—Northwest District, Dotun City; Lanima Region
"I thought you'll be the type to decline these types of missions, Stacia," Alex said.
"I am, I just have no choice this time, Alex, I'm sorry," Stacia said, activating her Reign.
"I don't want to hurt you, Stacia," Alex said, worried for her as he went into a fighting stance.
"You won't," Stacia said confidently, she then dashed at Alex with her Reign covering her.
Confidently because she knows Alex can't hurt her because of her Reign making her invincible and also because she knows she can't hurt Alex because of his fast healing.
"I most definitely do not want to use any Reign against her, let's see if I can take her down with just the strength of these Super Soldier serums in my veins, and my Hugo Style," Alex thought.
They then fought close combat. Because of Stacia's Reign, she's creating quakes whenever she hits the ground with her feet or her fists, Alex is just, blocking, parrying, and dodging around as he reads Stacia's moves.
When Alex is able to grab and lock both Stacia's arms. "I've never thought I'd be fighting you, Stacia," He said.
"I don't know if she's strong or her Reign is strong, I'm barely holding her arms," Alex thought.
"Why aren't you using your Reigns?! Are you mocking me?!" Stacia shouted, she then kicked Alex on his left leg.
But Alex also kicked his left leg back at her, stopping her kicks. Stacia then front kicked Alex with her right foot but Alex followed her front kick with one as well, with his left foot.
Both of them were then pushed back.
"His strength is equal to mine? He's not even using any Reign, is this Alex's new strength?" Stacia thought, asking herself as she tries to plan a way to take down Alex.
"I really don't know if her Reign is buffing her strength and speed, I will have to assess this forcefully, let's just hope she lasts against my martial arts, I assume her Reign gives her invincibility, I'll just tire her out," Alex thought after creating a plan of attack.
He then began attacking Stacia, he isn't just attacking her head or her body but also her arms and legs to tire her out quickly.
"He became quicker and he's on a rhythm of attacks!" Stacia thought, panicking.
"I don't want this to last because it pains me to attack you repeatedly, not even giving you any chance. You're my friend Stacia, more than anyone in Lanima Region that's for sure," Alex thought while attacking Stacia and not letting her attack back.
"How and why can't I attack him even once!? This is frustrating!" Stacia thought, struggling to fight back against Alex.
Even though Stacia's experience in Reign combat extends to 3 years, Alex's knowledge of overall combat, his martial arts being taught to him by his mother for decades is enough to enhance his skills even further, adding the Super Soldier serums in his system made him more skilled than a lot of martial arts masters.
Alex's Hugo Style is definitely an anti-martial art because even though Stacia learned, Karate, Tai Chi, and Judo, she's still struggling to fight against Alex, also struggling to find the perfect martial arts to combat his martial arts.
"I'm noticing her Reign is slowly bleeping out of her, I'm guessing she's losing a lot of Reign energy from just blocking and absorbing all of my attacks," Alex thought, he then pushed Stacia back.
*boom*
"Ack!" Stacia reacted as she slammed into the wall.
From afar, Rea and Wey are watching the fight from the top of an abandoned building.
"Stacia's getting beaten in a fight that should be her strong suit but this Alex is fighting her with a martial arts even I don't know," Rea said, confused by how and why Stacia was losing.
"We should help her," Wey said, with contempt in his voice.
Wey can't handle seeing Stacia like this because he knows Stacia as one of the best fighters in Masters of Reigns.
"Ayer told us to wait, Alex is not using his multiple Reigns that Ayer mentioned, I assume it's either false or he's holding back fighting Stacia, it's obvious they don't plan to work together," Rea said, holding Wey's shoulder as he was ready to jump in and help Stacia.
"But he might kill her! Look at their size difference, that Alex is towering over her! Beating her up!" Wey shouted angrily.
Rea used her Reign so that Wey's voice doesn't reach Alex and Stacia.
"I don't think Alex will kill him, Ayer said they're friends, he'll either leave her alone once she's tired and beaten up, or he'll just knock her unconscious," Rea said, reassuring Wey.
"I see Stacia as one of the toughest and strongest Reign users and combatants amongst others, it pains me to just watch here, I can't even fight Rea because her Reign can easily knock me out," Wey thought while he angrily watches the fight.
"If he killed her, don't even think about stopping me from coming at him and killing him, Rea, even if I have to do it on my own," Wey said.
"I'm not stopping you, let's just watch first," Rea said.
Alex continues attacking Stacia, building the waveforms that his hands produce as he continues using Hugo Style on Stacia.
"I obviously don't want to close my fist and hit Stacia with it, I'll just close my fist and aim it at her so that she doesn't feel half of its force or it will kill her with our without her Reign. I definitely don't want to use it right after she depletes her Reign energy so I'll do it now," Alex thought.
"I'm slowly losing my balance! I can't fight back because he is in a rhythm of attacks, just how strong and skilled did he get? I'm just relying on my Reign to protect me now," Stacia thought, she's just blocking all of Alex's attacks with her Reign because even though she tries blocking them with her arms, she's still hit somewhere—attacking is out of the option for her.
Alex then pushed Stacia slightly back so that he can close his fist—his left fist, away from her.
*whoosh*
All the waveforms his hands created from continuously using Hugo Style, his left fist blasts a strong force of wind at Stacia.
*BOOM*
"WHAT!?" Stacia shouted as she was surprised that his fist blasted strong wind.
