The voice was familiar. One deep and marred by age. Hiroto.

As time seemed to slow for him, Brock’s eyes flickered down the dagger travelling toward his demise. His Intelligence worked overtime to predict the amount of time he had before it landed, and when it finally got a result, he wasn’t happy.

One second. Shit.

His aura increased in intensity, Brock squeezing out as much potential as possible, and Oppressive Might slammed down on the blade. As a shudder travelled down Minerva’s spine from the sudden appearance of her leader, she lurched slightly, her arm abruptly changing courses. Brock hissed as the dagger slid past the flesh of his shoulder and grazed against his collar bone.

He met the woman’s eyes with a grin. Quickly though, it devolved into a wince as his wounds throbbed with pain. Better the shoulder than the bloody neck…

Far behind her, he could see Hiroto standing out in the open, nestled between the trunks of two trees. His arms were held rigidly behind his back, and his face was scrunched into a scowl. From the way his aura was twisting and turning within him, he was certainly not happy.

“Minerva.” He spoke as they disengaged, and Brock took a step back. The man’s voice was low and dangerous, “I asked you to bring this man to me in the Garden.”

The woman spun around. While she seemed surprised, she wasn’t exactly panicking, “It seems there was a miscommu-”

“Explain to me,” Hiroto, or the Patriarch, disregarded her words entirely and continued, “why he was brought to the forest and attacked instead.”

Clicking his tongue, Brock felt at his broken and bleeding nose and tried to straighten it out a bit. Minerva took a step back, as though she anticipated an attack. From the venom contained in the elderly man’s voice, Brock wouldn’t discount it occurring.

Eventually though, just bowed her head in defeat and scoffed. She didn’t utter a word, yet it was clear to Brock that she was ashamed. Ashamed that she was caught, not at what she had done.

Just you wait till my paths are healed. Brock narrowed his eyes her way her shadow rose up and consumed her.

Several seconds of tense silence followed.

Hiroto neither said nothing nor did nothing, and idly, Brock realised his once tumultuous aura had appeared to settle back to the epitome of calm. Either he was bi-polar or something, or he had immense aura control. After staring down Minerva’s disappearing form, the elderly man turned a tender gaze toward Brock.

“Are you ok?” his eyes flickered over his various stab and face wounds. He appeared to be genuinely concerned.

The man under scrutiny shrugged and snorted, though the act sent a glob of blood dribbling down his lip, “I’ll be right in a day. Nothing too bad.”

He wiped it away.

Brock glanced at the blood, noting it to be a shade darker than usual. Pre-System usual. That… doesn’t look like a good thing…

He flinched the next second, however, as the old man’s aura enveloped him. It felt holy and delicate, like a prayer, and the gentle flow caressed his body like a nursing mother. Brock watched as the blood clinging to him and his clothes dissolved into crimson mist and was whisked away in the low breeze.

“The least I can do,” Hiroto gave a respectful nod and began to stroll back the way he came. There were no words involved on that front, but Brock knew this was an invitation to follow him. It was time for the actual meeting.

Brock glanced at where Minerva had last been as he opted to walk forward. From how they’d seemed to have disregarded each other, it seemed that they weren’t really on good terms right now. After learning that she had left Jane to die over indignance, he was pretty sure he knew why.

“…Asshole.”

If Hiroto heard him, he didn’t react at all, or care, perhaps. His aura was the picture-perfect image of tranquillity, and like all the others that bowed under him, Brock could see that his aura was bound seamlessly to the bounds of his Inner Self.

He had to admit, he owed the old man one after he interfered. While he would have managed to deflect the throat strike somewhat regardless, Brock had no idea if Minerva would have stopped after that. Chances were, they’d still be fighting right now if he hadn’t showed up.

He wasn’t exactly in his strongest state as of current, and he’d rather not get beaten up because of it.

“I… apologise for Minerva’s actions,” Hiroto began as Brock brought himself from his thoughts, “she can be quite… vengeful at times. Self-centred, arrogant. I’m sure the hormones aren’t helping with that.”

Brock cocked a brow, “Hormones?”

The elderly man glanced at him from over his shoulder, “Yes. Those rumours of her having evolved her race are not rumours, but truth. Her aged regressed around thirty years, and with it comes hormones she had long lost.”

