" Thirty- seven seconds, huh.", Soru looked at the scoreboard in the waiting area of the arena with his club.
" That's a tough act to follow."
----
: FOR OUR NEXT CLUB! PLEASE WELCOME THE GYMNASTICS CLUB WITH THEIR PRESIDENT, THE STUDENT COUNCIL TREASURER!! SORU DAIKICHI!:
Everyone cheered as the gymnastics club entered the arena with Soru walking in front in his vermillion armor while holding his reinforced staff up in the air.
: AND THEIR OPPONENT WILL BE--:
A giant black spider ran out of the gate.
: THE GIANT BLACK MAMBA!!:
" Is it just me, or did the difficulty of these beasts suddenly got harder.", Wade said.
" What makes you say that?", Christine asked him.
" Unlike the last beasts, the Northern Silverback and the Giant black mamba from the demon realm are apex preditors. Which means that they don't have any natural competition in the food chain in the area that they live in. Granted, Alex defeated that silverback with just thirty-seven seconds. But an enraged silverback could destroy the stage of the arena with a swing of it's arm and could tear your eardrums with one of it's loud screeches."
" I heard during the meeting before the festival that the student council's enemies are going to be tougher than the rest of the clubs." , Christine said.
: IT'S THE GYMNASTICS CLUB VS THE GIANT BLACK MAMBA!! LET THE HUNT BEGIN!:
*BEEEEEEEPPPPPP*
" King's Mode Energize!" , Soru transformed into his shining vermillion king's armor with a burning long staff.
" King's Aura: Super Agility"
" Attack!!!"
And the gymnastics club charged the spider with full force.
Wade noticed the purple glow again on the bottom of the spider's body.
" Isn't that a-"
Suddenly, a wave of cold aura travelled accross the audience's stands.
" Brrrr, it suddenly got chilly." , Christine said.
" It's the same aura as before!" , Wade immediately followed the trail of cold aura.
" Hey! Where are you going!?" , he didn't notice Christine calling and continued following the trail.
----
Sebastian saw the purple light again. And this time he was sure what it was.
" Stop the hunt immediately!", He ordered the teachers and the schools staff.
" Sir! The barrier that is protecting the audience form the stage was overridden! No one could enter or leave the stage and the gymnastic club members inside can't hear us either!"
" Someone call Mr. Shawn and tell him to report to me immediately! Mary, contact the spectators and announce an emergency evacuation!", he walked towards the barrier with his wizard's staff.
" Everyone else, guide the crowd to safety!"
" Yes, sir!!"
" What's happening?"
" I've never seen the principal so distressed before."
The staff and the teachers were raddled as they went towards the audience stand and told the people to evacuate immediately.
: ATTENTION EVERYONE! WE HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT! THE PRINCIPAL HAS ORDERED IMMEDIATE EVACUATION FROM THE ARENA. PLEASE FOLLOW THE NEAREST SCHOOL STAFF OR TEACHER AND EVACUATE THE ARENA IN AN ORDERLY MANNER:
" What's happening??"
" But the hunt is not yet over."
" But it's such a waste, we paid just to get this scoop."
Everyone in the audience area was murmuring.
------
Sebastian touched the barrier but his hand was electrified before he could touuch the barrier.
" Gah! That stings."
" Grand Dispel!"
He grabbed his staff and casted a dispel magic on the barrier.
The barrier suddenly let out a surge of dark magic.
" Ugh! A protective barrier from the demon realm? Who ever planned this really studied our defenses."
Everyone from the audience area felt the intense shockwave of dark impulse and even destroyed the cameras and equipments of the reporters.
" Run!!!!!"
The crowd panicked and everyone on the audience's are frantically ran towards the exit.
" Everyone please calm down!"
" Please don't push!"
The teachers were doing their best to keep everyone calm and evacuate safely.
" Sir! What is happening?" , Shin, Rafaela and Alex reported to Sebastian.
