Chapter 48 - Second Draft

Chapter 48 - LOT

A grand collision of white and red flames rocked the stage as the two girls collided. Instead of using a sword, the Divine Phoenix Clan’s Second Princess used her arms, sheathed in fire, to launch a strike forward. A pillar of fire emerged from her arm, blasting towards Arial.

Arial, in return, held her sword out in front of her, wrapping it in the heavy red flames of the Magma Clan.

The resulting collision had created a fireball more than 10 meters wide, knocking both girls backward. Shards of dirt and rock exploded outward as a small crater was formed, many of them instantly melting in the intense heat.

Jack shivered, feeling the heat from all the way over here. If he tried to take an attack like that head-on, he would instantly be roasted alive, Spirit protection or not.

He began rethinking his strategy. He needed to make it to the Semifinals, to gain the opportunity to sneak into the Central Ceremony Building during the Tournament Dinner. If he went up against any opponents of either girl’s caliber, he’d need to exert more effort than he thought.

“Oh wow! Look at them go!”

“Guardians above, the two fiery beauties fight each other, now that is sure something!”

“Woah, I can feel the heat from over here!”

Jack was still standing in a group with various other new recruits. Many of them offered their own opinions on each combat. A few of them, though, seemed to be enamored with the current fight.

“Who do you think will win?” Jack turned to one of the nearby recruits. It was none other than the black leather armored and masked one Arial had pointed out as ‘interesting’ earlier. No one else had been willing to stand near him, so Jack had decided to. He hadn’t wanted to interact much with the recruits for the most part, so it fit nicely with his plans.

The black masked man turned to look at Jack briefly before turning back to look at the ongoing battle.

“If nothing changes… The Phoenix girl.” He grunted, his voice quiet.

Jack turned back to the fight, studying.

As Arial fought against the Second Princess of the Divine Phoenix Clan, Jack noticed that while they seemed to be almost evenly matched, Arial appeared to slowly be getting worn out. The red flames that she covered herself in wavered, as if in exhaustion. The Second Princess, on the other hand, seemed to be in perfect condition. Supposedly, those with the Divine Phoenix Transformation Natural Ability had incredible regenerative capabilities, even at a lower level, perhaps that was the cause.

“Hmm…” Jack muttered, staring closely, making use of his Slowed State. The way Arial was moving felt incredibly smooth and precise, reminiscent of some of his own footwork. Jack was sure to maintain absolute control of his body when he fought, one of the key aspects of his training.

It was almost like Arial was practicing, and learning live, Jack’s style of fighting while competing against a powerful opponent.

“Isn’t Arial’s nickname the Furious Phoenix? Doesn’t that make them both Phoenix girls?” Jack responded, rubbing his chin.

The black masked man gave Jack a sidelong look before ignoring him.

Jack shrugged and smiled.

He then took the time to scan the other groups, while the two girls continued to battle on stage.

In particular, his eyes trailed off to the group of Magma Clan members. He scanned over them before his eyes landed on one particular figure.

A handsome, smiling man wearing a set crimson robes. He had a square jaw, and bright green eyes that Jack could make out from nearly a hundred meters away, with short dark brown hair. A single sword lay strapped to his waist. Several other Magma Clan members stood around him, many of them talking enthusiastically.

Kenneth Raie. The adopted son of the Empyrean Lord of the Magma Clan, and the strongest leader among the younger generation.

Of the people he might have to face before the Semi-Finals, this was the last person Jack wanted to encounter. He had faith that he could beat him. Among anyone his age, Jack was confident in taking out, and Kenneth was only 2 years older.

After all, there was a reason the Time Clan was the strongest Clan in all of history.

However, if he beat him in battle, he’d need to show off more strength than would be reasonable, and would draw way too much attention to himself.

Off beyond Kenneth was another, smaller group among Magma Clan members. At the center of this group was a slim man with long blonde hair wrapped in a braid, standing with his arms crossed. He had a pair of axes strapped to his back, gleaming with intricate designs carved in them. His eyes and lips were thin, giving him an irritated appearance that matched his hooked nose. He was frowning with an arrogant look on his face as he watched the girls fight.

Lector Mones. The son of the Burn Lord Bellando. A genius when it came to manipulating fire and using his Natural Ability, second only to Kenneth.

At the bare minimum, Jack hoped to avoid fighting both of them in the tournament, though he knew it’d require a bit of luck. Defeating either one of them would draw far too much attention to himself before he was ready.

As he was in the midst of musing this, occasionally glancing up to watch Arial and the Second Princess Hannah fight, he suddenly felt something strange.

An incredibly faint twisting sensation. It only lasted for the briefest instant. But, right after, he felt yet another odd feeling. Almost as if he was free falling in the air, as if he had just been cut lose from being held aloft.

The feelings were extremely minute, and only lasted for a split second. Jack looked around in confusion, his eyes blinking.

The fight on stage continued to unravel, the two girls clashing away. The spectators in the stands cheered loudly, the recruits around Jack debated who was stronger. No one acted as if anything out of the ordinary had happened.

He frowned, and then shrugged, wondering if he had imagined it.

A few seconds passed, and the fight on stage seemed to be approaching a climax. Arial had been cornered to a side of the stage, where the Divine Phoenix Second Princess throwing up immaculate white fireballs to prevent her from fleeing. The cheers of the audience grew louder, mixed with boos at those angry at Arial seemingly losing.

At that exact moment, just as the Second Princess was beginning to corner Arial, a deafening explosion shook the entire arena. It was incredibly loud, and immediately followed by an enormous shockwave.

Jack stuttered in surprise as he was knocked off his feet, turning to look behind him.

An enormous, gaping hole that stretched a bit more than 120 meters wide had formed in the side of the coliseum, obliterating an entire section of stands, and everyone in them. A faint, black light rested on this enormous hole, where white steam was slowly rising. Rubble and debris scattered across the arena floor, creating a faint grey haze.

Jack blinked as he stared at the hole in shock and horror. It was one of the sections where only Magma Clan members had been seated.

Thousands of people had died, just like that.

The spectating crowd froze, none of them daring to move as from this enormous hole a single figure emerged.

“Oh Magma Clan. Your day of reckoning is upon you, bahahaha!” A bronze skinned, muscular warrior smiled, holding aloft a spear that was covered in shifting, black light. The spearman’s body wavered between darkness and normal flesh, giving him a deathly appearance.

“HOW DARE YOU!” A split second after the spearwielder appeared, Burn Lord Miren whipped off the enormous broadsword from his back and dashed forward, moving at an extreme speed. As he moved, bright red light surrounded him, flames and magma appearing around his body.

Jack entered his Slowed State, slowing the world down to 1/24th its normal speed.

Like that, he could just barely make out the impact as the spear wielding warrior clashed with Burn Lord Miren.

A second explosion rocked the coliseum as the spear wielder was knocked backwards, the darkness he was covered in exploding outward, forming a massive, hundred meter tall pillar of pure blackness. An instant later a massive slash of molten magma collided with this pillar of darkness, causing a third explosion.

At the same time, several other explosions abruptly rang out, coming from all across the Forinth Stronghold. Jack covered his hears for an instant as the sound waves slammed into him, assaulting his ears.

The audience that had been previously frozen still began to scream and panic as they realized what was going on. Many of the bystanders fainted, unable to bear the impact of the shockwaves or from sheer shock. The rest began to flee, running away from the coliseum.

The duel on stage stopped as Arial and Hannah turned to look at the enormous gaping hole in horror.

Immediately, the fighters in the center of the arena began to react.

“Quickly! We’re under attack!”

“We need to get out of here, now!”

“Where do we go?!”

A deluge of voices rang out as, barely audible under the constant explosions that were shaking the air.

Jack slammed away his shock as he spun around, searching through the other recruits. His eyes caught ahold of Bale and Evan, and he sprinted over to them, ignoring the confusion.

“What’s going on?!” Bale looked at Evan and Jack, his voice only slightly panicked.

“I don’t know. No time to talk, let’s move with them.” Jack motioned towards the group of Magma Clan participants that were supposed to be fighting in the Tournament.

They were all headed towards the north of the coliseum, towards one of the entrances.

Jack and the duo ran in towards the northern entrance as well, following the exodus from the arena. The rest of the recruit champions fell in line behind them, moving with the crowd.

Jack forced himself to calm down, remaining in his Slowed State to give himself time to think.

Something big was happening to the Magma Clan. It seemed they were being attacked, not only here, but from multiple locations. It was extremely chaotic right now.

“Are you alright, Jack?” A girl’s harried voice sounded off next to Jack.

Jack turned to his left. Arial Burnheart was running alongside him, a panicked look on her face. A faint red light gleamed in her eyes, her body was covered by a warm red glow, ready to pull on her Natural Ability at any point.

“I’m fine. Do you know what’s happening?” He sputtered out, continuing to run forward.

Arial shook her head. A few members of the Magma Clan dropped back to run with Arial, checking up on her, and talking amongst themselves in a scared, panicked manner.

As Jack and the rest moved out from the northern entrance of the coliseum, a scene of destruction was revealed to them all.

Several of the huge palaces of the Magma Clan had been destroyed, or partially destroyed. enormous swathes of golden flames covered several large areas, obliterating anything or anyone within. The smell of burning rock, and flesh, filled the air, a gag-inducing powerful stench. In the background, apart from the sound of rocking explosions and battle, the screams of the wounded and moans of the dying could vaguely be heard. Jack frowned fiercely as he saw this, clenching his fists.

Even if the Magma Clan was his and Liren’s enemy, the regular people living here were innocent. It was something he’d realized after thinking for a long time. The regular homes, the normal way they went about things. Most of the people here weren’t evil oppressors, or even active fighters, but normal families. The real fault lay with those in charge.

He looked around at all the destruction and death helplessly. It wasn’t fair, and there was nothing he could do to change it. Not right now, at least.

“Quickly! Everyone, head to one of the intact strongholds. We need to-“ One of the Magma Clan officials that had been in the arena, a man wearing a set of robes that looked authoritative, had started yelling.

Before he could finish speaking, however, another deafening explosion rang out directly overhead. Jack ducked down and covered himself as he saw an enormous golden fireball, boiling brilliant heat and fire stretching easily 300 meters across collide with an even bigger meteor of red and black magma.

He watched in horror as the enormous mess of fire and magma began to fall downwards towards them. He could already feel the blistering heat even from a distance. He pulled on his Spirit as much as he could, adding a powerful layer of protection to his body.

“RUN!”

“Oh my God!”

“What the hell?!”

Before anyone could make it far, the shockwave from the explosion reached them, knocking several of the new recruits, officials, Magma Clan members, and various other fighters that were participating in the tournament over, including Jack.

Just out of the corner of his eye, in his Slowed State Jack could make out a few figures appearing among the fleeing crowd, moving extremely quickly to protect or save their respective charges. A middle-aged man in an orange blazer appeared next to the Divine Phoenix Clan’s Second Princess. A few other middle-aged or elderly figures appeared next to several of the fighters that came from the Subsidiary Powers of the Magma Clan, protecting them.

He slowed the world around him to a full 1/24th speed, his mind racing ahead of him.

He could dodge this attack. But if he did so, he would almost certainly give himself away as being far more powerful than he should be, especially with all these high level warriors here. Taking into account the ongoing attack on the Magma Clan, things would only look worse from here.

“Jack! Stand still!” As Jack was figuring out what to do, as well as recovering from the shockwave, he saw the vague figure of a girl standing over him, sheathed in red fire. As the enormous mass of magma and flames came crashing down, the girl held her hands aloft, forming a small bubble of flames, blocking them off from the outside world, the meteor of magma smashing directly down towards them.