Chapter 31:

Chapter 31:

Gaav's red eyes flicked about the young man, as though still trying to decipher what had just happened. Tightening his grip upon his sword, the Mazoku Lord grinned. No matter…at least this guy proved to be more of a challenge than that pathetic little stick.

Once second the man was there, the next, he was gone. Gaav's eyes widened.

"Fehlzareid!"

Coming from all sides, a spiralling ray of light flew towards the Chaos Dragon. As Gaav teleported out of harm's way, the light converged and exploded, causing a mushroom cloud to grow towards the ceiling.

Catching a figure in the smoke, Gaav smirked. Calling out to the Hellmaster, the Chaos Dragon's eyes sparkled with laughter.

"Sorry, kid, I'd like to borrow something from you! Laguna Blast!"

The figure froze for a moment as an inverted pentagram formed round it. A sudden pillar of light shot upwards, before a black plasma spilled out of the pillar, enveloping the figure completely.

The Hellmaster snorted. "Don't get too cocky, idiot."

As the smoke cleared, the Chaos Dragon tapped the black crater in the ground with the blade of his sword.

"That might have been me."

"No. That will be you."

Spinning round, Gaav had the image of the brunette man appearing before him, before everything went black.

"Ra tilt."

A bellow of pain tore out as the Chaos Dragon was surrounded and enveloped by a large pillar of blue-white light which filled the room with its gentle glow. The Princess of Seryuun was in a state of hysterics at the sight of the enormous shamanism spirit spell in front of her. It would have taken at least dozens of magic users to cast such a big Ra Tilt!

Puffing at her cigarette, Zellas's golden eyes flicked to the silver-haired Dynast whose temple was throbbing in pain. "Comments?"

"None whatsoever, except for the fact that Gaav is an idiot."

"How true."

When the light was gone, so was Gaav. A wind swept past the man.

"Do you think that only Mazoku can teleport?" he asked no one in particular.

Lina shook her head. "That was quick. And besides…who are you?"

The dashing young man flipped his chocolate bangs away from his eyes. Glowing, he became smaller and smaller, till he returned to the shape of a certain familiar twig.

"Yes, yes, yes! I won! I am the man!" Dancing a little jig, Mokuryuu whooped in delight. The fiery-haired Lina Inverse collapsed with a groan.

Ceipheed chuckled. "The man you saw before, Lina san, was indeed Mokuryuu. But it was his metal form: Kinzokuryuu."

An image of the handsome shirtless man appeared in the bandit killer's head. Before her jiggled the little brown twig. Almost immediately, the image in her mind cracked and fell upon her like rocks "I definitely prefer that other form."

"Lina san, you should try to purify yourself of such hideous insults."

"Oh, bother that, Amelia. You're such a freak."

"You're doing it again!"

"And your point is?"

"Lina san!"

Both girls stopped their bickering as a hushed silence fell in the room.

The Supreme King and the Thunder God were standing face to face, hands in pockets. Hazel eyes crackled with golden ones.

At the side, Zellas Metallium flicked her cigarette into the middle of the arena. In slow motion, the cigarette fell, still smoking at the side.

As the cigarette landed, the two prominent figures in the centre of the room vanished. In a frequency of seconds, the sounds of sword clashing with sword echoed throughout the room.

Everyone's breath was held, as though afraid that the sound of their breathing would ruin the pair's concentration.

Observing the battle with his emerald eyes, Ryo smiled in satisfaction.