A group of students moved through the forest.

"Are we still far from the ancient formation array?" one of them asked.

"According to the map, we still need two hours before reaching it," replied another.

A huge pillar of fire suddenly appeared in the distance, followed by the sound of an explosion which caught their attention. More and more explosions were heard, rapidly approaching their position.

"What is going on!" shouted several students at once, while others started running away as quickly as possible.

Two figures appeared a hundred meters away from them. One was surrounded by blades of red fire which seemed to have a physical form, while blades of normal fire surrounded the other figure.

Each of the two figures ran quickly while moving their hands in the air, and with each of their movements, the blades of fire that surrounded them shot through the air toward the other figure, who either dodged or used his own blades of fire to defend it, wreaking havoc on the area around them.

The two figures seemed to face each other evenly, but while one had a smile on his face, the other was expressionless.

"Who are these two?! They're as strong as the teachers!" one of the students asked after seeing how the battle continued without any signs of weakening on either side.

"We don't care! We have to get out of here. They're getting closer!" another replied with a frightened voice seeing the flames approaching their group.

A loud explosion shook the ground as the group ran faster, trying not to fall over in fear and being hit by the explosions of fire caused by the exchange between the two figures moving rapidly through the forest.

A few minutes later, all the students managed to reach the top of a hill, where they stopped and watched the strange scene in front of them.

All the students could see was a line of explosions followed by a sound like thunder and what looked like two fires fighting against each other in the middle of the forest. No beast or student dared approach them for fear of meeting death.

"Ah! I remember now. The one with the red flames is Allen Graham!" one of the students said suddenly as they watched the fight between the two from the top of the hill.

"The one who awakened a grade B crystal tree?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"Everyone at the academy says he's the strongest among the new awakenings, and even those in their final year at the academy don't dare to confront him."

"Who is he facing?"

"No idea. I've never seen him."

"Same here."

The group of students continued to watch the fight in the distance without Kieran and Allen knowing.

Kieran had long since removed his crystal sense, keeping his full attention on every move Allen made. He wasn't even aware that his exchange of blows with Allen had nearly eliminated a group of students.

'He's stronger than I thought,' thought Kieran while protecting himself from a rain of red fire blades with his own fire blades.

'He's a late stage Bronze rank, but his strength is almost as high as that guy from the Thundershields guild I faced at the academy.'

Allen jumped back, creating some distance between them, crystal essence circulating inside his body, forcing his ability to move in a different path.

A red flame rises from his body before growing for several meters. The red flame began to change shape, taking on the appearance of a dragon's head that protected Allen's body within it.

"Dragon Breath!"

The dragon's head opened its mouth wide, and a jet of red flame shot out in front of it, incinerating part of the forest in an instant.

Shock crossed the faces of each student, watching their fight from the top of the hill. They were frozen with fear when they saw the destruction caused by the breath of the dragon's head.

"How did he manage to create something like that? I don't think I can reproduce it with my current level of elemental affinity," said Kieran.

He watched as the jet of flames approached him, but he couldn't understand how Allen had managed to produce such an attack.

"His affinity level isn't as high as you think. His ability helps him shape his flames. You won't be able to reproduce something like that with your current level."

Runihoril's voice echoed in his mind, making him accept his loss in this exchange.

"I'm going to have to use more crystal essence to defend against this," he said, joining his two hands together.

A golden blue glow appeared on him for a moment before he gradually separated his hands, forming a long spear of fire in front of him that seemed to distort under the amount of crystal essence he had infused into it.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Fire Spear!"

The spear of fire flew out of his hands at lightning speed, looking like a flaming meteorite moving in the direction of the jet of flame. The clash between the two attacks shook the air around them, creating a massive explosion that spread throughout the forest.

Kieran and Allen's body was pushed back by the force of the explosion that engulfed the forest. After a few seconds, the sound of thunder disappeared, and the flames began to die down, revealing a huge crater that separated the two.

Allen looked at Kieran with an incredulous face.

"How?"

Allen couldn't believe the scene unfolding before him. Someone had managed to defend against his attack, and this person was only at the early stage of Bronze rank.

"I, the most talented cultivator of Ozryn with a B grade crystal tree loses against an early stage Bronze rank? It's impossible... He must use an artifact to boost his strength."

His face darkened, and his hands moved in front of him, forming several seals. The next moment the inscription on his armor began to light up, looking like living flames moving all over his armor.

"What is he doing?" Kieran wondered when he saw an overwhelming number of fire elemental particles being pulled toward Allen as if he were a black hole. Even the elemental particles around him begin to be attracted to Allen.

One after another, the fire elemental particles were absorbed by the inscriptions that were etched into Allen's armor. Two torrents of flame escaped from his back, slowly taking the shape of a pair of wings four meters long.

Allen's face went white for a moment, but he quickly pulled out a crystal essence regeneration potion from his aurora collar, which he emptied in one fell swoop.

The inscription on his armor emitted a powerful scarlet glow, and the two wings behind his back spread out before thumping powerfully, causing an explosion of flames around him.

