Warren descended the stairs not knowing what’s waiting for him, his mind thinking of a million things at once. All the different scenarios that could play out go through his head. Was everyone alive? Can they all walk? Was Andrew lying and it’s already too late? The only way Warren could know for sure was to keep descending the stone steps he finds himself going down. He reaches the bottom where he finds a wooden door. Before he opens it he double checks everything on his person. He currently has five healing potions that he brought with him from the military camp. On his back is a large bag full of weapons that Nazuko got from the armory, they’re full of weapons that his friends specialize in. Luckily Nazuko got a weapon bag so that the weapons didn't cut through it. He also has his machete on him still but only has one knife, he used the others on the rebels earlier. After checking everything on him he leans forward at the door to listen in to get a general idea of what's on the other side. He hears a crowd, a large crowd. In fact it sounded like he was at a sporting venue, specifically the coliseum in Colonus. He doesn't go to sporting events often but he knows the sound. He opens the door and finds himself on a walkway of some kind. He is overwhelmed by the sound of voices. He looks down to realize he’s above a massive stadium of some kind. There are rows upon rows of seats filled to the brim with people. He guesses that about 250,000 are seated. Every single person was wearing a white robe and had identical masks on. The masks were red with yellow eyes, having painted on mouths with sharp plastic teeth and drawn on horns. They were demon masks. There appeared to be something in the middle of the stadium which really caught Warren’s attention. It appeared to be a massive altar with a statue of some humanoid figure with one large horn. It also appears to be ancient, its material being completely different from everything else. At the base of the statue is a red sphere that’s on a pedestal. Given how old it looks it appears that the colosseum was built around the altar, to ensure that nothing disturbs it. Warren looks elsewhere, trying to figure out where the slaves are held. He recalls Andrew saying something about a ritual so Warren knows they’re going to use the slaves for that. Just what the ritual consists of, he doesn’t know and doesn’t intend to find out. He notices a tunnel in the arena area. He supposes that the slaves are through there, it’s the only place he can go. He just needs a distraction so he can get there. Walking along the walkway he notices that there are electric lights above the final row of people, that must mean there’s an electric box somewhere. He looks across the walkway and realizes that it’s right where he is, just a few feet away. Warren walks to it and punches it. The lights go off and the voice of the crowd gets louder as they become concerned over what’s happened, however there isn’t a panic in their voices which Warren found peculiar. He had no time to dawdle over it though because using this chance, he jumped all the way down into the arena, surrounding his legs with aura to prevent himself from taking damage. He runs into the tunnel.

Inside now Warren sees holding cells all along the sides. He examines each one hoping to find someone he recognizes but most of them are empty. He starts to sprint down, begging to find a cell that has someone in it. In the distance he hears a conversation.

“Ok I spy with my little eye...something brown.”

“It’s the wall, Collin! You’ve chosen it for the past 562 times we’ve played this!”

“Hey you win. Good job Noah. You win….this dirt”

“I’m going to bash my head into the wall.”

“Collin, Noah??” Warren calls out to them.

“Hey did you hear something Noah?”

“I did. I think I heard Warren’s voice. I must be going insane.”

“Does that mean our friendship is so great that I’m bonded to your psyche so that I’m imagining it too?”

“No that’s not scientifically possible, you’re just going insane as well.”

“It really is you guys” Warren says standing in front of their cell now.

“Hmmm my mental deterioration is worse than I thought” Noah remarks to himself.

“No it’s actually me. I’m here to get you guys out.” Warren says as he cuts the bars in half with his machete.

“Warren? Is that really you?” Noah asks, springing to his feet. He and Collin are wearing orange prison jumpsuits, indicating that they were treated like prisoners more so than slaves.

“Yeah, it’s been awhile”

“Why do you look worse than me? Were you locked up this whole time as well?”

“..No, I'll explain later. Here I bought you guys some weapons. I’m getting you all out.”

Noah examines the bag and takes out a few of the potions.

“The hell is this?” he asks, shaking one of them.

“Alchemical potions right?”

“Yeah but why are they so shitty? Who made these? Peasants?”

