Temporal Pearls

Ludo frowned, she could feel a slight connection with flame but it was not under her control. She turned it off but the flames increased in intensity and the defender looked at her.

"Thank you for the fire!" He said, his voice was gentle and soothing, and she felt the need to converse with him. Not only that, his face was gentle too, depicting a very kind demeanour.

But what happened next made her eyes wide, the red flame expanded before he swung his wand toward her, and the flame gently flowed wide toward her, the momentum built up fast and slammed her barrier, the force increased and shattered it.

Ludo Mage jumped back fast, and screamed, "I give up!" The flames stopped just before she was touched, even though they were hot, they receded slowly and burned above the wand.

'This is surprisingly easy!' Seth whispered his thoughtful expression still there.

Ludo Mage walked from the arena terrified. There was nothing scary for a mage to lose his spell to another person.

One of the organizers went around the challengers asking some questions. Before you know it, most pull out from the challenge.

The organization running the arena wanted to amass resources and they have pacified the strong challengers to wait but now that a strong player sneaked in, they have to let the strong fight for it.

'Why did they let him,' one of the strong fighters complained internally.

"What happened?" Another of the strong fighters asked the collector. He carried a large silver blade.

"We weren't able to detect his power. Even now his power is hidden!" The collector said with a frown.

The caretaker of the Turtle Dome also was confused, entering the turtle was like a scan to show the contender's power scale. But Seth's power was hidden well.

"Slime!"

The next challenger was called. It was a lanky man, wearing dark green clothes. His face was pale with dark circles around his eyes. It's as if he was deprived of sleep for a long time and he cannot blink.

"Fight!"

Seth's eyes widened in surprise as the man just dropped like a water drop into his shadow and the shadow disappeared.

The defender looked around but there was no sign of the challenger, even his aura had vanished. Suddenly, he felt his legs grabbed, long pale hands holding them, his shadow too became like a liquid and he began to sink.

"Interesting!" Seth muttered but then he jumped, his leg did sink deeper but he managed to make the jump. Well, that's what others thought but he was floating.

The burning flame above his wand expanded very fast and moulded to encase him. It increased in size and heat. The pale hands were now burning as they didn't let go.

The heat increased, and when the hand began to be affected, the pale hand retreated and the lanky pale man swam out from the shadows at the arena edge, his hand showing burnt scars but coming out, a blast of flames from the large sphere of flames flashed by his face, he quickly dived back into the shadow.

However, the flames from the floor expanded until they encased the whole arena, blocking any shadow and continuing to burn, trapping the challenger away.

From the crowd, the challenger came out with sweats. That made him forfeited automatically.

"Damn, he is a powerful Fire Mage," one of the challengers said, the audience also was excited. The woman caretaker of the turtle looked at the Collector silently.

The man then called the next challenger, "Sludge Hammer!" By then the flame had receded and it settled at the top of his wand.

'I can't create flames but I can take over red ones, and the control was perfect. I felt it was an extension of my body.' Seth was amazed, 'all I needed was to feed it my aura!'

Sludge Hammer was a woman too, she carried a staff that had a semi-liquid at the top. She looked bored and had sleepless eyes.

"Fight!"

Seth waved his wand and the flame attacked her, but to his surprise, the floor became mud-like, then moved up and intercepted his flame. The floor he was on became wet and then muddy.

He jumped and waved the flame under his feet, it seemed as if he now stood on them while controlling the other part of the flames to attack.

Sludge Hammer also was throwing balls of mud toward him. He controlled the flame attack to intercept them, their mud balls dried and shattered

Seth poured more aura and blasted red fire at her moulding mud body, which forced her to move and become human.

'He is powerful!' She thought, her bored eyes becoming excited, a slight smile adorning her face. It was rare for Sonoma like her with great advantage to face powerful players.

Then she began to skate on the transmuted mud floor, her movement was fast and the momentum she gained increased her power and control over the mud before she began to attack.

Seth was loving the control of flames but deep down he could feel it was not right, he smiled and then opened his hand and shouted, "Inferno!" The fire exploded and expanded.

Balls of fire formed and shot at the skating woman, she dodged most but made a mud shield to defend the rest.

Her speed increased as she circled around Seth two times in that situation, but that was her setting a hidden attack.

Suddenly, the mud around Seth splashed up very fast, 3 meters above, people raised their heads in wonder before Seth was encased.

While that was happening, Seth encased himself in dense flames, he wanted to move up and escape but he feared that he would be out of the limit of the arena. Who knows if that was the trap?

Indeed, it was. Two meters above the arena was considered outside. The flames raged in spinning, forcing the mud to dry but Sludge Hammer was still skating as she circled him. Over and over which increased her control and power and forced him to stay trapped.

The mud was solid due to heat but that was what she wanted and then forced it to shrink. But a section of the entrapment she was passing burst open and Sludge Hammer was sent flying.

