Seed Of Speed

Finishing his first song, Diego knew it was time to attack, so he sent his [Speed Clones] with the other members of his group to divide and conquer the separated team. Only is main body remained back with his keyboard as he started up a new song, channeling {Encore of Battle} to drain his opponents' energy reserves while boosting his team at the same time, but something was different this time. With his d.e.s.i.r.e just on the edge of his conscious mind, Foreigner's 'Cold as Ice' took on a new power.

::{Encore of Battle} evolved into {Elemental Tempest}::

::Hidden Mission Completed! 500 skill points awarded::

(Care to explain? I don't really have time to read the description right now,) Diego asked silently as his [Speed Clone] race forward to catch up with Silverflame and Flowingrock.

::The oversaturation of Water and Wind mana in the air, combined with your d.e.s.i.r.e to slow down your opponents and your choice of song, has allowed you to create {Elemental Tempest}, a high-ranked Bardic Mage ability that gives you limited control the elements of your focus. You, and your allies, will notice an improvement of their Water, Wind, or Ice spells of fifty percent while your opponents will struggle to use the same elements, weakening their spells by thirty percent and increasing the drain of mana of those spells by nearly twenty percent::

(Holy shit?!? Is that also on top of the boost from having so much mana in the air as well?)

::Yes::

(Ha, ha, just in time! Invest my remaining skill points into [Ten Stirkes, One Thrust] and get it to the twelfth level!)

Diego laughed out loud and reached out with his mind to connect it to Flowingrock and Silverflame, who were the closest. ("Use Water, Wind, and Ice magics when you can. My music will strengthen those elements on top of the power from the storm!")

("You had to pick my weakest elements,") Silverflame complained.

("It could be no elements if you prefer,") Diego replied with a bit of humor. ("Lightningrush is mine!")

Diego shot past the pair as a streak of white light and headed straight for Lightningrush, but Blackshield quickly moved in front of him with his shield now on his forearm. With the speed granted to him by his {White Lightning Array}, Diego overlaid a black-ranked chi technique, {Madman's Charge}, which made the tip of his spear shine with a golden light. This technique sacrificed all forms of self-defense to allow the user to combine their speed and strength into one powerful thrust.

In the split-second Diego's spear tip touched Blackshield's shield, the golden light dimmed, but in the next, an earth-shattering 'boom' exploded from the impact. Blackshield was sent skidding back, despite trying to dig his heels into the sand, and slammed hard against the ice wall behind, coughing up another mouth of blood. Unfortunately, Diego did not escape the attack unscathed either as Blackshield's trademark was reflecting a portion of damage back at his attacker.

Diego was thrown back several steps as well and the traces of blood dripping from his lips were quickly washed away by the rain. The 'reflection' of his attack directly affected his body as Blackshield's chi wreaked havoc inside his body. He would need a good minute to carefully tame the foreign energy to lessen the injuries, but his opponent was not willing to grant him such a luxury.

Lightningrush crackled with violet lightning and raced forward with his two-handed hammer over his head. With the foreign energy inside of him, Diego could only jump back with the normal strength of his legs. The hammer landed heavily on the ground, but despite missing, violet snakes of lightning rushed off the hammer and chased after him. Diego snorted arrogantly as he channeled lightning mana through his body and cut down the follow-up attack with a sweep of his spear.

Although they did not look too similar and Lightningrush was far more powerful, Diego could not help but overlay the image of his brother Peyni, and their duel, shortly after he had arrived in this world. It had been his first taste of this new world where the strong ruled the weak and had been the first time he started to show his power. Now, over half a year had passed, his strength had grown by leaps and bounds, and he was facing another two-handed hammer wielder.

Seeing his magical attack destroyed, Lightningrush kicked off the ground like a bulldozer and swung his hammer overhead once again. Not underestimating his opponent's strength, Diego body turned crimson-metallic as he active his [Complete Scarlet-Gold Body] and attacked the hammerhead with [Ten Strikes, One Thrust], just as he had done to Peyni all those months ago. Six phantom images of his spear surrounded the spear in Diego's hand as they met Lightningrush's hammer's smash.

Again, the sound of an explosion erupted while both Lightningrush and Diego were thrown back nearly a dozen steps. Neither had lost their weapon or taken any serious damage, and both stared back at each other with a battle crazy light in their eyes. With a laugh, they both rushed forward.

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While Diego tied down Lightningrush, Silverflame and Flowingrock landed in front of Blueserpent. A rare rage could be seen in his eyes as he glared at the pair while the blue magma snake had coiled its body around him.

"This was never my intention when I agreed to aid Brightmelody, but I am a man of my word, brother-in-law," Silverflame said to Blueserpent.

"Man of your word?" Blueserpent mocked then spit in disgust. "What of your promise to my sister? You claim you'll be by her side for eternity, but you won't live past the Crowning Ritual! I told you to LEAVE HER!"

"This is her decision, not yours, not mine," Silverflame sighed.

"Not anymore, now that I am back!" he snarled and threw out a hand.

The magma snake opened its mouth and spewed a stream of molten lava straight at Silverflame. The ground in front of him under Flowingrock's command in perfect unison as Silverflame made a barrier of silver flames. The two spells overlapped to form a strengthened, harden rock that easily blocked the blue magma despite its incredible heat.

Silverflame squeezed Flowingrock's hand before letting go and jumping up onto the wall, as he activated his own Manifested Armor. His red robes were covered in beautiful silver armor that off the faintest hint of flames at the edge of each piece. A pair of scimitars appeared in his hands as he touched down and looked down at Blueserpent.

