Within the open battlefield inside the forest, the being in the white hoodie stands in the way of the Exhumans crushing the Tempest, who remains behind, entrapped in the red translucent cell as he’s restrained from the front and back. Pink arcs surge off her white hoodie, the bottom half of which is pink with vertical lines in a pattern to resemble a cupcake wrapper. She stands in her white shoes with complementary white knee socks, standing on the dirt as the surrounding grass was incinerated by the impact.

“Please stop,” she commands in a voice soft yet noticeably on the brink of violent aggression, as though barely containing the blazing fury in her eyes.

Long arcs of pink energy spark off her unmoved body, and bolts straight for the Exhumans standing in front of her. The arcs pass between the Exhumans, slithering around them, for in that instant she’s ensnared them in her own trap.

All of the Exhumans freeze as their bodies stiffen, rendering them all immediately immobile like the Tempest behind her. More arcs crawl out of her body, covering the area around her as it slithers between the Watchdogs and Exhumans behind the cell and to the side, deploying her domain over the horde. All of them become paralyzed, the overwhelming energy freezing their bodies as they can’t even move their eyes away.

In one instant, all of the Exhumans and Watchdogs that had ganged up by the Tempest are suddenly thrown backwards tens of feet away, tossing their bodies into each other and by the trees. They fall to the ground limp, unable to keep fighting as they were defeated without a single movement of their opponent’s body. The entire area surrounding her is cleared in a second, as the Vanguard remains standing forward, arcs of energy seeping out of her body after the display of will.

Following the defeat of all the Exhumans, the red cell crushing the Tempest fades away, and the dirt covering his knees sinks back into the ground. The cloud behind him disperses as does the streams holding his shoulders, the melting Exhuman is far gone from his arm as is the skin rope choking him and the one vibrating the air. Also, all of the magnetic coils have been relinquished, completely freeing the Tempest from near defeat.

Beaten and nearly accepting loss, the Tempest falls to his knees, and proceeds to nearly fall forwards if it weren’t for his arms that weakly grab onto the dirt to prop him up. He gasps for air repeatedly, his arms shaking as he struggles to regain composure.

As he hyperventilates, two beings walk past him, their shadows cast down on him, although he doesn’t notice as he’s still recapturing energy. The footsteps stop after passing him, as for a moment, the battlefield becomes silent while everyone attempts to recover from the blast, giving leeway for the Tempest to try healing too.

Gradually returning to an adequate state, the Tempest’s breathing slows down, but he remains on the ground with his head facing the dirt.

Then a voice speaks to the Tempest, a female voice gentle and mature in almost a maternal sense, one distinct from any of the three allies who accompanied the operation. The voice softly asks, “Are you alright?”

Disoriented from the voice, the Tempest raises his head up to the source right in front of him, peering through the mask as he remains kneeling on the ground.

Through the Tempest’s blurry vision leans in on a woman with long brown hair that extends down her back, and wears a forest green sleeveless dress with a wide V-neck and a tall collar.

Around her waist are long white flags acting as a long skirt that sit over her dark green stockings. Around her neck is a nearly black dark green collar with a bright green gem in the center. Her body appears to be that of a middle-aged woman although in athletic condition, with gold mint green eyes that gently radiate.

Behind the woman is another female facing away, although completely dressed in a black slim suit and a dark purple hood. Her body is covered in brighter purple curvy streaks, which wrap around the back and waist, and other streaks wrapping around her arms like rings.

Around her thighs are two independent streaks placed like thigh buckles, as her entire body was wrapped in streaks on the otherwise black base.

To the right side of Tempest’s peripheral appears a man dressed in a white suit that intimately resembles a race suit with black slim padding on the kneecaps and elbows as well as sky blue pads on the shins. On his forearms are black gauntlets, and he wears black gloves.

Covering his head is a sky blue helmet with a black pad on the back of the skull with several strips that extend up to the top of the head as well as black earpieces.

All three of the beings stand over the Tempest in the blurry world with muffled sound. The woman in the black suit and the man in the white suit then turn away from him and step to the side, raising their arms in defense. The woman in the green dress remains in front of the Tempest however, checking on him.

In a delicate, vulnerable voice, the Tempest slowly calls, “...Juno…?”

The woman in the green dress tilts her head, befuddled as she exerts a, “Huh?” Behind her, the woman in the black and purple suit steps back and mentions, “How long do we need to hold them off? Come on Rohan, we need you!” in Kokei’s voice.

Now immensely bewildered, the Tempest calls, “Wait…your voice Calypso…wait what?”

The woman in the black and purple suit turns her head in confusion, revealing her face unmasked to be that of Kokei, who in a perplexed voice, implores “Who’s Calypso? Rohan, get up!”

Registering that this situation was losing all sense of reality, the Tempest shuts his eyes and rapidly shakes his head

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Upon opening his eyes again, he finds himself back in the forest, as Dana leans towards him in her full golden form, her shields covering her back. On her left side stands Kokei, her body surging with pink electricity as he stares back at him with a puzzled expression, and on Dana’s right side stands Ekitai, who is busy firing out of his handgun while using Dana’s side for cover.

Noticing that the Tempest is now starting to better observe his surroundings as if he’s knocked sense back into himself, Kokei shouts, “Come on, let’s get to the other side!”

“Guys…,” the Tempest softly utters, still on his knees in disbelief, now having been snapped back to reality as he can hear gunfire and shouting all around him.

Dana extends her hand to the Tempest, offering softly “Let’s go!”

