In this moment, Sirus, Alphonzo, Henza, and Daz had cast titan-level sealing spells just to hold down Pride of the Apostles. Altogether their spells had combined to an almost unheard of SSS rank blend of spells. There was absolutely no mage alive that that could possibly break out of this combination… Theoretically…
Only a massive black pyramid lay before them now in this arena. Unmoving. Silently humming as they observed it.
At last, there was no movement.
Sirus joined the rest of them below and faced the monument. His hands were still in the hand sign used for the Almighty Bastille spell he had cast earlier, daring not to release it for good measure.
"We managed to seal him, but I don't know how long our spells will last. He can use the Presence of the King… or 'King's Tantra' for those who don't know," he said.
Daz, silent and observing, said after a moment, "Yeah… That's going to be troublesome." He stepped a foot forward and walked ahead of them all now. "If his Tantra is at that level, these seals we cast will probably not last as long as we think."
"There's also the issue of the creatures surrounding the audience; they are not attacking right now, but they have slaughtered many who tried to escape. We need to contain the casualties while Pride is sealed," Alphonzo said to Daz, gavel in place like he was holding the spell cast.
Daz looked to his left at the section where he'd seen the Black Wolves crew and said, "Well, seems some of us have already taken the initiative."
Right as he said this, they all heard a girl in the audience yelling.
She ran up the bleachers with an outstretched hand to her right, and from it, spiked bones protruded and formed a white hammer. When she reached one of the beasts that stood in the way of an exit, she jumped, and her green eyes glowed intensely from the shadows of her silhouette as she hovered above. Her long pink hair and gray horns were the only noticeable features in this short moment, for she was extremely fast.
Then, from the shadows of herself, a wicked smile formed from ear to ear. "You're my prey," she said ominously to it as she swung her bone-spiked hammer to the side of the beast's head.
It thrashed to the side from where it had been struck. And no physical damage could be seen until seconds later, as its own bones had spiked out from its skull. Gushing in blood from the sudden strike, the beast's unique abilities activated as another part of itself had morphed from its right shoulder—growing a torso, then a head, and then two of its massive gorilla-like arms.
It focused back on her and swung its club of an arm down as she remained suspended in the air, followed by the sound of fingers snapping.
The girl was replaced by a grenade, and as the creature struck, it went off at the same time, engulfing it in flames.
It staggered after the explosion to its face as another figure ran toward it.
The male transformed his right arm, and it became beastly, growing more muscular, gray, and with claws on each finger.
He formed it into a giant fist and emerged from the smoke, reeling it in for a strike. And he yelled as it flowed through the air, down onto the beast.
After it was struck, the beast fell backward, trailing smoke from its head all the while.
When the male landed on the ground, his beastly arm transformed back to normal.
"That it?" he said, smug.
The crowd around them was stunned as three unlikely mages emerged to protect them.
The one who snapped away the pink-haired girl maneuvered his way into the open of the crowd, lighting a cigarette, and blowing out smoke in consecutive motion.
He observed the beast they took down and saw it twitch. "It's not down yet," he said, "Havoc, Star!"
When he said their names, he didn't even have to give an order; they already knew what to do.
"Gladly!" Star shouted as she dropped and placed her hands on the stairs she was standing on. Following her motion immediately, boned spikes sprang out from the ground and coursed a path to the beast, exploding in a contained way out from it.
"So extra…" Havoc said as he strolled ahead of her with his hands in his pockets, walking casually by the spiked bones.
He transformed only his head, and it became beastly; horns protruded and hair wild. He looked like he could be the other beast's brethren with his head abnormally monstrous and the rest of his body remaining human.
A beam began charging in his mouth as he threw his hands in a hand sign and chanted with a beastly voice,
"Primal Magic: Ecliptic Star Blast!"
A ball of aura shot out of his mouth, and after it did, Star threw her arms up from the ground and a white bone wall formed, protecting her, Code, and the people around them.
As Havoc's blast made contact, all that was heard behind the bone wall was a muffled boom followed by the clattering of the beast's remains that continuously hit it.
