On another world, far away.

Sun Wukong sighed, the blue Halo above his head gleaming softly. The air around him crackled with power as he faced off against an enormous Divine Golden Lion. Behind him, the unconscious form of a giant Heavenly Quetzalcoatl rested, particles of light bleeding off of it.

"Don't do this, my friend." Sun Wukong said, his eyes flashing.

"You don't want to walk this path."

The huge lion simply stared back at the monkey, its entire body tensed.

"I am Zero." His voice rang out, full of grandeur and might.

"I-

"Yes, I know who you are." Sun Wukong cut him off, waving his hand casually. Despite the quiet tone of his voice, his words thundered in the air, a magnificent orchestra of brilliance.

"More importantly…"

"I know what you are."

Sun Wukong stepped forward,

"I can see through you, my old friend."

Zero's eyes took on a red tint as he responded,

"I wi-"

Before Zero could finish his declaration, the body of the Monkey King blurred, his hands clasped together as he launched himself forward at the Divine Golden Lion. The staff he wielded latched onto his back, held secure.

As he jumped forward, his clasped hands writhed.

"Curse Magic."

"Release the Seventh Seal: Herculean Strength."

As soon as he finished speaking, his right hand hovered over the left side of his chest, right on his heart. He then stabbed down with his fingers, blue light sliding off them to form the shape of a riveting seal. This seal sank into the flesh of his chest, and seemed to react, taking on a dark glow.

Sun Wukong's body began to gleam as his muscles bulged, his physical form transforming from that of a small, average-sized monkey to a hulking, 3 meter tall muscular ape. His skin itself stretched outward, veins popping out as every fiber of his being seemed to become energized and mighty.

"Release the Sixth Seal: Golden Body."

Another collection of energy swarmed from his hands towards his heart, an image of a seal forming and sinking into his chest.

Sun Wukong's body that had bulged out with muscles began to condense, shrinking back down to around 2 meters in height. The air around him seemed to solidify, as if his body had become incredibly dense and was beginning to physically affect the world around him.

His every movement was imbued with virile energy, derived from the Law of Might, one of the strongest Laws that focused on physical power, and the Law that the Monkey King had mastered completely.

All of this took place in less than a fraction of a second.

Sun Wukong's attack in the middle of the lion's response took Zero by complete surprise.

BOOOOOOM

With a resounding impact, Sun Wukong punched Zero in the chest.

The world seemed to explode around them.

A colossal, roughly 1000 meter wide crater formed in the ground. Stone and rock shrapnel shot off into the air, while the earth beneath them was obliterated, reduced to dust. Enormous, heaving mountains were thrown up into the sky, cracking and breaking up into smaller pieces at the force of the blow.

Zero's 60 meter tall lion form was sent flying, knocked nearly 2,000 meters away. Blood spurted out of the mouth of the immense creature, several of its ribs cracked. Its chest was caved in slightly, the impact breaking past its powerful defenses.

Before it could keep flying, the giant lion slammed its legs down into the ground, a ferocious growl bursting forth from its lips. An unending stream of gold and white light wrapped around it as it forcibly threw off the impact from the Monkey King.

Zero's eyes glowed red as he looked at the diminutive form of the Monkey King. Even from a distance, he could see the air around the powerful creature remaining still, despite the explosive storm raised by the attack.

Zero locked gazes with the Almighty Ruler of the Graal Alliance, his eyes flashing. A small line of blood dripped down his mouth.

"You cannot stop destiny, monkey." Zero whispered.

Sun Wukong raised his right hand in front of him, shifting his body slightly to the side.

"Release the Fifth Seal: Soul Acceleration."

"Release the Fourth Seal: Latent Burn."

Sun Wukong's body shook, outwardly not changing much. His eyes, however, seemed to become endless, gaining a depth that could not be matched. His physical form seemed to become even stronger and mightier, all while standing still. As this happened, he winced, his eyes twitching as if an old injury was paining him.

Zero's entire physical form blurred as he raised his legs. A massive ball of energy formed in the air in front of him, made up of pure gold and white power. This energy was condensed from the very air itself around Zero, and the unending supply of energy within him, all in a split second.

