Chapter 10

In the end I decided that I would finish him off by simply hitting him. I don't enjoy attacking just to inflict pain. I fight this war to gain power, to grow as a warrior in this world of constant war, but more importantly, I fight to survive. I do not fight for the simple pleasure of doing it, nor the pleasure of making others suffer. I believe that there are limits that must be respected in order not to fall into unnecessary violence and bloodlust.

*BOOOOM*

*SIGH*

I devoured the energy of the fire elemental's "Core" and absorbed the fire essences. They won't be much, but in this war a lot of elementals die and essences are everywhere. It's easy to collect essences, I simply use my lava tentacles to absorb as many as I can find.

*BOOOOM*

*BOOOOM*

I decided my next fight as I watched 4 fire elementals overwhelm 1 earth elemental. I could still hold on, but with the amount of damage I was taking I wouldn't last long. I "lunged" to his aid with 4 fireballs that shot out my lava tentacles.

*BOOOOM**BOOOOM**BOOOOM*

The fireballs hit their 4 distracted targets and caused all four to turn their gaze towards me. The earth elemental was smaller than me, as it reached halfway up my torso. Since I was bigger, I made a big impression on the fire elementals who were a little smaller than the earth elemental. They hesitated a bit when they saw me approaching, but in the end they decided that they would attack me all 4 together.

*BOOOOM*

They started returning the 4 fireballs I had thrown at them. I was already expecting this kind of attack so I simply blocked them with my lava tentacles calmly. As soon as we were face to face the first blow was from me. With one of my arms I attacked the face of one of the fire elementals. This happened while the rest surrounded me. The fire elemental I had hit had moved back a little. So I did not waste and threw the other blow I had prepared, but this was directed towards his right shoulder, with the intention of limiting their chances of attacking me.

*BOOOOM*

As for the other 3, they decided to hit me. I used my tentacles to meet with the fist of each one, thus reducing the damage I would receive, because my tentacles were strong but they didn't have the strength to block the attacks completely. Even so, only 3 tentacles blocked, the last one I used to attack another of the elementals, this time hitting him in the chest. The blow was like a whip, as I knew they were more useful for this kind of attacks. Though piercing attacks would be fine too, they do less damage than if I used them this way.

*BOOOOM*

How could I concentrate on defending myself against so many elementals at the same time, it had a lot to do with my knowledge of their attacks, my experience dealing with them and my constant struggle in fights that forced me to keep improving. It was only thanks to that kind of "training" that I managed to become what I am now.

*BOOOOM*

So dealing with one, two, three, four or five elementals was easy. If I tried a little harder I could deal with 6. This was all thanks to my tentacles that acted as my most versatile weapons and reliable limbs. In fact, they were so useful that I planned to add 2 more after I had the necessary body mass.

*BOOOOM*

My fight with the elemental in front of my fists was quick. With 1 well measured blow to each shoulder I prevented it from attacking me, and with the time it took to try to straighten up again there was another direct blow to its head. It was a basic technique for dealing with elementals like these. Repeating the chain of attacks about 3 times I ended the existence of that elemental, so I turned to hit the one on my left side and taking advantage of my positioning, I moved my "waist" generating a torque force that allowed my right arm to grab momentum and hit harder than normal, for my common attacks of course.

*BOOOOM*

The poor elemental took the surprise blow directly to its head, flipping it over and causing it to lose balance for its next attack, which clearly missed. Taking advantage of the fact that I now had one more tentacle to use in attack, I used it by swinging it around to whip its chest. When the elemental turned its gaze full of anger and hatred towards me, I just hit its face again. This time the blow was from below so I lifted its face, causing its body to bend slightly backwards, I prepared my next blow for when it returned to its position, like the combat dummy Po suffered with in Kung Fu Panda.

*BOOOOM*

*BOOOOM**BOOOOM*

Too bad for the poor elemental, it died after 3 more hits. Turning around again this time I used my tentacles to grab the arms of both elementals and prevented them from running away, as I could already feel their fear and anxiety. One of the best things about having the empathic ability, it allows me to predict my enemy's next move, simply by understanding their feelings.

*BOOOOM*

With both of them tied to me, I proceeded to beat them while the tentacles pulled their arms to destabilize them whenever I focused on one. It was a brutal beating, but at least I saved a fellow elementalist.

*BOOOOM*

After slaying both remaining elementals, I devoured everything and turned around to see how the earth elemental's fight was going... It had died. A shame, really. I guess I'll devour what's left of him so that at least a part of him lives on in me... Or so a zerg-style villain would say, hahaha.

*BOOOOM*

But I will devour what's left, I need it. I continued on my way observing battles until I met the gaze of another elemental. A lava elemental from the enemy side.

*sigh*

There is nothing more frustrating than these guys. They hang on and do damage, use spells every chance they get and don't hold back. It's hard to stop them from attacking and while entangling them is useful, my tentacles are better spent whipping him and causing damage with spells than preventing him from using an arm, as his strength is no joke... They're an annoying foe.

*BOOOOM*

Anyway, since he saw me, he'll chase me until I have a fight to the death with him. So pushing away my reluctance and raising my will as high as I could, I threw myself at him. I would fight and win, of that I was sure.

*BOOOOM*

We exchanged blows with the explosions of the elemental lords as background music. I knew that his next attack would be another blow to my chest, so I readied my fist and blocked it with my own. We were both causing damage to each other, though not much. I would change that by using my tentacles as whips, lashing his face from left to right, like slaps. I would do it with the intention of making his already great anger grow and consume his rationality. In a way it was dangerous to do so, but it made it easier for me to make certain moves without worrying about an overly intelligent response from him.

My strategy worked, I felt the anger rise and explode like a volcano. Knowing this made me excited, for everything was going as I wanted it to. With another blow that I blocked with my arm, I took more damage, but I grabbed his arm with that hand and pulled him towards me as hard as I could, destabilizing him and making him come in my direction. When his head was right where I wanted it, I used my other arm to hit him from above, causing his head to come down even further. All this happened for my next attack.

I used a lava spell and raised a column of lava, like a geyser, which impacted his head and chest, lifting him slightly off the ground and causing him to fall backwards. But I would not allow him to fall, instead I raised another column of lava causing the exact opposite effect and pushing him further into the air and towards me. During all this I had been changing the mass of my right arm using the mass of my tentacles, and increasing the size for a bigger and stronger impact.

When the lava elemental fell towards me, I struck its head with a blow from below. Such was the force and his lack of support that I was able to turn his direction again, stopping him from the blow.

I didn't waste the opportunity of his confusion for everything that had happened and again I hit, this time the blow came from above and with force, a crack sounded.

*CRAACK*

It had broken the volcanic stone that made up its skull. But the lava elemental would not go down alone with such attacks. After I struck, it regained its composure and hit me back in the face. I must admit that it hurt a lot. Ironically it burned me where it hit. My posture suffered from that blow and he didn't waste it, hitting my chest with his other arm and pushing me, for my mass was not as focused on strength and endurance as he was, I was more agile, at least more so than he was.

As it pushed me, I moved backwards, after which I received a lava ball that I had thrown to continue the attack. Then another ball of lava and I repositioned myself again. I had been shifting the mass I had put on my right arm, placing it back on my back and returning my tentacles. I used them to throw a ball of lava at another ball of lava I had thrown.

I didn't wait to 'run' back in his direction. I wouldn't let him turn this battle into one where I would spend all my mana. I would beat him to death and deliver him straight to where he belonged. In my stomach, where it would be processed to be part of my strength.

With another lava ball blocked, I struck while he did the same. Our fists connected again, and I took the opportunity to throw a lava ball at his face, personally served by one of my tentacles.

The lava elemental tried to move away from me, but I would not allow it. I moved closer and our blows connected again, but this time he seemed to learn, as a ball of lava from him hit the tentacle I would use to throw a ball of lava at his face. I wasn't disappointed, these guys are much smarter than the initial elementalists. So I struck again. This time I let his attack hit me in exchange for hitting his face again. I continued to exchange blow for blow with him, until another sound appeared again.

*CRACK CRAACK*

It looked like his chest was cracking, as well as his skull. The lava elemental realizing this, used a spell and summoned a column of lava that hit me in the chest and pushed me up in the air. I knew what he wanted to do, he wanted to hit me back, but I wouldn't let him. I readied one of my arms for the blow I would give him when he threw me back in his direction while I readied the other to strike his fist and block it. Too bad I couldn't use my elemental magic to defend myself when I wasn't in contact with the ground. Throwing a lava ball would do nothing against the column of lava that would shoot towards me. So I simply let myself be carried away.

With another blow from my back I was propelled towards my opponent, and I saw him preparing to hit me. Just as I guessed, he wants to hit me back. He didn't succeed, my left fist hit too and blocked his punch thanks to the momentum I had, while my right fist hit his chest, causing more sounds to appear again.

* CRACK CRACK CRAAACK *

His chest lost the volcanic stone that gave it shape and a mass of lava erupted inside him. Now it was time to move on to phase 2. The battle would only escalate from now on.

*sigh*

So, LET'S FINISH IT!

Author's Note: What do you think of this chapter? I invite you to comment, because every comment is a motivation to continue writing. Give opinions or constructive criticism that will help me improve, advice that I could use or ideas that I could use for attacks or future parts of the plot. I will give credit to everyone for their help, and I thank you for all your support.

By the way, if at least 8 people comment on this chapter, I'll update again with one more chapter, today. ^^. If you want to know the answer to this question, wait patiently and impatiently for the next chapter.