“Most likely. They’re from the armory above ground”

“Gods and Goddesses Warren, this is awful. You might as well have said ‘hey here’s two rocks. Use them to make a fucking sword.’”

“Beggars can’t be choosers.”

“I ain’t begging, I’m complaining. You gave me shit to work with.” Noah complains as he starts mixing the potions together.

“Woah Warren, this spear is really for me? You shouldn’t have, I didn’t get anything in return” Collin jokes as he twirls it around.

“ Don’t worry about it. Where’s everyone else?” Warren questions.

“Huh? Oh my dumbass sister and Emilia are about 143.4 feet down the hall. Joanna I think is 165.2 feet down the hall. Andrew we haven’t seen since we left the Murphee compound. '' Noah answers.

“Don’t worry about Andrew” Warren utters suddenly.

“Why not? You already saved him?”

“...I’ll explain it to you later.”

“Ominous answer but alright. You guys go get the girls. I’ll stay here and try to salvage something from this trash you’ve given me.”

“Alright Collin let’s move.”

“Ah yeah buddy.” Collin says as a means of confirmation.

Together Warren and Collin begin to run down the hall.

“How come there aren’t any guards?” Warren asks.

“Ugh I think it’s because we’re so far underground, it’s not like if we escape our cells we’d be free. I guess they’re cocky. The guards only came around to feed us. Didn’t stop me from trying to sleep my way out of here.” Collin explains

“What?”

“I didn’t get far.”

“Why are most of the cells empty?” Warren questions to change the subject.

“Oh that. That’s because every day they’d drag people out to sacrifice them to some altar. One of the guards told me that. I think he was trying to scare us? Didn’t really work. Now it’s my turn to ask a question. What’s with the beard? Are you finally trying to become a porno star?”

“No Collin.” Warren reacts in a deadpan tone.

Collin and Warren realize they reach their destination when they hear the sound of a familiar voice.

“I can’t take this anymore. The lack of being able to do experiments is too great. It’s been 244 days, five minutes, and ten seconds. I can’t handle it anymore Emilia.” a female voice moans.

“Addison!” Warren calls out.

“Warren?” the voice returns.

Warren and Collin stop to see Addison in a prison jumpsuit sitting on the ground. Behind her are dozens of math calculations and tally marks. Across from her is Emilia who upon seeing Warren springs up from her sitting position only to trip on a rock and fall back down.

“Yeah it’s me Addison I’m getting you out of here” he says destroying the cell’s bars.

“I’m here too,” Collin adds.

“I thought you, Nerva, Adam, and Andrew died. Are they here too?”

“No it’s just me. Nerva and Adam are above ground dealing with their own problems.”

“And Andrew?”

“I’ll explain later.”

“Wait Adam’s alive?” Collin inquires.

“Yeah you surprised?”

“Yeah...now I owe Noah five gold. We thought if anyone was dead it was him. Now my plan to start an Adam educational fund in his memory can’t happen.” Collin divulges.

“Weird. Anyway I’m so happy to see you Warren. You look terrible though, why is that?” Addison prods

“Are all of you going to ask me that?”

He looks at Emilia who grumbles something.

“Thanks, at least one of you doesn’t have a problem with my appearance.”

“Hey my pornstar comment was a compliment” Collin interjects.

“I forgot you can understand Emilia. I’ve been locked up for so long and I can’t understand her!”

“Don’t worry we’re getting out of here. Joanna’s down the hall right?”

“Yep. She’s been the only one I could talk to. Only problem is that I have to yell for her to hear me which hurts my throat. Watch.`` Addison walks out of the cage and yells “Hey Joanna!”

“What?!” a voice echoes back.

“I found Warren!”

“What?”

“I said I found Warren?”

“Very funny!”

“No, I'm serious!”

“Hi Joanna!” Collin yells.

“Hi Collin! Wait Collin?!”

“Yeah?!”

“Why can I hear you?!”

“Because we’re breaking out!”

“Oh...really?!”

Warren interrupts the conversation by laughing his butt off. This has been the first time he’s smiled and laughed in a long time.

“What’s so funny?” Addison asks, sounding peeved.

“Nothing...I just really missed you all. Joanna I’m coming!” Warren yells running down the hall.

