Necromancer jolted, snapping his bone staff up in front of him.
Szzzt!
A furious stream of ultraviolet light blasted from Chromastone's pink horn, striking the white bone staff and throwing off sparks.
"Damn it! Don't think this is enough to beat me!"
Necromancer gave the staff a violent shake, and black vapor poured out.
The ink-dark mist gathered rapidly in midair, twisting into a massive shadow serpent. It opened its venomous fangs and swallowed the ultraviolet beam in one gulp.
The serpent didn't lose any momentum. It slammed straight into Chromastone.
Chromastone's eyes narrowed. He clenched his crystal fist and drove a punch into the serpent's head.
Crash!
The impact shattered the raging serpent into a storm of watery mist. Black fumes rolled outward, spreading through the hall.
"That's it?" Chromastone scoffed, already rushing at him again.
Necromancer began chanting, raising his bone staff as it flared with a brown glow.
"Earth Spikes!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The moment the words left his mouth, sharp earth spikes erupted from below, dense as a thicket and surging forward at terrifying speed.
Chromastone crossed his arms over his chest like a humanoid tank and forced his way through, smashing every spike to pieces with sheer durability.
"This… this is impossible!" Necromancer ground his teeth and whipped his staff again.
He refused to believe he'd lose today.
While Chromastone was still tearing through the earth spikes, Necromancer's eyes suddenly turned a pure, glaring white.
His pallid bone claws flashed through hand seals, leaving afterimages as he gathered power for something big.
Ripples spread through the air around him like water disturbed by a breeze, strange and unreal, as if space itself were trembling.
"Space… Confinement!"
Necromancer bellowed, hauling up the bone staff with all his strength and pointing it at Chromastone amid the spikes.
Thud!
A streak of white energy ignored the distance and instantly wrapped around Chromastone.
A white ring of energy coiled tight around him. No matter how hard he struggled, it didn't budge.
"What the hell is this…?" Chromastone snarled, straining against it.
Necromancer clenched his jaw, forcing more and more power into the spell to keep the ring stable.
"You're stronger than I expected… so I'll end this fast!" Necromancer said coldly.
If he dragged it out any longer, Chromastone might break free.
Necromancer's eyes flared with blinding golden light, blazing like a furnace.
From within the bone staff, mottled golden sparks spilled out, weaving together until they formed a long spear of pure gold.
Its razor tip pointed straight at Chromastone.
"Gold!" Necromancer roared.
Whoosh!
A streak of golden spear-light tore through the air like lightning, reaching Chromastone in the blink of an eye.
The golden spear was about to pierce Chromastone's chest when he wrenched himself with everything he had, forcing his body just off line.
Riiip!
The vicious spear tore through Chromastone's left arm, shredding it completely.
Purple crystal fragments burst outward and clattered across the cold floor.
Necromancer threw back his head and laughed. "You're done! Without your left arm, you're just waiting for me to butcher you!"
Then he shook his head, eyes gleaming with greedy bloodlust.
"No, no. Before that, I want you to watch with your own eyes as I tear that woman apart and swallow her alive! Hahahaha!"
Chromastone stood there with only one arm, unmoving.
"Cuz…" Gwen covered her mouth, barely able to believe what she was seeing.
Cuz's arm… was gone?
Necromancer looked utterly confident, certain he'd won.
Chromastone just smiled. "Butcher me? Who gave you that kind of confidence?"
As he spoke, purple crystal began to grow from the stump of his severed arm.
Under everyone's shocked stares, Chromastone's arm extended back into place, restoring itself completely, not even a scratch left behind.
Necromancer's eyes twitched violently, his fingers trembling.
"You… you…"
"You what? My turn now."
Chromastone stomped down, shattering the ground beneath his feet.
His entire body flared with brilliant multicolored light, like a living rainbow. He clenched his fist and drove it straight at Necromancer.
Necromancer's face changed in shock as he frantically unleashed spell after spell.
"Gold! Wood! Water! Fire! Earth!"
But every elemental attack was absorbed into Chromastone's body, converted into his own power.
Boom!
The crystal fist, carrying a violent shockwave, smashed into Necromancer.
His jet-black robe burst apart instantly. The pale bones underneath cracked one after another, snapping with sharp, brittle sounds.
Cracks spread up his skull like a spiderweb.
"Y-you…" Necromancer tried to retaliate, but no strength remained in him.
Chromastone tapped his chest and reverted to his original form.
[Unrecorded DNA detected.]
The recalibrated Omnitrix on his wrist began to flash.
"Record." Lucian pressed the dial.
A gentle beam of light scanned over Necromancer's body.
[Unknown DNA sample acquired.]
The Omnitrix withdrew its light.
Beep!
A holographic projection appeared above the dial: a skeleton in a mage's robe.
New Alien Hero: Necromancer!
Master of elemental attacks and the unpredictable Space Confinement!
Bang!
At the same moment, Necromancer's skull exploded into countless white fragments that scattered through the air.
[Successfully eliminated Necromancer]
[Chromastone enhanced: 10% ultraviolet intensity]
A cold system prompt echoed in Lucian's mind.
"Whoa! That ancient monster from the three murals got taken down by Cuz! That was awesome!" Ben shouted excitedly.
"Good thing Cuz was here… otherwise we'd have been in serious trouble," Gwen said, still shaken.
"Alright, kids. Let's keep going." Grandpa Max held the mask and led the way.
Soon, they reached the next hall.
There were no traps here. No murals either.
At the center stood an ancient stone door carved with a ferocious, evil-looking face.
At first glance, it really did resemble a divine-demon mask.
In front of the door stood a separate stone pedestal with a clear indentation, perfectly shaped like the mask.
It seemed that placing the mask into the slot would open the door.
To the left of the door was a bottomless pit. Ben tossed a coin down, but no sound ever came back.
"Alright. Once we pass through this door, we'll reach the Divine Sword Hall," Grandpa Max said as he prepared to place the mask into the groove.
Suddenly, a cold voice echoed from the darkness behind them.
"My apologies, Max. The one meant to enter the hall… isn't you. It's me."