Katro had had enough of Deviants for a lifetime already. Being knocked out by Muryoko himself was enough of an experience. But here he was, less than a day later, marching into another battle.

  They were at Isapora, a large city in the west. With him was Wright, Ryukyu and Raven. Katro felt out of place. These three… they were really really strong. A day ago he couldn’t imagine anyone could bring them down, but this was the same team that had lost to a couple Deviants yesterday. They had to be on guard.

  Isapora was bright and loud when they showed up, despite the night sky. It was probably the richest city besides Sunden. Even Santh, despite being the home of King Casi, was apparently modest. Katro had never been. It was way too cold up there.

  It'd be impossible to ask the entire city to stay indoors and quiet down. So the plan was different. They'd stop the army before they reached the city, and hopefully before anyone noticed the danger. The nearest tunnel exit was a field away. That would give them the space they needed.

  Aberrants were nothing to Ryukyu, no matter their number, so Phase 1 of the plan was simple. Ryukyu glides above the cave they'll come from, and he torches all of them. It'd theoretically work until the Deviant showed up. Hopefully there was only one.

  After that, Phase 2. Wright and Raven battle the Deviant while Ryukyu finishes off the Aberrants. As soon as Ryukyu finishes, he joins them.

  Katro didn't have a place in the plan. He felt down about it, but not bad. After all, this was his own plan. He just couldn't see himself being helpful. He was objectively the weakest Outer Rank. He was Rank 6, but Kiara deserved to be above him and Jade was a powerful supporter in battle. What did he even do? Annoy the enemy and hit them with weak attacks?

  Katro would watch and, at best, be a distraction if the others needed one. It wasn't something to be proud about, but it was at least a role. And at the end of the day, what mattered was winning.

  Katro stood next to Raven and Wright. They'd lure out the Aberrants for Ryukyu, who silently hovered, just out of sight. Wright patted Katro on the shoulder.

  "You okay?" He asked, "Don't worry about feeling like you're not participating. You made the plan. You'll be the reason we stand a chance."

  Katro still felt doubtful. "Anyone can plan. If this does escalate any further, my usefulness will vanish. I can't keep up."

  "And if it doesn't escalate any further," Wright finished off, "That's thanks to you. So let's make tonight worth it."

  With that pep talk done, Katro felt rumbling beneath his feet. They were coming.

  Flames flew round Ryukyu's teeth as he prepared to ignite the incoming army. An Aberrant rushed into the open, and Ryukyu let his flames down upon it.

  It was never not an incredible sight, seeing the tornado of flames engulf the Aberrant. It filled Katro's entire vision, and he backed away. He always underestimated Ryukyu's firepower. The heat was intense.

  No… that wasn't it. Katro saw flickers of blue flames in the vortex. That was new. Ryukyu had been getting stronger. His flames had been getting hotter.

  After a while, Ryukyu closed his mouth and the flames stopped. The Nexeans stepped forward, expecting to see a pile of burnt Aberrants. Instead, there was just one. A single corpse. There was a moment of silence. Of confusion. Then the ground beneath them began to crumble.

  The Nexeans jumped out of the way just in time for Aberrants to emerge from under their feet like sharks. Katro instinctively went invisible. He put distance between himself and the new tunnel that had been dug at their feet.

  "It was a trap." Raven growled, "They sent a sacrifice to distract us. There's a smart Deviant among them."

  "Right you are, Nexean!"

  A Deviant jumped out of the hole, landing on its feet. Katro had never seen this one before. It appeared feminine, and had a pink aura. Her eyes were sharp, and her smile was unsettling. Behind her, another Deviant rose. This one was shorter, with a brown aura. Its horns were small, and it lacked armoured shoulders, but its eyes were filled with anger.

  "There’s two of them!" Wright yelled out, warning the others. This was a problem. The plan would be much harder to execute against two Primes.

  The pink one stretched, and she smiled as if she was about to try a fun new game.

  "Four Nexeans, Jinaida. Which ones do you want to challenge?"

  "This isn't a game, Nika." The one called Jinaida responded, "Kill them and find the crystal."

  Nika rolled her eyes and sighed. "You're no fun." She glanced around as Ryukyu landed beside the other Nexeans. Katro reappeared to show them he was fine.

  "Careful, all of you," Wright said, "we don't know their abilities. Don't be reckless-"

  To that, Raven let out a battle cry and transformed, forming a ball of energy and blasting it straight at Jinaida's head. Oddly, it curved upwards when it approached him, shooting barely above his horns. Jinaida stumbled, and turned to Nika.

  "You can deal with that one, Nika. She's probably one of the stronger ones. I'll fight him."

  To Katro's distress, Jinaida was pointing at him. Katro went invisible again. He stayed still.

  "Oh no you don't…" Wright stood defensively in front of Katro, facing Nika. Nika tilted her head.

  "Wright, right?" She giggled at the joke she'd made. "I thought you were on our side. Master Muryoko told us you were good at following his orders."

  Wright cracked his knuckles. "I allowed him to take the crystal so that I could protect my friends. I won’t let you hurt them."

  Nika laughed, closing her eyes. Wright smirked and nodded towards Ryukyu.

  Ryukyu roared and charged into Nika, ramming into her with his full force. She flew backwards, coughing up blood and opening her eyes wide. Ryukyu flapped his wings to reach her as fast as he could, catching Nika before she could hit the ground, and flung her into the air. He then dug his claws into the ground and opened his mouth. An immense flame lit up the sky as Nika vanished into a sea of flames. Ryukyu had to dig all four of his clawed arms into the ground to be able to resist the recoil. Nika hit the ground, completely on fire, and lay there.

  Everyone was waiting in anticipation, Jinaida included. To their dismay, Nika stood. She slowly got to her feet, and the burns were already vanishing. Her regeneration was incredible.

  It was then that Katro noticed a gem that Nika was wearing on a thin necklace. He hadn't seen it at first because it seemed to be a rosy-quartz, and blended in as it hung in front of her core. What was it for?

  Nika tore her necklace off, inspecting the quartz. Suddenly, she threw it away into the dirt behind her.

  "Is that all you've got?" She cackled. In retaliation, Ryukyu snarled and slashed into her torso. Her wounds were minor and healed fast. Nika grabbed Ryukyu’s arms and headbutted him. It shouldn't have hurt too badly, but Ryukyu backed away. His head was bleeding. Nika was unharmed.

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  "Deal with Jinaida. I'm backing up Ryukyu." Wright announced, his body shifting into metal and joining the fight.

  Jinaida turned to face Raven and Katro. He seemed satisfied fighting them, all of a sudden, after seeing Ryukyu's power. Jinaida took a long look at the two of them, keeping their attention. They realised why just in time.

  An Aberrant hit Katro. He avoided the brunt of the attack, but it still grazed his arm.

  Raven flew into the air, out of reach of the Aberrants trying to ambush her. When she saw Katro on the ground, vulnerable, she glided over to him and grabbed his arm, keeping him in the air too.

  Jinaida levitated alongside them. He was cautiously approaching. Katro braced himself. In this position he was powerless. If anything, he was quite literally dragging Raven down.

  Raven fired an energy beam at Jinaida, and it once again curved, this time plummeting downwards. It exploded when it hit the ground, where some Aberrants were waiting. They all died. Jinaida looked down at the mess awkwardly.

  "Oops."

  "Katro. The ground is clear. Can you get down there?" Raven asked. Katro was surprised she was keeping such a cool head, but to be fair, he'd be dead if she wasn't keeping her temper in control.

  "I'll be fine. Go all out."

  Raven let go of Katro's arm and he dove towards the ground. He wasn't too far off the ground. This was a height he could easily land from. With a roll, he got to his feet, recovering easily.

  Katro covered his eyes as Ryukyu lit up the sky again. He was keeping Nika off the ground where she couldn’t regain her balance. She was like a punching bag, doing nothing but getting torched, slashed and hit. Wright was with Ryukyu, jumping around and delivering his own powerful blows. He'd turned into a light material, it seemed. Something that made him almost float in the air.

  Nika wasn't doing anything. She kept getting thrown around, rammed into and burnt to a crisp. But her smile never faded. Her laughing was starting to scare Katro. She wasn't doing anything, but she refused to go down.

  A chill went down Katro's spine. Barely in time, he jumped backwards. Raven's beam hit the ground where he was standing like a laser. That would have killed him. Katro looked up, and saw Jinaida directly above him. Whatever his power was, he was using it to redirect Raven's attacks towards Katro, who was vulnerable.

  Raven yelled in frustration. It was clear that ranged attacks weren’t working. In response, Raven decided to fly at Jinaida herself. To hit him directly.

  As soon as she entered a certain radius, directly above Katro, she too plummeted towards the ground like a bird being shot out of the sky. Katro managed to avoid her body, which hit the ground and kicked up dust. He didn't avoid her left wing, which hit him and knocked him to the ground. It was heavy, too heavy for him to push off himself.

  "Raven… lift your wing.." Katro strained. The wing wasn't just resting on him. It was crushing him.

  "I… can't…" She growled in response. There was some kind of pressure pinning her down. Jinaida landed next to them, seeming proud of himself.

  Raven reverted to normal, her mask and wings vanishing. Katro still couldn’t get himself off the ground. There was an invisible force keeping him down. As if gravity had increased tenfold.

  "That's it… gravity.." He thought aloud. Jinaida clapped.

  "Good job. Are you confused as to how someone like Sekara, who had basic blades, ranked higher than someone with gravity manipulation? So what if she beat me in a fight? So what if my radius is limited? So is Vera's. My power is a lot like Vera, actually. I deserve to be ranked so much higher, don't you think?"

  Like Vera? That was good news for Katro, and Raven seemed to realise too. She formed a smoke spear next to her flattened body, and Jinaida laughed.

