There were six new robed figures, all wearing hammered bronze masks  just like the ones on the other men. The one at the front, who based on  position I assumed was responsible for the wave of corrosive black gas,  turned to the downed figures. "Honestly. The three of you had one job.  This is what happens when we let Andy go on jobs, so I own that one, but  I expected better from you Paul. Honestly, can't even handle some  nobody G ranker and an old man. I'm ashamed to belong to the same  organization as the three of you."

I stared in horror at  the casually chiding man, focusing in on him with a sinking feeling in  my stomach as my Perception told me what my brain had been trying to  deny. This guy was a fucking F-ranker. The others were all G rank, but  this guy was hands down the most powerful person here. I felt my gut  clench at the idea of trying to harm him. With my new tricks I MIGHT be  able to manage something if it was one on one, but against eight  G-rankers at the same time? We were fucked. No two ways about it.

I  cleared my throat. "Well, seems like you folks have some HR stuff to  handle. Personally I hate when other people sit in on peer reviews, so  we'll just take our friends and go. Good luck to you all." I turned to  try to leave, knowing I couldn't but at least being confident that our  preparations could save my team. I was personally completely screwed,  but those teleports would whisk them away before they had a chance to  come to harm, so all I had to worry about was getting Alden out of here,  and probably Marc since I doubted he would leave him.

Before  I could take a step another wave of terrifying black gas circled around  me and ripped a huge chunk of street out from in front of me, making it  impossible to proceed. I gulped. Black gas wielding mask guy snickered a  bit. "Sorry buddy, your pals went after one of mine. I can't have  people spreading around that I let my people get attacked. Bad for my  reputation you see. It's my job to protec-" His smug diatribe was cut  off by a burst of flame as I unleashed one of my two stored fire  attacks.

Mercy Kill, Touch of Tears, Consecration of  Flames, Afterburner, hell I even tried to superimpose one of Benny's  triple strikes on it, though I couldn't get it to work. Still, that was a  blast of flame from Cark, who was middle to peak G-grade in pure Might,  multiplied several times over and infused with vicious poison. It was  literally the heaviest blow I'd ever thrown in my life, and the absolute  explosion of aqua flame that consumed the whole street within twenty  feet of where the man had been standing would have killed literally any  G-ranker I had ever met expect maybe Abel.

Which only made  it all the more heartbreaking as the flames receded and I saw the  masked man standing only lightly singed in front of a crowd of much more  badly burned but still alive G-rankers. I could almost feel the force  of the glare from behind the mask. "That was rude. Here we were having a  perfectly nice chat and you go and try to exterminate all of us.  Granted, it was an impressive effort for a G-ranker. I have to say that  might have even been enough to barely cross rank gap. Not enough to hurt  me mind, but I've met F-ranked fighters that would have worked on, so  you can die proud."

I gaped, until I remembered that raw  numbers weren't the only factor in play. The Impact difference was a  full twenty points, and this guy probably wasn't too early in the  F-ranks either. I'd took my biggest shot and it hadn't done shit to him.  I was barely standing at this point, and it occurred to me that using  my biggest punch might have been a bad plan. I'd panicked and tried to  sucker punch them, and I was pretty sure that blast would have killed  the G-rankers if the leader hadn't protected them, but now I was  exhausted and vulnerable.

A hand landed on my shoulder,  and I looked down to see Alden stepped forward, cracking his neck. "A  good try lad, but you're far too low in stats to fight up a rank, even  with...whatever that was. Despite being powerful, that was ultimately a  G-ranked attack, so the effectiveness was massively diluted. It's  possible to fight up ranks, but it's nearly unheard of to drop a higher  ranked opponent in a single blow. It's all about accumulation. I'll  engage him, can your lot hold back the riffraff?"

I  nodded, gesturing to Jessie to dispatch the wolves. Marc was back on his  feet and Jessie and Benny joined Callie in attacking the G-ranked robed  figures. Unfortunately, they had emergency escape effects on them. If  any of them received what would be even a solid blow, they would be  gone. If it happened to Jessie we'd lose not just our healer, but the  wolves too. Despite being exhausted, I decided to help out. I triggered  another shadow attack, infusing it with Flurry of Blows. The blades of  darkness ripped from the ground right in the middle of the group of  figures, causing them to scatter.

I would have liked to  use more of my DS modifiers, but unfortunately I'd wasted way too many  charges improving my stone limb. The others started attacking the  figures as soon as I disrupted them, and Alden blitzed forward to engage  the leader directly. He rocketed across the street, smashing into the  man like a wrecking ball with his shoulder. It was a monstrous attack,  on a level it was hard to even contemplate taking, and I was absolutely  sure that it surpassed the threshold of a thousand points of force.

The  leader took a step back with a small grunt at the hit, but Alden took  advantage of the moment of retreat and began his attack. Whatever this  man's stats were, I was pretty sure Alden had more Might. He just wasn't  as fast as the bearded man. I knew everyone had a few dump stats, and  Might must have been one of his. The shorter fighter had stuck close,  and was taking advantage of a combination of a massively more advanced  martial arts knowledge and the perfect fusion of that knowledge with his  ability to contend with the robed boss.

