Two Deviants? Were they both Primes? Shogai had never seen them before. One of them had a very magma-like armour, and actual lava seemed to flow through him. The other one had a sort of mask instead of a mouth, and his armour looked like that of an ancient warrior.

  They walked side by side, through the cold, as if it was a nice sunny day. The seven Nexeans mimicked their formation, standing side by side.

  "There's two of them, and seven of us. What Ranks do we think they are?" Amelia tentatively asked.

  "Doesn't matter. We need to kill them or drive them away." Ciela had her eyes glued on her target, and floated slightly higher to look down on them.

  "Deviants!" She yelled in a voice Shogai didn't think she had in her. "You are trespassing on this land and in this city! Leave now or face our wrath!"

  Ciela punctuated that last part by summoning a fiery ring around them, melting all the snow in the area. One of the Deviants, the warrior one, backed away at the flames. The other one pressed forwards.

  "Fire? Wrath?" He said, in a low voice.

  The Deviant's hands began forming a liquid-ish material, which glowed red. Magma. He threw it at Ciela, who used a protection spell to block it. A shield appeared in front of her, but it ended up melting. It slowed down the ball of lava, but still proved that Ciela probably couldn't stand up to a barrage of them. Not in her current state.

  "Akiretsu." The Deviant said, "That Palace wasn't there before, was it? It must have been underground."

  The warrior Deviant nodded in response. "Si esta ciudad tiene que buscar por, debería estar allí."

  The Magma Deviant nodded, "If it's anywhere, it's there."

  Without warning, the two Deviants rushed at the Nexeans. They were fast, as fast as Sekara, and the group braced themselves. The two Deviants took advantage of their defensive stances to run past them, straight into the gates of the castle.

  Amelia hesitated, "isn't that where we want them to go?"

  "Yes, but if that's where they want to go, we have to stop them!"

  Ciela took a moment to react to their movements. It seemed that the spells she'd just cast had already taken a huge toll on her. Nifa noticed immediately.

  "Ciela! Remember what I said, you can't be reckless!"

  "Right…"

  The Deviants had already entered the front doors by the time the Nexeans had reached the gate. The palace was empty, thankfully, but the Deviants split up from there. One went left, and the other went right. Instead of staying in the enormous throne room, they rushed into the corridors on either side, breaking the tops of the doors with their giant stature.

  "Chase them! Split up!" Valerie ordered, and she rushed to the right, after the Magma Deviant. Amelia and Tina went with her. Kiara hesitated, but followed. "I'll see you on the other side," she said to Shogai, and she rushed away.

  That left Ciela, Nifa and Shogai to run after the Warrior Deviant. Both of them were scary, but this one, Akiretsu, really creeped him out.

  It wasn't hard, figuring out where Akiretsu had gone. They just had to follow the path of destruction he left behind. Dents in the walls, broken vases, scratched paint. Sure enough, they encountered him in moments. He was ripping apart drawers, which made the four of them pause. What was he doing?

  "Looking for something?"

  Akiretsu looked up at them and spoke.

  "Este castillo esta grande!? Como encontras algo!?"

  Shogai blinked."..what?"

  "Yo hago. Lo que sea que encuentres, no lo encontrarás. Sale!"

  Ciela was speaking perfect, fluent Spanish. She had her arms crossed. Nifa asked her what Akiretsu was saying.

  "He's looking for something and can't find it in a castle this big. So I'm advising him to leave."

  "Is he listening?"

  A table flew towards Ciela, who blocked it with a shield.

  "No."

  Just then, the world beside them burst open, and Shogai braced himself as debris flew into him. The Magma Deviant burst into the corridor, following Amelia, who flew up to the top of the room, screaming. Her hair was singed.

  "CIELA! WE'RE SWAPPING! YOU DEAL WITH THE SCARY MAGMA ONE!"

  Amelia used her momentum to ram into Akiretsu, and they both flew back into the throne room, Akiretsu cursing in Spanish. The Magma Deviant raised an eyebrow, and looked at Ciela, his new opponent.

  "You're Ciela? I hope you're more of a challenge than the little angel girl."

  Kiara burst onto the scene with Tina and Valerie. Ciela ordered them to keep assisting Amelia. The plans didn't need to further deviate.

  Kiara hesitated more than the other two, but nodded. "Be careful! Yotun's heat is hotter than Ryukyu and Valerie!"

  She rushed off.

  The Magma Deviant, Yotun, rolled his eyes and looked back at them.

  "You're dressed as a witch; you probably use magic. You don't have weapons, and you're in a fighting stance, so I'm imagining physical enhancement. And you're looking protective of the others. Probably a healer. Right?"

  Yotun had analysed all of them in just a glance. Shogai didn't know what to say. He'd been read.

