Unnatural Disasters: The 100 Year War (Fin)

Chapter Twelve: Elemental Manipulation

The next day arrived just as all the others had, though when Sanda awoke on the day after Agni's training, his vision cleared to show Akari sitting at his bedside. "Good morning, Sanda. How are you feeling?" She tilted her head slightly, examining him with her eyes.

"N-Not too bad I guess..." He sat up and ran his fingers through his hair. "Definitely gotta make sure that's a last resort..." His head still ached slightly, though his condition wasn't anything too bad.

"So you don't think you'll need a rest when you continue training?" She leaned close, making sure he was truly alright and not just making it up so he could continue his training.

"N-No, I can keep training, honest." Sanda smiled nervously as Akari peered at him. "So, since I defeated Agni's challenge, that means I'm back to Jinny's training, right?"

"Incorrect." Akari's blunt response made Sanda look at her in confusion. "After all, I said we would all be training you in what our best talents are. That includes me, silly." She smiled playfully, bringing one of her legs up onto the bed and resting her arms and chin on her knee.

"What..? You have something to teach me too, Akari? What is it?" Sanda tried to think of what else there could possibly be to learn, but he was drawing a blank. "Is there even anything left to teach, Akari?"

"Yes, and it's something none of the others have been able to learn. It can quite easily be called 'the most difficult elemental technique to learn'. So, I want to see how you fair against my challenge, Sanda." Akari's smile didn't fade as she spoke, and hearing that no one else has been able to learn this skill that Akari had spoken off made Sanda sweat.

It wasn't long after that everyone was having breakfast, and once everyone was finished, Akari clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "We're going to be testing out that technique again, everyone. I'm also going to attempt to teach it to Sanda. So, everyone, get ready for an intense day of training." Kazane and Jinny both groaned in dismay at Akari's announcement, and the other three didn't look too "ecstatic" about it either.

"I-Is it really that hard..?" Everyone's reactions were only making Sanda more nervous.

"You'll find out when we get out there..." Jinny muttered from beside him, being the first to finish her food and head outside. One after another, everyone began to follow, Sanda gulping as he was the last to walk out, ahead of Akari of course.

"So, to begin, I want everyone to show me how far you've come since our last session. Are you any better at using the technique? After they show me, I'll explain what the skill is, Sanda, so don't worry about that." Akari explained as she stood a few feet away from everyone, the rest of the element wielders standing in a line.

"Right..." Sanda looked down at everyone else, hoping to guess whether or not he could tell what he was going to be learning.

Daichi was the first to demonstrate, summoning several small boulders out of thin air. He took a deep breath, and as he exhaled, all of the boulders suddenly turned to spikes of rock. However, they were far from perfect, nor were they anywhere near close to matching up with one another. "Not bad Daichi, but you can do better."

"Indeed I can Akari!" Daichi shouted with clear disappointment in his voice. "I was trying to turn them into spears..." He admitted shamefully, making Sanda's eyes widen in shock.

One after another, the rest of the element wielders called upon their powers and tried to turn them into other various objects, but to no avail. While some gave better results than others, such as Kazane and Jinny who had a much easier time manipulating their flowing elements, no one could complete the task properly. "So, Sanda, can you guess what everyone is trying to do?"