«Your miserable green crust is nothing compared to the quartz of light. I do not simply strengthen it with light, I use a rare feature of my unique body which makes it twice as strong as the previous one! I kept it a secret to impress everyone with my talent in the future but it seems that you left me no choice. The arrogant little upstart like you should know his place.» - Tsayan proudly puffed out his chest and raised his chin. He looked at Kyon with contempt as if the boy was a nasty bug.

«Oh my God. No one gives a shit about you.» - Kyon rolled his eyes. - {Why is everyone so full of themselves here?!}

Some of the Stones burst into laughter. It was not the first time the presumptuous boy had talked back to Tsayan the terrible without a shadow of a doubt. Now they didn’t take him for a clown or an empty windbag. He was rather a dark horse with unlimited tricks up his sleeve.

«You... You’re a little bastard brought up in the dump who has no idea how high the sky is! Ignorant scum, I will show you the real power of the earth!» - He slashed the air with his sword.

The buzzing sound was hair-rising.

Kyon wasn’t concerned about his opponents’ attempts to boast and maintain dignity. He was thinking about something completely different. He had to quickly make his rock stronger. The choice of the attribute of light to strengthen the rock suggested itself. Especially if considering the fact they had never discovered he was the ether bender. He could keep a low profile.

Immediately, Kyon had infused his sword with the element of light which added saturation to its green shine.

«Holy cow, the guy knows the element of light just like Tsayan!» … «What?! Does he really bend three elements!?» … «Ha! What else should you expect from our brother! I told you that he is a student of TsyJi!» … «Go Kyon! We believe in you!»

Tsayan snorted with contempt. «What's your point? I get my strength from the unique body that’s why my rock gets twice as strong! Your pathetic light won’t do you any good. Are you showing off before you die?»

«Don't compare me to yourself.»

«I never did. A dog is no match for the tiger.»

«Yes, you are absolutely right. By the way, you're the third dog in a row.»

The Browns protested indignantly like a pack of shaven wolves. «What are you talking about, piece of shit?!» … «We are tigers! We are born and brought up like that! Rrr!»… «Take his head off his shoulders for us, elder brother Tsayan!» … «Yeah! Kill him!»

«Ha ha ha! You’re a blind fool! Do not compare me with that scum!» - Tsayan’s eyes flashed with bloodthirst, his body rushed in the direction of Kyon. The light sword cut the air leaving a bright mark and headed to the neck. - «Die!

Kyon launched a counterattack stunning everyone with his incredible trick.

*whoosh*

The familiar sound left the minds of the guests blank. Something unbelievable was going on...

…

Kyon's eyes flashed. With his perfect vision, he discovered like in slow motion as soon as his weapon touched Tsayan's sword its light dimmed at the point of contact. It seemed to be completely drained. At that moment, the quartz of light turned into the ordinary gold quartz.

{What the?}

Kyon relived that moment in his memory a couple more times and came up with the only possible explanation: {My new key absorbs the strange attribute of light?!} - judging by the absence of any scars and scratches on the adamantium sword, so it was.

The strength Tsayan expected to get from his attribute had disappeared the moment their swords touched. Kyon’s element of light turned out to be absolutely redundant.

Kyon was unaware of the feature of the heavenly pearl of light to resist its own attribute by 50%. The analysis gave him the first hint which he would confirm in the future.

...

Dinah's eyes widened. She finally came out of her stupor. {Wait... What? How?! HE BENDS FIVE ELEMENTS?!} - It hit her like a ton of bricks. She almost forgot how to breathe. Last time she was fighting with the boy, she could sense four elements in him: the cold, the ether, the earth and the pure energy. There was no light among them. Now she could clearly sense the light.

{Is he... a heavenly genius?!} - Anyone knows that the number of elements determines the destiny of the practitioner, their successes and good fortune. Heaven created its geniuses to change the turns of existence it disapproved of. The heavenly geniuses, great and unique, were the tools in the hands of the goddesses,

Dinah was looking at her sworn enemy and saw a completely different person. The girl did not understand what was going on. The damn heavenly genius, one in many hundreds of millions, turned out to be her sworn enemy?! Her eyes misted over, she blinked. She couldn’t wrap her head around it. There were too many questions and no answers.

Anna expected anything from Kyon including another trick he played on everyone. She looked at him like a cat who had been waiting for another spoonful of cream and got it.

XiaoBai turned pale. He understood who he was dealing with... The boy was no sucker but a player! Could it happen so that he would defeat Tsayan? And then Kara? The thought of losing half a million made him shiver. He stroked his dear spatial ring ready to run away from the country, and even from the world to keep it, to give nothing away.

Tsayan couldn’t believe his eyes nor ears. However, the feeling of sharp pain had sobered him; he stepped back from the followed green shadows. Three deep cuts appeared across his chest meeting at one point that pulsated with intense pain shooting down to his limbs. He used pure energy again, this time as an anesthetic.

«It cannot be... My unique body makes quartz stronger than steel! I do not believe this! You could not have cut it! It's impossible! You are nothing but a miserable practitioner of the seventh stage in the base phase!» - When Tsayan didn’t see a single scratch on Kyon’s weapon he was horrified, his pupils narrowed, his heart beat like a drum roll. He turned pale. His strongest rock he was so proud of had just been cut like clay, like his heart! His faith in his unique talent had been irrevocably shaken.

«Hey doggie, stop yapping already.» - Kyon smiled with contempt.

«He... Did it… Again…» - Stephanie could not take her eyes off the boy.

