The torches died as the humongous ape beat its chest and roared, its muscles were bulging and its power seemed overflowing.
Its dark eyes immediately focused on the target closest to it.
A puny human in the middle of the arena, frozen, staring at it with wide eyes.
He could sense... a small amount of fear.
Foolish prey.
The great ape, with its speed terribly mismatched for its size, hurled a primal punch toward the tiny human. Aiming to kill it on the spot.
It landed.
BOOOOOOOOOM.
But it didn't land on its target.
"What's the matter, Lord Mangūsu?" Master Hiraku said. In a split second, he appeared in the arena and effortlessly blocked the beast's blow with his open palm.
The third Master appeared next to Mangūsu, also with intrigued eyes.
"Impressive! Hiraku, do you think that beast is around Quasi-Master level?" he said excitedly.
He cracked his neck. "The last time I've been to the Beast Domain was around five years ago! I want to hunt again—"
"Stop." Mangūsu said, looking toward the newly arrived Master.
The beast was enraged as the puny human survived. Two new tiny humans were also there!
Unforgivable!
The great ape pulled back his fist as he rained down hell into the arena, crushing earth and creating dust clouds.
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM
The crowd had started panicking a long time ago, as people started climbing over each other toward the exits.
"Hiraku, protect the arena. The white pavilion will suffer if the arena falls." Mangūsu commanded Master Hiraku, who was skillfully blocking the great beast with his blackened fists. He turned towards the other Master. "Guzo, calm the crowd with your poison. Help evacuate the arena."
He eyed them both. "I just want to remind, no Martial Embodiments. We have our precious citizens as well as non-martial guests still in the arena, got it?"
Hiraku nodded, while Guzo hesitantly nodded as well.
All three suddenly disappeared from the arena.
The beast's blows were now unhampered, destroying the arena's earthen floors.
Mangūsu reappeared at the balcony and commanded the ten Martial Seniors.
"Hold it down," Mangūsu called down. "Contain. Don't kill it."
The youngest Senior, Kosei, glanced up. "And if we have to?"
"You won't have to." Mangūsu's voice didn't change. "Hold the formation. All of you. Nobody breaks off."
Kosei looked back at the ape and said nothing further.
All ten Martial Seniors jumped down to contain the great beast.
They were excited—after all, it was just some execution and they all wanted to get a glimpse of the former strongest squire in Sekigahara. Now, they could do the one thing they enjoyed: to fight!
Albeit not too hard. They wouldn't dare disobey the order of a Martial Master.
A Martial Master from the main family at that.
The dust settled. Ten ants now stood where there were none before. Insignificant—save for the one at the back with face of a beast radiating a considerable amount of ki.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAR
Preparing for another round of battle, the great ape roared as the Martial Seniors moved into formation.
The great ape launched a blindingly quick blow at the Martial Senior at the front.
"Finally! Some actio—"
BAM
The Martial Senior's defense was not enough as he flew toward the end of the arena.
THUD
He landed where the prisoners were, his bones crushed, limbs twisted at weird angles and his face disfigured.
Bankei immediately rushed to the man and began healing him.
One of the Shinken Martial Artists roared, "What in god's name are you doing! He's an enemy!"
Bankei sighed. "...I only have one enemy." He slowly looked at Mangūsu on the stands.
He then looked toward the spot where the man crashed and pointed. "Go! Break through the doors and fight your way up. There should only be Martial Squires left."
Tedate nodded as the Shinken Martial Artists broke down the door. "What about you?"
"I'll be right behind you."
Tedate nodded as the Shinken Martial Artists disappeared into the underground hallways. He looked back at the Great Ape one last time before entering himself.
THUD
Another Martial Senior suddenly hit the wall near them and fell to the ground. He slowly stood up with a pained expression and thankfully ignored the missing prisoners as he jumped back into formation against the beast.
Bankei continued healing the man as he looked at the Great Ape.
The ki coming off the great ape was overwhelming and he had not seen such a thing in his life. Foreign. Enormous. Cycling in patterns that made his own ki instinctively want to retreat.
And somewhere inside it, buried deep, was the faint warmth he recognized as the boy.
"This was the plan, Merun?" he said with deep sadness.
"You're not even in control..."
———
Back to the fight, the battle was already at a tipping point.
The remaining nine Martial Seniors closed in from multiple angles, maintaining spread, nobody willing to give it a clear run at the walls. They were wary from the first strike that incapacitated one of their own. One Senior attempted to flank left and the tail came around without warning, forcing him back into formation. The arena had become a problem of angles and coverage that demanded every body they had.
But slowly, the great ape was winning.
Its devastating blows proved too powerful for the low-tier Martial Seniors, who had gravely underestimated its power, dwindling their numbers.
Its strength, aided by its sheer size and mass, was enough to level cities let alone a tiny arena. If not for the Masters protecting the structure, the entire underground cave system would have collapsed in on itself.
Each Martial Senior had already activated their Martial Heart. The requirement for every Martial Squire to ascend to the Senior realm. Their veins glowed a visible pulsing orange as they utilized every ounce of their body's potential to withstand the power of the beast.
The Martial Heart was a full-body amplifier—every muscle, every nerve, every bone pushed to its absolute limit.
Versus an average Quasi-Master beast, even with a realm higher then theirs, multiple Martial Seniors were enough to win. After all, techniques could overcome pure strength.
Unfortunately, it seemed that wasn't quite enough in this scenario.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
Another Martial Senior was flung away and gravely injured as she was hit with a destructive energy wave from the Great Ape's mouth.
They scramble back into formation in shock as they just found out it also has an extremely powerful ranged attack.
Not only was the beast in front of them at the very peak of their realm, but even it it's injured state, it seemed far from being contained.
Plenty of them had visited the Beast Domain before, and had fought similar Ape-like creatures like this. But this beast was on a whole other level. Its instincts were insanely fast, fortunately, it's attacks were somewhat simple.
However, 'simple' didn't mean 'dodge-able'.
Its speed was at the absolute ceiling of the Senior realm.
They just had to hold out and survive... but how?
Running wasn't an option. Going against a noble's orders meant a fate worse than death.
The Martial Seniors looked at each other nervously.
They regretted ever coming to this execution.
Kosei, the youngest Senior was visibly shaken, especially by that last energy blast.
"Brother..." he said quietly.
"Brother Mangūsu! Help!"