A draining black orb of light spawned from Alfred’s summoning stone. It radiated and pulsed more erratically than the flashing light from a normal stone. Taking shape within the darkness was a Minakai unlike any Aurin had seen before.

  It was thick-chested, but its stomach thin, almost concave. Its dense ribcage of deep grey bones pushed right up against its magenta flesh, stretching it to the point where the bones were the bones could tear through the skin. It had long arms and legs, but stubby fingers and feet. Making up for its smaller appendages were the long, sharp fingernails that had erupted from its ligaments. Capping its knees, elbows and shoulders were thick pieces of shell that were jagged as though they had been cracked pieces of the egg it had once resided within.

  Whipping the ground was its six-foot-long tail, which was barely shorter than its body. Adorning the top was a ridge of bone-like plates, as deeply grey as its ribs. Its menacing red eyes stared coldly at Aurin, its teeth and gnarled horns making the beast look all the more intimidating. Had it wings, it would have looked like many of the fouler portrayals of demons and devils in films.

  “Behold, the artificial Minakai, Virtugil,” said Alfred breathlessly. He stared in awe at the beast before him. His eyes sparkles as he took in what, to him, was the most splendorous monster in all of its existence. He did not see a demon; he saw an angel.

  Virtugil drew in a breath, its chest swelling and its stomach bloating. It let out a horrific roar, so ear-piercingly powerful that Aurin shut his eyes and clamped his hands on the sides of his head. He felt a pulse of energy erupt from the beast that forced him to take a step backwards to avoid being thrown onto the grass. Upon opening his eyes, he saw Alfred looking around in dismay.

  “Shattered,” muttered the man, looking to the screen. “At the very least, everyone got to see you for a brief moment.”

  Aurin uncovered his ears and scanned the stadium. The speakers had collapsed, the screen’s glass had fallen to the ground, and several cameras he had not noticed were smoking. It was a testament to the power that Virtugil held, and he dreaded finding out what it could do when it did more than simply roar.

  “What… what is Virtugil?” asked the young man.

  “Virtugil,” said Alfred, “is your final reckoning. A piece of my collection that nobody else will ever hold. Virtugil is mine and mine alone. A demonic Minakai created by splicing together the best parts of the best Minakai, mixing it all together, and manipulating it into a being truly unique. Do you like him? I think he likes you, Aurin.”

  “You created him?” gasped Aurin.

  “He is the culmination of many years of research, building on what has come before. Virtugil, Aurin, is the perfect monster. A lifeform unlike any you’ve seen before. No one can take down Virtugil because he was created to be undefeatable.”

  “There is no invincible Minakai,” said Aurin, defiantly. “Such a thing is impossible.”

  “You have earned the right to test that theory,” said Alfred, smirking. “And you have given yourself the best chance at proving me wrong, Aurin. You can summon nine Minakai as a reward for your great achievement in the second stage of the game. I am truly impressed by your efforts, but you will still fail at the mammoth task before you. The house always wins.”

  “It’s a good thing I’m not much of a gambler,” said Aurin, holding his tamer glove out.

  Alfred cackled. “Summon one, summon five, summon all nine at once, if you must. You cannot hope to defeat my beloved Virtugil; the true son of the House of Ashmore.”

  Aurin hesitated before summoning his first Minakai. To summon an army right off the bat would be foolish, especially without having a true gauge on the abilities of his enemy. He didn’t even know the creature’s element, masked as it was by blackness.

  “Desparee,” said Aurin, summoning his nature elemental. “We need to learn as much about our foe as quickly as possible.”

  Upon appearing in a flash of green, Desparee took one look at his opponent and immediately burst into tears. While this was not abnormal by any stretch, Desparee cried harder and louder than he usually did, so intimidated by the devilish Virtugil.

  “Let’s see what you have to show,” said Alfred, walking backwards. He kept walking until he reached the far side of the battlefield, taking his place in the small box where a competing tamer would have stood in a tournament. “Begin.”

  As Desparee charged up a nature cannon, drawing his palms backwards in preparation. Simultaneously, Virtugil drew in a deep breath. Upon the beam erupting from the tree-like Minakai’s, Virtugil unleashed a mighty stream of frosty breath. So potent and focused was the attack that it cut right through Desparee’s beam, forcing Aurin’s Minakai to dive aside to avoid being hit.

  “He’s an ice elemental!” called Aurin. “You’re at a disadvantage, but show him that it doesn’t matter. Take him out!”

  Desparee threw his hands up, conjuring mighty vines from underground that wrapped themselves around Virtugil’s limbs. With ease, the beast ripped the vines away, but it had bought Desparee a couple of seconds. He weaved his magic, bringing a leaf storm to the battlefield. The cloud of leaves split and spread, surrounding Virtugil as though carried by the wind. With a clap of Desparee’s hands, they converged, striking him with their razor-sharp edges.

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  “What?” gasped Aurin, his eyes wide.

  Every single leaf had met its target, but every single had rebounded and drifted lazily to the grass. The attack had done nothing. Nothing at all.

  Alfred clapped his hands three times, grinning from ear to ear. “Ah, the field test is going so well,” he cried with glee. His face suddenly turned sour. “But enough nonsense, Virtugil.”

  With a swift swing of his claw, Virtugil struck the ground. A series of stalagmites sprung from the ground one after another, forming a trail from the engineered demon and streaking straight towards Desparee. The nature elemental shot a nature cannon which obliterated the icicles with ease, but the path was not stopped. More long, sharp icicles sprung up, heading his way.

