Back in Voltiana, members of the government continued their meeting with the King and Queen. They took notice of the recent events happening in the Forest.
"One of those boys has turned! I knew a human couldn't be trusted!" Kamenashi exclaimed, standing up from his chair. Yonemura scoffed.
"Relax. General Fujii has subdued him. We can decide what to do with him when they get back."
In the center of the room, a giant hologram appeared at the press of a button, showing the ongoing battle between Voltians and Dwarves. Queen Ayame spoke up.
"My children are fighting, the humans are unstable, and those dwarves are putting up resistance. We'll have to make the necessary adjustments, dear."
She looked at her husband, who was staring intensely at the screen. "Wait, look at that giant dwarf. What's that power he's using? Zoom in!"
Everyone gasped as the hologram focused further on Alarax, who had a new shadowy appearance.
Queen Ayame just sat there, mouth wide open in shock. "What is that power? I don't recognize it!"
"Dwarves are creatures of nature, that power couldn't have come from them!" King Ayrad stated as he narrowed his eyes further.
"Wait...is that..."
Both of them immediately recognized the Dwarf Prince's new opponent.
"...our DAUGHTER?"
Meanwhile, back in Asmana Forest...
Soldiers all around watched as Alarax charged at Akari, who put up her forcefield, growing spikes on it.
"Woah!"
He just barely managed to stop himself in time before the spikes could impale him. Akari released her forcefield and struck him with a powerful, energy-charged fist.
"Now that I don't have those others with me..."
Her entire body began to glow and emit bright white energy. "...I don't have to hold BACK."
"Die, scumbag!"
As he swung again, she jumped into the air and fired a massive energy blast at him, and he put his hammer up in an attempt to block it. The hammer glowed with a purple hue and repelled the energy blast, sending it flying into the trees.
"That stuff he's using, what IS it?" she thought to herself.
Alarax slammed his hammer into the ground, and a purple shockwave shook the entire terrain. "Ahh, this feels GOOD!"
As the earth began to shake, the ice holding Dachii began to crack, as he continued to try and break free. Fujii noticed this.
"Damn it, I can't both help Akari and watch Dachii!"
He looked between the two, as Alarax jumped toward Akari, narrowly missing her. Fujii gripped his sword.
"So I'll do ONE at a time!"
Disappearing in a blur, he reappeared behind Alarax, who turned around but couldn't react to Fujii's attack, which slashed his arm and froze it.
"Not you AGAIN!"
Fujii unleashed more rapid slashes, freezing Alarax even further every time.
As that battle commenced, the other Generals steeled themselves together.
"We'll have to handle the others, guys!" Himeka called out.
"Me and Nakada will take the big one and his friend!" Morino replied, with Nakada nodding in agreement.
Shinjii stabbed his axe into the ground. "I'm going to help those other chumps! Time to action!" He ran towards Alarax.
Toru looked around. "Still no Naito. I wonder where she went."
As each of them went on to continue their fights, Dachii tried to escape the ice, and the voice in his head grew even louder.
"Destiny..."
Akari and Fujii continued to attack Alarax. Nukuri tried to help but Throme pulled him back. "Brother is too dangerous to get near! We have to stay back for now!"
"Those things will kill him! We can't let it happen!"
As he picked up his sword and prepared to jump into the battle, a Gigarang came at his head, and he had to pull Throme out of the way and dive.
"Hey, don't attack them! That's not fair!"
"So what is, HYPOCRITE?" Nukuri got back up, sword ready.
Himeka put her hand on her chin, thinking. "Maybe, you just sit here, be a good dwarf, and we take you back home!"
Both dwarves shared a look, before looking back at her. "You're crazy...even more crazy than the rest!"
"Nukuri, wait!"
He attacked her, and she put her Gigarang up just in time to block it. An energy blast soared over their heads, as Akari kept firing at Alarax, who used his hammer to deflect them all.
"Cheap TRICKS!"
She aimed a kick at his head and he ducked, but behind her came Fujii, who froze his legs with another strike.
"Nice job, Akari! Your fighting skills in the field are impressive!"
"Thank you."
Alarax slammed his hammer into the ground again, creating a big enough shockwave that knocked Fujii and Akari back.
