We both stood still, but we were tense. Even making a small move will inevitably start the fight. I glared at them behind my goggles. I need to be smart about this; they are clearly much more skilled, experienced, and they outnumber me. But the worst part is that even fighting them briefly, I could tell their teamwork is solid. Fighter and Paladin are the close-range guys, while Ranger would probably act as support.

  But what I'm worried about is Mage. She seemed to be the gadget person in their group. Now that Ranger's sniper is out of the way, she is the most annoying part of the group. I have to take her out.

  "Listen, Red. Fighting them four versus one will just drain your energy. You've got to separate them."

  And how do you suppose I do that? I click my tongue, whatever, I'll just do my best for the time being. I moved, my visor opening to hit Paladin with my optic blasts. He brought his barrier and arms up to protect himself, but he wasn't my target. I rushed to grab Mage, only for Fighter to block my way by bodychecking me with his shield.

  I clicked my tongue as I pounded on his shield, with each blow pushing him back.

  "Get away from him!" Ranger swung his baton, which I caught easily, ripping it away from him as I shoved him back.

  I used the electric baton to hit the Fighter. He successfully parried my attack and another and another. I was far faster, but the skill gap was huge. I felt Paladin had enough standing around and charged in. I turned and threw the baton, which he backed away from before trying to hit me with a left cross.

  I blocked it with one arm. Which was a mistake, while I was distracted, Fighter slammed his baton at my rib, causing me to yelp. They weren't done, though, while I was stunned from both the blow and electricity. They launched a barrage of heavy attacks, which caused significant damage. In fact, according to my SEE Goggles at the end of their combo, eighty-nine of my bones were broken.

  Their devastating barrage ended with Paladin throwing a haymaker, which landed square on my face, sending my tumbling to the floor. I coughed as I struggled to push my heavy body, faintly hearing my bones snapping back to my place. Paladin jumped into the air, preparing to squash me with his massive size, but he was in the air for far too long, and I moved to intercept him. I tackled him as I dragged his body to the large barrier covering the area.

  His back collided with it before I held his arm tightly to prevent him from moving as I punched him several times. His helmet cracked from the force of my attacks. Then Mage boosted herself up in the air, preparing to shoot with a pistol which looked similar to Gavin's anti-tank pistol. I spun Paladin, who shouted before letting go and allowing Paladin crash into Mage in the air. Before I could even catch my breath, Ranger came out of nowhere, boosted by his rocket boots, throwing a haymaker that landed on my jaw.

  "That's for my gun, you brat!"

  I wiped the small trail of blood that escaped my lip as I glared at him.

  "Uh, oh."

  "Uh, oh, is right, you butt!" Before he could get away, I kicked him in the chest with a Spartan kick that sent him flying straight to the floor.

  But before he crashed to the ground, I pulled up his leg and began spinning him several times before letting him go. It resulted in him crashing to the floor very hard. I dove again, preparing to hit him again, but the Fighter was back, this time going on the offensive. Jumping into a flying sidekick, hitting me to the side, making me tumble to the floor with a groan, again.

  [CE : 47%]

  Darn it, that is not good. I forced myself up, clutching my side, but Mage threw a black marble at my foot, and suddenly the marble exploded into a tar-like substance. I tried to move myself away, but I couldn't because my feet were being gummed into the earth. What is this!? I raised to block, but Paladin had already punched my abdomen.

  Then, if that wasn't unpleasant enough, Fighter came in, hitting me with a whack to the head. They did their combo again; this time, it wasn't just them. Mage was taking cheap potshots using her anti-tank pistol behind me. Meanwhile, somehow Ranger got up, grabbed his baton, and, like the Fighter, started whacking me over the head.

  Suffice it to say, I was overwhelmed.

  "Give up already and surrender!" Paladin shouts, bringing his right arm to my jaw.

  "All this pain will be over if you listen, kid!" I hear Mage from behind me, continuing to shoot me.

  "Yeah, what she said!" Ranger brought his baton dangerously close to my crotch.

  Fighter didn't say anything, instead hitting harder and harder. At this point, I was forced to shield myself desperately as their attacks came down like rain. I watch as the damage I'm taking is overwhelming, even with my fast healing factor, and is causing my energy to deplete even faster.

  [CE : 39%]

  Gavin's voice called from my earpiece. "Focus, you got out of their hold!"

  Wow, what a wonderful idea. Thankfully, Gavin's genius is here to rescue me. Still, he's right, I've got to get out of this. But how? Whatever Mage just threw at me is holding me in place.

  I tried to recall any special moves or any AOE attacks that got me out of this. Nothing came up, though, which made me angry to no end!

  Wait, a second. Angry? That's it! I pushed the pain as I outstretched my arms in a T-pose. I opened my palms, generating cosmic red lighting through my fingertips. Fighter must have known what I was doing because he shouted for his teammates to get back, but it was too late.