WHOOOOOOOSSH

This attack took only a split second to summon, yet seemed to tire the giant lion greatly, causing its body to tremble from exertion. The golden light that surrounded it trembled in fury, particles shivering and shuddering.

A concentrated beam of raw might shot forward, moving at an extremely fast pace. It melted through the air, destroying space itself as it ripped forward.

An Ability only a Divine Golden Lion possessed, Annihilation Beam.

This deathly beam of destruction slammed into the waiting hand of Sun Wukong.

"Shifting Waves: Turn the Sea."

Sun Wukong's hand twisted, ever so slightly.

The almighty beam of destruction hit that waiting hand and physically turned, blasting just to the right of the Monkey King as it was redirected, flying off into the sky high above them.

Zero's chest heaved as it stared at the Monkey King, his eyes wide.

"You cannot defeat me, my lion friend." Sun Wukong's voice echoed out as he began to step forward. Every step he took formed a hundred meter wide crater, throwing even more stone and rock into the already chaotic air.

"You can never defeat me." The powerful monkey's eyes flashed, absolute confidence rolling off of him.

A flurry of emotions passed through Zero's eyes as he simply looked at the monkey.

And then turned around, his body blurring as he fled. Golden light shook around the lion's body, helping it draw every iota of remaining power to move faster, to escape the monstrously powerful monkey.

Sun Wukong watched it leave, his body gradually returning to its normal state. The rich, blue Halo around his head vanished. The body of the Heavenly Quetzalcoatl lay on the ground a few thousand meters behind him, having been tossed around due to the force of the battle.

Several moments passed. By this time, the Divine Golden Lion had retreated more than a thousand miles, reaching a World Bridge that connected to this planet. The lion had already fled onto it, its body leaking blood that instantly vaporized.

As soon as Sun Wukong was certain the lion was gone, he fell down on one knee. Blood spurted out of his lips as his body trembled. His hands shook, his entire body shuddering for a moment.

The powerful, awe-inspiring Aura of the Almighty Ruler of the Graal Alliance seemed to fade for a brief moment.

Becoming a single monkey standing alone, bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"This burden… These hands of mine, they do shake, Master." He muttered, looking at his trembling palms,

"I am but a simple monkey. Not a divine lion, nor a godly phoenix. Not a fierce dragon, nor a heavenly serpent." He sighed,

"Just a monkey with a pair of special eyes."

"I am unworthy."

He was silent for a long moment.

"But I will try to stop him, my beautiful Master." He bowed his head as he looked briefly to the sky, his eyes gleaming.

"You were right, in the end. He has returned. The madness overtook him."

"I only fear I am not enough."

He shook his head,

"You picked an unworthy disciple, Lady Ausra."

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

'Ausra, does Gworen Ice have any weaknesses?' Dorian asked as they sprinted down the hallway. The air was growing colder and colder, cold enough that it was causing his energy to drain in order to stay warm.

The soft, feminine voice of Ausra replied,

'Extreme heat causes it to evaporate instantly. The magical properties of the ice make it extremely difficult to melt.'

'Can my Emerald Flames melt it?' He queried.

Ausra was silent for a moment before responding,

'To some degree, yes, but very slowly.'

'Hmm.' Dorian thought, considering.

According to Arial, the Red Portal was located past a bridge over a thousands-of-meters deep chasm. The Traveling Ice Waterfall swarmed down this chasm, crashing down on the bridge and under it.

They needed to melt a path through this waterfall and cross the bridge before them. The melted ice would vaporize, while the ice immediately surrounding it would solidify, disrupting the odd spatial phenomena that allowed it to move like a liquid, forming a route they could pass through.

Several more minutes passed as Dorian and Arial frantically descended. Soon they were forced to melt through several walls of ice, massive chunks that blocked the way entirely instead of just proving irritating.

Finally, after 15 more minutes of dashing through twisting passages and melting through any obstructing ice, they found themselves standing in a huge underground hall.

It was the biggest room in the gargantuan underground stronghold that Dorian had seen yet. It must've stretched for a thousand meters wide, and hundreds of meters long. Ice coated everything, as expected, but beneath that ice, Dorian could make out dozens of what appeared to be forges, where a blacksmith would toil and work, smithing weapons, tools, and armor.

