559 I Am Mane Harbinger: V (Unexpected Development)

Feeling the blazing heat coming her way, Ancestor Fire swiveled away to avoid a direct confrontation. She was an Ancient with control over fire, which meant that flames shouldn't cause her any discomfort. For Mane's flames to be capable of making her this uneasy, it meant that they were strong enough to burn her. So she made the wiser choice.

*Whoosh*

The fire sword light flashed past Ancestor Fire ominously, its furious light a darkening presence in these streets. With the ferocity of a starving lion it crashed into a mansion several meters away.

*Boom*

The barrier guarding the mansion rippled when it received the full brunt of Mane's strike. A few cracks appeared upon its surface, but ultimately it didn't break. And slowly those cracks began to heal.

Ancestor Fire frowned slightly seeing the results of the strike. While the fire didn't disperse like it did with Mane's previous attack, it wasn't a weak strike. For it was a single point strike. And the fact that the barrier which she had witnessed absorb her strikes without showing any weakness had cracked at the point of impact was telling.

"Pay attention to me," Mane's figure flashed as he appeared right in front of Ancestor Fire. His tone was filled with the excitement of a battle maniac, and Ancestor Fire couldn't help but take him heavily.

With a slight flick of his wrist Mane weaved his sword in between Ancestor Fire's flames and thrust Night Mare towards her heart. The chill in his eyes greatly contradicted the blazing power he controlled. And from within the flames, Ancestor Fire caught a cold. However in all this she displayed the calm of a battle veteran.

She readjusted her position and shifted her feet to the side, allowing her body weight to slide her away from the venomous blade.

*Whoosh*

Ancestor Fire smoothly evaded Mane's strike. Her movement was so refined that Mane couldn't help but be momentarily awed by her skill. But his awe didn't last for long. For his sharp intuition warned him of incoming danger; danger that was emanated from Ancestor Fire's spear.

After evading Mane's strike Ancestor Fire didn't seek a retreat. No, she did what every good fighter would. She went on the offensive. She span round and gathered fire onto the tip of her spear head. Tongues of fire flooded the spear and concentrated into a small ball. The ball was so tiny that next to a tennis ball, it would look like its child. Yet the heat that was compressed into this tiny ball was strong enough to send Mane's senses ringing hastily, warning the young Supreme to retreat.

With a mighty tug Ancestor fire pulled her arm back to gather ample force for the mission she had in mind. And without any hesitation she thrust her spear forward, its fire-balled tip headed for Mane's abdomen!

"Amazing," Mane praised with glittering eyes before abandoning Night Mare.

Leaving the sword to stand alone midair, Mane pulled back his arm and summoned the great forces of Edict. His senses were warning him to retreat, but Mane was a disobedient child, even to the point of disobeying his own mind. Without any thoughts of listening to himself, he did what could only be referred to as the craziest thing by choosing the unwise option.

"Is he crazy?" Ancestor Fire wondered. Even Barbarians wouldn't dare receive her strike head on. What did Mane think he was doing?

The person in question however, didn't care about the thoughts of his rival. He drew upon his strength and called forth his Breath.

"True Flames"

With might grunt he gathered all his power into his arm, enforcing his bones and muscles with outer energy while coating his skin with inner energy. His flames changed from red to blue as Mane truly activated all his fiery abilities. As if that wasn't enough, he coughed up one last technique and fortified it with Chaos, forcing the two energy adversaries to work together again. Then he smashed his fist into the spear!

"Augendae: Splintering Fist!"

*Boom*

A fiery storm filled the streets and spilled over into other sections of the city. Over half of Amalgamation burned with the embers of fire and rage, and every Elemental felt the power contained with the flames. The Ancestors were no exception.

"This feels like Fire's energy," Ancestor Storm frowned as he stretched his hand out of the window and gathered a handful of the flames into his hand. Without their source they were ordinary flames, so it was no issue keeping them under control.

"That's impossible. Fire isn't this powerful." Ancestor Ice immediately denied her friend's claim.

Ancestor Fire was older than herself and Ancestor Storm. But she was around their level in terms of strength. How could she possibly produce such catastrophic power? Ancestor Ice swiftly grabbed onto the fire and felt for herself what Ancestor Storm spoke. And the realization that it was indeed Ancestor Fire's power stunned her.

"So?" Ancestor Storm asked. Ancestor Ice was more sensitive due to her affinity with nature. Surely her analysis would be brighter than his.

"You were right. There are two kinds of energy in here. One is foreign and presumably Mane's. The other is Fire's."

"She has been hiding her true strength all this while?" Ancestor Storm frowned with a strange gleam in his eyes.

The power Ancestor Fire was displaying was just as strong as Ancestor Origin's! She could have easily challenged the oldest ancestor for the right to be the true governor of Amalgamation with this level of power. But she did not. She only remained in the background, carrying the old man's orders with the obedience of a chained servant. Ancestor Storm who didn't know that it was because Ancestor Fire was an Ancient that she had hidden her true power was impressed by her humility. His respect for her increased but so did his guilt.

"It seems the secrets of our race aren't beneath the knowledge of us Ancestors," Ancestor Ice sighed with a bitter look in her eyes.

