The Stadium
Arkaz watches as bubbles begin to rise from the lava, and without taking his eyes off of the volcano’s crater, he asks his contracted partner, “Just what did you put in there anyways?”
King Oberon stops commentating for a moment with a glance at his contracted demon before focusing on the volcano’s crater himself. And after a few seconds of not saying anything, he answers, “Let’s just say your granddaughter will get a kick out of this.”
The Demon King narrows his eyes at the Fae King, only for the Fae King to add, “She will also need this to ascend. A gift from my mother.”
That statement has Arkaz’s eyes widening in shock.
She what?! Wait, does that mean-
His thoughts are interrupted when the lava begins bubbling more and more, leading the spectating crowd to go absolutely wild. Meanwhile all of the monsters spread across the arena itself appear to grow agitated, following which they quickly move away from the volcano.
As if they’re all afraid.
Including the level two thousand two hundred monsters.
And for something to frighten a monster at that level, there’s no way Arkaz would mistake it for anything else.
A loud roar echoes from the volcano. One that shakes the very reality they’re in.
“Watch out for this one,” King Oberon says, sounding slightly wary himself. “Mother barely caught it before stuffing it in here herself. Don’t want it breaking out of the reality within the arena and attacking the crowd.”
The Demon King sends his contracted partner a shocked look as he shouts, “Are you mad?! You’re making her fight it alone?!”
Oberon shrugs his draconic shoulders, shaking his wings up and down. “Well, yeah. No one else would survive. And it’ll be let loose by the System after this tournament anyways, with no one to stop it other than her.”
As if the battle was scripted somehow, large pillars of lava begin to shoot up out of the ground, soon blocking off the territory of the volcano from the other four competitors. Including Amelia, who was nearing the territory herself but now has no way through.
Even when she tries using her null magic to break her way through, nothing results from it.
Because the magic creating the barrier of molten lava pillars is far stronger than her.
Arkaz almost rushes forwards to stop this now, but he quickly realizes that he can’t. And he’s not the only one, as he sees his son trying to do the same.
Neither of them can enter the reality without the original owner’s permission.
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And that owner is not King Oberon.
“Oberon, explain,” Arkaz growls out to his contracted fae. “Is she really dead?”
King Oberon frowns for a second before answering, “Yes, mother is dead. But she did leave her will in the System until her task is complete.” He focuses on the volcano’s crater again that is shaking so badly that Scarlet had to fly up into the air. “Her task to feed a perfect mana core to your granddaughter.”
Arkaz’s eyes narrow, rage filling his mind for a split second until he quickly calms down again.
The only way for a being to reach Class VI is through their catalyst after reaching the cap of the Class, just like every other Class. But something no one else other than Arkaz and his contracted fae know is that there is another catalyst other than Class V Fracture Cores.
“With the peace between the humans and the demons attained, the Fractures will slowly come to a stop,” King Oberon explains. “This means that there will never be enough cores for a catalyst to reach Class VI.” His eyes never leave the crater as he talks. “Mother knew this, so she went and found a catalyst herself. A creature living on its own in the core of a secluded planet thousands of light years away.”
A creature Arkaz knows well as the creature who almost killed him during his first outing into the universe after he reached level 2500. Before he had many of his mythic skills and Titles.
Back when he was weaker.
“Oh, don’t worry, it’s not the same one you fought,” King Oberon adds, hearing his contracted partner’s thoughts. “This one is a hatchling she found before her death and sealed away the moment it reached adulthood.”
That makes Arkaz calm down a little as he turns back to the arena again.
None of the viewers have any idea of what’s going on, instead just cheering at the incredible sight of the lava within the volcano suddenly erupting and spraying over the entire area within the lava pillars.
Their cheering vanishes entirely when they see the monster that is left behind after the eruption.
The creature is massive, standing at over two dozen meters in height, and it has a long body, with two large wings and glowing crimson eyes. Its scales are pitch black and its mouth filled with razor sharp teeth, occasionally emitting pitch black flames through them. Clearly recognizable as hellfire to the viewers.
“An ultimate species amongst those born within the universe,” King Oberon continues, his voice now echoing once again through the entire stadium. “A creature captured by Queen Titania before her death and sealed away for this very competition. But one forever locked from reaching Class VI due to some inherent limitations that even the universe itself can’t remove.”
The massive creature opens and closes its mouth while rising to its full height and spreading its two massive, draconic wings.
“A dragon,” King Oberon finishes with glee in his eyes. Meanwhile the smoke and steam from the eruption finally begins to clear to reveal Scarlet floating in the air without any damage to her.
Then the massive dragon and young woman simple stare at each other, the two’s gazes locked in place.
And the moment the audience attempts to identify the beast, screams begin to fill the stadium. Screams of fear.
Arkaz does the same, making his eyes narrow when he sees the result.
<-[Dragon – Level 2500]->
“Scarlet!” Two voices scream out at the same time. One from within the arena and one outside of it.
Both from Scarlet’s biological parents.
Meanwhile another pair of voices are drowned out within the crowd from Scarlet’s adopted parents.
Lastly, Arkaz just grits his teeth, clearly understanding that no one is able to break into the arena to do anything.
“It’s all up to your granddaughter,” King Oberon says amidst the newly found silence of the stadium. “No one can interfere now.”
Arkaz understands that perfectly well. No one can break past the reality of the arena other than potentially his granddaughter and the Red Plague.
So the battle between the Apex Predator of the universe and the Apex Predator of Earth is about to begin.