333: A Plague of Phantoms: Arena of Ra, Garden of Persephone I

Nate

"HAWS!" I yelled as I stood between two very angry Solaris Wolfen inside the arena. They both growled and snarled at the other, threating horrific and graphic violence.

Normally that was the dumbest place you could be when two evos were fighting, between them; doubly so when those evos were shaped by Chase. However currently it was the safest place on the island since the two evos had made a pact with Haws and Astrid to not fight with humans in the vicinity. Though their argument was definitely pushing the boundaries of that pact.

"Just let them fight! It's what they're inside the arena for!" Haws yelled from the safety of the other side of the arena. He was standing beside the entrance with a bag if popcorn resting firmly in his arm. I growled in my throat as I held both hands up at the two evos who tried charging after one another.

"These two got kicked out of the tournament already! They just want to fight to deal with their wounded pride!" I snapped. Haws laughed loudly at then shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"Phet 'em!" Haws spat with his mouth full.

I started to say something when one of the Solaris Wolfen suddenly jumped back several yards then snapped his wings open and took to the skies. He flew over me and dive-bombed the other Solaris wolfen and tackled them. The two started tussling and wrestling all over the arena floor. A huge blast of flames knocked me back more than fifteen yards and singed my eyebrows.

"NATE!" Haws yelled.

"Ooooh fuck…I'm gonna feel that tomorrow." I wheezed as I sat up. I looked over towards the entrance and saw Haws running towards me, Cobalti and Rubis right behind him.

"Nate! You okay?!" Haws exclaimed as the older man skidded to a stop at my side. I groaned and nodded slowly.

"Yeah, just got a little singed." I replied, then looked over at the Solaris Wolfens.

Rubis and Cobalti rushed over to try and forcibly separating those two Solaris Wolfen While Haws checked on me. Sadly the two Ogarai were nor doing a great job, mostly due in fact to the absolutely broken ability they have for being tied to the time of day and position of the sun. The closer it is to noon the faster their mana generates until noon hit and then they have infinite mana for one minute.

It was currently almost three in the afternoon so they didn't have infinite mana anymore but their mana regeneration rate was still leagues above anything else on the island.

"Lets get out of here!" Haws exclaimed then dragged me to my feet and all but drug me behind as he dashed to the arena door.

"Ow! Haws I can walk!" I exclaimed. Though by the time the words left my mouth Haws had already dragged me outside where it was safe.

"Well not fast enough." Haws said when he let me go. He looked inside the arena and shook his head. "Jiggle's squad is getting their asses handed to them."

The Solaris wolfen were now working together to get fight the Ogarai. They used their wings to their advantage flinging fireballs at the Ogarai from above to weaken and distract them dive-bombing them and attacking with fangs and claws. The Ogarai were accumulating more damage from the slashes than their bodies can heal.

"Pogs! Break it up!" Sin bellowed from somewhere behind me.

A burst of heat tickled the back of my neck followed by a small explosion as Pogs came soaring over Haws and mines heads and landed in front of the arena door. He quickly rushed inside and charged at the Solaris Wolfen, a axiom spell sigil casting in front of a outstretched hand. Blood suddenly flowed from a cut that appeared in on Pogs arm and took the form of a large axe.

Pogs crouched and jumped into the air with flames shooting from the bottom of his feet, propelling him towards the closest Solaris Wolfen. Both of the evos noticed Pogs approach and quickly darted backward dodging a chop by Pogs. Pogs however wasn't a Ogarai like Rubis and Cobalti but a Ogrest.

Pogs quickly maneuvered his body and altered the flow of its mana to create flame jets shoot out of its back and propelled it towards the evos while setting its axe on fire. The Solaris wolfen were surprised by the sudden move and couldn't dodge the attack that followed. Pogs slammed the closest Solaris wolfen with the top of the back of the axe in a downward smash. A massive explosion ignited from the impact.

The blast knocked both of the Solaris Wolfen back. One hurtling down towards ground while the other flew towards the other side of the arena. They both slammed into the arena, both the ground and one of the magic walls. Neither was really burned by the attack but their wings were a little damaged and the one Pogs clubbed had a couple fractures one his head.

