Jane’s razor-sharp, purple-blue lightning sliced straight through the arena and struck Master Juro’s chest with an explosive bang. Electric branches crawled across his body, burrowing between his tensed muscles and locking him completely in place for a fraction of a second.
With a wild, rasping roar, Juro ripped himself free from the paralysis.
The crackling charge burst off his body. The smoke surrounding his heavy figure swelled within a single heartbeat and turned so dark that the light above it seemed to vanish. Juro thrust one arm into the vapor, clenched his fingers, and pulled out a massive sphere of compressed smoke.
The smoke ball vibrated in his hand as if it could implode at any moment.
Juro struck.
With a deafening roar, the projectile shot straight at Jane.
The black bullet raced low over the broken tiles, dragging loose stone splinters in its wake. Jane tried to shift her feet, but the pressure of the incoming projectile pinned her almost completely to the floor.
She had nowhere to go.
Right before the smoke ball could crush her chest, space tore open beside her. A swirling black hole appeared level with her shoulder. The rotational force grabbed Jane around her waist and yanked her sideways into the vacuum.
She vanished.
The smoke bullet blasted through the spot where she had stood and slammed into the back wall like a cannonball. Dozens of stones exploded into dust. A wave of dust and black smoke rolled back across the arena.
Master Juro stared at the empty, smoking spot.
“WHERE ARE YOU?!” he roared at the rubble. “DOWN THERE?!”
“ABOVE!”
The shout came from two throats at once.
Juro threw his head back.
High above him, Nyx hovered in the air. Her pitch-black hands were stretched toward the black hole swirling behind her. Jane emerged beside her from a second opening, surrounded by purple-blue lightning.
Both women readied themselves to attack from above.
Before they could move, Juro threw his arms wide open.
An inhuman vacuum force burst forth from his body.
The air was sucked out of the arena. Jane and Nyx were yanked backward mid-attack. Their clothing whipped wildly around their bodies as they tried to fight against the suction. Below, several warriors dug their feet into the ground to keep from being dragged toward Juro.
Every breath grew heavy.
Every chest felt twice as heavy.
Juro raised his face to the two women and laughed.
“HAHAHAHA! YOU WANT A CHALLENGE?!”
All the smoke he had exhaled, fired, and spread across the battlefield during the fight came to life all at once. The vapor rose from cracks in the floor, pulled away from the walls, and formed a rapid maelstrom around his body.
With every revolution, the smoke grew thicker.
Heavier.
Darker.
The concentrated vapor plunged toward his core and began to harden around his figure. Layer after layer formed over his arms, chest, and shoulders. His silhouette grew as the material piled up around him like wet cement.
His hysterical laughter echoed ever deeper from within the black mass.
Nyx landed heavily on the floor, looking at Silarias with wide eyes.
Ethaniel saw the monstrosity growing and slowly lowered his weapon.
Amfibian rushed toward Silarias and grabbed him by his combat clothes.
“THIS IS NOT GOING ACCORDING TO PLAN!”
Silarias stood frozen. His gaze did not stray from Juro for a single second.
“I know,” he said. “We have no choice left.”
He took one deep breath.
“Plan B.”
Unrest shot through the ranks.
“Plan B?!”
“What Plan B?!”
Silarias began to glow from within. With every step he took forward, new cracks formed beneath his feet.
“Plan Box,” he said.
He turned to Faustus.
“It is a risk, but it is our move.”
Then he grabbed Amfibian by his scaly head and forced him to look him straight in the eyes.
“New comrade, listen carefully. Tell me you can box us in. Just Juro, Faustus, and me. Put us together in one space and seal that box completely.”
Amfibian rubbed his forehead frantically.
“I do not know if I can do that.” His eyes darted to the growing smoke colossus. “I might have something, but it carries a dark price.”
“We must,” Silarias said. “It is now or never.”
He motioned Faustus to his side.
Faustus stood beside him without question.
The energy in both warriors awakened simultaneously.
Silarias’ prototype Goat armor reacted first. The dark plates around his chest, shoulders, and forearms began to vibrate heavily. The armor was clearly not yet complete. Between individual components, wide gaps, dark reinforcement layers, and exposed connections were visible. Some plates did not fully connect with one another, shifting over each other with a metallic thud whenever Silarias flexed his arms.
Still, the prototype held up.
Gold-black energy pulled from his chest toward his shoulders and flowed down along both arms. The power gathered in his heavy gauntlets. Light pulsed between the seams around his fingers, filling his dark knuckles with a deep, golden glow.
The gem beneath his eye reacted instantly.
Its light spread across his cheek, pulling toward his temple like a sharp gold-black vein. Silarias’ head remained completely bare. His tense jaw, narrowed eyes, and wild hair stayed visible to everyone.
Beside him, Faustus activated his own prototype.