Star then disengaged her spell, and when they all could see to the other side, there was fading smoke where the beast had been, and it was in molten pieces.
When Code saw this, he signaled for the crowd around them to head out. They listened without question, passing through the splatters of the beast one after the other.
He then whipped out his comm and instant dialed. The other on the line picked up immediately. "Clear here," Code said.
Nearby, Brand had singlehandedly taken out another one of the beasts; his movements too quick to see as the crowd around him only saw a blur and it fell to its knees and then onto the front side of itself behind him.
"Aye, same here," Brand replied to Code through his built-in earpiece.
Alice was near him as well, helping direct the traffic of the crowd in that section.
Further down, the other Captains: Jecht and Ark were fighting three more of those beasts without magic—Jecht with his bare fists and Ark with a katana backed by their crews: the Silver Sharks and the Crimson Dragons.
As they efficiently fought away the beasts in a series of close combat, Jecht said to Ark, "This would be a lot easier with our magic… but,"—a beast charged him with an unusually gapped mouth as he uppercut it away—"You make do with what you have."
"Aye," Ark replied as he slashed away another creature, meeting Jecht back to back; his eyes closed the whole time due to his blindness. "However, it seems normal physical attacks and standard magic don't exactly work on these creatures, do they?"
As he said this, the three creatures they and their crew were fending off had gotten back up; some healed and others remained as if not receiving any damage at all. The Silver Shark members and Crimson Dragons all inched back to each other into a huddle with a few citizens at their center, protecting them.
"Yeah, but at least I'd be hitting harder," Jecht replied.
At this time, a strong gust of wind blew all around them, becoming a wall between them and the beasts.
An Elf girl with short light green hair floated down to join them as the gust of wind raged in all but the area they were all at.
"Well, hello," she said daintily.
"Sylva!" Jecht said enthusiastically.
"Ah, Acting Captain! What a pleasure to see you!" Ark said next.
They both observed the spell she had used. "How are you?—" Jecht asked, but before he could finish his sentence, Sylva held out two items—a bracelet and a charm in her palm.
"I was waiting until after the tournament to gift these to you two. You saw Alphonzo and Sirus use their magic, yes?" They nodded. "Well, it's because of that young lad over there…"—their eyes spotted Henza, who still had his hands in a hand sign along with Alphonzo and Sirus in the arena, all holding Pride within their multicast seal. Alphonzo with a gavel, and Sirus with a cross necklace—"Useful ability isn't it? It might even be considered an SS rank ability by the end of today."
"These contain our magic?" Jecht asked.
"Yes."
"But how was he able to retrieve them?"
"Syemore left copies in orbs to study for later, had he succeeded. He was trying to emulate Asura's ability.
Jecht laughed heartily and Ark simply grinned at that.
"Well anyway—I hope you like them; I had to ask your subordinates what your favorite accessories were before asking Henza to bond your magic into them, his spell wouldn't work otherwise."
Ark and Jecht both, even with Ark's blindness, gestured a look at the items she was handing them, and then looked back to her.
"How did you snatch these away from us?" Jecht asked as he beheld his family heirloom.
"It's a secret… anyway, could you two just hurry up? My spell won't last forever, and we still need to escort these civilians to safety." Sylva pushed.
"Spoken like a true Valley Knight. Aye, Captain!" Ark said as he grabbed the charm and attached it to his katana. Jecht the same, putting on the bracelet.
"Alright." He said as he transformed into his massive landshark form. Ark, likewise, transformed into a winged humanoid beast spirit, sparking electricity. "Let's form a path!" Jecht yelled, his beastly voice echoing to all the Silver Sharks and Crimson Dragon Knights there; Sylva's Snow Lily Knights, along with Goro among them, joined in the fray as well. As, each to their own, they attacked the monsters that were in their way.
On another side of the colosseum bleachers, the Purple Panther Knights were struggling with a beast of their own. This one with seven arms, muscular, humanoid, and standing upright. It seemed to have impenetrable skin as they cast every spell, and yet no damage had been delt.
"Nothing's working!" one yelled.
"It's… It's unstoppable!" another added.
"Where is our Vice Captain? Why isn't he here to fight with us?"
