The Coliseum was filled to the brim with spectators waiting to see the heroes fight. Thousands of people, whether they were humans or monsters, were cheering for the heroes to come and fight in the arena. All had come from far and wide to see the clash, which was even transmitted through machinas present in larger cities in the world. Even in their own towns, people were cheering upon one hero or the other.
Luka, however, was waiting nervously a room with Alice keeping him company. He guessed that Heinrich was likely in the same situation with Alicetromeria comforting him. He was still worried about the situation, which didn't remain unnoticed by Alice for long.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Luka answered in an unusually coarse voice. "I am fighting a legendary hero, whom I recently learned was my great great grandfather, in front of so many people it wouldn't be inappropriate to say the whole world is watching. All that after learning that the world may be going to end soon. I keep hearing people talking about how it will be the best fight to see, and every royals tell how this will be the fight of the century. So I didn't get sleep for several nights, and I feel like I'm going to collapse as soon as I get out.
Alice put a hand on his shoulder to try to reassure him. "Hey, we've dealt with worse. You've dealt with worse, and you always made it. You'll be fine."
He turned towards the lamia, who was surprised to see his blood injected eyes. "I was fine with infiltrating Grangold and ending up facing an Ancestor, I had no difficulty dealing with the Monster Lord's armies, and I always managed to answer every request made. But I never realized how much people actually looked up to me." He got up and started moving anxiously around the room. "It's one thing to face a challenge in an adventure. It's another one when people say they expect great things from you. But having to deal with their expectation live is on a whole new level!" He exhaled slowly in an attempt to reassure himself. "I can't disappoint them."
Alice removed her hand. She didn't know what she could do to help him feel better in front of the situation.
As the door opened, Luka felt a gust of wind entering the waiting room. He felt a bit of dust fall on him as he stepped outside. He didn't notice Alice going wide eyed behind him as he was making his way to the center of the arena, and felt himself going a bit better. Vigor was coming back into his muscles, chasing away his stress.
"Ladies, and gentlemen, here is the first hero. He's the one who crossed Tartarus, the legend from the present, the one who will save the world, LUKA!"
Luka welcomed the cheers as he felt the anticipation rising in his body. He was now eager for a fight. The door at the opposite end of the arena opened, letting Heinrich stepped in the arena.
"And against him, the one who killed Black Alice, from another past another world, always and forever a hero, HEINRICH!"
Heinrich was waving to the fans cheering him. Luka noticed his ancestor was as eager as him to fight as he noticed him. Both heroes pulled out their sword at the same time and jumped at each other like two rabid dogs.
"Woah! It seems we jump straight into action!"
Luka was swinging his sword at Heinrich in a chain of connected attacks. The latter jumped high to avoid it and imbued his blade with fire in an attempt to finish Luka in one strike. Rather than dodging the powerful attack by jumping back, the half angel hero chose to jump to attack him mid air. The two opponents shouted at the same time.
"Sylph!"
Both heroes seemed to be flying in mid air as they were exchanging powerful blows at lightning speed. Sensing a sudden opportunity, Luka positioned himself slightly above Heinrich.
"Gnome!"
He used the full weight of his body to bash Heinrich and smash him in the ground. The impact formed a small crater that raised dust. Right afterwards, Heinrich violently kicked Luka away from him and raised himself from the crater he formed, barely scathed by the attack. Both heroes used a spell to heal themselves before jumping right back at each other with powerful warcries.
"Burning decapitation!"
"Thunder thrust!"
They made no effort in deviating their opponent's attack. Each attack connected, leaving Luka with a large gash on his shoulder and Heinrich with a long slash on his side. They healed themselves once more and resumed their assault.
In the royal lodge, Mephisto was starting to get nervous and pulled out her wand, the item's weight reassuring her. She didn't expect the heroes would go at each other that violently. The elven queen was looking both appreciative of the show and shocked by the violence happening down there.
"It looks like our worries were unfounded." The Grand Noah Queen stated that with a matter of fact tone. "The heroes are way more eager and violent than usual."
"Yes." Mephisto answered in a deadpan tone.
"I suppose this is to blame on an outside intervention."
"Yes."
She could hear Freya sneer. The elf queen had already drawn her own conclusion.
Both characters remained silent for a minute before the queen started again.
"I suppose it is too late to cancel our plan to make the fight more entertaining?"
The yoma looked at the sky. An unidentified item approached the arena like a falling star. After a few seconds, her fears were confirmed as her magical senses managed to identify the projectile's signature.
"Yes."
She stepped down and started walking away. She had to check on the arena's entrances.
The Grand Noah queen took a sip of her drink before looking at her elven equal. "I will get the mages to lower the shield between the arenas and the stands. May I suggest getting a team ready to intervene to welcome our guest?"
The elven queen telepathically relayed the message to her followers, while asking them to warn as many warriors as possible. She could see the waves her message made through the arena's benches. She took her bow from her back and readied it. "It seems that most of us are ready to strike. But if you are right, such a monster might be too strong for our forces currently available."
The Grand Noah queen finished her drink before taking the whip and the shield standing near the throne.
"We're going to have to step in ourselves then."
In an inn's room, the two older Lilith sisters were wallowing on their beds, looking at a ball that was projecting what was happening in the Coliseum on the wall. They were enjoying the show, occasionally feeding on a tourist that they had managed to catch earlier.
"Sister?"
"Yes Lilith?"
"Did you mix the Burst Flower and the Blood Bane?"
"I don't know, I never was one for botany. What's the difference?"
"Well, one is used to make burst drink. And the other is a violent poison that destroys the heart."
"I'm pretty sure that's not what's happening. And you also saw the flowers."
"You're right." Lilith kept looking at the orb. "Wasn't the reason behind transforming the flower before consumption that it reacted randomly with the Monster Lord's genes?"
Her sister shrugged, her tail started snaking toward the groin of an entranced victim. "Maybe, but I think only Alipheese and her lovers would be concerned in that case. Gotta ask Kanon. Or Tamamo."
"…Wouldn't it also affect the ones in direct contact with her genetic material."
"Meh, what are the odds that both Luka and Heinrich bang the Monster Lord before…" Astaroth slapped herself. "Nevermind."
"We might have thought that one out better."
"It can't end that badly, unless they kill each other in which case we will… be stuck in this world until it gets destroyed." Lilith got up and grabbed her concealment coat. "I'll be back. I have a call to make."
Both heroes kept attacking each other in an orgy of violence. It was not a technical fencing fight or even an honor bound duel. Neither fighter was making effort to defend himself, they had no goal but to take the other down as fast as possible. Occasionally, when the recoil of their attack separated them, they healed and buffed themselves with various spells, but every single action was either done to destroy the opponent in a display of raw power or use a spell to stay in the fight just a bit longer. Even then, after several minutes, no fighter showed a single sign of doubt or of exhaustion resulting from their apparent wounds. They kept going at each other in a state of frenzy.
"World Ending Slash!"
"Heavenly Strike!"
As their swords clashed, the dark and holy elements reacted, exploding violently. Both heroes were propelled by the explosion across the arena. They healed themselves and stacked every buff possible in synch. From imbuing their sword with various elements to summoning the four spirits, every skill that could be used to enhance their raw power in any way was cast.
Suddenly, a meteor crashed, sending a wave of debris. As the dust settled, a figure clad in red wearing a staff revealed itself. She had the look of an Amazonian beauty, and also had monkey like features.
"Greetings! I am the legendary Sun Wukong! And I came here to challenge the her-OH!"
She barely had the time to react before both heroes attacked her in their drug fueled rage. She used her staff to parry both attacks and spun around several time in a split second.
"It seems a new challenger appeared in the arena!" The announcer was barely containing his excitation. "And it looks like the heroes are not happy to get interrupted."
"Hey! Hey! This isn't what I expected! Did I fall into another trap?" She disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Bah, it doesn't matter! I will beat you bo-oth?"
As soon as she disappeared, the heroes resumed their attack on each other, swinging their sword with all their might as if she never was there in the first place. Both heroes had summoned Salamander at the same time, and the result looked like a firestorm from afar.
