Chapter 18:Fire and Ice

Windward Villa

"Alex, how long are you going to pretend to be asleep? It's getting frustrating",Lyria inquired.

"To think it's so easy to piss your highness off and I suppose you brought me here from the uhm",Alex said while sitting up.

"What? Can't bring yourself to say it? And yes,I did.

Let's forget it ever happened,Lyria said.

"How can I ever forget the soothing feeling of your body on mine?"Alex smirked.

"How about my grandfather?", Lyria smirked back.

"What were you saying again?" Alex said in a heartbeat.

"Now, that's what I am talking about",Lyria smiled

**In another room in the Windward Villa**

Lord Edward was dining with Julius and everything was awkwardly silent so he decided to break the silence

"Julius, Ethan was seen single handedly taking out the terrorists that attacked the city recently. He seems to have gotten a lot stronger than before. The inter academy competition coming up soon will be used to update the celestial ranks, my hope is that you will make use of this opportunity to climb up the ranks",Lord Edward said.

"I will try my utmost best grandfather and I'm sure you can tell me what level Ethan is now. Also,do you think he will still be ranked second in the upcoming competition?", Julius replied.

"Frankly speaking, currently, you don't stand a chance. He is a Tier 2,Terror level mage. He could take you out in one strike but I believe in you and as far your second question, Ethan should be the strongest celestial right now. The kid is a monster." Lord Edward explained.

"Interesting,I am taking Lyria for her second awakening ceremony. I am highly optimistic she wouldn't get a common element so I have to go grandfather", Julius said while standing up.

As Julius was walking away,he was thinking about just one thing.

"Ethan must be a monster to be a peak Terror level mage at age 19, although grandfather said he wasn't at his peak yet but I can't rule out the possibility",he thought.

In front of a tall building,a car could be seen pulling over

Alex,Lyria and Julius arrived at the awakening center

They were immediately escorted to the top floor re-served for them.

Alex felt things were too silent and decided to break the silence; "So what element do you think you shall awaken, personally I think it's ice element since you are literally stone cold"

"Read the mood, nobody wants to talk. Are all bodyguards usually this talkative?" Lyria said without giving Alex a glance.

Alex clenched his fists, spoilt princess brat he muttered.

"I can hear you" she said

"Welcome, young master Julius and young miss Lyria and ehm, who are you?",I am the new manager here and my name is clark.

"I am...",Alex was trying to introduce himself but was cut off.

"Place your hands on the soul energy elemental reader and the soul energy level reader afterwards and your elements and their potential grades shall be shown in it",Clark explained.

Alex knew he was the third wheel here so he willingly allowed the spoilt princess to go first.

Lyria stepped up to the SEER orb like machine then asked a question, "Can we take it both at the same time Julius?"

"Seeing there's more than a few SEER'S in here, I see why not"Julius replied.

Alex took the initiative to walk to the SEER opposite Lyria.

"Let's make it more interesting princess by putting both our palms on the SEER and SELR at the same time. On the count of three"

Lyria exhaled and responded, "three,two, one"

And immediately they both places their palms on the machines,on one side the temperature dropped in a flash while on the other the temperature increased rapidly.

Clark and Julius were stunned cause both were standing on opposite sides,one beside Alex, one beside Lyria and one was freezing while other was burning up.They both activated their life saving artifacts immediately.

On the orbs on the left hand side could be seen a huge amount of frost and a big S grade symbol while on the right side could be seen a fiery crimson red and a big S grade symbol

On the topmost floor of the awakening center in Mystic City,a bright flash of red and white could be seen almost as if they were clashing but still perfectly balancing each other out

The windows shattered, the intensity between fire and ice battling increased. The ice was ravaging as if alive and wanting to consume everything in it's part but the fire wouldn't give in, burning fiercely. They were both pushing to break the balance and almost at the same time they consumed each other with the ice rapidly quenching out the fire and the fire rapidly burning down the ice. In a twinkling of an eye there was rain on the topmost floor of the awakening center.

When everything settled down, Julius and Clark found Lyria and Alex unconscious on the floor but they were still a little bit intimidated and dared not move closer them for a while.

Julius was excited cause it's been awhile since he experienced such burst of power. "Seems like more monsters like Ethan are being created once in a while".

**Rivendell**

Ethan was casually taking a morning jog as his daily exercise routine. He noticed he was being followed by some men but he couldn't be bothered.If it came to it,he would just give them a good spank.

He didn't want to involve innocent people so he jogged towards an abandoned alley only small time criminals like petty thrives use. No later than he entered the alley was he surrounded by strange men in masks.

"You must be here to ask about the whereabouts of your comrades, right? Such a shame I am not in the mood for conversations. Why don't you leave while you still can?"Ethan said.

"You are surely as cocky as the rumors say.You are not wearing any armor,no swords,all you have on you is just a sweaty singlet and a dirty short and you still dare to be cocky."One of the black masked guy replied.

"You guys are just six,oh my bad,ten including the four in hiding and yes, you are all terror mages but I will have you know that despite being terror mages, the difference between us is vast" Ethan said calmly.

"Your pride will lead to your death and just so you know we ain't here to ask for our comrades location but we are just here to silence you who keeps getting in the way of our plans.I like your guts, facing ten terror mages and still manage to stay this calm is worthy of respect. You indeed live up to the reputation of the youngest commander." Another one of the black masked guy said.

The other 4 black masked guys came out of hiding and they all drew their swords.

"Feel free to do whatever you want but I just got these sneaks, it's a limited edition, only two if it are made, one belongs to me and the other belongs to my best friend. What will I tell him if something happens to my sneaks? It's a symbol of our friendship you know."Ethan replied with a smirk.

"Kill him and wipe that smirk off his face"Another black masked guy said.

Several swords came flying towards Ethan and he was stabbed mercilessly.He coughed up blood and feel on one kneel.