A silence so deafening only his and May''s breathing could be heard.


    This was the answer Orion obtained from his question.


    ''They can''t talk, so how am I supposed to get an answer?''


    He took a step back, his gaze focused on the giant crystal.


    ''This wasn''t what I was expecting. Who would have thought that the elementals were so...''


    Quiet. That was the word Orion was about to think of. Yet, right before that, whispers once again began to fill his ears.


    "~~~~~~~~~"


    ''Great. What now?''


    The whispers echoed through the hall, coming from every direction but above him. The giant crystal was seemingly dormant while others were waking up.


    A pulsing beat appeared in each and every single crystals statues embedded in the hall. That pulse grew stronger, until the statues all recovered their original state.


    ''Are we in actually in danger? I would say that I haven''t done anything to the elementals since coming here, but what do I know? I''ve approached that big one without thinking, ignoring the warning.''


    His gaze fell on May.


    ''What am I going to do? If anything happens to her, this won''t end well for me?''


    Orion turned around and looked at the white crystal.


    ''There''s no statues under this thing. I''ll believe in this place being the safest for now.''


    He walked further in, gently placed her sleeping body against the rocky wall, and returned to his previous position.


    "Fine, whatever you have against me, bring it on. But you touch this one behind me, and I''ll break every single one of you."


    Orion''s magic exploded from his body, revealing his magic form to the elementals.


    "~~~~..."


    The whispers quieted down all of the sudden, to his surprise. And after only a few seconds, they began to return fiercer than before.


    ''I don''t understand anything of what''s happening, but I''ll carefully watch my surroundi-''


    While thinking, Orion activated ''Calm Analysis''. Just before his train of thought ended, and just when his ability began to influence his senses, he turned his body reflexively.


    *Bzt*


    A very fast lightning bolt crash behind him on the floor. It came from an angle above him, so he looked at it, and noticed a yellow statue losing its color and returning to a dull, lifeless tint.


    ''That how you want to do it, huh? I''ll play your game. Let''s see who better, thousands of crystals, or me!''


    Orion smiled wildly, and walked forward, preparing himself for thirty minutes of madness.


    ~


    "Hnng..."


    May opened her eyes with difficulty. Her vision was still blurry, and she couldn''t make out anything of what was happening to her yet. The only thing she could notice was the constant sound echoing around her, as if the elements were crashing around her.


    ''What is happening? I can''t see a thing. Where am I? Where''s that man? I remember talking with him and falling over...''


    She touched around her, and felt the rough stone under her finger.


    ''Rocks?''


    Her vision slowly returned, and as she looked above her, the white crystal took her full attention.


    ''That is one beautiful crystal. What-''


    ''#az#''


    ''Huh?''


    The voice she was constantly hearing in her head, and that she was solely able to understand, echoed in her mind.


    She listened to it, and dropped her gaze in front of her. When she did, it took a few seconds for her vision to completely return, and when she did, her eyes opened wide.


    ''#~~y#''


    ''What do you mean, ''do not help''?!''


    But she received no other message from the elemental within her.


    Watching in horror as Orion was avoiding attacks from all directions, she remained there quietly.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    He was jumping over, sliding under, dodging sideways, and even running past some of the attacks going up to him.


    ''Why isn''t he using his magic? Why is he simply running around?''


    Questioning herself endlessly, and not knowing anything of what happened so far, she only watched.


    The incessant attacks coming from the crystals caught her attention. She wasn''t a leader for nothing, she was very observant.


    ''Only one attack is coming from those other crystals? Why? After they release their energy, they stop working?''


    ''Are we in some kind of trial or something? Are these traps?''


    Her mind worked rapidly to find the most plausible explanation to what was happening.


    ''...''


    Until she saw Orion''s wide smile, and his swift movements. There was something enticing, seeing him fight adversity with a smile.


    So she listened to the advise previously received, and just enjoyed the show in front of her, as she wasn''t targeted by any of the attacks.


    ...


    Lightning bolts, fire pillars, water bullets, wind blades, and rock spikes. Everything was thrown at him relentlessly, yet none hit him.


    In fact, he was enjoying himself so much he did not care at all about anything else.


    ''Training! This is a very great training session to test my skills again!'' was all he could think of.


    He tried to use his warping ability at the start, but unsurprisingly, it failed. So he was left with only the Second Gear to help. Though, it was more than enough.


    The attacks weren''t particularly powerful, but they were fast. Orion needed to react faster than normal, and even anticipate some of the attacks coming at him.


    After hundreds of attacks, the speed began to rapidly increase, until under one single breath, dozen of magic attacks had already landed.


    He couldn''t blink, he couldn''t breathe properly, his actions were precise enough there was no room for freedom, and yet, he was smiling.


    At one point, four attacks came at him relatively at the same time.


