The tension between them hadn't faded over the weekend. Ginah still looked at him the same way she had before, distant and surface level. His silver eyes met hers whenever they crossed paths in the kitchen or dining area. Nathaniel was making breakfast, something quick and simple. Pancakes. The batter was already prepared, one of his small habits at the start of each week.
His eyes shifted when Valarie walked in.
She was staying in the guest room. She dressed much like Ginah, though hers was a scarlet blouse with tight arm sleeves that covered her arms down to her wrists. There was something off about the way she looked at him. She did not look away. The pull of it made him want to cut the connection entirely, and for a brief moment the diamond mark appeared in his palm before fading.
For God's sake, what was he thinking, cutting someone off without even testing it first.
He let out a breath and reached for the plates, focusing on the routine. He served the pancakes, poured the juice, and set the food down in front of both of them. He left a portion for himself at his end of the table.
Ginah and Valarie sat across from each other. A hint of impatience showed on Ginah's face.
Nathaniel ate quietly. Valarie looked almost normal, which somehow made it worse. She ate fast, like someone unused to proper meals. Given her past, it made sense. After regeneration, her body had filled out quickly. By his estimate, she had gone from about fifty kilograms to seventy five.
He was tired of the way things felt by the time he finished eating. He loaded the dishwasher, then passed the rest of the work to Valarie with a thought before walking over to Ginah.
She was on the phone, making a few quiet calls. Her brown eyes glowed a soft jade, unfocused, like she was somewhere else entirely. He slipped his arms around her from behind. She stayed where she was. They stood like that for close to a minute, the room quiet except for her breathing.
When he spoke, it was low and close. He told her he had moved the pay from his last raids into their shared account. He added that he was heading out for a public Biome raid later.
Before letting go, he asked her to keep an eye on Valarie.
Nathaniel wore simple clothes. Black cargo pants, a black shirt, and a maroon jumper with a zipper. He had his headphones on, listening to an audiobook as he boarded public transport, the tram. It was around nine in the morning. At that pace, he would reach the selected site in about an hour. It was on the far side of the massive province they lived in.
His eyes glowed white for a brief moment as the interface appeared in his field of view. He checked the case stored in his inventory. He had fabricated the gear himself. Versadapt, version one.
The design was built to handle his newly acquired abilities, though it still followed the same base structure as the gauntlets he had received from Arete. The differences were obvious. These were heavier, bulkier. Grooves and metallic cusps ran along controlled latches that acted as ports and vents for resin output and Hellcharge use. Hidden barrels sat beneath reinforced, segmented plates and joints.
The materials had been easy enough to get. A few requests to Ria and her mother through the guild, followed by some persuasion, sparring sessions, and extra jobs. Getting his ass kicked had been worth it.
At the site, he looked down at the steel grey gauntlets with black accents as he slid them on.
They hissed and clamped around his hands, powering up as they synced with his Uratsu. Indicator lights shifted to cyan. He twisted his arms, vents releasing short bursts of air as he flashed Hellcharge through the ports above his wrists. The segments around his forearms expanded, thin cyan lines bleeding through the seams. Inside, heat based Uratsu crystals sat ready, meant to amplify attacks, either as a forward burst of flame or a focused thrust.
He shut the system down, watching the plates contract back into place.
Next came the respirator. It was made from the same material as the gauntlets. It clamped around his face and chin, sealing tight as it began filtering the air. Smaller Uratsu crystals embedded along the lining generated additional oxygen, letting him inhale more and push his output higher. The respirator sat as a half mask, paired with a slim steel brace around his neck that doubled as light armor.
That was all he wore. Anything more would interfere with how much kinetic energy his body could take in from external damage. Besides, he considered himself durable enough.
Nathaniel arrived at the meetup point. It was a cordoned-off area where an out-of-town museum met the outskirts of a ranch. Several private trucks and a few association staff vehicles were parked like miners and extractors readying their gear. In front of him, a mass of contractors moved about, all acting as hunters, their outfits giving him clues about their augments.
He walked up to the administrator and signed in. Using the party system, he registered and received a red metal armband with a white capital A. He clipped it to his shoulder and approached a group of people wearing the same band.
The party consisted of fifteen. Five of them, including Nathaniel, bore the red A, marking them as A-rank.
The first was a man, heavily muscled, clad in deep navy-blue armor that protected his torso and joints. He carried a battle axe as tall as he was, its blade massive. Despite his size, he had a happy demeanor, oriental features, long flowing gold hair, and electric blue eyes. Two thin locs hung constantly in front of his face. His name was Toshinori Zen, and he was expressive, almost larger than life.
Next was a shorter woman dressed in a full wizard outfit. Oversized hat and all. The costume was cut in strategic areas to expose skin for mobility , sexy and stylish, flowing, and comfortable. No cleavage showed, and underneath, she wore armored padding. Her hair was dark brown, her eyes a dull red. From her stance, Nathaniel guessed she was an offensive mage, likely casting straightforward buffs. Her name, according to the contact, was Hilda Jinzxen.
There was a rogue who kept to himself. His name was Max Ironstone wearing a dark cloak holding what seemed to rather heavy excreema sticks with blades at there ends.
Finally, a paladin. He bore a green emblem on his shield and blade and wore the combat EMT uniform. He was the most skilled of the three existing Emts available for todays raid, checking his armor through transparent green glasses. His name was Niel Zodiac. They were frontal assault units, leading the charge. Nathaniel knew their augments, and they knew his. That was standard etiquette for randomly paired partners during raids.
His eyes flicked to the spinning barrier of blue light at the edge of the zone. As always, he watched it with readiness.
His eyes moved over the rest of the party until they settled on a ginger-haired man around his age, standing at about five foot eight. He had freckles and wore a simple getup. His features were unusual, especially given how few oriental people Nathaniel had seen with that hair color. He was lean.
Nathaniel noticed the looks the others were giving him. He was the only one wearing a yellow band, marking him as C-rank. The rest of the party wore blue bands, B-rank. Considering the biome had been rated high B on the association portal, the mismatch stood out.
An arm settled on his shoulder.
It was Niel.
He spoke in a flat tone."That's Jasper Orenth. A useless tank. He's had two augment awakenings since he started."There was a faint snarl in his voice."Kid's going to get himself killed one day for no reason. Lucky he's baggage handling. People say he started as a low E-rank."
Nathaniel smiled and walked over anyway.
He greeted Jasper, and the kid responded in a cheery tone, eyes lighting up at the acknowledgment. Blue met dull silver. There was something clear in those eyes. Determination. Focus.
The kid was here to pay bills. And judging by his decision to risk himself in a higher-level biome, it was almost admirable. Probably buried under debt.
Niel's discontent made sense once you knew his role. As both a healer and a paladin, he saw how easily people died without support. He was always the one pulling bodies back from the edge, always the one who arrived a second too late when someone made a mistake. To him, Jasper was dead weight waiting to happen.
In the local area, the kid was known as the defective tank.
His augment, Plate, was the problem. Instead of full armor or reactive shielding, it manifested as light, form-fitting biological plates that rose directly from his skin. Hardened, but thin. Useful in the right situation, useless in the wrong one. It did not draw fire. It did not anchor a frontline. It only let him endure a little longer before breaking.
From Niel's perspective, that was dangerous. A tank who could not properly hold ground was not just a liability to himself, but to everyone relying on him. Healing someone like that meant pouring resources into a losing equation.
Nathaniel saw it differently.
Someone under that much pressure, with no real choice left. That was all Nathaniel could think as his eyes lingered on the scar running down Jasper's cheek and neck, and the smaller ones visible along his arms.
Jasper
Tense. He was always tense. These situations had been normal for him since he was fifteen.
He needed cash. He had always needed cash. To survive. The bills had piled up to hell and back, and there was nowhere else to turn. He was an unskilled eighteen-year-old with a sister to feed and school fees to pay. His parents were injured, left comatose after a biome break and the plague that followed.
He still remembered their hands. Blackened skin, green veins spreading beneath the surface, their bodies pale even in rest. Black crystal remnants still clung to them. They looked dead. He would never let his sister see them like that. Not again. Not after how she had reacted the first time.
He could not stop.
Why did life have to be so unfair, giving him something so laughable it took blood, sweat, and tears just to make it usable. Plate. An ability barely considered real armor. He had pushed it hard enough to pass as functional just to earn his raid license from the Association. That license was the only reason his parents were still being treated. The insurance went straight to their care.
Using Plate hurt. Every time. His Uratsu pool was still below the recommended level, and he knew it. Good gear was out of reach. Most of his money vanished into debt, hospital costs, rent, food, and his sister's schooling. Essentials only. There was never enough left over.
That was why he was here.
This biome was far beyond his league, but it was the only job he had managed to get in weeks. Mining paid too little. Porter work was all that was left.
He tightened his grip on the sheathed dagger in his hands. It was still usable, but the integrity was failing. A starter weapon from the Association, worn thin from too many close calls.
