The Real Thing and the Fake

At that moment, Grant made no further move. Instead, he raised the cross formed of runes and aimed it at the crystal ball falling from above.

A golden halo spread over it. In an instant, the continuously falling crystal ball froze in midair, as though someone had pressed the pause button on time.

Grant frowned.

...That easily?

Yet just then, several streams of water suddenly rose and surged into the suppressed elemental storm. With a massive influx of water elements, the elemental storm swelled once more. The golden halo seemed on the verge of being unable to hold it down.

"You..." Grant instantly realized something was wrong and looked toward Benjamin.

"You seem to want this crystal ball badly? No problem, you can have it. The academy can make a whole pile of them whenever it wants." Benjamin smiled faintly. "Besides that, I can give you another big ball."

As he spoke, even more water elements poured into the elemental storm. Though the golden halo still struggled to suppress it, the storm's expansion had become unstoppable. In the blink of an eye, it covered the entire sky. Grant could only avoid its edge for the moment, his expression turning grave.

Within that frenzied elemental storm, he could even sense some kind of qualitative change quietly brewing.

From the outside, it looked like a gigantic golden balloon, swelling and swelling... If it kept growing, it might explode!

Grant moved as far away from the dangerous storm as he could.

"Scared already?" Benjamin sneered. "Then... how about trying this?"

He suddenly pulled a cloth sack from his bag and opened it. It was filled with Water Element Crystals. A rough count showed there were at least twenty of them.

Ever since learning Elemental Command: Destruction, Benjamin had, honestly, never allowed an elemental