Bab 422: Breach the Ice!
The ice lance slammed into Wrock, it spun like a drill into his arms. His flames failing to protect him entirely as his arms were nearly being shredded by the lance. An explosion of ice happened a moment later an encompassed Wrock entirely.
Intel lowered her spear of ice, "Most would try to fight my ice with flames much like you. At least you were smart enough to not burn it away. Now. . ."
Turning towards Akiol she tapped the ground with her spear, ice spread at an incredible speed across the entire Arena. Ying raised an eyebrow but immediately halted her attacks and jumped into the air.
Akiol watched the ice approach with a frown. His eyes snapped towards Intel and he quickly scanned the surroundings. After a split second he understood, "I'll do my best then."
Leaping upwards he twisted Stars with his wrist. Swinging towards the ice he carved into the approaching wave!
{Origami Style: Hundred-Fold}!
A series of slashes spread across the ice and cut it into even parts. Akiol landed on a bit of mana he gathered and leapt towards Ying. Raising her batons she prepared to guard herself, "Fighting in air without a form of flight?! Are you crazy?"
Swinging towards he guard he felt their weapons clash. Summoning a bit of Aura around Stars he pushed forward!
{Cataclysm Technique: Hurricane}!
Ying flew back, but before she even traveled a meter she turned into a dissipating shadow! Appearing above Akiol she swung with her batons and smacked him towards the ground! Flipping through the air he landed on his feet and immediately jumped back, an ice spear almost scraping his throat.
Frost collected at his neck, limiting his movement. Intel looked over casually, "You don't have flames, I can tell that much."
Akiol slid across the ice surface, the Arena turned into a frozen wasteland thanks to Intel's frightening ability. However thanks to Akiol's previous move the surface of the ice was mostly slashed up and uneven, granting a bit of friction. His feet dug into the ice and he swung upwards, clashing with a descending Ying!
{Cataclysm Style: Eruption}!
"Woah!"
Ying was sent flying into the air, but once again turned into a dissipating shadow. She reappeared by Intel while spinning her batons, "Thanks for the backup!"
"Let's finish these, I rendered the Pugilist immobile."
"So we're speeding things up?"
"Not quite, save that for future matches."
"Yes ma'am!"
Intel's eyes narrowed, "However it seems like he has a method to deal with the frost."
Akiol's body had long since recycled the unusable slime. Absorbing it and turning it into usable slime was easy. But as Akiol continued to fight he realized the temperature was continuing to drop in the Arena. At this rate his body's recycling ability won't be able to save him from completely freezing.
'No, that's not the biggest problem. I'm not sure how I can deal with these two.', Akiol thought to himself.
Ying's strange shadow ability wasn't easy to deal with. He wasn't sure if the damage he dealt before it appeared was transmitting or not. If he was hitting nothing but clones this entire time. . .
A crackling sound came from beneath him. Looking down he noticed the ice slowly forming and rising. Then in a split second shoot upwards to consume him. Pointing Stars he shouted, "[Repulse]!"
The ice around him was completely destroyed, but that brought only momentary relief. The fact that Intel was capable of manipulating the ice she created meant the entire Arena was her domain!
A moment of insight appeared, "So this is the true meaning behind Frozen Palace."
That meant his current target should be the ice. Raising Stars he stabbed the ground, flickers of Aura expanded around him. Intel frowned before warning, "Get to the skies, I have to make sure the Pugilist is still contained."
"What's going on?", Ying asked while retreating to upwards.
"He's-"
The ground rumbled violently. It began to shake at an incredible speed, breaking apart the ice on the ground!
{Cataclysm Style: Earthquake}!
Ying frowned, "I'll stop him, join me once you make sure that Pugilist can't move!"
Akiol pulled out Stars from the ground and lifted it. With that move he bought a few more seconds!
There was no way he was going to last in a twin assault from Ying and Intel. He needed to create some opening to finish one of them off with a single strike. That would be his best bet!
Akiol's confidence wavered for a moment, 'I can say all that, but how am I supposed to manage it? A single strike? There's no way!'
Twang~
Ying deflected a strike and dashed back. A shadow leapt from her body towards Akiol and swung towards him. Intel raised a hand and formed hundreds of ice spears around him. Swinging downwards she sent the ice spears forward. Akiol, faced with a lot more attacks than he was willing to deal with, summoned Aura forth.
{Cataclysm Technique: Tornado}!
A tornado made of Aura sprang forth and shredded the spears. Ying's shadow was torn to pieces once it made contact with it. Intel narrowed her eyes at the sight, "This energy. . ."
In fact the Provinces themselves were puzzled! Just about everyone was able to feel the alien type of energy. Yet not a single person was able to recognize it!
{Expeditious Steps}!
Several afterimages formed as Akiol charged towards Ying. It was relieving that Intel decided to play a support with her magic instead of charging towards Akiol. Although he was positive that wouldn't last very long!
