Two minutes had passed since Zac had been trapped inside the dome of plants. At the moment, he was being pelted by the bioenergy bullets that weaved through the openings. As well as electrified flying daggers that made their way through. Every time Zac slashed at the dome, more plants appeared to replace what was lost.

  “Ume must have deduced that I can’t keep this Armor for too long. They plan on drawing this out. Hmmm…” Zac thought to himself as he looked over at Kenji and Watabe.

  They constantly attacked while Ume focused on maintaining the dome. Akiko and Genkei, on the other hand, stood there watching. They were the two that concerned him the most at a time like this. Ume, Kenji and Watabe all had complex Programs, and each had an extremely high skill ceiling, but the skill floors were in the gutter.

  However, Akiko and Genkei were different. Their skill ceilings weren’t quite as high, but their skill floor was significantly higher. Right now, what they needed to do was simple. Akiko increased the heat of her plasma blade by a second. With every second that went by, Genkei stored more and more Kinetic energy. Zac needed to escape as quickly as possible, or this would be an uphill battle.

  “Should I go at them with the intent to kill?” Zac thought to himself.

  “I have a bad feeling guys.” Kenji said as he noticed that Zac’s movements weren’t slowing at all. He knew that Zac wouldn’t be so easily defeated, or at least he hoped he wouldn’t. But he didn’t like this feeling bubbling in his gut. He was doing his best to predict what Zac’s next course of action could be, but he simply didn’t have the mind for it, yet. Nor did he know the extent of this nano-armor.

  Zac’s movements suddenly picked up as he dodged a flying dagger coming from his right and then held up his forearm to deflect the energy bullets being shot at him by Kenji.

  “Here it comes.” Kenji's deflated voice whispered.

  Zac threw the daggers in his hand at the dome wall in front of him. The daggers melted into the same strange liquid. That liquid ate away at the foliage faster than Ume could reform the dome. Zac quickly dived through the hole that was made, and the liquid trailed behind him reformed into Armor on his hands. Rolling onto his feet Zac looked at the 5 of them.

  “You could have done that 3 minutes ago. Why now?” Ume asked.

  “I was planning,” Zac said nonchalantly.

  “Shit! Planning?” Kenji asked.

  “Yeah, planning what to do after this session, plans for the week. Oh, and how to deal with you guys was peppered somewhere in there.” Zac shrugged sarcastically.

  Soft laughter escaped Watabe’s lips.

  “He’s just like Sensei Devin said. I don’t know if he is just messing with us or being serious.” Watabe thought to himself.

  “Don’t lose focus,” Watabe told his team. They were all still young; it wouldn’t be surprising to him if any of them fell for such a taunt.

  “Yes, please don’t lose focus because I did come to a conclusion, and I need to ask you guys a favor moving forward,” Zac said.

  “What is it, Sensei?” Ume asked.

  She didn’t mind Zac wasting this time talking to them. The more he talked, the better off they were.

  “Don’t die on me.” Zac’s chuckled. But that chuckle sent a chill down the spine of everyone listening.

  “Spread out!!!” Watabe immediately shouted.

  It was too late; Zac had already appeared amid their group with blinding speed; he had a gun pressed against Genkei’s forehead. He had deduced that Kenji’s Program was the ability to influence flight paths to some degree. Watabe wasn’t skilled enough with Ion to weave those daggers in and out of that dome. So he must have been assisted by Kenji, who also controlled his own energy bullets. It also seemed he could fire them off nearly endlessly. Kenji used the energy produced by Ion as the power source instead of burning his blood for bioenergy.

  In this situation, going for Genkei first was ideal. Kenji could not manipulate the bullet Zac would fire; by the time it was in motion, it would already have gone through Genkei’s skull. Akiko couldn’t risk attacking for fear of slicing through Genkei. Ume’s control over plants was not at a point where she could quickly pinpoint and stop Zac’s action.

  “Genkei!!” Kenji shouted as the sound of a gunshot went off.

  Genkei’s head reeled backward, but there was no hole in Genkei’s head. Instead, a bruise and bullet fell from the point of impact. When Zac pulled the trigger, Genkei preemptively began absorbing the kinetic energy. If he had been a moment later, that bullet would have gone through his skull. Genkei’s head came forward with a kinetic energy-empowered headbutt,

  “Did you forget my Program?!” Genkei roared in anger.

  “No,” Zac answered as he lazily tossed up an orb in the path of Genkei’s forehead.

  “Brace yourselves!!” Watabe called out as Genkei’s head made contact.

  A powerful wave of concussive force exploded onto the orb, and in return, the orb exploded.

  In the skybox, the Mentors panicked at that large explosion; it took out a third of the forest that Ume had created.

  “What the hell is he thinking?!”One of the Mentors cried out.

  “Calm down, they're fine. That explosion could have been a lot bigger if he wanted.” Devin said.

  “But Helena’s kid was standing there point blank.” The same Mentor looked over at Helena, who didn’t seem concerned.

