Phoenix Flight

The sound of stone grinding on stone made Ash shudder, and he turned just in time to see one of the doors start to grind up, kicking up a few sparks. A horrible guttural growl came from beyond the walls, and something large stepped out.

It looked like a wolf but was much bigger and taller than a horse. Its fur was badly torn, and it looked starved and wild. It wasn't alone either, as four more followed after it, all in just as bad a shape. They were dire wolves, a relatively low-tier monster, though like most magical beasts, their fur was dense enough to block normal swords or bullets, and these ones were also particularly magic resistant.

There was a good chance that, unless you were an Arcane Knight, you wouldn't be able to harm a beast like this with a spell.

The wolves instantly spotted them and launched forward wildly. They were starved and beaten, no longer able to reason; the beasts just wanted food, and the mutts no longer cared what kind of food it was.

"Row Wind Barrier!"

"Row Ice Wall!"

A wall of ice jutted out of the ground, reaching all the way up to the roof, and solid air formed over it, adding a second layer to it. Bruno and Ash both winced as they felt their mana shake when the wolves rammed into their protective shield. The dire wolves howled and clawed, snarled and scratched, their fangs shattering the flimsy wind shield, allowing them to bite into the ice and start to tear past it.

When a mage used their mana to create a construct like a suit of armor made of shadows or a weapon made of blood, it would continue to drain the user's mana for every second the construct was out. Also, each time the construct was damaged, it would drain the mana faster. Every hit the wolves unleashed into the wall of ice and wind shook Bruno and Ash's cores, rattling their bones and causing them both physical pain in their stomachs, which in turn caused their focus to start to wear down, making the walls become even weaker.

Dire wolves weren't just resistant to magic; they were also really good at breaking magic since their claws could tear through most constructs. The monsters themselves were graded as a Grade C threat.

Ash took a weak step back and glanced at the spearman, who still hadn't moved. "Don't just stand there, stupid! Do something!" The wolves were already halfway through the ice. "Help us or something!"

"Yeah, bro." Bruno nodded. "We could use a hand. Use your spear."

"It's not a spear. I'm not a spearman." The oni-masked man said softly, still speaking in a calm and collected voice.

"Well, whatever it is, fucking use it!" Ash yelled. "I don't want to become dog shit!"

The wall shattered, and one of the wolves lunged forward. "Row Electric Aura!" A massive burst of orange and gold filled the arena, and everyone flinched, even the people up top. The hooded figure's entire body was suddenly enveloped in a bright orange glow that wrapped around him, sparks of golden lightning zapping out. The ground beneath him bubbled and popped slightly, turning to glass, and the man burst forward faster than the eye could follow.

The wolf howled, but it was cut off as the spear the man wielded tore right through the beast as if it were made of wet tissue paper. The wolf's body was torn in two, and the other four monsters halted in their attack, actually looking shocked. They only had a moment to process the fact that their alpha was dead before the hooded man once again lunged, moving inhumanely fast.

He literally zipped across the arena, and his weapon was bathed in so much mana that each swipe and strike was able to bypass the monster's resistance, rendering them into chunks of dog meat in mere seconds.

When he was finally done, the hooded figure appeared back in the middle of the arena, dropped to a knee, and let out a huff, the aura around him fading.

"What just happened?" Ash asked, stunned. He wasn't the only one; the crowd above and Biggie were all left gawking.

"You good, bro?" Bruno asked, running over to check on the panting man.

"Tired." The oni-masked man huffed out. "That spell takes a lot out of me."

"Well, I hope you can keep going. It looks like there is more coming our way," Bruno urged.

Up top, Biggie shook his head and growled. "No way. No freaking way. You guys are just brats. Die!" He grabbed the lever and pulled on it once more. This time, the second door began to grind open. "You'll die. Everyone dies to this part."

The door wasn't even halfway open before something came crashing out. It was far bigger than the wolves and looked almost like a spider. It had eight sharp and piercing jagged legs, stabbing into the stone wall and the sandy floor, and venom dripping down its face. It let out a horrible screech, and from behind it, dozens of other smaller spiders, each still the size of a small child, came pouring out. A Grade B threat.