"We're here! The Ancient Refinery!" Arial yelled. She ran forward, past all the forges and towards the exit on the other side of the room, a large and vast open doorway that stretched all the way to the ceiling nearly a hundred meters above them.

Beyond that doorway, Dorian could make out a wall of crystalline blue.

It was cold. Terribly cold. Dorian's breath froze in front of him as he exhaled, tinkling to the ground as tiny, little pieces of ice. He shivered uncontrollably, unable to help himself.

He took a deep breath, forcing his body to warm up. He glanced at his status as he returned to normal.

He was draining roughly 10 points of energy a minute. Equal to the worst of being exposed to the brutal surface weather that Dorian had felt while traveling from the World Bridge.

Dorian ran after her. Eventually, the duo stopped just outside the wide crystalline wall.

Arial held up a hand, her humanoid form shivering as well. Gradually, a beautiful sword of light formed in her palm, one she held in front of her.

She jumped forward, stabbing the wall of ice.

creeeeeaak

The entire wall exploded into shards of ice, peppering Dorian and Arial with cold, frozen bits of water. He held his hands above his head, shielding him as he looked past the now collapsed wall.

Almost immediately, Dorian had to brace himself to stop from being pushed backwards.

Past the fallen wall of ice, he was left staring at a long bridge whose end he could not see. The bridge seemed to be made of pure gold and gave off a very faint golden light. It was covered in smooth carvings of Grakons using their enormous blades and other Grakons smithing those same swords, showing a constant cycle between the two. From a birth of creation to a mire of destruction.

There was no frost or ice coating this bridge. The ice that fell from the wall they shattered seemed to melt off the bridge as soon as it touched it.

Dorian could only see about a dozen meters onto the bridge, where the stone walls to the side still coated it. Past that opening, everything transformed into a chaotic rush of white and blue.

Rushing down onto the bridge, and sliding off it smoothly, was an unending stream of pure, blue and white ice. This ice held a seemingly incredible force, one that blasted into Dorian's ears now that the restraining ice wall had been destroyed. The sheer fury of the ice as it collided with the magic bridge and ricocheted off was incredible. The raw might of an abnormal force of nature.

The Traveling Ice Waterfall.

To reach the Red Portal, they would need to cross past this.

'20 points a minute.' He muttered, shaking his head at the drain. It was ridiculously cold down here. A regular human would freeze to death in merely seconds.

"Ready?" Arial turned to face Dorian, her Sun Sword giving off a warm, yellow glow as she held it in her hand.

"Ready." Dorian took a deep breath, warmth starting to gather in his chest as he prepared his Emerald Flames.

The duo stepped forward and began to traverse the bridge.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

"We're in! Everyone, move out! Tillow, carry Jasper. We'll take him with us!" Siegfried bellowed as he gave out his orders. There was no safe place to leave one of their comrades, not out here in this city of death.

"Mika, use your Light Magic to track the trail they left. No matter how fast they are, the remnant heat signatures should still be present for at least a few more hours in the eyes of the laws of the universe." Gerulf shook his head as he heard the Axios Team Leader's orders.

To be reduced to tracking via heat signatures. They had truly fallen far. If only their Fate Wizard teammates had survived.

Still, in a frozen environment like this, especially in the underground stronghold where there was very little physical movement, it should prove an effective tracking method for at least a few hours. After that, though, the trail would fade completely.

"Let's move!" The Shades rushed into the stronghold, in pursuit of the Lightsworn Fox. The door they damaged and forced open slowly began to regenerate, this time much slower than before. The damage it had suffered consecutively had started to take its toll.

Their forms vanished as they disappeared, leaving the icy plateau abandoned and empty.

Thus, no one at all was present to notice the resounding battle and clashes of the Iron Giant and the fallen Grakon King begin to fade away, the vicious battle drawing to an end.

An end earlier than expected by all sides.

Several long minutes passed.

THUD

A beaten, bruised figure of a scaled minotaur landed on the empty plateau, staring up at the Traveling Ice Waterfall that pierced into the ground from above for a brief moment, the white cloth that was wrapped around its blinded eyes twitching.

Gradually, the head of the undead Grakon King began to turn, drawn to the slowly regenerating door.

It cocked its head to the side, an undecipherable expression crossing its face.

Slowly, it began to walk forward.

.

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