“I didn’t know Zeera was supposed to be that huge,” said Aurin as he, Luna and Kyle ran through the forest and headed straight for Harmony Tower. Zeera towered over the trees, taking huge swipes at the unseeable Minakai and tamers who were standing guard.

“It isn’t,” said Kyle, “but this is not an ordinary Zeera. It’s a tower guardian and tower guardians are much larger and more powerful forms of Minakai that only appear on the fiftieth floor. The final test of strength and determination.”

“How could anyone fight this after pushing all the way through the tower?” asked Luna incredulously.

“And now you know why so few people can conquer a tower. Even the easier towers are far from easy.”

As the three stormed towards the tower, they raised their tamer gloves. Aurin summoned Steambot, Luna summoned Splashard, and Kyle summoned his Snowlem. The half dozen tamers standing outside the tower looked petrified and there was only a Thundarun remaining to fight against the towering Zeera.

“We’re here!” called Aurin.

“Thank goodness,” said Bentley in relief. “This Zeera has just wasted most of us. Watch out for it.”

At that moment a giant boulder plunged from the sky and flattened the Thundarun, defeating the tower guards’ final Minakai and leaving Steambot, Splashard and Snowlem to fight the Zeera.

“Pressure cannon!” ordered Aurin. “Full intensity.”

Steambot stopped in place and then began shaking vigorously as he built up pressure as fast as he could. The Zeera roared furiously and plunged its claw into the ground and ripping out a huge chunk of earth. The monster hurled it at Steambot, whose pressure cannon erupted and blasted the soil and grass to pieces, but the water blast lost its power by the time it hit Zeera. The weak strike merely served to annoy the monster further. A flash of red lightning and a Cybuzz spawned on the grass, darting back and forth in confusion before focusing on the tamers.

“Ah, I forgot about the spawners,” said Aurin.

“Leave it to me,” said Kyle.

Luna’s Splashard rode a wave she conjured straight to Zeera while Snowlem changed course to get rid of the Cybuzz before it started causing problems. Splashard rose high and spat heavy water jets at Zeera, who took a heavy swipe at the gelatinous demon and tore her in four. The separate parts of Splashard recombined, but were instantly sliced up again by a swing of Zeera’s other claw.

Steambot and Snowlem came to her aid, launching a pressure cannon and an ice spike at Zeera, respectively. The behemoth batted the attacks away as though they were nothing and delivered a heavy kick to Steambot, flinging the robot over the trees and halfway back to the ranch.

“Agh!” called Aurin, holding up his tamer glove and summoning both Desparee and Glacibot while Kyle brought in Hogannon and Luna her Doripper.

The six Minakai unleashed a slew of attacks determined to bring the escaped epic Minakai down, but Zeera brushed them all off with ease. Even the water elemental attacks did nothing to him, regardless of the elemental advantage they should have had. With a stomp of its foot, Zeera caused the entire forest to shake. A second stomp and dozens of stalagmites sprung up, wiping out Aurin, Luna and Kyle’s teams instantly.

“I don’t believe it,” muttered Aurin.

“What do we do?” asked Luna, frozen in terror.

“Keep fighting!” said Kyle, summoning Wingbloom and three of his Frogre. “We need to bring this titan down.”

Aurin summoned Spikruption, Dolissile and Gorunze while Luna summoned Frocean and Dogember. Zeera was no longer willing to entertain the pests and roared once more before stomping through the forest, making its way towards Hazelton.

“This isn’t a normal level of power for a tower guardian,” said Kyle in disbelief. “Whatever the Zodiac Squad did when they interfered has changed it somehow. It’s achieved a level of power far greater than any other. We’ve got our work cut out for us this time.”

“What are we waiting for?” asked Aurin, climbing on Dolissile’s back. “We need to warn the town and get them to ready their Minakai. He’ll be there in minutes.”

“Right,” said Luna.

“Wingbloom!” called Kyle and his bird-like plant sped towards him. He and Luna climbed on his back and they took off.

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Dolissile and Wingbloom pushed themselves and they raced past Zeera, desperately trying to head off the gargantuan Minakai. Why it had suddenly decided to ignore them all was something Aurin couldn’t say for sure, but he had a strong belief that he was looking to hunt down the Zodiac Squad who had dared to interfere with his summoning. He also had the sneaking suspicion that they wouldn’t dare come and meet their hunter.

Halfway to town, the trio ran into Gardner who was speeding towards the tower on his Vinewolf. “What is that thing?” he called to his friends with his eyes stretched wide in shock.

“Zeera,” Aurin called back. “It’s too powerful for us alone and it’s heading for town. Spread the word and get everyone ready to fight.”

“Right,” said Gardner, turning and heading back towards town.

The tamers charged into Hazelton and full speed, meeting many of their allies along the way, all showing up to defend the town. The many tamers stared at Zeera stomping down the hill from the tower, flattening the trees along the way. At Aurin, Luna, Kyle and Gardner’s word, the tamers summoned their own Minakai to defend the town that was going to be crushed under the massive feet of the tower guardian.

