Everyone in the training hall stared, breath snagging on their ribs, at the Mech on stage shining like a moonlit blade.

“What’s going on? Isn’t that exchange student a summoner-type Abnormal? Why’s she inside Armor like frost on steel?”

“There’s only one answer, clear as thunder. She’s not a summoner. She’s a rare mechanical-type Abnormal, a gear among storms.”

“Mechanical-type? That’s a class the state treats like a guarded flame. Is the exchange student tied to a national Anomaly unit?”

“Who knows? Let’s watch, like owls in dusk.”

“Still… that Mech looks beautiful, like flowing water over jade. Way better than those glossy brochures.”

“Yeah, like starlight on a river.”

Up in the seats, curiosity flickered like fireflies. Boys and girls alike fixed on Tang Coco’s Mech, which had bloomed on her like armor from mist.

On the dais, the elder from the admin building sat like an old pine in wind.

A man in a suit stepped close, voice low as a shadow. “President, it’s begun.”

“Mhm. Have them collect the data, like nets on a tide.”

“Yes.”

Center stage, Tang Coco eyed the four opponents, her calm like winter water. Then her voice cut clean as a blade. “Second Mode.”

At her command, the Mech shifted like scales in rain. The winglets trembled, then scattered into blue particles like drifting fireflies, reforming as two diamond thrusters at her back. The long blade slipped to her back like a sleeping crescent. Armor on her forearm slid down to her fist, three claws blooming like cold petals. Blue-lit blades flared along her forearms and shins, like lightning stitched to steel.

Isn’t this what you’ve been waiting for? Her gaze swept the dais like a hawk over snow. Let’s see what tricks you can conjure from smoke.

Boom—

Thrusters flared to full, roaring like a storm through pines. Tang Coco shot forward at the four, leaving ragged afterimages like torn silk in wind.

“Begin.” The cloaked one in the middle spoke, voice falling like a stone in a well. At once, the two flanking cloaks rushed like wolves. One leapt, a purple-black flame pooling in his palm like ink, then dropping toward Tang Coco like a meteor.

The other hugged the ground like a shadow. Purple Anomalous Energy wrapped his hand into a blade, which scythed for her body like a cold tide.

Tang Coco read their attack in a blink, her mind still as frost. Her thrusters vectored like swallows turning. She slipped past the hand-blade, body tilting like a reed in wind. Her left claw flipped open, revealing the Mech’s bare mechanical palm, quick as a trap snapping. She caught his forearm, spun on torque like a hurricane’s pivot, and slung him skyward.

Boom!!!

The flung body met the fireball midair, colliding like storm against cliff. The blast flowered in the air, a harsh bloom. No defense band triggered; yet a figure cocooned in purple energy fell back down, landing like a stone in mud, his cloak unbroken.

Tang Coco didn’t spare them a glance; she rushed on like a river cutting rock, straight for their formation.

“Wolf Shift!”

The leader finally moved. Power rippled from him in a ring like wind across grass. Tang Coco halted her burn like a hawk braking. Her I Field unfolded, a glassy dome like still water.

He tore off his cloak like shedding a skin, showing a face no one knew, blank as a fresh mask. Purple energy surged around him like storm surf. His body swelled past two meters, muscles cording like braided cables. His skin went dark purple like bruised dusk. Even his head dragged toward a wolf’s profile, a moon-howl in flesh.

“That’s… a Beastform Abnormal? That’s like thunder in a clear sky. Our school never had one.”

“Yeah, that kind’s supposed to be banned, like fire in a granary! How’s he here?”

Noise crashed over the stands like a flock taking flight. Teachers and leaders shouted to halt the match, and the scene pitched into chaos like wind in a market.

Suddenly, the PA crackled like dry leaves. “Please remain calm. The school is aware of this Beastform Abnormal and has tested him. There is no threat to life. Please keep quiet. The match continues.”

Teachers traded looks like blades touching, questions gleaming in their eyes like frost.

Students buzzed like a hive. “How can they do that…?”

“Beastforms are famous for fighting like they don’t value life, like torches in the rain.”

A roar ripped across the arena like lightning splitting a tree.

Awoooo!!!!

The wolf-formed man threw his head back, howl rising like smoke to the rafters. He lunged for Tang Coco, claws stabbing for her face like icicles.

Tang Coco watched him come, mind cold as night water. At the last blink, she ducked like a falling leaf, then rose, her shoulder driving into his gut like a battering ram.

Thump!

Crack!

She expected him to fly, but he held ground like a concrete wall. His left hand clamped her right shoulder like a vise. His right claw slashed down for her back like a guillotine of bone.

