"Funny, I thought it would be heavier." I idly commented as I flexed my clawed fingers, crimson red gauntlets covering both hands. Just like with the Boosted Gear they fit perfectly, I couldn't really feel any issues no matter how I moved.

  It was the same for the thick red plates covering the rest of my body. Part of me had been worried my Scale Mail would end up looking like the stripper-fied version but nope, I had proper full-body coverage even if the whole thing was fitted tightly enough my feminine figure was very obvious even with the clawed gauntlets or boots and large green gemstones appearing on the shoulderpads, chest, knees, and hands.

  'Did you think a dragon would be hindered by their own scales?' Ddraig pointed out. 'Of course it fits you perfectly.'

  That made a lot of sense and I wanted to comment about it, but a bestial roar above me made my head snap up with laser-like focus. Right, Albion was fighting with my prey. Trying to keep him from fleeing.

  Can't have that now, can I?

  I crouched slightly as I pulled my right arm back and took aim. Albion wasn't my enemy at the moment, it would be a bit embarrassing to catch him in the blast when we weren't fighting each other…but I wouldn't lose any sleep if he just happened to be a bit close.

  "[Dragon Shot]"

  The beam of green energy speared into the sky towards where the fake and Albion were fighting.

  White actually was too far away that there was no risk of hitting him, but he must have given something away or the fake had better senses than I expected because the fake dodged hard to the side so only the edge of my attack actually caught him. Still, when the light of my attack faded the fake was missing an arm and a large portion of his right wing.

  Those already seemed to be regenerating, but the more important thing was that the fake was no longer escaping.

  A pair of draconic wings burst from my back and with a single flap I rocketed off the ground towards my prey.

  -o-

  Skitter POV

  It was only after the ground stopped shaking and the light faded that Skitter realised that she had fallen to the ground screaming and, in fact, wasn't dead by a Bakuda bomb they had missed or Oni Lee making a surprise return.

  She scrambled back to her feet and looked around even as she directed her swarm over the knocked out ABB gangers and the rest of the ruined warehouse. All of them were still right where they had been knocked out thanks to a few airdropped beetles dipped in Newter's blood and it didn't feel like there was any more rubble than before.

  Which meant that blast of light had come from somewhere else.

  Skitter looked skyward where Paladin had been tangling with Lung. The white armored Protectorate hero was easy to spot in the night sky thanks to both the color of his armor and the giant blue holographic wings he used to fly. Lung was just as easy to spot considering the halo of fire he kept around himself. Although Skitter was stunned to notice he was now down an arm somehow.

  The cause of that was pretty obvious though.

  It probably shouldn't have been a surprise that Lucifer could summon more armor than just that gauntlet she had but Skitter couldn't help but be surprised at it anyway. Mostly because of how similar it looked to Paladin's armor, but even from a distance the knee-length crimson hair was a dead giveaway.

  Lucifer seemed to practically teleport towards Lung before grabbing his neck and hurling him somewhere over the horizon. She looked ready to follow after him, but Paladin moved first – grabbing her by the shoulder and seemingly trying to talk to her.

  The Red armored cape apparently wasn't in a listening mood though, because she grabbed him too and tossed him the same direction she threw Lung and vanished herself immediately after.

  Skitter jolted when Angelica whined and nudged her.

  "I'm alright." She whispered to the horse-sized monster dog. Right, no time to worry about that right now. She needed to make sure everyone was secure and then leave before more of the Protectorate showed up.

  -o-

  Emily Piggot POV

  "Say that again." The Director demanded.

  "Bakuda was successfully captured but she had a trump card besides the deadman switch." Armsmaster reported grimly. "A suspected EMP device with a blast radius at least the size of the city, potentially larger, that's armed and on a countdown."

  "Can it be moved? Disarmed?"

  "Not conventionally to the first, possibly to the second. There is a remote disarm function in Bakuda's notes but anything except the correct frequency will trigger the device immediately."

  So they had a bomb they couldn't disarm and that could be set off accidentally from getting too close to a radio.

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  "Then we can't risk it. Armsmaster, I'm ordering you to get that frequency out of her however you can."

