As the others arrived, the next round was only minutes away. They had very little time to gather themselves before the next champions would be chosen.
Star: He stood up as Solarius and the others manifested, stepping forward and holding out his hand. "A pleasure to finally meet you, Solarius."
Solarius: He accepted the handshake firmly. "The pleasure is all mine, Star. I've been meaning to meet you." His gaze drifted past Star for a brief moment, landing across the arena where his brother stood. Noctum stared back at him in complete silence. A heavy mix of sadness and dread stirred in Solarius' chest, but he forced himself to ignore it.
Sophi: She grinned as she watched Solarius and Star shake hands, though her smile softened when she noticed Solarius' reaction to seeing his brother across the arena. She gently placed a hand on his back and rubbed it in small circles. "It's okay..." she said quietly. "Thank you for coming with us." She looked up at him with a soft, reassuring smile, hoping to ease even a little of the weight on his mind before shuffling back over to her seat.
Radna: He crossed his arms and looked around the group. "Great. We have a few minutes left on the clock, so we should probably decide who's next."
Solarius: He nodded to her, glancing over at Noctum before letting out a quiet sigh. "Okay, so...who of us is going next?" He looked down at Sophi for a moment before turning back toward the others.
Radna: "Me, obviously. I am the only one here who can actually retain any strength and keep myself up." He cracked his neck.
Alex: "Glaze much?" he scoffed, looking Radna up and down.
Radna: He laughed and smacked Alex on the back. "Trust me, buddy. You have no fucking idea."
Sophi: She met Solarius' gaze, wondering why he chose to look at her before the rest of the group. She then looked up at Radna as she heard him speak, giggling at his confidence. "Well, I believe in you!" she yelped. "Just try not to get too cocky. We have no idea who the opponent could be, and that might come back on you."
Radna: He rubbed her hair. "I doubt that very much, kiddo."
Announcer: "The next round shall commence! We have the slayer of the Eternal Beast, the King of the Unseen, RADNA!" The crowd roared louder than before. Radna had clearly built quite the reputation.
Radna: He appeared in the arena and slammed his fist into the ground, the impact echoing across the stadium as he hyped the crowd even further. "HAHAH!"
Announcer: "And in the other corner, we have...actually, we don't know who this is..."
????: A figure clad in black and grey plated mechanical armor appeared in a violent bolt of black lightning. The suit looked strikingly similar to Aiden's, though several details were missing. There were no lightning engravings, no Tesla coils, and the helmet was a solid plate with only a single diamond-shaped eyehole on one side. From that opening, void-like lightning slowly crackled and seeped outward. "..."
Sophi: She smiled up at Radna as he patted her head, the sound of the crowd cheering for him echoing through the arena. Despite it, a small worry still lingered in her mind, concerned that his confidence might somehow come back to bite him.
Her gaze shifted down toward the arena, eyebrows slowly furrowing as she studied his opponent. The armor looked strangely familiar, and the resemblance to Aiden did not escape her. "A-ah, who is that...?" she murmured.
Alex: He shrugged. "Fuck if I know. It's not anybody who looks familiar to me. I can't exactly use my abilities to find out either. It's against the rules to use outside powers."
Star: "Well, let's just hope it doesn't come to Radna using Azathoth..."
Multhi: "Who?" He quickly darted his gaze over to Star.
Star: He patted Multhi on the head. "That's not something you should concern yourself with, kiddo."
Sophi: "Azathoth...!? Isn't he just some silly Lovecraft creature?" she questioned, glancing down at Radna in the arena before shifting her gaze back up to Star with visible confusion.
Star: He chuckled nervously as he looked down at her. "Heheh...silly isn't the word I would use. That creature beat Lucium a long time ago."
Sophi: "It's real!?" she asked, a mix of fear and intrigue rushing through her. "And Radna can like, call it or something?"
Star: "Ehhh, from what I understand, it's more like a constant enemy situation, but they coexist for the time being. They have to agree to utilize one another."
Sophi: "Oh, shoot??? That's..." She glanced back down at Radna briefly. "That's...kind of awesome...?" She looked back up at Star, even more curious now. "But I'm guessing it wouldn't be good if he does have to use Azathoth..?"
Star: "Since this arena seems to be dampening our strength and power, utilizing an entity like that would put a lot more at risk. Both of them would lose control very quickly. We're talking about the collapse of existence and reality, if not more than that."
Sophi: Her jaw dropped as she stared at Star in disbelief. "W-What could even be more than that!?" she yelped.
