chapter 4

In the Ancient World, the power ranking of the elemental warriors consisted of three levels.

The first level was called a bronze ranked warrior, The second level was called a silver ranked warrior and The third level was called a golden ranked warrior.

The more a warrior advances in ranks the more control he gains over his element. To advance in ranks, elemental warriors need to increase their affinity with their element. Every time the affinity increases, the warrior would naturally advance in ranks.

There were three ways for the elemental warriors to increase their affinity with their element.

The first method was to use your element in battles. The more you use your element during fights the more you get familiar with it which leads to the increase of the affinity between you and your element.

The second method was to consume food that is related to your element type, but those foods were exceptionally expensive and not a lot of people could afford to buy it.

The third method was to consume the pure elemental energy inside an elemental stone. The elemental stone had five types. The Yellowstone was for fire warriors, the Bluestone was for water warriors, the Graystone was for wind warriors, the greenstone was for lightning warriors and lastly, the Blackstone was for iron warriors. This method was one of the most effective ways to increase elemental affinity. The only problem with this method was that the elemental stones were extremely rare and every one of them was considered a priceless treasure.

..

Obviously, the elemental warriors do not have the ability to control their element as they wish. By only becoming high in ranks can a warrior gain more control over his element.

The bronze ranked warriors level had three stages. Those who are in the first stage would have the ability to completely use their element type in their two hands, a fire warrior in the first stage could easily turn his two hands into a torch and a water warrior could turn his two hands into water blades.

..

Under the excited gazes of the soldiers, Mira took out a red-colored sword and a red-colored shield. The sword and the shield didn't look that outstanding, but noticeable shiny lights were coming out from them.

All the spectators held their breath as the sword and the shield was made from the mystical crystals.

crystal weapons were a special type of weapon made only for the elemental warriors. The crystal weapons were considered treasures with different types of grades. Mira's two weapons were medium grade weapons.

By infusing your element inside the crystal weapon, the element power would become stronger inside the weapon by multiple times. It was known that the mystical crystals had a natural characteristic that boosted the damage of the five elements. So, the elemental warriors would use crystal weapons instead of their hands when they engage in close combat. Using a crystal weapon with more damage was better than using the hands with less damage as weapons.

As a first stage bronze ranked warrior, Mira could only engage in a close combat battle, because the ability to shoot ranged element attacks are only possible for silver ranked warriors and above.

..

Mira held the sword with her right hand and the shield with her left hand. With a solemn expression on her face, Mira began to infuse her fire element inside the crystal sword and the crystal shield.

Soon, both the sword and the shield began to lit up, a fire was slowly covering the two weapons.

"Big brother, be careful."

Mira said.

"You too."

Kazuki replied back with a bow being held in his left hand.

Attendant Lee who was acting as the judge stood there calmly as he was ready to announce the start of the fight.

"The first one who gets knocked out from the stage or is threatened by the opponent's weapon would be the loser."

Attendant Lee set the rules before clasping his two hands and saying.

��Now, begin."

"Whoosh."

Without any hesitation, Mira sprinted towards her big brother with incredible speed, the fire element inside her gave her petite body an immense physical strength. Mira could be considered to have a physical strength similar to that of an average body's cultivator warrior. With this amount of strength, she could easily wield the slightly heavy sword and shield

As a matter of fact, one of the most obvious weaknesses of the archery warriors was their inability to shoot arrows perfectly in close-ranged combat.

Mira knew that fact, so she didn't want to give Kazuki any chance to shoot his arrows towards her.

Seeing his sister closing the gap between them with her incredible speed, Kazuki decided to quickly retreat back and shoot some quick arrows to slow her.

"Shoo, Shoo"

four arrows were shot towards Mira.

"Shwa, Shwa."

Mira slowed a bit to block those four arrows. Every arrow of the four was targeting a different point on her body. Mira raised her shield to block the first arrow that came towards her chest. Touching the burning shield, the arrow immediately turned into ashes.

Mira then evaded the second arrow that came for her right shoulder by quickly moving to the left.

Mira then swung her burning sword towards the third and the fourth arrow that was coming for her knees.

"Shwa."

The third and fourth arrow turned into ashes.

All of that happened in mere seconds, yet those mere seconds were enough for Kazuki to distance himself further from his little sister.

"Shoo, Shoo."

From afar, Kazuki kept shooting arrows towards Mira who had amazingly blocked all the arrows.

Mira tried multiple times to get closer to Kazuki but failed under the huge waves of arrows.

All the soldiers who were watching felt dry in their throats. This type of fight was truly a top-notch battle. Defending and attacking and even evading were done perfectly. Both Kazuki and Mira were truly experienced warriors.

Under the pressuring strikes of the arrows, Mira decided to go all out.

"Big brother, you better watch out."

Mira shouted loudly.

With a firm face, Mira infused a fire element towards her legs. A fire torch had appeared on her right leg.

Seeing this, all the soldiers were dumbstruck. For her to be able to turn one of her legs into a fire means that she is too close to advance to the second stage.

"she truly deserves the title of the number one genius in the entire Azure Empire."

Attendant Lee commented silently.

A second stage bronze ranked warrior would have the ability to completely use their element on their legs. Mira could only use her element on a single leg which means that she is only half step to become a second stage bronze ranked warrior.

"whoosh."

By using the fire element on her right leg, Mira gained an explosive speed. She was now faster by two times. With this speed, Mira successfully closed the distance with Kazuki.

With a swing from her burning sword, Mira struck towards Kazuki while shouting.

"Radiant thrust."

A powerful burning strike came from Mira towards Kazuki's chest. Kazuki immediately evaded to the right, yet another powerful strike had appeared again before him.

"Radiant slash."

Mira kept swinging her burning sword towards the retreating Kazuki while performing some powerful strikes not giving him any room for breath.

Without any way to retaliate, Kazuki could only keep retreating.

"she is forcing him to a corner."

A watching soldier commented.

"it would be extremely hard for him to break out from her powerful attacks."

Another one commented.

"No! The first prince is going to lose. He is already standing at the edge of the stage."

Another soldier commented.

Under the continuously powerful attacks from Mira, Kazuki was led to the corner of the stage.

"Radiant thrust, Radiant slash."

Standing on edge of the stage and under the threats of Mira's attacks, Kazuki could only jump down the stage to evade Mira's coming strikes.

Seeing that, Attendant Lee covered his forehead and commented quietly.

"His highness is too kind. He went easy on her highness again."

..

Kazuki landed swiftly outside the stage.

Jumping off the stage, Mira walked towards her big brother and asked.

"Brother, are you okay?"

"I am fine. Mira, You are becoming stronger and stronger every day."

Kazuki praised his sister generously.

"You are strong too, big brother."

Mira replied back politely.

"Princess Mira wins."

Attendant Lee announced loudly.

"Princess Mira, princess Mira."

All the soldiers cheered excitedly for princess Mira.

A small smile appeared on Mira's face.

"Mira, I am going to the Golden city to see if there is something new. Do you want to come?"

To be continued.