  "I think you'd beat me, girl, if you were able to keep using ranged attacks against me. But thanks to your useless friend, look at you now. I'm able to bring down someone stronger than me thanks to my intelligence and awareness. I deserve so much more than-"

  Jinaida abruptly stopped talking as Katro casually got to his feet. He picked up the spear Raven had created for him.

  "Like Vera, you said?" Katro told him. "Good thing her power didn't work on me either."

  One minute. He had one minute to kill Jinaida. He could do this.

  Katro rushed towards Jinaida, who reached his hand out. It hadn't processed in his head that Katro was immune. Jinaida was left open, and Katro struck him with the spear. A line of blood formed on Jinaida's chest. He slowly backed away.

  Katro didn't stop. He went after him, slashing again. Jinaida shook himself into focus and tried to punch Katro, but his hand phased through him. Katro responded by slicing upwards, cutting Jinaida's extended arm clean off.

  Jinaida's eyes widened. He took to the skies, trying to escape Katro's range. It didn’t work. Katro threw the spear and hit Jinaida in the forehead. Jinaida fell to the ground, and pulled the spear out. His wounds were regenerating, but not fast enough. He rose again, but this time was hit with a blast of purple energy.

  Katro had led Jinaida far enough from Raven. She was free.

  "Katro!" She yelled. "How long left!?"

  "30 seconds!" He shouted in response. He was immune to attacks for 30 more seconds. Raven nodded, and fired another beam at Jinaida. He redirected it back at Katro, but it flew through him.

  Raven fired another beam. And another one. And another. In faster and faster succession. Jinaida was starting to get hit by them, unable to keep up.

  "Thanks for the hint, idiot." She snarled, "I'm stronger than you."

  Raven fired one more beam, larger than the last ones, and it hit Jinaida square in the chest. A hole appeared in his chest, and he fell to his knees.

  Raven wasn't done yet. She gathered the energy for another blast and fired it at Jinaida. She was going for the head. She was going for the kill.

  Out of nowhere, Nika landed in front of Jinaida, shielding him. The beam hit her in the head, burning into her forehead. Even still, Nika barely flinched. She regenerated the damage.

  "Where did she come from?" Katro wondered aloud, "And why hasn't she taken any damage?"

  He looked around for Ryukyu and Wright. No way she could get away from both of them.

  Ryukyu was on the ground. He wasn't unconscious, but he was completely out of steam. Wright appeared next to Katro, having chased Nika.

  "There's no way she should still be alive," he reported. "We hit her with everything, and she walked it off. Ryukyu was running out of energy, and Nika hit him in the head. He's down. I'm running out of stamina too. She's outlasting us."

  "Idiot!" Raven hissed, "Why would you announce that?"

  Wright didn’t respond. He also didn't seem guilty. He turned to Nika.

  "We can't fight any longer, Nika. But there's no crystal here, is there? You would have sensed it, and you would have gone for it. You're only fighting for fun, right?"

  For once, Nika's smile faded. "You're not fighting any longer?"

  Wright shook his head. Nika lowered her head.

  "That's no fun. Let's go, Jinaida."

  "Nika! They're Nexeans! Kill them!"

  Nika kicked Jinaida. His other arm came off. That power was terrifying, being able to amputate a Deviant arm in one kick.

  "I'm bored. We're going home."

  "No, you're not!" Raven yelled. She fired a series of beams at Nika, who didn't even brace. She took the hits and healed. Her eyes narrowed.

  "So you can fight…"

  Raven shot another beam, but Wright suddenly blocked it with his stone arm.

  "Sorry, Raven." He grabbed her by the head and slammed her into the ground, instantly knocking her out. Katro looked at him. There were probably better ways to keep up that facade, but it was Raven. Maybe that really was the best he could do.

  Katro finished off Wright's point. "Nika. None of us can fight. You may leave."

  The Deviant raised her eyebrows, but they spoke the truth. She smiled again.

  "See you all next time!"

  She left, dragging Jinaida behind her like a dead weight. Jinaida didn't dare speak. He'd been humiliated. They vanished into the tunnels.

  Wright and Katro stood among the carnage. Something was bothering Katro. After a couple minutes of silence, he asked the question.

  "Wright. This is the second time in two days that you've surrendered to the Deviants. Do you fear them?"

  Wright didn't show his face. Instead, he walked over to Ryukyu, who had reverted to normal and was on his knees.

  "Can you make it back?"

  Ryukyu nodded. "Not by air, though. I'll walk."

  Wright seemed fine with that. He picked up Raven over his shoulder and walked towards the tunnels.

  "We won. Let's report this to base."

  Katro agreed. Wright seemed exhausted. If he were really afraid of them, then standing up to them in the first place was brave. But… if he was so ready to surrender when he thinks things are going downhill… Well, he's Inner Rank 5. Katro hoped this wouldn't become a fatal issue in the future.