He runs to where he hears Joanna’s voice and looking into the cell, sees a woman in a jumpsuit with her hands on the bars. Her hair is long, brown, and disheveled. Upon seeing Warren a warm smile forms on her face.

“Hey...bout time you showed up. ” she accosts.

Warren cuts the bars and as soon as he does so is given a hug which almost made him fall over. Joanna then backs up.

“I just realized I haven’t showered in months. That must’ve been awful.”

“..It could've been worse.”

“Yeah right I smell like shit. I like the beard by the way.”

“..Thanks. Before you ask, it's just me. I brought you a claymore, please don’t complain about it.”

“Why would I complain? I like it.” she says conducting a few practice swings.

“Apparently the potions I brought were subpar.”

“I’m not surprised. You never were good at alchemy back in school.”

“Are you two done flirting or whatever?!” Addison shouts.

“Why do they always think that?” Warren inquires, walking his way back.

“Probably because we are.” Joanna confirms.

“Wait what?”

He doesn’t get an answer, because Joanna’s running back down to regroup with everyone else. Warren makes his way back as well and sees everyone is together. Addison and Noah are mixing chemicals together while cursing over the horrible potions they’ve been given, Emilia is by herself looking over a spellbook Warren brought, and Collin and Joanna are conversing.

“Hey Warren don’t you think it’s weird it’s just us? Like there are no other prisoners?” Joanna brings up.

Warren thinks of Andrew, wondering if that was his doing. If that were the case why would he do that? Was it really just a coincidence his friends are the only prisoners yet to be sacrificed? He doesn’t know for sure and is definitely not saying that to everyone.

“No idea.” Warren declares.

“Mmm alright. So first things, first we’re going to the arena.”

“Joanna I know that’s the way I came but surely there’s an easier escape route out of here.” Warren argues.

“Oh there is. We could all go back the way we came and avoid the colosseum all together. There’s a door that leads upstairs, at least that’s what a guard taunted me with. But we gotta stop the ritual right Warren?”

The ritual means nothing to him, he just wants to get his friends to safety. All this demon wave business can be left to Will and Quincy.

“Joanna, it's too dangerous. We all need to leave.”

“How can we just leave? Once we’re gone they’re just going to sacrifice other people and bring about armageddon. The guard told me everything. As part of a sick joke he even told me how it works. Out there is a giant red ball. It absorbs the souls of any person killed near it and apparently if enough souls are absorbed it’ll cause a rift which will allow all demons to come through.” Joanna explains.

“Ok so we just need to go destroy the ball and haul ass.” Noah concludes.

“Listen I was out there, and I know you all can hear it. There are thousands of people out there. I don’t know who these people are or why they want to cause the demon wave but it is simply too dangerous.” Warren claims.

“Of course it’s dangerous, but saving the world seems like the right thing to do don’t you think?” Collin points out.

“Yeah the idiot has a point. Sure Noah and I could only create slightly less than awful potions but we can do it. Besides, having demons running around everywhere would ruin my research. Well actually….nah nah we gotta stop it.” Addison adjoins.

Warren looks around at his friends, they all are confident, and determined. He knows they won’t budge.

“Alright” Warren acquiesces.

“Ok people let’s do this! Here’s the plan. We go out there, destroy the ball and run back.” Joanna lays out.

“So what I just said?” Noah questions.

“Yep! It’s a good plan, hope you don’t mind I took it.”

With the horrible plan laid out, the group armed, they travel to the arena. When they reach the arena’s entrance Warren stops.

“Guys before we do this. I just want to say...sorry for causing all this.”

His friends look back at him, all with smiles on their faces.

“It’s ok Warren. We don’t blame you. We blame Joanna” Collin confidently discloses.

“Wait-?” Joanna says in confusion.

“No time let’s go!” Collin cuts off charging into the arena.

Everyone follows behind him. When they all emerge into the arena Warren sees that the lights are turned back on. Everyone is sprinting towards the altar, ignoring the crowd of masked individuals that are looking down on them. Collin is the first to attack the red sphere. He stops as he uses his magic to cause wind to move all around his body. Finishing the calculations in his head he chucks it, the throw made extra powerful by being propelled by wind. It heads straight for the altar, it’s going to be a direct hit. But before contact could be made something falls straight down from the sky landing right in front of the altar. Dust is thrown up into the air obscuring everyone’s vision.