" Alex, you shouldn't be moving around.", Sebastian turned around and saw the three of them looking confused.
" I'm fine, sir.", Alex replied. " I've rested enough to fight."
" What is going on? Why is the protective barrier releasing waves of dark aura?" , Rafaela asked looking very tensed.
" Listen the three of you," , Sebastian projected a purple crystal from his staff.
" This is called the 'Rage Crystal'. A rare crystal found in the volcano tunnels of the demon realm. This crystal enrages any living organism it is attached to. The enraged organism loses it's common sense and attack anything in sight. The beasts that we use are only copies of the original beasts found in the underground world, they are weaker, slower and less intelligent than the real ones. But if they are attached with a rage crystal, their power levels would reach near close to the original and the three remaining beasts inside the arena are capable of causing havoc in the arena."
" We just need to break those things, right?", Alex said.
" But the barrier is keeping us out. Soru is the only one inside. But it seems that he can't hear us.", Shin looked inside the barrier.
" Soru and his club is holding their ground against the giant spider." , Rafaela saw the glowing crystal under the body of the spider.
" The rage crystal has not been activated yet." , Sebastian replied.
" The crystal only activates if the holder accumulate enough stress. We need to stop them from attacking it before it's too late."
" But how? He can't hear us.", Rafaela asked.
" Stand back." , Sebastian held his arms out.
"Magic Penetration Drill!!"
Sebastian casted a magic in the shape of a drill. The drill slowly penetrated the barrier causing a strong surging aura coming from the barrier.
" Stay behind me!", Sebastian shouted.
The three of them covered themselves behind Sebastian.
* Inside the Barrier*
" Hold it's legs down!" , Soru ordered his club members.
But the spider is very quick, climbing the side walls and releasing stick webs everywhere.
" You litte-!" , Soru agitatedly shouted.
" Flame Combo Series: Rain of the Fire God!"
Soru rapidly thrusted his burning long staff that could extend up to fifty meter. The flames burned the webs in the area stopping the spider from it's tracks.
" Now!!" , he commanded everyone to attack.
" Flame Combo Series: Dance of the Fire God!"
Everyone attacked the spider from all sides. Breaking it's legs and unabling it to move.
" It's over for you." ,
And just as Soru was about to finish the spider, it let out loud screech that scared his team.
* SCRRRRRRREEEEEECHHHHH*
" One last cry, huh?'", Soru said while covering his ears.
The purple crystal on the spider's stomach stomach was shining even brighter.
" What in the-",
The spider's legs began healing and it's mouth was dripping with acid saliva. Soru saw the spider covered with red hot aura and immediately realized that something is definitely wrong.
" Everyone fall back!"
But before everyone could regroup, the spider spat a high speed solid stream of web that pierced the arms and legs on some of Soru's teammates.
* SCCCREEEEECHHH!!*
The spider was swinging it's legs and throwing webs randomly.
" What the hell happened to it!?"
" It's like it went crazy or something!"
" Stop dawdling and help our injured teammates!" , Soru ordered them.
" You've got some nerve messing with me you overgrown spider!"
" Flame Combo Series: Dance of the Flame God!:
Soru attacked the spider with a series of fluently flowing attacks with the use of his burning staff. But the spider was unscathed and used one of it's arms to pierce Soru's shoulder and pinned him to the ground.
" Aghhh!"
The spider opened it's drooling mouth preparing to devour him.
" Eat this!"
Soru inserted his staff into the spider's mouth.
" Staff expansion: Thirty meters!"
His staff suddenly grew longer piercing the body of the spider.
" Staff expansion: Five meter diameter!"
The staff expanded ripping the body of the spider apart.
*KKRRIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEKKKK*
" Gah!" , Soru panted, " That was intense."
His club members helped him up.
" How much time did we consume?", Soru asked while his teammates tended to his wound.
" I can't see or hear anything from the outside!" , said one of his teammates.
