Rin was struggling.

At first, seeing as she was stronger in term of capacity, she thought she could win with just a little effort on her part. However, that line of thinking couldn't be farther from the truth. She was stronger, indeed, but she forgot to take into account one essential factor. The numerical disadvantage. The teamwork of her opponent was far better than she had expected.

Dave and Cole didn't leave her a moment of breath, pursuing her nonstop. Their shower of attack were fast, heavy and coordinated, making it very difficult to keep up with. Dave's singularity didn't help her situation. The man had the ability to reinforce his skin by transforming it into some kind of metal, highly increasing his defense. Counter-attacking him clearly wasn't an option.

Cole, on the other hand, who still haven't shown any sign of his singularity, wasn't any less of a pain. Out of the two man, he was visibly the more experienced one. His attack was stronger than the other, and were more precise. If there was a leader to this group, it would certainly be him—or so Rin thought.

In addition to that, Olivia's singularity annoyed Rin the most. The woman could create ball-sized mass of energy that could be used as long ranged projectile. They were harmful, indeed, but they were also extremely disturbing. All of Rin's focus were forced to concentrate on Dave and Cole, that's why she didn't have the leeway to dodge Olivia's attack. And every time it touched her, her balance would crumble, giving her two other opponent the opening to launch their blow.

The situation didn't look good for Rin. She kept piling up the hit while not having the possibilities to retaliate. However, it didn't end there. Things continued to go worse for her.

“—!”

While Rin struggled to keep up with her foe, she felt a sudden pain on her abdomen. Without her even knowing it, the tip of a sword protruded from there. Fortunately, it missed her vital. Unfortunately, right now, it can be considered to be a fatal mistakes.

Slowly looking behind her, she saw the perpetrator. It was the man she had rendered unconscious at the beginning of the fight.

“Don't take me out yet,” Kevin said with a triumphant face. “I'm still here!”

Rin had completely forgotten about him, and it costed her very badly. Cole and Dave, not missing the opportunity, punched her strongly on the stomach, blowing her away to a nearby wall.

◇

“This is way too easy!” Ursa shouted while dragging around the unconscious body of an Elite. “I'm bored!!!”

Myriad city's Ark's main headquarter can be divided into five distinct part. The topmost floor were Ark's officer and Elite overviewed the whole city. It can be considered as their base of operation. They discuss their strategies, dispatch their Elite, monitor any rift appearance all from this stage.

The second surface floor, on the other hand, is the training floor. It contains all an Elite could ever need to test and improve their capacity. It is also the most spacious space of the building, enabling everyone to train at the same time instead of taking turn.

As a relevant note, Rin is currently on this stage.

The first surface floor is, in a way, the living room. It is a relaxing place where everyone can take a break and rest themselves. It also serves as reception to provide information or to receive them in some case.

Taking into account that the building is also the residence of most of the Elite, the first and second underground stage are the dormitory. Capable of containing more than fifty people at once, it's degrees of luxury still can't be scoffed at.

Ursa is at the moment, wandering these floors.

Finally, the bottommost level or the weaponry. It's at this place that all their arm are stocked. From dagger, sword and shield to gun, machine gun and rifle. A dangerous place that attracted 'unchained'.

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“I wish some strong guy would come at me.” Ursa complained, advancing slowly without any aim. “But I guess they've all gone monster hunting.”

Ursa's task was to assure the team's escape go smoothly, so she didn't really have anything to do until Aiden and Stone returned from the lower floor.

The woman sighed, clearly displeased by the lack of action.

At that instant, someone suddenly appeared in front of her. “This is as far as you go, you damn thief!!” The man said with an angry tone.

Following that signal, four other man appeared behind her, ready to fight. However, Ursa was still displeased. With just one glance at them, she had determined that they were just weak, small fry. They didn't amount to anything to her. They didn't stand a chance against her.

Sighing once more, Ursa's mind drifted elsewhere.

“I wonder how Rin's doing.” She said, the bored expression not leaving her face.

◇

“Give up,” Cole shouted, loud enough for his opponent to hear. “You can't win.”

Rin was in a bad situation. She was covered in blow from head to toe, some crack already forming on her faceless mask. Her right hand was placed on her side, who was bleeding from the earlier sword attack. Her breath was heavier as exhaustion increased.

Between Cole's experience, Dave's defense, Olivia's interference and Kevin's unexpectedness, her chance of victory kept shrinking.

“...Do you really think so?” Rin responded with a soft voice.

Despite her disadvantageous position, however, she didn't think she was losing. Her foes were strong, indeed, but not individually. She was convinced of that after their exchange of hit. If this battle was to be a one on one, she was certain that she wouldn't lose to any of them.

Considering that, what exactly does she need to do in order to get out of this deadlock? How can she win? Simple. She just need to get rid of one thing. Their teamwork.

“...?” Confused by Rin's word, Cole didn't let go of his cautiousness.

Rin, on the other hand, didn't waste any time. She swung her right hand, now soaked with her own blood, upward. This caused a small bead of red liquid to launch itself rapidly toward one point. Olivia's eyes.

This action, although needing a great amount of precision, wasn't something that significant. At most it will just cause a small disturbance. Nevertheless, small as it may be, it was Rin's key to victory.

When the blood finally touched Olivia's left eye, she shrieked a little before closing it. The motion caused everyone from the group of four to reflexively look at the woman for a second. That's when Rin began to strike back.

In just a small fraction of that second, Rin appeared in front of the metal man and kicked him in the stomach. Dave barely able to block it was sent a few steps back. Kevin and Cole, immediately reacting launched themselves at Rin.

Unfortunately for them, the girl was one step ahead. Taking her feet that was still in midair, she slammed it on the ground, with a ridiculous amount of strength. As a result, a crack formed on the floor, blowing away the two man's balance.

Then, aiming for the weakest one, Rin rotated around and delivered Kevin a high kick. She already rendered the man unconscious earlier so, obviously, it was easier for her to redo it again. This time however, she had another objective, the sword. She took it without hesitation before the man had fallen on the ground.

‘I should have done this sooner.’ Rin thought, weapon now in arm.

At this point, Olivia, Dave and Cole recovered their stance. Even so, though, Rin was still ahead of them. Targeting the next weakest one, she advanced to the woman. Rin assumed that as Olivia avoided closed range combat, she was bad at it. And sure enough, her guess was spot on. Her opponent couldn't even follow her movement, and in no time, was sent to sleep.

As a side note, the sword Rin had in hand was a katana, enabling her to use its backside so as to avoid fatally wounding her enemy.

Cole and Dave were stunned by how rapidly two of their member were taken, which again gave Rin a fraction second of advance. Taking Olivia's body, she threw it at Cole's face, further giving her time to take a proper stance.

Cole, overwhelmed by the situation, instinctively avoided his teammate's body to the side, placing him exactly where Rin had wanted him to be. Late by just a little, the man was slashed from his hips to his shoulder by the Katana's frontside. Blood gushed out. The wound although not lethal, was still a dangerous one.

Rin then kicked him lightly, making him stumble on the ground. His vision blurred a little.

And before long, his consciousness faded.

Dave was the only one left. The fearsome thing is, not even a minute has passed since Rin began to move. In such a short time, she had passed from 'slim chance of winning' to 'absolute victory'. Yet, it was not like there was that much difference in their overall strength. Rin was just a tiny bit ahead of them.

“J-just...,” Dave talked, dumbfounded. “Who are you?”

Rin turned to the metal man without answering. The sole reason why she left him for last was because his defense was too high. She didn't feel like being able to take him out as fast as she did with the other three. Now that it's become a one on one, though, she had all the time she needed.

◇

A kilometer away from the Ark building, a teenage girl was running rapidly. She had blue colored, shoulder length hair and azure eyes. She was wearing a school uniform and was licking a lollipop she held in her hand. Nothing out of the ordinary could be spotted from her appearance.

Nevertheless, one should know to never judge a book by its cover. The girl's name was Lia Holder, and she was an Elite.

“I came here because of the overflowing appearance of rift but,” She murmured, her speed not decreasing. “This isn't what I expected.”

The monster hunting mission wasn't much of a challenge for her. The threat that came out of the rift that she intercepted wasn't as strong as she thought it would be. In fact, it was even surprisingly weak. Killing the thing didn't take too much effort from her and she had hoped to offer assistance to the other team.

However, when the HQ's alert resounded, she changed direction. Message of emergency came from the base and someone needed to check on it. That's why she was running toward the building at full speed.

“I hope nothing bad is happening.” She said with an unsure voice.

At that moment, a ball of flame suddenly appeared in front of her, targeting her. Instinctively dodging it, she leaped to the side, letting go of her lollipop on the way. The attack exploded on her previous place, scorching away everything around it.

Turning her head toward the perpetrator, Lia perceived a red haired man.

“Who are you?” She asked, clearly displeased.

The man smiled hearing that question. Enveloping his own hand in fire, he took the initiative by leaping at the girl.

“The king of Fire!!” He shouted with a sadistic smile. “Flame!”