The final droplets of rain slid from Alys’s chin and struck the stone floor beneath her feet.
For a mont, she simply stood there, breathing heavily as the lingering steam slowly dispersed throughout the arena. The oppressive curtain of rainfall that had accompanied the battle from the very beginning was gone.
Silence followed.
Not true silence, of course. The colosseum remained filled with frightened whispers, distant cries and the crackling sounds of damaged barriers struggling to maintain their form. Yet compared to the relentless roar of the storm that had dominated the battlefield until monts ago, the sudden absence of rain felt almost unsettling.
Alys lifted her head instinctively, above her, the dark clouds had vanished.
The opening in the sky revealed a stretch of clear blue illuminated by the fading light of late afternoon. Sunlight spilled into the arena, washing over the shattered stone and bloodstained ruins left behind by the battle.
But sothing felt different. The fire mana circulating through her body responded first.
The warmth she had been forcing through layers of rainwater and purification mana suddenly surged freely through her channels. The familiar resistance that had accompanied every spell she cast throughout the fight simply wasn’t there anymore.
The flas gathering around her fingertips brightened.
Alys frowned, was the rain supposed to stop so soon?
Had Ocean already left? Even though she had no idea of what was going on outside she couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy. She turned her eyes looking around and couldn’t help but feel as though, the rain actually hadn’t stopped altogether but only the clouds over the arena were gone.
Soone had removed the rain and she had no idea of whether it was a good sign or not. The demons weren’t capable of removing the clouds summoned by a Dragon so, maybe it was Ocean who had stopped the rain in the colosseum.
anwhile, across the ruined arena, the Chira had gone completely still.
The creature’s twisted body remained crouched atop the fractured remains of a collapsed pillar. Burnt flesh still covered portions of Katherine’s face while black blood dripped steadily from several wounds scattered across its body.
Yet sothing had changed.
The wounds were closing faster, much faster.
Alys watched black flesh knit itself together beneath her eyes as the burns she had inflicted monts earlier began disappearing.
The creature slowly raised its head, its glowing red eyes swept across the arena, then the thing inhaled.
A deep, rattling breath that seed to drag the surrounding air into its lungs.
Alys imdiately felt her instincts tighten as she realised that the Chira felt it too.
The purification mana carried by the rain was gone.
No longer did the droplets continuously wash away the corruption clinging to its body. No longer was the dead mana being suppressed each second it remained exposed.
For the first ti since entering the arena, the creature was free to exist without restraint.
A grotesque smile slowly stretched across its ruined face.
Then it moved.
The shattered stone beneath its feet exploded apart as the Chira launched itself forward with a speed that made several spectators scream.
Alys reacted imdiately.
A burst of fire erupted beneath her feet and propelled her sideways just as claws tore through the exact spot where she had been standing.
The impact shattered the arena floor.
Chunks of stone flew through the air while blackened cracks spread outward from the point of impact.
The creature landed on all fours and twisted toward her instantly, it was fast, faster than before.
Alys narrowed her eyes.
The Chira’s adaptation had accelerated the mont the rain disappeared.
The realization settled heavily in her chest.
This fight had just beco far more dangerous.
Alys barely had enough ti to recover before the Chira attacked again.
The creature crossed the arena in a blur of black flesh and claws. Wind mana gathered around its limbs as it lunged forward with frightening speed, forcing Alys to dive aside monts before its strike shattered the stone floor beneath her feet.
Fragnts of rock exploded outward.
The Chira twisted imdiately, refusing to allow her a mont to breathe.
Alys clicked her tongue.
It was learning.
Every exchange felt different from the last. The creature no longer attacked recklessly. It adapted. It observed. It adjusted.
The realization unsettled her more than she cared to admit.
A sharp whistle suddenly cut through the arena.
The Chira’s head jerked sideways just as an arrow slamd into its shoulder.
The force of the impact staggered it half a step before another arrow followed imdiately afterward.
Then another.
Then another.
The creature released a furious shriek.
