Chapter 111:

  A mysterious beast had occupied the skies of the Valley Kingdom. Former Forest Kingdom High Marshal, Polaris, had become the vessel to become this hideous monster summoned by Pride of the Apostles; now gone from the scene, leaving not only it for the Valley to deal with, but also taking one of the Valley’s Zion Orbs along with him.

  Just when the Arcane King, Daz, had unleashed what seemed to be a devastating blow onto the creature, it came out through the smoke, having healed its wounds, appearing unscathed from the powerful barrage of attacks.

  As the creature rained its massive wings down on the colosseum, it looked like red spikes shooting into the crowd of citizens.

  Each knight and mage was desperately trying to defend themselves from the attack, futile as their efforts seemed to be. Whatever power this beast had was powerful enough to shatter each of their protection spells with a mere touch.

  Bodies and dismembered body parts decorated the air as red had become the main color of this once grand colosseum.

  The other Black Wolves were each holding their own as they all tried to gather citizens and warp them away into Alice’s Pink Room, but she had begun to get fatigued by the constant use and restructuring of her ability.

  “Protect Alice at all cost!” Code yelled, becoming the commander in Greed’s place, who was preoccupied with his own team down in the arena. “She’s the only one here in our area who can save bulks of people, so protect her with your lives!” he shouted.

  Star, Havoc, Brand, and now Ophelia, who had made it back to them, all surrounded Alice and fended off the unknown attacks of the massive beast above.

  “You don’t have to tell us twice, Codey!” Ophelia said as she transformed into Raeyn, whipping her large scythe as she blocked a dragging red spear that had shot in her direction.

  Likewise, Havoc had transformed into his Great Behemoth form. His skin became white like myth, and his horns grew massive as his tail began to burn with that infamous claymore etched into it. He stood upright and roared with a blast already charged from his mouth, beaming it to the red spears.

  Greed:

  Down in the arena, more red spears began to shoot down onto us there, too. Belle seemed able to deflect them automatically as they came, and others did the best they could to protect themselves. However, if it kept on like this, the strikes could prove too much for even her.

  As a red spear shot down onto me, I threw a side kick to it, deflecting it away. I saw Jo freeze many of them with her Grand Ice. Nash the same, as he still carried all the adaptations and enhancements from his match with Rok, he had been easily deflecting the spikes as well.

  “I haven’t let one strike me yet. I noticed it can pierce through many of the others’ magic,” he said to me as we met back-to-back.

  “Yeah, when I hit it, it felt familiar… it even seemed harder to strike, even though I managed to do it,” I said back to him. “I think this beast, and the others before it, are all Tantra enhanced monsters.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “No idea…”

  “Ugh… what a pain, GG…” Jo said as she leaped backward to us, each of us facing our backs to the other in a triad position. As a group of red spears shot over at us, she whipped an arm and a wave of ice spears from the ground froze the impending strikes. “I wasn’t ready to wake up, you know…” her lazy tone shot to me.

  “Well, too bad… you’re awake, so deal with it,” was all I said as a larger red spear shot down over us three, shadowing us. But before it did, a large golden sword slashed it, and it whipped upward.

  “My Greed! Are you okay?” Belle shouted to me from where she was.

  Jo sneered at her as she said that, clicking her tongue, “I could have done that…”

  “I’m fine, Belle, are you?” I asked worriedly as she made it to me.

  I held both her hands and checked her up and down for any wounds.

  “I’m fine, my Greed. You don’t have to use this moment to check me out…” she said, blushing and looking away.

  Jo made a gagging noise from behind, sticking one of her fingers in her mouth.

  “Looks like only Tantra and powerful magic attacks can deflect these red spears,” I said as I looked upward to the massive half dragon, half insect beast that was still hovering and shrouding over the colosseum.

  “Just how the hell was something of this caliber summoned so easily?” I asked.

  “I see someone wasn’t paying attention when we discussed this in the Keep…” Alphonzo said as he bound more red spears with his Prometheus chains. “Remember the traced pentagram underneath the colosseum?”

  I scowled at him as he approached, “Uh-huh…”

  “That was placed there as a precautionary measure by Polaris. From what it seemed—Pride only came to show us he took our Zion Orb and declare war on the Great Alliance—or rather—the Four Kingdoms. He might have not had to summon this ‘thing’ had he not seen you…”

  “Hold on… are you blaming me for this!?” I barked.

  He said nothing in response and looked in the distance all around him, witnessing the Valley citizens and knights fighting for their lives once again…

  “We all share the blame for this one.” He finally said in a solemn tone.