Cr-Twang~
Akiol's sword grazed Ying's thigh and she turned into a dissipating shadow. Appearing above Akiol she smacked her batons together. Three shadowed figured appeared around Akiol and swung towards him.
[Shadow Flicker: Three Pronged Attack]!
{Origami Style: Icosahedron}!
The few defensive moves of the {Origami Style}! Using the property of 'folds' the wielder can create a dome of slashes meant to defend them from various attacks! It's actually one of Akiol's worse defensive moves, but it has the ability to expand outward when executed! The 'folds' blocked the shadow's attacks and slashed into them. Ying descended from above swinging her two batons downward. Akiol raised his sword and blocked the attack, his knees bending slightly.
He frowned as he felt a slash form across his back. It was worrying considering it almost scratched his core!
[Shadow Flicker: Mirror Slash]!
Akiol pushed Ying away, suddenly the fragments of ice left from Akiol's {Cataclysm Technique: Earthquake} shook slightly. In a blink of an eye they expanded into long spikes towards Akiol! Some of the farther pieces even arced upwards and attacked him from above!
Before he could fully react the closest pieces already stabbed into his legs and froze them. He tried to simply break off the frozen pieces, for he could regenerate it back later, but he was just a moment too late! The rest of the spikes reached him and impaled him several times over!
Ying landed a bit away and winced, "That was so mean, what a gruesome way to die."
"We won, that's all that matters. Neither can fight."
"Indeed! I think the victor of this match is obvious! I must ask, does the South accept their loss?", the East Province Head's voice broadcasted.
Horrow stared at the arena before gritting his teeth, "It would be shameless of me to-"
Whoom!
A spiral of blue flames launched. A voice shouted, "It's shameless to declare victory while I'm still standing!"
Wrock had been patiently abiding his time! Slowly building his spirit to fully rid of the thaw in a safe way. Now that he was free from it, he could use Spirit as much as he wanted!
BOOM-!
The ice around him shattered and exploded. Flames danced across his body, embers floating from it. Cracking his neck he boasted, "Now I don't have to worry about that troublesome ice. Let's see how you fight without it."
Intel narrowed her eyes, "Don't think you can melt it."
"Ha, we'll see about that."
A pair of wings sprouted from Wrock's back and he soared forth. Ying turned into a shadow and appeared directly in front of his path. She swung her batons forth, aiming to knock him to the ground!
{Spirit of the Phoenix: Talon}!
Wrock kicked towards Ying's batons, knocking them away. With a quick spin he then kicked her stomach to knock her away. Once Ying received the blow she dissipated into a shadow and reappeared next to Intel. She clicked her tongue, "Is all of the new generation so monstrous? I swear it's like they have a mission to surpass us in every aspect!"
Wrock made a note of Ying's troublesome ability and swung his arms. A miniature Phoenix formed and flew forward. Its target was none other than the series of spikes that impaled Akiol! Intel lifted her spear, "I thought he was smart enough to avoid that."
When Intel's ice hit someone the accumulated frost that restricted their movements held a frightening property. When melted at high speeds it acts much like an acid, destroying whatever it clings to. Intel had originally believed Wrock knew this, considering he was carefully thawing it. However his current move said otherwise, for he essentially just signed his teammate's death!
When the Phoenix touched the ice it exploded, melting and shattering the spikes. Akiol fell to the ground, most of his body gone from both the frost's properties and the explosion. Intel shook her head, "A shame you had to learn the hard way-"
Ying's eyes narrowed, "No wait! Something isn't right!"
Akiol took a breath and focused on Mira's link. His body trembled for a moment before rapidly expanding back to normal. Standing up he moved his body to assure it was fully functional. He then turned to Wrock, "Took you a while."
A slight grin formed on Wrock's face, "The ice was troublesome."
How had Akiol survived? At the very last moment he summoned forth some Aura to protect his core! By spinning it rapidly he was able to shred apart the ice that nearly stabbed into it. This just barely managed to keep him alive, for just a split moment later he became entirely frozen and unable to do anything.
Flames flickered around Wrock, "So I assume you have a plan to deal with the twin shadows?"
"I have an idea."
"Cool, because I'm gonna need some help with miss ice queen. Although I don't have to worry about the ice her skills are no joke."
"Promise you won't get trapped again?"
"No promises, but I'm sure I'll be fine.", Wrock took up a basic stance, ready to charge forward.
Intel swept her hand across and all the ice remnants disappeared. Raising the hand she had the spear in she placed it in front of her. It hovered, as if being held up by a string. She then clapped her hands on either side of it, flattening it to nothing. As she spread apart her hands a crystalline spear formed. As she grabbed it and lowered it to the ground, the area around the spear turned to ice.
[Freezing Chill: True Ice Spear]
She lifted a hand and gestured for them to come forth, "Let's see if you can truly melt this ice."
Ying spun one baton into a reverse grip, "Oh you're getting serious out here! Don't mind if I follow along!"
Akiol adjusted his grip on Stars, "Let's do this!"
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone