The blade smashed forward. Kevin felt it hit him directly on the neck.

And then nothing happened...

An awkward silence filled the village as Claymore's sword did zero damage. The teen had been unable to slice through Kevin's flesh. The sword moved and twitched a bit, and Claymore's arms shook as he tried to force the blade forward, but no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't cut Kevin.

Kevin slowly processed this, and his head twitched. He could feel the blade grinding into him, but it didn't have enough force to actually do anything. His body was just too durable, and this sword wasn't special. It seemed like it was just a normal blade. With a bit of annoyance, Kevin threw the blade off of him and pulled his fist back. He punched forward fast and hard. Claymore scrambled and managed to raise his sword up just in time to use it as a makeshift shield. Kevin didn't stop his punch, though, and rammed his fist directly into the blade as hard as he could.

Claymore let out a yelp as he was dragged off of his feet and sent flying back, where he rammed directly into one of the destroyed houses, awkwardly smacking into the wall. The young man groaned a bit as he slid down the wall and collapsed onto his knees. His arms shook and ached from blocking Kevin's punch, and his sword slipped out of his grip, falling to the ground uselessly.

Claymore sat there and winced a bit, his entire body flashing with pain. Kevin stared down at the other teen and had a large frown on his face. Slowly, Kevin stepped forward and looked down at Claymore. "No super strength or durability? Are you a-"

Claymore forced himself back up and kicked his sword up, grabbing it. He twirled around and smashed the blade directly into Kevin's side, but just like before, his strike dealt no damage, not even causing Kevin to flinch this time. Kevin lazily kicked out, smashing his foot into Claymore's gut, and the limb extended until Claymore was pressed up against the house by the foot.

Off to the side, near the entrance of the village, Lycaon was crouched, the wolf growling softly. On the back of the beast, Nikos remained sitting, and he watched the fight. He knew Shift was strong; he had seen the other mage battle those golems. He didn't know it was to this extent, though. Kevin was simply dominating in this fight. That Claymore guy seemed to be able to do nothing.

Nikos ran his hand through Lycaon's fur, gently petting the wolf. "It's going to be okay. Mr. Shift is going to win. I'm sure." Nikos smiled, but his grin faded as he looked down at the wolf. Lycaon wasn't growling in the direction of the fight. Instead, the wolf's eyes were glued to the sky, staring at someone who remained in the air...

"Can we go ahead and stop this?" Kevin glared at the other boy. "It's pretty clear you aren't going to be able to beat me."

"Asking me to give up?" Claymore made a small face but managed to still smile. "Sorry, but I actually have a personal rule where I'm not allowed to give up no matter what. It wouldn't be fair to 'her' after all."

"Her?"

"Besides." Claymore looked Kevin in the eyes, and his smile managed to grow. "I know I'm not the kind of person that can take guys like you down. That's why I was the decoy."

Kevin spun around, but it was too late. From above, a wave of blue and green fire poured out of the sky and smashed directly into him. He hissed and grunted, feeling himself be shoved into the ground by the force of the fire. It didn't burn; in fact, it seemed to be less fire and more something made of pure physical force. He struggled to raise his arms, but it was like he was at the bottom of the ocean, fighting against the entire current. The ground around him was cracking and breaking away, and a tendril of the fire seeped out and wrapped around Claymore. It picked the boy up as if he were a solid object and moved him out of danger.

Claymore dropped to the ground and calmly dusted himself off. "Thanks for the save, Phoenix! Looks like our plan worked!"

From up above, flying above the city, the hero Phoenix came to a soft landing. Fire formed into a pair of wings behind him but slowly pulled its way back into his body. The hero folded his arms, and he stood next to Claymore and stared at the bubble of blue fire that was compressing itself around Kevin. "I didn't like this plan to begin with. Using you as a decoy just put you in needless risk."

Claymore shrugged and casually slapped Phoenix on the back. "Well, it worked out, didn't it? We managed to trap this villain!"

