Location: MID UCTF

Time: 11:54 AM; February 14th, 2108

There’s often only a thin line between admirable and detestable. Between effective and debilitating. Respectable and pitiful.

Traits like courage, bravery, and honor are certainly viewed in a positive light, but there’s a limit to everything. Too much of any of those simply turn you into an arrogant child, unwilling to participate in the real world.

Sometimes losing is normal, having to recognize when it’s time to back off is normal, accepting that sometimes your convictions are wrong is normal. Everyone makes mistakes, and that’s normal.

The creature struggling before me was completely abnormal. Stuck in a loop of his own preconceived notions, unwilling to change his thinking. He had abandoned whatever it is that made us human, or maybe he was lacking it from the start.

As I said, the line between admirable and detestable is a thin one, and for those of us who let their augmentations raise them so much higher than anyone else, it’s impossible to see something so small from so high up.

The ones who think they’re doing the heroic work that needs to be done are often the worst.

Grant Glaif scrambled back up to his feet, never breaking eye contact with Henry. His muscular build and matted down haircut matched the image of the knight he often purported to be. The only thing that didn’t match was his youthful face, but that would sort itself out by the time he was nearing the end of high school.

“Don’t think you’ve won, beast. It is the duty of humans to slay creatures like you. Before this day ends I’ll see you removed from this world. I knew it would come to this eventually. I was right, you can’t be trusted.”

Grant was talking big, but Henry had spent the last few minutes easily pushing him aside.

“Yeah, that’s cool and all, but you were eliminated after my first punch. I really don’t want to keep fighting you. I’m worried about getting eliminated for attacking someone who’s already been removed from the game.”

“The game? This isn’t about the whims of Karen Kaldsen. This is about honor and justice.”

The sword in Grant’s hand started to glow with a soft orange light. He then skillfully used the edge of the blade to remove the bracelet on his wrist.

As long as his sword was glowing it was sharp enough to cut through anything, but if he lost concentration it would turn back into just a dull slab of metal.

Personally, I’ve never understood why he doesn’t just use an actual sharpened sword.

“Man, you’re really doing this, huh? Do you really have the free time to waste on someone like me? Trust me, in a few years you’ll be wishing you spent your time productively. When I was younger I wasted so much time on things like sleeping and eating.”

No, sorry Henry, but most of us still need to continue sleeping and eating.

“Besides, this is probably just a result of my terrible fate. If you ignore me for a while I’m sure things will go back to normal.”

“The only purpose of my time is doing what I need to defend the integrity of this city. I won’t let you fool me any longer. You’ve all been trying to trick me. Kathrin, Hana, Devesh, that Prince, Even my own family. But no more. I finally see what must be done. I won’t be a pawn any longer.”

“Eh? Seriously? You’re going to keep this up? Fine. I really don’t like it, but at least let me take off my shirt. You’re not going to be able to do much against me with a sword, but I don’t want my clothes to get any slashes in them.”

“Irrelevant! I will slay you here. This city has no need for monsters.”

“Last time I checked this was one of the Free Cities that allowed aberrations.”

“The details of the written law are irrelevant. I’ll simply perform my duty as a knight. I won’t let your princess have her way. Whatever you’re plotting, it ends here!”

“Of course. Hey, Allison.” Without looking away from Grant, Henry addressed me. “What am I supposed to do here? I know this kid is from some important family here, right? Is it going to be an issue if an aberration like me beats him senseless during a school training activity? I’ve been trying to hold back, but if he keeps coming at me like this I’m afraid I’m going to actually hurt him. How many laws do you think I’ll break if I knock him out?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll settle things with Grant.”

I really didn’t like how he was trying to justify himself as if his actions were completely normal. I could also appreciate Henry’s hesitance to hurt Grant. Despite everything that Grant had said and his numerous attempts at murder, Henry was still treating him like a normal person.

Henry didn’t want to permanently hurt him, and he definitely didn’t want to kill him. If it had been Hana, or even someone like Karen or Kathrin; they would have killed Grant without a second thought.

I was glad that at least Henry had a normal reaction.

“Are you sure? Whatever problem this guy has seems to be with me.”

“Then as a denizen of this city allow me to correct his attitude.”

“Alright, but try not to be too rough with him. I already mentioned it, but this mess is probably my fault.”

“Of course. I’ll only use a normal amount of force.”

“Allison, don’t you understand? You’re being fooled. Everyone is being fooled. This creature and his overlord are taking advantage of all of us. I’m not sure what their plan is, but I won’t let it pass. If you stand in my way, you’ll meet the same fate as them.”

I didn’t respond. I’m not clever enough to come up with any good lines on the fly, so I hope he interpreted my silence as I intended.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“So be it.”

Grant foolishly raised his sword and took a single step forward while slashing diagonally toward my body.

He didn’t realize how little of a chance he had. Because I spend so much time with Hana I feel like I’m often getting underestimated. Sure, next to her I must look like I’m a total weakling, but compared to most other people I think it’s safe to say I’m decently strong. And if I’m given a chance to get this close I’m practically unbeatable.

Grant, on the other hand, was more comparable to Cynthia or Nolan.

I focused my energy in my right hand, raising it up to meet Grant’s longsword. Not wanting to take any risks, I first overrode Grant’s augmentation on the blade itself, causing it to lose its trademark glow. The now harmless blade sat innocently in my hand.

Then I overpowered Grant’s connection to the information dimension as a whole, leaving him unable to access any of his abilities for the time being.

“What did you do? Why is everything so empty?”

Grant was panicking. A fairly normal response from most augmenteds after they’re separated from the information dimension.

Rather than acknowledging his questions, I powered up the muscles in my leg and performed a sweeping kick, knocking Grant to the ground.

I briefly considered just trying him up, but there wasn’t anything around to use as a rope. Instead, I wrapped my hand around his head and overpowered the synapses in his brain. Grant lost consciousness without realizing what happened.

I stood back up and looked down on Grant’s unmoving body. In theory, he should wake up in time, but it’s not like I could guarantee it.

Was I supposed to feel good? Was that what winning was all about?

I wasn’t like the rest of them. Those abnormal people. I was normal. Normal. I didn’t want to hurt people, even if they deserved it.

[Alert. Participant Jacob Jackson has been eliminated. Bodily stress has surpassed training parameters. Medical evaluation is recommended.]

At the time I didn’t have the ability to process what Jacob’s elimination meant.

“Come on, let’s go.”

My feelings must have been evident on my face, because Henry started shepherding me away.

“The instructor is watching all of this through the cameras. I’m sure she’ll come pick him up. It’s not like there’s anything the two of us can do.”

Henry brought up a good point. Karen. Why hadn’t she done anything up to that point? With her, it’s impossible to say. But even she wouldn’t leave him there to suffer. She’d come to help him, and then as a member of the ARA; albeit, a suspended member; she’d be able to deal with Grant through the proper channels.

Although based on the ARA’s track record for dealing with their targets Grant might have been better off taking his chances against Henry.

“So, that was some ability of yours. What’s it all about? I thought your augmentation had something to do with enhanced strength.”

Once we were far enough away from Grant, Henry decided to pass the time with conversation. And for some reason he decided to bring up one of the most taboo topics for augmenteds to discuss. Every augmented knows not to ask about augmentations or stigmas unless the person in question brings it up. I’d have figured that would have been even more true for aberrations.

“Well, enhancing my strength is a part of it.”

I considered whether or not I should be honest about my augmentation or not, but I decided I had no reason to lie to him. Being so upfront about discussing someone else's augmentation was certainly abnormal, but being overly secretive would be abnormal as well.

“My augmentation was given the designation of ‘Overpower’. In theory, I have the ability to overpower anything. When I use it on my own body it makes me stronger, but when I use it on another augmented I can potentially override their augmentation and leave them unable to use it.”

It was more complicated than that. Going into more detail right off the bat would have been abnormal.

“Hmm. Doesn’t canceling out augmentations make you like a nullifier? We don’t have any in the Empire, but I’ve heard they exist in the Free Cities.”

“Yes and no. The idea of canceling out augmentations is similar, but for me it’s not an automatic effect. I’ve actually got to overpower the other person. And for how that works, I can’t really say. It’s just natural for me.”

Someone like Grant was easy to overpower. I knew he would be from the start. But overpowering Hatta was difficult. I knew that no matter how much I tried I couldn’t disrupt his augmentation for a moment unless I got close enough to touch him.

“Besides, I can do a lot more than a nullifier. I only ever really use it on myself or other augmenteds, but theoretically I should be able to overpower and override anything that exists.”

I’m not sure why, but I didn’t like the idea of him thinking poorly of me. I decided to brag about my augmentation in a way I never had before.

The ability to overpower and override anything that exists? I don’t even know what that means.

“What? Anything?”

No, definitely not. I don’t even understand how I use it against other people.

“Yeah, of course.”

What’s wrong with you Allison?

“You could override even abstract ideas, like a person's fate?”

Overriding fate? What kind of deity did he think I was?

“Yeah, overriding fate should be possible for me. Theoretically.”

“Let’s get married.”

Hmm?

“What was that?”

“Let’s get married. I think I need to spend the rest of my life with you.”

He said it a second time! Why did his face look so serious?

[Alert. Participant Devesh Darnal has been eliminated. Critical injuries have been sustained. Medical attention is necessary.]

Another elimination. That’s when I realized what we had overlooked.

“Henry, wait, something’s not right.”

“I figured, I was going too fast. I get that now. I shouldn’t have proposed immediately.”

“No not that. Well, I mean, yeah, that too. That was definitely not a normal thing to do.” You know, it’s not like the idea of one day getting married to Henry is so bad, but you can’t skip that many steps! I can’t figure out if he’s normal or completely bizarre. “But that’s not what I’m talking about. First Jacob and now Devesh. Both of them got eliminated.”

“Yeah, I heard.”

He wasn’t getting it.

“Who did it?”

“One of the other teams I would think.”

“No, that doesn't make sense, you know? Think about it. The only people left are us in group four plus Hana and Oakley.”

“So then Hana did it.”

“No, I already told you, Hana won’t participate. She’s not hunting down flags and she’s not protecting any either. And even if she did, their eliminations would have been back to back. Hana wouldn’t have left that much time between taking them out.”

“Then maybe Jacob and Devesh tried attacking our base and that ninja turtle and Emelia beat them.”

“I considered that, but neither of them would cause eliminations that would result in medical attention being necessary. Emelia’s augmentation can only cause mental damage anyway.”

“So then who were they fighting?”

“Someone else. And I imagine it has something to do with how Grant was acting. He mentioned Devesh, didn’t he?”

Henry looked toward the sky and groaned.

“We're not going to be able to keep playing the game normally are we?”

“Probably not.”

“We’re going to get dragged into whatever ridiculous plot they’ve got going on, aren’t we?”

“Probably so.”

“We’re going to spend the rest of our lives together, right?”

“No comment.”

“Tch. I thought I had you.”