Chapter One Hundred Twenty-One: King of the Monsters

Inside the S-1 Mansion…

Fujii was busy cooking dinner while Saori lay upside down on the couch, staring at the ceiling.

"Saori, dinner's almost ready!"

He noticed her fall off the couch. "Saori?"

She crawled to her feet. "Mister, the others are still outside! Why haven't they come back yet? Did they get hurt? Are they in trouble?"

Fujii sighed and sat beside her. "They'll be fine, I think. The main purpose of sending them out there on this mission is to get them to work as a team. When you get some more experience, then you'll be joining them, too."

"But will they make it home safe?"

"Yeah, I'm sure Aoki will guide them down the right path, I think. I hope. She and Akari can never seem to get along, and with Dachii in need of help, that's never a good sign. But on the bright side, I'm sure Hikari is busy keeping them in check right now!"

Inside the Monster Den…

"This isn't the right way!"

"Yes, it is, you idiot!"

"Can you two PLEASE focus? Dachii is in danger!"

Marachii and Luca followed behind as the three girls argued amongst each other, unable to find the path that Dachii was taken.

"There's left, there's right, there's straight," Akari pointed out. "The wise choice is to check out all paths before regrouping here and figuring out which is the right one."

"No," Aoki replied. "We don't have time for that. We'll take a gamble and go straight."

"And what if that doesn't work?"

"Then we find a new path, obviously!"

"You don't ever think, do you?"

Marachii held his wrist up. "Elara? Are you able to navigate this cave and find an opening?"

"Scanning the cave now."

A blue light emitted from his wrist, analyzing the three paths ahead of them. "Paths analyzed. Right path leads to a lava pit. Middle path leads to a chasm. Left path leads to a large chamber."

"Okay, left it is!" Marachii declared.

Luca looked at his arm. "Woah. When did you pick that trick up?"

"I've had plenty of time to study myself," Marachii answered. "Elara has been a big help."

The girls stopped arguing.

"Good work, Marachii!" Akari said. "Let's head on left."

Aoki rolled her eyes. "Technology. Hmph. Fine. Follow me."

She took the lead again, walking into the cavern on the left. As she pulled ahead, Hikari stopped to whisper to Akari.

"Can this really work?" Hikari asked. "It feels we've been off recently. Like…REALLY off. Every Squad's been having more success than us, even S-3!"

Akari looked at her hands. "We'll figure it out. But I know one thing, I'm not going to be playing second to HER."

She gestured to Aoki, who was scraping her katana on the side of the walls.

"And what about Dachii?"

"I…don't know."

Aoki held out her hand, making the entire Squad stop. "Wait. The pathway is blocked."

There was a rocky wall in front of them, seemingly part of the cave. "Are you sure your computer was correct, Marachii? Or is it malfunctioning?"

"Uh, she never malfunctions," Marachii remarked.

"If that's the case, then…"

She pulled out a red card using her magic. "Everyone, step back."

She tossed it at the wall. "EXPLODE!"

BOOM.

The card blew up, completely destroying the rock wall and revealing a path further down, which led into an open chamber. "Good. This is the way. Pick up the pace, people."

And just like that, she began moving forward.

"Wait up!" Hikari called out.

While the others followed Aoki, Akari looked around the wreckage she caused. "Ridiculous. Completely ridiculous."

Then, she caught up to the rest of her squad.

Meanwhile, inside the Central Chamber…

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

Dachii got a good look at the beast that greeted him: a towering figure, with the body of a dragon mixed with a Leviathan. He had black scales, two long serpentine tails, which went along with his large black wings, and six serpentine heads. His eyes glowed a dark green, and his talons looked ready to kill.

"A human…? It's been a long time since I've seen a human around these parts. What's this? Hmm…human mixed with something else? What are you, child?"

Dachii stared at the Monster King. "I don't know, really. I might be part Voltian, I might be part animal, I might be part DEAD. I don't know anymore, I lost the only person that could tell me."

One of the heads of the Monster King sniffed Dachii. "Hmm, a unique scent. You have my attention, boy. What brings you to the Den of the Monster King? Speak!"

The monsters all around Dachii eyed him curiously, but Dachii didn't even bother to address them. "My name is Dachii…I've been forced on a mission to invite you to a Masquerade, or something."

"The Royal Masquerade…" The Monster King muttered. "What makes them believe they are worthy of the presence of Malkrith, the greatest of all the monsters?"

