*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
"I can't believe it," Lily still had her sword in her hand, but she wasn't using it. And it didn't look like she would have to. She was stroking the mane of her mount, Skimpy. Her eyes were glued to the figures charging at each other from within the darkness. The two were like bright flickering lights, bringing warmth to this otherwise dark space. They clashed over and over again, neither really gaining an advantage over the other.
Lily wasn't fond of fights but what was happening before her was unbelievable to the Elemental Princess. And it was because she could feel Mane's aura as he fought with the Crystal Monkey – barehanded!
"How is he able to face that beast with his strength only at the 1st Stage of the Profound Realm?" Lily wondered. That was what she found unbelievable. She couldn't accurately judge the strength of the Crystal Monkey because she was weaker, and the Earth Realm was above her. But she judged that the beast must be strong because she could tell that it was an Earth Realm Beast, or a Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast as they referred to them here.
Even if the beast was at the 1st Stage of the Earth Realm, Mane choosing to face it with his strength at the 1st Stage of the Profound Realm was unreal, yet he was doing just that. And even more fascinating, he wasn't losing!
*Bang*
Mane and the Crystal Monkey struck at each other for the nth time today. A loud bang followed from their collision, and torrents of energy wreaked havoc on everything around them. Although it was very dark, the illuminating Light Grass spread its meagre light sufficiently enough to show just how devastating the fight had been. Several ditches of varying sizes and cracks that extended all the way to the depth of the earth had been born from the tumultuous clash. Yet the two involved were not finished.
"Again!" Mane exclaimed, his blue eyes glowing with battle lust. Once his feet touched the ground he was off. The earth armor on his body was constantly being repaired and reinforced. And the gantlets on his arms grew by three sizes as he moved in to strike the Crystal Monkey once again.
The eyes of the Crystal Monkey also glowed with pleasure. It wasn't looking at Mane like someone it had to devour, but was staring at him with appreciation and hunger – hunger to do battle.
*Roar*
It roared joyfully seeing the approaching Mane and dashed towards the young Supreme as well. As it moved a golden yellow light engulfed its arms and legs, and its leg armor grew slightly thinner whilst the claws and cannons on its shoulders grew larger by a notch. It seemed that it had opted for greater speed on the lower end and more firepower on its upper end. Once it was close enough, it swiped those large claws at Mane.
*Boom*
The claws that were as large as him didn't daunt his progress. For Mane's large earth fist smashed into the Crystal Monkey's giant claws, and the claws that had been able to stop him fairly easily weren't able to hold him back this time. They broke off the Crystal Monkey's gantlets and fell with a loud thud.
However, Mane didn't move any further once he broke off the claws. It wasn't that he didn't want to take this opportunity to attack, but he wasn't able to. The reason was the golden light that was building within the large cannons on the Crystal Monkey's shoulders. Each cannon had a yellow light constantly growing within it. The lights were growing bigger quickly, and in less than two seconds the lights from the cannons had flooded the entire area like suns in a dark night. Mane crossed his arms before him, a large earth shield taking shape to protect him. As if that wasn't enough, two more shields formed before the first shield with each larger than the former. Yet with the increased size came weaker defenses.
Finally, the cannons unleashed their lights, and a dense amount of Edict bashed Mane into the ground.
*Boom*
"Mane!" Lily screamed, her blade glowing with a faint green lights as she prepared to charge into the darkness and join the fray.
"I'm fine," however Mane's voice reached her from within the darkness and calmed her nerves. The Crystal Monkey had a look of admiration on its face as it looked at Mane's figure lying in the large crater it had made. Mane's clothes were in tatters, but he was largely unharmed. The earth shields had been broken and his armor destroyed, but he was very much fine.
Mane stood up, dusted the filth off his pants and removed the debris from his hair. He could have easily avoided the blow by using Absolute Darkness: Evasive Killing to just phase through the attack. But that ability took a lot of Edict to activate. And because Mane's strength had been reduced to the Profound Realm, to use such an ability to block such a powerful attack was basically calling for all his Edict to be used up. So he didn't use it. Rather, he only used the Earth Elements. Although the shields were conjured in a rush, Mane just needed them to take some of the heat off his armor.
"To think that you were able to break open an underground water source," Mane sighed as he lifted up one of his legs which were soaked in water.
The crater that the Crystal Monkey had created with its blast was so deep that it had somehow broken into an underground water source and the water was now coming to the surface and filling the crater Mane was in.
"Although I don't think this is good for you," Mane informed the Crystal Monkey which looked at him in confusion. It largely understood what Mane was saying, and that was why it hadn't attacked again, but it didn't understand why Mane was saying that the water wasn't good for it. Wasn't water a good thing?
"Mastery Level Earth Manipulation," Mane smiled and a golden light covered his body once more. Several earth fragments were drawn to Mane, and they rearranged themselves on his body to form another earth armor. As they drowned in the golden light, the fragments were strengthened and refined. Their rough exteriors became as smooth as jade and gave Mane a majestic look that he didn't possess before.
