Chapter 61: Mariel's True Form
Kai and Mia both released their cultivation at the same time, one at the 1st stage of the imperial spirit realm whereas the other at the 5th stage of the heaven spirit realm. The blinding flash of light was contained by their cultivation.
Mia couldn't see anything because of the brightness but Kai's eyes adjusted automatically as he had the elemental spirit of light's blessing.
He saw golden lava ooze out of Mariel's skin and it started to surround her completely. Kai knowing that the entire western continent was in danger, decided to teleport the three of them to the edge of the continent.
As soon as they appeared on land, Mariel's body rose in the air, and cracks started to run across the ground as lava emerged from within the planet.
Mia regained her eyesight back as she and Kai stared at a giant ball of lava in front of them. It looked like a miniature model of sun as the heat coming from it was enough to vaporize the entire planet.
Mia used her unmeltable ice to create a dome around the three of them as the lava slowly started to diverge.
Mariel's luscious blonde hair made its appearance as the lava slowly withdrew from her head.
A two-horned flame-red crown appeared above Mariel's head and slowly settled down on her hair.
A glistening ruby was placed on both the horns and they were emitting an ominous aura.
The lava gradually reached down to her waist and the rest of her body made its appearance. Her pupils had slimmed into cat-like eyes and were shining vigorously.
A backless battle armor adorned her body as her entire back was on display. Two golden gloves adorned her hands and reached up to her elbows.
Two golden shoulder plates dropped on her shoulders and a shimmering necklace dropped on her neck. It contained a glistening red ruby-like the ones on her horns.
The lava completely vanished as Mariel's full body came into view. The battle armor folded into a skirt-like end which ended at her upper thighs.
Only Kai knew that Mariel was wearing black shorts under her skirt-like armor. This was the armor she forged herself so that she could be casual or battle-ready at any moment.
Two golden combat boots adorned her feet as she slowly settled down on the ground. A flapping sound was heard as a pair of crimson red wings appeared from Mariel's back.
Followed by that, a huge red tail appeared from below her dress and started flickering in the air.
This was Mariel's true form and any mortal would have died if he or she saw her.
(AN: Check the paragraph comment for Mariel's image.)
Mariel's eyes were hazy for a moment before she saw Kai and Mia, well she only saw Kai, and Mia was just standing in the background.
Mariel flapped her wings in joy and hugged Kai, her wings completely wrapping around him.
"Where are we?" Mariel asked as she let go of Kai and glanced around her surroundings.
"Here." Kai said with a smile as he touched Mariel's forehead.
Information filled Mariel's head as she gasped. After she recovered from her shock, she stared at Mia.
"Who are you?" Mariel asked as her face transformed into a cute confused look.
[ Don't fall for that. She is one of the most hot-tempered women I have ever met. ] Kai suddenly warned Mia who looked at Mariel with a normal face.
"My name is Mia and I am the ice princess or rather, I was the ice princess before you know what happened." She said with a sigh as Mariel sighed too.
"Well, I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Mariel and I am the elemental ruler of fire or as said, I was the elemental ruler of fire." Mariel said in a dejected tone as she too had heard the pheonix's words.
Kai, who was oblivious to this, didn't understand why both of them were referring to their titles in the past form.
Mia quickly told him the pheonix's words and Kai's face morphed into a shocked expression.
"First I find out that I fell from the sky for sixteen years. But I can't believe that I was unconscious for two thousand years." He said in disbelief and suddenly, his eyes started to glow. The three of them suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere.
"This is a memory. My memory." Kai said slowly as he saw himself wrapped up in darkness.
One by one, the god souls were slowly settling inside his body before he finally fell on the mortal cultivation world. The three of them then jerked back to the present.
"That's why it took me such a large amount of time. The god souls took a huge amount of time to synchronize with my body and that's the reason for me being for such a long time." Kai said to himself as he glanced around.
Even though the lava had disappeared, cracks were still running across the land. Kai quickly fixed this with the snap of his fingers. He then glanced at Mariel's wings and tails.
Seeing his gaze, her tail vanished and her wings folded upon themselves while her crown disappeared. He then teleported the three of them back to the sect.
"So we are in a dual cultivation sect?" Mariel suddenly asked as the trio stepped inside Kai's house.
"Yes, you are correct. This is the first place that comes to my mind if I want to cultivate with girls." Kai replied as he wore his jacket back.
"Well, whatever. Let's just go meet the sect masters and tell them that I want to join this sect." Mariel just shrugged as was about to move outside the house when Kai stopped her.
"I am the sect master. So congratulations, you just joined the sect and because of your talent, I have decided to promote you to the rank of a core disciple." Kai said as Mariel's jaw was left hanging.
She looked at Mia's amused face and then back to Kai's serious face and closed her mouth. She just nodded and Kai handed her a pair of core disciple robes he had picked up from the exchange center.
After seeing those robes, he remembered that he too had to wear the sect master's robes. He quickly took out the coat and wore it. Mariel, following Mia's example, put the robes on her shoulders and left it hanging open.
"Let's go and tell Riang about you." Kai said as he offered his hand to Mariel, who took it with another sigh. He also offered his hand to Mia and she took a firm hold of it.
They teleported outside Riang's door and she opened it. She was just about to speak when she glanced at Mariel and her face was left hanging open.
It was expected as Mariel's cat-like eyes were clearly shocking and other than that, her clothes were extremely otherworldly, just like Kai and Mia's clothes.
"Who did you pick up this time?" Riang asked in shock as Kai smiled.
"I scouted her talent and I liked her. That's why I asked her to join the sect and she obliged. And because of her powers, I decided to promote her directly to a core disciple. Do you have anything to say?" He asked Riang in a serious tone and she glanced at Mariel.
Mariel just formed a cute expression and released a 5th stage hell spirit realm cultivation.
'How does he keep picking up such talents?' Riang asked herself in her mind as she glanced at Mia who was also someone Kai powered up.
In fact, all the current core disciples, except Yui and Kai himself, were powered up by him. Riang, herself, was powered up by him so she knew that he could easily scout talent.
"Well, you are officially a core disciple of the sect." Riang said with as much sincerity she could conjure up.
"I want to talk to you about something important." Riang said after Mariel was officially accepted into the sect by both of the sect masters.
"You two go ahead and I will join you in a minute." Kai said to his two lovers and they both went back to his house.
"The Black Tiger tournament is coming up in a month!" As soon as they both were out hearing range, Riang shouted in panic.
"The Black Tiger tournament?" Kai asked in a confused tone and Riang facepalmed.
"Were you living under a rock before you joined this sect?" She asked in an angry tone.
'I only landed on this world a few months back.' He thought bitterly but didn't speak anything and allowed Riang to explain it to him.
"The Zian family hosts a tournament every time a family member becomes a vessel for the white tiger. The current ruler of the western continent, Zian Asahi, had two wives, out of which only one is alive. He has five children, two female and three males and that's excluding Kiana as she is a long lost heir.
Now, one of his daughter's had a strong lightning element when she was born and thunder struck the entire continent for an entire week. The white tiger chose her as it's vessel and it's tradition that once the host of the white tiger reaches adulthood, meaning sixteen years of age, the Zian family will hold a tournament. Only sects are allowed to participate and all of them have to join the tournament, regardless of their power level." Riang explained the entire history of the tournament while Kai narrowed his eyes.
'Both the western and southern continent have the sports choosing hosts at the same time? That's not a coincidence. Is she here too?' He thought as he glanced at Riang.
"But what is the problem?" He asked.
"The problem is..."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone