The tournament should have been over. The son of the Overseer had been flattened by a youth only 15 years of age and a minor tier lower than anyone. He had clearly damaged his meridians and body to exceed his limits to defeat Hu, but then that terrible injury was repaired by the final competitor.
Now, both faced each other. The young woman was 4 ro 5 years older than Lind but the blue robes she wore spoke of her involvement in the Gu Clan even before she identified herself. Even though Lind was not popular in the Frey Clan, since he spent most of his time with the twins, he was aware of their counterparts in the other 2 clans.
The Che Clan had a talented man as their young master who was already off at the Lotus Academy, but the Gu Clan had miss Sheyra. She was roughly the same age as the twins but Lind did not know for certain. What he had not known was that she was also a 6 elemental cultivator and somehow did not seem to suffer the same bottleneck he did.
Lind did not recognize how her elements worked in that healing technique at all. It was as if a storm came together in her dantian and the dark blue fire emerged into the world. The glimpse of it inspired him but he could not seem to grasp it. The offer of this battle was the best hope he had. All the tension and dark emotions from before were gone for now.
Lind knew he had let all his repressed rage and frustration with the truth of what happened to his mother and others explode in that one instant, yet he could not focus on it at this moment. The person in front of him was the highest he had ever faced at tier 7. Why that bastard had left her for last, Lind was unsure, but he was looking forward to this fight.
"You have more than mastered tier 1 Soul Arts. Now you are stuck, right?" Her question surprised him but Lind saw no reason to hide at this point. Even if he was stubborn, a 3 minor realm difference was impossible for him to overcome without completely destroying his body.
"I found I can push more power with the tier 4 quality I have tempered in my elements but it begins to damage my meridians or the part of my body I involve." Lind flexed his right hand in wonder at how much better it felt. "Any time I try to use 2nd tier or above Soul Art, I get a backlash from the other elements I try not to use."
The crowd was still cheering but the lack of action was lowering their enthusiasm. Even so, the young man had earned some leeway and perhaps he was still adjusting his newly healed body. Any cultivator knew that repairing such major damage was not easily resolved even with pills or techniques.
"Correct. We are different. Multi-element users can benefit from that repulsion trick built into techniques although 5 elementals have some troubles as well. We, on the other hand, cannot use that trick at all." Lind then saw mud form as water and earth easily channeled through Sheyra's body. He was in shock as there was no sign of any backlash at all! What was she doing differently?! He squinted and then felt stunned as he saw that all 6 elements were being channeled into the mud. How was that even possible?
"You have Soul Eyes. I can tell from the way you adapt so quickly. This won't help you much but you can see it is possible for a 6 elemental to do multi-element techniques after a fashion. The thing you have to remember is your harmony." Lind listened to her words as the mud was dispersed and replaced with sparks of lightning. Lind saw the difference now that she showed him. Her flame was included in her techniques.
The flame she called a harmony seemed to blend all 6 elements and allow only the desired ones to manifest but Lind could not perceive how that worked. It was not like it had never occurred to him to try this, but although his flame formed all those years ago, he had never understood how it worked in relation to his tempering. Since he had been able to temper without worrying about it, he had. Was this what was holding him back?
"I never got it to work." The words were mumbled but Lind was not embarrassed, he was simply thirsty for knowledge. He wanted to keep going, but was groping in the dark. The warm smile on Sheyra showed sympathy and empathy. She had clearly struggled as well.
"There is no shortcut in cultivation without paying the appropriate price. For us, it is learning the nature of your harmony. I cannot help you with this, but there is something to help you. Elemental battle." The lightning dispersed and a simple fireball formed in her left hand while a ball of water formed in her right. "Duality of the primary elements will be where we begin. Defend yourself!"
The conjurings flew through the air but Lind was clearly given time. Lind understood what he needed to do. At least, he could do this but he smiled at her underestimating him. Rather than conjure his own set of attacks, he charged his hands alone. Fire in one, water in the other and struck the attacks down. Sheyra's eyes widened and then she smiled. She repeated her attacks with combinations of fire, water, earth, and air with speed increasing.
The crowd began to go wild as Lind surprised them again. He was defending somehow with just his body. Elemental coating was a high end skill that usually was only heard about in the World Realm. The speed of the attacks soon left them in awe, but they remained purely the primary elements. The special elements of light and dark had yet to appear, but Lind changed that himself.
Lind suddenly became harder to see as light enveloped his body. It was only then that a dome of darkness shattered while many noticed his shadows jumped up and pierced very faint balls of light. Sneak attacks were starting but Lind seemed to see it all! The storm of Qi became intense until pressure built to an insane height. How was a 4th tier able to last this long?!
Lind was sweating buckets as he kept his burning of Qi to a minimum but he clearly saw that Sheyra was far from running out. Her tier 7 reserve far outclassed his. Even so, he felt he was so close to something. Pushing his elemental control so far like no one in the Frey Clan could, made the bottleneck on his tempering finally loosen. As if a piece had been missing, his emerald flame suddenly pierced each elemental sphere and a feeling of joy filled Lind's body.
The attacks stopped instantly as Lind had an emerald aura flare around him briefly and his went into a lotus position as Sheyra smiled wide. She nodded as if this was expected. Shortly after, however, she was shocked as her dantian felt a resonance she had never felt before in her entire life! It was brief, but her own elements had risen in that moment to the peak of tier 7 tempering.
