After crushing the annoying human, the horse circled the arena while neighing all the while.
Cyril and the rest were all standing warily in front of their seats.
"The zoo should have a contingency plan in case of something like this, right?"
Soon a bearded man in a classical robe appeared on stage. Security members from before ran to his side, casting a spell at the same time.
Kirin sent a lightning bolt, but it was easily blocked by a barrier that appeared around their bodies.
The horse's eyes turned sharper, and it lowered its head, going for a ram.
Suddenly, the security's spell was finished, and an exceedingly strong pressure was brought upon the Kirin's head.
It tried to struggle however it could, but nothing worked, and eventually it fell on the ground, its eyes slowly closing.
This escape attempt was rather short-lived, but no one in the group was relaxed. They even started to slowly move closer to the exit once the crowd blocking the way had disappeared.
If this horse managed to slip out of the zoo's control, then what about other creatures?
Suddenly the wall towards backstage was broken, and a massive, hulking figure walked through with a tyrannical air around it.
A few beads of sweat rolled down the mage's face as he started casting a spell while screaming, "Where is everyone!? I need help here!"
The security near him tensed up, not finding the words to respond. Instead, they cast the spell from before.
As Tyrant slowly walked on stage, it froze, a certain pressure trying to grab it.
Its orange eyes glowed as it fought against the spell and raised its head. Tyrant roared.
This roar couldn't be compared to the one from the beginning of the show.
If then it was similar to a reluctant, obligatory action, only good for a spectacle, then now it was the real deal. A declaration of might.
The sound was so loud that the barrier around the arena was directly broken. A few remaining regular people directly fell to the floor, clutching their ears.
"...!"
That included Cyril. Because of his enhanced hearing, he got more damage than others in his group.
The mages who were right in front of the beast, however, were in a much worse spot.
They shakily stood there with blood leaking down from their ears, eyes, and nose, every spell of theirs interrupted.
After finishing his roar, Tyrant, with a ferocious expression, swung its paw. It was a sight akin to a man swatting a few tiny flies grouped together.
The security detail was powerless to resist and was reduced to a messy puddle leaking from the stage.
Myra quickly supported Cyril, trying to leave the place. "Quickly, go!" She screamed to the rest.
Most gladly followed her words and left the place.
Cedric sent Anna away and went to help other people nearby.
Soon Cyril's ears stopped bleeding. He shook off Myra's arm and turned around to face the stage.
"You can't be thinking of fighting it!?" Myra exclaimed in surprise.
Before he managed to reply, there was a change on stage.
Tyrant, in one simple movement, jumped upon the seats. Thankfully that place happened to be already abandoned by people.
But now the beast was closer than ever to Cyril and the rest. It seemed even bigger up close.
The tiger didn't even look at the frozen people around. It destroyed the wall outside with one swoop and exited the building.
It was not only extremely strong but fast as well. Before Cyril even decided what to do, it had already escaped.
But it wasn't the only magic creature they saw today.
After a pause, numerous other animals started leaving the backstage through the hole left behind by the tiger.
An ice bunny, an abyss crocodile, an aqueous snake, a cloud of black smoke, and many other creatures escaped outside as fast as they could. Even Kirin quickly woke up and galloped out.
Canine from before was seen chasing a man in plate armor with an excited glee.
When the last beast left, the remaining people around all breathed a sigh of relief, almost falling to the ground from tension.
Cyril ran up towards the hole in the wall and took a look outside.
It was chaos, with screaming and people running everywhere.
The magic creatures of the whole zoo all went out of control.
"Should we... do something?" Rose said, her face showing hesitation.
They were all students of a semi-militaristic academy, and they had the strength to protect some people.
"You don't have to. There is nothing wrong with staying away from this. But I will go. See you guys!" Cedric quickly said and jumped down from the hole, running into the chaos.
"What an idiot," mumbled Edmund after a scoff.
Suddenly the rest of the people all turned to face him.
"What?"
"Nothing," said Cyril and walked towards Anna while holding Tigris in his arms.
"Look after him."
With a solemn look, Anna accepted the confused kitten and nodded.
"I'll be going too." With that, Cyril jumped down the hole. The red butterfly flew near him, her antennae twitching with determination.
Something inside him compelled him to see these creatures in their 'natural' form.
"I am with you!" Myra joined in.
"...I guess I'll go too." Rose gritted her teeth and followed.
Only Anna and Edmund were left from the group, standing near the panicked people.
Edmund shot her an awkward smile, not moving from place.
"Coward," Anna whispered to herself, her voice incredibly quiet, and moved to help the people still in the building, all while holding Tigris.
Despite there being some distance between them, Edmund's smile twitched.
...
"Anything from your visions? You said the zoo's name was familiar," Cyril quietly asked Myra on the way.
"...No, nothing like this comes to mind." She replied, biting her lip.
Her face darkened as she followed him.
Not again.
"Don't worry about it too much."
Cyril sped up, observing his surroundings.
It was complete chaos. Destruction seemingly was happening in every part of the zoo.
Fire, lightning, and other elements were flying through the air, toppling trees and breaking down the zoo's buildings.
