Takahiro, Zeke, and Rei stood in an impeccable formation, ready to face the terrifying threat looming over them. In front of the group, that bare-chested man maintained a slow, unconcerned pace, defying the tension in the air.
Zeke was the first to take the initiative. With a quick, firm voice, he chanted a series of brief incantations. In response, the thin red rope wrapped around his wrist—his ether weapon—began to emit blazing flames along its entire length. Zeke remained calm despite the intense heat enveloping his arm.
Behind him, Rei was already reciting her own spell. She pronounced the syllables at an astonishing speed, highlighting the clear gap in mastery that existed between her command of sorcery and Zeke's. She raised her hand toward her two companions; the wooden bead bracelet on her wrist emitted a faint white glow, and immediately, both Zeke and Takahiro were enveloped in a warm halo of light that lasted just a couple of seconds before dissipating.
A torrent of pure energy surged through both of their bodies. Their senses sharpened to the limit, and their physical capabilities increased drastically. Rei had cast a compound spell: the first effect was a powerful body-reinforcement blessing; the second, more discreet but crucial, deployed a spiritual barrier that would absorb part of the force of the impacts they received, at the cost of gradually draining Rei's own ether reserves.
A pang of nostalgia washed over Zeke for an instant. Several years had passed since the last time the three of them fought side by side as a team, defying enemies that surpassed their limits. He shook his head slightly to chase away those memories. This was no time to get carried away by sentimentality; they were facing the most fearsome opponent they had ever stood up against. Simply being near him was enough to feel his overwhelming presence, a suffocating spiritual pressure that placed him beyond a shadow of a doubt at the peak of A-rank.
The stranger stopped in his tracks and, for the first time, turned his gaze upon the group. He appeared to be assessing them: his eyes slowly swept over each of them, pausing for barely a fraction of a second on their combat stances and respective weapons. Finishing his inspection, he raised a single eyebrow, and an asymmetrical smile, dripping with mockery, curled his lips. The scene was genuinely amusing to him. That these tiny, fragile beings compared to him had conceived the absurd idea of stopping him seemed like an excellent joke.
"I must admit I'm surprised," he said in a deep, raspy voice. "I'm surprised you're still here and haven't fled in terror at the sight of me."
He took a step forward. The group, reacting on instinct, took half a step back into a defensive stance. He widened his smile with satisfaction.
"If you had run, I would have been merciful. I wouldn't have bothered chasing you; after all, I have a much more interesting prey waiting for me further ahead. I don't usually waste time with weak vermin." He crossed his arms over his muscular chest. "But... I like your audacity. I'll reward your bravery by granting you the honor of dying by my own hand. Rejoice, not just anyone receives such a privilege."
No one responded to his taunts. For the agents, the enemy's attitude was actually a good sign: if the creature underestimated them, their chances of victory increased slightly.
Without adding another word, the anomaly took another step forward. In that instant, his figure blurred in the air, transforming into a streak that shot toward them at a speed almost impossible to follow with the naked eye. The next instant he was already standing right in front of Takahiro, unleashing a devastating punch directly at his chest.
Takahiro raised his katana out of pure instinct to block the onslaught and made it just in time. The monster's knuckle and the edge of the blade collided with a thunderous crash. Contrary to expectation, the anomaly's tanned skin didn't suffer the slightest scratch; instead, a shower of sparks flew from the collision, as if his skin were as hard as steel.
Takahiro cursed under his breath as he felt the brutal shockwave transmit from his sword directly into his arms and shoulders. He fought with all his strength and firmly planted his feet against the ground, but it was useless: his resistance lasted less than a second. He felt his boots lose contact with the earth, and his bones creaked under the atrocious pressure of the impact.
His body was sent flying backward through the air, traveling a considerable distance until he managed to hit solid ground and dig in his heels to brake the inertia. With his right arm completely numb from the effort, Takahiro remained standing. He had managed to block that deadly blow.
"Damn it! What absurd strength..." Takahiro murmured, gritting his teeth. "If not for Rei's reinforcement spells, that would have been the end of me."
The anomaly observed Takahiro with a spark of genuine interest. He didn't expect that human to survive his first attack.
It was then that the air ripped with a deafening snap, similar to the violent crack of a whip. Zeke had swung his flame-wrapped weapon with all his strength, landing a direct whip strike against his enemy's exposed back.
