The castle walls were trembling as dust and specs of stone fell to the floor. The sound of footsteps echoed throughout the entire place. Emerging from the ports within Aurahelm, Rai noticed many soldiers rushing towards the exits of the castle’s interior.

“They’re everywhere!” someone shouted.

Laced with gold, a portrait of Marco ascending as the new ruler of the people of Aurahelm hung on the wall, but just barely as the rocking of the kingdom caused it to slap against the cold stone every so often.

Being ranked fifth, made him not only an elite, but also one of the five hall masters. Anyone ranked within the top five always receive a third of the kingdom they would be asked to reside within, however, funny enough, that wasn’t something he nor other elites within the higher rankings needed. In Marco’s case, it was his noble background that allowed him ownership of the kingdom within Aurahelm and its land that stretched far outside the walls defending it. The same goes for Eloise and Gael. Celestria however didn’t have one central place for their leader Alderai to stay, and he wasn’t royalty with a backing that would guarantee him a castle or land. He built Celestria from the ground up, and he kept it in a way where people were equal, though it would be wrong to assume he didn’t have a place of luxury to come home to. As for the number one elite who resided within the Kingdom of Excalibur, he was hardly there since he would depart as soon as he arrived; instead, he left it up to the people to decide whom would maintain the law and order within their borders.

As the number one elite, you’re given free rein to come and go as you please, not having to adhere to the empires wishes or missions, except in dire times, like war for instance.

Metal clinked from the armor of a man who was having trouble putting his helmet on as he ran towards the exit with the rest of the soldiers, but his foot kick the other, tripping forward as the helmet flung from his grasp, clattering against the grey withered stone of the castle flooring while his chin smacked the ground, teeth clanking before Rai. The helmet, bearing the symbol of Aurahelm—four designs representing the shifting auroras within the sky that matched the seasons within the lands—rotated in a circular motion before coming to a halt. The light from ignited luminites within castle wall lanterns, created a dazzling glow against it.

“O-ow,” he said, grasping his chin as blood seeped from biting his own lip.

Rai leaned down, placing his hand in an urgent, yet gentle manner across the backside of the chilled shiny metal the man adorned. At the same time, Rai happened to notice the reflection of himself within it. His lip was torn from punches Gaius hit him with, and his face had many bruises and dried blood across his cheek with some that even ran down his nose. Hair ruffled. Shirt torn. Rai smiled… Just like the good ol’ days... He was referring to the times within the slums. Life wasn’t easy then, but its where he gained a lot of his resilience, helping him become the young man he is today. “You okay?”

The man pulled his hand away from his mouth, seeing the blood on it, before stating, “Yeah, I’m fine.” He pressed his arm against the floor, steadily hoisting himself from the ground, and as he did Rai’s hand slipped from the back of the armor, smearing blood across it from the injuries he sustained in the other fights. The reflection of Rai was now obscured with a dash of blood cutting across his face diagonally. Both their bodies vibrated from the shaking of the floor as many soldiers continued to run by them, and the castle continued to shiver as if it had a cold. Each sneeze sent more debris onto the ground until one caused the portrait across the hallway to collapse onto the floor, snapping as it did. The soldiers highly admired Marco, so normally they would have taken notice to the falling image of his majesty, however, for now they remained stomping on it as they charged into battle. The portrait quickly crumbled and tore under the metal boots of the many soldiers rushing by.

Remembering what a soldier hollered earlier, Rai asked, “What’s everywhere?” He gazed at the soldiers bouncing off one another in an attempt to join the fight. I really want to get to Taka as fast as I can, but I need to assess exactly what the hell is going on here... Running into a fight blinded to the situation outside would be the same as stoking a fire with gasoline, that’s to say if I were the pig strapped to the stick hovering above it... Protecting Taka goes hand in hand with making it there safely, and my body isn’t going to hold up much longer should I encounter many more enemies on the way.

Now on a knee, the guy twisted his body so he could see whom he was speaking with. His blue eyes widened, eyebrows lifting up along with the wrinkles across his forehead. Eyes glimmering lightly, a smile formed on his patchy bearded face, revealing slightly yellow teeth, though one happened to be missing. Quickly slapping his thick calloused hands along each of Rai’s arms, he said, “It’s you! By God, I can’t believe it.”

Although there were many soldiers, not too many Abminus resided within their rankings, and most the ones that did had the same root Rai had, labeled Root Root, the root of the World Tree. Since this root had never been discovered for them to extract and have others fuse with, apart from Rai who mysteriously gained abilities without necessarily fusing with a root, many Abminus with Root Root remain simply as a human with freakish speed and strength, and just about none had any skill with blinking.

Most Abminus who couldn’t locate the root they were meant to fuse with, actually took work as specialized lumbermen, working in uprooting unnecessary growth outside of the kingdoms from forests created during the Shattering. They were also tasked with dealing with not so dangerous Minus, or at the very least reporting them should the threat be out of their hands.

Seeing Rai was equivalent to seeing one of your chess pieces, like a knight or rook, returned to your board after it had been taken. To some, perhaps even the queen.

“I’m in a bit of a rush, could you tell me what the heck’s going on around here?” Rai said.

The man, sensing the urgency in Rai’s eyes, nodded, letting go of him as he stood up. Gazing down at the young man, he said, “Weevil’s infiltrated the Kingdom, and she’s brought her army of sand worms with her… On top of the Vanguard, we’ve got our hands full.”

“Sand worms?” Rai said confused. He knew of Weevil, but never really dived into the person that heavily.

“You’ll see soon enough,” the man replied, furrowing his brows. “Normally the devices produced by LuluTech, which is installed in the surrounding walls of every kingdom—including the empire’s, should have detected the Vanguard and the sand worms long before they arrived at our front door, but it seems they were deactivated. Before we knew it, we were under siege. Without the elites here to protect us, it was hell…”

“Where’s Marco?” Rai asked. “He should have arrived here before me.”

“If it weren’t for Marco, Aurahelm may have already been lost. The number of sand worms is unreal, and they’ve come in all sorts of sizes. Some as big as myself, while others… Let’s just say, Marco’s got his hands full at the moment.” Placing his arms on Rai’s shoulders, “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve got to go now.”

“Right,” Rai said, nodding.

The man walked away, leaning down as he grabbed the helmet from the floor, placing it on his head. Turning around, he gave Rai a lasting smile before gripping the blade at his waste, sliding it out and thrusting it into the sky. “For Aurahelm!” he shouted running forward as the soldiers beside him roared to the call.

They were all in this together.

“Okay, I think I’ve got the jest of it… The shortest route to Taka is directly north of here.” But that’s where the streets are widest, its likely I’ll run into many enemies on the way. Taking a round-about route would be wisest… Gazing to his left, Rai noticed a young boy being escorted into the castle by a soldier.

The boy had his arm over his eyes, blotches of blood staining his white socks and overalls. In his hand was a hug wuffer stuffed animal, also coated in layers of blood. “Daddy!” he cried. “I want my daddy!”

“This way, hurry,” the soldier said in a panicked yet calming manner. They hastily retreated into another room, disappearing into another room.

Rai’s hand curled into a fist, “Straight down the middle it is!” Opting to help as much people as he could on the way, he joined the remaining soldiers rushing for the exit.

“Gah!” blood gushed out from the armor of one of the soldiers of Aurahelm as a sword slit through his chest piece in a direct line.

“What in the—?!” Rai paused at the exit, shadows flickering against his face from the flames as soldiers continued to flood out from his left and right.

The sky was painted in an ominous charcoal, smeared by the hands of vile men. Burning houses were on each side of the wide street that led to the med-pod facility while soldiers and vanguard were locked in fierce combat as far as he could see, but what really caught him by surprise were these brownish orange worms swiveling around like long blades of grass being pressed by a soft breeze.

In the distance, Rai noticed what looked like a worm half the width of a house, tunneling through homes.

“Die you filthy outlaws!” a soldier shouted, swinging his blade down and the steel sparked as it clashed against razor sharp claws.

Shaped in an X-like guard, the vanguard pushed his arms out to fend the soldier off, responding coldly, “The only filth is the one building under the banner of the empire!” His hair was stark black and oily, and his mustache curled along his sharp chin, blending with his black leather armor. On the center of his armor piece was a skull with what looked like rubble beneath it, resembling their goal to crush the empire, and of their leader, the Reaper. He lunged at the soldier of Aurahelm with hate filled eyes.

Where the soldiers of Aurahelm had matching armor that shun in a brilliant silver, with swords all crafted beautifully alike, the vanguard had all sorts of outfits and weapons, though they remained mostly black and carried the symbol of the skull with the crushed building beneath it.

Bodies were all over the floor, stacked on top of one another like fallen logs in a forest after a storm.

Many citizens of Aurahelm who had yet to evacuate cowered in the corners, pressing into the walls and shadows in hopes of avoiding the vanguard, but even amongst the brutal fighting, some citizens aimed to fight the fires, pulling water from wells or utilizing hoses that happened to be attached to the homes to stop the flames from spreading further.

From one of the homes two stories high, a soldier of Aurahelm bust through the window, screaming before landing with a heavy bone crackling thud. Arms and legs twisted on the floor in a spiral pattern, blood seeped from under him, staining the undersides of his polished armor.

The screams of women echoed along with the clinking of blades, topped only by the wails of children within their burning homes. Many vanguard ran around with torches in their hands and heads on spikes, cackling as they paraded the streets. House pets lay dead along the floor, some even hung like pinatas in front of the porches of the homes.

This wasn’t a raid, it was a death sentence—to everything in Aurahelm!

“Take this!” a soldier shouted, running up to an orange worm that hovered about twice his height, before swinging his sword horizontally. The sword sliced through the air colliding heavily with the bug, and though its body was no thicker than the man’s leg, it bounced right off, only chipping away at shell of the creature. Staggering back as the blade shook within his hand from the impact, he muttered, “What?! It’s like hitting the shell of a tortoise!?”

The long-ribbed body of the sand worm bent backwards like a candy cane, its presumed face, or mouth, now hovering over the soldier. Near the head, which should have an opening similar to a hose, instead had skin shielding its insides from the soldier, however that opening steadily peeled back revealing an icky red abyss within what was now clearly the mouth. It slammed down over the head of the soldier, sucking his head in halfway in a matter of a seconds!

“I’m coming!” an ally hollered, but a knife was jammed into his neck from behind, right under the helmet, and he fell dead.

“Let go!” the soldier within the worm shouted, wailing his sword around his head in an attempt to sever the creature slowly sliding its mouth down to his neck. “HELP!”

With the width of the worm, one would think it be impossible for it to continue past the man’s shoulders, but like a snake its mouth expanded, and quickly too.

Before long, the sword could no longer be swung as the man suffocated within the belly of the worm.

Hoisting the soldier vertically into the air, his legs wailed around frantically until he slipped completely into the belly of the worm. The large lump that was the man within it, was then compressed almost immediately as blood gushed back out of the worm, who then turned its gaze to another soldier. The remains of the man it just swallowed somewhat oozed out of its mouth before it burrowed into the ground.

Many more of these worms were killing soldiers all over the battlefield, some wrapping around them and constricting them to death, at times more than one person at a time… Others were pulled apart as the worms seemingly fought like children over a toy. However, the soldiers didn’t give up, hacking away at the hard shells until they eventually broke through, cutting the creatures in half.

The soldier fighting the man with the claws plunged his blade forward, but they got caught in between the blades, and as the vanguard twisted his arms the blade was wrenched from his hands, spinning through the air and skidding off to the right before coming to a rest with a clang.

The vanguard gave a single long piercing whistle, mocking the man who was now defenseless, even going so far as to lick his blades claw which had the blood of other soldiers on it. His tongue traced the very edge of the weapon, before saying, “Time to take out the garbage!” Outstretching both arms, he lunged forward with the claws that were strapped to his hands.

The soldier of Aurahelm stretched his arms out in a moment’s notice, gripping the center blade of each of the claws. They immediately cut into bone, however, gritting his teeth with a look of fearful determination he held on, slowing the pace of the blades until his hands were at the very ends of the weapon where they were attached to the gloves of the vanguard. However, even with his arms stretched out, the long claws still slightly punctured the steel of his armor, “Er…” Blood seeped from his mouth and his eyes strained red, but the weapon wasn’t deep enough to cause a fatal injury.

“You… let go!” the vanguard shouted, attempting to plunge the blade deeper, but when that didn’t work, he tried to pull away, but the soldier wouldn’t allow him to move even an inch. He was stuck like an axe dug deep into a tree. With a powerful scream, the soldier pulled the pointed ends of the blades from his armor, pushing them down as he delivered a strong head butt into the vanguard which caused his enemy to stutter backwards as blood splurged from their forehead. Quickly, he darted off towards his sword on the floor while tossing his helmet aside that kept bouncing up and down. Gathering himself, the vanguard shouted, “Get back here!”

With the enemy in hot pursuit, the soldier leapt for the blade, gripping it with his hands as he twisted his body around. He had no idea what was to come of this swing, but his wife… his kids. They flashed in in his head. He wanted to see them again. He wanted to kiss her again. Have dinner at the table with them... He wanted to see those little ones bickering with one another. He just wanted, one more day. How can one person think about a lifetime in a moment. HOW?! Please… Give me one more moment! Swinging his arms, the blade cut through the air and steel met steel, but with the weight of his desperate twisted blindsided parry, the claws of the vanguard were smacked to his left. “Die!” the soldier shouted, swinging the blade once more, and he decapitated the vanguard. The body of the vanguard fell to its knees, before tilting left and toppling to the floor. Breathing heavily, the soldier placed the blade down, taking a knee as the blood from his hands dripped all over the hilt of the blade, spilling towards the floor on its path down the sparkling steel. But then the ground rumbled and a worm burst through the earth behind him, its mouth peeling back as it lunged at the soldier. He held his hands up in helpless defense, though seconds before the worm could consume him, a bullet pierced into body, then three more quickly followed as the worm squealed, curling up before collapsing onto the floor dead.

“Get to a medic!” Rai shouted, entering the fray.

“The apprentice…” the soldier said, seeing the boy rush into the chaotic battle. “The apprentice!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, hoisting his bloodied blade into the air, tears in his eyes.

One by one, ikken bullets met vanguard in battle all over, and they started to drop like flies.

“Please, no! I have a family!” a downed man said to a large vanguard with a huge hammer pulled behind his back. A wicked smile appeared on his face and the hammer came crashing down, but halfway down, Rai kicked it, snapping it off and sending the hammer straight into another vanguard, then spinning mid-air, he delivered another kick at the head of the vanguard, sending him soaring into two vanguard running at them.

Darting off, Rai ducked a blade, punching them in the face with a heavy smack that sent him soaring back. Ducking a club, then jumping over another blade, followed by swerving to his left from a man lunging in with spiked brass knuckles, he paused sensing something; a worm burst out from below, but he avoided it, grabbing it with his arm while saying, “Get out of there!” Ripping the worm out, he swung it, smacking the three vanguard away while tossing the worm and firing ikken bullets at it, including some at the other enemies parading with spiked heads, taking them out as well. Quickly, he took off. In front of him was a worm that lunged his way. Grabbing an extra sheathed blade of a vanguard, he kicked them far away before spinning around, ducking and severing the worm before rushing forward and slicing more of them as he pressed on. One worm burst through the earth slamming into Rai, sending him flying away, but while in the air he saw two men behind him being strangled by a somewhat larger worm.

“Help…” one muttered.

Twisting around as he soared by them, he slit that worm in half, freeing the men. Landing on the floor he continued his pursuit. Approaching yet another worm, swinging at it, his chipped blade shattered. Tossing it aside, a worm big enough to consume a couple humans at once broke through the earth, cannibalizing its own kind while trying to eat Rai, however he lunged up and the worms body fell flat on the ground in its failed attempt. As it was attempting to lift its body upright, Rai came crashing down with both fists clamped together, smashing them into the worm and causing it to burst apart.

“Say night night!” a vanguard shouted, strangling a soldier whose face was turning purple, but Rai knocked him unconscious from behind.

“Night night,” Rai said, nodding at the soldier of Aurahelm gasping for air.

“T-Thank you,” the soldier responded, hand on neck.

Elsewhere, another soldier got smacked to floor. As a chained spiked ball came crashing down, he rolled out of the way, but the vanguard swung again and again, narrowly missing him. Quickly rising, his helmet slipped over his eyes. “SHIT?!” The vanguard swung at his head, but Rai appeared just in time, taking the hit.

Because of the flux guard Rai had up, the vanguard’s spiked weapon wasn’t able to pierce Rai. With an upper cut, Rai sent the man high into the air before lunging forward and punching another attacking vanguard, then quickly spinning his leg around, his foot smashed into the cheek of another enemy behind him. Slamming his foot down, a shield flipped up and into Rai’s hand. With a heavy toss, it spun in the air before smacking two dual wielding vanguard in the back of the head that were creeping on a family hiding in the shadows of a home for safety. Firing a few more ikken bullets, Rai winced from the pain as his core starting to strain a little, but that didn’t last longer than a second before he darted off.

Many soldiers of Aurahelm, including citizens, were on the verge of being killed, but somehow Rai showed up just in time for each of them, turning the tide of the battle around them and allowing for many to escape to the designated safe zones.

“Let me go!” a grandpa being carried on a rooftop by two vanguard shouted.

“Haha. You got it!” and they tossed him off, however, Rai appeared catching the man; using the two vanguard as a footing he launched off towards another burning house while pushing them off the rooftop in the process.

Gently placing the old man down, Rai rushed across the roof while launching more ikken bullets at enemies below. Hearing the cries of a woman nearby he lunged from the roof into the window of a burning house. The moment he entered he noticed a vanguard with a knife cornering a woman.

Seeing Rai, the Vanguard said, “What—!?”

Rai swiftly punched the man through the wall of the room, sweeping the woman off her feet as he raced down the stairs where another vanguard had a kid pinned to the floor. “What’s your problem!” He sent his foot into the gut of the vanguard who burst through the ceiling, then setting the woman down, he grabbed her, and the kid's hand, hastily leading them out the front door as the fiery porch collapsed behind them. Passing them onto a soldier nearby, he said, “Get to safety!” Rushing to the next group of enemies, on his way he kicked a soccer ball which bounced off the wall and smacked a vanguard, allowing for a soldier to get the final hit. Snatching a couple rocks which were stacked on top of one another, he threw them as hard as he could. They bounced of many things. A pole, a picket fence, a vanguard; to name a few. Each rock pelted the people Rai aimed for, either helping a warrior of Aurahelm in their fight, or saving a citizen so they could run away. Leaping over the picket fence of a home, he ducked under a sweeping blade while holding his arm out to catch a whip cracking his way. Yanking the whip the vanguard flew toward him. Grabbing their coat he spun around, smashing the vanguard into the one who was aiming another strike with his sword.

“Get him!” vanguard screamed.

Numerous enemies surrounded Rai, but before they could act, he lunged at a large imposing figure, delivering a three-punch hit where each lifted the man higher into the air until the last sent him flying away. Rai then began to duck and parry many incoming attacks while taking them as fast as he could, but then sensing something he leapt back as a sharp scythe cut the earth beside him. “Abminus?”

A woman who had praying mantis like arms for scythes stood menacingly with roots beneath her feet. She lunged forward, swinging and clipping his shirt, almost spilling his guts. “Die Die Die!” The woman swung again and again, carving away at the floor with each miss.

Rai clapped his hands together, catching the scythe, surprising her. “You’re really… bugging me,” he said, snapping the blade of the arm off before she could swing the other.

“Ah!” the woman yelled, holding her bleeding arm before Rai delivered a punch that sent her soaring away, but then a giant gopher like human barreled into Rai, sending him flying back, though he was able to flip upright skidding against the floor.

