Seed Of Speed

The two groups spread out, almost as if on que, and looked across the sandy field from each other. In the middle of the room, against the side wall, Rainshower and Diego's true body stood, waiting for everyone to get ready. Once he heard both sides were ready, Diego's ki'ta appeared in his hands and he strummed out one of his favorite tunes: ACDC's "Back in Black".

"Back in black I hit the sack

I've been too long I'm glad to be back

Yes I am…"

The start of the music was the signal for the start of combat. Stormblade, Kang, and Tovao charged forward while Silverflame, Kibal, and Korto mirrored the action. Stormblade was in the center with Tovao to his right, so that was where Kibal and Korto headed. Stormblade clearly had expected to face off against Silverflame as he started to move towards him, but one of Diego's clone popped up with his [White Lightning Array] to block his way.

Stormblade had not expected Diego's clone to be able to use his chi skills, so he was momentarily stunned which allowed Korto to get behind him and attack with his flail. Diego's clone pointed behind Stormblade, who had enough time to look over his shoulder then dodge the melon-sized, metal ball with his thunder-based evasion technique, but then found himself next to Tovao and in between the Hammer and Flail Brothers.

A black metal gauntlet covered Silverflame's hand as he dashed towards Kang Chan who had a small bottle in his hand. Before Silverflame could reach him though, he down the entire contents and gave a satisfied sigh. Silverflame stopped just a meter short of reaching Kang and punched out into the empty air, sending a large, silver fireball straight at Kang's face.

Moonfall and Flowingrock stood in the back of the perspective groups, but while Moonfall focused her attention on the various small fights, Flowingrock kept her eyes solely on Moonfall. Both had similar staves in their hands, Moonfall's being made of a blue wood with a blue crystal topping it and Flowingrock's have a more natural color while being topped with a green gem. Just as Moonfall began gathering mana, Flowingrock tapped her staff on the ground then dragged it to the side. Suddenly, the ground under Moonfall shifted and she stumbled to the right before looking up and locking eyes on Flowingrock. Although they both shared similar strong affinities with Earth and Water, both had gone down very different routes in controlling the two elements which sparked Moonfall's competitiveness.

"Let loose from the noose

That's kept me hanging about

I kept looking at the sky cause it's gettin' me high

Forget the hearse cause I'll never die

I got nine lives cat's eyes

Abusin' every one of them and runnin' wild…"

Diego's two [Speed Clones] stood slightly off to the side as he carefully watched everyone, but even with six sets of eyes, he still felt like there was too much to watch everything going on. Without any other choice, both [Speed Clones] used [Speed Sight] despite the headache he knew would follow by pushing his mind so far by, not only splitting it into three, but also slowing down his perception of time by increasing the speed in which his mind worked.

Korto released a large amount of chi as he swung his flail around, spinning himself in the process to further increase his momentum. Stormblade deflected the first swipe of the large metallic ball, but Korto continued to spin, coming back again and more power. Stormblade could easily dodge to the side in the window between swings, but that would leave Tovao's back open to the attack, so when the second swing came, he powered his sword with electricity which would transfer back to Korto through his metal weapon.

Tovao instantly realized the danger they were in when sandwiched between Kibal and Korto, and sensing that Stormblade was protecting his back, he knew that he had to be the one to break them out of the situation since he was the weaker of the two. Using the glaive given to him by the clan's blacksmith, he activated his self-created skill, [Wagging Tail], swinging his glaive with a chopping motion side to side as he pushed forward. Kibal used his dual hammers to deflect each of the swings but was surprised that Tovao was able to maintain the skill, constantly correcting the blade as it was knocked off course which forced him to keep taking a step backwards. This was the unique power of custom skill on display as Tovao's understanding of the weapon had grown by leaps and bounds since joining the sect.

Kang's chi wrapped around his body as he punched through the silver fireball, causing it to explode with a shower of embers that could not come within five centimeters of his body. Although Silverflame had not expected Kang to deal so easily with his spell, the training throughout his childhood had made learn never to relent on an opponent until they were truly defeated or dead. Silverflame punched out with his protected fist, but Kang dodged the attack by stumbling to the left. Thinking he had the upperhand, Silverflame quickly threw a left hook, but Kang swatted it away, as if swatting a fly, and countered with a lightning fast palm thrust that sent Silverflame stumbling back as he tried to regain control of his momentum.

