“Your Anomaly Power’s pretty convenient—like a pocket stitched into the air. Let me guess, it’s that little one curled up inside that box.”
Tang Coco watched the small girl slip into the fold like a fish into deep water, then pointed at the rectangular rig like tapping a sealed crate.
“Miss, are you sure you won’t give a name?” The middle-aged man stepped in front of Aimu like a wall of brick; anger smoldered under his voice like banked coals.
“Hmm… a name… can’t think of one.” She tapped her chin like choosing a mask from a rack. “Call me Asura.”
Gasps cracked across the delegation like ice on a river; whispers fluttered like startled birds in reeds. No one noticed the uniformed man in the group who shivered once like a plucked string, then went still like a pond at dusk.
“Asura… you’re Shadow Division? Wasn’t Asura already dead?” The leader’s brows knotted like twined rope as memory stirred like dust.
“Who knows?” She waved a hand like brushing smoke from her face. “I never said I’m that one.”
“Enough pleasantries. Time to send you on your way; I’d like to head back early.” Her smile shuttered like a lantern going out; scarlet flowed in her eyes like molten dusk, and the purple Mech on her frame shed red motes like fireflies.
“Hmph! Such arrogance!” The middle-aged man let flames bloom in his hands like twin furnaces; the others raised their Anomaly Powers like storm flags in a gale, and they rushed her like a breaking tide.
Inside the hotel, Gu Xin and Meng Yuting sprinted upward like arrows climbing a spine of stairs.
“These mercs were probably Coco’s work.” Gu Xin pointed at the masked bodies like fallen scarecrows on a field.
“Yeah, but why was their defense this thin?” Meng Yuting’s doubt flickered like a moth at a pane; they hadn’t met a single Abnormal on the way.
“Maybe they had some trick—stay sharp.” Gu Xin’s warning cut like a cool knife; the two cleared several flights like stepping stones in a stream and reached the top.
“Whoa…” At the top floor, Meng Yuting saw a shattered suite like a shell blown open; from the hallway, the night outside spread like ink across glass.
“She went a bit overboard, didn’t she…” Meng Yuting’s voice fell like a pebble into a well.
“Move. I’m not only worried Coco’s in danger—if she goes too far, this ends ugly.” Gu Xin’s frown drew tight like a storm front closing.
“Mm.” Meng Yuting nodded like a bell struck once, then skirted the rubble like driftwood and ran to the roof.
“Huh? Why is there nothing here?” Her confusion hung like fog on the tiles; the rooftop sat quiet as snow, with no mark to follow.
“What’s going on?” Gu Xin’s brows pinched like two cranes, her gaze sweeping like a lantern’s beam.
In the lobby…
Tang Coco faced the five rushing in and stayed calm as a stone in rain.
“I Field!” The barrier snapped up around her like a glass bell, catching every ranged strike like flies on amber.
“System, detach and initiate the Forbidden Imperial Armor.” Her voice fell steady as a gavel.
“Understood.” The reply was crisp as frost.
Behind her, red lines laced the air like a spiderweb of lasers, sketching an Armor a head taller than a man; the gaps filled, and steel took flesh like frost hardening on a pond. In a dozen heartbeats, a heavy, army-green Armor stood at her back like a silent sentinel.
“—!” Shock flared across the Abnormals like lightning through dry clouds as they stared at the Mech behind her like pilgrims at a shrine.
“Is she a summoner-type Abnormal?” The middle-aged man’s voice trembled like a bowstring.
“Go.” Her command moved like a drawn blade. The Armor broke into a heavy run like a drumbeat across earth, then stopped before the delegation like a gate slamming shut; a few of them jumped like deer in brush. Panels hissed open along its green plates like petals parting, and a pale-blue shield blossomed to wrap the delegation like a bubble of dawn.
“…” The leader hadn’t expected that; the choice forced a head-on clash like two rams on a cliff.
“Surround her. Find an opening!” His order cut the air like a whip.
“Yes!” The five fanned out like a star of knives and closed in.
“Hellfire!” The middle-aged man roared, then slammed his burning fists down; cracks spidered through the floor like dry riverbeds, racing toward her like snakes. In a blink, flames roared up like a wheat field set alight, and fire swallowed Tang Coco like a red tide.
The blaze towered and churned like a hungry dragon; even the others couldn’t get close as heat wavered like desert air. Then a surge of energy burst from the heart of the flames like a gust through leaves, blowing fire aside; her I Field still held, clear as crystal around a candle.
“Tch.” He clicked his tongue like flint. “Ram it!”
A chubby youth swelled to nearly three meters like dough in a furnace; his skin stoned over into rock like fresh basalt. He hurled himself at the I Field like a boulder rolling off a mountain.
