Cordelia had drawn the Ice elemental tile and found herself in a wasteland of Ice, water, and snow, freezing winds raged by as she made her way forward. This… she could use all this to her advantage!

Leonardo had drawn the wind tile, getting in an area with raging winds. The gra.s.s was stretching as far as his eyes could see. With islands floating in the air. Birds could be seen flying and making their nests on top. To the left of these plains, a forest area, in front of a rocky area and to the right… to the right a few miles out, he could swear to see the winds turn into blizzards.

Hoping someone accustomed to the icy elements had drawn the Ice tile Leonardo quickly decided to make his way towards the cold and blizzard-like area hoping to find his first opponent. Seeing as how this could turn into a huge advantage, still looking at how far the area"s actually stretched, it would be wise to first find shelter and even food for survival.

The others thought of the same thing and began gathering what was needed to survive for several days. While doing this, scouting the area was just as important.

Still… not everyone did so, in the hope they encountered the others faster.

Cordelia having arrived began scouting out the snowy tundra area, while scouting she found that this tundra even thought a huge wasteland was actually filled with all kinds of life. She encountered not so dangerous animals like snow foxes, flying fish, even some more dangerous ones like frost beasts, ice bears and bigger water creatures.

"Seeing how life is abundant here, I don"t need to worry about food, for the time being, finding shelter for the hail storms should be a top priority. Would the others also have harsh environments like me? Ah… what"s the use… I"m here to win this!! No use to think about others."

Cordelia went on her way securing some edibles along the way. after wandering in the blizzard for a while it seemed like she finally found some shelter. Quickly going inside she found that it gave good protection against the hail storm allowing her to rest up for a bit.

Leonardo, on the other hand, had fully explored his area, the wind gate was the one where he went through, getting accustomed to the area and tweaking his suit with the hazards in mind gave him the advantage to wander through storms without any worry.

Even hovering and flying through the air with the small bursts he was able to produce with his suit, even keeping him warm allowing him to go on longer without having to warm up.

In his area, there were only flying creatures seeing as he was able to gain momentum in the air by creating small bursts of fire with the suit he tried catching some small birds.

But every time he got close they dodged into an unpredictable manner leaving him without prey.

Not letting this get to him he quickly made his way towards the snowy area in the hopes of finding food that couldn"t fly away.

The others all got to know their area"s, Geo being lucky and pulling the earth tile and found himself in a vast forest thriving with life. Finding all kinds of edible berries,

even chickens, horses and other kinds of creatures along the way. Having eaten his fill and getting the attention he wanted and craved from the cuddly creatures he went on his way.

Knowing that waiting around here could either result in surviving the match or getting caught by others. Geo decided it was best to move on not wanting to be caught and instead go on the offensive and catch others by surprise. Yes! Geo liked this idea more and decided to move straight ahead!

But there was one who couldn"t care less… Gideon that narcissistic s.a.d.i.s.t!

No one knew for sure where he was, but one thing was for certain…

Eventually, we all had to fight him. Seeing as we openly declared to be waiting at the center area of the battlegrounds for all who dared to fight him.

Back in the Snowy lands, the hailstorm finally subdued allowing Aqua to venture forward.

But the moment she set her foot outside of the cave a tremendous roar could be heard from behind her!

"Rooooaaarrr!!!"

The entire ground and cave were shaking by the sheer power of the beast"s voice.

Quickly Aqua jumped to the side of the entrance, barely escaping the raging beast.

The beast looked like an armored polar bear. Its Armor was imbedded to his skin making it look rather horrid.

"A Winter Beast! I had read about these creatures in the archives of Sharoo.

It is said that during blizzards these creatures hibernate until the weather clears allowing them to blend with the area. These creature although usually docile are very territorial creatures. Making them highly dangerous if woken from slumber or found inside their territory. It"s best to leave without engaging the creature now since the blizzard has subdued."