Her leg and arm thrusters snapped open at once, flaring like fireworks. She spun low to the floor, a whirlwind skimming stone. The arm-blade sprung with a snap, slicing a bright arc—a half-moon cut in the air.

“Raaah!!!!!”

A scream ripped raw as she severed his right forearm. It hit the ground like a felled branch.

Boom!!!

Tang Coco used the opening. She pivoted and kicked his back like a hammer, then rode the recoil, shooting toward the enemy line like an arrow loosed.

Clack-clack-clack—

The stone gate at center, quiet for long breaths, began to open with a grind like old glaciers. Tang Coco glanced over, then changed course like a falcon twisting mid-dive.

The gate yawned. Purple smoke billowed like swamp mist, and a massive claw latched onto the frame like iron roots. A lion-like head pushed out, four eyes gleaming like coals. Of course nothing normal crawled from that hole; it was all ink and nightmares.

Tang Coco arrived without pause, her claws snapping back to the forearms like waves withdrawing. Both mechanical hands seized the beast by its ears like grappling hooks.

Vroooom!!!!

The engine roar shook the air like thunder. She wrenched the brute from the doorway like dragging a net from a black sea.

This one was more animal, four legs under it, a runner’s body and a whip of a tail, like a feral comet dragged to earth.

Boom!!!

She slammed the quadruped down, earth jumping like a drum. Her boot pinned its front leg like a stake. Her left hand crushed its throat like iron tongs. Her right arm lifted; the fist-guard slid forward, and three blades punched straight into its belly like icy fangs.

Splat—

Black blood spattered her Mech like spilled ink on armor. She didn’t stop. The buried claws ripped tailward, carving a dark furrow like a riverbed. Then her right leg came up and stomped its gut like a piling driving deep.

Shluck—

Half her Mech’s shin sank into flesh like mud. Black gore sprayed in arcs like crows. The beast tried to scream, but her left hand had crushed its throat into a bent reed. Its mouth gaped like a broken door, and no sound came.

The Mech’s head snapped right, sight locking on the still-open gate like a hawk on prey. Tang Coco lifted her right arm. Blue particles burst like frost, coalescing into an energy cannon almost two meters long, a spear of sky.

Click-click-click—

Armor shutters opened along the cannon like petals, blue arcs crawling the barrel like lightning vines. After a breath of charge, a beam nearly two meters wide lanced out like a sun-knife.

Boom!!!!

The column of light drove through the gate like a flood, blasting into the unseen beyond. No one knew what lay behind, but a scream tore from the other side, ragged as ripped silk.

Crack—crack—

The gate webbed with fractures like ice on a pond, chunks breaking and dropping to the floor like hail.

Rumble…

At last, the gate collapsed, stones spilling like a landslide.

Tssss—

White vapors and blue arcs hissed from the cooling cannon like breath in winter. Emergency heat-vents bled off, and the weapon dissolved back into particles like snow in sun.

Tang Coco pulled her right leg from the carcass, black blood still dripping from Mech seams like tar. Engines flared; she streaked to the summoner like a flash of blue.

He tried to resist, but a summoner in close quarters is a fish on sand. In a few crisp moves, she tore off his cloak like a curtain. A plain, emotionless face stared back, blank as a wall. Her right hand, slick with monster blood, clamped his head like an iron lantern and hoisted him up.

Silence pooled like deep water. Everyone understood: this was revenge. From the start, her surges had hunted this summoner like an arrow hunts a mark.

“Coco…” On a stretcher in the medical zone, Chen Ying watched through tears like rain on glass. She hadn’t thought Tang Coco would do this for her.

“How’s it feel?” Tang Coco’s voice came through the half-transparent visor, a beautiful tone gone wintry, like wind over ice. The arena held its breath, and her words carried like a bell.

“Ah… ah…” The tang of blood and skull pain dragged a scream from the youth like wire. Her mechanical hand didn’t seal his mouth the way that earlier monster’s paw had. His cry spread through the seats like a cold draft, making people shiver.

“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” Her voice stayed cold as frost, while her grip tightened like a noose.

“It’s fine. I’ll tell you something. Compared to letting a summon do it…” Her eyes were dark lakes. “Doing it myself…”

“Is way more fun.”

Click—

His defense band triggered, a green shield blooming like a soap bubble. As before, it couldn’t stop her, thin as fog before a blade. Everyone thought she’d kill him, like lightning hitting a dry tree. They were wrong.

She let go fast, as if dropping a stone into a pond. He’d already blacked out, and he crumpled to the floor like wet cloth.

“But I’m human.” Tang Coco looked at the unconscious youth, voice faint as falling ash. Then she turned to the other three, her shadow long as a spear. Her fight wasn’t over.