Phoenix gave a small nod and looked around the destroyed village. "We'll need to find out what he did with the others."

Claymore's grin faltered for a moment. "About that." The boy casually rubbed the back of his neck and gave a nervous chuckle. "See, when he and I were bantering with each other, he seemed confused about what happened to this place. I think I saw him even put the fire out, so I doubt he's with the villain group that took all of these people."

It was Phoenix's turn to frown, and he raised an eyebrow as he watched Kevin be further buried in the ground by the super heavy fire. "You said he put the fire in this village out? Are we sure he's a bad guy?"

Claymore rolled his eyes. "Duh. I mean, look at him. Bro is a monster. Part of the Emperor's army for sure. Plus he sort of looks like that one baddie from Oleander. What was his name again?"

"Mars King."

"Yeah! Mars King! This guy looks like that Mars King guy. He's evil for sure." Claymore cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders. "Plus, he's a monster, so we can be real rough with him and not have to worry about anything since he'll heal. So use as much force as you want!"

Kevin gritted his teeth and attempted to stand, but he couldn't. He had been shoved onto his back, the flames blanketing around him and getting heavier. They still didn't burn; in fact, they felt strangely warm and not as hot as fire should have been. They were a solid substance, though, and very heavy, like some sort of liquid flame. Inside of him, he could hear Druid growling.

"Great! They aren't going to hold back on you, but what happens when they crush me?" The woman hissed. "Let me out."

"G- Give me a second to think." Kevin gritted his teeth and tried to focus on raising his hands up, but it was useless. He was being pressed down too much by a tremendous force. He couldn't get up at all.

Outside of the flames, Claymore and Phoenix both watched. Phoenix made sure he watched in silence, taking it all in, but Claymore was talking, or rather ranting, about something that wasn't that important. At least the hero was before he turned on the balls of his feet just in time to dodge an arrow that flew toward him. The arrow stabbed into the sides of one of the houses and caused both Phoenix and Claymore to turn and face the entrance to the village.

"Whoa, look at the wolf!" Claymore said in shock. "That thing is huge!"

At the entrance to the village, Lycaon crouched and pounced forward, launching toward both boys. Phoenix sighed and turned away from the animal. His back glowed, and a gigantic hand forged out of the blue and green fire sprouted out of him. It stretched forward and was big enough to wrap around Lycaon, ramming the wolf into the ground and pinning it in place. Lycaon growled and barked, struggling with the hand, but the thing just began to squeeze down, causing the wolf to whimper.

"I'm not sure why it's here. Maybe a pet of that monster-" Phoenix cut himself off when he noticed something on the wolf.

Nikos ran forward and jumped off of Lycaon. He hit the ground and turned his fall into the roll, appearing right next to the two heroes, who he had caught off guard. He notched an arrow, raised his bow, and fired directly into Phoenix's shocked eye!

The arrow shattered, unable to break through Phoenix's eye. The hero winced a little and rubbed his eye, which was now a little sore. "Sorry. My durability is just too high for something like that to work."

Nikos stared in shock and tried to jump away, but he was too slow. Claymore swung his sword out and used the blunt edge of it, smashing it into the back of Nikos's head. Nikos's eyes rolled back, and the boy collapsed face-first into the ground at their feet. Claymore stared down at Nikos and actually looked a little sad. "Sucks, doesn't it? No matter what we do, guys like us just can't hurt guys like that."

"Was he a normal human?" Phoenix questioned. "He's dressed like the people of this place?"

"Well, he might be mind-controlled or something." Claymore shrugged. "Irene said that the villain that did this to the town had that kind of power."

Phoenix gave a small nod. "Yeah. You're probably right. We'll restrain him and try to snap him out of it after we deal with that Mars King lookalike." Phoenix turned back to the glob of fire that had been around Kevin and instantly felt his eyes go wide. The monster was gone. "Shit! Look out!"

