There must have been 200 Aberrants on their way, and leading them was a familiar Deviant with black horns.

  “Jade, that’s him, right?” Shogai asked, as he overlooked the incoming army alongside his two allies. “Horoguramu. The one that fought against Ryukyu. And beat him.”

  Jade was pale, but bravely nodded. “Yeah. He creates some kind of astral projection of himself that he fights from within. Ryukyu’s wing decayed when he touched it. Don’t make contact.”

  Jade awkwardly looked up at Takari, who’d been prepared to punch his enemies. “It’s fine.” He said, when he noticed them watching. “I can innovate.”

  Shogai didn’t feel good about his own odds. He also punched, but that would be useless. Defence form also wouldn’t help against decay. Even Elano’s Heart, while probably within his control, was shaky. Risky. What was he supposed to do?

  “Hey, it’s fine.” Takari said, cracking his knuckles. “Maybe you can’t punch the big bad, but he has 200 minions with him. Jade, you’re with me against Horoguramu. Shogai, cover us. Take down every Aberrant that gets close.”

  That made Shogai feel a lot better. He nodded. The scene looked so familiar, with Aberrants coming to the village he had defended so much. But now, even though there was no one around to protect, the stakes were so much higher. Shogai instinctively took a step towards the army, and found Jade and Takari following his lead. This was his home. This was his zone. This was his fight.

  A river was soon all that separated Horoguramu’s army and the three Nexeans. It was a wide river, but Aberrants were decent swimmers. That was never going to stop them. Horoguramu narrowed his eyes at his oppressors. He wordlessly summoned his giant and rose to the heart of it.

  “Not even a hello.” Takari muttered, and he took a fighting stance. There was no way Horoguramu could reach them from there, right?

  Instead of drawing a sword, like how Jade had described him, Horoguramu raised his right arm, and a ball of dark energy formed in his hand.

  “Oh, that’s new.” Takari reacted fast, carrying Jade and Shogai out of the way. Horoguramu threw the ball of energy, and it exploded upon hitting the ground. The explosion seemed to have decayed the dirt rather than displacing it.

  "Right." Takari mumbled. "So we can't touch him or get hit by that. Let me try something…"

  Takari picked up a rock, and flung it with immense strength towards Horoguramu. The rock broke the sound barrier, easily, as it hit Horoguramu's giant body. It passed through the mass of energy, coming out of the other side as if Horoguramu were a ghost. It then decayed to nothing.

  "I have an idea." Takari smiled, reassuring Shogai and Jade. The experiment had looked like a failure to Shogai, but clearly Takari saw something he didn't.

  "Jade, you can slow him down, right?"

  Jade nodded. "I haven't directly attacked the mind of anyone this powerful, but if I could keep Muryoko away from Ciela, he shouldn't be a problem."

  Takari cracked his knuckles. "Good. Shogai, cover her. Defend her from all the Aberrants. I'll deal with the big guy."

  A surge of energy entered Shogai. Takari spoke with such confidence. He was Inner Rank 3, and apparently the most experienced of them all. Putting his trust in Takari would be how they win.

  "Understood."

  Horoguramu was beginning to make his way across the river, wading through. His real body didn't touch the water, as if he were above the concept of getting his feet wet. Alongside him, the Aberrants swam through with their misshapen limbs. His figure was enormous up close. This was Shogai's first time seeing this astral form in person, and it really was 50 feet tall. This wasn't going to be an easy battle.

  As soon as Horoguramu stepped onto the bay, Takari took action. He whipped his arm around as if swatting a fly, and a gust of wind projected itself towards the river. A wave formed, drowning half the Aberrants and even pushing Horoguramu a bit backwards.

  "That was a fifty times multiplier." Takari said to himself. "If he can resist that, I'll need more."

  "Are you trying to drown him?" Shogai asked. Takari nodded.

  "With Jade slowing him down, all we need to do is knock him under. He can't decay the full river in time. This is how we kill him. But I'm focusing on Horoguramu. If any Aberrants get past, that's your job. Look."

  Takari pointed at an Aberrant that had survived the wave, and was making its way to shore. Jade had her eyes closed, and must have been focused on slowing down Horoguramu. Shogai powered up his fist, and met the Aberrant as soon as it stepped onto solid ground. He hit it right back into the river, which was surging with waves from Takari's blow. Horoguramu was beginning to get close again, seeming frustrated.

