???—-
Omariro and Rika each stepped foot on a tile while various other Escorts did the same. Shinnosuke watched from above as the tiles began to glow, and the stadium's walls dropped to reveal the vast sky around them.
"W—what is this?" Rika worried.
"Sorry," Shinnosuke replied. "I should have mentioned that this game takes place in the sky, as all our games do. The rules are simple. Once you hear the music, you must keep moving. When the music stops, you must find a glowing tile. If you cannot do so, then you'll fall. Everyone ready?"
The Escorts all raised a fist. Rika nervously pointed toward them. "We have to go against all of them, Master?"
"Challenge will not be fair," Omariro warned her. "Girl must hold firm. Show no fear."
A large horn floated above their heads, and Shinnosuke began to count down. "Take your places. 3…2…1…begin!"
Music began playing from the horn, and Rika followed Omariro he walked across the tiles, never taking his eyes off the floor. The Escorts around them did the same, carefully stepping from tile to tile.
The competitors walked in a circle, making sure not to stray too close to the edge. Sweat began to build across Rika's face, while Omariro's hair shrouded his eyes.
The music continued, and in the next moment, it stopped. By the time Rika looked up, each Escort was atop a glowing tile, with her and Omariro being the only ones left. Omariro caught sight of a tile a few feet away, and he grabbed Rika, jumping onto it.
A few seconds later, each unmarked tile fell out of the sky, disappearing beyond the clouds. The horn sounded once more, and the missing tiles reformed.
"The first round has been completed," Shinnosuke announced. "Unfortunately, no one has gotten eliminated yet. It is time for the second round."
Louder music played as the Escorts resumed walking. Rika and Omariro did their best to match the Escorts' pace, waiting for the music to stop.
Rika held onto Omariro's arm while Escorts walked around her, sizing her up intensely. Omariro used his staff to navigate, paying no mind to the opponents.
The music stopped.
This time, a few fewer tiles were marked, and everyone scrambled to find one. Rika and Omariro managed to land on one near the edge of the floor, watching as the unmarked tiles fell through the sky.
"That was close," Rika thought. "I hope it doesn't get any worse…"
They waited while Shinnosuke began the next round, and the music got faster this time, with Escorts moving to match the pace. Rika began to briskly walk, but she noticed Omariro calmly striding behind her.
"Sir? Shouldn't we move a bit faster?"
"Pace has no effect on game," Omariro explained. "Strategy will decide victory."
One Escort pushed past another as they attempted to stay upright. Once the music stopped, only four tiles were marked, and everyone battled against one another to get hold of them.
Omariro put Rika on his back as an Escort attempted to tackle both of them, but he slammed into his teammate and both went flying over the edge.
"Aren't they on the same team?" Rika questioned.
"Irrelevant."
Omariro quickly jumped onto one of the remaining tiles, squeezing in along with Rika and various Escorts.
The rest of the tiles fell.
Shinnosuke rubbed his chin. "Hmm. It seems a third of the opposing team has lost. Our underdogs are making progress. Time to begin round four!"
The music played at a rapid pace, and Omariro, still with Rika on his back, jumped over two Escorts as they dived towards his legs. Rika held onto him as he avoided another frenzied Escort, who accidentally threw himself off the edge.
"Master's protecting me again," Rika noted. "I've got to do something, I can't put all the burden on him!"
She noticed an Escort creeping up on them from behind, preparing to chuck his sword, and the moment he did so, she instinctively put her hands out, and the blade stabbed through her right arm. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"
Omariro erased it with a clap. "Girl made reckless move."
She hesitantly healed herself. "I know, I know, I'm sorry!"
The music stopped, and only two tiles were marked. The entire stadium became a mess as everyone rushed toward the final two spots. The moment the competitors started running, tiles began to fall.
Omariro flipped over tumbling Escorts, landing on the final tile. Many gathered in an attempt to push him off, but he held firm, backhanding the lot of them with one swift motion as the remaining tiles fell.
"Only a few remain," Shinnosuke noted. "What a match we have here! Careful now, it'll only get tougher…"
The music resumed, and lightning struck tile after tile, dropping them as Omariro moved to evade. The lightning bolts shifted horizontally, blasting off entire rows of tiles at once.
A few unlucky Escorts tried to dodge the lightning, but it incinerated them to a crisp as Rika screamed. The lightning got closer and closer, which caused Rika to clasp her hands together and form a sigil.
〈Sigil Created: Iron Skin.〉
She quickly handed it to Omariro. "Here, Master! Use this!"
Omariro looked at the sigil for a moment, handing it back to her. "Serves girl better. Use now!"
"But—-!"
He tossed her the sigil, and she crushed it as lightning blasted both of them. Rika remained unscathed, but Omariro's flesh and shirt were utterly burned. "Master!"
Omariro's body began to heal, his hair growing longer and skin becoming more weathered as the music stopped. The tile in the center was the only tile that glowed as the rest fell off line by line.
"Girl must run! Hurry!"
Rika stared at Omariro for a second before bolting for the center, while the latter used his blade to keep the remaining Escorts at bay before teleporting to the tile as well.
Escorts attempted to leap and grab onto the tile, but they all fell. Shinnosuke examined the board as the tiles reformed. "Omariro and his student are the only remaining players! Thus, it would seem you two have won this challenge!"
Escorts reappeared beside Shinnosuke as the stadium walls reformed, and Omariro collapsed to one knee, with Rika holding onto his arm. "Master! Sir, what's wrong?"
