As per the Order, Rin didn't move. Not that she felt like it anyway. The man that was marching towards them was Law, someone she knew, and while they couldn't be called friends so much as acquaintances, there wasn't any reason to disobey him. In fact, this was a good opportunity to show Celia that she, indeed, talked with people other than her. If Ruby was somewhere around, that was even better. And more than that, observing the abomination walking alongside the sunglassed man (why he was wearing those in this kind of weather was still a complete mystery) required her full focus.

Mutants existed in the past when the Elite just began to appear around the world but, since their lifespan were all so short, it was common knowledge across Refuge that they had all already died. What was this thing then?

It was more than twice her height, more massive than anyone she had ever met, and, no matter how long she looked at its face (supposing it was a face in the first place) she failed to see any... 'human' feature on it. It looked more like a dog's— no, a wolf?—, covered in black and white-colored fur, and two triangle-like ears protruding at the top of its head. It didn't have eyes, though, just a long muzzle filled with scars and covered with long, pointy fangs. Looking at it was... unsettling to say the least. It looked like a Werewolf, if Rin had to compare it to something.

Where did that thing come from?

The most plausible answer was through a Rift, but that brought even more questions such as: Why was it following Law? Why wasn't it rampaging yet? And more than that, how has it escaped Ark's surveyance?

The first two questions could be answered with Law's Singularity, but, even then...

—Wait. Why wasn't she moving again?

“Please, do not think too badly of us, Kuroki Rin.” The sunglassed man said, arriving in front of her. “For my plan to work, I need a way to keep the Winter Noble House at bay— I need a hostage.” He took off his glasses before lifting her chin. “I promise, we will treat you kindly.”

He smiled and Rin shivered. She needed to do someth— No, everything was fine. Law hadn't done anything so there was no reason for her to move.

...Was there?

“Now come.” The man said, taking a step back while beginning to turn in the way he had come from. “Follow Me.”

“Al....right...” She said, hesitatingly.

The abomination looked down at her, and, to be honest, Rin felt scared. She had fought and... killed a monster a few days ago but, unlike what she hoped, that didn't change her uneasiness around them. If anything, it made it worse, since, right now, nausea was making her uncomfortable. ‘No... this is not... Fear, is it?’ She thought, looking away from the thing. That she had to approach it really didn't help, but, what could she do?

She needed to follow Law, after all. Plus, having a monster that didn't immediately jump at her was nice for a change. Monster was a big word, anyway. For all she knew, the thing might not even have been real. If Aiden was willing to help them for whatever twisted reason then, Ursa, was, too.

“What's wrong?” Law asked, probably because she hadn't moved at all. “Don't resist and come here. We're...” He paused, following her gaze. “Oh, this?” He patted the thing's shoulder. “This is just a very big, um... ‘Mascot’. Don't worry, I expressly gave it the Order to not hurt you.”

Rin gulped and, very slowly, took a step forward.

She didn't get to take another step before a jolt of electricity prickled her right hand, spreading directly towards her brain. She gasped and felt the fog that plagued her mind disperse like it wasn't even there to begin with. A flash of warm red light shone at the corner of her eyes.

“N-no...” Celia said out the corner of her eyes, holding her hands. “No!”

Rin wasn't the only one that widened her eyes at that.

‘No, not now’—She thought, mentally shaking her head before shifting her attention back to Law. Another Order from him and it would be game over

“What—!” The man himself frowned, bewildered by the situation.

A too-sweet opportunity to miss. Rin hit him hard on his throat with the side of her left hand to make him choke. No voice means no Order, hopefully. And no Order means he was as harmless as a normal human being. At the very least, he should not be able to speak for a few minutes. Which left—

The pressure coming off of the aberration was so strong, that Rin couldn't even make sure if she had hit the man properly. The thing did not move, though, probably because it was given the order to not hurt her. Up close it was a really scary sight. ‘Should she fight it?’ If it was not going to attack her, it was a guaranteed victory but, it was all too obvious things wouldn't work out that well.

Just as she wondered what to do, the thing raised its hand in a fist and brought it down before she could form a proper guard. Wind blew past her with a force she had never seen but the pain and struggle she had expected never came to her. Instead, she heard a grunt and the sound of the ground cracking before her.

“This isn't sweet at all,” Sophia said, blocking the animal-like arm in front of her.

The girl was weaker and was slowly being pushed back. When the monster raised its other hands, Rin knew the Elite would not be able to avoid it. She moved, clenched her hands on the back of the girl's clothes, and yanked it back in her direction, barely saving her from the monster's horizontal swing. The monster didn't stop, however, opening its big mouth while taking a step forward, ready to chop off her head.

