Primary Nature—Broiling Mist Dominance!
This was the most common Silver Grade Primary Nature possessed by the Cooter Clansmen. The Spirit Pool necessary for granting this Primary Nature was easy to create, for the necessary minerals were sourced directly from the Dralh Sea.
Every Death Hour, a vast amount of minerals would be released into the Dralh Sea. Floating on it casually, unaffected by this was the Empyrean Snapper.
Primary Nature—Subtle Terrain Dominance!
This was the Empyrean Snapper’s Primary Nature, a name too gentle for its violent, domineering power. In its Spirit Weapon range, the Empyrean Snapper was able to control nature as if it were a Spirit Weapon.
Basically, the region stretching one hundred eighty metres from the Empyrean Snapper’s epidermis was under its absolute rule. The air, water, land, and even Prana. Anything in this range fell under its control, absolutely.
The only one capable of negating it was another Empyrean Snapper.
The Empyrean Snapper was able to create waves and quakes, transmit the heat to cool down part of the surroundings while heating the other parts, create thunderclouds, catalyse various physical and chemical reactions according to its desires, etc.
Expert Gold Grade Pranic Beast—Empyrean Snapper!
With pinnacle body and mind, the Empyrean Snapper had more than enough computing prowess to perform the most complex of actions down to the molecular level.
With such powers, even the plasma layer during the Death Hour was merely another terrain aspect that fell under the Empyrean Snapper’s control when it came within range. In this case, the Empyrean Snapper selectively absorbs valuable minerals part of the plasma layer.
One of the Spirit Pools resulting from absorbing the plasma layer was the Broiling Spirit Pool. When a Cooter Clansman takes a dip in it during their breakthrough from the Spirit Stage to the Body Stage, they will obtain the Primary Nature of Broiling Mist Dominance.
This allows them to control the hot mist being generated by the Dralh Sea during the day, with the ability peaking during the Death Hour and the cold shower. Ralral’s terrain advantage during this period was the greatest.
However, at the peak of the Body Stage, Ralral didn’t have enough strength in her psychokinesis to exert her will on the mist walls generated during the Death Hour. Only masters at the Life Stage could afford to do that without sustaining any damage in response.
But as she was pushed to a corner, she had no other choice but to do so, sustaining damage to her Spirit Weapon form as she unleashed the geyser sourced closest to the plasma layer.
The explosions resounding in the mist wall were absorbed by her to further increase the heat in the geyser as her serpentine false body coiled around it, riding the geyser like a wave.
The geyser arched through the sky and headed towards the Sumatra Ship. And surfing through it was Ralral, taking advantage of her Primary Nature to churn the heat within the geyser. She began to concentrate all the heat towards the tip, transferring enough heat to the front that the tail end of the geyser turned into ice.
The Empyrean Zinger Scouts chasing after Ralral noticed her actions. They shouted to warn Inala but noticed that all sounds were being dampened. Judging by the lack of response, the message failed to reach Inala.
An Empyrean Zinger Scout swallowed its brethren—that was in miniature form—and activated Internal Inertial Gravity to turn its lungs into a biome. Using its little reserves, it shot forth the miniature Empyrean Zinger Scout towards Inala.
During flight, the Empyrean Zinger Scout increased its weight and began gliding downward, hence accelerating in response. It barely overtook Ralral and continued to shout until it reached Inala.
When there were forty metres between the two, Inala was able to faintly hear its voice. Immediately in response, he reacted as the Sumatra Ship ejected copious amounts of air and thrust itself away.
Boom!
The head of the geyser slammed into the pile of rubble formed by the mining cave’s collapse, melting through the rocks to form a shallow pool of lava.
Leaping out of the geyser was Ralral as she landed at a safe spot, glaring in anger upon seeing the Sumatra Ship evade her attack. She had used most of her strength to unleash this trump card of hers, only to see it miss.
“These critters…!” She glared at bits and pieces of Empyrean Zinger Scout corpses that scattered the area. Many had sacrificed themselves to deliver the message to Inala, no matter the cost.
The plasma layer reached the surface and mixed into the mist wall, increasing the pressure as large clouds formed in the sky. All the heat radiated upward while the mist high up began to condense into clouds, continuing to eject heat upwards as the temperature in them dropped.
Less than ten seconds spanned past as cold water began to pour down from the sky. A droplet fell on a Pranic Beast, causing a faint layer of frost to form on the impact area.
This was the cue for them to return to the Dralh Sea, for the upper layers of the sea would turn freezing cold next. It was warmer and habitable at the deeper levels. And before the cold shower began in full swing, they had to reach these deeper parts.
The Pranic Beasts rushed into the Dralh Sea as there was a standoff between Ralral and the Sumatra Ship. Since the cold shower began, her chances of victory increased drastically. Alas, that was in case she hadn’t stepped into a trap.
Ralral had just focused her power on the falling raindrops when her false body collapsed. Prana was being drained from her at a rapid pace as the entire ground was covered by a Prana Bomb layer.
Right as her false body collapsed, four Life Hands grabbed her Spirit weapon form, stealing her Lifeforce. The pain from her Lifeforce being stolen in four distinct locations knocked her unconscious. And once all her Prana was stolen, her transformation came undone, causing her to revert to her human form.
Asaeya used her six Spirit Weapons to carry Ralral into the Sumatra Ship that curled up at a spot. In the meantime, Gannala used Mystic Bone Art to transform the skeleton of all Pranic Beasts killed by Inala to erect a robust roof.
As the cold shower began in earnest, the roof turned into ice. The four pillars supporting it were also covered by a thick layer of ice. Huddled in safety under this bone roof was the Sumatra Ship.
“I-It’s cold!” Asaeya’s teeth clattered as she moved to a corner of the Sumatra Chip’s cabin.
Inala closed shut all the vents in the Sumatra Ship once all surviving Empyrean Zinger Scouts fled inside. He then encased a Prana Bomb inside another Prana Bomb, using psychokinesis to spin the two in opposite directions, thereby generating heat through friction.
The interior warmed up to a sufficient degree as Inala realised it was impossible to move the Sumatra Ship for the time being. All its joints had frozen, locking them in place with a thick layer of ice.
It was damn cold outside, with rain splattering everywhere upon impact, freezing everything they came in contact with. The ice would thaw gradually during the night once the cold shower ends, as the ambient temperature of the region was moderately warm and humid.
Inala encased Ralral in a Prana Bomb coffin, keeping her body sealed to the coffin, save for her face. He waited patiently, smiling brightly once she woke up, “Welcome to my ship.”
“How do you rate our reception on a scale of one to ten?”