Chapter 23:

  Shogai was dropped off on a grassy field, without much time to think, before Kiara ran off again. He was next to Jade and Ryukyu, neither of whom was conscious. The next thing he registered was that it was bright, so bright that he had to cover his eyes as they adjusted. Once they did, Shogai took in his environment.

  Shogai had never visited royalty before, but this felt like the garden of a king. The grass was all neatly trimmed and fresh, spanning the entire region. If it grew, it needed sunlight. Inside a mountain? Where was this light coming from? Shogai followed the warmth to find the source.

  The area was deep underground, maybe a couple of miles below the surface. Shogai could tell because there was an opening far in the ceiling. He pieced together where they were. Inside a tall dormant volcano. A fall from that height would kill any human, assuming they could get that high in the first place. The sun shone directly overhead, illuminating the main attraction in a golden light.

  A building was in the centre. It was grey and white, and very tall for something so thin. No building Shogai had seen before would have remained standing the way it did. It was a cuboid. The walls were made of what seemed to be metal and glass. It was… weird. But a genius must have designed it. Nexus HQ

  It was a beautiful building, but Shogai couldn’t appreciate it. He just couldn’t stop thinking about Mira. Why… why did it have to be her? He wiped his tears and narrowed his eyes. He had to stay focused. People were still in danger. And Mira… she wouldn’t want him to lose sight of his priorities. He still had people to protect. The grief was still there - he could never bury that completely - but he couldn’t let it paralyse him. Not right now.

  There wasn't much time to get lost in thought, as Kiara had brought the rest of the Nexeans back. She and Orange Hair were pale, and the latter spoke.

  "We need to move, now. Sekara sent out a threat as we were leaving. We have ten minutes to give up Shogai and Jade, or else they'll storm Headquarters. That's you and her, right?"

  Shogai nodded before thinking. He was afraid. Was Orange Hair going to accept Sekara's offer?

  Apparently, the thought didn't even cross her mind, as she simply nodded in return and walked towards the building.

  "No time to waste. We're going to fight."

  With help from Kiara, Shogai limped after Orange Hair as fast as he could. He kept an eye on Jade, who was in Purple Hair's arms. Orange Hair came up to the front door, which was slightly elevated with a small concrete ramp.

  "Open, and stay open."

  The doors obeyed, sliding open smoothly into the walls on each side. The inside of the building was unnaturally cool for a summer day, and it felt like some wind was blowing through it. The inside was unnaturally white and clean. No paint could achieve such a shine. Every tile had a large enough reflection for Shogai to see his face in. The whole place… it was beautiful.

  There was a big white table in the middle of the room. There were sixteen seats, eight on each side of it, plus a single chair at the head of the table. Every chair had a label on it.

  The chairs on the left side of the head were labelled "O" followed by their corresponding number from the head chair. "O1" to O8"

  The same went for the right side, but with the letter "I". "I1" to "I8"

  Shogai was able to make an educated guess as to what those letters meant. These were the seats of the Outer and Inner Ranks.

  Much like the rest of the room, the table was sparkling clean, but the chairs had a cold tone to them, as if they hadn't been sat in for a while.

  Orange Hair completely ignored the table. She instead walked to the first familiar structure Shogai had seen so far. A downwards staircase. It was going to be tough getting two unconscious bodies plus a limping Shogai down to wherever they were going, but it was at least a normal thing to do.

  …except Orange Hair was walking to a set of doors next to the staircase. She pressed a button, and the doors opened, revealing a small room inside. It was really more of an empty box than anything else, but everyone filed into it, leaving little breathing room.

  Orange Hair pressed another button, and the door closed. Shogai was wondering how much he trusted her, especially after the room itself felt like it was falling. It was slow, but the Nexeans were being way too nonchalant about this. At least Kiara had some fear, gripping Shogai's arm as they descended. The falling then stopped, and the doors opened again to reveal a new room. So it wasn't a death trap. Probably more like a pulley system of sorts.

  They were directly below where they just were, as signified by the bottom of the stairs next to them. This new room was smaller and darker, with black marble for the walls and a ceiling, and another table in the middle. This one felt like a miniature version of the last one, having a total of eight seats, four on each side, labelled O1 to O8, and being black instead. What intrigued Shogai most was the fact that this table wasn't unoccupied.

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  Three people were at the table. A girl with dark red hair in O4. A guy with black hair in O5, and a young boy, not older than 13, with blonde hair in O8. Shogai recognised O5. He was the man with Xero and the Witch Girl that night. O5 showed some recognition in return, but focused more on the problem.

  Ryukyu was settled into seat O2, and he began to stir. Orange Hair stood behind seat O1, and Purple Hair behind O3. Xero and Zinnia followed their lead in O6 and O7. It seemed to be a habit to settle by their chairs, but Purple Hair snapped herself out of the habit as Shogai and Kiara stood by the table, Jade lying on the floor.

