The humid air of the forest was thick with the scent of ozone and damp earth. Koji sat perched on a weathered mossy log, his chin resting on his hand as his eyes tracked the distant, flickering lights of the Ariancams.
"Sitting here won't help us get the flag," he muttered, his voice a low drawl of tactical exhaustion. He let out a weary sigh. "Logan's locked in a stalemate with Cassandra, but who knows if he'll actually pull it off? And Sakura and Kokoro... they're heading into a blind spot, No one knows the true capability of that new girl.
[Sigh] What a total pain."
He paused, the gears of his mind turning as he collected his thoughts.
"Her clan's ability is 'Love,'" Ori Kaito explained from beside him, her voice as quiet and airy as a mountain breeze. "She can force anything capable of feeling to fall into a state of absolute, obsessive devotion. With a single word, she commands them,but she can only anchor one soul at a time.
I doubt her capacity is high enough to enslave both Kokoro and Sakura simultaneously."
"That's some crazy power," Koji replied, pushing himself off the log and dusting off his uniform shirt. "Anyway, have a nice day, Ori."
As Koji's silhouette vanished into the dense thicket, Ori watched him go with an unreadable expression. Then, without a flicker of warning, her form began to blur, dissolving into a thick, swirling fog that swallowed the clearing.
Unbeknownst to Koji, the Ori Kaito he had been with all along was actually a clone,and not the real one. The girl he had shared his thoughts with was nothing more than a phantom, while the true Ori remained hidden elsewhere in the shadows of Shadowglad.
GROUPS THREE AND FIVE
"Staying together is our best chance of winning this," Lia Matsumoto declared.
Standing at 5'6", she exuded an aura of refined elegance.
Her rich, dark brown hair caught the stray beams of sunlight, and her amber-gold eyes scanned the brush with predatory focus. Beside her stood Yui Nakahara and Shinji Inoue, forming a united front.
The silence was broken by a sudden movement.
James, Jane, and Naoki revealed themselves, flanking the trio.
"Hand over your flag," James demanded, flanked by his teammates. "You're only three, and you're surrounded,we've each created clones all around. There's nowhere to run."
From a jagged ridge above, Naoki added, "In your current position, Lia Matsumoto, you have no right to refuse,Hand it over."
Yui Nakahara didn't flinch. Instead, a mischievous smile played on her sapphire-blue eyes.
"Why do you think we ventured this deep into the forest? We knew you were coming,Lia has been monitoring every single person in this forest,including Kokoro's team, Cassandra's team, and Renna's. thanks to her Verdantia clan abilities."
" Kokoro tried reaching out, but it was no use, Lia has more control, establishing connection stretching out through the whole forest, every single moving organisms, she sees and can detect their moments."
" Why do you think once it comes down to combat, we three are always together, and there was never a fourth person, while the rest of you guys are always four in number"
As a member of the Verdantia clan, Lia could transform into plants and command them. Her connection to nature was unparalleled; she was literally born from a plant herself.
"I, on the other hand, as a Petragoria clan member, can create golems," Yui continued. Her silky, silver-blonde hair cascaded down her back, framing her bright sapphire-blue eyes.
"And I can control the beasts," added Shinji Inoue. The tallest of the three at 5'4", his spiky jet-black hair was streaked with emerald green, matching the sharp angles of his golden-amber eyes. As an Anthropos, he could tame any creature or shapeshift into one himself.
Suddenly, the forest began to rumble. Birds scattered into the sky as the ground cracked open. Giant golems and smaller ones materialized from the earth, encircling James, Jane, and Naoki, the scream of the giant golem echo through the whole forest sending a shockwave.
The predators had become the prey. The sound of the golems' heavy footfalls echoed through the forest, their towering heads visible even from a distance. With a final SCREAM of defeat, James, Jane, and Naoki surrendered their flag.
"So, in other words, you knew we were coming?" Jane spat, her face twisted in anger.
Yui's smile widened. "Sucks to be you, You should've listened to Mason's idea."
Across the intercoms, Maya's voice rang out:
"First team to claim two flags: Lia Matsumoto, Yui Nakahara, and Shinji Inoue!"
MASON vs CASSANDRA
"As you can see, I obtained Logan's flag before you could," Mason said with a smirk. "My team might be weak, but I don't need them, That Golem's scream just now announced the first winner of this match. I warned them, going after Group Five was asking for their downfall, You probably noticed it too: detection techniques are useless here, Unless you clear the trees around you and burn every plant in sight."
Lia Matsumoto, the only member of the Verdantia Clan in our class, is a real pain in my ass, Through a network of chemical signals, root-linked currents, and bio-electrical pulses, the plants relay everything they sense to one another, Verdantia abilities taps into that , all communication from those flora becomes a living surveillance web, blocking detection across the entire forest. As long as this fight stays among the trees, nothing is hidden from her. Honestly, I doubt that going up against her is a fight we could win,she can already see the entire environment, every movement mapped perfectly inside her head,
So goal is to collect all three flags—yours, Logan's, and Leo's, as you can see I already claim one flag, two more to go, hand over your flag"
" That explains it, I need something was blocking my detection, I couldn't receive any feedback, Lia ! " She sigh .
"The flag isn't with me" she smiled.
Cassandra charged, She unleashed a flurry of punches, but Mason blocked them effortlessly with one hand,she retreated to fire a massive blast of flames, he casually deflected the fire using air manipulation. Even a lightning bolt was intercepted by three boulders he summoned from the earth.
" What do you think you're doing Cassandra" he laughed.
"Petty tricks won't get you anywhere," Mason said, accelerating toward her.
With a single punch, he sent her flying into the huge oak tree. Cassandra rebounded instantly, using the tree as a springboard. She channeled Eno energy into her hand, combining all four elements.
" Let's see how stronger you are now compare to before" he said as the enhanced punch struck Mason, breaking his bone. The force of the blow was so immense.
" Not bad , you've even uprooted the tree you had used for momentum, you most have put enough force in this " mason walked slowing covering the distance as the blow has send him backwards but still couldn't take him down.
Holding his broken arm, Mason channeled Eno energy to accelerate his healing. The bone repaired instantly. "You've improved," he acknowledged. "Time to take you seriously."
Mason clapped his hands, generating a "Harmonized Convergence" of air, earth, and flame. The resonant frequency vibrated the earth, releasing heat and causing Cassandra to bleed from her nose and mouth.
"What the hell was that?" she gasped.
"Have had enough!!! " Cassandra shouted, creating a huge slash of wind cutting 360 clearing everything in her range.
Mason didn't dodge, applying eno through out his body, covering his body with eno, reducing the damage from the wind slash attack she had lunched.
As Mason clapped again, the same shockwave, as she bleed again, no physical damage was done, but she kept bleeding, Cassandra used detection and saw the shockwave carrying tiny molecules.
" Hand over your flag " mason said once more as he clapped one more time, she clapped back using the exact same technique mason had used.
"Impossible!" Mason exclaimed. "You learned that in just two attempts?"
Cassandra healed gradually, then created five clones that charged at Mason. He dodged them all, , punched them out, she created five more as she continued to heal up, creating an opening, but as she leapt in for a powerful punch, Mason vanished.
"Teleportation?! You've unlocked Dio energy!, you've got to be kidding me "
Mason formed a blade of pure Dio energy and slashed the air, Cassandra coated herself in Eno energy to block, but the blade inflicted damage each time, wearing her down. She hurled a spear at him, and though he blocked it with a Dio shield, the spear pierced through and scratched his face before vanishing.
How did she break through my Dio shield? Mason wondered. Through his detection, he saw it: "that's a mixture of Dio and eno energy was flowing from her body, for a second her vessel shifted to Dio"
MYSTIC LYTHORIA
Junior class 4
Maya continued
"Dio energy, the power of creation. There are four stages: Unlocking, First Tier, Second Tier, and Third Tier, the power of creation itself.
With Dio,teleportation is one of the advance skill eno can't achieve,this is merely the beginning"
Drake raised his hands up, can it actually bring back the dead, Maya answered : "Since it is the power of creation, it is believed to be possible."
SHADOWGLAD
"Impossible! You're nothing compared to what I can do!" Mason sneered, teleporting behind her.
But the whole part had already been cleared out during their fight, Cassandra could use detection now she sensed him within her range .
She twisted aside, seized his arm, and hurled him with brutal force toward the central clearing.
Group four Vs Ori
where Group Four was already struggling against an endless tide of Ori Kaito's clones.
Mason's body tore through the battlefield, obliterating dozens of clones in its path. At the last second, he slammed a hand into a towering tree to stop himself. The impact split the trunk and sent debris exploding outward, creating a brief but violent distraction.
Ori didn't miss it.
As Hesper sprinted in to join the fight, Ori slipped through the chaos. In that single moment of diverted attention, she dragged away Group Four's flag.
Then everything changed.
The thousands of clones surrounding the clearing vanished at once,only to be replaced instantly by thousands more. This time, every clone carried two flags. The earlier wave had only carried one, but now Ori had updated them.
Confusion slammed into the battlefield like a second shockwave.
Cassandra tracked Mason's final teleport signature and appeared behind him. They clashed, unleashing Dio-powered elemental attacks that collided with explosive force.
The blast ripped the forest apart, leveling the clearing and throwing combatants in every direction.
"Give up, Mason!" Cassandra shouted, her punch crashing into him, as they both exchanged punches filled with Dio energy, the shock wave cleared, the remaining combatants.
Hesper stood there watching, a gentle smile played on her face, "finally a rival"
Mason dropped, unconscious.
"Finally… I'm stronger," Cassandra whispered and " You were wrong, I wasn't with the flag ,Ori Kaito had our flag all along."
And with thousands of clones closing in, each one a moving victory condition, Group Four realized just how badly they'd been outplayed, group two had collected a total of two flags alone with theirs making it three flags, the match ended.
MYSTIC LYTHORIA INFIRMARY
Cassandra sat up in bed, wincing. "Ouch... that hurts."
Hesper sat beside her, smiling. "You're awake, We won thanks to you. We secured all three flags. I never thought humans could be this strong... and it seems you've unlocked Dio just at the right time."
Cassandra beamed with pride, feeling a newfound bond with Hesper as she drifted back to sleep.