Garden Of The Abyss

This was the result of causality, a concept mortals must face when confronting the truly divine. Sora could do nothing besides watch in horror before the divine light filled everything, even his vision.

"--I warned you, buddy. I did my best to hold it back for you, but that\'s the price of challenging the strongest."

Sirius muttered, watching as the sphere of flames dissolved into nothing but sparks, the entire field was covered in clouds of dust as a result of the destructive magic unleashed.

Nothing was left of the surrounding area, stone, oak--none of it was immune to the absolute decimation of the great magic unleashed.

"That\'s you holding back? That\'s vexing…but I guess it\'s time for me to tag-out."

Releasing a weak laugh, Sora sat on his knees, his armor tattered from the waist up, his skin covered in lacerations as blood coated his tan exterior.

"Tag-out…?"

Repeating the words he just heard, a chill ran up Sirius\' back as he realized the purpose behind them--turning around just in time as a frosted wind pelted against him. Verglas ran over his fingertips, racing across his body as a sheet of ice enveloped him.

"--Eis: Embrace."

"Donatien…sneaky bastard."

"Expecting a one-on-one battle in a duo event is a faulty endeavor, Sirius."

Stepping into the desolate field, the navy-haired man adjusted his glasses as his ice continued to cling to the man\'s skin.

"Waiting until after your partner is defeated is cowardly."

"I\'d call it strategic."

Everything began to go numb, losing feeling in his toes and fingertips as the cold displayed little mercy. Taking a gulp of air into his lungs, Sirius unleashed a coat of electricity over his body, combating the frost that clung to him.

"Now...how about I give you the same treatment I gave your partner there?"

"I hope you aren\'t lumping me in with that brutish fool. I think you\'ll find my ice to be just as hot as his flames."

Their approaching battle was halted just as it started, both opponents jumping back just as a projectile zipped past them--shattering the sound barrier.

"A gunshot?"

"Tristan. It seemed your great magic lured in some lingering dogs."

Facing the direction the projectile came from, Donatien\'s suspicions were proven correct as they saw the unmistakable frosty bedhead.

"Who\'re you calling dogs?!"

Beside the gun-toting Outlander was his rambunctious partner, hopping on his toes as if warming his body up. Wearing a sleeveless black vest, his dark tattoos that resembled dragon scales, coiling around his arms stood out.

"Fai Meng."

Sirius couldn\'t help but laugh at the sudden appearance of the pairing. The one-off scuffle had now turned into a battle royale of its own.

"Why\'re you here? You can see there is already a battle going on, no?"

Pushing his glasses up as his hazel eyes questioned the two men, the frosty air around Donatien amplified.

"I\'m not passing up an opportunity to smack you around for the snacks you stole from me last month."

"I already told you, I did no such thing."

"Either way, I know Fai here has some unresolved business with Sirius. I know you aren\'t just going to sit around and let your opponent be snatched, so I\'ll take his place."

It had already been settled, Fai was stretching side to side, hopping back up as his ponytail bounced with him.

"Of all the Outlanders--he was the man who loved battle above all else, challenged only by Brahmi in that regard," Sirius thought, keeping his eyes on his newly chosen opponent.

"Sirius...it seems our bout will have to wait until we take care of these boorish fools."

"Already on it."

As he expected, Fai wasted no time delving into combat. It was more akin to gliding across the ground rather than dashing forward, bringing himself within striking distance of Sirius with a joyful smile on his face.

The fist he planned to throw was a facade, flipping over into an axe kick as Sirius reacted just in time to block the unexpected attack. Fai moved unnaturally, as if his body lacked any density to it--spinning on his hands before flipping back onto the soles of his feet with a smile.

"You\'re really that mad I finished off the Dulagon?"

"The entire reason I came with you for that quest was to fight it! I told you that, yet you still hogged all of the fun!"

As he vented, the weight behind his punches increases, piercing the air they pushed through as Sirius diligently avoided them. Reinforcing his leg with lightning, Sirius countered the man\'s relentless pursuit with a kick to his side. The force of the kick mimicked a lightning bolt, roaring through the air as Fai was sent flying to the side.

"Give it a rest, will you?"

If the Monster Hunt was a means for growth for newcomers, then for experienced Outlanders—it was a festival of roughhousing.

Fai jumped back up without any hesitation as he spun into a cyclone-like kick, slamming his slipper-covered foot against Sirius\' shoulder.

"Ba\'al: Thunderskin."

After wincing from the impact, Sirius displayed a confident smile before grabbing onto Fai\'s leg. The spell covered Sirius in a layer of electricity, acting as a human taser as the high-voltage transferred against Fai.

"—Come, Hydra!"

The call left Fai\'s mouth in desperation, his entire body tending up from the shock—Sirius letting go of his leg as the man evaded an incoming attack from his left.

A tendril-like creature snapped its jaws at him, before coiling back to reveal its nine-headed body, covered in silver scales. The creature stood several meters high, with each head possessing reach greater than the length of its own body.

"Hydra, huh? Already using your innate ability?"

"Scared? Can\'t say I blame you!"

Fai gloated with boundless energy fueling his frivolous laugh, rubbing the top of one of the Hydra\'s many heads as if it were a dog.

"I\'m curious, what happens when one of your folklores are destroyed? Can you resummon them? Are they gone forever? I think I\'ll put that to the test right now."

