The group: Zena, Coco, Fenrir, and Alex, were all back together after their separate adventures.
With Alex, Fenrir, and Zena killing the strange construct and Coco wandering around Greed's library collecting three books and some magic potions.
After catching their breath and each person downing a health and mana potion that Coco found by accident. The group talked for a minute on if they should continue straight down the grassy road or check out the basement.
Ultimately they decided on checking down the stairs really quickly.
Walking down these stairs was longer than any other section in the library.
It felt like these stairs led down into a bunker of sorts as the soft wood, golden lights, and otherworldly feeling that existed on the other floors went extinct as wood turned to stone, golden light turned blue, and the atmosphere of the room became bleak.
Once the group reached the bottom of the stairs, they stepped out only to find themselves on an overhang. A small raised section that separated them and the actual basement floor.
Looking over the railing on the overhang, they saw it.
"Woah!"
"Cool."
"Interesting."
"Not impressed."
A giant blue sphere in the center of the room, the exit.
This sphere had an allure to it. All eyes were immediately drawn to it. The exit, the way out, it was right in front of them.
However, after the group's initial shock died down, they saw a dark figure standing in the way.
This figure was covered head-to-toe in magical items. A black cloak, silver chest piece with a lion head as the design, matching silver pieces of light armor on his legs, hips, and arms, one sword on each arm, and a strange circular device with a small hole in the center of it dangling from his left side.
"Fight me!" The man's voice was young, a voice that did not match the look, but the message still conveyed the man's strong conviction in asking for a duel.
"Who are you Mr?" Alex yelled out to the man then turned back to her friends. "He looks kinda freaky, like spooky, rough around the edges, really not cute."
"I am Gunther! A B ranked adventurer who is stopping all who try and leave."
"Coco, why would he want to stop people from trying to leave?" Alex asked, trying to understand.
"The way David sounded when he brought back the dead members of each group during the end of the first event was that it was a gift for a job well done. If I had to guess, the same won't be true for this event unless there are no more groups to participate in the third event. Since he is alone, that means everyone else in his party died."
"Ohhhh, I get it now, thanks." Alex said with excitement. "So, what's the plan?"
Coco took off her backpack and opened it, offering the green potion to Zena. "Use this to take some of his items, that should make this fight easier."
"I can do that, but he will hear me fall … Fenrir, I need you to drop down with me."
"Ah, ok."
"Quit whispering and come and face me!" Gunther yelled, getting impatient.
Zena drank the green potion hidden by the railing of the overhang. The flavor of this potion was plain, there was no real flavor to describe, it was an invisible flavor to both the tongue and the nose.
Fenrir and Zena, who is now invisible, after drinking the potion, jumped down at the same time, falling twenty feet before reaching the ground floor.
…
"Only one of you? What do you take me for?" Gunther said with a hint of anger.
"As a swordsman, I simply wish to test my own strength against a B ranked adventurer." Fenrir said, unsheathing his sword, preparing for combat. "Even if I fall, my team will surely take care of the rest."
"Don't you know? David doesn't bring back those who were lost for the next event."
So I was right.
"My team doesn't need me, so that fact doesn't bother me." Fenrir said with a little bit of sadness. Then he charged towards his opponent.
With a swing of this blade Fenrir was quickly intercepted by two swords. A murky green colored one and a silver one.
Gunther, the wielder of these strange blades, rotated Fenrir 's sword downwards holding it down with one of his blades. With his silver blade now available, he swung towards Fenrir's face.
Fenrir, accepting that his head may be cut off, released his sword, and fell backwards. Falling to the floor just before the blade swung to where his head was moments before.
Then, Gunther felt a heavy wind coming towards him.
Jumping over Fenrir, Zena lunged to grab one of Gunther's blades.
Gunther quickly pulled back, causing Zena to miss her mark. By some kind of recovery, she narrowly caught, and grabbed the disk that was at Gunther's side then rolled forwards shooting back onto her feet.
