Among the heap of gifts, one, the smallest but most valuable, the Tear of Poseidon, had cracked.
Alaric's small eyes widened, a sense of foreboding washing over him.
His instincts as a Navy SEAL screamed at him that this could spell doom.
And it did.
Within moments, the cracks had spiderwebbed across the entirety of the small, thumb-sized artefact, and with a louder, more distinctive crack, it shattered.
Its contents, pure water elemental mana in the form of surging waves, filled the room.
Like the eruption of water from a newly dug well, but far greater force.
Everyone was caught off guard, none ever expecting a legendary-grade artefact to just break like that.
The surging waves quickly swallowed the room while, the gifts, people, and furniture caught in its untamed march.
The glass windows shattered outward, the ground cracking under its pressure, and torrents of water poured everywhere, yet it seemed unending.
People were thrown around, most erecting mana barriers, but under the force and pressure, they broke instantly.
Only the fifth resonance mages were able to hold their barriers.
Aiden and Raika fared no better; they too were engulfed by the surging waves of water.
Water and fire being complete opposites, they couldn't do much, their bodies pushed back to the far end of the hall, all others being tossed around by the miniature flood in the room.
Screams were muffled by the surging waves, not to mention you would swallow large chunks of water if you opened your mouth.
Those of the water element fared better, but not too far from the rest, as the purity of the water mana was too much for them.
The highest rank water mage present was a fourth resonance mage, powerful, yes, but not enough to handle such a pure form of water mana.
Most mages wouldn't be able to handle the pure form of their elemental mana.
Mana so pure, it could be mistaken for creato, an unblemished mana without any affinity to the elements.
A pure, unadulterated form of mana.
A form of mana from which all other elemental mana diverged.
Something those bound with an affinity wouldn't be able to use.
It would be like a water mage trying to use the earth element or any other element.
"ALARIC!"
Raika screamed under the surging waves, her bloodshot eyes darting around for her infant baby, but Alaric was nowhere in the water.
The water mages above the rising water were the first to see it.
The infant, Alaric, levitating above the surging waves, the water spiraling underneath him to form a whirlpool.
Slowly, the rotating water pulled toward his small frame, its tangible form changing to the intangible mana that was stored in the artefact.
It merged with his body, like a sponge soaking up water.
In a way, his small frame was acting as an artefact to absorb the large amounts of water elemental mana.
Raika finally noticed her baby, her mana surging, but at the moment of its manifestation, it short-circuited.
"What?"
She couldn't manifest her mana.
"Alaric?!" She cried out, clawing her way up the water, but the surging waves tossed her body around like a ragdoll.
She was helpless, her eyes locked on her baby, yet she could do nothing but struggle to survive the surging waves.
Aiden, on the other hand, had already dashed out of the water mass, black flames erupting from his form, propelling him toward his son.
With furrowed brows and a hardened expression, he flew toward Alaric.
He didn't know what was going on, but whatever it was, it didn't look good.
He reached Alaric in less than a second, but slammed into an invisible barrier surrounding him.
"What?" Aiden was taken aback, but just for a moment.
Something was blocking him from his newborn child; there wasn't time to think.
Whatever it was, enough force would work.
And he needed to work fast.
A black sword materialized into his hand, black flames licking its form.
It pulsated with malevolence, like a gift from hell.
He struck the barrier, and with a clang, was pushed back.
A ripple spread from his point of impact.
Unwilling to give up, he struck again, then again. Each time he was propelled back, he grew anxious, his whole form engulfed by black flames.
His red piercing eyes were the only color in his black form.
He looked like the abyss personified.
His full power unleashed.
The surging water beneath him began to boil at an alarming rate, the people under the water raising barriers to protect themselves from both the surging waves and the heat that threatened to boil them alive.
Raika couldn't even create a barrier, but thanks to her physique, the heat had no effect, though she was still helpless, watching desperately as her husband tried to save their newborn.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Crack!
The barrier finally began to give way, a massive crater-like fracture spreading from the impact point
Aiden went in for a last swing with the intent to completely shatter the barrier.
He swung down, his red piercing eyes widening as his swing was intercepted by something.
A being, no, more like a silhouette of a man made out of water, a trident in hand, with which he blocked Aiden's attack.
Aiden recognized it as the spirit of Poseidon, the last boss of the sixth-tier tower, Poseidon Castle.
A godlike entity that needed at least three fifth resonance mages to take down, evidence of its power, as fifth resonance mages were powerhouses in their own right, each strong enough to bring a city to ruin.
Yet they needed three to take him down.
Such was the difficulty of sixth-tier towers.
Aiden, though he knew he was outmatched, looked at his child behind the entity, then back at it.
He wasn't backing down.
"You won't stand in my way..." he roared, charging forward, his black sword pulsating with his resolve.
Clang!
The sword was easily intercepted by the entity, but that wasn't a problem.
Aiden wasn't a battle mage like his wife Raika; he was a pure-blooded mage.
Black tendrils of flames shot from him, bypassing the entity toward Alaric.
A wall of water shot upward, blocking the paths of the tendrils.
But it wasn't enough to block them, nor even extinguish them, as the water wall evaporated upon contact with the black flame tendrils.
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A/N
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