“What happened?” cried Gardner, rubbing his eyes as though it would help. “Luna, what happened? Kyle? Tell me!”

  “It blew the camera feeds with its roar,” said Kyle, looking at the video feed, which displayed pure blackness.

  “What was it?” asked Luna, her voice low.

  They had been watching the livestream of Aurin and Alfred when Alfred had summoned a strange entity. Immediately, the feed had been overcome with static, but a shadowy shape was visible, if only barely.

  “He’s in serious trouble, isn’t he?” asked Gardner.

  Chief Knot rode over on his Flaround. “We’ve confirmed the secondary layer of the dome prevents us from reaching Aurin,” he said. “We can only monitor from the outside for now.”

  “No, we can’t,” said Luna, holding up her phone. “Alfred Ashmore summoned a Minakai with a black summoning stone and the video feed cut out not long after.”

  Two figures leapt through a broken window at the side of the stadium. They were both clad in dark body armour and one wore a mask bearing the symbol of a club. The other was a young woman with long red hair and a pained expression on her face. Gray carried Ruby towards the small gathering of people and Minakai. As though realising he was still wearing his mask, Gray ripped it from his face and tossed it onto the cobblestones.

  “We need to get her to a hospital!” he called. “Her leg’s been badly burned.”

  “You two!” spat Luna, marching up to the pair. “Tell me the truth. What do you know about Project Virtugil?”

  “I know exactly what I’ve already told you,” said Gray, looking irked that his truthfulness was still in question.

  “Oh, so you were in cahoots with them, dear Gray?” asked Ruby, flashing a sly smirk at Luna.

  Gray ignored her. “Why do you ask, Luna?”

  “It’s an artificial Minakai!”

  “It’s a… what?” Gray did a double-take and his eyes grew wide. “How can that be?”

  “Did you know?” asked Luna, staring daggers at the girl in Gray’s arms.

  “No!” replied Ruby.

  Gardner, Kyle, and a dismounted Knot approached. They were gazing past Gray and Ruby.

  “I bet he knew,” said Gardner, raising a finger and drawing Luna’s attention.

  A man in similar body armour to the other Blackjacks and wearing a spade mask was casually strolling by. “Ah, so it’s been summoned?” asked Jackson.

  “You knew about Project Virtugil?”

  Jackson laughed dryly. “Of course, I knew. I’ve known about Project Virtugil before we ever met, Luna.” He removed his mask, revealing his face. He dropped it on the ground and smashed the visor beneath his feet. “It’s something that’s the Ashmores have been cooking up for some time. Well, I say the Ashmores. It’s Alfred’s pet project, really.”

  “Tell us everything,” said Kyle.

  “Very well,” said Jackson with a shrug. “Project Virtugil is a genetic experiment that Alfred spent a considerably amount of time convincing his father to fund. He was dismissed time and time again, for Sir Ashmore never truly took his son seriously. How could he? Alfred is obsessed with games and often has a childlike perspective on matters.

  “Alfred, however, is much more cunning than his father ever gave him credit for. He found a way to siphon vast amounts of funds from Sir Ashmore, much of it from his own inheritance. His father discovered this and confronted him about it. Alfred introduced his father to Dr Holmes and revealed the initial prototypes of Project Virtugil, which was enough to appease The Collector. At last, Sir Ashmore saw the potential in Alfred’s work and gave the green light.”

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  Luna looked gravely concerned. “This was all done with Sir Ashmore’s approval?”

  Jackson scoffed. “You see, Alfred is the black sheep of one of the most prestigious families in Bretonian history. While their name may not be as prominent as it once was, they are still renowned in certain circles. Alfred has always been considered the oddball, with his peculiar interest in games and genetics. He both loves and hates his father at the same time and is prone to… outbursts when he doesn’t get his way. Frankly, he’s dangerous and unpredictable.”

  “Why are you being so forthright with us?” asked Kyle, eyeing Jackson with great suspicion.

  “Because I lost and no longer want to play the game,” the mercenary said, the side of his mouth twitching. “I’m finished with the Ashmores and will train myself in seclusion. One day, I’m sure I will return to battle Aurin. And, on that day, I will emerge victorious.”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” said Knot, reaching for a pair of handcuffs hooked on his belt. “You’re under arrest, my friend.”