It used the same raw and unfinished foundation, but his void completely altered its appearance. The plates across his chest and shoulders grew duller as his energy flowed through them. The black material seemed to reflect no light. In some places, the edges even lost their solid form, as if parts of the armor hung a fraction outside of reality.
Faustus wore no helmet either.
A pulsing void coat crawled up from his neck. The living darkness spread over his jaw, cheeks, and forehead until his face vanished behind an unstable black layer. It was not metal and offered barely any physical protection. The void kept surging, tearing open, and closing itself anew.
The two prototypes were raw.
Heavy.
Unfinished.
But as Silarias and Faustus stepped into the smoke side by side, their separate silhouettes vanished almost completely into each other’s energy. Gold-black power and pulsing void coiled together until, for a moment, a single broad, distorted shadow seemed to stand there.
Silarias looked over his shoulder at the other alliances.
“This test started as a fight between us,” he said. “But without you, we would never have made it this far.”
His gem flashed.
“Thank you.”
Ren stood at the edge of the arena, watching with wide, glistening eyes.
“Void Slinger…” Ethaniel said in disbelief. “So it really does exist.”
By now, Juro had reabsorbed all smoke constructs and loose projectiles back into his body. The black mass around him solidified into raw carbon plates. His shoulders expanded into angular blocks. A thick layer of armor closed around his chest, and twisting smoke tendrils burst outward from his back.
The tendrils wrapped around his arms, waist, and neck as if they were living muscles.
Master Juro vanished beneath the black material.
What stood in his place was a gigantic Carbon Golem.
The stands filled with freshmen erupted into wild cheering.
“Wait a minute!” shouted one of the students. “Is that the same boy from earlier?!”
Nyx turned toward the stands with a proud grin.
“YES! THAT IS MY SIL!”
Ethaniel raised his weapon once more.
“This is the true power of the Goats!”
The energy in Silarias’ prototype swelled even further. His heavy gauntlets pulsed to the rhythm of his heart. Beneath his eye, the gem burned so brightly that the gold-black glow was visible all the way down to his jaw.
He looked Amfibian straight in the eye.
“BOX US IN, AMFIBIAN!”
The Carbon Golem took one thundering step forward.
Silarias clenched his fists.
“I TRUST YOU!”
Amfibian felt reality protest around him. His fingers trembled as he spread both hands. The loose barricades scattered across the arena began to shake.
He grit his teeth and pulled his arms together.
All barricades vanished at exactly the same time.
A colossal floor plate slid beneath Silarias, Faustus, and Juro. Before the Carbon Golem could even react, massive walls shot up on four sides. They closed above their heads, forming a completely sealed cube.
Amfibian’s eyes flared brightly.
He clenched both fists.
“PANDORA’S BOX!”
Heavy mechanical locks slammed shut one by one.
CLANG.
CLANG.
CLANG.
At the final forceful click, sharp lines of light flashed across the construct. The massive walls became clear as glass, yet retained the thickness and hardness of a fortress wall.
Amfibian collapsed to his knees, panting.
“Nothing can get in…” Blood flowed from his nose, dripping onto the tiles. “And nothing can come out.”
He lost his balance and fell forward.
Nyx instantly understood what had happened. She ran to the cube and slammed her bare fists against the transparent wall. Dark vibrations rippled across the material, but the construct did not give an inch.
Then, behind her, the chilly laughter of Vespera resounded.
A second layer of magic pulled around Pandora’s Box like frozen chains. The individual locks glowed and sealed themselves even deeper into one another.
“CHEATER!” Nyx screamed. “THAT OLD WITCH DID THIS!”
She turned around.
Vespera had already disappeared.
Inside the transparent cube, the last loose smoke was devoured by Juro’s armor.
His transformation was complete.
“ASHEN KNIGHT!”
Juro slammed one fist against the side wall.
The entire cube jolted. Dark light cracks rippled across the transparent surface, but were repaired almost immediately by Amfibian’s technique.
On the opposite side stood Silarias and Faustus side by side.
The battered prototype around Silarias’ body surged with accumulated energy. His head and face remained uncovered. Beneath his eye, the gem pulsed as gold-black power flowed through the unfinished chest plates into his gauntlets.
Faustus’ prototype was smaller and darker. His face was hidden behind the shifting void coat, but his head was protected by no metal plate whatsoever.
Both warriors dropped to their knees at the same time.
Same stance.
Same timing.
Silarias beckoned Juro provocatively with two glowing fingers.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
From within Juro’s carbon armor came a distorted, monstrous growl.
One of the smoke tendrils on his back swelled up and shot horizontally across the cube. The attack was wide enough to crush both Goats against the back wall simultaneously.
Silarias dived to the left.
Faustus broke to the right.
The tendril struck the wall directly between them. The cube shook under the impact.
Before Juro could retract his attack, Faustus opened two Void Gates: one under Silarias’ feet and one high above Juro.
Silarias vanished through the floor.
Faustus dived right behind him.
Juro raised his head.
