Seraphina stood over a downed Hower, the student Hower had bullied close behind Sera. Hower looked angry.

Sera turned to the poor student and asked "Hey, you okay?"

"Uh...Yeah, I think so- Watch out!"

Sera's head whipped around to face Hower again. Hower grabbed Sera's arm, hands burning her wrist.

"Who said it was over?" Hower lunged at Sera, his other hand reaching to burn her face.

Sera sweated as his hand came closer to her, but suddenly grasped Hower's shoulder with one hand and knocked away the hand that was coming towards her face with the other.

Hower's eyes were glowing as a result of him using his power, and Sera's weren't because she had no power. Sera kneed Hower in the stomach, making him respond with a satisfying "oof".

"Ugh! What the hell?" Hower looked at Sera in rage. "B****! Is that all you've got?"

Sera smacked him, still with a cool expression on her face. "Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?"

The student who was bullied by Hower stared at Seraphina in awe.

"Just you wait, Seraphina! I'll make you pay for this!" Hower ran off.

"Psh...Is this how they all act?"

"Uhh…Hello,"

Sera turned to the student behind her.

"Is your arm okay?"

"Oh this? It's nothing. I've had way worse," Sera's sleeve was charred.

"Right! Of course! Uh. Well, thank you for saving me again!" The student bowed.

"Hm? Have we met before?" Sera murmured to herself. Raising her voice, she said, "It's fine. No need to act so formal. We're the same now,"

The student looked at her quizzically.

"Anyway, I still have things to do. Maybe I'll see you around," Sera waved goodbye.

"Okay!" The starstruck student stared at a retreating Sera.

The sound of footsteps echoed through the hallways. The footsteps belonged to Remi, Queen of the school, who was holding her right arm and in deep thought.

"Long time no talk," said a voice behind her. Remi was startled.

She turned around. "What?"

There, with his arms crossed, stood the King of the school, Arlo.

"Arlo? What are you doing here?" I took a different path just to avoid him!

"You! Come with me!" Arlo grabbed Remi's left arm and walked away.

"Hey, wait! I have class!"

Inside an empty classroom, Arlo and Remi were staring at each other. Remi couldn't meet Arlo's eyes. When she tried to make eye contact, his glare was frightening.

"I kinda have somewhere to be. So if you don't have anything to say, I'll be going-"

Arlo slammed his hand next to her head. "X-Rei. Sound familiar to you?"

"What the- No! Never heard of it!"

Arlo's gaze traveled to Remi's right arm. "Let me see your arm,"

"Here," Remi waved her left arm.

"The other one!"

"What? Ew, no! Stop being so weird!" Remi clutched her arm.

Arlo noticed Remi's burnt wrist. It was horribly discolored. Arlo grit his teeth.

"How could you be so stupid?" he shouted, "What the hell made you think that going after EMBER was a good idea? Look at what they've done to you!"

Remi looked down. "Things weren't supposed to turn out the way they did. I only wanted to-"

"What were you expecting to happen? After you find EMBER, everything just miraculously works out? They give you all their secrets and you take them down with your two sidekicks?"

Remi paused. "We weren't prepared,"

"Even the three of you combined couldn't take down a single person from EMBER. It's not that you weren't ready, you were completely outclassed! What could you have possibly done against her?"

Remi didn't have anything to say. Arlo continued with his tirade.

"You will stop your foolish meddling and report everything to the authorities! Do I make myself clear?"

Remi's eyes welled with tears. "No. Screw the authorities!"

"What did you say?"

"They're just a bunch of power-hungry phonies! They couldn't care less about what happens to us!" Remi yelled. She was angry.

Arlo was confused. Why was Remi acting like this?

"If you want me to stop pursuing EMBER, fine. But I'm not giving anything up to the authorities!" Remi pushed open the classroom door, slamming it shut behind her.

Arlo was alone.

What's wrong with all of you?

He remembered Rei's dead body, charred and cut up. Arlo remembered John, ready for vengeance after Arlo had ambushed him. He remembered Seraphina, lying on the floor after another student pushed her down the stairs. Arlo remembered Cecile, bloody and bowing to him. And he remembered Remi, how her face was filled with rage.