“Nefarian too?!” Rai said looking ahead. He was of the Solomon descent, being a walking gopher with very few human characteristics.

“Boss will love when he hears I took out an apprentice.” Snapping his two front teeth off, the Nefarian then raised his arms to the sky, and as he swung them down, the teeth expanded the length of a couple ladders until it was hovering right above Rai’s head.

Rai held his guard up as the teeth crashed over his head, causing the ground to crack beneath him. “My turn!” Using one arm to hold the heavy expanded teeth pressing down on him, he used his other to break the elongated teeth, causing it tall fall in front of him, but he caught it with his spare hand since the weight of the attack was gone. Gripping it with both hands, Rai yanked it upward and his opponent started to get lifted into the sky.

“H-Hey,” the Nefarian said as his legs scurried in the air before letting go and landing on his furry butt with a soft thud. Shaking his head rapidly, he then gazed up at Rai who now had his own teeth hoisted vertically in the air, just as he had it before. Gulp…

“Hope you’ve got dental insurance for this!” Rai said, swinging down and pummeling the Nefarian.

“Charge!” many vanguard shouted, coming from another part of town.

Noticing this, Rai rushed towards them, “Sorry, gonna need a lift!” He leapt off the backs of one of the soldiers of Aurahelm. Suspended in the air, Rai shouted, “Ikken!” A powerful blast erupted from him, slamming down with an intense, explosive force. The enemy was sent sprawling, tossed around like pins in a bowling alley. Catching his breath, he looked around at the vanguard still present. He had done quite a lot, but it still wasn’t enough. “At this rate, I’ll never make it to Taka…”

However, in a stroke of luck, countless warriors from the Kingdom of Thundertyde, the Kingdom of Excalibur, and even the Kingdom of Keltzer, came pouring through the castle from the ports within.

“Save the people of Aurahelm! And drive these wretches out!” the commander of Thundertydes forces shouted, he was older than rest, balding with a grey mustache.

Seeing the support, the vanguards took a step back, while the warriors of Aurahelm roared, many revealing tearful happiness.

As the soldiers completely flooded the vanguard, they raced into other parts of Aurahelm to fight other vanguard, including the worms.

The commander walked over to Rai, saying, “Sorry it took so long. We had orders from the empire to stay put in case our kingdoms also came under attack. After confirming that wouldn’t be the case, we came as soon as we could.”

Nodding, Rai took off towards the med-pods facility where his sister was kept. Holding his hand up as he left, he shouted, “Better late than never!” Passing by soldiers of Aurahelm, they hailed him, holding their blades towards the sky triumphantly.

The commander seeing the kid being hailed by all the fierce warriors of Aurahelm, reminisced on times long past, envisioning Rai as his queen Eloise rushing forward into battle, when she was just a girl.

***

“W-What?! Destroyed?” Tamarri said with a distressed gaze. Staring over the guard before him, he noticed yellow caution tape stretching wall to wall within the spacious area as people gathered the parts of the shattered machines. Every port was smashed to bits. There really wasn’t a single one he could use to get home...

“Sorry to disappoint you… We’re still investigating the matter, but for now there is no method of porting to Celestria.”

“Mamma… Papa…” Tamarri held his head low, but when the building shook, causing many people to jerk forward and almost lose their balance, he lifted it up. “Again?” The place shook even worse than the time before...

“Did you hear? Apparently two of the elites are confronting some sort of monster in the coliseum…”

“I heard even the apprentices have arrived to support them,” another person said.

Tamarri gazed at the guards discussing this, then back at the destroyed ports before a look of determination settled on his face.

Meanwhile, in the coliseum, Stella, now a deformed monster whose lost all self-control, roared as the apprentices circled her in the stands above the arena.

The arena had seen better days... From Gaius battle with Rai, the walls still remained scorched, and there were still many craters within the floor from the heavy impacts of their attacks.

Lily stood at the hole Tanabe happened to be in with Fu standing on her shoulders. “Something tells me its Nefarian…” Lily said, sniffing the air. “But at the same time, it’s not…” Seeing Fu’s little wooden legs clack together as he shook uncontrollably, she smirked. “You know Fu, you don’t have to be here.”

“Hm. I may not be an apprentice anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to leave my friends behind with this thing,” Fu said while his shivering legs slowed to a halt.

Lily lifted an eyebrow. “So, we’re friends now?”

“Yeah, I almost upchucked some woodchips thinking about it,” Fu said. Jumping off her shoulder he landed on the resting platform of the wall that separated this section of seats from the section below. Walking forward, he stopped at the edge, “But Tofi once told me we shouldn’t let bad stuff win, and we beat bad things by being good and helping each other,” Fu said, his wooden smile catching Lily’s gaze. “And that looks like a very bad thing,” he said gesturing towards the monstrosity with his pointed wooden finger.

“Agreed…” a voice spoke from the hole, and as rubble pressed out, Tanabe appeared.

“Tanabe?” Lily said. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“That thing got me pretty good, but it won’t happen again,” Tanabe said, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. Suddenly, flux started to glow, swirling around his body while creating a blinding light behind his back shoulder. The creature took notice of this, its gaze momentarily shifting toward the elite. Tanabe’s eyes, which were a deep hazel gold, changed into that of a cat, and at the same time his ears started to point. Two skinny streaks of pearly white scales starting from his temple, wrapped down the sides and around his ears as they made their way down his neck; and his hair, which was normally a light beige, began to show feathered white highlights. As the gathering flux compacted on his back, just behind his right shoulder, suddenly, a holy white wing spread out, shedding a few flux-feathers that drifted slowly to the floor.

“T-Tanabe?!” Lily said, surprised by his look. He smelt and looked just like a Nefarian!

“Nefarian…” Peon said, also acknowledging the drastic change.

The extravagant wing protruding from his back, slowly wrapped around right his arm, gently layering itself until it became a white feathered cloth. Although the width of the wing was no longer present, it still remained protruding from his back, transitioning from flux-infused feathers to the brilliant, feathered cloth around his arm. Sparkling white and light blue dots hovered idly over his shoulder, glimmering in the setting sun.

“My roots allow me to become a Nefarian, though closer to that of the Solomon descent,” Tanabe said with a smile. At this point, he even looked more Nefarian than Lily, since she was of the Kalumi descent which held stronger resemblances to humans rather than creatures of this world. “The only downside is I lose the ability to blink in this state.”

“Is this evolution?” Fu asked.

“No, I haven’t a clue how to access that,” he said earnestly before shifting his gaze back on Stella.

Stella sniffed the air, also recognizing the change in Tanabe, but soon after she roared again, getting ready to attack.

One by one, everyone that had roots that weren’t yet tapped into, activated them.

“Alright youngsaps,” Knox hollered. “Let’s handle this cat.”

Stella lifted her large furry oozing arm, and as she did, the three claws began to glow in a pulsing red.

Lily’s eyes widened, “She’s planning on using her legacy again—!” The floor shook beside her and Tanabe vanished, instantaneously appearing right above the head of Stella. From the corner of Lily’s eye, it looked like a blur of white swept by.

Flux-feathers burst outward from Tanabe’s elbow, like a rocket firing off into the sky, except he was planning on firing toward the floor. In a glow of a dancing white auras which seemed to twist within the air in a tornado of glowing, feathered light, he calmly uttered, “Seraphic Wingfall.” Exploding downward, the feathers burst outward in all directions in what looked like a sonic boom sending ripples of flux and air across the arena. Tanabe’s fist crushed into the skull of the creature, immediately Stella’s face slapped against the ground while its legs lifted skyward from the force of the punch. The entire arena floor bent and fractured in multiple directions, forming a crater stretching it entirely as even the walls encompassing it cracked upward. The energy tails and ears of the large monstrosity, even the red glows within the cracks of the blotchy black skin, died immediately as it lay motionless.

“Um…” Lily, who was in a fighting stance, wasn’t sure what to say.

“Holy?!” Ayame said.

“Shit…” Rina muttered.

“How is he ranked tenth?!” Fu blurted.

“Careful, this isn’t over just yet,” Knox said, noticing the presence of the creature returning.

Tanabe frowned, returning to the stands as Stella’s body reignited with that crackling red energy within her, standing up bit by bit. “That was my strongest attack…”

While it was rising from the floor, one of its tails whipped out!

“Ayame!” Lily shouted, but the spiked ball crushed the spot she stood.

“Wha—What just happened!” Ayame said, freaking out as she noticed she was covered in paint.

“Painter’s paradox,” Seppe said, adjusting his bow tie. Using my imaginary art, I brought to life a tunnel beneath your feet, dropping you in a hole which funneled toward an exit by me.

Gazing at the paint within her hair and along her outfit, “SEPPE! Look at me!” she said, flinging the paint off her fingers. “I thought you said your art was perfect!?”

A looming shadow overhead caused them to look up and both their eyes shot open as they quickly stood, running around in a panicked circle as another tail came crashing down, but Tanabe intervened, smacking the boney ball away.

“Leave my friends alone!” Lily said, jumping from the stands into the arena.

“L-Lily!?” Daichi thrusted his arms out in a claw shaped manner, and about halfway down a platform appeared within the arena walls for Lily to land on since the length was nearly a hundred feet to the bottom.

“She’ll be fine, she’s Nefarian,” Knox said, placing his hand on the shoulder on his apprentice. “Focus your flux on supporting those around.”

“Okay,” Daichi nodded, sweat dripping down his forehead. He didn’t want to be here...

As Lily fell, even though she had a fear of heights, her focus remained on the threat before her.

“Alan, think you can spot an opening in the creature?” Knox said.

“Sure, I’ll try!” Alan said as Knox ran off, looking to circle behind Stella.

“Support, that’s all I’ve got to do,” Daichi said nervously, seeing Lily land in the arena. “But perhaps... perhaps I can do more!” Stomping the ground, Daichi thrust his arms forward and giant pillars of earth with pointed ends burst forth, piercing through Stella’s abdomen. Clapping his hands, the earth shaped many more spikes rushing toward Stella from the side, but with a swipe of her hands, they were all smacked away. “Not good,” Daichi said, falling backward on his butt as chunks of massive dirt shot back at everyone. Quickly, placing the palm of his hands on the floor a wall of earth emerged in front of him, but it was torn apart as large chunks smacked into Daichi.