Zena's potion slowly ran out, and she began to appear back into reality for all to see.
Fenrir got back up and grabbed his sword. "Letting go of my blade is probably considered disrespectful, but even I know metal is not worth losing this challenge."
Standing on opposite sides of one another, Gunther was in the middle between Zena and Fenrir. Knowing this, he aimed one sword at each darting his eyes side to side continuously.
A standstill.
Coco popped her head up above the railing, then aimed her arm, making her index and middle finger point forwards in a V shade, then moved her thumb underneath the two. Her pinky and ring fingers curled under, pointing back at herself.
"Cartilage Growth!"
Coco casted a spell. A black triangle with the point being aimed outwards towards Gunther appeared. Usually Coco's taint magic had the shape and feeling of slimy black goop. However, this time, it looked sharp because she hardened her own magic.
All I have to do is use magic's natural force and fire off this attack. Just like using a magic item, use mana itself as the push needed to send off an attack. Just like my wand's water ball spell. Visualize it, an invisible force that can send off this creation.
Magical attributes, one's natural magic, is meant to be used as a tool on the self to accomplish one's goals. Fenrir and Zena's magic applies itself to the person that can be manipulated through a magic item.
Zena uses her magic to use her body as a weapon, but it does take a toll on her.
Fenrir's sword was the sole reason he could send both a dragon breath and a water piercer attack towards an enemy.
Without this outlet or conductor, then the mana is just sitting there.
This rule of magic means that most people in the world use magic tools or weapons as a conductor for magic.
Coco creating a spell and using her body as the launch pad instead of a magic item like her wand, was unheard of.
Coco visualized using mana in its most natural form and cast an attributed spell on top of that natural force.
Suddenly, the shot, cartilage growth, fired.
Coco's arm recoiled backwards. It was slightly off, but it did hit her target. Piercing through the side of Gunther's left shoulder.
"Expand!"
Suddenly the small amount of black substance that got onto Gunther, started to rapidly take over his entire left shoulder and began to encroach onto the side of his leg.
Panic clearly overtook Gunther as he ran towards Zena.
A swing … and a miss.
Alex then fired an arrow. Quickly adapting to this stressful situation, Gunther twisted his shoulder up catching the arrow in Coco's magic. The fact that it didn't go through the taint proves how thick this strange substance is.
"What the hell is this magic!?"
Coco then realized her mistake, she fired off her magic because she thought that she could and wanted to try it out, which luckily worked, but her lack of foresight meant that her true magic was now revealed.
"A freaking slime mage! How cruel of a trick is this?"
…
or maybe not.
The taint slowly overtook Gunther's entire right side, but he kept flailing around defending off Zena's and Fenrir's endless attacks.
Alex was unable to fire another arrow as she was too shocked by what Coco had just done.
"Uneasy Feeling!"
Coco casted another spell. Suddenly the black ink-like substance scuttled down to Gunther's legs. His arms were now available, but he could hardly move.
With this new development, Fenrir ran over and used the full force of her blade to make Gunther's head connect to the floor.
…
After a moment, his body dissipated along with the taint that overtook the bottom half his body.
The only thing that remained of Gunther was the strange disk that Zena had managed to take hold of.
"What was that!?!? That should be impossible. We have wanted to ask about your magic for a while now, but we figured you were keeping it a secret. B-bbbut sending magic like an arrow from your body is unreal!" Alex said, freaking out over what had unfolded before her eyes.
"Let's get down first, then I will explain." Coco said as though shocked by her own ability.
Alex summoned Milo and Fredick grabbed onto the dragon's legs and floated down. The dragon is not strong enough to fly people around, but it could glide someone down.
Fenrir walked over and opened his arms. Coco awkwardly jumped from the overhang and landed in Fenrir's arms.
Fenrir slowly lowered Coco down like a prince lifting and then lowering a princess in a dance.
"What is your magic?" Zena asked coldly.
