The meeting room where the four Valley Kingdom Captains had now turned into a battlefield. The ones who occupied the space were—Captain Jecht of the Silver Shark Knights, Captain Tubolt of the Purple Panther Knights, and Syemore, the Blue Phoenix Knights Captain—who had currently become an alleged criminal and now enemy of the Valley Kingdom.
At this time, Jecht had transformed fully into his Primal state. His Primal type was of ancient typing—a Megalodon Land Shark, A.K.A. an Otodus in this world. And he stood meters high above both Tubolt and Syemore even as he was crouched on all fours. He snarled steam onto the battlegrounds, emitting a humid mist from his nostrils and gills that shrouded them, hovering over their feet.
In the air around him, Jecht summoned orbs of water that condensed and shaped into a volley of shark missiles. All of them floating and aimed right at Syemore from all around.
"Primal Magic: Hydro Shark Missile Barrage!"
As Syemore still hung his arms and head down to the ground, he slowly looked up to the fusillade of shark missiles that surrounded him. His calm facade was finally gone, revealing his true unhinged nature as he began to laugh sinisterly, "Go ahead and try. You will see why only I was sent to infiltrate the Valley!"
Syemore looked up, and his eyes glowed their bloody crimson hue. One by one, the shark missiles descended upon him, causing loud crashes from the impacts.
Crash! Crash! CRASH!!
The missiles were never-ending. As one shark missile launched, another in its place formed and shot down onto the center where Syemore stood. Due to the humidity caused by Jecht's steam, the air was thick with water, allowing him to continuously cast this spell multiple times with just one incantation.
Tubolt merely stood with his hands over his face, protecting himself from the intensity of the barrage. Each crash caused blasts of wind onto him one after the other.
Only steam clouds were left now, protruding out from where Syemore was.
Jecht's primal eyes watched as he echoed in his monstrous voice, "Come forth, Syemore… Your end is near. Show me your mangled self. You have not the strength to withstand that attack without damage, not with your magic, at least."
Silence was the only reply he had gotten—the steam clearing and joining the rest of the steam on the ground, remaining at their feet.
Jecht's eyes widened as the steam settled. His senses, as a Primal user—much like Havoc, were all heightened. So much more in their Primal forms than in their normal human forms. So even before the steam completely dissipated, he had already sensed something sinister behind them where he had thought he had annihilated Syemore.
From within the steam cloud, a cocoon of sorts had taken the space that Syemore had occupied. It looked like two giant purple membranous wings wrapped around each other. The texture, like that of stone, was obviously harder than it looked.
"What is this? I sense something completely different now… This magic… it can't be," his large eyes shuttered at the thought. He knew this ability to belong to only one person, and one person only. A knight of the Valley. A captain…
An ominous voice echoed from within the cocoon-like wings, clear as day. The sound was almost ethereal. "You seem to be conflicted, Captain Jecht. Is something the matter?"
"No… This magic belongs to—"
"Precisely," the voice echoed back to him.
Right then, the wings disengaged from their cocoon state and revealed a dark purple and demonic figure from within. Horns had emerged from his head—boisterous and proud as it curved in and shot out. His robes, which rashly hung on, draped him from the sides of his arms from the bottom torso down, revealing his pristine figure underneath—which was now all dark purple as well. Two distinct faces showed on his left and right chest, appearing as if they were sleeping. They both had a lighter skin tone than the dark purple he now displayed.
His eyes glowed a hellish blood red as it seeped out like trails of crimson smoke.
"Spirit Conjuring Magic: Fallen Angel."
With shock and fear, even in his intimidating beast form, Jecht was taken aback at the sight and the incantation Syemore had just chanted.
"Captain Ark of the Crimson Dragon Knights," Jecht uttered silently.
An evil smile shadowed from Syemore's demonic form. His face looked as if it could barely contain the grin that whipped across his face. It was sinister, wicked, and malicious—all at the same time.
"Yes. That it is." Syemore raised his purple demonic hand, revealing mangled fingers with fingernails that had grown sharp and black. In between them was a small orb, and within the orb… "This is Captain Ark's magic, though… slightly enhanced," he said.
"What did you do, Syemore!?" Jecht replied with bellowing anger.
Syemore had calmed his smile for a moment, intentionally taking his time before speaking, "You did not believe I was sent here with merely Compression magic alone, did you?" he chuckled for a moment, then began to stretch his wings, "You see, I am also a master of the Forbidden Arts…" that smile, wicked once more, found itself in Jecht's direction, "One can do many things with Forbidden magic. For instance, being able to use other's abilities as your own—one of its many attributes… Being able to extract magic and place it onto objects, people…" he said as he thought of the large six armed mech monster that used his Compression magic, capturing Greed and the others in the hourglass; even when Terek had infused his puppet figures with orbs containing the deceased captains and previous Arcane King of the Valley. He even thought of the orb Henza had used to cast Forbidden Bonding magic with, turning himself into that very demon—the same one who killed his brother in the past. All this was his doing. And now this was a demonstration of power.
Syemore went on, "Now, if only I had these orbs ready when first attempting to capture the Black Wolves Captain and his officers after the Kingdom's Guild Meeting… The hourglass was an outdated item, but you cannot rush production. The only downside to Forbidden magic is that it takes time until it is ready to use—four months to be exact for some spells, creation and mass production of magic items, etc… But once it's ready, one can use it to his heart's content."
Jecht was visibly angry, grinding his monstrous shark teeth as Syemore spoke.
"What better way to wait than to get a whole Kingdom to trust you, unknowing that they will all soon belong to the Mountain… 'Sub-Kingdom'… Ha! More like glorified slaves. That's how the Mountain put it at least."
Jecht could not contain his anger any longer. "You make me sick… How dare you dabble in the Forbidden Arts and continue to abuse the souls and magic of others." Shadows formed over his large shark face, the natural lights from above still glowing softly onto them, uncaring of the dire situation that beheld below in this room. "And to think, we had welcomed you—treated you as our own—only for you to stab us in the back. This kind of act is unforgivable. I, Jecht, on behalf of Sylva and the rest whom you have taken, and as a knight of the Valley Kingdom… I will sentence you here and now for those who have fallen!"
As he said this, a multitude of Hydro Shark Missiles formed all around from behind Jecht, in his Otodus form. He held his monstrous head up high and raised his muscular beast arms from the ground, positioning them to throw forward and unleash the insane barrage of shark missiles once again onto Syemore.
"Hold on, Jecht! You will destroy this whole castle if you do that!" Tubolt shouted from the sidelines.
Looking slightly over to him, Jecht replied with a beast-like echo, "Be as it may, I cannot let this traitor continue to roam freely as he is. I will take full responsibility for my actions afterward. Even if it is to be banished from the Valley, I will hold my head high, knowing I did everything in my power to fight for this Kingdom. I am ready to accept the consequences of my actions."
Tubolt listened hesitantly. His hair and one dangling earring fluttered from the condensed mana aura rising like a soft breeze from both monsters in front of him.
"If you truly care for this Kingdom as you say, then choose now and fight with—" Before Jecht could finish speaking, he was stopped completely by multiple large chains that shot out from the shadows and ethers all around him…
"Measuring Magic: Prometheus Bound."
The chains constricted his body, limbs, and his large neck. The thick chains were like a wide net as each intertwined within itself, stretching to meet the size of Jecht's enormous Primal form. He could not move an inch…
"Fuck… Even Alphonzo's magic…" he said as he struggled within it.
"'Ready to accept the consequences of your actions,' you say? Well, that's good to know. That will make putting you down that much easier… because you have already accepted your fate." Syemore hauntingly said as he strolled casually closer to Jecht, who was immobilized. The Hydro Shark Missiles that he had resummoned were dissolving one after the other—his Otodus form and his magic fading.