Excited to have a new rival, Moonfall jumped up high with the aid of a spell, {Lower Gravity}, as she waved her staff in front of her. Arrows of ice form along the trail the crystal on top of the staff and shot out, heading straight for Flowingrock. Flowingrock countered by tapping her staff against the ground, causing four pillars of sand to erupt in the path of the arrows, blocking them. Just as Moonfall was about to land, Flowingrock tapped her staff again, creating a cage of sand to form right where she was landing. Moonfall had no choice but to fall into the trap, but she was already casting her own counter. Water poured out of the crystal on the staff and wrapped around her body just as the sand cage tightened. The outer layer turned to ice then erupted, destroying the cage, with a thrust of her hands.

"Cause I'm back

Yes I'm back

Well I'm back

Yes I'm back

Well I'm back back

Well I'm back in black

Yes I'm back in black…"

Now that Tovao had made some room between them, Stormblade was able dodge the ever faster spinning flail without worrying too much about Tovao being collateral damage. The electricity never reached Korto as his chi was fully spread through the chain of the flail, but it did weaken the attack's power slightly although it was unnoticeable to Stormblade. {Spinning Destruction} was a custom technique Korto had developed which locked onto his opponent, so no matter how Stormblade dodged, the flail was always right behind him. The downside to the skill, though, was it could only be maintained for twenty seconds and Korto would be hit with a wave of dizziness that would last for two or three seconds, but that would more than enough time for Stormblade to gain the advantage.

Kibal was being pushed back, step by step, but for all the focus he had on Tovao, he had just as much on his brother as he counted down the time. He knew his brother would be vulnerable once the skill ended, so he had to be there to protect him from Stormblade when the time came. When Tovao finally let up with his skill, Kibal jumped back with aid of his evasion skill then raised both hammers overhead, one taking on a green glow and the other a yellow from their enchantments. He slammed down both hammers on the ground in front of him causing the surrounding sand exploded up and shoot at Tovao. Using the cover, he activated his evasion technique and rushed to his brother's side.

Silverflame finally stopped after a dozen steps and looked down at the {Sandstone Armor} b.r.e.a.s.tplate which now had a series spiderweb cracks across it from the impact. Kang did not follow up with another attack and instead, had another small bottle appear in his hand. As Silverflame watched Kang sip on the bottle, he realized who his master must be: Jac Kihan, Martial Master of the Drunken Fist! Martial Master Kihan held the same rank as a Grand Master in the sect despite being unable to wield. Due to his unique constitution, special liquors would match their chi purer while also giving it the ability to dispel magic with ease.

If Kang was truly his disciple, he no doubt had the same ability, making most magic useless against, but Silverflame also knew that he had no chance in besting him in a fist fight, especially while he was drinking. Although fire, wind, and lightning would be completely useless against him, Silverflame status as an adapt was not in vein as he had an array of spells at his disposal. With a raise of his hand, a series of ice balls, the size of a fist, formed above Kang's head and then began to rain down on him. Kang gave a look of surprise as few shamans knew the proper way to attack him, but he did not both to dodge the attack at all, activating his [Complete Scarlet-Gold Body], and let the ice rain down upon him while strengthening the upper part of his body with chi.

Moonfall was impressed by Flowingrock's fine control. Despite the long distance and fighting between them, she had easily calculated where she would land and sent her spell with the greatest precision she had ever seen since the 'root' of the spell had been right where the ball of her right foot touched. Moonfall might not be able to match her precision, she knew there was no way Flowingrock could match her illusions. She flooded the sand around her with mana then casted one of Diego's favorite spells, {Mirage}. Five more Moonfalls appeared and they danced around each other, using the footwork of an evasion skill without moving her chi since the copies could not use it. Flowingrock tried to lash out at the all of the Moonfalls, but she had to disperse the mana in the ground before her spells could get through. Once again, Moonfall jumped high in the air, as did the copies, under the power of {Lower Gravity} and shot another six {Ice Arrows} at Flowingrock, each one appearing in front of a Moonfall.