Staring up at the hand as the situation settles back into the Tempest’s head, he grabs onto Dana’s hand, and lets it help pull him back up to his feet. He turns to Dana and nods his head before facing forward and closing his fists, reimbursed with the energy he needed to move forwards.

Stepping between the shields, the Tempest observes the horde ahead, where he finds Watchdogs firing orange bolts and Exhumans projecting beams of light at the group, which is caught by the shields. He then focuses ahead at the far end of the field, noticing the group of Watchdogs run close to the denser trees.

As he reveals himself, many of the Watchdogs and Exhumans turn to face him, their true target outside of the others who are still fighting each other by the edges of the lane, although now most have centered their aggression on the man in the black mask.

Back in action, the Tempest begins walking down the field as he leads, “Let’s go!” before he picks up the pace through the horde, but maintains a speed that the other three can follow. All three run in a row as the Alchemist runs on the far right side, shooting at Watchdogs with diverse colors of bolts next to the Artificer, whose shields protect him and the Vanguard next to her while she unleashes barrages of darts as well as shoots out of her arms which have been morphed into cone-shaped launchers.

The Vanguard directs pink arcs of energy at crowds of enemies, temporarily paralyzing them to allow for her allies to easily strike as assistance. On the far left side, needing the shield the least, sprints the Tempest, who shoots black and blue bolts of his hands while occasionally projecting walls and blades for those who come too close.

Together, the four maintain a consistent pace, no longer being halted as they deal with their obstacles with greater efficiency that none of the Watchdogs nor Exhumans are able to push them back. Their tight formation combined with the interplay of protection and paralysis allows for them to confidently fight back at less resilient opponents.

Crawling pink arcs spread amongst the mobs, freezing the volunteers before they get shot by blue and black bolts, putting them down before they can make a move. Blitzes of orange gunfire get caught by the shields that reposition themselves independently appropriately, and in return those who fired are then hit by diversely colored radiating shots.

Nearer and nearer the formation approaches the trees where the stronghold stands, down to the last quarter of the field and moving quickly as they increase their pace, clearing out the swarms as less opposition remains as the four focus on targeting hostile threats rather than simply trying to run past them. Not only are they moving forward, but they’re clearing out packs that may follow behind.

On the far side of the field past where the Watchdogs run through, one Exhuman stands in front of the group, watching as their comrades and former opponents fall. He grits his teeth before titanic bones begin materializing around him, a tall one right in front of him which covers his body, where several rings of bones extend from, acting as ribs. More bones continue to build as the cone of rings eventually branch off and form larger bones that resemble arms while at the top of the cone a skull forms.

As the top half of what apparently is a humanoid skeleton materializes with distinct fingers, muscles start to manifest on the skeleton, as well as tissue, building the body as it also gradually becomes covered by a coating of flesh.

While the colossus half being continues to form, it raises its right arm up. Once the coat of flesh is complete, a pair of eyeballs follow as the sclera forms and the brown irises grow in. At last the colossus stops its development, seeming to omit the skin as it instead opts to focus on its targets, now taller than the trees regardless that its missing half its body.

The Alchemist firing a burst of blue bolts at a mass of Watchdogs, the only opponent left standing against them is the one encased in the giant, who brings his arm down on the formation in an attempt to crush them beneath its enormous closed fist.

As the fist descends slowly over the group, the Alchemist fires a blue bolt at the bottom of the fist before it reaches above them. Upon impact, a massive blue slime-like substance expands in a sudden burst until it reaches the ground, glued to the fist as the giant struggles to move its hand, even grabbing its wrist with its other hand. It then veers its colossal head at the group, and begins moving its free hand towards them with the intent to grab at them.

Pink arcs scatter out of the Vanguard’s body in a substantial stream, which swiftly surround the giant, covering great distances to circle around the flesh giant guarding the forest. The giant’s hand stops as the entire body freezes abruptly, paralyzed even with its immense stature.

The Tempest turns to the Artificer and nods, to which the Artificer rotates her left shield to an incline similar to a roof, nearly horizontally flat with a tilt facing the giant.

Finally, the Tempest leaps off the ground and lands on the shield, which lowers before springing up, and pushing him high up towards the giant. As he soars in the sky, he aims one hand at each shoulder and projects a cable, before boosting forwards with a burst of residue, flying over the head of the giant before swinging around.

He spins in the air to the face the back of the flesh colossus, to which two more cables fire from his hips onto the edges of the back and detaching the cables in his hands, reeling him towards the body. On each hand a blade projects, and he prepares himself as he speeds straight into the body.

In one swift motion, the Tempest slices a deep circular cut through the colossus, opening a gaping wound inside the body right beside the spine and between the ribs. His azureus eyes glare inside the dark interior of the body, which is covered in skeletal support without any blood as it’s not a truly self sustaining body, devoid of organs and such.

However, what is inside the body right in the center is the Exhuman controlling it, who turns his head slowly in disorientation to the quick movements. Before he can completely turn his head however, a glowing black fist strikes his cheek, which throws his body into the ribs across the body.

Standing inside the colossal body, the Tempest retracts his arm from the punch, and the entire giant body around him evaporates instantly, revealing the trees behind. His blazing blue eyes stare forwards, beneath the dark clouds.

In front of him, the rest of the group approaches, the final obstacle in the field defeated. The Alchemist sighs in relief before exclaiming, “I’m glad that’s over with!”

However, the Tempest instead swirls around to face the forest, glaring keenly before reminding, “It’s not.”