" What do you mean-," , and Soru realized just in that moment that the barrier had changed and that he could not see or hear what was happening outside the barrier.
" What's going on here!?"
* SHHHRRIIIIEEEEK!!!*
* BARK!* * GROWL* * AWOOOOHHH!!!*
Suddenly, the two beasts remaining came out from the opposite sides of the arena. One is the Three-headed Poison hydra and the other one is the giant three- headed guard dog. Their body also had a purple crystal glowing very bright.
Soru's face was filled with despair. As he and his team doesn't have enough energy to fight two high-level beasts at once.
" Somebody, please help-"
--------
Wade kept following the trace of cold aura. It was feint, but very distinct.
" It' close." , Wade stopped at the river bank, which was located on the opposite side of the island where Arena 1 was located.
: HELL'S CHAINS:
Suddenly, a purple chain bursted beneath Wade and pierced his arms and his toes and wrapped itself around his body.
" Gah!!" , Wade groaned.
" Well, well, well.", Said the mysterious man as he emerged from the shadows.
" I guess the information about you sealing your powers were true."
Wade knelt to the ground and was having a hard time just catching his breath.
The man stepped on Wade's head with a grin on his face.
" Who would've thought that the end of the Central king would be so anti-climactic."
Wade looked at him with blood gushing down his arms and legs.
" Who-, are you-"
" Me? If you haven't sealed your powers, you would have already known who I was."
" In this Academy, my name is Shawn. But underground---"
He used his sharp nails to tear the skin in his face and revealed his true face.
" Ugh-, Jamal, I should've- known.", Wade struggled to just to get some words out of his mouth.
" Yes, you should've known, yet you didn't. And now, you'll perish without anyone noticing ' cousin'.
" You don't know how long I have waited for this day, Wade."
He used his sharp nail to lift Wade's chin up.
" After you and the four kings decided to bring peace within the underground world, me and the rest of the demon clan were forbidden to eat human flesh. We had to hunt animals and create poultries just to get by. The new generation of demons are okay with it, but for us, the older generation who were on top of the food chain before the war and had tasted the flavor of human flesh, had a very hard time containing our hunger. Many demons became insane just after months and had to be imprisoned. Others went rogue just to quench their lust over the human flesh. To this day, I still can't believe why my father, Lucifer, agreed to your treaties. How could a king watch his own clan suffer and get punished for following their instincts? It makes me sick."
Jamal grabbed Wade in the neck with his nails piercing his flesh and threw him to ground.
" Ackk!",
" When you fought my father in his throne room, for a moment, I thought you were a god. But look at you now. After I'm done with you, I'm sure that the alliance that you worked so hard to attain will crumble."
He grabbed Wade's head by the hair and raised it up.
Jamal looked at his eyes and was frightened. He was smiling even though blood was dripping down his mouth and his neck.
" Now that your intentions are out in the open, you need some punishing. My dear cousin."
Wade said with a grin on his face.
" DON'T MESS WITH ME!!"
Jamal raised his left arm preparing to cut Wade's neck with his nails.
But before he could make contact, Wade deflected his hand with his arm. The impact was so fast that he did not notice that his hand was detached from his wrist.
" AAAHGGGGHHHHHHH!!!"
Jamal jumped away from him holding his bleeding left wrist.
" You scared me for a moment there.", Wade said while wiping the blood from his mouth with his arm.
" Surely you didn't forget that my natural ability is 'Energy Absorbtion'. To absorb any form of energy and using it as my own. Thankfully those chains were made out of energy. If those were regular chains, I could not have recovered."
" But-but I thought you had your powers sealed!!"
" Yeah, that's why It took a while for me to absorb your chains." , Wade showed his arms and legs and it had already healed.
" I'm only at twenty percent of my power. I decided to leave each of my four generals twenty percent of my powers to help protect the country. Though I guess they won't be needing it."
