If Rin had to describe Aiden in a few words it would be: ‘Pure Strength.’

His power wasn't overly complicated, didn't have any hard condition to activate, and didn't have any side effects to its user. It was a simple yet dangerous power. In terms of physical prowess alone, he was one, if not the strongest in the entirety of Refuge, Noble included— No, the distinction doesn't even need to be made since, power-wise, he was no different than a Noble, possessing both an Aura and a Singularity.

Adding to that his long years of experience as one of Ark's earliest Elite and the few he had being chased around by the world, Rin had no qualms admitting she was weaker than him. He had been at this way longer than she had, fought challenges harder than she could imagine, and overcame them every single time. The odds were heavily stacked against her and while she could put up a fight, winning against him was nigh impossible.

F o r No w.

“Argh!” Rin let out a groan as she was pushed back by Aiden. 

Her hands trembled but no time for rest. She ducked down to avoid a punch and hastily brought her hand in a cross to block a knee going up for her face. Too strong. Her arms got smashed on her face pushing her head back up. She could feel her nose bleeding. Another punch came towards her stomach and this time she deflected it to her right making the man stumble forward. She didn't hesitate and punched him directly in the face, and yet, nothing. His Aura shone and he didn't show even a hint of being injured, instead wearing his same feral smile. In the end, Rin still felt a pain in her stomach and got pushed back.

She should be thankful about it but, somehow, realizing the man held back made her feel worse. 

Sophia came down from above him with a foot swung vertically. Aiden blocked the blow with his right forearm, generating a little bit of shockwave, before, in a fluid and quick motion, catching the leg with the same hand and flinging it towards Rin. He did it in such an easy and careful way that it made the girl appear to be very light.

Rin roughly caught her and instantly pushed her to the side as the man didn't give her rest.

She knew dodging to be her strong point but against Aiden, she was barely able to keep up. His attacks were not only strong but fast and precise. Blocking them hurted and evading them was difficult. It had nothing to do with fighting a brainless monster. She couldn't even afford to blink and it was all she could do to retaliate from time to time. To add a cherry on top, the man kept increasing his pace and strength like it was all just a warm-up.

She jumped back to avoid a kick, raised her hands to her left side to block another punch, and increased the strength in her feet to avoid being pushed back. Sophia came in from behind again slashing at him with her claws, which were just strong enough to make him wince.

If there was a silver lining, it would be Sophia yet, even then, as time passed Rin wasn't so sure it was such a big advantage. For some reason—probably a side effect of her Singularity— the green-eyed girl appeared more beastly than human. Except for her claws and fangs, she still had a human appearance, thankfully, but her behavior was almost animal. In exchange for more strength, she seemed to have lost part of her reason and was rampaging against Aiden. 

“Stop! No, no, this...” Aiden suddenly yelled, showing a frown. “This is boring.”

His figure disappeared from in between the two girls and reappeared a few meters behind them. Sophia, not surprised in the least, didn't stop for even a moment and dashed back towards the man. Rin wasn't so eager but didn't try to stop the girl. Apparently, one of the other weaknesses of Aiden's Boost was stamina, though that was to be expected.

Aiden heaved a sigh and despite the force in each of Sophia's attacks, casually avoided them with a fed-up expression.

“This feels like a street fight.” He was addressing Rin but his eyes were focused on the other girl. “It's absurdly normal—Elite don't fight like this!” The man caught both of Sophia's wrists and held her in place before looking at Rin. “They shouldn't!”

Rin kicked the ground, not wanting to miss the opportunity. Sophia thrashed around, trying to break free and retake the man's attention. Rin clenched her hand, ready to strike, and yet—

“Let me show you.”

—She couldn't even register Aiden's next attack. The snowy sky spread out before her eyes and she felt her body float with an immense pain around her neck. ‘Eh...?’ Confused, her mouth just simply gaped. In the next instant, and within it, someone grabbed her feet and smashed her down—face first and with an insane amount of savagery— on the ground, like a broken doll. She could only let out a groan before she was pulled up again from her feet and, this time, smashed in her back. She coughed out blood, disoriented.