He adjusted the massive pack on his back. It looked heavy, but the Association's Uratsu-based tech reduced the weight, a privilege reserved for higher-ranked missions. Even so, the strain was there. Always there.
He hoped he would get lucky with the rewards this time. The pay was higher than normal. Enough to buy time.
That was all he needed. Just a little more time.
Nathaniel watched Jasper adjust the pack on his back.
He did not miss the way the kid's shoulders tightened, or how his grip lingered on the dagger longer than it needed to. The scars told enough of the story on their own. Old damage. Repeated damage. The kind you picked up when you had no margin for error and kept going anyway.
Nathaniel had seen that look before.
It was not courage. It was not confidence. It was resolve born from necessity. The kind that came from knowing there was no fallback if things went wrong.
A porter in a high B-rated biome. A C-rank tank with a defective augment and no real support role. From a numbers standpoint, Niel was right. Jasper was a liability.
From a human one, he was just trapped.
Nathaniel's gaze flicked briefly to the spinning blue barrier ahead, then back to Jasper. He did not intervene. Not yet. But the decision settled quietly in his chest all the same.
If the kid broke inside that biome, it would not be because he was careless.
It would be because the system had already decided he was expendable.
And Nathaniel did not like that.
As they stood waiting, Nathaniel stepped closer.
He pressed a steel dagger into Jasper's hand. The weight alone told the difference. Higher quality material, better balance, built to last. Along with it came a small capsule of jade light.
"A free heal," Nathaniel said simply.
Jasper froze for half a second, then looked up at him, clearly unsure how to respond.
Nathaniel did not elaborate. As a Knight Association member, it was nothing. He had access to stockpiled gear through Squad Four's armory and the Illumine Guild. Parting with a spare or two did not cost him anything that mattered.
To Jasper, it meant everything.
Nathaniel stepped back into place as if nothing had happened.
The raid began without a hitch.
They approached the barrier, a spinning wall of condensed Ura. Whatever waited on the other side was anyone's guess. Light washed over them as they crossed.
The white in Nathaniel's vision faded as he exhaled and shot forward into the biome.
His feet hit ground hard. Open air. Wide. Too wide.
His eyes scanned the terrain as he slowed, taking it in. The place stretched out farther than he expected, empty and exposed. He crouched and pressed a hand to the ground. The surface looked like sandstone, pale and grainy, but it felt wrong beneath his palm. Solid. Dense. Almost like asphalt.
And hot. Hot enough that he pulled his hand back after a second.
He straightened slowly, unease settling in his chest as he took another look around.
An open biome. No cover. No landmarks.
He didn't like that.
He looked to the trees. They barely rose above fifteen meters, xerophytic in nature, like traditional acacia. His gaze shifted farther out, locking onto a temple-like formation in the distance, just visible through the heat haze.
He turned his head as the others followed through the barrier. Toshinori was already adjusting his armor, shedding the heavier sections as they folded inward and shrank out of the way.
Nathaniel's silver eyes snapped up.
A giant scorpion dropped from a higher rock formation.
It was fast.
He moved without thinking. A flick of his gauntleted wrist as he activated Impact Reverb for the first time. The strike landed clean. The initial impact hit, followed by several weaker secondary shocks in rapid succession. The force sent the creature flying farther than he expected, even at base output.
It slammed into a stone wall. Once. Then again.
Cracks spider-webbed across the rock as the scorpion's shell shattered, ichor and blue hemolymph spilling out as the body went still.
Nathaniel lowered his arm slowly.
Magnum was really strong, Nathaniel thought, the memory flashing through him as he registered how much damage he had taken in that fight.
He snapped his wrist and blasted another group of three giant scorpions with Hellcharge. Blue flames burst out in a focused jet from the gauntlet's wrist guard, tearing through chitin and splitting limbs at the exit point.
Hilda surged forward beside him, amping herself mid-run. She cut cleanly through weak points with practiced precision, never slowing.
Toshinori drew the monsters like a magnet. His eyes glowed as his movements accelerated, his axe crashing down again and again. Yellow sparks of power bled off him with every strike.
Max stayed back, taking a ranged approach. His revolvers barked in steady rhythm, Uratsu crystal rounds punching clean holes through armored bodies.
Niel fought up close. Shield bashes knocked creatures off balance before his serrated blade came down, crushing heads and joints with brutal efficiency.
The rest handled what slipped through, simple melee keeping the swarm from closing in.
Jasper stayed near the center with the B-ranks, eyes sharp, posture tight. The pack on his back did its job, protecting him from behind. It was stuffed with food and gear, heavy on paper but light in practice. When debris or severed limbs flew his way, he used the new dagger to knock them aside.
