Chapter 121: We Have A... Winner?

Deep in the Orion Galaxy, not too far from Vexarra, the Necrams mothership floated idly in space. Commander Alger and his generals were walking through their newest batch of creations and the commander looked pleased. They used an entire planet worth of power to create this batch and the generals just woke up from their "upgrades."

"Well sir, you are next." The General turned to a strange looking chamber with hi-tech equipment no one on Vexarra could recognize or begin to comprehend.

"28 days?" Commander asked with a grin.

"Yessir. The entire planet will be pumped into you. These Eidolons look juicy." The General said with a smirk.

The Commander used his eyes and thumb print to get past the first gate into the chamber, then again and a third time before they strapped him in. Several of their medical staff were in the room carefully marking where the injections would enter his body. After about 3 hours of prep, everyone left the room and someone started pressing buttons on a tablet.

Needles, pumps and other devices all slowly entered the Commander, who was now peacefully sleeping. A bright orange liquid very slowly dispensed from each of the devices while others provided essential nutrients and food for his survival.

"When he wakes up, no one will be able to stop us," The head of the medical staff laughed.

*******

Tyler and the rest of his group rested up until reset. There was no sense fighting anymore and right as the clock struck 0, something strange happened. They were front and center with Armitage Academy with a message playing from someone unexpected.

"Silly creatures of Vexarra. Try to teleport away and you will be slain. Finish your silly little game and exit this forest before your head becomes our prize."

The Dean and control room were in full panic. The Eidolons made their decision and all of the preparation they put into the final day of the tournament, which cost around 500,000 credits, all were meaningless. The internet exploded because no one knew who the ominous voice was and the menacing laugh at the end sent shivers down the spines of everyone except Tyler.

"That’s Tiamat." Ash said calmly.

"Well, go!" Tyler commanded while shooting out hellhounds and griffons from his staff.

All of his familiars aside from Leviathan were out and on the attack. Nyx, Sophie, Amanda and Kass got the hint quickly and they were able to catch the Armitage students somewhat off-guard. Armitage countered with everything they had but they were outnumbered.

"Shadow, pounce on the support user. Her walls are annoying." Tyler said calmly, like he was bored.

"Kass, big guy in the back is all yours," Tyler commanded as she grew to 11 feet and quickly trampled over the field.

Sophie already moved on the Captain and Amanda continued to provide buffs and block oncoming spells. Nyx was in her assassin form 32 already, clashing swords with one of the students and pushing him back, quickly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, look at this powerful display from Ability Academy! Who the hell is Tyler Rask and where did this team of nobodies come from? Well, aside from the Crimson Valkyrie of course..." Tommy V trailed off, unable to contain his excitement. This wasn’t a duel, this was domination.

"Look at that demon!" EmieStreams shouted enthusiastically to her 300 million viewers. Her numbers continued to climb throughout the tournament and she was now a household name for a quarter of Vexarra. "She can charm too?! What can’t this group do!"

The Eidolons watched from the forest, Tiamat included. Vox stood idly by, behind everyone, including the masked Eidolon. Only Tiamat knew he or she was.

"He lets them out freely, yes he does. What a fool." Tiamat snarled, her red eyes glowing.

Tyler glanced over toward the forest and saw her. His head started pounding and dropped his staff.

"Tyler!" Amanda screamed.

"Don’t worry about me! Finish the fight!" He said while falling to his knees.

"That goes for all of you! Finish this!"

Ash was the only one that returned to him after knocking two of the students over with a charging body slam. The hellhounds and griffons dissipated and Nyx, Kass and Sophie were able to finally take down the rest of the Armitage students.

Bang-Bang-Pew-Bang-Bang-Pew-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dun-Dunnnnnnnnnnnnn!

And the winner of the 99th Prestige’s first event is: Ability Academy!

Medical staff quickly teleported in and took away the Armitage team and as they approached Sophie and the others, they told them to go away. Tyler was now writhing in agony on the ground, grabbing his head and screaming.

"Get out of my fucking head!" He screamed.

"My, oh my. What a pathetic little summoner," Tiamat laughed.

"Did my big brother and his little lover give you some cute little blessings? That’s not power, that’s pity. If you want real power, you’d join me."

As each of his familiars returned and Sophie and the others used Qi on him, he started to feel slightly better but he couldn’t move. Whatever Tiamat was doing was meant to push him to the brink.

"What do you mean join you? I couldn’t summon you, you’d fucking kill me!" Tyler managed to stutter out.

"Oh I wouldn’t be your summon, you’d do my bidding silly child. For now, you’re just a weak little summoner who doesn’t know what’s going to happen, do you?" Tiamat laughed.

Vox noticed the other Eidolons seemed to be enjoying this torture. The masked and hooded Eidolon was guarding Tiamat but he noticed all of Tyler’s familiars went to him and not to attack their group.

’Why would they just sit idly by and not attack? This doesn’t make any sense.’ Vox thought, perplexed at what Tiamat and her 7 head Eidolons were actually doing.

"I’m not anyone’s puppet." Tyler screamed.

Tiamat laughed again. "Yet you follow around your four little girlies like they’re everything and more. You’re becoming a vampiric prince. You’ve received immortality and you choose to treat your pitiful familiars like they’re your equals. We’re not your equals, we could devour you without hesitation."

Tyler laughed. "Then go ahead, kill me see if I fucking care. Death does not scare me Tiamat."

Ash remained calm because he knew in his current form, he could do nothing against the goddess. He scanned the forest and identified the 7 Eidolons, keeping a mental note of each one.

"Vivachel, Ifirit, Beezlebub, Loviatar, Nephthys, Lilith, Sekhmet." Ash muttered to himself.

"That’s a strong group, big brother. Who are the other two?" Leviathan asked quietly.

"I’m not sure. I don’t recognize the young one and Tiamat has a sealing spell on that mask. This isn’t good. We have to get Tyler out of here."

"Killing you would be too easy. For now, just keep getting more powerful but I have my eyes on you." Tiamat’s voice lowered to a whisper, but it caused the hair on Tyler’s skin to stand up.

"What the fuck do you mean?" Tyler spat back.

"Just remember this is our forest. You stay in your little world and we’ll stay in ours until the time is right. Understood?" Tiamat appeared with her black clawed hand around his throat.

"Who the hell is that?!" Dean Pritchett screamed as the Eidolon lifted Tyler into the air with ease.