He turned back to the front, “I don’t pretend to understand what it’s like, but she hasn’t been the same since. While she wasn’t too different before, she at least controlled herself.”

“Regardless for the reasoning behind her actions, I’m truly sorry.” He finished, breathing out.

Huh. Interesting. Brock nodded slowly and shrugged, acknowledging the man’s words. Certainly, he hadn’t thought that evolving one’s race would also come with shortcomings, “Don’t apologise, mate. You weren’t the one that was beating my ass.”

Hiroto chuckled softly, “Perhaps.”

As they continued walking, Brock quickly noticed that they weren’t returning to the city, but instead moving further away from it and deeper into the forest. He couldn’t detect any other aura signatures apart from that of the Patriarch’s around, but still, he kept his eye out. Among the shadows, his senses weren’t exactly all that reliable.

Compared to his sight, that was.

The sound of loam squishing underfoot and birds chirping quickly calmed him down and made his vigilance lose its edge, however. He was certain it wasn’t an ability, but instead the power of nature. Slowly, Brock felt the tension work its way out of his shoulders. It’s… nice.

As the trees began to give way to bamboos of various colours and flowers of stunning palates, Brock spoke out, recalling something from the previous fight, “Minerva can enhance her body with her aura, right?”

Hiroto halted in his gait for a split second, before continuing, “I’m surprised you noticed that, but yes. She can. Even I have no idea how she does it. Jane too.”

“So, she’s the only one?” Brock ventured, hopeful that it wasn’t the case.

“There are others among other factions; the Harakat comes to mind, though they’re extremely volatile. I wouldn’t discount them shooting at you just because it would amuse them,” he once again looked back, and he levelled his gaze with Brock, “I’d recommend you limit your contact with them. From what those under me have gathered, they’re a collection of criminals and ex-convicts.”

“Death-row inmates make up a considerable portion of their leadership.” He added, almost darkly.

Brock cocked a brow. Yeah, I think I’ll listen here…

The elderly man sighed, “That said, if you wish to learn whatever Minerva had done, you may want to gain her favour.”

“…I bid you good luck with that.” He muttered to himself.

Brock scoffed. While being able to utilise his aura to empower himself would be an undoubtably priceless skill, even when he had regained his ability to use Augments and Techniques, he didn’t know if he willing to swallow his pride and accept her as his teacher. Putting aside the matter of her actually accepting him, he doubted she’d teach him even if she did. She’d probably just taunt him the whole while.

In the end, it came down to power boost, or no power boost. Though, he supposed that he could always figure it out himself, Minerva completely excluded. Maybe he’d need to fight her once more to get another glimpse, but he felt confident that he could do so eventually.

Either way, he sighed, feeling his mood deflate somewhat, “And what about that aura control you all have?”

“Aura control?” Hiroto seemed confused.

Brock nodded, “Yeah. I can see that all your auras are pressed inside of you perfectly. None escapes.”

This time, Hiroto didn’t pause in his gait for a split second but stopped entirely. Slowly, he turned to face Brock, his wrinkled face a visage of shock. His eyes flickered over him, seeming to study his body, trying to take him apart and view every faucet of his existence.

Brock felt oddly… uncomfortable, “um… mate?”

Hiroto seemed to regain himself, and he apologised, “You… can see aura? You possess Sight? Like your sister?”

“Sight?” this time, it was Brock’s turn to be confused, “wait, Jane can see aura too?”

A back and forth followed for a few minutes, then Brock quickly found out that Hiroto was all too happy to elaborate on the matter of what’d he’d just said. A literal hour-long conversation ensued, and Brock was terrified to find it was about 80% exposition and 20% actually useful information.

Why… did I not see this coming?

From the things of importance that Hiroto had said, ‘Sight’ – as it was uncreatively deemed - was a unique ability the Dojo had discovered Jane to have possessed several months back. In fact, he had mentioned that her discovery of this ability was the very reason they had developed a method for such fine aura control.

And by ‘they’, he meant her. She was a genius and an invaluable asset to the clan, apparently.

Originally, her other clansmen were said to have thought the ability was wasted on her due to her blindness at birth, an issue which had caused troubles for his elder sister since before he was even born. He had always admired her strength in the face of adversity. But, this time, they soon realised it was the complete opposite. Her blindness was a blessing.

Due to her lacking conventional sight, her ability to see aura was immensely enhanced, so much so, that she could basically see the world anyway, albeit in shades of various colours and gaseous surfaces. According to her, aura wasn’t as gaseous as people believed. It was delivered as such but acted much like soundwaves in her Sight.

In her own words, delivered by Hiroto of course, aura ‘is emitted, and those settled traces produce waves of radiation that reflect off every surface, before finally fading.’

Brock was yet to see any of that, and he and Hiroto were both clueless if he ever would, considering he actually possessed working eyes, but it was still enlightening to the power’s abilities. The inability to be hidden from, the ability to observe and study aura without the broad strokes and inaccuracy of mere aura senses. It possessed a myriad of uses, it seemed.

It was similar to Fon’s abilities to see and observe energies, albeit far more niche. He’d also be able to better see aura, as his sight wasn’t packed with all the other sorts of energies at play crisscrossing and interfering with each other.

“Huh. Well, that’s… something.” Brock said as Hiroto finally finished speaking.

Hiroto chuckled, “Indeed. Now, it’s time for the reason I called you here.”

In Hiroto’s excitement, they hadn’t moved from their position. Not even a step. So, the man once again began trekking into the bamboo. Brock followed and was amazed to see the way forest seamlessly shifted to traditional a Japanese garden, though it looked somewhat like it was from an alternate reality.

Unrecognisable flora, stunning flowers, and mind-bending plants were able to be seen in every direction he looked, and it was incredible. Brock even felt the soothing effect of nature redouble in this location, like it all gave off a passive effect just from existing.

They passed under a gateway - a torii - surrounded by walls of yellow and blue bamboo, and Hiroto began speaking once more, “Recently, we have established radio contact with other settlements across the world. The connections are a bit patchy, of course, but communication is possible, nonetheless.”

Brock furrowed his brows, “So why’d you need me here then?”

Hiroto smiled widely, “There’s someone that wishes to speak with you.”

**

Ari Ahnjong lifted her spoon up to her mouth and deposited its contents directly into her waiting maws. The sweet taste of artificial colours and flavours – and not to mention sugar, a lot of it – exploded on her tongue and she smiled in sweet, sweet ecstasy. Fruit Loops; truly they were the cereal at the apex of humanity.

At all sides, armed guards stood, even a few she recognised as part of the group Brock Carter had beaten up months ago. Mostly, that event had been a ploy to lure him to her naturally without alerting her criminally aligned sister, but it had also served as a way to give those under her some combat experience and root out those that weren’t truly fit for combat.

None of them had seen a monster like him before, after all.

Over ten of the few dozen she had sent at him had resigned after they’d been healed back to their prime, and she didn’t blame them. They would have only been a liability during harder times anyway, had they stayed.

In the end, while her decision to enact that battle was harsh, it was the right call. Those very people that had been utterly brutalised were the same group that had taken down a Tyrant and protected Adelaide in her stead while she was venturing out into the wilds and building momentum to break past level 50. It was a low level one, sure, but it was still a Tyrant, nonetheless.

They’d all seen glimpses of one or two in the Compendium, but there strength truly was on another level. Thankfully, it was dead, and its body had been used to assist in many of their city’s issues. Such as the core it had possessed inside of it. A screen had even appeared when they’d found it, naming it to be a Crystallised Ascent, something that was apparently inside every one of its kind.

She had no idea what its name meant, but the core now powered the entire city and then some, so she didn’t really care. Strangely enough, bearing near it was, and still is, highly beneficial to those that possess ice attuned Augments.

And as her troops were growing in strength, so was she, currently sitting at the height of level 70, bordering 80. She smiled. Power was an addictive substance after all, even more so than that Pink they had recently rid the city of in its entirety. A few had tried to ‘take over’ the business in Ha-Eun’s absence and they had been expelled from the city.

She had long found that jail was no longer a solution for this superpowered society. Certainly, a few had returned for vengeance, and that posed an issue that she needed to rectify. Casting them out was only an endeavour in breeding conflict.

