Whatever remained of the big central field was completely decimated by the cosmos-like tide created by Exo and his class. The ground shook, the sky split open, trees were uprooted, set on fire or shredded, chunks of earth being thrown around in a vortex of elements.

It pretty much made the attacks used by both Earthlings and Martians in the Class Battle up to that point look like pale imitations of true power.

Exo only wished King could have been conscious to see it. He would definitely be angry on missing out and not contributing in any way to such an important event in the class’s history when he woke up.

Then again, the gluttonous giant had helped his classmates by providing the additional drive they had needed to fight against Nepalo as hard as they had because they wanted to avenge him. That could possibly cheer up King and Exo decided to relay that information to him once he opened his eyes.

The slumbering ex-giant opening his eyes could actually happen any minute now due to the number of joyous whole-hearted laughs and triumphant roars of the girls around him.

Vega and the whip-tongued healer joined the others as well soon enough, the former of the two only having a small smile on his face.

It was a rare thing to see – Vega not going all-out at a celebration. Especially considering he himself had led his classmates during this battle and had almost wound up sacrificing himself to ensure their combined attack would succeed.

When the class was fully reunited, the drunkard stepped closer to Annabel, who appeared to be the most exhausted out of everyone, Yonira currently supporting her so she could keep standing up.

(Vega) ‘Bel … was that you? Teleporting the two of us away just as the tide hit Nepalo? I definitely saw some light wrapping around us.’

(Annabel) ‘My light was used as the base for our attack not just because I have a very strong deva, but because I could use it to teleport you guys out of harm’s way after it came in contact with you faster than anyone else here.

Let me ask you this, though. Did you know we were going to hit Nepalo with that tide just now?’

(Vega) ‘I knew you guys wouldn’t wait to be fully healed before joining the fray, but wasn’t sure when that was gonna happen exactly.

That’s why I tried to buy as much time as I could with mid- and close-range physical attacks on that sucker. And then I just hoped you would hit him in time to save our asses.’

(Yonira) ‘Good thing this mad bitch over here totally went overboard. She went from exhausting her healing deva to patch up as many of us as possible so they could join the attack to exhausting her light deva to lead the attack.’

Annabel’s only initital reaction to her rival’s words was a confident grin despite her ragged breathing, Keiry D joining her and Yonira just then to check on the two.

(Annabel) ‘And I did all that without being fully healed, Yonira. You can’t deny I’m the strongest girl in the class now. Even Yuki couldn’t have pulled off something like this.’

(Keiry D) ‘Well, you’re the craziest girl in our class, Bel, that’s for …’

Sprays of crimson energy spread around the smiling main sensor of Earthling Class No. 1 then, something taking her away seconds later.

Everyone’s joy turned to shock and then to horror when they followed the trail of energy that was without a doubt coming from Nepalo’s deva to find out what had happened to Keiry D.

She had been impaled on a pair of horns. Horns that along with another one were coming out of the head of a crimson energy animal looking like a rhino, but two times bigger, with its teeth on the outside of its mouth and bony spikes along the length of its back.

The black-haired sensor herself was utterly shocked as the creature shook its head to take its horns out of her body and throw her aside, splashing her blood around. Just as she hit the ground, everything around her classmates started shaking.

Exo could hardly move his gaze away from the run-through girl, but forced himself to do that in order to find the source of her suffering. When that source was revealed, another feeling swept over him instead of the terror he had felt up to that point.

HOPELESSNESS.

The smoke from the Earthlings’ combined attack had cleared, revealing the Martians who had moved all the way to the forest beyond the remains of the big central field. In front of them stood the unscathed Nepalo, surrounded by dozens of animals identical to the one that had impaled Keiry D.

(Nepalo) ‘That was a hell of an attack, Earthlings! It was so great, it made me change my mind!

I think I’m just going to kill you right now!! WITH MY CRIMSON 100-HORNED STAMPEDE!!!!’

Right after saying that, Nepalo got on the back of the only rhino-like animal that had four horns on its head unlike the other tri-horned ones, leading a charge of his creations against the hot heads who were more disheartened than ever. And Exo in particular was more disheartened than the rest of them combined.

Too much was happening both inside the techno-genius’s head and outside of it at this point.

Keiry D was in critical condition and needed immediate medical attention.

Nepalo’s attacks were clearly performed with a murderous intent, which was strictly forbidden, but the Summerbolts hadn’t intervened to stop him.

And he had come out unscathed after the strongest attack Earthling Class No. 1 could muster in their present state.

One thought finally came to the forefront amid the swirling chaos in Exo’s mind then – that something needed to be done about the coming assault of tri-horned energy animals and their leader. This attack was definitely going to cause a lot of damage to everyone, but if its effects could at least be dampened so that no fatal wounds were suffered, it would still be enough.

