The breathtaking scale of the central Combat grounds only now truly sank in for them. This was no simple practice field full of mats and targets, but an immense open battlefield beneath the open sky. Wide rings of ascending stone bleachers encircled the sand, while scattered training walls, pillars, and watchtowers loomed over the first year students like buildings in their own right. At the edge of the field, the broad stone platform with the eight imposing thrones still rose high. There sat the remaining Masters, half hidden behind smoke, flying dust, and the sharp morning light. They looked down silently and emotionlessly at the slaughter below, like gods observing an anthill.
Down on the floor, the world was reduced to a hurricane of pure destruction. Gigantic explosions tore the view in two. One of Juro's colossal smoke clones grabbed a giant stone pillar, ripped it out of its foundation with brute hydraulic force, and crushed an entire group of Behemoths with it. The shockwave rolled across the plain, shredding the remaining wisps of mist and shaking the stone beneath their feet.
In the middle of that apocalyptic madness, Amfibian Waterwalk stood staring at Silarias in utter disbelief. His narrow shoulders drooped with discouragement. He slowly held out his trembling hands. Between his fingers stretched thin, transparent webs that glinted faintly in the orange light of the burning Combat grounds. He looked from his own shaking hands to the gruesome battlefield and then back to the tall boy in matte black armor.
"Do you really think my power can help..." the Chameleon student whispered, his voice fragile and filled with doubt.
Silarias slowly stood up, cracking his back. The burning soot fell in dark flakes from his shoulder plates. Nyx rose immediately behind him like an icy, unflappable shadow, her eyes fixed tightly on the rain of sparks. Aurelius shouldered his weapon and stepped beside her, breathing heavily. Silarias took a moment. He did not look at the explosions; he only looked at the frightened boy before him.
"Well... we are still missing a few elements..." Silarias began calmly.
He did not get the chance to finish his sentence. The air literally tore open. A blinding golden flash and a raw crimson lightning bolt slammed into the cover like two comets. Beat and Apollo glided across the stone with smoking boots, leaving behind a trail of sizzling heat and crackling static charge. Beat immediately bent forward and began coughing violently, his lungs burning from the ash. He pointed wildly with his thumb toward the battlefield, where a new explosion illuminated the sky.
"Look at him go..." Beat gasped, while lightning still crackled across his cheeks. "He wants to see what we can do... well, then he is going to get it. Sil, please tell me you have a plan."
Silarias opened his mouth, but suddenly a shrill, screeching sound echoed from the ash cloud. A heavy, massive projectile shot straight at them at sickening speed. It collided head on with Silarias's chest. With a gruesome crash, the strategist of the Goats was knocked down mercilessly. The two bodies rolled meters across the rough stone floor in a chaotic tangle of limbs, sand, and hard metal.
Silarias scrambled up furiously. His eyes burned with rage, his fists tightly clenched. He was on the verge of driving the attacker into the ground. "WHAT..." he spat, seething with anger. When his eyes focused, he saw Faustus lying in the sand groaning, swatted away by the Master like a ragdoll.
The rage in Silarias's eyes melted into icy, tactical calculation in a single millisecond. "Faus?! ... mmm yeah, yeah, this can work." Faustus spat out a mouthful of sand and clutched his bruised ribs, but Silarias was already three steps ahead in his mind. He turned back to Amfibian in a flash. "So, Amfibian... is there a maximum number of barriers?"
Amfibian swallowed hard and cringed slightly under the penetrating gazes of the group. "Yeah, uh... it is not much, but I think... a maximum of twenty."
Silarias remained silent. His dark eyes began to flash dangerously, the radar in his mind running on overdrive. Another explosion thundered across the field, so powerful that one of the massive stone thrones of the Masters high on the walls trembled.
At that exact moment, a new figure shot toward them from the sea of flames. Vulkan bounced across the ground with dull, painful impacts, enveloped in the lingering heat of a fireball. He slammed against the sand multiple times, sliding toward them while complaining loudly.
"I am so done with this!" Vulkan screamed, flailing around in frustration as he tried to locate gravity.
Silarias reacted in a heartbeat. With a smooth, beastlike reflex, he caught Vulkan midair out of his destructive fall. He set him down forcefully. Silarias stared intently at the battered boy, knowing exactly which nerve to strike.