  Flailing, Desparee conjured a thick bamboo shaft from the ground. Grasping it tightly, the sprouting length of wood ascended, carrying Aurin’s Minakai with it and away from the ground as the icicles spawned. They pierced the base of the bamboo, toppling it. As he fell, Desparee spat a nature cannon from his mouth, hoping to do some damage before he smacked the ground.

  Virtugil lowered his shoulder, taking the beam attack to the shell-like covering that protected his deltoid. The attack petered out as it hit, while the grounded Desparee was ravaged by several piercing icicles that left him with devastating injuries to his arms and torso. The icicles kept coming for him and Aurin hurriedly banished his Minakai to save him from irreversible damage.

  “One down,” said Alfred, flicking his nose. “Eight to go. Tick tock, Aurin. We’re waiting.”

  “Now that I know your weakness, you’re going down,” said Aurin, focusing on the purple summoning stone in his glove. “Gittup! Blast him to pieces.”

  The hair blue beast appeared, his tail already crackling and sparking as he readied an attack. He locked eyes with his opponent, who did not seem fazed to be facing a lightning elemental. Gittup howled as a lightning bolt surged along his tail and arced through the air, speeding towards Virtugil.

  In the blink of an eye, Virtugil’s body changed. Its flesh, bones, and shell, all turned a dull, metallic grey. It was almost as though it had become a creature made of iron.

  “This can’t be…” muttered Aurin, watching as the lightning bolt spread across Virtugil and vanished as its energy rapidly faded.

  Virtugil roared, returning to his normal form. As his deafening cry continued, iron spikes shot from his fingers like bullets. One wave, two waves, three waves. They kept coming and Gittup leapt, ducked, and rolled across the grass, trying to avoid the projectiles. Virtugil’s attacks did not slow and, eventually, Gittup was pierced through the leg by a spike that shot straight out the other side. As another flew towards the beast’s head, Aurin banished him home before he was killed by the likely lethal attack.

  “How can Virtugil use metal elemental attacks?” asked Aurin. “If he was only born, how can he harness the power of crossing over elements? Precious few Minakai can do that.”

  “Aurin, Aurin, Aurin,” sighed Alfred. “I expected you to realise the truth of Virtugil’s powers by now. He is not a master of one element. Nor is he a master of two.”

  Virtugil swung its claws, conjuring a fireball within one palm and a flickering ball of contained lightning in the other. He stomped his feet, summoning roots from the ground and bringing up pillars of earth behind him. He roared, manifesting a howling wind, and then bringing a cloud overhead that rained down across the battlefield.

  “He is a master of all,” said Alfred, his eyes looking like they were about to burst out of his head. “He learned many of his techniques from the best, you know.”

  Alfred gestured towards Aurin, who looked at his tamer glove and the summoning stones within. The Blackjacks harvesting his Minakai’s data were not using it to train their monsters or Alfred’s monsters. He knew now that everything The Blackjacks had witnessed was being fed directly to Virtugil.

  “You cannot defeat Virtugil with an elemental advantage because he has no disadvantage,” said Alfred, overflowing with delight. “He’s superior to all Minakai because he’s been created from the genetic code of many, fed the data of many more, and then gifted the battle data of your very own Minakai. He is the perfect being and will take down your entire team without breaking a sweat.”

  “That won’t stop us,” said Aurin, knowing he had no choice but to fight on. “Spikruption!”

  The burning red dinosaur spawned in a flash of light, smoke billowing from his nostrils. He looked at the mighty force he was up against and snorted with derision. Flames began whipping from the gaps between Spikruption’s sneering mouth.

  “A noble thought, but you can do nothing,” said Alfred. “To fight on is foolish, although I know you will try. Virtugil knows the strengths of your Minakai. He knows their heights. He knows their weights. He knows their speeds. He knows their power levels. He knows many of their techniques. Most importantly, he knows that they are his enemies. Go!”

  Virtugil stormed across the battlefield, tearing up the earth with his razor-like toenails. He summoned boulder after boulder in his hand and hurled them at Spikruption, who blasted them away with powerful fireballs. The dinosaur was determined to not let this monster get the better of him. He would overcome Virtugil one way or another.

  With a roar, Spikruption jumped and rolled into a ball. He engulfed himself in intense flames as he rolled along, barrelling towards the demon. In return, Virtugil jumped and rolled into a ball too, curling his tail around himself. He moved much more unstably than Spikruption did. At least he did, at first.

  Virtugil coated himself in solid diamond, becoming a smooth ball. The two rolling Minakai clashed and rebounded off each other, tumbling away in opposite directions. Spikruption course corrected much quicker than Virtugil and pursued his foe, who was not used to the technique the way the dinosaur was. As the two came close once again, Spikruption bounced, unfurled himself in mid-air and landed on his foe, wrapping his four trunk-like legs around the ball. He put his face upon the diamond and spat the harshest, most hellish fires he could muster up. He would cook his opponent within his diamond cocoon, until it returned to its true form.

  “That won’t work,” said Alfred. “Meteor shower!”

  Aurin looked to the sky as burning meteors spawned overhead. They streaked through the air as they plummeted, moving directly towards Spikruption. Rather than concern himself with defeat, Spikruption turned up his heat, pushing himself to the brink. All he needed to do was bring Virtugil’s diamond coating to an end and the pair would be go down together.

  “Spike!” roared Aurin, worried about what was going to happen to one of his oldest Minakai.

  “Gyaaaaaargh!” came the dinosaur’s pained cry as the meteors hit him. He was thrown from the diamond ball that was Virtugil and tossed across the grass, his body bloody, burned, and broken.

  Virtugil’s diamond faded and the creature arose, standing tall as its red eyes stared at his defeated opponent.

  right here.

  Aurin's Team:

  Luna's Team: