Lord Tafei felt a sense of profound danger rush over him as he looked at the hourglass forming. This hourglass had the Inner Element of Sand and the Outer Element of Time contained within it. The infusion of runic elements was a hard concept to grasp. For Great Priest Bambe to be able to do this, especially with an Outer Element must have been extremely difficult to do.

Great Priest Bambe’s face was pale and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. Apparently, this move couldn’t be used lightly as it created a backlash that hit him. Mouth dripping blood he waved a finger and caused more sand to drop down the hourglass. The time in the area began to speed up. He waved his finger again and less sand fell, this in turn made time slow down.

It wasn’t that he was testing out this hourglass ability, but rather he couldn’t control it that well at all. Of course he didn’t let his frustration over this show on his face, instead he gave a cold smile that made it seem as if he had everything over control. And to Lord Tafei, this was the exact thought that was placed within his mind.

‘Combing his Inner Element of Sand and the Outer Element of Time he created such a divine ability. Just what is this technique of his?’ Lord Tafei had many questions within his mind right now. But of course, the more questions he had the more fearful he became.

“Ahahaha!” Great Priest Bambe let out a rumbling laughter. “Through use of my Inner Element of Sand I gained some enlightenment regarding time. Thus I began to study and focus more on the Outer Element of Time. In the end I was only able to gain a really basic understanding of it, but even that little bit of understanding is enough to completely change my strength.

Given that I gained enlightenment of time with use of my Inner Element of Sand, I was naturally able to combine the two together to create my divine ability, Sands of Time!” Great Priest Bambe yelled out proudly, his voice echoing throughout the island.

In truth he was just too proud of his achievements. He really wanted to tell Lord Tafei about it, but knew that he was going to battle against him later on so he had kept it a secret. But now that he had displayed his ability, he wanted to brag about it. Even though he was braggin however, he didn’t tell what his Sands of Time ability could do or how much it affected his surroundings.

Lord Tafei could only guess at what the Sands of Time ability could do. He became extremely cautious but didn’t let it show on his face. He gave a cold snort and retorted, “Even if you have control over an Outer Element and are able to infuse it with another Element, you still aren’t a match for me. Given how crude your control is and how anxious you are to beat me, it can be said that I even have the upper hand in this fight.” Lord Tafei spoke loudly his voice booming.

As soon as he finished speaking, he waved his hand causing hundreds of runes to appear. Some of the runes were orange while others were yellow and brown. Three different runic elements swirled around Lord Tafei and then combined together in order to create his divine ability.

The orange rune was the Inner Element of Fire, the yellow rune was the Inner Element of Air, and the brown rune was the Inner Element of Earth. Together they created a giant rune that glowed a dim yellowish orange light.

The giant rune burrowed into the ground and caused the earth to tremble. Almost instantly the ground heated up to an extreme temperature causing it to turn into molten lava. The molten lava looked orange in color and rose into the air and formed into many small balls of lava that covered the whole area.

Lord Tafei raised a finger in the air and swept it toward Great Priest Bambe. This caused about roughly ten balls of lava to fly toward him at a shocking speed. As they flew, they broke apart into small bits of lava that looked like dust in the wind. It seemed as if the bits of lava themselves were apart of the wind.

Great Priest Bambe focused in closely and waved his finger causing the sand in the hourglass to slow down more. Once the bits of lava were in range they immediately slowed down a large amount. Although it was still quite fast, it was more than enough that Great Priest Bambe could stroll out of the way if he wanted to.

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When time slowed down in the area, Great Priest Bambe waved his hand causing tan and blue runes to show around him. These were the Inner Elements of Sand and Water respectively. The two runes combined together to create a giant wave of water that was dense with sediments. The water split into many bits as well and shot toward the bits of lava.

Although combining runes seemed like a simple matter, it was actually extremely difficult to do. In fact the only way to become an Elder of the tribe was to be able to fuse two runes together. This was a case where it was easier said than done.

