The leaves of the trees rustled in the wind... Darkness filled a cave, swallowing everything, yet something gleamed deep inside. Something like platinum, and an axe of dark bluish iron...
Slowly, a hybrid being stepped out, weapon already in hand. She had wolf ears and a peculiar face, feminine but with masculine features, which gave her a commanding presence.
Leaves tore loose from the trees and formed a screen in front of the hybrid, who simply watched.
The leaves gathered a greenish energy, and then a message appeared across them: "It's your turn now, Boss 19."
She stepped outside. Behind her, the cave sealed itself shut, nature erasing the place as if it had never belonged there.
Without wasting more time, she took off running, kicking off the trees to propel herself. The air contracted around her, forming a blurred ring.
The hybrid reached the city, and the ring of air dissipated...
"They must be here somewhere, or at least they should be. I haven't seen the world in years," she told herself.
She walked up to a television and pressed her face against the glass, her tail swishing eagerly behind her.
All she saw were weather reports and accident coverage, nothing about them.
She sighed and stepped back, then looked at the sky.
It was around midday, still early. The heroes had left the night before, after the tests run by a scientist the "master" had sent specifically to test the protagonists.
Suddenly, a woman approached with a warm smile.
"Hello, miss. Are you looking for something?" the woman asked calmly, not noticing the hybrid's cold stare.
"I don't need anything," she replied coldly.
The woman seemed to sense what she truly wanted.
"I've heard of some people who rescue others from accidents, like in that destroyed country. Just head toward the horizon and see if they're there," the woman said, pointing a finger in the direction she should go.
The hybrid's ears perked up, drinking in every word.
Without wasting a second, she vanished, leaving the woman stunned and unsure how to react.
The day finally got underway, and people headed out to work. Some of them noticed a silhouette with a tail moving toward the destroyed country, which was being rebuilt.
"Who is that?" one worker asked a coworker, watching from a seat by the office window.
"No idea. Probably nothing important, but there's something odd about him, or, um, her? Honestly, I can't tell, but it gives me chills," the coworker replied, sipping a cup of coffee.
The hybrid crouched and sniffed the ground. Her senses picked up a trace of fire energy she couldn't place.
She rose and followed the trail, but another scent led her back to the city and to a clothing store. Confused, she went in.
She looked around and saw young men and women chatting and trying on clothes.
Suddenly, she spotted a muscular, bare figure, glimpsed through a one-centimeter gap behind a door.
She slipped quickly through the crowd and flung the door open.
Inside was Worh, trying on a shirt and pants, standing there in nothing but his underwear.
The protagonist froze, every eye in the store fixed on him.
Immense embarrassment washed over him, his cheeks turning red even as his expression stayed serious.
She looked him up and down, and when her eyes dropped, she saw something that startled her with its size. She quickly shook her head and seized Worh by the throat.
"Why would you barge in and open the door? Don't you know what privacy is?" the boy asked, discreetly pulling on his pants.
She said nothing and threw a punch powerful enough to wreck the whole place.
Worh reacted at once and dodged, catching her wrist and shoving her into the fitting room.
The hybrid didn't let go of his neck, but she froze. Worh leaned toward her lips as if to kiss her, but it was only a distraction, his mind already signaling him to act.
Then her face was buried under heaps of clothes. Piece after piece fell on top of her, trapping her for a moment.
Worh pulled on the shirt, paid for his clothes, and bolted without another thought. He had sensed a tremendous energy when he grabbed her wrist.
The hybrid appeared in front of him, a pair of underwear on her head, furious.
Before he could react, a punch slammed into his face.
The air around him contracted, and a great force hurled him backward. He touched his nose and saw blood.
*Damn! This thing might actually kill me,* he thought.
Another blow hit him from behind, nudging his spine and tearing a grunt out of him.
He leapt up and grabbed the hybrid by the ears. His fire power ignited, burning off whatever she wore on her head. The hybrid felt strange, but she quickly suppressed the sensation.
Her ears jerked violently and flung Worh to one side, and he landed with style.
When he looked up, he saw the hybrid touching her ears and stroking them.
"Don't touch them again, brat," the girl said with a pout.
A few seconds later she caught herself. She couldn't afford to show such emotions so lightly, and her expression hardened into anger.
Worh swallowed instinctively, pulled out a battered phone, and dialed everyone in a group call.
"Get here now, because I'm probably going to end up with broken arms," Worh said, his voice calm but leaving no doubt about what was coming.
And so it did.
She started using him as a punching bag. He defended himself as best he could, but the Boss was faster than he was, and her senses caught his every punch.
He spat blood and saliva with every hit. The plants reacted, moving faster as the air stirred them.
From a distance, people watched the hero being butchered by a hybrid woman they had never seen and had no record of.
Each blow was stronger than the last.
The air shrank tighter with every strike.
Worh's punches no longer landed, his speed dwindling.
The world narrowed to the two of them, Worh being beaten without pause.
The other protagonists raced toward the scene at full speed, dodging every obstacle: cars, people, buildings.
Sone arrived in ball form and lunged at the girl's back, but she sidestepped and kicked him.
The kick knocked Sone out of his ball form, and the Boss seized the moment.
She drove a low kick into him, and Sone let out a strangled cry.
It was worse than anything he had taken before. He clutched the injured area. The hybrid smiled in satisfaction, though she eyed the boy's hair with mild curiosity.
Sone's eyes were watering, but it bought enough time for Kiro to arrive and land a Strike Plus on the Boss.
It sent her flying far enough, and the lightning dazzled her vision.
"Nice work," Sone said, his voice shaking.
Air flowed back into his lungs, and the pain began to ease.