“Everyone stop!” Joanna orders.

Everyone in the party freezes. The dust eventually settles and they can clearly see a large figure holding the spear. He’s wearing black armor that has jagged edges along the soldiers and limbs. He stands around 6’5 with slick black hair and is wearing an eyepatch. For weapons he has two large swords on his back, swords that are supposed to be two handed weapons. The arena goes silent, not a peep is heard from the audience.

“Fools. All of you.” the man says as he effortlessly rips the spear in half.

The man locks eyes with Collin.

“Ugh oh.” Collin utters.

The man suddenly appears in front of Collin. Everyone was shocked, they didn’t think the man moved. Turns out they were focusing on his afterimage.

The man in front of Colling throws a punch to Collin’s body which sends him flying backwards. Warren is the first out of his friends to react, using his aura he propels himself into Collin’s path in order to catch him. He succeeds but they both roll across the floor.

“Ack! Big man hits hard...Ack!” Collin groans, coughing up blood.

Warren gives him a healing potion. Everyone else is frozen in place looking at the man, fear has literally paralyzed them.

“Joanna, that's the Man of Stone. We need to take him out!” Warren yells.

“R-right! Everyone attack!” she commands.

With that everyone moves again. Noah and Addison throw two red potions at the Man of Stone. They exploded on impact, they were bomb potions. Out of the smoke the Man of Sone walks looking completely unfazed. Warren and Joanna charge at him flanking him from both sides. Together they jump up and attempt to cut off his head. The Man of Stone simply ducks and throws both his arms up which hits both their stomachs, making them fly upwards. The Man of Stone charges forward as Joanna and Warren slam back into the Earth. He pulls out one sword as he makes his way to Collin, who’s wobbling as the healing potion hasn’t completely healed him yet. All Collin could do was raise his arms up in defense. He was about to be sliced in half when the Man of Stone was stopped in place. He looks down to see a large root has wrapped around his left foot. He looks to his right to see Emilia who, holding a glowing spellbook, mutters spells to herself. A second root emerges to grab his other leg but the Man of Stone cuts it in half. He does the same to the other root which frees him up. He looks at Collin’s position but realizes that he’s no longer there. He turns around to see that Addison is helping Collin walk, holding his arm over her shoulder. The Man of Stone became slightly annoyed, he wanted to take out the spear thrower first because he attempted to destroy the relic. He wouldn’t have succeeded but it still bothered him that someone tried in the first place.

“Collin, can you move?” Addison asks the wounded man.

“My insides feel like they took a shit. The shit then came out of my body, only to be shelved back up my ass” Collin complains.

“I-I’m assuming that means you’re hurt” Addison concludes.

“Collin, you're defenseless. Take this potion.” Noah says running up to them.

“I already took a healing potion” Collin mentions.

“It’s not for drinking, idiot. When it shatters it’s going to release fast acting concrete. It’s to stop the asshole who’s currently kicking Warren’s and Joanna’s asses.”

They look across the stadium to see Warren and Joanna alternating attacks on the Man of Stone. Ensuring they don’t hurt each other, Warren attacks with a few swings only to jump back for Joanna to do the same with her claymore. However despite the ceaseless string of attacks, the Man of Stone doesn’t move. None of the attacks have any effect. Every strike and slice just bounces off him, it was if the two were attacking a stone wall. The Man of Stone’s face is one of fatigue; not physical fatigue but the fatigue of someone who is being forced to do something monotonous.

“Amateurs.” is all he says.

Warren goes in for another attack but the Man of Stone decides to move this time. He simply leans to the right as Warren slices down, missing entirely. Now open, the Man of Stone grabs his head with his free arm, in order to hold him still. With the other arm he attempts to cut Warren in half. Warren was to be cut in two but Joanna gets between the blade and Warren’s body blocking the blow with her weapon. However it wasn’t enough to stop the attack’s momentum. Joanna crashes into Warren with enough force that the Man of Stone is forced to let go of Warren as the two are sent flying across the stadium.