Ancestor Specter was just as surprised by the scale of the battle as anyone else. As an Ancestor he understood that the only reason why Amalgamation was still intact was because of the Nature Barrier. The energy from the barrier contained most of the damage and kept it from spilling outside the city. If it wasn't for the barrier, the city would have been destroyed at the very beginning of this mammoth fight. Maybe the homes would have survived due to Mane's barriers, but the walls and everything else would have been reduced to ash. That was what a fight between Phenoms looked like.

"Ancestor Fire; you may want to consider taking Ancestor Origin's place when all this is over."

Unlike Ancestor Ice and Ancestor Storm, Ancestor Specter was thinking about the aftermath. He had felt Mane's power for himself. While he didn't know why the boy was engaging Ancestor Fire for so long when he had the ability to end things quickly, he was pleased with the results. Ancestor Fire had proven that she was as strong as Ancestor Origin. With her in Amalgamation, they wouldn't lose much from the oldest Ancestor's death.

Several yards away from the battlefield was a mansion – well, the former location of a mansion. For the large house that stood at the centre of Amalgamation had been reduced to nothing but rubble. Fire consumed the concrete slabs that formerly stood together, woven into walls and roof. This was the house of Ancestor Origin. Mane had sent the oldest Ancestor crashing into his own home, and then had obliterated the place with a chaotic lightning strike. The place was silent for a while, until a sudden low rumble interrupted noise's rest.

*Bang*

Several stones were sent flying as the disheveled figure of Ancestor Origin was revealed. The mysterious looking old man no longer looked mysterious. His formerly intelligent looks had been replaced with the appearance of a beggar seeking for bread. His hair was burnt in certain areas, exposing his blackened scalp. Blood escaped his cracked lips as if to flee the miserable man whose body it fueled. Even worse his clothes were almost rags now. They were basically strips of linen and cotton – spaghetti strips if I may be so blunt – that concealed nothing. And it was because they didn't hide anything that the inner armor Ancestor Origin wore had been exposed. On the armor was a large fist mark that had dented a great portion of it! And it was because of this armor that Ancestor Origin was still alive!

"Ptu," Ancestor Origin spat out the blood that was in his mouth with an ugly expression on his face. His eyes were filled with anger. And he couldn't help but cast a helpless look at the state of his clothes.

"That brat!" Ancestor Origin fumed as he pulled off his useless clothes.

Sure his chest ached and his body was sore from the merciless strike. And yes, his house had been destroyed. But those wounds didn't strike as deeply as the one to his heart. For the clothes that had been destroyed were the last set of clothes his son made for him many decades ago; before the war swallowed him up and handed him to the Grim Reaper. Ancestor Origin may have thrown away his past, but his son's memory wasn't to be tarnished. And that was why he always wore these clothes. But now they were nothing but rags, and his rage burned against the one who caused his misery!

"I will cause you to feel the rage of a million stars and the power of a grieving Phenom!" Ancestor Origin bellowed as his anger rose to its peak. Under normal circumstances he should have been terrified by the recent development. For if Mane could so easily reduce him to such state with nothing but a blow, then surely he wasn't his match. Escaping should have been his next cause of action, but he was not interested in that at all. And unlike what Mane thought initially, Ancestor Origin's confidence didn't come from the Nature Barrier.

How could one as crafty as him not understand that the others were refusing to come out because they wanted to stay out of this? Ancestor Specter had never been informed because everyone knew he would disagree. And Ancestors Ice and Storm had always been looking for a way out. With Mane's strength he must have convinced them to switch allegiances! Ancestor Origin could smell this from the moment he realised that only Ancestor Fire was keeping Mane company. That meant using the barrier was not an option. So what was the source of his proud declaration and confident outburst? The answer was in his eyes!

Along with Ancestor Origin's declaration was a startling change to his eyes. The gray of his eyes were wiped away and several shades of red began to take its place. This wasn't the red of the Barbarians, but a different kind of red that spelled doom and destruction. Along with the red appeared the blackness that represented the shadows. And they blended to form an unhealthy union that was as creepy as it was spine tingling. The red pooled into a pupil and the black filled the sclera, forming the strangest pair of eyes the world had ever seen.

With its appearance the space around Ancestor Origin began to distort and things became difficult to discern. If Mane was here, he would have felt his bloodline shake strongly from the power of those eyes. And his own eyes would have trembled in caution and slight excitement. For the eyes Ancestor Origin possessed were those of legend; a legend that it shared with True Eyes. It was the other half of the Origin King's power; it was the half that was more greatly feared than coveted. It was the part of the legend that had been missing for many years now; the sought after orbs that had been lost in the True Universe, even to the brilliant mind of Ananse. And that was because it was no longer there. It was here in the Dreamscape. It was here with Ancestor Origin!

"You have chosen death, foolish boy!" Ancestor Origin spat out as his eyes span ominously within their sockets. He stood up and stretched forth his hand, and a ripple appeared in the space before him as the elements of space bent to his call. And without any hesitation he stepped into it!

"For my Eyes of Destruction will be your doom!"