The hunters regained their strength—

and the battlefield exploded into chaos.

Monsters poured down from the stands.

Gates burst open—

releasing every creature meant for the arena.

A full war erupted inside the colosseum.

Raiden charged forward immediately—

shield in hand,

placing himself before Ethan

to protect him.

Ethan’s defense had collapsed

under Night Lord’s Aura.

Elsewhere—

Alicia Heart cut through the enemy ranks,

her katana flashing with lethal precision.

Her swordsmanship was extraordinary—

her speed even more so

with Aura Armor active.

The other hunters fought fiercely—

gathering around Ethan.

Without realizing it,

they had accepted him as their leader—

after witnessing the overwhelming display of power.

"Fight, hunters!" Ethan roared,

forcing himself to stand despite the exhaustion.

"We’ll be free the moment we kill them all!!"

The clash grew violent.

Bodies fell.

Dozens of hunters—

against hundreds of monsters.

The creatures in the stands weren’t the worst of them—

they resembled some sort of elite class.

But they were still strong enough

to cause heavy losses.

Hunter after hunter fell—

their numbers dwindling with every passing minute.

For every hunter who died—

two monsters fell.

But it wasn’t enough.

Not nearly enough.

Soon—

they were surrounded.

"Damn it..." Ethan muttered, his face pale from exhaustion.

"If I could just use Blade Tempest one more time..."

He knew—

at full strength,

he could wipe them all out.

But in his current state...

that was no longer an option.

Killing even a single one of them had become nearly impossible.

Through the lens of Crow Sage Sight, Ethan could now perceive the battlefield with terrifying clarity—

and the more he watched, the more certain he became that defeat... and death... were closing in. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

His mind went blank.

There was no plan left—

nothing but the desperate hope that one of his companions might somehow create a miracle.

Chai... Raiden... Alicia...

Any one of them—

a hidden strike, a decisive blow,

a technique capable of turning the tide.

But even as he thought it,

he knew it was nothing but an illusion.

They had no such power.

"What now...?"

Leaning on the Executioner Sword,

his other weapons scattered uselessly across the colosseum,

Ethan raced against time, searching for an answer.

But none came.

For a fleeting moment—

he accepted it.

They would lose.

There was no escaping it.

That certainty held...

until a single beam of hope shattered it completely.

In less than a second,

Ethan witnessed something unbelievable—

dozens of monsters hurled through the air,

their bodies broken, bones shattered, limbs crushed—

flung like ragdolls across the battlefield.

Dead.

Scattered.

And at the center of it all—

stood a towering figure.

A man of overwhelming presence,

crushing everything in his path

with nothing but his bare fists.

"Boy... your name is Ethan, isn’t it?"

With those serpent eyes—

and that terrifying smile—

the mysterious man appeared

in the heart of the battlefield.

"This is your victory. Congratulations."

He swung his fists like artillery—

each punch obliterating two... three monsters at once.

He moved like a walking war machine,

a tank trampling everything beneath it.

Compared to him—

the monsters almost looked human.

He destroyed them with pure physical strength alone—

not even bothering to activate Aura Armor.

That raw, overwhelming power made one thing clear to everyone present—

this man could have reduced the entire arena to rubble

from the very beginning... if he had wished.

With his arrival,

the battle shifted completely.

What had been a desperate struggle

became a one-sided massacre.

It didn’t last even five minutes.

Soon—

every monster lay dead,

their bodies mangled beyond recognition—

slaughtered by something far worse than beasts.

When it was over—

his body drenched in blood—

the mysterious man turned slowly toward Ethan.

"Well then, leader... what now?"

Silence answered him.

The hunters stared—

too shocked by his strength,

too shaken by his brutality

to even approach.

Ethan, exhausted, met his gaze—

then finally spoke.

"You... what’s your name?"

That was the first thing he wanted to know.

The giant obliged.

"Jackson."

He smiled faintly.

"Jackson Heart."

For a moment—

Ethan smiled back, weakly.

"I’m Ethan... Jackson. Nice to meet you."

Closing his eyes briefly,

he then gestured forward.

"We’ve won this battle... but it’s not over."

"We’ll be forced to fight again soon."

"For now—

we stay here. In this colosseum."

"We use the monsters’ ignorance to our advantage,

recover our strength... and plan our next move."

Jackson nodded after hearing this.

"A wise decision. In your current state,

you wouldn’t survive out there."

"Let’s head back to the cells.

For now, hiding is the best option."

With that,

Jackson turned and began walking toward the dungeons.

The hunters followed slowly—hesitantly—

only moving once Ethan stepped forward behind him.

"Ethan... is it really safe to stay with that monster?"

Raiden whispered, unease clear in his voice.

After what he had seen,

the thought of staying near someone who could kill them all effortlessly

was deeply unsettling.

But Ethan felt no fear.

If anything—

he saw an opportunity.

"It’s fine," he replied calmly.

"If he wanted us dead... we’d have been dead long ago."

Ethan’s survival instincts told him one thing—

Jackson would be the key to their escape.

And so—

he intended to bring him to their side,

no matter the cost.

After the battle,

the hunters scattered among the cells—

resting, recovering their strength.

Four of them stood watch,

rotating every few hours

to guard against a surprise attack.

Meanwhile,

Ethan, Raiden, and Jackson

entered the giant’s cell—

which he referred to as his "home"—

seeking answers,

and planning what came next.

It was a strange place.

The walls were covered in countless carvings—

layered over one another,

as though someone had spent years

etching them with their bare hands.

Chai and Alicia remained outside—

the space too cramped for all of them.

Inside,

Ethan and Raiden sat across from the giant,

facing him directly.

"I know it’s not much," Jackson said casually,

"but welcome to my humble home."

Raiden frowned—

wondering if the man in front of him

was completely insane.

Ethan, however,

remained serious.

"Thank you for letting us in, Jackson...

and for helping us earlier."