You can tell if a Reigner is using a Reign when his body glows up, color depends on the Reign, if it's a fire-type Reign, the body of the Reigner will glow either bright red or orange, if it's a blade-type, it will be grey, representing the color of steel, shield-type is brown since the first shields are wooden, and vice versa.
Alex's body didn't glow any color when his fist blasted a strong wind, hence Stacia was surprised.
She then hit the wall, her Reign is getting depleted but she used her Reign one final time with all her might before she hits the wall so that she won't break her back.
"Ack…" Stacia reacted after hitting the wall with great force from Alex's fist.
"I might've overdone it, I guess this means I can take on any Reigners down with just Hugo style, huh?" Alex thought.
"I might need to hold back against others that don't have the same level of Reign as you," Alex said.
*cough*
Stacia coughed. "How?" She asked Alex.
"Stacia? Are you alright?!" Alex asked her after he went to her side.
"How did you blast that strong wind from your fist without your body glowing up? That's how using Reign works," Stacia asked Alex after he got close to her.
"I… I'm not 100% sure about it, it's about the martial arts my mother taught me. But it doesn't make any sense why I can do that, I just recently found out about it as well. Stacia, are you still following that Ayer's orders?" Alex asked after answering her question.
"I don't know…" Stacia said, answering Alex's question with confusion.
"Something he's not 100% sure? That's gold of him, he can use it but doesn't know what it is, I guess this is just his life's luck, even though he was severely injured, almost fatally, he didn't just survive, his muscle mass increased, his height increased, and having an arm that can use multiple Reigns at once," Stacia thought, still baffled by Alex's new self.
"It's like before, you bested me in every way," Stacia said.
"That's for sure… anyway, I don't want to hurt you any further than this, I don't know what you'll do with your group forcing you to do these types of things. But I can assume you can solve that on your own since I believed you can," Alex said, turning around and going the opposite direction, where his home is.
"Please pull yourself together, Stacia," Alex thought, hoping the best for her.
He then received a text message from his right Scope eye.
[Reign Energies absorbed]
[New Reign absorbed…
"Wait… that's Stacia's Reign?! Isn't that like a superpower? Is that how she can block everything that comes her way? She just stops them before it even touches them? Now that I think about it, the Reigns I've absorbed are far different from what the Reigners think them as," Alex thought, shocked at what Stacia's real Reign is.
He then stopped walking. "Stacia, a word of advice, your Reign… it's not about shields, it's far stronger than you think," Alex said, he then left.
"What does that mean? I know I can just use a shield-type Reign but he doesn't have to rub it in me that I only have one Reign and he doesn't need any to defeat me," Stacia thought, asking herself.
"Though I feel like I do have a far stronger Reign than I believe…" Stacia said to herself after Alex left.
Rea and Wey then jumped down the building they were on and went to Stacia's side.
"Stacia! Are you alright!?" Wey shouted, asking her as he goes to her side.
*cough*
Stacia coughed. "I'm fine, I just didn't expect him to be stronger in close combat than me, he didn't even use any Reign too, which is frustrating," she said, answering Wey's question.
"You said to me you're the best close combatant Reign user, what happened to that?!" Wey asked, angry at Stacia.
"Oh… right, I said something along those lines to him when he joined," Stacia thought after remembering.
—Southeast District, Dotun City; Lanima Region
2 years ago…
Ayer, Rea, and Stacia are in the Southeast District looking for other Reigners to recruit after fighting some other Reigners from different groups, they were still a small group, with only a dozen of Reigners on their side.
And then they met Wey, he was surrounded by many dead Reigners and scientists, only he was the one alive.
"Who is he?" Stacia asked as she was shocked to see the scene.
"This is her first time seeing something like this, I will have to condition her to these types of things," Ayer thought.
"He was experimented on by these people," Ayer said, slowly approaching Wey.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!!" Wey shouted as he smashes the ground after seeing them.
*RUMBLE* *crack*
"He can probably destroy us easily. I'm just counting on Rea on helping us here," Ayer thought.
"We're not here to hurt you," Ayer said as he crouched down.
"Just leave me alone…" Wey said, crying as he rolls up and hides his face from them.
Ayer then touched the ground with his index finger. He then created ice that slowly crawls to Wey's side, showing snowflakes.
"We want to help you," Ayer said.
"They think I'm a kid!?" Wey thought, starting to boil up inside.
"Help? I don't need your HELP!" Wey shouted, he then smashed the ground, pushing them all back.
*BOOM*
Rea catches Ayer as they land on the ground because Ayer almost fell into a spiky area of the building. Stacia stayed stood where she is standing since she has her Reign activated beforehand.
"You," Wey said to Stacia, he then charged at her.
"Is he gonna fight me!?" Stacia thought, she's scared to fight a kid.
Because Wey was experimented on, not only did he know how to use his Reign, his brain was injected with combat knowledge, though just close quarters combat skills, at this time, this is Stacia's first mission after she trained for many months with many martial artists in their group.
Stacia, even though Wey's Reign is stronger, defeated Wey.
"Who are you? Are you the best close combatant? I could've sworn my Reign is better than yours, you just have a shield Reign," Wey asked her while he was down.
"I don't know, *pant* you tell me," Stacia said exhausted, responding while she's holding down Wey.
Ayer told Stacia to not hurt him any further and then recruited him into the group, making him one of the Unique Reigners of the group.
Going back to the present…
—Northwest District, Dotun City; Lanima Region
"I guess there's now someone better," Stacia said, answering Wey's question.