"Proceeding to Round 8."
The ancient voice, with an indifferent tone, offered no pause. No quarter.
Jack grunted. A sound devoid of humor. "Of course you are." He muttered to the empty air. "Wouldn't want a fellow to catch his breath, would we?"
His eyes were blazing red in his hulking Black Buto form. They scanned the arena.
It was now a vast, circular expanse under a swirling, cloudy sky. Thick dark cloud hanging above. Strong wind and light rain stared to affect the arena.
The air somehow produced an electric tang. One that was growing stronger and stronger. Tiny motes of blue-white light sparked into existence. Dancing erratically near the wet ground.
Then, the swirling dark clouds above began to strangely descend in localized patches. Not the entire sky. But specific columns of coiling vapor. Directly overhead at several points across the arena. They crackled with internal energy. Mimicking a distant thunderstorm.
Jack straightened slowly. Raising the Judgement Warhammer slightly. Its immense weight was a familiar anchor in his weary hands.
His mind, despite the physical fatigue, remained sharp. Sifting through possibilities. What could emerge from a storm cloud? Thunder Serpents? Lightning Wyverns? Stormhawks?
From the base of the descending cloud patches, humanoid figures began to coalesce. But they weren't solid. Not like the Golems. Or the Sentinel.
They were wispy. Semi-transparent. Their crackling forms were vaguely humanoid in shape. But they had trailing vapor and arcs of blue lightning. They were... Storm Wraiths.
Jack swore inwardly again. He knew the creatures from fragmented lore. Spirits bound to tempestuous energy. Notoriously fast. Capable of phase-shifting. And delivering shocks that could numb bone.
Five of them materialized simultaneously across the arena. Several distance away from his position. They didn't walk on the ground. They floated. Gliding above the stone floor. Leaving faint trails of crackling spark in their wake.
Their forms were ephemeral. Constantly rippling. Making them difficult targets. Their 'faces', if they had any, were just voids of crackling energy. But Jack could feel their attention snap onto him.
"Ah, lovely!" Jack drawled. A heavy sarcasm in his tone. "Just what I need. Something you can't just... strike and break. Right after a shadow and bunch of water balls. Did they run out of physical monsters here?"
He didn't wait for them to make the first move. Despite the exhaustion, he knew inertia was his enemy now. Standing still meant being surrounded. Giving them time to coordinate.
With a renewed surge of desperate energy, he hefted the Judgement Warhammer. And charged.
The five Storm Wraiths reacted with blurring speed. They didn't converge on him immediately. Instead, two peeled off to flank him. Moving like lightning bolts streaking across the ground.
One came straight at him. While the other two circled wider. Potentially cutting off retreat. Or preparing a pincer move.
Jack focused on the one directly in front of him. It glided towards him with rapid speed. Crackling loudly. Arcs of energy snapping from its form.
He swung the Warhammer horizontally. A mighty, two-handed cleave aimed low to hopefully disrupt its attack. But the Wraith simply rippled.
The hammer passed through it. With a sickening lack of resistance. The ethereal form distorting for a split second. Before snapping back.
A sharp jolt coursed through Jack's body. As the Wraith, having flowed past his swing, twisted and lashed out. It didn't have claws or fists. But a focused burst of energy that struck his Naraka Armor.
The metal absorbed most of its damage. But a painful shock still vibrated through his whole body. Making his grip on the hammer falter.
He spun. Ignoring his protesting muscles. The two flanking Wraiths were closing. One already drawing in for a strike.
Jack brought the Warhammer up defensively. Instinctively intending to block or disrupt. This one manifested its attack more physically. A crackling, solidified tendril of lightning energy lashing out.
CLANG!
The impact against the Warhammer was solid this time. The Wraith's attack forced it to momentarily solidify to strike. The force jarred his already aching arms. And the residual shock coursed through his body. Making his tired vision swim for a second.
He needed a different approach. Brute force swings through their phased forms were useless.
Blocking their solidified attacks worked. But the shock wasn't merely painful. It felt like it was actively draining his remaining stamina. He couldn't sustain this.
He sidestepped, narrowly avoiding a strike. From the first Wraith he'd initially swung at. It was now behind him. Forcing him to constantly pivot his heavy form.
His movements were slower than they should be. His reactions were dulled by fatigue. The Naraka Armor, while protective, felt like a lead blanket.
"Alright, alright!" He grunted. Breathing hard. "Old trick! Phase through that, you glorified static!"
Instead of swinging the hammer conventionally, Jack mixed his attack with a blast of [Mysterious Anomaly]. He slammed the head of his hammer down hard at the Wraith.
