Bottom of the Abyss
100th Floor

The three stare down a large corridor filled with crystal pillars. After a couple seconds the tree start to move down the stairs and walks down the path.

"Damn, this is pretty impressive." Hajime says as he observes the crystals.

Ruby frowns at all the crystals. "I don't like it... it's too pretty." She then crosses her arms. "Not enough cookies."

"Could this be..."

Yue finishes for Hajime. "...The Maverick's lair?"

They stare out to the other end of the room.

"If it is, then hell yeah." Hajime smiles. "Means we've finally reached our goal."

Ruby taps her chin as her eyes narrow. "Big empty space..." She glances to the side. "No enemies..." She then whispers. "This... is a boss room."

Hajime raises an eyebrow as he glances at the tall Grimm woman. "You played way to many video games."

"Six hours everyday of the week and 16 hours a day on the weekend." Ruby smiles to herself. "Still wasn't enough."

Hajime faceplams as he shakes his head.

"Video...Games?" Yue questions as she tilts her head.

Ruby bends down to the small girls level and pats her head. "Oh, don't worry about it." She stands up and begins walking.

Yue grabs Hajime's hand and they follows right after Ruby. Suddenly the room shakes and a massive purple magic circle appears in front of the party and it starts to grow.

"Shit!" Ruby yells and the three run back a away and look at the circle.

The circle just keeps growing and Ruby starts to sweat a little.

"Whoa, hey!" Hajime yells as he sweats a little. "Look how big that is! This has gotta be the final boss."

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Ruby's red and black eyes stare at the circle.

"Don't worry!" Yue calls out and she holds Ruby's hand and wraps her other arm around Hajime's arm. "We won't lose!"

"Yeah, we won't lose!" Hajime smirks confidently.

Ruby smiles confidently. "Yeah, I'm not a small weak person anymore. I'm the Scourge of Humanity now. I will eat every cookie in existence! Ehe... I mean I will destroy everything in my path!"

Hajime and Yue stare at Ruby, while she sweats and looks away. Then three look at the massive magic circle as Ruby takes the scythe off her back.

A bright light shines and the three cover their eyes. The light dies down and the three gulp as they look up to see a massive six headed Hydra. A Red, Green, Blue, White, Yellow and Black heads.

"Well, we're boned." Ruby says with a hint of fear in her tone.

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Hajime sets his wrapped railgun on the ground as the six heads hiss at the tree intruders. He slides his railgun to the side. Ruby spins her scythe in her hand, before slamming the blade into the ground.

The three keep staring at the Hydra and it slams its tail on the ground. The red head shoots a fire ball at the group and they all jump in different directions.

Ruby lands on the ground and she opens her mouth as a magic circle appears around it, but she jumps away as a few Wind Blades hit the ground where she was.

As Ruby flies through the air she opens up her mouth and fires off a large Fire Ball at the blue head and she scores a hit. The Blue head roars in pain and she lands on the ground.

Ruby runs towards Hajime as he lands on the ground from dodging an attack. She then notices the blue and red head looking towards him and they shoot fire and ice at him.

Ruby grunts and she uses Petal Burst to grab Hajime out of the way. She cancels the spell mid-air, allowing Hajime to fire his Revolver at the blue head and red head. He does small damage, but it still hurts the two head.

Ruby and Hajime land on the ground and they regroup with Yue, Ruby and Hajime smirk, but they drop it as the White head starts to heal its fellow head. All the wounds on the Hydra heal, no matter how deep.

"The white one heals it!" Yue states.

"That means... we take that one out first!" Hajime orders as he aims his revolver at it.

But the White head moves back as the rest move in front to protect it. Hajime grabs Ruby and pulls her back. "Yue!"

Yue nods and floats up and starts to cast a spell. The heads fire their spells at the other two. Hajime uses Quick Step to get up into the air as Ruby uses petal Burst.

Hajime fires onto the Hydra as Ruby opens her mouth and shoots out a large Fire Ball.

As the other heads are distracted by Hajime and Ruby, Yue fires off a Crimson Javelin at the unprotected white head. The spell travels through the air towards the white head, but the yellow one swiftly moves in the way and takes the blow.

The white head heals any damage done. All their hard work simply undone in the matter of seconds.

Hajime and Ruby land beside each other. "The yellow one defends, huh?" Hajime questions.