  “It’s fine. He can take a beating. Though that one’s gonna hurt.” Helena started to laugh.

  Everyone else shivered. What the hell did she put him through that she was sure he could take a point-blank explosion.

  Kenji coughed as he looked up at the smoke cloud where the explosion had happened. He looked to his right and noticed that Watabe was near him. The two were separated from the others during the explosion. He remembered that Genkei was in the middle of that explosion and quickly rushed to his feet to charge in to see if Genkei was OK.

  “Nobody move!”Watabe shouted loud enough for not only Kenji but Ume and Akiko, who were on the other side of the clearing created by the explosion.

  Kenji stopped dead in his tracks, then looked down in front of him. He saw a multitude of beads littering the ground. It was the same beads that had shocked other Recruits unconscious before. If he had taken another step forward, he would have stepped on those beads and been knocked unconscious by the resulting shock. The smoke cleared, and Zac stood beside a charred standing body.

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  “Fucking Ouch!” The charred body shouted.

  In confusion, Zac tilted his head to the side before kicking the charred Genkei away. Zac cursed under his breath. Genkei being alive wasn’t shocking; his being conscious was insane. Helena must be having a field day with that kid. Zac was fine, thanks to the Armor, but Genkei took that blast on with his bare body. Zac was going to turn towards the others when he heard the sounds of Genkei getting up. Zac turned to see a ghastly sight.

  “That really hurt,” Genkei grumbled as his charred flesh began to peel away, and he began to heal almost instantly.

  “He’s using the stored kinetic energy to empower his healing?!” Kenji thought, as he looked at Genkie like a monster, and then smiled. He was learning so much today, it was exciting.

  Chasers gained the ability to regenerate to a limited degree, and this effect was supplemented by the Nano-machines. With their natural healing ability and Nano-Machines working in tandem, outside of instantaneous death, there were few things they couldn’t heal from. Genkei could use stored kinetic energy to boost his natural healing or even boost the nano-machine output. In that case, he’d be challenging to kill. No one had ever heard of a Stockpile Chaser having such an ability. Of course, such a Chaser was never made Helena’s trainee.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if he had developed that instinctively to survive that crazy woman,” Zac grumbled.

  “What?!” Genkei shouted excitedly as he saw everyone staring at him like a freak.

  “How did you heal that fast?!” Akiko shouted at Genkei in the clearing.

  “Can’t everyone?” Genkei was confused.

  “No,” Zac said as he sent an uppercut at the detracted Genkei’s chin.

  The power behind that uppercut sent Genkei into a flip. Anyone else’s head would have been taken off. Zac noticed that Genkei instinctively absorbed some of the force behind the punch at the last moment. Helena had put him through the wringer over the past 48 hours for such instincts to be engraved in him already.

  Zac held out his hand at the airborne Genkei. The Armor surrounding his hand to his forearm shot out in liquid form splitting into five pieces that stapled Genkei to the ground with cuffs around his ankles, wrists, and throat. Zac knew he wouldn’t be able to knock Genkei out, let alone kill him promptly, so it was best to take him out of the fight for the time being. Even if it came at the cost of some of his Armor.

  “I’m ready.” Akiko’s calm voice called out to Ume.

  “GO!” Ume called out as a giant root formed an archway in front of Akiko, knocking those electro beads out of the way.

  Zac had spread out electro beads all over the clearing. However, there was a dead zone where he and Genkei were, but after blowing away the surrounding plant life and debris, it was too far for them to jump the distance needed without exposing themselves to retaliation. Zac had managed to perfectly isolate Genkei for the perfect amount of time to take him out.

  “And what are you ready for?” Zac asked as he turned to see Akiko speeding through the archway of roots created by Ume.

  Akiko didn’t say a word; the only thing that changed was the look on her face. It went from the tranquil stillness that Zac associated with Hachiman to a manic smile. Zac was momentarily taken aback as Akiko stopped just outside of her sword range and sent a horizontal slash,

  “Do you know how hard I had to concentrate on getting this shit ready!!!!?” As Zac’s eyes widened under his mask, Akiko's fiery personality was manifested.

  That sword didn’t have the range to hit Zac, but a line of superheated Plasma fired in Zac’s direction. Zac ducked underneath it and felt the heat through his Armor as the beam of Plasma shot by him.

  “Daggers won’t be enough.” Zac thought to himself.

  The heat coming from that Plasma was on another level than before. Zac couldn’t get close to it. He cursed under his breath as the Armor flowed off his body to form a vicious-looking glaive. Its blade glowed with green bioenergy. Akiko laughed excitedly and then charged in with a completely different fighting style. Previously she was calmer and more reserved; Zac felt like he was fighting a mini Hachiman. Now it was wild and unpredictable, like a flame caught in the wind, bursting into a wildfire.

  Her strikes seemed wild and full of openings, but every time Zac searched and found one, he could not capitalize on them. It was hard to go on the offensive. Each slash, no matter how long or short, had a beam of superheated plasma trail behind it. This stopped Zac from making retreating motions, limiting his defensive options. It also defeated the purpose of having a weapon with more extended reach, but he could not switch to a short weapon that would bring him close to the heat produced by that blade. He was now cursing himself for encircling himself with the electro beads.