His azure irises flickered with traces of violet as tendrils of lightning coiled around his arms, legs, and torso.

"I\'d like to see you try! Come on! Come on! Bring it! Bring it!"

The next round of their bout started, the hydra hissing with all nine of its heads before sliding its body against the ground while Fai\'s magical energy skyrocketed--preparing to unleash a spell of his own.

"Blitz: Razor Bolt!"

Sirius unleashed a horizontal flash of lightning, cutting through the air as it hurled towards one of the magical creature\'s many heads. Like a hot knife to butter, the offensive spell carved through two of the heads, falling to the ground as they convulsed, spewing acidic saliva from their fanged mouths.

"How could I forget…"

Letting out a sigh, he watched as the hydra\'s flesh bubbled up as if it were boiling water, before its scaly skin parted, a protrusion of three strings of flesh rising before forming into a new triplet of heads.

"Come on! Come on! That\'s unlike you, Sirius—maybe fear is getting to you!"

Momentarily distracted, he was too late to react to the spell unleashed by Fai as his monolid silver irises glimmered with fighting spirit.

"Zhurong: Malevolent Arms--!"

Manifesting into thin air, windows of flame inhabited the air as massive, bulking arms covered in fur, formed of orange flames reached out--extending towards Sirius as they spiralled unnaturally. Simply evading the gigantic arms of flames wasn\'t enough, as they followed their target diligently, bending and curving through the air as they grasped the air in hopes of catching Fai\'s foe.

--"Zhurong", a special subset of fire magic only capable of being used by one in every ten-thousand fire mages. I\'ve fought alongside it many times now...but fighting against it is another story altogether. If I let my guard down for even a moment, Fai won\'t hesitate to bring me down.

Sirius kept his eyes on the monkey-like arms, flipping backwards repeatedly as the fiery fists hammered into the ground where he stood.

He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he dodged backwards, nearly falling right into the hungering mouths of the many headed hydra, leaping into the air to avoid its venomous fangs.

"Got you!"

Overwhelming by the various attacks targeting him, Sirius failed to notice Fai had already met him in the air, sending him back down with a harsh swing of his leg, landing right into the unrelenting grip of the Malevolent Arm\'s hands.

"Gh--!"

His entire body was restricted by the enormous, merciless grip of the arms. Even by releasing his overwhelming magical energy, the uncontrolled electricity did nothing to loosen the fiery grip that held him.

"Somebody is a bit rusty, eh?"

"Tired."

Sirius corrected Fai, who held a gloating smile as he stood in front of his captured foe.

The entire time their battle was raging on, Donatien and Tristan\'s battle could be heard as their battle was dragged into the heart of the forest.

"Come on, just concede. Admit I won, and that I\'m better than you--that I\'m the strongest Outlander."

"You\'re asking me to lie?"

In response to his tough response, Fai squeezed his fist shut--causing the massive hands to restrict even tighter than before around Sirius\' body as if trying to force the air from his lungs.

"Even you can\'t escape the grip of my Malevolent Arms. Once they have a hold of you, your flow of mana is constricted--you won\'t be able to cast any magic! Awesome, right?"

"I don\'t need to use any spells."

"Huh? Come on, man, no need to act so proud. It\'s just the way she goes, you win some, you lose some. Let\'s just put an end to this already."

"Are you that dumb or just trying to pretend you don\'t know what I have up my sleeve? You think my lighting is what makes me the strongest?"

Sirius let his words out in a huff, having to scrounge up whatever air he could into his lungs as the prison of monkey hands held onto him tight. It took a moment for Fai to realize what he meant before his sclera widened as he came to understand what Sirius planned.

"--It\'s just for fun, it\'s not that serious. You wouldn\'t use it here, right? Right?"

"If you give up now, I won\'t use it."

As frightened as he seemed for a moment, Fai committed to his position, clenching both his fists tight enough to draw blood from his hands--squeezing a scream out of Sirius.

A streak of crimson liquid leaked from Sirius\' nose, coughing out drops of blood as his bones yielded to the overwhelming brute strength he was held captive to.

--"Just for fun", the bastard said, while he\'s trying to crush my bones into dust. I\'ll have to show him a taste of his own medicine then. I\'ll use it. I sure wish my little brother was here to watch me be cool, though.

A surge of magical unleashed soared from Sirius\' body, however, it wasn\'t embracing the aspect of lighting he possessed. It couldn\'t be compared to any element--not fire, water, gaia, wind, dark, or light--it was only a bleak cold that emanated from his body like a chilling frost.

The mana itself felt as if it were its own entity, running itself across Sirius\' body--the Malevolent Arms desperately squeezed him now, out of primal fear. Spots of this despair-inducing mana stuck to the man\'s body, releasing a small, blue flame as the mana tinted his body with a shadow.

"Scales of The Hollow Tyrant."

The name of the ability left his blood-soaked lips as an augury of death. In less than a second, the formless mana manifested itself into a physical form as it wrapped around Sirius\' body--creating a living armor of somber gray scales from head to toe.

--The only downside is…

With a single flex of his body, the newly armored Sirius blew away the mighty hands into nothing but embers, landing back onto the ground below.

--When I use the scales, "holding back", becomes a hard concept for me to grasp anymore. I have to restrain it. Now. Before I get a taste for battle.