  I brought both palms together. The result? A massive shockwave so powerful that it knocked everyone nearby into trees. Seeing I'm no longer getting pressured, I immediately looked down and fired my optic blasts to heat whatever that black thing is that is holding me. It's like a black slime, sticky thing.

  However, with my heat vision. The tar-like thing melted into a dark puddle.

  "Ugh. Yuck!" I say as I kick them away.

  Squad Nova was still regaining its bearings, and so I charged in delivering a haymaker to Mage. It sent her to the ground, causing another shockwave due to how hard I hit her. I pursed my lip. I didn't like punching women. It didn't feel like hitting boys.

  Call it sexist or what. I was raised in a home where raising your hand to harm girls was not okay. Still, she's trying to capture me, so I suppose it's fair game. She groaned as she got up, but I delivered a jab, then a hook, before I started unleashing a barrage of punches at her.

  "Arti!" Paladin cried out, getting up to charge at me.

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  I grabbed her leg, spinning around to use her as a bat against Paladin.

  "You little punk!" Paladin growled.

  I instantly felt bad, but I was desperate, and she's currently the most annoying member of the team. I spun her and tossed her away, hoping she's too injured to move. Paladin roared as he charged in, drawing back his fist, and I did the same. Our punches collided, creating another giant shockwave to push against the remaining and still dazed Nova members. We started to trade blows.

  Obviously, Paladin was much more skilled than I, so he landed all of his blows cleanly. But each punch I do land, his legs seem to tremble. Certainly, in terms of raw power, he's the most durable and the strongest.

  "Trading blows is a waste of energy. Just do a feint instead of fighting like a dumb gorilla!" Barked Gavin.

  I followed his orders, drawing back my fist aimed at the solar plexus. Since I also enhanced it with the red lighting, Paladin, instead of countering, tried to block the attack using both wrists and even activating his barrier, but I stopped mid-punch, swapping my other hand to smash the forcefield surrounding Paladin. While his structure is compromised, I finally used my still powered-up arm to launch an upper cut, which sends him high into the air. In fact, I punched him so hard that he collided with the barrier separating us from the outside. The barrier cracked slightly from Paladin's body hitting it.

  I jumped to catch him. Before I slowly descended and rested him carefully on the floor. He was knocked out; there was no use in dealing pointless extra damage. I then moved to Mage, who was unmoving; her helmet had been destroyed, revealing a beautiful raven-haired woman bleeding on her forehead. She was unconscious, hurt, but still alive.

  I then backed away just as a bullet nearly hit my hand. It was Ranger, wielding the anti-tank pistol from Mage, and behind him, panting was Fighter.

  "You better back the hell away from them!" Ranger growled.

  Fighter pointed his baton at me, which crackled with electricity.

  "You'd better get ready, hurting my family is the biggest mistake you made today!"

  "...Bro, you guys attacked me-"

  They didn't listen as they charged at me. The fighter did an overhand swing. I was about to dodge, but Ranger shot my knee, making me lose balance. That was enough time for Fighter to land his baton hard on my head. I yelled in pain, throwing a kick. Fighter moved to the side and slammed the butt of the baton on my shin before I could draw my leg back. It felt like hitting your toes on a table, but somehow so much worse.

  I drew back, hoping to gain some distance. But Fighter was no longer interested in playing games, starting to dash at me like a wildman. I kept levitating back, letting him chase me. Then I pulled the brake, charging a powerful punch that landed on Fighter's caught off guard face. He was launched back, nearly crashing into Range, who continued to fire his anti-tank pistol.

  While his teammate was temporarily stunned, I zoomed in on Ranger. Before ripping the weapon out of his hands, I hit him with my back fist, which spun him around. But it didn't drop him. For a skinny guy and having less armour than Paladin, he's tanking my hits very well. He screams out a battle cry, raising his fists to battle me in a contest of hand-to-hand.

  Obviously, he's much more skilled than me. And although he's mostly using kicks rather than punches, his movements are too slow and far too weak to affect me in a meaningful way. I let him perform a spinning back kick that hit my jaw, which did no damage. Before he could pull his leg back, I grabbed it, pulling him closer before throwing a hook which crashed into his rib. He released a pained sound as he was launched back to a tree.

  I let myself stay still for a moment. Breathing hard, sweat covered my face. My SEE Goggles visor had a small crack, my suit had a couple of tears and was covered in ash and dirt.

  [CE : 22%]

  "Oh my god," I said breathlessly.

  "Nice work, Red! A little rough around the edges, but well done!" Gavin sighs in relief.

  That was incredibly close. I was about to finally get out of there, but then I felt Fighter's silhouette slowly get up. I closed my eyes, of course, he got back up. Gimme a freaking break. I turned to face him. He was slouched, trying to drag his broken body towards me, gripping his baton tight.