Great Priest Bambe for example originally had combined the Inner Elements of Sand and Water together to create his Raining Burial ability, which allowed him to truly become a Priest. His ability caused tiny shards of sand to rain down from the sky inside of water droplets and tear and bury everything below it. His mastery over water let him keep sand within it, yet not get it damp. His mastery over sand let him give it properties of water.

Lord Tafei on the other hand was truly a genius as he was able to infuse three different elements together in a flawless manner. This was skill that was rarely seen within the tribe. In fact in recent years only Lord Tafei and the former Great Priest, Great Priest Bayou, were capable of combining three elements together.

Even though Great Priest Bayou had done something truly spectacular in the tribe it was still looked over. That was because Great Lord Taple had done something even more amazing, he had been found to have the skill of using an Outer Element. This completely eclipsed the fact that Great Priest Bayou had perfect control of three elements.

The combined use of the Inner Elements of Earth, Fire, and Air led Lord Tafei to create his divine ability called Molten Wind. It created lava that would then transform into air and drift like the wind, burning and scorching everything in its path. All three elements backed each other up, making sure the weaknesses of the elements were covered up.

The more elements one fused together, the more powerful the technique would become. Precisely because all the elements involved would cover up the weaknesses of the other elements and that particular element would be strengthened by the others.

Two infused elements would make the ability four times as strong as an ability with one element. This was because each element would be twice as strong, thus making the ability four times as powerful as a single element. And with three, the power would be nine times as strong as a single element! There was just a huge disparity in strength with the addition of an element in a technique.

Thus, even though Great Priest Bambe could easily dodge Lord Tafei’s Molten Wind, he didn’t dare to take it lightly. Even with his skill of the Outer Element of Time, he wasn’t truly confident in taking on this attack. Therefore, he used his own technique to go against this attack.

Bang! Bang! Boom!

The countless drops of sandwater impeded the path of the Molten Wind for a short while but it was clear that the disparity in strength was just too wide of a margin that just couldn’t be crossed. The Molten Wind broke through the Raining Burial technique but was still slowed down due to the Sands of Time technique.

However in the next instant something caught Great Priest Bambe off guard. Lord Tafei waved his hand in the air causing purple runes to appear in the sky. An illusory aura filled the air instantly and washed over everything within the area. These runes had been present the moment Lord Tafei had used them the first time. However he had hidden them in order to not have to summon them again. Now, he was unleashing them at this moment.

Once Great Priest Bambe saw the runes appear his face dropped intensely. His mind started to race with thoughts that made his heart tense. What he had just suspected was a terrible thought that he didn’t even think to want to comprehend. “He… he can’t be…”

Right at that moment, Lord Tafei coughed up a mouthful of blood and his face paled. His energy grew weak but his aura rose to fierce levels. He waved his hands in the air and caused the purple runes to merge into the remaining Molten Wind. The Molten Wind shook and an incredible aura rose up within them. The aura spread out throughout the whole island and even inside of the cave.

It filled the whole land and everyone on the island could feel it. The energy washed over all of the Scarlet Tigers and made its way deeper into the cave. The energy even reached into the depths of the cave where Akata, Tabet, and Great Lord Taple were located. Tabet was still in the chamber and couldn’t go out due to his father sealing the chamber. He felt the tremendous surge of energy wash over him.

Akata also felt the surge of energy wash over his body as he was stuck in the dantion region of Great Lord Taple. The illusory aura washed over him and his nature energy and invigorated the illusory image within his body. He felt a surge of energy within his body as it resonated with the illusory aura in the surrounding area. It was a truly strong aura that made him feel powerful.

In this moment Akata found a way to incorporate his illusory rune into his skills. A profound gleam appeared within his eyes as he caused a purple rune to appear with a thought. He used the illusory aura in the area to help him to form the rune. Given how he had just started to learn about runes, he still didn’t have the capabilities to create runes on his own.

The illusory rune was huge and flashed over the head of the sleeping white tiger. It glowed with a deep purple light and showed over the whole land of the dantion region.

“Time to get out of here.” A decisive gleam appeared within his eyes.