"Taint. My magic is taint magic. I lied when I said I could only shield. This is my demonic magic, a dark substance that I can manipulate at will. It can be a liquid or a solid, it multiplies quickly but I can pull it back whenever I wish, at the cost of some mana of course." Coco explained in earnest.
A pause overtook the room.
"Here, catch." Zena said just as coldly as before.
Coco looked up, barely catching the disk that Zena got earlier.
Getting the chance to see the disk in full, it looked strange. A white big circle with five buttons on it - a triangle, square, circle, diamond, and a cross all stared at Coco. The center was a void, she could see the floor.
"Huh?" Coco said not understanding the gesture.
"You went and made it awkward. Like having your magic was a bad thing. It's saved our asses three times now. So, I am giving you this because none of us could figure it out." Zena said, avoiding eye contact.
Coco's eyes went wide. She was happy at Zena's words, but that wasn't what mattered to Coco at that moment. "Do you have any idea what this is!?! It's an ancient artifact, a really old magic item from unknown origins. This thing must be crazy powerful, and you are just handing it to me? Are you sure?"
"Uh, yeah, whatever." Zena said not knowing how to handle an excited Coco whose interest in magic was at an all time high.
"Hehe, I can't wait to figure out how this thing functions."
"Going back for a second, Coco, did I make you feel uncomfortable? I am so super sorry! I didn't mean my shock to be a bad thing! I just thought it was super freaking impressive that you fired off your magic."
"All my life I was told to keep my true magic hidden from the world. I only used it back there because I saw an opening and wasn't really thinking, but you guys accepted me. I am happy, not uncomfortable." Coco said, sitting down with the new device.
"Oh … Coco … That's it, I will accept you no matter what happens. From this moment forward you are my sister." Alex nodded in agreement to herself refusing to take "no" for an answer.
"Relax, just figure out how that thing works and we can get out of here." Fenrir said with a warm voice.
Coco gave a smile, then looked back down at the disk. Coco messed with the device for a moment.
First she clicked on the symbols at the top of the circle, going clockwise from the top: triangle, circle, diamond, square, then finally the cross. The white rim turned red, blinked three times, then went back to white.
Next she tried the reverse starting with the cross. The same result occurred, red blinking.
Then Coco began to make shapes like a pentagram: square, triangle, diamond, cross, circle. Once again there was red flickering that happened with each passing attempt.
On the seventh attempt Coco got it: square, triangle, diamond, cross, circle.
It lit up green, blinked three times, then the white circle turned black with a small line of white appearing at the very edges.
It vibrated then flew into the air, it pushed against Coco's face like a cat wanting attention. Then it looped around her head. Coco felt a strange sensation like something was connecting directly to her soul.
Coco then flipped around to see where the disk went. The disk moved in the same direction and at the same speed as Coco's head.
Coco darted her head the other way, the same result.
No matter how much she tried, the disk remained behind her head and just out of sight.
"It's following your every movement like a dog." Alex commented laughing a little to the small demon trying to catch the device.
"Yeah, but I don't even know what it does!"
"I am sure we will find out during the next event, common, let's go." Fenrir said, marching through the blue portal. The rest of Team Earth following right behind him.
…
Originally they were expecting to be brought into the black liminal space as the last two times, but instead they were greeted with a coliseum.
Stone benches looped around the entire area with an arena at the bottom. This was a desert-like area with dry and sandy air.
There was one row per group. Coco, Alex, Zena, and Fenrir were on the seventh row. Now long after them, another group walked through the portal shocked at the sight before them.
"Welcome, welcome, I am glad that everyone could finally be here… I suppose not everyone, but the strongest have arrived." David said in a booming voice so all could hear despite him being in the center of the arena below.
David's golden armor shining brighter than usual given the sun in the center of the sky beaming down on him like a spotlight.
"We will now begin the tournament." David said with a self-approving air. Although cladded in gold, everyone could tell that he was wearing a smug expression.