  He no longer has his shield; it lay on the floor forgotten. His helmet broke on the left side of his face, allowing me to show the person behind the gear. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. He glared at me fiercely.

  "You'll pay for what...you did...to my...team." He said between pained breaths.

  Again, you and your buddies were trying to beat me up and capture me. What was I supposed to do, let you guys take me and get experimented on? Yeah, pass. Still, I got to give him credit, no, all of them credit. I faced all of the SURVIVOR Versions.

  So the fact that they put me in the ropes, even if they were jumping me, and I didn't have my food. It doesn't change the fact that they gave me more than just a little trouble. I raised my hands up, tired, exhausted, but still willing to scrap. Fighter then freezes before he collapses. Before he falls, I move to hold him, helping him ease his fall.

  "Sorry about your buddies, but I don't want to get captured. If it helps, they're not dead, just regretting their life choices."

  "I-..." His words trail off as a sound reaches my ears.

  It was like a weird whirring sound. Like a PC shutting down. I looked up to see the forcefield pulsing before a few seconds later, the barrier dissolved into blue particles.

  "...They cancelled the barrier?" Fighter croaks out.

  I look at him, confused. He didn't know about this? And what do they mean by 'They'? Reinforcements. I tried to focus, trying to scan for any silhouettes, but other than owls, birds and some critters. There is nothing?

  Unless they are outside Mind's Eye range? Then I heard the sound of a jet flying overhead. No, it wasn't a jet, but a pretty big military plane. I thought they were going to start shooting at me or something. Instead, from what I could see, a hatch under them opened before something existed. It wasn't a person, but it looked like a very round rocket thing.

  "Red, get out of there! That's an atomic bomb!"

  "What!" I cried. "Here!?"

  They're dropping an atomic bomb out of nowhere!? Seriously, what on Earth are the Monarchs thinking! Are they that desperate to strap me to a table!? I was about to move to fly until I noticed Fighter trying to get up as he stared at the atomic bomb that was descending quickly in horror.

  I moved to grab Squad Nova to get them out of the bomb's range. Until I remembered Jimmy and our conversation about animals and habitats. I grit my teeth, clenching my fist.

  "What are you doing!? Get out of there!"

  I ignored Gavin before glaring at the atomic bomb that, according to my SEE Goggles, is about to land in about thirty seconds. I tensed my legs before jumping high and then propelling myself using the air as leverage. I flew upwards, getting closer to the bomb that is roughly the size of a small car. I grabbed it and started to push. Making sure to be careful so as not to set it off.

  I kicked off the air again. I gritted my teeth and tensed everything in my body like I was carrying something fragile. I pushed the bomb higher as the wind howled past my ears. The most worrying part is that I couldn't see the timer like last time. I have no clue when it's going to detonate!

  "Ben, what are you doing!?"

  "Getting it out of here, I'm not letting them nuke the animals or even their own soldiers!"

  "Just throw it, you dummy!"

  I could, but I have no clue what will set it off. I have to be careful with it! We climbed higher and higher.

  "Ben, let it go now, the explosion and radiation are too far for it to do any damage, now!"

  Was it? Or is he just trying to get me out of the way? I trusted Gavin's judgement, I always do. But I wanted to put this all the way to space just in case. I pushed my speed even faster. According to my SEE Goggles, in about ten miles, I was about to reach the Karman Line.

  Then...the casing began to hum. A deep, angry vibration. My stomach dropped.

  "...That's not good."

  "BEN DROP IT—!" Gavin shouted.

  A sharp click echoed from inside the device. I shoved the bomb as far as I could to get away from it. But it's only ten feet in front. I then raised my hands to form a guard as the world turned white.

  A powerful heat envelops my body. The shockwave and the explosion slammed into my chest, which caused me to launch backward. My vision was smarmy, dark, and I think I'm seeing double. I tried to retake control of my body to regain flight and balance. But my body was in too much pain.

  My ears rang violently, like I was in a terrible metal band concert.

  "Ben! BEN RESPOND!" Gavin's voice crackled somewhere distant.

  I smashed into the earth hard enough to create a huge crater. For a moment, I just lay there in the crater, vision blurry, body numb. My breathing is raspy, and blood escapes my lips. My SEE Goggles visor cracked even more. My HUD has several black glitch-like things, but I could still see the important stuff.

  [????C?????E??? ????:?????? ????6???%?????]?????

  Smoke drifted around me as I felt bones and other injuries slowly heal themselves.

  "...Ow," I croaked.

  Somewhere in my ear, Gavin let out the longest, most stressed exhale imaginable.

  "Crazy little brat. You have energy to get home?"

  I forced myself up with wobbly legs. I slowly fly up from my crater. I was still in the forest, and I looked up to see that there was a huge smoke coming from the sky. I looked at them for a long moment before flying away from the scene.