(Hello everyone, sorry the chapter was late but i didn't finish it on monday and I was busy tuesday and wednesday.
But the Chapter is here, as you can no doubt see, hahaha.
Though these Trials take a little longer to write, I have to triple check I haven't forgotten anyone (aspects mostly), I also have to plan interactions between the Aspects and stuff, (long list, like someone down below, hahaha! Not funny, you'll get later...)
I have also added a rule to the Battle of the Aspects, "two contestants can't receive the same result during the same trial."
Just to make it easier to calculate the winner.
I have also been thinking about some changes to the ending as well, now it should be epic and explain the Mortal Universe and Sofia.
But enough from me, enjoy.)
Fire laughed loudly and then pointed at the scoreboard, "And here are the results of my Trial.
Strength - 1 point
Water - 4 points
Air - 6 points
Earth - 5 points
Light - 7 points
Darkness - 9 points
Time - 2 points - cheating violation
Space - 8 points
Speed - 3 points
Billy Sticks - 10 points - full marks.
In last place is Strength with 1 point, 1 point for heat and 0 points for creativity.
But... Surprisingly the Winner of my Trial is the Mortal, Billy Sticks!
Congratulations on achieving a perfect 10!"
Lux bowed to the crowd with a twirl and then held up his right hand with a smirk on his face.
The crowd stood up and cheered with excitement, never did they think that a mere mortal could beat an Aspect in anything, nevermind nine at once.
Fire then waved his hands and the crowd fell silent, He then spoke with suspense.
"But now my Trial has ended...
we can now find out...
Who is hosting the next trial!"
The Scoreboard showing Fire's burning portrait dimmed and then began to show a lifeless desert with Earth's portrait.
Fire loudly announced, "Earth, you will host the next Trial!"
Earth nodded his head and then slowly began to rise into the air as a rocky column grew beneath his feet.
He then took a slow look around the arena and then asked Space, "Do you mind giving the Arena a quick Expansive Compression?"
Space frowned at him in confusion and then guessed, "You mean bigger on the inside, while still looking the same size, right?"
Earth sighed and then hopelessly nodded, "Yeah, I mean bigger on the inside...
You really need to reread some of your own books on space manipulation."
Space shrugged and then muttered, "Sure. Get me to do all the heavy lifting... prick."
He then clicked his fingers and the Arena shook slightly, He then told Earth, "The Arena will now grow to accommodate any Spatial Enlargening along the 6th Plane of the Universal Rotation Circuit.
I have also thrown in a self-stabilising Soul-bound restriction barrier which will contract the excess space, which will prevent it from bursting along the 1st and 3th Plane of the Universal Rotation Circuit.
I've forgotten more about space than you've ever learned, Earth.
I made up the names for the specific patterns and flows of space, I didn't actually learn them, but I understand them all.
Insult me again and I'll drop you in the Void where no one will find you..."
Earth glance at Space and grinned at him with the ambiance of a earthquake, "But will this be before or after I rip the ground out from underneath you and drop it on your head?"
Space gently smiled with the all happiness of an corpse, "Oh, I think I will be before..." as He spoke, Rippling shards of space energy gathered along his fingertips.
Seeing this, Earth began to radiate earth energy, casting a brown colored glow across the arena.
Lux clapped his hands while commanding dagger to transform into thorny chains, He then whipped both ends at Earth and Space.
With a flick of his wrists, the chain curved around their necks and arms, He then instantly yanked them both towards himself while whirling the chains to further ensnare them.
Space was yanked backwards, and Earth was dragged off his Rocky Column head first.
All this happened in an instant, even Speed was impressed at the sudden movement of the chains.
It looked as if the Chains had always been there, He didn't even see them move through the air, which sparked a little fear of Lux deep down in his Mantle of Speed.
(Speed Doesn't actually have a heart, none of the Aspects do)
Lux then mentally commanded Dagger to drain any energy they use to escape.
He then loudly roared at them, "Enough! This Battle of the Aspect is meant to be peaceful, not a literal Battle of the Aspects!
If you keep acting wild, then I WILL TAME YOU!"
The Other Aspects backed away from Lux, all of them were creating shields to deflect any chains coming their way.
Speed and Darkness appeared on either side of Lux and tried to calm him down, "Billy, Let them go, they were just arguing."
Lux glared down at both Earth and Space and said in a menacing voice, "Are you still planning on fighting each other, or should I make the thorns bigger?"
Earth murmured, because of the chain in his mouth, "Wm won't fmht ammy more, pmmise. (we won't fight any more, promise.)"
Space on the other hand reated a portal where his mouth was on the otherside of the chain in his mouth and said quite clearly, "I'm sorry Billy, but you should really let us go or you could be in some trouble.
Look behind you."
Lux glanced over his shoulder and saw Fire, Water, Strength and Light all preparing to strike at him.