"One heals, one attacks, one defends." Ruby says. "This is like the perfect Raid boss, it's so well-balanced! But also so unfair at the same time!"

Hajime moves forward and fires onto the heads. Ruby runs head as she laughs and she jumps up, readying her scythe to attack the blue head. But the red head comes it and slams her down to the ground.

Ruby slams into the ground, cracking it below her as she spits out saliva. Ruby gets up and jumps back as a fire and ice spells slam into where she was.

Yue's scream rings out. "Yue!" Hajime yells. "You bastard! Reuben, cover me!"

"Right!" Ruby yells as she uses Petal Burst to fly in front of the main attack heads and successfully gets their attention. As Ruby flies above the Yellow head she fires off some acid breath onto it.

The yellow head roars in pain as its scales slowly dissolve. Ruby lands on the ground and swiftly opens her mouth again and flames spew out from her mouth at large quantities.

All the heads roar in pain and Ruby uses Petal Burst to fly back as they launch attacks at her. Ruby watches at the white head starts to heal all their wounds.

Ruby grits her teeth. "I only have one ranged attack, this isn't an easy fight for me." She does a couple back flips and avoids some Wind Blades.

Ruby lands on her feet and looks up to see the Black Head in front of her, and its eyes glow purple. Suddenly Ruby finds herself in a dark void.

She blinks in confusion a few times, before a pained cough echoes out. Ruby goes still as her pupils shrink, she slowly looks back to find Yang on the ground, with a large hole in her stomach.

"Yang!" Ruby runs over and kneels down to her, her hands start to shake as she covers the hole on her stomach. "H-Hey, it-it's okay! You- you'll be okay."

Ruby stutters as she looks down at her sister in fear. Yang just smiles as blood falls down her chin. She brings a hand up to Ruby's cheek and lightly caress it, before her hand suddenly goes limp and falls to the ground.

Yang's eyes close as her head lolls to the side. Ruby starts to panic.

"Nononono!" Ruby shakes Yang, trying to wake her. "Yang! YANG!" Tears stream down Ruby's eyes.

"My oh my~" Salem's voice rings out in the void, confusing Ruby.

Suddenly Salem's pale hand is placed onto Ruby's shoulder, making the Grimm look back at her. Salem smiles down at Ruby her wings fluttering behind her.

"My dear girl, are you really falling for a cheap trick?" Salem asks in a condescending tone.

"What?" Ruby questions in confusion.

"You are being tricked my dear, and you're falling for it." Salem turns Ruby around, putting her hands on the side of the Grimm's head. "I for one will not accept that, so I shall bestow you a small gift. May it bring you use in your travels."

Salem's hands glow brightly for a second, as a tinge of pain flashes in Ruby's mind. Ruby growls as she then hunches over, she lets out a few animalistic growls as Salem suddenly disappears, along with Yang's body.

Ruby's eyes start to shake violently as she takes several deep breaths. "You..." her voice grows deep and angry. "Dare!"

Ruby swings her scythe in front of her, cutting the entire void in half. Suddenly she's back in the boss room.

The black head roars in pain as blood spills from it as it retreats.

"Nice try bitch!" Ruby laughs in anger, before using Petal Burst to fly backwards as a massive ice shard lands where she was.

Ruby lands a few feet back, but a few wind blades fly past her and one nicks her arm. She hisses and looks to see a small bit of black blood dripping from her left arm.

"Well, I'll give you that one." Ruby's wound heals as a green aura covers it.

"Reuben, buy me a few more seconds, I'm gonna use Schlagen!" Hajime yells out.

"I've bought you a lot of time already!" Ruby scream at Hajime as she uses Petal Burst to avoid more attacks. "And it's Ruby, Bastard!"

"Well, by me some more!"

"Fuck you!" Ruby lands on a destroyed crystal pillar and fires off a couple fireballs as Yue casts a few of her own spells. She looks towards Hajime's position. "I'll cut your other damn arm off, and beat the Hydra with it. Now hurry, dammit!"

Ruby then jumps off the pillar as the blue head tries to slam into her. She lands on the head and swings her scythe deep into its hard scales as gets a few large gashes in, before she's forced to jump off.

"I'll take 'em out all at once!" Hajime yells.

Ruby looks back to see Hajime aiming the railgun as he holds it to his side, as he floats on a platform in the air. The railgun charges up and he fires it off, killing the Yellow, Black and White heads with the shot.