"That's not fair either!" She jumped back in the melee with all her might. The fight soon devolved in a three way chaos. Heinrich slashed at Luka who tanked the hit while the latter was attacking Sun Wukong who barely managed to parry his blade with her staff as she pushed the other hero back. She tried a sweeping attack but Luka managed to grab her weapon. He summoned Sylph and Gnome while the Monkey Queen tried to shake him off. He eventually let go of the staff as she launched him upward. As he rose higher thanks to the wind and inertia, she prepared a powerful strike to receive him, but she got caught off guard by one of Heinrich's holy attack, allowing Luka to land on both of them crashing like a meteor.
"What a mess! Dear spectators, I don't think the situation can become more chaotic!" The voice was almost drowned by the excitation that kept pouring from the stands.
Mephisto was walking through the Coliseum's backstage toward the entrance Luka came from. When she reached the room, she noticed Alicetromeria was using tentacles to prevent Alice from moving, and had difficulties keeping the lamia down.
"Let me go! I have to warn the queen about what the sisters did!"
"But I don't want you to spoil the fun! Now be a good girl and let me watch the fight!"
"What is happening?"
The desperate lamia looked up at the newcomer.
"The Lilith Sisters used a trap to spray Luka with a flower's pollen to drive him insane! Look above the door!"
Mephisto looked at the flower just above the doorframe for a minute. She took a glance at both Alice and muttered under her breath. "What are the odds…"
"Huh?"
"This only should have slightly boosted the heroes. The only reason it turned them that way was because they were still affected by your aura directly… and intimately not long before."
Alice's face reddened slightly. "I just wanted to help him relieve some stress!"
Alicetromeria put more pressure on her counterpart. "Ufufufu, you should be more honest with yourself! You did it because it felt good, didn't it?"
"No, I had sex with him because I care about him!" Alice managed to free her top half slightly. "Something you don't seem to be able to understand!"
"Oh, do you really think so?"
"Why don't we ask Heinrich how it was to fuck a sociopathic Monster Lord?"
"Oh, he still doesn't know…"
"WHAT?"
"…I'm not one of these people… ufufufu…" Her laughter ended on a sinister note.
Mephisto shook her head in front of the scene. "Good grief, I don't know if you have noticed, but that monkey who is working for Black Alice is currently in the arena."
Both monsters reacted in surprise. Alice took the lead. "We have to help them!"
"Agreed, it is no fun if she takes them for herself."
The group prepared itself before throwing themselves into the chaos of the battlefield.
On the opposite end of the arena, a large group of monsters was progressing silently. They had entered after several of them dug a passage from outside to one of the outer wing. The guards were looking for an intrusion from outside and were caught by surprise by the small army already wandering in the halls.
They incapacitated two guards before they finally reached one of the entrances that led to the arena. It took time to convince everyone that they first had to take control of the city before doing anything to the prisoners captured. They could afford the world if they were patient.
As the arachne leader reached the door, she turned toward her followers.
"Sisters! Make sure you are ready! Soon we will step into the light! We will watch the citizens squirm in fear in front of our power! The last real obstacle is this door!" She prepared a spell to blow it open. "NO LONGER!"
Heinrich, Luka and Sun Wukong were still attacking each other in the arena. The heroes were covered in wounds while their armors were starting to fall apart. Nevertheless, they were still putting all their might in their fevered strikes. Sun Wukong herself had some difficulties tanking the attacks. While her natural resistance and skills allowed her to take most damages without troubles, the repeated use of holy attacks by the two heroes had started taking their toll on her.
"I've never had so much fun since I came back!"
She noticed the arrival of a trio of newcomers. A lamia and two magi were entering the arena through a door.
"Don't come disturb my fun!"
She disappeared into a puff of smoke before reappearing right afterwards. The next second, a copy of her jumped at the new trio.
"Now this is fair again!"
An elemental arrow exploded right near the head of her copy, knocking her down and interrupting her attack. She had difficulty finding the source of the shot for a moment, and separated herself from the current melee, leaving the two heroes to attack each other. The copy managed to deviate a second shot that came from the royal lodge. She could eventually see Freya, the Elf Queen, sniping her copy from afar. The copy fell dead and disappeared.
