Lam looked down at the immobilized Masha, his expression twisting into an evil, calculating smile. He raised his left hand, tapping his gauntlet to execute his final tactical command.
A fleet of high-tech tactical drones materialized instantly in the air above Masha, locking their targeting visors directly onto her location.
"ELECTRO BARRAGE!" Lam commanded coldly.
The drones unleashed a devastating, simultaneous volley of high-density electrical blasts. The raw thunder crashed down upon the stone ring in a blinding flash of light.
Bound by the spider trap and completely stripped of her Urja, Masha couldn't even attempt to dodge the incoming assault. The voltage surged through her frame, shattering her final defenses and dropping her remaining combat points to absolute zero.
The structural referee drone flashed its indicator light down toward the ring, confirming the definitive end of the match.
"WINNER: KHANDAKER G.O.D L TECH DINO LION!"
***
Masha lay on the cracked stone, her body bruised and her breath ragged. Tears of bitter frustration welled in her eyes as her face twisted into a furious, heartbroken glare.
"Ahhhhhhhh!" Masha screamed, her voice echoing across the quieted arena. "Why?! Why is it always the Royals, the G.O.D.s, and the special bloodlines that win?!"
She pushed herself up slightly, glaring toward the high-altitude royal viewing pavilion. "Is someone like me... a normal fighter without a godly lineage... never allowed to win?! Tell me, King!"
Her desperate, angry voice reached the VIP balcony, where Mufasa sat upon his grand throne. The young girl's words seemed to strike a deep, resonant chord within the Animan King.
Without a word, Mufasa stood up. In a single blur of raw kinetic speed, he vanished from the VIP balcony and materialized directly in the center of the battlefield, his royal cape billowing majestically in the wind.
***
Panicking at the sudden descent of the supreme ruler, two figures scrambled onto the ring from the spectator tunnels—Masha's parents.
They bowed deeply, their voices trembling with intense anxiety. "S-Sorry, Your Majesty! Our daughter is far too stubborn and ignorant! Please, do not mind her childish outburst!"
At the same time, the rest of the Dino Lion brothers—Draz, Asadullah, Krodh, and Bayu—hopped down onto the stone tiles to group up with Lam.
Mufasa looked down at the terrified parents and let out a calm, deep chuckle. "Do not worry. Your daughter's stubborn pride is actually just like my own son, Krodh."
"What?!" Krodh interjected instantly, crossing his heavy arms with a stern glare. "I am nothing like her!"
Masha turned her head, her tear-filled eyes locking onto Krodh's imposing, disciplined frame. Despite her defeat, a sudden flash of awe and quiet admiration crossed her face as she looked at the G.O.D. of Destruction.
***
Mufasa then turned his attention to Masha, his expression turning solemn. "And as for you, Masha... you are wrong."
The entire stadium fell into a dead silence, shocked that the King of the Animans was personally addressing a defeated contestant on the ring.
"There was once a Human," Mufasa spoke, his deep voice carrying the weight of ancient history. "Yes... a pure Human. And he was indisputably the strongest human ever born."
Masha blinked in disbelief, wiping her eyes. "Your Majesty... humans aren't inherently that powerful in the higher verses. So... he couldn't have been that formidable, right?"
"Ah, yes, you are technically right about the baseline of human biology, Masha," Mufasa answered quietly. "But he was an absolute anomaly. He routinely defeated Divine Beings."
***
Masha's parents gasped in horror, attempting to step in. "Your Majesty... surely you aren't giving our daughter false stories just to comfort her—"
"No," Mufasa interrupted, his tone firm and unyielding. "It is absolute reality. He used to hunt and kill Phoenixes with simple stones, knocking them from the sky like common birds."
Mufasa paused, his gaze darkening slightly. "His greatest and final feat was how he fell. He was killed by a supreme divine Dragon... a legendary entity possessing five eyes, five arms, and an endless array of cosmic weapons."
Standing behind his father, Lam's eyes widened slightly. His hyper-analytical mind instantly seized upon the description: Five eyes... five arms... weapons...
***
Far beyond the planetary atmosphere, floating amidst the roaring, 5,411,025-degree Celsius solar flares of the red star Colex-5411025, the Five-Armed Man was watching.
He adjusted his position on his cosmic plunger, his central third eye narrowing slightly as he caught the sudden shift in Lam's expression.
"Oh," the Five-Armed Man whispered with a dry chuckle, his voice lost in the stellar winds. "The kid actually recognizes that dragon."
Realizing that Lam was actively tracing the energy coordinates upward toward his location, the Five-Armed Man reacted instantly. He lifted his lower left hand and snapped his fingers.
"CHRONO STASIS: ZERO EVENT."
***
In an instant, the flow of time across the local cosmic sector was brought to a complete, absolute standstill. The falling dust particles, the flapping of Mufasa's cape, and the blinking eyes of the crowd froze entirely in place.
In the frozen quiet, the Five-Armed Man casually shifted his position, stepping deeper into a hidden, thermally shielded pocket realm within the core of Colex-5411025.
Once safely concealed from any analytical tech or accidental visual tracking, he snapped his fingers a second time.
"CHRONO RESUME."
Un-frozen in a fraction of a millisecond, the universe snapped back into motion seamlessly. The crowd didn't notice a single lapse in reality.
The Five-Armed Man leaned back against a solar pillar inside his hidden sanctuary, letting out a soft sigh. "No one should see me just yet. The play is only getting interesting."
Down on the field, Lam blinked, his gauntlet s
canning the sky above, but finding nothing but the blinding red glare of the distant star.