Chapter 704: Death Formation

Breejara stayed perfectly calm as Grey’s challenge spread across the auction hall, her smile barely moving while the crowd erupted around her.

She had known Grey Temolt’s personality for far too long to think he would just sit there and let Aelthar drive the price up forever. The challenge button lighting up hadn’t surprised her in the slightest.

Her plans went deeper than that. However, there were limits to what she could do inside an auction.

Killing wasn’t allowed during an official challenge. Otherwise, Breejara would have happily let Aelthar solve several of Muse Incorporated’s problems in one go. Even so, humiliating Grey in front of the entire Genesis Games would still do plenty of damage. And, more importantly, tiring him out so that he couldn’t continuously choose this path was the main key.

The real question was whether Aelthar would agree to straight combat.

Breejara knew exactly why Lyssara-0 had proposed an Integration Challenge instead of just fighting Grey, even if much of the audience had written it off as cowardice after seeing how badly it ended.

None of the Betting Favorites had come to this auction planning to show everything they could do, not with Arc III still ahead of them. Every major power in the Games was already collecting information on the people they expected to become serious threats later.

There was no benefit in revealing every Ability, inheritance, Dominion or hidden card just to entertain an audience.

Alternative challenges let the Betting Favorites compete without showing their true combat strength. On the other hand, walking into a real fight and deliberately holding back came with its own danger. You could lose in public while everyone still believed you’d gone all out.

Aelthar might be different, though.

His hatred for Grey was hardly subtle, and the First Echo of Eidon gave him a decent excuse to take more risk than he normally would.

If completing the Eidonic Compass eventually led him to the Heart of the First Element and let him reach Soul Link, then whatever information he gave away today would be outdated once his strength evolved again anyway.

How hard it would be to find the other two pieces was a different matter entirely. Then again, Breejara wasn’t trying to predict whether Aelthar would ever finish the set. All she wanted to know was how badly he wanted Grey dead. Putting something this valuable in front of him seemed like an excellent way to find out.

Her confidence held right up until Grey appeared on his challenge platform and winked at her.

Breejara’s smile stayed exactly where it was. Yet, something about that tiny gesture irritated her immediately.

Why could she never see even the slightest hint of hesitation from this boy, no matter how little he knew about what was coming?

Grey could walk into a challenge without knowing the rules, the opponent or even what was being tested, and he’d still carry himself as though everyone else was the one about to learn something unpleasant.

Breejara had watched more talented contestants pass through stages like this than she could remember. Very few of them had ever managed to make ignorance look so much like confidence.

Aelthar materialized across from him a moment later.

His towering body of tightly controlled red-gold flame made the difference in their heights almost ridiculous. Grey tilted his head back to look up at him and grinned, as though the irony had gone completely over his head.

"Hey, short stack. Finally ready to get your ass kicked?"

Laughter rolled through the auction hall. However, Aelthar didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction.

Instead, his gaze dropped to the bracelet around Grey’s wrist. It stayed there for a moment before slowly coming back up to Grey’s face.

Breejara stepped in before Grey could decide the silence needed another comment.

"Our contestants have reached the challenge stage, which means the method of competition may now be determined between them. Grey Temolt issued the challenge, so unless the two of you have already agreed upon terms, Aelthar Infernis will have the first opportunity to propose them."

Grey shrugged, as though she’d just asked him what he wanted for dinner.

"I’ll kick his ass in whatever it is. He’s free to choose."

Aelthar’s lips curled a little. It was the first real reaction Grey had managed to get out of him since arriving on the platform.

"Then I’ll oblige you." He turned to Breejara. "Death Element Formation."

The mood in the hall changed instantly. Conversations broke out across dozens of private bubbles, and Breejara’s eyes lit up with genuine interest.

Grey caught both reactions and looked between them. He was already getting the distinct impression that whatever Aelthar had picked wasn’t the kind of game people played casually.

"Sounds healthy."

Breejara laughed, and several large projections formed above the stage.