  The temperature of the room began increasing. At first, it was slow, slow enough that Shogai didn't even notice. Ciela was the first to feel it, coughing and kneeling. Nifa rushed up to her, completely unbothered by the heat, as Ciela cast a spell on herself. She got to her feet and faced Yotun.

  "Cheap tricks. Not going to work on me."

  "Nor me." Nifa added on. "I'm immune to heat, cold, poison and all sorts. I won't go down that easily."

  The two of them waited for Shogai to agree with them, but he was busy gasping for breath. He felt like he was in a sauna, and he had no forms of heat resistance. Ciela noticed, and a rune appeared on him. Instantly he felt refreshed, as if he'd just stood in a cold shower, and he stood.

  "Yeah. Come at us directly."

  Yotun growled, and lobbed a ball of lava at Shogai. It splattered across his chest, but only felt warm. Then it felt hot.

  "Get it off, Shogai!" Ciela yelled, "the spell only slows it down!"

  Uncomfortably, Shogai grabbed the lava and threw it onto the floor. His fingers burned, but they weren't unusable. It was time to go on the offensive.

  Shogai powered up his fist. It had been a while since he'd hit something with all his force. Yotun laughed.

  "Try me, Nexean!"

  Shogai lunged at Yotun, who crossed his arms in front of him in an x shape, blocking the hit. Even so, it knocked him back, steam rising from the Deviant’s arms. Shogai's fist was steaming, and when he looked at it, he saw the skin at the edge of his knuckles had been scorched. Shogai gritted his teeth. That armour was boiling hot.

  "Shogai!" Nifa rushed up to him and immediately started healing his hands. Yotun slowly got up. He'd been knocked back, but he didn't seem especially hurt.

  "Not bad. You have potential."

  "Shogai, get down!"

  Ciela called out a warning, but Shogai couldn't react in time. Nifa pushed him to the floor, and the two of them braced themselves as Ciela fired off an attack. An immense amount of water rushed over them, like the world's largest water gun, and shot towards Yotun. Shogai glanced back to see a small portal next to Ciela, billowing out waves. Was she summoning water all the way from the ocean?

  Yotun paused, and raised a hand in front of him. A blast of fire left his fingertips, clashing with the water. Steam filled the area, blinding the Nexeans. Soon enough, Ciela was forced to stop her assault. She couldn't see who she was hitting. When their vision returned, Yotun was gone.

  "He was evaporating the water before it hit him." Nifa said. "So we can't use that against him."

  "Yes we can." Ciela sounded like she was seriously reaching her limit. She'd been suffering for the past couple weeks, and was thrown right into a battle. It was no surprise that she wasn't at full power.

  "He blocked the water. If he can take Shogai's punch head on, but flees when water is in the picture, then that means he's weak to it. That's why he ran. We need to just find him-"

  "Yotun!" A large Spanish accent yelled out,

  "?No hay nada aquí! ?Vamos!"

  Akiretsu entered the main hall from a corridor, and it seemed like he'd just searched the entire right side of the castle.

  "?Había algo de tu lado?"

  There was no response from Yotun for a moment, but then he burst out of the other side of the hall. He'd ploughed through every wall on that side of the castle, leaving it red with heat.

  "All clear. Let's go."

  "Oh no you don't!"

  Ciela cast a barrier around the castle, letting nobody leave. Shogai, Nifa and Ciela were in the throne room with two Deviants. Where were the ones dealing with Akiretsu?

  Tina and Kiara rushed into the room. They processed the situation, and then saw Nifa.

  "Amelia and Valerie are out! Nifa, we need your help!"

  Kiara vanished, and then reappeared with the limp bodies of Valerie and Amelia. Yotun looked with intrigue.

  "Why are there wounds at the back of their heads? Don't tell me you fought them dishonourably, Akiretsu. You and your noble ideals."

  "No soy un idiota. De hecho, podrían lastimarme. Tuve que lidiar con ellos rápido."

  "...right. Whatever. Let's go now."

  Ciela wasn't moving. Her eyes were closed. It must have been all she could do to maintain the barrier outside the castle. Nifa was trying to get Amelia and Valerie back in action. It was up to Kiara, Tina and Shogai, but none of them could touch Yotun without getting burned.

  But Akiretsu was wide open. If one hit was enough to push Yotun back, Akiretsu should be the same. One step at a time…

  Shogai rushed past Yotun, who was expecting to be attacked, and targeted Akiretsu. A punch would be too obvious. So he feinted, before lunging forward and using his momentum to transition into a jump kick. He put all his power into his legs, and the impact sent a small shockwave around the throne room, causing a pillar to crumble. Shogai immediately felt immense recoil, and his legs burst into pain. He fell to the ground, but stood back up, to the ache of his feet, to see his progress.

  Akiretsu was standing. He hadn’t budged one bit, nor was he even bracing. His armour was glowing red where Shogai had kicked him, and the glow slowly faded to normal.

  “Un golpeador. Suerte yo.” He laughed, and he punched Shogai back. Shogai put his arms in front of himself to block, but Akiretsu’s armour was freakishly hard. Shogai was pushed backwards, his arms barely intact.

  On that cue, Kiara jumped in to protect Shogai, while Yotun just watched. Kiara moved fast, faster than Akiretsu could react, and hit him countless times each second; each punch resonating a hundred times throughout the chamber. Kiara let out a yell of pain. She hadn’t been hit, but her knuckles were bright red. She healed them, but it took most of the rest of her energy.

  “Silly girl.” Yotun chuckled, “Punches, kicks, or any sort of physical attacks? Nothing. What will you do now, Nexeans?”

  Kiara and Shogai stood side by side. Both of their enemies weren’t opponents they could punch. What were they meant to do?

  “Well, if you won’t decide, we’ll move first.” Yotun created a ball of lava, throwing it at Shogai. Kiara reacted fast, dragging him out of the way, before noticing his real target. Tina.

  By the time Kiara noticed, Tina had already dissolved the problem. She leaped into the air, dodging the lava with amazing agility, and landed on her feet like an acrobat. Yotun seemed stunned for a second, but smiled. He wasn’t expecting Tina, of all people, to be able to do that.

  “Try this on for size.” He put both his palms outwards towards Tina, and an inferno shot towards her. It reminded Shogai of Valerie, but these flames were much, much stronger.

  Tina ducked, barely missing the flames, and grabbed a couple chunks of a collapsed pillar from the floor, using one as a shield to block the fire and brandishing the other like a spear. The flame was bright, so she couldn’t see Yotun, but he couldn’t exactly see her either.

  Appearing beside Tina, Kiara was ready to carry her out of the danger zone, but Tina pressed the shield into Kiara’s hand and whispered something to her. Kiara nodded and stood her ground as Tina handed her the spear and crawled away. Not because she was hurt, but so that Yotun wouldn’t see her leaving.

  Kiara withstood the assault of flames from behind her stone shield, but it wouldn’t last much longer. Shogai didn’t dare interfere. What was she planning?

  Suddenly, Kiara threw her shield into the air, flying over the blast of fire towards Yotun, who stopped his attack to catch it. A jagged part of the stone hit his hand, making him wince.

  “A bold attempt, little Miss Redhead. I didn’t expect you to be able to throw with that much powe-”

  Yotun stopped talking, as his windpipe was cut off. With the flames gone, Kiara had a clear shot at him. Maybe she couldn’t punch him, but throwing that spear certainly worked well enough. Kiara had aimed for Yotun’s neck, and succeeded. Akiretsu raised an eyebrow at Yotun, who staggered. Blood was pouring from his jugular, and he clenched his teeth. The good news was that he definitely felt that. The bad news was that he was still alive, and furious.

  Yotun grabbed the spear-like debris in his throat, and effortlessly pulled it out. His neck began regenerating. Shogai didn’t want to let that happen. He jumped at Yotun, who saw him out of the corner of his eye. Yotun set his weapon on fire, and hurled it at Shogai, who was in midair. He couldn’t dodge from where he was.

  Shogai had been putting this off since that talk with Raven, but if he was going to take down beings of this strength, he had to take risks. Xero had confirmed with him that this wasn’t Elano’s Heart. That meant he could use it, right?

  Shogai closed his eyes and focused. Instead of focusing his anger outwards, he calmed his mind. Instead of wanting to attack, he wanted to defend. He felt the red aura around his body turn blue.

  The spear clanged off Shogai’s skin. He barely felt it. Shogai barely lost momentum, and he used the opportunity to punch Yotun in the face. Yotun didn’t move as far back, as Shogai’s punches had lost a lot of power, but Shogai could barely feel the burns on his hand. In fact, when he looked at them, they were far more minor than before. Yotun looked confused, and turned to Akiretsu.

  “No me mires. No se que es esto.”

  Yotun rolled his eyes, and Akiretsu seemed amused. He tapped Yotun on the shoulder and said something else in Spanish, laughing.

  Yotun grabbed him by the face, his hand glowing red.

  “Good one, Akiretsu.” he said with the fakest smile Shogai had ever seen. “He’s a brick wall, like yourself. I can’t hurt him. Just like how I can’t hurt you. Can I?”

  Yotun’s fingers caught on fire around Akiretsu’s helmet, who screamed and grabbed Yotun’s arm, trying to force his arm away. He made slow progress, and as soon as his mouth was free he coughed and desperately spoke,

  “Entiendo! Lo siento! Entender?”

  Yotun immediately released Akiretsu. The front of his face was burnt.

  “Now we’re even. Good. Go kill him.”

  Akiretsu looked at Shogai blankly. His eyes seemed unfocused. He must have been blinded by that fire. Plus, Yotun had given them a massive hint. Akiretsu could be hurt. And they had someone who could light a fire under him.

  Someone jumped onto Shogai and forced him to the ground. It was Nifa.

  “You really need to stay out of the blast zone, Shogai.”

  A wave of fire shot over their heads, and engulfed the blind Akiretsu, who yelled out in pain. Nifa and Shogai crawled to safety, and watched the screams.

  “You know,” Shogai said, “This is the third time I’ve seen this. Weird.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Nifa had a serious face, but it softened. She almost seemed to smile, but lacked the energy. She’d just healed Valerie, who was the source of the flames, and Amelia, who flew into the air and put her hands in front of her, blasting light at Akiretsu. The attacks from both parties only made his screams louder. He can’t have been used to pain.

  Amelia yelped as she barely avoided a ball of lava from Yotun. She refused to stop her assault on Akiretsu, and tried to simply dodge the next one. Luckily, she didn’t have to. A shield appeared around her.

  Ciela had released the barrier that was surrounding the castle, and focused the remainder of her magic to support her friends. Amelia didn’t look too happy about being protected by Ciela, but she preferred it to a blast of magma in her face. She and Valerie kept up attacking Akiretsu, while all of Yotun’s attacks were blocked. Yotun looked frustrated to be doing nothing, and he looked for a target. The closest person to him was Tina, who was propped against the wall with a burnt leg. Yotun growled and shot fire at her, lighting up the chamber even more. She was gone when he stopped his attack, appearing behind Yotun with Kiara. Kiara kept up this dangerous dance, distracting Yotun.

  All of their friends were in danger, up against two Deviant Primes, and Shogai and Nifa were simply sitting on the side, completely out of steam, and watching the light show. Shogai should have absolutely felt more worried, but he was focused on Nifa. Her eyes were barely open, and she’d definitely done her role in this fight. She looked about to fall asleep, which reminded Shogai of something.

  “Mira threw a sleeping potion at Sekara, would you believe that?”

  Nifa looked up. She laughed. “Really? Sounds just like her. Did it help?”

  “Absolutely. I’d be dead if not for that. She saved me. And I’m going to make it worth it.”

  “Oh?” Nifa sounded like she wanted to say something against Shogai, but she let him continue.

  “Her dream was to be like you. Someone that does everything they can to help people that are in bad situations. To be a hero.”

  “Hmm, well, she did always want to be a Nexean. She only stayed home to help Mother, and even then she came along on missions. I’d have considered her an honorary Nexean. We all did.”

  “She saved me. If I can save as many people as I can, that would only be possible through her. So I want to save the entire island from the Aberrants. I want to carry on her dream through me. She deserves that.”

  Nifa didn’t say much to that. Shogai looked over at her and saw her asleep. He wondered when she stopped listening, but figured it didn’t matter. Shogai looked up at the fight again, in time to see Yotun dragging Akiretsu out of Valerie and Amelia’s attacks. He seemed annoyed by Amelia’s light, but didn’t even flinch at the flames of Valerie. That wasn’t surprising. He threw Akiretsu out of danger. Akiretsu was limp, and his armour was charred black. But his core was still glowing, so he was alive. Yotun didn’t seem to need more than that. He kicked Akiretsu until he woke up, ignoring the attacks on his back, and ordered him back into combat. Akiretsu obeyed, swapping enemies with Yotun. He faced Kiara and Tina, while Yotun dealt with the three ranged fighters.

  Two Deviants? Were they both Primes? Shogai had never seen them before. One of them had a very magma-like armour, and actual lava seemed to flow through him. The other one had a sort of mask instead of a mouth, and his armour looked like that of an ancient warrior.

  They walked side by side, through the cold, as if it was a nice sunny day. The seven Nexeans mimicked their formation, standing side by side.

  "There's two of them, and seven of us. What Ranks do we think they are?" Amelia tentatively asked.

  "Doesn't matter. We need to kill them or drive them away." Ciela had her eyes glued on her target, and floated slightly higher to look down on them.

  "Deviants!" She yelled in a voice Shogai didn't think she had in her. "You are trespassing on this land and in this city! Leave now or face our wrath!"

  Ciela punctuated that last part by summoning a fiery ring around them, melting all the snow in the area. One of the Deviants, the warrior one, backed away at the flames. The other one pressed forwards.

  "Fire? Wrath?" He said, in a low voice.

  The Deviant's hands began forming a liquid-ish material, which glowed red. Magma. He threw it at Ciela, who used a protection spell to block it. A shield appeared in front of her, but it ended up melting. It slowed down the ball of lava, but still proved that Ciela probably couldn't stand up to a barrage of them. Not in her current state.