"Damn, damn, damn, this is bad!" he thought, looking around before his eyes laid on Dachii, who had now gotten one arm free of the ice.
"That ice must be real strong, but if I can break him out——!"
He threw his hammer at the ice holding Dachii, and it began to crack.
"—-he can HELP ME!"
Fujii immediately looked up as Dachii managed to shatter the rest of the ice holding him. Landing down, he fell on his knees, looking at his hand.
Akari took notice of his new appearance. "What's wrong with him, sir? He doesn't look the same—-"
"WATCH OUT!"
He got her behind him and created a massive pillar of ice as Dachii lifted his hand.
"Destroy them...DESTROY THEM ALL!"
As he laughed, Fujii created more ice to keep the suction effect at bay. "We can't fight Alarax like this, we'll need to fall back! He'll attack me if we leave cover!"
But as they tried to run, Alarax tried smashing them with his hammer. "Just the OPENING I NEED!"
But Akari used her forcefield to keep his attack from landing, although it did crack slightly. "Huh, that's new."
Dachii stood up, watching all of the Voltians battle their opponents, too occupied to focus on him.
As Dachii prepared to attack them, lifting his arm, a metal tendril wrapped around it.
"Dachii! Wait!"
Dachii looked to his side to see Marachii, out of breath and putting all his focus on using his power. "You're putting everyone in danger! I need my brother back under control!"
As Dachii looked at him, Morino sighed a sigh of relief. "Marachii, you're okay!"
Dachii's eyes flickered for a moment, but then he destroyed the tendril wrapped around him. "Get this off me."
"Wait—-!"
While Marachii tried to stop Dachii, Hikari ran over to Akari and Fujii. "Hey, you two! Are you guys okay?"
"Of course, why wouldn't we be? I look amazing, as always!" As Akari and Hikari gave awkward stares, Fujii coughed.
"Anyway, nice job getting here, rookies! Do we got the full squad?"
As an axe soared over Alarax's head, Hikari pointed. "Yep!"
Luca tried to use his other axe to swing, but he got batted away with ease. "You smell funny, back the hell up!"
"Ow. My back."
As Marachii wrapped another tendril around Dachii's arm, one of Dachii's eyes began to revert to normal.
"Dachii, STOP!"
"Marachii, you have to run—!"
"Try to turn it off!"
" I CAN'T!"
As Dachii desperately attempted to deactivate his power, Alarax walked toward him. "You, that power, I never seen anything like it. Maybe, you might have USE!"
"What?"
As he prepared to grab Dachii, Fujii created a thick barrier of ice between them. "Nope! He's our Dachii, not yours!"
"Shut up, tyrant! I'll END you!"
Fujii smiled, winking. "I'm not the one you should worry about."
As Alarax gave him a confused stare, a fist connected right with his face.
"Sit your ass down, weak man!"
Alarax got up, annoyed. "The brute? Back...UP!"
He punched Shinjii right in the face, and Shinjii laughed and punched him back, as Alarax stumbled a bit.
"Bare-knuckle fights, just what I like!"
"YOU WANT TO FIGHT? THEN LET'S FIGHT!" Alarax punched him even harder, and Shinjii did the same.
And they punched back and forth, back and forth, as the sound and force of their punches became louder and louder. "HAHAHA, SWING, WEAK MAN, SWING!"
Alarax head-butted him, and Shinjii did the same in return. "TRY AGAIN!"
Alarax did, and Shinjii hit him even HARDER, making him stumble. It was then he realized that Shinjii was glowing white, sparks coming off him.
"Magic!"
"Yeah, CHUMP! I EAT THOSE HITS!"
Alarax grabbed his hammer and hit him with it, and Shinjii nearly fell to his knees but got up and hit Alarax with nearly the same amount of force.
"ABSORPTION!"
"UGH!" Alarax stepped back, weighing the options. Dachii had now begun to return to normal, confused by the actions occurring.
"What is going on...?"
Marachii sighed in relief, collapsing to the ground. "Oh, thank goodness."
Fujii took his opportunity and immediately froze Alarax in a massive ball of ice, as Throme called out to him.
"BROTHER! LET HIM GO!"