“We’re not stopping him reaching the town,” called Kyle, “but we need to get him somewhere more open.”

“Town square!” Aurin called back, praying that Zeera would follow them.

There were cries of terror as Zeera crushed the buildings and unlucky people within him without remorse. As Aurin, Luna and Kyle flew, they told the citizens to clear the streets and either get out of town or flee to the square where they would stand and fight.

By the time the group reached the square, Zeera had started wandering eastward; he had no interest in following them to the square. Each straggling Minakai that tried to fight the beast in the streets met a swift end. The Zeera was more than just a wild Minakai, it was an unstoppable force of nature.

“It hasn’t taken the bait,” said Aurin as Zeera continued to ignore the large gathering of tamers.

Luna looked despondent. “We need to get it here before the entire town is laid to waste. It’s the only way to surround it from all sides.”

“Easier said than done,” said Kyle as he and Luna climbed off Wingbloom.

Aurin used a summoning stone to bring forth Skrow, then hopped on his undead bird’s back. Luna and Kyle called after him as he soared into the air, making a direct line for the terrifying titan that continued to crush the town with each step.

“Go higher than it,” Aurin told Skrow, “then we aim for its eyes.”

Skrow sped upwards and Aurin clung tightly to his Minakai’s neck. Once Skrow was high enough, it flew towards Zeera at full speed. Drawing in a deep breath and batting his wings, Skrow flew true towards Zeera’s eye, aiming to do as much damage as he could with his sharp, white beak.

As Skrow drew close, Zeera’s eye was suddenly coated in a layer of thick sand. Skrow’s beak was wedged within the sand and Aurin almost lost his grip. He urged Skrow to pull away, which the black bird just managed to do just in time to dive out of the way of Zeera’s massive claw.

Zeera’s roar shook the foundations of the town and the desperately fighting Minakai by his feet were kicked aside. As Skrow backed away, it lunged for it and Aurin knew that his plan had worked. Skrow flew back towards the town square with Zeera now running after him. In the single minute Aurin had been away, the army of tamers in the town square had almost doubled.

He landed on the cobblestones, climbed off Skrow and stood back as a hundred Minakai spread across the square. Many others took to the skies and surrounded the Zeera, unwilling to surrender their town to the rampant destruction of the unyielding beast.

A small Chlost suddenly flew past Aurin, who spun around to see Hannah standing amongst the tamers.

“Luna!” called Hannah, seeing her friend. She then pushed through the crowd, making her way towards the group.

“Hannah?” asked Luna. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry,” she cried with tears running down her face. “I’m so, so sorry…”

“This isn’t the time for apologies,” said Luna. “Where are the rest of the Zodiac Squad? We need the cosmic Minakai to fight against Zeera!”

“I don’t know where they are. I swear, I don’t know.”

“This has gone way too far. You need to do something.”

“I know. This was never meant to happen. It wasn’t part of the plan!”

A cacophony of screams from the Minakai attacking Zeera erupted as it summoned a barrage of rocks that burst from his body and took out half of the attacking Minakai at once. The unconscious bodies of the monsters crashed into the buildings and onto the streets.

Seeing the body of a Panchi speeding towards them, Aurin dove at Luna and knocked her out of the way of the Minakai, but Hannah was stricken by the Panchi.

“No!” barked a voice as Hannah was flung across the square.

Virgo watched as his daughter hit the ground with a gruesome crack, his mouth agape. He sprinted over to her and cradled her limp body in his arms. “Please, no…no, not again…”

“Virgo,” said Aurin, helping Luna to her feet and then rushing over to the Zodiac elite. “Where are the cosmic Minakai?”

“Hannah,” said Virgo. “Hannah, please…”

“Virgo!”

“I don’t know…we…we made a mistake. This was not supposed to happen. The guardian has grown far too powerful. If there are more of them…what have we done? What have I done?”

Minutes ago, Aurin would have been relieved to hear Virgo’s regret, but seeing Hannah lying motionless in her father’s arms only filled him with sorrow. Horrific as the situation was, Aurin knew things would only get worse if he didn’t push Virgo to help.

“You need to bring Taurus, Leo and Sagittarius here,” said Aurin bluntly. “It’ll take the cosmic Minakai to bring down this Zeera. I know you want to protect your daughter, but the only way to have any chance of keeping her safe is to stop this monster.”

“I…yes…yes, you’re right,” said Virgo, wiping the tears from his eyes. “Please, take care of her until I get back.”

“I will,” said Aurin, summoning Leonite to stand guard over the unconscious Hannah. “Please, Virgo…hurry.”

Virgo nodded, set Hannah gently on the ground and stood up. He adjusted his mask and made to run, but he suddenly stopped before he had the chance to take more than a couple of steps.

“There will be no need for that,” said Taurus, striding through the square with his Ethruki by his side. “I am here.”