“This is how Jane and her brothers have been carving their way through this hell. What else are we capable of? Our understanding of magic and Mana is lacking. He is right. We must unleash our most powerful spells.” Regius said excitedly.

“Calm yourself. Let the others do the heavy lifting. Our strength will be needed when we reach the mountain.” Riekes advised him, but the one-horned wizard could no longer stand by and watch. 

Regius vanished with a glittery burst of orange fire. He appeared in the sky with eight sparkly fireballs around his body.

The one-horned wizard manifested his staff. The clusters of Dragon fire shrunk, before they darted further away from each other. He printed dark orange brackets around the fiery nodes and streams of translucent Mana formed the circuit boards.

Regius raised his staff. Magical brackets that resembled olive vines, strange pictographs and geometric shapes materialised around the fifty-metre tall and wide magical circle.

The one-horned wizard gripped his staff tightly, while the Candidates protected him from the swarm of winged Yokai. He raised the one-tonne crystal circle, and it lit up slowly. 

Kagiso, Raymond and Duke appeared hundreds of metres in front of the giant spell and held their hands out. The bright white pulse burst from the mountain and the trio shielded their ally. However, Regius’ spell had cracked open.

Riekes sighed and repaired the damage instantly. The one horned wizard’s eyes glowed orange. He exhaled sharply and cast the Starfall Spell. 

Thousands of glittery marbles twinkled like stars, before they were launched like missiles. The orange orbs grew until they were the size of small houses.

*

Jane, Hugo and Jabu glanced at the thousands of starry meteors. They flashed their auras for a fraction of a second and their legions forced their exhausted bodies to charge. They cleaved, crushed, pilfered and slashed their way through the jungle. 

The heavy gunners picked their shots carefully and fired glittery white rounds that shot off muscular limbs and chewed through tough torsos.

*

“Push!” Duke roared at the Candidates and they all sprinted through the gap in the cackling thicket. 

The two-horned woman watched the dozens of masked men and women carefully. They breached the gap together and dashed towards the army of twenty-metre-tall monsters. 

The behemoths’ stampede shook the ground. They let out a pained screech from their short trunks and focused their narrow vision on the tiny enemies in front of them.

*

Jane laughed. She leapt into the air and raised her sword above her head. The two horned waited until she had reached the apex of her jump. 

Jane imagined a curved blade and swung vertically. Her Mana coated her sword and took on the familiar shape. The two-horned woman’s energy signature spike and a few Candidates glanced at her in the sky.

Jane pushed with her mind, body and soul. She unleashed the Blade Wheel skill and the crescent-shaped blade buzzed like a circular saw. 

The two-horned woman’s Mana enveloped her body, and she inhaled deeply. She swung once more and roared at the top of her lungs.

“Cosmic Wheel!” Jane bellowed, and she unleashed a glittery wheel. The first two Blade Wheels cut through the demonic foliage, and the Candidates were shocked to see two of them. 

The Cosmic Wheel passed through the centre of the first two attacks. It cleared the eerie plants and barreled towards the northernmost mountain range.

*

Jabu emerged from the mountains with a fragment of his legion. He led his high-speed units through the jungle and the legionnaires cut down everything in their path. It did not take long for him, his assassins and his spies to regroup with Hugo.

The two brothers and their tattered legions heard the loud buzzing and laughed. Jabu and Hugo led what remained of their forces to the northeastern foot of the northernmost mountain range. They fought an arduous battle on two fronts, while the enemy hurtled glittery boulders from the mountain sides.

“If one did not know better, one would think they do not want us to reach the mountain.” Jabu said, and he tossed a Dragon-bone idol onto the ground. 

“Of course, they do. They would have made things more difficult if they wanted us to leave.” Hugo added with a delighted chuckle. Mana poured out of the bear carving’s magical cells.

The watery energy seeped into the soil and the heavy idol buried itself underground. A giant stone skeleton burst out of the ground. The bear crawled out of its grave. It roared and flesh grew all over its one-hundred-metre-tall body.

*

Raymond’s eyes glowed, and he stared at the foot of the mountain. The three-horned man turned to the east. He scanned the horizon, spotted Jabu’s bear summon and looked up at the sky.

“This is it. We’re going to make it.” Raymond whispered in disbelief. “What happens next?” Duke asked as he punched a cylindrical hole through a Yokai’s chest. 

The stoic two-horned man vanished and appeared beside another giant. He punched a hole through its head and a Demon dashed in behind him.

The twenty-two-metre monster pulled its right arm back and Duke vanished partially. He spun around quickly, appeared and let out a loud roar. 

A glittery ring of sound crashed into the Yokai’s chest and shattered every bone in its body. The stoic two-horned man secreted a cloud of glittery bronze particles, shaped it into a round shield and palmed it all in one swift motion.

The gong released a second glittery ring of sound, and it obliterated the Demon’s soft tissue and nano-portals. The twenty-metre-tall monster crumbled to dust, without its Demonic technology. 

The giant monsters backed away from Duke. He walked towards them, and the ground trembled with every step.

Suddenly, a large energy signature spiked near the foot of the mountain. A pillar of green fire shot up into the sky and sickly green spectres, that resembled men and women, screamed as they burned endlessly. The fiery phantoms soared even higher, before they scattered across the island and dove straight towards the ground.

*

“That’s our cue.” Kenpachi called out and the pirate ships appeared in unison. They had surrounded the skies above the northernmost mountain and the three powerful barriers at its feet.

“Why are we doing this again?” Clyde asked, with a hint of scepticism and Mdu scoffed. “A deal is a deal. And this is our path to freedom.” He rumbled stoically and the slender one-horned man felt a hint of disappointment in his brother’s words.

“I will explain later. For now, we must clear this fortress, while Hugo and Jabu clear the one to the east. Our new friend will clear the fort to the west, while reinforcements keep the enemy off our new doorstep.” The imposing one-horned man instructed, and Clyde drew his omni-gun. “I’ll take point.” He replied and Mdu scoffed.

“Do you have something to say…brother?” the slender one-horned man asked aggressively. 

“Yes, we will be fighting indoors. A blade is preferable to a firearm in close quarters combat.” The stocky one-horned man said condescendingly.

“That depends on the warrior and their skill…doesn’t it?” Clyde asked snidely and Mdu snarled. 

“Enough! Lower your spears. This siege requires a hammer, anyway.” Kenpachi barked, and the three brothers descended on the stone fortress.