“You two ok!?” Noah calls out to them.

“I’m fine, I can do this all day!” Joanna declares as she gets up wobbling.

Warren gets up as well. The two both feel like they got hit by a car going at full speed. The adrenaline pumping through their veins is preventing them from realizing that the attack broke ribs, Joanna being in a worse condition than Warren, for blood streamed down the left side of her head.

“Joanna, Warren I got a plan! We gotta stop him from moving. You two follow my lead. Ready Addison, Collin?” Noah maintains.

“Yep.” Addison responds.

“No but here goes” Collin affirms.

The three of them charge at the Man of Stone who is standing still, deep in thought. In sync they throw three grey potions which upon contact covers him in cement. It starts to dry immediately, turning him into a statue on the spot. Within a span of thirty seconds the Man of Stone is immobilized.. On top of this, hundreds of roots emerge from the ground which wrap all around his body further constraining him. With another thirty seconds he is wrapped up in nature’s embrace.

“Good job Emilia, come join the rest of us I think you guys did it!” Joanna compliments rejoining the three potion throwers.

The group regroups surrounding the statue. They eye him wondering if they truly immobilized him, the lack of response indicates that the answer is yes.

“Yeah we did it wooh!” Collin cheers.

Everyone starts to congratulate each other, everyone except Warren who’s still staring at the Man of Stone. The audience in the colosseum don’t respond one way or the other. All the masked people continue to stare down, as if they were in a trance.

“You see that! They’re all in shock! Take that assholes! Strength means nothing compared to the wonders of alchemy!” Noah taunts flipping off the audience.

“Hey guys...I guess this means” Collin begins.

“No, don’t do it Collin. Joanna stop him” Addions begs realizing what’s about to happen

“Huh stop what?” Joanna wonders.

“He really is…” Collin continues.

“Noooo!” Addison screams.

“The Man of Stone” Collin finishes with a huge grin on his face.

“.....” everyone says.

“What? It was a good joke. Let’s destroy the ball and leave while all these weirdos continue to do nothing” Collin states.

Warren continues to eye the Man of Stone when he notices something. His arm twitched.

“Guys wait!” Warren warned but it was too late.

The concrete that was surrounding the Man of Stone breaks as he exits his imprisonment with a slice of his sword. Everyone was within the attack’s radius. Collin is the first hit and is cut in half. Noah is cut as well and meets the same fate. Warren and Joanna were about to be next but Warren is able to react in time. He jumps out of the way, tackling Joanna to get her to safety. Addison was about to be cut but a giant thick root springs out of the ground in front of her, stopping the attack. Addison runs back with Emilia who had just saved her life.

“Noah!” Addison shrieks

“How bothersome. I let you all get close and I still failed to kill you all in one blow. My age is starting to show” the Man of Stone reflects.

He is now completely mobile and he’s staring down the survivors. Warren and Joanna are now back up, Addison and Emilia are together, all have tears rolling down their cheeks. Between them are the pieces of Noah and Collin. Their bodies start to glow white. The whiteness then leaves their bodies and flies over to the red sphere, entering it.

“Don’t worry. Their souls have just been sacrificed for the greater good. It is the fate which awaits you. This colosseum was built so that everyone here will witness history. Today is the day humanity will be saved.” the Man of Stone spells out.

“...I get it, we’re the last ones . Once we’re all dead, the demon wave begins. You only need just a few more souls and we were all to be sacrificed together. I don’t know why that is but that’s your biggest mistake. That sphere is being destroyed” Joanna resolves.

“You son of a bitch. You took my brother from me. I’ll make sure you burn in hell!” Addison curses.

“With the demon wave, hell will come here.” the Man of Stone retorts.

“Warren!” Joanna yells.

“Yeah I’m on it. Everyone with me!” he yells.

