Wright’s appearance was the best possible thing that could have happened. He withstood the boulder crashing into him and locked eyes with Muryoko.

  “I heard your call, Ryukyu.” he said, smiling. “Who’d have thought the Deviant King was coming to our very doorstep? What can we do for you, Your Majesty?”

  Muryoko appeared insulted by Wright’s tone, dripping with sarcasm, but he played along.

  “Inner Rank. Wright, I believe? Vera told me you were dead.”

  “I was hoping that lie would last longer than it did.”

  “Well, Wright, I have a bargain.”

  Muryoko grabbed Jade by the head and lifted her into the air. Jade had been slowly backing away, but she couldn’t escape in time. She felt claws tighten around her skull, and she uselessly kicked her legs in the air. The being of absolute power hardly noticed her.

  “You should all be honoured that I came here in person. And I only did it for one reason. I am not a force you can stop. So how am I going to get past you? Will you humour me, or pressure me to show you what happens when children fight a godlike being?”

  “Muryoko. Let her go.”

  “Then here are my terms. I won’t hurt any of you if you don’t hurt any of us. How does that sound?”

  To demonstrate, Muryoko released Jade. Instead of falling to the ground, her descent was slowed, and she floated downwards, harmlessly landing on her feet. She massaged her neck.

  “I think fighting is stupid, to be frank. To all of you, you’re signing yourselves up for a one-way ticket to the other side. And for me? How do I benefit from stepping on a twig? I’m just risking a splinter. Lose-lose situation. So how about we just don’t fight?”

  “Drop the act, Muryoko," Wright growled. “Your Aberrants have killed thousands of us humans.”

  Muryoko shrugged. “I rule over them, but I don’t control them. They have no brains. What am I meant to do? So what if they’re useful occasionally? If they weren’t, I’d have killed them myself by now. Just a messy, messy species. I don’t take responsibility for their actions. Any more questions?”

  Wright let out a small laugh at that. “Too many. What about Raven, Katro and Ryukyu? You hurt them.”

  “I did no such thing. Sabitsu and Horoguramu hurt the purple girl and the dragon because they attacked us first. As for the other one, he attacked me, so I attacked him. Self-defence. Give it up, Nexean. I’m holding nothing against you. Are we going to end this conflict right here and now, or will you fight until you die, all so that I get a scratch?”

  Ryukyu’s fiery eyes of anger hadn’t softened. Nor had Wright’s determination. “What are you here for, Muryoko? Jade looks very threatened by you.”

  Muryoko laughed and clapped Jade on the back, a little too hard to be considered friendly.

  “Oh, I was just messing around. To be honest, I have every right to kill her. She hurt me very badly. She hurt my feelings by taking away a weapon I wanted. To answer you, Wright, I’m here to settle the score. I’m entering the building, taking something, and leaving. Will you let me do that in peace?”

  Wright hesitated. “What do you want?”

  “I’ll know it when I see it. Come on, Wright. Aside from the occasional Aberrant attack, humans will live without fearing us. Who says we can’t coexist?”

  Jade shuddered, remembering Muryoko’s cold words to her. “I don’t believe you.” She said through gritted teeth.

  Muryoko glared at Jade. “Are you sure? You can read my mind at any point. Go on.”

  Jade stood in place. She didn’t want to go back there. She was scared that if she did… she’d never return. Therefore, she had no choice but to repeat herself. “I don’t. Believe you.” Her voice was seething with anger.

  “Jade.” Wright said, “We can’t fight him. Let’s just go with it.”

  “Excellent!” Muryoko clapped, and he smiled. “Dragon, please revert to normal. I feel threatened. Sabitsu, stay out here. Horoguramu, Wright, accompany me. Jade, I don’t care what you do. You’re powerless.”

  That word sent shivers down Jade’s spine. Somehow, being viewed as worthless was scarier than being a target of Muryoko.

  “Fine. I’ll go with you then.”

  She wasn’t planning anything. She was just trying, in some way, to stand up to Muryoko.

  Ryukyu had transformed back to human form, and was massaging his shoulder. He followed behind Wright as they walked up to Muryoko.

  “Right this way, Your Highness.” Wright said, leading the way towards the doors of HQ. Muryoko seemed pleased, and he gestured for Horoguramu to come with. Ryukyu and Sabitsu stopped, waiting outside. Jade tried to read Wright’s expression. Surely he wasn’t just fine with this, right? She was taken aback when he stopped in his tracks, right by the doors. He was smiling.

  “Screw it.”

  Wright’s entire body transformed a light blue, and he jumped backwards, hitting Muryoko with a rolling kick. The Deviant King didn’t flinch. His armour simply glowed where he was struck. He crossed his arms with a smile.

  “Diamond, huh? Unique.”

  Wright’s body was sharper and stronger than before. Horoguramu put a hand on his sword, ready to draw it, but hesitated. Muryoko seemed to be making a point.

  Wright’s attacks were fast and powerful. Jade could hardly see the individual blows. Wright then reached into his belt and his body changed again, this time into what looked like metal. He became slower, but his hits carried so much more weight to them. When his fist connected with Muryoko’s body, the shockwave emitted sent Jade flying back, hitting her head on the door to Headquarters. Even still, Muryoko didn’t move.

  Wright tried one more thing. His left arm turned into some kind of black powder, and he hurled it at Muryoko. It softly settled on his body, and he seemed confused. Wright raised his right arm, a fully metal arm, and somehow snapped his fingers. Sparks flew from between his fingers, and fell upon Muryoko. In that split second, Wright threw himself in front of Jade and used his body as a human shield. That was when Jade realised what that powder was. Gunpowder.

  Muryoko vanished in an enormous explosion. All the windows on the building shattered into glass, which proceeded to melt at the heat. Jade absolutely would have disintegrated at such a close range if not for Wright. She could barely make out through the brightness that Sabitsu and Ryukyu had retreated for safety, but Muryoko and Horoguramu had been hit directly. There was no way they were alive, right?

  Horoguramu was the first one Jade saw. He walked out of the smoke, sword drawn, and put it at Wright’s throat threateningly. Jade’s heart sank. He was fine. He coughed a little, and was mildly burnt, but he’d almost effortlessly withstood that attack.

  “Dammit.” Wright mumbled. “Should have thrown my leg into that as well.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Horoguramu narrowed his eyes. “Permission to kill, sir?”

  Muryoko’s voice came from the centre of the smoke, which completely vanished at a wave of his hand. To generate that much wind pressure with just a wave… plus, he was completely unaffected by the explosion.

  “Denied, Horoguramu. Come on, I just made a point to them. It’d be for nothing if they die now. Now back to business.”

  What kind of monster was he? He seemed to know what Jade was thinking, and he spoke to her as if she were a child.

  “You sure you want to come along, Jade?” he taunted. “No one would blame you if not.”

  Jade nodded her head. “I’m coming. You don’t scare me.”

  “Tut tut… I suppose I need to be trying harder then. Wright, lead me to your research lab. I doubt what I’m looking for would be elsewhere.”

  “We’ll have to take a lift. Your vast figures won’t fit.”

  Horoguramu scowled. “My lord, he just called us-.”

  “I don’t need a translator, Horoguramu. Banter is fun. And Wright, I’ll just rip out the elevator. No worries.”

  And that’s exactly what he did. The Deviants barely fit in the room, but they made it to the lift. Muryoko tore open the doors and grabbed the elevator, throwing it out. Jade overheard Wright mumbling an apology to Katro, before she got distracted. A light had appeared in the corner of the room. It was a glowing rune. From it, a middle-aged man fell onto the floor. He was unconscious, and wore a crown and robes. No way… was that…?

  Muryoko and Horoguramu hadn’t noticed him, thankfully, but what would happen if they did? Jade needed to get him to safety.

  “Umm… the lights are going to be off downstairs because of the lack of power. I’m going to get it fixed. Go on without me. Wright will take me down in a moment.”

  Muryoko nodded, as if expecting this, and made a shooing gesture, making Jade’s blood boil.

  “Sir, should we tell her we can see in the dar-?”

  “Let her be, Horoguramu. Let her be.”

  “Wright, don’t you dare leave without me.” Jade demanded. “Wait here.”

  Wright put his hands up in surrender, and nodded. Muryoko and Horoguramu jumped down the elevator shaft, vanishing, and Jade immediately ran to the figure in the corner. Wright followed her.

  “That’s King Casi.” Wright pointed out. He was stunned. “What’s he doing here?”

  “No idea. We need to tell Nemean what’s happening. How can we contact him?”

  “I-I don’t know. He normally does the contacting.”

  “Fine. I’ll do it myself.”

  “What? How-?”

  “Let’s go with the Deviants. I’ll do it on the way. Trust me.”

  Wright didn’t question her longer, but he seemed doubtful. Truthfully, Jade had no idea what she was saying. How was she going to contact Nemean when she had no idea where he was? And even if she did know, her range was limited. This was an impossible task.

  Wright lifted Jade and jumped down the elevator shaft after the Deviants. They landed in the dark but familiar room. This was where Ciela had been kept. It would have been pitch black, but some random things in the room were glowing, providing enough light. No wonder they were being studied.

  Muryoko had picked up a crystal, and given it to Horoguramu. It was shining with a lot of colours. Jade had seen it on her first visit here.

  “Inspect it. This should be it.”

  Horoguramu nodded, and withdrew his sword. He began tapping it, experimenting with how it reacted. Muryoko turned to Jade.

  “You came. I’m surprised. Well, I might be done in a minute, so there was really no point coming.”

  “Apologies, sir, but make that ten.”

  Ten minutes. That was how long Jade had. She was scared. She was so scared. But she closed her eyes and focused, entering a familiar world.

