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### Chapter 24: The Unleashed Power
Kalki hovered effortlessly in the air, supported by the immense power of his Apex Mode. The golden Apex Halo with its two glowing sigils—fire and wind—spun slowly behind him, casting an ethereal light. Kalki felt a surge of energy coursing through him, amplifying his strength and control over his elemental affinities. He grinned, reveling in the newfound power.
Leaving the fire altar far behind, Kalki soared across the sky until he reached a barren expanse of land. This place, a desolate wasteland stretching over 500 square kilometers, was composed entirely of hardened magma rocks and scorched earth. It was a lifeless land, perfect for testing his abilities without restraint. The heat from the ground radiated upwards, but Kalki remained unfazed, his body adapted to the extreme temperatures.
Hovering above the ground, Kalki began testing his skills, starting with **Tempest's Embrace**. He summoned a colossal vortex of wind, the swirling mass of air uprooting the massive magma rocks and tearing through the toughest defenses in the landscape. The vortex moved with Kalki's thoughts, allowing him to direct it towards specific targets. He controlled its intensity, causing the vortex to either ravage the terrain or shield him from potential threats. His speed and agility were enhanced, enabling him to dodge imaginary attacks and strike with lightning-fast precision. The vortex lasted several minutes, sustained by Kalki's wind essence and concentration, all while drawing from the essence in the surroundings, ensuring no depletion of his own energy.
Next, Kalki activated **Inferno Stride**. As he moved, flames ignited beneath his feet, leaving a fiery trail in his wake. The combination of speed from Gale Stride and the searing power of Blazing Slash turned him into a blazing blur, enhancing his strikes with fiery speed. He darted across the barren land, each step creating a path of fire and destruction. Each footfall was like a meteor strike, sending shockwaves of heat and flame across the ground.
Testing **Flame Tempest Fist**, Kalki merged the concentrated wind energy of Tempest Fist with the explosive force of Inferno Burst. With each punch, he unleashed a powerful shockwave of wind and fire, capable of devastating everything in its path. The resulting shockwaves blasted through the magma rocks, leaving craters and molten debris in their wake, each impact akin to a missile strike.
He then summoned **Meteor Storm**, calling down a barrage of flaming projectiles. The flaming meteors rained down from the sky, striking the ground with explosive force and causing widespread devastation. The landscape was soon covered in fiery craters, the sheer power of the attack evident in the destruction it left behind. Each meteor strike was like a bomb detonating, the ground shaking and splitting under the relentless assault.
Switching to his individual skills, Kalki wielded **Blazing Slash**, his weapon coated in searing flames. Each swing of his blade cut through the air, releasing intense heat that incinerated the rocks it touched. **Inferno Burst** followed, sending out a concentrated wave of fire essence that created an explosive blast, engulfing the surroundings in a fiery inferno. The blasts resembled napalm explosions, incinerating everything within their radius.
To test his defensive capabilities, Kalki activated **Ember Shield**. A protective barrier of swirling embers formed around him, reducing damage from imaginary attacks and burning any foes that might come into contact with it. The shield held strong, showcasing its defensive prowess, the embers burning fiercely and repelling any imagined threats.
Using **Gale Stride**, Kalki enhanced his speed, zipping across the landscape with unparalleled agility. **Tempest Fist** added to his offensive repertoire, each punch delivering powerful wind energy. **Elemental Sculptor** allowed him to manipulate the elements around him, while **Tempest Stones** let him summon and launch precise projectiles of concentrated wind energy. Each of these attacks left marks on the barren land, carving out trenches and creating new formations in the magma rock.
With each skill, Kalki marveled at their effectiveness. His abilities were now five times more potent than before, a clear result of his Apex Mode and his recent cultivation breakthrough to the third-order adept stage. The increase in his attributes—attack, agility, endurance, and intelligence—by 200% made him a formidable force, capable of defeating an epic-tier beast.
After testing his skills in Apex Mode, Kalki decided to test another of his newly acquired inheritance skills without the enhancement of the Apex Halo. He wanted to understand its true power on its own. Deactivating his Apex Mode, he floated back down to the barren, lifeless terrain, his appearance returning to its usual form. The golden halo and its two sigils—fire and wind—faded, leaving Kalki standing on the scorched earth.
Taking a deep breath, Kalki prepared to activate **Elemental Chaos Burst**. He focused on harnessing the raw power of the elemental essences within him—fire and wind—fusing them into a single, chaotic blast. The air around him crackled with energy as a swirling sphere of multi-colored energy formed in front of him, pulsating with chaotic power.
As he channeled nearly all his remaining essence into the skill, the sphere grew larger, its colors intensifying. Kalki could feel the immense power building, the chaotic nature of the elements merging into an explosive force. With a determined shout, he unleashed the **Elemental Chaos Burst**.
The sphere shot forward, and as it reached the ground, it detonated with an earth-shattering explosion. The blast's range and intensity were immense, resulting in a devastating eruption that obliterated everything within a 40 square kilometer radius. The force of the explosion created a massive crater, the ground torn apart and scorched, molten rock pooling at the edges. The once barren land was now a desolate wasteland, the chaotic energy leaving lingering elemental effects that continued to disrupt and destroy the terrain.
The destruction was unparalleled. The ground was riddled with cracks and fissures, the chaotic energy causing residual fires and wind storms. The affected area was a scene of utter devastation, a testament to the immense power of the **Elemental Chaos Burst**. As the chaotic energy slowly dissipated, the landscape remained a chaotic ruin, with elemental forces still swirling and clashing within the crater.