The Crystal Monkey looked at Mane with a dumbfounded expression on its face. As an Earth Elemental Beast it understood just how difficult it was to not only strengthen an element, but refine it. Only people with Mastery Level understanding of earth could pull this off. It was only at the Intermediate Stage, and to be honest only Legendary and Sacred Beasts had Mastery Level understanding of an element. The Crystal Monkey was at the peak of the Intermediate Level and seldom found anyone that could compare to it when it came to Earth Manipulation. Yet what Mane was doing was beyond its current abilities. Which meant that the boy wasn't at the Intermediate Level like it thought he was. He was at the Mastery Level!
What it didn't understand was why Mane didn't use this power before. How was Mane supposed to tell the Crystal Monkey that he was generally not allowed to use any of his skills at the Mastery Level? Initially he wasn't going to, but the Crystal Monkey was so good that at the Intermediate Level Mane didn't see a way to best the beast. That's why he resorted to doing this.
"This feels really good," Mane mumbled as he felt the power of his earth armor. This feeling was intoxicating, but his constantly depleting reserves of Edict reminded him that he couldn't relish this feeling for long.
"I can still do one more thing," Mane mumbled, and the water that was filling the crater started to bubble. Under the astonished gazes of both Lily who had no idea that Mane could use water so freely and the Crystal Monkey which thought it had seen it all, large amounts of water engulfed Mane's figure and filled in the fine lines in his armor. As if the earth armor wasn't enough, the water also formed an armor around Mane. Mane stretched his hands before him, and water elements conjured right in front of him to form a bow. Mane grabbed hold of the bow and pulled on the string. As it was drawn back, water coalesced into a fine line and was notched as an arrow. It was at this point that the Crystal Monkey regained its senses. It immediately fired up its cannons, and two bright lights slowly flooded the place like before. In next to no time, it was ready to strike, but so was Mane. Mane let go of the thin water arrow, and the Crystal Monkey released its cannon might.
*Roar*
Mane's water arrow suddenly morphed into a large tiger and crashed into the balls of light. The large water tiger swallowed the lights whole, and their might was extinguished. Without losing any of its momentum it rushed towards the Crystal Monkey and descended upon the rare beast with a furious bellow. The Crystal Monkey had a panicked expression on its face. It released a feeble roar and conjured up a large earth shield.
*Boom*
The water tiger crashed into the earth shield and destroyed the only barrier between it and the Crystal Monkey. However, once the shield was destroyed the Crystal Monkey rushed at the water tiger with a strange looking rod in its hand. The rod wasn't there before, and Mane had no idea how it was summoned, or why a monkey was using a weapon. But when the Crystal Monkey smashed the rod into the water tiger Mane felt his connection to the water tiger disappear, and the water tiger was reduced into a puddle.
"What a strange rod," Mane's eyes glowed with curiosity. Yet he didn't remain idle. He crouched and called on the water elements, and a small wave was formed beneath his feet as the water from the crater propelled him forward.
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
Mane moved around the Crystal Monkey like a specter, shooting water arrows in the process, much to its annoyance. Several water arrows crashed into the Crystal Monkey which was only able to destroy a few.
*Roar*
It roared in annoyance as if to say, "Stop running around and let's fight like we did before."
"This should end now," Mane mumbled to himself feeling his energy almost depleted. The water tiger had cost him a lot, and the earth armor was draining him of his energy every single second. Since he had summoned the armor, he might as well use it.
Mane let go of the bow, and it returned to the small wave that was ferrying the Supreme around as a blob of water. Mane balled his fists and took a deep breath as he felt the power of the earth armor gathering into his palms. Then he crashed into the Crystal Monkey with speed that outstripped what he had displayed so far, and ferocity that was way superior to the beast's.
*Boom*
*Crack*
The Crystal Monkey wasn't prepared at all for the sudden burst of speed and was caught off guard. Its large chest felt the full brunt of Mane's strikes as both of the Supreme's relatively small fists landed on its torso. The earth armor it was so proud of was undone, and two cobwebs of cracks spread from the sites of impact and extended towards its shoulders and abdomen. It was sent flying into a few trees, breaking them all in the process, as white blood poured out of the cracks on its body.
"You were strong," Mane stated as he walked towards the Crystal Monkey. Golden lights gathered around his hands as he spoke. As for what he planned to do with them, only he knew.
"Mane!" Lily called out.
"I won't kill it," Mane smiled and said. He knew what she was worried about, but Mane assured her that there was no need for her to worry. The Crystal Monkey was a rare beast, and Mane didn't have any use for its remains. There was no need for him to kill the beast.
"You are very calm. I like that." Mane stated once he stood on the chest of the large beast. Because of how massive it was, Mane had to climb it to reach its head. Its eyes were very calm, as if it didn't care for what was going to happen.
"You are an Elemental Beast. So this would be of help to you," Mane mumbled, and the Edict from the earth that surrounded them was drawn into the golden light in his hand. Mane had used Devour to suck out the inner energy from the earth. Under the astonished eyes of the beast, he placed his hands on the cracks that he was responsible for, and the golden light that he summoned flooded the body of the Crystal Monkey.
And it broke through!