She cursed internally and bit her lips when Aiden lifted her and threw her at the nearest wall like she wasn't even human. She could clearly hear bone breaking and her consciousness trying to slip away. And yet, no respite. Her head cast down, she could see a shadow creating around her and realized too late that it was a car being thrown at her. When it was squashed against her, she could only fleetingly hope the house she leaning on didn't have anyone in it.

Blood dripped down from her mouth and probably from all around her body, too. She had a hard time seeing again due to the smoke but she knew she was now on the ground with the heavy car on top of her. ‘It...didn't explode.’ She thought, unable to feel relieved as she frowned and tried to not scream in pain. A buzzing sound was flooding her ears, and for an instant or maybe several minutes, she stayed still, reigning in the pain, and, maybe, appreciating the small respite, if it could be called that. 

When she regained a bit of fighting spirit, though, she found herself unable to move. She was inside a house now—at least partially— and the car itself was stuck through the wall, pinning her down. Moving it aside was impossible and pushing it out risked collapsing the whole house. Did she have any other choice? She didn't know when Aiden was going to attack again and, frankly speaking, she was panicking.

‘Sorry...’ She thought, beginning to push the car outside of the house with one of her hands. It hurt. At least, she couldn't see or sense anyone inside the building and, though, she wasn't sure, it didn't appear to have that many floors.

When she got a little more margin, she used both of her hands and, instead of going slowly, shoved the vehicle all the way out with all her strength. If not for the pain and her feeling of disarray, she would have felt amazed at her own strength. Rin quickly moved out of the house while praying it wasn't going to fall.

“That's it, be wilder!” Aiden said, clenching Sophia by her neck. “Use your inhuman strength effectively and don't just throw punches and kicks around— That only works against Demons.”

 

‘That's the whole point of it,’ She thought aggressively, assessing the situation. The man might have been right, though.

The situation wasn't ideal: she needed to take more advantage of her power. Law wasn't participating anymore after Aiden had warned him to not interfere and the Hound had leaped off to wherever Kain had been set off but, those hardly made the situation better. To make it worse, for some (probably pointless) reason, Celia was still there too, observing the battle like she could follow any of it.

“Celia!” Rin shouted, hoping that would wake the girl from whatever stupor she was in. Ideal world, she'd also run away without Law making her a hostage.

Sophia let out an inhuman roar and clawed at Aiden's hand, somehow managing to break free. Rin moved at the same time, heading straight for the damaged car and kicking it towards Aiden without hesitation. The impact was almost immediate, which was a pleasant surprise as the thing moved faster than she had intended, but, obviously, the man was sturdier than a stone wall.

Rin jumped high in the sky—very high, (once again exceeding her intention)— the instant the man effortlessly pushed the car away. He looked around for Rin for a second before he looked up with a big grin. No surprise. Rin knew that whatever attack she'd muster up would be easily blocked by the man, so, instead, she destroyed the ground in front of him by landing on it violently. Crack spread beneath the man, and, although subtle, he stumbled forward.

Rin spun and kicked straight in his face, blowing him much farther than she had expected. Not letting up, she used her other feet to kick the ground and punch the man at the same side of the face. The Aura around it thickened but Rin didn't stop. She punched the man a second time. And a third. And a fourth. When Aiden seemed to regain his bearing and was ready to retaliate, she kicked his jaw from below and made him float in the air.

The petty part of her just couldn't resist.

She took hold of his left foot and threw him on the ground with as much savagery as he had done to her. The ground once again caved in and Rin hold's on the man slipped, preventing her to redo the action. Aiden was quick to get back on his feet but not quick enough to react to Sophia suddenly flying toward him. 

The girl took hold of his collar, increased her pace, and smashed his back high up against a building. She didn't stop and dragged the man across the wall, leaving a trail of destruction behind her, before flying to another building. Rinses and repeat a few times before Aiden managed to get away from her clutches.