Running along the stands Peon scooped Fu up as he was about to get crushed by many fragments of earth flying his way, obliterating the stands behind them.

“Phew… Thanks,” Fu said.

“I can’t do too much without legacies or abilities of my own, but I’ll support how I can…”

Tearing the spiked pillar stabbing through her stomach out, the gap in Stella’s stomach healed.

Five legacies appeared on Lily’s back as she approached from within the arena.

Stella tossed the earthy mound in her hands at Lily, but from further away Fu cut it up with his strings.

As Lily arrived before Stella, a large foot stomped over her, but utilizing a small burst from her flame form, Lily front flipped through the air, avoiding the attack while appearing directly above Stella’s head. Lily learned that she didn’t need to use discharge all the time when it came to minor usage of her legacies. With arms yanked slightly over and behind her head, a glowing orange and red light flickered, perfectly overlapping the sliver of sunlight peeking over the coliseum edges of the open dome.

Stella looked up, her pulsing eyes locked on the apprentice as it reached up to snag her from the sky.

Slinging her arms forward, Lily shouted, “Discharge!” Flames larger than ever before erupted from her hands, bursting downward and enveloping Stella while creating a sea of fire below. The force was so powerful it began to melt Stella’s arm, causing her to hunch over as she attempted to resist the attack. After sucking a portion of the flames back in, Lily placed her arms behind her, and with a sudden burst she rocketed down grabbing one of Stella’s ears. Yanking with all her might she brought them both toward the raging flames below. “Close it!” she shouted. Lily’s fifth legacy gave her resistance to the fire, otherwise she too would have been burnt to a crisp as the large foe crashed into pool of fire.

Cracking his core slightly, Daichi created a layer of earth over the entire arena, sealing the creature within the swirling flames.

Knox did the same, overlapping it with a layer of gold.

“Is it okay for her to be in there with that...” Alan said, seeing the sealed barrier shake from Stella attempting to break out.

Breathing heavily, Lily gazed at the giant smashing their fist into the earthy gold barrier. Around, the flames roared like a living inferno, casting a hellish glow that turned the battlefield into a seething cauldron of heat and smoke. Noticing the building fumes, she knew there wasn’t much time. After all, she wasn’t immune to suffocation. “Over here!” Charging at the creature, after noticing her, Stella twisted her body and all the tails came crashing down, but with a burst of her flames Lily propelled past the first before swiftly blasting up to avoid another that swept under her. Flames surging from her left hand, she appeared at the Stella’s face, slamming her fist into it, then altering her angle she swerved over her shoulder, smashing a kick into her back. In short burst, like how an Abminus might blink, she danced between the legs, kicking and punching whenever she got the chance as large feet stomped down beside her, but then a slap from Stella’s giant hand smacked her across the flaming floor. “Not yet!” Lily said, rising and pushing forward. Stella gripped one of the balls in her hand, thrusting it forward incredibly fast. The edges of one of the protruding spikes were so close they barely nicked a portion of Lily’s outfit as it crushed the wall far behind her, but the next ball she met directly with a heavy punch, however it was much stronger than she anticipated and she was sent soaring backward, pummeling into the wall. Removing herself from the wall, she winced, quickly hunching over and grabbing her wrist. “Ouch…” She had almost forgotten her injury she sustained a while back. Even though she maintained a strong flux guard, particularly around her wrists, it nearly snapped again... Stella, slowly melting down to the bone, roared as she lunged like a cat, running on all four’s limbs toward Lily. Shaking her hand off, Lily said, “Bring it on!” Rushing directly at Stella, the flames began to subside as they seeped back toward her fist, “Inferno...” Stella pulled her arm back, swiping forward as three large energy claws shot forth, but with a quick burst of fire, Lily traversed right through the gaps of the claw beam, appearing right under Stella’s chin. Suddenly, all the fire instantly sucked into Lily’s fist, causing it to glow incredibly bright. “Eruption!” Lily’s fist smashed under Stella’s chin.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

From atop, a flaming beam ruptured through the barrier, causing many apprentices to take a step back.

“That’s some serious fire power…” Ayame said, holding her hand up to reduce the glare.

There was a moment of silence as the flaming beam died down, but then Lily was sent flying out of the hole created, crashing heavily into the stands.

“Lily!” Seppe said, running over.

“Dammit…” Lily muttered, blood trickling from her mouth as she rose to her feet, one eye struggling to stay open.

Slowly, the barrier crumbled and the smoke within it exited. Stella’s face was partly melted off, revealing half of her skull. Her teeth were visible, stretching all the way back along the left side of her cheek. Bit by bit, the cracked blotchy skin with added layers of fur reformed, until she was back to her normal monstrous self. Stella roared as the spikes on one of its tails burst out like heat seekers aiming for Lily; red strings of energy attached the boned-tips to the ball as they curled and whipped through the air.

“Come on,” Lily said, grasping Seppe’s hand as she jumped back and one crashed before them. Running across the stands, many more spikes slammed into the stands beside them.

“They’re coming back, right behind us!” Seppe said, his mustache curling up in fear.

Knox fired large golden fists that soared forward as Tanabe jumped back into the fray, pushing off the arena heavily and smashing his foot into the stomach of Stella, causing her to hunch over before Knox’s attack smacked Stella in the face, however the attack continued its pursuit of Lily.

Noticing they were following her, she said, “Sorry Seppe,” tossing him over too Knox who caught the apprentice. Altering her angle, she was one step to slow, and it smashed the ground under her, sending her flying away. Before another could run through her, Fu pulled her out of the way with his strings. Giving Fu a nod of thanks, she swirled up the blood within her mouth, spitting it onto the floor before leaping into the arena. “This thing’s not going down easily,” Lily said, “but neither am I!” Activating her fourth legacy, her rooted-earth form appeared, cushioning her fall from its durability.

Holding both arms up, energy glowed within the claws, but then birds slapped against Stella’s eyes, splattering into paint. Many more splashed into her right after, blinding her, and the claws died down as she attempted to remove the paint from her eyes.

Meanwhile, Knox came crashing down next to Lily and the already cracked earth crumbled even more under his feet. “I got your back,” and after a light nod, they charged in together.

As Lily ran, she uttered, “Discharge,” and a rooted earth club slowly built up behind her, growing larger as it dragged against the floor while her form along her body slipped to her hand.

“Mirror Monolith!” Ayame shouted and many glass monoliths emerged within the arena. After catching Lily’s image in each of them, she shouted, “Copy!” Suddenly, shattering out of each monolith was a clone of Lily! They all carried the same bat that continued to grow as they raced forward.

Sniffing the air, Stella located them without sight. Smashing her claws into the ground, she flung her arm up sending debris directly at them.

“I’ve got this,” Knox said, taking the lead. Forming gold along his arms, he rammed directly into them like a running back.

The debris that happened to rainbow over Knox, were swiftly met by Tanabe.

Stella’s tails came crashing down, but then the arena walls burst forth beside her, and a giant white scorpion with multiple-colored veins appeared, clamping down on the tails with its claws, keeping them from moving.

“Kenji?!” Lily said.

Stella slammed her fists again and again over the back of the scorpion, before grabbing the large bug and tossing it far off into the stands where it almost squished Daichi.

The large scorpion shrunk until Kenji appeared. He was holding his chest in pain.

“K-Kenji?” Daichi said.

“Who’re you looking at twerp,” Kenji said, blood seeping from his mouth as he refocused his gaze on Stella.

Daichi hastily edged away from him...

In a twirl Lily flung the giant club and it spun through the air, smacking heavily against Stella where it burst into tiny bits.

The rest of the Lily’s then followed up by lunging into the sky or jumping toward the waste, smashing their clubs into giant, who in turn fell on her butt.

Seppe, having formed a prominent black pirate hat over his head, pointed his paint brush forward as a large canon he created was aimed directly at Stella. “Fire!” he shouted, and a painted monkey with an eyepatch that happened to be wearing the same hat, lit the fuse. From the cannon, a giant flux beam ripped through the air, tearing right through Stella’s waist.

The glowing red cracks along Stella’s body flickered off and on once again, huffing from the attack.

“Nice one!” Alan said to Seppe. “It’s not even reforming anymore,” but soon the bone and fur crept back as the pulsing red energy within her reignited.

“Way to jinx it,” Kenji said.

Seppe fell to a knee, coughing up blood as the cannon and monkey disappeared into wet paint across the floor.

Elsewhere, the clones Seppe created lost shape, becoming puddles of paint.

“Hey?!” the guard’s said confused.

A hand was placed on Seppe’s back.

“Huh?” Seppe looked behind him. “Mr. Briggs?!”

“Not one for following rules are you...” Mr. Briggs said shaking his head with a smile as he began healing Seppe’s core. “Just like the abnormal mechanics of your dye root.”

“Sorry...” Seppe said bashfully placing a hand behind his head.

Screaming, the bone-tips along every ball burst outward, twisting in the air as they jolted towards every apprentice.

Lifting his arm to the sky, Tanabe said, “Celestial Feather Storm!” The feathered designs on his arm spiraled upward like a flux twister as many of them shot out in blurs of light, smacking and pinning every single one of the homing attacks targeting the apprentices.

“Rina?! How’s it going over there!” Ayame said.

“It’s going…” Rina said, she was still concentrating flux force into an ability.

Tanabe appeared before the monstrosity, smashing her to the left, then to the right as he continued to wail on Stella. As Tanabe’s punches collided, the red energy along her entire body began to flicker again, losing power.

Noticing this, Alan said, “Why are only Tanabe’s attacks getting through? No, it was the same with Seppe earlier…” He went into deep thought as he contemplated the fight so far. He was on the cusp of figuring something out but couldn’t quite put his finger on it just yet.

