No one truly knew how long the fistfight between Ire and Don was going on. The sun had already set, and the night was beginning to draw in. The mission that was given to Ire and his group was supposed to be easy and quick. They were just supposed to kill Don and the others and move on to the next mission. They had done some recon on the others as well as Don. They gauged their power levels and put them between Grade 1 and Grade 2.
The Grading system was simple and easy to understand. Everyone that was part of The World Government was informed of it and taught about it.
Those of Grade 1 were normal humans. People who had not awakened to their power. People who were just average.
Those of Grade 2 was known as Seedlings. People who had just awakened to their power had yet to know how to wield it yet properly.
Then there was Grade 3. These people were known as Bloomers. Their Seed Power had fully blossomed, and the person knew full well how to wield their power. These people were merely a few steps away from an Evolution of their Original Seed Power.
Up next was Grade 4. People with Grade 4 were known as Evolutionaries. They had evolved their Seed Power and could turn it on and off at will. These people were perilous because the Evolution of the Original Seed Power was typically a more advanced version. For example, people that used Fire could use Magma or even cause combustion from thin air. People that used Water could use Ice or Freeze over an entire city. The list went on and was endless. That was one of the main reasons why Seeds were unique. They took the form of the wielder and evolved with the wielder.
Lastly was Grade 5. Grade 5 was given to those who had multiple Seed Powers and Evolutions. These people were known as Overtakers. Just as the title implied, they could topple over everything in their way. Nothing stood in their path. They were pretty much Gods in the eyes of normal humans and lower Grades. The few of the Overtakers who existed were part of The World Government, but one individual wasn't. The Leader of the Rosario Group.
"A Grade 2 shouldn't be giving us this much trouble..." Ego would grumble. "Yeah. Did we miss calculate?" Avidity would agree. Lax would nod, "Most likely. It could also be just him. If anything, he is probably a Grade 3. Which would put him directly below us." Lax would remark.
They were watching Ire and Don go back and forth trying to attack one another. Don evaded all of Ire's punches and even knocked some aside. Ire was blocking Don's attacks and evading what he could when he could. They were counter-attacking at the same time. It felt like the battle wouldn't end anytime soon, but the sweat coming off of Don was proof that it would soon enough.
"You're good, kid. But..." Ire increased the output of his punches to the max. Don saw the punches increased in speed, which was now on terms with a world champion fighter. Don was just barely able to avoid these, but what felt off-putting was the force behind them. There was this BOOM sound each time Ire threw a punch. The atmosphere around Don shifted and pushed him aside, so he had to expend more energy just to evade Ire's punches. What's more, Don had this feeling he couldn't block or knock them aside like before. "It's time to wrap this up." Ire would finish his earlier remark.
Don was finding fewer chances to counter-attack and eventually ended up on the full defensive. Ire had managed to break through Don's Evolved Seed Power and seemed to be moving at full speed. To the others, it now looked more like mere shockwaves in the air had been going off in various parts of the street rather than two people moving in a blur.
The resounding BOOMS eventually drew April and Rose out of the house. They also saw it. Flashes of shockwaves appearing here and there, but no one fighting. The more they looked around, the less they saw Don and figured it was him. Finally, Jen and Boss joined them.
"I assume that is him out there?" Boss asked as he pushed up his glasses since they slid down his nose.
"And Ire." Rose would remark, which drew the attention onto her. She figured they wanted an explanation. "Ire is the Leader of the Special Operations group known as Sin. They are pretty much the bodyguards of the High Commander and take direct orders from the High Commander. They usually end up going on assassination or destruction missions. Whenever there was a thorn in The World Government's side, they were sent to deal with it. Anyways... it looks like Don and Ire are a match. I suppose Don's Power Level would be Grade 4 then, which would put him on Par with Ire and the others." Rose would remark. Question marks started to appear over everyone's heads, so Rose took the time to explain to them what Grade Level meant.
Don's breathing was starting to become heavy. His movements were starting to get sluggish, and once he slipped up, Ire landed a hit. One final BOOM seemed to seize the battle, and Don was sent flying towards a stalled vehicle and crashed into it. Ire was standing there with his fist still out, and if one could hear it, he was breathing just as heavily. The bright glow along his armor started to flicker, and then it died out. Ire would take a knee and look up from the ground to see Don sitting in the stalled vehicle. There was a large hole in Don's chest.
"Got you..." Ire would grin from inside of his visor then collapsed on the ground. "Fuck... that took everything I had..." Ire would grumble and turn his head to see his team staring at him. He could faintly hear them calling his name. Over and over, but as it did, the noise started to drown out until he finally closed his eyes, and all sounds around him died out.
