Rei and Tyzor heard the shots ring out from Nat’s bolt gun, and understood she must have seen Subaru someone nearby.

“We should hurry up and get past the wall.” Said Rei.

At almost the same time Tyzor said, “We should go find Nat.”

For a moment they both blinked at each other. What? For each of them the immediate goal was obvious.

Tyzor took a breath. “If Nat’s down, we won’t be able to get to the clock without that backup.” He reasoned.

“Are you kidding? She’s buying us time, that was the whole purpose of having her watch from afar.” Rei argued.

Tyzor almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. But despite his large size and intimidating appearance, Tyzor was actually a very patient man. “What chance do you think she has against Subaru?” Without waiting for an answer, he then asked, “And how much of a chance do we have without Nat distracting Subaru for us?”

Rei grit his teeth. His mana flared as he got angry. “We need to take advantage of this opportunity while he’s still distracted.”

“It’s over.”

“What?”

Tyzor took a deep breath and closed his eyes, turning his face to the sky. “Her mana is disrupted for some reason. She’s alive but I can tell she’s in no fighting condition. Which means that Subaru is probably after us.”

Rei thought for a moment, then his mana nearly exploded around him. Tyzor put a hand in front of his face as heat radiated off of his teammate as if he were standing in front of an open oven door. “Bastard!” Rei screamed.

“He must have put her in an illusion. He might be waiting for us to come and break her out of it.” Rei said, surprisingly reasonable considering his emotional state.

“We have no choice we’re going to get her.” Tyzor said.

“Tyzor-”

“We’re going to find her before we go through the wall.” Tyzor cut him off without listening to his argument. “We’re a team, we need all members in order to work as a successful unit.”

Rei knew it was no use arguing. Even though he wanted to, he knew he was wrong to even suggest leaving behind a teammate. That’s right...if this were a real mission- Rei shook that thought out of his head before it completed itself.

“Alright.” He said, looking up at Tyzor. “You can sense her mana right?” Tyzor nodded. “Where is she?”

___________________________________________________________________

Where indeed.

Physically, Nat was fine, and they would have no problem finding her as Subaru had left her out in the open. Like bait, a bit of food suspiciously out in the open with a rope around it waiting to snap. Mentally however, getting Nat back would be more of a struggle.

Nat floated around in nothingness, emptiness, until her feet touched something firm beneath her. Ground, dirt.

Whatever it is, it isn’t real. She told herself.

Slowly, a scene began to form around her. Nat recognized it, and she cursed her own mind for bringing up such repressed memories. A village, where Nat grew up surrounded her. People wandered by, civilians not paying any mind to Nat. The people were giants though, and Nat found herself looking up at everyone as they walked past. What the-

Nat’s thoughts were interrupted as someone placed a strong hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see a towering man in a Mana Corps uniform looking at at her firmly.

“Curfew is in ten minutes little one.” He said to her. “Are you far from home?”

“Little one?” Nat herself speak for the first time since she’d arrived in the village and was surprised that her own voice was that of a little girl. She looked down at herself and saw herself wearing a beige dress and flat slippers, the signature look of a peasant in her village.

“Shall I escort you.” It wasn’t a question.

Nat let herself be led around the village by the soldier, warily looking around herself for any mistake, any sign that this wasn’t real. She couldn’t let herself be tricked into believing this was real, even for a second. She knew the damage that a thorough illusion could do to someone’s mana.

Damn that Subaru. She thought. It wasn’t all his fault he couldn’t control what I see….damn him all the same.

Nat led the soldier to her old home, a place she’d tried very hard to forget.

“Thank you,” She heard herself saying.

The soldier waited until Nat walked inside her home. She watched him leave through the window before she slipped off her shoes and proceeded into the house.

“I’m home.” She called out, without even thinking about it. She heard the patter of little feet and a smile crept up on her face involuntarily. But she also felt a twinge of pain in her heart.

