Elincia didn't know what was happening. Everything had passed by in a blur. One second the battle between Caspian and Darin was raging, and the next, a golden dome had sprung up around them, covering the viewing box, blocking it from the outside world.

She stared at the large dome surrounding them. Golden light emitted from it and several archaic runes that reminded her of ancient elvish danced across it, constantly changing. The letters moved so quickly that Elincia barely managed to read them before they were replaced by other letters.

This is...

"What is this?" Lord Fuzen Taiga demanded to know.

"It's a barrier," Lady Sylvia said. She crossed her arms and glanced around them, taking in the entire dome that kept them there. "A rather well-made barrier, too. It looks like it's based off an ancient technique that was originally created by the elves. I recognize many of these symbols, though they've not been used for centuries."

"Is there any way to break it?" Headmaster Stratello asked.

"There is," Lady Sylvia said. Before anyone could get their hopes up, she added, "but the magical backlash that would come from breaking a barrier like this would kill everyone here who isn't a sorceress."

That put a damper on everyone's hope. Elincia could see it in their eyes. Lord Fuzen Taiga clenched his fists in frustration. Headmaster Stratello had gone completely silent, his eyes closed in what could only have been disappointment. Even his butler, Soren, who'd been silent up to this point, appeared disheartened.

A little ways away, Lady Erica was consoling a crying Tiffania alongside Collafloore and Derek, who could only watch on, unable to do a thing.

"Is there any way to break out of this that doesn't involve overpowering it?" Elincia asked. Everyone turned to her.

"What do you mean?" asked Lady Aakarshana.

Elincia bit her lip and looked at the letters dancing along the dome. "Well, this dome appears to have been created with runes, which are elvish words that, when engraved upon a surface, invoke specific effects. It looks like this one is a barrier that is meant to keep us inside. If we can decode the words used to create it, then we can break down the barrier."

"You know an awful lot about elvish magic, my dear," Lord Fuzen Taiga said.

"Ah!" Elincia gasped, her cheeks darkening. "I just... read a lot. Lady Sylvia has a lot of books back home."

"Indeed." Turning to Lady Sylvia, he asked, "can it be done?"

Lady Sylvia didn't say anything for a moment. When she did, each word seemed to be spoken with great care. "It is... possible. We would have to find some way of decoding these runes... Elincia, would you be able to do it?"

Elincia was startled by the question, but she answered to the best of her abilities. "Um, I might be able to, but the runes are moving too fast for me to see them clearly."

As an elf, Elincia had great vision. She could see objects that were far away as if they were right in front of her. Yet not even she could clearly see the runes that flashed across this golden dome made of mana.

"Don't worry about that," another voice said. Lady Karen stepped up to Elincia and handed her an object, which she recognized as the one that Lady Karen had been working on this whole time. "Here, use these."

"Goggles?" Elincia questioned. They were, indeed, goggles. Their black surface was smooth and glossy, reflecting the golden light of the dome. Large lenses were built into them, protruding from the front like two large cylinders. A switch sat on the left side.

"I've been tinkering with this in my free time. It's not much of an invention, but the device works by bending light particles to store and replay what's seen through the goggles. There's a knob that you can dial, which allows you to speed up or slow down what you're watching. They should allow you the ability to view these runes as if they were moving in slow motion. Go on. Put them on and give that switch a flip."

Elincia did as told. The goggles felt like they were squeezing the area around her eyes. Flipping the switch, she gasped as the world around her suddenly distorted. The lenses blurred, then sharpened, and then everything became enhanced. Colors were more vivid. Movements were easier to discern. Everything around her seemed to move slower, leaving her capable of picking out even minute details.

Knowing that time was of the essence, Elincia got to work.

***

Caspian didn't know how long he'd been in that colosseum, battling against machine's charged with mana. It felt like hours, but if that had been the case, then he would have collapsed long ago.

He and Christo fought against the horde of machines. Along with the others, they worked in conjunction to rescue as many people as possible.

Christo darted in close to one of the machine's that had targeted a family of four. He closed in before it could bring its weapon, a flail, to bear. His two daggers flashed out as he thrust them into the machine's shoulder joints, causing the arms to seize as the gears ground against the mythril blades. Kicking the machine away, Christo yanked his daggers out, and then leapt onto its chest and stabbed it repeatedly in the face, over and over again, until the machine gave one last jerk before going still.