  "This is no time to get comfortable!" She pointed at O4, O5 and O8, addressing them by name, "Tina, Katro, Scott, there are two Deviant Primes outside, threatening to break in. Are the Inner Ranks back yet?"

  The young boy called Scott trembled,

  "N-no. No more of them have returned. But the Primes can't break in, right? Not with our defences. Right, Valerie?"

  Scott was directing the question at 01, Orange Hair, and she shook her head.

  "We can't be sure. The defences are sufficient for Aberrants, but as far as we know, they only irritate Deviants. We won't take the risk that they can't endure it long enough to invade us."

  Scott did not get the reassurance he wanted, and he stood up.

  "Well-in that case… I'm sitting this one out. I doubt I'd help much anyway…"

  "Damn right you wouldn't," Purple Hair was getting riled up again. "Just go and call the Inner Ranks. We're going to stall the Deviants until they get here."

  Purple Hair then focused on Jade, Shogai and Kiara.

  "Zinnia, wake up the green-haired one. And fix the guy’s leg. All three of you are fighters. I don't care how injured or scared you are, you're coming with us."

  Ryukyu, who had been stirring in and out of consciousness, finally had the energy to speak,

  "No, Raven, you can't force them-"

  "Can't force them? Look what those two did to you, Ryukyu! We can't afford to go easy on them!"

  "Raven's right." Valerie agreed, which surprised the Nexeans, especially Raven, who scoffed.

  "It's harsh, but we need all the fighters we can get. That Deviant out there was able to beat Ryukyu, so it's probably ranked high, maybe rank 4 or 5. We're throwing our strongest members at it. Me, Raven, Tina and Katro. Xero, you'll take Shogai, Jade and Kiara to fight Sekara. Zinnia can stay between us, wherever we need her."

  Zinnia nodded, having already healed Jade, who was stirring. She whispered to her,

  "No time to explain, but we need you to fight." Zinnia then focused on Shogai's knuckles and leg.

  "Wait, what about me?" Ryukyu tried standing up, "I can still fight."

  Valerie didn't have to say anything. She waited a few seconds until Ryukyu fell back in his seat.

  "No. You've done your job, Ryukyu. I won't let you get yourself killed. Let us do ours now. Please."

  Ryukyu glared at Valerie for a moment, but his gaze softened.

  "...fine."

  "Good," Raven spoke up. "Kiara, battle time. Take us to the chamber."

  Kiara nodded and vanished along with Raven in a blur. She was back a moment later for Valerie.

  "S-Shogai-" Jade was awake and wobbling to her feet. "What on earth is going on? Where-Who-?"

  "I'll fill you in later.” There was so much he wanted to catch her up on, but not right now, “...but Sekara is here. We need to fight her. Are you ready?"

  By now, Kiara had taken all the Nexeans. Ryukyu and Scott were staying behind. Jade was startled when Kiara appeared.

  "K-Kiara? What are you doi-"

  "Yeah, good to see you as well, but no time to talk. Let's go!" She vanished with Jade.

  Shogai took one last glance back at Ryukyu, who was frowning, and Scott, who was running to some box on the wall. He must have been speaking to the Inner Ranks through there.

  "Ready? It won't go like last time," Kiara said, appearing. She held her hand out. Shogai didn't hesitate to take it. Sekara wanted a fight, and she was going to get it. He wanted her dead.

  The duo appeared back in the caves and eventually made their way to the open doorway, alongside the other Nexeans. Sekara and Vera were arguing and didn't notice them at first.

  "They'd better show up, Sekara, because I'm not storming that place. I have way better things to do, like sleep. I’m still aiming for 18 hours today."

  "Yes, but they don't know that, so they'll come. Please, please please, just one more fight and we can go home."

  Sekara then saw the group, and a smile crept across her face. Jade backed away, and Shogai put his hand on her. He almost recoiled; her skin was burning hot.

  "Jade, you're still hurt. You can't fight like this."

  "I can and will fight like this, Shogai. Do you think the Nexeans only fight when they're feeling all good?"

  "You're not a Nexe-"

  "Neither are you. And you won't stop me."

  "Told you, Vera. They'll come."

  Sekara's teeth were painted red with fresh blood. Mira's body had vanished. Shogai’s blood began to boil. That… that psycho wouldn’t even let her get a burial. He felt a surge of power as he slowly walked towards her, with Jade, Kiara and Xero right behind him. His bones were all fixed, and the ache was nothing compared to the red filling his eyes. He wasn't holding back, not even slightly. Both arms, both legs, cloaked in as much visible red aura as possible. It was time for revenge. It was time to settle this.

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