" Twenty you say?" , Jamal smiled from ear to ear.
" Even if you are the Central King, you won't be able to defeat my real form with just twenty percent of your power!!"
" GGAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"
Jamal ripped his skin with his nails showing his tough dark skin. A pair of webbed wings emerged out of his back and two ram like horns grew out of his forehead. His shark like teeth emerged out from the regular ones. His long pointed tail and insatiable bloodlust clearly showed that he was a real
' Demon'.
" I WON'T MISS THE OPPORTUNITY THIS TIME."
--------
" This way!" , Soru shouted at his club members in order to escape the raging beasts.
" Sir! The three-headed dog is blocking the main exit of the stage!" , said one of his members.
" Dammit! Who let these beasts out anyway!"
" Sir! The hydra is preparing to attack!!"
" We'll attack at the same time on my signal!" , Soru commanded.
The hydra blasted a stream of poison towards them.
" Now!"
They matched the hydra's attack with their own, deflecting the stream of poison and scattering it around the stage.
" Alright, If only we could keep this up. I'm sure help wil arrive soo--".
Soru suddenly knelt to the ground. He could'nt feel his legs and his body felt heavy. He looked at his club members and some had already collapsed while others are having a hard time standing up.
" What's happening!?"
Soru saw that the scattered poison was evaporating.
" There was no escape from the beginning.", he thought. " Even if we deflect all it's attacks, the poison from the air is going to kill us."
Soru began spitting blood. He had returned to his normal form not having enough energy to even energize his aura armor.
" The strong are made to protect the weak, huh? I can't believe I'm remembering that freshman's words now.", Soru thought laying helplessly on the ground.
" In the end, I cound'nt even protect my own team. I guess I'm really one of the weak ones that need help."
The three headed hydra began preparing to attack again. This time, with it's three heads.
" Ah, I can't believe that this is how I die.", Soru clenched his fist and his eyes was tearing up.
" A virgin."
The hydra launched a stream of poison with it's three heads. Soru closed his eyes, accepting certain death.
: RAVEN'S CANNON!:
: WIND SWORD ART: CYCLONE SLASH!:
The hydra's attack was deflected by a strong energy beam and the poison gas was blown away with a single slash.
" Soru! Are you alright!?", Alex ran towards him.
" Alex, Rafaela, Shin." , Soru's eyes were tearing up in relief.
The barrier around them began cracking and shattered like glass and all the other clubs entered the stage.
" Soru! Everyone! Are you okay!?", Sebastian shouted from outside the stage.
" Let's get you out of here." ,
Alex helped him up and escorted him outside while the other clubs helped his teammates.
" We'll take care of things here." , Rafaela confidently said.
" I'll take the dog, Raf.", Shin walked towards the five-meter tall three headed guard dog.
" Thank you, guys.", Soru said as he left the stage with Alex.
" Now then,", Shin unsheathed his sword with his emerald like armor having a visor of six eyes obtaining 360° vision.
" Let's hunt."
-------
"GYAAHH!"
Jamal leaped towards Wade and threw a straight punch at him.
Wade blocked the punch with both his arms, but the impact was so strong that it shattered the ground that Wade was standing on.
Then he kicked Wade on the side. Wade managed to block the kick with his arm but he was sent flying by the force of the kick to the other side of the river bank creating a small crater from the impact.
" Ugh, Not bad.", Wade stood up slowly wiping the blood from his mouth.
" Gyahahaha! As long as I'm not using any energy based attacks, you won't be able to recover your energy. And in your current state versus my demon form, you're nothing but a bug in my eyes!"
In a blink of an eye, Jamal appeared in front of Wade and threw a fast uppercut in his gut.
"Oooff--", Wade groaned as he was sent flying in the air.
Jamal quickly leaped above him and threw a barrage of punches while in the air. Wade tried to fend off most of his punches but some would hit him dealing significant amount of damage.
" Take this!!"
Jamal clasped both his hands together and smashed downwards causing an huge explosion as Wade hit the ground hard.
" How's that!?" , Jamal stood far away from Wade panting and sweating.
Wade slowly stood up holding his knees for support.
" You're so persistent!"
Jamal suddenly felt unbalanced and knelt his right knee to the ground.
" Huh? What happened? A misstep? Why do I feel a little dizzy? And why do I feel so tired just after a few exchange of blows?"
" Naive." , Wade stretched his arms and his legs. " You're so naive Jamal."
" Wait, does this mean--"
" That's right." , Wade clenched his fists.
" Energy attacks isn't the only way I can absorb energy from someone. I can also drain someone's energy just by touching them."
Jamal took a step back and felt an insane amount of bloodlust coming from Wade.
" Now, it's my turn." , Wade calmly said.
-----------
" Everyone! Be careful no to inhale the toxic gases coming from the hydra!" Rafaela said to her team.
" President! I think we could stop it's movements for a few seconds!" , said the vice-president.
" Got it! I'll leave it to you then.", Rafaela took a step back and prepared to attack.
" Now!"
They threw metal daggers with metal wires connected to it and sent 1000 Volts of electricity to the beast. The shock paralyzed it stopping the beast from it's tracks.
" RAVEN'S CLEAVE!"
Rafaela released a large crescent aura towards the three headed hydra cutting all three of it's heads and it's body fell to the ground.
" We did it!"
" That was a piece of cake!"
" Yeah!!"
Her teammates cheered in relief.
" It's not over!" , Rafaela shouted.
It's headless body suddenly stood up with the purple light from it's body glowing very birghtly and from the cut on it's neck, grew two new head each neck.
" What the-"
" It's got six heads now."
Everyone stood their ground as they await Rafaela's orders.
----
" That's one mean looking dog.", said one of the Kendo club's members.
" I want a pet like this one.", Shin said.
" I think that's impossible, President.", replied one of his teammates.
The dog began to walk slowly towards them with one of it's heads having lava for saliva, one has very large and sharp razor teeth and one head cracks electricity within it's mouth every time it barks.
" Here it comes!", Shin exclaimed, signaling his team to be ready for anything.
With just one leap, the dog was already above them.
" Move!!"
Shin and his team jumped away before the dog could've landed on top of them.
" It covered almost thirty meters in just one leap. How strong is this thing?"
" SUN SWORD ART: FALLING SUN SLASH!"
Shin leaped above the dog's head and spun sideways aiming the middle head of the dog.
"GAAHGHH!"
The middle head raised it's mouth and parried Shin's blade with it's teeth.
" It blocked the president's attack!"
" But now's our chance! Attack!"
But before his teammates got close, the other two heads began releasing bolts of electricity and jets of lava from their mouths.
" Eyes here you dumb dog!"
Shin landed in his feet preparing to launch another attack.
" EARTH SWORD STYLE: IMPALE THRUST!"
Shin leaped forward with his sword aiming the dog's chest.
The momentum of his attack made it easier for his sword to penetrate the dog's tough skin.
" He did it!"
" Way to go pres!"
Shin noticed something as he pierced the dog's body. It was like he was piercing through mud and when he tried to pull his sword out, the dog hardened it's muscles, breaking his sword in two.
" What the-!?" , he exclaimed.
The dog crouched it's middle head and head butted Shin which sent him flying across the stage.
" President!", shouted one of his teammates. Not noticing the dog was running towards him. When he turned around, the dog was looking down at him with it's mouths open.
" Help-" , he said with his legs shaking.
And just as the dog was about to devour him, Shin came running back and gouged out one of it's eyes.
* GYAAWWWOHHHH!* , moaned the beast.
" No more 'Mr. Nice Guy'.", Shin threw it's eyeball on the floor and stepped on it.
" KING'S MODE ENERGIZE!"
-------
- End of Chapter 7-