Caspian turned back to his own battle. His enemy carried two guns, pistols that fired mana rays. They were impressive weapons, powerful, but they were also easy to dodge. The beams moved so slowly, and Caspian, even while tired, had no trouble avoiding them. He moved in close as the air sizzled around him. He could smell the scent of burning ozone. Those mana blasts must have been lightning based. Once he'd closed the distance, Caspian attacked with the full weight of his blade.

"Halkaista."

The blade sliced through metal with ease, tearing it apart. Caspian didn't wait to watch the machine die. He kicked it away and looked for his next target. Christo was busy battling several meters from him. Gustav and Egil blasted robots out of the sky; lightning lanced from Gustav's staff, while Egil generated fire with his sword, which he sent into the air in large arcs. Even further away, closer to Darin, Adesh and Nageendra battled with sword and claws. Caspian could hear shouts of "stylish!" from where he stood.

That boy is so weird—weirder than Christo even, which I didn't think was possible.

There didn't appear to be any more enemies, at least, none near him. Caspian decided to give himself a second to recuperate. His body demanded rest, and if he wanted to be useful later on, he'd need to conserve what strength he had left.

It was just as this thought crossed his mind that something happened—the stadium underneath Caspian's feet shifted, becoming almost liquid-like as it jutted up all around him like a massive tidal wave.

"Springen."

Acting quickly, Caspian launched himself into the air. The walls began to close around him, trying to encase him, to crush him, before he could escape. He could feel the wind becoming compressed. The light from above was closing fast.

He shot out of the small gap, which closed seconds later. Flipping around, he saw what had tried to crush him. The dull gray of the stadium floor appeared like an anthill without an exit. Its misshapen form was lumpy, yet even as he watched, it slowly lowered back down, reverting to what it had originally been—part of the stands.

What sort of magic was that?

Landing on the ground, Caspian barely had time to regain his bearings before the earth in front of him exploded upwards. He leapt back, vaulting over the railing that separated the stands from the arena. Landing on the arena floor, he prepared for the ground to attack him. Instead, he became surprised when the wall suddenly exploded and dozens of cement projectiles flew in his direction.

Caspian responded as swiftly as he could. He lashed out with his sword, constantly swinging in a dizzying display of combinations. Each swing cut through a projectile, yet it also zapped his waning strength, weakening him. When the storm of cement fragments ended, a heavily breathing Caspian stared at the hole that had been made into the wall—and at the figure within it.

That doesn't look like a human.

It, for that was the only thing he could think to call it, possessed a humanoid shape. Its two arms were a bit longer than a normal human's, and its greenish-brown body, reminiscent of the earth, appeared to be composed mostly of soil and sediment. Its face was shaped like a human's, but it lacked eyes, a nose, and a mouth. It turned its head this way and that, as if it was surveying its surroundings. Caspian wondered if it could see at all.

"What the heck is that...?" he asked in a hushed whisper. The thing's head suddenly snapped toward him. "Uh oh."

Caspian barely had time to get his guard up before the creature slammed its hands on the ground. Several spikes shot from the earth, all of them aimed at him. Caspian leapt backwards, slicing at the spikes that came too close. However, there were too many, and he couldn't get them all. Several spikes nicked his skin, causing a slow burning sensation to spread across his body as blood dripped down his arms and legs.

"Caspian!" Christo shouted as he leapt from the stands onto the arena floor.

"Get back, Christo!"

"What is that thing?!"

"I don't know! It just sort of—look out!"

Caspian's warning came a second too late. A massive square pillar jutted from the ground, slamming into Christo and launching him across the arena. The pillar continued moving, taking Christo with it. It then slammed into the arena wall, devastating it and burying Christo under a large pile of rubble.

"Christo!"

Caspian didn't have any time to worry about his friend. The creature stomped on the ground, and another pillar similar to the one that did Christo in tried to break him, too.

"Halkaista!"

Caspian swung his sword with a ferocious roar of effort. His weapon sliced straight through the pillar, which split in half, each side veering off in opposite directions. Even so, the pressure from the attack, and the density of the pillar, made him skid along the ground for several meters before he dug his heels in and stopped.

This seemed to anger the creature. Caspian was sure that it would have been yelling in rage if it had a mouth. It slammed its hands into the ground, and, suddenly, nearly a dozen hands made of earth rose up, threatening to swallow him.

Caspian's throat went dry.

Oh, hell...

Just before the hands could crush him, several were blasted apart by purple lightning. Fire also rained down on several more, melting them to a bubbling mass. A shout directed Caspian's attention toward Heracles, who'd leapt into the air and destroyed a hand with a swing of his axe. Adesh and Nageendra were also quick to destroy several hands, and they were followed by Natsuo and Daisuke, who darted into the fray, one wielding his blade like an expert, and the other throwing around glistening wires that cut through the hands like they were made of butter.

Realizing that this was his chance, Caspian rushed at the creature, whose head swiveled and locked onto him. Again, Caspian was given the sense that this creature was roaring in rage. It dropped a heel onto the ground, which caused the earth to split open, as if to swallow him whole.

"Springen."

Caspian leapt over the chasm, his enhanced leap taking him all the way to the creature. Unfortunately, whatever this thing was, it seemed intelligent. Its hands morphed into a pair of spiked, jagged blades, and it bent its knees as if preparing to attack. Perhaps even more dangerous were the stakes that rose from the ground all around it. Now, even if he cut apart this monster, the spikes would impale him.

"Look out!" a voice shouted. Seconds later, Caspian felt the air knocked from his lungs as someone slammed into his gut. He was driven off course, falling to the ground, where he landed on his back with a harsh thud.

"Nggg..." he groaned.

"Move it, Caspian!" the voice shouted seconds before Caspian was forcefully rolled over, along with the person who'd tackled him.

He managed to regain his bearings, and soon he scrambled to his feet. The person who'd knocked him down turned out to be Christo. Caspian was surprised to see that he was not dead, or buried under a pile of rubble, but this was not the time to celebrate.

Several spikes shot from the ground underneath their feet. He and Christo leapt backwards, which allowed them to avoid becoming pin cushions.

"We need to defeat this thing, Caspian!"

"I know that already, but thanks for stating the obvious!"

The spikes suddenly curved in midair and came at them like arrows fired from a crossbow. Caspian whispered a his spell under his breath and leapt in front of the spikes, slicing them apart before they could reach Christo. Unlike him, his friend didn't have magical cutting powers.

"Woah... that was awesome!"

"Now's not the time to be impressed!"

Caspian's ragged breathing accompanied his movements. The adrenaline that had allowed him to fight for so long was wearing off. He could feel his movements becoming sluggish. What's more, the burning in his chest, signs of the stress that he'd been putting on his body from using so much magic, was finally taking its toll.

Several spikes nicked his arms, legs, and torso, branding them like a hot poker branding slaves. Caspian tried to defend his friend as more spikes rushed at them. He widened his stance to adopt a strong defense. His legs were shaking, but if he could just—

"Caspian! Behind you!"

Caspian spun around to see a large spike traveling towards him. His eyes widened. He didn't have enough time to dodge!

Something shoved Caspian out of the way. He fell to the ground, wincing as his hipbone was hit by something hard. Looking up, Caspian's eyes widened in horror.

"Heh... w-what's with that look? You look like someone just slapped you in the face with a dead fish."

With blood gushing from around the large spike that had impaled his stomach, it looked like the only reason Christo hadn't fallen over was because the spike forced him upright.

"What... Christo!"

Caspian snapped out of his shock and quickly sliced the spike in half. Christo fell into his arms, and Caspian picked him up before leaping away to avoid several more spikes that tried to kill them. Kneeling down after reaching a suitable distance, he set Christo on the ground and tried to figure out what he should do. Should he pull the spike out? Wouldn't that make him bleed even more?

"Damn! Damn, damn, damn, damn!"

"Heh... shedding tears for me?"

"Shut up!" Caspian wiped the suspicious fluid coming out of his eyes. "You damn fool. What did you do that for?"

Christo grunted as he held a trembling hand to the spike. Blood seeped into his gloves, staining them red.

"Wouldn't you... do the same for a friend?"

Caspian stifled his cry behind a laugh. "You're an idiot."

"Yeah, I know." Christo's lips peeled back in a bloody grin. His eyes flickered, then, and alarm suddenly appeared within them. "Caspian... be-behind you!"

Caspian looked behind him to see a massive wall of earth rising up from the ground. It loomed over him and Christo, blotting out the light, casting shadows on the ground they stood on.

"Oh..."

The wall descended. Caspian knew there was no way he could avoid this. He had no magic spells that could stop giant waves of earth, and he couldn't jump high enough with Springen to ascend over that, especially not while carrying Christo.

This... this is it, isn't it? This is how I die? Unable to fulfill my promise. Ele... I'm so sorry.

The wave descended.

A sound like shattering glass echoed across the arena.

And then a commanding voice spoke out.

"I command thee, Odin All-Father, pierce the darkness and reveal the truth!"