Shinobi, Titan, and the rest of the team arrived just as Strix Temporalis began its transformation.
"What the hell…?"
Shinobi reacted first, but Titan quickly followed.
"Since when do monsters have the ability to transmute?"
The enlarged Strix Temporalis screeched—not to attack Allen, but to destroy every building in sight.
"Never, Titan… no monster has ever done this before. Change of strategy! All present heroes—fall back!"
The newly transformed monster left a heavy impression on Shinobi. Still, he remembered how Allen had defeated Gigax Leo; if he could convince him to use the yellow suit, the victory was assured, even if the destruction would be enormous.
All heroes except Titan and Shinobi retreated. Once alone, Shinobi asked Titan to stall the monster while he went to find Allen.
---
When Strix Temporalis screeched after its transformation, Allen not only grew dizzy and fell—his ears began to bleed.
"Allen! Catch!"
Allen smiled faintly as he caught the staff thrown by Shinobi from a nearby rooftop. Once the staff touched his hand, the stones Shinobi had confiscated appeared before him in a bright flash, and he grabbed them with a satisfied smile.
"Let's start the second round."
Allen leapt upward, his body radiating dense white light, appearing before the monster in his Knight Style. With the staff now transformed into a sword, he slashed the monster's beak, carving a diagonal wound all the way up to its right eye. But to Allen's surprise, the wound healed within seconds.
The creature screeched again, forcing Allen to land harshly and struggle to keep his balance.
"Gravity increase? Then you leave me no choice…"
Allen already knew what was happening to the monster. There was only one way its Category could increase that fast—and he didn't want to think about it.
"Style Change."
He tossed the yellow stone in his hand at the ground, and the sword shifted back into a staff. When the stone shattered, the yellow dust rose and was absorbed by the Prism at the staff's pommel. Around Allen, several small walls of earth rose, hiding his body. They formed a perfect dome of solid ground… until it cracked open and exploded outward, revealing Allen in an elegant yellow suit.
"Will Knight Style."
Titan and Shinobi watched the entire process, and once they saw the yellow suit, they became certain—this was the same form that defeated Gigax Leo.
From the rooftop of another building, Crimson Shadow watched Allen with a grin beneath his red balaclava. Behind him were ten people working on laptops.
"Everyone, heads up! Allen is using the same form he used against Gigax Leo! The Heroic Federation must not obtain any record of this battle!"
"Yes, sir!"
All of them replied at once. Just like Shade, his technicians, Shinobi, and Titan began to feel a crushing heaviness in their bodies the moment Allen adopted that form.
---
Allen sighed and looked at Strix Temporalis, shaking his head.
"You've gone from Category 3 to 5, but you've lost almost all your abilities—left with only a gravity-based one. That's a harsh side effect from the Onyx."
Allen lifted his left foot and took a single step. It alone produced a small quake, shaking nearby buildings. Titan staggered and would have fallen had Shinobi not grabbed him.
"Earthly Will Weapon."
Allen took another step, raising a slab of ground. He drove the staff into it, then kicked the slab, shattering it and revealing the staff now encased in dirt and dust. When he grabbed the handle, the surrounding earth moved to the end of the staff, forming two solid cubes side by side.
With a swing, the remaining dust scattered, revealing a long-handled hammer of almost golden yellow. Allen rested it on his right shoulder and stared at the monster.
"You'll have to forgive me. I can't control my strength in this style."
The monster screeched, and Allen felt gravity increase again—so much that the ground beneath his feet cracked under the sudden spike of weight.
---
"Weak."
The man watching from afar sighed a single word after observing the new Strix Temporalis.
"To lose all its abilities and keep only the latest one… it's no different from being a Category 1. A complete failure."
Holding the Onyx before one eye, he stared at Allen with a deranged smile.
"Have his emotions matured? Or is he still the same?"
He laughed, placed his right foot on the ledge, and hurled the Onyx as far as he could.
"What happens if a human picks up the Onyx? Let's find out!"
With arms open wide, he shouted, his madness overflowing.
"Come on, Allen! Entertain me!"
His laughter echoed across the rooftops—an act that endangered all of City F.
---
Allen advanced step by step, slowly, each footfall sinking into and lifting chunks of the asphalt.
The monster screeched every few seconds, each cry increasing gravity by a few more kilograms. But it meant nothing to Allen, who calmly approached the Strix Temporalis.
"I think here is good."
Allen stopped a few meters from the creature's legs, gripping the long hammer handle with both hands before slamming it into the ground. The impact caused a localized earthquake; a few buildings collapsed, and the monster staggered, but no greater disaster occurred.
Stumbling, the monster fell over a building with its wings spread. Allen seized the opening and hurled his hammer at the structure, toppling it and burying part of the monster beneath the debris.
Allen raised his right hand to the sky. As with his other styles, he prepared a finishing technique—but stopped himself at the last moment.
He remembered perfectly why he avoided using the Topaz of Will until now. Topaz represented will, but also the element of earth. The stones were mediums to manipulate elements. Allen easily mastered the Ruby of Passion (fire), the Sapphire of Honesty (water), the Emerald of Truth (wind), and the Prism that held them.
But the power of the Topaz was too great—he couldn't control his strength properly. If he tried to cause a major quake, he produced only a small tremor. If he tried to create a light shock, he caused a colossal earthquake.
Over the years, Allen learned that the stones grew stronger when surrounded by their element. In the middle of the ocean, he couldn't control the sapphire; in a raging forest fire, he couldn't control the ruby.
And the Topaz—unless Allen was airborne or on a ship at sea—was nearly impossible to control on solid ground.
A screech snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked at the monster seriously as the debris burying it began to float—the creature was using its gravity ability to render the rubble weightless and lift itself.