Hajime lands on the ground and Ruby uses Petal Burst to fly over to him. The three remaining heads, badly hurt, hiss at Hajime and Ruby.

But Yue surrounds the three heads with blue  balls. "Heavenly Blaze!" She casts, shocking the three heads, killing them.

Yue nearly falls over from over exerting herself, but she manages to stay standing. The Hydra's body falls down onto the ground, casing smoke to fly up.

Ruby lets out a few pants as sweat falls from her brow. "Oh, that was a work out."

Ruby and Hajime fist bump each other. Ruby then laughs as she buts her hands behind her head.

Yue falls to her knees and takes a few heavy breaths and she closes her eyes. Hajime and Ruby turn around and walk towards Yue, not noting the new massive Hydra head appearing behind them.

Yue opens her eyes and they widen. "Hajime! Ruby!"

The two turn around to see a single large silver head looking down at them.

The head looks to Yue as it tilts it's head back.

"What's it doing?!"Ruby questions as she takes a step back.

Hajime runs towards Yue as it fires off a large magic blast and it heads straight towards her. But before it can hit her, Hajime stands in it's way, taking the blast for her.

A bright light flashes as a massive explosion goes off. The blast travels towards Ruby and she just hunches over.

"Son of a bi-" Ruby gets enclosed by the light.

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Ruby's current stats.

Name: Ruby Rose (Reuben Xiao Long) / Age: 17 / Sex: Female / Level: 80 / Job: G̷̜̕r̷̝͛i̵̙̍m̸̫̈m̶̬̍ ̷̯́Ą̸͘p̶̰̈o̵̳͋s̴̫͆t̵͕͑l̴͔̇e̶̖̓ ̴̳͝

Strength: 2125
Vitality: 1870
Defense: 2290
Agility: 2575
Magic: 1500
Magic Defense: 1000

Skills: Language Comprehension. Petal Burst. Iron Skin. Reap and Sow. Sacrificial Sweep. Burning Hook. Willpower-Draining Aura. Ear-Piercing Scream. Acid Spit. Fire Breath. Fireballs. Night Vision. Detect Negative Emotions. Fear Resistance. Paralysis Resistance. Poison Resistance. Slight Regeneration. Petrification Resistance. Intimidate. (New) Limit Break [War Demon]. (New) Mental Resistance

G̢̘͎̘̎̎r̜͍̓͠i̷̲̲̯̰̟̳̋̌mͦ҉̫̗̺͈m̷͕̝͙̥̝̯̈́̉ͪ̑ͅ ͇͔̠̲̖̻̗̺̓ͫ͝Ṕ̙̬̱̫̬͈͖̿̽͜o̸̬̼͖͍̥̖ͫo͎̠͇̹ͦ̒̌͟l̥̤͓͙̼͍̩̅ͮ̀̓͟

Ĝ̸̟̻̻̻̗̬r̯͍̲̆ͨ͌̀ͅĩ̷̫̤̯̺̹m̵͈̝̦̱̝͈̭ͭ͐͐m̧̲̙͚̜̻͖͍͚ͬͣ ̨̜̥̫̙̯̫̓̔͊̐ͅS̷̯̱̈́͆p̧̫̤͇̺͕͍̒͋̋a̭̖̳͍͔̞̞̳̿ͭͭ̊͡w̢̗̞ͪn̗̝̹̼͔ͪͬ͂́͡

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Ash falls from the air as Ruby sits a bit of aways from the two, being thrown by the blast. She lets out a cough and looks up to see the Hydra tilt its head back and release some steam.

"The fuck was that?!" Ruby yells. "Wait..."

"Hajime!" Yue yells in worry.

Ruby looks over to see Hajime laying on the ground, heavily injured. His railgun destroyed by the blast.

"Hajime!" Ruby coughs and she uses petal Burst to fly over.

Ruby lands next to Hajime as Yue shakes him, blood pools under him.

"Come on, man!" Ruby yells as she slaps him a few times. "Don't die on me! I spent weeks looking for you and nearly died multiple times, so I can't have you die on me now!"

The Hydra roars and Ruby looks up to see two purple balls of magic appear at the sides of its head. Ruby frowns and glares at the Hydra as she stands up and readies her scythe.

"Yue, get him to cover." Ruby orders as her wounds slowly heal up. "I'll protect you."

"But-" Yue starts as she looks at Ruby in worry.