Without needing to go into detail everyone knew what Joanna was getting at. Warren, Addison, and Emilia begin to attack the Man of Stone while Joanna makes a run toward the red sphere. Warren summons all of his aura and using his ability, accelerates the blood flow in his body, increasing his muscle mass. Warren unleashes a flurry of attacks, his strength increased tenfold. The Man of Stone begins to block his attacks with his sword indicating that Warren is worth putting some focus on, although his reflexes are doing most of the work. The Man of Stone keeps the same disinterested face, Warren still isn’t a threat to him. He tries to counter but when he is about to make contact a root springs up blocking the blow. He tries again only for it to happen once more. Emilia was protecting Warren, serving as his shield. The exchange almost becomes like that of an elegant dance. The movements were so smooth, the adventurers were in sync.

“Irritating”. the Man of Stone moans.

He dashes out of Warren’s sight. Warren has completely lost track of him, despite the man having been right in front of him. He frantically turns around to see that the Man of Stone is now behind Emilia. The girl hasn’t noticed because she’s been focusing on casting spells to protect Warren. The Man of Stone is about to pierce his blade through Emilia when Addison jumps in taking the blow for her. The blade is now through her body. She coughs up blood. She then tilts her head up and yells “This is for my brother you bastard!” as she takes out a purple potion and throws it into the Man of Stone’s face which causes a massive explosion. Emilia is blown forward from the explosion and drops her spellbook.

Warren helps her up and afterwards charges into the smoke that is now where Addison and the Man of stone were. He knew the Man of Stone wouldn’t be defeated that easily. He charges in only to be immediately kicked in the stomach sending him flying back. As soon as he hits the ground he’s back on his feet, his adrenaline going beyond human levels thanks to his aura.

“Why do you struggle knowing you can’t win?” The Man of Stone wonders, blocking each of Warren’s attacks. He was completely unharmed by Addison's sacrifice.

Warren doesn’t answer. He won’t waste his breath. He continues to attack but this time when he is countered he’s hit. Emilia wasn’t casting her spells anymore. The blade slices him across the forehead causing his eyesight to be obscured by blood. The Man of Stone punches Warren in the face so hard that it would have exploded the head of a normal man. The blow makes him fall flat on his back. The Man of Stone follows up by plunging his sword straight into Warren’s stomach. The sword is now sticking upwards like a beam, immobilizing Warren.

“AHHH!” Warren wails in agony.

“Pitiful” The Man of Stone says as he leaves the sword in and takes out the other one that’s been sheathed.

A root behind him emerges and wraps itself around the Man of Stone’s neck. It begins to squeeze. The Man of Stone nonchalantly turns around and sees Emilia who’s picked her spell book back up.

“I’ve had enough of you” the Man of Stone declares as he dashes towards her.

To Warren everything is upside down but he could see what happens. The Man of Stone makes his way towards Emilia, cutting down dozens of roots that erupt from the Earth in an attempt to stop him. He simply cuts down each one. When he’s in striking distance a bundle of roots envelops Emilia in a wooden dome. He slashes but his sword is stopped.

“I see. It appears the strongest roots can only defend. That’s how you defended the boy earlier and now yourself.” The Man of Stone surmises.

He was quick to notice the difference in Emilia’s roots. The ones that were summoned to attack the Man of Stone were of a light flexible wood, whereas the ones that defended Warren and now herself are of a much thicker one. This is so because the thicker the wood, the less Emilia can bend them so she only uses the thick wood for defense. The Man of Stone stands still and taking a breath summons his aura. A sinister grey starts to surround him. He slices down and the blade goes through the dome like butter.

“Emilia!” Warren yells still pinned by the blade.

He looks over at the altar and sees Joanna hacking away at the sphere.

“WHY. WON’T. YOU. BREAK!” Joanna screams.

For about the hundredth time she hits the sphere with her claymore but the sword just caroms off. Warren sees the Man of Stone turn his attention towards her. He slowly starts to walk over to her. Panicking Warren wraps his hands around the blade and using every inch of his strength tries to pull the blade out.

“AHHHHHH!!!” he wails as he pulls.