Ash nearly vomited and shook his head. "Fucking spiders! Row Wind Whirl!" A tornado blasted out of his wand and began to swirl out, kicking up a wave of sand and the jagged shards of glass the masked man had created earlier. The little ones were easy enough to take out, and Bruno also helped.

"Row Ice Barrage!" A series of bullets jutted out of the tip of Bruno's wand, tearing through the babies, but both his attack and Ash's barely fazed the mama spider, which jumped up onto the wall and began to scurry around. It spat out a glob of compressed venom, but Bruno rapidly formed a wall of ice in front of him that blocked it.

The spider jumped toward him and stabbed out with its legs, digging into the wall and shattering it as it tried to bite Bruno's head off. A hand grabbed Bruno by the back of his hair, and the masked man yanked him out of the way, tossing him to the side. Bruno tumbled and looked up just in time to see the spearman get rammed by the spider, which began to stab into the man's robes, tearing at them and spitting up more venom.

"Bruno!" Ash called out in a panic. An endless sea of the baby spiders kept coming out, and Ash attempted to blast more of them away with his wind, but the horde seemed like it wasn't going to end anytime soon.

"I'm on it, bro!" Bruno jumped back to his feet and ran toward the opening. Ash cleared him a way through the horde and used the wind to shield him. As he reached the door, Bruno pointed his wand out. "Row Ice Freeze!" A wave of cold air launched out, and ice rapidly sprouted from the ground and filled the gap in the door, blocking it off. "Row Ice Seal! Row Ice Barrier!" He formed another wall in front of it, and chains forged from ice wrapped around it, locking it down and stopping any more of the baby spiders from coming out.

"Row Wind Bird!" Ash called out. This was his best spell and the one he was most proud of. The wind twisted and took shape, becoming the outline of a large eagle forged from silver light and pure mana. The bird was as big as a normal eagle and, for the most part, was just as fast. It let out a loud cry and flew into the air. "Row Wind Bullet!" Ash called out, and not only did the spell blast from the tip of his wand, but it also launched out of the bird he had created.

Creating a construct was easy for most mages, but making a moving construct based on an animal or person was much harder. It was an advanced form of Conjuration and Enchantment, requiring the caster to program the creature's thoughts and movements in real time. It also used up a lot of mana to maintain, but if a mage could pull it off, they'd be able to use a powerful ability.

Dual casting. Not only could a mage cast a spell out of their wand or hand, but they could also cast a spell through the conjured mana beast they created. This meant any time they cast a spell, two of the same spell would be fired off simultaneously instead of just one, allowing for double the power. It did, however, also use up double the amount of mana, but mana was barely an issue for Ash, since he could breathe and absorb more.

Between him and his bird, Ash began to easily blast away the remaining little spiders, using two spells at once. When he was done, he turned just in time to see the spearman had managed to slay the big spider.

The oni-masked man was glowing again, bathed in his lightning. He jammed his spear into the spider's eye, rapidly twisting his body with inhuman speed and easily tearing the creature's head off. The spider crashed to the ground dead, and once again, the oni-masked man knelt and breathed heavily.

"Yo, spearman," Bruno began. "Maybe cast a different spell if that one keeps harming you?"

"I told you, I'm not a spearman." The oni-masked man grunted and tried to stand, but he tumbled a bit. That was when the man noticed a sizzling sound and looked down to find that his robes were starting to burn and melt. The spider's venom clung to his clothes and began to eat away at his outfit.

Without skipping a beat, the spearman grabbed the bottom of his robes and ripped them off of himself along with his mask, which had gotten hung and caught on the fabric. As they tumbled off of him, several people up top gasped, and some even whooped. Bruno did a double-take and looked stunned. As for Ash, he felt a bit of pride at being proven right. He wasn't exactly shocked to see a few scales littering the other boy's body; he had been expecting that, but everything else did catch him off guard.

As the robes and mask tumbled off of the tired spearman, Ash felt his heart nearly skip a beat before he forcefully reminded himself that this was a boy. As it turned out, the masked man was pretty. Like, really, really pretty. It could be said he was handsome, but it seemed almost more innocent than that.