The ground beneath them cracked and exploded as Kevin came flying out. He hadn't been able to go up, so he went under! He threw out a strike and managed to smash his fist directly into Phoenix's gut, but the boy barely grunted and hit back. Kevin felt his entire head be whiplashed to the side as Phoenix punched him. Kevin was sent flying back, rolling across the ground and ramming back first into another one of the houses.

"Yo, did he dig his way out of your attack?" Claymore asked with wide eyes. The hero held the unconscious body of Nikos, keeping the boy over one of his shoulders protectively while still holding his sword in his other hand. Despite that, he knew he wasn't going to be able to compete in this fight. It was up to Phoenix to win this match.

Phoenix rubbed his gut. The spot Kevin had hit ached a small bit, but the flame-based hero fought off the pain and shrugged. "Yeah. Guess this guy is a bit clever. I thought he was just going to be a mindless brute or something."

"Well, don't give him too much credit. He could have run or something, but instead decided to come and strike the guy with durability so strong it's on the level of an Enforcer!" Claymore chuckled and shook his head. "He can't be that smart."

Kevin growled and forced himself to stand back up. "I'm right here. I can hear you, jackass."

Claymore shrugged. "Good for you?"

Kevin snapped his head back into place and managed to smirk slightly. "You shouldn't insult me like that, asshole. Next time I try to pull something like that, I'll be targeting you next since you're the weakest. You also got Nikos. I don't know the boy that well, but I'm getting a little pissed seeing you carry him."

Phoenix raised his hand, and the fire around it began to bubble and gush out. "Do you think you'll have a chance?"

"Sure, all I have to do is watch out for your flames." Kevin crouched down and got ready to strike. "Or, are they even fire? They seem to be more like water or something." In truth, he was a little worried. He still didn't know what Claymore could do. It was possible Claymore had some secret power up his sleeve, like a Mental-based one or something. As for Phoenix, the hero was not only insanely durable but stupidly strong as well. That was fine, though. He knew what needed to be done. "Your power only matters if it can grab me!" Kevin blasted forward at his top speed and threw his arms out, about to stretch them, but he never got the chance.

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Phoenix casually waved his hand, and just like with Lycaon, the fire blasted out in the form of a large hand that wrapped around Kevin and lifted the monster off of the ground. Kevin was surrounded on all sides this time, unable to break out like he did last time.

Claymore gave a laugh. "Seriously? A frontal attack? Did you think that would work?"

Kevin tried to move, but he was totally boxed in on all sides. Despite that, he managed to smirk. "What are you talking about? My plan did work. I was the decoy."

"Of fuck-" Claymore had no time to move as, from above, something smashed down directly into him!

Cinder came down hard and fast, her feet ramming into Claymore's back, knocking the hero out instantly as she smashed him into the ground. Phoenix spun around, but before he could even think of counterattacking, Cinder kicked out and rammed her foot directly into his stomach. Phoenix was blasted back, going through dozens of houses, and was flung away from them.

Not missing a beat, Cinder casually placed her father and Cora down. "Nikos!" Cora cried out and grabbed her brother.

"He's still breathing." Cinder placed a hand on the girl's head to reassure her. "I can hear his heartbeat. He's just knocked out."

"What happened here?" Alexander asked with wide eyes.

"I only heard a bit of it." Cinder sighed. She had stopped using her enhanced senses at the start of her jump over here since Alexander and Cora's screaming would have driven her mad. It was only about halfway here that she had turned them back on and found out Kevin and Nikos were in danger. Thanks to what Kevin said, she knew who she needed to take out first. The one holding Nikos was the weakest, so she had taken him out. She was sure that was the reason Kevin had said it like that. He knew she was going to arrive just in time and was giving her the information she needed. He had put his trust in her that, this time, a hero would show up just in time. "Are you okay, Kevin!"

"No!" Kevin yelled out. He was still trapped in the hand made of fire. All the flames Phoenix had created remained, including the ones around Lycaon and the spot where he had been smashed into the ground. "Is Lycaon okay, though? Nothing better have happened to my dog!"