The Hydra fires off two magic blasts from the balls and they slam into Ruby, smokes covers her.

"Ruby!" Yue yells in worry.

The smoke clears to show Ruby holding her scythe in front of her as her arms shake. Her small wounds heal as some black blood drips from the larger ones. "I said GO!"

Yue starts to drag Hajime back as the Hydra roars as magic spikes fire from the purple balls of magic. Ruby starts to twirl her scythe and starts to deflect the spikes that approach Yue and Hajime.

A couple spikes hit Ruby, but do minimal damage. 'Thank Salem for Iron Skin.' She grunts as she speeds up her twirling.

Yue gets Hajime behind some cover and Ruby smiles and starts to yell at the Hydra. "Hey ugly!" The Hydra looks down at her. "Come down here so I can get a good look at ya!"

The Hydra roars and stops firing its spikes and fires magic blasts down at Ruby. Ruby jumps out of the way and lands on a large broken crystal. Magic starts to gather under her as she closes her eyes.

"Limit Break."

Suddenly everything goes quiet, before a massive boom of magical energy surrounds Ruby. Red and black energy starts to spark off her as she gains a dark aura. All her wounds rapidly heal as her body feel overloaded.

Her veins bulge as red energy flows through them. Her scythe starts to glow and flash brightly with energy. Her body then gets cover in a thing layer of magical energy.

Ruby points her scythe up at the Hydra, as it roars at her. She then grows a large smirk as she readies her blade; both her eyes flash red. "Let's Dance!"

Ruby runs forward towards the Hydra and it hisses at her and brings its head down to her. Ruby uses Petal Burst to move to the side as the head slams into the ground next to her.

Ruby laughs as a magic circle appears around the blade of her scythe. "Reap and Sow!" She swings her scythe twice, the fist attack just bounces off the Hydra's armor, but the seconds manages to cut into the hydra.

The Hydra roars as it moves its head out of the ground. 

"Get back here!" Ruby yells and she jumps up towards the head as her scythe glows again. "Sacrificial Sweep!"

Ruby swings her Scythe at the Hydra's head and cuts deep into it, but a few wounds appear around her body. The Hydra roars in pain and slams its head into Ruby and smashes her into the ground.

Ruby coughs up black blood, but she still smirks as the Hydra moves its head back. She opens her mouth as a magic circle appears and she lets out an Ear-Piercing Scream.

The sonic waves hit the Hydra and it shakes its head and just stares down at Ruby. Her eyes widen as she stands up, holding her Right Black skeleton arm as a few cracks appear around it. But the cracks quickly heal up.

 "It did nothing?"

The Hydra hisses at Ruby and the two magic balls floating beside it fire spikes down at her. She grunts and starts to twirl her scythe as she backs up. But she ends up tripping on some rocks and she falls over.

The Hydra roars and starts to move its head towards her, but a few gunshots ring out and it stops. Ruby looks back to see Yue holding Donner in her hands.

"Yue, no!" Ruby calls out as she holds her hand out to the vampire girl.

The two magic balls fire magic beams at Yue and they slam into the small girl, sending her flying.

"YUE!" Ruby grunts as she stands up and opens her mouth towards the Hydra. Her legs shaking a bit, but she slams them into the ground as her black and red aura explodes outwards.

Ruby fires off a large fire ball and it hits the Hydra, making its head snap to the side. "Your fights with me, ugly!" The Hydra turns to Ruby with a hiss and it leans back. "Uh oh."

The Hydra then fires off a massive beam down at Ruby. Her eyes widen as her knees give out below her and sweat travels down the sides of her head.

"Shit."

The beam crashes into Ruby and she lets out a pained scream as she flies back into the air and roughly lands on the ground, large wounds litter her body, but they all quickly heal up.

The Hydra roars as it fires magic spikes around the area.

Ruby lays still as she coughs up some black blood and opens her eyes slightly. The hydra stares down at her, and lets out a loud hiss. Ruby grunts as she stands up, her Limit Break healing her up, but she coughs up a large amount of black blood.

Ruby laughs as she wipes the blood from her mouth. The Hydra lets out a roar as a pair of large purple balls float beside it. It then fires down magical spikes at her.

Ruby laughs as she charges at the Hydra, weaving side to side avoiding the magical spikes. The head then lunges down at her as she grows near. Ruby quickly lunges to the side, and jumps onto the Hydra's head.