  "...unfortunately that's impossible, Director. The tranquilizer I administered was originally designed for Lung. It takes twelve hours to wear off in a normal person. The detonation timer will go off in six."

  Piggot bit back the urge to curse. It wouldn't help them.

  "I need options. You said it couldn't be moved conventionally, how so?"

  "There's a motion trigger if the device moves from its current position too much. Teleporting it would work but the only Cape I can think of with the range needed is Strider. The other option is a controlled detonation. Paladin's breaker state could reduce the explosion fast enough that only the building the bomb is in would be affected at most."

  "Paladin isn't available. The last we heard from him, he was engaging Lung." Piggot said with gritted teeth.

  "...I see. Then I have another idea. I'll need Vista and Clockblocker at my location."

  "I'm almost afraid to ask…why do you need two Wards around a city destroying bomb?"

  "There is no organic material in the bomb's construction. Vista could compress the space enough that we can surround the device completely and have Clockblocker use his power on the cover. Even the shortest duration of his power is enough that a controlled detonation would dissipate to harmless background radiation before it expired."

  Piggot made a decision. "I'll have them directed to your location, but do not attempt anything unless I give the go ahead." She would at least reach out to Strider over emergency channels and hope that the Rouge would respond before she had to entrust the fate of the city and potentially the northeast coast to a teenager and a preteen.

  She ended the call only for another to immediately come in from one of her team leads.

  "Ma'am update about the Lung engagement. The fight's been forcibly moved to the Boat Graveyard by Lucifer. We lost direct visual on them between the wrecks, but we confirmed the Balance Breaker state Paladin reported on."

  That was just what they needed. The Gremory girl who already destroyed a small town fighting something the size of an Endbringer getting a powerup and fighting a Cape that had fought one-on-one with Leviathan for hours in hers. But if they were limiting the battle to the Boat Graveyard…

  "What's Lung's status and can Paladin and Lucifer keep him contained until the rest of the Protectorate can be rerouted?"

  "I doubt Lung's going far since last we saw he's missing an arm and half a wing, but I don't know about reinforcements, ma'am. Lucifer looks like she's willing to take a swing at Paladin every time he gets close."

  Of course she was, heaven forbid a Cape act reasonably – wait, what did he say?

  "Lung is missing an arm?"

  Considering the way the Gang leader fought and who it usually was against, it wasn't surprising to hear he had been given severe injuries but it was supremely rare to hear of him ever missing a limb, let alone by the time he had ramped up enough to the point he had grown wings.

  By that point Lung was usually considered durable enough to shrug off anything that wouldn't flatten a building if it missed and fast enough that he could dodge anything that could hurt him.

  Piggot didn't even bother wondering what could have caused the injury when it was obvious — a second lance of green light erupted from the direction of the Graveyard out over the ocean. This one angled low enough that Piggot could see the wake trail left behind even from the PRT Headquarters.

  "…m-ma'am, that blast just vaporized two thirds of the Evergreen…"

  Christ, two thirds of the sunk container ship that had placed a stranglehold on the city's shipping industry because it was too big to move just…gone…because of an overpowered teenager.

  "Pull back and be prepared to extract Paladin if needed. Support only." She barked and ended the call. Despite the new development, she still had a bomb to worry about. "Armsmaster, go ahead with your plan. If we're all still alive by the end of it I need you to head for the docks with all available Protectorate Capes that can get there in time, we have another situation…"

  -o-

  Paladin POV

  "I don't think this is normal, partner!" he shouted over the noise of Rias slamming Lung through another shipwreck and using the gang leader as an excavation tool to dig a trench down one of the banks.

  The Rias he knew was always super cool and practical, even when facing down Godzilla! But now she was just attacking wordlessly over and over again and had almost attacked him when he tried helping her out. And she would never normally do that.

  If this was an anime, this would be the episode where Rias got her Balance Breaker and the two of them teamed up to defeat the big bad of the arc. Unless…

  'You are actually correct,' Albion replied to Paladin's thought. 'The devil girl forced her Balance Breaker just like you did and it's infecting her mind with some of Ddraig's thoughts. Until she defeats her foe she will be stuck in that berserk state unable to think clearly.'