Even though He could probably take them all on, He kept up his charade as Billy Sticks.
So while laughing and a soft flick of the chains, Earth and Space was released and Dagger entered into Lux's palm like a slippery snake.
He then turned to the relaxing Aspects and said, "Everything is fine, I used to do that on scrapping wolves.
It always calmed right down, you've gotta be quick, mind you.
Those wolves were quick little buggers, once they start fighting, they won't stop till the other is dead. Hahahaha"
Strength, and Light shrugged at each other and mentally communicated using Soul-Waves, Light said to Strength "Aren't Mortals normally more subservient, they've never attacked an Aspect before, especially two of them in front of nearly all the other Aspects"
Strength replied with Puzzlement, "It's probably because he wasn't raised by proper, Aspect-fearing humans.
He did say He was raised by the forest, which are pretty brutal, worse than Hell, if you believe the Gossip-Birds."
(Gossip-Birds: small magpies which are mostly used as voice messengers, they only require scandalous gossip to be well fed, like journalists.)
Light rolled his eyes and then replied, "Let's keep an eye on him, just to try and prevent him from throttling anymore of our siblings, hmm?"
Strength winked at Light with all the stealth of a sprinting elephant, the small popping sound of his eyelid closing echoed across the arena.
Light shook his head at Strength in embarrassment as Earth created a stairway back up to his rocky column.
When He got to the top, He shouted, "Sorry about the interruption, but that was planned for later in the show!
Billy just misread the situation, it's not his fault, this is his first time taking part, hahahaha!"
The crowd awkwardly laughed with him, while still wearing a mask of disbelief on their faces.
Earth continued his speech, while waving his hand like a showman, "Now on to business, for my Trial, you will Collapse A Diamond Mountain!"
From his outstretched hand, the Mountain appeared as big as an egg and flew across the Arena where is landed perfectly in the middle.
Shocked at the size of the mountain, Earth stuttered to Space, "Ww-what ha-ha-happened to my mo-Mountain?"
Space shrugged and then answered, "Performance issues? Just joking, the Expansive Compression must be a bit strong, thats all.
Two seconds.. ."
He then slowly twirled his fingers and the mountain grew to a height of 60 feet, He then halted the growth and said to Earth, "There, fixed it.
I honestly thought your Mountain would be bigger, sorry about that."
Earth took a deep breath and then continued his speech with a stone like calmness, "I want you to really break it apart, ok?
I have a list for what turn everyone will go in-"
As He reached into his pocket,
Speed shouted, "For Our-sake, just tell us who is next!"
Earth sighed and then shouted, "Fine, Fire you're up, go break that mountain."
Fire huffed and flicked a tiny sunball at the Diamond Mountain, it lit up the Mountain and slowly burned it from the inside.
After a few minutes, a hole appeared at the top, giving it a volcano-esqe appearance and the rest of the Mountain quickly went up in flames.
When the fire finally went out, not even ash remained.
Earth thought for a few minutes and then said, "Alright, Air you're up.
Dazzle us with you wind... Or something along those lines."
Earth then threw another Diamond Mountain and Air glided over to it.
She then whistled a soft melody and then glided back to the others with a small grin.
Earth asked her, "What is that it?"
Air smirked and replied smugly, "I transformed it into a pyramid. "
Earth frowned and glance over to the Mountain, "No you didn't-"
suddenly the sides of the Diamond fell away and revealed the Perfect Pyramid, made up of perfect Diamond Bricks.
Earth hummed and then nodded his head in appreciation, He then asked her, "What about the inside?"
Air shrugged and answered with pride, "The inside is diamond dust, except for the supporting pillars running through it."
Earth winced and then said, "I see... Oh well, Light, you're up next."
The Diamond Pyramid began to melt and repair itself till it reverted back into the Mountain shape it was originally.
Light shrugged and raised a Light Barrier around it, He then said with pride, "Watch me make something beautiful!"
He pointed his left index finger at the Diamond Mountain and released a searing white beam of light at it.
The beam of light gathered at the center of the Diamond Mountain and slowly grew into a yellow colored tree trunk, it then grew branches till it reached the edge of the inside of the Mountain.
It then sprouted ruby red leaves till only the smallest of gaps between each leaf was left.
Light then flourished his left hand and bowed, at the same time the Tree of Light flashed and the excess diamond was burned into fine ash.
The leaves of the Tree of Light were sparkling rubies and ever so softly, they floated down to the ground like actual tree leaves in the autumn.
They collected at the base of the tree trunk and formed a loose circle around it.
Earth winced and then wondered, "I bet I can sell that for a mint..."
He then sucked the Tree of Light and it's Ruby leaves into his Soul-Space and pulled out another Diamond Mountain.
He then announced, "Darkness, It's your turn now!"
