As soon as the array patterns were all activated, the Base Circle started changing. Soon the entire circle was covered in loose earth, with a thick pool of water rippling on one side, and another thinner pool of lava flowing on the other side. Strangely, none of the three elements affected each other. Rihanna felt sure there were barriers placed around each element, keeping each element locked in its own space. She could also see silver-white particles floating in the air, slowly growing denser and denser.
"Earth....water....fire....and wind. These must be the major elements of the two cultivators."
Rihanna turned towards Ye Luo in confusion.
"Then these are the only four elements they will be allowed to use?"
"No-no.....these are their major elements. They might use a lot of these elements, so the arena has provided them with a large amount of these four elements, to keep up a constant supply of these elements. They can use other elements as well, but they should be carrying the supply for those other elements with them."
Rihanna nodded in deep thoughts. This was a good technique by the organizers of this Conquest. A constant supply would not only make the fights longer and more interesting, it also allowed the Challengers to go all out while showcasing their prowess without the constant worry that they might run out of elemental energy.
"What about beasts? Can they use demonic or spirit beasts in these fights? And what if some of them have extra proficiency in weapons or inscriptions and arrays and poison or medicine?"
"No beasts allowed.....you can use whatever proficiencies and skills you possess....those will all be counted as your strength."
"By the way.....I can understand demonic beasts, but you talk as if spirit beasts are cabbaged growing by the roadside!...just because you have a spirit beast doesn't mean that everyone is that lucky...you are a strange entity. Don't compare yourself with us normal humans! Yu are a freak of nature!"
Rihanna rubbed her forehead, then swatted at Artreya's head.
"Keep your voice down. Or are you trying to announce to the world that I have a spirit beast?!"
Artreya paused, his excitement slowly deflating as he scratched the back of his head where Rihanna had slapped him. He quickly glanced around to make sure no one had heard his nonsense, then grinned awkwardly at Rihanna.
Meanwhile the two Challengers down in the arena didn't seem interested in attacking immediately. Instead they were testing out each other's powers.
Thin rivulets of water started flowing out from the pool of water, gradually soaking the earth. As more and more water started pouring out, the ground turned mushy, and the water gathered in shallow puddles wherever the soaked earth caved in a bit.
However, as the water was still seeping in, the soggy earth under the first Challenger suddenly started shifting, rapidly moving outwards and making a hollow space below his feet.
The first Challenger instantly jumped off the ground, landing in one of the shallow water puddles. But before he landed, the water had already started changing form, and by the time his feet touched the water, it had turned to frozen ice.
"Oh! One had earth element, while the first one has water and the mutated Ice element. I wonder if he also has a third element!"
As more and more earth started shifting from their place, more and more water also started pouring into the arena. Gradually the earth turned so soggy, that it was getting difficult for the second challenger to control its movement. She paused for a bit, then changing tactics, streams of fire started flowing onto the stage.
Unlike the water, which was soaking the earth and could be seen, the fire element directly entered under the layers of earth, barely making its presence known. And instead of spreading throughout the stage, it started flowing towards the second challenger, forming a shallow layer beneath the area where the second Challenger was standing.
She started feeding the lava beneath the ground with her own fire energy, and very soon the lava started boiling, erupting through the ground with spurts of molten fire. The wet ground rapidly began losing all moisture, becoming dry. So dry that cracks started forming on the solidified ground, spreading all around the female Challenger. Through the numerous cracks in the ground, even at this distance, the spectators could clearly see the fast vaporizing water, as a layer of white mist rose upwards, hanging heavily in the air.
As the cracks started spreading around, the lava began to spread outwards as well, drying out the earth towards the male Challenger as well. The man began to recall back the water from the ground to form a thick and mushy area all around himself, and then the entire area started spreading out into a hard frozen ice-land. The spreading fire instantly lost its momentum, as the ice kept on thickening, causing the woman to lose more fire energy to melt this thick ice.
Both of them paused when the layers of ice touched the swirling underground lava, once more returning back to their initial state of observing and testing each other. The ice and fire remained, and sharp hissing and sizzling sounds could be heard as the floating lava clashed with the thickening ice at the edges of their boundaries.
The man let out a series of ice whips, randomly striking the woman. These whips were made from a long series of tiny icicles attached to each other. This gave the whip great agility, and whip slashed outwards at a speed so great that the spectators could only see after-images of the whips movements.
However, for cultivators at the Sprouting Level, following the movements was not that hard. The whip slashed at the girl from completely different angles, like random and unplanned movements. Moreover, the speed kept on increasing with each strike.
However, the woman did not seem the slightest bit shaken, as she kept on putting up earthen and fire barriers just as quickly, always managing to shield herself from the exact direction where the whip appeared from.
Gradually the speed was picking up and became so fast, that even the after-images turned blurred. Even with her heightened senses, Rihanna was having trouble keeping up with the speed of these cultivators.
She had fought cultivators at the first stage of Sprouting Level. And from her own experiences, she could tell that there was a vast difference between the first stage and the third stage of the same level. Those first stage cultivators were nowhere near this speed, otherwise even with her ambushes and poisons and surprise attacks, she would not have lasted to see another day!
As the fight became intense, the movements of the whip and barrier had started to look like random explosions of two different energies all around the arena. They kept appearing randomly and unpredictably and their momentum was almost invisible to the normal eye. Suddenly the frozen ground on the man's side erupted with large streams of lava pouring out like fountains, completely drowning the ice.
Despite the terrific speed, the woman had managed to spread the lava underneath the ground towards the man's area, silently infiltrating the area between the ice and the ground underneath. And this silent attack had finally broken through, completely overturning the area of the male Challenger.
The audience gasped, excitement coursing through their veins, as they watched with bulging eyes.
The man squinted his eyes, before rapidly dodging the attack of the lava fountain, jumping high up into the air. Instantly, a layer of ice formed in the air, underneath his foot, and he floated above the ground, watching as the ice on the ground slowly melted away to water, before turning to vapour and rising into the air.
"Wind! He has a third power!"
"...Technically that is two, you know! Ice users will always have some amount of control over water as well."
"And also Vapor....."
As Ye Luo spoke, the vapor floating all around the arena slowly started moving towards the center. Some parts of it remained as vapor, while some parts started condensing into ice. As more and more ice melted and turned to vapor, the man himself hid amidst the dense white fog, hiding and abiding his time for making the next attack.
Rihanna stared at the Arena in wonder. It looked like a fight between Devils and Gods. One reigned over the lands, with fire raging all over the earth, pouring out through the cracks on the ground. The other floated in the sky, amidst the clouds, watching the water pour down on the flames, leaving behind black, burnt earth.
As the man slowly hid in the clouds, the woman too slowly started sinking into the ground, finally disappearing from view. The ground remained still for a while. The man too was silently watching. Then the ground started shaking, and the earth from the edges of the arena stage started shifting once more, towards the center of the stage.