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Chapter 38: Battle
🕑 Added 2025-06-11 10:28:13 +0000 UTCLooking at the massive tornado rushing towards him, Ethan’s face paled under his mask of flame, and he cursed internally, "Holy crap!" Isn't this a bit too over the top? Is she even human?
Ethan, as Heatblast, raised both his hands high, desperately circulating the elemental Aura within his body, and began to gather energy. In the next moment, two thick pillars of fire sprayed out from his hands, rushing towards the tornado with immense, roaring force.
BOOM—
Two deafening sounds rang out as the fire pillars and the wind tornado collided fiercely, creating a massive impact force that shook the entire training hall. For a moment, a fierce wind howled, flames surged in every direction, and the surrounding air seemed about to ignite from the sheer heat and friction.
Ethan gritted his teeth, desperately urging his elemental power forward, pouring all of his strength into maintaining those two pillars of fire. On the other side, Lily looked completely relaxed. She just slightly raised her hand, a gesture of casual control, and easily held his powerful assault at bay. The fire pillars and the tornado were locked in a stalemate in mid-air; neither could advance any further.
Veins popped out on Ethan's forehead, and "sweat" made of molten fire and plasma dripped down his face continuously, but he still held on with all his might. Finally, after a grueling tug-of-war that felt like an eternity, he used all his strength to push forward with a final, desperate roar, but it only managed to hold off… a single, casual strike from Lily.
The tornado, upon touching the fire pillar, was gradually dyed a brilliant, angry red, transforming into a massive fire tornado. At this moment, it not only contained wind-attribute Aura but also fire-attribute Aura. A thought, a desperate gamble, flashed through Ethan's mind. Since that's the case, then I'll try to see if I can control the fire-elemental Aura within it, since it's my element!
No sooner said than done! He focused his mind and tried to communicate with, to command, the fire element within the swirling fire tornado. Following his intense efforts, the originally violent fire element within the vortex gradually calmed down, as if it had found its true master, its home. A flash of joy went through Ethan's heart, and he continued to increase his efforts, trying to make these fire elements listen to his command.
Under his control, the fire-attribute Aura within the fire tornado began to merge with the two fire pillars he had shot out, combining together to form an even more powerful, unified force. Then, Ethan began to slowly push this force, trying to push the entire fire tornado back towards Lily. Following his actions, the fire tornado really did begin to slowly retreat. Although the speed was very, very slow, it was indeed moving back.
Seeing this scene, a trace of genuine admiration flashed in Lily's eyes, and she couldn't help but praise, "Not bad, Ethan. Quite smart." However, just as Ethan thought the situation was finally under his control, an accident happened again. The fire tornado, under her superior command, suddenly became violent once more, its power surging exponentially along with it.
"Not good!" Ethan's face turned pale. He hurriedly wanted to retract his elemental power, but it was already too late. The fire tornado had broken free from his fledgling control and, like a wild, enraged beast, rushed directly towards him. Ethan's face turned grim; he felt that he was about to be completely unable to withstand this powerful, overwhelming force.
Ethan gritted his teeth and used his last bit of strength. He roared, gathering all his remaining flames to one single point, trying to once again block its advance. But it was completely useless. The gap between their ranks, between Rank One and Rank Four, was simply too great! Seeing that the situation was already uncontrollable, Ethan hurriedly switched forms.
"XLR8!"
In a flash of green light, Ethan displayed astonishing speed, moving like a bolt of lightning, swiftly darting away from the tornado's imminent impact area. Seeing this, a trace of genuine surprise couldn't help but rise in Lily's heart. "I didn't expect him to have more than one transformation. It seems his innate talent is not as simple as just Earth-rank." At Pinnacle University, there were also people who could transform into multiple forms or states, but the innate talent level of these psionicists was, at the very least, Celestial-rank. However, Ethan had been judged as a mere Earth-rank at the time of his re-testing, yet now he was displaying such powerful, versatile abilities. This made Lily's interest in his unique talent grow even stronger.
A single testing error could still be barely explained away as a machine mistake. But if there were two mistakes, then that was a bit intriguing. However, Lily didn't think too much about it. After all, no matter what, Ethan was her nephew; they were family.
Thinking of this, Lily lightly snapped her fingers. The originally rampant fire tornado suddenly changed direction with impossible agility and began to rapidly pursue the speeding Ethan. Due to Lily's immense strength and foresight, she had chosen the largest training arena in this facility, an area a full ten thousand square meters in size. This way, Ethan would have enough space to maneuver and wouldn't be restricted by the size of the area. Furthermore, Lily had deliberately controlled her power so that the tornado's might would not be too strong, to avoid causing excessive, permanent damage to Ethan. The scene now had become a roaring, red fire tornado chasing a frantic, blue-and-black blur across the massive hall.
Running like this is not a long-term solution! Ethan thought, his mind racing.
He turned his body around, but his feet still carried him backward at incredible speed, always moving away from the encroaching fire tornado. It was just like he was skating backward on frictionless ice. Facing the oncoming fire tornado, Ethan switched his form again. With his strong forward inertia, he did a flip in the air, then landed on the ground in a classic, dramatic superhero-style pose. "Diamondhead!"
At the same time, his left hand touched the ground, controlling the surrounding psionic energy to rapidly grow a wall of Taydenite crystal, attempting to block the fire tornado in front of him. Meanwhile, his right hand transformed into a sharp, crystalline awl, continuously shooting out diamond-hard bullets towards Lily.
However, facing Ethan's fierce counter-attack, Lily appeared extremely calm. She merely stretched out a hand and easily condensed a shimmering wind barrier in front of her, blocking all the diamond bullets on the outside. These bullets struck the wind barrier and were all deflected, bouncing off harmlessly, unable to cause her the slightest bit of harm.
Seeing that his attacks were useless against Lily, Ethan simply gave up on attacking her directly and focused all his efforts on controlling the Taydenite crystals, attempting to completely encase the fire tornado. Large amounts of diamond-like crystal, like blocks of solid ice, spread rapidly around the fire tornado, gradually smothering the fierce flames within.
Phew~~ Ethan, as Diamondhead, let out a heavy sigh of relief as the last of the flames died out within the crystal prison. "It's finally dealt with."
"Not yet~~"
A teasing voice appeared right by Ethan's crystalline ear. He turned his head and found that Lily's face was just fifty centimeters in front of his own. The corners of Lily's mouth were slightly upturned, revealing a faint, beautiful smile. This smile was like the warm sun in spring, warm and bright; it was also like a cool summer night's breeze, light and pleasant.
But to Ethan, it made a chill run through his crystalline body, as if he had just fallen into a winter abyss. Sure enough.
Lily punched him directly in the chest. Ethan felt as if he had been hit squarely by a speeding truck. A sharp, shattering pain radiated from his chest as the Taydenite crystals cracked and splintered.
Comments
Zed S
There were no such types of talent before and now there is Celestial rank