Following close behind them, Rin predicted the man's landing point and, while he was still in mid-air, kicked him again with all she had. The man was sent crashing like a meteor against yet another wall.

His laugh echoed.

“Yeah, that's better.” He said, calmly standing out of a pile of rubbles.

He was unscratched. Rin clenched her hands and glared at him.

Sophia landed at her side and soon got on her knees. Exhausted, apparently. She could see the girl's claws were receding, so it was probably safe to assume she could hardly contribute anymore. Rin wished that she'd at least land somewhere else if that was the case, though. It was completely stupid to stay here if you couldn't fight anymore.

Then again, it wasn't like Rin was in a much better state. Her breathing was haggard, her chest heaving up and down to show for it and she was bleeding from all over her body. In fact, now that her initial rush of adrenaline seemed to have calmed down, she found it difficult to keep ahold of her consciousness.

That said, it was fine.

“It's better but it's not nearly enough. Still too weak.” Aiden paused dusting himself off. “Can't you give it a little more spirit? This is a pretty common trope, you know? ‘The big bad guy is there, all hope seems to be lost when suddenly, the hero awakens to a new power!’”

‘What... is he even talking about?’ Rin frowned, slowly moving in front of Sophia.

“Didn't you do that earlier? You know, when I...” 

Aiden mimicked the movement of clenching something with his hand and Rin felt her entire body pulse as she nearly stumbled forward. She clenched her teeth.

“All I'm asking you, Rin, is to give me a little challenge, because, right now, I don't feel any... threat—I don't feel like losing and you probably don't feel like winning, either.” He shook his head complainingly. “I'm losing interest here. Think of a plan or something, or awake to a hidden power, heck, use the power of Love if that's what it takes! This isn't your limit, is it? Is it!?”

Rin simply glared at him. If she could work up a miracle, she wouldn't have associated with him, to begin with.

“Do you need more motivation? Tha—”

“Enough.” Law interrupted, coming a few meters from her left. She sensed him coming, but, at this point, she didn't have the energy to worry about him. “Don't Move.” He casually said after briefly turning towards Rin.

Rin hadn't intended to move to begin with so the Order was pretty much pointless. It was predictable, too, just like the ‘Follow me’ Order he'd say in a few seconds or minutes. It didn't matter anymore, though. She couldn't do much anyway, and as Aiden had implied, she had no way of winning by herself. 

“We've run out of time,” Law said, creasing his brow. “We need to go. Where's your friend?”

“Oh come on, just a little more, daddy. Things are just get—”

“Fine, you stay here.” He said, taking out his phone. “Follow me.” 

He Ordered and she obeyed.

Hopefully, she had stalled for enough time.

◇

Bad, bad, bad.

‘What should I do, what Should I do!?’

Celia panicked. 

She was hidden behind the side of a building, observing the situation unfold with a fast-beating heart. She had wanted to believe Rin would win and that everything would turn out fine at the end of the day, yet... What could she possibly do, though? She didn't know how to fight, and frankly speaking, she didn't want to. 

‘But, at this rate...’ She clenched her hand and tried to calm down by breathing in and out.

She looked down at her palm, reached deep inside her, and conjured the red-like energy on it. This was her power and currently, the only thing she had that could potentially save Rin. Could she use it properly, though? ‘Sophia said it should come naturally, but,’ She thought, moving the energy around her arms. ‘She also said my power might be more complicated to manipulate.’ 

She instantly shook her head. Now was not the time to doubt herself. It had worked earlier and it would work now. And even if it didn't, she owed it to Rin to try it nonetheless. She had promised, after all, that she would never let her go. She let out one last breath. ‘I need to save Rin.’ She thought, driving herself out of her hiding place.

“Wait!” She shouted just as the three people were about to leave. “I won't let you take her!”