But she couldn't get close, because Himeka was standing in the way, still fending off Nukuri, who got pushed to the ground.
"We'll never...let you win..."
"Come on, don't be sore losers! Let's play a game!"
As Dachii himself collapsed to the ground, laying on his back, Alarax managed to look at him, and he noticed that the shadow energy from the necklace he wore seemed to have the same aura that was coming from Dachii.
"If...we...get...him...he...could...save...us...from...them..." he thought, still unable to move.
Fujii walked over to Alarax, studying the ice. "Well, we can bring you in alive for more questions. Both on where your king is and where you got that NECKLACE.
Akari and Hikari got up as well, and Luca walked over to them, asking: "Did we win?"
The other Generals had their dwarves at their mercy, all disarmed and on the ground. Throme and Nukuri were still being handled by Himeka.
Shinjii grunted as he walked next to Fujii. "I wanted the honor of FINISHING HIM OFF, FUJII. You and me will need to run a match when we get back!"
"I'll pass!"
Alarax's necklace began to glow, and he only had one thought in his mind.
"I...gotta get us all out of here."
To everyone's shock, a purple glow came from within the ice, and seconds later, it EXPLODED. Before anyone could react, Alarax slammed his hammer down, knocking everyone far back and causing lots of dust to appear.
"Damn it! Gotta stop him!" Fujii yelled out, as Alarax grabbed Throme and Nukuri.
"EVERYONE, RETREAT! WE'LL REGROUP OUTSIDE THE FOREST!"
At his command, all the dwarves began to run, and in the confusion of the chaos, they all began to escape. Right before running out of the forest himself, Alarax pointed at Dachii.
"You, boy! I'll see you again!"
Dachii weakly looked at him, noticing Throme on his shoulder.
"Oh...wow. That...girl is cute...."
Then he passed out. Fujii and Shinjii took off after him, while the other Generals searched for the other escaped dwarves. They managed to catch up to and take down some, but all the dwarven generals had escaped, along with Alarax and Throme.
The generals regrouped back at the destroyed castle.
"Damn it, they're gone," Fujii acknowledged, looking around at the wreckage. "The King and Queen will NOT be happy."
Morino shrugged. "Well, seems they won't be here for a while."
Himeka was brushing dirt out of her sister's hair. "Little Sis! I'm glad you made it this far!"
"Well, it wasn't easy."
Shinjii walked off, and Arata followed. "We gonna fight something?"
"SOON ENOUGH!"
Toru pointed at a girl emerging from the trees. "Is that...?"
It was Naito, hair and clothes wet, as she used her fans to dry herself off. Fujii wrapped an arm around her.
"Naito, where have you been? We were worried!"
"Bathing."
"WHAT?"
"The dwarf knocked me into a lake. So I took a bath, and came back."
Toru slapped his head, and Morino chucked. Fujii whispered into her ear. "Show me where this lake is, I'm kinda dirty—-"
"Kenshi." Nakada's tone was sharp.
"Right, right. Well, let's gather our squads and go head back. Seems it's not much left to do here anyway."
"Yes, indeed. And they'll have something big waiting for that boy over there." Nakada pointed at Dachii. Morino rubbed his neck.
"Ah, crap."
As they headed off, the dwarf in robes looked at them, using a shadow mirror to record them. "Evidence acquired."
Meanwhile, in an unknown land..."
In a throne room, covered in shadows and lined with purple, black, and gold, a man in robes and gloves walked up to the center, bowing before the throne.
Something, or SOMEONE, was seated in it. All that was visible were the shadowy boots of the being sitting on the throne.
The man spoke. "My master. The dwarves have failed, but we learned valuable information."
The voice that answered back was deep, raspy, and ominous.
"Oh...? What...did you learn...?"
"The thing you were searching for, I believe a human boy might hold the key to it."
"Oh...? Human boy, you say?"
"Yes. The power he has is unstable, unchecked, and dangerous. But I think there's more to him than meets the eye."
"Well then...you may find this boy...and investigate. Bring him to me...alive..."
"Yes, sir."
The man left, and shadows fully consumed the room. He held up a mirror that was crooked and dark. When looking at it, he saw Fujii and the others carrying away Dachii.
"Soon."
—-