. When enough accumulated, he rushed towards Design and slashed his blade. Everyone thought the blade missed, but only Design knew best what happened. At the moment Martin swung, the blood flew off like a solidified slash and nearly pierced his body.
"'Blood-Ice Guillotine'... has a ring, doesn't it