"Get in the arena! You coward!"
She turned back to the two heroes who were still attacking each other in their frenzy. Heinrich tried slashing at Luka's neck, but the latter ducked under his guard and thrust his sword at his ancestor's chest. Heinrich groaned as the attack wounded him, and stroke at his opponent's back with the pommel of his sword. Luka fell on the ground, but before Heinrich could finish him once and for all, Luka swinged his sword in the air, creating a wave of ice shards that destabilized him.
The announcer was going crazy. "The advisor is intervening as the fight is turning into the greatest chaos! Ladies and gentlemen, we may be assisting to-"
She was suddenly interrupted by an explosion coming from where Heinrich had entered. A small army of monsters poured into the arena. They poured from the door and tried to surround the fight, and several skirmishes started as the one further away were attacked by the trio of magi at the opposing end. The arachne commanding them walked straight at the duo who was still fighting.
"Humans and traitors! We are the ones you oppressed during your travelling. We are here to take this city and our vengeance against you!" The public barely reacted to her announcement.
"And we will start by killing those so called heroes!" She pointed at them. "You! Come face us if you dare!" After a few seconds, she realized the heroes were still attacking each other, ignoring her. At the same moment, the announcer's voice awkwardly made a statement.
Sun Wukong disappeared once more in a cloud of smoke, and reappeared with two more copies of herself. One charged at the arriving monsters, while the other one disappeared. She eventually resumed fighting the two other heroes.
"Are we actually under attack? Hang on… I got the order to tell any civilian to evacuate the arena through the west wing! Every combat ready soldier and monster is to help with the situation!"
"Omega Blaze!"
Alice incinerated several monsters. She barely had gotten over the shock of seeing the town getting invaded once again. She wondered if it was another assassination attempt by someone wanting to end the true Monster Lord's bloodline once and for all, but realized it wasn't the case when one of them made the group's intention clear. So far, no invader managed to reach the small party, but their numbers could prove problematic. Alicetromeria and Mephisto were also chaining spells after spells to break the tide that seemed to endlessly pour from the opposite end of the arena. Periodically, a bolt exploded near them, but Mephisto was keeping a magical barrier up.
"We have to take down their leader fast!"
Mephisto pointed toward the arachne leading the assault.
"I think it is the one who announced their intention."
Alice tried shook her head as she summoned a shockwave to eliminate several enemy harpies.
"No, there's no way someone would be so dumb as to make herself vulnerable when she's a keystone component."
As if to prove her point, she pointed to Lucretia, the queen harpy, and several of her followers who were engaging the enemy in the sky. The queen was standing back, casting dances after dances to encourage and support her kin, occasionally sending a blade of wind to prevent her forces from being overwhelmed.
"It would require a total lack of the most basic strategy." Alice took a break from her session of spell casting as she took a look at the battle happening in front of her, as several enemy monsters were lying wounded in the middle of their own lines. "They have no archers, way too few spell casters, and no dedicated healer. They also didn't use the other entrances and block themselves, and last, they're not even trying to exploit their number to surround us."
"They apparently have no plan beyond rushing the heroes to kill them and hoping everyone surrenders right afterwards."
Alice sighed and cast a dance to protect the party from physical attacks. "You're right, they're that stupid. And she's their leader." She looked around her. There was around a few hundred of enemies. They were not tough and lacked any form of organization, but…
"I don't think I will have enough mana to deal with all of them."
Alicetromeria laughed as she cast another explosion into a group of assailiants. "Fufufu, this may be fun, but I don't think we will last all the party!"
Mephisto smirked as she summoned a rain of ice shards on top of their enemies, slowing them down. "We have allies who help us in due time, but you may still be right. Take this."
Alice took the potion offered by Mephisto. "You're always carrying around Divine Essence drugs? Are you always ready for a magical fight?"
"You would be surprised by how much preparations I put into everything now." She shielded herself from an attack and blasted the wolf girl that had aggressed her. "I am on several hit lists after all."
"In any case, I'm off to take care of her." Alicetromeria suddenly vanished.
"Wait-"
Alice tried to hold her back, but it was too late. Mephisto shrugged. "Don't worry, she'll be fine and I don't think we'll have any problem dealing with the enemies currently on the battlefield."
"JINX!"
The yoma teacher was suddenly swiped by a powerful attack from a staff. She was propelled against the wall and left a small crater upon her impact. The string of profanities that followed confirmed Alice that Mephisto would survive. It was for the best since she herself had another issue at hand.
"Ahah! You thought you could disrupt our fight! But I will not let you!" Sun Wukong was exulting. "You will pay for trying to trap me here!"
Alice swore loudly. In her current situation, she had no chance to stand alone against one of Black Alice's lieutenant.
A whip strike suddenly exploded near Sun Wukong head.
"Hey! Watch it! You could hurt someone with this!"
"Good."
Another strike exploded into a ball of lightning, knocking Sun Wukong back. Alice turned to see the Grand Noah queen and Sara coming from behind them. The princess from Sabasa had already made use of her swords, as the blood dripping from it could attest.
"Apologies for not coming earlier, we made a few unfortunate encounter on our way."
Alice smiled. "No, you're right on time." She pointed at Sun Wukong who was still recovering. "Careful, it's a copy of one of Black Alice's lieutenants."
Sara stepped forward, her swords ready. "Then let's not lose any time and get the real one."
She charged at Sun Wukong. The copy dodged her attack, and prepared to strike the princess in the back with her staff, but the queen had managed to wrap her whip around it, blocking the attack. Sun Wukong smirked and pulled the queen with her full strength. The latter exploited the opportunity to bash her opponent in the head with her shield, stunning her for a split second. Sara pushed her assault and slashed violently across her enemy's back, while Alice summoned a powerful focused bolt to support the royal's assault. The copy disappeared after a scream.
The Grand Noah queen got up and pushed back her hair behind her head.
"Was that all?"
"Not yet. Let's clean out those invaders."
The arachne leading the assault was losing patience with the situation. She hoped the heroes would weaken each other and offer her an easy victory, as those barbarians were too engrossed in their fighting to notice the invasion. However, they showed no sign of fatigue. Eventually, she pointed to another spider girl and a vampire that were following her.
"You! Kill them!"
"At your wish."
Both monsters summoned a spell. Soon, a comet crashed on the fighting heroes, and a huge spark shocked them both. The monsters were shocked to see they were still standing and trying to fight each other in spite of their wounded state and their own presence. Eventually, they cast their spell once more, concerned with the limited effectiveness the original assault had. However, their fear vanished when they saw both heroes collapse in front of them.
The two monsters started stepping closer to the heroes to confirm they were out for the count.
The arachnid turned around and shouted. "Behold! We just killed your heroes! Now surrender and we might show you mercy!"
She heard something from behind, and saw a soothing light surrounding each hero. Right afterwards, they got up and started attacking their surprised aggressors. The vampire managed to jump back and only escaped with a large notch in her stomach, but the spider wasn't so lucky and took a powerful hit in her throat. She tried putting pressure with a hand to prevent blood from flowing, but still died in a gurgle before a healer could get to her. The heroes were still deep in their rampaging frenzy, assaulting any monster that dared approach them, and sometimes even each other.
In a moment of panic, she looked around her. Her supporters were getting pushed back by the attacks that kept coming from everywhere. Those magi standing against them were wrecking her army with their spells. Archers and gunners were shooting them from the seats. Several strong monsters had jumped into the arena and were cutting through her forces with alarming ease. Harpies and angels were regularly swooping in, breaking any rallying attempt. And several enemy soldiers, humans and monsters alike, had made their way from behind, cutting their retreat. Lastly any enemies that fell was brought behind and healed in record time, to be ready to jump back into the fray once more. She started to breathe erratically as she realized her plan was completely falling apart.
Suddenly, the human mage who was wearing a green dress appeared in front of her. The newcomer had an insane expression on her face. She felt a shiver of primal terror along her spine as she started to wonder who she was actually facing. Right afterwards, she fell into catatonia as she recognized the mage's face and her signature teddy bear.
"You. Are. Dead!"
"No…"
She barely moaned in a mix of pain and despair as a pillar of fire engulfed her body. Alicetromeria twirled her staff nonchalantly as soon as her victim was fully consumed by the fire. It was now only a matter of time before her allies would die or surrender.
Sun Wukong was having difficulty dealing with the harpies that were harassing her. They were coming from all the directions in coordinated hit and run attacks that were guided by their queen, who was using her skills to support and buff them. Her copies were all taken down as soon as she created one, and she was also suffering from the exhaustions and the multiple small wounds on her body. She eventually devised a plan to escape. She used her staff to propel herself at the harpy queen. The latter graciously evaded her, but Sun Wukong magically extended her staff to strike her mid air. The harpies stopped their assault as they shifted their focus toward helping their queen, allowing the Monkey Queen to escape in a large puff of smoke.
"I can't stay here! See ya!"
She managed to leave the arena, grinning in happiness. She hoped Black Alice wouldn't hold it against her...
Bah! It was all for fun, after all!
Even after the assault died down, the heroes were back to attacking each other in an endless series of powerful strikes. Their equipment was in tatter, but they were still focused on eliminating each other. Even after having been incapacitated once, their frenzy had not diminished. Their swords kept clinging against each other as they chained skills after skills at an impressive speed.
"Gnome!"
"Undine!"
Luka attacked with the might of an avalanche, but Heinrich managed to graciously dodge the attack. Before his opponent could throw a counter, however, Luka finally changed his strategy.
"Dispel!"
Heinrich's sudden loss of connection with the flow of the world destabilized him. Luka punched him square in the chest. As what remained of his armor could no longer effectively protect him, Heinrich keeled over and fell on the ground, having difficulties to catch his breath. Luka raised his sword in a final attack that would take his ancestor's life and get him victorious once and for all…
"GLANCE ARD!"
Luka staggered back while Heinrich passed out. The next second a blue blur filled his field of vision as Morrigan was attacking him, preventing him to actually kill Heinrich. The succubus had an unusual look of determination burning in her eyes. She started slashing at lightning speed at the hero, pushing him back. She had a definitive advantage, as she was still fresh and fully focused while the hero was starting to actually suffer from exhaustion and was still in a berserk state.
"Sylph!"
The hero tried to counter attack, but even with the support of the Wind Spirit, he could barely match her assaults.
"World Ending Slash!"
"Heavenly Strike!"
As the mix of energy exploded, both fighters found themselves without weapon as they lost their grip on their sword. They were still ready to fight however.
"Salamander!"
"Bad pick."
Direct martial art was not her style, but as a succubus, she still had enough skills to take down an opponent while unarmed. She jumped toward him while extending her tail toward his leg. Once she was close enough, she grabbed him and used her inertia to attach herself on his back and making him fall backward. She fastened her legs around his waist to prevent him from shaking her off.
"Next time, learn to fight without your sword!"
She used her kinetic aura to stimulate his whole body before he could break free, but held back to avoid killing him. She stopped as soon as she felt Critical Ecstasy taking effect in is body, and enjoyed seeing a damp spot forming on his crotch area. She pushed him away from her when he completely stopped struggling. She sneered as she got up.
"Get on my level, scrub."
She looked at both incapacitated heroes and grabbed her sword back. Mephisto was carefully approaching her, but she looked more fearful and concerned than outright hostile. The succubus gestured toward the two heroes, inviting the healers to do their work and bring the wounded to a more fitting place.
She took a glance around the arena. Sun Wukong was nowhere to be seen, and the few remaining monsters that had attacked the arena had surrendered. They had already lost morale when their lord was annihilated by Alicetromeria, and getting outclassed by the other residents of the Pocket Castle finished breaking them. They were brought away to get interrogated, but it was clear that they wouldn't tell much more than what their leader screamed at the top of her lungs when she entered. Eventually, only Alice, Morrigan, the Grand Noah queen and Mephisto were present in the arena. The succubus looked at the other member of the party.
"You owe me. You ALL owe me on that one."