Star: He stared down at Radna in the arena, slowly crossing his arms. "I don't even want to try and imagine something like that..."
Radna: He scoffed while looking the armored figure up and down. "Alright, buddy. Let's get this over with. I promise to kill ya quickly~." He casually walked forward toward the being, reaching out a hand as if the fight was already decided.
????: The figure looked down at Radna's extended hand, then slowly raised their head to meet his gaze. In the next instant, their body glitched violently and vanished, reappearing in front of him in a warped flicker of black lightning.
Radna: He tilted his head in confusion for a split second before the realization hit him. The figure was no longer standing where he thought it was. When he looked down, his right arm was completely gone, severed so cleanly he hadn't even felt it happen. A delayed wave of pain surged through him. "Ngh! What the fuck?!" He snapped his gaze upward toward the dark being, seeing them calmly holding his severed arm.
????: The armored figure casually tossed the arm back toward him, void-like lightning crackling faintly from the single diamond-shaped eyehole. "Overconfident..."
Sophi: "RADNA!!!" she cried out as she saw his arm, quickly covering her eyes and barely peeking through her fingers as they began to water. "F-Fuck...w-who is this guy??" she whined, struggling to handle the sight of him being so suddenly and brutally injured.
She slowly lowered her hands and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to calm down but clearly failing. Her breathing was uneven as she glanced around at the others, searching their faces to see how they were reacting, before her worried gaze drifted back down to the arena.
Radna: He grunted, picking up his severed arm and forcing it back into place. Flesh and bone reconnected with a rough crack as he rolled his shoulder once. "So you not only mimic Aiden's suit, but you're fast too? Shouldn't be too much of a problem." He summoned his hooks, the chained weapons spinning in his hands before he hurled them to either side of the armored figure.
????: "...You speak as if you know me already. You beings are all the same." He barely moved, watching the chains pass by him before slowly looking back at Radna.
Radna: He yanked the chains back hard. The hooks retracted violently, ripping through the fabric of reality around the figure as they tore back toward Radna's hands. A GlassHole fractured open around the armored being.
Shards of warped space folding inward as chunks of reality were dragged into the vortex before it violently detonated, blasting the stored energy outward across the arena. "Yeah, yeah. Shut up." He glanced up toward the others watching and gave them a confident thumbs up.
Sophi: She let out a small sigh of relief as Radna forced his arm back into place, hoping he was actually okay and not just brushing it off. When she heard him mention Aiden's name, her ears twitched, and she shot confused, worried looks at the others, wondering if they'd caught it, too.
"Now that he mentions it..." she murmured under her breath, her eyes locked on the two figures in the arena.
She gave a small smile when Radna flashed them a thumbs-up, but the feeling did little to settle her nerves. Her gaze lingered on the armored opponent, uncertainty still twisting in her chest as she watched the fight continue.
Radna: He felt the ground rumble beneath his feet as the scattered energy suddenly reversed direction, streaking back toward the center of the arena. The violent blast he had created began to reform itself, reality stitching back together as the GlassHole reassembled and shrank into a condensed sphere. "What the fuck?" he muttered, staring at it in confusion until his eyes snapped back to the armored figure.
????: The figure calmly clasped his hands around the small sphere, the unstable tear in reality compressing between his palms before vanishing completely. He slowly lifted his head toward Radna and shook it in quiet disapproval. "Tsk, tsk, tsk...something so simple won't work on me." The single diamond eyehole flashed a deep red as void lightning crackled faintly around the helmet. "Attack successfully copied."
Star: He suddenly shot up from his seat. "What is going on? I haven't seen Radna take this long to defeat an enemy since Lucium..." Sweat began forming along his brow.
Sophi: She placed her hand gently on Star's forearm, trying to calm both him and herself. "Y-You heard that comment about Aiden too, right...?" she whispered, attempting to hide the fear in her voice. "I've never seen Radna fight, b-but I thought he'd have it handled by now too..." She glanced up at Star worriedly before fixing her eyes back on Radna in the arena.
Star: "I did...but it would be impossible. Aiden has no variants across infinity, I have checked." He gripped the edge of their balcony tightly, leaning forward. "Radna! Do not mess around with him!"
Radna: "Aye! I got it!" he shouted back before turning toward the armored being again, rolling his shoulder, and narrowing his eyes. "...I think."
Sophi: She whimpered softly, staring at Radna's opponent again and studying every detail of the strange armor. "Mmh...Star, I hear you. I don't doubt you for a second...but..." She took in a slow breath, her ears lowering slightly. "He does seem a lot like him, no...?"
