A Bloody Battle

"97…98…99…100…" Lin counted as he did his push-ups. After the battle with Mau, he resorted to training and planned to use the rest of the day to rest and recover before the next day. It was a few minutes past midday. After a few more exercises, he resorted to training his elemental powers. "It has been a while since I trained my lightning abilities as I normally used the fire element more. I tended to train it more."

Lin wrapped his hands in lightning and began doing basic punches and kicks. He shot out lightning bolts from his fists and feet with every move. He used the lightning ability to increase speed while performing his foot techniques. His movements made him look like a dancing lightning god. 

As he went on, he slowly added flames to the mix, switching between the lightning and flames to shorten the time it would normally take to switch between them. "For now, I can only electrocute one person at a time. What I strive for is being able to cover an area with lightning, hence electrocuting many at once. To do that, I need a medium to transfer the lightning over an area. Something like a cloud."

"First, I need to induce the drops of water in the air and pull them together to form a cloud, then transfer my power through them, just like a lightning storm." 

Tiny lightning sparks filled the air, and water droplets gathered to create a dark spot. The spot grew and became a giant cloud with lightning moving within it. He clenched, and a streak of lightning hit the ground. He repeated his gesture, and one streak became two, two became three, three became four and before long, lightning poured from the sky like rain. 

He was covered in sweat as he struggled to maintain it. He could only use it three times before he collapsed to the ground, exhausted. "Whew!" He lay there panting as sweat dripped from him like he exited an oven. 

"Wooohooooooo!" Cheers rocked the audience as the details of the competitors were displayed on the screen labelled Quint. The quint section attracted more people than the others as the contender was Lin, who won his previous match against an opponent ranked higher than him. 

The details on the screen attracted even more audiences to the screen. Both those supporting Lin and those supporting his opponent. 

<Name: Lightning Inferno Sovereign> 

<Assigned Weapon: Spear> 

<Element Attributes: Flame> 

<Level: Quint> 

<Rank: 17> 

<Name: Adric> 

<Assigned Weapon: Bubble> 

<Element Attributes: Water> 

<Level: Quint> 

<Rank: 20> 

On a piece of crystal floating rock twice the size of Everest, a young man with short blue hair with the tip of the hair dyed green appeared. The rock seemed to have been carved and had weird plants ground on and around it. The young man was a little over a meter and a half tall and had eyes that were as blue as the sea. 

He looked into the distance but could not see the end of the rock they stood on. "Strange. I didn't know such a place existed in the territories. It's strange, yet, beautiful." He admired and walked towards the centre. He wore a tight-fitting white long-sleeved top with the seams from the wrist to the back looking like a connection of bones. With an attire as such, it was easy to discover him from a long distance. 

He saw an armoured man approach from the other side of the rock, with his mane flying in the wind. "So, that is my opponent, the Lightning Inferno Sovereign. He overwhelmed most of his previous opponents, so holding back is not an option." A streak of water flowed around his arms, and he raced for Lin like rushing water. 

Coming from the opposite end, Lin noticed a figure coming for him like crazy. Killing intent filled the air as the figure rushed for him. "Seriously? Killing intent? I feel like I have offended many people without even knowing it." 

Adric released a jet of water resembling a dragon at Lin once the gap between them decreased considerably. "Black Flames" Lin whispered and punched the incoming jet of water. Black flames shot out of his fists and collided with the water jet, covering the area in vapour. Lin instinctively withdrew his hand and inspected his fist. Blood flowed out of the gap in his armour. 

"That's some dangerous flame you have there." Adric complimented with a smirk. "I could say the same about that invisible weapon of yours", Lin sneered. "Just now, if I hadn't pulled my hand back, I would have lost it." 

Adric raised his hands as a small transparent ball-like bubble appeared in his hand. "Oh, you mean this?" he tossed the bubble into the air and kicked it towards Lin. The bubble exploded into several shards as it headed Lin's way. "That is dangerous!" Lin jumped back and summoned his spear. He spun it so fast it looked like the blades of a chopper in motion. 

The shards got deflected and scattered around the battlefield. "Flame Orb", Four flame orbs manifested around Lin, and he shot them at Adric, who countered with streams of water. Adric responded with the shards of the bubble mixed in water arrows. 

"Damn it! Those shards are annoying. With them being mixed with the arrows like that, it would be dangerous to block it directly. In that case, I will blow it all away in one go." Lin created an enormous flame orb and blew it up amidst the arrows coming at him while withdrawing. 

"Since there is no water here for me to control, I would have to rely on my internal elemental energy to create water, but with the nanoconfinement core given to me by Tolkien to temporally compensate for the energy I use up, I don't have to worry about running out of energy soon." 

Nanoconfinement cores are items which can be imbued with internal elemental energy. The energy, however, cannot be absorbed to increase one's internal energy. They can only be absorbed and used simultaneously. Storing a different internal elemental energy within you is deadly, as it can corrupt yours or cause it to blow up. 

Everyone has unique internal elemental energy with corresponding signatures. Putting two different signatures together creates a catastrophic reaction which can blow you up. 

Adric raised his hands and a water loop formed above his head. "Hey, punk!" he sneered as he watched the panting Lin. "Allow me to show you how to use internal elemental energy." He flicked his wrist, and water gushed out of the loop towards Lin. Before Lin could react, he was knocked to the ground by the water. 

"This pressure! How much energy does the bastard have?" Lin gritted his teeth as he struggled under the water pressure. He felt his joints creaking, and his arms were already sore and bleeding. 

"Ahhhh!" Lin yelled as his power erupted, and he slipped away from the water pushing him down. He retreated far away as he watched Adric from that distance. Adric's lips curled up into a wry smile, and before Lin could realise what he was up to, a bubble exploded in his face, and the shards tore through his armour and drew blood. 

Lin tried to retreat again, but the loop above Adric's head multiplied and appeared around Lin as a round of water pushed him into the ground, raising a cloud of dust and leaving a blood-muddied Lin in a crater. He attacked continuously until the crater grew larger. 

"I may have the advantage now, but that guy is strong too. If I let my guard down for a second, I am good as dead", Adric inferred and rushed to the crater where Lin was. He noticed bloodied fabrics and broken armour plates in the pit, but Lin was nowhere to be found. 

"Did that attack tear him into pieces? No way. Something is not right." Though the situation led him to believe so, his intuition as a fighter warned him not to take things lightly. 

The audience was in an uproar. Everything about the scene informed Lin was dead, shredded beyond recognition by the attack. 

"That's what you get for being arrogant. Kids these days", an old man commented. 

"Whoa! This is unbelievable. He couldn't have just died like that…could he…?" another inquired. 

Those who supported Adric were quite happy about the turnout of events, unlike those who did not. 

"Hang on", someone called their attention. If the Lightning Inferno Sovereign has been defeated, then why hasn't the other guy been teleported out yet?" he pointed out. 

It then dawned on them that the match was far from over. 

"Indeed, you have good intuition. That guy's opponent just took his foot off the tiger's neck." A voice boomed in the crowd, but no one knew who it belonged to.