The man had soft blonde hair, and his eyelashes were a little long and feminine. He had a smooth-looking face as well, and his eyes were almost innocent-looking and the color of lightning that had been caught in a bottle. He was tall but not lanky, he was fit but not muscular, and he was heavenly but spoiled.

Beneath the cloak, he wore black robes that clung to his body. They looked like the sort of clothing you'd see in Rossum. The only piece of 'armor' the man even had was a leather chest piece that fell over his right shoulder.

Now that the cloak was gone, it also became possible to see the scales that covered the man. If not for the scales, it could have been said that the golden-haired man was perfect, but these scales took away his angelic look. They were red, and a few were on the lower part of his face, going down to his neck, where they seemed to snake around it like a serpent. From a distance, it almost looked like a tattoo, but the longer someone looked at them, the more they'd realize the scales would twitch and unfold slightly.

Ash was shocked at the fact that the man was prettier than most of the girls he had seen in his village growing up. In fact, the man was even lovelier than the majority of the Arcane Knights he had seen. If not for the fact that the boy was a Magical Mutant, with a few scales scattering his body, he would have been almost perfect.

Everyone was staring. Not just Ash or Bruno, but the people up top, Biggie, and even a few of the spiders stopped and gawked at the nearly perfect man.

"What are you looking at?" The golden-haired man asked, clearly annoyed. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened to him. It was his curse to bear after all, the curse of beauty. "Haven't you ever seen a Magical Mutant before?" The voice was even softer than before and sounded almost divine now that the mask was gone.

Ash sputtered and looked away. "Are you really a guy?"

"Sorry, I'm not showing you my penis; I'm not into dudes."

"That's not what I meant!"

Up top, Biggie didn't look amused and growled. "They cleared two rounds? Who the hell did I pick up? I should have been able to tell how strong the pretty one was, but he blocked it all out? How? Who the hell is he really?" Biggie grabbed the lever and tugged on it as hard as he could, pulling it all the way back. "Screw it! Let's just skip straight to the end! A genuine Grade B+ threat! Die!"

The last two doors both began to open, and Ash turned just in time to see a wave of fire come blasting out of both ends. He gasped and stumbled back in horror as a salamander and an even bigger salamander both stepped out. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!"

"What are the chances?" Bruno sounded almost impressed.

"You two," The soft-spoken boy said, standing back up and grabbing his spear. "Do me a favor. Try to get your Salamander in the air. I'll take the bigger one on and finish them both off in one strike."

Ash wanted to argue, but he didn't have time as two waves of fire launched out. He twisted his wand, and he and his bird cast their barriers, but he already knew they wouldn't last long. His body shook, and part of him wanted to run away, but he couldn't. 'She' hadn't run. Even after she almost died, Olivia had stayed and fought the second Salamander all on her own and even managed to beat it.

Ash gritted his teeth and slammed his wand out, launching a blade of wind into the smaller beast. "Bruno! Do your thing!"

"Will do, bro!" Bruno called out, and the boy began to mutter and twirl his wand, getting ready to cast a spell. "Let's beat this game!"

Ash ran forward, letting out a loud cry, and began to launch more spells at the salamander. Even with his dual casting, he wasn't making a dent, but the beast was unable to fight back since he kept trying to target its eyes. The salamander kept its eyes closed in order to protect itself, leaving itself wide open. Ash reached it, and both he and his bird attacked at the same time.

"Row Wind Barrier!" He formed it beneath the salamander and used it to try and launch the creature up. His barrier formed a dome shape and spun rapidly, generating a wave of air like a fan, and was just enough to barely throw the creature up a few feet.

As the creature began to fall, Bruno finished his spell. "Row Ice Pillar!" He swished his wand, and a jagged frozen structure jutted out of the ground and lifted up, smashing into the bottom of the Salamander. The creature thrashed and screamed as it was lifted all the way up and pinned to the glass wall. "Alright, spearman, do your thing!"

Over with the pretty boy, he once again glowed and moved as if he were literal lightning, flowing in and out of the larger Salamander's attacks. There was a tearing sound, and red dripped down his back as something began to pull its way out. Ash felt sick at his stomach when he saw a tail start to sprout from the boy. It was long and thick, reaching over ten feet in length, and it whipped out and wrapped around the snout of the Salamander.

