The meeting room where the four Valley Kingdom Captains had now turned into a battlefield. The ones who occupied the space were—Captain Jecht of the Silver Shark Knights, Captain Tubolt of the Purple Panther Knights, and Syemore, the Blue Phoenix Knights Captain—who was currently enemy number one and criminal to the Valley Kingdom.
Jecht had transformed into his full Primal state. And his Primal type was of ancient typing—a Megalodon Landshark, or otherwise known as an Otodus in this world. And he stood meters high above both Tubolt and Syemore even as he was crouched on all fours. He snarled steam onto the battlegrounds, emitting a humid mist from his gills that shrouded them, hovering over their feet.
In the air around him, Jecht summoned orbs of water that condensed and shaped into a volley of shark missiles. All of them floating and aimed right at Syemore from all around.
"Primal Magic: Hydro Shark Missile Barrage!"
As Syemore still hung his arms and head down to the ground, he slowly looked up to the fusillade of shark missiles that surrounded him. His calm facade was finally gone, revealing his true unhinged nature as he began to laugh sinisterly, "Go ahead and try. You will see why only I was sent to infiltrate the Valley!"
Syemore looked up, and his eyes glowed their bloody crimson hue. One by one, the shark missiles descended upon him, crashing loudly from the flurry.
Crash! Crash! CRASH!!
The missiles were never-ending. As one shark missile launched, another in its place formed and shot down onto the center where Syemore stood. Due to Jecht's steam, the air was thick with humidity, allowing him to continuously cast this spell multiple times with just one incantation.
Tubolt merely stood there, shielding his face with his hands against the fierce gusts from the relentless barrage.
Only steam clouds were left now, protruding out from where Syemore was.
Jecht's primal eyes watched as his monstrous voice echoed, "Show me your mangled self, Syemore."
Silence was the only reply he had gotten—the steam clearing and joining the rest on the ground, hovering there at their feet.
Then from within the steam cloud, something that looked like a cocoon had emerged from where Syemore had once been. When the steam danced off from it, it looked like two large, purple membranous wings wrapped around and layered over each other; the texture, like that of stone.
"What is this? I sense something completely different now… This magic… No, it can't be," his large eyes shuttered at the thought. He knew this ability to belong to only one person, and one person only. A knight of the Valley. A captain…
An ominous voice echoed from within the cocoon-like wings, clear as day, ethereal. "You seem to be conflicted, Captain Jecht. Has something actually caught the presumptuous Captain of the Silver Sharks off guard?"
"No… This magic belongs to—"
"Ah, yes," the voice, Syemore, echoed back to him.
Right then, the wings disengaged from their cocoon state and revealed a dark purple and demonic figure from within. Horns had emerged from his head—boisterous and proud as it curved in and shot out. His robes, which rashly hung on, draped him from the sides of his arms from the bottom torso down, revealing his pristine figure underneath—which was now all dark purple as well. Two distinct faces showed on his left and right chest, appearing as if they were sleeping. They both had a lighter skin tone than the dark purple he now displayed.
His eyes glowed a hellish blood red as it seeped out like trails of crimson smoke.
"Spirit Transformation Magic: Fallen Angel."
With shock and fear, even in his intimidating beast form, Jecht was taken aback at the sight and the incantation Syemore had just chanted.
"Captain Ark of the Crimson Dragon Knights," Jecht uttered under his beastly breath.
An evil smile shadowed from Syemore's demonic silhouette. His face looked as if it could barely contain the grin that whipped across his face.
"Yes. That it is." Syemore raised his purple demonic hand, revealing mangled fingers with fingernails that had grown sharp and black. In between them was a small orb, and within the orb… "This is Captain Ark's magic, though… slightly enhanced," he said.
"What did you do, Syemore!?" Jecht replied with bellowing anger.
Syemore had calmed his smile for a moment, intentionally taking his time before speaking, "You did not believe I was sent here with merely Compression magic alone, did you?" he chuckled for a moment, then began to stretch his wings, "You see, I am also a master of the Forbidden Arts… One can do many things with Forbidden magic. For instance, being able to use other's abilities as your own—one of its many attributes…" He went on, "Now, if only I had these orbs ready when first attempting to capture the Black Wolves Captain and his officers after the Kingdom's Guild Meeting… The hourglass was an outdated item, but you cannot rush production. The only downside to Forbidden magic is that it takes time until it is ready to use—four months to be exact for some spells, creation and mass production of magic items, etc… But once it's ready, one can use it to his heart's content."
Visibly angry, Jecht ground his monstrous shark teeth at Syemore's words.
"What better way to wait than to get a whole Kingdom to trust you, unknowing that they will all soon belong to the Mountain… 'Sub-Kingdom'… Ha! More like glorified slaves. That's how the Mountain put it at least."
