Aster was a bit nervous as he approached The Selection Grounds once again, and received some hostile looks to say the very least, but Stahl, Cortist, and everyone else was with him this time, so Aster kept his head up as the group made their way through the entrance.
When they made it the other side, and found themselves once again in the large arena, the group split apart to go where they were needed. Cortist walked beside Byron Aschefell, excitedly talking with the old wolf as they made their way to the king's platform.
Cortist assisted the knight up the stairs along with The wolf's other son, Amboss. The young red fox Rust had been trailing behind them, more excited than anyone to see his aunt and her human friend swear into the Elite King's Guard.
Aster and Stahl made their way to the center of the arena, waiting with the other victors who were already present. Aster was met with a familiar face scowling at him among others from a short ways away.
It was Oust, the tiger he had barely managed to best on the second day. The one that had unmasked him seemed to have made it through his final matches as well, clearly holding a grudge.
Suddenly, Aster saw a large, familiar shadow encompass his own completely. The boy knew who it was before he ever turned to face them.
"Hello, little human. Did you miss me as much as I missed you?" Straga went to reach his hand up to brush against Aster's face, but Stahl slapped away the dragon's claws before he could get too close. The monster only paused to smile creepily at first, and then spoke in that deep, hushed, whisper of a tone that seemed to come straight from the boy's very nightmares.
"Ah, I see you've found a cute little guard dog to keep you safe for me, human. That's good. Thank you, puppy, for taking care of my toy... And I thought for sure I had broken it too. I'll let you hold onto it for now, but don't get too attached, mutt, I'll be coming back for it soon. Make sure you keep a little meat on those bones for me, alri-." What Stahl did next surprised everyone who was watching the confrontation.
The she-wolf actually started growling by the end of the taunt, and promptly jabbed the dragon right in the snout, cutting him off mid rant right in front of everybody in the stadium.
Straga's head only moved the slightest bit from the blow before he was slashing down on the she-wolf. Aster caught the dragon's swing with his shield without a second's hesitation, eliciting hushed whispers and gasps throughout the audience.
Straga's eyes narrowed for a moment in irritation, but then the monster took a step back, smiled at the human one last time, and withdrew. Aster felt amazing, despite letting the dragon get under his skin with his threats... There was just something about seeing Stahl defend him like that... and him immediately getting to protect the her after?
Well... It just made the human feel good about his hard earned progress, as if everything would be alright as long as they were fighting together. That they could possibly even defeat such monsters as a team.
A boom of thunder echoed across the stadium. It would seem all the winners were finally present, and the ceremony would get underway soon. Stahl noted there were 26 victors this year, herself and Aster included.
Aster saw a figure stand, but was just as shocked as most of the crowd was when it was not King Alocer Tonitrus that began making his way to the arena, but his son, Prince Tyfin Tonitrus, in his place. It would seem the prince would be doing the honors himself for the first time this year, truly marking a changing of the guard.
Aster felt relieved, the prince seemed much more accepting than his father had been, at least in regards to the human among beasts. As the young lion stepped up on the stage, every warrior before him knelt in respect. When he had arrived where he needed to be, upon the newly applied voice magic rune, he ordered them all to rise before he began making his opening speech.
Many listened on nervously, many smugly, and many angrily, but all remained silent regardless of their opinions while the prince spoke that day.
"People of Alora, I stand before you, as the future ruler of this great country, to carve upon our history the names we welcome into our highest ranks today. It is within my beliefs that this country has long suffered from the consequences of countless battle, but I truly aspire to believe that we are entering a time of healing for the scars we have carried for far too long at last.
"With an open mind, and by bountiful patience and forgiveness on all fronts, we can finally enter an era of true peace between kingdoms. We can be better than we ever were. We can look within ourselves, and know we can do better than we have ever done. We are coming into a new age, one that could be looked back upon some time in the future as the day everything changed. As the-"
Prince Tyfin was cut off by the sound of metal clashing with metal directly above him, screams erupted through the crowd as a few of the warriors to be inducted on that day rushed forward, desperately trying to reach their prince.
Aster could only struggle to keep the shield in place, he had barely managed to catch the huge blade in time. It's like it just appeared from nowhere, slicing through a tear in the very air above the prince that hadn't existed before. The blade itself was completely black, but the truly unnerving part of it was the dark, smoke-colored flames that appeared to rise up in murky tufts from within the cursed steel.
Aster was immediately forced down onto one knee from the sheer weight of the monstrous blade. He didn't know how anyone could swing such weight around. He had never caught something so heavy, and he hadn't had time to properly prepare himself. Nevertheless, he held until his prince was clear.
Oust the humamoid tiger was the first to reach the prince, tackling him in a pounce, sending the pair rolling off the ledge of the arena, finally clearing Aster to drop the shield that he was barely managing to hold.
As the foreboding sword cut down further with the obstacle removed, the tear it had appeared from grew larger. To Aster, it looked like a giant eye opening into somewhere terrifyingly dark. Somewhere that the hairs standing up on the back of his neck told him light never shone inside of.
Suddenly, a figure fully clad in black armor that looked like jagged gemstones stepped forward from the void. His entire body was hidden beneath the otherworldly obsidian, the only light that seemed to reflect anywhere on this creature was the burning yellow glow of eyes, or at least, Aster assumed the smoking orbs imbedded behind the helm were it's eyes.
The creature had a dark cloak that seemed to flicker like fire itself where the ends rose up and whipped about endlessly growing and shrinking like dying firelight. The helm (Or that's all Aster could think to call it anyways,) had wicked horns that spiraled up and out of the forehead area, and the entire arena smelled like rotting death now.
There was no mistaking it, this was undeniably a demon, and considering the entrance and the ability it had used to make it, it was a strong one they were up against.
The demon took a step forward, now standing where the prince had been seconds ago. He raised his sword up high, and hilted it into the tightly packed earth of the arena, sending shockwaves of dark magic out nearby that slammed into the victors on the stage with consecutive, powerful blasts.
Aster barely managed to take the full force of the first hit before he got his shield up and prevented himself from being hit too harshly again. The only other fighter who had managed to stay on the platform by the tenth wave was the dragon Straga, who had jumped and used his wings to avoid the secondary impacts as well.
Suddenly, a high pitched whistling sound shot off through the arena as Alice the mage launched herself from the king's platform at lightning speed, slicing through the sky as she closed in on the demon before even a full second had passed.
Aster watched in horror as the demon simply held out his free arm, and caught "The King's Cannon," herself by the throat, inches before she could slam into him.
The humanoid cat only smiled madly at the intruder, and quickly raised both hands before shouting the final part of her incantation, launching an unbelievable blast of energy directly into the face of the demon, bathing everything in the vicinity in a blinding light.
When her attack ended, only a smoking pile of ash remained where the demon had stood. The doorway seemed to have been closed up by the blast as well, and the calico cat seemed awfully smug about her quick work while she looked to her prince with a contempt smile.
Then a sword burst out of her chest!
***