Selene pulls out her gun and aims it at the frail man. The gun she aimed was Adam. Selene fires three more shots of fire bullets at Orion, and he gets hit and falls to the ground. The field around Orion starts to drain of life as his wounds heal slowly, and he begins to get back up.

  [Selene: You are an Aspect, huh? Good timing, I need to kill one of you.]

  Orion stares with his sunken eyes.

  [Orion: Kill…? You can’t… I need to fix you…]

  Selene grits her teeth as she aims Adam again.

  [Selene: You are disgusting. Your ability seems to drain life to heal yourself. Killing plants is not something I take lightly.]

  『Adam: Spear』

  A long spear shoots out from Adam and hits Orion in the chest. Orion slumps down, and Selene prepares to shoot a flurry of stones. A vine quickly jumps up from the ground, and Selene jumps back, but it scratches her arm. Blood flows from the wound. The moment Selene touches the ground, multiple other vines emerge.

  『Wind Protection』

  A flurry of wind cuts through the condensation around Selene. The vines that enter that area are immediately chopped into pieces. Selene quickly aims Eve at Orion and shoots.

  *Selene: Eve only has three bullets per day. I need to use them wisely. I will test out the limits of his regeneration.*

  『Eve: Disintegrate 』

  Orion's arm blocks the bullet. The arm starts to turn into dust as Orion just looks at it quizzically. Without warning, Orion's other arm starts to grow, veins pop out of it, and it looks tumorous. Orion uses this huge arm to grab the disintegrating arm. He rips the arm off and throws it to the grass. Orion's arm quickly heals.

  *Selene: Orion has not moved for the entirety of the fight. Is he saving energy? Or is he just that confident? It pisses me off.*

  Selene feels something crawl up her leg. She looks down to see a vine wrapped around her leg.

  *Selene: How did it get past my Wind Protection?!?*

  The vine moves and slams Selene into the wall. Selene tries to stop herself, but the vine then throws her directly at another bunch of vines; this time, they are sticking out of the ground with sharp edges.

  *Selene: I need to do something, or else I will be impaled!*

  Selene quickly aims Eve and shoots her second bullet. The bullet hits the bundle of vines and turns them all into pillows. Selenes fall is broken as she lands safely on the pillows. Selene quickly burns away the vine on her knee. Selene aims Adam at Orion again. This time, Orion puts up multiple walls of vines between himself and Selene. Interestingly enough, he still hasn't moved. Selene shoots.

  『Adam: Sound』

  In an instant, all of the vines are destroyed, and the entire right side of Orion is gone.

  *Selene: By shooting sound itself, I was able to create a shockwave that destroyed the vines, and the sound blast was able to hit!*

  Orion slowly starts to heal using the surrounding plants. Selene quickly makes a hand sign.

  『Infern-』

  Before Selene can summon an inferno, a large palm appears in front of her face. Orion is already fully healed. The palm is full of gross growths and bulging veins. Selene tries to back away with Glide, but it's too late. The palm hits Selenes face with so much force that a shockwave is produced. Selene is found across the garden until she rolls to a stop. Selene’s nose is bleeding as she looks up at Orion. His huge arm quickly shrinks back down.

  [Selene: What the hell are you?]

  [Orion: Resign… I will spare you death…]

  Selene smiles.

  [Selene: Fuck you.]

  Orion sighs.

  [Orion: Mutation… That is my… original ability…]

  *Selene: Mutation? I see. That is why it looks so gross. He is forcefully mutating his own body to extreme levels. It seems like he can reverse the process as well. In this case, Eve seems useless. I still have one bullet left, though.*

  Selene's thoughts are interrupted by Orion, who has mutated his legs and jumped at Selene. She was barely able to dodge with her water glide.

  『Morass』

  A patch of deep mud appears under Orion, stopping his movements. Selene quickly shoots two bullets in succession. The first bullet was from Eve; it hit Orion in the chest, and he started to turn into stone. The second bullet was from Adam, and it was an anti-mutation potion. It splashed onto Orion's face.

  *Selene: Now you can’t mutate, and you are slowly turning into stone. What will you do?*

  To Selenes' shock, Orion grabs his head and rips it off. The head rolls a little before…

  『Factor of Famine』

  In an instant, the entire garden is drained of life. Selene looks in horror as Orion's body starts to rebuild itself, stronger. He grows into an abomination. Orion's entire body is huge and tumorous. Suddenly, Selene is wacked into a wall at near instant speeds. Selene quickly gets up and is barely able to dodge the follow-up attack. Selene quickly looks down.

  *Selene: What do I have left? What abilities will work on him? Eve has no more bullets.*

  Selene catches a glimpse of a button that fell out of her pocket when she dodged.

  [Selene: I might as well give it a shot.]

  Selene presses the button, but nothing happens.

  [Selene: Useless piece of junk!]

  Selen throws the button.