You're high-tiers, aren't you? So why can't you just act like it?

Arlo sighed.

Everything is falling apart.

Sera stood outside of the school building, waiting for John. She was texting on her phone when Hower suddenly came up to her. He was with a bunch of other students. Sera noticed them.

"You again?"

Michikatsu sneezed. He was cleaning the dusty building with his brother. He still replayed the moment when Yoriichi hit the rat and Michikatsu didn't.

Why am I even thinking about that? I've gotten better, so there's no need to be upset!

However, the harder he tried to banish the memory, the harder it stayed in his mind.

He tried to distract himself by cleaning the windows when he saw a peculiar sight. Some teenagers were carrying another teen into the building where Michikatsu and his brother lived.

"Yoriichi! Some people are coming to the house!"

"What did you say?"

Michikatsu ran towards his brother. "I said that some people are coming towards the house!"

"Wait, why?" Yoriichi looked out the window. "Who are they carrying? Also, why do they have similar outfits?"

Michikatsu shrugged.

"Brother! We have to help the one being carried!"

"It's none of our business, we shouldn't get involved,"

"But what if that person is in trouble?" Yoriichi pleaded with his brother. Eventually, Michikatsu agreed to help.

Sera didn't know where she was headed. All she knew was that these students did not mean well.

So imagine her surprise when they got into the abandoned building and two people were there.

They looked almost identical, so Sera knew they were twins. Both were in a fighting stance, so Sera did the logical (or was it illogical) thing and called for help.

"Hey, you two! I'm being held against my will! Help-"

One girl who was holding Sera bashed Sera's head on the ground. "Shut up!"

The twins looked at each other in confusion.

Sera tried again. "Hey, I need help over here!"

Luckily, the two seemed to get the hint.

Yoriichi couldn't understand a word of what was said to them. But after seeing the pink-haired girl get struck, he assumed that the girl was in trouble.

"Michikatsu! I'm counting on you!"

"Huh? Me? What about your firepower?"

"I still can't control the amount of heat, brother. That would be fine if we were dealing with demons, but I don't want to kill a fellow human. I need your powers to deal with these people quickly. I'll try and back you up without my powers,"

"Got it,"

The brothers sprang into action. Michikatsu pointed his finger at the nearest person. Blue and yellow crescents came out, striking them. He continued to do this, knocking out the majority of the people in the process.

Yoriichi vaulted over Michikatsu's crescents and ran at the pink-haired girl. A blue-eyed girl with maroon-ish hair blocked his path. He dodged a punch from the new girl, before throwing one of his own. Intended to push her far and knock her out, the punch only knocked her back a few feet or so. She smiled and charged at him.

Yoriichi gulped.

Michikatsu was having problems of his own. One girl, with blonde hair and golden eyes, was dodging his crescents with ease. She was a blur, even for him, with his higher-than-average eyesight.

A boy, with purple hair and green eyes, was also giving Michikatsu trouble. He had regenerative abilities just like a demon, however he smelled human. Do all people here have powers like a demon? He was interrupted by the boy throwing a punch. Michikatsu pointed his finger at the boy, only to have the boy get up after the stream of crescents ended. This was going to be a long fight.

Yoriichi was fighting the girl, as well as a newcomer. The newcomer had green hair and brown-red eyes. She was skilled in repelling Yoriichi's attacks using her power. Combined with the other girl's strength, it was a hard fight for Yoriichi. At least he was skilled in hand-to-hand combat, otherwise he would be screwed.

The green-haired girl suddenly tried to punch Yoriichi, who dodged and weaved under her. Now he was behind both girls, and he made a run for the pink-haired girl. Helping her off the ground, Yoriichi called to his brother.

"Michikatsu! I have her! Let's go!"

One of Michikatsu's opponents, the girl, rammed into Michikatsu. He punched her, and she was knocked unconscious.

She let her guard down. I guess she didn't expect me to be standing.

The boy didn't notice his downed ally as he ran towards Michikatsu. Michikatsu didn't even try to fight back, instead opting to run with Yoriichi and the pink-haired girl.

Once they were far away from the people and the building, they rested.

"So," Yoriichi asked the pink-haired girl, "Who are you?"