Petrus Alypius
The arena’s mana flow began showing erratic abnormalities, and the stabilizing pillars began wildly emitting black lightning. Thin cracks emerged on the pillars, after which it spread like wildfire across the pillars’ surfaces. Barely a moment after that, the pillars relinquished the spiderweb aesthetic they had adopted in favor of crumbling to the ground.
A shrill yet loud sound resembling that of shattering glass nearly deafened the entire coliseum, if the hands they held to their ears were any indication. The compressed pocket dimension fell apart, and my foolish son, the beast I gave him, and their opponent were all thrown out of it to the ground. Contestant Azoth stood up relatively quickly, and despite the sorry state of her armor, she seemed uninjured.
The same could not be said of either Alanus or his beast. Alanus boasted numerous light wounds, but his tamed monster suffered grievous wounds throughout its body, with a particularly vicious gash through its abdomen. Interestingly enough, that only made the beast seem all the more intimidating.
The referee beside me was at a loss, and so was the rest of the audience. No one expected the arena to give before either of the contestants did. I suppose this match will have to be rescheduled-
“Furialis, what are you waiting for?! Attack!” Alanus screamed.
But before either of them could move, their opponent was already making her move.
Putting her hands together, contestant Azoth stared at her foes and spoke solemnly.
“[Ensnaring Domain Field].”
Time slowed in the space between them as it warped, sucking in all three of them like three dye streams in a whirlpool, before sharply compressing itself to a condensed point. The referee’s jaw which was just being picked up from the floor fell back down.
What a bumbling fool.
“What are you waiting for? The spatial projection artifact is still functioning.” I said.
That jolted the referee into waking up.
“Yes, milord!” he said, quickly connecting the device to the spatial field the contestant created.
While the safety mechanisms of the original arena were no longer present, the show must go on, and I have a wager to see to the end.
“Bread and circuses, indeed.” I chuckled, as the projection of the strange space emerged.
***
Alanus, Furialis, and I manifested within my domain field. Unlike the locations available to other domain fields and arenas, this one had a more ‘extreme’ theme to it. The three of us were floating in the vast, emptiness of space, where not even air existed. All around us, six spheres floated silently. Their size and distance to us unknown, yet the power within tangible to any with a form of mana perception.
A sphere of pure, unadulterated, arcane mana.
A sphere of fierce tempest winds spinning violently in place.
A sphere of tranquil waters.
A sphere of ever-burning flames.
A sphere of solid earth.
And a sphere of a dark orb bending light itself.
These celestial bodies, representing each of the attributes, stood too distant to touch yet too close to ignore. Alanus was busy clutching at his throat, while Furialis could do nothing but struggle in vain in an attempt to reorient itself. I drew in a deep breath, and wind flew from the distant sphere of tempest winds to fill my lungs in a near instant.
This was my world, and they were intruders.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
Judging by the drain on my mana, I was only going to be able to maintain this domain field for less than a minute, but it was going to be enough.
I triggered my shapeshifting racial trait, taking on my true, quadrupedal dragon form – the form of the Sorcery Dragon. My torn armor struggled to adapt to my size, but it was of little consequence; I had long outgrown it, and it was time to get one that suited me better.
Even as he choked, Alanus’s eyes widened in shock. That shock warped into horror as he realized that mana from the arcane sphere rushed into my mana core before manifesting into my dragon breath.
It was time to respond to Furialis’s breath attack in kind.
A silent, overwhelming stream of arcane mana emerged from my throat, rushing like a violent torrent in the silent depths of space and devouring both Furialis and Alanus whole.
***
I released my domain field, and both Furialis and Alanus fell to the ground like ragdolls. Although my arcane dragon breath didn’t deal direct damage to their HP, I completely washed away all the mana within their bodies and overloaded their mana cores. For a few hours, neither of them will be able to regenerate any mana.
The fight was over.
I took slow measured steps towards both of them until I towered over their heads, despite Furialis being larger than me in size. I spread my wings and moved my growling maw mere inches from Alanus’s face. Then I roared.
“ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”
Alanus screamed in terror, and a sulfuric smell emerged from his armored leggings.
“I yield, I yield!” he shrieked.
My roar slowed down as Alanus trembled before me. I snorted, making the boy flinch, before I turned away and triggered my shapeshift ability. My body – and my armor – began morphing back into my human form, and I slowly walked towards the referee. Both the referee and the entirety of the coliseum were stunned into silence, but the man standing next to the former had a thin smile behind his analytical eyes.
Raising an eyebrow at the unexpected presence of the Alypius patriarch, I ignored him momentarily as I addressed the referee.
“Well, are you going to announce the result of the match?”
The man flinched, then he raised his arm my way.
“V-Victory to Kiara Azoth!”
Instead of cheering, the crowd spoke to their neighbors. Confusion, awe, and shock were rolling off them in waves, but all of them paled to the undercurrent of fear weighing on the coliseum’s atmosphere.
Too tired to care about being at the center of that storm, I turned to the Alypius patriarch.
“I’ve won our wager, old man.” I said.
The man nodded.
“Indeed, you have. And I have no intention of denying you your reward.” He said.
The man moved past me and approached Alanus, who was still shaking on the sands of the grounds.
“Alanus Alypius.” He said in a booming voice, attracting the attention of the coliseum.
“You broke the tournament’s rules by using a rank S tamed beast. You endangered the public by cultivating the same beast into a forbidden rarity, demon lord seed without permission from your House, the Senate, or the Consul. You undermined the unifying purpose of the Iron Fist Tournament by antagonizing a guest representing a foreign nation. You risked provoking a dragon’s wrath upon the entire Republic.”
Like the head of a courtroom reading a list of convictions, the Alypius Patriarch’s tone was solemn and delivered judgement.
“For gross negligence to the Latium Republic’s national interests as a nobleman, and for bringing shame upon House Alypius’s reputation, you are hereby disowned and banished from House Alypius, and all your privileges and responsibilities as a noble are forfeit.”
A few members of the audience gasped, as Alanus himself stared at his own father with glazed-over eyes. A magic circle emerged from Alanus’s heart and shattered, sending the battered young man writhing in pain on the sand. The circle above Furialis’s head emerged, driving the beast to growl in pain as well, before it, too, shattered.
Despite being in a sorry state, Furialis stood up and roared, surprising everyone in the coliseum. It then turned around and glared at its most hated enemy – Alanus himself. Furialis lunged at its former master and tore him to shreds, whose screams were cut short by the razor-sharp claws ripping through his throat.
Some members of the crowd screamed in horror, but most cheered in a rabid frenzy. The Alypius patriarch made no move to save his son, preferring to look dispassionately at his gruesome death.
Before Furialis could turn on anyone else, a massive pulse of mana emerged from its core, and a furious torrent of energy emerged from the beast, shaking the very earth beneath us. With its freedom taken from Alanus, the rank S beast was finally transforming into a True Demon Lord, and I was too exhausted to stop it.
Just as quickly as the thought appeared in my mind, something slammed into Furialis with great force, sending piles of sand flying elsewhere.
A young man in extravagant noble armor emerged with a boot over Furialis’s maw, pinning the beast to the ground. Raising a hand towards Furialis’s head, a red magic circle re-emerged on its forehead, shackling the furious beast once more and halting its transformation into a True Demon Lord.
He wasn’t the only one to make an appearance, though.
Tempest gales roared, and a wind-clad warrior descended between me and the newcomer. Major Amset stood with her back towards me. Despite not being able to see her expression, I felt a deep fury conjuring up a storm within her.
The man whisked away Furialis and turned to face the major.
“Major Akila Amset. I believe I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you yet, though I regret the circumstances of our first meeting.”
Whatever the major was thinking, she made no move to hide her anger.
“Forgive my candor, Lord Octavius,” She said, “but any pleasantries will have to wait. As the representative of Tamery, I have answers to demand of you.”