Chapter 93: Finally Learning Affinities

From the south, a geyser of high-pressure water erupted from the arena’s hidden drainage pipes, manipulated by the water-affinity hunters into a HydraulicSpear. It spiraled toward Aden’s chest with enough force to pierce a steel hull.

But it was the west that brought the finality. Two hunters ignited their Resonance, their hands turning a blinding, incandescent white. They didn’t merely throw fireballs, they unleashed a ThermalJet—a focused stream of concentrated heat that turned the very sand it touched into molten glass.

Earth to bind, Wind to shred, Water to pierce, and Fire to incinerate.

The convergence happened in the center of the Pit. A massive explosion of steam, dust, and light obscured Aden’s silhouette and the Arena entirely. The atmosphere was a mess of elements, the interactions between the brutal forces of nature causing the nearby onlookers to suffer sudden fevers or extreme cold, some even lost consciousness due to the sheer intensity of the spectacle.

But the crowd in the Platinum Tier stood, some having their faces pressed against the glass, while others remained in their seatsz calmly waiting for the charred remains to settle.

Regardless of whoever was watching, they all knew the outcome of the assault.

An absolute annihilation.

Going against one skillful affinity user and succeeding was a feat in itself, but no one, absolutely no being could face all Nature-based affinities at the same time and survive. Especially not one executed with such synchronicity and lethality.

It was impossible.

But who decided that?

“Quite troublesome indeed.”

Aden’s voice, deep, flat and shockingly controlled resounded in the vast Arena, piercing through the haze of elements and vibrating in the very cores of everyone present.

“But I am… Fundamental.”

Within the heart of the elemental hurricane, he didn’t move. He didn’t raise a shield. He didn’t manifest a counter-element.

As the Hydraulic Spear reached his chest, the water didn’t splash, it simply stopped. The moment the liquid touched the Void radiating from his skin, its kinetic energy was deleted. The water fell to the sand as a harmless, stagnant puddle.

The Vacuum Blades hissed as they reached his neck, but as they entered his personal space, the air they were made of ceased to have pressure. The deadly wind turned into a gentle, lukewarm breeze that barely ruffled his silver hair.

Then came the Thermal Jet. The white-hot fire licked at his tattered rags, but instead of burning, the flames turned a strange, sickly grey before vanishing into his chest. He wasn’t resisting the heat, no, he was consuming the energy of the combustion itself, leaving the air around him unnaturally cold despite the inferno.

Aden finally looked up, his blue eyes piercing through the settling steam and taking in the looks of horror and bewilderment plastered on the faces of everyone present. He didn’t feel any form of pleasure at their shock, nor did he feel proud of himself for negating such a life–threatening attack with ease. After all, the Void had greater potential than that.

However, he was slightly worried. But even that source of worry was so inconsequential he pushed it to the back of his mind.

’This is no time for a monologue,’ he thought.

As he took a step forward, the Tidal Wave of Earth that had been frozen in mid-air suddenly shattered and turned into fine, grey ash that drifted away in a wind that shouldn’t have existed.

“My turn,” Aden whispered.

His hands reached out and grabbed the air in front of him, as if he were catching a physical thread.

The ten hunters of the Tetrarchy stood frozen, their palms still extended, the lingering Resonance of their failed assault flickering in the air like dying embers. The lead hunter’s visor hissed as it recalibrated, trying to find a heat signature that wasn’t there.

“Impossible,” he choked out. “The Thermal Jet was clocked at 1200°C. He should be a puddle of slag!”

Despite the leader’s words, the energy within the group had already begun to flare with renewed vigor.

But Aden didn’t remain idle either.

During the nullification process, Aden put his devastatingly intelligent mind to the test and forced his Adaptive Resonance to mimic and understand the very structure of each affinity by letting miniscule amounts of the energy to penetrate through his defenses.

The miniscule pricks of heat, the microscopic friction of the wind, and the heavy pressure of the earth, Aden had tasted them all, and his brain imprinted every sensation vividly in the core of his soul.

As the Tetrarchy regained their bearings and stabilized the power output for a second attack, Aden was already weaving their destruction.

The western hunters roared, unleashing a second Thermal Jet, desperation making the white-hot flames even more violent and lethal, but Aden didn’t deem it necessary to dodge, not even using his nullification abilities granted to him by the Void energy.

He simply opened his mouth and inhaled.

As expected, the fire didn’t burn him. Instead, the white-hot stream was sucked into his throat, stripping its heat away and leaving it in a naked form of elemental gas.

His cheeks swole to accommodate the rapid expansion of gas, then he exhaled in a sharp, controlled opening.

But what followed wasn’t fire.

What he released was frost so absolute that the moisture in the air underwent desublimation.

A wave of black, crystalline ice surged forward, hitting the fire-specialists. Their incandescent hands were instantly encased in obsidian ice that wielded the capability of shattering them had they attempted to break free of its bondage.

Before their brains could register the feeling of shock, the ice rapidly expanded with the heavy crackles and covered the surface of their armors.

The metal of their armor shrieked as the in-laid defensive mechanims activated to fight against the thermal shock.

To the horror of everyone present, it proved futile.

The thermal shock was so potent that it caused the reinforced plates to shatter like fragile glass. They didn’t even have time to scream before their vocal cords were turned to silt.

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