Stella slammed both her hands together right in front of her, but Tanabe held his arms out, blocking himself from being smooshed between the palm of her hands. Suddenly, two legacies glowed on Stella’s forehead, and a greedy smile appeared on her face. From the mouth of the creature, a red glow emerged. “What?!” The beam blasted him far beneath the stands, digging further than the waiting area below; it was followed by an explosion in which flames burst out the hole created.

“Tanabe?!” Alan said gazing at the massive hole.

“Alan!” Lily shouted seeing Stella lung forward.

Knox was preparing to run to his aid, but his vision becoming blurry he curled over coughing up blood.

Before Alan knew it, a large hand snatched him up!

Ayame wanted to help but as the hand reached for him, the claws dug into the stands she was standing, forcing her to leap back.

The creature’s grin widened as it tightened its grip on Alan, making him scream in agonizing pain.

“Let him go!” Lily said, but she fell to a knee, arms and legs twitching. “My body?!” Move dammit...

“Ahh!” Alan screams echoed in the arena when a puff of steam flew into the arena, smacking heavily into the forearm of Stella which caused her to drop Alan.

Fu caught him with his strings, gently setting him down. “Let’s get away from this freak show.”

Wincing from the bone crushing squeeze, Alan nodded and they sped off as Fu jumped onto his shoulder.

Landing beside Knox was Tamarri. The tips of his fur were red from eating spicy flux-infused food that increased his strength and durability. “I’m here to back you up,” he said.

“Perfect timing,” Knox said.

Stella grabbed her energy tail, swinging it full circle as it smashed into the stand, tearing through and uplifting what was left of them.

“Rina, Peon!” Daichi shouted as the ball quickly approached, but Knox arrived, blocking the ball before it could overtake him.

“It’s ready!” Rina shouted, and a misty silver wind swept past Stella before vanishing. Rina crouched over, holding her chest. “I packed it with almost all the flux I could.”

Stella’s roar slowly died as her eyes started to droop before hunching over, getting sleepier by the second. Her punches got sluggish to the point where she fell to her knees, almost completely immobilized. She shook her head again and again attempting to stay awake.

This allowed for many to retreat to have their cores healed by Mr. Briggs, and for the heavy hitters to get more hits in.

Stella began to flicker slightly, but not as much as when other types of attacks hit, like from Tanabe and Seppe.

“Guess we are wearing her down after all,” Daichi said, drenched in sweat.

At the same time, Tanabe emerged from the hole, holding his arm. “How can we take this thing down…”

“Tanabe, is there anything unique about your Nefarian form?” Alan hollered running over to him while the others engaged Stella. “I might know how to beat it.”

Thinking it over, he stated, “My root gives me qualities that resemble the Nefarian, and most my attacks are purely flux based, like Rai’s ikken, in a sense. Even if it’s as simple as a punch.” Tanabe outstretched his arm glowing in the feathered cloth which had glittering white specs of flux hovering around it.

After a moment, Alan said, “That’s it! I think the creatures weak to flux-based attacks.”

“But all our attacks are flux powered?” Ayame said, retreating nearby.

“No, not attacks infused with flux, but flux force itself. If we can hit it with an attack purely packed with flux, maybe we can put it down for good!” Alan said.

Tanabe nodded, gazing at the creature again.

“I don’t have anything purely flux based in my arsenal,” Lily said, returning from Mr. Briggs.

“Neither do I...” Daichi said.

“It’ll be up to you or Seppe then if we’re going to kill her,” Knox said to Tanabe.

“K-Kill?” Tanabe said. “I don’t want to kill her… I just want to stop her.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think you have a choice,” Knox said. “Whatever that man did to her, she’s lost all sense of self. And it doesn’t seem like her core is going to be letting up anytime soon.”

In deep thought, Tanabe gazed at the floor. Kill? I’ve never killed someone before... The number one elite has always stopped his opponents without killing them, even Plague at Crystal Heralds.

Hearing this, Peon gazed at Seppe. “Do you think you can use your dye root to make something for me to attack with? I still have plenty of flux within me.”

“Of course,” Seppe said. “I’ve got something truly special in mind.”

Using steam from his Solomon bloodline, Tamarri created a cloud of mist that obscured Stella’s view of everyone.

Although Stella could still use her sense of smell to locate them, all her efforts were on staying awake, breathing heavily as she fell down, arms outstretched before her.

Attempting to stand back up, strings wrapped around her, “Gotcha!” Fu shouted. Stella’s arms tightened by her sides, as if she wore a straitjacket. Tittering to her left, she smashed into the wall. “Even half asleep you’re a pain…” Fu said, his wooden arms shaking as Stella tried to break free.

“Come on Fu,” Lily said running past him through the thick mist.

He cut his strings, leaving the remaining to keep Stella constricted as he jumped on Lily’s shoulder.

“Grab my hand!” Tanabe said appearing in the heavy steam.

Lily grasped his hand before getting tossed high into the sky.

Pulling a flower from the bundle of flowers atop his head, Mr. Briggs infused it with flux, tossing it at the foot of Stella whose large imposing figure could still be made out in the dense fog. From it, vines quickly grew, ensnaring her and making it even more difficult to move around.

As the steam cleared, Seppe who happened to be beside him, said, “What was that Mr. Briggs?”

“It’s similar to a flux-weapon, like some of Haruki’s arrow tips. The flower grows ensnaring vines when infused with flux,” he replied.

Gazing up, Rina shouted, “You guys got this!”

From high above, an enormous rocket plunged straight toward Stella.

Using his art Seppe created a bomb that would grow when infused with flux, essentially making a flux-bomb.

It should be exactly what they needed, if Alan’s theory was correct.

“Here we go…” Peon didn’t have any abilities, but he had plenty of flux left, feeding the bomb almost all of it. But it wasn’t just him transferring flux; Lily, Kenji, Tamarri, Alan, Fu, and Ayame were there as well, though Ayame wasn’t putting out any flux since she had something else in mind.

The apprentices jumped off, sliding down narrow earth ramps Daichi created before landing in the stands.

“This one’s gonna hurt,” Ayame said, biting her lip. “Copy!” she shouted. Cracking her core severely, she fainted. Slipping off the rocket, Tanabe caught her.

Normally when an Abminus has been incapacitated, or killed, their root’s power disperses, but in cases where the root holder’s ability was the reason for them falling unconscious or dying, like in Shiro’s case, the ability remains a little while longer. Because of this, from the tail end of the bomb roots quickly expanded until a second bomb was made behind it.

Stella sensed the threat but was still under the effects of Rina’s drowsy root.

“Lay down!” Knox said, growing giant golden fists which he used to smash her to the floor. Quickly he leapt into the destroyed stands from the arena.

“That’s right, it’s nap time,” Rina said, as the creature’s forehead rested against the ground, losing the battle to stay awake.

Slamming the ground, Daichi created earth domes that enveloped each apprentice in order to protect them from the coming explosion. Afterwards, he collapsed, breathing heavily as his protective dome closed around him.

Before Stella fell asleep, a legacy mark appeared on her forehead in the count of one.

Seeing this, after recalling Eloise’s report, Knox quickly created gold domes over the ones Daichi made.

Sensing the building flux from Stella, Tanabe hastily retreated high into the air with Ayame.

Moments before the bomb could hit, Stella erupted outward in a half dome of red kinetic energy, enveloping everything…

The orbs recording the fight were destroyed as a result.

Within the safety zone, Grace was watching when the footage cut off.

“What happened?!” someone hollered.

“I hope everyone’s okay,” she said, before gazing at a photo. Rai was just a kid, slightly roughed up after returning home from training. He had a bright smile, holding a plate carrying a Lumi Lumi; a small candle was dug into it as they celebrated Takara’s birthday. She was in a med-pod beside him... Tux stood behind them smiling, arms crossed. At the time, people weren’t normally given access to the facility since the growing pandemic was fairly new. Tux’s new position, head of police within all the kingdoms, including the empire, allowed them to see Takara. “Rai. Tux. Be careful…”

Outside, Tux was wrapped in the center of many stressed officers and panicking citizen’s, his voice cutting through the racket of sirens and distant explosions as he directed the police through the rowdy streets of the besieged empire. “Get the civilians out of the danger zones!” he shouted. Grabbing a nearby officer by the arm. “You—help establish barricades here and here!” Among the frantic rush of people fleeing and the fiery glow of burning buildings, he continued to shout orders. “If the vanguard pushes any further, we need to be ready to channel them in this direction!”

“Yessir,” the officer said, running off. “This way,” he shouted, waving others to follow him.

The air was thick with smoke while the roar of distant combat haunted the scared civilians being directed to the safety zones.

Placing his hand on his forehead, “How could so many Vanguard slip through unnoticed...” Catching his breath as another wave of refugees rushed past, Tux said, “Fortunately, for now it seems the elites have managed to push back most of the vanguard in their designated districts.”

Near the border of the Kingdom of Atlas, the family Rai and company had spent Mother’s Day with were listening to the invasion broadcasted through a radio.

“I hope Eiji and everyone else is okay…” Ramon said, leaning forward, arms resting on his legs.

Heather nodded, “Hope they’re all okay.”

“When will these wars end…” Reno said, shaking his head while sipping Ti.

“All we can do is pray and hope for the best,” Lucy said, and the family held hands, bowing their head.

“The kingdom’s under attack!” Denis hollered from a room down the hallway.

“No it’s not Grandpa,” Heather shouted back, shaking her head.

The two kids, Steevie and Cheryl tried to listen from their room, door slightly cracked open as they caught bits and pieces of information.

Cheryl gazed down at the holographic Minus card she was given by Rai.

Within the east district of the empire, every vanguard lay on the floor, twitching, bodies burnt and sizzling like an overcooked pie right out of the oven.

