**Crimson Dragon's castle. The front gate**
Two Grade 2 beasts had appeared in the Kingdom. To those who did not know or who did not see them prior, it would seem like these beasts had somehow breached the walls or even gotten teleported here in front of the Crimson Dragon's main front gate.
Teams of Crimson Dragon Knights fled into the castle and away from the scene with Blue Phoenix Knights on their tail, leaving the two monsters to battle. They owned the battlefield now.
The massive Leomantoise shot a thin blue beam along the ground that emitted a trail of explosions, chasing after its oppressor, the Behemoth.
The Leomantoise, Ulrich, had yet to move at all since transforming. He was so massive that even moving a mere foot would take some time. Though, because of his Primal typing, Leomantoises were apex predators along with Behemoths in the wild. Thing was, they often avoided each other, and four out of five times they could even defeat a Behemoth if they were encountered.
Primal magic users were often sought out among Guilds; especially if they were higher Grades like Havoc and Ulrich. The main reason is that Primal magic users also came with the magic ability of the beast they can transform into. So, it was like having a mage with two magic abilities along with a Graded beast. The only drawback was that usually Primal magic users could only transform fully once a day. So they often used their magic in increments so as not to waste too much of their mana.
This battle here between Ulrich and Havoc had an unspoken time limit on it that they were both aware of. Essentially—the one who bests the other in their form first wins. If they transform back to their original forms, it was over—and they lost. Because they would not be able to transform again.
Ulrich's beams split apart and decimated random sections of the court while Havoc dodged the best he could in his large form.
Shit, he thought to himself as the beams hit his sides, burning through his rough hide.
"What's the matter, dog? Can't take the heat?" Ulrich echoed. His voice was like thunder as he spoke, matching his monstrous form.
Right then, Ulrich lifted one of his massive front hooves and stomped onto the ground. The stomp caused an earthquake and traveled in a focused direction to where Havoc was, knocking him off balance. He did it again, and another focused earthquake traveled to where Havoc had stumbled. But once it got to him, the earth trail took a right and maneuvered just to his left, protruding a large earth pillar out from the ground right to his ribs, jutting him to a nearby wall.
"Pitiful," Ulrich said, "All you've been doing is dodging my attacks since we started. You must know that Leomantoises are predators of Behemoths in the wild. At least those put up a decent fight…" he taunted, "But you never see Behemoths hunt those creatures. Unlike you, they know it's because they'll just end up being the ones who are hunted."
Havoc crawled out of the cratered wall he was in, responding finally, "And yet, you never see Leomantoise hunt Behemoths either. Why do you think that is?"
"Leomantoise do not have to hunt for their prey."
"Or perhaps it's because they can't move much to begin with? How many steps forward have you taken since this battle started?" Havoc jabbed back to him. His voice was as ethereal as Ulrich's. Like two beasts in a heated argument.
Enraged, Ulrich had begun charging another beam from his mouth to shoot back to Havoc. But he dodged it swiftly and ran parallel to where it had come, running underneath the beam.
After juking the beam and ending up in front of Ulrich, he let out a huge flamethrower from his mouth that engulfed Ulrich within it.
BLAZE!
Havoc leaped back after leaving that area in cinders, watching in anticipation as the smoke plumed in the air from his flames.
"You didn't think that was actually going to work, did you? I'm a fucking armored tank, you fool!" Ulrich's voice echoed through the smoke.
His silhouette began to form from within. His eyes beamed a deep yellow, piercing through it as he stood massively with his head high, twice Havoc's size.
"Now you will see just how powerful a Leomantoise can really be," Ulrich said, his tone dark, and his golden, chained cuffs on his hooves began to glow.
The smoke swirled around Ulrich, causing a tornado around him, and picked up large debris from the rubble in the court. Havoc dodged a few of the large pillars that flew out from behind and toward Ulrich, who was now engulfed in this massive collection of wind and rock.
Those same splitting beams shot out from Ulrich's mouth again, but this time, they shot out from random parts of the massive tornado, combining the elements into a swirling tempest.
Dodging the beams once more, Havoc used his momentum to run on the walls and part of the building of the Crimson Dragon's castle; all the while, the devastating tornado ran rampant in the court.
Right then, a large piece of concrete shot out at Havoc with no time to dodge. He jumped from the wall directly at it and slashed it into pieces with his claw as it flew past him.
As Havoc landed, he grounded himself in an attempt to not get pulled in. The tornado began to grow and bend, whipping wildly every which way.
"What is he planning?" He said to himself as he witnessed the stormy chaos.
The weather had changed, and the sky had become gray. The tornado whipped around once and then back into the court, right where Havoc was. It was larger than his Behemoth form as the top of this massive tornado gaped just above him now, and he could do nothing except take it.
"Fuck."
CRASH!!
A direct hit as the storm began to subside.
Large debris rained from the sky, falling all over the rummaged court. All the while, Ulrich had yet to move; letting his secondary ability do all the work. He was the only thing standing now amidst this once beautiful and pristine Crimson Dragon's court—now devastated by the work of his hands.
Ulrich's secondary ability as a Leomantoise was Elemental Manipulation magic; allowing him to control any element he made contact with, but only one element at a time. He could also combine elements like the beam he created from the combination of air and heat in his mouth and treat it as a single element. This innate ability of Leomantoise creatures typically had the edge over a normal Behemoth in the wild. But this was not just an average battle between beasts…
From the spot where the tornado crashed, Havoc lay in his human form within a large crater. His arms and legs spread wide, and both his eyes closed, seemingly unconscious as he lay.
Ulrich let out a hideous laugh and said, "Who's weak now, you poor fool? You reverted back to your human form, which means…" he said, a rhetorical brag, "You've lost."
Havoc's hand twitched.
"It seems, in the end, the one that thought too highly of themselves was you… Oh, how irony stings, doesn't it?" Ulrich went on.
His eye twitched next.
"Well, no matter. I've made you suffer enough. Let me do you the favor of putting you out of your misery…" Ulrich said, finally preparing to make his way over. However…
The ring of a comm sounded all throughout the empty, wrecked court.
Ulrich clicked his tongue in annoyance at the sound. It was as if the ringing had ruined the moment of his grand win. He scanned the place trying to find where it was coming from as it continued to sound off. The song like a victory theme from a well-known fantasy game.
When he finally realized where it had been coming from, he glanced his monstrous eyes over Havoc. Then, without him opening his eyes or lifting his head, Havoc grabbed the comm from his pocket and answered, putting it on speaker as he did.
"Yeah," he answered casually, tired.
A strong male voice answered him back, Yo. It's done, but we won't be leaving until it's fully booted up. Which is gonna take another thirty minutes or so.
"Took you long enough, Nash," Havoc responded to him.
A little 'thanks' would be nice… I had some trouble here. There was some guy with Bonding magic trying to take over the Den. He gave Star and Brand some trouble, but I took care of him.
"Huh? A guy with Bonding—" Havoc interrupted himself, remembering, "Oh shit, you mean Henza?"
Is that his name? I don't even know who anyone is anymore. I am so out of the loop… But yeah, that guy, I guess. I beat him, and we'll be moving. That's all.
"Funny coming from a guy who's so in touch with his followers on social," Havoc teased tiredly.
Shut it… the male, Nash, replied disinterestedly.
Listening the whole time, Ulrich had begun to get annoyed at what he was witnessing. "What the hell are you doing!?" He shouted.
"Sorry, I gotta go. Need to take care of something," Havoc said, ending the communication with Nash on the other end and began to sit up.
"Was that some kind of bluff? How could any of you beat our Vice Captain? And how are you treating the situation you're in so lightly?" Ulrich roared in disbelief to him.
Havoc smirked, sitting with his legs crisscrossed on the ground.
"Let's just say a rising tide raises all ships… But never mind that… I take back what I said. Gotta commend you for being able to push me up against a wall like this. Though it would have been more impressive if you did it without those," Havoc said, pointing at the golden cuffs on Ulrich's large hooves. "Magic items are quite handy, aren't they…" he said, winking an eye to Ulrich like he was mocking him.
His eye flickered, and Ulrich's forehead tightened. "How can you still talk like that? You've lost! I am the victor!" he responded angrily, hesitating a bit at the end—not enough for a normal person to notice but just enough for Havoc and his heightened senses to pick up.
Havoc scoffed and bore a half smile.
"Says who? You? Nah…" Havoc replied calmly, slowly getting up from his crisscrossed sitting position on the ground, pushing his hands onto his knees as he got up in a long, drawn-out manner. Resilience, if it had become an aura, was what he began to emit at this moment, "The only one that decides my limits is me—not you, not your crew, not your warrants… not anyone. Me, bitch."
As if hitting second wind, Havoc transformed yet again back to his full Behemoth form. Ulrich could not believe his eyes.
"How?" he said, shaken.
But Havoc was not done, transforming even more now.
His Behemoth form continued as he began to now stand on two legs, physically and metaphorically rising above the oppression.
"How are you—" Ulrich spat, witnessing Havoc transform into a higher state still.
As Havoc stood, his horns and his armor began taking on a new shape, thicker and denser than how it had been just before. What used to be the color gray on his skin was now that of a crisp white all over his body, and at the end of his tail, a blade or a claymore formed. It glowed and emitted a high temperature, scalding yellow-red as the heat wobbled the air around it.
