Design recalled that once again, fixated on the blood freeze of the glass-like sword. "It was as if glass grew…" he murmured to himself, "Yet it flew off so easily." And then his eyes glowed brightly. His mind raced fast as he ran calculations in his mind for the concept spell he just imagined, his eyes darting around the battlefield.
He did all this while still fighting Martin, launching glass spikes from the ground and covering the ground in glass shards. Yet Martin didn't feel threatened. His own body seemed to give off steam and he created his own ice constructs to tackle the glass. He launched cubes of compressed matter that expanded into many ice spikes when hitting the floor.
Design saw that expanse, the way ice grew rapidly. The perfect yet jagged structure of the icy crystal that grew. With this, he was able to finally see the spell in his mind. "I have it…," he slowly said, as his body was overcome with enthusiasm and ecstasy.
"Folks it seems that Design may have uncovered something new! Maybe a weakness in Martin's impressive footwork!" The commentator's instincts were going off, something spectacular was sure to be shown.
"I summon the Stained Palace!" Design shouted. Tremors could be felt in the stands, and from the floor of the arena, Design conjured a new spell. A large transparent and cubical structure formed, surrounding the two fighters. The obelisk disappeared, but the concentrated beam of light remained. Design pointed his staff towards Martin and only said one command, "Go."
The stationary beam shot down like a shooting star, yet it wasn't a creator that it left. Contrary, the beam of light formed glass in its line of path as it struck the smooth glass floor. Design's proof of becoming a Conjurer was this spell that allowed him to transform the energy of light into solid mass.
With just one seemingly-infinite beam of light, Design was able to constantly change the enclosed battlefield. Glass spikes and beams shot from around the two competitors. It grew harder for Martin to destroy the glass, so instead he redirected the beam of light. This was once again a standoff between the attacker and defender.
Design launched more glass shards and glass dust. Martin, too, attacked with the expanding ice. "If only I could get this lock off…" Right about now, back in Sheol, Martin would have been able to use his ultimate move that was banned from being used in that realm. A lock on his heart was evidence of this tremendous power, yet even in another world he was restricted from using it.
But this didn't stop him from trying to win. Just as the mage seemed to make a new move, Martin was going to experiment too. He slammed his sword into the glass foundation and raised the temperature. The once cool environment rapidly changed to blazing hot. The heat travelled everywhere through the glass. Higher and higher, the temperature rose and dispersed.
"What are you doing, trying to cook us both alive?" shouted the glass mage.
"I knew it." said Martin.
"Knew what?"
"This, this isn't glass that you're using!" Martin shouted as the heat only contributed to his already-delirious state. It was just as he said, what appeared to be glass was simply a different material, a crystal, disguised as it.
Glass is a poor heat conductor so all the heat would simply stay where the sword was thrust. But because it spread so effectively, this was something else. Martin conjured more swords and thrust them into the crystal cage, while cooling himself down. This pushed Design to change the shape of the pillars, hollowing them out to allow for the heat to escape.
In a desperate attempt, Design conjured a crystal sword and went on the offensive, unleashing a swing that destroyed Martin's shoulder, and formed more crystal behind him. It was an amazing display of power, but that is what it all was. The heat had pushed Design to attack, pushing him to exert his body. The heat also only worsened the blood necrosis.
Design fell, leaving the blue Ice Demon impaled by a sword and surrounded by shattering crystal.
"This is it! Martin Glacier, living up to his name, an impeccable user of Ice magic! He moves on to the next round. Applaud folks for these brilliant minds that the Everlong Academy cultiva…" Martin's hearing became worse as he walked off, being unable to hear what the announcer was saying.
He went to his room and waited. There was always a reason why he never fought this extreme, and that was because of the recoil. Every move would nearly always implode his cells, and now without his Healing Spirit companion, the effects were at their worst. His skin crackled as it defrosted and his blood vessels popped. The upside was that the pain was minimal, his nerves were too damaged.
"This is nothing," he said as he bit his lip, "This is nothing compared to the pain the ones that brought me here will feel."
****
The first rounds of the day ended. I woke up from my sleep and looked to my left, to see Martin in the infirmary too, resting on the cot. "Hey."
"...Hey."
"Lost your match?"
"Heh as if. I came out victorious."
This feeling of companionship was pleasant. I enjoyed it. I lifted my hand in the air and clenched my fist. I was one step closer to understanding the truth behind Dife. The quality of Life allowed me to manipulate the organism itself. Just what else could I do?
****
By the time I was able to walk again, the second round was nearing. As soon as I was able to feel Dife again, I forced my body to regenerate, ignoring what mental fatigue this would have. What I needed to do right now was seek guidance…I needed to get help from beyond the grave.
I left the infirmary and headed to my room. I locked the door. On the floor I drew a magic circle of ash. I pricked my finger and drew enough blood to fill the silver vial and placed it to the side along with the dragon tooth sword.
From that vial, a subtle shriek could be heard. I already knew that my blood had integrated with the souls of the dead, but it was still terrible knowledge.
"You will help me understand this power."
Three hours. That's the amount of time I meditated surrounded by the element of Death and Life, and I came to a hurdle. For the first time, there was something stopping me from attaining more knowledge.
Was it my inexperience? Or was I still too weak to understand?