"Vulkan... you cannot last much longer, can you?"
The complaining stopped instantly. Vulkan's eyes widened as a raging, blinding pride ignited in his gaze. "WHAT... not last longer?!" he roared in blind indignation. He tore himself free from Silarias's grip, yanked the scorched straps of his armor tight with a brute tug, and turned around resolutely. Without looking back even once, he marched straight into the deadly smoke with heavy, furious strides, roaring toward the shadow of the Master.
Everyone stared at Silarias in absolute silence. Ethaniel, Sigardus, and Amfibian watched with bated breath as Silarias had flawlessly manipulated his own teammate. Silarias dropped smoothly onto his knees, casually gathered a few rough pebbles, and tossed them strategically onto the sand with a dull tap.
"So," he began in an ominous, icy voice, "the first distraction is already on its way."
The entire group stared at him questioningly. Silarias pointed nonchalantly over his shoulder without even looking, directly at the spot where Vulkan had just marched into the mist. Realization slowly dawned upon the Griffins. They were dealing with a tactical monster.
Silarias shuffled slightly forward, his fingers shifting the stone markers into a precise pattern. "Listen carefully. Beat and Apollo form the first group. Find Volta and Jolt, they form the second. You need to run fast enough in opposing circles to create a gigantic vortex together. Then Ethaniel must turn it into gold... even if only for a second. Meanwhile, the first distraction is already out there engaging him."
He looked up, his gaze sharp as a razor. "Then it is your turn, Sigardus. Keep generating feathers, no matter how many. Let them loose. On my signal, redirect their trajectory toward Juro. Then, Amfibian, place one large barrier around each attack group. Move the barriers with them and keep every group covered as they close in. Jane drives her power into the ground, Nyx freezes him... and then Aurelius, Faustus, and I step in for the finishing blow."
The onlookers exchanged wide, doubtful glances. Outside their safe bubble, a watchtower shattered and fire rained down. Ethaniel rubbed his golden gauntlets nervously. "Are you sure this will work?"
Beat immediately stepped forward sharply. "Yeah, but what about those friction seekers of his... what do we do about those?"
Silarias closed his eyes briefly. Friction is resistance... resistance is vibration. He opened his eyes and looked at Aurelius intently. "Can you find Kaelid and tell him to drive his Stone Anting through the entire floor? I need every inch of this battlefield vibrating."
Aurelius could not suppress a short, sharp laugh. He shook his head in pure awe. "You and your crazy plans... I am on my way." Without further questions, Aurelius leaped over the rubble and disappeared.
Sigardus straightened his back and clenched his fists. The formal smile gave way to pure focus. "Alright, we have one chance, no mistakes."
Amfibian tightly locked his webbed hands together. His heart pounded in his throat and doubt gnawed at him, but when he saw the unyielding faces surrounding him, something shifted. I will show them I am worthy of standing alongside them, he silently promised himself. His gaze turned unexpectedly hard.
Silarias slowly absorbed the charged tension. He rose majestically, brushed off the last bit of dust, and turned smoothly toward Nyx. The cold strategist vanished, replaced by an unexpectedly soft smile.
"Sooo... how did I do, Nyx... my moon."
The sudden romantic shift was so bizarre that Sigardus completely lost his composure and burst out laughing. He theatrically poked Ethaniel in his side. "Look at them. Young love... woooh," he whispered, grinning.
Yet their laughing faces suddenly transformed into two wide eyed masks of shock. Atop the edge of the crumbling wall, two small figures were suddenly sitting, cheerfully dangling their legs in the heat.
"And what do we get to do..." the innocent voices of Miki and Ren echoed clearly through the chaos.
Silarias and Nyx dropped onto one knee almost simultaneously, bringing themselves to the exact same level as the two tiny Goats. "We have not forgotten you," Nyx said respectfully.
Silarias nodded with utmost seriousness. "The most important task belongs to you. You need to keep him occupied... do you think you know how to do that?"
Miki and Ren exchanged a meaningful look and instantly burst into loud, hyperactive laughter. "YES, BRO! WE GOT THIS!" they shouted cheerfully.