The winter beast rushed out with a thirst for blood,

she quickly hid next to the entrance making the beast just barely missing Cordelia as it rushed off into the distance.

"whew… that was too close… It"s best to leave this cave before it decides to get back."

Deciding to tail the beast and hoping to find something to eat along the way,

Cordelia went on her way, but little did she know what was to come next…

Meanwhile, a bit further ahead Leonard now found himself in this icy tundra landscape.

Unknown of its ecosystem he kept his guard up, for all he knew something could jump him at any moment. Like Cordelia, he too encountered all kinds of life between the snow, ice, and waters of the area. But they were all too weak of an opponent or to little a prey to allow Leonardo to show off his gear to the public.

He needed something bigger, something more ferocious!

Leonardo headed towards the center of the area as he roughly estimated it should be just as large an area as the wind area he found himself in.

This would mean he was now roughly at one third along the way towards the center.

On his way there he got started by roaring and snarling noises.

It seems a Winter Beast had caught some prey, but looking closer it was a rather horrid sight. Because the Winter Beast was eating one of his own!

Snarling as it ripped through the flesh of his prey it almost looked like it enjoyed what it was doing. The beast then proceeded to rip out what looked like the core crystal of the creature and held it against his own, making it fuse together in the process.

While all this was happening Leonardo was baffled by it al… The beast had killed one of his own and looked like it was evolving in the process. The beast began emitting purple flowing aura as its size slowly doubled and its fur became black. Its eyes, once blue. Now a deep dark red… and its claws and fangs, sharper and bigger than ever.

Looking closer it looked like it didn"t have just one core crystal, but rather three!

This was really insane! What to do? What could Leonardo do in this situation?

"What the h.e.l.l!! Is this even normal? I know I asked for a challenging opponent, but this is just insane… Well… nothing else I can do, I just hope the beast will be edible after the ha.s.sle I"ll go through."

It looked like the beast was almost done eating, meaning this was the time to strike if Leonardo wanted to have an advantage over it.

He powered up his suit and burst towards the creature.

Caught off guard the jumped in surprise and fell on his back barely getting sc.r.a.ped by the scorching burst of flames. The area the beast had been eating was now completely scorched and completely void of snow or ice.

"Snarl Grrroar"

The beast quickly turned over and stood on all fours, quickly sizing up his opponent.

getting a good look at how the beast looked it wasn"t an understatement to say that it was ma.s.sive. It even seemed like the armor had evolved along with the beast as it was now covered in spikes.

The beast rushed towards Leonardo, quickly summoning an ice wall behind him, making him unable to getaway. The only thing Leonardo could do now was to take the beast head on getting himself caught into his exploding flames or quickly take to the air and creating some distance between them.

Leonardo laughed and decided it was best to gain some more advantageous maneuverability. As the beast rushed towards him, he quickly ignited his booster boots just barely dodging the beast. The beast crashed into his own ice wall but seemed to get out without even getting a scratch.

Quickly making the most of this opportunity Leonardo created a few small eruptions behind the beast hoping to inflict some damage. Seeing as its fur got scratched and the beast screeched in pain, this was a given.

Just then Cordelia arrived at the scene unaware of what had happened before all this.

She knew it was best to let Leonardo handle the battle that transpired before her eyes because he to was one of the opponents she had to defeat.

But, her pride didn"t want anyone to die, at least not before her very own eyes.

This blinded her rational thinking capabilities making her rush to Leonardo"s aid in slaying the beast. Even though Leonardo had the upper hand with his gear allowing him to quickly dodge attacks and attack with explosions the beast slowly but surely began overpowering him.

Getting used to his flying patterns the beast summoned more frost walls, now, not just to block the back but rather summoning a small frozen hollow cube imprisoning them both inside. Now unable to fly away, Leonardo really was in a tight spot.

The beast began rushing towards Leonardo who lost the advantage of the air,

Now only able to take the beast head-on Leonardo prepared for the worst.

When suddenly sharp ice spikes grew towards the beast making it unable to finish his charge.

