As soon as she saw an opening, Kaizu rushed to a vent and clambered inside. She undoubtedly wanted to get as much killing done as possible before someone else took her prey. The serial killer had worked hard to be a part of this mission, since only those of Rank 8 or higher were allowed to participate.
This limited most members, but quite a few had made great strides in improving their standing over the past few months. Niloy and Itsy, who were both present, eventually were able to overcome the wall of Rank 7, the stealth test where they had to steal a bottle of booze.
Itsy had racked her brain for quite a while until she came up with a simple solution. After examining the security footage for a few days, she went around outside to the back of the store and punched a hole through the wall amongst the racks of alcohol. By the time anyone could look over at the commotion, she had grabbed a bottle and skedaddled.
Niloy had employed similar thought since she was struggling with the basics of the test. She had simply waited for the store to be closed and made her attempt then. There were still a few stockers, but it was far simpler to navigate. Nachi allowed this under the idea that picking the right moment was an important part of stealth. She gave a condition, though, that Niloy couldn’t tell any lower ranks how she did it, since they’d have to come up with the idea on their own.
For Rank 8, both of them had passed with flying colors. Itsy’s fight against Nachi didn’t even last a full minute. Nachi had stabbed Itsy in the leg with her polearm, but then couldn’t pull it back out from Itsy flexing. The moment she was grabbed by the behemoth woman, she surrendered.
Niloy’s fight lasted a little longer, but not by much. She kept melting Nachi’s polearm with her acidic water. The trainer was quite fortunate that the weapon could now repair itself or she would have quickly lost a longtime heirloom and partner. Nachi surrendered again the moment she herself was soaked, not wanting to meet a similar fate.
Kaizu’s fight to raise her rank hadn’t been a fight at all. She’d launched a surprise attack—more like an assassination—against Nachi in her sleep. The woman awoke to find herself completely pinned with both daggers against her neck. Even though it wasn’t the parameters, it still counted as a defeat.
Roque, per usual, skirted the rules more than anyone else to reach Rank 8. He had walked into the arena, pulled out a bottle of the single-most expensive liquor in the world, and held it hostage—a gun pressed against it. That ‘fight’ lasted quite a while without a single punch thrown. After about an hour of toiling over her principles, Nachi surrendered. An attack on someone’s mind and taking advantage of an opponent’s weakness was still considered fighting.
Of those four, who were all present on this mission, the three women had gone on to achieve Rank 9 shortly afterwards. Roque hadn’t even attempted it yet, not coming across eligible monsters often during his daily life. However, none of them had managed to pass Rank 10.
Kaizu hadn’t tried, content with her standing for the moment. Niloy wanted to beat Kada, but had almost drowned in a whirlpool during her last attempt, so she wanted to train more before trying again. Itsy had challenged every single general so far and failed. Despite her insane strength, it went to show how much of an advantage someone with a Curse had, especially those with a lot of experience in using them.
One person had achieved Rank 10, though; Tize. He had been made a general after becoming a Fiend and moved into their mansion shortly after. But in order to keep the actual reason for his promotion a secret, he was tasked to raise his rank as quickly as possible. That said, he still wasn’t going to have it handed to him.
Tize had been spinning his wheels all this time, still discontent that he didn’t get to fight Jaid for that honor. But since his hand was forced, he chose Xard and beat him soundly. Being able to block almost all of his attacks was already a huge advantage, but Tize’s Curse was a natural foil to Xard’s—one of the few.
After hitting Xard with a paralyzing shot, The Refuge turned into blaster cannons on Xard’s arms. It was a good test as well, since they found out Tize could still move a host’s body even if the host themselves was incapacitated.
Tize pointed one of the cannon’s straight into Xard’s gut. At that range, Xard’s Curse didn’t work, and the shock absorbers didn’t help either—so much energy pumped through them that they actually shattered. While he had probably gone overboard, it was the only way to land a definitive blow on the boy and win. Xard didn’t move again for the rest of the day, even with Ahvra and Drim’s healing.
Not every member of an eligible rank was participating in this mission either. Staff who’d be allowed, such as Mallea and Nachi, were seeing to other duties since there were already enough volunteers. Notably, though, Gatrim was missing. This kind of mission was right up his alley to prove his heroics, but he hadn’t been around lately.
Similarly to Xard, he had been on lengthy excursions away from the compound, taking on missions around the world. It had all started the day he’d finally beaten Nachi. It was a somber moment for the trainer, losing a regular sparring partner, but she was also proud since it was the culmination of all the training she’d provided.
When she went to block one of the attacks from his rapier, the tip pierced right through the flat of her polearm’s blade. It stopped just short of piercing through her skull, leaving a scar on forehead that still hadn’t fully healed, even as a Lesser.
What should have been a momentous moment to relax and celebrate, it only fueled his momentum and drive. Within the hour of his victory, he had returned with a 2nd-rank monster’s head and threw the still-decomposing flesh at Drim’s feet—challenging him. Gatrim always wanted to prove he was the best, so what better way than beating the leader of the organization himself?
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However, Gatrim had specifically requested that Drim not hold back, so he could fully understand the gap between them. And Drim complied, fighting without mercy. They went for three rounds, three very short rounds.
For the first, Drim captured Gatrim in a tangle of vines mere moments after it started. For the second, the pompous boy managed to dodge the first attack of vines and dashed at Drim, attempting to stab him. But Drim deflected it easily and grabbed Gatrim by the face. He absorbed almost all of the boy’s life, leaving him barely more than a withered husk on the ground.
Even after his life had been restored, Gatrim still wanted to go again, not yet fully accepting his place. The moment the round started Drim uttered a single word and then walked away. ❝Surrender.❞ Since then, Gatrim had been scarce, but he was near the top of the charts for most missions completed every month, even winning a few more times.
There were a few other members nearby who didn’t have the rank to participate, present to fulfill other roles. This included Senli, who was unranked, and Rezin, who had made it up to Rank 7. He’d tried fighting Nachi a few times, even getting close once or twice. But it was getting more difficult the more he tried, since Nachi had been regularly training herself against hallucinations and mental attacks.
Chorus was around somewhere too. They weren’t invited, but people had seen glimpses of them in their peripherals. So far, they’d only made it up to Rank 6, having a similar experience to Niloy and being recognized for fame when they tried to perform stealth, even in disguise.
Also sort of in attendance was Rusa. She was back at the compound but observing the area through one of their satellites, ready to relay any intel she spotted. They were expecting reinforcements from the Red Eyes Gang or possibly other groups to swarm the Power Station soon, so she was mostly present to warn them of an ambush.
This same reason was why not everyone invaded the facility. Xard and Itsy stayed stationed outside, since both of their strengths worked better in open areas. Tize also stuck with them for the time being, at least until the initial danger had passed. Those three wandered off to find a good spot to hold up, and everyone else rushed inside from different entrances.
Only Drim and Phon were left standing there for a moment. “Since you can’t really see inside, it’s probably best that you wait out here,” Drim said loudly in case anyone else was still listening. He then whispered to her, “I assume you remember what you need to do.” Phon gave a short, confident nod, and then Drim headed into the Power Station on a mission of his own.
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Roque was all by his lonesome as he wandered around the facility. Though it was a rather creepy and sketchy place, he hummed without a care in the world as he boldly strolled through hallways—opening doors and checking inside rooms without a moment’s hesitation.
“An intruder!” Someone called to him, but Roque didn’t even look their way. They were incapacitated before The Swindler could even turn his head. A moment later, Roque felt some clambering on his back followed by a small, metallic hand holding out a wallet for him.
“Thank you, Thievius,” Roque took the wallet from the automaton and stuffed it into his pocket. Thievius was Roque’s new weapon/companion. It was a fully automated robot with a small bit of sentience and actual artificial intelligence. The world was still a ways away from full artificial intelligence, at least until Nathym had the time to sit down and figure it out.
However, with Roque’s ability to gain the loyalty of objects, they were able to synergise that with machine learning. Thievius used the gun that Roque had built a bond with over the past several years for its core. It was essentially the same weapon with the same experiences, just in a new shell.
The automaton was based off of a Racrown—a racoon mixed with a crow—that were the sneakiest kleptomaniacs to plague the world. If something randomly went missing with no other explanation, it was usually by the hands of a Racrown, especially food and shiny things. This made it the perfect companion for Roque. Though he still insisted he never stole anything, just ‘unburdened simpletons from possessions they shouldn’t have’.
While Roque wandered around the Power Station, exploring without a direction in mind, Thievius kept him safe from the guards and brought back any worthwhile loot it could pilfer from its victims. Like Tize’s guns, Thievius could fire both kinetic and paralyzing shots. Roque also bothered Nathym until he added a few new types of ammo that put someone to sleep and another to make them more truthful.
The metal-creature itself was pretty indistinguishable from the real thing, besides not having any fur. Even mimicking a real Racrown, its synthetic feathers folded behind its back like a cape when not in use, really leaning into the master-thief aesthetic. And while the robot could fire bullets from its paws, it could also pull out the gun at its core if Roque wanted the threats to be less vague.
“Oh, now this looks promising,” the man wandered into what appeared to be a recently-evacuated records room. A mystical contract unfurled in front of him and then files began disappearing from around the room one at a time. Roque could now hold up to 17 item contracts, more than double from when he first joined the Fiends For Hire.
He now had ten items on permanent retainer, Thievius the latest among them. This left a handful more he could play around with. So there was no real reason not to take anything he wanted.
In this case, he had actually been tasked with robbing every scrap of intel he could find. Fortunately, it all only took up one contract, ‘Intel from the Power Station’. Thus far, he hadn’t found anything lucrative enough to keep to himself and risk ruining the group’s trust.
“Well that’s some mawhged up zjik.” After taking a few dozen files, Roque had to rest for a moment and lean against the wall. Even though he didn’t know what each file said specifically, when he took possession, he was given the gist of what each document said—as if he’d skimmed it. This was a lot of new information to gain at once, and it didn’t help that a lot of it was morally reprehensible—even Roque still had some morals to an extent.
Once he finally left the records room, his head throbbing from all that new information, he nearly tripped over the pile of bodies just outside the door. There was a mixed bag of alive and dead. Like the link Drim shared with the glove Kaizu wore, Roque was able to share his own principles for Thievius to make an informed decision on which action it should take.
The Racrown was sitting on the pile and held up a trove of goodies in its hand, mostly jewelry, and also a set of silver false teeth. After securing the valuables and hopping over the pile, Roque headed down the hall with Thievius riding on his shoulder. It didn’t take them long to run into two more guards.
Roque’s metal companion lunged at them and started clawing at one of their faces. The other guard tried to shoot the creature, but the bullet merely ricocheted back into her own chest—not the brightest among them. More bodies to skip over led Roque into one of the experimental labs. “Now let’s see what kind of valuable monstrosities we can find in here.”