Nat grabbed an immaculately decorated robe off of a hook on the wall and draped it over herself quickly. Soon her younger brother, 7 years old, and her mother came from another room, both also dressed in beautiful robes.

“The soldiers walked me home.” Nat said as she proceeded into the house.

Both her brother and her mother stopped dead. “What?” Her mother breathed. “Please don’t speak so casually like that around here. Your father is home.”

That’s right. Nat thought.

“They aren’t so bad.” Nat heard herself say.

“They aren’t so bad!” Her younger brother echoed.

“Natalia, you encourage Elijah to say things like that when you speak so plainly! It’s almost time for dinner, come now.” Her mother said, and they all began walking into the kitchen.

In the kitchen was Nat’s father, sitting at the table surrounded by papers and looking stressed out.

“I’m going to finish up dinner, can you put your work away?” Nat’s mother asked timidly. Nat clenched her little fist. She always hated that meek tone her mother used around her father.

“Natalia you’re late.” Her father said, collecting his papers.

“The soldiers helped her home! They aren’t so bad!” Said Elijah excitedly.

It was as though the air in the entire room became thicker. Nat heard her mother inhale sharply, and she heard the crinkle of paper as her father clenched his fist around a stack.

“He’s just repeating what he heard from me.” Nat said hurriedly, unconsciously stepping in front of her brother.

“What he hears from you means more than you know.” Nat’s father said.

Here we go again. Nat thought.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Nat’s father pushed his chair back and stood up. “Children are influenceable, the mana corps are counting on that. They want to take our life energy and corrupt it, use it to gain their own power.”

“Are you sure?” Nat said immediately.

“Excuse me?”

“Are you sure the problem is that they want power? Or is the problem that you’re afraid they’ll take away ours?”

“Natalia!” Her mother hissed.

Nat’s father shook with rage. Then, he became still and eerily calm. He became like this often, but this time felt different. A sort of serene anger took over him and Nat felt a chill through her entire body as her father looked her in the eyes. “Mana is something sacred. These soldiers use it for their own gain. Yes, we have power, and we have not always used it in the most honorable of ways. But the system with our family in power was much more...secure than the chaos that will come from the growing influence of the mana corps.”

With that, he left the room.

Nat’s mother was shaking, whether out of fear or anger no one would know, for Nat also left the room before anyone could say another word.

As she was walking to her bedroom, she noticed her father leaning against a wall in the hallway. She slowed down for half a second and warily made her way past him. When she was nearly at her bedroom door, he spoke up.

“We haven’t always done right leading the village. But we did what we believed was necessary. What the soldiers using mana don’t understand is our customs, they’re perverting the very essence of it. Nat, you’re a smart girl. My only daughter, you’re all I have for a legacy. I don’t like to think of them brainwashing you. You can’t believe what everyone tells you.”

Nat stayed quiet for a moment, standing outside her bedroom door. She slid the wood panel door open and stepped inside. “Doesn’t everyone include you?” She asked. As she shut the door she heard her father mumble.

“We will do what needs to be done.”

______________________________________________________________________

Nat laid down on her mattress - and screamed as a hand grabbed her roughly by the shoulder. She felt a shiver go down her spine and her mana suddenly exploded out of her in a bright blast of light. She was back in the arena, staring up at the trees and the sky in confusion. Dazed, she looked around and saw Tyzor and Rei standing over her. Tyzor still had his hand on her shoulder after having disrupted her mana flow to snap her out of the illusion. Both the boys’ mouths were moving, but the sound came muffled and foggy to Nat’s ears.

“Nat! Nat wake up!” Rei called, his voice finally clear.

Nat blinked. “Wha-where’s dad?” She mumbled.

“Who?” Tyzor asked.

Nat sat up. “N-nobody. What happened? Subaru. Right? Right.” She was starting to remember. It was just an illusion. But...an illusion of what had actually happened that night.

“We don’t have much time to stop the clock.” Rei said, standing up straight. Now that Nat was back to her senses he didn’t want to waste any more time.

“No you certainly don’t.” A voice said from behind them. The trio whirled around to find Subaru leaning up against a tree, his chain dangling casually from his hand, dragging the ground. “You know, I was gonna take you two out while you were tending to the sleeping beauty. But I thought it would be more exercise to take you all on at the same time.”

Rei grinned, his mana flaring around him. “Fine by me. This is all I’ve wanted.” He drew his sword, eager to fight.

Subaru laughed. “Actually, I wanted to play with you too.” He said. “So would you like to go first?” He asked cordially.

“Rei don’t let him bait you.” Nat spoke up, back to her usual self. “All together, front, side, and back.”

“Discussing your strategies in front of me? Pretty bold.” Subaru dropped the chain to the ground, and channeled his mana. He began to glow his threatening deep purple.

“Shit.” Tyzor grumbled. Each of them knew that Subaru ditching his chain meant trouble. “Maybe we should come up with another-”

Before Tyzor even finish his sentence, Subaru was upon them, weilding a sword identical to Rei’s claymore, except it appeared to be almost immaterial in nature, just a sword shape made up out of his dark purple mana. Subaru made a wide swing at Tyzor, going straight for his head. Rei leapt in front of Tyzor and blocked Subaru’s sword with his own, grinning eagerly as he looked up into Subaru’s eyes.

“I hate that pitiful knock off.” Rei growled, his whole body emanating light. It funned into the sword as well, almost as if the sword was just another appendage of his. Rei pulled back and went for a thrust at Subaru. Subaru’s chest glowed brighter than the rest of his body and his mana formed itself into a shield protruding out of his body. Rei’s sword clanged off of the shield and knocked him off balance for just a moment. But a moment was all Subaru needed. In half a second his mana sword became a spear, and Subaru was going straight for a thrust at Rei.

Tyzor came around from behind Subaru with his palm open and swung for the back of his head. Catching him in the corner of his eye, Subaru ducked down at the last moment and Tyzor’s hand whizzed over him. This bought Rei all the time he needed to recover and he was back on the offensive, swinging his sword at Subaru.

Nat grasped her notebook and pen and began scrawling words furiously and tearing out sheets of paper, letting them litter to the ground. Trench. Water. Quicksand. Spikes. The pages touched the ground and glowed brilliantly, become the words written on them. Not only Subaru, but Rei and Tyzor too now had to dance around the myriad of traps Nat had set up.

“Nat! Are you still fucking out of it? You’re making it harder for us!” Rei shouted. Subaru capitalized on this moment of distraction and thrusted forwards with his mana spear. Rei dodged at the last minute but the spear left a deep wound in Rei’s bicep. Blood trickled down his arm and he cursed loudly.

“You bastard.” Tyzor mumbled softly. Subaru looked at him surprised. “Sometimes you really do go too far.”

“Oh, are you finally getting your head in the game?” Subaru asked, bouncing on his toes eagerly, like a boxer getting ready to bob and weave away from his opponent. He twirled his spear around, showing off, and then pushed off on his back foot and rushed at Tyzor. Tyzor had nothing to block with and was forced to dodge and retreat from Subaru’s rush of attacks.

Subaru’s goal was to distract Tyzor so that he wouldn’t have time to heal Rei’s wound. Tyzor backed up steadily as Subaru advanced on him, swinging and stabbing at him with the spear almost playfully.

“You’re boring!” Subaru called. “It’s more fun to play with Rei!”

Suddenly, Tyzor ducked down and swung his legs at Subaru’s calfs. Subaru side stepped the leg sweep easily, but he stepped right into a puddle of quicksand. He sank up to his knee and was nearly doing the splits to keep his upper body at ground level.

Tyzor and Rei took some much needed breaths, before they both realized something. Nat was gone. Realizing she was going for the clock, they both headed in the direction of the wall, leaving Subaru to struggle against the quicksand that had captured his leg.

