“Oru Naguru Shirudo,” Matt cast, his circular shield forming on his arm.

He let out a sigh as the enhancement magic spread through his body. With his new B rank bloodline, this spell no longer drained him to the point of exhaustion. He could only cast it one more time, but that gave him roughly six minutes of fighting at his prime. Matt could see Tatum had already entered the unlocked mode and wished he could enter it at will. He still needed practice in that state, and now was the perfect chance to get some.

“So you stole the mask from Dr. Riley,” Matt said

“Dad wasn’t good enough,” Tatum said “Naga Kurgo saw my potential and unleashed it!”

“Why get Billy and Stu involved?” Matt questioned.

“Stu was going to be my first kill,” Tatum revealed “but I overheard him talking with Billy. They were already planning on killing people to get famous, I just offered them a chance to go even farther,”

“Naga Kurgo has been resealed,” Matt revealed “The magic in the mask will slowly die out,”

“You know where he's sealed though,” Tatum smiled and pointed a knife at Matt “Tell me where I can find him and I will let you die painlessly”

“What a kind offer” Matt said with a roll of his eye before tossing his shield at the teen.

Tatum jumped to the side to avoid the shield. Matt pulled his pistol out of his pocket and began firing at the teen. Tatum grinned and swung with her knife, successfully hitting each bullet and deflecting it away from her. Matt didn’t stop firing, using an infinite ammo gun meant he could go until the gun or the knives broke. He wasn’t interested in seeing which was stronger, however. Unseen by Tatum, the shield she dodged had continued flying after passing her and made a large loop to crash into the teen’s back. Tatum sensed the projectile at the last moment and jumped, causing the shield to hit her side and send her spinning. Matt caught his shield and placed it back on his forearm. Since unlocking his genetic constraint, Matt’s control of his shield had grown remarkably.

“You’re good,” Tatum said from where she stopped rolling.

Matt didn’t respond, instead aiming his weapon and continuing his fire. Tatum scrambled to her feet and ran to one of her fallen knives. Matt landed his first shot as he clipped her shoulder when she grabbed for the knife. Tatum turned and threw the knife with dazzling accuracy. The tip of the blade slid directly into the barrel of the gun as Matt pulled the trigger, resulting in the gun bursting apart and sending the knife flying. Matt grimaced as some metal cut his palm from the destruction but didn’t worry, the damage was just an annoyance. Tatum had grabbed her other knife and began slowly approaching.

“Now you don’t have a gun to hide behind,” Tatum teased “why don’t we start the actual fight? Don’t worry, I won’t kill you until I know where Naga Kurgo is,”

“I don’t think you’re meant for interrogations,” Matt said honestly “No one's going to tell you the only thing keeping them alive.”

Tatum frowned at the diss and charged forward, her blade poised to strike. Matt raised his shield and blocked the knife, angling his shield so the knife slid down and forced Tatum to overstep. Matt stepped forward and slammed his shield into the teen, making her stumble back. She threw a wild slash at Matt, but a blow from the shield sent the knife flying. Tatum stumbled further back and Matt threw his shield. In an act of inhuman dexterity, Tatum bent over to avoid the shield and spun immediately to kick the passing shield, sending it flying away. Matt tried to pull his shield back, but the kick’s force was enough to keep it from coming back immediately. Tatum bent and picked up the knife she had used to break his gun and charged at Matt.

For the first time, Matt felt the danger he was in. He couldn’t use any other spells while Oru Naguru Shirudo was still active. He couldn’t bring his shield back in time, Tatum was already almost in striking range. In a blink of an eye, Matt’s gaze unfocused and the world became clearer.

“Oru Naguru Shirudo” Matt spoke without thinking, surprising himself.

Raising his arm a second shield just in time to block Tatum’s blade, with renewed confidence Matt pushed back. Tatum stepped back quickly but had to jump once again as Matt’s original shield came flying back. The shield flew to Matt’s side and floated next to his shoulder. Matt grinned at the ease he could control his shields. The second shield floated away from Matt and took a place mirroring the other.

“What is this?” Tatum asked incredulously

“Is this a self-created ability?” Matt wondered aloud before focusing on Tatum

Having two shields left his energy stores low, he needed to end this quickly. With a wave of his hand, Matt sent his shields flying towards his opponent. Tatum began an impressive series of dodges, using her blade as necessary to deflect the shields. However one misstep allowed one shield to strike her wounded shoulder, a sickening crunch sounded from the blow and the killer cried out in pain. This gave an opening for a second and third hit from the shields, and soon Tatum fell to the ground under the constant barrage. The attacks didn't let up until Tatum had stopped moving. Matt paused his attacks and waited to see if the killer would rise. Seconds passed as he waited in anticipation before loud clapping scared him out of his focus.

Matt turned to see Logan standing by the house, leaning casually against a wall while applauding. Matt also noticed a crying Sydney in the upstairs window, but he didn’t have the energy to think about that at the moment. Dale was standing next to her. He had been upstairs the whole time. Since Tatum was unmoving and Logan in sight, the defensive spell caster exited the unlocked mode and fell on his bottom with a groan. The aftereffects of entering the unlocked mode took their toll, Matt closed his eyes and focused on breathing through the pain. Logan approached while his friend waited through the pain.

“You did a good job,” the team leader said “You’ve really grown into a fighter,”

“How long were you watching” Matt asked through gritted teeth

“Since you pulled your gun out,” Logan said with a grin, “I told you I was leaving this movie to you”

Another moment passed in silence before Matt’s body stopped hurting. Letting out a sigh, the young man accepted a hand from Logan and rose to his feet.

“Here you go,” Logan held out his pistol. “Finish her. That’ll just leave Stu to hunt down,”

Matt accepted the gun and looked down at the bruising killer. He didn’t allow himself time to think, pulling the trigger repeatedly until a notification sounded in his mind.

Bonus Mission completed: Kill Unlocked Tatum Riley. Rewarded 3500 points and 1 C rank reward.

Instantly the world around them changed, Logan and Matt stood now surrounded by equally confused team mates. The glowing ball of light above them revealed where they had gone.

“What happened?” Josh asked in confusion.

Several others spoke up, but all fell quiet when a manic laughter cut through the air. Lance stood away from the group looking at God, the stone mask still on his face.

“Lance!” Logan called out and rushed at the teen

“I knew it!” Skye said in triumph.

Logan reached Lance and immediately pulled the mask off and threw it to the ground, shattering it upon impact.

“Relax,” Lance said, easing his laughter “I didn’t hear any voices when I wore it. Naga Kurgo is powerless back in the quiet box”

“Why were you wearing that,” Logan growled

“Stu attacked me when I left the motel,” Lance said “I needed the mask to unlock me if I was to rival his power. I killed him and clearly you or Matt killed Tatum. A rather abrupt ending”

“Perfect timing if you ask me,” Elijah moaned “I was in the worst airplane ever made and don’t even start on the piss poor service”

“It was good timing” Josh agreed as he had sat next to the psyche force user on the flight.

“We need to heal Louie!” Crystal called

Louie laid on the ground, her breathing short and labored. Most of the color in her face had faded and sweat covered her forehead.

“God heal everyone,” Logan ordered “take points from me,”

Ten beams of white light shot from God and targeted each of the team members. Logan and Dale were the first ones done healing, as they hadn’t taken part in any fights. Josh, Elijah, Skye, and Crystal followed afterwards and watched Louie with worried expressions. Matt finished as the light surrounding Eve, Lance, and Louie changed to green, signaling the focus on the genetic damage.

“Look at that,” Skye pointed at Louie.

Skye’s sharp eyes could see a small amount of black liquid coming out of Louie’s mouth and dissolving in the light.

“That must be demon blood,” Skye said “That must have unlocked her but didn’t protect her from the blowback like the magic does,”

“Probably made the blowback worse,” Josh added.

"Tell me what happened with the demon," Logan requested "Lance was vague when talking about it last night"

"He's resealed in the quiet box," Josh said "Blake didn't know a way to kill him easily so we decided to just put him back for now,"

"You should've seen the lady that came out of that thing," Skye said gleefully "Looked completely human except for her legs. She had the legs of a deer!"

"There was another prisoner?" Logan questioned.

"That's how the quiet box works," Josh said with a shrug "only one prisoner at a time. To release a prisoner a new one has to be placed in the box first"

"What happened with the woman?" Matt asked

"Blake said she was from the preserves dungeon," Josh answered "she had bindings on still so Blake took her back to her cell after we left,"

“There's a lot we need to discuss” Logan said, the lines on his face suddenly seemed deeper.

“A lot happened this movie,” Josh nodded

“Expect it for the next one too,” Logan groaned “Our next movie will be a team battle,”