What.

  Smoke filled the area, and Shogai couldn’t see a thing. All he could hear was Vera.

  "He actually - what? No way!" She was laughing, "Run along you two, I'll kill you next time. I have to go tell Master Muryoko immediately!"

  Kiara's body flew towards Shogai, Vera having roughly thrown her, and he fell. Kiara was dazed, and didn't seem to know what was going on. In her defence, neither did Shogai. Vera was gone.

  "Wright… no. Something's up. We need to go tell Headquarters, they probably know something we don't. Quickly, let's…"

  "No need, Shogai."

  That voice. That was Wright's voice. Shogai could roughly make out half of his figure in smoke. Relief flooded him.

  "Thank goodness you're okay."

  "Well… I may need your help going back to base. I can’t exactly see."

  The smoke cleared, and Shogai realised why he could only see half of Wright's figure. It's because only half of him existed.

  The top half of Wright's face was gone, leaving only his mouth. A segment of his torso was missing, along with his right arm. Instead of blood, each opening had been sealed with the same grey his skin was made of. That's when Shogai finally realised what it was.

  "Stone. That's what your body is made of."

  "Well, almost. I'll explain on the way back. Is everyone fine?"

  "Just about. You just gave us a fright."

  Then Shogai remembered the people in the basement. Poor Holly, she must have been so confused. Shogai clapped twice, and a few moments later, Holly came up. Shogai stood in front of her so that she wouldn't see Wright's zombie-like state.

  "Everyone will be up in a moment, thank you for saving us, sir."

  She was looking past Shogai, who realised how stupid he was trying to hide Wright from someone who could see through matter. Holly didn't seem scared. She ran up to Wright to shake his remaining hand.

  "Miss said you were our friend. I'm Holly. Can I be your friend?"

  Wright couldn’t see her, but he smiled and shook her hand.

  "Of course, Holly. I'm Wright. Next time I come, I'll bring some board games."

  "Yay!" Holly hugged him, and then Shogai and Kiara. "You should probably go before the others see Wright. They might be scared."

  "R-right. Thank you for your help, Holly. We'll see you another time. Goodbye!"

  Holly waved as Shogai guided Kiara's confused, dazed self and Wright's blind body away.

  "You'll be fine, right?" Shogai asked Wright, who was tripping over every other rock in the tunnel on their way back. Kiara had more or less gotten over herself, but she was still panicked and scared. She kept repeating "she was faster than me", and burying her head in her hands. That attack had majorly hurt her self-esteem.

  "Don’t worry, Kiara," Wright said, "you almost landed a hit on the second-fastest Deviant in the world. That fact that she had to use her hand to stop you is incredible. You should be proud."

  Kiara slowly nodded, which Wright didn't see, so he assumed she wanted space.

  "I'll be fine, Shogai. I regenerate. Just slowly. And painfully."

  "Oh… how did you even make that giant explosion?"

  Wright reached down to his belt, which Shogai had never really paid attention to. It had pouches on it, and Wright opened one up, pulling out some kind of powder.

  "Gunpowder."

  He put it back and reached into more different pockets,

  "Stone, Diamond, Grass. And more and more. Even a bottle of water. If I can touch them, I can become them. I normally stay in stone form. It's not hard on my body, and it's durable. Very durable. No one can surprise-attack me. As for the gunpowder, just the energy emitted from turning into it can be enough to ignite it. But as long as part of my body remains durable enough to survive the explosion, I'll regenerate."

  Now that he mentioned it, Shogai noticed that Wright's lower arm was more or less back. His nose had also reformed.

  "Are we almost at headquarters? Nifa can speed this up."

  "Yeah, almost there. Just a couple more corners."

  As they entered Headquarters and lay Wright down on a hospital bed, they noticed Valerie and Raven were injured and on the beds alongside Wright. Nifa was already healing them.

  "What happened here?"

  Nifa didn’t look at Shogai, but she responded honestly.

  "Emergency mission came up. Valerie and Raven went. A Deviant Prime was attacking Japrez. If Ryukyu didn't insist on following them, they'd be dead."

  Raven let out a sound of frustration at that part, signifying that she was awake.

  "I don't get why he followed us. Does he not trust us?"

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  "No, Raven, he doesn't trust you and Valerie to get along when it counts."

  "Excuse me? That's very rude of him. We were fine."

  Valerie cleared her throat. "You hit the Deviant and knocked him out of the way of my attack. You said you wanted the glory."

  "Oh, good," Nifa said. "You're awake too. Now Wright, what happened to you?"

  "I blew myself up so that the Deviant would leave."

  "...you know what? I'm not even going to ask."

  "Something is weird though," Wright continued, "Us Inner Ranks have been busy because Deviant attacks have become more common lately. Especially since our numbers are dow- whatever. But you say two Deviant Primes attacked two places at once? That's not something that just happens. They're part of an organised military. For whatever reason, they wanted to attack those places specifically at the same time. What did they want?"

  "Who knows?" Nifa said, already tired, "They're monsters. We can't understand them. Now go to sleep. You need rest."

  Shogai and Kiara collapsed in the Outer Rank lounge, and Jade came up to them with her arms crossed.

  "You go on one mission without me and almost die. Well done, you two."

  "How's Ciela?"

  "Recovering. She wants to get back into action, but Nifa is threatening to tear her book in two if she gets out of bed."

  "...right."

  "What about you, Kiara? You're quiet."

  Kiara still looked upset about Vera, but she wiped away her frown.

  "Oh, I'm fine. Just… you know… after-battle worry."

  "Don’t make me read your mind."

