Zallino sloshed and curved around the insect zlimtning's fist, evading the punches like he was flowing water, much to the insect zlimtning's none existent displeasure. Zallino continued to evade the I.Z's attacks while barely avoiding any damage more significant than nicks to the sides of his arms.

"He's been dodging for the past ten minutes...," Destiny commented as Kara patted Vivo (crow) on the head.

"Even one can tell he's stalling," Kara said. Zallino glanced at Kara and rolled his eyes, before catching a fist narrowly away from hitting his face with his free hand. Zallino dragged the I.Z's arm upwards and hoisted the I.Z over his head before he slammed the I.Z into the circular walkway. The I.Z twitched and crackled on the floor, trying to regain control over its movements as Zallino merged his magisteel baseball bat and arm together into an arm energy cannon.

"Sacrafising defence for attacking power hardly ever pays off," Zallino stated before his arm cannon crackled to life and gathered lightning mana through the holes all over the cannon. The I.Z struggled to push itself to an upright position, but its efforts were thwarted by a cluster of pink Judgement Chains wrapping around it and slamming it against the circular walkway. Zallino looks over to his side to see Xelphia, with a pink Mana Tether string connected between her and Kunai, controlling the pink Judgement Chains.

"Don't just stand there like a blob!" Xelphia shouted whilst sweat ran down her face, "How does Kunai do this without a sweat?" Xelphia uttered. Zallino rolled his eyes and blasted a hole through the I.Z's head without batting an eye or looking. The I.Z's colour became desaturated before drying up and turning into ash.

"Now to deal with the...," Zallino managed to say before cutting himself off upon seeing Kunai sinking her teeth into the Bearlephant's neck and ripping its head.

"Nethermind.". Zallino transformed his arm to normal right as the two rabbit zlimtnings crashed into the central pillar and crumbled to a cloud of ash.

Zalroth yawned as he sat up, and grabbed a Hallucinogenic Flora vine which snapped passed him. Zalroth pulled the vine behind himself and dragged Maru towards him. Maru somersaulted over Zalroth and landed on Zalroth's tails as Zalroth walked towards the others. Maru sat down and made his Hallucinogenic Flora vines wither away; he glanced over at Vivo and snickered.

"What happened to you?" Maru asked as he looked at the rainbow pollen-covered Vivo.

"Kara sneezed while she was eating some rainonail pollen,".

Zalroth stopped at the foot of the central pillar and looked up at the Ancient Tower's power core nestled in the central pillar. Kunai (normal-size) and Xelphia climbed onto Zalroth's tails, and Zallino (pheonix form) perched on Zalroth's shoulder.

"My lord/lady, I scanned the power core, and the residual alchemic energy has subsided... although," Zallino said. Chronia placed a hand over her mouth and yawned as she raised her head.

"Zalroth, he's about to suggest we should leave because the Tower's about to transform... transformers style," Chronia mumbled before she rested her head on Zalroth's back and resumed sleeping. Zalroth gave Zallino a quick look, and Zallino nodded, confirming Chronia was correct.

The Ancient Tower's power core lit up like a yellow beacon of light as the two central pillars spun and encased the power core. The central pillar and the dark metal walls of the Ancient Tower lit up as golden yellow lines formed on all of the walls. Zalroth chuckled to himself as he turned away from the central pillar.

"So, that's why she wanted me to conserve my energy," Zalroth remarked. Zalroth clicked his neck and activated his Lightning Amp (Low) before sprinting for the exit to the Ancient Tower energy reactor.

Sophia, Ruby, Charlotte and co strolled down the bustling streets as the many Talkia civilians congratulated them for how well they did in the tournament. Luna covered her face to hide her blushing cheeks.

"I can't believe how much money we all got, even though it was spit so much," Ruby said as she placed a right-half heart-shaped magic purse in her magic storage bubble.

"Yeah... but I'd still preferred I could've gotten the azure gems for sensei," Sophia replied as she placed a left-half heart-shaped magic purse in her magic storage bubble. Ruby wrapped an arm over Sophia's shoulder, causing her to lightly blush.

"Well, there's always next time, Fifi," Ruby remarked as she giddily grinned.

"R-right," Sophia mumbled quietly as she stared at the ground. Sophia tried to regain her stoic demeanour, but the continuous physical contact with Ruby made Sophia mildly smile; however, her expression snapped to a serious-neutral expression, and she glared into the distance while the others (excluding Charlotte) also stared in the same direction with nervous expressions.

"W-what's wrong?" Charlotte asked panically.

"A super scary erm... manza energy is in the distance," Star said as she was piggybacking on Ruby's back. Charlotte nodded before she transformed into her Surging Mana State and activated her Guardian Azure ability on herself; she bent her knees, gathered wind mana under her legs and launched herself into the air. Charlotte easily cleared the height of Talkia's city wall, and she darted her head around to try and locate the thing the other sense. Charlotte narrowed her eyes before immediately widening them as something large in the distance caught her attention; she squinted her eyes at the thing as a sort of interference shrouded its form.

"You don't need observation magic to know that thing's giving off bad vibes," Charlotte uttered mentally as she slowly descended back to the ground.

Charlotte landed next to the others, and they barraged her with the same question as to what she saw.

"Dunno, there was too much steam around it," Charlotte explained as Lola and co hurried over.

"Guys, what's going on?" Xinia shouted as she sprinted over to the group.

"No clue, but it must have something to do with why Dad and Zuno suddenly left the coliseum earlier," Minia mentioned, with Nola nodding in agreement.

"Yeah... and given mum nor dad didn't mention anything to us it probably means we shouldn't get involved," Nola stated. Lola raised an ear at hearing Nola's words and gave her a perplexed look.

"You sure we shouldn't, sis?". Minia and Nola nodded their heads in unison while awkwardly chuckling.

"When it comes to stuff of this scale if our help's need mum or dad would've told us before they left earlier," Nola said as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Does that mean you know what caused the energy surge we sensed?" Heather asked.

"Not entirely, but given the direction, the surge cam from it must have come from the Ancient Tower, and if that's the case we definitely shouldn't get involved," Nola stated affirmatively.

"Why's that?" Ruby asked.

"Because Ancient Towers are, and I quote: mega duper strong super weapons of mass destruction capable of even killing god incarnates, mum's words," Minia stated, leaving the others at a loss for words with blank expressions.

"Damn," Ruby uttered as a city-spanning shadow crept over Talkia.