High above the arena, Lysanne stood upon the reinforced section of the colosseum wall with her bow already drawn again. Her expression remained calm as she loosed another arrow toward the Chira.
The projectile struck the creature’s side and black blood sprayed across the stone.
"Keep attacking!" She shouted without moving her eyes from the creature.
Alys imdiately understood.
The brief distraction was enough.
Fire erupted around her hands as she launched several concentrated blasts toward the creature. The attacks struck almost simultaneously with Lysanne’s arrows, forcing the Chira backward beneath the relentless assault.
For the first ti since the battle began, the monster was being pressured from multiple directions.
Its crimson eyes darted between them.
Alys.
Lysanne.
Alys.
Lysanne.
The Chira’s movents grew increasingly erratic.
anwhile, beneath the protection of the barriers, Nyx was already moving through the frightened civilians.
"Slowly."
Her voice remained calm despite the chaos surrounding them.
"Do not run."
Several commoners looked on the verge of panic.
Others clutched children tightly against their chests.
Yet Nyx continued guiding them toward the safer sections of the arena with remarkable composure.
"The barriers are holding."
"Keep moving."
"Help the elderly first."
The people gradually obeyed, not because they weren’t afraid, but because her calmness gave them sothing to cling to.
The Chira seed to have noticed as its glowing eyes shifted toward the audience, toward the retreating civilians, toward the prey that was steadily moving farther away.
A low growl escaped its throat, the sound deepened and beca harsher, angrier.
Another arrow struck its neck and the creature snarled and tore the projectile free.
Alys’s flas followed imdiately afterward and exploded against its chest.
The Chira stumbled while the audience continued retreating and the won continued attacking.
Having pushed into the corner now, sothing inside the creature finally snapped.
A deafening roar exploded throughout the arena.
The force of the roar and the rampant wind mana rattled the barriers themselves.
Several spectators covered their ears in pain while the knights and mages tried not to get blown away.
The Chira lunged toward the audience.
Its massive body slamd directly against the reinforced barrier protecting the nearest section of civilians.
The entire structure trembled violently and the glowing pink mana rippled across its surface.
The creature clawed at it, bit at it, smashed repeated against it but the barrier refused to break.
While the arrows kept striking at him one after the other, its black blood splattered across the stone floor.
The Chira turned toward Lysanne with naked hatred burning in its eyes.
Its promised prey was escaping, its path was blocked and the relentless attackers would not leave it alone.
Unable to reach either Lysanne or the fleeing civilians, the Chira’s frustration finally reached its limit.
The creature’s body trembled violently and the black mist started oozing from its arms and the blood scattered throughout the arena began to move.
Tiny ripples spread through every black puddle, the droplets stretched, twisted, gathered together and from the blood itself, sothing began to crawl out.
The black creatures poured from the Chira’s blood in horrifying numbers.
What had initially appeared to be nothing more than scattered droplets rapidly transford into a living tide of writhing mouths and jagged teeth. The creatures spilled across the arena floor, scrambling over shattered stone and ruined pillars while their shrill screeches echoed throughout the colosseum.
The audience erupted into panic once more.
Several nobles instinctively pulled their children closer while others retreated farther into the stands. Even the guards stationed around the civilians visibly tensed as they watched the creatures swarming toward the barriers.
The first of them reached the audience section but a flash of pink mana erupted across the barrier’s surface and the creature was blocked instantly.
A second one leapt toward the spectators, it was t with the sa fate, then a third and fourth.
Within seconds, dozens of the creatures sward toward the barriers but still couldn’t reach their prey.
The layered defensive formations surrounding the audience held firm. The creatures slamd themselves against the shimring walls of mana repeatedly but gained nothing.
For a brief mont, relief swept through the crowd.
The barriers were holding, the civilians were safe, yet the creatures did not stop.
Driven by nothing but hunger, they continued searching for prey, until their attention shifted.
So of them suddenly changed direction and rushed toward the royal section where Silas stood maintaining the barrier.
The spectators nearest him gasped.
The black swarm climbed over broken stone and shattered seating before hurling themselves toward the Archmage but they never reached him.
The instant they entered the range of the second barrier surrounding Silas, their bodies crumpled as though crushed by an invisible mountain.
Its black flesh burst apart and teeth scattered across the stone floor.
One after another, the creatures disintegrated before they could even co close.
Silas barely glanced in their direction.
The protective barrier surrounding him shimred red softly beneath the mana supplied by Marquis Fairisles.
High above the arena, the Marquis remained standing upon the balcony with an expression as calm as ever.
The creatures were not a threat to his son, they never had been, the swarm hesitated after witnessing the result of approaching him.
For the first ti since erging, confusion seed to ripple through the creatures.
Every route toward prey had been sealed. Every living target was protected by barriers stronger than the creatures could break.
Then their countless mouths turned simultaneously toward the center of the arena.
Toward the only living person standing outside the barriers. Alys.
A chill crawled down her spine as she imdiately understood.
"Not good."
The creatures surged forward.
Hundreds of them poured across the arena floor like a living black flood. They crawled over rubble, pillars and shattered stone with frightening speed, all converging upon a single target.
Alys imdiately launched a wave of flas toward the approaching swarm.
The resulting explosion consud dozens of the creatures yet dozens more erged from behind them, and then dozens more. The tide refused to stop.
Alys clicked her tongue.
The Chira chose that exact mont to attack.
A violent gust of compressed wind exploded toward her position while the swarm continued closing in from every direction.
She narrowly avoided the attack and retaliated with a blast of fire powerful enough to send the Chira crashing through another ruined section of the arena.
But the mont she turned back, the swarm had already advanced farther.
The creatures were forcing her to divide her attention, exactly as the Chira intended.
The audience watched in growing horror, the Mages were occupied maintaining the barriers, the guards could do little more than defend the civilians and Alys was gradually being surrounded.
Roger’s expression darkened, he had been watching quietly until now, watching his niece fight on her own and struggling. Her situation was steadily worsening and it reminded him of how he had always been helpless in protecting the people he cared about.
Katherine had torn away his loved ones in the past and this one girl who had survived purely by miracle was once again close to death.
Roger had had enough now. He took a step closer to the balcony and lifted his hand. A large fireball started swirling over his palm.
"Your Majesty!"
Several nearby guards imdiately reacted, but Roger ignored them, his eyes remained fixed upon the arena below.
The swarm was growing, the Chira was adapting and Alys was alone.
The fireball tore across the arena toward Katherine’s body.
"Katherine! Stop it now! You’ve gone far enough! Why do you have to kill every last one of my family?!" Roger shouted as the flas fueled by his anger and hatred engulfed Katherine’s body.
Alys whipped her head looking at Roger who was leaning over the balcony looking, livid and desperate.
The fire dispersed leaving behind the charred remains of what resembled Katherine but instead of killing the creature, it was still standing now as the hideous sight of a burnt corpse. Its skin sizzled but the black smoke and mist still oozed from it and the flesh slowly repaired itself.
Roger froze in his place as he realised that his wife wasn’t there anymore, it was just this evil monster.
The swarm which had halted for a mont started advancing and the Chira tilted its head, its eyes falling onto the one prey that was its target in the first place.
Alys finally understood sothing she had been refusing to acknowledge since the battle began.
She could not continue like this, not anymore.
Every second she spent holding back was another second the Chira gained, another second the civilians remained in danger, another second Roger might decide to involve himself.
Her hand slowly rose toward her ear, toward the small earring she had worn for years.
The disguise that had allowed her to disappear from the world and remain safe.
The disguise that had allowed Princess Alys Scarlet Ferin Marismus to remain dead.
Her fingers closed around it and for the first ti since returning to Sestia, she seriously faced her fate. She had been running when she was weak, but danger had always followed her and she had to stop now, she had to face it. Running wasn’t an option anymore.
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