He resembled a holy creature from myths as Ulrich watched in confoundment all the while.
"What are you?" he uttered. Pure fear found in his eyes as Havoc had completed his full transformation.
He was now a Great Behemoth, Higher Grade 1 monster.
Havoc's secondary Primal ability was Revival magic. An ability that allowed him to revive himself after reverting back to his human form and, in rarer cases, revive him from death if he activated it in time before dying.
Because Behemoths were already overpowered, could spout flamethrowers, and shoot beams from their mouths, many believed that power in itself was their ability, but that was not the case. In the studies where the Leomantoise had lost to the Behemoth, one out of five encounters, it was because the Behemoth had used its magic ability before its death—turning it into a Higher Grade 1 anomaly and taking control of its fate.
"Primal Magic: Great Behemoth's Revenge."
His astral voice echoed like it was from the heavens itself.
Havoc now resembled a godlike creature in Ulrich's eyes. "It can't be… I—I've only heard it through myths, but here you are… a true Great Behemoth right in front of me! N—No matter. I am the predator. I should still—"
Swinging his heated claymore of a tail from around and in front of him, Havoc whipped a flaming wave in the air directly toward Ulrich's proud form. He flinched from the sheer power behind it, but his Elemental Manipulation magic activated just then, and the flames had formed into fireballs all around himself, shooting them back to Havoc.
Havoc in turn crouched with claws to the ground and bolted past the fireballs, putting them out like mere candles as he jetted by.
He was twice as fast as he appeared before Ulrich and raised his monstrous arm above him, spreading out his fingers and displaying his massive claw before him.
N—No! I have nothing to fear! I can withstand this! Ulrich thought.
Havoc's claw made impact, and the sound was devastating to the ears.
SLASH!!
The claws tore into Ulrich's impenetrable armored shell, shredding it entirely like paper. He was so dumbfounded, that his lion-like head opened its mouth at last. It was as if he had never been struck like that before.
There's no way… How is this possible? My armor shattered? HOW THE HELL IS THIS POSSIBLE!?
Using the momentum of his powerful slash, Havoc spun intensely up in the air in a violent, swift motion. Revealing his burning claymore tail from above, he crashed it down onto Ulrich's statue-like head on the top of his shell.
SLAM!!
Ulrich grunted as he smashed into the ground, his large mammoth legs shooting outward from all sides, spraining each one.
The head, which was fused with his armored shell, was the hardest part of the shell itself. But the impact could not stop the damage that coursed throughout the rest of his body. He even received internal damage from that attack, even though the slam from the claymore was inflicted from the outer layer. The burning blade sparked as it trailed over Ulrich's armor, and Havoc raised his head, standing with his chin high above Ulrich now.
He's—He's not real! How does this kind of power exist? How are you just a measly member of the Black Wolves!?
"I can tell," Havoc said ferociously as if somehow reading Ulrich's thoughts, "that you've never fought a real Behemoth before."
The shadow of Havoc's heavenly beast form struck sheer terror into Ulrich as his ego had been shot, and he had lost his confidence completely. He could do nothing but cower beneath the vicious, ethereal creature above him.
"The wild… That's where I was raised. Where imminent death lurked around each corner." From Havoc's mouth, a bright light peeked through his large, monstrous teeth. The light, becoming more intense as it continued to glow from within his body. His astral voice still echoed through, sounding off from the ethers, "The way you're feeling now…"
No… Stop… Ulrich thought to himself, but could not speak his words.
The bright light became a beacon as it shined above his gaping mouth. He was like a second sun. "I know that feeling well."
I give up! Please! he tried again to speak, but it was futile. He was frozen in fear.
"Primal Magic: Ecliptic Heaven's Shatter."
The bright light became a condensed ball, and Havoc faced below onto Ulrich in front of him.
FEEUUUUMMM!!
The beam was so huge that it blasted open the front gate of the Crimson Dragon's castle. The castle itself was on an elevated hill, so the beam shot over half the city below. The beam was visible from different parts of the Kingdom; becoming so bright that it replaced the sun for a moment, lasting a long twelve seconds.
From where the beam protruded, Havoc stood there with Ulrich still intact right in front of him. He had purposely missed and shot the beam just over his head. Ulrich had completely passed out in his Primal form, reverting back to his human form shortly afterward.
Havoc then took a few steps back and disengaged his Primal form as well. When he did, he stood there for a second staring at the sky. "Man… I'm tired… I wanna go… home…"
His vision blurred a bit as he closed and opened his eyes a few times before falling to the ground. He had fallen on his back where he had passed out on the spot. Snoring with his mouth wide open unashamedly as he lay.