  "You promised you wouldn't. And besides, everything’s fine. All I need to do is help take down the Deviants. I just need to get stronger first."

  Tina came into the room. "Good, you're all here. Outer Rank meeting. Attendance is compulsory. Hurry now."

  This had come out of nowhere. It had only been a couple of weeks, but Nemean had already summoned every Outer Rank for something. Shogai instinctively walked to seat O6, but Katro stopped him.

  "You're O4 now, remember?"

  That felt so weird, that Shogai was ranked above fighters like Tina and Katro. But he didn't have much time to ponder this before Nemean showed up.

  "I'm not wasting time here. Over the past two weeks, Prime attacks are becoming more frequent. Now that two have happened at once, it's clear that they have some kind of goal in mind. Most likely, they're looking for something. After all, the same place is yet to be struck twice.

  King Casi has voiced his concerns, and I agree with him. The city housing the Palace is called Santh. It's not the capital, and it's north, in the cold. You'd think the King didn't live there. It deters and confuses assassins that expect him to live in Sunden. This does not apply to Deviants.

  Santh is yet to be attacked, and so I'm sending a group of you to stay there until it is. You may have to stay for months if that's what it takes, but Casi is our priority. He funds us. If he falls, so does Nexus. Any questions?"

  A few hands went up. Valerie asked if any Inner Ranks would be sent, since this job seemed important. Nemean nodded.

  "I've spoken to all the available Inner Ranks already. Ciela, Amelia and Nifa will be going to Santh with you."

  Shogai didn't know Amelia, but her name was on the sheet Nemean had given him. She was blonde, and ranked just below Ciela as Inner Rank 7. She seemed nice; she was smiling in her photo. As for Ciela…

  "I thought she wasn't in any fighting condition. Won't she need rest?"

  "That's why Nifa is coming along. She refused to let Ciela go unless she came along."

  Raven also had her hand up. "What about patrol? If half of us are in Sunden, how are we protecting the rest of the island?"

  "We'll manage. This is becoming a problem though. The Inner Ranks are rarely at Headquarters with how many attacks they're preventing, and now we'll have to be working overtime for however long. This won't last. I'll think of something. For now, we'll all just have to do our best.

  Now then. I'll give you a moment to talk it over. I'd like half of you to go to Sunden. Discuss which 4. I'll be back in a few minutes."

  Nemean left in the elevator, with a dozen files in his hands. Shogai realised just how pressing his job was. Being responsible for Nexus made him responsible for the safety of the entire island. No wonder he was always so occupied. The Outer Rank table was left silent, no one sure whether to volunteer or not.

  "I'll stay here," said Katro, "my power is handy for getting around the island fast, and that might be necessary if Aberrant attacks are more common."

  "In that case, I'll go." Tina participated, "It wouldn't be smart to keep Katro and I on one team, since we fight in similar ways. We need to distribute our talents as evenly as possible."

  "You're right," Ryukyu was looking at Valerie and Raven, "And you two will be on separate teams. We can't afford any arguments."

  "I don't argu-" Valerie began, but Raven interrupted her.

  "I know. But I do. And that's not about to change. The day I take your seat is the day we have no quarrels."

  Valerie seemed rather satisfied with that, and volunteered to join Tina in Sunden. Raven crossed her arms and said she'd stay behind. Surprisingly, Jade was the next one to make a decision.

  "I'm staying. If Nifa is going to be in Sunden, you'll need some kind of support back here. I need to protect you in Zinnia's place."

  Shogai could hear her voice quaver a bit. He already knew that Jade was slightly pressured by taking on Zinnia's vital role. The Outer Ranks could collapse if she didn’t play it right. But she was stepping up to the challenge, and that was a good sign. She could definitely fill those shoes.

  "I'll stay as well." Ryukyu said. "If three Inner Ranks are going to Sunden, I doubt raw power is needed there. I'd be more useful here. In that case, Kiara and Shogai will go with Valerie and Tina to Santh. Are you both alright with that?"

  Shogai nodded. He didn't have a particular preference on where he went. Visiting the King did sound scary, though. And Santh was cold, that was a new environment. But it was also a learning opportunity. This would be good for him.

  Nemean walked back into the room. "Who's coming?"

  Shogai, Kiara, Valerie and Tina stood up. Nemean nodded, not seeming very surprised.

  "Grab your stuff, we leave as soon as we can."

  There wasn't much stuff to grab, so everyone was ready in only a couple of moments. A small suitcase for each of them.

  "How are we getting there?" Shogai asked Nemean.

  "Grab each other's arms." The group listened, Shogai and Kiara seemingly confused. Nemean grabbed Valerie's other arm.

  "Brace yourselves."

  A rushing feeling came over Shogai, as if he were standing in a vacuum, and his body, along with the connected Kiara, Valerie, Tina and Nemean, began distorting.

  Shogai got one last glance at Jade before he vanished, teleported away.

  His body was reformed in a large room. The first thing Shogai noticed after the sensation of nausea wore off was that he wasn’t in a palace, and this wasn’t a throne room. It was just a fairly sized, low-ceilinged room. The room was long and rectangular, with red carpet down the middle. The windows were glazed and there were patterns across the walls, as if the room was attempting to mimic an actual palace.

  At the end of the room was a seat. Not quite as fancy as a throne, but it still demanded respect. The man that sat in the chair wore a crown, but no special royal gowns. He looked like a regular person.

  “Nemean. Nexeans. I’m glad to have you here as guests.” The man spoke in a powerful, booming tone. There was some doubt in Shogai’s mind upon seeing his appearance, but the voice removed any question of the fact that this man was Casi. The King of Tenebris.

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