"Back in the back of a Cadillac

Number one with a bullet I'm a power pack

Yes I am

In a bang with the gang

They've got to catch me if they want me to hang

Cause I'm back on the track and I'm beatin' the flack

Nobody's gonna get me on another rap

So look at me now I'm just makin' my play

Don't try to push your luck just get out of my way…"

Stormblade charged in the moment Korto stopped spinning with {Lighting Thrust}, powered by his evasion technique [Lightning Rush]. Just before the attack could reach Korto, Kibal knocked him to the side and took the attack in his place while using his hammers to defend. Stormblade's sword stabbed into the hammers, knocking then back into Kibal's c.h.e.s.t and skidded him back nearly a meter, despite digging his heels into the sand, while at the same time, the electricity jumped into his body, numbing with pain. Just when Kibal thought he had made it through the attack, his {Sandstone Armor} b.r.e.a.s.tplate crumbled. By the rules, he was now out and while Stormblade chuckled about beating him, he smirked as his brother attacked his open back.

Tovao had to cover his eyes as he suddenly felt as if he was in a sandstorm, but when it passed the next second, Kibal had already made his move. He turned around just as Stormblade's attack hit Kibal and Korto was standing up. Shaking his head, Korto swung his flail without any chi and straight at Stormblade's back. Tovao yelled as he dashed forward, leaving a fiery trail in his wake.

Silverflame's brow twitched as he watched the ice balls crashing down on Kang's prefect level innate defensive technique which few could match. Kang only reacted once when his bottle was threatened by an ice ball and instead, knocked it away with a headbutt. He added more mana to the spell until the ice grew from fist to melon in size, but even then, Kang just swatted them away with a smirk on his face.

Flowingrock had finally cleared the mana out of the area, but with Moonfall and her copies in the air, she could not tell them apart or attack them easily. She sensed Moonfall charging her mana, but the nature of the {Mirage} spell made her unable to tell which one was the real one as the copies gave off the same levels of power, unlike normal cloning spells. Her only hope was that she got lucky and casted her spell at three of the six Moonfalls. Unfortunately, her guess was wrong as all three shattered into specks of light. She quickly tapped her staff again, locking onto the other three, but Moonfall had enough time to complete her spell.

"Cause I'm back

Yes I'm back

Well I'm back

Yes I'm back

Well I'm back back

Well I'm back in black

Yes I'm back in black

Well I'm back yes I'm back

Well I'm back yes I'm back

Well I'm back back

Well I'm back in black

Yes I'm back in black…"

Stormblade realized he had left his back exposed and, with Tovao's yell, he did not hesitate to use a water-based evasion technique that allowed him to swiftly move to the side. He missed Korto's flail by the smallest of margins as he continued to retreat even after his escape. The affinity of {Sandstone Armor} would not allow him to use his custom-spell, {Body of the Storm}, so Stormblade was not at his peak performance.

After watching Stormblade retreat, Korto thought he had a moment of reprieve, but just as his dizziness passed, a red-hot glaive came thrusting towards his gut. As he had practiced countless times, he snapped the chain of his flail right under the blade, knocking it upwards, while dropping his shoulder so that the glaive just scr.a.p.ed along the top of his {Sandstone Armor} b.r.e.a.s.tplate, leaving a gouge behind. This gave Korto the element of surprise when he shot forward and tackled Tovao as he activated his [Complete Golden Body].

Since Kang was barely bothered by his attack and did not even bother chasing, Silverflame looked over at the rest of his team and realized that one of the brothers on his side had already been knocked out of the match. He placed his hands together as he summoned a large amount of mana then casted an adapt level spell, {Fire Wolf of the Hunt}. Kang scoffed at the spell until he realized the wolf made of fire was not heading towards him, and instead towards Tovao. The bottle vanished from his hand and he charged towards the wolf, but before he could take more than a few steps, a wall of sandstone erupted, blocking his path. Kang turned his head to glare at Silverflame who was now wearing a smirk.

Before Flowingrock could channel her magic to crush the sand cage around Moonfall, the spell hit her, and she was assaulting by flashing, bright lights that even closing her eyes could not keep them at bay. {Dazzling Light} effected the mind directly and would disrupt any active spell the victim had active, so the sand cage around Moonfall collapsed. It would not take long for Flowingrock to dispel her spell, but it would give Moonfall time to cast one or two more basic spells. She raised her staff and pointed it at Stormblade, who vanished from sight in the next moment.

"Ho yeah

Oh yeah

Yes I am

Oh yeah, yeah oh yeah

Back in now…"

After realizing Moonfall had casted {Invisibility} on him, Stormblade ran forward without using his chi or charging any mana, so that he would truly be invisible, although his footsteps in the sand would betray him if anyone was watching closely like Diego. He circled around the entire group and headed straight for Flowingrock who was the most vulnerable to a surprise attack.