Too late.
Both Goats dropped down from the exact same opening above him.
Silarias slammed his heavy gauntlets together with a thundering crash. The releasing shockwave struck Faustus in the back, accelerating his descent.
Faustus shot past Silarias. As he passed, he grabbed Silarias’ forearm, twisted his entire body, and used his own downward momentum to swing Silarias around.
At the lowest point, he let go.
Silarias was launched through the cube like a gold-black cannonball. He pulled his shoulder forward and slammed into the Carbon Golem’s flank at full force.
Carbon plates shattered.
Juro’s immense body was lifted sideways off the floor, his shoulder slamming into the transparent wall. The entire cube tilted slightly before Pandora’s Box stabilized itself once more.
Juro planted one hand on the ground and forced himself up.
Three smoke tendrils entwined and solidified into a single long, razor-sharp tip. With an explosive thrust, he drove the spear straight toward Silarias’ unprotected head and chest.
Faustus flicked his wrist.
A Void Gate snapped open right in front of Silarias.
The smoke stake vanished into the black surface and reemerged from a second portal beneath Juro’s own body.
Juro was lifted off the floor by his own attack.
Faustus closed both hands.
The portals snapped shut.
The smoke stake was severed in two places. Lifeless pieces of carbon clattered onto the floor.
Juro looked at the severed pieces and let out a distorted scream. Then he pulled the fragments back into his mass.
His heavy shoulder plates shrank.
The thick layers of carbon slid over each other, growing smoother and fitting tighter around his limbs. His broad frame lost mass, but gained a far more compact and razor-sharp shape in return.
Within seconds, the colossal Ashen Knight transformed into a sleeker, extremely fast Agile Carbon Golem.
Juro vanished.
A black streak shot through Pandora’s Box. He ricocheted from wall to wall, leaving dense smoke images of himself everywhere. Faustus turned his head from left to right, unable to tell which shadow was real anymore.
Juro appeared behind him.
His fist drove straight through Faustus’ chest, only to strike an empty, collapsing illusion of void.
At the last moment, Faustus had pulled a portal over his own body. From various angles, he fired smaller Void Gates through the space. The black circles hovered between Juro’s smoke trails like floating traps.
Juro skidded to a stop.
A raspy chuckle escaped his armor.
“Missed.”
One of the portals behind him glowed purple.
Silarias burst out of it, his right fist raised.
The golden energy in his gauntlet condensed around his knuckles. At the same time, a black distortion flowed forward from his shoulder. Both forces met at the exact moment his fist struck Juro between the shoulder blades.
First came the golden flash.
Then space warped inward around his fist.
“SOLAR ECLIPSE DEFORM!”
The black shockwave exploded.
Juro stayed on his feet, but was pushed forward dozens of meters. His heels cut two deep skid marks through the barricade floor. The plates along his back burst open, and his head snapped back so far that a dry crack echoed through the cube.
At the end of the skid marks, he came to a halt.
Slowly, he straightened his head.
Thick black smoke poured from his eyes and mouth.
Every muscle of the carbon armor tensed at once. Pandora’s Box began to tremble ever more violently. Small pieces of stone lifted from the floor, floating in the pressure surrounding his body.
Faustus landed a few meters behind Silarias.
“Sil…”
Silarias did not look back. His Goat gauntlets hung low beside his body while his eyes remained locked on Juro.
“Stay behind me.”
Juro launched himself forward.
The barricade floor exploded beneath his feet.
“CARBON FINISH!”
His body turned into a spinning mass of carbon, smoke, and compressed heat. The tip of the attack aimed directly at Silarias. Streaks of light bent toward the maelstrom, and loose smoke particles were sucked into it like sparks.
Inside Pandora’s Box, there was no space to dodge.
Juro shot forward.
At the last second, Faustus stepped past Silarias.
“Faustus!”
The Carbon Finish connected.
Smoke and fire filled the entire cube. The inner walls vanished behind a swirling black explosion. From the outside, nothing could be seen except brief golden flashes extinguishing deep within the darkness.
Nyx held both hands over her mouth.
The freshmen in the stands fell silent.
Nobody moved.
Slowly, the black smoke settled to the floor.
Standing in the middle of the cube was Faustus.
His prototype armor was almost completely destroyed. The chest plate was caved in, and one of his shoulder pieces was missing. Along his side, bent strips of metal dangled from broken connectors. The unprotected layer beneath the armor was scorched black and torn open in several places.
The void coat over his face flickered.
The darkness tried to close itself one last time, then tore open straight across his face.
A single painfully squinted eye became visible.
Faustus looked up sideways. A small puff of smoke escaped his mouth as he tried to maintain a faint grin.
“Nothing… wrong…”
A dry, broken laugh followed.
“Ha… haha…”
The last purple glow vanished from his void coat.
Faustus collapsed to his knees and fell motionlessly forward onto the cracked stone floor.