The night in Onyx-Port was never truly dark. The Storm-Crowned Peaks acted as a natural capacitor, discharging jagged forks of violet and cobalt lightning every few seconds, illuminating the city in a strobe-light of industrial violence.
Jeather sat cross-legged in the center of his stone quarters, his bare chest slick with sweat despite the mountain chill. The Silver-Thread Spider's filaments were visible beneath his skin, glowing with a rhythmic, rhythmic pulse as they worked to bind the raw lightning he had siphoned during the day's matches.
"Jett, the forge is overflowing," Saxum reported, his voice vibrating with a metallic resonance. "The Obsidian Wraith-Lord's essence is like cold oil. It's making the Aether-Forge burn blue. If we don't vent this energy soon, the Gorilla is going to pop."
"Hold it together, Saxum," Jeather replied, his eyes snapping open. They weren't just violet anymore; they were rimmed with the prismatic fire of the Mirror-King. "The Second Circle starts at dawn. We're going to need every ounce of that 'oil' to break the Wardens."
He stood up, his bones creaking under the artificial gravity he maintained to keep his "Falling Star" core stable. He fanned out his deck on the stone table. Twenty-three cards. Each one was a trophy, a piece of a world that had tried to kill him.
"Kaelen's Wraith-Lord trait... Intangible Reflection," Jeather calculated. "Three seconds of phase-shift. In a tournament of high-speed lightning users, three seconds is an eternity."
At dawn, the Cobalt Arena had been transformed. The sand was gone, replaced by a massive, floating platform of conductive brass suspended over a pit of churning, ionized gas. The air was so saturated with electricity that Jeather's silver scars hissed, tiny arcs of blue jumping between his fingers.
The crowd was twice as large, and their bloodlust was palpable. These were no longer just exiles; the high-ranking officials of the Thunder-Vassal Kingdom sat in the tiered balconies, their eyes fixed on the "Outcast" who had humiliated their champions.
"Welcome to the Second Circle!" the announcer's voice crackled through the static.
"Today, we do not test strength! We test Conductivity! Only those who can weather the storm deserve the Gates!"
From the opposite side of the platform, the Storm-Gate Wardens emerged. There were three of them—triplets, encased in identical suits of white-enameled plate armor. They didn't carry cards. They carried long, jagged spears of solid lightning.
[Beast Identified: The Trinity Sentinels (Rank: Low-Platinum / Link-Bonded)]
Description: Three humanoid spirits of pure voltage bound to enchanted armor. They share a single consciousness.
Special Trait: Harmonic Overload. The closer they are to each other, the faster their movement speed. At peak proximity, they move at the speed of light for short bursts.
Ultimate Ability: The Storm-Cage. They can link their spears to create a triangular field that erases the existence of anything trapped inside.
"Link-bonded," Jeather noted. "If I hit one, the other two compensate. I have to break the chain."
The match began without a signal. The Trinity Sentinels vanished in a blur of white light.
"Manifest: The Mirror-Hound Pack!"
Jeather threw the card, and six prismatic hounds erupted around him. He didn't use them to attack. He used them as Lightning Rods. The Sentinels reappeared, their spears thrusting with the force of a thunderclap, but the Mirror-Hounds' Reflective Aegis absorbed the impact, storing the kinetic energy in the buffer.
"Too slow," the Sentinels spoke in unison, their voices a discordant chime.
They vanished again, circling Jeather at a speed that turned them into a solid ring of white fire. The Storm-Cage was forming. Jagged walls of electricity rose from the brass platform, closing in on Jeather.
"Master, the cage is erasing the shadows!" the Void-Sovereign Hound cried out, its form flickering as the light intensified.
"Then we stop being shadows," Jeather said.
He didn't pull a new card. He tapped into the Obsidian Wraith-Lord's trait.
"Intangible Reflection: Activate."
Jeather's body turned into a translucent, smoky obsidian. The Storm-Cage snapped shut, the white-hot beams of erasure passing harmlessly through his phased-out form. For three seconds, he was a ghost.
In those three seconds, he moved.
He didn't run toward the Sentinels. He ran toward the center of their triangle.
"Manifest: Siege-Breaker Gorilla!"
The Gorilla appeared as the phase-shift ended. But this wasn't the Gorilla the crowd had seen yesterday. Thanks to Saxum's forge-work, the beast's spine was now a jagged conductor made of Great Gear-Titan brass and Void-Stalker Hydra scales.
"Gravity-Well: Magnetic Pulse!"
The Gorilla didn't punch. He grabbed the brass floor and funneled the "Falling Star" energy downward. The magnetic field of the entire arena flipped. The Sentinels, being spirits of pure voltage, were violently yanked toward the Gorilla by the sudden change in polarity.
Their "Harmonic Overload" backfired. Instead of moving away, they were dragged into a single, tangled mass of white armor and screaming lightning.
"Now, Astrael," Jeather commanded.
The Demon-King manifested above the tangled Sentinels. He didn't use his silver flames to burn. He used them to freeze. The absolute-zero fire hit the Sentinels, instantly turning their liquid-lightning bodies into brittle, glowing ice.
"Capture!"
Jeather stepped forward, three Void-Steel Sealing Cards in his hand. He fanned them out like a dealer and flicked them with a single, fluid motion.
The Trinity Sentinels were dragged into the cards, their screams of discordant chimes silenced as they were compressed into the Sovereign Deck.
The brass platform groaned as the magnetic field stabilized. Jeather stood alone in the center, three new Platinum-tier cards floating back into his hand.
The crowd didn't cheer. They were terrified. The "Outcast" had just dismantled the Kingdom's most elite guard in less than three minutes.
Jeather looked up at the Thunder-Vassal King. The King was standing now, his golden mask vibrating so hard it was shedding sparks. He reached for a massive, lightning-shaped sword at his side.
"You have the audacity to steal my Wardens?" the King's voice shook the arena. "You think you can take the Lightning-Key by force?"
"I don't think," Jeather said, wiping a drop of blood from his nose. The weight in his chest was humming, the new Trinity cards already beginning to feed the forge. "I calculate. And right now, your kingdom is a deficit I'm here to collect."
Jeather turned to the exit, his silver scars glowing with a brilliant, unyielding light.
"See you in the Finals, 'Majesty.' Make sure your sword is charged. I'd hate for the harvest to be disappointing."