  “For what?” asked Jackson with a smirk. He quickly retrieved a small ball and hurled it at the ground, sending a cloud of smoke throughout the gathering. When it dissipated, he was gone.

  “That rotten, little…” grumbled Knot. “Sniff him out, Flaround.”

  “You won’t find him,” said Gray, pulling out a small turquoise crystal. “When he threw the smoke bomb, he used a displacement crystal to teleport away. He’s probably summoned a Minakai and flown off by now.”

  “It won’t stop me trying,” said Knot, summoning two Dogember. “Lads, take a whiff of that mask and get to work.”

  The canine Minakai did as ordered and ran into the streets, hunting for Jackson.

  “What do we do about Aurin?” asked Luna, looking crestfallen.

  “We trust that he’s capable enough to finish things by himself,” said Kyle. “That’s all we can do.”

  *

  Aurin banished Spikruption, sending him back home. He had used three Minakai in the battle so far and only Spikruption had put up any sort of fight against Virtugil, who was still seemingly uninjured. He wondered if he was thinking too much in terms of elements when he had Minakai who were used to fighting with no elemental magic to speak of.

  “Zenoman!” called Aurin, summoning his golden alien to the battlefield.

  With his fists at the ready, Zenoman appeared. His blue aura pulsed within his eyes and around his four floating fists. He floated forward as quick as could be, his knuckles hungering for a devastating clash with the ferocious opponent standing with cold rage in his eyes.

  Virtugil swung a claw, aiming to bat Zenoman’s hands out of the way. The engineered Minakai saw the creature before him and the flying fists as insects to be swatted. This meant Zenoman was underestimated. As soon as the claw swiped, the four fists scattered and the alien himself rolled in mid-air, tumbling past Virtugil’s deadly nails.

  Zenoman arose, hovering before his foe’s face. Virtugil brought his head back and thrust it forward, meeting Zenoman’s forehead. The golden alien remained perfectly still as Virtugil recoiled in pain. The beast roared, raising its hands and clutching its pained head. Before it could react further, four fists delivered a flurry of swift blows to him, catching him off-guard.

  Alfred’s face contorted with disgust as he watched his perfect monster be successfully assaulted by a lesser opponent. His eyes grew wide as he quietly babbled incomprehensibly for a moment before shouting out.

  “Enough of this silliness, Virtugil! Freeze it!”

  Virtugil heeded his master’s command and the four fists froze in mid-air as the demonic beast’s eyes glowed turquoise.

  “Cosmic powers,” muttered Aurin, having intuited that Virtugil would be able to manipulate time and space.

  The Collector had cosmic elementals, meaning Alfred had access to them and could find a way to imbue Virtugil with their elemental strength. Luckily for Aurin, he had trained for such occasions. All he needed was another stroke of good fortune. If Virtugil was not proficient in the use of the element, Zenoman still stood a fighting chance.

  “Cast off!” demanded Aurin.

  A ground-shaking pulse erupted from within Zenoman, knocking Virtugil backwards. Its concentration lapsed and Zenoman retreated, leaving his fists to continue the battle. Putting his full effort into controlling them, the fists quadrupled in number, increasing from four to sixteen. Each sped around Virtugil, attacking him from all angles.

  “Ugh!” grunted Alfred, clenching his fists and sneering at Aurin. “That will not be enough. Virtugil, crush that golden freak. Now!”

  Glaring spitefully at Aurin, Virtugil ignited himself in fire. He drew in a deep breath and roared loudly, exploding with torrents of billowing flame spreading rapidly outward. Zenoman was engulfed in the flames and his conjured hands vanished as his real ones dropped to the ground, trying to roll the flames away. After several seconds, they limply spasmed and Zenoman himself was rolling to smother the flames engulfing his entire body.

  Amidst his wails of excruciating pain, Aurin raised a hand in banishment. In a flash of cream-coloured light, Zenoman disappeared.

  Aurin took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. He had five more Minakai he could summon and Zenoman was the first to do more than be a mild annoyance to Virtugil. Alfred himself was rattled by Zenoman escaping the power of his cosmic stasis, which was something he had clearly not expected. What Aurin needed was to force Virtugil to fight hard. That meant one of Aurin’s Minakai in particular was needed. The other four were needed for what came after that.

  “Zeera!” called Aurin.

  right here.

  Aurin's Team:

  Luna's Team: