The three groups fell back…
then surged forward together again, synchronized by Wrath.
In the stands, Ethan whispered:
"They're not fighting like people… they're fighting like Sin puppets."
Elenya tightened her grip on the bow.
"If this keeps going, they're going to die down there…"
The Impactors charged Jay once more—all four at the same time.
Jay raised his shield.
The core pulsed.
The energy hit its limit.
The combined blow drove him into the ground. The Guardian's Ring on his finger flared, hardening his skin against an impact that would have crushed any ordinary tank.
"JAY!" Sienna shouted.
Jay roared and released the charge.
"RETALIATION!!"
The kinetic explosion hurled the Impactors ten meters back, sending them rolling across the arena like giant dolls.
Meanwhile, Emanueru faced the electric mages.
He summoned only a single sword—he needed control or he would completely run out of mana.
He twisted his wrist, shaping a piercing strike of concentrated light.
One of the mages fired a bolt of lightning.
The sword split the discharge in half…
then pierced straight through the caster's chest, who detonated in unstable energy.
The other two staggered back, wounded.
On the other side, Sienna confronted the Crystal Furies.
All three advanced at once.
She opened her grimoire, red runes spinning like malignant gears.
"Enough. You want wolves?"
She raised her arm.
Mana wavered dangerously.
"LUPUS MAJOR!!"
The Greater Wolf emerged with a roar that made the ground tremble.
It bit one of the Furies around the waist and hurled her into the fence.
The second tried to snap the creature's neck—the Wolf reacted, smashing her into the ground.
The third escaped and leapt straight at Sienna—
But Marcus appeared mid-motion, slicing through the crystal on the enemy's arm and finishing her with an absurd flurry of blows.
Sienna smiled, panting.
"Nice one, big guy."
"Stay sharp," Marcus replied.
High atop the throne, Valdred raised his axe.
A crimson wave swept through the arena.
The remaining enemies, already wounded, froze.
They looked at one another…
then turned their heads toward Ethan's group.
Valdred roared:
"ALL OF YOU—ON THEM. NO THINKING. NO FEAR. NO STOPPING!"
Impactors, Furies, and casters charged like a maddened horde.
Jay blocked blows coming from every direction.
The shield absorbed energy until it vibrated violently.
"More!" he roared. "COME ON—MORE!!"
Orange sparks exploded along the rim.
Jay released everything in a single strike.
WHOOOOOOOOM!
Five enemies were launched at once.
Marcus crossed into something beyond fury.
He cut crystal.
Cut mechanical arms.
Cut electric magic.
Each strike buried someone into the ground. Sunbreaker's solar blade burned red, fed by the Wrath saturating the arena.
"FALL!"
"YOU TOO—FALL!"
"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOU!"
Emanueru was already sweating cold, nearly out of mana.
He formed a larger sword—unstable, trembling.
"Lux Spatha."
He hurled it.
The blade pierced two enemies at once, pinning both to the wall.
Emanueru dropped to his knees, exhausted.
The last enemies closed in around him.
Sienna saw it.
Her body trembled.
Almost no mana left.
Still, she opened the grimoire.
"Just… one… more… wolf…"
The book flickered.
"LUPUS… MAJOR…!!"
Nothing.
A spark.
Another.
Then the wolf appeared—gigantic, distorted, made of pure, unrefined brute mana.
It shielded Emanueru…
and dissolved moments later.
Sienna felt her body give out.
Her mana simply… went dark.
Still, she smiled.
Tired.
Relieved.
"You're safe, Emanu…"
Her body's weight gave in all at once.
Emanueru caught her before she fell—but the impact came anyway.
Not to the body.
To the chest.
The world around him turned into noise.
Shouting. Metal. Shattering crystal.
None of it mattered.
"Sienna…" His voice broke. "No… not now…"
She didn't respond.
The closed grimoire pressed against her chest felt far too heavy.
As if it were empty.
Something tightened inside Emanueru.
It wasn't pain.
It was fear.
A raw, childish fear that ignored levels, mana, or victories.
"Stay with me…" he murmured, resting his forehead against hers for a brief second. "Please…"
Then an impact shook the arena.
Jay roared.
Emanueru forced himself to breathe.
Carefully, he laid Sienna on the ground behind them.
When he stood, his eyes had changed.
He was determined not to let anyone else fall.
Jay delivered the final blow to an Impactor.
Marcus destroyed the last Fury.
The final caster was cut down by the lingering luminous blade left by Emanueru.
Silence.
The group remained standing…
but could barely breathe.
Then the arena trembled.
The throne's gates opened.
A giant of muscle covered in flaming scars leapt down, crushing the ground where he landed.
Lord Valdred.
The Champion of Wrath.
He spun his axe as if it weighed nothing.
"Finally…"
"You survived the warm-up."
"Now… fight me."
The crowd roared like a volcano.
The real battle was about to begin.
Valdred struck the ground with his axe.
The impact echoed like thunder.
Jay, Marcus, and Emanueru stood side by side.
Sienna lay behind them, breathing faintly.
Valdred spread his arms, red runes burning like open wounds.
"Only three?"
He licked his teeth in a macabre grin.
"This is going to be boring."
Jay raised his shield.
Marcus planted his feet.
Emanueru gathered the last remnants of his mana.
Valdred smiled.
But he did not attack.
Instead, his eyes slid…
past them.
To the arena floor.
To Sienna.
"Interesting…" he murmured. "You fight better when you have something to lose."
The axe rose slowly.
And then—