The swaying of the scales as they bobbed up and down, reminiscently similar to a pendulum which continued to switch focus point between its left and right sides.

‘Innocent’ or ‘guilty’ …

It had to be said that as the time continued to pass by inside of the stadium dome, the brilliant Khopesh blade became even more lustrous – directly exuding an overbearingly monstrous pressure on everyone present. Whether they be the match announcer, Miles, Dome the referee in charge, the students and passersby who entered the stands or watched from the various numerous entrances, the remaining ‘Kings’, the security detail who had been spread out throughout the entire building - including the arena stands, in case of an unexpected emergency, Mr Abrams who had just come back to his class 3 – C students with his unbearably lazy son in tow, Tetra Terror, the current target for this concocted blade of Egypt, and even the ‘Prince of the Sands’, the ‘Young prodigal painter’, the ‘Fourth Generational Leader’ and ‘Little Pharaoh of Egypt’ himself – Luxor.

Furthermore, this pressure grew stronger with each passing minute, second or hour that ticked away, eventually, the nearby magicians on standby could no longer remain idle and directly opened up a magic barrier for precautionary measures.

Tetra desperately shot energy blasts left and right, front and directly behind himself after a quick spin so he could face the opposite direction. Not only was he desperately trying to find Luxor in a blind and vain attempt by using random bursts of energy to ‘limit’ his much stronger opponent’s hiding spot choices; where he would harbor the opportunity to launch a successful ambush against him while he’s rendered unaware, and unprepared. Unfortunately it wasn’t working very well. His blasts didn’t strike anything except for a small handful of corpses that instantly began using the black fog to ‘heal’ their wounds and restore their original flesh-rotting and skeletal appearance.

It felt like an unbeatable scenario. No matter how much he shoots, Tetra could never manage to land a single hit on Luxor, let alone extricate himself from the swarm of oncoming corpse servants. Every time he shot down a servant, it would restore its condition again regardless or where it had been shot and how much energy obliterated it.

This continuous struggle felt like it would never reach a conclusion, and would instead, be performed as an endless loop.

Forced to battle such bloodthirsty creatures, forever struggling for survival and teetering in-between life and death.

But Tetra was first to break the loop.

His eyes began to glow a deep forest green and black, the color and shade overlapped on one another slowly, and as this occurred, a strange, colorless aura seeped out of his body. The colorless haze took form at last, yet, it was entirely unrecognizable to the gawkers and onlookers present.

If the Khopesh gave off a powerful and monstrous-like pressure with its aura… then the constructed appearance Tetra’s OWN aura shaped itself as, fit the very definition of ‘monstrous’. It gazed forward, and as it did so, shadowy bodies fell back in a strange trance. They didn’t do anything except collapse in a heavy daze.

With that lone instance, Tetra overcame the corpse servants who were infinitely close to his present location at once! It silently looker around him, then back at the boy, and its hand reached deep into the depths of his consciousness. His pale and energy-spent face shivered after this moment of contact was made, and afterwards… the mass of thin and invisible energy seemed to… give him a malicious taunt… as its giant clawed hand extended further down, slowly gripping around Tetra’s own heart.

A silent laugh could be clearly made out, based on the invisible creature’s final facial expressions. And then, without warning… it faded away like an intrusive ghost. Tetra’s pale face relaxed for a second before he collapsed down on his left knee. The second of relief quickly passed by and he unfortunately remembered the details behind his current situation. And at last, Luxor’s illusory set of scales began to settle in one direction.

Random crowd student #5: “WOOHOO!! MY KING, MY PHARAOH!!! YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!! ABSOLUTELY--

…

Hey. Since when did he have these powers anyway? If I recall correctly… he never used this sort of overbearing power in a match, back in middle school. Did he? I don’t really remember, but he always used his painting power to create wonderful and elegant battle with his opponents...right? Right, right…???”

Random crowd student #6: “HMMM…

*Lifts monocle*

If I were to guess… I would say something happened that made him feel threatened… and what we are currently seeing is the true reason why he was never defeated by Tetra before. Perhaps… His powers run far deeper than any of us ever questioned before? In any case, this is a marvelous showing of absolute strength. Even the biased but personable announcer, Miles, was left speechless. That’s a real treat! Of course, that commentator might have shut up instead, because he can’t even tell what’s going on down there. All that damned fog is obstructive and annoying!”

