First was the explosion at the old clock tower that disrupted the match against Allisa, Melvin, Cliff vs the two war hammer users, and the Magitek walker. Around that time, a small moon began to form above a portion of the city before falling onto it, followed by a catastrophic explosion, nearly blowing everyone away by the shockwave alone.

"Wh-What the hell was that?!" Allisa yelled as the violent winds began to die down.

"That, -whatever it was- just crashed into the city!" Cliff responded.

Eventually, the winds died with a large mushroom cloud hovering over the impact site.

"Wait, was that... a Level 3 spell." Melvin asked himself. Cerberus emerged beside him, shaking off all the dust from the blast while trying to free his clause from the rock below, which he had to use to prevent himself from being blasted away.

"Level 3?"

"Super powerful spells. Requires a longer incantation and an insane amount of mana to pull it off."

"That be Faust." The large man said. "Frade that kids a goner."

"Not like he had a chance to begin with." The Thinner man said. "Faust's easily the strongest in Celtic Hoard, second only to our boss Dolton. Easily be an officer if he actually wanted to."

Cliff shot a worried look at the mushroom cloud that was slowly starting to dissipate. "Oh, please tell me he wasn't caught up in that?"

"I could but we both know it would be a lie," Melvin said to Cliff.

Allisa didn't say anything in response to the two mens taunts. However, she noticed that the two were also nervously glancing over to ground zero. Though it was just a guess, it looked to her that, if there comrade had to use a spell that powerful against Max, then he must have been in trouble himself.

"He's fine," Allisa said to the two with confidence. "There's no way something like that would stop him." Despite her words, Allisa was just as nervous for Max's sake. Regardless of how strong he was, that was an enormous explosion, and even someone with Max's power couldn't simply walk out of that unscathed.

"Yeah," Cliff agreed with Allisa. "That kid's just a stubborn as that suicidal maniac."

"It's the only thing they have in common," Melvin added.

The slimmer man simply huffed. "Dead or not, you're all still gonna be reunited in the afterlife."

The larger man then looked towards the walker, which was standing a few yards away. "Yo, blow em away!"

"Um.... I can't seem to move!" The Walker's pilot responded while wrestling with the controls. "It's like I'm caught on something." Unknown to him, roots were wrapped around the Walker's legs, anchoring it to ground.

"What the..."

"Bro!!!"

The large man called out to his buddy, pointing at the massive boulder that was falling on him.

"Where'd that come from!" The man squalled as he brought up his hammer and struck the boulder before it landed on him, shattering it to pieces. Through the rock came Rodger, swinging his silver hammer to within a hair width of the man's face. Right at the last second, the man used quickstep to retreat several feet.

Ok, that was seriously too close. The man thought as he caught his breath.

"Rodger!" Allisa called out.

"You all ok?" Melvin asked.

"Yep," Rodger said, giving the three a 'v' sign. "The Rock Golems history!"

The larger man then appeared behind Rodger, preparing to swing down at him. "So you twerps beat the golem, big de-"

Suddenly, something hit the man in the face and exploded and toppled the man backward.

"Hey!" Fred waved at the group.

"We're ok! We'll help you guys out!" Dora added. She was standing next to Fred and had her hands firmly on the ground, keeping the walker from moving.

The three nodded to them as they turned to face the war hammer duo. The large one had just gotten back to his feet as Cliff charged towards him again.

"Oh ho, Come back for more?" The man spat as he brought his hammer overhead. Cliff sidestepped and allowed the hammer to fall before pulling back a fist. "Will of Steel!"

Cliff hit the man in the gut and to his surprise, sent him skidding back several yards while some blood escaped from his mouth. What the-

He skidded to a stop, using his hammer to keep on his feet. No way. My 'Will of Steel' was up.

"'Will of Steel,' A common Mana Focusing technique like Quickstep. It solidifies your body to make it impregnable, only drawback being that you can't move." Cliff evaluated as he shot a grin at him. "Wasn't too long ago when I fought against an opponent with an ability that worked like yours, with the exception being that he could move with it active. The only way I could beat him was to use my trump card, which would make me useless for the rest of the battle.