The head quickly snaps back, trying to throw Ruby off it. But the girl just laughs as she waves a hand in the air as it shakes around.

"Giddy up horsey!" Ruby laughs as she slams her scythe down onto the head several times.

Her scythe manages to break through its thick armor. She then laughs as she opens her mouth up wide as green magical energy starts to gather around it. But before she can fire, the Hydra's tail curls back and slaps her off.

Ruby yelps as she goes flying in the air, and she tries to use Petal Birst to fly. But the head lunges forward and slams into her. Ruby coughs as she goes flying and crashes up into the ceiling.

The Hydra then opens up its mouth, and fires off a large beam of pure magical energy at Ruby. Her eyes widen as she tries to move, but the beam slams into her.

The hydra fires its beam for several seconds, before stopping. As the beam goes away, Ruby falls from the ceiling, and Yue screams out to her. The Grimm slams into the ground as her Limit Break cancels.

The blade of Ruby's scythe lands beside her head, as the broken handle lands nearby. She coughs up a large amount of black blood, as her vision blurs. Her ears ring as everything grows muffled. 

 "Yang." She weakly says in delirious. "Yang. Yang!" She says louder and louder. "Yang, I need help! Yang!" She moves her head back and forth.

Ruby's eyes land on Yue taking cover next to the wounded Hajime. "Hajime?" She slowly blinks a few times before looking up to the ceiling as ash falls from the sky.

Ruby then holds up both her arms, her pale hand has black blood running down it as her bone hand is missing a few chunks and a couple fingers. She lets out a few coughs, as the hydra's roar breaths through the ringing in her ears.

The hydra's roar echoes in her mind, as if mocking her. She then clenches her hands as they shake.

"Come on Ruby..." She mutters as looks towards the Hydra. "You're Xiao Long, what would dad think..."

The hydra charges up a beam as it turns to her. Purple balls of magical energy appear beside it, as they start to fire off magical spikes in all directions. Ruby grits her teeth as anger starts to well up in her chest, causing dark sparks to flash. 

"Go on my child, don't let this beast get in your way~" Salem's voice echoes in her ears.

"DAMN IT!" Ruby yells in anger and a red aura surrounds her.

Ruby slams her left hand into the ground, cracking it. She slowly gets up and grabs her scythe. She grabs the broken pieces and slams them into place, as they fuse back together. 

"If this thing wants to play dirty." Ruby gains a sadistic smile, as steam flows through her teeth. "Then we'll play dirty!"

Ruby tilts her head back and opens up her mouth as a magic circle appears. A massive fireball slams into the Hydra's jaw, causing its head to point to the ceiling as it fires off the magical beam.

It starts turning to Ruby, only for another fireball to hit it. The beast growls as it turns towards Ruby. Only to see Ruby running towards it with a red fiery aura covering her. "WE'RE NOT DONE, TILL I SAY WE'RE DONE!"

The Hydra tilts back and charges up its beam attack as Ruby launches up towards it, yelling in anger as she readies her scythe with her left arm.

"Ruby!" Yea yells as she moves out of cover, only to get hit by a few magic spikes.

The Hydra's head aims towards Ruby. "DIE BASTARD!" The Hydra fires its beam attack at Ruby.

It hits her but she just moves through the attack, wounds appear around her as she moves through the beam and towards the Hydra.

'Why am I doing this?' Ruby questions in thought as her bone arm evaporates. 'This is suicide, so why am I doing this.' She keeps yelling and moving through the large beam attack as blood evaporates from her wounds. 'If I keep going, I will die. But... If I don't, then my friends will die. Hmph, what a bitch.'

Ruby enters the mouth of the Hydra and it swallows her and it stops its beam attack. Hajime, having woken up when Ruby started to charge at the beast, stares in disbelief.

'Did he just...' Hajime starts in thought. 'Die?'

The Hydra releases steam from the back of its head. Hajime's remaining eye shakes as he stares in disbelief. 

'The only one who risked his life to save me? The one who encouraged me to keep training despite how weak I was and helped me through it. My only true friend is now, dead?'

"THAT BASTARD!" Hajime yells in anger as a golden aura surrounds him.

The Hydra's attack seem to slow down for Hajime as he grabs Yue and holds her, as he uses Air Walk [+Blink] to avoid the Hydra's spike attacks.

"So damn slow..." Hajime mutters as he looks up at the Hydra as it fires down spike attacks at them.

