Crucial Fact

"You are only delaying the inevitable! Stop running like a coward and face me!" bellowed Mark as he chased after Bastian's figure frantically. "It's not running. It's a strategic retreat." said Bastian with a snicker.

Mark had grown tired of chasing Bastian. For the past ten minutes, he had covered countless meters going for Bastian, only to have the latter dodge him at the last moment. He felt like someone who was about to eat, only to have their meal taken right in front of their eyes.

Mark was a patient man but this was pushing his limits.

He won't be able to keep this up for long, I've almost got him. I don't know why he is also becoming faster, but my rate of improvement has become faster than his. It is only a matter of time before I end him!

At first, the two were both improving but Mark's rate of improvement became higher than Bastian's at some point. With every second, with every movement, Mark was consolidating his cultivation base and getting used to his new body.

This did not bode well for Bastian, who had been coming up with a plan for the past ten minutes. After realizing that Mark was catching up with him, Bastian was forced to enact his plan sooner than he had hoped to.

Each elemental attribute had a weakness to another element. Fire and earth had the same weakness in this regard, water. Water was the weakness of earth attribute warriors and the bane of fire attribute users. So far, Bastian had not done anything to show Mark what his attribute was.

Due to the fact that Bastian was unburned by the flame arrow, Mark had guessed that Bastian must have been a fire attribute mage, and that Bastian's bloodline gave him certain immunity to fire, which was in fact, half true.

Bastian's bloodline did give him a certain degree of immunity to fire but he was not simply a fire attribute mage. Bastian had the water attribute as well!

To create pressure magic, Bastian had to input elements from both fire and water magic. For the atmosphere was filled with water molecules. Water played a big part in manipulation of the world's weather.

Low level water magic was not suitable for attack for obvious reasons. It was mostly used for defense or for support. Bastian had only learned five basic water spells but they were more than enough for his purposes. One was on how to convert mana into water and the reverse, the second was on how to manipulate water molecules in the atmosphere, the third was on how to change the state of water molecules, the forth was a basic illusion spell that used water vapor and the last spell was on how to manipulate surface tension.

Bastian had no intention on learning more water spells; he believed that with these five, coupled with knowledge from the legacies in his bloodline and earth science, he would be able to create far better spells than the ones that were already in use.

He had messed around with water enough to be able to manipulate a small amount freely. Normally that would not have any use in battle but in this case, Bastian decided to take a gamble.

He held one hand behind his back and started chanting as he dodged Mark's attacks. Mark was surprised but that did not stop him from attacking. In fact it motivated him into moving with more vigor.

He is definitely up to something. I have to stop him! But I can't be rash either. At best he will use a fire spell that will barely be able to damage me.

Mark was worried but at the same time he was confident that he would be able to take on anything that Bastian gave him. Mark was prepared to go all out, when the unexpected occurred. He caught Bastian's arm.

Already? No it should not be this soon. I hadn't done anything.

Mark's brain worked into overdrive trying to understand why he had caught Bastian's arm so quickly, resulting in a slight lapse. It was less than a fraction of a second but that was all the time Bastian needed.

Mark had gripped Bastian's left arm, his grip was tight and extremely powerful, causing Bastian's face to contort in pain. Nevertheless, Bastian carried out his plan without hesitation.

Bastian's free hand came into Mark's sight. In Bastian's open palm was a water arrow rotating in a fierce manner. The shock from seeing this arrow caused Mark to enter into another momentary lapse.

Even though this happened, reflexes were not something to be taken lightly. To a person who had both the fire and earth attributes, water was bad news, especially water formed from a mage. In Mark's mind, this was a water arrow formed by a top grade Acolyte who had an awakened bloodline.

Even though Mark had broken through to become a Teacher, he still subconsciously acted as a Fighter. That was something which Bastian had been counting on.

The arrows rate of rotation was incredible, no doubt increasing its penetrative power.

The rotation was so fierce winds were being formed that were nearly as intense as the ones formed by Mark's movements. That caused alarm bells to ring off in Mark's mind. Little did he know that the winds were merely a show by Bastian, to give the impression of immense power.

The arrow itself was not large, it was quiet small. It looked no longer than fifteen centimeters. This was due to Bastian's limited abilities with water magic. But Mark mistook it as Bastian condensing the arrow to give it more firepower, which was also part of Bastian's plan.

The winds clashing caused a lot of noise, making it seem as if the two were in the middle of a storm.

Mark's reaction was quick. He let go of Bastian's arm and attempted to jump back but he did not move fast enough; the arrow was going straight for his chest. Due to Mark thinking like a Fighter, he focused all of the qi he could muster toward his chest. Due to fear, he had completely forgotten basic knowledge. A spell from an Acolyte cannot pierce a Teacher's qi.

The arrow hit Mark's chest, or rather, his qi. Yet things did not go according to Mark's train of thought. Instead of it penetrating his chest, it actually exploded.

Mark had been in midair, and Bastian had attacked from below, so the shockwave from the explosion pushed Mark up into the sky. Yet it did absolutely no damage whatsoever. Mark was shocked by this.

As the sound of intense winds assaulted his ears, his mind tried to make sense of everything.

Why was it so weak? Could I have misjudged the arrows power? But the sounds made by the arrow were so intense I can still hear them now...wait, what?

At that point in time, Mark realized a crucial fact. The arrow had exploded, yet the sound of wind had not receded. In fact, it was louder and more intense. Unfortunately Mark realized this fact late.

On the ground Bastian observed Mark fly into the sky, reaching the intended target, Bastian then smiled and said in a voice that only he could hear, "Crescendo."