Adrian stands there, his feet rooted into the ground through sheer dread and confused by the motions of the cultist's hands. He is swiping away at the air around, forming countless clouds, covering himself with them. Adrian focuses and sees through the gaps that are still visible to him.

Adrian "Are those hand signs? Is he a ninja as well?! What do I do?!"

Adrian keeps watching... The cultist's hands come together and form a perfect circle. M113 lets out a peal of maniac laughter as the swarm of clouds flies upward, forming three rings of cloudy halos above him. He turns toward his companion and begins creating more clouds...

M113 "Okay... partner. Here's your... job. Take care... of the other bastards."

M113 spins his arm in a circle and the clouds merge into two large ones. He fills one with water and the other with the remaining ounce of the mysterious substance. M114 scratches his head and tilts one of his eyebrows.

M113 "You don't... get it... don't you? Fine... Let's just say that when these two... go together. Things go... boom."

M114 "Oh! It must be some chemistry thing! I got it! Leave this me!"

M114 salutes him and begins dissolving. M113 splits the two clouds into smaller pieces. They fall to the floor and are then carried off by platoons of cockroaches. M114 stares at Adrian and Adrian stares back, though his glare lacks intimidation.

Adrian "Oh shit! Is he planning on charging at me?! What do I do? Should I block? Oh... I know! I need to scare him!" "HEY! Don't think of charging at me! I'll turn your face into a meaty pulp!"

M113 "Oh please... I beat guys bigger than you daily. I know what... you're doing. You are buying... time. Aren't you? That's not... gonna work. Though... I'm a bit cautious. Out of all... the wielders, your powers are the most illusive. As in, you seem to... never do anything. Then again... you did run as soon as you saw my clouds. Was it your power or... you were just being cautious?"

Adrian "I'm not going to tell you anything! Just stay there and wait!"

M113 grins and begins walking closer. Adrian stands his ground and lifts his hand, pretending to be ready for a fight. He sees the cultist takes a step back. His face now contorts with anger.

Adrian "Huh? What wrong?! Are you a scared cat?! I guess you are just talking."

M113 "No... I-I just. I thought... you were just bluffing. Shit! Now my plan is gone to ruin thanks to your bravery. You asshole!"

Meanwhile, sprinting across the plains, the flightless wielders travel in a V formation with Amelia at the peak, acting as the watchful eye of their march. She spots some rustling in the grass approaching them from the right flank. A faint blue glow from within arouses her suspicion.

Amelia "Gwen! Diana! To your right! I think they are clouds coming your way! I can't tell how many because of these bloody long ass grass."

Gwen "Thanks. Don't worry about us. We can handle it. You three go ahead of us!"

Diana "Yeah! We got this! I just hope the thing boss told me will work."

Suddenly, seven clouds leap out and fly toward the girls. Gwen pats Izzybot before putting wearing her like a bag pack. She jumps back and Izzybot extends her branches into a pair of wings. Gwen lifts off the ground and the wings project a cascade of the wind, knocking the clouds into each other...The next thing she hears is a loud BOOM! Luckily, Izzybot shields Gwen from the heat wave, but her wings go up in flames. Gwen takes Izzy's bot off and snaps out her wings

|Owe! That Explosion Was Hot! Master Nya!|

Gwen "Ssshh. Don't worry, Izzy. Mom is here to protect you. How about you shut down for a while and recover? Okay."

Her screen forms a smiley face before shutting down. Gwen stuffs her precious computer into her inventory and notices that she is a quiet distance away from Diana. Feeling worried about her friend's rash nature, she wastes no time and runs off. To her surprise, she finds the massive brute lacking any form of violence. Instead, Diana is pushing her fingers against the side of her head while glaring at the clouds so hard that it feels like she is shooting lasers out of her eyes. And through a sick twist of fate, this imaginary laser that Gwen conjured up in her mind comes to life as the three remaining clouds split and dissipate into the air. The liquid within them falls to the ground... but there is no explosion.

