It couldn’t have been more than an hour later that Shogai woke up. He was feeling entirely better, apart from his throbbing headache. It wasn't made better when the person beside his hospital bed hit him in the head.

  "Idiot." Raven crossed her arms and glared at him. "Are you dim? What were you thinking? You would have killed her and then yourself!"

  Kiara was next to Raven, seemingly waiting for her to finish her rant. Shogai was still numb, so he what he said was probably unwise;

  "She said not to hold back…"

  That earned him another slap.

  "Get up. I'm sending you on a mission. That'll show you."

  "Do you have the authority to-"

  Raven threateningly raised her hand again, and Shogai nodded. "Fine."

  "Wright is heading to Kravdra. You're going with him. Now. Get up. Go!"

  Shogai didn't want to get on her bad side, so he obliged immediately, standing up and ignoring his spinning head. He went to find Wright.

  "Hey Shogai, I wanted to ask you something." Kiara said as she walked alongside him. "Can I challenge you?"

  "What?"

  "Your Rank match was interrupted, so there wasn't a clear winner. But Tina made the decision herself. You would have beaten her. You are now Outer 4."

  Shogai stopped in his tracks. What? Just like that? Why did Tina step down? She could have beaten him. He needed to use a technique that could have killed him. And Raven was right. Why did he do that? It was so stupid in hindsight, but he felt like he could control it. He didn't get the chance to try, but he had a strong feeling that it would have worked out.

  "Well… can I?"

  Kiara was waiting for his response. It was only then he processed what she was asking.

  "You want to challenge me now that I've ranked up because you don't have the confidence to take on a more experienced Nexean."

  "Spot on."

  Wright was outside when they found him, seemingly about to leave. When he saw Shogai and Kiara, he waved. Shogai glanced back to see Raven glaring at him, making sure he didn't try and get out of it, and he asked Wright if he could come along.

  "Of course! The more, the merrier. Kiara, you too?"

  Kiara hesitated, but agreed. Shogai had told her she can challenge him tomorrow, but she must have felt bad about immediately asking him when he woke up. She wanted to help.

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  "Alright, awesome. Come along then."

  It was standard for Nexeans to travel in groups of three when a Deviant is suspected to be involved. Two Outer Ranks and one Inner Rank. And this was the first time Shogai had ever partnered with an Inner Rank. Ryukyu was apparently close to them in power, or even on their level, but it didn’t feel the same working with him as it did right now. Wright carried himself with confidence, as if nothing could go wrong, even though he thought a Deviant was about to be his enemy. As if any villain to face him would never be able to win. It was admirable, but Shogai didn't want to keep looking up to the Nexeans. After all, he was one of them now.

  "Take these." Wright threw a small object at Shogai, and another at Kiara. It was a badge.

  "This might turn into a rescue operation, in which case you'll be seen by the public. The King gave us these. Royal guards wear them. If we're seen, we won't be giving away that Nexus is real."

  "You didn't wear those when Sekara attacked my village, or outside Gongadion."

  "We weren't? I suppose we must not have been expecting to be seen. Ryukyu said that outside Gongadion he didn't have the time to put badges on before he was in a fight. It's situations like those that keep the rumour of Nexus fresh. Spreading the word to the few witnesses. Anyway, since we're expecting to interact with citizens, keep those on."

  A tunnel exit was in sight. The area was bright and colourful. The ocean was visible just a few hundred metres away. Based on the angle of the sun, that meant they were on the Southern Coast. The furthest south Shogai had ever been.

  "Do you find it immoral that we use tunnels that Aberrants dug to get to places? The tunnels they use to attack people?"

  Wright was directing the question at Shogai and Kiara, almost like a test. Kiara was the first to respond.

  "Not really. We're not using them for free, we risk running into Deviants every time we use them. And we use them for good, not evil. Maybe it's immoral, but it'd be stupid to let that get in the way of saving lives "

  "Good. That's the right answer. It sucks, but a lot of what we do is immoral. We leave Aberrants alive so that other villages aren't too comfortable. We use the environment of the enemy as a travel path. Even technology. The waves that they emit irritate Aberrants and Deviants alike. It makes them stay away. But they want nothing more than to destroy that source of irritation. Aberrants can rarely overcome this feeling, but Deviants can persevere. At Nexus HQ, there's so much tech that no Deviant would ever want to approach. But we don't have enough of it to spread around the island. Giving other places technology would simply make them a beacon for Deviants. While we live in luxury, we force the rest of the world to fight off those monsters. The public would hate us if they knew we were real, but until then…"

  Wright pointed towards a village in the distance. Kravdra. There were sounds of panic from inside.

  "... I think they'd like our help."

  Shogai and Kiara had been granted the job of evacuating the citizens while Wright distracted the Deviant. Since they didn't know who their enemy was, it would be too risky to prioritise defeating them over saving the people of the village. Shogai understood that. The scene looked an awful lot like the village he couldn’t save everyone from. This was his second chance.

  A large group of people were gathered outside, seemingly the ones that could escape. Wright immediately and professionally asked them how many people were still in the village.

  "Maybe 50? We're the ones that were on the outer edges of the village. The trapped people will all be in the centre!"

  "You heard him, you two. Straight to the centre! Avoid engaging the Deviant in combat. Go!"

  Shogai and Kiara nodded, and rushed off towards the village. The surrounding buildings were half collapsed. It was identical to the scene at Shogai's village, just without the fire. On another day, Shogai might have been mad. But he knew the stakes. He had to keep a cool head.

  "Clear a path, I'll bring everyone out of the building!"

  "Got it!"

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