"To all citizens capable of combat, please come to the Fairweather Campus Court as soon as possible. As for everyone who is incapable of fighting, please take shelter until further notice."
Finishing his words, a man stepped down from the podium. A government official beside him asked, "Mr. President, are you prepared for this?"
"Yes, I have been ever since I took up my responsibilities as a country leader. What about everyone else?"
"Your armies are waiting for your command, Sir."
"Tell them... that Operation Whitehole is effective this instant."
The alarms sounded in the city and explosions went off at the park as Daniel watched the unfolding battle with Pointa by his side. Down there, masked men with red bandanas and one man armed with heavy armor were battling the police forces.
"What the hell's going on here?" Pointa asked, spinning his revolver around.
"You remember the men you fought last month?" Daniel replied, slinging his backpack over his shoulders.
"Yeah."
"Well, those people are in the same organization as them. That's why the president called for a meeting at Fairweather Campus. Come on, no time to waste."
"How good are these swords?" asked Luna. She and Arizu were preparing to head out and answer the president's call for help. The latter had given Luna a blue sword and a red sword, both drawn in a cartoonish style.
"The red one creates fire, while the blue one creates ice," said Arizu, painting a portal to the campus.
"Hm... What about the kidnappers?"
"They're strong, but we're all stronger. Come on. The portal's ready."
Atop one of the tall buildings in the city, a girl with short black hair looked down on the streets. Her phone rang in her pocket, and she picked it up, answering the call with a middle-aged fierce yet calm tone.
"Hm? Yeah, I'm available, bro. Alright, I'll get moving now. The campus, wasn't it?"
She hung up, and prepared her Windspace in her hands.
A nearby missile was headed her direction. Even then, it wasn't a match for the twin sister of Chris, Alex Yacht. With a single flick, she split it apart with her wind as she leapt down. A few Secretive members were there, but she simply hit them with a blast of air. Right before she hit the ground, she redirected herself in the direction of the campus and started flying straight.
Shots from the enemy were fired towards her, but she dodged every single one of them. She caught a few and sent them back towards the enemy, a small explosion signaling her success.
Inside the campus court, a lot of people were sitting down on the chairs surrounding the basketball court with a podium in the center. The ceiling was open to let the airborne ability users enter. Even if it allowed the sound to be let out to the Secretives, it didn't matter, since they were already headed there. Although nearly everyone capable of fighting came to the scene, none of them knew why they were called.
A portal opened behind the podium, and out came the country's President, Joey Von Falkhein, with his clean suit and tie. The man had a tall stature and the ability to lead the country, but he didn't need a bodyguard. His ability, Mystic Sorcery, was enough to take care of any intruder trying to get near him.
As he positioned himself behind the podium, the audience waited for his speech to begin.
"As we all know, the Secretives are making their move," he said, his voice echoing out through the speakers around the court. Without the amplifications, his voice sounded like a businessman. "If we consider the scale of their attacks, there is no doubt that they are preparing for something big. Thankfully, some of my people have discovered where they will attack next, which brings us to why I have called all of you here."
"The enemy is rallying their forces by attacking random spots, including the park that Rosten Kaizel destroyed a few weeks ago. This is just a preparation to deter everybody from their main target: Fairweather Campus. I have called upon all of you to ask for your assistance. Please-"
A different portal appeared beside the President and out came a masked man trying to ambush him. With a circular wave of his left hand, he blocked the attack with an orange circle covered in symbols and patterns on his right.
"-defend the place for the sake of the students here. Thank you."
Upon saying the last two words, President Joey blasted the assassin away and tied him up with orange ropes. Meanwhile, a full-on assault team from the Secretives were quickly headed their direction. Everyone quickly rushed out from the front doors or the open ceiling and braced for battle.
Within just mere seconds, dozens of fighters from both sides were put out of action. While the Secretives were powerful in their ability to charge towards the opposition head-on, the President's armies had very good synergy, allowing them to combine their defenses and attacks. Yet, something felt off. Nearly everyone on the field had a bad feeling about this fight.
The handful of people who didn't worry about the fight included Luna, Arizu, and the various Secretive elites they were facing. Using her Lifecall, Arizu called upon her past lives, summoning an engineer and a swordsman.
"13th Ness," she shouted, "build defenses around the campus! 12th Laden, assist the gunners!"
"On it!" her two lives shouted before disappearing into the fight. She kicked away an enemy and slashed another with her sword. Behind her, Luna utilized her swords and her ability to deal as much damage as she could.
12th Laden's armor gleamed as he slammed his sword down on the enemies surrounding Daniel and Pointa.
"Nice!" said Pointa. "A melee support!" He chugged down a bottle of beer before quickly firing shots around.
Arielle, Klein, Chizuru, and Sam were grouped together, defending the back of the campus. A few other classmates joined them earlier, but had to be taken to Arielle's A.D. Room for recovery. Their attacks wore down the waves of Secretive members faster than the rest of the defending groups as they punched, blasted, sliced, and whipped everything near them. Even the birds, which Chizuru called on for help, had to dodge the attacks while dealing their own attacks.
Inside the campus, Vidya was strategizing by herself while her mom participated in the fight outside when one of the enemies broke in through the window. She screamed as he was about to attack, but the latter was quickly pulled out by a gust of wind. Alex jumped in through the hole, followed by the mysterious electric girl.
"Yo," said Alex. "The President wanted me to give this to you."
She handed her a ring with runic patterns on it. After accepting the gift, Vidya asked, "What's this for?"
"You know how the President defends himself, right?"
"Yeah, he has these mystic circles and stuff."
"That ring allows you to gain a part of his powers. Good for self-defense. Anyway, gotta go now. The battlefield's calling."
"Um... Alright."
The two girls left just as soon as they came in, leaving Vidya to deal with her strategy. A large swarm of Secretives were quickly wearing down the army on the west door, so they dashed in to help.
Alex gathered most of the enemies with a tornado, allowing the girl to dash in and take them out with ease. While she continued beating down the rest of the enemies, a part of the army with elemental-type abilities threw their shots at the tornado, causing it to whirl around while throwing out flames and icicles.
The heavily armored Secretive that Daniel and Pointa saw earlier mowed its way through the battlefield, only to be intercepted by 12th Laden. Neither side exchanged a word as they concentrated hard on pushing the opponent back. On the latter's right, Daniel shot a sniper bullet straight through the armor as Pointa drove it further in with his revolver, immobilizing it.
A transparent pink circle covered part of the battlefield, trapping numerous enemies inside. Noelle, utilizing her Plasma Domain, started throwing attacks everywhere, regardless of direction. Once they hit the circle, they bounced back, going all over the place until they hit someone or finished bouncing a few times.
Back at the court, its ceiling now closed, the President was waiting for a certain man to come. His spies told him the exact time that person would arrive.
"According to them, he should arrive in about... now."
Screams started echoing from outside. Then came the sound of a massive amount of energy being compressed into a singularity. And then... the ceiling opened up. A man wearing a long, brown twin-tailed coat over his buttoned-up white shirt and black jeans floated down to the ground. His eyes were as red as blood, and he came with the intention of having a fight.
"There you are, Cain Johnson."
"Joey Von Falkheim. Or should I say, Former President."
"I'll still be President for as long as I live."
"And that term'll be cut short this instant."
In an instant, the both of them clashed. President Joey blocked Cain's sudden attack with a shield before retaliating with a triangular formation that blasted the latter away. Making two circles with his arms, he cast out circular turrets that fired small daggers. Cain was prepared, however, and erased the turrets out from existence with a snap of his fingers.
"Goodness," said the President. "Your skill level has become this big?"
"Yes. I could kill you right now, but I'd rather not. It'd bring an unsatisfying end on my part."
Cain jumped in with a flurry of attacks, all blocked by his opponent, who took out 2 swords out of nowhere. Using his Spatial Manipulation ability, he stole Luna's swords and imbued them with the power of the moon. "My swords!" they heard her shout. However, not even that could break past the President's defenses.
"He doesn't know that I know his weakness," the both of them thought as they clashed again. As sparks flew about, Arizu noticed that Luna had went missing. Quickly looking around, she saw the moon getting larger and larger. Wait, that wasn't the moon...
"Got you now!" the President shouted as he conjured a spell that kept Cain in place, making him unable to do anything.
"Heh. Look outside."
"Wh-?!"
Luna's eyes shone like the moon as she charged up her ultimate attack. The earth shook as a massive artificial moon appeared atop her outstretched hand high in the air.
"Enough with the fighting!" she shouted, hurling the artificial moon at the spot where Cain was fighting with the President.
He managed to release himself and snapped his fingers, erasing the moon. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather kill someone I don't know."
The moment his red eyes glowed, Luna was teleported in between the two and he prepared a lethal punch. He thrust his arm straight through her, but she turned into a mass of blood before disappearing. Klein had swapped her out with a life-like copy made out of blood in the nick of time, and was now holding her in his arms as he looked down on the two leaders.
"Even the son of the notorious Rosten Kaizel is here?!" they thought.
After handing Luna to Arizu, who leapt up into the air with the help of 13th Ness, he went down into the court and stood beside the President.
"Hey, Cain," he said. "Your elites mentioned your name right in front of me and my class back when they assaulted the research facility."
"That's a mistake on their part. Then again, you still don't know what we're here for."
"Let me guess, that girl?"
"Do you mind specifying, because we have absolutely no idea who you're talking about?"
Right on cue, the electric girl leaped to Klein's side.
"Her."
Cain smiled, knowing his prey had just jumped right in front of him, and said, "Correct."
Alex, Arielle and Daniel jumped in, ready to fight against their main enemy. Even as they readied their attacks, Cain couldn't help but continue smiling at the fact that they had just made a terrible mistake.
