“Shadow beasts?!” Rob and Queen Victoria exclaimed, as Kettei laid Rika down

  “Exactly. And what’s worse is, we don’t know the exact number nor how they snuck up in here. Better keep our eyes open” Kettei replied, leaning against the wall

  “What do we know about them?” Rob asked, a bit scared

  “They’re shapeshifting monsters who can assume an human form, and have a brain of their own” Professor Al-Kaibitari, who was walking by and happened to hear Rob’s question, replied: “They were leadalian creatures who used to live in harmony with the citizens, but after the Dark Scism, they were exiled by the leadalian Kingdom, and settled underground, with their resentment towards the humans growing”

  “Yeah, but their shapeshifting abilities aren’t perfect” Kettei added, calmly

  “What do you mean, Kettei?” the professor asked, looking towards him

  “Rosa has a scar in her left arm, albeit very small. If you took a closer look to the Rosa who fought Rosalba, she didn’t have said scar” Kettei explained, keeping his arms crossed: “Besides, the real Rosa doesn’t have the strenght to lend such powerful hits”

  “Nonsense” Rob interjected: “Rosa trained very hard for this tournament”

  “And? She trained two weeks, you don’t make significant progress in two weeks. You make very little progress. That’s why I got suspicious about her” Kettei responded calmly

  “To be fair, Kettei has a point, Rob” Queen Victoria added, looking at Rob: “Unless you break your butt for months, you don’t get significant result”

  “Ugh… So, what’s her matchup?” Rob asked, looking at Kettei

  “She faces Sora in the quarter finals. I think he can push her to use magic” Kettei replied: “Then Justin versus Jakob, Evelyn versus Nicole and you against the winner between Bacha Taroyaka and Yusuf Tunisi-Gomez”

  “I see. But why would you want her to use magic?” Rob questioned again, in curiousity, as he placed an hand on his chin

  “Do you think the shadow beasts know the rules? No, they don't. We can hope that she blunders, if pushed to the brink” Kettei explained calmly once more

  “Shit, that’s genius, actually” Rob admitted, with a smirk, as Kettei walked off to manage the fight between Yusuf, a 178 cm tall, tanned with short, black hair and brown hair, daunting a green shirt and brown trousers, and Bacha, a black-haired, red-eyed female, with battle scars over her face and arms. The fight was intense, with no clear winner, and both of them were quite beaten after twenty minutes. However, Bacha had a little trick up her sleeve. As the sun was starting to set and getting covered by big clouds of rain, she used the remaining sunlight to her advantage to blind Yusuf by positioning herself with her back towards it, as Yusuf got blinded and knocked out by a quick and swift attack from her. As the match ended, Queen Victoria walked into the ring and grabbed the microphone:

  “Alright, citizens of Tempest. In about twenty minutes we’ll start the quarter finals. Meanwhile, take a small break, okay?” she announced, as many left to go get some snacks and drinks. However, a small shadow beast was following a kid. However, it never came to contact with the kid, as Kettei was quick enough to blast it off with a small light spell, before going to the tunnel

  “This will work, for now” Kettei stated, once in the tunnel: “Now let’s hope everything goes as we planned”

  “We can only hope, Kettei” Rob commented, as he walked beside him

  “Speaking of, didn’t you have something to tell me?” Kettei asked, remembering what Rob said two weeks ago

  “Oh, right. Well, I’ve found something interesting. Look at this” Rob replied, handing him a recording: “This is what happened two weeks ago at your house. We proceeded to move Yui to the association for the time being. We can therefore keep an eye on her” he added

  “Thanks Rob. I owe you” Kettei murmured, in a relieved tone

  “You seem relieved, Kettei” Rob noted

  “Because I am. Well, partly. This whole shadow beasts ordeal is a pain in the butt” Kettei admitted, as he turned around: “After this match, prepare to evacuate the arena. I’ll hold off the beasts” he added

  “What?! You’re insane! You can’t handle this!” Rob exclaimed, concerned

  “I probably can’t, but no one can handle this better than me” Kettei retorted, knowing full well he was the only one that could hold them off

  “Ugh, fine. Don’t get yourself killed, okay?” Rob sighed, as then Kettei headed to the ring. Five minutes later, Sora and Rosa walked to the arena for their match-up, as it started to rain

  “Do I need to remind you the rules?” Kettei asked, looking at the two of them

  “No, we’re good” Sora and Rosa replied, although Kettei noticed Rosa’s answer was filled with uncertainty

  “Then let the fight begin” Kettei announced, as Sora and Rosa started fighting. Sora started with a punch, Rosa retaliated with a kick, then Sora again used a wind spell to lift Rosa up before landing an elbow strike… It was one intense fight, with no clear winner. Just as Kettei had expected, Rosa was being pushed more and more to the brink, until… Sora started to charge a fire spell, quickly dashing towards her, however Rosa sneakily used magnet magic, thinking no one would have noticed, as Sora was pulled towards Rosa who kicked him out of bounds. As Rosa was celebrating the win, however…

  “Disqualified, Rosa Kruger!” Kettei announced, as Rosa’s eyes widened in shock: “The winner is Sora Urikita!”

  “What? Why?” Rosa exclaimed in shock, as she approached Kettei to protest

  “Yeah, why, kid? She won fair and square!” the king exclaimed himself

  “Are you sure, your majesty? She used a tier two magic to alter Sora’s attack, which means disqualification according to the rulebook” Kettei calmly explained

  “Come on, it was just a little one, surely you can turn a blind eye this time?” Rosa asked, in a seductive tone, as she held his arm, her chest pressed against it

  “And this confirms it” Kettei replied, as he quickly punched Rosa in the face, as the crowd gasped: “The real Rosa would never beg if disqualified. She’d accept it like everyone else, and actually shake my hand for doing a good job” he added

  “So you figured it out” Rosa commented, as a creepy smile formed in her face, her figure turning into a dark purple colour: “Just for how long have you been aware, boy?”

  “I’ve been having my suspicions from your first match, then something happened to another contestant and I started connecting the dots. I needed a few confirmations and figured that if Sora had pushed you to the brink, you would’ve broken the rules. Glad my bet was spot on” Kettei explained, as he turned his glare to Sora: “You go help Rob evacuating the people on the stands”

  “Yes, Kettei” Sora exclaimed, as he headed towards the stands

  “Not so fast” Rosa’s doppelganger said, as she snapped her fingers, and from the stands thirty more shadow beasts emerged, only for them to start merging with her. As this was unfolding, Kettei turned towards Manuela

  “Go look for the real Rosa, quick! Get the unconscious ones out of here!” He ordered her, as she quickly went around the arena to look for the unconscious Rosa and Rika. Once she went there, Kettei turned back towards the shadow beast, who now presented itself in a giant, anomalous state, as it lost its ability to speak, unleashing an ear-breaking scream. Kettei placed himself into a battle stance, as he created a pole out of electricity. The rampaging beast started to attack Kettei, whom he struggled to dodge the beast’s attacks, due to them being huge. However, once he had an opening, he attacked her, hitting her in various spots. The shadow beast quickly relied to magic, generating a big fireball, only for it to direct it to the fleeing spectators. Kettei however quickly generated a water barrier around said fireball, extinguishing it, as the shadow beast used that opening to hit him with a clean hit. Kettei had no time to react as he got hit and the force of the impact slammed him against a nearby pillar. Then, it proceeded to attack him but Kettei quickly leaped into the air, slamming the pole against its head, as thunder struck it, due to it being embued into it, dealing quite the damage, as it was raining intensely at this point. The beast quickly retaliated with a powerful punch. This time Kettei covered himself, but still being propelled to the ground, as he laid there, panting heavily as he stood up

  “Boy, you sure are tough” Kettei admitted, as he discarded his torn clothes, revealing his muscular body, as well as a tattoo in his left arm: “I guess it’s time to stop playing around” he added, as the beast released another scream. This time, Kettei distanced himself, charging a spell, mixing light, darkness and fire, as he shouted the name of the spell:

  “APOCALYPTIC MEGAFLARE!!!” as he shouted the spell's name, a giant sphere of three elements was thrown towards the giant beast, as it caused a giant explosion upon impact. As the dust settled, the shadow beast got its lower body completely destroyed, however, it quickly started to regenerate, as Kettei realized something

  “If I want to destroy it, I’ll have to do it in one single attack” he thought, as from the stands, someone shot a magic, but not strong enough, as the beast quickly turned towards the person, trying to assimilate it. Kettei, however, quickly thought of an idea, as he dashed towards the endangered person, creating a light barreer around them as it burned down the extending shadow beast’s arm who was to assimilate them. He then moved the person to a safe spot, as he went back to the battlefield. However, he struggled now that, after the tier three magic he threw, he was feeling low on energy, but nonetheless kept fighting. As the shadow beast was regenerating, he noticed it was slowing down due to him having used light magic. He soon figured he had to make an attack, and quickly, but charging one would’ve required time. It was clear he needed support and soon. That’s when suddenly, a fire blast, alongside a water blast, passed right beside him and hit the shadow beast head on, as Kettei turned around to see Rosa and Sora standing there

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Sorry we kept you waiting, friend” Sora said, as a smirk formed on his lips, looking towards the bloody, topless Kettei

  “Well, it would be better if he had something on!” Rosa exclaimed, as she looked away, with a slight blush

  “Enough chitchat, you two” Kettei shouted, turning towards them: “Think you can hold it for a couple minutes?”

  “We can try, but we can’t promise you much. What’s your plan?” Sora asked

  “I have created a spell back in high school, effective against these kinds of monsters, but since thirty shadow beasts have merged into that, it can either be super effective, or a total dud” Kettei explained, as he dodged an attack from the beast by leaping in the air, as the attack smashed just mere centimeters away from Sora and Rosa

  “And you thought of telling us that now after you’ve been fighting that thing for… How long has it been, Rosa?” Sora asked, turning his head to Rosa

  “About two hours now” Rosa replied

  “About two hours?” Sora asked, angered by Kettei’s recklessness

  “It’s not that simple. You see, I needed to study the enemy and light proves to be hella efficient, but watch out from its regeneration and assimilation ability” Kettei explained, revealing the beast’s strenghts and weaknesses

  “Leave it to us!” Sora and Rosa shouted in unison, as they dashed towards the beast, holding it off as Kettei charged his attack. However, they were getting quite beaten up, as their magical prowess was nowhere close to the shadow beast’s. Nevertheless, Rosa held on, but Sora was knocked out cold. As the beast was to absorb him, however, Kettei dashed to it and cut off the extending limb with a light dagger made of magic, as in his other hand there was, the attack Kettei charged. It was a raimbowish amount of all magical elements mixed into one, forming the ancient element purity

  “What” Rosa shouted in a mix of fear and excitement

  “The hell” Sora added with the same feelings

  “Is that?!” the king, who hadn’t managed to evacuate, and was behind the throne, shouted himself

  “I got this. Sora, Rosa, thank you for the support. Now flee and get the king. Although I wanna kill him, I wanna kill him on my terms” Kettei replied calmly, as he patted Rosa’s back while walking towards Sora and lifting him, placing him over his shoulder with his free hand: “I’ll get this over soon”

  “Alright. I’ll see you out of here, friend” Rosa said, running to get the king to safety. As Kettei and the shadow beast were facing off for potentially one last time, Kettei clenched the pure energy in his hand, as the shadow beast mindlessly dashed to attack him, Kettei calmly declared the name of the attack

  “Arcana Nexus” he whispered, as he threw a punch, embued with the element. As it drew closer to the beast, it assumed the form of a raimbow phoenix, who pierced thru the shadow beast. Once the phoenix dissolved, the shadow beast disintegrated, but the remains recollected into a core, ready to explode. Kettei quickly teleported with the unconscious Sora on his shoulders to Rosa and the king, who were struggling to find the exit, placing an hand on their shoulders, and teleporting away as the core exploded. Luckily, everyone was already evacuated far away, so there were no casualties. As Kettei teleported everyone the king to the castle and teleported to the Kamome base, he collapsed from the exhaustion, given the last attack had taken quite a toll on him. Rob, who went there after helping the evacuation, placed Sora and Kettei on the sofas, as he quickly called for Rosalba and Manuela to heal them. Sora was fastly healed by Rosalba, but healing Kettei took both the women’s energies away. Once his injuries were fully healed, Rosalba turned to the now awake Sora and Rob

