Aren opened the door, and he and Lillia entered. It opened up into a massive hallway, 200 feet wide and 100 feet tall. The walls were lined with massive thirty-foot golden metal statues, humanoid and featureless with giant swords. The hall was golden in color, and a long red carpet with gold trim extended off into the distance, ending at a giant door. As the duo began to walk forward, the statues started rumbling. And then they moved, coming to life!

Around twenty of them stood shoulder to shoulder, forming a wall preventing Aren and Lillia from continuing forward, not attacking, just standing perfectly still.

The duo shot forward, aiming to break through the line. Each of their strikes connected, and that set off the statues into combat. Their most powerful attacks managed to knock two onto the ground, creating massive dents. Surprisingly though, they stood and joined the defense.

The battle lasted for hours, neither side letting up. The statues would not fall from Aren’s Gravity Domain, though it did slow them. His Infernal Aura was ineffective, only slightly melting the outer surface of them. Eventually, the statues were so bent out of shape that they had practically been killed, unable to move or attack anymore.

Walking at a leisurely pace, they reached the giant door. Surprisingly it swung open once they got close, revealing a large throne room. And at the far end, a monster sat in the form of a man.

Sitting at the throne, his eyelids flickered open, revealing completely black eyes. His body was made of gold, with hair down to his shoulders. The most shocking thing about his appearance though, was that he had four arms.

But what he did next shocked Lillia and Aren even more.

“Finally…you…have reached me, the…Emperor. It was quite…entertaining…observing you.”

It spoke slowly as though it had never before.

“Unfortunately…your time…has come.”

The man-like monster stood, coming to a height of nine feet tall, and revealed bulging muscles. It held out its four hands, and a different sword appeared in each of them from thin air. It did not give the pair any time to question why it could talk and blasted forwards.

All four swords slashed at them, seeming as if they were splitting space itself. Aren slammed the sides of the ones swinging at him, while Lillia ducked under and struck the Emperor, sending it sliding back with a slight dent.

“Impressive…” It said.

At that moment, a massive wave of mana expanded out from the man, making the two feel like they were prey and he was the predator. They instantly used their newfound skill, which they called Mana Body, to negate the aura. 

The fight continued, and the Emperor seemed at least thrice the strength compared to his first attack. Aren took multiple hits, some of them nearly slicing him in half. Lillia was nearly untouchable due to her ability, really only getting a few thin cuts.

After a few minutes, Aren managed to send a full power punch towards the monster’s torso, the space around his fist warping due to the immense gravity.

BOOM!

The Emperor was sent flying back, slamming into a wall. When the dust cleared, the extent of the damage was shown. A massive dent spread throughout its right side, and it even extended up to two arms, rendering them useless!

This strike almost took Aren’s entire mana pool, so he immediately began to absorb more.

This was a turning point for the battle, although the monster still managed to hold them off with just two arms. But now they had the advantage. Lilia attacked from the side with both arms, while Aren continuously launched powerful strikes at the already crippled side.

Using this simple strategy, the Emperor was finally defeated, sinking to the ground and turning into a grey stone. A surge of non-malicious mana came from it, returning to nature.

Aren kneeled and retrieved a sword that was particularly interesting to him. Its total length was six feet, with a slightly curved single-edged blade. It was similar to his horns in the fact that it was pitch black and absorbed light, reflecting none of it. Despite being extremely thin, he could tell that it was extremely tough. 

Swinging it around, he decided to keep it. He also found that it could disappear and be summoned, which solved the problem of storage.

“Aren…”

“Hm?”

Lillia held out a pair of black pants and cloak to him, averting her eyes and blushing for some reason that Aren couldn’t figure out.

“...You should probably wear this.”

“What? Why?”

“Your pants…”

Aren looked down, and his eyes widened in horror. His pants were completely gone now, not even a shred of them left, completely exposing him.

“Right…” He hurriedly grabbed the clothes and put them on. 

Lillia sighed in relief, she had already put up with him never wearing a shirt so this was simply too much.

“Alright, let’s leave now.” 

They looked around the room but there was no exit. There was, however, a glowing green portal. The pair shrugged at each other and walked through, their bodies instantly feeling as though they were being pulled at thousands of miles per hour.