It managed to evade. But the hammer head struck the stone floor. A shockwave of force emanated from the impact point. It was even visible as a distortion in the air. It was an unexpected combination of Judgement Hammer strike and [Mysterious Anomaly] blast.
The two nearest Wraiths recoiled. Their forms flickered uncontrollably for a moment. They didn't dissipate. But their phasing ability seemed momentarily disrupted. They stopped their approach. Hovering uncertainly.
That was it. They weren't fully ethereal. They could manifest to strike. And a disruptive force from the combination of his [Mysterious Anomaly] and explosive shock or soundwave could take them out of their intangible forms.
He didn't have the finesse and patience for timed counterattack while they struck. But he had the Judgement Warhammer. And [Mysterious Anomaly]. He just needed to shock them into tangibility. And follow it with quick strikes.
He feigned a swing at the Wraith still circling wide. As it began to come close to prepare a lashing strike, Jack pivoted violently. And brought the Warhammer down in a thunderous overhead smash. While activating his [Mysterious Anomaly] strike.
BOOM!
The impact shook the arena floor. Sending cracks spiderwebbing outwards. The resonant shockwave hit the Wraith. Just as it was about to strike. Dragging it into its tangible form.
Jack followed up with another hammer strike. Connecting to its torso. Causing it to shriek. And burst into a firework of blue sparks. Before dissipating entirely.
One down. Four to go.
The momentary success spurred him. Pushing back the tide of exhaustion.
"Now that's more like it!" He grinned. A fearsome baring of teeth in his monstrous face.
The remaining four Storm Wraiths seemed agitated now. They learned quickly. Instead of individual charges, they flowed together. Merging into a larger, more unstable mass of crackling energy.
The merged creature pulsed with malevolent intent. It hovered in the center of the arena. Growing brighter and denser.
Jack knew a bad sign when he saw one. This wasn't just a merging. It felt like they were pooling their energy for something significant. He couldn't let them finish.
He charged again. Pushing past the screaming protests of his muscles. He swung his Judgement Warhammer down. Attempting to strike the monster before it acted.
The merged Wraith mass pulsed. Several tendrils of solidified lightning lashed out simultaneously. Faster and stronger than before. The first one struck Jack's war hammer's head. Deflecting it sideways.
The second one snaked around his guard. Striking his left arm. The shock was excruciating. Making his entire limb feel dead. The third hit his leg. Sending a jolt up his spine. So strong that it threatened to buckle his knees.
But he kept charging forward. Absorbing the blows with the Naraka Armor. And sheer will. His momentum carried him towards the central mass.
He didn't swing when he reached it. Instead, he plunged the head of the Judgement Warhammer into the swirling energy. Driving it in with all his might. While simultaneously roared and activated his [Mysterious Anomaly] power.
The attack connected. The fused Storm Wraith shrieked. A deafening roar of static and pain. Jack held the hammer steady. Feeling the immense, volatile lightning energy fighting against the weapon's inherent force.
Arcs of lightning jumped from the mass to his Naraka Armor. Overloading its protection. Sending raw pain and debilitating shock through his entire body. His vision went white. Then red. His grip threatened to fail.
He grit his teeth and drew back the war hammer. Channeling his fury, his desperation, his sheer unwillingness to yield... into the [Mysterious Anomaly]. He swung the Judgement Warhammer. And struck the monster.
This wasn't just strength now. It was defiance. Against the monster. Against his own weakness. Against his own destiny.
The mass pulsed violently. Then, with a final, ear-splitting shriek. A shriek that echoed across the dimensional arena... The Merged Storm Wraith exploded.
BOOM!
It was an outward destructive blast. Blinding flash of explosive light threw Jack away. Crashing violently against the floor several meters away. Skipping several times before he sprawled on the ground.
Jack lay there on the floor. Battered. Scorched. And trembling uncontrollably. The Judgement Warhammer was still held tight in his hand.
Silence. Heavy, ringing silence.
Jack was alive. But at what cost? His body felt shattered. His reserves utterly depleted. He painfully sat up. And looked around.
His vision was slowly clearing. No more Wraiths. Just him. Sitting alone in the vast, empty arena.
He had survived Round 8.
He didn't have time to savor the hollow victory. He barely had time to register the pain pulsing through his veins. Before the resonant voice returned. Indifferent as ever.
"Round 8 complete. Clearing arena."
The floor began to shift.
"Proceeding to the Final Round."
Jack slumped against the Warhammer. Using it to prop himself up. A humorless, ragged sound escaped his throat.
"You have got to be kidding me?" He wheezed. The sarcasm had evaporated entirely. Leaving only raw exhaustion and disbelief.
What fresh hell awaited him now? He wasn't sure he had anything left to give. But the arena waited for no one. The last trial was about to unfold.