Captain Hot Devil grimaced. He boosted as much power as he could into his feet, massive jets blasting out behind him. PSI Omega furrowed her brow, two runes appearing on her forehead. The glow around Captain Hot Devil intensified.

He was still trapped.

Which meant he was now stuck in a war of attrition, a contest of his stamina vs the young girl’s concentration. A fight he might be able to win.

But a fight that required time he didn’t have.

He turned back and winced.

Kiyosuke appeared behind Pink Star, stun baton about to strike.

Once Pink was down, the monsters would swarm over the rest of the team. The deadlock would be broken.

They had lost.

CLANG!

A handful of kunai shot through the air, deflecting Kiyosuke’s stun baton. Kiyosuke leapt away as a figure flickered behind him.

Dr. Ueda…no, Chiyeko had arrived in her shinobi hakama, kunai filling her hands.

And she was not alone.

An icy gale howled through the room. Icy Rose smiled and unleashed her cold winds as well. The two powers combined as Icy Falcon flew into the area.

A blizzard filled the room.

Saydaa turned her head towards the pair but Voidspeaker intensified his chant. She was locked in place until she defeated him.

Nana swung her blaster to suppress them. But Elise swapped from defense to attack, launching a missile near the girl. Nana was forced to jump. Elise then fired a round of grav-bolts at the mid-air kunoichi. Nana had to redirect her aim, using her chakra blaster to shoot down the bolts. So she couldn’t shoot at anything else until she landed.

Kiyosuke frowned and swung his blade, preparing to cut through space once more when a volley of kunai shot at him. He was forced to take evasive action as Chiyeko jumped upon him once more.

Arvid took a throwing stance with his sword, but Wonder Knight leapt forward and punched him in the face, sending the man hurtling back.

PSI Omega’s face scrunched up but she was commanding an entire army while also holding back Captain Hot Devil. She had no focus to spare.

And so no one was able to stop the Icy pair.

The blizzard tore through the room. Drones dropped from the sky as ice covered their thrusters. Monsters slowed and stopped as snow and ice covered over them.

PSI Omega’s army was frozen in their tracks.

Pink Star immediately dispersed her dinosaurs and created an El Mantis clone. The pink mutant’s claws shot forward, firing a shockwave towards Saydaa. The girl grunted as the shockwave knocked her off balance.

Her stream of power wavered for a second.

And that was all Voidspeakered needed.

He thrust all the power he could into his beam, the black surge piercing through red fire and striking into the girl. She dropped to the ground, the glow fading from her body. She grunted and moved to stir up her power, intent on overwhelming Voidspeaker’s drain once more.

But pushing back when it was draining the power from her very body was much different than just pouring more power into a stream already in place.

And more importantly, she had no defense against the pink El Mantis charging towards her with pinchers pulled back.

CRACK!

Another shockwave knocked her to the ground.

And there she stayed.

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Kiyosuke frowned as he swung his sword. He may have been the greatest talent of his generation…but Chiyeko was one of the most accomplished veterans in the village. He simply couldn’t match her skill and experience. She kept up a ferocious assault, not allowing the boy to take distance, turning the length of Kiyosuke’s sword into a liability as he struggled to keep up with her kunai.

And yet, Kiyosuke smirked.

For all her experience and accomplishments…she wasn’t doing much. Just swinging knives at him, like any old person could. Her speed and skill were impressive, but if this was the extent of her assault…all he needed was a single moment to take distance, and then his Space Slash techniques would give him the edge.

But it wasn’t that Chiyeko couldn’t do more.

It was that she didn’t need to.

Chronolock appeared behind Kiyosuke with a yellow flash.

And thanks to Chiyeko’s assault, he didn’t have time for clones or substitutions. She swung her baton…

The boy cried out as Chronolock returned the favor from earlier.

The pair then turned their attention to Nana, still engaged in a ranged duel with Elise. Chiyeko tossed a volley of kunai at the shinobi girl. Nana leapt out of the way, her guns still occupied with Elise’s grav-bolts.