  I calmed down and looked up at the beast. The red spears were from its wings, and it seemed to be able to manipulate its own matter, allowing it to attack in such a way without moving. The black bars from below in the Warriors’ Keep, and this beast… were the same.

  I looked for Daz. I had to tell him we still had a chance, but he had been preoccupied with something else that had appeared in the arena with us all…

  As Daz fended off its attacks, what stood before him was another monster that had seemed to appear from the ethers.

  It had massive horns for eyes, and it stood on all fours. Its arms were massive, like a hunched-over bull mixed with a gorilla, and perhaps more animals as its arms could pass as wings as well.

  “What the hell is that thing?” I shouted.

  “What the hell are all these beasts, man?” Snow asked as he joined us along with Rex, Zeno, Ryo and others.

  It was then; I witnessed more beasts emerge, all different in shape, size, and build both here and onto the bleachers where the citizens and other Guilds were fighting.

  “I’ve never seen these monsters before… It’s as if they were concocted somehow…” Ryo said.

  “An ability that can create new beings? Sounds like magic of a god!” Rex commented.

  “It just might be…” Zeno added.

  “Don’t ever call him that,” I said. “That rat-bastard is anything but a god. What these are… are abominations.”

  I began to recall that Grade 3 beast I fought back in LeHarla… It was a gorilla/octopus beast, and one that was in no recorded beast archive. In other words—prior to that day… it didn’t exist.

  Even more appeared before us now.

  “They’re back…” I said to no one in particular as we all readied ourselves.

  “My Greed, did you see what happened earlier?” Belle asked me as we backed into a huddle.

  “Yeah, the creatures all evaporated and trailed to that thing up there right after Daz’s attack,” I replied.

  “

  Daz’s attack.” Alphonzo added.

  I looked at him in understanding and then looked back to Belle.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked.

  “If you mean that we should take care of all these monsters first and then try Daz’s attack again, I’m all for it… but…” I trailed off and looked over to him, who was fighting the large horn-eyed creature and was being jumped by other smaller creatures around him. “You think he can do another spell like that twice in a row? I’m no genius, but that looked like it took a lot out of him. If he was able to do that again in one sitting, I’d be thoroughly impressed… even for an Arcane King.”

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  “Well, you were right about one thing,” Nash said as he struck a foot to the ground and caused an earthquake below us, to which we all jumped, and Jo caught me and herself on a suspended platform of ice. Belle had simply floated after jumping and the others had begun getting preoccupied with their own problems. “You’re not a genius,” Nash repeated. His earthquake strike staggered the beasts around us.

  “Then what do you suggest, Tank?” I scoffed as I sat on the ice ledge casually with a leg crossed.

  He merely smiled as he looked at me from below me and Jo.

  When I studied his wry smile, I knew instantly what it meant.

  “Fuck… Really?”

  “Fuck is right!” Nash laughed. “And yes, really!”

  “I don’t like this plan…”

  “I’m with GG.”

  “You’re always with ‘GG’,” Nash teased. “But we don’t have many options right now, do we?”

  I loosed a sigh so deep that my world seemed to slow with the echoes of battle occurring all around us. It was moments like this when I hated being a leader, because both Jo and Nash eyed me, waiting for my final say.

  “Fine,” I said as I hopped back down to the ground. “Initiate alpha-two formation… .”

  Nash snickered as Jo blew out icy air from her mouth, eyes closed, and brows furrowed, as if it hurt, “Kay…” she replied so unenthusiastically as she crouched the ledge of her ice platform, propping her head up in a lazy manner.

  Belle blinked at us from the air as she asked, “Um… My Greed… what is ‘Black Crown Gambit’?”

  I turned my head to face her from below, back facing as I responded, “Don’t worry about it, princess… It’s just some lame ass combo move… I even hate the name… Keeper, it’s so fucking lame.”

  “I love it!” Nash said as he wiped his nose with the bottom of his index finger.

  “Of course you do… you’re the one that gave it that name. Who names a move if it’s not an incantation… I’m with GG—name fucking blows.” Jo said as she began picking her teeth.

  “And of course you agree with him, you pick-me-chick.”

  “What did you call me, steroids!?”

  “Doesn’t change the fact that our captain decided we needed to do it… I’m fuckin’ excited! If only I had my comm so I can live stream this! What a shame!” Nash went on as Jo twitched an irritated eye at him.