"I truly hate Ice magic, but it is the most effective against you," Silverflame said then dashed forward with a streak of flames.

Blueserpent commanded his snake to launch more attacks, but each time, they were blocked by a column of sand controlled by Flowingrock who had taken Silverflame's previous location. She took was in her own Manifested Armor which was sea-green in color, but appeared as bangles on her wrists, ankles, and around her neck. Her staff looked to be made from a tangle of brown vines and was topped with two crystals, one blue, the other green, carved to overlap each other as a seemless whole.

Silverflame jump and spun in the air as his scimitars produced an icy mist. The magma snake swiped its tail to meet the incoming, but the spell completed first. Both of the scimitars struck the molten tail at the same time as two more large blades of ice formed behind Silverflame's back and chopped at the main body of the snake which protected Blueserpent.

Despite being cut off, the molten tail continued push Silverflame back and try to wrap around his swords. He was only keep the magma back by furiously pouring Water and Wind mana into his blades, but he was hemorrhaging mana at an alarming rate. He felt the ground him turn soft and he took in a deep breath right before the ground turned seemingly liquid and swallowed him up.

His eyes were closed, and he could not breath, but he had complete trust as the sand under his feet propelled him forward. At the same time, he could feel a layer of {Sandstone Armor} form on top of his own and he smiled to himself. He judged the distance and readied his sabers.

Silverflame shot out of the sand at high speeds, his scimitars covered in a layer of ice. Before Blueserpent could react, he was already there, cleaving through the remaining layers of the magma snake. Blueserpent could only glare at Silverflame as his own Manifested Armor activated to block the remainder of Silverflame's attack, but that also meant he had lost by the restrictions of this duel.

An elder in black robes suddenly appeared and placed a hand on Blueserpent's shoulder, "Core Disciples are restricted from using their Manifested Armor. You are removed from the contest." In the next second, they both disappeared as the blue molten serpent crumbled.

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Blackshield pushed himself back up onto his feet and looked around. Blueserpent was being double-teamed, but even he did not want to step into that family drama. Lightningrush and Brightmelody had stopped directly trading blows and instead, it seemed as if Brightmelody was determined to wear out Lightningrush. He skirted around the heavy swings and he was proving to be as resiliant to Thunder magic as Quicksand had said.

Neither of his allies were in a good match-up, but before he could decide which one to aid, his instincts tingled, and he raised his shield over his head. He was slammed to a knee as Kang Chen's foot crashed down on the shield, a strange haze surrounding his body, then nimbly jumped off the shield.

"Now, now, Brightmelody is already taking on three of you guys and supplying this lovely music. I can't really let you make his job any harder. Why not join me in a drink?" Kang suggested, raising the small vase in his hand.

"Kang Chen, martial apprentice, student of the Drunken Fist," Blackshield said, standing back up.

"Heh heh, a Core Disciple like you knows me, I'm honored," Kang replied sarcasticly and sipped on his wine.

Blackshield's eyes narrowed and his body shimmered with a black light. A black lance, like the ones that attacked Stormblade in the air just on a much smaller scale, shot through the air and shattered Kang's vase. "Your wine reeks of Inhiodet Root," he said coldly.

"And here I thought if I didn't attack you, I wouldn't have to deal with that pesky ability," Kang said, pulling out a black gourd from his storage space.

"The rain is more than enough!" Blackshield said as he released another lance.

Although the lance was moving fast, Kang seemed to just stumble out of its way. There was a delay in the amount of time needed to build up power for Blackshield to activate the lance which Kang used to close between them and take drink from his gourd. He tumbled and rolled forward then spewed a mouthful of the alcohol, igniting it with his chi.

Blackshield blocked the attack, but the fire ate away at his {Black Shield of the Vengeful}. This was not like Silverflame's holy fire but was due to Kang unique physique. The Inhiodet Root was also known as Mage's Bane because it disrupted the surrounding mana and he was able to amplify the effect with his chi. Kang's {Fire Breath of the Drunk Fist} not only consumed a portion of his defensive spell, but also tainted his body, making him unable to reextend his barrier.

Kang did not stop right there as he knew his opponent had already been injured a few times and could not be given the chance to heal, or it would make his life harder. As the blue flames died away, he sprang up and tackled Blackshield just below his raised shield. Unceremoniously, Kang smashed his black gourd, which could be identified as a magic treasure because of the faint yellow runes that lit when he channeled his chi through it, but aside from being painful and humiliating, the gourd also released a small amount of the wine, disrupting Blackshield's mana right at its source.

Blackshield swung his shielded arm for Kang's head, but the martial artist moved with the attack, lessening the damage. As Kang fell to the side, avoiding the shield, his chi flared as he brought up his knee with lightning speed… straight into Blackshield's elbow. Unfortunately for him, Blackshield had been focusing on suppressing his Manifested Armor, so when the unexpected attack came, he had no defensive up and his elbow was shattered and bending now at the wrong angle.

An elder in black robes appeared and knelt down next to Blackshield. "Your injury is severe. I am taking you for healing!"

To his credit, Blackshield did not let out a scream of pain, just cradled his arm with a few tears in his eyes until the elder and he both disappeared. Kang pushed himself back up with a light smile on his face and turned his attention back to the other fights, sipping on his wine as if he did not have a care in the world.