“Go, round up any more of these sniveling cowards,” Eloise said, and the many soldiers of the empire nodded, rushing into the alleyways to find any stragglers lurking about. Before Eloise, right outside the inner gates surrounding the empire, there were holes dug by sand worms which the vanguard must have used to sneak in. “How could Celestria and Aurahelm, let alone the Empire, allow such a blunder to occur?” The inner gate leading into the eastern district was blown away, lying in pieces on the floor, as were many dead soldiers of the empire. “They completely bypassed the outer walls, but for a project of this magnitude to go unnoticed.” She thought it over before stating, “A mole?”

“Or a toad,” a short slimy skinned toad-like Nefarian of Solomon decent said.

Eloise gazed over, “Razz.”

“At your service,” and he gave a light bow.

“The vanguards must be getting rather desperate, confronting me twice now with such pitiful members. Where is the Reaper? I’ve been itching for a real fight.”

“The Reaper has no interest in joining a fight unless it’s one that guarantee’s the empire’s destruction,” Razz said with a snicker, his throat expanding out like a toad. “But the Vanguard were eager to jump at the chance to raise hell,” and he clicked a little button in his hand that deactivated the outer walls detectors. “Took me years to bypass Shen’s tech, though I’m sure next time he’ll make it nearly impossible to crack again.”

Lightning crackled in small shimmers around Eloise. “I’m afraid after today you won’t get another chance,” she said. “The empire would never allow it, and I certainly won’t either. Igniting the fire within us is all you’ve accomplished.”

“We’ve accomplished more, but that’s for the Reaper to tell.”

“How you became of the Vanguard’s first battalion is lost on me,” Eloise said, turning around. As she did, from where Razz was standing, a bolt of lightning burst from the ground up, but his shocking screams faded into laughter.

“So harsh Eloise,” Razz said. “I see why during the Jade Wars you earned the nickname, Storm Princess.” Turning, she noticed a black box glowing box in his hands. “Do you like it? It even has a feature that lets it fly,” he said, clacking his feet together in the air as he tossed the box into the sky like a playful child. A black pole emerged, quickly expanding outward into four blades, like that of a chopper, allowing for the small device to hover before them.

“What’s that?” Eloise said, furrowing her brows.

“Here, let me show you,” he said, and his tongue shot out, smacking a button on it. Moments later, a bolt of lightning burst out, but many times stronger than the one Eloise used, demolishing a portion of the inner wall. “With this device I’m able to take in attacks like your lightning, then redistribute it to where I see fit. Only it comes out much stronger.”

“If you think a box like that will contain my lightning, you’re mistaken,” Eloise said.

“Of course this silly box couldn’t stop you princess, however, that’s not my angle here.” Razz walked over to a body on the ground. Flipping the jacket of one of the vanguard over, inside of it was a little handheld device about the size of a wallet. “You see, all the vanguard you fried had these on them. Think of them as miniature versions of my flying box here,” he gestured to the device hovering over his head. “The exception being that they don’t hold the energy, rather transfer it.”

“Cut your riddles toad, I grow impatient,” Eloise said, placing her hand on her sheathed blade.

“To the point then,” Raz said, and an enormous explosion emerged far behind Eloise. Even from where they stood, the blast’s air pressure flipped boxes and shattered windows. Eloise turned with a look of shock. In the distance there was a huge crater with many destroyed homes in it. “I’ve distributed one these devices across the empire within each of the four districts. They’re currently flying there as we speak, and once they reach their destination. Boom. Farewell safe zones. I imagine you can get to one in time,” Razz said with a chuckle before catching a butterfly with his tongue as Eloise took off. “But you can’t be in four places at once!”

Zipping through the east district, she spotted one in the distance. “I can reach that one... but then I won’t be able to get to the others in time?!”

There were many types of safety zones, but the ones Razz referred were enormous plazas in which countless people were to wait patiently. Hundreds of soldiers encircled them as a means of protection.

From one of these safety zones, a citizen of the empire gazed up, noticing a small flying cube steadily approaching over their heads.

“Hey, what’s that?” someone stated, pointing to the sky.

Curious, many people gazed up while most of the children’s gazed remained glued to the floor, playing Minus Wars.

Between the east and west districts, many vanguard were trapped in pink, blue and yellow transparent bubbles that continued to float higher into the air. The bubbles shaped multiple animals, like a zeeboose, fearaligator, and manticals.

“What the heck, it won’t pop!” the vanguard shouted, using their weapons to pop it from the inside.

Beneath them, Mu was seated in a floating wooden chair with one leg crossed over the other drinking from a decorative teacup that was also floating before his mouth. As the tea emptied, he snapped his fingers and it magically refilled.

Other Vanguard charged Mu, but their faces slapped against an invisible wall separating them from him.

“What the?!” the vanguard swung their blades, but it clanked against the same imaginary wall.

“I’d get moving, that walls a lot bigger than you think, and it happens to be falling your way,” Mu said.

“What’re you talking about—” but then the vanguard was pressed back as something was slowly tilting against them. They tried to hold it up, but they couldn’t stop the weight shifting against their favor. Some started to run away, until they were all inevitably crushed.

Mu sighed, saying, “Should have gone to your left.”

“You’re finished!” An Abminus within their ranks activated his roots, but with a twirl of Mu’s finger, the vanguards own roots coiled him as he fell to the floor. “What is this trickery?!” he shouted, but Mu had the vines cover his mouth so he couldn’t talk.

“You’re digging into my teatime,” Mu said. “I don’t take kindly to that.” Seeing more vanguard rush him, “I’m rather sick of you lot… Here, play with these.” Tossing a deck of cards he took out, they proceeded to spread out before him within the air. Infusing them with flux force, he said, “Jack of all Trades,” and from the cards which had pictures of little card shape knights, long arms emerged. Whether it was the diamond, the spade, or even the king, one by one arms and legs slipped out, slapping against the polished stone flooring while stretching outward until they were standing at twice the height of the vanguard. Neither card had a face; they only had arms, legs and spears matching the card color.

“Like I’m afraid of some stupid card trick!” a vanguard shouted, slicing down his blade and tearing one, but then the tear started to quickly restitch itself as the man was pierced through the heart by a spear.

The vanguard ran for their lives with the cards in hot pursuit.

Mu’s badge started to ring. Seeing that it was from Eloise, he said, “Hm, what’s this?”

“Let us out of here!” the vanguard in the bubbles shouted angrily.

“Ugh, for heaven’s sake,” Mu said snapping his fingers and the bubbles popped. “Be careful what you ask for,” he stated as they came crashing down heavily around him. He answered, “Yes, my dearest Eloise?”

“Razz has set up weaponized devices flying over the safe zones of each district, and I have no means of getting to them all in time. Still got some tricks left in that bag of yours?”

Mu gazed up, noticing a flurry of electricity in the distance racing his way. With a light smile, “Of course, anything for the beautiful Eloise,” he said, and the call hung up. The teacup next to him disappeared as the hovering chair slowly made its way to the floor. Getting off, he walked in the direction of the swirling electricity before casually turning a corner where he could see her heading to him at an alarming rate. Taking his colorful top hat off, he stretched the opening until it was as long and wide as a double door. “Now you see her,” Eloise appeared beside Mu for the briefest of moments swinging her blade forward, the ground behind her was carved from the static burst of speed, “now you don’t,” Mu said as she immediately vanished into the hat. Shrinking the hat, he placed it gently on his head as a Nefarian vanguard with bunny ears charged from behind. Snapping his fingers the man grew whiskers, fur, then shrunk into a bunny. Picking the bunny up from the pile of clothing on the floor, Mu stroked it, saying, “I like you much better this way,” before walking towards more battle cries in the distance.

The boxes appearing high above the people within the safety zones, came to a halt. From the hole at the bottom a bubble of energy was pushing out when a blast of electricity tore through a large wooden crate, quickly obliterating the flying box while wiping the gathered energy toward the sky where it ripped in a flash of electricity.

At the same time electricity burst out of a dresser, tearing through the home while another blasted out of a trash can.

“Sorry, but I’ve won,” a kid said, folding his arms triumphantly.

Sweating, his little brother drew a card. After a second, a wicked grin appeared on his face. “Hehe…”

“Hurry up and play it,” his brother complained.

“Take this!” his younger brother said, holding the card to the sky. “I’ve drawn the realm of lightning!” At the same time, a burst of electricty erupted from the card’s lightning design, and like all the other attacks, eradicated the Razz’s flying death boxes. In total shock, with eyebrows slightly fringed, the young brother brought the card down slowly to eye level.

The older brother swiped his arm, narrowly missing the card in the little brother’s hand who ducked it out of his grip, “Give it to me!”

“No!” They fought over what they believe to be a card that summons real lightning.

Within the western district, Eloise was breathing heavily with her arm extended outward from the continued motion of the attack she unleashed moments before entering Mu’s hat. Sheathing her wooden blade, she smiled, saying, “Looks like I can be in four places at once.”

***

“Everyone, please relax. Celestria’s soldiers are fending off the enemy as we speak,” Regano, Tamarri’s father spoke. Being a Nefarian of Solomon decent, he largely resembled his son.

Scared citizens of Celestria had taken refuge with his restaurant, Crumbly Cattaneos.

“Regano, there’s so many,” his wife, Lavandaia said. She resembled a deer, but unlike Pinnet who only had antlers, her face was furry and stretched slightly outward like that of a deer.

“Non possiamo lasciarli là fuori,” Regano replied in a hushed tone. “These are our customers.”

“Lo so,” Lavandaia replied, abruptly slapping his arm softly. “I’m just worried. Should vanguard show up, whose to protect them?”

There was a knock at the door…

“Shhh,” Regano said, holding a finger to his mouth and everyone quickly silenced.

Through the thick wooden door, a menacing voice drifted in. “Little piggies, little piggies, let me in.” Snickering from others also leaked through. “Or I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down!” and the door was heavily kicked, causing many people to gasp. “Hahaha.”

Lavandaia clutched her husband’s arm with fear in her eyes. “They’ve come for us.”

The knocking grew louder and more unrelenting, but then everything went silent.