Ari hated to do it, but she had used her powers to drive them insane. They now wandered the country, no different from beasts. It was only a half-measure, sure. Maybe she should have killed them, but she didn’t wish to stoop that low, ever. She knew a time would come, but so far, it was yet to present itself. And maybe, what she was doing now was worse anyway.

Either way, the woman lifted the spoon up to her mouth once more, eager to enjoy another burst of delectable flavou-

“Ari!” the arm of the woman in question jolted, and the milk landed in her lap. Gritting her teeth, she looked up at the intruder that had just charged through the door to her hidden sanctuary on the coast, “We did it! We have their signal again!”

Ari Ahnjong placed her spoon back in the bowl and brushed her loops of sugar out of her lap, “Ha-Eun, couldn’t you have just knocked? I was eating.”

Her younger sister rolled her eyes. The rebelliousness was still in there, but no longer was righteous and angry, just defiant. They had repaired their relationship over the time since she had been captured by Brock Carter, and together had reached an understanding of each other. Sure, they still fought, but it was simply a sisterly affair now.

“You want to establish communication with the mainland or not?” Ha-Eun’s voice practically dripped her ire.

Ari waved her hand and stood, sighing loudly, “Fine, fine. Let’s go.”

Her sister’s face broke out into a grin, and Ari gave her a mental slap. Literally. It possessed all the same pain and shock, but with no physical injuries or consequences. She could do worse with her powers, but a simple slap should suffice. Ha-Eun glared daggers at her as they left.

It was only around a five-minute sprint to her main office in the city proper, considering their System enhanced Agility. The elevator trip added another two to their arrival time, and finally, as a ding resounded and the doors slid open, they stepped out onto the top floor.

All manner of machines were strewn about and stationed along the walls, with dozens of people running around at any time as they tinkered, modified, or just plain tested their inventions or repaired constructs. They walked past all of that, however, and into a small room beyond. It led to a staircase up to the rooftop.

Ari didn’t particularly like it up there, for obvious reason, though Ha-Eun did, for unobvious reasons, and charged right up the stairs. Sighing, the older woman followed behind her and soon found herself stepping out onto the roof, the blue sky stretching out around her endlessly. It was strangely breathtaking.

In the centre of it all was a single machine, overly bulky and attached to an antenna bordering five meters in height. Ari had no idea if it was safe to build atop the roof, but their Architect had said so, so eh. Ha-Eun scrambled up to the machine and snatched the microphone off its stand.

“Hello? It’s Ha-Eun again. I’ve got Ari.” She spoke into its bulbed end.

Nothing happened for several seconds, and Ari felt her frustration rise, both at the radio system’s inability to function as intended and the fact that her breakfast had been cut short. There was only a limited supply of Fruit Loops in the world now, and she’d just wasted half a bowl’s worth.

It had been over two months since they had started testing the comms device in order to contact other cities around the world. The technician that worked on it said it was working perfectly, so she knew it wasn’t an error on the machine’s part. Despite that, she couldn’t help but want to strangle it.

The connections were always very inconsistent. Sometimes, they established contact, only for the machine to lose its connection to them midway through the conversation. They didn’t regain usage for days at a time, and it was insanity inducing. She somewhat suspected foul play, probably by the presence of a beast, though no matter how hard they searched, it was impossible to find.

If it was hidden underground or something, she had no idea.

Just as Ari prepared to return to her dockside abode, a familiar withered voice resounded. That of Hiroto Takahashi, ‘Meiyo’s’ leader, “Good. There was a man you wished to speak with?”

They had spoken to him weeks ago on the state of the world in Tokyo, but the connection had cut out, and they had struggled to regain it. It was a big issue as well, because Hiroto controlled one of the big few cities on the mainland. Adelaide certainly wasn’t small or disorganised by any metric, but merely by location was Meiyo more valuable.

Ari stepped forward and grabbed the mic from her sister, “…Hello?”

Another familiar voice resounded, and her heart skipped a beat. Not from anything like love or nostalgia, but fear. His voice was so domineering, and it spoke of battle, of determination and brutality. It was the voice of true warrior.

An extremely easy going one.

“Ari…?”