Chapter 18:

  Aberrants. In the middle of Sunden? How did they get so far in? How could they be so organised?

  People in the market fled as the Aberrants fell, crushing some people and biting a few more as they ran. Shogai and Djinn met each other’s gaze and nodded. They weren't enemies.

  Shogai had experience, and he quickly disposed of a row of Aberrants with one punch. Djinn was having a tougher time. Shogai remembered what he'd said earlier. He'd never fought in a life-or-death situation before.

  Djinn managed to kill an Aberrant by using a metal pole as a weapon, spinning it like a staff. He blew the Aberrant's head clean off.

  Afterwards, he dropped his staff as if burned and staggered to the floor. Shogai rushed to his side and pulled him to his feet.

  "Never killed an Aberrant before? Don't sweat it, they're mindless."

  "R-right."

  "This is my forte, so take my advice. Show no mercy."

  "I'll take that advice." Djinn wasn't talking. A figure jumped onto the scene, taking no significant damage from the drop. It was a Deviant.

  Shogai became briefly blinded with rage, but he pulled himself under control. He needed brains to beat this thing. This explained why the Aberrants were organised. They were following him.

  "Tiro, at your service," he mocked, "and anyone with half a brain knows that mercy doesn't exist in war."

  "What do you want?"

  "I want to destroy the capital city of Tenebris, and that should get me promoted to a Deviant Prime. Next question?"

  Tiro responded so fast and gave away so much information. That just meant he was confident he would kill Shogai and Djinn now.

  But it told Shogai something else. He was beginning to piece things together. Ryukyu asked Sekara what rank she was. So Deviants did exist outside this ranking system. The ranks must have been called Deviant Primes.

  Sekara was a Deviant Prime. Tiro was not. That meant he was weaker than her. That meant Shogai might stand a chance.

  But he was still a Deviant. Mira had said that Shogai would die immediately if he faced one the same way he always did. He had to take her advice and fight differently.

  In that case, he needed to gather information now.

  Shogai shifted to offence stance and cautiously but quickly threw a rock at Tiro. He wanted to see what Tiro could do. The rock slowed in the air and flew back toward Shogai. He caught it, but now he had an idea of his enemy. A telekinetic, most likely. A powerful ability, but clearly not in Tiro's hands. The rock was moving far too slowly toward Shogai to do any real damage. Tiro was a Deviant, but aside from his intelligence, he was very basic.

  Shogai started analysing as he moved. The Deviant had thick armour over his core - that would be the hardest place to damage him. But his limbs? The armour was thinner there, more flexible. If Shogai could land a solid hit on an arm or leg, he might be able to break through.

  And that telekinesis - it was weak. Shogai had pushed through it easily when testing with the rock. It was more of an annoyance than a real defence.

  Shogai ran straight at Tiro and felt a force pushing him away, but it was nowhere near strong enough. Shogai punched Tiro in the face, but he didn't take much damage. This was a good learning opportunity. All Deviants have incredible armour.

  "So annoying!" Tiro lashed out as he regenerated, but Shogai had already formed a plan.

  Avoid the core. Target the limbs. His telekinesis is too weak to stop a full-speed attack. And he's slow - way slower than Sekara.

  "Shogai, catch!" Djinn tossed his metal pole at Shogai, who caught it. With all his might, he struck Tiro toward the head. Tiro put an arm up to block it, but Shogai guided the pole underneath Tiro’s guard to strike between his eyes. Just like Mira had done to him the night before. Tiro staggered, gaping stupidly as he covered his nose. That was his mistake. Shogai struck his undefended arm next. The thinner armour on his limbs couldn't handle the focused impact. Tiro backed away, snarling. His glowing eyes gleamed furiously. He strained for a moment, and his arm grew back. Regeneration too.

  In that case, he needed to end the fight in one blow. But to gather that energy... he needed a distraction.

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  I don't know what you're doing here, Shogai, but he's the leader, right? Take him out. I'll distract him.

  Shogai smirked. Jade had come at the perfect time. She was standing above ground, peering into the crater in the ceiling. Shogai glanced around. Most of the Aberrants were dead. Djinn was finishing them off. He must have sorted out his mindset of holding back, because he was way faster and stronger than before. His expression was wild as he tore the heads off Aberrants. Shogai couldn't help but approve.

  Tiro's arm had just about fully healed, and he was keeping his distance now, flinging debris and rocks at Shogai, but with little success. Jade was obscuring his aim, and besides, he'd been completely thrown off. Even as far as Aberrants go, Tiro wasn't strong. He was just a bit harder to kill.

  Unfortunately, he was also floating now. Which meant he could probably dodge any singular punch Shogai threw. That was bad. If Shogai went all out for the one shot, he'd probably miss and waste his energy. An idea struck him.