  “Anyway, Belle…” I said to her. “I might be asking a lot here, but I need as many of these beasts defeated in the next five minutes. I know you can handle the task, but do you think I can expect that out of everyone else?”

  “Who the hell gave you the right to question us!?” Rex shouted from a distance, felling a couple beasts as he did.

  “I’m with weasel man… Do you really think we’re that weak, Dweeb? Must I remind you who won the match between me and you at the Guild Draft?” Snow added condescendingly.

  “Speaking of ‘Pride’, mine’s hurt…” Zeno said next. “He really thinks less of us, doesn’t he? Just cause’ he can use Tantra.”

  And then lastly, “You need not worry about us, friend.” Ryo said. And at that moment, I saw their eyes and all I could see within them was a scorching flame. “Whatever you got planned… Leave these small fries to us.”

  I nodded in understanding then found Belle’s smile reassuring me.

  “Let’s go,” I said sternly to Jo and Nash.

  Belle then cast a spell that blew some of the beasts away, and Jo reacted with a step down from her foot. The ground froze, leaving the staggered monsters in a frozen state.

  “Valley!” Belle shouted, and amidst the chaos, they found her voice and listened, “Defeat every single one of these beasts. We have a plan, and this will be our final stand!” When she said this, everyone who was fighting understood.

  “Easier said than done, miss princess,” Laylee said from where she was, still in her Goddess of War state, and still wielding an Arc Slayer as she slashed away a creature from below in the arena.

  “Aye, Captain,” Lance said to himself as he grew his armor, becoming a tank as he did the same from further behind. Love and Viper had found him, and they joined forces.

  Daz, with the help of both Sirus and Alphonzo, dispersed the beasts that had jumped him, and he had dealt the final blow to the large horn-eyed monster. “Let’s see what you got, Black Wolves,” he said under his breath.

  All across the colosseum, mages of each kind—of each Guild had become focused as they teamed up against the horde of beasts that the massive one from above had unleashed from hell onto them.

  What was once a state of fear and panic was now a state of courage and focus as the Valley’s Arcane Knights had banded together with the Princess’ promising words.

  “Thanks, Belle,” I said to myself as Nash and I readied ourselves at both Jo’s sides, feet away with her at the head of the triangle formation. We crouched into a sprinter’s stance—one leg shot back, a knee to our chest, and fingers to the ground. “Everyone move away from Jo, now!” I shouted.

  And they did, leaving a crowd of beasts in our wake.

  Just before Jo was about to form a hand sign, a group of creatures shot to our right. I didn’t even react…

  “Out of my way, fodder,” Jo said with dead calm as she merely shifted her eyes in their direction, and they all froze unforgivingly in a row of vicious spikes of ice.

  When she shifted her eyes away and back toward the center, the ice followed as if she were controlling it with her mere gaze. Each of the beasts there froze entirely as they met her glowing emerald eyes. All around us was a frozen canvas, leaving only Jo in the center and Nash and me to her side. Her head tilted upward to the massive dragon-insect lurking above; black and green hair fluttering upward as she did. She positioned her hands to form a hand sign, and before her fingers even touched, the mere motion of it froze the ground even more.

  I was unscathed, but Nash had frozen up a little from it, arms and legs becoming one with the frozen ground. His position unwavering—still in that sprinter’s stance.

  The air around us howled and swirled as Jo commanded a blizzard around us—becoming more intense the closer her fingers got to each other.

  Hair fluttering wildly and fingers inching into each other, her gaze still on the enormous beast with that ominous glare of hers.

  And when her fingers finally locked, the blizzard around us burst outward, spreading the ice that had frozen the ground farther and wider, catching even more unfortunate beasts within her icy web.

  Nash had become completely frozen now, but then the large clock gonged, and he had broken free—adapting and now unaffected any further by Jo’s freezing aura. “Two left, Captain!” he shouted.

  “Perfect. Only use one.” I replied.

  “You sure?” he asked, our eyes still focused ahead.

  “That’s all I’ll need.” My last words as Nash huffed with approval, and we both dashed at an intense speed past Jo. It was only then that she chanted,

  “Grand Ice Magic: Heaven Piercer’s Ascension!”

  When she cast this powerful spell, the ice ground below Nash and me had risen, and massive shards of ice protruded upward all around her like frozen arms of giants reaching up and out into the sky—a from the view of the drone birds.

  Where Nash and I had dashed, we were carried by the upward motion as we strode over the sleek ice like we were gliding atop it.