"I don't know," Dachii admitted, tossing him a letter. "I grabbed this off one of my friends. Here. Can I go now?"

Malkrith began to laugh, and so did the monsters around him. "Hahaha! Leave? When we've just begun the fun? No, you'll have to prove yourself worthy of an invitation to the Monster King. You'll have to have a Trial by Monster!"

"Just great," Dachii moaned. "It's always something."

Each of Malkrith's eyes glowed dark green. "Monsters, are you ready?"

"Hold on a second!"

A barrage of energy blasts rained down on Malkrith, who opened two of his mouths and breathed green flame on them, disintegrating them on the spot.

"Who would dare—?"

Akari landed beside Dachii, along with the rest of the squad. "Get away from him, you freak."

The monsters prepared to attack, but Malkrith held a hand out. "Wait…Voltians…here?"

He took in the newly gathered squad members while Akari checked over Dachii. "Are you okay?"

"Sure."

"Well, don't be so stupid!"

Aoki stood beside her. "She's right. That was very stupid."

Then she started violently shaking him. "Very, very, very stupid! If you do something like that again, we're gonna have an issue!"

"Cool."

Hikari checked his body. "Thank goodness you're not hurt, but we shouldn't stay here too long. Where's the letter at?"

"He's got it," Dachii pointed. "Now he'll kill me."

"WHAT?"

Malkrith laughed. "If you want to leave here with my presence at your Masquerade AND your lives, you'll all take this trial."

"What? What trial's he talking about?" Marachii asked.

Malkrith jumped up into the air and landed right in front of the group, causing the ground beneath them to crack.

"Good luck."

And then the floor under them shattered, causing them all to fall down. "AHHH!"

Using his wings, Malkrith flew back upon his throne. "Let's see if they can impress me. It's been decades since I've been impressed."

Deep under…

Akari surrounded the ground in a forcefield, lessening the impact when they crashed. Once she dropped it, she tried to scan the area. "What is this? Are we on a platform?"

A flame was lit on an altar nearby, showing their surroundings: a platform in the middle of a chasm, surrounded by layers of rocky seats, almost like an arena. Each seat was quickly filled with ravenous monsters.

"TRIAL! TRIAL! TRIAL!"

"Not this again!" Hikari groaned. "What's the challenge now? Deadly race? Gladiator fights? All this just to invite this guy to the festivities?"

"We're gonna die," Dachii stated.

Akari grabbed him by his shoulders. "No, we're not! Just stay behind me and Aoki at all times, okay?"

"Uh-huh."

BOOM.

The giant snake, Basilith, landed on the platform with a troll on its back, armed with a great-sword and shield. "Kids made the wrong choice! Now we eat you!"

Dozens of monsters dropped from above, ranging from lion monsters to rhino monsters, to spider monsters, and even a large rocky Behemoth, each of whom slowly advanced on the group, forcing them to get back to back.

"Okay, I'll bite," Luca said. "What's the plan?"

"Fight to the death," Aoki ordered. "But don't be the ones dying."

"I'll admit, I can agree with that," Akari replied. "This is gonna be a pain."

They all got into fighting stances, except Dachii, who just stood in the middle, looking at the chaos happening around him.

"Yay. Battle time…"

"ATTACK!" the troll ordered.

The monsters charged them at once, but Akari blasted a section of them off the platform with her energy powers. On the other side, Aoki threw a pile of red cards, sending her another pile of monsters tumbling over the edge.

"Maybe this isn't so bad," Aoki noted. "Kill them all!"

The rocky Behemoth stalked toward Hikari, Luca, and Marachii, but Luca shifted into his gorilla form, delivering powerful blows to the rocky beast.

"That's it, Luca, keep attacking!" Hikari cheered. "Push him to the edge!"

As Luca continued delivering blows to the hunk of rock, Hikari focused herself, attempting to expel her energy. "Okay, I've got this, just like the Arena…"

She threw her hands out, and a brilliant pink energy shot out from her hands, hitting the Behemoth in the legs and causing them to crumble, allowing Luca to toss it over.

"Yes!" Hikari exclaimed. "I did it! I did it! I'm getting better!"

"Woah, what is that?" Marachii asked. "Reverse Healing Beams, or something?"

Hikari laughed. "Something like that. Just like my element allows for positive healing effects, it can cause negative health effects as well."

"Woah, that's really cool!"

"I know! I'll be just like my sister soon!"

Meanwhile, in the middle, the troll and Basilith were rounding on Dachii, who simply watched as they circled around him.

"What do you two want…?"

The troll stopped the snake. "I'm Griffin! One of the King's top warriors! I've eaten many weaklings like you, so don't think you'll leave this place alive!"

"Cool. Is that all…"

"Get him, Basilith!"

The snake lunged and took a bite out of Dachii, completely tearing off his right arm. Dachii watched as his arm grew back, expression unchanged.

"Ugh."

The snake lunged again, but Dachii evaded the strike. It tried to lunge again immediately after, but Dachii yet again avoided its attack, this time punching it hard across the face.

"ARGH!" Griffin hollered, nearly falling off the snake. "Prepare yourself! I'm coming at you!"

He jumped off the back of the snake, landing in front of Dachii, who watched as the massive troll shook the ground with every step he took.

"Fear me!"

"Okay."

He brought his blade down hard, but Dachii ducked under it, punching the troll in the stomach. The Griffin nearly lost his balance, but he recovered and unleashed a flurry of attacks.

"Ha! Dodge this! Weak! Weak!"

Dachii jumped back, but as another swing came at him, Aoki got in front of him and blocked with her katana.

"Get away from him, you hairless dog."

Griffin pulled his blade back and tried to slash her arm off, but she easily countered and sliced his face. "Ow! Cheap shot!"

"I don't care," Aoki shot back. "What happened in Batango, I'm never losing like that again."

Basilith circled around her, preparing to strike. Before it could, she threw a white card at it, which caused it to sway carelessly.

Griffin charged at Aoki, but Akari struck him with a powerful energy blast, making him fall flat on his back.

"Hmph, you're welcome," Akari said.

"Congrats, you hit the giant troll," Aoki scoffed.

Griffin once again tried to attack, but Akari grabbed the tail of the snake and spun it around, using it to whack Griffin in the face, which sent both him and the snake over the edge of the chasm.

"Phew. All in a day's work."

From above, clapping could be heard.

"Impressive! Impressive! Not many can survive such a daunting task."

Malkrith flew down to address the group. "How was it? Did you struggle, did you shiver in your boots? Were you SCARED? Was it HARD?"

The group, except for Dachii, all looked at one another.

"It wasn't all that bad," Hikari confessed.

"Yeah. We've fought stronger," Akari confirmed.

"Nice warm-up for me," Aoki stated. "My blade can never taste too much blood."

"And you, Dachii?" Malkrith asked. "What did you think of my trial?"

Everyone looked at Dachii.

"It was…stupid," he replied. "I want to go home."

The others groaned, while Malkrith seemed amused. "Interesting answer. Well, a deal is a deal. You won't be eaten today, and I'll consider your little invitation. Now, leave my sight."

"But how do we leave?" Akari asked. "None of us can fly, and the only one who can…"

She gestured to Dachii. "He's not feeling the best right now."

"One…two…can't tie my shoe…" Dachii muttered.

Malkrith waved her off. "The Chimera will take you home."

"The WHAT?"

Immediately, the platform began to shake and crumble, causing them all to fall down. Soon after, they all reappeared, flying on the back of a large Chimera.

"What the hell is THIS?" Akari blurted out.

"Man, oh man, don't drop us, please!" Hikari begged.

"Cool, I've always wanted to see a Chimera!" Luca admitted.

"What is a Chimera?" Marachii asked. "Please don't tell me it eats people!"

"Not your kind of people," Luca said.

Aoki poked it with the butt of her sword. "Ugly thing."

"Over the rainbow…" Dachii murmured.

"Goodbye, children!" Malkrith said, as the Chimera flew out of the chasm with the group. "How are they going to fit a large being like me in a castle anyway, I wonder…"

He noticed Griffin on the ground. "Griffin, watch my pet for me. I'll have to make plans to leave the cavern. I might even bring a Voltian or two back for you as well!"

"Really?" Griffin asked.

"Hahaha. Time will tell."

Meanwhile, in the S-1 Mansion…

Fujii and Saori were sitting on the couch. "So, that's how I got the name 'Ice Wizard.' No one has ever been able to do what I can do with an ice cube and half of a toothpick—-!"

There was a knock on the door, and Fujii immediately got up. "Guys! Finally, you're back!"

He opened the door, but what greeted him was not his squad.

"Hello, sir," Ayana greeted. "Is this the home of Squad S-1?"

—-