Cinder turned to check on the wolf, but she ducked down suddenly, dragging her farther and Cora with her. A thin line of blue fire came slicing out. It cut through all the houses and split them apart. Phoenix stalked forward, his right arm smoking as more of the fire bubbled up.

"Stay here." Cinder stood up and jumped toward the teen. Phoenix tried to catch her the same way he did Kevin, but thanks to Kevin's earlier words she had listened to, she was ready for it. As the hand of fire appeared in front of her and tried to wrap around her, she smashed her hand into the ground, shattering it and going beneath the hand. It closed around air, completely missing her, and she came back out of the ground directly beneath Phoenix. She smashed a fist directly into his face and this time hit him as hard as she could. Phoenix was flung back once again and sent directly into the woods, where she gave chase. As she ran, she opened her bag and slipped her jacket on, as well as unsheathed her sword.

Phoenix twisted his body as he was blasted through the woods. He spat out a bloody tooth and made a face. How long had it been since someone was able to hit him hard enough to cause him pain? He shook his head and stopped his fall by sprouting a pair of wings. He took to the sky, flying up at insane speeds, putting him above the woods. He looked down just in time to see the girl he was fighting use her sword on a tree, cutting it down. Then, a second later, with one arm, she took that tree and chucked it at him as hard as she could. Phoenix shook his head and slashed his down, the fire cutting out like a blade, splitting the tree in half. As soon as he did, he grabbed both halves and threw them back.

Cinder dodged to the side as the wood was blasted down toward her. They smashed into the ground and exploded into splinters, but she ignored them and jumped up into the air herself. She blasted herself up with a kick and neared Phoenix, taking a swing at him with her sword. Phoenix compressed the fire around his hand and punched out, meeting her attack head-on. His strike hit her sword, and the fire exploded, causing her blade to go flying out of her grip. It spun through the air and rammed itself directly into a tree.

"Hey! Not fair! Don't disarm me!" Cinder twisted her body still in the air and smashed her leg out in an effort to kick Phoenix, but he caught her leg and gripped down as tightly as he could.

"I win." Phoenix flared his fire out, and it spilled out, covering Cinder in an instant, forming a tight bubble around her. Cinder felt herself freeze up as the fire swam over her and bubbled around her, boxing her in on all sides. It formed a perfect bubble around her, keeping her directly in the center, and weighed down on all sides, growing more and more heavy. "It wasn't very smart to attack me up close like that." Phoenix flew back a small bit and stared at the orb of blue and green fire he had created, which housed his opponent. "Still, I wonder who she is. She looked almost familiar somehow... A villain I've seen on the news? I've never seen anyone with physical strength as high as hers."

It didn't matter how strong the girl was, though. His fire had grabbed ahold of her, and that was that. It wasn't actually fire that he was creating. Instead, it was more akin to a glitch in the world. His power created physical space. It wasn't fire, though it looked like it. Instead, it was more like he was creating a wall. His fire was like a border that he could place up around a person. It was insanely heavy and dense, even more so than he was. It was pure solid space, placed directly on a person. You'd have to be insanely strong to even dent it, much less break it-

Phoenix flinched, and his wings flared out when he heard the first crack. He stared in shock at the bubble that held the girl as a small line appeared along it. Tiny cracks began to form and then grow as, inside of it, Cinder did what she did best. She hit. The gravity around her tried to keep her held in place, but she had been hit by a wave of the Beast's compressed gravity, and this was nothing compared to that. Again and again, just like with the golem orb, she punched and struck with everything she had.

Her fist shattered its way out of the orb, and she tore her way out of it. One hand gripped the broken part of the ball, and she used that to swing herself toward Phoenix. Normally, he'd have been able to block her strike or come up with a counterattack or something, but at the moment, he was frozen in shock, barely processing what he was seeing. She took that as her chance and used the swing to launch herself toward him. Her fist struck at his face, and she used her momentum to punch him downwards, launching Phoenix toward the ground.

Phoenix felt himself be rammed through dozens of trees, and he smashed into the ground hard enough to shake the forest. He bounced a bit and rolled across the dirt before landing in a pitiful heap on his back. He reached up slowly and grabbed his nose, feeling the blood flow down it.

"She's a monster..." Maybe not actually one, but in terms of sheer raw power, it was insane. It was like she was getting stronger and stronger the longer the fight went on. Her punches were getting heavier and hurting him more and more. Just who the hell was he fighting?

Cinder came down from the sky and landed on her feet a few meters away from Phoenix. Her sword was stabbed deep into a tree, and she easily pulled it out and began to walk forward with it. Phoenix looked up, and his eyes met hers. He glared at her and reached into his pocket for something.

"I didn't want to use this so soon, but I have no choice. I have to win so I can save Evan!" Phoenix pulled a golden card out of his pocket right as Cinder charged at him. He was about to rip it in half but stopped suddenly. Cinder's strike never came. The girl had held her swing back once she noticed the card.

"You have a golden card?" Cinder asked, stunned. "Wait? Are you a player?" Then she noticed which card Phoenix held. It had the symbol of a trident on it and the words 'Poseidon' written into it. "Oh man, you're the one who took the Poseidon card! That was the card I wanted!"

Phoenix stared up at Cinder with wide eyes, processing the girl's words. "Wait, what do you mean by the card you wanted? And you didn't know I was a player? Are you a player?"

"Well, I guess we're not actually players; we're bodyguards." Cinder reached into her jacket pocket and fished out her golden Athena card, flashing it to the boy. "Gabby gave all of us bodyguards these things."

Phoenix shook his head and forced himself to sit up. "Wait, if we're both bodyguards, then why the hell are we fighting? I'm a hero! Look at my costume! Why would you attack a hero, you psycho? And what hero are you? That costume sucks!"

"Hey! Don't insult me on my costume! I'm still sore about that!" She really needed to get an actual costume soon. It was kind of embarrassing calling yourself a superhero without your own suit. "Also, I've never even heard of you; I had no idea you were a superhero. Who are you even supposed to be, Bubble-Man?"

Phoenix gritted his teeth and finally stood back up. "I'm Phoenix. I'm a rather new hero, so I guess that's why you didn't hear of me."

"Yeah, that's likely it." Cinder turned away from the boy and sheathed her sword. "I know a lot of the big heroes, like the Victorian, and collect all their figures, but noobs like you go under the radar because they're a dime a dozen."

"Ouch..." Phoenix shook his head and folded his arms, growing stern. "Wait, that still doesn't explain why you attacked me or Claymore! When you came in, you saw us beating that monster. Why would you pick a fight with us?"

"Oh, that reminds me!" Cinder turned back to the boy and kicked out, ramming her foot directly into his shins. "That's for hurting my friend for no reason!"

Phoenix dropped to the ground and let out a loud yelp as he clutched at his foot. His eyes went wide once again, and he looked up at her as if she was insane. "F- Friend? That monster's your friend? But he's evil?"

"Really? Racism? In this day and age?" She put her hands on her hips and stared down at the boy with a flat look. "You should be utterly ashamed."

"But- I- But he- I..." Phoenix winced a little. That red monster had attacked Claymore, but only after Claymore went and picked a fight. Now that he thought about it, Claymore even said the monster had put out all the fire and didn't seem to know what happened to the missing villagers. Phoenix sighed and hung his head down in mild shame. "Aw man, I committed a hate crime, didn't I?"

Cinder followed her arms and snorted slightly. "That other guy I smashed into the ground. Is he a bodyguard also?"

Phoenix nodded. "Yeah. He's called Claymore. I met him in a village a few miles from here near the ocean. This entire world is weird and seems to twist and change at random. My player and his player formed a team, and we've been working together since then. We figure sticking together is the best way to survive this place."