In a few breaths, Lind blew out some fetid air as his elemental tempering broke through to the 5th tier. Gratitude filled him as he saw his dantian now had small traces of each element flowing into the emerald flame. He was still unsure of what this all meant, but he at least was on the path. He tried to summon lightning, but instantly felt the same backlash as before. Confusion flashed past his face as laughter came from his opponent.
"It is not that easy, my junior. You have incorporated your harmony, but now you must understand it. We are all different and sadly I cannot help you anymore. We shall now see what you can do!" Lind barely received the words when lightning formed in her hands. He reacted on instinct and flared up his hands but did not consciously control it.
All were in awe as the power of lightning jumped and froliced in Lind's hands. He looked in surprise as his Soul Touch seemed to have evolved. This felt different from before where he would simply catch Qi. He felt connected to the lightning and his comprehension led him down an old memory. This was weak. Real lightning, lightning made in a storm, would shatter this imitation. His mind was enraptured but the bolt in his hands snapped him out of it.
"Imitation, huh, I will have to come back to this." Lind looked up and saw Sheyra was staring at him as much as the crowd. She seemed to be trying to get the bolt to do something, but it was no longer hers to control. Lind looked at it and let his own fire and light Qi infused into it. So long as he did not try to follow the technique, Lind was able to change the bolt jumping in his hands. He still could not make his own, but changing an existing conjuring was within his capabilities thanks to his Soul Eyes.
Lind looked up and saw Sheyra looking at him seriously and knew he was out of time. Spikes of earth coated in darkness formed to fly through the air like a bullet to Lind's eyes. He flashed out the lightning and let it intercept the spikes. Against his own expectations, the lightning neutralized the spikes. He understood that even though he was tier 4 in cultivation, he was able to control tier 7 with ease if it was under his control.
"You are an interesting junior. Come to the Gu Clan celebrations after this. All are witness to this invitation." Sheyra disappeared from his vision before appearing behind him. She had used wind or combination of elements to push her speed to insane levels. Lind was long used to Teylin or Teyla trying to ambush him and those reflexes saved him again as fire exploded beneath his feet.
Like a rocket, Lind was launched into the air as Sheyra had to use an earth shield to disperse the flames. Higher tier or not, point blank elements can cause damage to a body. Lind felt the wind roar in his ears as he sailed through the sky but his reprieve was short lived. A shadow flashed over him and Sheyra was smiling down at him.
"Lind Frey does not concede this time!" Surprise flared on Sheyra's face as Lind revealed his full name. Understanding flooded all who heard his words. He had come to this tournament for Teyla Frey. He was her little brother and risked himself for her. If Lind was popular before for his power, he was now treasured for his loyalty in equal measure. The ones that lost their chance were irked at Lind's rise, but could say nothing in this place.
"My apologies in advance then!" Lind felt his fall cut short as a solid wall of air stopped him unexpectedly for a moment before the hammer of a fist smashed into his stomach. The barrier was fleeting, even Lind could see how unstable it was, but it was enough to shatter his controlled fall.
The ring raced up to his face as he quickly conjured water and wind to soften his fall. He splashed through the ball of water and landed soaked on the stone ring. His reserves were all dried up to the point his Soul Eyes could no longer function. The world was so empty without the Qi in his vision but he felt satisfied. He looked up into the sky and saw Sheyra gracefully come down as if they floated on wings.
"You have done well, young Frey, and I hope you will continue to be the honorable person I battled here today." She bowed to him as Lind waved. He could not even get his body to rise at that moment but both were smiling.
"WINNER OF THIS TRI-CLAN TOURNAMENT: SHEYRA GU!" The judge called out the results and the crowd stood as it roared in joy. This tournament had been a farce but due to the actions of one stubborn boy, it had been redeemed. All in the crowd, even the ones that lost in the betting, felt like this was a worthy tournament this year.
Lind lay on the ground for a bit before a gentle hand was offered to him. He looked up into the smiling face of his former opponent and felt no bitterness. It was like he was sparring with the twins.
"I am glad the Frey Clan has such an honorable member. Perhaps, in the future, I could speak to your Big Sister and find out how they inspired one such as you." Lind blushed in embarrassment. Just imagining the stories Teyla would tell made him wish for a hole to hop into. Lind smiled thought as a mischievous thought leape into his mind.
"My Big Sister is a bit biased, but Big Brother Teylin is objective. He wanted to enter this tournament, but knew he could not dishonor the clan's condition. He also warned against me doing this until I went through some training with our instructor. He would be a better person to meet!" Curiosity took hold in the blue eyes of Sheyra and she nodded at Lind's suggestion. In Lind's mind, he hoped this woman could solve the stubborn heart of his Big Brother.
It had been a long time since he played matchmaker, but Lind's instincts had never failed him before. If it could build a good relation with a clan did not matter to him, but the happiness of his family was paramount to Lind.
They both stood in the arena as the crowd roared on and flower petals began to be tossed out to mark the end of the tournament. Lind felt like a weight had been lifted and he knew he had a lot to process, but this tournament helped bring it into focus.
His emerald flame seemed to burn brighter as he thought about his future and facing his past. Harmony was a good name for it, it seemed.
Unknown to the masses, Hu had snuck off, but shadows now moved and the farce created by his machinations would now bear fruit that would only unleash nightmares on the spoiled son of the empire.