  "But why? I didn't have anything like that happen to me and Rias-tan is a lot stronger than I am!" Paladin didn't have any shame admitting he was weaker than his rival. It just gave him motivation to get stronger so she would notice him!

  'You were knocked out immediately when you managed that partial release. There simply wasn't enough time for you to be affected by the transformation, though it did make the subsequent attempt much easier for you.' Albion explained.

  'If you had remained conscious, you would likely have been in a worse state than she is now. Since, usually when one of our hosts forces a Balance Breaker with the other nearby they cannot focus on anyone or anything else.'

  "Shouldn't you have told me that could happen?!"

  'It's not normally a concern. Every other time our hosts achieve Balance Breaker they either do so far away from the other and can gain control like you did or they are already fighting and the mental effect changes little. The fact the devil girl is still focused on that lizard despite you being so close by is actually rather impressive.' Albion paused for a moment. 'Also, duck.'

  "Wha-" Paladin started to say before a small fishing boat smacked him out of the air.

  -o-

  Rias POV

  Hah! Nailed him!

  There was no time to enjoy White getting blindsided by a boat as my prey launched himself back at me.

  After the first few attempts he had abandoned his attempts to run and focused on trying to fight. He was still getting bigger and with that getting stronger and faster but…

  [Boost!Boost!Boost!Boost!Boost!]

  …he just couldn't keep up with me as I hammered him from every angle, my gauntlets shattering his scales, crushing his bones, and tearing flesh. Only for the damage to quickly regenerate as the lizard grew a little bigger.

  At this rate it would only be a matter of time before I could crush him under my boots if I wanted no matter how big he grew, but I was on a time limit. My Balance Breaker state wasn't exactly stable and I could feel my energy draining at an exponential rate the longer the fight went on already.

  All the lizard would have to do is last until I couldn't maintain my Scale Mail and then his regeneration would ensure he could run away to lick his wounds.

  Unacceptable. But at the same time I couldn't simply kill him.

  I needed to overload his regeneration in one go without just blasting a hole in him.

  I had an idea of what could do that.

  A magic circle bloomed in the sky as I continued to break the lizard with my fists. Fire poured over me hot enough to start melting our surroundings but I ignored it. The return blows, though, less so.

  Even if the lizard's growth rate was slower than mine, I could still feel the impacts of his own hits whenever he managed one. His missing arm made it easier to avoid than it normally would be, but he also wasn't willing to wait for it to be perfectly regenerated before he used it offensively again. A surprise right elbow caught me across the jaw and while my helmet kept it from really doing damage, it was pretty disorienting.

  Then the lizard made just the right mistake I needed to win.

  While I was reeling from the surprise hit, the lizard's head shot forward to bite me, his jaw splitting open four ways instead of the normal two. His teeth ground into my armor but failed to pierce through.

  Instead of smashing his head away or trying to escape, I reached down and grabbed him by two of his mandible-like jaws to keep him from escaping and flared all four of my wings. There was a flash of confusion in the lizard's eyes as he probably wondered what I was about to do but before he could react I gave one final flap of all my wings and spun my body like a corkscrew.

  There was a good bit of resistance but Lung's neck still snapped like a wet tree trunk. His body immediately went limp as his spine was severed. That wasn't the end of the fight though. I could already see his regeneration trying to kick in and fix the injury.

  Time to give his body something bigger than a broken neck to worry about.

  [Boost!Boost!Boost!Boost!Boost!Boost!Boost!Boost!Boost!Boost!] [Transfer!]

  "LIGHTNING'S JUDGEMENT!"

  A truly titanic bolt of lightning fell from my magic circle and crashed down on Lung's limp form.

  For what was probably only a few seconds but what felt like much longer the lizard's body was swallowed by the torrent of magical lightning until I felt the last of my Balance Breaker's energy begin to fade.

  That would have to be enough.

  The lightning cut off and I looked down on Lung's charred and shrinking body.

  I had to admit, I was more than a little relieved to see him still breathing after all of that, but it was over.

  I won.

  With that final thought, my Balance Breaker ended.

  [RESET]