  "Akiretsu." The Deviant said, "That Palace wasn't there before, was it? It must have been underground."

  The warrior Deviant nodded in response. "Si esta ciudad tiene que buscar por, debería estar allí."

  The Magma Deviant nodded, "If it's anywhere, it's there."

  Without warning, the two Deviants rushed at the Nexeans. They were fast, as fast as Sekara, and the group braced themselves. The two Deviants took advantage of their defensive stances to run past them, straight into the gates of the castle.

  Amelia hesitated, "isn't that where we want them to go?"

  "Yes, but if that's where they want to go, we have to stop them!"

  Ciela took a moment to react to their movements. It seemed that the spells she'd just cast had already taken a huge toll on her. Nifa noticed immediately.

  "Ciela! Remember what I said, you can't be reckless!"

  "Right…"

  The Deviants had already entered the front doors by the time the Nexeans had reached the gate. The palace was empty, thankfully, but the Deviants split up from there. One went left, and the other went right. Instead of staying in the enormous throne room, they rushed into the corridors on either side, breaking the tops of the doors with their giant stature.

  "Chase them! Split up!" Valerie ordered, and she rushed to the right, after the Magma Deviant. Amelia and Tina went with her. Kiara hesitated, but followed. "I'll see you on the other side," she said to Shogai, and she rushed away.

  That left Ciela, Nifa and Shogai to run after the Warrior Deviant. Both of them were scary, but this one, Akiretsu, really creeped him out.

  It wasn't hard, figuring out where Akiretsu had gone. They just had to follow the path of destruction he left behind. Dents in the walls, broken vases, scratched paint. Sure enough, they encountered him in moments. He was ripping apart drawers, which made the four of them pause. What was he doing?

  "Looking for something?"

  Akiretsu looked up at them and spoke.

  "Este castillo esta grande!? Como encontras algo!?"

  Shogai blinked."..what?"

  "Yo hago. Lo que sea que encuentres, no lo encontrarás. Sale!"

  Ciela was speaking perfect, fluent Spanish. She had her arms crossed. Nifa asked her what Akiretsu was saying.

  "He's looking for something and can't find it in a castle this big. So I'm advising him to leave."

  "Is he listening?"

  A table flew towards Ciela, who blocked it with a shield.

  "No."

  Just then, the world beside them burst open, and Shogai braced himself as debris flew into him. The Magma Deviant burst into the corridor, following Amelia, who flew up to the top of the room, screaming. Her hair was singed.

  "CIELA! WE'RE SWAPPING! YOU DEAL WITH THE SCARY MAGMA ONE!"

  Amelia used her momentum to ram into Akiretsu, and they both flew back into the throne room, Akiretsu cursing in Spanish. The Magma Deviant raised an eyebrow, and looked at Ciela, his new opponent.

  "You're Ciela? I hope you're more of a challenge than the little angel girl."

  Kiara burst onto the scene with Tina and Valerie. Ciela ordered them to keep assisting Amelia. The plans didn't need to further deviate.

  Kiara hesitated more than the other two, but nodded. "Be careful! Yotun's heat is hotter than Ryukyu and Valerie!"

  She rushed off.

  The Magma Deviant, Yotun, rolled his eyes and looked back at them.

  "You're dressed as a witch; you probably use magic. You don't have weapons, and you're in a fighting stance, so I'm imagining physical enhancement. And you're looking protective of the others. Probably a healer. Right?"

  Yotun had analysed all of them in just a glance. Shogai didn't know what to say. He'd been read.

  The temperature of the room began increasing. At first, it was slow, slow enough that Shogai didn't even notice. Ciela was the first to feel it, coughing and kneeling. Nifa rushed up to her, completely unbothered by the heat, as Ciela cast a spell on herself. She got to her feet and faced Yotun.

  "Cheap tricks. Not going to work on me."

  "Nor me." Nifa added on. "I'm immune to heat, cold, poison and all sorts. I won't go down that easily."

  The two of them waited for Shogai to agree with them, but he was busy gasping for breath. He felt like he was in a sauna, and he had no forms of heat resistance. Ciela noticed, and a rune appeared on him. Instantly he felt refreshed, as if he'd just stood in a cold shower, and he stood.

  "Yeah. Come at us directly."

  Yotun growled, and lobbed a ball of lava at Shogai. It splattered across his chest, but only felt warm. Then it felt hot.

  "Get it off, Shogai!" Ciela yelled, "the spell only slows it down!"

  Uncomfortably, Shogai grabbed the lava and threw it onto the floor. His fingers burned, but they weren't unusable. It was time to go on the offensive.