Darkness bowed and slowly walked towards the Diamond Mountain, as she walked, she created long shadowy whips which trailed behind her.
Ever few steps she shook the shadowy whips and they split halfway down, creating four whips, the eight and then sixteen.
Until eventually she had arrived 10 meters away from the Diamond Mountain and wielding two Shadowy Whips with 128 strands each.
Darkness cracked both of her Whips into the air, creating a sound similar to thunder on steroids, She then cracked them at the Diamond Mountain and then twirled around.
The whips coiled around each until it resembled a rope mace, She then spun it around and heaved it over Her shoulders where it smashed into the Diamond Mountain.
The Diamond Mountain shook and visibly rippled along the hair thin cuts from the force, it then caved in and broke into shards of razor sharp diamond.
Darkness absorbed her shadows and swaggered back towards the others.
Earth shouted, "That was amazing, wasn't it folks?!
Well done to Darkness, We might have our winner!
Time you're up next, though I doubt you can beat it, hahaha!"
He repaired the Diamond Mountain and then Time stomped towards it like a angry ogre.
She punched at the Mountain and released a form of Time Energy she rarely uses, She punched the Diamond Mountain with Present Time Energy, knocking it into another timeline.
Space muttered, "Oh, now she's pissed..."
Time then turned around with a happy smile and walked back over to the others.
Earth frowned and then replaced the Diamond Mountain while thinking about how to score Time's result.
He then announced, "Space, you're up next!"
Space nodded his head and then teleported in front of the Diamond Mountain and raised his fist, above the Diamond Mountain appeared a Black Hole.
The surrounding space fragmented into shards as the Black Hole pulled at it, the Space Shards lacerated the Diamond Mountain into dust as they passed
Unfortunately the Diamond Dust was inhaled by the Black Hole, when the Diamond Mountain was beginning to lift into the air, Space lowered his fist and it quickly closed with a pop.
Earth began to speak, "That wasn't ver-"
Space opened his fist and the Diamond Dust fell out his palm.
It pooled across floor and finally formed a small pile underneath his palm.
Earth thoughtfully nodded and then sniffed, which caused the Diamond Dust to form back into a Mountain shape.
Earth told Space, "Congratulations, that was pretty impressive.
Strength, you're up next by the way."
Strength cracked his shoulders and then yelled as He started to sprint at the Diamond Mountain, "Watch this Sucker!"
After a few steps, He leaped at the Diamond Mountain with his limbs outstretched, He sailed through the air towards the Mountain, like a lion pouncing onto a gazelle.
When He was within arms reach, He flexed his entire body and slammed it into the Mountain.
The force carried him through the Diamond Mountain and out the other side, while also sending out razor sharp shards of death, the collision had all the force of a bomb.
Space covered everyone in a barrier and just decided to make it permanent, his siblings are so destructive, it's a pain.
The diamond shards ricocheted off the barrier and returned back at Strength, who was just getting back up.
The thudding of the shards connecting with his skin filled the arena for at least a minute, the occasional pain filled, "ow-ow-ow!" appeared as well.
By the end, Strength resembled a crystal golem, He yelled, "Earth, some help would be nice!"
Earth laughed and waved his hand, which caused the diamond shards to pull themselves out of Strength and quickly reassembled themselves back into a mountain shape.
He then laughed at Strength, "Maybe you should think before you jump next time?"
Strength shrugged and replied, "It did work though?
The Mountain was smashed into bits!"
Earth shrugged amd answered, "True, you didn't destroy any of it, every part of the mountain was just broken."
Shocked, Fire cursed, "Dammit, that's my score buggered."
Earth ignored Fire and said, "Speed, you're up."
Speed stroked his chin and then replied, "I will be back, just need to grab something..."
He then sprinted through the crowd by vibrating through everything in his way, after a few seconds, a pile of curved metal bricks and some jade bricks came over the edge of the arena and swiftly flew over to the Diamond Mountain where they stacked themselves as a checkered* pattern dome.
(*chessboard, think that's the word)
Speed appeared then sat down and watched the dome, He then explained what was happening to the crowd.
"I nipped away to gather these oxystone brick and the pressurium bricks as well.
Oxystone pulls in the air but only lets oxygen pass through it one way, which means oxygen is now filling the dome.
Pressurium bonds to more of itself when under high pressure, so the dome is literally held together by the pressure being stored by the oxystones.
But the real magic begins when you cool either of the materials, hahaha.
It's nearly ready!"
Speed zoomed forward and placed his hands on the dome, ice quickly spread from his hands and encompassed the dome.
Speed then dashed backwards and continued explaining, "I just absorbed all vibrational energy from the dome, which means it has now fallen to subzero temperatures inside.
By now the oxystones should be dripping with liquid oxygen, which means the pressurium should be starting to react to it."