Gwen "... Whew. I guess knocking those clouds together was a mistake on my end. Anyway, I'm impressed, Diana. You finally solved an issue without your fists."

Diana "Thanks. But that credit goes to the boss. It was his idea that I should like to focus on one spot to increase something... something. I don't remember! It was complicated shit. But hey! It fucking works!"

Gwen "Perhaps the structure of these clouds requires a stable system of friction otherwise their forms won't be sustainable. Honestly, this kind of science isn't part of my expertise. So enough of this, we must move on."

Diana nods and they catch up with the other girls, returning to their position in the formation. Sarah, Amelia, and Mina puff a sigh of relief. Gwen looks around and then looks at Amelia.

Gwen "Ummm, so you guys weren't attacked. That's odd. I assume they would take an opportunity to split us off."

Amelia "No, that doesn't seem to be it. We ran past the lot of them but the little critters appeared to be scattered about like a bunch of poor sods. Why did they do that?"

Diana "Beats me! Besides, that is good. Now we can get to that fucker."

M114 "Dammit! Where are they?! Those flying fuckers! Shit! Did they already make it?! Hold on, M113! I'm coming back!"

A wielder and a cultist can't sway their eyes away from each other. They fear the hunter who strikes first. As tension grows... the sound of wings is heard from above. Adrian looks up and smiles at the silhouettes. M113, however, frowns at the descending figures. These individuals land near Adrian.

Dave "Adbro! Don't worry, we are here! I'm ready to rip and tear!"

Claire "Lmao! Was that a Downfall reference? Nice!"

Kanji "Come on, guys. Eyes on the target. Adrian, what is that guy doing?"

Adrian "I don't know. My power just tells me the same thing. We should be careful because earlier he hesitated when I tried to put up my guard."

Kanji "Ummm, perhaps he is trying to reserve his ammo. Understandable-

Diana "Here you are! You red-robed-wearing bitch!"

She leaps into the air and directs a punch toward his head. One of the clouds in the further ring of the cultist's holos shakes and disbands, dropping a thin and wide material. It is similar to a glass pane and has a neon blue hue. Her fist cracks the object into pieces... she then disappears along with all the shards of this material.

Adrian "No... Diana. HEY! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?"

M113 "AHA! You think... I'm gonna tell you! Now with this... I AM INVINCIBLE!"

Noah "We'll see about that! My turn!"

Noah takes out his ax and holds his anger stone in his left hand. He gives it a light grip, and a pillar of crimson flames engulfs his ax. However, unlike the translucent particle aura, he once had... this flame is opaque. He could barely make out the form of his ax. Noah charges forward and he too is blocked out by one of the outer rings. M113 begins to sweat and backs away. The level of disbelief on his face is clear to Noah as he stands there holding his ax, both unaffected by M113's defense. The burning aura around his weapon however has vanished.

Somewhere on this Earth, an everyday businessman drives off to work. When suddenly, he can feel his right leg erupt with power, causing the brake of his vehicle to break. He drives... trying his best to avoid impact. He hits a car and both vehicles explode, dying in the process. Later on, the city declares the man, a hero for sacrificing his own life to stop a bombing operation planned by ESIS.

M113 retreats and heads toward a forest.

Noah "Get the fuck back here! I need to show Sarah my badassery!"

Kanji "Follow them!"

Twenty clouds then pop out of the grass, stopping their advance. Kanji takes out his inventory and puts it in front of him, storing a total of ten clouds. The others follow his example. Claire contains three, Sarah captures four, and Dave stores three clouds.

Dave "Aww, sweet dude! I got fucking clouds. Kanbro, that was lowkey five head."

Kanji "Looks like that worked. None of my items are affected. That proves that these clouds work using an automatic command like "Seek the nearest enemy"."

Gwen "Are you planning on using these? Just a warning. These clouds don't go together very. Hint. The huge explosion was caused by some kind of chemical process."

Kanji "That could be a lot of things but the liquid was clear, highly acidic and the act of smelling the substance burns our nostrils. I say that it is fluoroantimonic acid. That was more dangerous than I thought. So I say we don't use this, I won't let anyone of us do a kamikaze. Got it!"

Sarah "That's good and all. But Noah needs our help! I'm going ahead!"

Sarah catches up and he sees him hacking away at the cultist's outer halo. Just one more cloud...

Sarah "Noah! Watch out!"

Two clouds snuck up behind him and converge. A ball of light covers his body. Noah is then left with his skin charred and his mind rendered unconscious. M113 sees that his arms are crossed and the lower half is exposed, showing bones.

M113 "Ha... look at you. You're just like... me. But I'm... better. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

M113 grabs Noah by the neck and lifts his lifeless body. Sarah tosses her ring in his direction, destroying the last cloud of his outer halo. Her attack made him jolt back, dropping Noah to the floor. He looks around and sees that her weapon is nowhere to be found.

M113 "Ha! You fool! You just... lost your weapon. Wait... why are running at me?" "Shit! Does she have some kind of trick like this bastard?!"

M113 runs away. Sarah sighs and carries Noah on her back. She leaves Noah on the ground in front of Claire. She understands and starts patching up his wounds...

Kanji "Ummm, Claire. That was four syringes. The same amount he gave you. Looks like he did need them after all. Do you have more by any chance?"

Claire "Yep! I conjured them way earlier. Like when we woke up."

Dave "Yo, Cla'bro! You took my advice. Awesome!"

Azan "Kanji. Considering my powers. What should I do? Should I make Diana return? Or should use it to fight that guy?"

Kanji "I think the later is the better. I bet my life that Diana is still alive out there. As for how you use your power. I leave it up to you-

Sarah "Hold it right there! Kanji... I want to fight him alone!"

Gwen "Why? Don't be foolish! Who knows where other schemes that cultist has? Your emotions are getting in the way of logic."

Sarah "I don't fucking care! That bastard hurt Noah and I want to make him pay."

Kanji "Fine. But you gonna need a bit of assistance. I got a perfect idea. You and Azan. Listen up!..."

M113 "What the hell are they... talking about over there? Dammit... M114! What happened?! Why didn't... you stop them?!"

M114 "Yeah, looks like their inventory thingies can trap objects... including your clouds."

M113 "Fuck... is there anything else I need to fucking know before I fight them again."

M114 "Err, yeah! That large guy! It turns out he is a pacifist and his power is to get basic information from anything?"

M113 "What?! Where did you... get this from?! Why didn't... you tell me?! I could've... beaten him into dust earlier!"

M114 "Ummm... isn't it just me or did all of your halos just disappear?"

M113 "Wait... What the fuck?!"

M113 looks over and sees Sarah approach him with two rings of clouds above her head. She throws a punch toward his right jaw... but he dodges it. The two cultists dash off and she chases them.

M114 "Dammit! What now?! What do we do, man?! Why are your clouds protecting her?! Can't you change their commands?!"

M113 "No, I can't. It seems... one of them can do that. Don't worry... I have a plan. There is a weakness... to that formation. Its command only activates... when something seems to be attacking... not attacking itself. I know that your cockroaches can't attack but... they could do something else."

M114 "What are you- Oh. OH! I got it! Leave this to me!"

M114 stops dead in his track and turns around. He eyes the girl running closer and with a flick of his finger, his body splits into an army of cockroaches. They march and leap at her, causing the clouds to drop their defenses to the very last cloud. It vanishes and the strange glass-like material drops onto one of the cockroaches. They all disappeared without a trace of the carapace.

M113 "Well... fuck. Telesium fragment can affect him... that way, huh?" "Shit. Should I retreat? No, I damaged too much of my pride. I must stand and never surrender!"

Sarah "Looks like your buddy is gone. Now, I'm going to rip out that jaw of yours with my bare hands."

She puts her weapons away and her hands form claws. With a short dash, she swipes away at his suit... only to find another suit underneath. She then pushes her right hand above his head and swings down. He leads back- what... his jaw has been grabbed! Her fingers made their way into the hollow space of his mouth. He tries to talk but it's pointless.

