“So, Drade, do you have any idea what’s going on today?” Hannah asked as they jogged down Changeton’s empty streets.

“I’d ask the same. Why did Uffield take you with her?” Drade responded, looking behind them.

“No real reason,” she admitted. “Is...is she going to be alright? I know Uffy is strong, but that thing...” She looked over her shoulder, where a monstrous humanoid made of water which was nearly the size of a skyscraper, loomed in the distance.

“If it comes down to it, she can run. I’d rather she not get involved, but...”

“Someone had to stop the tidal wave,” she admitted.

As they ran, someone suddenly teleported in front of Drauko. They skid to a stop before they crashed into her. The woman wore a black leather jacket and hovered above the ground on a hexagonal metal plate that glowed with magic. She silently looked down the group.

“Well, that was fast. You would be Drade Jupiter, wouldn’t you?” she asked, tapping absently on a tablet on her arm.

“Not exactly,” Luuko said. “Can we get going, or are you standing in our way?” Drade then asked.

“Hmm. That depends. You’re accompanied by...Hannah and...who is that girl?”

“I’m Onei, don’t mind me.”

“Then I won’t...Before I leave, though...” she glared at Drauko. “I’ll be taking back my daughter, thing. I’m not sure what strange creature you are, but she does not belong to you.”

“What the fuck is she talking about...” Luuko muttered.

I don’t know. Drade responded with an internal shrug.

“Hmph. You’ll learn soon enough. Good luck surviving the onslaught.” She suddenly disappeared.

“Umm...okay. So has the game plan changed or...?” Onei asked.

“We keep running,” Drade said.

Tentacles slashed through arms built of water as Uffield zipped around the gigantic water elemental at Mach speeds. Hundreds of elementals near the surface of the water shot bullet-speed blasts of water toward her, but she morphed her body into a donut shape as she flew, evading most of the attacks by manipulating her body and reading the magic signatures of their attacks.

Then, another razor-thin blade of water cut toward her, the first which had sliced her body in two. She barely had time to avoid it, but it sliced another one of her tentacles off, sending it falling.

It exploded as it hit the water, decimating a few of the small elementals.

This is difficult!

Uffield seldom fought anything that could match her in combat, but this thing was enormous -and dangerous at that! It was a bit scary, but...

She charged the creature. Suddenly, as she approached its torso, she felt its hand sweep toward her. She reacted immediately as it entered her twenty-five-foot area of vision, and swerved upward as its fist, moving at half the speed of sound, swiped through air. She then plunged herself into its body.

For the split second she was inside it, Uffield could sense the presence of the elemental’s soul, which was larger than a house, wound full of mana that strung through its body.

The mana sucked itself toward Uffield, which she absorbed into her own soul, empowering herself as she burst through the other side just as an enormous blast of water entered her vision.

As it entered within an inch of her, the entire jet suddenly flew backward into the lake, harmless.

The ‘World-Ending Awesome Reflection Shockwave’ was Uffield’s ‘conceptual ability’, an ability that only pureblood eldritch beings like herself could utilize. The ability was very, very simple; she could reverse the velocity of anything. A tidal wave, a photon, an image, the earth, or even the universe. There was no other limit besides the range and cooldown period, as it had to be used on something within her vision and had specifically a 3.14159265359(and so on) second long cooldown for reasons only she understood. Uffield could attribute her understanding of her ‘world-ending’ ability to extensive testing with Therin.

She circled the elemental, trying to get a good grasp of its durability. It threw a punch, but she barrel-rolled around it, then sent a tendril stabbing into its arm, soaking up more mana and using it to regenerate her body.

“Easy!” she yelled as she began hitting it with rapid jabs of her tentacles, avoiding and repelling its own with ease while consuming the elemental’s magic to regenerate.

Then, it roared. A slicing jet of water cut toward her, which she easily evaded, only to see a fist slamming down onto her. She quickly reversed its momentum, but another one approached from in front!

Uffield yelled as she was slammed backward, sent careening into the lake.

As she struggled to fly out of the water, a blast of water shot toward her. I can’t dodge that! she thought as it approached...Or maybe...

She flew in all directions at once, turning herself into a donut with a hole wider than the jet itself. The jet shot through her body according to plan, then, as it shorted out, she reformed and flew back toward the elemental.

Game’s on, water guy!

Hannah stared in awe as dozens of buildings collapsed around the city, cut in two by sharp jets of water.

“What a sight!” she said as she stared. “I hope nobody is getting hurt with all of that going on!”

“They probably aren’t,” Drade said.

“Actually, why are we running, anyway?” Onei suddenly said.

“All I know,” Luuko began, “Is that there’s probably something or someone chasing us.”

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“Sure, but its not like you’re going to die if you die.”

“I don’t get it.”

