Blue. All he saw was the palest possible shade of blue. Tokura didn’t mind blue. Far from it, actually – that was his favorite color. But this blue – the one of Lara Jade’s steam – had consumed all of his surroundings. So much so that he could hardly see the trees or anything else. What’s worse, the heat from all that steam felt very unpleasant – like a much more extreme and less fun version of a sauna.

One only needed to sit and sweat it out naked in a sauna and could get out whenever they wanted. The Earthling however needed to move through the apparently inescapable veil of steam with his clothes on and his mind focused, which was a challenge. A challenge made even more difficult by another blue thing – the almost constant barrage of tens of pairs of orbs of turquoise flames that formed rings of the same element created by Mia and Kia Nelaz.

Mr. Braveheart knew quite well the reason the Hera Trio had adopted such an approach in fighting him.

All three of them were aware they couldn’t face him head-on, because he would crush them. The only chance they had was to stall their opponent and make him waste more energy by using long-range attacks from a hidden location.

Tokura possessed a Flexoid deva aside from his invisible shield and the Flexoid was the energy compound that allowed the user to teleport with the highest speed, highest number of targets teleported at once and longest range. One could even teleport objects moving at higher speeds with the azure-colored energy, so long as they could focus on a target of that type. Hence, the Flexoid was very useful in a straight fight, but not nearly as much in situations like the one the pseudoknight had currently found himself in.

He kept teleporting the cyan twins’ fire rings away from him, but with zero visibility and no sensory capabilities, he couldn’t make out where they were as the fire orbs were sent from different directions. At the same time the spreading of Lara’s deva all around allowed her to locate anything within the area it covered, pointing out the enemy’s location to Mia and Kia. Then they probably teleported each of their attacks from a different side of Earthling Class #1’s ‘small’ battering ram so as to make pinpointing their position an impossible task.

The teenager with raspberry-colored hair could end all this, but he would have to further drain his devas for that purpose and he needed to save as much of his strength as possible for helping his comrades in the main battle that lay ahead. If things kept going as they did, however, he wasn’t going to make it in time for the main event of this Class Battle. Therefore he had to choose between two unfavorable options: wait till the Hera Trio members tired enough to let him through, so he could continue with plenty of strength left, or force his way beyond those three right now to rendezvous with Earthling Class #1 in a more worn-out state.

The pseudoknight stopped his advance through the blanket of steam, unleashing a burst of the azure energy compound and forming his shield around him again a second later.

He spread his Flexoid over a very wide area and with very high density as well, closing his eyes as his energy started eating away at the steam.

(Tokura (in his mind) ‘-This Flexoid wave will allow me to discover their location and they know that. But they also know that if they try to stay clear of its range, the distance between us will grow enough for me to continue forward without them being able to catch up fast enough. That means they’ll have to let me find them whether they like it or not!! And it’s game over then!!!’

Tokura could still hear the muffled sound of fire rings being smashed in his shield only to be deflected with equal force after he closed his eyes, but turned his attention away from them. Instead he focused on the connection between him and his energy compound.

That is how he saw a shape amid the darkness. A silhouette of blue energy, not more than 15 meters away. Then another shape emerged next to it. And then one more.

The ‘small’ battering ram was certain he had found his targets and half his victory was assured by just that, but then more shapes that were identical to the three he had already located started appearing. Many more. Tens. Hundreds. And they weren’t just in front of him, but spread in all directions.

 ‘-Did you think it was going to that easy, Braveheart?’ – Lara’s voice rang loud and clear.

One of them finally spoke. Because they knew there was no need to hide anymore. Even if he knew where they are, that wouldn’t make a difference now. He’d been had.

Trying to sense them was also pointless, so the pseudoknight decided to return to the more conventional method for locating objects – with his eyes.

The sight he was met with when he opened them came as no surprise. Tens of smirking Laras, Mias and Kias were closing in on him amid the dissolving steam in a number of circles with a shrinking diameter.

Yet they weren’t just walking. They were laughing. Choirs upon choirs of manic laughter now filled the air to a level that almost made Tokura’s ears bleed. Despite blinking rapidly from irritation, he still managed to keep his eyes open long enough to make out the number of enemy clones – about a hundred for each of them. The closest group of those clones stopped when they stood about five meters from him in each direction but kept guffawing.

(Tokura) ‘-Is all that laughing meant as a psychological attack, or are you just insane?’

The laughing in choirs stopped now, but the talking in choirs started. Not much of an improvement.

(The Mias) ‘-We’re just expressing our joy of being so close to you.’

(The Kias) ‘-And meanwhile you seem to be in a hurry to leave despite the great company you have here. Why not stay with us a bit longer, sweetie?’

Upon closer inspection, the blue bands of the Nelaz duo’s uniforms perfectly matched with their eye and hair color, making them all the more gorgeous in defiance of the sarcastic tone they had just used. Plus Tokura had a thing for lolis because they had a more child-like appearance, much like himself. Lara was a catch in her own right, of course, having a more mature beauty about her. And a much more mature chest.

Under different circumstances, being surrounded by so many beautiful women would’ve been the greatest blessing the pseudoknight could think of. But in the current situation he was more angry than he was stunned by his opponents’ charms. Angry at himself.  

(Tokura) ‘-I think I’ll pass.’

(The Laras) ‘-That was a rhetorical question. You don’t have any choice but to stay with us now.’

The teenager with raspberry-colored hair hated admitting his adversary was right, but no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t deny the truth in the words of the hundred Laras.

His original conjecture that Mia and Kia were teleporting their attacks all around him was wrong. Maybe that’s how it had started, but all the while he was trying to escape the veil of steam he had been trapped in, his foes had been creating clones of themselves and had been spreading them around. That would explain why the twins didn’t use more complex attacks, but stuck to only orbs of fire – half of their attention was focused on making copies of themselves.

The whole reason for forming the veil was to give the Hera Trio time to prepare something else to delay Tokura with after he broke through the veil. And it had all worked out perfectly for them: their target was now surrounded on all sides with no way of telling who the originals are.

If only the Earthling had not been so indecisive about releasing more power up until now, all of this could’ve been avoided. He could’ve taken out his opponents before they could implement their latest plan and would’ve already rejoined his class by the present moment.

But he hadn’t done that. Why? Was it to make sure he would have enough power to be of use to his comrades when he reached them? Or was it in order to have enough power to not be defeated by anyone because of his pride?

Maybe not having the right motivation from the start was what had led to this turn of events.

Wasting more time on regrets was only going to make things worse, though. Disposing of the three Martians was what he needed to do.

Looking at their clones gave him an idea how to do that, but the Hera Trio needed to be distracted for this to work. The best way to distract them right now was to keep them talking.

(Tokura) ‘-Or maybe you’re talking at the same time because you’re afraid if just one of you talks, the originals will somehow give themselves away?’

(The Mias) ‘-We’re all perfect copies, dumbass. You can’t tell us apart like that.’

(Tokura) ‘-Why’re you still talking like that, then? I don’t imagine you often create so many clones to talk in choirs for no reason.’

(The Kias) ‘-We have the most melodic voices in all of Sunbird, so we like listening to ourselves talk. The more of us there are talking, the better.’

(Tokura) ‘-Self-obsessed much?’

(The Laras) ‘-We choose only the best. Since we’re the best, of course we’d obsess over ourselves rather than anyone else.’

(Tokura) ‘-Listening all of you talk at the same time is getting kind of irritating at this point.’

(The Mias) ‘-Why don’t you do something to get rid of us, then?’

All the Flexoid that was spread around the area split into parts that quickly took on a specific shape then, becoming clones of Tokura as the original revealed his confident smirk.

(Tokura) ‘-I intend to.’

The members of the Hera Trio were shocked as Mr. Braveheart’s clones swarmed on theirs, retaliating soon enough by sending orbs of blue flames and focused streams of steam at their opponents, which led to an all-out melee.

While all the Mias and Kias still used only orbs and rings of their flames, some of the Laras shaped their steam into drill-like structures, met with the Flexoid shots created by the forces opposing them, all Tokuras smirking at the Martian miniarmy’s anguish. The more the enemies fought, the more blue steam and energy clashed in the air while the forest was further engulfed in blue flames. Eventually the battlefield’s color scheme changed so much that it appeared as if the two small armies were fighting in a sea of endless blue.

The nature of the battle also changed, both sides now transforming themselves into the attacks they had been using up to this point to clash with the other. So the Mias and Kias became giant flaming orbs, the Laras – big drills or streams of steam and the Tokuras – energy projectiles, mass barrages being unleashed by each group.

The moment the Earthling was waiting for had come.

He had never tried creating so many clones, but thought that it should be possible to match the enemy’s numbers when doing this with a 100% output. If he succeeded, he could turn the three’s tactic against them, waiting for the battle to become chaotic enough that they wouldn’t notice the original had moved on ahead. The ‘small’ battering ram would still need to deal with them later, which wasn’t the best option, but helping his classmates took precedence.