  It was hard enough explaining how she invaded minds, but the way she felt them was even tougher. It was like a sixth sense. A kind of heat-vision, but that didn’t do it justice. Her perspective could glide around like an angel, focusing on people around her. It was impossible to explain. But she didn’t need others to understand it. She just needed to know how it worked herself.

  Around her were three minds. Wright, who felt anticipation, Muryoko, who felt excitement, and Horoguramu, who felt focused on his task.

  Jade expanded her field of view to her maximum. Above her, she could feel the minds of Ryukyu and Sabitsu, both of whom were waiting patiently. There were also the unconscious minds of Raven, Katro and Casi. She hoped they’d be alright.

  One more mind was in Jade’s field of view. One from beneath her. She was not expecting that. It was conscious, and frustrated. It was angry, as if it wanted to hurt someone. And it was warm. An uncomfortable warmth. It felt like Jade was standing at the edge of a hungry pit to hell. She kept her mind away from there. That definitely wasn’t where she wanted to look.

  “You feel it too, Jade?” Muryoko suddenly said, snapping Jade out of her trance. “Something very powerful is beneath us. You can often tell that from the way their mind feels, right? And I can tell that your mind is nothing compared to mine.”

  Jade folded her arms. “You can’t read minds, can you?”

  This was just a guess based on how Muryoko had been speaking, but she was surprised when he nodded.

  “I can’t, but I don’t need to. Who would dare lie to me? Now get back to daydreaming, weakling.”

  Jade’s heart was beating faster and faster. Fear and anger were fighting to be her primary emotion. She tried to calm herself down, but failed. She decided to try and use her exponentially growing emotions to find Nemean.

  Her maximum had already been reached, but Jade was determined to take it further. She fought to be free from the confines called limits. She should be able to reach minds that are further away. Why shouldn’t she be able to? She wasn’t worthless. She wasn’t weak. That monster knew nothing about her. Her breathing began staggering as it tried to keep up with her heartbeat.

  Something snapped in Jade’s mind, as if a dam in her head had broken and an ocean of potential had been set free. Her eyes, under her eyelids, began to heat up. And at that moment, her range expanded. It didn’t just expand. It was enormous. A thousand minds immediately touched hers. What was this? A thousand lights had appeared in front of her. Her brain was given a surge of information unlike any she’d felt before. It was too much.

  Jade was connecting to the minds of everyone within miles of herself.

  She was about to retreat, but then she felt a familiar mind. The one she was looking for. Nemean. Jade zeroed in on him, unsure where he even was, and spoke to him.

  Nexus. Danger. Casi. Come.

  Her mind was under too much strain to send any more words to him before she was pulled back into the real world. Her breathing was heavy, and the three in the room looked at her. Jade was scared. She’d almost lost herself.

  “Good. You’re scared. About time.” Muryoko said, getting back to the crystal. Wright tried to comfort Jade.

  “Wright…” she whispered. “Elano’s Heart… I think I-”

  “I know. I saw. They didn’t. I underestimated you, Jade. I just hope Nemean got your message.”

  Jade was too frightened to enter that world again to see if Nemean was at Nexus. She simply crossed her fingers.

  “This is it, my King.” Horoguramu suddenly said.

  “Excellent work. Now let’s go. Pleasure doing business with you, Jade and Wright.”

  With that, Muryoko and Horoguramu leapt up the elevator shaft, making their way to the surface. Wright gestured for Jade to jump on his back, and he followed. He was slower, but got there soon enough. Back at the surface, Jade immediately looked in the corner, and let out a sigh of relief. King Casi wasn’t there. That meant Nemean had been here and moved him to safety.

  “Sabitsu, we’re done!” Horoguramu called out, and the three of them began walking across the field.

  Just like that… they were leaving. Jade didn’t know what to think. She was just… angry. How dare he… just walk away? They weren’t letting him get away with that, right?

  The air shimmered beside her. Nemean appeared, with Shogai. Jade raised a hand instinctively to wave, until she saw the bloodlust in Shogai’s eyes. Nemean pointed at Muryoko, and Shogai didn’t hesitate to charge him.

  What on earth was Nemean doing? And Shogai… why was he attacking Muryoko? That was suicide!

  “Shogai, sto-!”

  Nemean put a hand in front of Jade. “Let him. Just watch.”

  Shogai was speeding across the field after the Deviants. Ryukyu tried to reach out and stop him, but Shogai was already past him. He was gathering energy in his left arm, but it was less than normal. He was tired after a fight as well? Muryoko looked at Shogai, and his eyes widened. He seemed annoyed.

  “Another one? Let’s just go, now!”

  Muryoko put a hand on Horoguramu and Sabitsu, and vanished as a blur, much like Kiara usually did. Shogai fell to his knees and yelled in anger. Nemean sighed. “Good. This is good. Now Jade, fill me in on everything.”

  Jade’s eyes began forming tears. She looked around at the destruction. She’d been able to do nothing against Muryoko. What did Nemean mean? They’d lost. They’d lost in the face of an unstoppable force.