Son, Deo, Mori, Kinto, and Baraka dashed through the forest, leaping from tree to tree in their search for Alex. Deo adjusted his robotic goggles, scanning the terrain from a great distance. His goggles could see things almost up to a mile.
"Seen anything yet?" Kinto called out.
Deo's eyes narrowed behind the glowing lenses. "Yeah… I just found him." He switched off his goggles.
Kinto's heart skipped. "You serious? Where is he?!"
Deo pointed. "The guy who took Alex is almost at the end of the forest. They're nearing the valley."
Kinto clicked his tongue. "Tch, he's already gone that far? Everyone, pick up the pace!"
Just as they surged forward Mori sensed something. Mori shouted, "Everyone—look out!!"
A missile shot straight down from the sky, slamming into the forest floor ahead. A thunderous explosion shook the area, sending up a wave of smoke and fire.
As the dust began to settle, Kinto coughed and called out, "Everyone okay?!"
Before anyone could respond, a figure stood tall on a nearby tree. He appeared slightly older than them, a calm smile on his face as he watched them.
"Who the hell are you?" Kinto asked with annoyance and visible murderoud intent.
The stranger chuckled. "My apologies for the intrusion. My name is Zakia—one of Lord Bara's loyal servants."
Kinto's eyes narrowed. "Lord Bara...? The same Bara that Alex and Kazuki defeated on that mission?" He asked himself. "Tch. We've got bigger fish to fry that worry about that."
Mori's expression turned serious. "I'm sensing a massive amount of energy from him..."
Deo glanced at his wrist device. "My watch's picking up strong signals too. From the looks of it, he's pretty damn strong."
Kinto raised his voice. "What do you want?"
Zakia's smile widened. "I was sent to kill at least one of you. So tell me... should one of you face me now, or shall I kill you all at once?"
Kinto's fists clenched. "If this keeps up... we'll never catch up to Alex."
Zakia's arms transformed into missile launchers. "No answer? Then I'll choose for you."
He fired a powerful missile at them, but before it could connect, Deo dashed forward and kicked it away with immense force. The explosion behind him leveled a wide area of the forest.
Deo exhaled and muttered, "I've trained my body to be stronger and more durable even without the help of my tech. I can handle this guy."
He turned to Kinto. "Leave this to me. You guys go and save alex."
"You're crazy!" Kinto shouted. "This guy's on a whole other level!"
"I'll be fine," Deo assured him, his tone calm and firm. "You guys go on with the rescue. Can't alow down coz of me now."
Kinto hesitated, then nodded. "Be careful."
He turned to the others. "Mori, Son, Baraka—let's move!"
As the group took off, Zakia's grin deepened. "So... what'll it be? Should I scatter your corpse into pieces or reduce you to ash?"
Deo's watch whirred, turning his arm into a blaster and his legs into robotic boots. He pointed it at Zakia. "You talk too much for a guy who's above 13. Let's just blow each other up and get this over with."
"Gladly," Zakia replied. His arms morphed again into missile launchers and he began bombarding Deo with powerful missiles. Deo on the other hand just smirked.
Meanwhile, in Kojin's office...
Kojin stood silently, gazing out of the tall window, hands behind his back.
"I hope nothing goes wrong. Although, i think i got a bit careless. Sending those kids out there like that was a mistake. I know they're strong, but giving them their first real C-rank mission like that was top forward..." he muttered. "Was sending those kids really the right call?"
Suddenly, the door burst open. A soldier stormed in, face pale.
"Sir! The city is under attack!"
Kojin turned sharply. "What?! Who are the attackers?!"
"We're not sure yet," the soldier answered. "But... it seems they're from the Dark Sign. The people you spoke about yesterday!"
In the city...
Amidst the smoke and rubble of a freshly destroyed district, Kenji, Sorata, and Zora walked out of an explosion, unfazed.
Kenji's expression was tense. "Something feels off..."
"They're coming," Sorata said simply.
Before Kenji could ask what he meant, a blue beam suddenly rained down from the sky, aimed at Sorata. He dodged quickly, leaping to another building "Huh?", he exclaimed. Only to be struck by a barrage of follow-up beams that sent him flying through several buildings.
When the dust cleared, Sughi hovered in midair—robotic arms and legs gleaming, two mechanical wings unfurled behind him.
Sorata narrowed his eyes as he got up"Well that sure was unpleasant, but i expected some company. It was only a matter of time. Kenji, Stick to the plan.". Kenji replied "Sure!"
Sughi pointed at Sorata. "You... You're part of the Dark Sign, aren't you? Youre the one responsible for the destruction of the stadium and a bunch of other districts with those purple flames of yours."
"Purple flames? Oh, youre talking about my destructive energy. Well either way, does that really matter?" Sorata replied coldly with a smirk.
"It does," Sughi said. "Because I'm your opponent.", he replied with a smirk. He returned Sorata's energy.
His arms shifted into blasters, unleashing a devastating amount of energy. Sughi pointed his sabers at sorata "ALRIGHT. NOW DIE!". He shot rapid-fire beams at Sorata that were moving like lightning. Sorata got an excited grin on his face "Alright then. Let's play!" He exclaimed with his destructive energy gathering like flames on his arms.
Back in the forest...
Zakia and Deo clashed at incredible speeds, tearing through the forest with their battle. Explosions rocked the trees as missiles met beams and fists met steel.
Zakia laughed through the chaos while blasting missiles at deo. "No one's ever kept up with me like this... You're strong!"
Deo, dodging a barrage of missiles and countering with his beams with precision, smirked. "You're not bad yourself."
Their fists collided in a thunderous blow that obliterated hundreds of trees with a single burst of energy sending shockwaves rippling through the woods. Both fighters grinned wickedly, as they launched themselves toward each other and were causing huge explosions and shockwaves that were destroying trees. Both zakia and deo were showcasing great combat abilities and power "Wow, this zakia guy isn't bad at all. I have to step my game up!" Deo muttered to himself while fighting for his life.
Back in the city skies...
Sughi rained down beams at Sorata, but Sorata was countering each one away with destructive energy blasts, explosions were bursting across rooftops. Sorata while flying and dodging through Sughi's beams seemed to be having fun. As he was dodging and cutting through Sughi's beams at hypersonic speeds, he gathered a devastating amount of purple destructive energy unto his palms and blasted it at sughi. Sughi saw this attack heading his way and had to block it immediately. This attack from sorata caused a huge explosion in the air.
Sorata's arm smoked from the strain. He gritted his teeth as he saw his palm and a part of his arm up till his elbow length was burned. "TCH! Too much energy too handle huh?"
From atop a building, Tomoa spoke. "If you were smart, you'd realize using powers that damage your own body isn't wise."
Sorata glared up at him. "Why don't you take shame in your existence, you disappointment? Just looking at you makes me want to hurl."
Tomoa frowned. "Sughi, are you alright?"
Sughi gave a short nod as he was floating in the air perfectly fine . "Im good. His attacks didn't do shit!"
Tomoa raised his hand and conjured a large cluster of glowing magic circles, preparing to launch a barrage of destructive orbs. Sughi followed "NOW... LETS FUCKING GO!" He exclaimed as he started blasting beams at rapid speed.
Sorata sighed in annoyance while seeing these attacks flying at him. "I just wanted this mission to be easy..."
Purple energy surged around his body as he then blasted himself towards the attacks headed towards him. He dodged and blasted beams of energy of his own to counter the rapid fire attacks of Sughi and Tomoa. He got close energy to Tomoa with a wicked grin on his face "You seem more fun than that Dark haired loser. Let's play.", Sughi grinned too "Sure!" Sughi and Sorata stared blitzing around the air at lightning speeds and were causing crazy explosions all over the air space. They seemed to be enjoying themselves.
As they kept fighting, with a single kick, Sorata sent Sughi crashing through a row of buildings, then turned and blitzed Tomoa into another structure with explosive force "Don't get in the way!!" He exclaimed.
Hovering midair, purple energy overflowing from his form, Sorata grinned.
"AHHH? Is that all you can do? Kinda disappointing."
Tomoa and Sughi got up, Sughi had a smirk on his face and Tomoa had an annoyed frown "You heard that Tomoa?" Tomoa replied "Yeah. Let's make him pay for what he said. This guy's just an overconfident lunatic!" They both launched themselves at sorata at blinding speeds, both charged up with energy.
End of Episode.