When Syemore finally stopped his casual pace, he met Jecht eye to eye, right at the same time he had fully reverted back to his human form.
"An inspirational speech, Captain, but against true power, you are but a spec of dust… Any last words before you become part of my collection?"
From the tight bind of the thick chains, Jecht's mana and strength were completely and utterly leaving him dry. But as strained as he was, he staggered his gaze to Syemore and spat on the ground in front of him.
Syemore didn't flinch as he did so, continuing to stare unwaveringly at Jecht.
"You will not… win… The Valley… The Valley will win." Jecht's last words before passing out completely from Prometheus Bound. Syemore's calm gaze slowly turned into a dissatisfied glare at his words. Looking down at Jecht, who was now out cold.
"I'm really starting to hate hearing that from all of you…"
With one swift motion, he whipped his demonic hand to the side of Jecht's head, vanishing him completely from within Prometheus' chains. An orb formed, resting on his palm, the Silver Shark Captain sleeping within it.
Not making eye contact with him, Syemore spoke aloud to Tubolt, who was still watching from the sidelines this whole time, appearing conflicted.
"So, after witnessing the power I hold, whose side do you choose, Captain Tubolt? The winning or the losing side? I urge you to choose carefully." He spoke with deep seriousness. His new form made his words that much heavier onto him.
Tubolt's eyes and fingers trembled. Sweat formed from his neck as he witnessed two heads from two allied Guilds get effortlessly chopped off right in front of him. He was the only one left to stand against this horror of an enemy they had so willingly let into their Kingdom. Right now, it was the answer to this question that hung the balance of the whole Valley on his shoulders. It was all up to him… or so he thought…
"Shouldn't the choice be obvious?" a male's voice echoed from the ethers of the rummaged, empty space—coming from neither Syemore nor Tubolt.
Tubolt's head whipped as he turned to face the large double doors that they had entered from earlier. When it opened, instead of the grand hallway behind it, it was but a sparkly pink space on the other side. Two figures had jumped through and entered the room. One female in gold and white and a male in black and dark gray with a distinct wolf logo on the back of his jacket…
"Filthy dog?" Tubolt spouted in utter disbelief at the arrival of Belle and—the one whom he had despised, the one whom he had tried to rid the Valley of—Greed before them.
***
Both Belle and I crashed into this wide-open room that had once been the Kingdom's Guild Meeting room a few days ago. Jumping through the entry double doors, I crouched and squatted down with my left fist to the ground and dangling cross earrings clinking from the motion. My right arm raised to the side of my head, propping an enormous claymore, larger than Ryo's blades, resting on my back. It was a shiny black metal that, if light touched, it only reflected a dark gray. The hilt was that of worn bandages that wrapped around it endlessly and had the ends draped down. And the butt of the hilt had a short chain that looked like it was ripped off, also dangling from the end of it.
To my right, Belle, the complete opposite of the demeanor that I forced into this place, gently landed a little behind and just next to me after she, too, had jumped from the entry double doors. Her rose-colored bare feet touched the ground daintily as her sparkling pink toenails glinted from the faint lights above, even from the shadows. Her attire exposed almost her entire body as the clothes she wore only slightly covered her breasts and her private area below. Decorated in rose gold jewelry, she chimed as she made even the slightest movement. The same glittered fingernails flickered, too, as her slender arms finally rested next to her in an angelic manner.
Her platinum white hair flowed in the air, still, as she graced herself in. And her deep blue eyes, like the sky, even in the faint shadows where we were, looked as if they were beacons in the dark. She was like an angel shrouded in darkness that even darkness could not touch. And me, the wolf spawned from that same darkness by her side in contrast to her.
When Syemore saw us, his expression changed completely. He stared at us with an amused and twisted smile as he said,
"Well, if it isn't the princess of the Valley herself and the mangey mutt captain of the Black Wolves. How very kind of you to join us."