The fake C continued to smash and destroy every bit of debris it could find within the ruined palace, squalling savagely like a banshee and radiating malicious energy that was tinged with sorrowful undercurrents. Because he was Level 9999, each time he smashed a pile of debris, a hail of rubble was sent raining out over the capital, causing damage to the homes of residents and even striking the unlucky few. At the same time, it was fortunate the Master was still messing around in the rubble of the palace, because if he decided to wander into the city itself, there was no telling how much havoc he would wreak. As if proving how much of a threat this fake C posed, the few soldiers who had survived the blast at the palace attempted to engage him, but before they could reach their target, they suddenly clutched their heads and started hollering in a frenzied, garbled language, much like the fake C was. The Master hadn’t done anything to the soldiers, besides glance at them. That was just a small taste of the harrowing pandemonium that the fake C would no doubt inflict upon the city’s residents.
A loud screech tore through the air, reaching the ears of every single person living in the royal capital, and descending from the sky came an equally attention-grabbing monster: a massive bird that was entirely covered in flames and had a wingspan that was dozens of meters in length. The UR Level 8500, Mythical Beast, Phoenix—a creature that was under Aoyuki’s control—swooped down and approached the fake C. The mere presence of the Phoenix was enough to draw the attention of the crazed Master, who continued to rant incoherently while his tear-filled eyes remained glued to the powerful creature. The Phoenix sped groundward, making sure it had the full attention of the fake C, then at the last second, it stopped suddenly in midair and came no closer. The Phoenix screeched tersely, then unleashed a flash of light so intense, one might almost think a second sun had risen above the horizon. Of course, this burst of bright light was intended to rob the fake C of its vision, and as expected, he clasped his hands over his eyes to protect them from the blinding flash. Anyone would do that, regardless of their level, or even if they were completely insane.
“Oooooh!” At that moment, another of Aoyuki’s monsters—the SSSR Level 4000, Magus Golem—charged directly toward the fake C. The Magus Golem had activated an SSR Conceal card and stayed quiet in its approach until it was ready to spring a surprise assault. As the name suggested, the golem wore a sorcerer’s robe, carried a magic staff, and specialized in spellcasting. However, its eyes and mouth were no more than circles, which made its face strikingly blank and featureless.
Once the Magus Golem was within range, it produced an SSR Teleportation card and released it.
A moment later, the fake C found himself in the same arena in which Dark and his party had fought the fake Gira. The Magus Golem had been assigned the role of releasing the Teleportation card due to its elevated aptitude for casting spells, and the fact that it was human-sized.
“Oooooh!” The Magus Golem immediately activated a second SSR Teleportation card to whisk itself away from the battleground, and once the golem was out of harm’s way, two more creatures emerged and unleashed twin attacks accompanied by thunderous growls.
The UR Level 8000, Hound of Hades, Cerberus towered over the fake C as if it were a mansion on four legs, and each of its three heads discharged energy blasts that would have easily vaporized whole estates equally as large. C, still blinded after the Phoenix’s sun glare attack, was hit by the three blasts and sent careening into the wall on the opposite side of the arena.
Standing beside Cerberus was the UR Level 9000, Primal God Wolf, Fenrir, a massive, alabaster dog that proceeded to fire off an iceberg at such speed, it nearly broke the sound barrier. The block of ice smashed into C, encasing him before he could recover from Cerberus’s attack and opening a crack in the arena wall that zigzagged up vertically before stopping just short of the ceiling.
Cerberus’s middle head barked quizzically. Did we get him? it said.
The other two heads bit the middle head for speaking out of turn. Don’t jinx it! they both growled. Even Fenrir regarded the middle head with a look that was colder than the iceberg it had fired.
As feared—and likely because their opponent was Level 9999—tiny cracks began to appear in the ice, growing bigger and bigger until the whole ice block shattered to reveal the fake C completely unscathed and rambling just as incoherently as before. Although he didn’t emerge completely unchanged, for the dark mist was no longer localized around his hands and feet, but had seemingly formed a full suit of gaseous armor around him. As the two creatures watched, the mist then pooled around the fake C’s right arm, forming a lance, and while mist also covered his face, it was clear from the tone of his voice that he was angry about the surprise attacks.
Cerberus’s right head snarled twice. This is because you jinxed it, it growled.
The middle head whined and meekly lowered itself. I didn’t jinx anything. Anyway, he can’t be a hundred percent!
Fenrir barked sharply. Stop joking around! Here he comes!
Still babbling like a madman, the fake C raised his mist lance and charged at the two dogs so rapidly, they couldn’t even track him. Cerberus and Fenrir fired their claws to stop him, but they just bounced off without hindering his progress or even inflicting any pain. Cerberus realized it was in the firing line and yelped, its three faces expressing varying levels of shock at this completely unanticipated turn of events. Both mighty canines leaped backward to evade the onrushing fake C, but his darkened lance extended in length at a greater speed and struck Cerberus in the torso, although it failed to penetrate deeply and broke off halfway.
As soon as Fenrir landed on its paws, it barked sharply over to its companion. Are you all right?
I’m fine. It didn’t go that deep, Cerberus growled back. But was that really an attack from someone who’s Level 9999?
Cerberus and Fenrir were surprised their flying claw attacks hadn’t halted the fake C, but that was as far as their shock went. The fake C’s dark energy lance had been unable to penetrate Cerberus’s tough flesh all the way through before snapping in two, and although the weapon quickly restored itself by siphoning off some of the black mist surrounding him, both creatures were baffled that a supposed Level 9999 Master hadn’t been able to inflict more damage.
The Phoenix suddenly appeared overhead after being teleported into the arena, and screeched loudly as it unleashed a tornado of white-hot flames on the fake C. The destructive power of the Phoenix outclassed most of the other monsters in Aoyuki’s army, and the white flames it produced weren’t just hot enough to vaporize a target, they were also imbued with holy properties. The idea behind sending the Phoenix into this battle was to counteract the dark, evil properties of the mist surrounding the fake C.
The Master simply continued to blather on as he parted the flames with his spear, then jumped up into the air toward the Phoenix, as if he himself had wings. The white flames had burned away some of the dark mist around the fake C, but it didn’t seem to have caused him any pain whatsoever.
The Phoenix, however, had anticipated this move after witnessing the fake C’s attack on Cerberus, and swiftly maneuvered itself into a position behind him. Against most opponents, this would have given Phoenix the upper hand, but the fake C spouted some more gibberish that seemingly commanded his mist-covered hair to harden into spikes and stretch out toward the Phoenix like oversized porcupine spines. The flying creature hadn’t anticipated this particular move, and while it was quick to take evasive action, some of the hardened spikes still struck its body. Luckily, however, the Phoenix managed to avoid sustaining heavy damage.
At this creepy, sea urchin-like display by the fake C’s apparently prehensile hair, Fenrir woofed softly, roughly translating to: He’s able to do that too? But at least the Phoenix had revealed another of the fake C’s moves, which was why Aoyuki’s monsters had been assigned to engage him. After reminding itself of its mission, Fenrir took a deep breath in and prepared to exhale an ice attack at the fake C, timed for the exact moment he would touch down on the ground again, which was theoretically when he’d be at his most vulnerable. Cerberus also readied an attack, but all of a sudden, its left head yelped in pain. The middle head had bitten the left, and not in a playful manner either, for the bite was deep enough and also vicious enough to draw blood.
Cerberus’s right head snarled incredulously. What are you two doing?! But instead of answering, the middle head slobbered and growled with a kind of primal animosity, as if infected with rabies. Whatever was affecting it soon spread to the other two heads, causing the hound to collapse in a pained, frenetic mess.
In the next moment, the Phoenix crashed headfirst into the arena wall with a loud shriek, then fell to the ground. The fiery bird was a legendary beast that was eminently more intelligent than the average sentient being, so crashing into a stationary object like that should have been totally out of the question, yet it collided with the wall anyway, and without even slowing before the impact. But despite the Phoenix lying crumpled in an awkward heap on the ground, completely vulnerable to attack, the fake C totally ignored it, as if he had no use for the creature anymore. No, his full focus was on the God Wolf Fenrir, the only creature in the arena left that still had its sanity.