"Figured at some point I'd have to go up against someone like that in the future so I needed to beat those kinds of opponents without using it. Which reminds me of a lesson the Elder told me. 'If you can't break through, simply hit harder.'"

The large man stared in disbelief at what Cliff told him.

Meanwhile, the slimmer man dodged fireballs fired by Melvin. Despite the giant hammer, he was quite nimble on his feet, even without using Quickstep. "Not good if ya can't hit your target." The man mocked as he moved. "And I ain't gonna fall for one of those clones or substitutions like last time." The man dodged the final fireball and prepared to use quickstep. Suddenly, the exact spot where he was standing suddenly rose up, almost catching him off balance. "Shit!" As he was propelled up into the sky, his gaze fell on Rodger, who had a cheeky grin on his face and his hands on the ground. So that brat has earth magic, huh?

The man then steadied himself and leaped off the pillar he was on and descended towards Rodger with his hammer raised. While in mid-air, Allisa then appeared behind him.

The man quickly brought his hammer around and blocked a strike from Allisa's sword, though was rocketed into the ground by the unexpected strength of the blow.

He didn't even need to look, that blow had left a small incursion on the staff of the hammer, despite being made of Amerathin, a special metal that could block mana attacks.

Allisa, Melvin, Cerberus and Rodger surrounded the man, keeping their guards up. The tables had decisively turned in they're favor. As the man picked himself off the ground, his partner then crashed close by.

"Damn it.... you bastard!" The man swore, watching Cliff approaching.

"You ok Bro?"

"I'm fine." The large man said, spitting out some blood.

"Seems we underestimated you guys. You seriously doing all this to protect that little village? Even if ya make it to the camp, there's no way a bunch of kids can take all of us on. One way or the other you realize that a bunch of kids can't possibly win against all of us?"

"It's not like a bunch of heartless bastards like you could understand," Allisa said coldly.

"And we're not the type who'll just step aside while you burn the village to the ground," Cliff said, clicking his knuckles.

"No matter what you say, we're gonna rescue Gimdo and Bush from you, and protect that village for whatever you have in store," Melvin added, aiming his wand.

Rodger grinned and pointed at the two men. "Too late to beg for mercy, cause we're gonna-"

"Yooh!!!"

A voice called in the distance, interrupting everything that was going on as everyone present turned their eyes to the source of the voice.

"Is that..." Cliff started.

A battle scared Max came into view, carrying Faust over his shoulders while running towards them.

"It's Max!" Allisa called out in relief.

"No way..."

"F-Faust lost?" The two men muttered between them.

"Hey," Dora said. "Is it just me or... does it look like he's running from something?"

"Na, I see that too," Melvin said, feeling a deep sense of foreboding.

Cliff then just remembered something. "Didn't you guys say some kind of monster lives here?"

"Yeah, the King of the Forest," Rodger answered, not picking up on what Cliff was getting at.

"Y-You don't mean..." Fred started.

As if on cue, something burst behind Max, knocking up a large amount of dust and debris up. A massive albino Behemoth burst from the earth scampering after Max in what seemed like blind rage.

Max waved to the group with a smile. "Um... this thing that 'King of the Forest' thingie you were warning us about?"

Without responding to the idiot everyone forgot that they were in a battle with each other and basically ran away from the rampaging monster. The only exception being the Walker's pilot who, when the vines around the legs loosened, tried to fire at the Behemoth. The shot simply bounced off the skin and with one paw, the walker was literally smashed up into the air as it continued the chase on those who were running.

"AHHHH! WHY IS THIS THING AFTER US!!!!" Allisa screamed.

"I swear we're cursed or something!!!" Melvin screamed.

"What the hell did you do to piss it off?!!" Cliff yelled at Max.

"Why's it my fault?!!"

"Cause it usually is your fault 99% of the time!" Melvin yelled at Max.

"Well, it was Hair dew guy this time!"

"Hey, don't talk about Faust like that!!" The Slim man argued.

"Yeah! He's a far better guy than you'll ever be!!" The large man added.

"Why are you guys running with us?!" Melvin yelled.

"Don't get the wrong idea! We just happen to run in the same direction! It's this kids fault!"

"Yeah! If he hadn't pissed this thing off so much we would have crushed you guys!"

"It's hair dew's fault!!" Max snapped at the two men.