Star: "I see some resemblance, but it is an infinite place out there. Tons of timelines... I'm sure someone else could end up doing similar things."
????: The GlassHole suddenly reformed at the tips of his two fingers. He raised his hand and pointed it at Radna like a gun. With a sharp pulse, he fired it. The attack tore forward through the arena, reality splintering apart in jagged fragments along its path.
Radna: He reacted instantly, swinging one of his hooks across his body and smacking the attack away before it could fully connect. The warped tear shattered off course. "I was told not to fuck around with you, so I'm sorry." In the next moment, he blinked forward, appearing directly in front of the armored figure and slashing downward with both hooks in a brutal cross strike.
????: The figure moved just as fast. His hand shot forward, grabbing Radna by the horns before the blades could land. He slammed Radna's skull straight into his helmet once, twice, again, the metallic crack echoing with each impact. With a sudden pivot, he hurled Radna over his shoulder into the air, then vanished in a flicker of black lightning. He reappeared above him and drove his heel down like a hammer.
Radna was smashed straight into the arena floor. The impact erupted like a shockwave, the ground splitting outward in jagged fractures as the force rippled through the arena and violently disturbed the pool below. The figure stood over the crater as dust and debris lifted around him. "As you wish."
Radna: He snapped his fingers sharply. Instantly, thick chains erupted from the figure's own shadow, latching onto his body and violently yanking him upward before slamming him into the arena floor. Again. And again. Each impact thundered through the stadium as Radna dragged the chains around like a ragdoll, fury pouring off him. "I'm sick of this fucking shit!" The entire arena trembled from the force of it.
????: His body suddenly glitched. In the next instant, reality twisted, and Radna was the one bound in the chains. The armored figure now stood free, watching him struggle. Radna's angry expression held for a moment before the realization set in that the roles had completely reversed. "Arrogance."
The figure glitched again. Radna's body jerked violently as if struck dozens of times at once. Cracks splintered across his body and armor, spreading rapidly like shattered glass.
Radna: Low whispers began leaking from the fractures as he dropped to one knee. From one of the cracks, a thin tendril slowly pushed outward, writhing slightly before one of the glowing runes on his body suddenly flashed bright. The rune pulsed with power, sealing the cracks across his form and forcing the tendril back inside as his body rapidly repaired itself.
"Alright." A thin trail of smoke curled from the edges of his grin as he slowly stood back up, rolling his neck as if the punishment had only annoyed him.
Sophi: She whimpered quietly as she saw the cracks spread across Radna's body, her stomach twisting at the sight. It took everything she had to keep looking at the arena. Part of her wanted to cover her eyes again, but she forced herself not to. All she could do was watch and hope for his victory...but she wasn't so sure anymore.
This unfamiliar opponent was incredibly strong. Terrifyingly strong. As much as she hated to admit it, there was something strangely intriguing about the way he fought, the way he moved as reality itself bent around him.
Her eyes watered again, and she quickly wiped them with the back of her hand before focusing back on the arena, doing her best to keep her attention locked onto Radna.
Radna: He stared down at the armored figure, his mind racing. By now, it was obvious. Anything he demonstrated in front of this thing could be copied. Fine. Then he would give him something that could not be understood fast enough to steal.
"Ꞧᵾꞥīȼ Ꞩꝑēłł: Ʉłⱦīᵯⱥⱦē Ⱥɍꞩēꞥⱥł."
The countless tiny runes etched across Radna's body ignited all at once. Symbols flared across his skin, arms, horns, chest, and legs until his entire body glowed like a blazing constellation. Energy poured off him in violent waves, the air around him trembling as if reality itself was struggling to contain the surge. The arena floor cracked beneath his feet as the power built, his body shining brighter and brighter with overlapping layers of magic activating simultaneously.
????: The armored figure took a slow step back, the diamond eyehole flickering as it tried to analyze the eruption of energy. For the first time since the fight began, he did not move to counter. There was too much happening at once to read.
Star: He leaned forward over the balcony, eyes wide as he studied the storm of power radiating from Radna. "Incredible..." he murmured. "He activated every single rune he has learned over the years, all at once. There's too much going on now for him to copy anything."
Sophi: Her eyes widened as the runes across Radna's body ignited. The glow pouring off him was almost mesmerizing, lighting the arena in violent pulses of energy. She shifted her gaze toward his opponent, trying to read any reaction from the armored figure, curious how he would respond to Radna being completely covered in power like that. Even with the fear twisting in her chest, she believed in Radna with all of her heart.
Radna: He clenched his fist. Reality around the arena warped violently. In the next instant, the armored figure was suddenly forced forward as space itself folded, slamming his own body straight into Radna's waiting punch. The impact cracked part of the helmet's faceplate, and a thin line of blood began leaking out beneath it.
Radna slowly opened his hand. For a brief moment, everything froze. Then trillions of microscopic shockwaves detonated across the figure's body all at once.
Sophi: She inhaled sharply and held her breath as Radna opened his hand, her eyes locked on the scene below. Fear and curiosity mixed in her chest as she waited to see what would happen next. Quietly, she tried to gather what little energy she could, hoping somehow her hope would reach him, hoping it would help keep Radna safe.
Solarius: He gently placed a hand on her head and began scratching softly behind one of her cat ears.
Radna: He suddenly burst out laughing. His body glitched in the same strange way the armored figures had earlier, flickering through space as he appeared above him and began driving punch after punch down into his body. Each strike hammered the figure deeper into the arena floor, sending violent tremors through the entire stadium.
The ground cracked and buckled beneath them, and the green pool far below began to boil from the overflow of energy. From its depths, the spirits of the damned screamed out in distorted agony as the power rippled through the arena.
Sophi: She let out a soft purr and leaned slightly into Solarius's touch, instantly feeling a bit calmer as he scratched behind her ear. She glanced up at him briefly and smiled, her tiny cat fangs peeking over her lower lip before she returned her attention to the fight.
She gently placed her hand on Solarius's wrist as she continued watching Radna. Despite everything, she still hoped neither of them would push things too far. And deep down, she was still curious about the strange opponent Radna had been forced to face.
????: His body glitched violently, the distortion ripping through the arena. In an instant, everything rewound. The shattered ground repaired itself, the boiling pool calmed, and Radna stood once more at the moment he had first activated every rune on his body.
Radna: He blinked, looking around in confusion. "What-"
????: The armored figure suddenly appeared in front of him and drove a brutal punch across Radna's face, smashing him into the arena floor. He stood over him, slowly looking him up and down. "If you fought me anywhere else, you would have killed me there. But unfortunately for you, I am smarter nonetheless." His voice remained cold and calculated. "You would have won. Death does not end me."
He thrust his hand straight into Radna's chest. Suddenly, he recoiled, jumping back in visible alarm. He stared at his own forearm as dark, corrupt energy crawled across it. "What the hell do you have inside you..."
Radna: His chest sealed itself back together as he rose to his feet again, rolling his shoulders calmly. "Something you can't handle..." He cracked his neck before vanishing forward, appearing directly in front of the armored figure and throwing a punch so powerful it tore the helmet and head clean off his body.
????: The headless body dropped to its knees, motionless, as if a machine had finally powered down.
Radna: He scoffed and kicked the lifeless body straight into the green pool below. A moment later, he was teleported back up to the balcony with the others.
Announcer: "And the winner of this round goes to Radna! Another point for the side of light! Only needing two more points to secure victory!" The announcer's voice faltered slightly when his gaze drifted upward toward Noctum. Below in the arena, something moved.
????: The headless body slowly climbed back out of the pool. With a sharp crack, it grabbed its severed head and snapped it back into place. The figure held a glowing ghostly spirit in one hand, the essence of a fallen god, before forcing it into his body. The energy was absorbed instantly, repairing all the damage he had taken.
Black lightning erupted across his armor as he raised a finger and pointed directly toward the balcony where the others stood. Then he vanished.
Sophi: "Yes, Radna, yes!!!" She cheered, a huge smile spreading across her cheeks as she watched him win. Her eyes stayed on the strange armored figure, curiosity lingering as she saw him reform himself before suddenly vanishing.
Radna: He patted Sophi on the head. "Ah, yes! I knew I was gonna win that for y'all! I fucking called it!" He grinned widely, pumping his fist into the air.
Alex: He laughed, trying to hide his smile at how embarrassingly proud Radna was being right now.
Sophi: She leaped up and wrapped around Radna tightly, hugging him as she rubbed his back. "I'm so proud of you, I'm so glad you're alright..." She smiled widely, looking up at him for a moment before leaning back into the hug. "You did amazing!"
Noctum: He slowly stood up, and the arena fell completely silent. "For the next round, I challenge Solarius against my personal fighter, Dusk & Dawn." He placed his hands behind his back, staring across the arena directly into Solarius's eyes.