Onei put a finger to her lips in contemplation. “Like, if I am the reason why you do something stupid and die, you’ll come back to life the next day with all your problems solved for you.”

“Oh, I like that! can we do that, Drade?”

“No,” he responded.

“But it’d be so much easier!”

“I’ve said this once to you, Onei, and I’ll say it again. I won’t forsake the lives of others just because things will return to the status quo. When a person dies, they still died. You can erase a memory, but not an experience.”

Luuko shook their head. “Ugh, you’ve got the most strict moral code, Drade.”

“As I should, Luuko.”

“There’s no shame in having a bit of fun, you know.”

Drade sighed. “Maybe. But even then, the stakes...seem high today. I also don’t know enough about how Onei’s ability works, particularly in relation to me....”

“Fine...” Luuko yawned.

“Let’s stop, actually,” Drade said.

“Yay...”

Drauko came to a stop beside a building, along with his exhausted mother and Onei.

“I’m too old for this...” she muttered.

“You couldn’t be that old,” Onei said as she began shuffling through her pockets. “Hmm...Drade, do you have any candy on you?”

Drauko was busy pulling out their phone, but while Drade focused on that, Luuko moved their other hand to a pocket and tossed Onei a candy cane.

“Thankee~” She popped it into her mouth.

“So what are we doing now, Drade? Are you calling the Friends?” Hannah asked, nervous.

“No, I’m calling Dad.”

“I s-” She froze. “Your father?! Why now?”

“He was the one who-”

As Drade searched for his father in his contacts, they suddenly saw a woman in a dark hoodie run across the street, looking behind herself in panic. She didn’t seem to notice them. He looked up and stared at her skeptically.

The girl’s soul was black, similar to Drade’s.

That soul...she’s...an eldritch entity? He thought with sudden intrigue.

Neat, but...it looks like she needs help.

Drade began running toward her.

As he did, she almost immediately turned her head.

“W-who are you?” she said, glancing back, then between Onei and Hannah.

“Drade. Do you need help or something?” he asked.

“Y-yes, actually. I don’t know who they are, but some people- they’re monstrously powerful, and they are chasing me down! I’m trying to run, but- O-over there!” She pointed to where she had arrived from. The party looked on as a woman in a black and crimson formal uniform skitted across the concrete, sliding to a stop.

She pulled a radio to her mouth. “This is F2 speaking. I’ve found the girl, I repeat, I’ve found her. She’s on-”

Drade suddenly grabbed the girl’s arm, then dragged her into an alleyway while the others followed behind.

“Do you have any powers?” Drade asked as the girl quickly came to pace with them. Upon further inspection, she almost looked dorky, with glasses on her face and a not-so-pretty jacket.

She shook her head. “N-no.”

“Okay...so literally all of us are useless?” he said as he saw the other woman slide to a stop at the other side of the alley.”

“Stop right there! If you want to survive-”

He grabbed something from his jacket and quickly threw it out toward her. “Look forward!” he yelled.

Suddenly, it exploded into a bright white light.

As their ears rang and the woman reeled from the shock, Drade pulled them into another building.

And there’s that flashbang...seriously, how can you legally carry that around?!

That’s the neat part; I can’t.

You? Breaking the law? Impossible.

I don’t break my moral code, but the law is another matter entirely. How do you think I got in jail that one time?

They walked into a complex, and as Drade leaned against the main elevator, Luuko threw their open hand into the elevator button.

“Umm...where are you taking me?” the girl said. “I-I mean, I don’t mind, wherever it is, but-”

“The roof,” Drade explained as he walked into the opening doors.

Hannah walked in after Onei skipped while Drauko smacked the conveniently publicly available ‘roof’ button.

“This is pretty fun,” Onei said as she leaned onto Drade’s shoulder. “But exhausting.”

Hannah stared at Drade with a conflicted expression. “I don’t know about fun...and just how do you have no friends when you get into situations like...that?” She motioned toward the two girls.

His eyes wandered upward. “What do you mean?”

“How many times have I seen you surrounded by girls like that? And also, what happened to all of them?”

He clicked his tongue. “Well, Livia and I parted a bit before we moved, Sammy went to college, and Abbie...Anyway, most people I happen across have their own journeys to make. What does being surrounded by girls have to do with having friends, though?”

Her mouth tightened as she thought through his words. “You...this is a regular occurrence for you, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “It is. What’s your point?”

Onei smirked. “This is funny, but now I’m feeling self-conscious.” She leaned away. Then she leaned back. “Nevermind, I forgot that I don’t care.”

“And Drade was the one who suggested that I possess him,” Luuko said. “Just to set the record straight.”

“You were the one who asked to be trained, though,” he noted.

“You have me, there.”

Hannah massaged her eyes as the door opened behind them. “I should stop asking questions...at any point, ever.”

Drauko walked out and stared at the sky.

Meteors had begun to fall.