  “No choice,” Zac mumbled as he moved his body and positioned it in front of Genkei, who was still lying on the ground.

  He figured Akiko would be less inclined to use those plasma slashes. His assumptions would be wrong.

  “Like I care!” Akiko laughed.

  She didn’t hesitate; she increased the intensity as she sent out a torrent of slashes that formed a net of Plasma that left no room for Zac to maneuver.

  “Crazy!” Zac shouted as he jumped into the air.

  He had no choice but to leave Genkei to his own devices. He looked down to see the net of Plasma break apart, and each individual slash raced towards the airborne Zac attacking from all sides.

  “What the hell?”Zac muttered as he split the glaive in two. A second blade appeared on the split half. Zac’s arms began to glow with bioenergy as he sent out a flurry of slashes to deflect those beams heading his way. After which, he looked in Kenji’s direction and saw Kenji’s hand motioning; he assumed Kenji was controlling those plasma blades. However, once again, his assumptions are off the mark,

  “That wasn’t Kenji. But this is!” He heard Akiko’s voice and felt a wave of heat coming over his shoulder.

  As he was falling back towards the ground, so was Akiko, but at a much faster speed, heading straight towards him. Zac looked at the ground and saw a giant root where Akiko was standing before, and everything clicked. Akiko’s Program: Flare, allowed her to increase heat values and control those bodies of heat. She wouldn’t need Kenji to move those plasma beams as she pleased. But Kenji did influence her jumping momentum. Allowing her to jump higher and faster and change her flight path to such a degree.

  “Very good!!” Zac laughed out in excitement as he crossed his blades in front of him to block Akiko’s attack. Her plasma blade collided with Zac’s weapons, and her momentum kept pushing them toward the ground. Kenji was still controlling her momentum and now controlled Zac’s as well, as they both plummeted toward the ground. Zac looked over his shoulder at the rapidly approaching floor and heard Genkei’s shout.

  Genkei bursts free from the binding by unleashing a powerful explosion of Kinetic energy. Seeing this, Kenji adjusted the angle of Zac’s and Akiko’s fall toward Genkei.

  “Finish it, Genkei!” Watabe shouted out.

  Genkei laughed, and energy visibility began to form on his fist. This was their first win condition. Ume knew that Akiko and Genkei were the wildcards in this fight. Genkei’s program's power was easy enough for her to deduce, and Akiko had been oddly stoic. She figured she was gathering her attention to focus on a specific concept. She expected great things from the two, but Genkei’s healing and Akiko’s swordplay had far exceeded her expectations. They were the perfect shield and sword, respectively. In the beginning Ume hoped they would not hold the rest of the team back, but now she understood that they would be critical pieces moving forward. She smiled in anticipation.

  The sound of a large explosion took place as Genkei’s fist collided with Zac’s back. There was an upheaval of dust and shockwave that blew through the area. Watabe and the others looked on to see the results of the collision. Watabe’s eyes widened when the dust cleared. Genkei was still in a punching stance, but a black spike was going through his hand, extending to the floor behind him. A mass of these black spikes went through different parts of his body, stapling him in place.

  Akiko was suspended in mid-air with spikes going through her shoulder and legs. In the middle of those interconnected spikes, Zac stood holding Akiko’s blade. The Plasma that surrounded it was now gone.

  “Dammit!”

  “Crazy son of a bitch!” Akiko and Genkei exclaimed, respectively.

  “Credit where credit is due. You almost got me.” Zac chuckled.

  He put on a carefree front but was just moments away from receiving a severe injury. However, escaping that predicament came at a cost. He had burned quite a bit of blood to produce the bioenergy to protect himself from that last Genkei attack and to form these spikes. Those spikes then retracted, turning into liquid and reforming into the Nano-Armor and covering Zac’s face in his black mask yet again. He could feel the fatigue starting to overcome his body. One would never be able to tell through that cocky smile of his.

  Genkei and Akiko crumpled to the ground. Akiko couldn’t heal at the ridiculous rate that Genkei could and had spent a great deal of energy; she was utterly spent. Genkei’s healing was contingent on having energy stored to facilitate it. He had used nearly all of it to attack Zac just now, and Zac made sure to destroy the mechanism of that Block Break system with his spikes just now. The two were more or less out of commission for the foreseeable future.

  “He looks fine, but we can’t let up on him now.” Kenji thought to himself.

  Zac’s use of the Nano-Armor had been cut in half by the exchange just now. The longer the fight dragged on, the more likely these two could recover. He looked over at the three remaining. Watabe stepped forward, stepping on the electro beads. As he did so, every single electro bead began to float. They fizzled for a moment and then fell back to the ground. Just like that, Watabe disabled every single one of them,

  “Let’s go.” Was the only command that he uttered.

  At his call, he charged forward, and Kenji and Ume charged in behind him.