37 Chapter 18.1: Battleground of The Elements - Fire vs Ice (1/2)

When each contestant entered the area they soon found out why those elements represented the gates of entry.

Cordelia had drawn the Ice elemental tile and found herself in a wasteland of Ice, water, and snow, freezing winds raged by as she made her way forward. This… she could use all this to her advantage!

Leonardo had drawn the wind tile, getting in an area with raging winds. The grass was stretching as far as his eyes could see. With islands floating in the air. Birds could be seen flying and making their nests on top. To the left of these plains, a forest area, in front of a rocky area and to the right… to the right a few miles out, he could swear to see the winds turn into blizzards.

Hoping someone accustomed to the icy elements had drawn the Ice tile Leonardo quickly decided to make his way towards the cold and blizzard-like area hoping to find his first opponent. Seeing as how this could turn into a huge advantage, still looking at how far the area's actually stretched, it would be wise to first find shelter and even food for survival.

The others thought of the same thing and began gathering what was needed to survive for several days. While doing this, scouting the area was just as important.

Still… not everyone did so, in the hope they encountered the others faster.

Cordelia having arrived began scouting out the snowy tundra area, while scouting she found that this tundra even thought a huge wasteland was actually filled with all kinds of life. She encountered not so dangerous animals like snow foxes, flying fish, even some more dangerous ones like frost beasts, ice bears and bigger water creatures.

”Seeing how life is abundant here, I don't need to worry about food, for the time being, finding shelter for the hail storms should be a top priority. Would the others also have harsh environments like me? Ah… what's the use… I'm here to win this!! No use to think about others.”

Cordelia went on her way securing some edibles along the way. after wandering in the blizzard for a while it seemed like she finally found some shelter. Quickly going inside she found that it gave good protection against the hail storm allowing her to rest up for a bit.

Leonardo, on the other hand, had fully explored his area, the wind gate was the one where he went through, getting accustomed to the area and tweaking his suit with the hazards in mind gave him the advantage to wander through storms without any worry.

Even hovering and flying through the air with the small bursts he was able to produce with his suit, even keeping him warm allowing him to go on longer without having to warm up.

In his area, there were only flying creatures seeing as he was able to gain momentum in the air by creating small bursts of fire with the suit he tried catching some small birds.

But every time he got close they dodged into an unpredictable manner leaving him without prey.

Not letting this get to him he quickly made his way towards the snowy area in the hopes of finding food that couldn't fly away.

The others all got to know their area's, Geo being lucky and pulling the earth tile and found himself in a vast forest thriving with life. Finding all kinds of edible berries,

even chickens, horses and other kinds of creatures along the way. Having eaten his fill and getting the attention he wanted and craved from the cuddly creatures he went on his way.

Knowing that waiting around here could either result in surviving the match or getting caught by others. Geo decided it was best to move on not wanting to be caught and instead go on the offensive and catch others by surprise. Yes! Geo liked this idea more and decided to move straight ahead!

But there was one who couldn't care less… Gideon that narcissistic sadist!

No one knew for sure where he was, but one thing was for certain…

Eventually, we all had to fight him. Seeing as we openly declared to be waiting at the center area of the battlegrounds for all who dared to fight him.

Back in the Snowy lands, the hailstorm finally subdued allowing Aqua to venture forward.

But the moment she set her foot outside of the cave a tremendous roar could be heard from behind her!

”Rooooaaarrr!!!”

The entire ground and cave were shaking by the sheer power of the beast's voice.

Quickly Aqua jumped to the side of the entrance, barely escaping the raging beast.

The beast looked like an armored polar bear. Its Armor was imbedded to his skin making it look rather horrid.

”A Winter Beast! I had read about these creatures in the archives of Sharoo.

It is said that during blizzards these creatures hibernate until the weather clears allowing them to blend with the area. These creature although usually docile are very territorial creatures. Making them highly dangerous if woken from slumber or found inside their territory. It's best to leave without engaging the creature now since the blizzard has subdued.”

The winter beast rushed out with a thirst for blood,

she quickly hid next to the entrance making the beast just barely missing Cordelia as it rushed off into the distance.

”whew… that was too close… It's best to leave this cave before it decides to get back.”

Deciding to tail the beast and hoping to find something to eat along the way,

Cordelia went on her way, but little did she know what was to come next…

Meanwhile, a bit further ahead Leonard now found himself in this icy tundra landscape.

Unknown of its ecosystem he kept his guard up, for all he knew something could jump him at any moment. Like Cordelia, he too encountered all kinds of life between the snow, ice, and waters of the area. But they were all too weak of an opponent or to little a prey to allow Leonardo to show off his gear to the public.

He needed something bigger, something more ferocious!

Leonardo headed towards the center of the area as he roughly estimated it should be just as large an area as the wind area he found himself in.

This would mean he was now roughly at one third along the way towards the center.

On his way there he got started by roaring and snarling noises.

It seems a Winter Beast had caught some prey, but looking closer it was a rather horrid sight. Because the Winter Beast was eating one of his own!

Snarling as it ripped through the flesh of his prey it almost looked like it enjoyed what it was doing. The beast then proceeded to rip out what looked like the core crystal of the creature and held it against his own, making it fuse together in the process.

While all this was happening Leonardo was baffled by it al… The beast had killed one of his own and looked like it was evolving in the process. The beast began emitting purple flowing aura as its size slowly doubled and its fur became black. Its eyes, once blue. Now a deep dark red… and its claws and fangs, sharper and bigger than ever.

Looking closer it looked like it didn't have just one core crystal, but rather three!

This was really insane! What to do? What could Leonardo do in this situation?

”What the hell!! Is this even normal? I know I asked for a challenging opponent, but this is just insane… Well… nothing else I can do, I just hope the beast will be edible after the hassle I'll go through.”

It looked like the beast was almost done eating, meaning this was the time to strike if Leonardo wanted to have an advantage over it.

He powered up his suit and burst towards the creature.

Caught off guard the jumped in surprise and fell on his back barely getting scraped by the scorching burst of flames. The area the beast had been eating was now completely scorched and completely void of snow or ice.