Random crowd student #7: “But wait, more importantly, what IS that power Tetra used just now?? Not the laser beam stuff. I already know that’s just his psychic energy or something weird like that. I’m talking about the last thing. That monster he summoned like a stan-”

Random crowd student #8: “BAH! Who even cares at this point! I want explanations on this ENTIRE match from the beginning until now! HOW did Tetra beat Luxor Al Amin twice without moving? WHY did Tetra instead, fall to the floor and lose in the fourth match? Why isn’t Luxor using his Painting powers and where exactly did this black fog stuff, sword and giant scales all come from?! WHY did I hear a creaking sound in my head and why was there a gate behind him at the beginning??

WHERE DID HE EVEN GO?! Is this all part of his painting powers still, or… or is all of this something else entirely? I want answers – I NEED answers!!”

Random crowd student #9: “And then there was that invisible thing on top of Tetra Terror. It saved him a little big, against those half zombie, half skeleton warrior things, but after that, he looked drained. And more are still coming…”

Random crowd student #10: “You guys are entirely missing the point. That set of scales… haven’t you even started to wonder why it keeps tilting back and forth like that? It’s like… it’s almost like the ‘Scales of Justice’ from Egypt. The scales of Justice that judges souls with an unbiased stance, in order to decide their their fate: whether they live or die. Doesn’t it look like that?”

Random crowd student #11: “Really…? I’ve never heard of that before…”

Random crowd student #12: “She’s right, you know. Those scales… I think they’re the same ones that represents the Zodiac sign ‘Libra’. Since Mr. Amin down there is also known as ‘Young Pharaoh’, Then maybe he…

Maybe he is…

*Gasps*

Is he about to show us a unique superpower that explains why he’s known as the ‘Pharaoh’ instead of the Hero Society introduced ‘King’?”

...

The Scales of Justice, guarded with adamant fervor by its primary guardian, Anubis, during ages past. For as brief moment, they tipped towards the illusory and ghastly form of a soul, written out as a name instead of being shaped like a typical orb or physical body. The eerily spelled - out name was actually written in a certain set of hieroglyphs.

…

Random crowd student #13: “Hey… what’s that? On the left side of the scale?”

Random crowd student #14: “Hmm,

*perks up glasses*

From what I can tell… it appears to be… an owl, a blue thing, a lion, an arm, and half of a paperclip…?”

Random crowd student #13: “… Are… are absolutely sure that’s what is laying on the scale…?”

Random crowd student #15: “What do you think that means? Is a battle between an owl and a lion going to take place over the arm? Did that arm once belong to a powerful Egyptian warrior who valiantly fought and died in battle? Is that paperclip thing his weapon, making that blue wing looking thing his shield? Oh, Oh, Oh! I think I figured it out! Is that a form of taunting? Is Luxor declaring he will tear Tetra apart, limb-”

*BONK!*

…

Random crowd student #1: “...Hey. You think… that the commentator Miles… hit his head again? Pffft~”

Aleatha Eseria: “What’s going on?? Miles?! MILES GET UP RIGHT N---

…

Wait a moment. This energy… div-divine…?!”

There was only one small problem with Aleatha’s current foresight, in regards to today’s match.

…

She truly never predicted that old woman would be capable of coming to the young Prince of Egypt’s rescue, and follow up by breaking him free from Aleatha’s control.

She never knew what would happen if her energy clashed with a God that was stuck borrowing a vessel’s body, considering how little energy could be used in the high school teenager before harming him.

And she honestly, like most of the currently-observing students in the stadium dome tonight…

She truly never knew which specific ‘God’ he had by his side. Nor that he was so favored, to the point that the higher being would bring out the Scales of Justice – even IF this was only a minor replica of the genuine article.

And worse, she clearly saw Miles fall to the ground like a lifeless doll after his name appeared in hieroglyphics on the side of the scales which represented the judging soul.

Right after Miles fell, a new ‘name’ was written in hieroglyphics. This time… she recognized it as her own translated name: Aleatha.

---