  Takari focused with his hand in front of him, and snapped his fingers. An even more powerful wind hit Horoguramu, making him stumble. He was having trouble balancing in the waves, but he remained standing.

  "A hundred times multiplier, and he's still not down. This won't be easy."

  Shogai's eyes glanced at an old spear on the ground. It must have belonged to one of the villagers. When Takari threw the rock, it passed straight through Horoguramu before decaying. That meant…

  Shogai picked up the spear. With Horoguramu's attention on Takari, Shogai could get this hit off. He aimed for Horoguramu's real body, in the heart of the giant. He used all his force to throw the spear. It wasn't as powerful as Takari, not even close, but it was a bullseye. Horoguramu's eyes widened as the projectile flew towards him. His body began glowing.

  Shogai had to look away as a flash of light blinded him. He looked back in time to see the spear decaying as it flew through to the other side of the figure. Horoguramu was nowhere to be seen.

  Takari spotted him before Shogai did. Horoguramu slowly rose from the submerged left leg of his giant back to the heart. He still didn't speak, only continuing his march forwards.

  "So he can teleport himself to a point within the giant." Jade said, eyes now open. "He broke the connection and my attack by doing that. Try not to make him do it again."

  She refocused on her target, leaving Takari and Shogai to figure out their next move.

  "That was close," Takari encouraged, "We'll get him next try."

  Takari clapped his hands together, sending forth another gust of wind. This one caused chaos in the river, with waves rising to unreal heights and drowning most of the remaining army. A wave crashed into Horoguramu, who lost his footing. Like a falling statue, he toppled underwater, vanishing beneath the waves. That was way more powerful than the previous hits.

  "Stay down!" Takari suddenly yelled. He jumped into the air, far higher than the height of Horoguramu's giant, and began falling towards the river. Takari steadied his fist next to him torso and with a yell, he punched downwards.

  The shockwave was dozens of times stronger than anything Takari had already done. The river exploded as the force of the punch hit, completely drenching the surrounding areas, including Shogai and Jade. The river had been completely drained, and Shogai watched in awe. That kind of destructive power… surely it had vaporised Horoguramu.

  The rest of the river flowed downstream, refilling the empty riverbed until it looked like no harm had been done. Shogai hadn’t seen Horoguramu's body. But Takari was still on guard as he landed. Surely not… there was no way Horoguramu survived that, right?

  Unfortunately, Horoguramu rose to his feet, hardly even using his arms. His towering figure loomed over them like a furious mass of power.

  Takari was backing away. He was still smiling, but he sounded more panicked.

  "He's on land now. Time for Plan B. Also, watch out, Shogai."

  Shogai acknowledged the warning just in time to avoid an Aberrant's attack. What? Where did it come from?

  As he looked around, he saw a few of them walking about. They were soaked. As Shogai defensively stood in front of Jade, he figured it out. When Takari had exploded the river, they'd been launched into the air and survived the fall to earth.

  The Aberrant attacking Shogai went in for another hit, but Shogai dodged it and punched it in the abdomen, launching it back. There were a lot more Aberrants now. He needed the stamina to take them all down, without exhausting himself too much to back up Takari.

  Horoguramu drew his sword, and an enormous energy blade appeared in the hand of his astral form. It was at least as long as the width of the river. Horoguramu swung it downwards, and Takari barely dodged. A scar was etched into the land, with an aura of decay surrounding it. Takari picked up a boulder, the size of a house, and launched it at Horoguramu's real body. Once again, Horoguramu teleported to a safer section of his body, this time being a hand, and avoiding the boulder. It decayed into nothing as Horoguramu floated back to the heart.

  "Stop breaking my focus," Jade muttered, eyes still closed, and probably thinking that no one could hear her. The only reason Takari managed to dodge that swing was because Jade was slowing his enemy down. Every time Horoguramu broke the connection between himself and Jade, he became faster. More concentrated.

  Jade was their key to standing a chance. So Shogai had to defend her. Aberrants were starting to prowl around the two of them, circling their prey, looking for a blind spot. Shogai expected any Aberrant to attack as soon as he was on the opposite side of Jade. He didn't expect them to all run in at once.

  Shogai briefly panicked, but let his instincts take over. There were eight Aberrants around them, rushing in. All he had to do was kill eight.

  The first two were easy enough. A duck, a weave and a kick to each of them. Unfortunately, he'd overextended. An Aberrant almost reached Jade, but he managed to pull her out of the way and punch the monster dead. Jade somehow didn't react. She kept her eyes closed. She must have had a lot of trust in him.

  The five Aberrants were upon them by this point. Shogai crossed his fingers. He couldn’t avoid getting hit anymore. It was now or never.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  He'd done it briefly in Santh, but now he had to fight with it. His aura shifted to blue. The claws of the incoming Aberrants clanged off his skin as he covered Jade.

  It worked. Shogai felt refreshed, as if he could fight for hours. Defence stance had far better stamina. Nothing would bring him down.

  An Aberrant, which had jumped away, hissed and tried to attack Shogai again. Shogai took the hit without much pain, and hit the Aberrant in return. It stumbled for a moment, but got up and roared. Normally it should have gone down to that. He'd have to try harder. Another Aberrant tried to pounce on him from behind, so Shogai hit it once before using its brief moment of imbalance to hit it again. It took 4 well-placed hits to finally kill it.

  Four was too many. He needed to be faster. But now that half of them were gone, he didn’t need to be so passive anymore. Shogai concentrated on his aura, which changed back to red. With his power and speed back, he quickly killed the last few Aberrants and fell to his knees.

  That took way too much energy out of him, shifting forms mid-battle. He'd keep that in mind for the future.

  Jade had kept her eyes closed the whole time, so Horoguramu must not have been forced to avoid any attacks. What was Takari doing?

  Shogai rushed to the battle and saw a peculiar scene. Takari had been on the defensive, only dodging hits, but there were a whole lot of craters in the ground. They seemed to have been caused by him. The holes in the ground completely encircled Horoguramu and Takari.

  When Takari saw Shogai, he gave him a reassuring nod before gesturing to him to get away. Shogai didn't know what he was planning, but he backed off. He saw Takari clench his fist, and Horoguramu swing his sword. Takari didn't dodge. Instead, he hit the ground.

  The explosion was so loud that blood began running from Shogai's ears. He winced in pain and saw cracks appear in the ground, connecting the spot Takari had hit to the surrounding craters. The ground began shaking. Then it caved in.

  Horoguramu's sword missed as the very floor he stood on fell, and the surrounding land began to fall like a landslide. Shogai watched, amazed, until he saw the wave of destruction approach him. He was too close.

  Jade suddenly opened her eyes. She didn’t have time to say, "Run-!" before Shogai grabbed her arm and ran. Away from the falling earth.

  They ran for a whole 30 seconds before the rumbling quietened down. Shogai turned around to see the damage. An enormous sinkhole had formed next to Nomun, larger than the village itself. There was dust everywhere, and Shogai could hardly see the bottom. Jade didn't hesitate to climb into the collapsed hole. Her ears were still working, so she could tell which surfaces were safe to stand on. She led Shogai downwards, saying something he couldn't hear. Shogai gestured towards his ears, and Jade spoke in his mind.

  Sorry. I said that Takari is somewhere in here. We need to find him before Horoguramu does.

  Shogai mouthed a question. Did she think Horoguramu had survived that?

  I don't know, but we can't risk it. Let's move.

  They looked around, barely able to see through the dust. Jade seemed too focused on looking at where she was going to find Takari or Horoguramu with her mind. Shogai wasn't complaining. One slip in this mess, and they'd probably hit their head on a rock and die.

  "There." She said after a while. Shogai didn't hear her at first, but his ears were slowly mending.

  Takari had propped himself up over some rubble, and his legs were bent at an awkward angle.

  "Hey you two, glad you're alright." He said with another smile. Shogai had no idea how he stayed so positive. His legs were crushed.

  "In a normal circumstance, I'd have been able to just negate the force of the falling rocks and save my legs," He shrugged, "but I was in an awkward position, with Horoguramu right above me. I had to focus on protecting more important parts of my body."

  That explained why his face was completely unscratched, but on the topic…

  "What happened to Horoguramu? Is he dead?" Shogai asked, slightly too loud.