Before anyone could even blink, the two little ones spun around and flashed at dizzying speed straight into the unpredictable, exploding heart of the Combat grounds. The world around them was reduced to a hurricane of fire and flying debris, but Miki and Ren only had eyes for their goal. Ren shouted above the roar of the explosions, calling Miki's name while extending his hand far back. Miki did not hesitate for a second. She kicked off a flying boulder, stretched her arm, and their fingers locked in an iron grip. At that exact moment, Miki unleashed a concentrated blast of fire from her feet. The massive bang launched them like a cannonball straight through the thick black smoke and flying stone shards. The hot wind bit into their faces as they flew like a comet across the battlefield Juro had devastated.
With a graceful, controlled motion, Ren landed heavily on his feet, leaving a deep trench in the stone floor. He spun smoothly and caught Miki in his arms. But her body was limp. During their wild flight through the chaos, a broken piece of rock had struck the side of her tiara. The reinforced tiara had absorbed the brunt of the impact, but the blow had knocked her briefly unconscious. Ren dropped to his knees and shook her vigorously twice. No response. For a fraction of a second, pure panic flashed through his young eyes. He realized they had not a single second to lose and had to press on no matter the cost.
Ren focused deeply and activated his powers. In the blink of an eye, dozens of metallic straw strands as strong as iron shot from his arms. With quick, nimble movements, he used the strands to secure Miki and her heavy armor firmly against his back. He pulled the straps firm and rose with effort under the added weight. As the ground beneath his feet trembled from Juro's ruthless rampage, Ren stood still.
I have not been scattering my straw across this battlefield for nothing, he thought sharply. Remembering the technique Master Juro used with his smoke to keep tabs on everything, he closed his eyes. His mind sought out the invisible threads he had dispersed across the immense battlefield. Suddenly he felt a subtle vibration. One of his straw fibers had just brushed against Hulda, sending a clear signal directly back to his consciousness. Ren opened his eyes and a broad, elated grin spread across his face.
"Oh wow, it actually works!" he shouted in awe. His body began to glow intensely. With an explosive launch, he blasted right through the suffocating smoke. He launched himself over a towering, burning training wall, used his momentum to kick off the side of a still standing watchtower at dizzying speed, and dived down in a straight line, heading right for Hulda.
Further off, Hulda and Siera were catching their breath behind a fallen pillar. Hulda clutched her weapon and leaned against the stone with a sigh. "Oh, once this is over, we seriously need to go to the market," she said, attempting to briefly forget the absolute madness around them.
Right at that moment, Ren slammed into the ground with a loud thud right between them. Dust and stone chips flew in every direction. Ren stood up panting heavily under the weight on his back and immediately began speaking frantically.
"I uh... we have a plan... Silarias... the leader of the Laughing Goats, he is working together with those big Griffins from before, and a cool looking frog man..."
Hulda and Siera stared at him with wide, blinking eyes, completely caught off guard by his sudden entrance and frantic rambling. Then their gaze fell upon the limp body strapped to his back.
"Wait a second... what happened to her?" Siera asked in shock.
Ren looked awkwardly over his shoulder. He untied the straw straps in a flash and lowered Miki gently onto the ground. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her firmly back and forth a few times. When that failed, he resolutely snatched his water bottle, popped the cap off, and poured the entire contents straight over her face without hesitation.
Miki startled awake with a sharp gasp of air. She spluttered out the water and clutched her head, dazed.
"Wake up," Ren said with a wide grin. "Now we are even."
Miki rolled her eyes dramatically, wiped away the water, and rose shakily to her feet. However, her playfulness vanished immediately when the Combat grounds jolted menacingly once more from a gigantic explosion in the distance.
"The signal is about to sound..." Miki spoke with complete seriousness, staring intently at Hulda and Siera. "Then we are the next ones who have to do something."
Hulda and Siera looked at each other in utter confusion. The chaos of the burning battlefield seemed to completely pass them by for a moment.
"Wait, what plan... what on earth are we supposed to do?" Hulda asked nervously.
Ren and Miki looked at each other and then turned back to the two girls simultaneously, with perfectly synchronized determination.
"We are going to get him," Ren and Miki said in unison. "And you have to throw us."
Siera's mouth hung open as she blinked blankly. "Wait, what?!"