His body reappeared several meters in the air, floating gently with every flapping of the wings of fire at his back. His gaze was fixed on Kieran with a killing intent in his eyes.

He raised his right hand in front of him when a staff appeared. The staff was long and thin, made of dark, smooth wood.

At its upper end is a glowing crystal sphere, as if enclosing a blazing fire. The rest of the staff was adorned with delicate designs etched into the surface of the wood, resembling a dragon coiled around it.

Allen injected his crystal essence into the staff, and the pattern that looked like a coiled dragon gradually lit up until it reached the glowing crystal, which ignited.

Kieran's face grew serious, taking his lycan form. He quickly pulls out a potion and Shard of a Broken World from his aurora collar.

"Even if you take your lycan form, it's too late for you now!" Allen shouted.

About fifty vortexes of fire appeared in the sky above Allen. The sky took on a reddish hue, seeming to ignite under their presence.

"Scorching Flame Chains!"

Thick chains of flame erupted from each vortex, pouring toward Kieran in all directions.

'I can't stop them relying only on my fire element,' Kieran thought before circulating his crystal essence and stepping aside, dodging the first chain of fire.

Not stopping for a second to move, he continued to dodge the chains of fire that came at him one after another endlessly, continuously changing direction while trying to surround him.

Kieran felt the pressure of being surrounded by chains while having so little freedom of movement.

'I have to use my earth's ability. Otherwise, I'll end up exhausting myself dodging his chains.'

He made his decision and soared into the air. Allen flashed a cold smile when he saw him jump in his direction, his hand moved, and the chains followed after Kieran in the air.

A smile appeared on Kieran's face at the same time as his legs doubled in size and a platform of earth formed under his feet.

The next moment Allen lost sight of Kieran.

"Where?"

He suddenly felt a chill in his back.

'Danger!'

The wings of fire on his back curled around his body, protecting him like a cocoon.

*slash*

Shard of a Broken World fell on the wings of fire, but contrary to what Kieran thought, the wings of fire resisted his double-bladed sword and stopped him as if they were real wings and not made of fire.

"Giant Fire Fist!" shouted Allen.

Kieran felt an intense heat above him and created a dome of earth around his body without hesitation. A giant fist made of fire fell against the earthen dome, knocking him to the ground.

Kieran made the dome of earth disappear around him as he moved his body through the air to regain his balance on earth platforms while dodging the chains of fire.

His gaze fell on Allen, who had spread his wings of fire again, his face dark and sweat running down his forehead.

'How?! It is not possible that he has such a strength!' Allen's mind was in turmoil as his eyes met Kieran's. A feeling of fear filled his body that made him tremble.

'No!! It's impossible! I can't be afraid of this guy!!'

"It's impossible!!" Allen shouted, trying to push that uncomfortable feeling away as he poured his crystal essence into his staff.

A red pill appeared in his left hand, which he swallowed. His skin began to turn red. His veins became apparent as the crystal essence in his body became stronger and more chaotic with each passing second.

'This guy is crazy,' Kieran thought as he saw the changes appearing on Allen's body.

"Fire Dragon Claws!!!"

A hoarse voice issued from Allen's throat while five giant claws of fire that seemed real appeared above Kieran.

The fiery claws emitted immense pressure, quickly falling on top of him. Not having time to dodge such a large attack being so close to Allen, he tightens his grip on Shard of a Broken World. Crystal essence emanated from his body before being devoured by the two blades.

"Earth Shattering!"

A golden blue light filled the world, followed by a violent explosion that knocked Kieran away. He tried to stop his body using earth platforms, but each of them shattered as he came into contact with them, creating several wounds all over his body.

It had already been over an hour since he started his fight with Allen, and his crystal essence was almost completely depleted after using Earth Shattering. Not wanting to waste what little crystal essence he had left, he gritted his teeth and endured the pain.

His body slammed hard into the ground, shaking his organs, causing him to cough up a mouthful of blood.

He slowly got up to see another crater that had appeared a hundred meters from where he was and Allen flying several hundred meters above. The wings of fire on his back had lost their splendor, now no bigger than his arms.

The inscriptions on his armor had faded as he slowly fell to the ground with ragged breathing as blood dripped down his mouth and eyes, giving him a horrible appearance.

When his body hit the ground, the wings of fire on his back disappeared, and he fell to his knees, coughing up several mouthfuls of blood.

His gaze was blank when he saw Kieran walking towards him. His body seemed to be in better shape than his.

"How is it possible...?" Allen said in a weak voice, slowly getting up with his body shaking with his staff.

Kieran stopped several meters away from him, staring at him. He lifted his arm, and earth began to gather above his hand, slowly taking the shape of a long spear. He didn't hesitate for a second to use all the crystal essence he had left in this attack. His affinity with the earth was higher than fire. Now was not the time to try to learn how to control fire.

Allen said no words and did the same. Drawing on the limits of his body to use all the crystal essence he could find. A long, distorted claw of fire formed above him. Compared to before, the claw's shape was unstable, only keeping a tangible form due to its strong will.

"Earth Spear!"

"Fire Dragon Claw!"

A final explosion sounded before calm returned to the scattered ruins forest.