She could see Rin's face frowning in her direction. Had she expected her to leave? ‘You should have known this would happen,’ She thought, trying to convey it with a glare of her own. Plus, it wasn't like Rin was her only concern. Sophia was there, too, though, since who knows when, had already collapsed on the ground.

The two man's gazes bore down on her and she shrank unconsciously. She hadn't caught their name yet, but, she was keen to call the one next to Rin as Mind Control and the other as Super Strong. Both Villains. ‘I need to save Rin.’ She repeated to get back her bearing.

“Let's Go.” Mind Control said, not bothereed one bit by her presence.

Super Strong, however, looked at her curiously, “Heh, so you do have a friend.” He said with a smirk, probably towards Rin.

The other man didn't stop advancing, and in fact, seemed to increase his pace. Therefore, Rin followed even with her gaze stuck on Celia.

Celia tried not to panic, inhaled a breath, and closed her eyes, concentrating. ‘I need to save Rin and for that, I need the two bad guys gone.’ She thought, reaching for her power. ‘I need to save Rin and for that, I need the two bad guys gone. I need to-’ She repeated. Again and again like a mantra and when she reopened her eyes, she felt an immense of power around herself.

She saw the world through a red lens and sensed it with her Singularity.

Three pairs of shocked eyes looked back at her. Mind Control had stopped moving. Good.

“Let her go!” She said, somehow brimming with confidence.

The man simply glared at her while the other laughed. 

“What kind of power is that? That's amazing!” 

Celia gritted her teeth. No choice, then. 

“I need you gone,” She said, gathering the red power in front of her.

And that was the catalyst— Her breathing got clogged, her vision blurred and she stumbled forward. Something disappeared.

«M-my name is Rin... Nice to meet you—.»

«I don't know how to help—»

«This your new home from now o—,»

«—Sis! I want to play wi—»

«It's alright—»

«I do wonder how you'll be like when we meet again—»

“Celia!” Rin's shout brought her back to the present.

Her knees were on the ground, she was drenched in sweat and was holding her chest as she was hyperventilating. Her singularity was now fully gathered in front of her, ready to be launched with a single thought. Rin's worry-filled expression was the only thing she could see or hear—and it was going further away from her.

‘I need to save...’ Her breathing calmed down and she got back some of her senses. ‘I need to...’

She extended her hand toward the red-like energy and gulped. “I need...” Aiden's figure appeared between her and Rin's disappearing silhouette with a smile, as though anticipating something big. Celia inhaled, clenching her chest even more. ‘I...’ 

Tears ran down her cheek

She bit her lips

And, with a thought—

—All of her power returned back inside her.

“What!? Why did you—”

A giant blue hand crashed down on the man, interrupting him. He barely managed to block it before a second hand materialized behind him and pinned him down on the ground. Not for long, though. With another guttural laugh, he easily broke free of his bind, destroying the giant arms in the process, and jumping back to get a little more space.

A man passed by Celia's crouching figure, looking ahead with a stern look.

“Celia,” He said, his tone grave yet reassuring. “What happened here?”

“Fate...” Celia let out a relieved sigh as all the tension in her body left her. “Rin—M-my friend, they took her!”

She could practically feel the anger coming out of the man in front of her, yet as he turned to look at her, he had a smile on his face.

“No,” he said,putting a hand on her head and patting her. “You stand back, leave this to me.”

“Aww~ That's so cute.”

The voice came from beside her, too close for even her comfort. Fate moved before Celia could even turn her head. A blue sword materialized in his hand and he swung it without an ounce of hesitation. Yet, instead of colliding, the blade simply passed through the body of its target— a blonde woman, apparently. Fate tried to attack again but the figure instantly flickered out of existence.

“So many people came, and none of you even bothered to wait for me.” The blonde woman complained, suddenly appearing next to Aiden. “I got an invitation, too, you know. Let me play~”

“Ursa? Wait, I came here first, don'—”

A bright pillar of light engulfed the place, blinding everyone present.

When Celia finally recovered her vision, Rin was nowhere to be seen.