Lots of grappling  and locks when possible, but unfortunately the enemy knew his own  weaknesses too. He'd coated his body with that black gas, and Alden's  skin was being eaten away as he attacked. He didn't stop, just kept up  his assault, ignoring the damage even as a green glow sprung up and  started to repair the damage. While his Vitality wasn't enough to offset  a higher ranked attack, it seemed like Jessie had loaded him up on life  force. It must have been burning away his charge at an insane rate, but  it WAS healing him.

The other fighter wasn't too high  Vitality either from what I can see, most likely specializing in  Creation and maybe Perception. This guy was pure battlefield control,  which with a rank advantage would have been devastating without Alden to  soak up his attention, but despite his confidence, our bearded friend  wasn't exactly winning this fight as much as he was surviving it.

Alden  grunted as he traded blows with the more powerful warrior, barking over  his shoulder. "Damn it boy, get your people out of here, I'm having  more trouble than expected, I can't have you damn fools distracting me.  Take Marc with you. " Despite that, he didn't look surprised, and I  realized that he'd always been planning to lose. He was just buying us  time so we could get away. Before my eyes, the wounds started to close  slower and slower. He was using holds to muscle the other man into place  for some brutal strikes, holding him down by using the gravitational  joint locking move I'd seen earlier, but keeping his hands on the other  man was taking its toll, and he was almost out of Jessie's energy.

I  triggered a heal burst on myself and then another one aimed at Alden,  which shockingly worked, showing that I didn't need touch to heal others  when using one of my stored heals. I felt my body flood with energy to  combat the weakness as Alden started to regain momentum. I tried to see  if I could give him some of my stored abilities, but other than the  healing none of them worked. I supposed because the healing was always  meant to be able to effect both the self and others.

I  decided to try to take out the other figures so maybe Alden could leave  with us. I could probably at least delay the robed bastard that long. As  I turned I noted that Jessie and the wolves were gone. Their teleports  were probably triggered. Callie and Benny were working together and had  avoided getting tagged with any solid blows, even managing to take down  two of the five. The original three were still restrained and I jumped  in to help, five on three not seeming like that bad of odds compared to  the other fight. I kept an eye on Alden though, so I could throw him  more heal bursts if needed.

I  dropped a Touch of Tears and Consecration of Flame combo on my cane,  then triggered Leaf on the Wind. All of them were longer term attacks  that would last me a while, so I didn't have to worry about burning  charges. I couldn't wait to upgrade my damn Enchanting Skill so I had an  extra twenty four a day to play with. I leapt up into the air, sailing  over the heads of Callie, who was engaging two of them without problems,  towards the spot where Benny was being battered by the three others. As  I came down I swung the cane like a sledgehammer, spiking down on one  of them with a triple damage density shift blow I got from Benny,  smashing down on a collarbone like a descending star.

There  was a loud snap as the blow connected, snapping the thick bone and  driving the robed figure to his knees. I saw him try to gather a cloud  of mist to form some sort of object, but I stepped off the air with a  Cloud Step and stomp kicked the bastard in his masked face, knocking him  out cold before I landed lightly. I had three charges left and my head  was starting to hurt from spamming them, but I had enough presence of  mind to check on the downed man. The poison fire was hurting him, but  not enough to kill him.

I  heard a shout of warning and whirled to check what had happened when I  noticed a glowing gold sledgehammer the size of a horse appear before me  and smash into me hard. I was sent flying away from the downed  combatant and smashed into a nearby building, my body cracking the wall.  I looked up to find that Benny had taken the momentary lapse to take  down one of his opponents, but Callie had been hit hard enough to  trigger her teleport and the last of her own opponents had ganged up on  him from behind.

He'd  taken a hit and yelled a warning before being ported away, leaving me  alone with what felt like a broken arm and shoulder and two opponents  left. Meanwhile Alden was getting his ass kicked, and I dropped a  healing burst into each of us to help. Sadly it was too late, as Alden  missed a block and got a massive hole burned in his side. The whole  burst went to keeping him alive and he had no way to defend from the  next blow.

The  leader was cackling like a lunatic as he charged up some kind of gas  bomb, ready to kill Alden and probably finish me off, when I caught  something out of the corner of my eye. A motion, so subtle I almost  missed it, preceded a fist the size of a fucking train car smashing  headlong into the F-ranker and sending him careening down the street  like a skipping stone in a pond. "Well now."

Said a calm, thoughtful  voice. "I'm afraid I have to ask." A man stepped from the shadows, and I  couldn't fight the grin that split my face as I recognized him. He  narrowed his eyes behind his distinctive rabbit mask and glared coldly  after the now rising F-ranker. The calm and thoughtful tone melting away into a simmering cauldron of white hot rage. "Exactly whose fucking teacher do  you think you're putting your hands on?"