"Hajime, run!" Yue yells.

"Don't worry." Hajime easily dodges through the Hydra's attacks and stops not too far from it. "His attacks are so damn slow to me."

"They're not slower, you just got faster!"

"Yue, suck my blood." Hajime says. "I need your magic to help me." He smiles down at her. "Let's do this, Yue! We're gonna win for Reuben!"

Yue nods and she leans up to Hajime's neck and starts to suck his blood. Hajime uses Quick Step to avoid the Hydra's attacks. After a few seconds Yue finishes.

"Yue, when I give the signal, cast Azure Blaze." Hajime orders and Yue hops onto the ground. "Focus on healing until then."

Yue moves behind Hajime. "Mm-hm. What about you?"

Hajime holds up his revolver. "I'm gonna go get set up!"

Hajime runs forward and he fires a few rounds at the Hydra, gaining its attention. It leans down and snaps at him, but he jumps back and keeps firing his revolver.

"Hajime!" Yue yells out.

Hajime floats on a platform. "Yeah, leave it to me!"

He aims his revolver up at the ceiling and gets ready to fire, only to hear a yell echo throughout the chamber.

"DDDDAAAAAMMMMIIIIIITTTT!" Ruby's voice echoes and flames start to spew out of the Hydra's mouth.

"Ruby/Rueben?" Yue and Hajime yell out.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!" Ruby scream echoes.

The Hydra roars in pain as more flames spew out of its mouth and flames start to burst from the cracks in its scales.

Hajime lands beside Yue as they watch the Hydra go up in flames as an angry scream echoes in the chamber.

The Hydra lets out a roar as its eyes dull and it falls backwards and slams into the ground. After a few seconds the flames die down as one burned up and wounded Ruby walks out of the charred Hydra's mouth.

Ruby's scythe falls apart as she falls to her knees just outside the Hydra's mouth. She looks up to the ceiling as black blood falls from her eyes "AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" She lets out a yell of triumph.

Hajime smiles as she falls onto his back. Yue lays down beside Hajime.

"That was not fun." Hajime mutters.

"You and Ruby did a great job." Yue says as Ruby stop screaming.

"Reuben did most of the work."

The door behind the dead Hydra opens up and light shines into the dark and destroyed corridor. Ruby glances over, as she stands up. 

She sways slightly as she looks at the charred remains of the Hydra, she lets out a weak laugh. She brings up her remaining arm, which all the skin is nearly gone.

"I... demand.... cookies..."

Ruby falls onto her back with a loud thud. She then lets out a groan as she closes her bleeding eyes. She lets out a exhausted sigh.

"I think... it's nap time..."

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Great Orcus Labyrinth
60th floor.

Kaori is looking over the edge of a cliff.

"Kaori!" Shizuku calls out and the girl turns around to see a few of her party members looking at her as they eat.

Yang is just eating a simple apple.

Shizuku walks over to Kaori. "I'm okay." Kaori says with a smile.

"Don't push yourself, okay." Shizuku says as Kouki fallows not far behind her.

"Thanks, Shizuku-chan."

Kouki speaks up. "Kaori, I love how kind you are, but we can't let the death of our classmates hold us back forever!"

"C'mon, Kouki!" Shizuku scolds the 'Hero'.

Kouki holds his hand up to Shizuku. "Quiet, Shizuku, please! Kaori, we have to move forward! I'm sure Nagumo and Xiao Ling would've wanted us to move--"

Erin pops up between Kouki and the two girls. "Kaori-chan, I'm here for you, so just let me know if there's anything I can do for you!"

Suzu pops up too. "That's right! You can count on your friend Suzu to be your ally, Kaorin!"

Yang then pops over. "Yup, we're all here to support you!"

Kaori smiles. "Right. Thanks, Eri-chan, Suzu-chan, Yang-san."

"Break's over!" Meld yells out. "Time to move forward!"

Everyone starts to move out. Yang bumps into Kouki's shoulder roughly, causing him to stumble a little.

"Xiao Long?" Kouki questions.

Yang glares at the hero. "You ever use my name or my brother's name like that again, I'll break you in half." She gets right into his face and her eyes go red. "You get me?"

Kouki nods and sweats a little.

Yang's eyes return to Lilac and she walks away. "Has anyone ever told you how annoying you are?"

Kouki wipes his brow and follows after everyone.

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3-31-2026

4800 words