"Ugh..."
Hikari opened her eyes, noticing the darkness around her. She sat up, finding ground beneath her.
"I'm not dead...?"
Immediately, she remembered.
"Dachii! Damn it, I have to go back!"
She got to her feet, taking in the shimmering darkness around her. She felt in front of her, coming into contact with a solid surface.
"A wall?"
She walked in a different direction and ran into another wall. "Is this...a maze?"
Almost as if on cue, a line of torches lit up, leading her down a narrow corridor. She hesitated, before making her way down the path.
"Hello? Anybody?"
There was no response, just empty silence. Hikari began to shudder as she walked further down the corridor. Once she was halfway through, she started to hear whispers.
"Monster..."
"Horror..."
"Tyrant..."
She checked behind her, but there was nothing but darkness. She gulped and continued on.
"Okay, Hikari," she said to herself. "No Akari, no General Fujii, and no Himeka. That's fine. Just get out, and help your friend."
Another creepy whisper rang behind her, and she nearly jumped. "Ahh! Who's there?"
Nothing was behind her, so she reluctantly kept moving. Once she reached the end of the corridor, she saw a horrible sight.
"What...what insanity is THIS?"
There was the body of a Voltian sprawled on an altar. Hikari looked closer and saw the man was a General, with the initials S-2 on his uniform. A spear with electricity still surging through it was impaled deep in his chest.
"He's been dead for a minute," Hikari noted. "Why is that thing still sparking? Did they bring my sister here to kill her?"
She stepped back, preparing to find an exit, but the body began to MOVE. The hands began to rise, and the head turned to look at her.
"WHAT THE—-?"
He sat up and pulled the spear out of his chest, grinning maniacally. "A little Voltian girl from above? What a treat!"
As he dropped the spear to the ground, a shadow left the body and formed to the left of her. A giant Zharian.
"Sorry, but your time in the games...has ENDED!"
He picked up the spear and swung it at her, but she jumped right and dodged it. As she studied him, trying to figure out what to do, he tapped the spear on the ground, and it shocked her.
"OW!"
He spun it in his hands. "Ionix's gift is amazing, don't you think? Once I kill you, I'll use it to shock the life out of that wretch you call your sister!"
Hikari stood up. "Himeka? Where is she?"
He laughed, and he swung at her again, nearly making contact. "Hahaha!"
He raised his spear and brought it down. "Goodnight."
But there was a clash of metal, and Hikari saw Aoki in front of her, katana blocking the spear. "You!"
Aoki remained quiet, pushing the spear back. "Hmph."
Before the monster could swing again, Aoki moved in a blur and decapitated him, and while he grabbed his head, she sliced his body in half.
"Die, vermin."
Hikari watched as the Zharian turned into a puff of black smoke and disappeared. "You...you...you..."
Aoki sheathed her blade. "Idiot nurse."
Hikari grabbed her by the shoulder. "Hey, did you leave Dachii up there by HIMSELF?"
Aoki remained quiet.
"You did! Don't you know how unsafe that is, given the TARGET ON HIS BACK?"
Aoki batted Hikari's hands away. "I know exactly what I'm doing. Dachii will be fine. As would you, if you weren't such a liability."
Hikari began fuming. "You know what, you didn't have to come down here! I'd be better off without you!"
Aoki ignored her as another wave of torches lit the way down another corridor. "Come on, girl. The quicker we leave, the quicker we get back to Dachii."
She followed the torches, and Hikari grumbled before doing the same.
As they walked, Hikari glanced at Aoki's attire. "So, you're really in Squad S-1?"
Aoki scoffed. "I've been alive before that Squad even existed, little girl. I am the Squad."
Hikari rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. If you're so important why have none of us ever seen you before? You're like a total stranger!"
A shadowy bat lunged at Aoki, and she sliced it in half in less than a second. "I have my own reasons."
"Like what?" Hikari asked. "We've already fought dwarves and defended festivals, and you were nowhere to be found! I didn't even know we had a Vice-General!"
Aoki continued walking without even looking at Hikari. "Poor, poor child. You'll learn someday."
"Child? You look the same age as me!"
Aoki ignored her and kept her pace. Hikari shook her head. "I hate this girl..."
They could hear faint sounds of the Brawl above, and Aoki clenched her fist. "Walk faster. Deity may be at risk."
"You mean DACHII? And how do you know of that?"
She finally looked at Hikari. "Centuries of searching for it. Imagine my surprise when I found out a human boy possessed it. A mere human."
Hikari remained silent as they reached the end of the corridor, and walked into a small room with 4 different tunnels. "Why is Deity so important?"
Aoki didn't respond for a long time, and she began to walk in one of the tunnels. "The person who wants it, he wants us all dead."
"What?"
"Enough questions. Come, little girl."
"I'M NOT LITTLE! And how do you know this is the right way?"
Aoki ignored her and walked into the tunnel, and eventually, Hikari followed. At the end of the tunnel was a long bridge, a deep fall below.
"This bridge should lead us to a way back. Come."
Aoki took one step, but a late shadow spider crawled up from the depths, blocking their path.
"Shit."
Meanwhile, in Raijin Arena...
"Two flags left!" Venus announced. "Will Dachii's team advance?"
Dachii dodged a flailing mace. "Hey! What's with the rigged system?"
Mar swung his mace again. "You should be honored! You're the special guest! And because you're so special..."
A group of gladiators surrounded him, trapping him in between them. "Let us give you a WELCOMING PARTY!"
While Dachii contemplated his options, he noticed the other competitors climbing the top of the stands, flags in hand. Ayana looked down at him, worry on her face.
"Come on, Dachii! You've got this!"