Cinder nodded and held her hand out to the boy, helping him up. "I think the same way. Also, for your information, that 'monster' is also a bodyguard."

Phoenix let out a heavy sigh and bowed his head. "I see. It seems we misjudged the situation then."

"Yeah!"

They chatted a bit, trading information back and forth as they walked back to Apple Tree Village. When the two of them arrived back, she noticed Kevin and Lycaon were no longer bound in the greenish flame, and Nikos and Claymore were both awake. Claymore's eyes lit up when he noticed Phoenix, and he waved his hand. "Oh hey, Phoenix! Turns out we fucked up, and these guys are superheroes like us! Our bad, right!"

"A little late for that now." Phoenix's eye twitched, and the boy huffed and folded his arms. "So, between the two of you, that makes four of us, right? So we're only missing one bodyguard."

Kevin's eye twitched, and he glared at Phoenix and Claymore. He stood off to the side of them, next to Alexander, who looked very confused and awkward. Cora was still holding her brother, and Nikos rubbed the back of his head and was shooting glares at Claymore. Lycaon was growling softly and never took his eyes off of the two boys.

Phoenix cleared his throat and gave a weak cough. "I- I'm sorry for attacking you, Mr. red monster."

"My name's Shift." Kevin spat out.

"Yeah, Mr. Shit, we're sorry!" Claymore only received a growl for using the nickname he had come up with once again.

Phoenix punched Claymore in the shoulder and shook his head. "We had no way of knowing that you weren't a villain."

"You could have asked," Kevin said, a little annoyed.

"Would a villain just say they were evil?"

"I could have shown you my card as proof I'm a bodyguard." Kevin countered back.

"A villain could have taken it." Phoenix shook his head. "No. Sorry. I don't want to argue. We shouldn't have attacked the way we did; you're right. We're in the wrong. I know you aren't villains because if you were, she could have struck me down, but instead she halted her attack." Phoenix pointed a thumb in the direction of Cinder, who sheepishly waved. "We were wrong for trying to attack you. We thought we needed to capture you, though, to get information."

Alexander frowned slightly. "Information? What do you mean by that?"

"Look around you." Claymore gestured to the village they were in.

"Apple Tree Village has been abandoned?" Cora questioned as she looked around at the empty street.

"That's right." Claymore nodded. "No struggle or anything like that. Someone appears to have just come into the village, stolen all the villagers, and then set the place on fire." The boy rubbed his chin and hummed. "When we saw a monster stalking around the place, we figured he might know more, so we came to capture you."

Kevin shook his head. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I just arrived before you so rudely tried to attack me."

"Less try and more succeeded," Claymore said casually, causing Kevin to growl again.

Phoenix raised his hand, silencing Claymore. "Now that we're past the misunderstanding, I'd like to ask you a question." He looked to Cinder. "The people here were kidnapped by a villain. We're all heroes, and I know we're on a deadline, but I'd like to save them if possible. Are you willing to help us out? I'll understand if you want to say no. We really don't have that much time left after all."

"Do you even have to ask?" Cinder threw her arms behind her head and gave a grin. "I'm a superhero. Saving people is my job. Besides, I think I found where they're hiding out at."

"You did?" Phoenix sounded surprised. "How?"

"Super hearing." She casually pointed to her ear and winked. "I can hear some mad cackling and someone talking about slave trading. Gonna go out on a limb and say that they're evil and should be stopped."

"Alright!" Claymore fist-bumped the air. "This might have been the best mistake we've ever made; you're an awesome new girl! Oh, uh, actually, we didn't really introduce ourselves, did we? I'm Claymore, and that's Phoenix. I know the red one's Shift, and I'm guessing the others are the players you keep safe? What's your name?"

She gave a casual shrug. "Me? I'm Cinder." Her smile faded when she saw the looks on both boys' faces. "Yeah, 'that' Cinder."

Phoenix rubbed at his face, even more stunned. "Oh. I guess that explains the inhuman strength. So, we got a Lord on our side... Good to know."