As they complained, the footstep of a man entered among them, his blond bowl-cut hair shimmied in the breeze as his dangling orb earring chimed. "Stop your incessant whining." He imposed on them as he stepped front and center, facing the seven armed beast head on.
"Honestly, did I recruit a bunch of weaklings?"
As he met the monster, it snarled at him and threw all its arms up, shooting them forward all at once.
The man did not flinch. All he did was breathe and position his fist, reeling it in and letting the beast get closer.
When its seven fists were inches away, his violet eyes flashed, and he threw a single punch, flying past all its arms, striking it right at its center.
The air stopped for but a moment, and then immediately, the beast flew away, smashing into another beast behind it, then flailed like a mangled mess in the air.
A forceful punch. And that's all it was. No magic used. Just focus and Tantra.
"Also…" he added as he remained the way he was, fist forward, steaming from his strike, "If you're all going to talk shit about your Vice Captain when he is here, don't beg for him when he is away."
They all humbled themselves to this man. Captain of the Purple Panther Knights, Tubolt, as he stood up straight, looking pompous at them like they were a bunch of peasants.
They bowed aggressively and shouted, "YES SIR!"
Prior to his arrival to help his subordinates, he had already taken care of another beast nearby. And in this area along with them, another Guild was helping clean up the mess and escorting citizens out from the entrances that the monsters were blocking.
A seemingly young captain brushed her brunette hair and ombre'd green hair as she and her crew—the Green Owls—had taken care of a beast. And next to them, a Guild all in gold armor had fended off many others as well. Among them, a golden knight with a half mask and tied up long black hair stood.
"So, no magic or physical attacks, huh?" he said as he sheathed his long sword back to his hip and the monster next to him became dismembered on the spot.
From where Code, Havoc, and Star were, hordes of Valley citizens were running through the exits of the colosseum.
As Code directed them, he noticed one of the dismembered hands of the beast they had apparently beat, grow red hot…
His eyes widened and then shouted, "Back away, now!" Some listened. Others did not…
The pieces of it began to float as if on puppet strings, beginning to reform itself, piece by piece. And as some of the citizens ran through, they got caught in the reformation.
A look of horror from Code's face was etched as he witnessed the mess of a monster take hostages. Their arms and legs were caught, tangled as some of them suffocated from inside the web. Bones cracked, limbs twisted. Ready to die…
"Goddamn it…" Code said as he dropped his cigarette and stepped on it. Spreading his arms out in a dragged out way, he cuffed his hands together to form a hand sign and chanted,
"Space Manipulation Magic: Omni Exchange."
From his hand sign, Code positioned both his hands forward to snap simultaneously, and with one motion—as if he had pressed fast forward—all the people within the beast were swapped consecutively in less than a microsecond with other beasts nearby, and a multitude of grenades.
"Star!" Code yelled as she brought the bone wall back up to shield them just in time that Havoc leaped in from the side.
The monsters beat like a drum, becoming increasingly more and more red, like they were about to detonate. But the grenades Code had placed within the mangled mess of them detonated first, igniting them.
A massive explosion erupted where they were.
At the other sections of the bleachers where everyone else was fighting, the beasts had also hummed red, swelling up until they all erupted one after the other.
Explosions rang across the colosseum, filling the place with smoke. The biggest of them all was the one Code caused.
Then from the arena, a crack sounded from Daz's impenetrable Tartarus Cell…
Silence rang louder than the screams, explosions, and chaos around him as he shifted his head to look in utter disbelief. He had known it was inevitable, but he did not anticipate it to be this quick and in this way.
His gray eyes reflected the obliteration of his Tartarus Cell, followed by the spells and seals of Henza, Alphonzo, and Sirus like clockwork.
Shock struck each of them the same way. Five minutes. That was the time it should have taken—minimum. However, that did not seem to be the case for this enemy. For he was not like any they had encountered before, as their massive SSS rank monument had been eradicated in less than two minutes.
The shattered spells fluttered down as Pride and his three servants stood amidst it and he said,
"I am forbidden to utter another word, you say? No… that won't do at all."