Suddenly loud pinging sounds began to emit from the dome, each ping was causing a heave on the surface of the dome.
Speed then rapidly jabbed a oxystone brick on the dome and it crunched into powder, it also released a blizzard like gale of chilling wind.
Speed dealt with the intense cold by moving so fast his features blurred, though it was impossible to see through the snow escaping from the dome.
Speed then quickly deconstructed his dome, He moved so fast that only Lux could see him move.
All thw crowd saw was that one moment the dome was there, then the next moment it was piled up in a heap.
Speed then slowly walked forward and kicked the Diamond Mountain.
The Mountain shook and then the surface layer cracked into fragments and fell to the floor.
Speed frowned and then muttered, "Thought it would smash more of the diamond...
Damn it!"
Earth clicked his fingers and the Mountain fixed itself like a jigsaw puzzle.
He then coughed and announced, "Billy, you're up next!"
Lux smiled and bowed to Earth, and commanded Dagger to become one of Lewis's gadgets.
Lux then threw Dagger at the top of the Mountain where It stuck to the tip.
Lux then clapped his hands like a gunshot, which gave Dagger the signal to activate.
The gadget that Dagger was mimicking was known as a Gravity Hammer Mine, used for creating valleys from mountains. It achieves this by greating invisible gravity swords and repeatedly slamming them into ground, until the desired depth is dug out.
The problem being that it was made for rocky terrain, not diamond, so with every slam of the Gravity Hammer Mine, cracks grew on the Diamond Mountain.
The Arena shook from the strength of each pulse from the Gravity Hammer Mine, even with Earth's reinforcements.
After the 10th strike against the Diamond Mountain, it shattered into perfect falling star shaped fragments.
Dagger bounced down the falling rubble and rolled into Lux's waiting hand, where It was absorbed into his Soul-Space.
He then ran over to the rubble and grabbed a handful, He threw them into the crowd while yelled, "Free gift for the Audience!"
Space started to shake his head in amusement and then was stunned when the diamond's travelled straight through his barrier and into the crowd.
It was all going great until one of the Falling Star diamonds stab a old woman in the eye, Lux cursed, "Shit, My bad!
Any Healers in the audience who would like to help Her?"
A few hands went up around the old woman in the crowd, Lux smiled and shouted to the injured woman, "See, It all worked out!
Be more careful next time, you might not be so lucky then!"
Lux then quickly jogged back Others and quickly said to Water, "You're up next, Darling."
Earth blinked Lux's antics and then repaired the Diamond Mountain while judging Lux's score.
He then nodded at Water and stiffly told her, "Now it's your turn.
Billy, during My Trial, I decide when it is someone's turn, understand?"
Lux shrugged and replied back, "Hate to break it to ya, but she's the only left...
As the Trial Maker, surely you should've noticed this, you were using a list after all?"
Earth grinded his teeth in annoyance and then barked, "Water, hurry up and take your turn!
I've had enough of this!"
Water slid forward and waved her fingers at the Diamond Mountain, she then spoke softly, "It is the Rain that shapes the Mountain..."
A cracking noise rumbled in the sky above the Arena and misty rain began to fall inside, only inside.
"For water is patient, it pools in crevices waits..."
The rain began to cling to the Diamond Mountain and form into small spikes which began to form tiny whirlpools.
The small spikes slowly but steadily entered the Diamond Mountain like worms into an apple, right down into the core, covering the Mountain in small holes.
"But the real strength of rain comes with the Cold..."
The Rain transformed into Snow as icy fog bled out of the holes in Mountain, hairline cracks formed around the edges.
Water then screamed, "For with Ice, Rain can shatter the Mountain!"
Cracking noises escaped from the Diamond Mountain as it split into two perfect half's.
At it's core was a sphere made of of icy tentacles, each occupying it's own tunnel to the surface.
Water then yelled, "For water lives!"
The icy Sphere then flexed it's tentacles and the Diamond Mountain was ripped apart into irregular chunks.
Water clicked her fingers with a sharp snap and the Ice became steam which bloomed into the sky and disappeared.
Earth sighed in appreciation and then judged her score, the benefit of having a stone-like mind is that forgetting is nearly impossible, as every memory is engraved on to it.
Earth then pulled all the Diamond pieces into his Soul-Space, where they would grow into new mountains and hopefully, if they eat all their pebbles, they will grow up to be Diamond Stars.*
(*Diamond Stars are the Stars which twinkle, hense the nursery ryhme.)
Earth then brushed some diamond dust from his clothes and announced, "My Trial has ended, all that is left is to announce the Scores!
Are you ready?!
In first place- shit, my list!"
The lone piece of paper fell from his pocket because of his brushing hands and zoomed away across the Arena Floor and fell face down in a puddle.
Earth grumbled while glaring at the offending article, "Of course it did!
Obviously Toast Law would apply to Lists!"