The girl swiftly dispelled the lightning with a clap, loud enough to counter it.
Without hesitation, she drew her axe and spun it, pulling the air in with it in a force of attraction.
Kiro realized too late.
The axe struck him and dragged him toward her. She headbutted him without a second thought and drove a knee into his abdomen.
Kiro spat saliva and a trace of blood, but he held firm despite the blow.
Without wasting a moment, he used a Reverse Strike and returned the blow with the same force.
The girl took the hit and spat.
The sky seemed to flicker...
The Boss wiped the spit from the corners of her lips.
Every action seemed to make the earth itself react.
"Seriously? Nice hit, but it won't be enough, 'hero,'" she said, mocking the punch.
Without another word, she dug her fingers into the ground.
"Worh, I know you did something similar, so I'll do the same," she said in a serious voice.
Worh trembled slightly.
The ground was suddenly heaved upward. The protagonists clung to whatever they could grab.
Now they were in the stratosphere. Kiro looked around.
He noticed the clouds, and an idea took shape. He raised his arm and made a gesture, and Sone understood at once.
Sone shot toward the girl in ball form.
She noticed the movement and began charging a rain power in her hand.
The clouds turned black, and red eyes opened across them. Without waiting for orders, one cloud blew and sent Sone tumbling through the air with no effort.
"Shit, now they're alive?" Sone said in disbelief.
From another angle, Kiro focused his fist, a new one.
The name "Plasma Strike" appeared in his mind, and his body was already drawing in the force and energy the punch would need.
The Plasma Strike could vaporize rain and magma, and absorb particles to warp an opponent's attack.
Nature reacted. The trees, the only ones on the platform, thrashed harder as the atmospheric pressure climbed.
Kiro braced himself and ran at the enemy. The girl stood still.
Sensing the unfamiliar energy, one of the clouds backed away.
Worh appeared behind her and grabbed her around the waist, but he was quickly hurled backward with brutal force, the air knocked out of his lungs.
Worh clutched his chest, his brain sending signals through his system again.
*What the hell, that girl is way too strong,* he thought.
As he thought it, Kiro landed his punch in the woman's abdomen.
The clouds around her dissolved into simple droplets of water.
The platform was already plummeting at full speed.
The woman staggered back, but Kiro quickly seized her by the face, his expression grim.
He spun her around, and Sone fired spines at her face.
She quickly wrenched free of Kiro's grip and dodged the spines, though not all of them.
One struck her wrist, a burn that was not too strong but effective. She reached up to pull out the projectile.
Sone had already reached her position and landed a ball-form strike to her face.
The hybrid reacted and returned the blow. Sone was hurled backward at tremendous speed and slammed into the ground. The crash echoed in the ears of the others.
The clouds seemed to tremble, her feet swallowed by one.
Worh, steady again, struck her in the back, pushing her slightly forward.
Her ears twitched in annoyance. She closed her eyes, then opened them, her pupils dilated. Claws extended from her hands, but before she could counterattack...
The platform smashed into the surface with tremendous force, throwing everyone off balance and kicking up a huge wave of dust and shattered stone.
Worh landed firmly at once and slammed a punch into the hybrid's face.
The girl crashed into a solid concrete wall. Without wasting a moment, she ripped chunks from it and hurled them like knives.
Worh barely reacted. The blades sank into his skin, though he instinctively caught one aimed at his left eye.
*She really is trying to kill me,* he thought.
When he turned, Kiro had already slipped behind the hybrid and thrown a punch.
The air contracted, carrying away the power of the strike, and with a leap the hybrid dodged and delivered a spinning kick.
Kiro's head snapped around. Without delay, she aimed a claw at his throat, but the protagonist jerked his head back in time. The sharp claws grazed his flesh, leaving a reddish mark.
Kiro touched the wound, but before he could say a word, the Boss grabbed his head, swung him behind her, and kicked him, sending him crashing into a building in the city, back among the people.
Unwilling to stop, she turned her head and went straight for Worh, who was dusting off his clothes. The girl began circling the protagonist.
Worh's eyes darted from place to place, scanning for where the attack might come from.
A tree burst from the ground and trapped all the air in the area. The surroundings flickered to gray. His eyes strained to adjust to the new environment, but that was the least of his problems.
Worh realized there was no oxygen, his lungs already running empty.
Giving him no time, the hybrid hit him from behind with a ball-form attack, and an acid bomb burst against him.
It burned the protagonist's skin. He stomped the ground and shattered it at once.
The girl lost her balance, and he took the moment to seize her by the throat.
He hurled her toward the tree at nearly the speed of light. She slammed into it with a blast that shook the whole area.
The earth quickly reacted. Massive earthquakes struck much of the continent, in countries such as the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine.
Red alarms went off everywhere. Citizens tensed, snatching up their belongings and searching for shelter.
The first city fell, and as it did, the hybrid cupped her hand and sent a huge sound wave straight at Worh's ears.
The ground shrieked, and the girl, without another word, unsheathed her claws. Her body was wrapped in a bluish, potent energy. A great magnetic field drew in a cloud and gave it life.
The surroundings shifted between gray, red, black, and orange.
Worh's eyes caught every color but struggled to adapt or see clearly, the vast cloud swirling around them.
His eyes burned. The hybrid closed in at full power and drove a huge roundhouse kick into his abdomen.
Worh spat streams of blood, his eyes rolling back, his internal organs nearly crushed.
His body shuddered and was thrown backward. A drop of saliva mixed with blood slid from the corner of his lips before he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Slowly, the cloud shrank and drifted toward the protagonist's body. Hovering over him, it began to drain his life energy.