"Body grows weak," he grunted. "Girl must not trouble self with it."
"I could have used the sigil on you, sir…"
Omariro shook his head, taking his staff and using it to lift himself. "Girl must survive."
Shinnosuke landed in front of the two, examining Omariro. "This is unbecoming of you, God-King. To think you still have so much power and yet you're still so weak. What's the point of putting on a show for your student?"
"Hey!" Rika interrupted. "Leave him alone!"
Shinnosuke waved her off. "Well. It matters not. You've passed this challenge, and thus, you get to advance further."
"Can we finally retrieve my friends?" Rika asked.
"After you take a walk through the Sky Garden," he told her. "All must go through the Sky Garden if they wish to seek an audience with the King of Beasts."
Another gate appeared, and Shinnosuke led them through it.
Meanwhile—-
Leviathan swam through the waters of Japan, taking in the swarming monsters, terrified civilians, and the Kaitansha battling them back.
She eventually pulled up on a dock near Kushimoto, where a few dozen Kaitansha forces were staving off monsters.
"Very peculiar," she remarked. "The last time I was free, there was no such crisis. Has our presence really been so missed?"
She saw a large golem stomping its way towards a group of kids, who rode away from it as fast as they could on their bikes. As the golem caught up to them, preparing to crush them underfoot, Leviathan opened her mouth, freezing the golem's feet in place.
"Halt."
The golem turned toward her, its eyes briefly widening. It broke free of her ice, swinging a right hook at her. Leviathan crushed the golem's hand in her jaw, before dragging it into the waters and ripping it apart.
As she reemerged, the confused children reached out to her. One girl stepped forward.
"Erm…who are you? Are you a nice creature?" the girl asked.
"Nice?" Leviathan repeated. "I wouldn't go so far as to use that term."
The girl tilted her head. "Where do you come from, Ms. Water Snake? Why did you help us?"
Leviathan looked around at the destruction being wrought. "I am a servant of Lord Omariro. The Queen of the Seas. And it would seem the seas have not been calm in a while, no?"
"Oh!" the girl realized. "You're Sir Nyugawa's pet?"
"I would prefer the term servant."
"Okay, Ms. Water Snake! Well, ever since some weird magic lady cast a spell, monsters have been popping out of dungeon gates and attacking us! That was like four months ago!"
"Mujinsha," Leviathan hissed. "It must have been Neraziria."
"Can you help us deal with the monsters, Ms. Water Snake?" one of the boys asked.
"I can only do so much out of the sea," she admitted. "With the return of my brethren, the Land and the Sky, we can quell this situation much faster."
"Okay, Ms. Water Snake!"
"Run along, children. This place is not safe."
The children hurried along as some skeletons walked onto the dock, aiming their bows at Leviathan. The serpent curiously eyed them as a knight on a horse pushed through their ranks.
"You," the knight realized. "The Mujinsha wouldn't like that you're here."
"Kuroya," Leviathan recognized. "The cursed knight. Come to do the Mujinsha's bidding?"
Kuroya held up a dark lance. "Japan is not your territory. Leave at once, or be forced to. Don't make me ask again."
Water tendrils formed behind Leviathan, and with a tilt of her head, they slammed into the dock, reducing the skeletons to nothing more than a pile of bones.
Kuroya remained unharmed, his lance glowing with dark energy. "I see. This could have been a peaceful resolution, but no."
Another wave of water rushed to coat the dock, but Kuroya had already disappeared, leaving no trace behind. Leviathan scanned the area, but she found nothing.
"I let him escape," she replied. "I may be getting rusty myself."
She sank back into the waters.
"Master…it's imperative that you hurry."
Sky Garden—-
Omariro and Rika entered a large floating garden filled with roses, dandelions, grapevines, and golden trees.
"Where did the Escorts go?" Rika wondered.
Omariro pointed to a few females with yellow lightning across their skin, clad in white robes.
"Are those…female Escorts?"
"Girl is correct."
Omariro walked through the garden, and once he approached the young women, they looked up, eyes brightening.
"God-King!" they realized.
The girls swarmed Omariro, to his annoyance. Rika stared at them, her face red and confused, before stepping into the mix. "Sir…? What is this?"
"Admirers," he lamented. "Must go away."
The two girls walked over to Rika, examining her skin and her hair. The taller of the two girls folded her arms. "Hey, you're not an Escort!"
"Nope!" Rika clarified. "And I don't wanna be! I'm a student!"
The girls put a finger to their chins. "Student?"
Rika nodded. "Yes. And Mr. Nyugawa here is my Master. We want to get to my friends, so could you please step aside?"
The two girls whispered to each other before turning back to Rika and Omariro.
"Sure!" the shorter one agreed. "We can let you through to see the Sky King, but you'll have to do us a favor first!"
"Speak," Omariro ordered.
"So…" the tall girl admitted. "The Sky King's wife has been holding our brother hostage. We'd like to know if you could help save him, O' great God-King?"
"Reveal boy's location."
They pointed to a large cave connected to the garden by a golden bridge, with bars keeping outsiders from entering.
"The Cave of Dark Clouds. She's been banished to that cave ever since she disrespected the Sky King. I'm sure she'll be elated to see you again, great God-King."
The girls skipped over to the cave. "We'll lead the way!"
Rika tugged on Omariro's arm. "Is this wife dangerous, sir?"
"Incredibly," Omariro replied. "Wife will eat us all."
And deep in the cave below, a sinister growl could be heard, and so could the sounds of terrified screams.
——