CHAPTER 35: IT'S ONLY HALFTIME

TOWER 3

As soon as the elevator stopped and opened its doors, the trio charged down the stairs. There were a few Phantoms lingering in the shadows, but Ace, Azul, and Riddle made quick work of them. The rest slithered back into the depths where they came, hissing like frightened animals.

"C'mon, let's move!" Riddle rushed forward again.

"Did we learn nothing from earlier?" Azul complained.

"Riddle, please slow down!" Ace called tiredly. "And Azul, please speed up!"

"Speed up? Oh, so you think I'm slow too, don't you?" Azul growled. He doubled his pace, easily caught up to Riddle, and pointed his staff at him. "Don't you look down on me!"

"What? Oh…" Riddle blinked, realizing his callousness. He stopped. "Azul, I don't look down on you," he said. "Why would you think that, anyway?"

"Why…?" Azul repeated like it was obvious.

"Yeah, you seem pretty steamed about being left behind," Ace mentioned.

"That…" Azul took a second to compose himself. "Perhaps it's just pettiness. But I have to admit that I'm jealous of you in some regard."

"Jealous… of me?" Riddle asked. The three mages picked up their pace, moving down the next flight of stairs.

"You found success much earlier than I did," Azul confessed. "Not only did you become housewarden when you were a first-year, but you also went to the best schools and received the highest education when you were a child." He made a face. "I on the other hand spent my childhood floating about in the ocean. My parents never pushed me especially hard, and I had to take extra time to adjust to living on land. If I could go back and start over…"

"That sounds nice," Riddle echoed.

"You want to restart your life, too?" Ace asked.

"No, not that," Riddle said. "I mean, that your parents went easy on you and your childhood was more relaxed than mine. That sounds nice."

"What?" Azul muttered.

"Listen, Azul," Riddle said quickly. "Maybe I did have a head start, but as a result, I didn't get a proper childhood. I was driven to become perfect in every way, and when I wasn't perfect… well, I couldn't handle it. But you… well, you adapted to life on land, and you even own a restaurant! Does it matter at this point who started their education first, when we're fighting together?"

Azul paused. "…I suppose not," he said. "Though I'll never be satisfied where I am. I want to keep growing, and leave everyone else at my mercy."

"I'd like to be number one, too," Riddle agreed. "So that makes us rivals. Then again… we always have been, haven't we?"

"Not that it matters, since I'll overtake you both someday," Ace said with a sneer.

The trio laughed briefly at that, but after that bit of levity, they noticed something odd.

"Is it just me, or is it getting hotter?" Ace complained, tugging at his collar.

"Well, this place is normally cold, right?" Riddle said. "Idia must be thawing the Underworld to awake the Phantoms."

"That might be so, but…" Azul started to sweat. "This is too hot! It feels like a volcano all of a sudden!"

In the dark of the Underworld, something below the staircase was glowing, getting brighter with every second. The mages scurried out of the way, nearly falling off the stairs, as something climbed up to their level. It was a massive creature made of loose stones, held together by magma. A large goblet of sparking blot served as its head, and the blot continuously dripped onto the stairs, mixing with the magma of its body. The stairs hissed as the ancient stones melted underneath the monster.

"Juuuu…piiiihhhh…tuurrrrr…" the creature gurgled.

"What kind of Phantom is that?!" Ace cried.

"That must be one of the Titans!" Azul said.

Riddle shot several water spells at the gigantic Phantom, but they all evaporated before they could hit the target. "Aqua magic isn't working!" he started to panic. "Can we even take this thing down?!"

"Look!" Ace pointed down the stairs, where a large square room waited for them. "Is that the midway hangar?"

"It has to be!" Azul said. "Let's go!"

The three dashed down the stairs, and the Magma Titan pursued them. Although this Titan was slow and lumbering, the heat around it was suffocating, and its magma was just as deadly as it appeared.