Eliza jumped in the air, attempting to strike Dachii, but he rolled out of the way.
The floor began to crumble more and more, and just as he took a minute to catch his breath, he heard Venus's voice again.
"One flag remaining! Zok and his team have secured victory!"
He saw Zok landing on the ground with a green flag in his arms, and he gave Dachii a sly smirk.
"Well well, I guess special treatment doesn't translate to actual skill!"
He and his group of orcs climbed up the ladder to the top, leaving Dachii and a few other teams left.
"This is bad!" Dachii thought. "How the hell will I solo this?"
He dodged an arrow from another gladiator, as the crowd began to cheer. The ground beneath Dachii began to crumble piece by piece, and he used his powers to jump to the other side of the arena.
"Hey!" Mar called out. "Where ya going?"
Dachii stared up at the last remaining flag, which was on the highest pillar. "I can do this, just grab and go!"
He saw a young male dwarf running for the flag, jumping on the pillar.
"Crap!"
He took off toward the pillar, but as he got close, a chain dragged him and pulled him back.
"Not so fast," a gladiator said.
"GET OFF ME!"
As the group of gladiators ganged up on him, Dachii watched as the dwarf got closer and closer to the flag, nearly at the top.
"Damn this, I'm gonna lose!"
As he was dragged further and further away, he heard a barbaric cry.
"TIDE OF THE SEA!"
In the next moment, a giant warhammer slammed into the ground, shaking it to the core, almost like a ripple of waves.
Dachii got up and saw Grishna, standing in the middle of the r gladiator pack. "Grishna! What took you so long?"
She wiped the sweat off her brow. "Sorry, lad! It's hard to find some good beer in this town!"
The gladiators got to their feet, weapons at the ready. "A pint-sized orc. How sad," Mar remarked.
Grishna slung her hammer over her shoulder. "What's the play, Dachii? Flag's gotta come to us!"
The dwarf began climbing further and further toward the top, and Venus's voice rang out again.
"No way! Seems Dachii's team is in a bind! Will Team Balgrim defeat them?"
Dachii analyzed the situation, calming himself and using his head to think. "What to do? What to do?"
The floor began to crumble, forcing Grishna right next to him. "A little faster would help, mate!"
The gladiators grinned, forming a circle around Grishna and Dachii. Dachii's eyes immediately lit up.
"Grishna! I got something, but you'll need to hold on!"
She nodded. "Okay, mate! Do what you gotta!"
Dachii took a deep breath. "Right, it's about time to pull out my sweet move!"
He formed a gauntlet on his right arm, preparing to slam it into the ground.
"Destiny...PUNCH!"
He slammed his fist into the ground with a powerful BOOM.
But to his surprise, something wasn't right. "Wait, why is it not...?"
BOOM.
Instead of a gauntlet, his arm had shifted, and it was now a swirling void, sucking everything up in sight.
"That's not right!"
Even the gladiators appeared shocked as Dachii pulled them toward him. "The kid! What's he doing?"
The crowd gasped as the entire arena started to destabilize, and the floor began to crumble even faster, heading toward Dachii.
"No, no, no! Not this again!"
"What's going on?" Venus asked, shocked. "Something has happened to our special guest!"
Ayana's eyes widened. "Dachii! Someone stop this!"
Grishna jumped onto the ladder. "Mate, you alright?"
All of the pillars began to shake and crumble. Dachii reached out to the flag.
"Stop! I've gotta...grab it...now!"
One of his eyes began to change into a swirling void. "Kill...destroy..."
Venus looked down at the chaos from the top of the arena. "Oh my gosh..."
Zok also took in the damage. "They weren't joking, something is up with that kid!"
"Grishna!" Dachii called out. "You've gotta get that flag!"
Grishna looked between the destabilizing arena and Dachii. "You sure? Ya kinda destroying everything right now, lad!"
The void on Dachii's arm had started rapidly spreading across his body, starting from his right side and making its way to the left.
"Yes, you need to...AHHH!"
A surge of black energy surged through him, and exploded out, knocking over the entire crowd as people screamed.
When everyone saw Dachii again, his body and skin resembled a black hole, akin to the endless fabric of space. An orange disk formed around his chest, and he began to float.
Grishna just stared at him. "By the seas, what kind of power...?"
His empty, white eyes looked down, and he only uttered one line.
"EVENT HORIZON!"
With a burst of energy, he touched down on the pillar, and the entire arena shook.
BOOM.
Once the dust cleared, Dachii was standing in the middle of the arena, shaking uncontrollably and laughing.
"Hahaha, hahaha, HAHAHA!"
He reached out to the fallen flag next to him, as the dwarf in front of him tried to run for it.
"Pest..."
With unbelievable speed, Dachii rushed towards the flag, but the dwarf managed to grip it first.
"It's mine! You lose!" the dwarf exclaimed.
Dachii narrowed his eyes. "Is that right?"
He lifted one hand up, pointing it right at the dwarf. "Then die."
BOOM.
Hikari and Aoki, still underneath beside the bridge, heard the loud noises above.
"What could that be...?" Aoki wondered.
"Dachii must be in trouble!" Hikari realized. "We've got to get up, quickly!"
Above, the dwarf tried to claw into the ground as Dachii's arm pulled him towards it.
"No, no! Stop!"
"DIE."
Venus, with a glowing purple object in her hands, dropped from the top of the arena. "That's enough! I'm stopping this match!"
Dachii turned around to face her, preparing to take off. "I have a better idea."
And in a burst of speed, he charged at her, causing a massive explosion.
"I'LL DESTROY YOU!"
And miles into the sky, a massive burst of black energy rose up.
—-