With his insane speed, the boy spun like he did with the spider, his tail fully twisting and twirling around the salamander. The creature was trapped, and it hissed and clawed, but the boy simply caused his tail to lift up and unwrap, throwing the salamander. It went flying through the air and rammed into the second one that was up top.

In under a second, the pretty boy released his spear and charged up more lightning. "I told you, I'm not a spearman. I don't use spears. Row Electric Bow!" The mana swirled and formed into a crackling greatbow, the size of the boy, which he wielded with one arm, and in his other arm, he placed his spear onto it and began to pull back. It really wasn't a spear, but rather one massive arrow. He took aim and then fired.

A jagged boom exploded through the arena, kicking up a wave of sand, and the arrow crashed forward, blowing the first and second Salamanders to bits, and then kept going, ripping through the glass roof and reaching past it. The people in the bleachers screamed as shards of glass sprayed out. Past the glass roof was another large stone room, which the entire arena had been built into. It was an underground cavern, but the arrow didn't care about any of that and kept going, going all the way through the stone and forming a hole above, which allowed sunlight to pour down.

The people in masks all let out loud yells and took off running now that they were in danger, and Biggie tried to stand up, but his legs gave out as he collapsed onto his ass. "H-How!" His eyes were wide and full of fear. "That glass shouldn't be able to be broken! You'd need a Grade S in Destruction! There's no way he can have that sort of firepower—"

"You're right. My Destruction isn't Grade S. It's S+." In a flash, the boy jumped up, going through the glass roof, and appeared next to Biggie, all in under a nanosecond. The boy's reptilian-like tail reached out and wrapped around Biggie's throat, lifting him off the ground, choking the small man. "At least, it's S+ once I build up to it. It took me a while, but I reached the charge I needed to break out. Now… One reason." The tailed boy said softly. "One reason as to why I shouldn't snap your throat?"

Biggie sputtered and gasped, grabbing at the tail, and his eyes were now wide and pleading. "P-Please?" He begged. "Y- You and I are the same! We're both Magical Mutants!"

The golden-haired boy clicked his tongue. "You truly should not have brought that fact up." The tail grew tighter and pulled the short man closer. "I rotted in a dungeon for years. Over and over, I felt my flesh change and twist and snap, and yet I was too frozen to do anything, forced to watch as the world forgot about me and my brother. I was supposed to be a protector. Growing up, it was my job to keep my little brother safe and ensure nothing bad could happen to him. I failed, though, and instead strayed off my path chasing after something that is likely already dead." The boy smiled. "So my punishment from Lady Fate was to become this." He gestured to himself. "You, on the other hand, are a cruel man. I have no doubt you and I are two very different Mutants."

"W- Wait!" The man begged.

"Goodbye." The boy's tail tensed, about to snap the man's neck, but before he could, jagged rocks stabbed out of the ground, forming cuffs around his arms and legs. The boy froze and grunted.

"That's enough." A voice from above announced. A platform made out of stone floated down, coming through the hole the arrow had blasted through, and on top of the platform, Gray stood, his arms folded behind his back. He had a sly grin on his face, and his eyes looked the pretty boy up and down. "I got a tip that Daffodil had a crime ring going on beneath the city and was ready to take it out today, but it looks like you beat me to it."

Down below in the destroyed arena, Ash and Bruno both gasped as they took in the appearance of the Arcane Knight. A real one had shown up, and a powerful one at that.

"What's your name?" Gray asked calmly, stepping off his platform.

The boy's eyes narrowed slightly, but he sighed and finally answered. "Sieg." He said. "My name is Sieg Hawker."

Gray's grin only grew, and he walked forward and grasped Sieg by the chin, looking down into his eyes. "Well, what do you. Lady Tori might have been right; fate really does seem focused on that fake Knight, if you're here." Gray chuckled, and his eyes sparkled. "Alright. How about we make a deal?"

For the second time, Gray was about to make a deal with a member of the Hawker family.

He had just found Davi's older brother.