Rei and Tyzor met up with Nat at the wall, a blank piece of paper sat on the ground and she was drilling at the wall.

“Nat.” Rei called, and she knowingly stepped aside. Rei pulled out his sword and took a deep breath, then, as his mana began to radiate around him, he took a mighty swing at the wall. A large chunk of the wall crumbled away, wide enough for them to fit through easily. They could see the clock just on the other side, ticking away. Twenty minutes left. Plenty of time.

“You got much closer than you did when you first took this test.” Subaru said from behind them.

“God damn it! I hate when you do that!” Rei yelped, swinging around quickly.

Subaru chuckled. “Sorry.” He said, and he did sound a slight bit apologetic. “As I was saying. You got closer. But you’re still not gonna finish.” He grinned and took up a fighting stance. His mana began to radiate and concentrated itself in his hand. When the large cloud of purple mist dissipated, in his hand was a bundle of mana in the shape of a wire gun.

As expected, Rei was the first to charge. Nat went to back him up, and Tyzor ran for the clock. Subaru focused on the most prominent threat and shot the gun at Rei’s legs. Rei swung his sword down and sliced the cord off of the bolts fired at him, and they dropped harmlessly to the ground. Subaru full out laughed and in his hands formed two hook swords. He rushed at Rei, but at the last moment ducked underneath Rei’s wide swing and gave chase to Tyzor.

“Tyzor!” Rei called in warning.

Tyzor didn’t bother to look back, he kept his eyes on the clock. Still 18 minutes left before the alarm rang.

Nat sprang into action, chasing after Subaru. As she ran she tore a page out of her journal and began writing on it. At the pace she was going she wouldn’t have caught up with Subaru, but she didn’t need to. She pushed off her feet into a leap and dove for Subaru, tagging his back with the piece of paper.

Seal.

Slowly, as Subaru continued to run, his wire gun began to dissipate like smoke in the breeze. His mana swirled violently around him for a moment, before it imploded and slipped back inside him, like it was taking refuge. Subaru paused the chase in confusion, trying to rechannel his mana outwards, and that second of time was all Tyzor needed. He leapt for the clock and hit the button, with 15 minutes left. All three team members turned to look at their commander.

“Seals away your mana, making you just a normal guy. Don’t worry, it’s temporary. I’m not strong enough yet to make it permanent.” Nat explained, off of Subaru’s perplexed expression.

Rei ran up behind Subaru and gave him a good wallop on the back of the head. “You son of a bitch! Look at my arm!” Rei gestured to his bleeding arm.

“Oh right, sorry about that.” Subaru said with a grin, not sounding sorry at all.

“Here.” Tyzor said gently, taking Rei’s arm in his hand. He exhaled slowly and began to glow, his mana swirled around Rei’s wound as it slowly began to close itself up, leaving only a drip of blood with wound.

“I went a little hard on you guys...but it was for a reason.” Subaru said, actually sounding apologetic for the first time.

“What was the reason?” Nat asked.

Subaru smiled. “Well, you’ll be happy about this. I got us a mission. A B ranking mission.”

B ranking missions were the second highest mission you could get without being in the Mana Police Special Ops. Most just graduated recruits were stuck with D rank missions, town cleanup duty and escorting children and the elderly, that kind of thing. On the other end of the spectrum were S missions and SS missions, which came directly from the head of the Mana Corps and were only carried out by members of their special ops team. The highest mission a team like Subaru’s could receive was A rank, assassinations, spying missions, bodyguarding foreign powers, and the like. B rank missions were also intense, usually recon missions and stake outs, gathering information by whatever means necessary.

“B rank.” Rei echoed. For once, he was quiet.

“Oh yeah, and one more thing.” Everyone looked at Subaru as he said this. His fist suddenly raised in the air and swung down on the top of Rei’s head without warning.

“DON’T RAISE YOUR FIST AGAINST A COMMANDER!” Subaru shouted.