"Quickly attack it while you have the chance!"

Leonardo heard someone shout outside of the cube.

Quickly Leonardo held both his hands together summoning a huge burst of fire towards the beast. The flames instantly began melting away its flesh as the beast too had nowhere to go inside the small cube it had created to imprison them both.

After a while, the eyes of the beast became devoid of life as the ma.s.sive body collapsed on the floor letting go of its crystals. The cube slowly began vanishing as Cordelia rushed towards Leonardo"s aid. Leonardo grabbed and examined one of the core crystal. Shocked he held one of them up when Cordelia sad down next to him.

"are you okay? What was the matter with that creature? It was all black instead of white…"

Leonardo looked at Cordelia and began explaining what had happened.

"If you wouldn"t have stopped the beast with your Ice Spikes who knows what might have happened to me…? You see, this creature began going berserk after it had eaten the flesh of his own kind. It evolved when suddenly his crystal became pitch black, only containing this deep dark purple aura inside… It"s almost as if it got taken over by this…

Very fascinating and intriguing, yet horrifying… haha.

Thank you for your help. You see… winning this thing would be great, but to me, it"s all just for promoting my products, so getting into the finals like this is more than enough got me.

But since you"re here I would like to ask a favor of you."

"Yes? What is it?"

"I would like to have an honest battle with you, just so I can promote my gear a bit more,

after that, I will withdraw from the tournament."

Surprised by this remark Cordelia answered Leonardo"s request.

"Then… wouldn"t it be better to strive to be number one in this contest?

As for your request to fight me, I accept as this is a tournament to test one"s strength."

Happy yet conflicted Leonardo continued talking about why he decided to end this shortly.

"You see, dying inside this compet.i.tion isn"t an option for me.

Seeing as how strong the other finalist is I would be content just showing off my gear one more time since the worth and credibility have already tripled."

"Tell you what, let"s make a deal. But I"ll only tell you about it after we had our match,"

Leonardo nodded and quickly stood his ground allowing Cordelia to do the same.

They both nodded towards each other, genuinely starting their match.

Leonardo quickly began building up the power of his suit to enable long-range attacks.

Cordelia, on the other hand, didn"t want to allow him to much time and decided to launch a barrage of icicle shards towards him.

Leonardo smiled creating an eruption around him which quickly melted all the shards that were incoming. Seeing as Leonardo had the advantage Cordelia decided to attack his blind spot summoning spikes around him hoping to catch him and immobilizing him.

Her efforts looked to be rewarded, but quickly again Leonardo melted the ice.

having the advantage of distance Cordelia kept throwing in barrage after barrage hoping to keep Leonardo pinned to the ground. But then a burst shot into the air showing that Leonardo was now indeed flying. Gaining momentum he quickly launched himself towards Cordelia, dodging all incoming projectiles.

He once more tried to use the attack he used against the Winter Beast holding together his hands and condensing the eruption into a small s.p.a.ce after enough power had acc.u.mulated he unleashed it towards Cordelia who could only defend herself with extremely thick ice. Melting everything in the surrounding area Leonardo thought it was now the best time to close in on his opponent.

But just when Leonardo wanted to strike he got to close to the ground allowing Cordelia to block and grab his arms, allowing her to fill his gear with water and rendering it useless, meaning she had won the match.

"You see, even without an advantage one can win, maybe take that into account next time?

As for the deal I wanted to make is that for now, I want you to continue as neither of us gave up, got knocked out or died. You too deserve to be in the spotlight and I bet you, there will be enough people who would like to buy your ignition gear when this is all over.

Give me and my friends back up if needed against other opponents, the rules didn"t say we couldn"t work together right? And once most days are over you could always forfeit like you planned to."

"hmm… that seems plausible… working together creates more opportunities to study other elemental magics and even implement them in future use. You have a deal!"

As the deal concluded positively and both of them went on their way, the others got to know the areas they were in.