Posted by Aker didn’t move as the beast began taking their place in the formation. The Five Element Dominator Formation utilized the five elements to strengthen the beast attacking. In order for the formation to work properly the magic fighters or magical beast had to utilize the natural order of the elements.
The formation worked in the following way:
Fire promotes earth its weakness is water.
Earth promotes metal its weakness is wood.
Metal promotes water its weak is fire.
Water promotes wood its weakness is earth.
Wood promotes fire its weakness is metal.
Fire-à Earthà Metalà Waterà Woodà Fireà
By creating a circle in the order of fire, earth, metal, water, wood, each of the elements would flow naturally to the next element and move its weakness furthest away from itself. When in this formation a Level 1 Transformation magic beast can attack with the strength of a Level 2 Basic magic beast which displays the extraordinary might of this formation.
The only advantage that the person being attacked has in this formation is that only one magic beast can attack at a time. If more than one attacks at a time it will disrupt the flow of the formation and cause it to break apart. There is no need to worry about being attacked from behind or multiple beast attacking. The other major disadvantage is that there is no surprise in which beast will be attacking as the formation must follow the elements.
The formation is based on the harmony of the elements and due to that, in order to move from one magic beast to the other as the attacker it must progress through the elements until it gets to the magic beast that wants to attack.
If for example the Fire Ape was the current attacker and Alex wanted the Violet Furred Hound to attack, which is a wood element magic beast, the formation would dictate that it must hand control over to the other magic beast in the following order, Oppression Ox, Vuspese Gila Monster, Ice Mammoth , and then finally the Violet Furred Hound.
While this wasn’t a massive advantage for Aker it at least didn’t allow for a fluid attack pattern keeping him always guessing and on his toes. After the initial attack he would have a decent understanding of where the attacks would come from.
The Fire Ape launched its attack as it viciously went for the kill. Aker who had been watching all five of the magic beasts patiently waiting for Alex’s opening move reacted immediately. Aker was already confident that Alex would lead with his most aggressive and powerful move which in most cases is the fire element, so he was especially cognizant of the Fire Ape.
As the Fire Ape made its move at Aker, Aker turned his back and swung his sword at the Ice Mammoth who was directly behind him. The Ice Mammoth was roughly ten meters away and for Aker who had already guessed that the Fire Ape would lead the attack was inching that way before the Fire Ape’s attack.
As Akers sword struck the Ice Mammoth, he was struck in the back by the Fire Ape. Normally the Fire Ape wouldn’t have been able to cover the distance so quickly that he could deliver a blow at the same time Aker delivered his blow, but with its significantly increased strength due to the formation it could easily do it.
The blow Aker took shot him out of the formation and ten meters away causing him to spit up blood under his mask. This was the first significant injury Aker had taken since his first fight with a Fire Ape, somehow despite his injury he found time to consider how ironic it was.
Aker was already aware that he would suffer an injury with his move at the Ice Mammoth, however in order to defeat the Five Element Dominator Formation he had no choice but to force an equal exchange. Frankly, he had known that he would take the blow from the Fire Ape but in Aker’s plan, the Fire Ape would have already lost its added strength from the formation and it would only be a blow to the back from a Level 1 Intermediate magic beast.
While he would have still been injured if that was the case, the injury would have been manageable. He was unaware of the pure strength and speed of a Level 2 Basic magic beast, so he wasn’t quite prepared when the Fire Ape reached him. Even if he knew that it would turn out this way, he would have made the same decision so it was a moot point, the only difference was he may have been able to prepare his body for the impact a little better.
The key to breaking the Five Element Dominator Formation is in how the five elements work together. In the case of Alex, since he chose the Fire Ape to attack with it would receive the strength of all five-magic beast. However, since it was receiving the strength of all the other magic beast it meant that the other beast had to lose their strength. In the case of the Five Element Dominator Formation the antithesis of the element would be the weakest, in this case Water.
In essence while the Fire Ape was at its strongest the Ice Mammoth which was a water element magic beast was at its weakest and would barely qualify as a Level 1 Basic magic beast, thus Aker was easily able to kill it as he was getting struck by the might of the Fire Ape.
As the Ice Mammoth fell over its blood staining the dirt red, the power of the formation was destroyed. The Fire Ape that a moment ago had the strength of a Level 2 Basic magic beast coughed up a mouthful of blood along with the other four magic beast. This was the backlash of having the magic formation destroyed, each of the magic beast would suffer. Because the full strength of the formation was running through it the Fire Ape would suffer the heaviest.
After the backlash each of the Level 1 Intermediate magic beast still had the power of a Level 1 Intermediate, however it was now just at the cusp, their overall abilities reduced by forty to fifty percent.
Alex who watched as the Ice Mammoth’s blood dyed the arena floor as it exploded out was initially aggrieved at Aker’s instant movement and attack. Only someone who knew how the Five Element Dominator Formation worked and more importantly knew about its weakness would know that the Ice Mammoth was the weak link and was the only magic beast that would result in the formation collapsing if he attacked.
Initially his frustration was going to get the better of him and his first thought was that Aker’s bragging would come to fruition. In the next moment his eyes took in the glory that was Aker spitting out blood as his body bounced on the ground taking an unprotected punch from a Level 2 Basic magic beast equivalent to the back.
Alex seeing the sheer force of the swing from that Fire Ape couldn’t help but have his heart jump in jubilation as even he himself, a Source Core Level Fire magic fighter would be injured, much less some kid from The Pit.
Aker who was struggling to stand up spit out a couple more mouthfuls of blood as it felt like every organ in his body had been shaken and moved. He had spit up so much blood his head felt light and slightly dizzy as he tried to keep his surroundings from spinning any faster.
As Aker had worked his way up to all fours, he looked down at the pool of blood under him and realized he wouldn’t be surprised if he had spit up some of his internal organs with that shot. Amazingly his new battle armor had taken the blow and didn’t have even a mark to show for it. If it wasn’t for the percussion and force of the blow itself, Aker could have walked away with only minor injuries. The mere fact that he wasn’t killed with that swing from the Fire Ape was a testament to the power of his armor.
Mavis who was watching from the side had a tear roll down his face. The impact of seeing Aker take such a blow and spitting up blood in that manner had a devastating impact on his psyche. As he watched Aker spit out a few more mouth full of blood and struggle to his feet, Mavis’s hands clenched, his teeth made a “kakakaka” sound and his breathing turned heavier.
Over the years Mavis had watched every single fight that Aker had fought in, he hadn’t missed a single one. Even when he had pressing matters to take care of, he would drop it prioritizing watching Aker battle for his life. Mavis would pretend that he wasn’t interested in Aker’s fights when Aker would ask about it because he didn’t want it going to Aker’s head. Over the years Mavis had watched as Aker struggled in a battle or two but he hadn’t seen anything like what he just witnessed. Even counting Aker’s first fight against the Kulga that almost took his life he wasn’t as injured as he was right now.
Mavis couldn’t help but through gritted teeth pump his fist in front of his chest as if though his motion could somehow help Aker stand back on his feet. A cold sweat was slowly going down Mavis’s back as he watched the magic beast and Aker. At the moment Mavis watched the silent life and death race, who would regain their bearing first?
Thankfully the magic beast suffered from the backlash and couldn’t move, otherwise if they could have attacked straight away Aker would have already died in a miserable and pathetic fashion, laying on the ground unable to fight back. Mavis was desperately pleading in his heart for Aker to stand up and grab his weapons.
As Mavis’s thoughts were on Aker being able to stand up and fight Alex was screaming at the top of his lungs at his magic beasts “Attack him dammit! I said attack him! Why the hell are you so useless, go get him now, he can’t fight back!”
Over and over Alex was screaming his command for the remaining four magic beasts to attack but he was only met with the blood drained faces of four beast and a boy.
The crowd was watching in amazement at the scene. Since when had they ever seen such a thing? Before Alex there had never been anyone who trained the magic beast to form such a formation, so they had never witnessed such an extreme power upgrade as they did when that Fire Ape attacked.
When the Fire Ape attacked there was a collective gasp from five hundred thousand mouths as one million eyes went wide. There wasn’t a person who wasn’t in shock at the scene……that was until they saw four magic beasts suddenly start throwing up mouthfuls of blood in unison.
Only through the power of a formation backlash could such a scene be displayed. Everyone turned their head and eyes from Aker to the magic beast over and over wondering which of them would recover first.
Slowly Aker stood, his body wobbly, his entire everything in unbearable pain. He had never fought anything as strong as a Level 2 Basic magic beast much less take the full force attack of it. Under his mask he had blood flowing from his eyes due to the impact of the blow.
The crowd watched as Aker stumbled over to his first sword that was only about two meters from where he was lying, he slowly bent down to pick it up. As he bent over, he lost his balance and fell, his body slightly bounced as he hit the ground.
Immediately after falling over Aker put his arms under himself and began pushing himself back to his feet, making sure to grab his sword on his way. Within a few seconds he was again standing unstably, however now he had a sword in hand.
Aker looked over and saw that his other sword was roughly ten meters away lying calmly on the ground. He looked down at the sword in his hand and then over at the Violet Furred Hound who was still spitting out blood unable to move.
After a moment’s contemplation Aker took a deep breath, stabilized his legs and ran as fast as he could in the direction of the hound. The Violet Furred Hound was incapable of realizing the extreme danger it was in and as it was in the process of spitting out another mouthful of blood it suddenly had a view of its stomach it had never seen.
Aker had cleanly cut its head off while it was distracted and incapable of putting up a fight. Immediately after swinging his sword at the Violet Furred Hound Aker spit up another mouth full of blood due to the exertion over taxing his body.
After a couple of seconds Aker recovered his composure, looked up at Alex and said, “That’s two!”