Chapter 273 - The Ark Of Elements of the Gladiators

"Using Heaven's Wheel would mean that I have to carry on the job of protecting Valokia. But with Valokia gone, I didn't know what to do. And I did ask for their help, so they are not fully at fault," explained Mavislin.

Ysabeau closed her eyes for a bit before asking the question. There was something amiss. ​​

"Hang on, you'd say that one of the Gladiators invented and used the Flower Element. I thought the Gladiators represented the Basic and Sub Elements? And how did you manage to fit into the mix?" asked Ysabeau, tilting her head in confusion.

"Each reign of the Empress has different sets of the Gladiators. They vary in numbers as well. My mother kept the previous set since my grandmother died when she was only a pre-teen. But the starting generation of Gladiators was indeed represented by the Basic and Sub Elements."

"And the Gladiators are on rotation, so each generation has different numbers of the Gladiators. It isn't fixed. I was the last to join, as a stand-in since most of them had fallen."

"The Flower Element was derived from the Poison Element but using the same source for the Earth Element. Meaning to say, its attacks are Poison-like but the way the user powers her spells is similar to how Earth Mages gathers their powers to send the spell out," explained Mavislin.

Bryan was nonetheless, very lost. Even Gab had to do a double-take. Ysabeau was the only one who didn't look lost.

"When Mages needs Elemental Energy to power spells, we gather it from a certain source. For me, it would be the positivity from beings around me. For Ysabeau, it would be the winds around the area. For Baldwin, it would be the Darkness within the beings around him," described Mavislin.

Gab seemed to understand but Bryan did not.

"But I don't get my power from any source but me, myself, and I," said the Slayer, who truly did not get how the Mages get their 'sources'.

"I just use my own energy as a human, I guess."

Ysabeau sighed heavily but Mavislin shook her head.

"Nope, he had got a point. Human Mages are different. They don't gather up their powers the same way as normal Mages do. That's why he doesn't understand this concept," replied Mavislin, trying to calm her adopted mother down.

"Then what do you use? And please, not just 'energy'," asked Ysabeau.

"Stamina. The same thing for me to power a simple run or jog."

"And how do you restore that?"

"Food. Whiskey with green tea."

"Coffee for me. Straight dirty bean water," added Gab, holding up his coffee mug.

"I forgot humans require food and water to survive."

"We do get our 'Energy' from that. But still, how does this relate to that Flower Mage? I thought she was human?"

"Are you sure humans have butterfly wings?!" exclaimed Ysabeau in disbelief.

"I never know what these 'Powers' would do to the human body," retorted Bryan, folding his arms.

"The Flower Mage uses the Earth Element around her to power her spells. From what I know, specifically, it is taking the life out of the plants around the Mage," said Mavislin.

"A Gladiator used the Earth Element, even before Earth was made?" asked Bryan, thinking back to the Gladiators.

"Well, the 'Earth' Element refers to the 'Life' Element. At the time, it's called the Life Element. But that Mage couldn't master the Life Element since it was quite difficult to manage, so he called it the 'Earth' Element, referring only to the animals and plants around him."

"And besides, Earth existed way before humans walked the area. He probably found the young planet early on," explained Mavislin.

"But when we fought, we were nowhere near any source of Earth Element that she could have absorbed. In fact, the battle was saying on my side since two wings were flapping at the same time, kicking up the winds," stated Ysabeau, thinking back to the brief battle.

"You were near my wife's flower garden. She ain't happy when she wanted to pick flowers with Kai and saw the next apocalypse. I had to endure an earful before coming to sit down with you night owls. You guys have been talking for the past five hours," complained Gab.

"And even with a garden by her side, her spells were still not up to our standard. Looks like she would be easy to take down."

"If she uses all the techniques correctly and in a certain way, she would deliver quite a blow. But I am still torn if she is a pure Mage or a human. She does gather her Elemental Energy like a Mage but she still feels human to me. I can't seem to shake that feeling off," said Mavislin.