98 Ice and Fire (2/2)
”Now that the warm-up is done, who shall I face next?” Arnin felt much more apprehensive towards the top twenty after facing Soothing Ash. Although the latter lost, there was a high chance that Arnin could have been finished if he didn't have better control over his own flames. The opponent's flames were much more developed than his own, making them extremely powerful.
Suddenly, the person ranked eleven walked out from the crowd. It was the young boy that Arnin felt to be the largest threat. Even though his realm was lower than Soothing Ash's, he gave off a much more powerful aura. ”You and me can have a go.”
When those words came out from his mouth, his body bursted with a large amount of essence. Some people fainted where they stood, while others found it hard to even move. Arnin also frowned deeply. 'He is extremely strong. I can sense auras of ice and… fire?' This shocked him greatly.
Although he himself was able to fuse two opposing elements, that was only because of his experience with various elements from the past. If he hadn't had that, even he wouldn't be able to fuse two opposing elements easily, and it might have even be close to impossible for him.
What shocked him even more was that the boy in front of him was able to combine the powers of fire and ice. This was even harder than combining life and death, or light and darkness. Fire and ice were completely opposite. They had no similarities that could be used to merge them.
'I can't hold back against this person.' Arnin replied with a burst of his own aura. A bloody red mist surrounded his body. His palms were covered in the Flames of Neutrality, and there was even black and white smoke surrounding his arms. The Seeds of Extremities, Blood, and NEutrality were all released to their fullest.
”Although I am ranked at eleven, I do not consider myself weaker than anyone in the top ten. If anything, I should be stronger than a few of them. Back when I faced them, I was only at Essence Manifest - Earth and even then, they could barely fend me off. Now that I have broken through…” Although he didn't finish his sentence, the meaning behind his words was quite clear.
He was strong, much stronger than the some of the top ten. Of course, that is only if those in the top ten didn't make breakthroughs in their own strength as well, but Arnin didn't feel that the lattr was speaking nonsense. Just his ability to control ice and fire simultaneously showed that his talent was monstrous.
”Come, then!” Arnin looked at the boy and spoke with a low roar. He put his guard up to the fullest and his purple eyes began to sparkle.
The boy crouched and a ball of fire and a shard of ice appeared in each of his hands. Both of them turned into different weapons. The fire transformed into a large hammer, while the ice shard became a sharp spear. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them once again, his previous black pupils changed into a icy blue and a flaming red.
”You are worthy enough for me to use all of my strength. Even the top ten didn't force me to this step.” When those words left his mouth, two wings formed on the back, each exuding a temperature of different extremes.
Arnin inhaled a deep breath. The blood mist turned began to shoot out bloody spears, while the black and white smoke turned into beams, aiming to kill the boy in front of him. Even his Flames of Neutrality didn't fall behind as they aimed to burn the boy to crisp.
”Indeed terrifying. AH!” The boy flapped his wings and thrusted his body towards the incoming attack. His two weapons rose and slammed against the incoming attacks. Seeing that he was being pushed back rapidly, his wings began to shoot out icicles and fire balls aimed at Arnin's body.
Unlike Soothing Ash, he wasn't going to try and fight Arnin's attacks directly because he knew that he would be overpowered if he were to try that. The only way to win was to keep attacking Arnin's body.
Arnin saw the incoming attacks and he quickly jumped to his side, however little did he know that the boy was also able to control the form of his attacks like Arnin.
”Hehe!” The icicles which were dodged by Arnin made a sharp turn and stabbed directly into Arnin's shoulder blade.
*BLUERG*
A mouthful of blood spew from Arnin's mouth as the icicles seeped into his body, freezing his blood.
A cold glint flashed from his eyes and he quickly began to use the Flames of Neutrality to get rid of the coldness, however the more he tried, the darker his face got. 'What the hell is with these icicles? They aren't burning away!'
The young boy smirked as he quickly jumped back, stopping the clash with the three different powers from Arnin. ”Its futile, that ice is not normal ice. It is formed with hints of fire, making it hard to burn away. In fact, you may even be increasing its freezing properties by feeding it with your flame.” Arnin's face couldn't help but pale when he heard this.
The combination of fire and ice was one of the most deadly powers in the universe. He had only met one person who had this ability, and that was a day where even he almost lost his life. If not for his higher cultivation, there would not have been a Demon Lord Arnin after that fight.
The only elements that could equally match the combination of ice and fire was timespace. Ice and fire defied the very order of elements, which was why they were powerful.
Arnin's heart was still calm even though he was in danger. He had faced a person with ice and fire powers before so he knew of some small tricks. Taking his finger, he quickly tore a large hole in his arm and the frozen blood began to fall out like blocks of ice. There were even a few veins in the mix.
*BLUERG*
Blood rushed from his throat and out of his mouth again. His face was extremely pale, losing all of its color. This was the toughest opponent he had ever faced, and he doubted the people in the top ten would be stronger in terms of ability.
The young boy saw this scene and a smirk appeared on his face. ”You're really ruthless, aren't you? Who would have thought that there would be such a kid in this world? Now take this attack from me. If you are able to block it successfully, I won't mind letting you go.”
When those words came out of his mouth, the wings on his back began to dissipate slowly. His weapons also began to disappear, however Arnin felt a stifling aura surround him. It wasn't an aura that came from ones cultivation realm. It wasn't domineering like Xillar's, rather it was a very silent aura, as ifit caused even nature to be silent in fear of making any sound.
Arnin'spupils contracted into pinholes when he saw a small drop appeared in front of the young boy. ”C-complete merger?!” His face quickly paled and sweat began to drip from all over his body.
Previously, he was barely able to fend off ice with bits of fire in it, and he even had to sacrifice a large amount of blood for that, putting himself in critical condition. Now that a complete merger was happening in front of him, alarms of danger went off rapidly in Arnin's mind. He knew that if he faced that attack, even the slightest touch would kill him. Just a scrape from the ability would end his life completely, leaving nothing behind.
He couldn't release his Demon Lord powers because he knew that he would be risking the death of his human body. Last time he was lucky, but there was no second chance.
This was the first time he felt the possibility of death in Afloria. There was no escape and facing the danger head on would be suicidal. 'F*ck!'