When Rin was young, there was one particular event she had remembered. Being part of one the four great family of this world, there were some meeting she was obligated to participate in. Notably, when it concerned the other great family.

She didn't remember the exact date, but there was one person that really marked her in one of those reunion. Her name was Lia Holder and she had the exact same ages as her. In fact, that was not all. Her and Rin had many more similarities.

Lia was also part of one the four great family. She was the eldest daughter of the Holder family exactly like Rin for the Kagane. However, there was one capital difference between them.

Lia was an Elite and not Rin.

As such, despite their likeness, the two girl were world apart from each other.

On one hand, we had Lia, carrying the expectation of the Holder family and was deemed as a prodigy.

And on the other, we had Rin, carrying the disdain of the Kagane family and was deemed as a trash.

One thought often crossed Rin's mind,

“If I had been born as an Elite, would I have become like her?”

◇◇◇

‘What is she doing here?!’ Rin's thought was in dismay as she faced Lia. ‘The Holder family's jurisdiction shouldn't be on this continent!’

Rin regained her balance, trying to assess the situation. She knew for sure that the girl in front of her was dangerous.

‘No, more importantly, how did she enter here?’ Rin's mind was further confused. ‘Was she always in the building? Or...'

She stopped thinking for a while and looked at Lia in detail. Part of her body was covered in bruise and she somehow showed light sign of exhaustion. What caught Rin's attention the most, though, was the part of her clothes that seemed to have been burned.

‘Did she beat Flame?’

At this point, Lia opened her mouth.

“I don't know who you guys are, but I'm not going to let you get away!” She expressed with a fierce expression.

Without waiting for Rin's response, the girl immediately leapt forward and succeeded in punching Rin in the stomach again. Fortunately, this time Rin wasn't caught in a surprise and regained her balance more quickly.

‘Fast!’ She thought with awe.

Understanding the reality of the situation, Rin casted aside the torrent of question inside her mind and focused on the fight. She knew that if she let her guard down, she would be the one to lose.

◇

Fire versus shadow.

These were the most optimal words to describe the current scene. Bright orange fire were opposing some kind of blackened substance. The former was controlled by Flame while the latter were controlled by a small girl named Raven.

Surprisingly, though, in spite of their difference in size, the brighter side was losing. Bead of sweat formed on the man's forehead as his flame were slowly consumed by the shadow of his enemy.

“Don't underestimate me!!!” Flame shouted, trying to intimidate Raven.

However, it didn't amount to anything. In fact, it even had the opposite effect. The black matter suddenly increased in strength and advanced dangerously close to the man.

At this moment, something inside Flame snapped. For as long as he could remember, he had always liked fire. He liked it so much he even dyed his hair and changed his name to match it. His singularity was his most precious treasure.

That was why his anger was so consequent right now. His beloved flame was being suppressed by an unknown substance. He couldn't stand it. He disliked it so much.

“You damn bitch!!!!” Flame shouted again, but this time, he enveloped himself in a pillar of fire. “Return to cinder!!!”

All the flame around him then gathered in a spherical way with him as the center. He became like a miniature version of the sun.

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“Hell nova!!” He shouted one last time.

With these words as the signal, the sun exploded. His fire enveloped everything in a 1km radius and reduced them to ashes. This was his last resort. His ultimate attack so to speak. It was inconceivable for anyone to survive it.

—Or so he thought.

When the attack finally subsided, what he saw wasn't what he had expected. Instead of a devastated land, only darkness was present. His vision was completely filled with black.

Then, suddenly, he saw a single ray light from above him. Raven descended from it.

“...Could have been..” The girl expressed nonchalantly. “Dangerous.”

Flame finally understood. He had failed. The little girl in front of him had erected a black dome around him that acted as a barrier that blocked his most powerful attack.

‘...What a monster.’ He thought to himself as he realized the difference in power.

From the very beginning he didn't stand any chance of winning.

Even so, it didn't mean he would give up now.

He had his pride, and more importantly, he wouldn't forgive anyone that trampled on his fire. That was why, useless as it may be, he would continue to fight, for the honor of his flame.

◇

Ark HQ, second underground level.

Blood flowed from all over Alex's body, who was struggling to even stand. He was facing Aiden, the leader of unchained. The current situation wasn't such a surprise to see. Although the criminal's singularity didn't directly help him in combat situation, his aura alone made up for it.

“Do you still want to continue?” Aiden said, fed up with the weakling in front of him.

“..How....are you.....so strong..?” Alex answered with another question while having difficulty to even breath.

“Stop wasting my time with useless questions.” Vexed by how the man responded to him, Aiden continued. “Get out of my sight if you don't want to die.”

Realizing that Aiden didn't have any intention to talk, Alex resolved himself. Barely succeeding to regain his stance, the man prepared to resume the fight

—Only to be slammed to the wall with incredible strength. Before he even knew it, his consciousness slipped out of him.

“Tsk!” Aiden clicked his tongue, wiping the little blood that got on his hand. “Bothersome.”

The criminal didn't kill the man like he said, as he judged it would be more troublesome if he actually did so. Nevertheless, Alex wouldn't go unscathed from this fight. Some injuries would probably stick with him for the rest of his life.

Aiden turned around not sparring any more glance to the unconscious man. He decided to join Stone and quickly finish the mission.

It was at that moment that he suddenly heard a voice from behind.

“Flame was taken down.” A familiar female voice said.

Recognizing the voice, Aiden briefly responded. “...Ursa.”

