Inverse System

"Alright, her life shouldn't be in any more danger. Take her down to the Ranger dorm basement, you should find a red-haired girl there. I've fixed her life-threatening injuries, and she'll be able to finish the healing process off," Rein instructed as he stood up, dusting his clothes off from the dirt.

"Will she wake up..? Will I be able to speak with her again..?" Lance hesitantly asked as Rein smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You will. Now go, I need to go back and help the others," Rein exclaimed as tears began flowing down Lance's face.

"Thank you… I don't know what you did, but thank you…" Lance picked Elaine up and ran back towards the Hasbiin gulf, while Rein turned his head to where the fighting was happening.

"Fuck… Why did I do that?"

Meanwhile, back in the fight against the gargantuan gorilla.

While Clyde, Chloe, Quint, and Xenia fended the monster off, Core sat back and analyzed its weak points.

"Clyde was able to damage its eyes and wasn't able to damage its skin… So all skin is off the table in terms of weak spots. So the only other places would be the mouth, the nose, and the but—, never mind, just the mouth or nose. Since the mouth is a larger target, we need to create an opening and deal damage to it through its mouth, but since it keeps moving around, that'll be difficult to do…" Core thought as he was suddenly struck with a plan.

"Hey, Quint! You think you could keep it stationary with your full beastification? You just need to stop it's movements for a split second," Core called.

"Yeah, I think so. This thing's strong, but that don't mean shit to me!" Quint answered while dodging the gorilla's attacks, fully transforming himself into the tiger-looking creature with his Spring.

"You 3 get ready! I've got a plan," Core commanded to the other 3 as Quint's body clashed with the over-sized gorilla's swing, binding both his and the gorilla's movements in a struggle of power.

"We're gonna attack its mouth now! Princess, blast it open with wind! Try and shock it with some lightning if that doesn't work!"

"I can jolt it briefly, but it'll only keep its mouth open for half a second!" Chloe warned.

"That's fine. As soon as its mouth is open, Clyde's gonna slow down time," Core explained as Chloe complied, attacking the monster's gritted mouth with a blast of an electric gale.

The furious wind blew the gorilla's lip flaps up, revealing its dirty, brown teeth. The jolt of lightning afterward served to jitter the gorilla's teeth, giving a centimeter of an opening, Clyde instantly slowing down time as opened.

"Now Xenia! Lodge your greatsword between his teeth and pry his mouth open!"

Xenia jumped up and threw her greatsword with incredible precision, the blade landing exactly between the gorilla's top and bottom teeth. She grabbed onto the hilt of the sword, and with all her might, she pulled downwards, breaching the gorilla's mouth like a crowbar peeling a door open.

"Got it! Hurry though, his breath smells like shit!" She exclaimed.

"Now both of you! Princess, pump it full of air and electricity! Clyde, you focus on keeping the time slowed!"

While Clyde tried his hardest, pushing himself to keep time slowed, even while including 3 other people into the mix. Chloe went into maximum output, infusing her sword with a swirl of bolting lightning, her surroundings beginning to crackle in the air pressure, as well as the lightning's presence.

She sent the ball of whirling lightning into the gorilla's mouth, Clyde not being able to hold the time slow for any longer, letting it go as the electric whirlwind made its way through the gorilla's body.

Suddenly, the gorilla's actions halted as its body spazzed out, the raging thunderstorm tearing up its organs from the inside, eventually making the gorilla drop dead on the ground.

"Looks like that did it. And to think Elaine was going to fight that thing by herself? Maybe the future her could do it, but right now it'd be impossible," Core thought in his head as he inspected the gorilla's body.

"Damn, my fuckin's arm stings. That gorilla was strong as hell, I could barely keep him contained for a second," Quint complained.

"Thank you for the support, Core. Your strategizing skills are much better than mine," Clyde complimented as Core turned to him with a flattered expression.

"Ehehe, oh stop it, you're making me blush!" He joked as he suddenly saw Chloe's eyes widen, her face ridden with shock.

"Watch out you 2! It's not dead!" She warned, but it was too late.

Clyde's Spring was still on cooldown, and the gorilla's arm was already wound up for a swing. The 2 had no time to dodge, and a full-force attack from the gorilla could seriously injure, or kill someone. The rest were also too late to react, Xenia trying to jump in before the arm made contact. Clyde closed his eyes, bracing himself for impact as Core jumped in front of him, trying to soften the attack with his immortal body.

However, a swift slash swung through the gorilla's propelling arm, sending it flying almost as if it were made of butter. A black-haired Rein appeared before them, with two powered-up swords in his hands. They were imbued with fire and wind and extended with the inverse of Lance's Spring.

"Rein? H-how did you…" Clyde uttered as he opened his previously slashed eyes, Rein tilting his head back, giving them a smile before returning his focus to the gorilla.

The gorilla let out an excruciating shriek and became enraged, setting its target on the calm, black-haired man that appeared before it. Once again, it wound its remaining arm for a wide swing, but before it could even lift it up, Rein had disappeared from its sight, reappearing in the air in front of its face, heaving his sword through the gorilla's neck, sending it flying off into the grassy field.

"Incredible… We barely beat it with all of us combined…" Chloe uttered, everyone in the group quickly realizing the divide in power between them and Rein.

Rein de-activated STO and returned his hair and eye colors as he looked at the rest of their faces, who were staring at him in awe.

"What's wrong? Something on my face?" He asked, scratching his cheek with his index finger.

"N-no… It's just, you beat that thing so effortlessly…" Xenia answered, stuttering in her words as she was now nervous talking to someone that powerful.

"Oh that. Well, if it wasn't focused on these 2, I wouldn't have gotten the jump on it," Rein explained.

"Nah man, we also got the jump on it when it was attacking Lance's girl… But we weren't even able to penetrate its skin. You destroyed it so effortlessly," Quint added as Rein had just realized that he'd screwed up.

"Shit, did I go too far? I didn't know they couldn't cut its skin… I need to come up with an excuse…" He thought frantically.

"My attack weakened its defenses from the inside and softened its skin. That's probably what happened," Chloe commented, Rein suddenly latching on to her reasoning.

"Yep, that's what happened. Anyways, let's head down and check on Elaine. Sho might also be looking for us. We'd better hurry up," Rein hastened as he wanted to change the subject, jogging back to the tunnel leading back to the gulf.

The group reluctantly followed as they accepted Chloe's words to be the truth. Rein explained that he was able to heal Elaine's wounds, which further surprised the group, who saw the shape she was in when Lance carried her away. They didn't question it however and continued down the tunnel until they reached the city.

"I told Lance to take her to the dorm basement, so let's check there first," Rein stated as the group made their way to the Ranger dorm, heading down the stairs as the elevator would be too cramped.

There, they saw Elaine sleeping on the couch in the back of the workshop, Raxo sitting by the couch while Emria had her sleeves rolled up, bringing her a bucket of water. Sitting in the waiting area behind the counter were Lance and Sho, the latter noticing them as they walked into the shop.

"Ah, you're finally here," Sho remarked.

"Sho? Why're you here? Aren't you supposed to be helping Lillia?" Core inquired.

"The food's pretty much ready anyways, also she was starting to piss me off so I left. While I was looking for you guys, I ran into Lance rushing to get to the dorm, so I followed him out of concern. Also, I figured you guys would show up if I stayed here," Sho explained.

"I told you to mind your own business, princey boy. How about you fuck off back to your half invaded country," Lance jabbed, his remark angering Chloe, making her step up to defend Sho.

Sho held his hand out and stopped Chloe from advancing, seeming as though he took no offense to the comment.

"It's okay princess. Besides, it's not like he's wrong. However, I do not take shame in that fact. My father is the greatest king in the history of this continent. Against the overwhelming Orthlysian force, only he would've been able to stop it. It's a miracle that Econica still even exists," Sho proudly exclaimed, Lance scoffing at his remark once again.

"Only because your dad sent an assassin on the queen. If that never happened, Orthlys wouldn't have stopped their forces, and crushed Econica under their hee—"

"Lance," Rein interrupted Lance's speech, suddenly teleporting in front of the sitting man, grabbing him by the collar, and lifting him up.

"One more word and I'll fucking kill you," Rein's red paralyzing gaze pierced into Lance's eyes, instantly making him shut his mouth in fear.