  Shogai powered up his fist. It had been a while since he'd hit something with all his force. Yotun laughed.

  "Try me, Nexean!"

  Shogai lunged at Yotun, who crossed his arms in front of him in an x shape, blocking the hit. Even so, it knocked him back, steam rising from the Deviant’s arms. Shogai's fist was steaming, and when he looked at it, he saw the skin at the edge of his knuckles had been scorched. Shogai gritted his teeth. That armour was boiling hot.

  "Shogai!" Nifa rushed up to him and immediately started healing his hands. Yotun slowly got up. He'd been knocked back, but he didn't seem especially hurt.

  "Not bad. You have potential."

  "Shogai, get down!"

  Ciela called out a warning, but Shogai couldn't react in time. Nifa pushed him to the floor, and the two of them braced themselves as Ciela fired off an attack. An immense amount of water rushed over them, like the world's largest water gun, and shot towards Yotun. Shogai glanced back to see a small portal next to Ciela, billowing out waves. Was she summoning water all the way from the ocean?

  Yotun paused, and raised a hand in front of him. A blast of fire left his fingertips, clashing with the water. Steam filled the area, blinding the Nexeans. Soon enough, Ciela was forced to stop her assault. She couldn't see who she was hitting. When their vision returned, Yotun was gone.

  "He was evaporating the water before it hit him." Nifa said. "So we can't use that against him."

  "Yes we can." Ciela sounded like she was seriously reaching her limit. She'd been suffering for the past couple weeks, and was thrown right into a battle. It was no surprise that she wasn't at full power.

  "He blocked the water. If he can take Shogai's punch head on, but flees when water is in the picture, then that means he's weak to it. That's why he ran. We need to just find him-"

  "Yotun!" A large Spanish accent yelled out,

  "?No hay nada aquí! ?Vamos!"

  Akiretsu entered the main hall from a corridor, and it seemed like he'd just searched the entire right side of the castle.

  "?Había algo de tu lado?"

  There was no response from Yotun for a moment, but then he burst out of the other side of the hall. He'd ploughed through every wall on that side of the castle, leaving it red with heat.

  "All clear. Let's go."

  "Oh no you don't!"

  Ciela cast a barrier around the castle, letting nobody leave. Shogai, Nifa and Ciela were in the throne room with two Deviants. Where were the ones dealing with Akiretsu?

  Tina and Kiara rushed into the room. They processed the situation, and then saw Nifa.

  "Amelia and Valerie are out! Nifa, we need your help!"

  Kiara vanished, and then reappeared with the limp bodies of Valerie and Amelia. Yotun looked with intrigue.

  "Why are there wounds at the back of their heads? Don't tell me you fought them dishonourably, Akiretsu. You and your noble ideals."

  "No soy un idiota. De hecho, podrían lastimarme. Tuve que lidiar con ellos rápido."

  "...right. Whatever. Let's go now."

  Ciela wasn't moving. Her eyes were closed. It must have been all she could do to maintain the barrier outside the castle. Nifa was trying to get Amelia and Valerie back in action. It was up to Kiara, Tina and Shogai, but none of them could touch Yotun without getting burned.

  But Akiretsu was wide open. If one hit was enough to push Yotun back, Akiretsu should be the same. One step at a time…

  Shogai rushed past Yotun, who was expecting to be attacked, and targeted Akiretsu. A punch would be too obvious. So he feinted, before lunging forward and using his momentum to transition into a jump kick. He put all his power into his legs, and the impact sent a small shockwave around the throne room, causing a pillar to crumble. Shogai immediately felt immense recoil, and his legs burst into pain. He fell to the ground, but stood back up, to the ache of his feet, to see his progress.

  Akiretsu was standing. He hadn’t budged one bit, nor was he even bracing. His armour was glowing red where Shogai had kicked him, and the glow slowly faded to normal.

  “Un golpeador. Suerte yo.” He laughed, and he punched Shogai back. Shogai put his arms in front of himself to block, but Akiretsu’s armour was freakishly hard. Shogai was pushed backwards, his arms barely intact.

  On that cue, Kiara jumped in to protect Shogai, while Yotun just watched. Kiara moved fast, faster than Akiretsu could react, and hit him countless times each second; each punch resonating a hundred times throughout the chamber. Kiara let out a yell of pain. She hadn’t been hit, but her knuckles were bright red. She healed them, but it took most of the rest of her energy.

  “Silly girl.” Yotun chuckled, “Punches, kicks, or any sort of physical attacks? Nothing. What will you do now, Nexeans?”

  Kiara and Shogai stood side by side. Both of their enemies weren’t opponents they could punch. What were they meant to do?

  “Well, if you won’t decide, we’ll move first.” Yotun created a ball of lava, throwing it at Shogai. Kiara reacted fast, dragging him out of the way, before noticing his real target. Tina.