Exhausted from the immense effort, Kalki collapsed to his knees, barely conscious. His essence reserves were nearly depleted, but he had left just enough to avoid falling into a state of complete essence depletion. As he gazed upon the destruction he had wrought, a thought crossed his mind—a thought that filled him with both awe and horror.
"If this is the devastation I can cause without Apex Mode...," Kalki mused, his voice barely a whisper. He imagined the impact of the **Elemental Chaos Burst** if he were in Apex Mode, with its nearly unlimited essence supply and 200% increase in skill output. The thought of such an amplified blast, capable of potentially leveling entire regions, sent a chill down his spine. His eyes widened in fearful realization. "I could... I could accidentally destroy a continent."
The fearful reaction was almost comical in its absurdity. Kalki, a powerful warrior who had faced countless dangers, was now trembling at the mere thought of his own potential. He let out a nervous laugh, the sarcasm dripping from his words. "Great. Just what I needed. A skill that could make me the universe's biggest accidental catastrophe."
With that, exhaustion finally overtook him, and Kalki fell unconscious beside the massive crater, the lingering chaos a silent witness to his newfound power.
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Kalki traveled toward the center of the central continent, his mind preoccupied with the events of the recent battle. As he flew over the barren landscape, he couldn't help but think about the devastating blast of the **Elemental Chaos Burst** he had unleashed. The memory of the destruction made him shudder. "I should never use that in future battles unless absolutely necessary," he muttered to himself. The thought of causing such widespread devastation again was terrifying.
He turned his thoughts to Yaksha and Seraph, wondering if he was doing right by them. "Yaksha, am I doing good by you and Seraph?" he asked, seeking reassurance.
Yaksha's voice echoed in his mind, laced with its usual sarcasm. "Oh, absolutely, Kalki. You're the epitome of responsibility. Worrying about a little collateral damage and wondering if you're being a good guardian. Truly, a role model."
Kalki couldn't help but chuckle at Yaksha's sarcasm, finding some comfort in the familiar banter.
As he continued his journey, he activated **Gale Stride**, a wind-based skill that used less essence than **Inferno Stride**. The skill allowed him to move swiftly and efficiently, leaving a faint trail of wind in his wake. As his enhanced senses picked up distant sounds and sights, he spotted a familiar figure below.
It was Ember, the girl from the intermediate shrine, along with her group. Using his heightened perception, Kalki observed and listened to their conversation from a distance.
One of the group members, an older man named Gyro, was in a bad state. His body was covered in burns and severe wounds. Another boy around Ember's age, Flint, was scolding Gyro harshly. "You were supposed to protect us, Gyro! Look at the mess we're in because of you!"
Gyro, despite his injuries, responded with a weary sigh. "I did my best, Sir. The magma golem was too powerful even for as it burns ."
Leslie, another girl in the group, was tending to Gyro's wounds. "Calm down, Flint. We need to focus on getting Gyro healed. This isn't helping."
Kalki listened intently as their conversation continued, revealing crucial information. Ember spoke up, frustration evident in her voice. "We came all this way to the intermediate shrine to obtain the dragon's essence, the epic essence. But just as we distracted the magma golem and entered the shrine, it was stolen!"
Flint's anger flared. "Whoever that thief is, they better pray we don't find them. We risked everything, and now we're empty-handed because of some coward!"
Kalki's eyes widened as he realized they were talking about him. He had taken the dragon's essence, the very epic essence they sought. A sense of guilt washed over him, but he knew he couldn't reveal himself now.
Ember's group continued to curse the thief, unaware that Kalki was listening to every word. He watched them from a distance, contemplating his next move. He couldn't change what had happened, but he could decide how to handle the situation moving forward.
Kalki changed his plans for now, deciding to put off acquiring other elemental affinities. Instead, he chose to follow Ember's group without being noticed. One day, as Ember's group traveled towards the Fire Forest, Kalki shadowed them from a distance, keen to observe their movements and intentions.
The Fire Forest was a breathtaking sight, unlike anything Kalki had ever seen. Towering trees with trunks as thick as city buildings dominated the landscape. These trees had an extraordinary ability to draw sustenance from lava, their roots burrowing deep into the molten earth. Their leaves were a vibrant crimson, shimmering with an inner glow, while their fruits resembled glowing orbs of molten rock. Each tree had a canopy so vast it could easily cover an entire city from Kalki's previous world.
The forest's ecosystem was a marvel. Lava streams flowed between the trees, providing nourishment to the flora and fauna. Beasts of various kinds roamed the forest, adapted to the intense heat and fiery environment. The creatures were mostly of rare and common tiers, each uniquely suited to the fiery domain. Flaming hounds, magma serpents, and fire birds were just a few examples of the life that thrived in this searing habitat.
Surprisingly, despite the vast expanse of the Fire Forest, Kalki noted that there were no epic-tier beasts or even peak rare-tier beasts present. This was unusual for a place of such magnitude and power.
As he pondered this, Yaksha's voice broke the silence. "There should be a ruler in this place. He might have been killed by humans."
Kalki mused on this, thinking of the powerful humans capable of taking down such formidable creatures. "If humans can kill even the ruler of this place, they might slowly conquer the whole fire segment," he said sarcastically.
Yaksha laughed heartily. "Oh, Kalki, you're forgetting. Each segment has its own lords. Humans have no chance of conquering such vast territories."
With Yaksha's words lingering in his mind, Kalki continued to follow Ember's group. He was determined to uncover their plans and intentions, all the while contemplating the complex balance of power in this fiery realm.