April, Rose, Boss, and Jen had seen Ire collapsed and shifted their eyes around in search of Don. They had heard an earlier crash and saw Don was sitting inside of a crumpled vehicle. As they raced towards him, their eyes went wide in disbelief and horror.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" April screamed at the top of her lungs, and tears rummaged down her face.
Jen couldn't believe it either. Emotions started to swirl within her, so much so that she was inflicted with a bunch of negativity. Anger, Despair, Hate, Anguish... it was all there. Don was one of the few men Jen could trust. Jake, John, Josh, and Boss were the others. To her, they were all irreplaceable friends, and Don was like a best friend to her. She bit on the inside of her cheek to bite back a scream.
Rose would move to check up on Don. She was just as surprised and held just as much disbelief. She didn't think anyone other than the General could probably kill him. Still, she wasn't as attached to Don as the others were, so this didn't upset her as much as it did for April or Jen. She would check his pulse, then look towards April and shake her head. April's legs gave out, and she sat down in silent tears. She recalled everything. All the great times they had. All the joy they felt. Don was special to her. He was one of a kind. Sure he was different, but that wasn't what made him special to her alone. She knew he was the one for her from the day he saved her. He didn't even know her; he didn't ask for anything in return and just went on about his life without a care in the world. All these memories came flooding into her mind, and she ended up remembering the promise Don made her before he left.
Boss turned away when Rose gave the confirmation. He would unbutton the buttons of his collar and uncuff the cuffs so he could roll them up. There was a glint in his eyes. It wasn't normal. It wasn't filled with anger or hatred like Jen's. No, it was filled with something else. "You know... Don was a good man. A great employee. When I saw his background files, I figured he was shady, but he was just trying to go through life. Sure, I didn't know about him, but..." Boss would remove his glasses to fold them and tuck them inside a pocket on his shirt, then he pulled out a pair of brass knuckles from his pockets. "I thought of him like family." He finished as he started to approach Lax, Avidity, and Ego. A silent murderous glint in his eyes with a vivid brown glow.
Jen turned away Rose and April to stand beside Boss. She didn't say a word; instead just looked at Avidity, Ego, and Lax. A solid crimson glow flared in her eyes. Rose would move from Don's body and stand beside Jen. A flare of black shimmered over her katana, and three white glows shimmered over herself, Jen and Boss. She had used two of her Seed Powers. Linked and was preparing to use Spatial Slash.
"Bah.... we can take you on. Even if we exhausted." Ego would remark with pride in his voice. "Yeah, right... I can't even move." Avidity would comment, and Lax just sighed. "Guess we'll be joining Ire in a bit." Lax could barely even hold his own katana. "The other two may not be a problem, but Rose was going to be considered part of our group. She has the same Grade Level as us." Again, lax would comment, but before the battle could begin, a voice called from the shadow.
"What is taking you all so long?" It was a feminine voice filled with greed, one filled with endless desire to obtain everything. Coming up from behind Lax's shadow was another figure in the same NS armor as the others. The lines and core of his armor had a gold color.
"Avarice... why did you give your position away?" A masculine and gluttonous voice called out but was nowhere to be seen. It was only when they crashlanded in front of Lax that it became known where they were. They had come from the sky.
"Why are you giving Ava lip, Fam. Didn't you just jump from the recon point? If anything, you are the one who would have given our position away first." Another voice spoke up, one filled with sorrow and resentment, but it also felt somewhat lacking in emotion at the same time. It seemed young as if it came from a boy. The figure made their appearance by simply walking there, but where they came from was unknown.
"Says the porter..." Fam, the one who came from the sky wearing the same NS armor as the others. Their core and line color were brown. Fam called out to the one wearing NS armor with their line and core color being purple.
"It's fine. I was just saying. No need to give Ava trouble. Besides, I doubt the others would have been able to do anything, and it looks like our leader is out of commission." The one in NS armor with a core color of purple would speak up and begin making his way towards Ire. "I dislike fighting... so I'll be taking Ire and others to the recon point. From there, we will return to base." The person would drag Ire like some kind of doll or toy while making his way towards Lax, Avidity, and Ego. He set his glance towards Ego. "High Commander wants to know why you and Ire used your Sin Weapons without order. There is no room for discussion; you will come along." The person would remark, and Ego sighed heavily. "Whatever, let's go, En." Ego would respond while calling the person En.
"Then hurry up." En would respond, and Lax, Avidity, and Ego would place a hand on En before they seemed to completely disappear from sight without word or warning. A heavy sigh came from Avarice; she looked through their visor, which had goggle-like eyes; they would look over Rose, Jen, and Boss before setting her glance on Rose.
"You really abandoned your post. I figured you would have learned your lesson, but I guess not. Oh well, I guess it's time for you to die again. This time you won't be coming back, though." Avarice would comment. Like the others, she would materialize a weapon into her hand, which came out in the form of two daggers.
"I only came to collect the others. We didn't get the orders to kill Shade, so I see no reason to stay. If you wanna kill your pupil, then go for it. I'll just head back." Fam would remark, which caused Avarice to sigh, "You don't wanna add any more women to your collection? I'm impressed for once." Avarice would speak up, which caused Fam to snicker. "Those two? Nah. One of them is too tainted, and the other is too pure. But, of course, the spot is still open for you." Fam would remark with a grin that couldn't be seen. Avarice felt like Fam was grinning, so she pushed off her heel and instantly appeared in front of Fam with her dagger up against his throat. "I'd be careful if I were you. Otherwise, you might lose your head." Avarice's words were intimidating and cold. Fam put his hands up, "Alright... alright. I'll stay and help." Fam would respond defensively. Avarice would pull back her dagger than take to a battle stance; meanwhile, Fam just stood there nonchalantly.
"Done?" Boss asked since he decided to let them have their dramatic spill. "How polite of you to wait for us. Yes, we are done." Fam would respond in turn. "Good!" Jen exclaimed and jumped forward towards Fam. Fam found it funny that a small rodent was throwing themselves at him, so he allowed whatever Jen was about to do just for shit and giggles. I mean, a fist couldn't put even damage their armor. However, when he felt a massive amount of force against his stomach, he groaned in pain as he was pushed back. Interestingly, he wasn't flown off his feet and instead slid against the pavement until he came to a stop.
Fam looked down to see his armor was indented and then looked to see Jen was rushing him again. "Interesting... I'd say you are a Grade 2, but your power seems to be similar to Ire's." A grin would widen across his face. He was prepared for another punch but instead watched as Jen jumped up and tried to dropkick him. The impact forced him to slid back once again and his armor to indent even more, but instead of just standing there, he would stomp upon the ground, which caused the Earth to quake. As Jen was trying to get up, she started to stumble around, but before she could regain her footing, Fam had leaped towards her and tried to dropkick her in return. Jen brought her arms up to defend against the attack, and when she did, she slid back along the pavement. Her arms were bruised now, but interestingly they didn't break.
Fam found it odd that Jen's arms weren't broken but decided to ignore that for now and instead charged her. Jen and Fam would exchange blow for blow. Their speed was pretty much even, and their power was nearly matched, which was odd, but maybe it was because Fam wasn't taking the battle seriously enough. After all, he was part of the Sin Squad, which hosted a powerful team.
While Jen and Fam were battling it out, Boss approached Avarice steadily. She saw his weapon and scoffed. "For someone who appears gentlemanly, your choice of weapon would beg to differ." Avarice would comment, and Boss would smirk. Then, he noticed the glow coming from her daggers. It looked like some kind of sci-fi weapon in a game he used to play. If the daggers were anything like that, then that weapon could most likely burn their flesh and bone with ease. So, he would need to be cautious of it. Avarice dashed towards Boss with sublime speed and slashed at Boss. Boss would smirk again and evade the slash, then counterattack with a thrust of his fist. Avarice figured he wouldn't damage her armor, so he took the blow. She would use it as a means to cut off his arm afterward, but to her surprise, she felt pain. It also felt like her ribs had broke, and she stumbled back.
Avarice looked down to see her armor was in perfect condition, then looked to see Boss was taking to a battle stance with a cocky smirk on his face. "What's wrong? Did that hurt?" Boss would taunt Avarice, who growled and dashed towards him with increased speed. She would attempt to cut off his neck, but before her blade reached its mark, her weapon bounced off. "What!?" She exclaimed only to see Rose was standing behind him; she didn't have much time to look at Rose, though since Boss had dashed in and landed a solid one-two to her face. She once again felt the pain, but this time it was to her face, then a sudden pain in her gut which caused her to stumble back. Boss would retake his position after he threw his straight punch.
"The hell kind of Seed Power is that!?" Avarice growled out; she was starting to feel wobbly and woozy. She didn't understand how Boss was bypassing her armor. The NS armor could withstand explosions and cannons. Hell, even a military tank shot could barely indent the armor. Even if it did take damage, it would only leave a small or average size opening in the armor. They wouldn't even take damage from the explosion.
But...
Boss was bypassing her armor and hitting her directly. His fists weren't fazing through the armor either. It had to be the Seed Power, but what kind of power was it!? The more she tried to think about it, the more she became agitated. She was faster and stronger than Boss; she knew that much. She could have nearly cut his head clean off earlier, but Rose had interfered. If that was the case, she would need to kill Rose first and deal with Boss afterward. That would be her plan. She took a low sprinter stance to prepare and then she pushed off heel with a resounding BOOM!