"Element Formation is an old competitive discipline associated most strongly with Elemental Races, although variations of it have existed throughout the Genesis Games for countless iterations. At its simplest, participants use elemental energy to create a structure capable of replacing a natural function of the body."

The projection showed a humanoid figure. Part of its arm faded away, and in its place was a glowing construct of elemental energy that moved and flexed just like ordinary muscle.

More examples followed, first an eye, then a section of the lungs. Every elemental replacement kept up the function of whatever had been removed.

"In ordinary Element Formation, contestants might replace muscle, sensory tissue, part of the respiratory system or some other component whose failure will not immediately result in death. The challenge is not simply shaping elemental energy into the appearance of an organ, but forcing that energy to perform the same complex function as the living structure it replaces."

As the examples got more complicated, Grey’s grin faded a bit.

"Death Element Formation is the most extreme recognized variation, and the name is quite literal. Each contestant destroys one of the most valuable organs in their own body, traditionally whatever structure is closest to the equivalent of a heart, then attempts to construct a functioning replacement from elemental energy before the loss kills them."

The projection changed again. The glowing heart inside the simulated body suddenly vanished, and a timer appeared beside it.

Elemental energy flooded into the empty space and slowly started taking shape. Meanwhile, every indicator around the simulated body began to crash.

"The Genesis System will not recognize a temporary pulse of energy or some crude trick that sustains life for a few seconds. Your elemental construct must actually assume the function of the destroyed organ and achieve enough stability that the body could continue operating without immediate outside assistance."

Grey’s attention moved to Aelthar.

For an Elemental, building functional structures out of elemental energy wasn’t some technique they’d picked up along the way, their bodies already existed through principles Grey barely understood. In other words, Aelthar had picked a challenge where the very nature of his Race gave him the advantage before skill even entered the picture.

It wasn’t much of a surprise. That zero chick had done the exact same thing, but this was very clearly a level beyond that. Aelthar couldn’t kill Grey, but if Grey was the one who destroyed his own heart... then it wouldn’t count, now would it?

Aelthar looked down at Grey for another moment before speaking again.

"I’ll use water."

Breejara’s eyes flicked toward him.

Nothing in the rules stopped Aelthar from using fire. Grey had been stupid enough to let him pick the challenge in the first place, so there was no reason at all to give up his natural affinity on top of it.

Breejara had wanted Grey trapped in the worst possible version of this contest. What she hadn’t wanted was an Elemental handing him a pointless concession, just because his pride was apparently starting to outweigh his hatred.

Aelthar didn’t seem to care.

"If I use fire, he’ll go back on his word even if it means humiliating himself. There is no real pride in the bones of an insignificant human. I am simply removing the option for you. You wouldn’t be such a coward, would you?"

Grey’s eyebrows went up a little.

Aelthar’s sneer deepened. "It’s not as though it will make a difference."

The audience loved it.

Breejara’s smile never slipped as the noise rolled through the hall. Inside, though, she was a lot less pleased. Twice tonight, Grey Temolt had already shown that giving him any opening, even one that looked completely meaningless, had a habit of turning into something far more important than it should have been.

That said, Aelthar was one of the original Betting Favorites, and Death Element Formation was a discipline rooted in the very nature of Elemental existence.

Even with an element outside his natural affinity, he should have an understanding of elemental construction that a human from a Cracked World couldn’t even begin to match. At least, that was what Breejara told herself.

Grey stared back at Aelthar as the full rules kept scrolling across the projection. Bit by bit, his mind finally started working through what he’d so casually agreed to.

He would have to destroy his own heart. Then, he’d have to replace the entire organ using elemental energy, and convince the Genesis System that whatever he made could keep him alive as though nothing had changed.

Put that way, the problem was pretty obvious.

Grey wasn’t an Elemental. Unlike Aelthar, his body wasn’t naturally made of the same kind of energy he was being asked to turn into a living organ.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at the glowing heart floating above the stage.

How the fuck was he supposed to replace something that complicated with energy alone?

Grey sneered. "If you done yapping, start the challenge already."