Ash stared in confused shock, unable to move. It was not that her injuries had somehow disabled her but that her mind couldn’t wrap itself around what had just happened. On the opposite side of her, resting against one of the trees in the forest, Chris was a mirror of shock.

Ash was glad to see that she wasn’t the only one.

For the first time in months, Ash was terrified of a mage that was weaker than her.

She stared as Zed’s unconscious form lying on the ground where Abed was supposed to be. In his hand was a massive axe he wasn’t supposed to be strong enough to carry. From it she could feel the weight of a Rukh rank aura. Zed had once again created a ranked weapon. This time, he had done it from another mage.

They had always suspected that his skill was not limited to only monsters, but to witness it used against another mage was terrifying. It meant nothing was beyond his reach. Every living thing with mana in it was merely a resource from which he could draw at their death.

But even that was not terrifying enough. Zed had just defeated a Rukh rank mage, singlehandedly. There had been nothing natural about how he had done it either. He had not shown the finesse of skills he had been learning at the hands of Ivan over the last month or two. He had not displayed a mastery of runes, revealing an arsenal he had probably been keeping as a secret from them. He had not even fought like a mage. He had been feral and livid and had moved with the blatant stench of blood crowding him.

What the hell happened to you? Ash wondered as she stared at his lying form. What happened in the past weeks?

Without a doubt, he had terrified her, and she did not mean it metaphorically. It was also not in her head. Her skin crawled as she remembered a spike of aura control he had displayed during his fight against Abed. It had been… horrid. He had been fighting Abed but Ash had wanted to run. It had felt as though she had offended him gravely and he was coming for her life.

No, Ash shook her head, trying to regain her wits as her hand went to her throat. He already had my life.

Chris crawled up to her from where she was. She was wounded from where Abed had struck her with his sword but she didn’t seem bothered by it.

“What just happened?” Chris asked, her eyes never leaving Zed’s body.

“You saw it just as I did,” Ash answered.

Chris shook her head. “I did, but it doesn’t make sense.”

“A Beta mage doesn’t just kill a Rukh,” Ash agreed.

“Not that,” Chris said. “I mean his rank. No one goes up two ranks in just a few days.”

“What do you mean?”

Chris frowned. “I don’t know how he feels to you, Ash, but Zed just became a category three Beta mage. No one goes up the categories that fast.”

Ash shook her head, refusing to believe it. She’d felt the spike in aura but it had felt more like a terrifying use of aura control. Beyond the fear and terror, she hadn’t been able to feel much else. But to believe Zed was now in the same category as her was… impossible.

He had been a category two on the brink of death just a few days ago. What Chris was saying made no sense.

As if reading her thoughts, Chris said, “Maybe you should check for yourself.”

Ash didn’t want to. She didn’t want to face the truth that a man she had dismissed as harmless just a few months ago could be standing on the same level of power with her. It made her feel like a terrible person for not being happy for Zed, but how could she be happy for him? He had grown by two categories in her presence while she remained stuck on category three.

She knew her current growth was not unreasonable. A lot of people got stuck at the third category of their ranks. But to have Zed rise to the same category in so little time made it seem like she was stagnating. It made it feel like she was done growing.

Ash refused to accept it. She didn’t want to be the stuck where she was while everyone around her continued to rise.

“I don’t think—”

The sound of movement interrupted Ash and she turned with Chris. They looked at the hedge that demarcated them from the true chaos where the real battle had happened. The first person to step out of the hedge was an Olympian and what they saw was not encouraging in any way.

…………………………….

“FUCK!” Ronda roared.

She had done nothing to turn of the Olympian armor’s speaker so her word filled the air in her rage. She tossed Kid’s gun aside and fell on her knees. She had one job. The aim her been right and the shot had been perfect. Yet she had failed.

She’d heard a thing or two about death mages while she had been training as a VHF cadet. They were hard to kill without the aid of a life mage. They were heavily durable. They could kill with a single touch if they were strong enough. But she’d never heard anything about this.

There wasn’t supposed to be a mage below Knight rank that could take a mana blast from a rune blaster to the head and shrug it off like it was nothing.

She turned to Kid, realizing it hadn’t been her weapon she had discarded so carelessly but his. If anything went wrong with it, Kid was the one who would have to answer for it.

The captain would not—

The direction Kid stared in as well as her own thoughts pulled Ronda from her anger and confusion. She followed the direction his head faced, knowing exactly what she was going to see.

While Festus, the Knight rank mage, gave finishing touches to the defeat of the only mana beast alive, Ronda’s attention settled on her captain.

Ven laid motionless on the floor. Ronda knew that if she checked the mana readings of his power armor her armor would inform her that his armor was leaking mana. She took a slow step towards Ven. A small part of her hoped he might still be alive. She had seen the man battle a few monsters and survive, even out of his Olympian armor.

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The suits were also designed with special functions with the captain’s having more features than his subordinates.

Maybe his has something… maybe…

Her thoughts doubted themselves. She couldn’t blame them, too. She doubted them just as easily. Ven had been a strong mage in his armor but he had taken a direct hit from a category three Bishop rank monster. Not many people came back from such blows.

She took another step and realized she could go no more.

Around her the other mages were getting their bearings about them. The Rukh mages that had gone into Overdrive were already panting like they’d just run a marathon and failed. It wasn’t entirely false. They had just given their all and managed to have a hand in the death of at least one category three Bishop rank monster. They deserved to celeberate in better circumstances. But these were not better circumstances.

They had lost the mana surge they had gone through all this sacrifice for and had lost captain Ven. It certainly didn’t feel like a victory.

A heavy hand landed on Ronda’s shoulder and she turned her head.

Daniel said nothing to her. He simply walked past her in his hulking armor. He was the true embodiment of a jugganaut. Heavy and silent.

Daniel walked past her. As he moved, his hand fell from her shoulder and he approached their captain’s body.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

It drew the attention of the other mages and only then did she notice that she had spoken out. Her voice had also held her sorrow, hope and worry.

Daniel turned his head to look at her.

“My job,” he said, his voice flat. “I need to confirm his death and mark down the time and reason.”

“He was stabbed,” Ronda muttered to herself. “Isn’t that enough?”

Daniel shook his head. “No. It is not enough.”

He returned his attention to Ven and knelt beside the captain’s body. He remained there, doing nothing for a while. Next to the captain’s body was the mana beast that had been responsible for his death. It was large. A simple blob they had killed a lot of in its lesser ranks. Ronda still couldn’t believe its limbs had been strong enough to tear a hole through the defense of an Olympian power armor.

When Daniel spoke again, Ronda hadn’t known just how unprepared she had been to hear the words.

“Estimated time of death,” Daniel said. “Eleven hundred hours. Death of Captain Ven of squad Renshin confirmed.”

Ronda fell to her knees. She dropped heavily. With only the mana from her core keeping the suit running, the declaration’s effect on her shook her subconscious control. It was enough to power down the suit even if momentarily.

When Daniel continued the protocol as was required for all Olympians who died in battlefields too far away to return the bodies, she cried.

“Override command,” Daniel said, his voice hollow.

[Override authorization required] the armor echoed in a distorted voice.

“Authorization Juggarnaut, Delta, Alpha, November,” Daniel said.

[Authorization code confirmed. Welcome interim commander. Kindly confirm new command and reason for override].

“Reason: Code 0082.”

There was a moment of silence, paused and heavy. No one broke it despite how loud Ven’s armor was. Festus had clearly defeated his mana beast because Ronda doubted it had enough intelligence to respect the silence.

[Code 0082 confirmed,] the armor stated after a while. [Death of Captain Ven Elderbeth confirmed. Link termination effected at 11:13 eastern time.]

“Override authorization?” Daniel asked.

[Override authorization granted to Daniel Okaza, designated second in command for Surge mission at 11:14.]

“New command,” Daniel said briskly. “Initiate…”

His words trailed off. Most people listening would think he had perhaps forgotten what he was supposed to say next, but he had not. Anyone who had served with Daniel long enough knew that the jugganaut liked to bottle up his emotions. He kept them on a tighter leash whenever his emotions were negative. Anger, sadness, despair, sorrow. He kept them all held tight until the dam was too tight.

