Chapter 45

  Of all the Mun’s I’d expected to go first, I never would have guessed it would be the Fortoise. The massive stone walls on its back rotated, the catapults pulled back, the ballista loaded, and the creature lowered itself to the ground, it’s body glowing with energy.

  “Intriguing,” Julius’s voice said, amplified by a gem that had appeared near his mouth, like a speaker headset. I could barely see Mikael’s face, but sure enough, he had one as well. “I wonder what your plan is.” The Keeper smiled as he looked over the battlefield. I noticed now that the first Mun had gone, there was a display on the screens, showing a number order, one to six, likely a turn order. In spot one, was the Ancient Fortoise. If I had to guess, one of Julius’s Muns was up now though.

  He looked over his Muns, thinking, his eyes reading prompts only he could see. Which of his Muns was up next? What skills would it use? “How about this? Roar of Pride.” As he spoke, the Lion King’s crown and mane blazed with power. The creature lifted its head and let out a might, earth shaking roar. Visible waves of power echoed outwards, causing Julius’s Muns to glow with a prismatic light, which seemed to embolden them. Conversely, the as the waves reached the other half of the field, Mikeal’s Muns shivered, as the light clung to them, as if weighing them down.

  “Followed by,” Julius said, grinning all the while, “Gem-beat Aura.” The Gembra Stallion began pounding the ground with one of its front hooves. Steady, and like the beating of a heart, each beat pulsed purple energy outwards, settling on Julius’s Muns. As the light covered their bodies, they seemed to grow in size slightly. Another aura, of some sorts. He was buffing his Muns while feeling out the battle.

  The fourth Mun in the turn-order, was Mikael’s. He didn’t say anything, continuing to remain silent, but the power stations on the back of his Bolt-Charged Brutalist began to spark and glow more furiously, which lit up the lightning streaks along its body, the crackling growing in intensity. Just like Julius, Mikael was preparing his Muns for the battle, neither rushing into the first, offensive attack. No doubt, with the unknown abilities of Mikael’s Amplifer, and the augmenting stones, Julius was being cautious. Though, given his status as a Keeper, I realized, Julius’s own Amplifier and Augmenting stones were likely known… which put him at a disadvantage in a way.

  “You’re not overly eager,” Julius spoke as he took his time, “which shows promise.” He looked at his Herculean Diamond Beetle, “I’ll continue to play it safe as well, out of respect for you. Absolute Defense.” The Herculean Diamond Beetle turned its back on the enemy Muns, spreading its carapace wide, the two diamond pieces, I realized, acting as shields. The wings that fluttered outwards flashed with brilliant light, made even more dazzling by the power that shifted across them from the Lion King and Gembra Stallion’s abilities. Bright white light pulsed off the wings, in a scattered, strobing, blinding way.

  The fifth slot on the turn order showed now the Herculean Diamond Beetle, which left only Mikeal’s AX-olotl Primus. The fastest looking Mun for Mikael was going last? That… didn’t seem right.

  Mikael’s mouth twitched, slightly upwards, as if he were smiling, as he pointed towards the Beetle. Without another word, his AX-olotl Primus made its move. The creature took a few dashes forward, building up speed as it covered the ground of the arena ridiculously fast, and then it rolled into a ball. A... bladed... deadly… wheel of a ball. It smashed into the Herculean Diamond Beetle’s hard carapace, the metal blades on its back hitting with such force I had no doubt they’d crack.

  A ‘tink’ came from the battlefield, a sound I’d last heard in a documentary about a submarine that began to suffer structural integrity issues under immense pressure. The AX-olotl Primus launched partially into the air following its impact, and then undid its coiled form, landing on all fours back near its other companions.

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  “Oh, that’s interesting,” Julius commented, while Mikael continued to remain quiet. The hooded man pointed, and all of the weapons on the Ancient Fortoise’s back released their attacks, launching a barrage of siege rounds into the Herculean Diamond Beetle. Again, attacking diamond seemed like a poor life choice, and yet… more and more cracking and creaking and ‘tinking’ sounds echoed from the creature’s carapace, as it stood firm against the onslaught.

  “If this is your gameplan,” Julius mentioned, speaking partially to Mikael, and partially, I figured, to the crowd watching the battle, “then I’m not surprised you challenged me. After all, if I had to guess, your Amplifier allows you the ability to take down tank-type Muns. Perhaps, it flips some of the stats on your Muns?” Julius eyebrow raise in a question, as he took in the battlefield. “Which would mean,” he pointed towards the Ancient Fortoise, which had the siege weapons currently down to reload on its back, “this should be my target, no?”

  “Royal Slash,” he commanded, and his Lion King bounded towards the Ancient Fortoise. Diamond claws extended from its paws, a much more fearsome action than when a cat lazily extended its little claws. As it neared the giant tortoise Mun, the Lion King reared back, standing tall as it slashed, diagonally, with both of its front paws. Shimmering yellow and purple light wrapped around the claws, leaving a glowing trail of afterimages hanging in the air as the strikes collided against the Fortoise’s shell. The walls on its back crumbled and cracked, splitting open in a way that caused the mighty creature to let out a long, low groan in protest.

  “As I thought,” Julius added, followed by, “Charge of the Stallion.” His Gembra Stallion’s six eyes glowed with fury as it lowered its head, the horns atop it glowing. It galloped towards the Ancient Fortoise, and the power between its horns grew with each step, each foot of space it closed between it and its target, growing and growing until the Stallion’s entire body was bathed in purple light. It collided with the Ancient Fortoise, knocking the creature back a few steps, threatening to almost tip it over, yet through sheer will, or its massive weight, the Ancient Fortoise righted itself at the last second. It came down then, hard, making the entire arena shake. The Gembra Stallion and Lion King were both still near it, and before they could return to their side of the battlefield, the Bolt-Charged Brutalist acted.

  With a loud roar it dropped its mighty forearms to the ground and lumbered on all fours towards the Gembra Stallion. As it reached Julius’s Mun, it grabbed hold of the creature tackling it from the side, its massive trunk sized arms wrapping around the horse as it drove the creature to the ground. On impact, the two electrical pylons on its back released a massive burst of energy, which arced across its body, and into the Gembra Stallion. The creature let out a snort of frustration and pain as it’s legs kicked, attempting to break it free of the Brutalists’ grasp, as the power continued to shock it.

  A small frown crossed Julius’s face as he saw his Stallion’s predicament, the poor creature caught in the grapple. He looked at the three Muns, pondering his current plan. After a good fifteen seconds, he came to a conclusion. “Let’s see how you react to this, then,” he said, before he looked towards his Herculean Diamond Bettle, a smile on his face. “Mighty Flip.” He said cooly, before he looked not at the Muns, but Mikael. The Keeper’s face stayed on Mikael’s, the entire time, at least, as far as I could tell, while the Beetle carried out the command.

  A command that made the beetle turn back around, putting its wings away, covering its back with the carapace covering that was now cracked and splintered in an alarming number of places, to begin moving forward on its six legs. It moved like a freight train, its head down, massive shovel-like horn barely scraping the arena ground as it charged. The horn slid under the Ancient Fortoise, like the forks of a forklift under a pallet.. And then, when its head collided with the Fortoise’s side, indicating its horn was completely under the creature, it braced itself, and lifted. With impossible strength, its body glowing with the power of the buff’s it’d been given… in an act of pure herculean strength, it flipped the Ancient Fortoise upwards… high into the air.

  “What goes up,” Julius said with a smirk, as the body climbed a good fifteen feet into the air, “must come down.”