?The [Mirage Sphere] finally closed and Rhyne''s devoted and Patches were sealed in. Patches who watched the speech of Rilumented in a depressed voice.


    "I had hoped to be wrong, but you really did join the false princess. I apologize for not being able to save you from such a fate. Albeit short we were once allies in another life."


    Hiro, who could still see and hear the things inside the [Mirage Sphere] couldn''t help but exim! "WHAT! Rilu was our ally in the past?! What the hell happened then!"


    Rilu on the other hand brandished her weapon toward Patches and answered in a frustrated manner. "Cease your prattling monster! I am Rhyne-sama''s devoted. It is my honor and my joy in life to serve under her. Keep your apology, we share nothing but animosity."


    Gideon suddenly manifested in front of Patches as the scythe-wielder announced. "Do not think keeping us here will allow Hiro-sama to escape manticore. The Array formation outside willst five days. He will not escape. On the other hand, your [Mirage Sphere] will disappear the moment you die."


    [Mirage Spheres] were worlds created from Mana, the isted space had no rules aside from the ones defined by the creator. They were categorized into different types each with a specific purpose.


    Patches and Hiro actually got trapped in one earlier. The Manticore noticed this detail when his superior senses hit an invisible wall. The servant of Eternity was prompted to stop running and conserve his strength.


    The trap [Mirage Sphere] outside was a containment type. Running to the edge of one end would simply return you to the other In a never-ending loop.


    Starfall set up a portable [Mirage Sphere] powered by 392 Rank [A] Arrays to ensure Hiro could not escape. It locked a total area of 300,000 km2  in a sealed space or and mass almost as big as japan! Frank deployed the array with the cavern as the center.


    Their preparations made any escape for Hiro impossible as long as the trap remained functional. Of course, such items cost a vast sum of money. This one had a whopping price tag of 70 million Vals. But to the princess of Valorious, the amount was but a pittance.


    Patches, then roared as his goat head spoke "So be it, I give you a swift death for old times sake. [Leap]!"


    The Manticore suddenly pounced toward Rilu''s [Forge]. Themander of the devoted kept calm and uttered. "[Anvil]." a blue knight with a red cape came forward and shed Patches across his head.


    Due to a huge difference in STR, the manticore didn''t even bleed but was forced back. "[Hammer]!" At Rilu''s voice, a white-haired rogue acrobatically climbed on the lion''s body''s side and used his giant des to skewer it repeatedly


    Different from the blue knight, the lion head made pitiful sounds as its organs started to umte damage. "[Chisel]!" suddenly a long-haired archer shot arrows with unique heads toward Patches'' eyes


    The Manticore closed its eyelids to protect them at that moment, Rilu leaped and attacked the manticore''s right front leg. "FORGE!" The R*y mustang ripoff snapped his fingers. And the air around the arrowheads ignited.


    *BOOM!* Patches roared in pain as his eyelids failed to protect the beast''s ocr organs. Rilu managed to carve the beast''s hide with a deep wound as she attacked simultaneously with the explosion.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    The snake and goat heads had the other Battlestars focusing on them thus, they could not help. Multiple devoted were on Patches''rge frame and were giving all three heads hell.


    A masked man in a suit fired musket rounds that interrupted any forms of casting Patches'' attempted. The goat team''s [Forge] chanted silencing spells without pause topound the musketeer''s efforts. Together they rendered the goat head little more than arge target.


    An armored beastkin with a lion''s face stood on Patches back and maniacally chopped the goat head with a giant ax as one would a tree, all the Goat head''s attempts at countering got neutralized by a white-haired crusader in front of it.


    Finally, the lightning swordsman crybaby continued to strafe the goat heads face with lightning dashes. If the lion-kin aimed to decapitate it, Z*nitsu aimed to bleed the goat to death.


    The snake head didn''t fare any better. Steel wires mped the reptile''s mouth shut as a hunter with two crossbows turned it into a pincushion. Frank locked the beast''s movements by having the earth swallow the Manticore''s legs preventing the entire body from moving.


    A young knight in white armor climbed along the snake''s body and was chopping it simrly to the goat team. Amazingly the hunter never hit him by mistake despite shooting over a hundred bolts. The snake head unable to spit poison or bite tried to use its long body to m the devoted.


    However, a giant heavy knight with a ck cape and a Zweihander blocked its attacks from hitting everybody. Hiro marveled at how the Battlestars fought. He noticed that each team purposely prevented their target from fighting correctly.


    The anti-magic team sealed the goat head. While the snake team countered everything the reptile could do. In the same fashion, Rilu and her team systematically removed the strengths of the lion''s body.


    Despite Patches'' overwhelming might, he was cornered in less than a minute. Suddenly a voice echoed all around the [Mirage Sphere].


    "I suppose it was too much to believe I could still live through this. Very well to answer your courage I break my seal. Relish the experience, humans."


    The sounds of bones breaking and flesh splitting came from the Manticore. rmed all three Battlestars retreated and kept alert.


    Patches'' goat head split in two down the middle and slowly morphed into ominous batwings. The snake''s body segmented itself into sections and its scales hardened into carapaces like insects.


    The snake head melted off and what remained was a scorpion stinger. Finally, the lion''s face slowly transformed into a man''s with teeth like a shark''s. Broken horns burst out of the man''s forehead and his tongue grew longer like a snake''s.


    If earlier Patches looked nothing like a manticore in Persian myth. Reborn it looked like the stories about them were created just to describe him. The human face then smiled viciously as it challenged the devoted.


    "I haven''t fought in this form for over three thousand years. Show me what you humans can do, I hope you do not disappoint me! This will be thest servant of Eternity''s final battle."