The low gravity made every movement feel wrong, like the planet itself was resisting them.
Bear wiped blood from his lip, steadied his stance, and glanced at Tuka.
Tuka didn't look back. He was already moving.
Drayke blurred forward.
Bear reacted on instinct, teleporting half a step sideways and slamming his forearm into Drayke's ribs, but the impact felt like hitting reinforced steel.
Drayke twisted, elbow flashing up toward Bear's neck, and Tuka intercepted it barehanded, the shockwave cracking the ground beneath his feet.
No powers.
No tricks.
Just force.
Tuka drove his head forward, smashing it into Drayke's face.
Drayke staggered back a step—just one—but it was enough.
Bear raised his hand, energy condensing, the air screaming as space itself bent around his palm.
"Don't… complain later," Bear muttered.
A beam tore out of him.
Severance Blast.
White-blue energy ripped across the surface of Marsh, carving a glowing scar through the terrain and swallowing Drayke in its path. The sky fractured for a split second, clouds vaporizing, gravity trembling under the strain.
When the light faded, Bear dropped to one knee.
Then he fell.
His body hit the ground hard, completely still.
Tuka didn't turn. He stood where he was, shoulders shaking, blood dripping steadily from his nose, his mouth, his arms.
His legs trembled, threatening to give out, but he forced them to stay locked.
Across from him, Drayke emerged from the smoke.
His armor was cracked. One side of his face was bruised. He rolled his neck once, calmly, as if evaluating damage.
"…Interesting," Drayke said.
Back on Earth,
Chitki was already halfway suited.
Panels snapped into place around her arms as Chiki moved beside her, tossing tools and locking mechanisms faster than his hands should reasonably move.
A sharp BEEP echoed through the room.
Chitki froze.
A holographic screen flared open in front of her visor.
ALERT: MEMBER EXCEEDING RECORDED LIMITS
MEMBER STATUS: UNSTABLE
RANK SHIFT — A++ to S
Her breath caught.
"Wait...what?," she whispered.
Chiki leaned closer, eyes wide.
"We better hurry up..."
The feed struggled to load, data tearing and reforming like it was being forced through resistance.
Then the name appeared.....
Back on Marsh, Tuka took one more step forward.
Blood pooled beneath his feet now, his body barely responding, nerves burning out one by one.
The damage he took from Drayke were unbearable.
His arms hung heavy at his sides, fingers numb.
Yet his focus was clear.
Drayke moved again—fast enough to blur reality—but this time, Tuka swung.
A raw, unrefined punch. No technique. No power. Just everything he had left.
The impact echoed across the planet.
And in the sky above them, a streak of light pierced the atmosphere—
a spaceship descending at impossible speed.
Rescue had arrived.
Only to find Drayke almost cutting Tuka's head.