  Selene then uses a sinkhole, and the giant falls into it. Selene then uses Inferno and Zephyr's Edge to create a giant ball of flames.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  『Winds of Fire』

  Selene shoots the ball of flames into the sinkhole. Flames fill the entire hole and shoot out into the sky. As expected, Orion jumps out of the hole and grabs Selene. His whole hand is big enough to grab Selenes entire body. He lifts Slene and throws her to the ground. It cracks and breaks as Selene lies in a crater. Selene spits up blood as her body hits the ground. Selenes body won’t move as Orion charges up to crush her. Orion brings his fist down, and the ground is destroyed even more.

  When Orion raises his fist, he is confused. Selene is not there. Orion looks to the side and sees a man with dark purple hair, who is carrying Selene in his arms.

  [Selene: What the hell took you so long, Ran?]

  Ran just laughs and scratches his neck. Selene tries to rise to her feet but falls.

  [Ran: Well, I was so surprised that you called me! I had to leave Mimiko in the middle of a town! Does this finally mean?! You reciprocate my feelings!]

  Selene immediately punches Ran on the head.

  [Selene: Shut up! I called you for an obvious reason!]

  Ran looks over at the towering monster. His star eyes glow.

  [Ran: By my estimate, he is a Low Special Grade. Our chances of winning this are slim. Is running an option?]

  Selene just gives Ran a look. Ran sighs.

  [Ran: What a bad boss you are! Fine, I'll distract him until you can reenter the fight. So what am I even dealing with here?]

  [Selene: Well, he can mutate himself. Life drain to hea-]

  Selene and Ran jump to the side as a giant fist slams on their position. Ran glares at Orion.

  [Ran: How dare you interrupt a conversation with my beloved!?!]

  Suddenly, a giant white laser hits the back of Orion and burns him. Orion screams in pain and falls to the ground. Selene looks on in confusion as five metal stakes are on Orion's back in a star formation. Ran walks up to Orion and pulls out two more metal stakes.

  [Ran: This is my specialist ability. If I can make a star on something, a divine laser will hit whatever the star is on. It doesn't have to be a full star. If I put five of these metal stakes in you and connect them to make a star in my head, the laser will still come. I call this ability…]

  『The Light of a Nameless Star』

  Orion gets back up and pops the stakes out of his back. Ran shoots two stakes into Orion's feet. Orion tries to swat at Ran, but he is much too fast. Ran quickly, jumped, and shot another stake into Orion's left hand.

  Ran lands on the ground and tries to compose himself a little bit; however, a flurry of vines comes in from both sides. Ran changes the stake to a reverse grip.

  『Gold Style 7th form: Sword God Speed』

  In an instant, all of the vines are cut into small stands of plants. Ran quickly threw the stake into Orion's right hand. It digs into Orion's knuckle.

  Ran smiles as he gathers something at his feet.

  『Netsu Manipulation: Speed boost』

  Ran gathers Netsu at his feet and is able to appear in front of Orion's head instantly.

  [Orion: Stop… Moving…]

  Ran shoots a stake into Orion's head and jumps back.

  [Selene: Wow. Ran is strong.]

  [Ran: That's five. I can envision it!]

  『Light of a Nameless Star』

  A giant white laser forms and hits the front half of Orion. It starts to burn it away and explodes. Sending Orion's huge body hurling back.

  [Ran: He got smaller. Healing is getting harder with no more plants around!]

  [Ran: Heh. Hey Selene. You like what you see-]

  Orion instantly appears in front of Ran. He tries to block, but a fist hits his chest. Ran spits blood as he flies into the wall of the dungeon.

  『Mutagen』

  A bunch of fleshy tendrils come out of Orion's back and start barraging the hole where Ran fell into.

  [Selene: Shit!]

  Selene aims Adam at the Mutagens.

  『Flame Shot』

  A huge ball of flames comes out and burns all of the tendrils. Ram's body falls out of the hole, and Selene grabs it. She looks down and sees that Ran is knocked out.

  [Selene: Glass cannon? He has Netsu manipulation, so shouldn’t he be more durable than me? Whatever.]

  Selene creates a bunch of healing herbs and vines around Ran and looks to face Orion.

  [Orion: Annoying.]

  Selene is surprised, his voice seemed to change. Before, he just sounded indifferent; now, he sounds mad.

  [Orion: This is annoying. If I had the power of the Whispering Woods, you both would be dead already.]

  Selene is too shocked to notice that Orion stopped talking slowly. She heard two words that piqued her interest. She aims Adam at Orion.

  [Selene: What do you mean by Whispering Woods?]

  [Orion: Let me clear something up about my Factor. The Factor of Famine's main ability is not life drain; it's evolution. By absorbing anything with life, I can add their power to my own. Eventually, this allows me to evolve to a new grade. I am currently evolved into a Low Special Grade.]

  [Selene: What does the Whispering Woods have to do with this?]

  Selene is getting impatient.

  [Orion: Those woods are extremely powerful. My original plan was to find and absorb the entirety of them into myself. I sent Raze to look for them, but he burned them down instead! Running my plan! If I absorbed them, I would easily be a full special grade by now!]

  Selene's eyes opened wide as she heard this.

  [Selene: So… You are the reason my home burned down.]

  Selene can feel the rage boiling inside her as she slowly walks to Orion. Ran wakes up and talks.