Sarah "Err... What's that? I can't hear over the wickedness of my new technique! I call it "Grab Shift"! Now, out comes your fucking jaw!"

The wielder of Fiction holds the cultist in place and gives him a straight kick to his chest. The force separates his jaw from his body, leaving bone fragments under Sarah's feet. Looking at her prize, she stores it in her inventory. M113 can feel air tightening around his chest. A moment of desperation... the desire for relief. As he stares at the ground beneath, torn memories have returned to haunt him. Memories of torment and rejection.

M113, long before, was a young man named "Reggie". He was a poor orphan who found his way to live in the alleyways of a town filled with rich people. For years, he lived in that hell, begging for even a scrap of food or shelter. But no one stepped in to help him. Not a single food was ever offered. It was so bad to he resorted to self-cannibalism. Until they found him... half dead and regions of his body were reduced to bones. Miraculously, he was able to survive ... though his body... let's say by that point. He was no longer human.

Sarah "Are you ready to give up? Bitch boy! Stand the fuck up!"

M113 "In name of her holiness! I hereby sacrifice this body for her cause. May my newfound flesh vanquish my enemies until my last breath!"

Sarah sees his suit deflates... The collar around his neck disappears. His neck stretches into the sky. It is made out of aging bones. Observing this occurrence sparks her inner eldritch. She tries her hardest to resist her urges. Instead, observe the full picture in front of her. A humanoid skull without a jaw and a tail as long as a soccer field, all divided into segments similar to a centipede. Each segment is lined with sharp dagger-like legs.

Sarah "Okay. That is fucking sick! But you're still my enemy! Don't get ahead of your self-

She falls to the ground, riddled in pain. Amelia noticing this unfold feels a speck of fear left inside of her rise to the surface. Dave notices her sweating profusely.

Dave "Yo, Amber. You okay, man?"

Amelia "Everyone! Hurry! Sarah, she's in trouble!"

Kanji and Claire put Noah into the subspace. They go to Sarah's location. She lying there covered in blood. There are two lines of holes poked across her belly. Claire takes out another syringe and fills her wound.

Claire "Sarah. You dummy! Why didn't you let us help you?!"

Sarah "S..S-Sorry. I got a... bit carried away. You guys watch out for that thing's tail. It was... f-fast as fuck."

She goes unconscious. Kanji and others glare at the creature in anger. It responds by looking back at them with its cold dead eye sockets. The creature begins to move... coiling around the air like it is constricting a large invisible object. Adrian spots something at the end of its tail and so he points...

Noah "Guys! Over there! Are those clouds?"

They watch as the clouds grow and grow while the creature keeps moving up. The gas covers its tail like a winter coat. The wielders take out their weapons and Kanji and Dave moves to the front. Gwen joins them...

Dave "Ummm, you sure that's good, Gwabro? I mean you have no weapon."

Kanji "Without, Izzy. I say your fighting power isn't desirable, to say the least. But something tells me that my words won't change your decision. You have a plan. Don't you?"

Gwen "Well, sort of. I assume everyone is heading for its head."

They nod and wait for an attack. The creature dives down and aims at Azan. He activates a shield and begins blocking the barrage with razor-sharp legs. The force pushes him away from the group. Mina runs after him and notices a blind spot in the creature's tail. Seizing her chance, she leaps and instantly projects her aging power onto the spot. She smiles as the bones grow brittle... but she becomes too greedy. The surrounding clouds converge onto her position.

Azan "MINA! NO! YOU BASTARD!!!"

Azan throws his wristwatch, aiming at the creature's skull. It transforms into a saucer and Azan jumps onto it. The serpent notices him and begins waving its body, becoming faster. Kanji and Dave fly and follow his lead. The girls carry Gwen and follow them, leaving Adrian behind to look after Sarah. The chase leads them to the clouds.

Dave "Oh, yeah! Now, this is what I call an epic final battle, dudes!"

Kanji "Focus! Dave. We don't want to drop from this height."

Amelia and Claire place Gwen onto Azan's saucer. The two can feel a change in the wind as everything goes silent. The flying menace flies towards them in a corkscrew motion. It passes Kanji and others. Seeing its head in range, Azan and Gwen deliver a punch. But it turns up, causing the two wield to lose their balance. Then they hear a faint screaming sound... it's a girl's voice... wait-

Mina "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Watch out!"

Mina drops into the flying saucer, causing the machine to go out of control. It tosses all its passengers off. Claire and Amelia dive down, leaving it a one-on-two fight. Dave holds his bat out and it expands five folds. The head of his bat stretches and forms a fan. He spins it in a circle in front of him, creating a large wind current.

Dave "There you go, bro! My new special move, "The spinny thing from movies that somehow reflect bullets"."

Kanji "Good job. Looks like that thing is going out of control. I guess the current is much for it to handle. Dave, I'm going to finish this."

Dave "Dude, before you go. Can you fucking like a take a selfie of you beating that thing? It would be so cool, man! Like instant 1 million views on Twitter."

Kanji ".... Fine. I'll indulge in your antics just this once. But I die, it will be on you!"

Kanji uses the current and soar toward the creature's head. Hovering above its skull, his chain begins striking down. The creature tries to whip him, but the other end of his chain reflects its attempts. He assists his chain by laying a barrage of his own punches. Down below, the wielders see the serpent crashing down, and the clouds around his tail unravel. It makes an impact and breaks into hundreds of pieces.

Azan "Yes! They did it. That bastard is dead!"

Kanji and Dave regroup. They put Sarah away to join Noah. Mina gives the other a worried look.

Azan "What's wrong? Are you worried about Diana?"

Mina "Yes, who knows where she is!"

Dave "Nah! Forget about it. That gorilla girl can fucking survive on her own, dude."

Kanji " You can say that for certainty but... this time I'm not so sure."

Claire "What do you mean, Kanji?"

Kanji "This is a bit convenient for us since the next trial is hers and it is a solo one at that. The condition for activating it is... Isolation."

Claire "What?! Oh no! She doesn't even have any healing and stuff. What do we do?!"

Gwen "It's too late now to worry about what has been done."

Kanji "Let's just pray that she makes it out alive. In the meantime, we should rest and look for Sarah's ring."

________________________________________________________

M114 "Oh chucks! Where am I?! The Sahara desert. Shit, I guess this is it for the day..."

He looks up at the sky in shame and a ray of light fires down. He is gone. Off in the distance, someone caught this mysterious light. It is Diana! She tries to run to it but it was too late. She lay on the ground... it has been three whole days.

Diana "What the hell is this place?! I starting to lose my shit! Why is it always night?!"

She looks out at the endless dunes in front of her. Having to walk in the same direction for three days in a row, she feels completely exhausted. An experience she rarely has. Her eyes are drawn toward the moon and that's when she sees it. There is a strange glitchiness around it. Diana smiles...

Diana "HA! I get it now! So this is my trial huh? Well, then. Let's wait and see what happens."

________________________________________________________

M114 opens his eyes. He sees the general in front and kneels in shame. Karnat doesn't seem to be angry and so he gestures to M113 to lift his head.

KARNAT "Now, then. Tell me the transcript of everything that occurred. Don't leave out any juicy detail. Got it!"

M114 "Yes, my lord. You see..."

He details to the general all that has transpired before he was teleported. Karnat lets out an enthusiastic laugh. He jumps from his seat and pats M114 on the back.

KARNAT "Good job! You make me very proud. We just learned the powers of three other wielders. All that is left is that purple hair one."

M113 "Wait, sire. Three?"

KARNAT "Oh yeah. While you were away, we catch a glimpse at miss pigtails using her powers. I think it has to do with the time which fucking ridiculous. But not as ridiculous as THAT GUY. Jesus, without powers, was already a lot of trouble. Here's the good though... thanks to you! We just found our next target. Next time we strike them, THERE WILL BE A FUNERAL!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!"