  Shogai put a lot of his energy into his fist. Not enough to fully exhaust himself, but enough for Tiro to see what was coming. It was a delicate task, but he managed it nonetheless. Shogai has grown a lot in the past few days. He'd never had to think this much against Aberrants. He wasn't even sure his plan was possible. Time to try something new.

  Shogai jumped up toward Tiro, his fist glowing. Tiro narrowed his eyes at it and flew downwards, barely dodging. Shogai saw this coming. This is what he'd hoped for. He remembered how, last time, Mira had exploited him overcommitting with his fist, and attacked him from below. If Tiro had any brains, he’d go for Shogai’s leg. Sure enough, Tiro assumed Shogai was helpless now that his punch had missed. He reached out to grab Shogai’s leg.

  At that moment, Shogai encased his leg in red energy. He kicked out with all his might, and his leg connected with Tiro’s vulnerable face. Shogai had been replaying it in his head ever since Mira had tugged that fabric out from under him. His best move in that position would have been to utilise his legs as weapons. He didn’t do it back then, but… it worked now. Tiro flew to the ground, landing in a cloud of smoke, and Shogai landed on his feet. His leg was aching a bit, but he'd now confirmed that it was as much of a weapon as his arm.

  His telekinesis can't react fast enough to multi-directional attacks. Feint with one limb, strike with another. Shogai thought to himself, reviewing his strategy. He put a hand to his head. The brainless Aberrants never required this much thinking, but Shogai pulled it off. He remembered what Mira had said to him. Reckless fighters like himself die. But just now, he won without raw power, luck or needing a Nexean to save him. Shogai couldn’t change the past, but this was proof that he’d learned. This was progress.

  Tiro staggered to his feet, completely dizzy. He pointed an angry finger at Shogai, and the debris behind him rose into the air. It must have been an entire building's worth, more than Tiro had done before. Shogai braced himself, but suddenly Tiro went limp and the building crashed back to the ground. His eyes were glazed over.

  "Got him!" Jade yelled. "Finish him off, now!"

  Shogai nodded and approached the motionless Tiro, but Djinn beat him to it. With the whack of another pole, Tiro's head came flying off. Djinn completely collapsed to the ground afterwards, sweating. Shogai helped him to his feet. He must have been incredibly stressed; his hair seemed to have more white in it.

  "That one was intelligent," Shogai confirmed, "but it was still a monster. Don't feel bad."

  Djinn gazed around at the wreckage Tiro had caused. He nodded.

  "...yeah. Whatever they are, you're right. They're the enemy."

  Shogai didn't feel great about that agreement. He'd had to completely revise his idea of friends and enemies since leaving Nomun. Some people could be trusted, even if you started off on the wrong foot. Kiara was living proof. Djinn was living proof.

  "Shogai, let's go. Mira should be just about ready," Jade said, walking up to the two. She nodded toward Djinn.

  "Thank you for your help. We're grateful. Stay safe."

  Djinn laughed. It was a pure laugh.

  "You got it. I have some cleaning up to do here, so safe travels to you as well!"

  Djinn jogged away, and Shogai and Jade left too.

  "So... why were you in the black market?"

  Shogai held his breath. He was intending for Jade not to find out. At least not so soon. She'd also reminded him that he'd failed. The tournament had been cancelled. There was no prize money.

  "I tried something. It didn't work."

  Jade didn't pry. As they headed back toward the entrance of Sunden, Shogai stopped by the lady's stall to tell her he wouldn't be able to buy the perfume. When she saw his state, she called out to him.

  "You're covered in blood. Did you fight off the Aberrants?"

  Shogai nodded, not really seeing where this was going. But the lady let out a sigh of relief.

  "They were about to attack me, but then they ran off. It was like they'd just lost their leader and had no order but to retreat. You saved us all."

  Shogai didn't really care about the praise, but he was glad that the other people in Sunden were safe. He bowed and turned to leave.

  "Wait!" The woman said. Shogai turned back around.

  "Take this with you! I owe you at least that!"

  She pressed the perfume bottle into Shogai's hand, and his eyes widened.

  "I can't accept this. Take it bac-"

  "Sorry, sir, shop's closed, no returns, off you go."

  She was smiling. So was Shogai.

  "Thank you."

  Mira was waiting for them, as planned, by the gates. She had hiking gear, had tied her hair back, and seemed ready for an adventure. Shogai noticed her eyes were half closed.

  "Don't mind me," she said. "A lot of people got hurt, and I had to help them. I might need some help up the mountain here and there."

  Shogai nodded and fitted himself with the same gear, as did Jade. The mountain they planned to climb was just north of Sunden, overlooking the city. It was tall, but not unbearable.

  They could do this.