"No, I gotta agree with them on this," Cliff added.

"Same here," Melvin added. Cerberus let out a yelp after Melvin, agreeing with him.

"Aren't you supposed to be on my side?!!"

"Can't we talk about this later?!!!" Allisa snapped. "You know, when there isn't a giant monster chasing us!!"

"Guess it can't be helped," Rodger said, surprisingly calm given their situation. "Our only way out it-"

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!" Dora and Fred snapped, both punching Rodger's cheeks.

"In case you forgot, that's the King of the Forest, a monster not even your dad could beat!"

"Wh-What chance d-do we have!"

As they ran without a clear destination in mind they reached a group of Celtic Hoard men armed with automatic weapons, who looked as though they were preparing an ambush for them. Due to the circumstances of being chased by a large monster, the attention of the attack was directed on the monster to no avail as the bullets simply bounced off the monster's thick hide. The monster wasn't phased by this and continued to charge the group before it, ignoring the others.

Not long after that, the group reached a fork in the road. Without any kind of organization, the group on the right, Allisa, Cliff, Rodger, Dora and Fred broke off and ran down the right path while the rest; Max (With Faust on his shoulders), Melvin, Cerberus and the two men ran to the left. The monster, without much thought, charged after the group that ran left.

"H-Hey look... It's not chasing us!" Allisa said looking back.

"Must've been after Max!" Cliff responded. All five of them looked back, not looking forward as they literally ran off a cliff and fell down into a chasm below.

"AHHHHHH!!!"

"YAHOOOO!!!!"

"WHAAAAAA!!!!"

"NAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING MEEEEEEEE!!!!!"

Meanwhile, down the left path....

"It's still chasing us!!!" Melvin yelled as he looked back towards the rampaging monster.

".....Huh..." Max thought as he looked to the unconscious Faust. "Maybe it's after him. Probably pissed that I took his food."

"Now that you brought it up, WHY ARE YOU CARRYING HIM?!!"

Cerberus let out a bark at Max agreeing with his master.

"Well, I couldn't just leave him there."

"Well if that's what he's after, just drop him!!"

"Don't you dare you little turd!!!" The slim man yelled.

"Faust would carry you if it were you!!!" The large man yelled.

"In fact, we should throw you to that thing for even suggesting that we leave Faust behind!!!"

"These guys are really pissing me off..." Melvin muttered to himself.

A few yards later, they arrived at a large enclosed area with no visible exit, least not with the time they had.

"Oh great! Now what?!" Melvin yelled.

"We're trapped?!" The slim man said.

"That thing's still comen!!! We're gonna be lunch!!" The large man pointed out.

"Well, only one thing to do," Max said calmly as he threw Faust to the two men, who failed to catch him as he landed on top of him. He then turned to face the charging Behemoth, which had lowered its head to impale Max with its two horns.

"Is that kid nuts?!!" The large man exclaimed.

"Probably," Melvin said casually.

"There's no way that kid can take on by himself!!" The large man said.

The none combatants immediately retreated to what they felt was a safe distance, the two men dragging the unconscious Faust across the floor.

I hope you know what you're doing Max. I'd rather not use Cerberus's battle form this early on. Melvin thought.

Max grinned as the massive Behemoth charged at him directly. As it got close, Max braced himself and grabbed the two horns as it charged. He skidded back by the impact as he maintained his grip on the horns, his feet digging through the rock below leaving groves. Eventually, after being forced back several feet, the two finally came to a stop. Then the Behemoth was lifted right off its feet as Max heaved it up by the horns and threw it overhead. The creature landed right on his back with a powerful slam that shattered the earth beneath it.

"HE THREW IT?!!!" The two men exclaimed in shock with their mouths dropped to the ground.

"Think we should help boy?" Melvin asked Cerberus, who shook his head. "Yeah, let's leave it to him."

"J-Just what the hell is that kid..." The slim man sutured. "No way he's human."

"He's more than that," Melvin said to the two. "If anyone can beat this thing, it's him..... maybe."

The behemoth rolled itself back on his feet, letting out a menacing growl at Max with blood-fueled rage.

"Alright 'king.' Time to kick you off that throne!" Max smirked as he fired up his fists standing ready as the two began their battle for dominance.