    A wind blade coming from the ceiling behind him, and a rock spike emerging from the ground in front of him both came toward him, trying to hit his sides. To avoid them, Orion slightly rotated his body, making both attacks graze his clothes, before bending his body backward.


    The third attack came at him horizontally, right for his neck. He avoided the water bullet, and then made a wheel motion by placing his hands on the floor after bending backward, and avoided a pillar of flame appearing where he was standing before.


    His focus was unwavering at this point, and every details were caught under his watchful observations.


    Then, a wind blade came at him from the front this time, followed by a falling bolt of lightning.


    He ran toward the wind blade, and barely moved his body to avoid it. The bolt struck the ground behind him, and the wind blade vanished after passing him.


    The next set of attacks were already upon him at that point. He ran on the rock spike before it disappeared, front flipped above a water bullet, and rolled out of yet another lightning bolt.


    But one attack took him by surprise. A sudden pillar of flame, who Orion registered as only coming from under him, appeared from the ceiling and came crashing down on him at high speed.


    With four other attacks coming for him, he found himself in a dire situation. But he wasn''t ready to give up yet.


    Using every bit of power in his body, and using the full potential of the Second Gear, he crouched to avoid two of them, stood up in a swift movement, and jumped to avoid the bolt coming at his feet, while adding a spinning motion so that the water bullet only slightly grazed his torso, and fell back on the ground, before pushing his feet out of the fire pillar.


    All his experiences training and fighting came naturally to him, aiding him in perfecting his senses. His stamina, which he built for years, and that he gained thanks to Senia''s gift, only helped him further.


    Surviving wasn''t hard anymore. He could avoid the most grueling and oppressing onslaught of attacks, and barely feel threatened.


    But there was still a difference between a stationary attacker, and an mobile one. The situation was similar to stepping on traps than being attacked by a thinking individuals.


    This was more training to him than fighting an Apostle, as this very situation was less life-threatening.


    Though, Orion still wanted to avoid getting pummeled by continuous magic as much as possible, as it was unknown if he could use healing. Using light was permitted, but his void magic wasn''t, so he wasn''t sure.


    It was better to think like any hit were a potential one-hit kill instead, to stimulate his senses and bring the most out of him.


    And after dodging countless magic, finally, the onslaught began to die down. The last crystal statue lost its pulsing light, before peace and quiet returned, leaving Orion gasping for air.


    "Ah- What in the... *cough* world."


    As sweat dripped from his cheeks unto the floor, a familiar breeze came up and eased the fire in his body.


    ''My leg is burning, my lungs are burning, and my brain is burning. But...''


    He looked in front of him with a very satisfied look on his face, and nodded.


    ''it was fulfilling. That helped a lot.''


    *Clap* *Clap*


    Hearing someone clapping behind him, he turned around.


    "Finally awake, at last."


    With a mocking expression on his face, he slowly walked back to May, and sat next to her.


    "~~~~~~"


    He ignored the whispering picking back up, and focused on May for the moment.


    "What was all of that?"


    She asked.


    "I know as much as you. All I know is that we made it to the elemental realm, and that the crystals around you are the very elementals we were looking for."


    Orion began to explain what happened after she lost consciousness.


    ...


    "Yes, I don''t know what any of that was either."


    "Well, those were some nice moves. I never would have expected that you were this athletic though."


    Orion nodded.


    "That''s all my efforts paying off. I only suffered..."


    He looked at all over his body.


    "a few scratches I guess."


    His expression was peaceful. He truly felt fulfilled, which was a rare thing to happen for him, even after training.


    The whispers suddenly stopped.


    "Hmm?"


    Orion stood up.


    "Something''s wrong?"


    "Maybe. Come with me."


    He gave her his hand, and helped May stand up.


    They both walked under the white crystal, before stopping a little distance away from the wall.


    "Wait."


    May suddenly stopped, and grabbed Orion''s sleeve.


    Even though she wasn''t as close to him than Amelia was, he still listened to her advice, so he stopped too.


    ''Her elemental, I suppose?''


    They stood here for a minute, before something finally happened.


    All statues once again began to light up.


    ''I hope it''s not another dodge contest. I''m don''t feel like doing it again.''


    As he thought of that, a beam of light came out of the thousands of statues in the hall. All directed at the white crystal.


    May dropped her head, and moved her hair, revealing the crystal in her nape. A similar beam of light escaped the red crystal, and joined the other ones.


    They all moved in a circular motion on one part of the sphere, until Orion heard a noise from above him.


    *Clink*


    As he looked up, he noticed a fast spherical item fall down.


    May let go of his sleeve, and Orion rushed to catch the item.


    ''Wait, isn''t it quite big?''


    The spherical thing fell in his arms, almost bringing Orion down with it. Gritting his teeth, he ignored the pain in his arms for now, and looked at what he caught.


    ''Is that a part of the white crystal?''


    In his hand was a perfect, smooth sphere of the white crystal of around a hundred centimeters of diameter in his hands.