"…" Bowlen, the Human Monarch, had a bleak expression.
"What's wrong?" Rain, the Angel Monarch, was quite worried.
Bowlen along with the rest of the Killers' Arena's forces were heading towards Ram. They had Bowlen, who had the Law of Awareness, stay on the lookout.
"I didn't want to say anything because I wasn't sure, but…" Bowlen grit his teeth.
"Speak, boy!!" Tear, the Demon Elder, was nervous. Currently, Ram was supposed to be fighting four Law-rankers, two of which were their top three.
"I've been searching for the first group for a few hours now…only Jefiri and Nightmare are alive." Bowlen gulped.
"…" Tear was shocked. "Rush there!!!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" Neo roared as he followed his master.
All other Law-rankers followed behind her. They were already close, but they suddenly felt an incredible feeling of death approaching.
"What the hell IS that!?!" Faust trembled in fear.
Danilo was rapidly approaching by killing the space between himself and the farthest point of his vision.
Blink of Death!!
"W-Who are you?!" Denise glared at the mysterious Law-ranker.
"Move!" Danilo didn't give them a second to think as he blitzed past all of them.
He touched Jennifer, Legirin, and Rain with his Law of Death.
"What the hell?!" Rain quickly chopped off her arm before the Law of Death spread through her body.
All three Law-rankers lost a limb from that simple attack. They quickly regrew their limbs using an incredible amount of Life Energy. This fight was going to be costly! They might not be able to even reach Jefiri!
Contrary to their belief, Danilo simply ignored their groups. He knew of something that no one had accounted for. Within two days' time, hundreds of thousands of Beasts were going to rush Ram's position!
'I need to get there quickly!! Nightmare was around this area if I remember correctly, if he's there, I need to find him and get the hell out here!!' Danilo was currently losing his cool. Even he would struggle when surrounded by twenty Law-rankers and a literal army of Beasts!
'Please! Just leave the arena already!' Danilo prayed as he dashed towards the source of this chaos, General Ram Walter.
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"Seems like it's our victory…" Ram muttered as she sensed the familiar Law of Death approaching rapidly.
"You can already feel him approaching? You really deserve the title of 'General'!" Nightmare laughed.
"He's not exactly hiding himself." Ram commented as she chopped off Jefiri's arms for the 200th time. "I'm also familiar with his Law since one of the other Generals uses the Law of Death."
"I can't wait to meet him." Nightmare commented as he chuckled.
"What makes you so sure you will?" Ram asked.
"Well, Seraphina promised us that she'll buy the Killers' Arena when she leaves." Nightmare chuckled.
"Yeah, right." Ram scoffed. "The Killers' Arena is one of the most powerful Arenas in the entire Exodia. Not even I can buy it."
"Did you learn a Lord-rank Skill?" Nightmare smirked.
"…Fair enough." Ram sighed. 'It all depends on how much EPs she gets from this Skill.'
"NIGHTMARE!!!" Nightmare heard a roar from the distance.
"We're teaming with her!!" Nightmare quickly said before a fight broke out.
"We need to run! Now!!" Danilo was huffing uncontrollably.
"What are you talking about? With you and General Ram, none of the Monarchs stand a chance!" Nightmare was taken aback.
"An army of Beasts is coming here with over fifteen Law-rankers, forty Apex-rankers, and two hundred Founder-rankers!! They also have hundreds of thousands of Intermediate-rank and above Beasts!!" Danilo shook his partner by the shoulders. "The Beast are going all out!!!"
"The puppies want to dance too?" Ram said as she pierced Jefiri's chest and threw him over to Danilo.
Danilo panicked as he quickly attacked with his Law of Death, killing the great man that now resembled a torn rag.
"That's much better." Ram sighed as she cracked her neck.
"General Walter I presume?" Danilo looked at her with a semblance of fear in his eyes.
"I prefer General Ram." Ram said as she checked her two shortswords for chinks.
"Excuse me, but as you've heard, we're in unbelievable peril. I apologize, but my partner and I will have to excuse ourselves." Danilo bowed.
"I have nothing more to ask of you. You've taken care of the Law of Life Law-ranker, what more could I ask for?" Ram smiled.
"I see." Danilo nodded. "We hope you survive. Leave now if you can."
"I need to find Seraphina." Ram sheathed her shortswords and sat down. She was regathering her Life Energy. She quickly put a bright red pill in her mouth.
Crack.
The moment she cracked it, large amounts of Life Energy was released into the surroundings. She absorbed it as fast as she could.
"The Monarchs are coming soon." Danilo mentioned as he started flying in the opposite direction.
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"We're closing in." Ichabod said with seriousness.
"I hope we get there in time." Phina's voice sounded out from the clouds as a beam of light was refracting through them.
"We've got this." Pida jumped out from shadow to shadow.
"There!!" Phina suddenly formed from a beam of light. She pointed downwards. She spotted the Monarchs below them. She took off her Black Jade mask, turning her dark hair into a bright fiery red.
It was at this moment. This moment of complete stillness when Bowlen locked eyes with her.
"SERAPHINA ENDER!!!!" Bowlen roared to his group.
"I came to talk." Phina dropped to the ground.
"..." Tear, the current leader of the Monarchs faction, walked forward. "Are you with us? Or against us?"
"I want to propose a deal." Phina said with confidence.
"Make it quick." Tear was anxious. Any second now, their forces might fall apart. If they lost Jefiri, then fighting her was a lost cause.
"Let General Walter go." Phina said with utmost seriousness.
"..." Tear's eye twitched.
