Chapter 21:

  The good news was that there was only one golem. The bad news was that it was forty feet tall and made of stone, just like the other ones. One single nuclear punch was not going to take this down. And he could use none.

  "Shogai," Mira whispered, "What do we do?"

  "I'll think of something, at least it hasn't noticed u-"

  Life forms identified.

  "...forget it. We run."

  Ignoring his broken hands, Shogai picked Jade up and gestured for Mira to follow him. They just had to make it to any of the tunnels. Aberrants would be less trouble than this monster.

  Unfortunately, the rock knew what they were trying. It grabbed a fallen pillar and threw it like a javelin. It clogged up the tunnel that Shogai was running to.

  "This... this is fine. We need to just get to another one."

  "Shogai-"

  "Yeah, there's one on the left. If we run, we can make it."

  "Shogai-"

  "Tell you what. Take Jade, and go. I'll distract it."

  "Shogai, do you hear that?!"

  Shogai stopped and listened. Something was approaching. Something large. Even the golem could sense it, as it turned to find the intruder. A roar echoed across the chamber. From the tunnel on the left of Shogai, something flew in and rammed into the golem. The rock monster fell backwards onto the ground. Shogai got a good look at the figure. It was a dragon, an all-too-familiar dragon, with a human in a black suit and hood on its back.

  The golem stood and roared at the dragon in return, and grabbed a rock from the ground. It threw it at Ryukyu, which he dodged with ease, but it kept sailing onward... right towards Shogai and Mira.

  "Brace yourself!" Shogai yelled, planning to try and get Mira and Jade to safety, but everything went quiet for a second. Shogai was several dozen meters away, watching as the rock smashed down where he once was. Next to him were Mira and Jade, both safe, and the hooded individual. Shogai smirked. He knew who this was.

  The golem was confused that his victims had vanished, and Ryukyu landed, turning back into a human.

  "Deactivate."

  Voice recognised. Ryukyu, Outer Rank 2. Deactivating.

  The golem's eyes faded, and it collapsed onto the floor. Ryukyu watched over it in disappointment.

  "Must have malfunctioned. They aren't meant to attack guests. They aren't meant to go for the kill, either. I'll have to report this to Nemean. It’s… really weird. They really aren’t supposed to malfunction." He seemed troubled.

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  Ryukyu walked over to the group, careful not to trip over any debris. Shogai was in so much awe that he didn’t even notice that Mira had grabbed his hands and was fixing his bones. Ryukyu addressed the hooded person.

  "Everyone alright?"

  The hooded figure spoke, "Everyone's safe, just injured."

  "Thank you, Kiara."

  The hooded figure revealed her face, the face Shogai knew he would see. She had a huge smile on her face and had so much more confidence in her voice. It had only been around a day, but Shogai knew that this Kiara was different. She'd changed.

  Ryukyu took Mira to the side for a word, indicating that they really did know each other, and left Kiara with Shogai. He was beaming at her, which she seemed taken aback by, but quickly returned a relieved laugh.

  "Hey Shogai, I'm glad you're still alive. And you've made a friend, too."

  "You're one to talk. Travelling with a Nexean. What have I missed?"

  Kiara turned to the closed entrance to Nexus. The one that didn't open for Mira. She looked back at Shogai.

  "I know I said that I wanted nothing to do with this, but I really do think I can help. I think we owe each other a talk once Jade is awake. You've made it to Nexus. Is Sekara dead yet?"

  Shogai made a shushing gesture, hoping Mira didn't hear. He whispered to Kiara that she's still alive, but now that they'd made it to Nexus, she won't be for much longer.

  Kiara took the hint and nodded. She was so much more confident and didn’t seem afraid of Shogai anymore. He felt validated, but there was something he had to do first. “Kiara…” he leaned in so only she would hear, “I’m sorry. For everything. I treated you badl-” “Hey, wait!”

  Kiara frowned and crossed her arms. “That’s my line! I’m sorry for being aggressive towards you and-” She was interrupted by Shogai mockingly putting his finger to her lips to silence her. He couldn’t believe he just made a joke in a situation like this, but the two laughed aloud. Kiara extended her hand. “Friends?”

  Shogai didn’t hesitate to take it. “Friends.”

  "Alright, everyone, I apologise on behalf of the Nexeans for that scandal. Let's get you all inside and better."

  Ryukyu walked to the centre of the room, where much of the floor was destroyed. He muttered something about needing to get this room fixed again before clearing his throat.

  "Ryukyu; current Outer Rank 2! Bringing guests!"

  Voice recognised. Welcome, Ryukyu.

  The huge doors somehow creaked open automatically. Was there a person behind that? Probably some kind of powerful telekinetic. Ryukyu saw the states of Shogai, Jade, and Mira.

  "I doubt you have the energy to fully heal them right now, Mira. Kiara, stay here with them. I'll be back in a few minutes with Zinnia-"

  A horrible squelching sound filled the air. Ryukyu glanced downward and found a sword in his chest. He turned around quickly, but another sword came flying and cut his hand clean off.

  Ryukyu yelled in pain and fell to his knees, and Shogai's heart sank. Two figures had walked out of a tunnel. Two Deviants. One had green hair and a bored expression. The other was a furious Sekara, eyes glowing far more harshly than normal.

  "You're not going anywhere, dragon-boy!" Sekara fired one more sword at Ryukyu, and it shot cleanly through him. There was a gaping hole in his chest. With effort, Ryukyu transformed back into his dragon form, healing the wound and letting out a fierce roar.

  "Should've expected that to heal," Sekara said, "but that can't be easy on your body. Now I can break you."

  "Sekara," the other Deviant said lazily, presumably one of her lackeys, "the buzzing hurts. I don't like being this close to their HQ. Let's finish this off and go home. I want to sleep."

  "Fine. But you won't have to do anything. I'm getting my revenge."

  Shogai had never seen Sekara so serious. He was scared. And she noticed.

  "That's the reaction every human has when they see me. What every human should have. The fact that you're still alive is luck, and nothing more. You're worth nothing without a Nexean. You're worth nothing if you can't fight!"

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