Arc 2: The Valley Tournament
Part 4: Declaration of War
When I heard his name and his voice, I froze. I didn't see this coming.
And then suddenly the exits of the place all shut one after another. Black bars shot out from the halls as they pierced through some of Daz's mages there with us, mutilating them.
Cries of agony sounded off left and right as blood splattered on Belle's face. Two of the mages near her were dismembered by the black bars. One of their heads had been penetrated through, and his eyes rolled back into his head.
She didn't scream, but her eyes trembled at the suddenness of it.
"Belle!" I yelled as I saw her, as my consciousness came rushing back, grabbing the back of her head and holding it to my chest.
Screams and shouts of distress purged our ears as the other mages by the exits all tore apart.
"What the hell is going on!?" Snow yelled as my eyes had barely adjusted to the darkness.
"Gather at the center!" Ryo shouted.
When we met, I only counted: Ryo, Snow, Rex, Nyx—who held Nash and Jo somehow with his tiny body, four of Daz's mages, Belle, and myself…
"Where's Rok?" I asked.
No answer for a moment, but then one of the mages spoke, "I-I saw him turn to sand past the black bars."
"What? Did he escape without us? Is he responsible!?" Rex said frantically.
"Let's not jump to conclusions. He may have just found an opening and chose to run when he saw the chance." Ryo replied.
"Some Head Guard, by the way." Snow scoffed.
"That's not important right now. We need to find out what's going on." I said, focusing back on the single projection screen that appeared that revealed a person in a black cloak. He had an overly wide, black-brimmed hat that hung multiple dangling silver crosses along the edges, trailing all around it. He had on what looked like black chainmail that was worn like a hood with a pitch-black veil over his face. And there was a glowing cross embossed visibly at its center.
My eyes trembled at the sight of him. Though his face was covered, it was truly him—it truly was truly Pride. And the last thing I saw before I died.
"If I may have everyone's attention, I do have a quick announcement to make." His voice sounded altered, like a low and a high octave simultaneously.
Back in the ring, he stood at its center as dark clouds started to form over the high sun that once shone so brightly over the colosseum. Behind the clouds, it appeared like a random storm was brewing, but the colors were all red and orange mixed in an ominous shade of dark gray.
The cloaked figure went on, "As some of you may know, there have been disappearances amongst the crowd and in the Warriors' Keep… I'm here to save you all the trouble and let you know that it was all my doing."
As he said this, I barely noticed that he had been holding on to something in his right hand. At the end of the grip of his black glove, there was what looked like a head… it was the announcer's…
When he let go of it, he let it roll, blood trailing as it slowed down and came to a stop, facing upward. The crowd screamed and panicked at the sight, his words, and lastly the decapitated announcer as his eyes had been rolled up to the back of his skull, and without the rest of him at the center of the colosseum.
Hordes of people jumped to their feet, running for the exits. They flooded the walkways as they fled, but among them, creatures of all kinds had appeared from out of portals. A plethora of mixed creatures that none had ever seen. Animals usually were mixed with other species, but these… these were animals and human mixes. Humanoid beasts…
As the creatures emerged, they slaughtered groups of people who were trying to escape. They screamed in terror at it all. And then amidst the chaos, that Pride spoke again, "It is rude to distract when one is speaking, no?"
The creatures all around the colosseum stopped attacking suddenly. The crowds backed away as they realized they would only attack them if they tried to flee.
"Now, as I was saying—"
Before Pride could get in another word, Arcane King Daz shot from his podium with a massive swing down with the Arc Slayer.
When the strike landed, Pride blocked it with his mere forearm.
"Like leader, like people—it would seem…" he said to Daz as he witnessed his gray eyes seething with barely contained rage. "Nice to see you too, Daz."
"The feeling is not mutual," Daz replied as he recoiled the Arc Slayer and summoned another one from the ethers, swinging again at Pride from the air, and then again, and again in a miniseries of close combat.
Right then, sand had emerged from the stones below and began flooding the immediate area. From it, Rok had appeared and rushed Pride as well.
Next, from Pride's blind spot, Lance had appeared after running back from the hallway he was previously heading in before all the commotion occurred.
He rushed Pride as well as they all chanted simultaneously,
"Bastion Magic—"
"Sand Creation Magic—"
"Nullifying Magic—"
Pride, though one could not see his face, continued on his previous motion. Stoic, like two S rank and one SS rank mage were not just trying to strike him down.
"—Raging Sun Meteor!"
"—Red Sea Sand!"
"—Demon Banisher!"
Right then, three figures appeared out of nowhere and blocked each, Lance's, Rok's, and Daz's spells. One figure—a red, heavy armored knight with a saw blade. The next—a large shadow figure with wild hair, bright yellow eyes, humanoid with muscular arms and legs, mangled and twisted at the ends, black spikes like armor shooting out from all over it, and at the center of its chest—a large gaping hole with a glowing violet orb resembling a black hole. And the last figure—a slender one, wearing a beret, asymmetrical clothing, gold and blue colors, and half of a black steampunk masquerade mask…
"Like I said… it is rude to distract others while they are speaking…" as the three figures he summoned blocked their attacks. Daz, Rok, and Lance all flew away like an unknown force had pushed them after their attacks had been effortlessly deflected.
When they landed yards away, they were all petrified as they witnessed the last figure… "Polaris!?" they shouted.
