119 Brewing Tensions (1/2)

A land of yellow mist laid out before Hartley's eyes. The intense heat of the this mud-thick mist sent a swirling heat haze up into the sky giving the optical illusion of the surrounding mountains being a shimmering indistinct mass of green and yellow blotches.

A fifty meter circle around Hartley was cleared of the yellow mist as he stood ram rod straight in the calm eye of the yellow storm, the sphere around his body pulsed blue once in a while as he carefully watched his surroundings with deep concentration etched on his features .

Hartley had no idea where the man was within the golden amber world and he couldn't sense any unusual fluctuations.

With his advanced state of focus active, time around him in this fifty meter diameter was slowed to one tenth of its normal speed, after a long moment of suspense standing in the complete desolation with ash falling to the barren ground around him in super slow motion, a stream of yellow light burst through the mist from his right and headed directly for Hartley. The man had finally made his move.

If not for his advanced state of focus there was no way Hartley would even glimpse the man, his speed was that quick! but with the power of time manipulation on Hartley's side the man was spotted as if he was an egg-sized black spot on a white sheet of canvas, but even so, the man still traversed 40 meters in the blink of an eye.

Hartley reacted barely in time, he stretched out his hand and brought down 200 gs of gravitational down-force onto the stream of light streaking at him, the sheer force of this disruption to the earth's natural laws caused a ball of black energy the size of a basketball to flash out as if a mini black-hole was created, the black-hole was fizzing with lightning-like black energy ruptures buzzing and crackling at its edges.

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The eruption of the black energy made a horrible booming sound that ripped through air, ringing the ears of both men before disappearing into nothingness. The man screamed, Hartley roared and the mountain around them rumbled and shook shedding pieces of its mass as if it was about to collapse into a pile of sand. A flare of yellow light erupted as the man jerked suddenly and was forced downwards.

He slammed into the earth like bomb ten meters away from Hartley, kicking up an explosion of dirt, ash and stones flying everywhere, he left a crater the size of a small pond behind as he pitched and bounced forward three times like a tennis ball. Every time the raining bits of debris hit Hartley's sphere at speeds comparable to bullets, they would be diverted harmlessly away with a blue flash.

The man was carried by his spectacular forward momentum as he slid pass Hartley face down in the earth creating an almighty trench trailing behind him, he came to a complete stop forty meters pass Hartley's position in the blink of an eye.

The yellow mist in the mountain slowly faded away leaving a piece of land that was decimated, no trees were left standing in this area and the ground had a weak reddish-yellow color like suntanned sand.

The ground was decorated with a multitude of cracks and craters spread across it like divot holes on a golf course, the scene was split from east to west by a long trench with the man still laying prone in it. The man's saint domain had been broken as he lost control of the elements in the air but even his broken domain still left a permanent stain of destruction in the forest.

It was like a parched desert had appeared in the middle of the green fertile mountains.

A gust of wind blew overhead and made the grey ash swirl through the air like clusters of swarming flies descending to the earth. Hartley stood with curious eyes glued to the opponent.

The man jumped back to his feet sustaining no significant injuries looking comical and shocked at the same time.

Grey ash and dirt covered his face and his pony-tail was loose, exposing an afro of frizzy white disheveled hair that was tangled with an assortment of debris falling from his hair that stood erect as if he had been electrocuted.

”What?” Hartley involuntarily said aloud with bulging eyes, he was shocked and surprised to see not even a scratch on the man's skin, his body must be made of reinforced steel Hartley thought to himself a bit taken aback, this must be the endurance of a saint. Hartley was sure no one below the saint realm could take that hit unscathed. Hartley steeled himself, this was going to be a hard encounter but he still thought he could protect himself with his trump cards. There was no telling how strong those had become.

The unidentified man growled as he picked up himself from the self-made trench and stared at Hartley with his mouth wide open like a fish gasping for breath on dry land, he used his right palm and tried brushing back his tangled hair in an undignified and flustered manner. His embarrassment was obvious and palpable.

He was looking at Hartley as if he was looking at a rubix cube, he didn't understand what had happened. He was relatively sure that the boy wasn't in the saint realm and was trying to teach him a lesson but the youth could actually exchange blows with him. This left him stunned.

How was the youth even able to see his approach and did this youth have anything to do with the recent phenomenon happening in the mountain?.

All these unanswered questions swirled in his mind but before he could ask them his head snapped to the north.

”We've got company.” he said then all the malice on his face disappeared as he smiled and the expression looked genuine, he gave Hartley a formal bow as a marked sign of respect.

”We'll meet again, maybe you are not the weak ant that I first thought.” He laughed out looking a bit silly with his messy hair, dirty face and a twisted robe.

”Things are going to be interesting in the capital soon, not as easy as some think its going to be is it young lord of the western hills?”