There, on the decimated front court of the Crimson Dragon's castle, the winner of the battle between the two Graded beasts—was Havoc of the Black Wolf Knights.
***
**Atop Ryo's decimated and scorching quarters**
A shadowy figure had appeared behind the girl named Kiki of the Blue Phoenix Knights. It grew a sinister smile across its face with no other facial features shown from it—no eyes, no nose, nothing but that eerie smile. Its aura, however, was so intense that it was engulfing the cindered area whole. It was even more than Ryo's as it stood above on this giant toon oni wall along with Kiki.
"Oh! I forgot to introduce you to my friend, Ree-Ree!" Kiki said hauntingly as the oni wall seemed to wail in agony.
To which Ryo removed his firebolt fist from the part of the demon wall he dented, relaxing his arms back, and faced upward at them now. He looked past Kiki and right at the hostile, shadowy figure behind her, not taking his eyes off it for one second. His Burn Bright Meteor was still active on his fist, flashing red lightning in his surrounding area, cracking and whipping small lightning flames in his wake.
"This is Demi. He's my demon companion. Hehe. Isn't he just the handsomest?" Kiki gestured to the shadow standing behind her. She looked like a psychopath now more than ever.
Ryo, almost disappointed, breathed a heavy sigh. He still didn't remove his eyes from that shadowy figure up there as he did.
"To think that there are mages like yourself who would revert to demon possession for power is quite saddening."
Kiki tilted her head to the side after Ryo said this and wore a slightly confused look on her face. "Hmm? Oh, I didn't do this myself, silly. It was done for me." She had said so casually that it surprised him.
He clicked his tongue, "Who did this? And why would they do this? You poor girl…" A combination of calm and irritation—his feelings contradicting.
"Who do you think, Ree-Ree? Geez, you're asking all the silly questions today, aren't ya?" Kiki gave him those wild and crazed eyes like spirals once more as she said, "It was Syemore, of course."
Ryo's eyes widened then quickly turned to shadows; his orange, flame-like hair swayed as he finally looked downward and away from the shadowy figure that he had watched so closely.
Then, just as swiftly—if a breeze could blink, the shadow hopped right next to him in what seemed like a warp from where it had once been, without a shred of notice. It was so quiet as it placed a gentle hand on Ryo's right shoulder, facing the opposite direction from him. That same wicked smile ran across its lone and hollow face.
"Aw, don't be like that, Ryoku… You're making me feel bad about myself—being here with you all. That's no way to treat a guest in your own home, now is it?" The shadowy figure said, speaking finally. Its voice was familiar…
Ryo fell silent. He didn't even acknowledge the Demon there, just centimeters away to his left. Its arm remained crossed over his chest like it could obliterate him at any moment—a display of power.
His eyes were still shadow as it spoke to him. The dark aura was drowning him now, flickering his Burn Bright Meteor until it was finally put out by its sheer presence.
But then, his aura that seemed like it was being eaten away started to burn brightly once more. It burned, and it was like a beacon in the darkness, resembling a blue flame sparking electricity.
"What's this? So you can do it too, huh?" The shadow, Demi, said intriguingly.
The aura had fully meshed with Ryo's physical form. It turned his red and white attire into a glowing blue and white. Like he had become the aura itself as he wore its blue flames on his shoulders and throughout his body. His hair even changed colors from orange to white with blue flame-like tips. His skin hued with the flaming blue color as well, and his yellow fire eyes faded into that same burning blue, completing his new form.
Clouds gathered just around his quarters, entering from the outside; covering this area alone in dark thunderclouds. Their auras clashing, each refusing to let the other overpower it.
Demi hopped away from him a few feet as Ryo completed his transformation, weary that even these fires could burn it.
"Firebolt Magic: Mana Fusion: Zeus and Hades Tempest."
Right then, a blue lightning claymore bolted onto his left hand through the dark thunderclouds. The blade was thick and had Olympus features on it. The hilt of the large sword resembled a pillar from Olympus itself, glowing white and sparking blue lightning as it became shrouded in blue electricity at its entirety.
Then Ryo lifted his right hand and the claymore he had left behind, sticking out of the ground toward the center of the room, flew at him at a blazing speed. It crashed into his hand perfectly as its flames burned hot, and it turned his right arm into a blazing, flame red that contrasted the blue aura he was engulfed in.
With a blade of lightning on his left hand and a blade of fire on his right, Ryo glowed in a high-voltage blaze of armor, blessed by the Keeper himself to be the peacekeeper for both elements of fire and lightning. His aura now matched that of the shadowy figure, Demi, who stood before him as their auras continued to clash.
There, atop his once pristine quarters, light and dark now faced each other in battle.