"If you let her go, I can ask for her advice on how to leave this arena." Phina said. Faust immediately wanted to cut her off, but she continued. "When I leave the arena, I will buy it and everyone here will be free to leave."
"!!!"
"!!!"
"!!!"
Every single one of the Monarchs was shocked.
"What proof do we have of your truthfulness!?" Denise was on edge.
"My best chance was to pretend to be with you and get as close to General Walter as possible then backstab you." Phina explained. "Although you outnumber us, the surprise attack would take at least four of you down. Against the three of you left, I'm pretty sure that a General of the Exodia and one Law-ranker can take care of you."
"That's not enough." Neo glared.
"If I am unable to fulfill the condition in a year, you may take my life." Phina said resolutely.
"..." Pida simply grit his teeth. 'What a dumb gamble!!'
"..." Tear was conflicted. She turned to the rest of her group. She was shocked to see Rain. She was...crying.
Sob. Sob.
"Will you...sob...really save us?" Rain cried like a child looking for its mother. "I'm done...I did everything I can! I killed Beasts!! I killed Humanoids!! I killed whoever threatened our way of life, yet nothing worked!! We're still in this fucking Arena!!! Stuck with all these fucking Beasts!!!!"
"I promise. It will be over soon." Phina walked up to her.
"..."
"..."
"..."
All the Monarchs and Elders were silent. It was true. They had put their hope in forming factions to survive the Beasts. They had put their hope in defining clear territories to reduce friction and battle among the Humanoids. They had put their hope in finding Phina to leave the Arena. They had put their hope in working together when Mysie threatened to kill them.
For one last time, they wanted to hope.
"I'm in." Neo walked forward.
"I'm in too." Tear sighed.
"I'm so tired." Jennifer sighed.
"..." Faust looked at Denise, then nodded. "We'll go along with your plan."
"I agree." Bowlen sighed.
"Let's go before General Walter kills them all!" Phina turned into a beam of light and dashed off towards General Walter's position.
After around ten minutes, Phina arrived first.
She looked at General Walter as all kinds of emotions swelled up. "General Walt-"
"!!!"
However, she was shocked to see her simply siting there.
"Where...are the others?" Phina asked.
"Seraphina!" General Walter stood up. "If you're talking about those Law-rankers, I vaporized their corpses. Can't be too careful."
"..." Phina felt a new feeling towards General Walter. Before, she felt admiration and respect towards her. Now? Absolute terror. "W-Well...a lot happened! I teamed up with some people, and we figured out a deal!"
"Are you sure?" General Walter raised an eyebrow. "What about the giant army rushing towards me?"
"Calling seven Law-rankers an army is a little excessive no?" Phina chuckled slightly.
"Some guy called Danilo said that a giant army numbering over hundreds of thousands was going to come at me in two days' time." General Walter said. "Beasts, he said."
Phina felt a chill go down her spine.
Whoosh!!
"Finally caught up!" Pida sighed as he popped out of a shadow. He and Phina were the two fastest among their group.
"Interesting..." General Walter smiled.
"Oh...uhm...p-pleasure to meet you." Pida bowed.
"Seraphina. How many EPs will you get when you learn Bow before the Lord?" General Walter asked.
"You already know the plan?" Pida was taken aback.
"How many?" General Walter repeated with a harsher tone.
"...RIGHT!!! You can check right?!" Phina was ecstatic. Through General Walter, she could find out how much it takes to buy the Killers' Arena!
"She'll get three million." Pida replied.
"System, how much does the Killers' Arena cost?" General Ram called out.
"4,800,000 Exodia Points."
The system's voice could only be heard by General Walter. She sighed, glanced at Pida, then sighed again. "You can afford it, but are you sure you want to waste so many EPs on an Arena? You could start up a literal Army with that kind of funding."
"I do." Phina nodded seriously.
"Fine." Ram sighed as she smiled. "Well, we have two days. What are you going to do?"
"I'm close to the Apex-rank. I have a feeling that if I can breakthrough to the Apex-rank, I'll be able to master Bow before the Lord." Phina explained. "It's just that I don't know what I'm missing..."
"..." Ram grit her teeth. 'It's a gamble...I really shouldn't...'
"Hey, Seraphina." Ram called out.
"Hm?" Phina tilted her head in response.
"Let's go hunt some Beasts." Ram smirked nervously.
"!!!" Phina was shocked.
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"Father!! This is insanity!! We'll be wiped out by the fortress!" a young wolf Beast walked up to a bigger one.
"Lario, they are distracted right now. We can break through their defenses and push forward towards the General." the leader of the Beasts, Sunta, spoke with a grim tone. "We're also prisoners in this Arena. If the General dies, we will also be freed."
"B-Bu-"
"Enough!" Sunta cut off his son. "We move in!"
"Hasten your march!!" Sunta roared to his army of over two hundred thousand Beasts.
"YES, SIR!" a loud roar shook the ground.
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"I see..." Tear was nervous as she stood in front of Ram.
"That's the plan. I'll take Seraphina to go hunt the Beast army. Hopefully, she breaks through during the fight. If she doesn't, she and I will both die and you'll be free." Ram explained.
"..." Pida was conflicted. "I'm coming too."
"No." Ram said. "There's no need to put more lives on the line than needed. If she breaks through and masters Bow before the Lord, the Beast army is done for."
"Is it enough?" Rain was worried. She would prefer that they have freedom in their own homes rather than be kicked out into a 'free' world.
"Lord-rank Skills are beyond your imagination." Ram smirked. "Now...it's do or die."
"Let's go." Phina breathed deeply. 'If I can do this, all the problems will finish. I'll finally be able to relax.'