Sin walked into the arena and snapped his fingers. Pogs landed beside the clubbed Solaris Wolfen and held the blade of the axe against his neck. He let out a ferocious trumpeting noise signaling his anger and victory.

"NOW ENOUGH!" Sin bellowed, grabbing both the Solaris Wolfens attention. "Your battle is over. Vacate the arena at once or I swear in the name of the Boss I will shatter every bone in your bodies a hundred times over, tear your wings off with my bear hands and then hand you over to the Boss and let his evos use your bones as toothpicks!"

The Solaris Wolfen that Pogs was holding at axe point folded his ears back flat in fear and let out a low whine. I looked back over at the other one and saw that he was crouching low to the ground and adopted a fearful and submissive posture. Not that I could blame them, Sin was practically oozing a murderous aura.

"We submit, Aubiter…" The first Solaris Wolfen muttered.

"Then GET OUT!" Sin ordered while pointing towards the exit.

Pogs removed the blood axe from his captured evo's neck and the Solaris Wolfen quickly jumped to its feet and walked over to the exit while the other quickly rushed over as well.

Haws and I stepped back from the arena door and watched as the Solaris Wolfens exited the arena and headed back to the containment cage marked Solaris Wolfen and quickly jumped into the portal inside the cage.

"He made that look so easy…" I said softly.

"Well it would be easy when you have all that magical shit and one of Chase's shaped evos." Haws said.

"NATE" Sin bellowed. I turned around and saw Sin stomping over to me with a furious look on his face. Pogs was following close behind him.

"Eeep!" I exclaimed as Sin reached me and suddenly grabbed the collar of my shirt.

"What the hell? Are you insane? Why the fuck are you jumping between two fighting evos? You could have been killed!" Sin snapped at me.

"I was trying to keep the tournament going. Those two wanted to fight despite their fights having already been over." I explained. Sin started shaking me by my shirt and growled.

"You could have been killed! And worse than that your wife would have blamed me! And even worse than that your son would have blamed me! I am not having those two blame me for your stupidity!" Sin yelled.

"Please stop shaking me!" I groaned, feeling a little motion sick.

"Let him go, Sin. I should have actually helped instead of watching and eating popcorn." Haws said casually, then smirked and looked off into the direction of Jade's stall. "You can just tell his lady wife what happened and let her punish him…"

My eyes widened and I shivered involuntarily as I remembered the last time Jade decided she needed to punish me. I couldn't walk to two days and Jade had a pregnancy scare. Well, scare for me and blessing for her.

"No! Please! Anything but that!" I exclaimed. Sin took a deep breath and let it out before shaking his head and let me go.

"Yeah no. I'm not doing that. I used to live in the same house as those two…He's a very lucky man and a unlucky man at the same time." Sin said while patting me on the shoulder.

<Hey, boss. Can I have some help over here at the Briar Lieon cage?> Chad called to everyone through the communication rings.

Sin, Haws, and I all groaned and shook our heads at the sudden voice inside our heads. Sin and Haws shared a annoyed look.

"That boy…" Haws groaned then shook his head.

"It's just the Briar Lieon's, what sort of problem could he have with them?" Sin asked.

"I can go check." I spoke up. Haws and Sin both stared at me then glanced back over to the arena then back at me. I rolled my eyes. "I'll take one of my Orkands with me. I'll be fine."

"HEY! WHEN IS THE FINALS GOING TO START!" A voice suddenly yelled. Sin, Haws, and I turned to see the crowd that had formed at the start of the tournament; and steadily grew with each fight; all starting to get a little rowdy.

"Fuck…" Sin groaned then looked to me. "Go, deal with Chad and his problem but take two Orkands with you. Haws help me wrangle the finalists. Rubis and Cobalti you two come too!"

"Got it." I said then focused on the manacite communication ring. <Chad, it's Nate. Sin is sending me to help you. Be there in a minute.>

<Ooooh…okay… > Chad replied, sounding unsure. I suppressed the twinge of annoyance at his tone and the fact that despite the fact that Haws was a normie like me, he was being relied on to help with the Solaris Wolfen.

<Be there in a little bit.> I replied.