At the time I left my room, the crowds were chanting my name as they anticipated the next fight. I may have hit a wall, but I still came up with some new tricks.
"The second round is upon us! As the Continental Bout continues, the contestants grow weary and weaker! Just who will move on to the third round!"
I made my way to the arena and saw just how much damage had accumulated, resembling more of a warzone than a respectable event.
"Once again the Imprinted Mort joins the arena, and his opponent is also an Imprinted. The self-proclaimed 'Avatar of Flame' joins the ring, Sir Edward Estrelon of the Night Kingdom."
From the other entrance, a man wearing pale blue leather armour entered the ring, a gentleman that looked young, probably in his 30s.
"Begin!"
No banter, no quick jab at our looks, the fight started in an instant. Given his name, I knew what moves he would use…or so I thought. Imprinted gain the power of the Element they are Imprinted by. It's a power dependent on imagination and favours those with abstract minds.
From his hand, Edward formed a blue flame and simply launched it towards me. I prepared to put it out but the flame didn't go out. It burned perpetually. The flame burned away at my flesh, somehow continuing to burn.
I changed my arms composition, adding a mucus membrane to minimise the burn to only the exterior. I wanted to keep my cards hidden, but in a competition where losing limbs was expected, I needed to face this Imprinted seriously.
My first move was launching blobs of my blood on the ground and allowing the spirits to take form, burning away my Dife reserves for their bodies. This was an advanced technique of 'Soul-Manipulation', that I dubbed 'Blood-Spirit'.
I formed my 'Soul Blade' and attacked with the 5 spirits in a perfect symphony. Edward was pushed back, attacking only when a move would be detrimental.
My second move was using my eyes, the same eyes I gained from the corpse of a Conjurer, which were the closest linked to death, other than the spirits. I focused Dife in my eyes to analyse the battlefield to see what instruments of Death I could use.
Bones were in surplus underground. I was able to take control of them, bringing them out of the ground and forming a large golem of interlocking remains.
Edward finally attacked. Under his breath, he whispered an incantation. "The Comet." Still cool and composed, his hand began to guide an invisible flame. Mort couldn't see it, but the strong heat alerted him.
It wasn't just a singular flame though, it was an entire colony of flames being guided by the composer. With a final swing of his hand, the flames all came down illuminated with a gradient of blue and white, and exploded on the ground.
"This is the famous 'Comet'! The move said to-"
"It's 'The Comet' good sir!" Edward laughed as he corrected the announcer. "Names are important for such spectacular moves."
The ground may have been scorched, but Mort wasn't defeated. With perfect timing and 'Soul Manipulation' he was able to dodge the impact, but still felt the afteraffects.
Edward attacked again, this time with a barrage of finger snaps, each one forming a new flaming projectile that honed onto Mort. Using the bones that survived the blast, he used them as counter-projectiles, slamming them into the sea of flaming orbs.
"Strawdoll!" For the first time, Edward showed excitement during this fight. "Do you know what a flame truly is? It's combustion! Something that burns; a vigorous reaction!" Behind him, a large straw doll appeared and Edward turned to face it. He clapped once and the doll was set ablaze.
For each crackle and pop that the fire burned on the doll, the same happened to Mort. Each roaring flame, each dying ember, they too happened on his body. This was more than just attacking his body, it was as if his soul was being attacked. And that's when Mort remembered something. He remembered his own near-death, the time when his soul was projected out of his body.
He wasn't simply able to control the spirits of the dead, no, he could control his very own soul too! He focused, using the attack as a guide to point to his soul, to map out its shape, and to identify it. But something was strange, no matter how much he tried to search, he couldn't find the one aspect that still made him human.
Eclissi, from the stands, understood perfectly what was going on and knew what was going to happen. "He was going to find out one or another, but this might be perfect for his growth."
Mort hesitated, and the flames burning him did so too. He knew he was human, yet why couldn't he see the shape of his soul. His mind couldn't take it, but his body refused him from losing. The body forced the brain to go to sleep. What was now fighting was an autonomous body lacking the morals and ethics that Mort's mind would have provided.
Mort's body grabbed ahold of the flaming arm and twisted it off. It shaped and changed the arm into a sharpened blade that still had the blue eternal flame. It regrew the arm in an instant, and not a second later, he charged at the doll behind Edward, destroying it with a single slash.
"Woah! Impressive child, you are talented as they say, maybe even a gen-" Edward wasn't able to finish. Mort used the spirits as a chain, closing the distance between the two, while stabbing him with a 'Soul Blade' ensuring he couldn't escape. "Not giving me a chance huh. River of Sparks."
Hundreds of embers formed on Edward's body, interlocking and forming a strong defensive barrier which stopped Mort's attack. He burned away the translucent blade and set himself free. The 'River of Sparks' changed from a strong shield to a powerful wave, slamming against Mort and trapping him in a hurricane of flames.
But to everyone's shock, but Eclissi's, Mort formed an ash grey armour, and attempted to walk through the flames. The chains of fire were no match for a strengthened body of the Avatar of Death and Life.
Seeing this child still put up a genuine fight, Edward wanted to quell the fire within him. He had plenty of moves that could quench the boy, but what he needed was something that could destroy the source of that vigour.
"Cosmic Cradle."