  By the time Kiara noticed, Tina had already dissolved the problem. She leaped into the air, dodging the lava with amazing agility, and landed on her feet like an acrobat. Yotun seemed stunned for a second, but smiled. He wasn’t expecting Tina, of all people, to be able to do that.

  “Try this on for size.” He put both his palms outwards towards Tina, and an inferno shot towards her. It reminded Shogai of Valerie, but these flames were much, much stronger.

  Tina ducked, barely missing the flames, and grabbed a couple chunks of a collapsed pillar from the floor, using one as a shield to block the fire and brandishing the other like a spear. The flame was bright, so she couldn’t see Yotun, but he couldn’t exactly see her either.

  Appearing beside Tina, Kiara was ready to carry her out of the danger zone, but Tina pressed the shield into Kiara’s hand and whispered something to her. Kiara nodded and stood her ground as Tina handed her the spear and crawled away. Not because she was hurt, but so that Yotun wouldn’t see her leaving.

  Kiara withstood the assault of flames from behind her stone shield, but it wouldn’t last much longer. Shogai didn’t dare interfere. What was she planning?

  Suddenly, Kiara threw her shield into the air, flying over the blast of fire towards Yotun, who stopped his attack to catch it. A jagged part of the stone hit his hand, making him wince.

  “A bold attempt, little Miss Redhead. I didn’t expect you to be able to throw with that much powe-”

  Yotun stopped talking, as his windpipe was cut off. With the flames gone, Kiara had a clear shot at him. Maybe she couldn’t punch him, but throwing that spear certainly worked well enough. Kiara had aimed for Yotun’s neck, and succeeded. Akiretsu raised an eyebrow at Yotun, who staggered. Blood was pouring from his jugular, and he clenched his teeth. The good news was that he definitely felt that. The bad news was that he was still alive, and furious.

  Yotun grabbed the spear-like debris in his throat, and effortlessly pulled it out. His neck began regenerating. Shogai didn’t want to let that happen. He jumped at Yotun, who saw him out of the corner of his eye. Yotun set his weapon on fire, and hurled it at Shogai, who was in midair. He couldn’t dodge from where he was.

  Shogai had been putting this off since that talk with Raven, but if he was going to take down beings of this strength, he had to take risks. Xero had confirmed with him that this wasn’t Elano’s Heart. That meant he could use it, right?

  Shogai closed his eyes and focused. Instead of focusing his anger outwards, he calmed his mind. Instead of wanting to attack, he wanted to defend. He felt the red aura around his body turn blue.

  The spear clanged off Shogai’s skin. He barely felt it. Shogai barely lost momentum, and he used the opportunity to punch Yotun in the face. Yotun didn’t move as far back, as Shogai’s punches had lost a lot of power, but Shogai could barely feel the burns on his hand. In fact, when he looked at them, they were far more minor than before. Yotun looked confused, and turned to Akiretsu.

  “No me mires. No se que es esto.”

  Yotun rolled his eyes, and Akiretsu seemed amused. He tapped Yotun on the shoulder and said something else in Spanish, laughing.

  Yotun grabbed him by the face, his hand glowing red.

  “Good one, Akiretsu.” he said with the fakest smile Shogai had ever seen. “He’s a brick wall, like yourself. I can’t hurt him. Just like how I can’t hurt you. Can I?”

  Yotun’s fingers caught on fire around Akiretsu’s helmet, who screamed and grabbed Yotun’s arm, trying to force his arm away. He made slow progress, and as soon as his mouth was free he coughed and desperately spoke,

  “Entiendo! Lo siento! Entender?”

  Yotun immediately released Akiretsu. The front of his face was burnt.

  “Now we’re even. Good. Go kill him.”

  Akiretsu looked at Shogai blankly. His eyes seemed unfocused. He must have been blinded by that fire. Plus, Yotun had given them a massive hint. Akiretsu could be hurt. And they had someone who could light a fire under him.

  Someone jumped onto Shogai and forced him to the ground. It was Nifa.

  “You really need to stay out of the blast zone, Shogai.”

  A wave of fire shot over their heads, and engulfed the blind Akiretsu, who yelled out in pain. Nifa and Shogai crawled to safety, and watched the screams.

  “You know,” Shogai said, “This is the third time I’ve seen this. Weird.”

  Nifa had a serious face, but it softened. She almost seemed to smile, but lacked the energy. She’d just healed Valerie, who was the source of the flames, and Amelia, who flew into the air and put her hands in front of her, blasting light at Akiretsu. The attacks from both parties only made his screams louder. He can’t have been used to pain.

  Amelia yelped as she barely avoided a ball of lava from Yotun. She refused to stop her assault on Akiretsu, and tried to simply dodge the next one. Luckily, she didn’t have to. A shield appeared around her.

