Aurin was breathing heavily as he watched Leofang stand up, leaving his Lycavine lying in the dirt. He had hoped to have more Minakai remaining at this point, but the situation was what it was. He had a backup plan in mind after carefully considering things with Luna and Kyle, but he knew that the untested backup was very risky. For now, he would have to rely on one of his toughest Minakai to deal with Leofang.

  “Spikruption!” he called, bringing out his large red dinosaur.

  The fearsome beast snorted out a puff of smoke from his flared nostrils, looking towards the lion hungrily. To him, Leofang was simply a cat that got too bold for its own good and he would teach it a lesson. He would show the adoring crowd that he was the king of fire and a mere hairball was nothing compared to him.

  “Show them what you’re made of,” said Aurin calmly, having faith in the first Minakai he obtained from Harmony Tower.

  Spikruption stampeded forward before tucking in his neck and tail and rolling himself into a ball. Frederick smiled, having seen this move too many times. As formidable as the dinosaur was, Leofang knew how to handle this. In fact, they’d trained for such an eventuality.

  Leofang darted towards his foe, but suddenly Spikruption became engulfed in fire and hurtled across the ground like a giant, flaming boulder. Leofang tried to dodge, but he wasn’t as light on his feet as a Leonite and was knocked over by Spikruption. His tail had even caught fire and he tried to bat it out with his paws, giving Spikruption the chance to unfurl himself and unleash a fiery blast from his mouth.

  The lion roared as his fur burned up and his skin was seared by the massive heat. He steeled himself for the attack to end, but Spikruption refused to back down and pushed himself hard to continue the torrent of fire that he had conjured up from the back of his throat.

  Suddenly, Leofang fell to the ground and started twitching within the fire. Finally letting up, Spikruption took a deep breath and let the air fill his lungs. It was an exhausting attack to sustain, but it had let him end the battle quickly. He now knew what he would have to face next and was ready for it.

  “Well, you’ve certainly pushed me today, Aurin” said Frederick with a smirk, “but the battle ends with my final Minakai. I’m sure you know what’s coming.”

  Aurin nodded as Frederick sent a turquoise burst of light from his most precious summoning stone. Standing before him was his cosmic elemental, Abysarex. The red lion with the purple mane stood tall, clenching his fists and letting his armour-tipped tail drift around behind him. His pale gold fangs shone brightly under the stadium lights, as did his head, chest and knee plating.

  “Moment of truth,” said Luna, drawing in a deep breath while squeezing Innogon hard.

  “Indeed,” said Hunter, putting his index finger and thumb to his chin as he watched intently.

  Kyle, however, remained quiet as he watched. He wanted to take in every second of this battle, having helped Aurin prepare to fight Abysarex. It would have been ideal if he had an additional Minakai in reserve, but having Spikruption be first in line to face the cosmic gave him a chance if the dinosaur could hold out for at least a little while.

  “You know what to do,” Aurin told his Minakai, who nodded and grunted while Aurin shut his eyes.

  Spikruption let out a forceful roar and a burst of intense light shot into the air, making the audience cover their eyes while blinding Abysarex, who called out in frustration. Frederick himself rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his vision.

  There was suddenly a loud crash as Abysarex was knocked into the concrete wall of the stadium by a fireball from Spikruption. Before he could recover, the dinosaur has torpedoed across the battlefield and jammed his horn into the cosmic elemental, making Abysarex howl in pain.

  As Spikruption followed up with a swing, Abysarex suddenly vanished and the dinosaur’s tail struck the wall. As Spikruption turned his head, a spectral entity flew towards him, shoving him into the wall. Abysarex warped before the incapacitated Minakai and started beating him brutally with his powerful fists. Each time Spikruption tried to escape, the brutal brawler thumped him back into the wall.

  “Heat wave!” called Aurin.

  Spikruption dug down, letting himself take the blows and then let loose an intense burst of heat that forced Abysarex to back away and brace himself. As fast as lightning, Spikruption pushed himself off the wall and thrust his head forwarded, headbutting Abysarex in the chest.

  “He doesn’t get to do that again!” barked Frederick.

  As Spikruption drew in breath, Abysarex appeared above him and let out a concussive blast that threw the dinosaur onto the ground. Performing a flurry of blows in the air, the cosmic spectral fists erupted from Abysarex’s fists, pummelling Spikruption brutally and keeping him down.

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  Landing on the ground, Abysarex grabbed the downed Spikruption by the tail and swung him overhead before slamming him back into the dirt. Aurin’s Minakai roared in pain, struggling to take the devastating beating he was taking, but he had to hold strong.

  Abysarex, however, would not give him that chance. He threw Spikruption into the air and then warped above him, punching him in the stomach and sending him back down to the ground. Before the dinosaur, Abysarex appeared on the ground and threw forth another spectral fist that struck Spikruption in the back and sent him flying across the battlefield where he landed in a broken heap.

  “You did well,” said Aurin quietly, looking at his red summoning stone and banishing Spikruption back to Kyle’s ranch to be taken care of by Sunny.

  Abysarex heaved up and down, the burly dinosaur having put up more of a fight than he had expected. Frederick was impressed, but he had seen the brown summoning stone in Aurin’s tamer glove earlier and he knew who his rival was summoning next. As powerful as Shamtile was, he lacked the sturdiness to properly defend against an opponent like Abysarex.

  “It all comes down to this,” said the announcer. “A single Minakai each and with Aurin up against a cosmic elemental.”

  “It all comes down to this,” Aurin repeated, looking at his tamer glove. “So I had better make sure this one counts!”

  He threw forth his hand, casting an orange light onto the battlefield, but something was different. The crowd all gasped and Frederick was left wide-eyed at the realisation of what Aurin had just summoned.

  “I don’t believe it…” Frederick muttered in horror.

  “What?” asked a shocked Hunter, seeing Aurin’s Minakai appear from the glowing orange burst while Luna and Kyle watched intently and unflinchingly.

  Standing tall on the battlefield and letting out a roar that shook the stadium was Aurin’s Zeera. It took one look at the red lion-like beast before him and stampeded towards him, swiping a claw and sending forth a boulder that Abysarex smashed through with a single punch.

  As the remnants of the boulder cleared, Zeera was already upon him and swung his other claw, cutting a large gash across Abysarex’s arm and cracking his chest armour. As the cosmic Minakai flew backwards, he teleported behind Zeera and back to his feet, but the epic Minakai wasn’t going to allow himself to be caught off guard.

  He whipped his tail at Abysarex, making him buckle and then spun around with his head low before ramming his horn into his opponent’s shoulder. Abysarex roared in pain as Zeera grabbed him by the mane and tore a large chunk of hair out. Zeera freed his arm and moved to clamp his mighty jaw around his foe’s neck, but Abysarex warped to the other end of the battlefield, standing with his back to Aurin.

  “Can you believe this, folks?” asked the announcer to the enthused crowd. “An extraordinary Minakai like Zeera up against the power of the cosmic Abysarex? It’s been years since I’ve seen such a pairing!”

  Abysarex was breathing heavily as Zeera snarled angrily. Much like his tamer, he had been expecting to fight a trickster like Shamtile rather than an immense brute. No matter, his master had prepared him for opponents like this.

  The cosmic elemental let out a snarl of his own and threw a flurry of punches, sending dozens of spectral bursts of energy at Zeera, who conjured rock walls to block them and shielded his arms with stone armour to deal with what made it through.

  As he was defending himself, Abysarex appeared from above and delivered a hefty punch to Zeera’s forehead, enraging the grey dinosaur. As he reached for Abysarex, the cosmic elemental vanished before delivering a punch to Zeera’s side. When Zeera lunged again, Abysarex appeared underneath him and kicked him in the stomach.

  “Armour up!” ordered Aurin.

  As Abysarex warped and punched, he was forced to work harder to crack the thick stone that Zeera coated himself with. It took a lot out of Zeera to defend himself, but Abysarex was also tiring as he teleported in quick succession and was forced to back away into the centre of the field to compose himself.

  This was his chance; Aurin could see it. “Bring it home!” he ordered Zeera. With a thick grunt, Zeera raised his arms to the sky.

  “Stop him!” Frederick ordered, fearing what was in store.

  Aurin smiled as Abysarex fell for feint. The cosmic elemental teleported, but much more slowly than before. Zeera leapt out of the way, conjuring up rock bindings that held Frederick’s Minakai’s arms and legs in place. He reached up a claw into the air and swung it down with such force that it blew Abysarex’s mane back.

  As his claw fell and the terrifying earth elemental retreated, a shower of meteors rained down towards the battlefield. Fredrick called for his Minakai to move out of the way, but he was out of energy and had to struggle physically against his bindings, unable to teleport any more.

  The meteors pelted at the braced Abysarex who screamed and roared before falling limp. The last of the barrage struck him as Zeera dissipated the restraints and Abysarex was sent flying across the battlefield, unable to as much as twitch.

  “And Aurin has defeated Fredrick, advancing to the finals!” screamed the announcer, almost as excited as the crowd.

  Everyone on the stadium was on their feet, showering him with applause, but that was not the only one they were clapping for. They were cheering for Frederick, having astounded them with his own performance and the power of his Minakai.

  The two competitors walked into the centre of the battlefield, where Aurin held out a hand to Frederick. “It was a good match,” he said.

  Frederick’s solemn face let escape a faint smile as he accepted the handshake. “Yes,” he said. “Yes, it was. I didn’t expect you to use the tower guardian in our battle. I wasn’t aware you hatched it.”

  “Few were.”

  “Indeed,” said Frederick with a nod. “In any case, good luck for the rest of the tournament. I would like to be able to say that I’ve defeated the national champion in battle before.”

  Aurin laughed dryly. “Not in the match that counted most though, eh?”

  “Well, I can’t deny that,” said Frederick, turning away and walking back to the tunnel.

  Aurin waved to the crowd and saw that Hunter was no longer in the tamer box with Luna and Kyle. His match was due to follow this one and it would determine whether or not he would be the one to battle Aurin in the tournament finals.

  As his tamer vanished into the tunnel, Zeera stomped after him impressively as the crowd marvelled at the powerful Minakai. Upon entering the tunnel, he vanished in a burst of orange and returned to Sule Scrin, where he would await being summoned into battle again.

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