His hands are becoming progressively bloodier. The Man of Stone plunged the sword so deep into the earth that half the blade is in the ground, making it all the more difficult to remove. He summons all of the aura he has within him. He grips the blade as hard as he can, his hands are now completely covered in blood. What he’s about to do is going to hurt him like nothing ever has. He can’t use his ability to block the pain either, that would divert aura away from extra strength he needs. He begins to push and after what felt like eternity, the blade comes out. It falls next to him, half of it covered in blood. Now free he turns off his pain receptors. He runs towards the Man of Stone, but is unable to run straight because of the damage his body has taken. Right behind the Man of Stone Warren shifts all his aura into his right arm so that this next machete swing will be his strongest attack. He aims for the neck. Everything goes into slow motion for Warren, he can see the machete approaching the neck. He’s going to make contact, the Man of Stone isn’t attempting to block it. The attack connects but if Warren thought he was about to deal the killing blow he was sorely mistaken. The machete connects but when it makes contact with the skin it is destroyed. The Man of Stone turns around looking at the bleeding man.

“Did you really think a farmer’s tool would be the end of me? You really are pathetic” the Man of Stone insults

Warren looks up at him, the sense of dread has completely taken over.

Without saying anything else the Man of Stone kicks Warren back to where the sword is, the attack shattering more of his ribs. The Man of Stone continues his path towards Joanna, sensing him she turns around.

“It’s over, girl. You should just accept your fate, fighting destiny will do nothing for you.” The Man of Stone suggests.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. If I was smart, I would just let you kill me, so I’ll have a painless death. But you know, that would mean you win and that just bothers me like nothing else. I’ve always been a competitive person. So no, I’m not letting you have your way. I guess I’m just petty like that” Joanna lectures.

Around her body a pink aura starts to surround her, it surrounds her so much that the aura extends from her body all the way to the ceiling hundreds of feet above them. The Man of Stone wonders if the girl is going to attack him. Instead she turns around and raises her claymore above her head. It then occurs to him what her plan is. She’s going to use so much aura that it’ll drain her life energy and kill her after she attacks. When one attacks with all of their life energy behind it, it’ll create the strongest possible attack one can muster. The Man of Stone becomes worried, it could work.

He bolts towards her but for some reason he encounters a roadblock. In front of him is a bloodied man in his path, wielding one of his swords.

“You’re resilient aren’t you?” The Man of Stone tells Warren.

Warren is battered, bleeding internally and externally. A gaping wound is in his stomach, the bleeding being stopped by his aura and constraining his blood vessels. His bloody hands are clutching the Man of Stone’s sword.

“Foolish boy.” The Man of Stone ridicules.

“If you lay …..one hand on her, you’re fucking dead” Warren threatens.

Undeterred, the Man of Stone effortlessly swings his sword down on Warren, knowing he’s too weak to actually fight. He is slightly impressed that Warren's still alive though. But to his utter amazement Warren blocks the attack. Warren launches his own attack but the Man of Stone leans his head back to dodge it.

“Such a deplorable displ-” he stops as he feels a sting on his cheek.

He touches his right cheek and when he looks at his hand sees blood. The Man of Stone was cut. Warren continues attacking. For the first time in this entire fight, The Man of Stone has to try. He has to consciously block the strikes Warren dishes out. Nonetheless, it still isn’t a fair fight, Warren is being cut by every attack the Man of Stone throws yet Warren keeps fighting on. Nothing will stop Warren until he is hit by a fatal blow and Warren is doing everything he can to redirect attacks to prevent that from happening. The Man of Stone starts to worry, the boy is taking up too much time. Joanna might actually be able to summon all of her life energy. The Man of Stone decides he’s had enough and lets himself be slashed by Warren in order to get in close. The Man of Stone’s armor is cut through resulting in a wound being made across his chest. He grabs Warren’s throat and throws him across the arena to get him as far away as possible. When Warren lands, he lands on his feet and immediately begins to rush back to the altar. As he runs he sees the Man of Stone is right behind Joanna. He sticks the blade straight through her stomach.

“It’s over, girl.” The Man of Stone says as blood comes out of Joanna’s mouth.

“JOANNA!” Warren screams. He trips and falls to the ground.

“..Hehehehehe don’t be sad Warren. I’m happy with this, because you get to live…I have no regrets, neither should you. Have a good life Warren…I love you.....HAAAAH!” she screams as she restarts her attack.

Despite the massive blade through her stomach she slices down on the red sphere causing it to split in two.

“What!” the Man of Stone says in surprise.

All the souls that were in the sphere escape. Hundred upon hundreds of spirits ascend into the heavens

“No!” The Man of Stone howls.

Warren, unable to move anymore, starts to get blurry vision. He can’t really tell what’s happening. All he knows is that all his friends are dead. He wants to get up but his body shuts down on him, overriding his ability. He loses consciousness.

The entire colosseum is silent. The members in the audience stand up in unison. A portal opens up in front of each member and silently each goes through. Just like that the Man of Stone is alone. The Man of Stone just looks at the broken sphere then upwards.

“Well Lucius, I’d gotta say the higher ups won’t be happy about this” a voice tells him from behind.

The Man of Stone sees the owl masked man from before.

“Come on, let’s get going. There’s no reason to be here anymore. I know you’re not looking forward to being yelled at by Butterfly but there’s nothing to prevent it.”

“Just open the portal” the Man of Stone orders.

The owl man waves his hand and a portal appears next to the Man of Stone. The Man of Stone takes his blade out of Joanna’s body and contemplates getting the other that’s laying next to Warren. He decides not to. He goes through the portal with the owl man following suit.

The colosseum is now almost completely empty. The only things present are dead bodies, and an unconscious Warren. However suddenly a hole is opened in the ceiling and a fat body falls down and lands in the middle of the arena. It’s Luther.

“Ah hah! I have arrived! Face me rebels! I’ll show you the power of a true gentleman!” Luther proclaims, posing dramatically and sparkling.

The other knights fall down and land beside him.

“Luther, do you have to say that every time we enter a new area?” Ricon angrily questions.

The knights look worse for wear. They have scratches, dirt, grime, and demon guts all over their bodies, they are all tired and on edge. None of this applies to Luther, he looks like he always does.

“I’m with Ricon, after defeating that tentacle demon monstrosity and getting lost for an hour I don’t think I can tolerate you anymore Luther. I might kill you” Marianne says concurring with Ricon’s sentiment.

“....” Anastasia interrupts.

“Huh? Oh yeah fair question where are we?”

The knights examine their surroundings and note all of the dead bodies around them.

“Did we stumble upon an underground fighting arena?” Ricon suggests.

“...”Anastasia mentions.

“Hey it’s possible alright? Who knows how far we traveled in that fight”

“...”

“Anastasia Ganiani Theano Remeli your tongue is very wicked.”

“...”

“Hah! She’s got you there Ricon. Wait where’s Luther?” Marianne comments.

Marianne turns around and sees Luther talking to a body laying on the ground.

“Warren my friend! How are you!? What a surprise to see you here.” Luther greets.

“...ugghhhh” the unconscious Warren gurgles.

“Luther what are you doing? Wait Warren? Luther, get away, he's about to die! Anastasia emergency medical now!” Marianne orders.

Anastasia slides over-literally for she used ice to make a path-and begins to use her ice magic on Warren’s wounds to slow down the bleeding.

“I have no idea what this place is but Warren’s the only survivor. Luther! We don’t have time to waste, start digging upwards, we need to get above ground, we can come back to this place later.” Marianne barks.

“Of course my love. Hiyaaa!” Luther says, bolting up into the air.

The sound of Luther punching his way through the rock can be heard but slowly becomes fainter as Luther digs up higher and higher.

“How’s Warren doing?” Marianna asks.

“...”

“Damn. Ok let’s get out of here. Ricon you ready? Ricon?”

Ricon is staring intently at the altar, his eyes glued to the sphere that’s been cut in two.

“...We missed something big. Real big.” he observes

“We can focus on that later we have to get Warren out of here!”

“Right.”

Ricon goes to where Luther jumped and looks up. Taking out one of his arrows he fires it upwards so that it’ll get to Luther. It’s an arrow with a suction cup at the end attached to a long rope meant to ensure that everyone could be dragged along as Luther moves. Marianne and Anastasia, who’s carrying Warren over her shoulders, surround Ricon, holding on to each other. They grab onto the rope and begin to zip into the air. The colosseum is now completely devoid of life, only bodies remain.