When a body dropped, he moved fast.
Quick, practiced motions. Uratsu cores first. Then anything valuable from the exoskeletons. Clean cuts. No wasted effort.
His kill count hit three.
Turns out the problem had never been him. It had been his old dagger. This one slid cleanly into joints and gaps in the shell, where it was supposed to.
For the first time in a long while, Jasper realized he was enjoying himself.
They moved at a steady pace. The A-ranks fanned out, handling the larger groups of enemies as the team pressed deeper into the biome.
After about an hour, they began encountering bigger threats: armored salamanders with fast, prehensile tails and chameleon-like tongues. Stronger than the earlier scorpions, and venomous. Two of the attacks struck Hilda and Max, but Niel was quick to act. With a practiced wave of green energy, he cleansed the poison and cut down the attackers in return.
Hilda kept the team moving. She passed a stimulant-type buff through touch, amplifying speed and reflexes for everyone—though Nathaniel felt little effect, his stamina already high.
The team pressed on, working in rhythm. Each member's movements were precise, their augments and abilities meshing seamlessly as they carved a path through the biome.
Nathaniel walked beside Toshinori and the others as the group regrouped and followed their projected path across the biome's warped terrain, sweeping for any remaining monsters. The salamanders had already been dealt with, one left bound for analysis on the return route and marked for the scavenger teams of the Knight Association.
Then the air changed.
Nathaniel's breath turned cold as his eyes widened. Ahead stretched a valley of total desolation, scorch marks etched into the land as far as he could see. The tower still stood at its center, massive and impossible, radiating an oppressive pressure that weighed on the senses. Orders were given quickly. Some were told to stay behind as the A-ranks advanced.
A flash of light erupted in the distance.
Nathaniel reacted instantly.
Uratsu poured from him, flooding into his gauntlets as it hardened on contact. Layers of resin formed and interlocked, crystallizing into a dense cyan glacier just as a blast of orange light slammed into them. The impact detonated outward, triggering a full alarm as the shockwave hurled the group back.
The ground shuddered.
A thunderous shockwave rolled through the valley, followed by a towering plume of dust. As it cleared, a gargantuan blade-like organ came into view, protruding from the palm of the being ahead of them. Its true visage remained hidden within the settling dust as it roared, the sound laden with raw kinetic force.
Beneath the descending blade stood Nathaniel and Toshinori.
Nathaniel's maroon jumper tore apart as his muscles screamed under the strain. His gauntlet indicator lights blazed, cyan veins of energy glowing beneath his skin. Across from him, Toshinori's eyes burned turquoise as the unstoppable force of the strike slowed, then stopped, caught between their combined power.
Behind them, Niel and Hilda stood firm, pouring buffs into both men. Nathaniel felt the burns from the initial blast knit themselves closed as his Kinetic Muscle adjusted, the absorption limit climbing from twenty five percent to thirty five percent under the enhancement.
With a shared push, they forced the bladed limb back.
The B-ranks could only stare. Jasper's mouth hung open, he had almost just watched them die. His gaze flicked to the side, landing on the massive carry pack he had dropped. It lay scorched, partially melted, yet still intact. High grade metal and uratsubase alloy, its surface nearly slagged, a silent testament to how lethal that strike had been.
Stress bubbled through Jasper's system as his eyes finally dropped to his right arm. Only then did the pain hit. The limb was scorched, the hardened plate-like skin cracked and blackened, heat still clinging to it. Guess he was not coming out unscathed after all.
Around him, heavily injured B-ranks were being dragged back and treated by the closest EMTs in range. Jasper pushed himself upright, vision foggy. The sclera of his left eye had turned red, blood vessels burst from the shock. His orange hair still smelled like smoke as he staggered to his feet.
His gaze lifted.
It locked onto the beast whose arm had been deflected only moments ago.
Four featureless eyes stared back at him, compound like a dragonfly's but rectangular in shape, all glowing orange. The thing was massive, easily seventy meters tall with a wingspan close to one hundred and forty meters. Seven limbs in total. Four arms, two legs, and a bladed tail long enough to count as an odachi at that scale.
Its scales were a dark blue, scarred with orange micro-fractures that ran across its body like old wounds. From each of its four arms extended massive blades, and along its back and limbs were what looked like thruster ports. That was probably how it had moved so fast from the tower behind them.
This was no A-rank anchor beast.
Jasper could feel it in his bones.
This thing was S-class.
And shit was about to hit the fan.