When he stood, displaying his slender-tall stance, Polaris wore an ominous look upon his face as he replied to them, "Aye…"
"Why!?" Daz shouted.
He turned slowly to his left to meet Daz's eyes. His head was tilted back like he had become insane. And when he did, he said, "So that I may become one with the Keeper."
"What!?" Rok growled.
Daz's anger grew as he replied, "I saw you… You were critically injured after that battle with JoAnne."
Polaris chuckled and then said, "A mere decoy."
"But how were you able to vanish those in the audience and the Warriors' Keep? Answer!" Rok demanded.
"Oh Rok… Once a brute, always a brute. You wear that name fittingly…" Polaris mocked and then spread his lanky arms wide. "As you can see… I am blessed by the Keeper himself. The Shepherd has granted me some of his power to accomplish my mission!"
Hovering over both his hands was an orb of white and an orb of black. They were his mana, and it was then the three Valley mages realized…
Two magic abilities!? they all thought as they saw that not only did Polaris have Pressurewave magic in one hand, but he also had another type of magic in the other.
"Dimension Shifting Magic. A very useful ability when one is trying to abduct others." He said ominously.
Back in the Warriors' Keep, we all watched in horror at what was happening. I couldn't help but notice the shadowy beast on Pride's left. The one with the wild black hair, piercing yellow eyes, and that hollow, black hole core for its center.
When I looked at Belle, she was frozen in what seemed like fear at the sight of it. It was the same beast from that day…
"Job well done, Polaris." Pride spoke from behind him, "As promised, I will grant you yet another ability."
Lance, Rok, and Daz retaliated then. Their sense of awareness was keen, but their movements were keener as they rushed the four figures once again.
When Pride noticed them, a dark and ominous aura emitted from him as he shouted, almost in irritation, "You all need to kneel!"
As he said this, the two Knights and the Arcane King knelt to the ground—each forming their own crater as they did. As if imitating gravity, the simple command had rendered them helpless as they were forced into a kneeling position just feet away from their target.
What… is this!? they thought.
This… is not Gravity magic… if it was, I would have automatically nullified it… is this?—" Daz thought as he struggled to even look up—his eyes fixed on the ground.
"Everybody just wants to interrupt me today… It's really getting on my nerves," Pride said. As if he was already satisfied with seeing the Arcane King, Head Guard, and the Knight of the Desert all knelt before him. "Is it because of the announcer? In my defense, he was speaking out of place… Quite different than interruption, really." He mocked.
Though he could not look up, Lance shifted his hand to the ground in an attempt to turn it into armor.
But without even looking, Pride spoke to him, "You have a troublesome ability…"
When he turned his head to Lance, the mere movement alone halted his actions, and Lance staggered further into the ground like he was being gripped tightly by some powerful, invisible being. He ground and seethed through his teeth as he desperately tried to resist.
Pride then began walking over to him, and with each step, Lance shot further and further down, until his forehead began to bleed from the sudden impact to the ground; bowing to Pride as if he were worshiping him.
"Lance!" Belle shouted next to me as we could do nothing, trapped in the Keep behind these unknown black bars.
Step after step, Lance burrowed.
But then, as Pride was about to take one last step, the ground below him morphed and shot out at him as if to constrict. His attention shifted, and right then the ground began moving, shielding all three mages from Pride's presence and moving them away.
"Assembly Magic: Almighty Bastille!"
The ground obliterated, and cubes of stone formed over Pride, Polaris, and his other two servants.
Sirus, at the edge of the podium, stood over the parapet walls as he ground his teeth and had his hands formed in a hand sign. His stance and his spell were equally as intense. Though he was one of the ones who lost his magic by Syemore, much like Alphonzo with his gavel, he had his magic bonded into a cross necklace he wore—therefore allowing him to cast this spell. Before this, he had escorted the Royal King and other high nobles away to safety before coming back to help.
Stone after stone, it layered over them until a massive tower had formed, becoming their prison.
At the same time, out of the ether, a large web of chains emerged from all over the tower.
"Measuring Magic: Prometheus Bound!"
There, from behind Lance, Rok, and Daz, Alphonzo walked over to the front of the tower with a hand sign in place. With him on his left was none other than Henza with his own hand sign. "Never thought I'd be fighting along the Valley…" he said like a drag. "I must be having a 'pleasant' dream."
"Just cast your damn spell already," Alphonzo replied sternly.
Henza sighed and then chanted,
"Bonding Magic: Pharoh's Coffin!"
When he did this, giant yellow bonding rings formed over Sirus' Almighty Bastille and Alphonzo's Prometheus Bound.
"If he truly is who I think he is… then this will probably only hold for a good five minutes… probably…" Henza replied.
"Maybe your spell…" Daz replied, rising to join them.
He stepped forward and formed his own hand sign, chanting,
"Nullifying Magic: Tartarus Cell!"
Right then, his Arc Slayers shattered and flew in the air toward the massive prison of multicast spells. A black beam traced from each of the shattered Arc Slayer pieces in a swift motion. After the beams connected, they clanged like a massive shield and covered the tower entirely within a black pyramid.
With intensity in his eyes. The eyes that promised never to let the Valley come into harm's way again, Daz, the current Arcane King of all the Valley, spoke,
"You are hereby forbidden to utter another word, Apostle!"