Ronda knew he had trailed off because he needed a moment to collect his emotions and shove them deeper down so that he did not show any sign of weakness.

She could feel her interim commander take a deep breath before he spoke again.

“Initiate protocol Delta, Alpha, Oscar,” he said finally.

“What?!” Ronda and Kid exclaimed, shocked.

[Command received,] Ven’s armor answered. [Initiating protocol Death of An Olympian. Set time.]

Daniel’s armored head looked back at everyone, clearly calculating.

“You can’t do that,” Kid protested. He tried to get up but fell back down. It seemed something was wrong with his armor.

Ronda didn’t have the clear mind to attend to him. With no imminent danger, she focused her attention on what was more important.

“He’s right,” she told Daniel, stomping up to him. Once, she had been unable to approach her dead captain. Now, her body had no such hesitation.

“You can’t do this,” she said vehemently, standing beside Daniel. “It’s not right.”

“It’s protocol,” Daniel answered easily. He turned his attention back to Ven’s armor and said. “Time set to two minutes.”

[Command received. Self destruct in T-minus one minute and fifty-eight seconds.]

“You can’t do this,” Ronda protested even though she knew a self destruct sequence initiated upon the death of the armor’s wielder could not be overturned.

“It’s protocol,” Daniel said blandly as he rose to his feet. “Ven would have wanted us to follow protocol.”

His voice was hard with what Ronda knew was grief. Behind her, Kid was quiet. She knew the youngest of the team well enough to know that he would not protest.

Daniel began marching back to Kid.

“I would suggest we evacuate immediately,” He announced to everyone present. “The Olympian armor might not have a wide enough blast radius but it has a disruptive effect on the ambient mana once it goes off. We should leave.”

“In two minutes?” one of the mages who’d fought with them asked. He was a Rukh mage who hadn’t gone into Overdrive.

Ronda remembered his name. The second mage who hadn’t gone into Overdrive, Francis, had called him Tulip a few times.

“Yes,” Daniel answered. He was beside Kid now and he picked him up from under the arm. He lifted him, serving as support and adjusted slightly.

A jugganaut armor was designed to withstand enough weight. Kid’s armor would not prove problematic for him.

Ronda bit her lips within her armor and spared her captain’s armor one final look. Within her helmet a blip at the bottom right counted down. It indicated the destruction sequence for a captain level Olympian armor nearby.

With a steeled resolve, she turned away from Ven’s body.

“Let’s head out,” she announced, hoping she sounded like the soldier she was.

To protect the secrets behind the creation of their power armor, the VHF had created a self-destruct mechanism in every Olympian armor. When the wearer died, it activated after a set period of time. She couldn’t remember how long it was but she knew it was quite a while because there was a second contingency involved. In the event that any close by Olympian needed to evacuate immediately and the safety of the armor could not be secured, they could override the time frame and force the sequence.

Daniel had done just that.

In a matter of time, there would be nothing useful left of captain Ven and his armor.

One minute and twenty-eight seconds to be precise.

Everyone turned and headed out of the scene of the battle. The Rukh rank mages helped each other out. All of them that had gone into Overdrive looked spent. Each of them could barely hold themselves up and relied on one of the three Rukh mages that had failed to go into Overdrive.

Festus strolled behind them with a frown on his face and a dissatisfaction in his eyes.

Ronda siddled up beside Kid and slipped herself under his second arm.

“Is your core depleted?” she asked him as she and Daniel walked into the path of the hedge that led out of the clearing and back into the rest of the forest.

“No,” Kid answered. “Something’s just wrong with the suit. My connection to it is kinda busted, and its out of power.”

“Then we need to get you back once we’ve hunted down that death mage. Do you think we can leave you with any of the mages here?”

“Like which of them?” Kid asked.

“The Knight doesn’t seem to hate the VHF much,” she answered as they finally moved through the confines of the pathway. “I think we can trust him to make sure no one tries a swipe at you.”

“Sounds like a gamble,” Kid noted. “But it’s worth it to catch that fucker.”

“Good.”

“No,” Daniel interrupted. “We will not be going after the death mage.”

Ronda turned an incredulous look on him. “WHAT?!”