Even the weather has changed. The sky darkened and wind picked up, adding to the chaos.
Still, a lot of places required attention, but there were only four of them.
It could be five if you count Morpho, but Cyril and Rhamn would never let her fly on her own in this situation.
Cedric had already disappeared from their sight, going somewhere in the direction of the mountain.
"Let's split up. Good luck." Cyril quickly said and left the group.
Myra and Rose looked at each other, nodded, and went in opposing directions. Somehow even Rose didn't protest, her eyes holding a spark of some kind.
"Do you feel it? There is shaking coming from underneath the zoo."
As Cyril ran, he could feel the ground beneath quake ever so imperceptibly, easy to miss in all the chaos.
Something must've caused the animals to break free.
...But it's nothing to do with me.
Cyril slowed down as he left the rest, his pace becoming more relaxed.
We saw Flynn earlier, and Cosmas mentioned there are other knights.
"So our help is really not needed."
Yes. To think otherwise would be arrogant. We would just get in the way.
He shook his head, his heart growing calm.
I just want to see the magic creatures in action.
"Good idea!"
As he walked, he paid attention to any sounds of struggle, searching for anything interesting.
On the way he saw the zoo staff trying to handle the situation.
They were doing a good job. All of them were mages and knew healing spells. They helped people calm down and guided them to the nearest shelter.
Some even tried to stop Cyril, but he quickly went around them without even hearing what they had to say.
Cyril knew the best course of action for him, a student, would be to stay still, waiting for rescue.
But something within him wanted to meet these creatures in their natural, living state.
It was a unique opportunity, and Cyril didn't want to miss it.
It had nothing to do with his pride not allowing him to be rescued, or so he told himself.
"Well, I was right."
Cosmas appeared after a certain turn, leaning on a tree with a polite smile. He no longer wore his hat, revealing the small horn in his black hair.
Cyril stopped in front of him, gave him a single glance, and continued walking.
"Do you still wish to stay? Really? This place is dangerous!"
"I'll be fine."
"…If you say so." Cosmas sighed as he walked after him.
Soon a polite smile returned to his face as he straightened his tuxedo.
"Oh well. Just be careful, and try to avoid going to the-" He stopped himself as he noticed Cyril suddenly paying attention to him with curiosity.
"Actually, I am not telling you. It will probably just make you want to go there. See you!"
Cosmas's smile turned a little helpless. He theatrically snapped his fingers, and suddenly he was no longer there.
"Hmph! How thoughtful of him."
Cyril shook his head and proceeded forward.
…
Soon Cyril reached a small stone plaza with a few food stalls and cafes.
One of the food stalls was overturned, and one of the buildings collapsed.
"Hoh. Look who it is!"
There, the shadow wolf from the forest was jumping around at fast speeds, dodging the spells coming from two mages of the zoo.
The two mages didn't notice the arrival of another person. Their attention was taken entirely by the shadow wolf.
When it dodged yet another spell, the ground below started to emit bright light. They were able to kite the wolf into a trap.
Suddenly the whole body of the magic creature began convulsing, and lightning ran all over its body.
This continued until the beast fell to the ground, its eyes closed and tongue rolled out.
The mages interrupted the spell and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thankfully we managed to avoid killing it. The boss should reward us, don't you think?" One of the workers said with a relaxed voice and wiped the sweat off his face.
"He better. I remember hearing he paid a fortune to capture this one... Hey! What are you doing here?" The other mage looked around while speaking and noticed Cyril nearby.
The zoo staff started to cautiously walk towards him. "Stay still. We'll just make sure of something."
"Why are they so wary of you?"
At this moment Cyril suddenly felt the movement of magic right nearby and urgently rolled to the side.
The mage was startled by his actions and was about to do something, but he was interrupted by a spike of pure dark that suddenly went through his body from the ground.
The same thing happened to the other mage. Both of them were killed instantly.
It seems their mana sensitivity wasn't that high.
Cyril looked at the place he was standing. There was now the same dark spike sticking out.
When he turned to see the wolf, it was already standing with its head held high. In its eyes, a look full of anger.
It pretended to be captured? Surprisingly effective...
Cyril slowly took a fighting stance and met the creature's gaze head-on.
This way you look much better.
After a brief standoff, the shadow wolf took off, attempting to bite Cyril with its razor-sharp fangs.
Right as the maw was about to reach his head, Cyril managed to pull off an uppercut in time.
The force of the impact forced the head of the beast upward, and the body followed, revealing the belly.
Cyril was quick enough to follow up with an elbow strike, all using Selene's technique.
The shadow wolf's body was thrown forward like a simple rock, but the beast managed to recover in midair and landed on its paws, trembling.
There was a human emotion in its eyes: surprise. It stayed still and closed its eyes, enduring the pain.
Cyril didn't interrupt its recovery and observed with interest.
Soon the shadow wolf's body stopped trembling, and it opened its eyes back. This time there was a certain coldness to them.
"It was able to stop the rampaging mana inside of its body?"
Guess it's smarter than Bran at least. Not a big achievement.
The beast, now taking this human seriously, started to slowly circle its opponent.