  I was faster than Nash, so naturally I strode ahead as we continued our ascension directly upward toward the monstrous loom. Jo’s spell did not reach it, but it did not have to…

  As Nash and I continued upward, the red spears shot down to us unendingly and I coated my entire body into its black armor shroud. Etched on my skin, going past and over my eyes, there was not a spot on me that was not coated. Even as the red spears shot directly at me, they deflected off from the speed we were gaining as we glided up this frozen slide.

  Likewise, Nash’s large clock gonged as he force-adapted his body once again. From all his adaptations during his and Rok’s fight, to his first self-adaptation—doubling it, then again after freezing from Jo’s ice, to now using his second-to-last adaptation to quadruple himself well over a power threshold that could even rival the Arcane King. He was faster than me now after all that, so he slowed down so as to not surpass me. He needed to stay behind…

  Even in this state, the red spears could still scathe him, and because they were Tantra-infused strikes, it was unclear if he could adapt to them. So, I acted as his shield as we proceeded further upward.

  As we neared the end of Jo’s giant ice sculpture, I shouted to Nash, close behind, “Hold!”

  We coursed through, and his focus was unmatched. We reached the end of the ice shard, letting the sheer momentum from the sliding ice and motion from our high velocity dash take us.

  Right on time, the beasts below had been vanquished. We would only have mere seconds before they regenerated, and this massive one ahead of us would use them to regenerate. But as I recalled the time I defeated that mysterious monster back in LeHarla, if we could create a shattering blow directly, with my power—with my Tantra and this velocity that Jo gave us, and Nash’s heightened state, this formation, Black Crown Gambit, just might work.

  We flew past the remaining ice and there in the air, I shouted, signaling finally, “Now!”

  I positioned myself where my boots locked into each other and faced back toward Nash, which slowed down my speed momentarily. When he caught up to me, his large hand cupped the bottom of my boots, and I crouched into a near ball within it.

  With his furious speed from behind, he used all that velocity he gained, powered by his eight-times-adaptation, and titan-like strength to propel me further into the sky toward the beast.

  All his muscles flexed in that moment as he threw me so powerfully through the air and it made a deep bellow from his ferocious throw.

  Something like this would have disintegrated any other person, as the giant ice scape from behind shattered entirely, rippling all the way down.

  I blasted into the sky, a flying meteor thrown by a titan as I warped sound itself the higher I went.

  I flew up so fast that flames burned over my silhouette. The massive monster roared at me as I neared closer and ever closer to it. Its red spears were useless now; not even being able to reach me before being shattered into burning cinders.

  And then it charged an enormous beam from its mouth—the color black. A Tantra focused beam. Like the one I had used on Syemore that day… but against this. Against my Aces assist. Against the combined forces of the Valley below. Against me… Fuck the Keeper.

  I readied my strike, right fist reeled back as far as I could. The beast unleashed its devastating blast onto me, distorting sound.

  And I pierced through it, not even releasing my punch yet.

  The beams scattered, shooting far across and over the Valley Kingdom in every direction. And still I blazed through.

  Its enormous mouth was still open from that attempted blast, and right as I approached the gaping void, that’s when I threw my black-coated punch. A punch that, if the Keeper were watching from above, it would have struck him as well. A punch that carried the weight of the Valley’s passion that it could not fully express because it did not know how. A god-shattering strike that this world did not know how to handle. And quite frankly, neither did I. For this was the ‘Gambit’ in this formation… and the only role I had to play in it.

  So, damn the Keeper… But please, … Let me be a spear that ruptures the heavens.

  I entered the beast as my fist led, rippling and coursing through it, its insides and organs disintegrating as I passed from within, and exited out its abdomen. It exploded in large chunks of cubed flesh, and then from them a black fire bled through, followed by a blast upward that disintegrated even those pieces, splitting open the dark and orange, clouded sky, and revealing the deep blue we longed to see hidden behind it.

  My fist may have not ruptured the heavens, but damn… did it open it.

  The rays peeked shamelessly from where the clouds had parted. Light shone over the Kingdom as my silhouette bore within the shining sun.

  The faces of all the citizens of the Valley—from the Forest to the Desert were that of silence and gaping mouths as they all finally witnessed the one who saved it that day. From Syemore, and from the evil of today.

  An overwhelming feeling seemed to overtake them all as they witnessed me—a black star in the sky that even the sun hid behind.

  I basked in the sunlight and the deep blue that resembled Belle’s. And that’s when I suddenly remembered—or rather forgot something that I had not thought of until this very moment.

  The wind fluttered my hair and clothes as I shouted,

  “Fuck, how do I use my wings!?”