“Wait here...” Regano told his wife. Creeping up to the door, he peeked through the wooden cracks, but no one was there. “I think they—”

“BOO!” an eyeball appeared and the door was smash in, sending Regano flying away where he landed on the floor with a loud thud.

Everyone shouted, shrinking into corners of the restaurant.

“Honey,” Lavandia said, stepping to him, but Regano held his hand out, signaling her not to move.

His chief’s hat slipped off his head as he gazed at those entering his restaurant; a few humans of the vanguard, led by of the Nefarian whose head was similar to a crocodile.

The gator known as Alover swept over the frightened families, before catching Regano’s gaze. “Regano, the infamous chief of Crumbly Cattaneos.” The gator’s tongue flicked in and around his sharp teeth. “You should have seen the look on my face when they said we were to invade Celestria. The thought of finally getting the chance to try one of your famous dishes,” he knelt down, his snout nearly touching Regano’s nose, “I was dying to have some.”

“I’ll make you whatever you want. Just don’t hurt the customers.”

“Hahaha,” the gator laughed. “I think you’ve got the wrong idea. Everybody here dies, but depending on how much I’m willing to eat, perhaps they’ll get to live a while longer.” He signaled to the men who surrounded the people with their weapons, while one placed a blade to the back of Lavandaia.

“No please! I’ll cook…” Standing, he quickly walked over to the pot of pasta, stirring the sauces while igniting the fire tree which was hollowed out to steam the veggies and meat.

“Over there!” three soldiers of Celestria called from outside the restaurant, charging with blades in hand.

Snarling, the Alover lunged into the ground, burrowing under like it was water before bursting out, clipping one of the guards in two with his mouth and tossing the other heavily into a building far away. The last soldier swung their blade, but since Alover had a flux guard backed with rough scaly skin, it bounced off. “Appetizer,” the Gator said, biting the man’s head off. With blood seeping down the sides of his green snout, he made his way back inside, saying, “How about we jump straight to one of the main dishes?” Alover kicked back in a chair, waiting for his meal.

“On it,” Regano said pulling on thick strings next to him and the steamed meat and vegetables were carried on a line above the glass in the air that kept spillage from hitting the customers. As the food traveled above the glass high above with each pull of the string by Regano, it passed through a butter waterfall, before also passing through a cloud of pepper.

Saliva dripped from Alover’s mouth. “Interesting…” Once the meat and veggies had been through the correct flavors, they made their way across before disappearing behind a wall until emerging from a hole directly above the table the croc sat. The meat was steaming, dripping with luscious flavors while the vegetables that had traversed on another line, dripped in butter beside it.

“Be right over,” Regano said, meanwhile Alover’s breathed in, absorbing the incredible smell before him. Grabbing his knives, Regano quickly walked over to the table, but the guards seeing him with knives, pointed their blades at him, pricking the edge of his belly.

“It’s fine,” Alover said impatiently, his fingernail digging through the wooden table before flicking off the edge.

Using his razor-sharp knives, Regano slit the veggies like a warm knife to butter, and they fell on the plate. After he carefully sliced the meat, causing it slap against the plate. “Enjoy…” Regano said, waiting to serve the rest.

Gripping the plate, Alover flipped the food into his mouth. With a big gulp, his eyes shot open. Immediately his mouth snapped forward, consuming the hovering meat and veggies while snapping the lines. “Amazing! More, I need more now!” he said, crushing his fist into the table, causing it to splinter.

“Y-Yes, right away,” Regano said scurrying over to prepare his most famous dish, Crumbly Lu Pasta. As he began preparing the dish, a shadow appeared from outside.

“Yeesh, my back is killing me,” Eiji said, causally strolling in. “Hey Regano,” he waved at the Chief who stopped stirring for a moment. Since the vanguard were on the opposite end of the room with the captive citizens, Eiji was able to stride directly up to Alover’s table, taking a seat opposite him. “I’ll have one as well,” he said, holding his finger up.

With a look of angered annoyance, “And who might you be…” Alover said, revealing his many sharp teeth.

“My, what sharp teeth you have...” Eiji gazed into his mouth, but after a moment, he composed himself, sitting upright. “I’m Eiji. CEO of Plu’s legion,” he said, opening his jacket to reveal shirt with a logo including Plu, Fu, and Manty. Leaning in, he whispered, “You know, we’re looking for a fourth co-star if you want in.”

Vanguard approached with weapons, but Alover held his hand out. “Hahaha. You got a death wish or something?”

“Listen pal. I spent all night cleaning after hundreds of people, and then you guys come and start blowing things up when all I was tryna do was get some shut eye. The very least you can do is let me have a decent meal.”

Slowly leaning forward, Alover glared menacingly into Eiji’s eyes who met his gaze with equal seriousness, but as Eiji’s stomach grumbled, he couldn’t hold it any longer. “Hahaha, this one’s too much. Alright, let’s have it. Two orders it is. I hope you enjoy the meal. After all, it’ll be your last.”

“Well, if it’s going to be my last meal, why don’t you bring the whole pot! Besides, you look like someone with an appetite,” he said, noticing the croc drooling.

“Coming right up,” Regano said, hoisting the giant pot and placing it before them.

Eiji slapped some on his plate, but when reaching for another scoop the Gator’s mouth snapped down, “Eep!” Eiji said, pulling his hand back. “Okie… you can have the rest.”

With a smirk, Alover lifted the pot over his mouth, guzzling it down before slamming it down. His eyes were closed, but then he erupted, startling Eiji who flung his fork backwards right before his first bite. “AMAZING! AMAZING! AMAZING! Hahaha.” He still had noodles hanging from his mouth. “I’ve changed my mind. Regano, you’re coming with us. There’s no way I could kill a cook with this type of talent.”

“What of everyone else?” Regano said.

“They die of course,” and with a head nod the guards got their weapons ready.

“Ahem…” Noodles slipped from his mouth as Alover slowly turned his head. Just as he completed the turn, Eiji shouted, “Didn’t your mother tell you not to talk with your mouth full?!” and slammed the pot over Alover’s head; at the same time a giant mantical broke through the wall of the restaurant with a roar, startling the vanguard. With its mouth it quickly grabbed and hurled one vanguard into another while jumping and smashing a third. Panicking the vanguard turned their blades, but Eiji swiftly took them out. “Manty, watch over them!” Puffing steam from its nose, it wagged its tail in response. As Alover busted out of the pot, running outside with the plate of food in hand, Eiji shouted, “Over here mate!”

Snarling, “You’re dead meat!” Alover lunged into the earth, tunneling towards Eiji.

Eiji slipped the food from the plate into his mouth before coming to a halt. “Oh my…” The floor vibrated and the ground burst open jaws as jaws nearly clamped down on Eiji who lunged out of the way.

“I hope you enjoyed that meal, because I’m going to enjoy mine,” he said lunging forward, but a jacket with the Plu’s legion design slapped over his face, blinding him as he bit into the earth while Eiji ran away. Snagging the jacket, he tore it off angrily.

“Hey, that was a limited edition!” Alover lunged into the ground, jumping in and out like a dolphin in the ocean on his way to Eiji. Smirking, Eiji summoned his roots which emerged all over his body. Enveloped in light, as they faded, he once again wore the orange cape with green spikes on it, which included the same streaks of green overlapping his orange hair. Quickly front flipping into a large spike ball as his cape rolled up and around his entire body, he burst forward.

The moment Alover resurfaced, he was surprised to see the boulder with spikes hurdling his way! Unable to stop his momentum, it slammed heavily into his gut, cutting away at his tough crocodile skin before launching into a tree unconscious. After witnessing the outcome of the fight, everyone steadily crept out of the restaurant beside the mantical. “I’ll make sure to clear any Vanguard in the area, so stay put,” Eiji reassured them. “Manty!” The Mantical ran forward as Eiji jumped on its back. “Thanks for the meal!” he said before taking off. “Now this is what I’m talking about! You and me Manty, saving the day!” The mantical roared as they departed.

However, the fighting wasn’t going to be lasting much longer...

“It’s—It’s Alderai!” Vanguard shouted; there were at least a hundred of them.

“Run!"

“Get out of here!” they said, racing towards the outskirts of the kingdom.

“You think you can come in here and terrorize the people of Celestria without punishment!?” Alderai said furiously as six legacies glowed on his back. The earth ruptured beneath the vanguard and many were swallowed from the emergence of a one-hundred-foot goliath that was the Ashen Claw he created when merging a Flame Scowler Minus with the remains of a Dragoon. They were immediately melted from the swirling heated ash within its hollow stomach. Ripping fire outward, the remaining enemies were incinerated. After, Alderai’s third legacy activated and many different Minus emerged, though they didn’t have the glow of the red negative flux in them, rather positive flux force. One lengthy Minus resembled a red preying manits with spider legs. Another, a large three-headed snake with the body of a palm tree. There was even one that seemed to be a shadow with long sharp teeth as the only physical thing protruding from its stomach. “You’re going to regret ever stepping foot in Celestria,” Alderai said as the Minus darted off in multiple directions, quickly traversing the kingdom and slaughtering every vanguard in sight.

***

Shiki, whose body was the width of the streets separating the homes in Aurahelm, exploded straight ahead! As a phantom would, her lengthy body phased through every object on her fierce push forward. Opening her mouth, the ghostly snake snapped down on an enormous home consuming worm, ripping it in half as she moved incredibly fast to the next. One after another she tore through the hard-shelled body of three more worms before roaring into the sky.

Marco, who was on top of one of the roofs, frowned as six more of these worms burst through the earth, saying, “Just how many of these does she have?” There were already plenty of them lying dead throughout the kingdom...

Otto, recording the fight said, “It doesn’t seem like the worms are letting up. Marco’s taken countless out and they still keep coming.” Turning the camera, he caught view of many other people fighting. “However, I am happy to report the Vanguard seem to finally be losing control of the battle. Aurahelm’s soldiers continue to fight back valiantly. Truly courageous men!”