Jecht could not contain his anger any longer. "You make me sick… How dare you dabble in the Forbidden Arts, continue to abuse the souls and magic of others, and use the Valley as your stepping stool for greater gain." Shadows formed over his large shark face, the natural lights from above still glowing softly onto them, uncaring of the dire situation the two monstrosities brought upon this place. "And to think, we had welcomed you—treated you as our own—only for you to stab us in the back. This kind of act is unforgivable. I, Jecht, on behalf of Sylva and the rest whom you have taken, and as a knight of the Valley Kingdom… will send you to your fucking grave!"
As he said this, a multitude of Hydro Shark Missiles formed all around from behind his massive Otodus form. They looked like mythical wings of both water and ether. He held his monstrous head up high and raised his beastly arms from the ground and positioned them forward, forming hydro Gatling guns to join the barrage.
His roar sent shivers upon shivers as he prepared his disastrous attack.
"Primal Magic: Otodus Annihilation!"
"Hold on, Jecht! You will destroy this whole castle if you do that!" Tubolt shouted from the sidelines.
"Be as it may," he said, his beastly echo taking on a form of sympathy, it seemed, as he looked slightly to his comrade, "I cannot let this traitor continue to roam freely as he is. I will take full responsibility. Even if it is to be banished from the Valley, I will hold my head high, knowing I did everything in my power to fight for this Kingdom. I am ready to accept the consequences of my actions."
Tubolt listened hesitantly. His hair and one dangling earring fluttered from the condensed mana aura rising like a soft breeze from both monsters in front of him.
"If you truly care for this Kingdom as you say, then choose now and fight with me, Tubolt—"
Right then, Jecht had been halted by multiple large chains shooting out from the shadows and ethers around him.
"Measuring Magic: Prometheus Bound."
The chains constricted his body, limbs, and his large neck. The thick chains were like a wide net as each intertwined within itself, stretching to meet the size of Jecht's enormous Primal form. He could not move an inch…
"Fuck… Even Alphonzo's magic…" he said as he struggled within it.
"'Ready to accept the consequences of your actions,' you say? Well, that's good to know. That will make putting you down that much easier… because you have already accepted your fate." Syemore hauntingly said as he strolled casually closer to Jecht, who was immobilized. The Hydro Shark Missiles and his Otodus Annihilation dissolving one after the other at his wake—his Otodus form, his magic... fading to nothingness.
When Syemore halted from his pace, he met Jecht eye to eye, right in time he had fully reverted back to his human form.
"An inspirational speech, Captain, but against true power, you are but a speck of dust beneath my boot."
From the tight bind of the thick chains, Jecht's mana and strength had completely and utterly left him dry. But as strained as he was, he staggered his gaze to Syemore and spat. He had intended to spit in his face, but it went straight to the ground.
Syemore didn't flinch, continuing to stare unwaveringly at Jecht as he said, "Look how weak you've become... Yet I like to see myself as kind. So, any last words before you become part of my collection?"
Jecht forced a smile and locked his eyes to his, "You will not… win… The Valley… The Valley will win." He said lastly before passing out from Prometheus Bound.
Syemore's calm gaze slowly turned into a dissatisfied glare. Looking down at Jecht, who was now out cold. "I'm really starting to hate hearing that from you all..."
With one swift motion, he whipped his demonic hand to the side of Jecht's head, vanishing him completely from within Prometheus' chains. An orb formed, resting on his palm, the Silver Shark Captain sleeping within it.
Not making eye contact with him, Syemore spoke to Tubolt, who was still watching from the sidelines this whole time with what seemed like confliction in his violet eyes.
"So, after witnessing the power I hold, whose side do you choose, Captain Tubolt? The winning or the losing side? I urge you to choose carefully. Depending on your answer, I will appoint a good position for you with the Mountain," He spoke with deep seriousness. His new form made his words that much heavier to bear.
Tubolt's eyes and fingers trembled. Sweat formed from his neck as he witnessed two heads from two allied Guilds get effortlessly chopped off right in front of him. He was the only one left to stand against this horror of an enemy that they had so willingly let into their Kingdom. Right now, it was the answer to this question that hung the balance of the whole Valley on his shoulders. It was all up to him. It felt that way… or so he thought…
"Why are you taking so long to answer? Shouldn't the choice be obvious?" a male's voice echoed from the ethers of the rummaged, empty space—coming from neither Syemore nor Tubolt.
Tubolt's head whipped as he turned to face the large double doors of the place. When it opened, instead of the grand hallway behind it, it was but a sparkly pink space on the other side. Two figures had leaped through and landed into the room. One, a beautiful female in gold and white and a begrudging male in black and dark gray with a massive black blade propped on his shoulders...
"Filthy dog?" Tubolt spouted in utter disbelief at the arrival of them.
When Syemore laid his wretched eyes upon them, his expression changed; staring at them with an amused and twisted smile as he said with a voice that sounded like one and many all at once,
"Well, if it isn't the princess of the Valley herself and the mangy mutt captain of the Black Wolves. How very kind of you to join us."