Inside one of the Colosseum rooms.

“How is she?” asked Artemis.

“Fine, but she’s spent out. She was just a few seconds short of a mind down, so she’ll be out of it for a while.” Circe said having fully healed Ai.

“Hmm…” Artemis said beside her. “You did very well. It impressed everyone.” She leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “Sleep now and regain your strength.”

Knock! Knock!

“Hello~,” said Hermes. “Um, Cirrus, could I talk to you for a second?”

“Go, I’ll stay with her.”

“Hm.”

Cirrus leaves with Hermes, leaving Artemis alone with Ai.

“Up… date.” She said weakly.

“Rest, I’ll do it for you.”

 

Corridor of the Colosseum.

“So what’s up?”

“Well… most of the contestants gave up.”

“What?”

“Yeah, so they gave up because they want to fight you. Seems that fight really invigorated them,” Hermes said with a smile.

“… So all the contestants wish to fight me?”

“Yup, each one or well, the more hungry adventures are.”

“Like Ais or Bete?”

“Exactly! So are you up for it? There are even the Gulliver Brothers and Allen in there?”

“I’m sure. Go announce that should they wish to fight me, they simply need to step into the ring. They can go one at a time or all at once.”

He could see the grin on his face grow.

“I look forward then!” he walked away with a pep to his step.

“… Time for a show. Hecton.”

From his shadows, his guitar popped up, along with his spear.

 

Colosseum.

“Hello everyone!! Now, something has come up with our contestants. They opted to bow out of the tournament so they could challenge the Uncrowned Emperor! So said the contestant in his own words: should you wish to battle him one at a time or all together, it matters not to him! So long as you step upon this arena, you are his challenger!!”

The first person to jump into the ring was Bete, then by Ais, Tiona, and Tione.

“Seems the youngsters of the Loki Familia are taking up this challenge first!” Hermes said as Asfi takes him up to the balcony.

“Remember Bete to work together.” Said Tiona.

“I know… if we want to have a chance of winning, we need to fight all at once.”

“Oy, Ais, is there anything you can tell us?” asked Tiona. “When were we helping Argonaut? He didn’t really show us much of his strength?”

“He’s strong… very, very strong. His movement from what Finn and the others said is very odd and inhuman when he fought Ottar years ago.” Ais said.

“Then I’ll hold him down as best as I can.” Said Bete. “I’ll take his magic and blast the fucker!”

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪~

A guitar came from the corridor, and the people in the Colosseum kept quiet as the sound got louder and more enchanting and then.

“♪♪♪♪♪♪”

A beautiful voice filled the people’s ears.

“♪♪♪♪♪♪”

Even the gods closed their eyes to pay attention to this song. With each word, he says the cleaner and more melodious it becomes.

“♪♪♪♪♪♪”

From the corridor came Cirrus, guitar in hand and spear on his back.

“It’s been a long time since I heard you perform Cirrus.” Said Ais.

“Like it? I made a few more songs, but you know, busy with other stuff,” he said, tossing his up guitar to Asfi.

“Don’t throw your stuff, Cirrus!” she said angrily.

“Sorry!”

“Can we get started, bard?” Said Bete.

“Sure, I’m ready when you are.” He said, stretching.

The four of them could tell from his lax expression this was another day to him.

“Then get ready!!" Bete shouted. "Ais!!”

“[Tempest]!!!”

A fortress of wind covered her and some of it seemed off around Bete’s legs.

“Interesting.” Cirrus as he spins and swings his spear around. “Let’s see how strong you all are!!”

The four of them quickly charged at him but found his spinning was stronger than they had expected. They could feel and hear the air getting cut and a nice breeze of air was coming off from the swings.

“[Lil Rafaga]!!!”

Ais charged into the spear swings, and she stopped the swing, but it blew away her wind.

“Guh!!”

“You are always stronger with two hands, Ais, remember that!” He placed his other hand on the spear, and he forced Ais to buckle under his strength. The ground beneath her cracks and breaks as she falls to her knees from his spear.

“Haaa!!!”

Both Tiona and Tione came at him with their fists curled up.

Cirrus pressed Ais harder and used her being pinned down to jump like a foothold and with his spear in hand relieving Ais of the pressure, but now he was faced with two Amazons.

“Haaaaa!!!!!” they kept shouting as they reel back their fists for a powerful punch.

“To straight forward.”

Cirrus simply swung, using the flat of the spear to knock to the side and back to the earth.

“Up here!!” Bete shouted with Ais’s wind still in his boots.

“How cunning using them as distractions but sadly.” Cirrus, with a grip on his spear, threw it into the ground and used its momentum of it for him to reach even higher. A double jump.

“!?”

Bete didn’t think one could even do that. He had essentially done a double jump with his spear as a handhold for it, and now Cirrus was closer to him in the air than he would have liked.

“Get back down!!” Bete shouted.

Bete came in with a wind-imbued rider kick but:

“Sorry Bete, but you’re going to be a sword now.”

“Eh?”

Cirrus grabbed his leg with an iron grip so firm it brings him pain trying to move.

“Now cover your head.”

“!?!?”

Cirrus swings him back to the ground below like a sword with one arm. As he was about to swing, Cirrus holds Bete with only his finger and he swings down, he grips the leg and pushes down with his thumb to make a powerful overhead attack.

Voom!!

Cirrus swung him down into the earth with such force it shook the entire Colosseum, much like with Ai and Ottar.

RUMBLE~

 

“Gaaah!! That looked so bad!!” said Loki. “I have never seen such a brutal knockout! I would be impressed if it wasn’t my kid!”

“Such power… he could lift an entire warship with no effort… Bete is going to be sore in the morning.” Said Gareth.

“And he isn’t even using his magic. This is his pure strength and reflexes.” Said Riveria.

“I can’t even fathom how much more of a monster he would be if he used his magic,” said Finn. “And this is the person Ai was sparring with for 7 years.”

“I can see that… such strength is a bit hard to really consider.” Said Loki.

Up on top of the Colosseum in Freya’s section.

“His status is far stronger,” Ottar said, sitting down. “His stats from his previous levels are really showing.”

“Didn’t you say his strength and speed were well above his level?” said Allen.

“I did all of his stats on his previous level. Must have at least been in the S class, maybe higher.”

“I say… He’s a low to mid-level 10.” Said Freya. “His mother wasn’t even as near this level of strength and speed.”

In the coliseum bleachers.

“Gulp!” they all swallowed their salvia.

“B-Bell…” said Welf, sweating a bit. “You trained with him??”

“Yes… but from the looks of it, he was holding back.”

Bell looked at Cirrus with a more keen eye. From how he moved, it was reminded him of Ais and Lili, that is their practicality and pragmatism. Lili showed this the most when she would show him some ways of handling a knife.

“You should be thankful he did. He could solo the dungeon all the way to the 58th floor.” Said Ryuu. “All for material to smith with.”

“I heard from the Vice-Captain of the Hephaestus Familia that he solo-ed the Balor on the 49th floor and even the Udaeus long before the Sword Princess at the age of 10.” Said Welf memorized by his form and strength. “This… is the man. The one who showed every smith that reaching the gods was possible…”

“I heard when he did that Lady Hephaestus would have offered herself to him for one of his creations had he not agreed to her offer.” Said Ryuu.

“W-what!?” said Hestia and Welf.

“Of course, that was simply rumors spread by her rivals,” Ryuu said, clarifying it.

“I know Hephaestus has a hobby for items that pique her interest, but I don’t think she would go that far…” said Hestia. “Then again she said she would have gladly offered herself for one of his works when I asked about that enshrined hammer.”

“Then it seemed those rumors had some truth to them,” Ryuu said.

 

Back to the fight.

As the smoke clears, they find Bete knocked out with his hands covering the back of his head.

“N-no way!” said Tiona, a bit scared Bete of all people, was taken out so easily.

‘He’s strong! Terrifyingly strong! I can understand why so many of the Amazonians from Telskyura wanted to find him.’ Thought Tione.

“Haaaa!!!” Ais quickly grabbed his spear and, with all of her strength, pushed it deeper into the ground. “Now your spear will be harder to remove!”

Cirrus finally lands back on the ground like a cat. They made no sound.

“Guess I’ll have to resort to fisticuffs.” Cirrus then got into a fighting stance. “Let’s see how strong you've gotten, Ais.”

Ais charged in again but was stopped by Tiona and Tione, going in front of her.

“We’ll handle him! Find a weak point!” shouted Tiona. “Hand to hand is our specialty!!”

“Don’t say what the plan is!!” shouted Tione.

Cirrus said nothing and simply took a deep breath.

“Haaaaa… Let’s do this.”

First Tione came in with a right hook and Tiona with a left kick.

Cirrus met Tione’s fist with his own, and he took Tiona’s kick and held it with his right arm.

Crack!!

Thud!

“!!”

Before Tione could even grunt in pain, Cirrus had already slammed Tione with Tiona sending them flying to a wall.

Crash!!

Boom!!

“…” Cirrus looked at his left fist and felt the right side of his ribs. “Good strikes, another level, and they could have left a light bruise and a light numbness to my fist.” He looked at Ais, who didn’t even have time to move much.

‘This… This is a level 8! He took them down like it was nothing… He hasn’t even used his magic yet nor even sweated.’

Ais began to analyze how she was going about it. He was a genuine monster that she couldn’t see herself winning.

“Come on, Ais, if you simply stand and do nothing in front of a strong foe, you might as well turn tail and run, but…” he raised a brow. “You aren’t the type to run away so easily now, are you?”

He poked the part of Ais that wanted to grow, that wanted more and more power, his power.

“No… I’m not! I know I am no match, but I will at least make you use your magic! (Awaken, Tempest)!!!”

WHOOOOOSH!!!

A powerful, impregnable fortress of wind surrounded Ais. The wind covered her blade, compressing it more and more.

“That attack… she’s using it again.” Said Lefiya.

“Watch Lefiya, you are going to see what a magic from a mage who reached level 8 can do.” Said Riveria. “Remember well, as he is the one who stands atop of all mages.”

Lefiya could see sternness in Riveria’s face and voice as she watches keenly, as did everyone else in the Colosseum.

‘Fine, then… Let’s see what this human can do! I’m sure Ais’s wind will be—'

Her expectations for her idol quickly crumbled away.

 

Cirrus smiled slightly.

“Very well.”

His voice seemed to have cut through the sound of the raging wind. His magic circle appeared behind a beautiful and simple magic circle with a ram’s head in the center.

“(Exousía, Adorn: Cretan)!!!”

A bulky snow-white armor reminiscent of a bull wrapped itself around him. It was as if he had skinned the hide of a divine animal as its elegant red horns scrape the sky, and black markings showed its mystery.

Lefiya could feel the air change in the crowd and the arena as Ais condenses the wind to her blade and power converged around Cirrus.

“(Damocles).” His spear shakes a bit before ripping itself from the earth and returning to its master's hand. His magic circle appeared once more above him. “(Sword of Damocles, sing your vespers.) [Dia Dikastí̱s: Logia].”

People could feel their hair standing as the area fills with electricity before a thunderous crack ripped through the stadium.

CRACK!!!!!!!!!!!

A massive bolt of lightning struck Cirrus, but he was unharmed. The lightning seems to have a mind of its own as it seems to dance and flicker off him as though he had become the element of thunder itself.

Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!! Crackle!!!

It was as dense as it was terrifying.

“S-such mastery… and without a staff,” Lefiya said as she looked on in awe. “S-she can’t win… that much—"

“Keep watching,” Loki said. “This is who your rival as a mage is, Lefiya. This literal beast of thunder.”

As the lightning dances off him, Cirrus holds out his spear.

“(Sword of Damocles).”

The power then shifted to his spear now instead of being thunder, he was holding a lightning bolt as though he was a god.

“Reminds me of Zeus.” Said Freya. “How terrifying.”

A thought many of the gods shared.

Ais could feel her regret coming up. She could feel the power radiating off him and his spear now. It reminded her of that day she saw a bright light that reached the moon.

Many would not blame Ais if she ran right now, many were too petrified to even move or even breathe now. This was a level 8, and he had shown a fraction of his fangs.

This showing made every Adventurer on high alert. From the lowest levels to the highest, they all focused on what was coming.

Bete, Tiona, and Tione all got up from the surrounding threat, a monster with bull horns clad in thick thunder with a lightning bolt as a weapon. It was as if myth had become a reality in the short time since they were knocked out.

“Get back!!” Ais shouted as confidently as she could.

“You have until 5 to leave the arena or get caught in the blast,” Cirrus said with his gaze solely on Ais.

“!!”

They quickly did as he said and left through a corridor and as they did, Circe's barrier covered the arena once more.

‘Boy, you sure do like using a lot of your magic, huh Cirrus?’ Circe said using a good chunk of Cirrus's magic to form the barrier even stronger.

“What better way to raise it than to use it,” he said under his breath.

As the two move their weapons and go in for an attack, the city shook in a deafening sound and light.