Her control over the mud was lost, and the next was the entrapment exploded and the force was directed at her but she moved in time.

The trap broke open and Seth appeared unscathed, he was amused but looking around, not seeing his fire he felt disappointed.

'Now is the time!' Sludge Hammer moved fast, the semi-liquid atop her staff vibrated and was about to move when something slammed her chest and she rammed at the arena.

She became slow and unfocused before another slam came. She immediately raised her hand, a sign of giving up. She stared at Seth meaningfully, taking note of him.

"Silver Blade!"

'A giant blade user!' Seth thought, 'Hopefully he is not too strong!'

"You are a mage I see. Ignite the fire!" The blade user said.

"Sorry, you have to fight me unarmed!" Adam teased.

Silver Blade was right to be wary, mages were as unpredictable as they were cunning, and part of that was they had hidden abilities that most could grasp properly.

'I have killed mages before, he is nothing!' Silver Blade convinced himself, he grabbed his one-edged sword and raised it.

"Fight!"

That word ignited something in Silver Blade, his body covered with a thin shin of silver, and then his speed increased and flashed toward Adam leaving silver light in his trail.

Seth's eyes widened, 'He is fast!' He already adjusted his little wand and it extended as fast, Silver Blade's speed increased, and he changed cause to the right and streaked to Seth.

'Interesting!' Seth was amused, his hand was changing already, to intercept the speed blade user, but the man's speed just reached an outrageous level and he just appeared behind Seth.

Both his hands gripped its handle, his veins bulged, and a sharp flash of silver appeared, the blade-sharp edge was already close to Seth's neck.

The Collector's body had radiant energy, in case he needed to interpret and save Seth's life. But relaxed as he noticed a smirk on the Defenders face.

Flap!

Something green smacked the attacker and he was sent flying and slammed against the wall. "What happened?" Seth asked, confused, but few that gleaned that knew he was faking it.

Silver Blade stood, his face was bruised, and a moment later, red fluid rolled from his nose. "You are a wolf in sheep clothes!"

"Your head is muddled, I'm a lion among sheep!" Seth said sarcastically. This infuriated the masses but Silver Blade smiled and stood.

He took a step forward and muttered something, his body was then encased into silver armour, and now he looked like a radiating hero in shining armour.

The only thing was there was no princess to save, maybe the turtle could take that mantle.

His speed surpassed what he had shown and the beauty of his style was gorgeous but sadly, Seth felt a pang of jealousy, he recognised this man as a Knight in training, they commanded physical prowess beyond what he could ever hope to achieve.

This envy changed his mindset immediately and lost his composure, and the moment Silver Blade was a few meters from him, the Knight in training felt a powerful force bend him.

He did try to resist but felt a chill in his bone marrow and he stopped refusing as his knees slammed on the floor and slid to be kneeling before Seth.

The audience was silent because they didn't know what happened, however, that snapped Seth from his raw emotions. He recognized he lost himself in envy. He quickly raised his wand in the sky and shouted gibberish.

"The kneeling spell worked!" Seth said joyously while trying to hide his flustered face. But no one smiled or laughed, they waited to see what Silver Blade would do.

'In all history, the courageous are defied especially those that are good with their muscles, those that are good at using their fist. Mages might look good but blade fighters are better!' Seth mused, he was trying hard to not be jealous.

'What is about me and jealousy?' Seth wondered.

"I quit!" Silver Blade growled out. Seth closed his eyes as he sighed, 'This is not exciting at all!'

The collector looked at the next name and then shouted, "Heaven Gale!" The name enlisted a powerful wind that threatened to push away the people.

A young small girl stood opposite Seth, on her hand was a small wand, and a tiny tornado was swirling.

"Fight!"

"I quit!" The girl said with a cheeky smile as she used it on everyone.

The next moment an uproar exploded among the audience, "haha, boooohoo!" She taunted the organizers before she walked away.

Seth didn't know that but she had a beep with one of the organizers and so she decided to troll them. But that was good for him.

"This should not count!" Someone shouted from the audience, "They are working together!" He added.

"Yes, they must fight, or thus will be considered cheating!" Another female said.

Seth saw that eyes were on him as if he was cheating but he shrugged and said, "I don't care but we are not together, I don't know her!"

"It doesn't matter!" The Collector said, "Others may assume it's a collaboration!" He added.

"That means I have to face 11 challengers?" Seth asked. There was silence, the little devil that caused the thing was standing by the side enjoying the conflict.

"Okay, it's alright!" Seth conceded.

"You agreed to the injustice, Gentle Cape?" The little demoness taunted. "They know we are not together, they just don't want you to win, they are planning shady things to defeat you!!" She shouted.

How could her testimony be credible as she was the one causing this trouble? Seth only glanced at her before he smiled. She felt a chill run down her spine.

"Iron Fist!" The collector said. A white-haired boy, lean and bare-chested, walked out. "Another brute!" Seth muttered.

"Fight!"

He wasn't as fast as Silver Blade but his agility was high, he managed to evade a staff attack, and in just short moves he was before Seth, his hand turned to gold which released pressure.

Seth was surprised to also find that the Fist fighter on the other hand was aiming to push his wand away from him.

"Vela Aspecto!" Seth muttered, his speed increased and he quickly moved his hand that held the wand under the challenger's chin.

Before the pitiful man reacted he was slammed hard, in an uppercut way and he flew high, into the sky going beyond the arena. He was out automatically.

"Collector, I noticed that you stopped announcing my wins!" Seth asked.

"Defender Red Canvas won!" He announced.

Certainly, there was an adjustment, Red Canvas was too strong, and he wasn't even trying at all. For that reason, only the strong should come forward.

"Knight Master Gerard!" Collector announced. A man in dark armour walked out, carrying with him a spear his size. His moves oozed mastery and experience.

"Fight!"

"Vela..!" Seth shouted but it was for nought as the Knight was beside him with a spear stabbing and when Seth's robe flapped and attacked him, he appeared in front of Seth, still in the position.

The wand expanded fast to ram at him but he appeared by the side, still in stabbing motion.

It was as if he was teleporting while keeping his move. All this happened less than a second and only a few were able to keep up.

The force field was raised but it broke like glass and the spear went ahead, thanks to Glass Shield Script, Seth can have multiple shields on that but in this context, it was too slow.

"Pulse…!'' A blast of force slammed at the knight but his armour pulsed with symbols and it nullified the attacks, but that delayed the challenger and Seth attacked with his staff.

But what happened next made Seth flinch, ten crescent energy strikes came toward him, each slicing air with ease.

Protection for Glass Shield was raised but it only stopped which means Seth has to sacrifice 2 more shields to defend against the attacks.

At the same time, The knight was moving, preparing for another attack, Seth's robe spread like a bird, and he in the middle appeared like he was about to fly.

The knight stopped and groaned, "What is this!" His voice sounds old and tired. Next, he jumped out of the arena before he fell to his knees.

"What is that feeling?" He growled as he glared at Seth. 'Who is this player, what kind of sound was that?' The knight looked around but found that no one was affected by what he felt.

"Defender Red Canvas won!"

"Scemiter!" Collector shouted.

This fight challenged Seth a lot because, for some reason, the scimitar disablebled all kinds of attacks Seth decided to use. Even the sound refused to work.

The scimitar user has one of the uncanny abilities that Seth wasn't able to grasp. Thankfully, when the man was close by and attacked Seth robe attacked and injured the bastard.

By now people have realized Seth wasn't fighting alone, his robe also was an asset that acted on its own. The scimitar might have thought that he could disable it too.

"Defender Red Canvas won!"

"Next is Web Crawler!"

The next was someone who used spider thread to bind opponents and slammed them around. But Seth appeared too heavy. And with one wrong move, he won.

The next was a person that can create fog, within the fog sense becomes dull and one's body becomes cold and eventually freezes. Temra solved that problem with glaring ease.

The next was a mage, he threw spells, summoned golem and did many things but no matter what Seth would just swat them away.

The people can only see him use Push Force, a Robe that smacks people away and then his wand seems to move very fast. So also he becomes fast on some occasions.

Everyone admires the strong, even though Seth showed strange abilities and can't be understood logically, he brings about people's blood boil. They begin to wonder what can put that Mage down.

"Red Canvas!"

"Red Canvas!"

"Red Canvas!"

No one knew who started that but the players and NPC began shouting his name, the organizers though were in a foul mood. They had made a big mistake and offended some powerful people.

Turtle Dome was a very strategic Creature coveted by many, normally others will prepare to buy it no matter the cost but this arena wants to get stuff from players' stash. Instead of allowing these groups to fight and the winner get the turtle they delayed and now this Monster Mage was taking the show.

They need him to be defeated, at least for one of the four groups to get the turtle or shit will go south.

"Do you need to rest!" Collector asked.

"No!" Seth shouted, to inform the others that he was ready, he understood their plan, stalled for time and brought someone powerful to take him down.

"Dust Master!" The collector shouted. Eyes turned trying to know who this person was, they knew they wouldn't be that simple, the boss needed to be defeated at all costs.

An unassuming girl looked up, she wore white shorts and a singlet, her gaze landed on the Collector and the man shouted "Dust Master!"

She frowned, refusing to move, but someone brought her a paper to read, she scowled and disagreed but another paper added, reluctantly she stood and walked toward the arena.

She was tired, her eyes were dull, her body bruised, her hair dishevelled and her hands were wrapped in fighting bandages as well as her naked legs.

She was a martial artist.

Something strange happened to Seth, his eyes activated without his consent, what was a bit strange, around her were white particles, as white powder dancing around. As he looked properly they seemed like aura but they weren't aura.

He saw something similar on Golden Robe Eyeless but it turned gold. But was it the same.