The electronic doors parted for the mages, then closed behind them. As soon as all three were inside, Azul and Ace worked together to layer the door with a thick wall of ice. Riddle scanned the area and quickly located a large box with a lightning symbol on it.

"Well, if this isn't a piece of the Thunder Spear, I don't know what is," Riddle said dryly.

The Heartslabyul housewarden used his lightning-shaped key to open the box. Inside was a long golden rod with lightning insignias carved into it. There was an extension on one end, implying that this was the backend of the illustrious Thunder Spear. Riddle lifted it; it was about the length of a tennis racket, but it was as thick and heavy as an iron bar.

The ice on the door started to melt. Ace and Azul tried shooting more ice to protect themselves, but it did no good.

"If these doors melt, we'll have no protection!" Azul said. "We have to do something!"

"Riddle just got the Thunder Spear piece… but it's not the whole thing, is it?" Ace asked worriedly.

Correction, said a female automated voice. Each piece of the Thunder Spear can be used on its own, albeit at a lesser strength. You must squeeze the trigger at the bottom to activate its power.

"How convenient, it comes with an assistant!" Ace noted brightly.

"Trigger…?" Riddle looked down and saw that the Spear had a trigger and a handle almost like a gun. He could feel the weight of it, and knew this would take more than his own power.

"Ace, Azul!" he called out. "Open the doors!"

"Are you mad? The Titan will come in!" Azul cried. "We don't know if that Spear piece has the power to defeat the Titan!"

"You said it yourself, we need these doors for protection!" Riddle shot back. "I'll need both of you to help me use this! Please!"

Azul and Ace exchanged glances.

"Fine, but you better know what you're talking about!" Azul said. He pressed a button on the side which opened the doors. As soon as this happened, hot air assaulted the room. A wall of magma greeted them.

"Over here, behind me!" Riddle cried. He stepped forward, struggling with the weight of the Spear piece. Ace and Azul ran to him, with Ace behind Riddle to help steady his housewarden, and Azul holding the weapon alongside Riddle. Emboldened, Riddle pulled the trigger with all his strength.

BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!

It was like a lightning strike right before their eyes. There was a brilliant flash of light, a deafening echo, and then the roar of something horrible and unearthly. When the boys' eyes adjusted, they saw that the Magma Titan was slithering back. Jolts of light now ran through its body, and it moaned in pain.

"That's it! The Spear piece hit it dead-center!" Ace said. "Let's hit it again!"

Power at 0%, said the voice. Requires recharging.

"This has to be recharged?!" Riddle cried. "What kind of ultimate weapon is this?"

"We can't let this moment go to waste! Give me a hand!" Azul commanded. He and Riddle put the Spear piece down and ran out the door with Ace on their tail. The three mages shot their strongest aqua spells at the Magma Titan, which hit the target perfectly.

"N…nOOOOO…" the creature gurgled, swaying unevenly from the force. "J-Jupiteeeeer… Destroy you…!"

At last, the stairs could no longer support the creatures' heat. They collapsed underneath, letting the Magma Titan fall down all the way to the deepest depths of the Underworld.

"Think… it fell… into Tartarus?" Ace panted.

"With… any luck…" Riddle doubled over.

"Don't want to run… into that again," Azul wheezed.

The three got back into the hangar. The doors were damaged, but still functional. Inside, the midway hangar was stocked with everything a survivor would need—a pantry full of food and water, a bathroom, sofas to sleep on, and a cupboard full of medicine and utilities.

Riddle set the Thunder Spear piece back in its box. The monitor nearby showed an empty battery with a lightning symbol inside. One hour remaining, said the voice.

"We have to sit here for an hour until this works?" Azul complained.

"We don't stand much of a chance without it," Riddle said. "I suppose this would be a good time to rest…"

"Tell me about it," Ace agreed, crashing into one of the sofas.

He wondered if the other towers were faring any better with the Titans on the loose.