  Takari shrugged. "Dunno. I lost him in the dust. But his giant form is gone. I don't see why he'd turn to normal unless he was dead. Help me up, please. Let's report back to base."

  Takari leaned on Shogai and limped back the way they came. Scaling that surface would be tough. Shogai was surprised that the ground had caved in so far. Takari seemed to agree.

  "I wasn't expecting this much damage. I hope I didn't destroy any houses. There must have been a cave or something here."

  Shogai looked back. Jade hadn't moved. Her eyes were closed again.

  "He's alive…" Jade muttered, before opening her eyes. "Go! He's still alive!"

  Jade ran up to the two of them, but the ground shook between them. A fist emerged from the earth, clutching a crystal, and cut off Jade's path. She yelped and backed away. Slowly, Horoguramu pulled himself up from the depths of the rubble and got to his feet, dusting himself off. He stood over them with his imposing figure, terrifying despite being in his regular form.

  "Thank you, Nexean. For making my job easier." Horoguramu jeered with his grating voice, but Takari didn't falter.

  "So the crystal really was here. And right underneath us. How unlucky."

  "Luck, you say?" Horoguramu held the glowing crystal in front of him. "Even a human like you can sense its power, correct? I knew where it was as soon as I crossed the river. The only obstacle stopping me from digging it out was you. So when I saw you planning to collapse the ground, I led you over the crystal. You're a fool. Now get out of my way."

  Horoguramu turned to walk past Takari, who snapped his fingers. A gust of wind knocked the crystal out of Horoguramu's hand, and it skidded across the floor, landing at Jade's feet. Jade hesitantly picked it up.

  "Give me the crystal, girl." Horoguramu snarled. "The Inner Rank can no longer stand up to me. He never could."

  Jade looked at the crystal, and looked Horoguramu in the eye. She shook her head.

  Horoguramu put his hand on his sword, and drew it. Even without the energy of his giant form, the obsidian blade looked sharp enough to cut diamond. Horoguramu begun walking towards Jade, dragging the sword across the ground and letting the sparks fly.

  "You have time to change your mind. Give me the crystal."

  Takari clapped his hands together, and Horoguramu braced himself. The wind, however, only blew over him and stopped. After so many powerful attacks, Takari didn't have the force to stop Horoguramu. Not without physically hitting him.

  Shogai left Takari on the ground and shifted to offence form. All he had to do was get Jade out of harm's way. That was his job when they arrived. That was what he owed her. He tried to run past Horoguramu, but he reacted fast, swinging his sword at Shogai. Shogai ducked, but didn’t see the real attack coming. Horoguramu kicked Shogai right back to where Takari was, and Shogai started coughing blood. His heartbeat increased. Horoguramu was taking his time, because he knew everyone was powerless to stop him.

  He was mere steps away from Jade, who had been backed against a wall. Jade couldn't scale it with a crystal in her hand. She simply glared at Horoguramu defiantly, refusing to go down.

  Every bone in Shogai's body resisted, but he forced himself to move. His head was burning, but he needed to get to Jade. He needed to get there fast. He needed to get there now. Against the screaming of his limbs, he moved.

  He was too slow. Way too slow. Horoguramu was already about to swing his sword. He barely even glanced at Shogai's approach. He was useless. Worthless. Shogai's blood began boiling. His heart raced. His eyes started seeing black. He trusted his instincts and didn't think.

  A rush of wind blew past Shogai. His vision began to return. As he took in his surroundings, he saw himself right next to Takari again, this time Jade was next to him. She stumbled and fell, and Horoguramu hadn't even turned around yet. After a moment of confusion, he did.

  Shogai was out of breath and his eyelids were steaming hot. He recognised this feeling. A line of dust had appeared from where he was standing previously. It followed a path, encircling Horoguramu and trailing to… Shogai's feet.

  "Kiara…?" Jade mumbled as she seemed to be figuring out what had happened. Shogai realised it first.

  "No. That was me." He proudly raised his voice so that Horoguramu could hear. His aura was yellow. "I'm fast enough now."

  Takari clapped, impressed.

  "After you unlocked defence stance, I suspected something like this might happen, but not so soon. Speed stance. Your eyes too, they're glowing yellow. The colour of your aura changed."