Tovao was knocked to the ground, as was his glaive, but he was not completely defenseless as his master had made him learn a number of unarmed techniques. His body turned gold as he activated his [Partial Gold Body] and he smashed his elbow across Korto's head. Although it dazed him a bit, overall, Korto defense was stronger than Tovao and he proceeded to slam both fist together on Tovao's c.h.e.s.t, successfully destroying the {Sandstone Armor} b.r.e.a.s.tplate.

Kang shrugged and instead of going to help Tovao, he pushed his evasion technique to rapidly close the distance between him and Silverflame. Although he was a little surprised, Silverflame quickly casted a number of sandstone walls to stall Kang while he retreated back to Flowingrock's side. Despite looking like a drunk buffoon, stumbling and rolling out of the way of the walls, Kang quickly closed the distance between them.

Flowingrock channeled her mana into her mind and finally, the lights disappeared and she could see again, but when she looked for Moonfall, she was gone! Instantly, she realized that Moonfall must have used an {Invisibility} spell, so she shifted her vision to {Mana-Sight}, and could see two spots, about a meter apart, where Water Mana was rushing to. Since the two clones of Diego had done nothing, but stand at the side, she assumed that the source must be Moonfall and Stormblade, powering up for a large spell. Her let her mana flair as she double tapped her staff and two sandstone pillars erupted at an angle to smash into the spots.

"Well I'm back, I'm back

Back, (I'm back)

Back, (I'm back)

Back, (I'm back)

Back, (I'm back)

Back

Back in black

Yes I'm back in black

Outta sight…"

Although Tovao was technically out, the fire wolf did not know that as it continued on its course. Korto had just stood up and was offering a hand to Tovao when the two clones of Diego appeared next to them with a flash of light from his {White Lightning Array}. The flame wolf leapt up in the air with the intent to maul Tovao, but one clone casted an {Ice Wall} around Tovao while the other lashed out with a {Water Whip}. The water whip passed through the fire wolf, but dimmed the silver flames then, when the beast crashed into the {Ice Wall}, it complete dissipated while scattering silver flames in different directions.

Stormblade crept up behind Flowingrock and placed his sword to his neck as he f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y dispelled the {Invisibility} spell. Of course, Flowingrock did not try to play hero as she voluntarily released her own {Sandstone Armor}, marking her as out.

Silverflame skidded to a stop when Stormblade revealed himself and, despite knowing his cousin would not hurt her, a rage deep within him bubbled up as his eyes flashed with red. Kang had nearly reached him, but Silverflame suddenly reacted with a kick behind himself, throwing up sand, as well as a concealed sandstone spike. Kang underestimated Silverflame's sneakiness and the spike crashed into his {Sandstone Armor} b.r.e.a.s.tplate, breaking.

"I think that's enough for now," Diego's true body called out as the song finished.

Stormblade put away his sword, but Silverflame was still glaring at him like he was his mortal enemy. Flowingrock, who understood Silverflame's condition, rushed over to his side and placed a hand on his c.h.e.s.t as the {Sandstone Armor} crumbled. Everyone else's {Sandstone Armor} crumbled at the same time and they gathered in the center while giving the two adapts space.

::You need to be careful around that smith, he has made a pact with a Daemora::

(What are you talking about? What's a Daemora?) Diego asked silently.

::Think of them like this… Those Gods we took 'Seeds' from fought against another race, the Daemora. The biggest difference between our sides is that ours refuses to use their powers. There has yet to be a way to safely transplant their power like we can with the 'God Seeds' so those who have been given that power slowly lose their sense of self to be replaced by the Daemora's::

(So what? He is like an evil version of me?)

::No, he has yet to integrate with the Daemora, but it is likely that the true power behind his clan, and the desert empire, is an Avatar of a Daemora. His pact with the Daemora is something that should be a require of all heirs in his clan to undergo. If, and when, the Avatar starts to lose control of him or herself, they will be killed and the 'most worthy' pact member will be chosen to be the next Avatar::

(Then what should I do?)

::Nothing for now, for he is still the man he was before the pact, but you do need to be careful. He will have a much harder time controlling his temper and, if he feels threatened, he could turn berserk attack friend and foe alike. If that happens, you will be his first target with the 'God Seed' inside your body::

Diego sighed, but as this was the first bit of real danger brought solely by the 'Seed' within him, he could not complain too much. It had brought him considerable power, just like the System Katalina had created. He would just have to face the problem head on if it ever arises.