  “He’ll be alright, but right now he used almost all his mana. He’s going to stay unconscious for a while” She commented, a bit worried

  “That’s alright. I mean, he did fight thirty shadow beasts fused into one” Sora added, laughing

  “He did WHAT?!” Rob, Manuela and Rosalba exclaimed in unison, shocked as they turned towards the unconscious Kettei

  “Do you know what spell he used to finish it off?” Rob asked, looking at Sora with wide eyes

  “I believe he called it “Arcana Nexus” or something like that” Rosa replied, walking in there from the common room

  “That’s a forbidden tier 5 spell, no wonder he’s unconscious. Those spells can very much kill you. Yet his pulse is stable and he’s perfectly fine” Rosalba explained, still quite amazed by the fact he pulled off such a feat

  “And what's surprising is his younger sister has far more potential for growth than Kettei. I happened to notice her in training the other day fighting Justin, and boy was she skilled. Justin was humbled in minutes. Heck, she pulled off tier three and some tier four spells without almost breaking a sweat” Rob explained, calmly, but deep down shaking: “Just what the hell are they?”

  “I don’t know, but all I know is, we should keep an eye on them for now. Maybe have them training and learning from them?” Manuela proposed

  “That’s a great idea!” Sora exclaimed in excitement

  “More importantly, what about the games?” Rosa questioned, as she sat down: “I mean, the games should start again from the quarter finals, am I right?”

  “We’ll see what the royal couple says now that the shadow beasts crisis has been averted” Rob responded: “Probably with a new ref of sorts, since Kettei will most likely be out cold for at least three days”

  “Yeah. Hopefully no bribes as well” Manuela doubled down

  “I’ll probably forfeit my match. I still have something I need to tell Kettei” Rob added, before starting to walk away: “I’ll go ask the queen about it, so you guys wait here”

  “Ok then” Everyone else replied as time passed. Eventually, Rob came back the next day with news

  “Hey, y’all, wake up!” he exclaimed, as everyone had fallen asleep through the night. Surprisingly, Kettei was the first one to wake up, as he slowly opened his eyes and sat down, still feeling a bit drained

  “Hey Rob, what’s new?” the blond guy said, looking at him from the sofa

  “Oh. You got a minute, Kettei?” Rob asked, as he sat down beside him

  “First of all, where’s Yui?” Kettei responded, in a cold tone

  “Oh, she’s downstairs having breakfast about now, so we have about twenty minutes before she runs here to challenge you” Rob explained, as he turned serious: “First of all, the games are suspended for now. Secondly, I found out the person trying to kidnap Yui was the king’s twin, Carl-Johan Yuko”

  “I’ve heard that name before” Kettei said, as he turned towards the door: “Say, what’s his position?”

  “He’s the general. I believe it won’t take long before he stages a coup against the queen, before moving to the bigger target” Rob replied, as Kettei’s eyes widened in horror as he realized something.

  “What’s the problem, Kettei? Something on your mind?” Rob asked, looking at him concerned

  “I saw him. He was often at our home when my dad was out for work. Just… What the fuck is going on with my life?” Kettei replied, as he slammed his fist against the sofa

  “Woah, you nearly broke it in half, dude. Chill out!” Rob exclaimed

  “I’m sorry dude, I’m just really confused. It just feels like everything else I was told was a god damn lie” Kettei said, looking down: “My mother wasn’t the same after my dad died. She was often haunted by dark thoughts, and sometimes spent various nights god knew where. Yui told me about mom’s change. It’s on me for shrugging it off so easily”

  “Damn, I’m sorry man. Just… Why are you telling me this?” Rob questioned once more

  “Had I done something sooner, probably Yui wouldn’t be in this mess alongside me. I want her to live a peaceful life, not a life full of traumas” Kettei explained, his voice shaking and his eyes reddening

  “Woah, woah, you’re doing a fantastic job, Ket. Just… Try calming down. She’s getting along just fine with Rosalba and Manuela. Everytime she asks about you. Just… Try make your sister happy” Rob said, turning to the newly arrived Yui, who quickly ran towards Kettei, jumping on his arms as she hugged him, as well as capsizing the sofa

  “Hey sissy” Kettei softly whispered as he hugged back: “Sorry I made you worry” he added, as he noticed her tears and patted her back

  “I saw the fight, you know. I was hella worried you could’ve died” Yui whispered back, her voice shaky and her eyes watering

  “Hey hey, I won’t die. I have to take care of you. What kind of big brother would I be if I can’t take care of my little sister?” Kettei asked, whispering, comforting her

  “I’d be mad at you if you were freaking dead” Yui replied, giggling, as Kettei then started laughing

  “Say, why don’t we train next time? If you win, I’ll buy you your favourite yogurt combo” Kettei softly asked her once more

  “Deal. I’ll train extra hard to beat you then!” Yui exclaimed, her voice full of determination, as she let go of Kettei and stood up, walking to the fridge and grabbing some orange juice

  “I have no idea how she capsized the sofa” Rob commented, with a calm, annoyed look in his face: “Can you help me lift this up?” he asked Kettei as he stood up

  “Sure” Kettei replied, as the two lifted the couch up. As they did that, the queen ran straight to their base, chased by Carl-Johan’s men. As Yui noticed it, she opened the door for the queen and quickly slammed it back once she entered the base

  “Your majesty, hide downstairs, I’ll take care of this” Yui said determined, as she went to the rooftop, preparing a magic attack: “Tier 3 magic” She quietly murmured, as she leaped from tree to tree, landing behind the soldiers, before shouting: “GELO STIGIANIS!!”

  As the soldiers turned around from the shout, they realized it was too late. A giant ice boulder, enveloped in a dark aura, headed straight towards them. The ones behind tried to melt it with fire magic, but there was nothing they could do, as every single soldier was frozen in ice. Once Kettei saw the boulder coming towards the base, he teleported outside and kicked it away. Once the dust settled, his eyes widened in surprise, as he saw the frozen soldiers and Yui standing afar

  “Nicely done, Yui. Although next time you should finish the job” Kettei stated, clapping as he walked towards her, while hidden archers tried to attack Yui by surprise. Kettei quickly noticed it and teleported her back to the base. Once alone, Kettei stared deadly at the archers, as he slashed them one after the other. The ones who survived ran away for their lives. After that, he came back to the association, only for him to see Yui and Rosa chitchat a bit

  “Wow!!!” Rosa exclaimed as he walked towards them: “I mean, you two are just spamming tier 3 magic as if they were tier 1 magic. How the hell do you do that?”

  “Intense training, mostly. When your mom teaches you magic by the age of eight, you get used to this crap” Yui replied, scratching her head as she giggled, as the queen came outside, looking at Kettei and Yui

  “You two are quite the formidable fighters. Yui, can you free those men from the ice?” she asked

  “Of course!” Yui exclaimed with a smile, as she used Flama ignitas, a powerful flame, to slowly melt the ice away. Once she did that, the soldiers ran away for their lives

  “So why are you here, queen Victoria?” Kettei asked, curious

  “Well, how should I put it? Prince Carl Yuko, my husband’s twin, is planning on attacking the kingdom of Falkia, and we need your help. I was being hunted for finding that out” the queen responded, as Kettei clenched his fists

  “But- But their city has been under siege until last month. There’s no way they’ll survive another massive attack!” Yui noted, as the queen and Kettei nodded

  “Yeah” Kettei said, aknowledging Yui’s remark: “If they were to be under attack again, there’s no way they’ll survive. Their population is starving, and every food route to them has been cut off. They’re basically isolated and their lands aren’t nearly as fertile…”

  “Therefore” the queen added: “if we don’t arrive before them, Falkians will be doomed”

  “What do we do?” Rosa asked: “The only way we could arrive there before them is if we teleport, and the only ones capable of such feat…”

  “Are the people from the Goloa race” Kettei replied, completing her phrase: “Wouldn’t it be nice if, say, you would just so happen to have two of them standing in front of you?” he added, with an hint of sarcasm, as everyone fell silent, before shouting a resounding: “WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT?!!” in surprise