However, despite receiving such an impact full-on against his bare skin, the anomaly was barely fazed. He simply turned his head slowly to set his eyes on Zeke and commented in a slightly annoyed tone: "That stings a bit."
Takahiro was able to observe the monster's back for an instant: the tanned skin was completely intact; the flaming impact hadn't even left a mark or a burn on him.
Realizing the danger, Zeke tried to create distance immediately. His rope's combat style was designed to dominate mid-range, so being exposed at close range before such an enemy left him no room to maneuver.
But he didn't manage to fall back far. Just as before, the anomaly turned into a blur due to the dizzying speed at which he moved, reemerging in front of him in the blink of an eye. This time he didn't resort to a punch: he dug the tip of his left foot into the ground and executed a full spin on his axis. His body transformed into a whirlwind in a matter of milliseconds and, before the agent could even react, his right leg traced a kick in a perfect horizontal arc directly toward his ribs.
Unlike Takahiro, who was accustomed to hand-to-hand combat, Zeke wasn't able to react in time. The kick should have hit him full-on, breaking his ribs and spine. However, just an instant before the anomaly's foot collided with his side, an octagonal block of semitransparent golden energy materialized out of nowhere between them: a solid barrier conjured in time by Rei.
The shield shattered with the thunderous roar of the impact. Even so, the remaining force reached Zeke, sending him flying through the air until he slammed violently into a nearby wall. He let out a dull groan of pain from the harshness of the blow and, after a few agonizing seconds, managed to get back up holding his side. He felt a searing pain running through his chest, indicating that it was very likely he had fractured some ribs. Despite everything, he managed to stay on his feet and keep fighting, all thanks to Rei's timely intervention: although the barrier had been destroyed, it managed to absorb most of the devastating impact.
The anomaly silently watched as Zeke got back onto his feet. This time, he turned on his heels and directed a look laden with annoyance directly at Rei: "I hate when people interfere with my fun."
She didn't pay the slightest attention to his threats. Maintaining a serene and impassive composure, she continued whispering her incantations at high speed, channeling her ether while preparing a spell with which she hoped to grant them victory.
* * *
Mochi was locked in a fierce battle against Claude. Throughout the struggle, she had been completely unable to land a single solid hit on him; every single one of her movements was being read with astonishing ease. The abysmal gap in experience between the two of them grew more painful with every passing second: the anomaly predicted her intentions with precision, dodging her blows and delivering accurate, unpredictable counterattacks.
Mochi had long since given up on the idea of activating her ether shield against every onslaught. She realized in time that if she continued doing so, her reserves would run out in the blink of an eye, leaving her completely defenseless. Therefore, she reserved her energy solely to mitigate impacts that could inflict lethal wounds or threaten to incapacitate her from fighting on. The direct consequence of that drastic strategy was clear: her skin and worn clothing were covered in a multitude of small superficial cuts that stung with every breath, while her cat ears remained pinned flat against her head from the tension.
As the bloody exchange dragged on, Mochi was pushed further and further back. Suddenly, her back collided hard against a cold, solid surface: the basement's concrete wall. That unexpected barrier threw her off for a bitter moment. That distraction did not go unnoticed by Claude, who took advantage of the opening to unleash a fierce swipe of claws directly at her chest.
With no room to think, Mochi reacted on instinct and threw herself to the left in a desperate leap. However, upon landing, her foot stepped on a loose fragment of rock: a piece of debris resulting from the destruction that Kotone's fierce battle was causing to the venue's structure. Her ankle twisted, she lost her balance, and fell heavily onto her back against the hard ground.
She tried frantically to get back up, but it was too late. Claude was already towering over her, blocking out the light with his gloomy figure. The sharp claws of his right hand crackled with a dense crimson aura.
"This is as far as you go, kitty!" Claude roared in an unhinged voice, unleashing a deadly downward swipe directly at her helpless body.
In that terrifying second, Mochi understood with heartbreaking clarity: she had no room to dodge, nor did she have enough ether left to withstand such an impact. In a reflexive gesture of pure survival, she raised her arms crossed in front of her face and clenched her jaws, preparing her body for the imminent wave of pain that was about to slash through her.