  [Ran: Wait! Selene! Think!]

  A greenish aura starts to appear around Selene as she floats in the air. Two green wings form behind Selene, and a green crown forms on her head. She throws her guns on the ground and stares at Orion.

  [Selene: It’s time for you to receive punishment.]

  『Guardian Mode』

  Orion jumps at her, but she easily dodges and hits Orion with a punch so strong it sends him back farther than the huge laser did.

  [Ran: This is no joke… She just easily dodged Orion on a physical level, which would put her current stats above a Low Special Grade. But…]

  Rans' star eye glows.

  [Ran: Her Netsu is depleting fast. She only has enough for one attack.]

  Selene raises her hand in the air, and a large flame ball starts to form in it. Orion looks on in horror.

  [Orion: Wait!]

  Ran quickly turned to run into the dungeon.

  [Ran: This isn’t good!]

  Selene shoots the fireball at the ground.

  『Flame Manipulation Ultimate Move』

  『Dante's Inferno』

  The entire backyard of the dungeon is enveloped in an orange glow as the flames stretch up into the night sky. The blast is so strong that anything in the immediate vicinity is evaporated. Ran is in the dungeon, and the entire back wall of the dungeon was blown open. After the blast ends, Ran takes a peek outside. Everything is charred, burned to ashes. Selene stands in the middle, panting heavily. She is no longer in her Guardian State.

  Selene turns to look at Ran, but when she does.

  Slice

  Ran looks on in horror as ten vines come out of the ground and impale Selene. The vines retreat into the ground, and Selenes' torso is full of holes. Ran looks over and sees a man. He has green skin and is slim, a little muscular. He has black hair, and his eye whites are black. His eyes, though, are green.

  [Ran: How the hell did you live that?!?]

  [Orion: The other ability of Famine…]

  『Deevolution』

  [Orion: By using the power stored within myself to heal, I can survive nearly anything. The only issue is that it causes me to devolve. I worked so hard to get to Low Special Grade! To survive that attack, I had to devolve twice! I'm now only a Grade 1!]

  Selene is on the ground, and she is bleeding from her wounds. She will die.

  *Selene: This is it, huh? A few herbs and vines can’t save me from all these holes in my chest…*

  Suddenly, a memory appears.

  **Truth: You don’t manipulate nature. You manipulate the natural forces. Anything considered “Natural.”**

  Selene smiles to herself.

  [Let's try it.]

  Orion looks in horror as Selene rises to her feet.

  [Orion: You should be dead!]

  Selene takes one step forward.

  『Protector of the Natural Order: Delayed Death』

  Ran is surprised.

  *Ran: No way! Is she delaying her own death? How does she have authority over death?!? Even still, she only has enough Netsu to delay her death by 30 seconds. Why is she moving?*

  Selene looks up at Orion with pure rage in her eyes.

  [Selene: If I'm going to die, I will take you with me.]

  Selene uses wind and cuts off Orion's arm. Orion screams in pain as he falls to his knees. Selene spits up more blood as she tries to approach. Ran puts his arm on Selenes' shoulder and smiles at her.

  [Ran: Lie down. I can take it from here.]

  Selene turns around and sits against a wall. Orion tries to crawl away, but Ran shoots a stake into Orion's leg. Ran looks at Selene and puts his hand on her.

  『Netsu Transfer』

  [Ran: Selene, I'm giving you my Netsu. If you can control death, I want you to try to control life. The cells in your body. Try to close the wound using my Netsu.]

  Selene thinks, she uses the newfound Netsu to control life.

  『Protector of the Natural Order: Proliferation』

  The holes in Selene's chest start to heal. Seeing this, Ran breathes a sigh of relief. Ran turns to Orion. Ran is so angry that a vein is popping out of his neck.

  [Ran: You bastard! How dare you… I will make sure you don’t live to see tomorrow.]

  Ran takes out two stakes and makes an “X” symbol with them.

  『Terrain Encroachment』

  『Citadel of Serial Killers』

  The barriers start to envelope them both as Ran smiles. Suddenly, the terrain is instantly broken. Ran looks surprised, and Orion takes this opportunity to turn himself into vines.

  [Orion: You bastards! Echo already has her terrain out on the entire dungeon. In terms of refinement, she has the most refined terrain out of all the aspects!]

  Ran grits his teeth and shoots a stake at Orion. Orion dodges it as he continues to turn into vines.

  [Orion: I won’t forgive you two for making me devolve. There are people you shouldn’t anger in this world, and one is… your doctor.]

  With that, Orion's vines fade into the ground, and he escapes.

  Ran puts his hands on his head in anger.

  [Ran: Ahhhh! He escaped!]

  Ran looks over at Selene, who is resting. Ran smiles.

  [Ran: At least we lived. Echo? She stopped my terrain?]

  Suddenly, Selene wakes up and starts to limp.

  [Ran: Wait! You shouldn’t be moving yet!]

  Selene is determined.

  [Selene: I have a goal in coming here. Someone I need to look for. I can’t… stop now…]

  Ran transfers some more Netsu over to Selene, and she can now move properly.

  [Ran: Let's get into the dungeon then!]