The enormous creatures summoned by Xandia began to encircle the prince, their glowing eyes reflecting a voracious desire to fight.
Arios, fully aware of the challenge before him, removed his eye patch, bandana, and cloak, setting them aside carefully. His bicolor hair—a striking purple streak amidst blonde—was now exposed, while his expression turned deadly serious. He was ready to face his teacher's challenge.
"Let's see how much you've improved since I left the kingdom," Xandia said with a mischievous smile, crossing her arms. "In this special combat space of mine, I hope you don't give up too quickly."
With an elegant gesture of her hand, Xandia issued a command to her monsters. The creatures began encasing themselves in rocks, forming a sort of improvised armor that enhanced their already intimidating appearance. Now, they resembled indestructible giants, prepared to annihilate anything that stood in their way.
Arios, brush in hand, assumed a combat stance. The towering giants roared as they launched their rock-reinforced fists directly at him. With impressive agility, the young prince dodged each attack, moving with almost feline grace between the blows.
In a swift motion, Arios drew a magical spring in the air, propelling himself upward several meters above the battlefield. From there, he began tracing precise lines with his brush, creating eight sharp metal stakes that gleamed under the dim light of the surroundings. Without hesitation, he hurled them toward the center of the monsters, believing it to be their weak point.
The stakes struck with devastating force, pinning the giants to the ground as if they were mere nails. A black liquid began to seep from the defeated bodies, pooling like thick ink before dissolving into the air.
With a confident smile, Arios looked at Xandia, openly mocking her:
"Come on, Master! Is that all?" Arios taunted. "I thought they'd be stronger, but they turned out to be very weak. If that's the best you've got, you've disappointed me."
Xandia raised an eyebrow, her amused expression tinged with irritation. Without warning, she changed her attire, transforming her swimsuit into an imposing mage's outfit. She pulled out a white staff adorned with a red stone at its center, which began to glow intensely.
"You think that's all, brat? Don't get cocky," she responded sarcastically.
The red stone emitted a blinding flash, and suddenly, an enormous energy-formed hand emerged from the ground. Before Arios could react, the hand grabbed him firmly, lifting him into the air and shaking him violently from side to side. Finally, it slammed him into the ground with a dull thud.
With a mocking laugh, Xandia added:
"What were you saying?"
But just as it seemed victory was hers, the giant hand holding Arios began to shine brightly. In a fraction of a second, the grip crumbled, turning into golden dust that dispersed into the air. The young man got to his feet, his body now enveloped in a faint, protective glow.
Xandia looked at him with a mix of pride and frustration.
"That thing again…" Xandia muttered, pointing at the light surrounding him. "That power of yours is useless against me. It only works on demons and low-ranking monsters."
Arios brushed the dust off his clothes, still catching his breath.
"Yeah, but that thing didn't seem so strong," he replied with a half-smile, though he knew he hadn't completely won yet.
Xandia let out a brief laugh, shaking her head.
"Oh, little prince, this is just getting started."
"Well then, let's see if you can handle this little friend," Xandia said with a mischievous smile, raising her staff as she began to recite an incantation in a strange tongue that echoed like a deep resonance.
The rocks covering the ground began to vibrate violently before rising into the sky, forming a chaotic whirlpool that resembled bubbling foam.
Suddenly, a metallic creature emerged from the vortex: an enormous head with glowing red eyes, surrounded by long, twisted tentacles that writhed like furious snakes. It looked like a giant octopus made of dark metal—imposing and menacing.
Arios observed the creature with a mix of awe and disbelief. He thought it would be just like the other monsters summoned by his teacher and decided to act quickly. With his brush, he drew several metal stakes and launched them directly at the creature, hoping to repeat his earlier strategy. However, the stakes bounced off uselessly against the monster's metallic body without leaving a single scratch. The creature roared in fury, its red eyes glowing even more intensely.
The tentacles shot toward the young man with surprising speed. The prince leapt onto one, dodged another, and created light spears to block the remaining ones. But to his frustration, the attacks barely grazed the monster, which seemed completely invulnerable.
