Divine Beast Ascension

“Oh, that’s too bad Treeda. No hard feelings?” Isla joked.

But Treeda only shrugged and leaned back. “That’s interesting... Because, if I’m being honest, my last candidate might also happen to be my strongest.”

Already, the final two contestants were standing face to face in the arena.

Excited again, Slazza announced, “A Magma Ape represents Draco Prefecture, versus a Tundra Tiger standing for Toxic-shadow Prefecture! Will the Draco Prefecture manage to win and force a tiebreaker? Or will Toxic-shadow dominate an elite prefecture with three wins to one loss?”

The Magma Ape stood more than three-krin tall. Underneath his dark fur, his skin was pitch-black, like dried lava. Across the ape’s hairless chest were cracks in the hard flesh, with red-hot heat getting brighter and dimmer with each inhale and exhale.

“You look tough,” the ape chuckled. “I hope so. A boring fight is never a good fight.”

.....

Smiling back, Tilgron laughed as well, “I feel the same way. Here’s to a good fight.”

The tiger’s tail and the ape’s fist respectfully pounded together.

“Then, I take you two are ready?” Slazza chuckled. “FIGHT!”

Both contestants immediately activated their area control battle arts. Ice scattered across the ground with impunity. Heat consumed the dirt with fury. Seeing the arts clash was a beautiful sight for the crowd, with flakes of snow falling upon the half-molten ground.

“Interesting... You’re right, Treeda, he’s not bad,” Isla chuckled and commented.

“Let’s see how this plays out...” Shrugging, Treeda didn’t pay her any attention. She kept her eyes focused on the ever-changing battlefield.

The ape laughed some more, “So, my perimeter effect won’t stop you? Good! Let’s have some fun!”

Leaping through the air, the Magma Ape surrounded his fists with flaming earth essence. It was surreal. The earth essence oozed like lava yet never dripped away from the fist.

Tilgron struck back with his ice-covered claws, trading blow for blow.

Peimar grinned, asking, “You gave the ape your technique?”

Chuckling, Isla nodded, “Who better to train with lava than a Magma Ape? To raise the best candidates, you’ve got to offer them the best resources.”

Still, Treeda and those that had bet on her remained silent. Warak kept glancing at Treeda, but her calm, steady gaze reassured him that he wouldn’t regret his bet.

Just then, the Magma Ape grabbed one of Tilgron’s claws. This let the ape assume a better position and throw Tilgron over his shoulder. As Tilgron crashed onto the ground, the dirt softened and heated up. It wasn’t quite lava, but it wasn’t far off either.

But Tilgron wasn’t so easy to defeat. He roared and spat ice all over the hot ground, even creating a thin cushion of snow to somewhat break his fall.

While Tilgron rolled over to his feet, the Magma Ape lunged for the tiger’s back. He managed to get a hand on the frosty fur and readied a heated punch with his free arm.

Yet, to the surprise of some people, Tilgron didn’t try to shake off the ape. Instead, his tail became a glacial morning star and was thrown full force at the Magma Ape.

When the blows collided, the extreme opposing temperatures created massive steam clouds, almost making steam explosions. But the same exchange happened again, and again, and again. They continued to trade blows until steam covered half the area and they felt a need to change things up.

Tilgron tried to control the tempo, rolling over so he could slash at the ape’s side. But the ape finally let go to regain his footing and try something new.

“Try this!” bellowed the ape, smiling crazily.

The ape was a few krin away yet still through a punch. Then, the oozing, molten essence was flung through the air in the shape of that fist! Everyone in the crowd was blown away as the essence fist rushed toward the tiger.

Not backing down, Tilgron readied a massive ice spear and used his tail like an atlatl, hurling it with incredible force and creating a deafening whistle.

The crashing attacks burst apart, finally creating an explosion of steam!

Tilgron still dove head first into the steam cloud, unafraid.

The Magma Ape acted similarly, lunging forward to accept the inevitable charge.

Crack! Crunch!

The first sounds of injury sounded out for all to hear. As the steam faded, the result of the clash became clear. Tilgron stood strong but was powering through a badly bruised leg, a potential fracture. The Magma Ape was starting to breathe heavily, keeping a hand over his rib cage, trying to stop his boiling hot blood from spilling out.

Growling, Tilgron covered his broken shin with dense blue ice to create an instant splint. Then, he lunged forward again, letting his guard down in order to land another blow.

The ape roared and pounded the ground, raising boulders and ridges to get in Tilgron’s way.

However, the ape was caught off guard when Tilgron came to a sharp stop. Suddenly, all that forward momentum was shifted into Tilgrons tail, launching an even larger ice spear with a peculiar spearhead, and no warning whistle.

It took off through the air and collided with the rocks, but it barely slowed down. The winding spearhead and spiral fletchings caused the spear to drill through the earthen defenses with ease.

The ape leaped back but acted too late. That spiraling spear caught the side of the ape’s leg, tearing through essence armor and drilling through muscle to carve into bone. The heat of the essence armor ended up slowing the drill and stopping the attack early, but severe damage had already been dealt.

And while the magma ape condensed rocks around his broken leg, Tilgron had dashed around the earthen barrier and dove in with his claws.

Furious yet excited, the ape readied himself to trade with the claw attacks yet again. However, he managed to barely notice something different threatening him, something new. Over a dozen icy knives were suddenly spinning through the air, coming at the ape from nearly all directions.