Elsewhere, in the distance Rai noticed Shiki’s supersized body flailing about. “Keep it up girl.” Racing down the streets, while confronting the occasional vanguard, the support of the other kingdoms pushing behind him allowed him focus on his main goal at hand—Taka!

Apparently, Aurahelm took the brunt force of the Vanguards attack. This is because the vanguard is said to be located somewhere within one of the four great deserts of Sheemak, east of the empire, but their base has never been discovered.

With the empire at the center, Aurahelm is the furthest east from it. Excalibur is located northeast of the empire. Thundertyde northwest, Celestria south, and Keltzer directly west.

Kicking a Vanguard through a window of a home, Rai saw a bunch of smaller worms in the distance. Closing one eye he fired and killed each one, but soon after, in the distance the ground cracked and both vanguard and Aurahelm’s forced alike were swallowed by a large worm that broke through the floor, sending rubble crashing into homes. It was much bigger than the other’s Rai encountered.

Plowing through the street, some people fell into its stomach in their attempt to run away.

Holding his arms out, Rai was ready to fire an ikken, but hesitated, instead running to his right before jumping to a rooftop as the large worm twisted its body, smashing into the home behind him.

While the worm tried to pull its body from the home it was jammed into, a solider of Aurahelm hollered, “Young man, what’re you waiting for?!”

“There are people in there! What if they’re still alive?!” Rai replied.

“I’ve already read the reports on these things. Within them is an acid that eats away at whatever they consume. The bigger they are, the more deadly the acid.” A vanguard swung an axe at him, and so the soldier held his blade up, blocking the attack. “Although, it’s by choice…” he said, struggling with the vanguard before flipping the axe over and plunging his blade into the him. “It’s by choice whether they produce it, just like you have the choice to bite down on food. If a green slime is dripping from its mouth, then they’re long gone!”

As the worm pulled its head out, Rai noticed a green slime dripping from the corners of its mouth, oozing out onto a children’s playground someone had built in the front yard. The slime dissolved it immediately...

“Dammit…” Rai said, his head hung slightly down.

The worm swiveled across the street toward him.

”It’s coming!” the soldier shouted. coming

Gazing back up, Rai shouted, “Ikken!” The blast erupted within the worm’s mouth, blowing it to pieces.

As the chunks rained down, the soldier muttered, “Man is it good to have an apprentice alongside us…” However, noticing the vanguard retreating, he ran after them.

The fight was finally turning in their favor!

From the rooftop, Rai glanced towards the facility his sister was being held. “Ugh!” Smoke was rising from it! Jumping from the home, he darted down an alleyway.

Meanwhile, in the empire, just about all the vanguard had been defeated.

“Weeee!” Tofi shouted, bouncing between seven vanguard while using each one as a means to launch to the next, knocking the wind out of them. Gazing around she couldn’t find any more people to fight. “Awh… is it over already?” Behind her, many more vanguard on the floor were gripping their stomachs in pain. But then an explosion from the coliseum far away caught her attention. “Yay! More bad guys!” Tofi shouted, rushing over to the coliseum.

Within the coliseum, every apprentice was burrowed into a crater on the wall unconscious.

Standing in front of Mr. Briggs was Knox.

“Knox… you didn’t have too…”

“Protecting people is what elites do…” he said, coughing up blood. In the smokey battle-torn arena, Stella roared. Mr. Briggs leaned over to heal his core, but Knox shook his head no. “Get the young ones out of here…”

Nodding, Mr. Briggs turned to gather the downed apprentices when Tanabe landed beside him.

Handing him the unconscious Ayame, Tanabe said, “Please take care of them.” Noticing Knox who was heaving and on his knees, Tanabe pulled out his badge.

Within the throne room, General Kur’s badge went off. Answering it, “How are things over there?”

“They could be better…” Tanabe responded. “I’d say retreat would be the best course of action, until other elites arrive, but I’m afraid this thing may go on a rampage and incidentally come across the safe zone nearby.”

“That would be problematic. So, what will you do?”

“Grandpa… I need to ask you for a favor.”

“What sort?”

After their discussion, Tanabe walked over to Knox.

“Tanabe…” Knox said, staring at Stella who was slowly walking their way from below in the arena. “This next attack will be my last…” he placed his hand on his core, before staring fiercely at Stella. “It was an honor to fight beside you.”

“When this is over, I’m considering challenging up again. For the eighth spot this time. I’ll need you around for that.”

“You want my spot?” Knox said confused. “Young man, I won’t be around to—” A thud resonated behind him and Knox crippled over unconscious.

“I apologize,” Tanabe said, his hand previous behind the back of Knox’s neck. Gazing down at Stella who was charging a blast within her mouth, he walked towards edge of the crumbling arena walls.

She fired, but Tanabe didn’t move in the slightest, refusing to even hold his guard up.

Quickly approaching, the beam smashed right before him into what looked to be a flux shield, causing the gust of wind to pull his hair back from the impact of the attack as a red glow flashed across his face, until the beam faded at last.

In the throne room General Kur was holding the device Otto gave him. It was the other flux shield emitter that he was given.

The first busted from Gaius’s attack since Han hadn’t put enough flux into it, but since the actual devices that emits the shield were dug deep under the earth, they hadn’t been destroyed like most of the coliseum above ground was.

“Can you set up a flux shield using the extra device Otto gave you,” Tanabe said over the comm.

“You wish to fight it alone?” General Kur said.

“If I plan on being the number one elite, I’ve got to overcome these sorts of obstacles,” Tanabe replied confidently.

General Kur smiled, saying to himself, “Show me just what type of elite you aim to be.”

Tanabe, seeing that the shield held up, closed his eyes and smiled. Opening them, he had an intense glare. Stepping one foot in front of the other, he dropped into the coliseum, ready to confront Stella on his own. As he fell he recalled the fight so far. Each time he hit her, he felt like something was off. Like she was crying for help. He couldn’t tell for sure, but he just had this feeling... Landing in the arena, he gazed up and said, “I’m not sure what this man Knox spoke of did to you. But if you’re still in there, if there’s a way to help you, I promise I’ll find it.”

“Ruuuuuuw.” This sound was different than her usual rage filled roar, almost saddening in fact. Raising her arm, the energy in the claws began to build.

“With that said, I can’t let you go around hurting people anymore. This ends now!” Flux filled feathers twirled around him, creating a dazzling aura.

Stella swiped down and the attack shred through the sky.

Flying forward, Tanabe swerved mid-air and avoid the attack, kicking Stella heavily in the face.

Im response, the bone-tipped spikes on the giant marrow balls at the end of Stella’s tails burst outward and every single one homed in on Tanabe.

Pressing off her chest heavily, sending Stella’s stumbling back, Tanabe back flipped away, and although he couldn’t blink, the feathers allowed him to gracefully twist through the air, as the attacks soared right by him, barely missing him. Landing, he raced across the battered floor using the uplifted portions of the ground that stuck out like giant rocks protruding from the floor as cover when the spikes came crashing down. Hastily leaping, he twisted in the air as one flew directly under him while using both of his arms to smack and alter the direction of two other back into her chest.

Stella slammed her fist over Tanabe who leapt back, repositioning himself on the arena walls. Whipping her large body around, she sent the bone balls straight at him, one directly behind the other to make for a deadly impact.

Tanabe launched forward, crushing the broken walls behind him as he did, and the holy feathered tornado burst forth as he swung his arm forward obliterating them all on contact.

Stella howled… and the glowing red cracks along her body flickered as the tails did not regenerate. “Ruuuu…” Stella grabbed her head in agony, emitting a low grumbling sound that sliced through the air and coursed through the floor as soft vibrations. Her fingers dug into her own skull before a beam exploded out of her mouth in a flow of nonstop energy, but it wasn’t targeting Tanabe, rather randomly firing in every direction at random.

Coughing up blood, Tanabe jumped away as the beam ripped by him. “Everything that can utilize flux force has a core. You must nearing your limit…” I know I am… Suddenly a Plus emerged! The same one that had been following him around for quite some time now. It giggled. “H-hey… What’re you doing here?” Smiling, its tiny blue glowing body which glittered beautifully in positive flux force, turned its gaze toward Stella. “You want to help?”

“Mhm,” the blue fairy said with a nod. Flying closer, she lightly tapped his shoulder, and a powerful surge of flux force sucked into him as the ground pressed down from the pressure.

“No way?!” The fairy giggled, before vanishing into thin air. Smiling, Tanabe said, “Thank you.” Raising his arm to the sky, his feathered cloth along his arm unraveled, revealing the brilliant wing that shimmered in the shadows of the coliseum. By now, the sun had dipped below the horizon, but the sky remained ablaze with a soft, lingering glow behind the mountains, casting a radiant light over the empire. The wing along his back slowly dispersed as one feather at a time flew into the sky in a twisting tornado of sparkling flux force. As it gathered, Stella’s uncontrolled attack nearly swept over Tanabe, cutting through the ground beside him. “It’s time!” The swirling feathered storm constricted into a glowing white-feathered flux blade that hovered the length of the arena walls. As the beam was tearing toward him again, he shouted, “Heaven’s Requiem!” Thrusting his arm to the ground, the beam was wiped away as his attack slapped against the ground and burst outward into a lingering white pearly aura that hovered inches off the floor.

From the white glowing line tracing down the middle of Stella, shinning feathers burst out like birds flapping into the sky where they dispersed into twinkling diamonds.

The black goo along Stella’s enormous body slowly evaporated as she shrunk back to her regular size. The bug that was dug into her back, evaporated into ash.

Tanabe stood over Stella with an expression of sorrow in his eyes as his Nefarian form slowly disappeared.

Eyes loosely open, she muttered, “You know… I really hate your kind…”

Tanabe kneeled down, “Forgive me… I couldn’t find any other way.”

Stella was surprised by his apologetic demeanor. Smiling, “My core was already destroyed long before that attack…” Seeing the sorrow in his eyes still lingering, she frowned… “I really hate your kind… but perhaps, I hate you a little less than the rest…” and the breath left her body.

Tanabe placed his hands over her eyes, closing them gently.