Attempting to escape, Arios created a trampoline beneath his feet and propelled himself into the air, thinking he only had to deal with eight tentacles, like those of a regular octopus. But he was wrong. Suddenly, more steel whips erupted from the creature's body, accompanied by electric daggers that shot out from the suckers on each limb. One of the daggers struck him, piercing his defenses and sending an electrical shock coursing through his body.
The prince screamed in pain as his body convulsed in midair before crashing down to the ground with a dull thud.
"Bah! Pathetic," Xandia commented disdainfully, crossing her arms as she watched her student struggle to recover. "And you think you're ready to go rescue your brother, huh? You can't even handle a Rank C dungeon monster."
Arios struggled to his feet, determined to keep fighting. He tried to use his brush to create something, but the abomination gave him no respite. The metallic limbs kept attacking relentlessly, and the electric daggers forced him to retreat constantly. Finally, another barrage of daggers struck him, leaving him paralyzed on the ground.
"I can't… move…" Arios murmured in a broken voice, feeling the electricity coursing through his body, preventing him from coordinating his movements.
Xandia looked at him with an expression that was both disappointed and concerned.
"You've become so weak, boy, haven't you?" she asked, her mocking tone softening slightly. "What happened during my absence?"
The monster continued its merciless assault. Every time Arios tried to dodge the tentacles, the ones he had already avoided launched more electric daggers, eliminating any chance for him to focus and draw something useful with his brush. Now, completely immobilized, he was easy prey for the beast.
Desperate, he tried to roll to avoid the attacks, but it was futile. The beast, growing impatient, unleashed a rain of electric daggers while using its massive tentacles to pin him down against the ground. The young man lay sprawled, humiliated and defeated, unable to move under the weight of the relentless attacks.
The situation was critical, and Xandia observed everything from a distance, silently evaluating whether she should intervene or let her student face the consequences of his own weakness.
"You're pathetic, Arios," Xandia said again, her tone severe, though there was a glimmer of expectation in her eyes. "I didn't train a weakling. Show me you're worth something and that you can truly go after your brother."
Arios lay on the ground, enduring the merciless onslaught of the metallic tentacles. The electric daggers continued to emerge from the suckers, tearing into his body with paralyzing shocks while the whips lashed him without mercy. Each impact was like thunder resonating in the air, drowning out even the prince's cries of pain. His body writhed involuntarily under the weight of the attacks, but he couldn't move beyond that. He was completely at the creature's mercy.
Xandia, watching from a distance, decided to push him even further:
"Come on, boy! Tell me to stop, and this bitter taste will fade. Go back to your comfy, cozy castle with your parents. Though you'll return with the disappointment of not being able to achieve your goal… Is that what you want?"
The prince seemed to have lost consciousness as he endured attack after attack, his body motionless save for the spasms caused by the electric shocks. Despair was beginning to take hold of him. He knew that if he couldn't defeat this creature, he wouldn't stand a chance of having the strength needed to save Kei. The weight of his failure was plunging him into an abyss of helplessness.
"Come on, brat! I'm getting bored watching you suffer," Xandia shouted, striding toward him with firm steps. "Say you give up, or prove me wrong!"
In her mind, Xandia thought: I don't want them to hurt that pretty face. Come on, just admit defeat already. But just then, memories from years ago flooded her mind, bringing with them images she had buried long ago.
Ten Years Ago, King Kingo walked through the palace halls alongside Balniac, his eldest son. In one of the rooms waited a mysterious figure: a young woman with bright blue hair and a fitted black outfit, her short skirt revealing legs covered by long stockings. She held a white staff adorned with a red stone at its center, and a large black hat obscured her face as she looked down.
The king stopped in front of her and gestured proudly toward Balniac.
"This is the court mage. She possesses great magical abilities. Without a doubt, she can train and help Arios become someone powerful and protect the kingdom," the king said in a solemn voice.
The young woman slowly raised her head, revealing green eyes full of confidence and mischief. A mischievous smile crossed her face as she responded:
"I am Xandia."