And then Chronolock appeared behind her.

The young kunoichi couldn’t escape.

The swordsman swung his greatsword, the mighty blade sweeping through the air and forcing Wonder Knight back. The one silver lining was the wide swings also threatened the nearby monsters, who had thus left the two to their duel.

The problem was Wonder Knight was cut off from his team.

He would have to face the swordsman alone.

But, something was off.

The swordsman brought down his sword in an overhead swing. Wonder Knight simply sidestepped the blow and jabbed the man to the side of his torso. He then stepped back as the man pivoted into a horizontal swing.

It was too easy.

The last time he faced this man, it felt like when he sparred with Agent Tina. An overwhelming opponent with years of experience under their belt. Every move he made, they anticipated. Every time he thought he caught them off-guard, they warded him off with minimal effort and slammed him with a counter. Every attack they launched calculated for a moment he couldn’t adequately defend, keeping him off-balance as they maneuvered him as they willed.

This time was not like that at all.

It was more like his spars as the Academy, against fellow students.

As if the man were somehow missing years of experience.

And Wonder Knight has been training himself. In this fight, the two were operating on equal footing.

Which was bad for the guy with a big, unwieldy weapon requiring great skill to use effectively.

The swordsman made another wild horizontal swing. Wonder Knight simply leaned back, barely dodging the tip of the sword, then leapt forward. The man grinned as he launched a kick at the approaching hero.

And that’s what Wonder Knight was waiting for.

The hero grabbed the oncoming leg and pulled. The man’s grin vanished as he was yanked off his feet, landing on his back. Wonder Knight leapt on top of him and struck a blow straight to the man’s jaw.

He had won.

Just then wind began to pick up around the room, and the air grew heavy. All eyes turned down the room.

PSI Omega clenched her fist and rose into the air, several runes appearing around her head.

“...I didn’t lose. I didn’t lose yet!”

Captain Hot Devil shook his head from the air next to her.

“Give it up, PSI Omega, you can’t beat all of us.”

“Yes I can! I’m not distracted anymore! I won’t let you pass!”

“Why not?”

PSI Omega froze and tilted her head.

“Um, what?”

“Why can’t you let us pass?”

“The Director told me to stop you!”

“And I’m here specifically to help the Director.”

“She didn’t ask for your help! She asked for mine!”

“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t need it though. Let me ask you, PSI Omega, do you think the Director’s doing well right now? That she’s happy? That she’s in a good frame of mind? You should know the answer to that.”

PSI Omega frowned.

“And you can read my mind, right? So you know I’m here to help. We’re all on the Director’s side here.”

She crossed her arms and pointed at Elise.

“She’s not!”

Elise was carrying the downed Nemesis members and gathering them by the wall, where Chiyeko was preparing seals on the floor.

“Statement: This unit has no interest in the Director of the ILS. Only my friends. This unit will remain here to guard her friends, if heroes will promise to save them.”

Chiyeko nodded as well.

“I’ll keep watch as well and make sure they stay here, if that helps.”

PSI Omega’s frown deepened. She furrowed her brow, then glared at Captain Hot Devil.

Suddenly her eyes widened, then narrowed. She lowered herself and the Captain back to the floor. Then she stepped aside, turning towards another door.

“...fine. You can go talk to the Director. I have something else to do anyways.”

“Thank you, PSI Omega.”

“...just so you know, I didn’t lose. We didn’t fight, so I would have won.”

“You already beat me, so that’s true.”

PSI Omega glared at Captain Hot Devil one more time, the rune on her forehead glowing. She opened her mouth, then thought better of it and left the room with a huff.

Meanwhile Chiyeko activated the seals. Characters leapt from the ground and wrapped around the four members of Nemesis. Chiyeko then nodded at the rest of the heroes.

“That should keep them immobilized when they come to, at least until you can stop whatever’s affecting them. Go ahead, we can handle things here.”

Captain Hot Devil nodded. He, Icy Falcon, and Aurora Legion walked towards the door…