A pine tree signaling the transformation of the deciduous vegetation into that of a coniferous type came within his sight just beyond the borders of the blue-colored area and he chose it as a teleportation destination.

Just before teleporting, Tokura felt something hot coming close to his back, luckily putting up his shield by instinct fast enough to deflect what upon turning around was revealed as a gigantic ring of turquoise flames and pale blue steam. Something probably created by the original Hera Trio, who had caught on his plan before he could fully execute it.

(Kia) ‘-You won’t be getting away from us that easy!!’

(Tokura) ‘-Just how persistent are you?!’

(Mia) ‘-We came here with a mission and we will carry it out!!’

(Lara) ‘-At all costs!!!’

The ring kept on spinning, suddenly blowing up in a two-element storm that swept the whole battlefield, spreading a lot of steam and fire all around, impairing Mr. Braveheart’s vision once again and forcing him to keep his shield up.

(Tokura) ‘-Damn it!! Damn all three of you!!!’

Although they were his foes, Tokura had to give Lara, Mia and Kia credit for being very loyal. Ulura wouldn’t have fought so valiantly to buy them time if she was participating in the Class Battle and their places had been exchanged. She treated her classmates as nothing more than pawns. And Nepalo, Hock and Gorudora of the Ares Trio were no different. Yet the people from their class put their faith in them.

What about Mr. Braveheart’s classmates, though? They put their faith in him and he had betrayed that faith because of his pride and selfishness.

The Hera Trio weren’t going to let up. The only way now was to stop them for good. And as the Earthlings’ ‘small’ battering ram, he couldn’t afford to worry about how much energy that would cost him anymore. He couldn’t afford to worry about anything but his friends from here on.

The new veil of steam prevented the shielded warrior from seeing where the Martian ladies’ clones were, but he could still feel the presence of his clones, teleporting in front of one of them.

Right then a clone of one of the cyan twins transformed in a giant turquoise fireball was smashed in his shield, originally aiming for his Flexoid clone. In the moment of contact Tokura ran his azure energy compound over the surface of his shield, a part of it being transferred to the fireball as it was deflected.

Its nature was slightly changed with that, another clone or one of the real Nelaz twins no longer being able to dispel it so easy. So nothing managed to stop it from hitting one of Lara’s clones transformed into a steam drill nearby. As the two attacks cancelled each other out, the pseudoknight teleported next to another of his copies, deflecting an attack meant for him and running his Flexoid over it to ensure another enemy clone will be taken out by it.

The Hera Trio’s clones began regrouping after that, but it was too late. A chain of deflecting their attacks back at them in a slightly altered state with high speed had already begun. The fake Tokuras’ barrage of projectiles was also enhanced by an azure energy power-up from the original, further ensuring no one would escape the onslaught.

Before long the relentlessness of the Earthling who had finally shown his true power led to the demise of the originals, proof of which was that all their remaining clones suddenly crumbled into nothing.

The victor took a deep breath and started absorbing his Flexoid copies back in himself with a wave of his hand, walking through the receding steam. He stopped when he found the real three, each of them being bloodied, bruised and burned, breathing heavily and looking at each other. When their opponent’s shadow loomed over them, their attention was turned to him, smiles full of triumph forming on their faces although they had lost.

(Lara) ‘-We got you, Braveheart. We may not have kept you here for as long as we wanted, but you sure used up a lot of power while dealing with us, right?’

(Mia) ‘-That means your class is doomed all the same at this point.’

Tokura narrowed his eyes, turning his back on the defeated warriors.

(Tokura) ‘-You did good. You fulfilled your duty brilliantly, so take pride in that now and rest.’

(Kia) ‘-Ha! What’s with the praise, Earthling? Shouldn’t you hurry up to see if there’s anything left of your friends?’

(Tokura) ‘-I just wanted to commend you before moving on. (he turned to them only partially to show a face burning with determination) If it wasn’t for what you did here, I wouldn’t have remembered my duty: to always risk it all without a second thought to save my friends. So the only thing you ensured with your actions was your class’s demise at my hands!’

He vanished with a burst of Flexoid, reaching the pine tree he was originally planning to teleport to within a second and moving forward.

The forest was on fire. The ground was shaking. Huge amounts of crimson energy ripped the skies just ahead. Yet none of that fazed Tokura. Saving the Earthlings was the one thing that really mattered and their ‘small’ battering ram would not fail them again.