That was what Exo needed to focus on: serving his class as the thing he had always been meant to be – their shield.

Having found a clear purpose again, he stood in front of Vega and clenched his fists.

(Exo) ‘Yoni, get over here! Vega, power up the two of us as much as possible!!’

Yonira ran to stand by the techno-genius’s side, but the drunkard was unresponsive.

When turning to look at him, it almost felt as if their places had been exchanged. Vega was the one who looked like a coward gripped by fear now – something Exo had never seen, which made this sight all the more unnerving.

The destruction Nepalo was about to unleash was even more unnerving, though.

So the metal-using defender clutched his classmate’s shoulders and roared at him with whatever strength he had left to make him come back to his senses.

For if he didn’t, the Earthlings would cease to exist very soon.

(Exo) ‘DO YOU WANT THE WHOLE CLASS TO DIE?!?!! POWER US UP, SO WE CAN HOLD HIM!!! NOW, VEGA!!!

IF IT DOESN’T WORK WITH OFFENSE, WE’LL GIVE HIM THE BEST DEFENSE THERE IS!!! SO SNAP OUT OF IT AND HELP ME SAVE EVERYONE!!!!’

Vega’s fear turned to surprise, but within a few seconds the same determination that fueled Exo’s every action at the moment was ignited in the energy-using drunk’s eyes as well.

As the metal defender stood next to Yonira again, their classmate slammed his palms on both their backs. Huge amounts of pale green energy were channeled through their bodies as they directed their palms forward, roaring together to push their devas to the limit one last time.

Layers upon layers of high and wide rectangular walls that combined rocks with hard metal emerged from the ground in front of the masters of defense just as Nepalo and co. reached them.

While they tried to hold the attackers at bay, those among the duo’s classmates who had managed to overcome the fear in their hearts at least a bit added their own devas to the wall formation to further strengthen it.

It seemed that some of the others had also not given up. There was yet a chance to survive.

And as mad as it sounded, Exo hoped for something more than that – to uncover Nepalo’s weakness. For he was certain that even an enemy of such caliber had a weakness – even he could not be invulnerable.

If the hot heads at the remains of the central field could find his weakness, then they could at least give the others a better chance at defeating the strongest Martian.

Some of the walls were broken while the Earthlings’ master of defense had been thinking about this, others were bent and the last line of defense cracked.

The ground kept on shaking more and more as the creators of the walls roared with all their remaining strength.

The crimson energy still contained by the barricade for the time being was blasted off into the sky, its high volume changing the color of parts of it to match that of the red-skinned monster’s deva, making the situation feel even more apocalyptic.

Lastly, some of the growing cracks on the last barricade layer started to connect with each other to form holes, Exo, Yonira and all the others falling silent when that happened because they no longer had the energy to shout.

Amid their silence the last wall was ripped in half, crimson energy bursting from it and consuming everything around the techno-genius and his classmates.

Silhouettes started coming out of the energy, the metal-using coward trying to prepare his body as much as possible for the pain he knew he was about to experience, but for something else as well.

The leading silhouette was certainly Nepalo and his unique mount – which was what Exo was aiming for as a hard metal blade came out of his wrist and was used for a single swing before pulses of pain wrecked his nervous system.

All he saw was crimson now. Whether the color came from the red-skinned monster’s deva, or from the blood being sprayed around, he could not say. Nothing remained of his mind with all the agony coursing through his body.

And then, when the pain reached a most excruciating level, it suddenly started subsiding.

The less pain there was, the less acute the other feelings became and the more blurry things became all around.

It was almost a relief to be freed from all the accumulated stress.

No more fear. No more despair. No more confusion. Nothing.

Even the color started changing, becoming darker and darker.

Until nothing remained but perfect silence in black.   

 

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

 

Exo couldn’t tell how long he had been unconscious for when he opened his eyes. All he was certain of was that as soon as he opened them, he wanted to pass out again.

His pain now was a hundred times worse compared to what the initial experience of Nepalo’s attack had been, almost feeling like his body had been ripped apart. And then there was also another thing he felt – a deep regret because he could move his head and neck.

That meant he could lift his head and see what the state of his body was and nothing terrified him more than looking at his wounds. The condition his classmates were in was likely the same, so he didn’t want to turn his head to them, either.

Exo considered it would be best if he just kept lying on the ground without moving a muscle, waiting for the moment he would lose enough blood and die. Most likely that moment was going to come soon. And when it did, the agony, the dread, the confusion, the guilt – all of it would just disappear.

Someone’s pain-ridden screams interrupted his defeatist line of thought before it could run its course.

He knew that voice. It belonged to one of the girls in his class.

Most likely she was in a terrible condition to be screaming so loudly and her mangled body was definitely not something Exo wanted to see. Yet he turned his head around and looked.

Many of the Earthlings were spread amid the smoking remains of the big central field around him, no one seeming to have lost a limb or some of their insides, but still having puddles of blood around them.

Some were still unconscious, others having woken up and still trying to accept the state they were in. And then there were the members of the third group who had already realized how badly wounded they were and screamed as loud as they could because of that.

Earthling Class No. 1’s metal defender himself was overcome by a strong urge to scream, but not because of the agonizing pain. The reason for his screams would be the giant shadow that loomed over him.

It was Nepalo, a terror-inducing grin covering the lower half of his face as he leaned closer to the broken techno-genius and slowly reached for his head.

As the monstrous red-skinned hand came closer to his face, the fear and pain the teenager was feeling found another companion – surprise.

Surprise caused by a certain detail from Nepalo’s appearance – a scratch left on his arm just above the wrist.

It was a small cut. Not even big enough for any blood to come out of it.

But as it was on a part of the strongest Martian’s skin that had no spikes coming out of it and no patterns of black shapes over it, the cut stood out very clearly. Exo wasn’t hallucinating due to being half-dead.

And that cut had most likely appeared because of the swing of his metal blade the moment the Crimson God of War and his tri-horned beasts had first run over the techno-genius and his classmates. In short, Exo had just made a discovery that could turn the tide of the whole Class Battle.

The cut may have been insignificant in Nepalo’s eyes, but for his current target it was important enough to make him cling to life a bit longer.

He needed to survive to pass this information on to Tokura. All the destruction the hot heads had endured up to this point would’ve been for nothing otherwise.

(Nepalo) ‘And here’s the main pest behind the wall that slowed down me and my tri-horns.

You may be spineless, Exo, but you have my respect for managing to mount such a defense against me so fast.’ – crimson energy started swirling around his hand as he finally touched the metal defender’s face – ‘Too bad you won’t live to tell the tale of it.’

The hand suddenly moved itself aside from Exo’s face, streaks of azure energy being revealed to his eyes when that happened as he heard the sound of fighting nearby. Something pushed the red-skinned monster away a second later, Nepalo being enveloped in that same azure energy and teleported away.

Someone else stood next to the coward in his place – Tokura Braveheart.

Exo had tears in his eyes from the pain and the fear, but now those tears started flowing uncontrollably.

Was it because he was happy the pseudoknight had finally arrived? Or because he was losing control of his body the closer he drew to death?

(Tokura) ‘I’m sorry I was too late, Exo. Let’s get you and the others away from here.’

(Exo) ‘-T-Tora, wait! I have to tell you …’

He put too much strain on his voice because of the storm of emotions raging inside him and that cost him the ability to produce sounds loud enough so that Tokura could hear them. With normal speaking no longer being an option, the techno-genius used whatever strength was left in his arms to pull the savior with raspberry-colored hair closer to the side of his face, whispering in his ear.

(Exo) ‘It’s about Nepalo. He … he has a very thin layer of crimson energy wrapped closely around his body that won’t allow any attack to go through it.

When he uses really big attacks, that layer of energy is removed so it can be used as extra fuel for the attacks. I know because … because I managed to cut him during his last attack.

You have to hit him when he attacks with full force. That’s how … he can be beaten.’

Tokura went from sad to surprised and then to happy so fast, Exo thought it may have been just his imagination

(Tokura) ‘You fucking genius.

Don’t you worry, Ex. With what you told me, I’ll fuck up that bastard real good for what he did. I’ll just send you and the others to the Summerbolts first so they can help you.’ – azure-colored Flexoid streams started enveloping Exo then, the only thing he could see beyond them being the ‘small’ battering ram’s confident smile – You’ve sure done great here, so you’ll have something to brag about to Line-sensei the next time we meet him. Make sure you live till then.’

The image of Tokura disappeared along with everything else soon, the azure energy consuming the fallen Earthling completely for only a moment.

After the moment passed, he felt he fell on solid ground from a short distance.

It was nothing significant, but still added to his pain, which was worsened when a multitude of sights and sounds bombarded his eyes and ears once the energy around him disappeared.

Exo had appeared next to the remains of the observation tower near the Nebula Park’s entrance, atop which the Summerbolts were supposed to be, his classmates lying on the grass around him with something happening in opposite directions of their group.

On one side Yuki and three of the Summerbolts – Iziya, Graid and Rose – were fighting hundreds of men with full-body uniforms and partial armor using anti-deva arsenal powered by pale green energy.

On the other side Ulura Nightsong was beating Saya Summerbolt.

And Tenji Line, Exo’s homeroom teacher, was helping her do it.