“You better hurry up or things will get a little complicated.” The woman continued.

Aiden didn't answer anymore as he knew it would be useless. After all, the Ursa that talked to him right now wasn't the real one. The woman was in some kind of phantom like state. You could clearly see through her. However, her appearance didn't disturb the man more than what she had said.

‘Flame was taken out?’ He thought his eyes widening.

Aiden knew firsthand of Flame's power. That's why he had a hard time believing the new information.

“There's one more thing.” Ursa stated, cutting the man's thought.

Hearing that, Aiden waited nervously in anticipation of another bad news.

Though, the woman's word wasn't what he had expected.

“I'm hungry.” Ursa flatly expressed.

“...Eh?” Not understanding, Aiden became confused.

“My stomach is grumbling and I'm bored to death here!!” Ursa switched to some kind of complaining mode. “Can't you fucking hurry up, you damn boss?!!”

A vein popped up on the leader's forehead, now comprehending the woman's message. “Shut up!!” He shouted, now turning to face Ursa. Unfortunately, at that point, no one, beside him, was around anymore.

“Guh! Damn it!” Aiden cursed, resuming his march toward the stairs.

◇

Ark HQ, second surface level.

'..Shockwave manipulation!’ Rin alarmingly thought as she was blown away for the umpteenth time.

Exhaustion piled up on her from her previous fight against the rank III ‘Elite’ and things kept getting worse. The ability to control and generate shockwave, that was the singularity of her current opponent. With just a wave of Lia's hand, enormous amount of energy come and sweep her away, without ever giving her the opportunity to counter.

Furthermore, unlike before, physical capability wise, she didn't have the supremacy anymore.

Only now did Rin understood the real difference between Rank III and Rank II.

‘—Still!’ Rin exclaimed in her minds, finally succeeding in dodging one of her foe's long ranged attack. ‘I can't permit myself to lose anymore!’

Throughout the battle, Rin noticed one thing from Lia's singularity. The shockwave only come from her hand. Which meant one thing. As long as Rin based her movement from Lia's hand, she could escape all her long ranged attack.

Applying that theory, Rin put all her strength on her legs and rushed to close the distance between her opponents. Lia's eyes widened when she realized Rin dodged all of her attack. Nevertheless, her composure didn't falter.

‘When long ranged attack don't work, you just have to switch to close ranged one’ Lia thought.

Taking the initiative from Rin, Lia advanced and directly collided fist with the other girl. The air shook a little, the two fighter looking at each other. Then the battle continued.

If one were to see them from the sideline, they would be astonished. The sheer power and speed from each blow they exchanged were simply unbelievable.

While Rin was evidently weaker than Lia in term of strength, her knowledge of martial art amply made up for it. No, it might be exact to even say that it gave her an edge over her opponents.

Be that as it may, though, in no case was Rin winning. She was more exhausted and more injured than Lia was, and her movement were visibly becoming duller and duller over time. She wanted to end the fight rapidly but, unfortunately, she didn't have the capacity to do so.

‘At this rate....’ Her breathing heavier, Rin feared the worst.

Unexpectedly, at some point, Lia jumped backward and broke out of the fist battle. Thinking that the girl wanted to return to a long ranged fight, Rin tried to follow her. However, one of her knees stumbled to the ground without her even realizing it.

“—!” Rin frowned, cursing at her own limit. She was more exhausted than she had thought.

“....Hey,” Out of nowhere, Lia suddenly talked. “Why are you doing this?”

A little confused, Rin stayed silent and looked at the girl.

“I might be mistaken but,” The blue haired girl continued. “Something tell me that you shouldn't be on 'that' side.”

Rin twitched a little from the word. “....You don't know me.” She responded with a sad tone.

Lia lightly closed her eyes after hearing that answer. “At the very least, compared to the red haired guy outside, you don't seem to be a bad person.”

Rin once again stayed silent, not knowing how to reply.

“People might die, you know?” Lia fiercefully opened her eyes, and shouted. “In this time of crisis, one single misinformation could lead to people dying!!”

Rin clenched her teeth at the mention of the information she didn't want to process. She already knew it, after all. Disturbing Ark's main base of operation when there's such an outbreak of monsters outside, is the same as forsaking the human side. By going along with this operation, Rin had put the life of innocent in danger.

She didn't like it. She was opposed to it. She was strongly against it. And yet—

“Why are you...” Lia looked firmly at Rin's eyes, seeming to see through the mask. “Why did you do this?!”

—She still did it.

“I....”

Rin looked down avoiding her opponent's gaze. Right now, she recovered some of her strength and could already move again. However, she didn't feel like moving anymore.

A pained expression was plastered on her face, not because of her external wound but because of her internal one. A mental struggle was happening inside of her as she leaved herself completely open in front of Lia.

At that moment, a new voice suddenly appeared through one of the room's entrance.

“ 'Why' you ask?” It was from Edward Warray. “Simple. Because she's obliged to.”

The man's appearance was also covered in wound from head to toe. It was visible to anyone that he, too, had a hard time fighting off the third stage's Elite. Still, his arrogance didn't disappear.

“She choose this path despite pertinently knowing that it was the wrong one.” The man said looking at Lia. Though, his words were obviously aimed at Rin. “She doesn't have a choice anymore.”

After Ed finished his phrase, Rin regained some of her calm. No, she had to regain it.

Slowly standing up, she grievously stuttered to the man. “You.... don't have to tell me that.”

With a resigned face, Rin unwillingly resumed the fight.