Rin instinctively jumped back with all her strength, still with a firm grip on Sophia. She nearly cursed out loud when she realized the aberration could and did the same. Her right leg found itself in between the thing's jaw, waiting patiently for the monster to rip it off. Mid-air and with no foothold, Rin paled.

To her surprise, however, she suddenly picked up speed and unnaturally flew high into the sky, leaving the monster to chomp on empty air. Her grip on Sophia loosened but a hand caught her around her waist. They were not falling. Rin's heartbeat quickened.

“You...” She said, slowly looking back at the other girl. “You can fly?”

Sophia winked with a smile. “Among other things,” She looked at the ground and turned serious. “More than that, sweeti—!”

They were quite high up, right now but, it seems the aberration had no trouble closing the distance at all. Before Rin could do anything, though, her heart got caught up in her throat as they suddenly fell towards the ground, only stopping inches away before hitting it. A shadow loomed over them and Sophia pushed her off of her. The ground caved under the monster's weight and a cloud of dust arose.

Rin immediately stood up, ready to help but the sight of someone else recovering got her full attention. She frowned and clenched her teeth. Reluctantly, she turned her back on the monster and dashed towards Law. Hopefully, taking him out would resolve everything. Judging by how he was coughing and holding his throat, it was safe to assume he could still not speak properly. Just in case, though, she tore off one button of her cloak and was ready to throw it inside the man's mouth the moment he tr—

Rin stopped moving. ‘So... close,’ She thought while biting her lips.

Law was holding a gun in Celia's direction.

Her mind instantly raced, trying to come up with a solution. She had a few dozens of seconds, at best, before the man could speak again, and when that happens it was all over. Her eyes shifted to Celia's panicked and bewildered expression. The auburn girl had managed to wake her from the mind control once, but counting on that a second time was a bad idea. In the first place, if the man pulled the trigger...

‘No, Celia has an Aura, right? She should survi—

‘—Could she, really?’

‘No, in the first place, did she really have—’

‘What was her power again?’

‘What about the monster—’

‘Sophia—’

‘Should I surrender—’

‘What did he want again—’

‘What should I—’

‘—Can I reach him before he pulls the tri—’

Law opened his mouth.

‘No.’

Rin clenched her teeth. “Move!” She shouted, flicking the button in her hand towards the man's mouth with all the power she could muster in that second. The thing at high speed.

She missed and hit the man's eyes instead but the gunshot resounded all the same. Her heart sank, yet she did not stop. The ground under her caved and she dashed forward like a bullet, hitting the man directly in the stomach. She held back because she still had no concrete idea how strong she was, but, judging by the sound he let out, hopefully, it was enough to render the man unconscious.

She let him go, heard him fall to the ground, and slowly, very slowly turned in Celia's direction. Her eyes were closed and the sound of her heartbeat drowned everything else. She prayed, with all her might, that she wouldn't see blood. Her prayer—

“Eh...?”

—was answered. Though, the scene still left her bewildered.

“This is...” Celia said, wide-eyed. “Kinda awesome.”

The auburn girl poked the bullet with her index finger. The small thing was floating in the air, wrapped in a red-like, transparent energy just in front of her.

“Look, Rin, I caught it!” The girl said, beaming with a smile.

Rin only shot her a quizzical look. Auras couldn't actually do that, right? They could stop a bullet maybe, but, not ‘catch’ them. ‘In the first place, how did she do that ...,’ She narrowed her eyes at Celia. ‘without being intentional?’ Did someone else protect her? She began to look around and was instantly brought back to reality when she saw the aberration.

‘Right...’

Sophia was currently fighting the thing but a one-on-one was probably not going to end well. She didn't know the specifics of her Singularity but, based on what she saw, the girl could fly and had a decent amount of strength. ‘She also implied that she could do other things...’ Compared to that, the monster only had super strength. A simple yet terrifying power. To be on the safe side, it was better to assume the thing was physically stronger than even her boosted self.

More than that, a real Monster was probably going to appear around here any moment now.

Rin took a step toward them.

“Don't.” Law said with a hoarse voice.

She stopped and light disappeared from her eyes.

“So you do have power,” With a frown, he slowly stood up. “Rouge didn't tell me about tha—”

“Rin!” Celia shouted.

Again, a bolt of electricity ran through her, waking her up as a warm feeling spread on her left hand. She didn't have any time to waste being confused and was instantly ready to punch the man again—only to be greeted with a gun pointed at her head, point-blank range. She caught and hauled it up the same moment he fired. She felt a prick on her skin as she lost some of her hair.

The man didn't even hesitate, let go of the first gun, took several steps back while taking a second gun from his belt and instantly fired it. Rin hissed in pain and held her stomach. No blood. No time to waste. She let go of Celia's hand and kicked the ground— Or, at least she tried.

“Stop.”

Law ordered and Rin obeyed. He fired another shot in Celia's direction. The auburn girl ignored it completely and, instead, took her friend's hand again. ‘...Annoying.’ Rin thought, frowning at Law. ‘No getting close, then.’ She flipped the gun in her right hand and pointed it at the man's leg. Weirdly, she didn't even hesitate before shooting it.

The man didn't scream, but, since he was biting his lips, holding his legs in a crouch while glaring a dagger at her, not to mention the blood, the injuries probably hurt a lot. Rin held the gun pointed in his direction.

“Tsk! Hound!” He shouted.

Rin hesitated to shoot again and a second later, the werewolf-like monster appeared before her. She instantly shot it in the head. No surprise, it didn't even flinch. Fighting it would be tricky, though, since brainwashing awaited her the instant she let go of Celia. ‘...Running, then.’ It hurt to take that decision but, that was the best thing to do, now. At the very least, she needed to separate Law from the monster.

Moreover, if they were really after her like Law had said, hopefully, they'd chase her and ignore Sophia.

A blur of motion entered her eyes before she or the monster could even move. A hand wrapped around her waist, bit she quickly recognised who it was. They flew through the air in the blink of an eye. She was still holding Celia's hand but, now, Sophia was in between them.

The green-eyed girl let out a quiet laugh. “Two people might be a bit much.” She said, trying to be cheerful. “so don't be spooked if big sis suddenly falls, okay?”

Rin's eyes remained on the monster's silhouette. Thankfully, it didn't follow them. For now, at least. If she had to guess, the thing would run after them the instant Law stopped his bleeding. A smart move since separated, Rin had had a lot more chance at winning. Plus, she had Sophia on her side.

She let out a sigh when the monster got farther and farther away. It was not over, she had that feeling. However, now that she had a second to cool, a teeny-tiny smile spread on her face. ‘I'm... fighting with an Elite.’ She knew pertinently that once things calmed down, things would become very complicated for her, but, for now...

She took a glance at Sophia.

Slowly, they lost altitude and soon landed on a street filled with people. Sophia let go of them, and opened her mouth, probably to shout a warning but closed it without saying anything. Instead, she took out her phone and fiddled with it for a good dozen of seconds and a sirene resounded:

«WARNING! PLEASE EVACUATE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY! REPEAT—»

Sophia frowned. “....Well, I guess that'll do it.” She turned to face Rin and put on a smile. She didn't say anything at first, just seeming to observe her very carefully. “Alright! For now, follow me. We're gonna head back to HQ. Hopefully, they'll follow us without wreaking any havoc. My friends should be arriving here soon.”

The girl took her hand and Celia's and began to run. The Ark headquarters was pretty far away from where they were but, it's not like they had that many options. One question plagued Rin, though. What about Kein and Aiden? Her cousin was a noble, and among the strongest in his generation. Were it any other opponent, worrying about him would be stupid. However, against Aiden...

Two of the man's boosts were being used. One on her and the other on Edward. However, if her information were correct, he still had one slot available. She couldn't picture Kein ever losing but, frankly speaking, she couldn't see how he could win this one. Then again, it wasn't like she knew her cousin that much.

Rin shook her head. ‘For now, I should focus.’

She still couldn't feel Law following them but it wouldn't be long now. Sophia alone wasn't fast enough to outspeed the monster, so she should be ready to help. To be honest, Rin could probably go faster on her own but, so long as brainwashing existed, separating was a no-go.

“Hey, sweetie,” Sophia said. “Rin, was it? These guys seemed to be after you. Do you know why?”

The girl didn't look back as she asked the question. At her side, she could see Celia beginning to run out of stamina.

“N-no...” She said quietly. “I—”

Her breath suddenly got caught in her throat and she felt a looming pressure on her shoulder. Her knees hit the ground, a hiss escaped her lips and a burning sensation plagued her chest. She felt a pulsation inside herself, like something was threatening to leave.

‘...Aiden.’ She thought, painfully holding her chest.

She felt both Sophia and Celia, calling out her name but everything felt muffled.

‘Is this a warning?’ She thought, frowning. ‘To not leave the place?’

She turned to look back towards the sky. She couldn't see it, yet she had no doubt Aiden was wearing an infuriating smirk on his face, right now. Of course, this would happen. There was no avoiding it. That was the price she had forfeited, after all. She needed to obey if she wanted to keep her power.

She narrowed her eyes and looked down at her hands.

‘How... incredibly annoying.’

WHo DoEs hE ThInK He iS?

Rin breathed in and the pulsation stopped.

‘I... still need it.’