«Look! There is not a scratch on his sword! Aaaaaaah!» … «His green rock is stronger than diamond! Given the difference in development, it would have been impossible to cut the quartz of light!» … «I told you he has the advanced grade of the earth element and you did not believe me! Ha! Ha ha!» … «You’re an idiot, he most likely has the superior grade of the earth element!» … «No… It’s impossible!» … «If he is a student of TsyJi, why not?» … «I don’t believe it! There are no such geniuses who have mastered the element to the superior grade while being in the base phase» … «I also want to use this rock! Brother Kyon, please tell us where you got the technique for creating this rock! I will give you everything for it!» … «Brother Kyung, what’s its name? Tell us its name!» … «Brother, I'm now your fan! Give me a couple of instructions!» - The Stones took the boy for an unfathomable mystery. The fact that he was their kinsman pleased their young hearts. However, many of them were envious, some of them stood there gloomy killing him with their glances. Among the latter was Lee, number one Stone, dying of shame and cold rage.

The situation in the other families was completely different. They looked at Kyon with a shock that gave way to unkind intentions. There were whispers that Kyon could be dangerous. Too talented, too mysterious. Even if his development was still low the quality of his energy was not something they came across even once in a lifetime.

Tsayan’s confidence in his rock made him throw overboard all measures of caution. He hadn’t used pure energy to protect his body, otherwise, the cuts would have been nothing but scratches. He could not believe his quartz of light had been surpassed… It had been crushed with incredible strength not inferior to diamond.

Tsayan understood the absurdity of the situation... A fly was defeating a hornet. He did not want to put up with the reality. He created another sharp sword radiating light and ran into the attack.

~whoosh~ ~whoosh~ ~whoosh~

The luminous rock cracked under the power of the green adamantium. The swords, cobblestones and walls he created were smoothly cut in two. Tsayan’s attempts to use surprise attacks always failed. No matter how hard he tried, his enemy was always one step ahead. Tsayan’s slow earthen attacks never found their target. The earth is a slow element, it is used mainly for protection. If the rock crumbles like clay, it’s of little practical use in the fight.

«Golden hail!» - Tsayan roared stretching forward his arms. He decided to use a massive attack. A stream of small yellow stones with pure energy inside rushed to the enemy at high speed, but he dodged each stone with no effort, flickering like an illusory shadow. When it was over, Kyon was only a little out of breath and there were rare beads of sweat on his forehead.

«Change the name of the technique. It sounds like you're pissing on the opponents.»

The Stones exploded with laughter and applause. They were over the moon to watch their talented fellow fight. They cheered for him louder than they did for Lee. They believed that Kyon would bring victory to their family, or rather get to the finals and lose to the honorable princess.

No matter how hard Tsayan tried to dodge, the green sword kept hitting him leaving little cuts. He noticed that the enemy was afraid to hit his fist and did the right thing! The recoil would most certainly ruin his hand.

After a minute of the battle, the Tsayan’s chest was covered with countless cuts, some of them were oozing blood, pulsating with pain. The Browns shouted to him to use his golden skin. Only then the attacks of his enemy would be absolutely harmless to him. Then Tsayan could fully concentrate on the battle and eventually hit Kyon at least once turning him into a bloody mash.

But Tsayan could not tell anyone that his golden skin could be activated only once a day. Otherwise, he would severely damage his body, and after the second use, he wouldn’t be able to move for a day.

Kyon raged inwardly at his failure to bring any severe damage to Tsayan’s body. His adamantium was strengthened by the light element and yet, he had to fight his guts out. If only he could have used poison... It was clear now why the ordinary practitioners couldn’t defeat the enemy a couple of stages higher in development. They had a huge advantage in brute force, defense, speed and not only that.

Although it sounds contradictory, Kyon could chop the golden quartz like a carrot (and it was several times stronger than Tsayan’s flesh) but he couldn’t do it the other way round. It has to do with the pure energy that can protect the body but can’t protect the rock. Or rather, it doesn't have time to react inside the rock as the solid matter gets instantly chopped in two. As for the body, the element gets activated instantly when it’s inside the soft tissues due to their elasticity.

If Kaisen had previously used the ether barrier, Kyon would have had to tinker with him much longer... He might have needed to use the attribute of darkness to break through Kaisen’s ether barrier. It’s pretty convenient to bend 9 elements and use the one that is just right for the moment. Fortunately, Kaisen was a brainless idiot who had lost in three blows.

Ten breaths later, Tsayan’s shirt was saturated with blood oozing from the small cuts.

His family looked at him and felt his pain.

The girl who was in love with Tsayan shouted to him with a plea in her voice:

«Tsayan, please, activate your golden skin! We all understand you do not want to do honor to the miserable underdeveloped enemy but no one will judge you for fighting in full force! Even his blows are insignificant but you will bleed with time! Spare yourself, please!»

The other members of his family kept shouting things like that.

Tsayan felt unprecedented pressure from the audience. The contemptuous smile of his enemy was driving him mad. His pride did not allow him to lose to the asshole at the 7th (1) stage of development. He would rather die. It seemed nothing else was left...

«Well, you can be proud of yourself, lousy dog. You’ve made me to stoop to your level and use my golden skin. Get ready to experience the difference between us!» - He closed his eyes and roared. His face turned red with tension. He looked like a sumo fighter before the attack.

«Hey, use the toilet for this!!» - Kyon grinned making the audience chuckle.

Tsayan was so tensed that blood ran from his nose. He looked like a drug addict, his muscles swelled, his body trembled. It seemed he was about to explode. There was a spatial clap after which Tsayan got covered in gold from head to toe. Nobody noticed how pale he was.

«You’re my hero, Tsayan!» - The girl was delighted to see her beloved one get golden skin. However, she gasped in horror a moment after.