Being the first to figure out the extent of what he could do, Arielle quickly dashed to the girl's side and held her shoulder before activating her A.D. Room. However, Cain made it in a few seconds later, and said, "Hello there, ladies."
Screaming in fright as Cain prepared his ultimate attack, Arielle brought him out, but also took the girl out by accident. To fix this, she went back to the real world and brought in the entire group, except for the girl, just as he used his greatest move.
"Stasis!"
Everything around him came to a stop. The fighting, the attacks, the screaming, everything except for him and everyone's consciousness. Cain walked over to the electric girl and was prepared to take her away when a mystic chain caught him by the arm.
"?!"
A gust of wind was pulling him backwards. Alex was there, trying to bring him in. Just as he was about to stop her from moving, Daniel shot him thrice in various parts of the body while the President chained him up and stopped him from moving.
"Let's see," he said. "What condition will cause you to deactivate your ability?"
He created a portal that led to the other side of the world, but it closed before he could do anything. With a single glance, the three of them were stuck in Stasis.
The only ones he hadn't caught yet were Klein and Arielle, who appeared just on time. The latter smacked him right in the face and Klein threw him up into the air with a pillar of blood.
"Boost me up!" she shouted as she prepared to get towards Cain.
"Sure thing!" Klein shouted back as he launched a blood pillar at her feet, allowing her to use her Enhanced Ground-Breaking Slam in midair. However, just as she was about to deal a ton of damage, Cain snapped his fingers, causing her and the electric girl to vanish while setting himself up at the same time.
As he undid his Stasis on everyone, Klein couldn't help but be enraged. He screamed loud enough to shake the ground, disturbing everyone around him. Anger flowed through his blood as his eyes turned red and black.
Even his father, sitting inside his cell, felt the pressure Klein was going through.
"Heh. Guess I'll lend you my power."
The clouds gathered above the campus and blood started raining down. A red aura started growing around Klein, scaring everyone but Cain.
"Getting fiesty now, are we?" he said as he charged in for the kill. All of a sudden, Klein appeared right in front and delivered a punch that sent him flying towards the court entrance.
"Dad's Delta: Destruction and Mom's Position... Oh, please. If I wanted to, I could wipe out everyone here." Klein said as he put his hands to the side. As his arms moved, he slowly created a portal similar to the ones used by the President.
Cain failed to stop him before he finished, and had to face off against a barrage of beams directed at him.
"Ancestors' Wrath – Rage Enhanced."
The beams rained down on him, slowly wearing him out. Everywhere he went, the beams would change direction just as quickly.
"10th Kyoshin and 9th Sven, assist him!" shouted Arizu, calling out her past lives. "11th Jess, make a weapon that can amplify Mystic Sorcery!" As she spoke, an amplified gunner, a northerner, and a blacksmith appeared before her.
Klein and Cain were already duking it out, spear to sword. 9th Sven, the northerner, threw one of his snow hammers at Cain, slowing him down a little. 10th Kyoshin assisted with his shots, raining bullets down on him alongside the ongoing blood rain. In the midst of the battle, the President started conjuring beams out of portals, their number increasing thanks to the ring 11th Jess forged for him.
"You're got a ton of supports, huh, Arizu?!"
Klein continued his assault, conjuring various weapons to attack, but Cain still stood tall. Outside, the Secretives retreated, knowing that their leader had finished his job.
"Yo, they're retreating!" Pointa shouted. "We won!"
"No... We lost," said Daniel, looking at the half-destroyed campus.
"What do you mean?"
"They came for the electric girl. Seeing as how they left without hesitation..."
"Damn it!" Pointa threw his bottle of beer on the floor, breaking it apart.
Luna silently cried as Arizu called back her past lives. Cain was just too powerful for all of them. Not even the President and his allies could beat him.
"Well, my job here is done," Cain said as he put everyone around him into Stasis. Just as he was about to leave through a portal, Klein somehow managed to break out and slice his arm.
"You used too much energy for that attack, didn't you?"
The inflicted wound wasn't that big, so it had no effect on him.
"Although, I have to admit, it's very impressive that you managed to break past my Stasis."
With a chop to the neck, he knocked Klein out and walked through the portal, closing it behind him. Arielle appeared after that, right at the same spot where she nearly crushed Cain.
"He made a mistake," she said, looking around the place. "Even when he's acting all high and mighty like that, not to mention pairing it up with a really crazy ability... Even the most perfect of humans make slight mistakes."
"Is it because he took the girl?" the President asked, approaching her.
"No. His mistake was way bigger than that. He left us alive."
"Operation Whitehole was a failure," said the President as he prepared to go back, recounting the events that happened. "We only knew about their intents late into the fight, causing the target to be taken by them. Currently, we are searching for her location. It is said that she is kept in an underground facility, but that's all the intel we have. We must find her, as soon as possible. That is all I can say for now."