  Ciela had released the barrier that was surrounding the castle, and focused the remainder of her magic to support her friends. Amelia didn’t look too happy about being protected by Ciela, but she preferred it to a blast of magma in her face. She and Valerie kept up attacking Akiretsu, while all of Yotun’s attacks were blocked. Yotun looked frustrated to be doing nothing, and he looked for a target. The closest person to him was Tina, who was propped against the wall with a burnt leg. Yotun growled and shot fire at her, lighting up the chamber even more. She was gone when he stopped his attack, appearing behind Yotun with Kiara. Kiara kept up this dangerous dance, distracting Yotun.

  All of their friends were in danger, up against two Deviant Primes, and Shogai and Nifa were simply sitting on the side, completely out of steam, and watching the light show. Shogai should have absolutely felt more worried, but he was focused on Nifa. Her eyes were barely open, and she’d definitely done her role in this fight. She looked about to fall asleep, which reminded Shogai of something.

  “Mira threw a sleep potion at Sekara, would you believe that?”

  Nifa looked up. She laughed. “Really? Sounds just like her. Did it help?”

  “Absolutely. I’d be dead if not for that. She saved me. And I’m going to make it worth it.”

  “Oh?” Nifa sounded like she wanted to say something against Shogai, but she let him continue.

  “Her dream was to be like you. Someone that does everything they can to help people that are in bad situations. To be a hero.”

  “Hmm, well, she did always want to be a Nexean. She only stayed home to help Mother, and even then she came along on missions. I’d have considered her an honorary Nexean. We all did.”

  “She saved me. If I can save as many people as I can, that would only be possible through her. So I want to save the entire island from the Aberrants. I want to carry on her dream through me. She deserves that.”

  Nifa didn’t say much to that. Shogai looked over at her and saw her asleep. He wondered when she stopped listening, but figured it didn’t matter. Shogai looked up at the fight again, in time to see Yotun dragging Akiretsu out of Valerie and Amelia’s attacks. He seemed annoyed by Amelia’s light, but didn’t even flinch at the flames of Valerie. That wasn’t surprising. He threw Akiretsu out of danger. Akiretsu was limp, and his armour was charred black. But his core was still glowing, so he was alive. Yotun didn’t seem to need more than that. He kicked Akiretsu until he woke up, ignoring the attacks on his back, and ordered him back into combat. Akiretsu obeyed, swapping enemies with Yotun. He faced Kiara and Tina, while Yotun dealt with the three ranged fighters.

  Shogai got to his feet. The battlefield had changed, and he wasn’t sure how safe they were anymore. He stood in front of Nifa, who was defenceless. After that little speech, he had to make sure he could protect her. He owed that to her.

  Next to Valerie, whose flames were slowly getting weaker, the air shimmered. At first, Shogai thought it was just the heat, which was beginning to even melt the snow by the doorway. He didn’t expect Nemean to appear. Nemean immediately began speaking to Valerie, until he took in the fact that he was in a battlefield. He backed away and looked at the intense scene, eyes glancing between the fighting Nexeans, until they settled on Shogai and Nifa, who weren’t in battle.

  “Shogai, come with me, now!” he demanded. His voice was urgent. “I’m sure Nifa will be fine; I need you to come to base! Come on!”

  Shogai should have hesitated. That would be a reasonable response to seeing someone like Nemean in distress. But he didn’t stop for a second. Nemean needed his help. This was what he was meant to do. As he grabbed Nemean’s arm, the head of Nexus gave him an order.

  “Don’t think. Attack the first Deviant you see. I want you to be as dangerous as possible. Understand?”

  Shogai got to his feet. The battlefield had changed, and he wasn’t sure how safe they were anymore. He stood in front of Nifa, who was defenceless. After that little speech, he had to make sure he could protect her. He owed that to her.

  Next to Valerie, whose flames were slowly getting weaker, the air shimmered. At first, Shogai thought it was just the heat, which was beginning to even melt the snow by the doorway. He didn’t expect Nemean to appear. Nemean immediately began speaking to Valerie, until he took in the fact that he was in a battlefield. He backed away and looked at the intense scene, eyes glancing between the fighting Nexeans, until they settled on Shogai and Nifa, who weren’t in battle.

  “Shogai, come with me, now!” he demanded. His voice was urgent. “I’m sure Nifa will be fine; I need you to come to base! Come on!”

  Shogai should have hesitated. That would be a reasonable response to seeing someone like Nemean in distress. But he didn’t stop for a second. Nemean needed his help. This was what he was meant to do. As he grabbed Nemean’s arm, the head of Nexus gave him an order.

  “Don’t think. Attack the first Deviant you see. I want you to be as dangerous as possible. Understand?”

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