  "So what?" Horoguramu had gotten over his confusion, and was now angry. "You can’t beat me."

  "He's right." Takari shuffled around in his pockets as he spoke to Shogai. "Found it."

  Takari produced a cylinder from his pocket. The flare. "Guess we might need some backup after all."

  Takari offered the flare to Jade. "Get somewhere high and fire it. We'll cover you."

  Jade nodded. She carefully tied the crystal to her belt and began climbing to the top of the crater.

  "Oh no you don't…" Horoguramu threw his sword like a javelin at Jade. Shogai reacted.

  He controlled himself this time, running up to Jade's location. It felt like time was slowing down. This must have been what Kiara would always see. Shogai made it to Jade before the sword, and caught it. It was heavy, so heavy that he almost failed to stop it, but he somehow managed to hold it up.

  This form wasn't very powerful, nor did it feel durable, but if he could react to situations like this, he could make very good use of speed form.

  As Jade climbed further up, Shogai decided to go on the attack. He took advantage of his newfound speed to try and hit Horoguramu with his own sword. Horoguramu seemed furious, but he wasn't fast enough. Shogai managed to swing the sword using all his might and brought it down on Horoguramu's crown.

  The mighty sword chipped his horn, and he closed his eyes, recoiling. Horoguramu lashed out, grabbing his sword and pulling it from Shogai's grasp. He tried to kick Shogai again, but he dodged it and backed away. His vision was flickering.

  "Careful Shogai," He heard Takari say, who had somehow pulled himself to his feet. "Elano's Heart is the only reason you're faster. If you can't maintain it, you'll die."

  Shogai didn't respond. All that meant was that he had to make the most of this time. He ducked another attack and punched Horoguramu with his left hand.

  The bones in his fist broke.

  Horoguramu smiled as Shogai yelled in pain, Elano's Heart wearing off. That was so stupid of him. This form wasn't meant to be used for attack for this very reason.

  Horoguramu lifted his sword as Shogai backed away. He couldn’t run. His head was screaming and he couldn’t focus. Horoguramu was about to strike him down, but a sudden red flash blinded him.

  Jade stood at the top of the crater, her arm in the air. Her silhouette looked down on the others as the red glow of the flare illuminated her face. Now they just had to hope Kyorei would come.

  "Shogai. Brace yourself."

  Shogai heard Takari's warning just in time. He jumped out of the way as Takari somehow ran in to punch Horoguramu directly. His legs must have been killing him, but his smile didn't waver.

  "Five hundred times…" Takari grinned. He hit Horoguramu while he was still blinded, and the impact sent Shogai flying. Literally.

  Shogai was pushed out of the crater as the wind was at his back. No amount of bracing would have saved him. He flew for a few moments and landed roughly on the grass outside, definitely breaking a few more bones. His adrenaline forced him to his knees and he looked around. Jade had seen the attack coming and flattened herself on the grass above, clenching it with all her strength and avoiding the shockwave. Shogai crawled over to her and looked into the crater.

  The red light illuminated the situation. Horoguramu had blocked the punch with his arm, which had been blown clean off. He fell backwards. Takari also fell to his knees, as they finally gave in. Shogai watched the two beings on the floor, waiting. To his dread, Horoguramu got up first. His arm began regenerating. In a mere moment, it was as good as new. He flexed his regrown arm and used it to lift his blade again. He dropped it. It must have been hard on his new arm. He picked it up again. Did Takari have the energy to stop it?

  Just then, the ground shook. A flash of lightning appeared in the distance. South. It was miles away. Was that at… Harabel?

  A blur of white light began racing across the field, towards Nomun. Shogai braced himself for a moment, but then recognised it. That wasn't a force of nature. That was Kyorei.

  In seconds, he jumped over them, cloaked in lightning with his sword drawn and over his head. He leapt straight into the crater and clashed his blade with Horoguramu's. A spark of white lightning jumped from his sword, encircling the crater before fading. Only now did Jade and Shogai hear the thunder from his lightning earlier.

  "Told you. You need me." Kyorei laughed, and Takari looked glad to see him.

  "Get out of here, Takari." He continued. "Or else I'll end up killing you."