"It might be hard seeing as it's a demon, demons have a special type of mana that usually blocks perception tricks, but i can try" Loy explained as his eyes started to glow purple.

"Shin, we should try and attack it, find a weakness that might expose itself to us" Roy said, coating his hand in mana.

'I knew I was already low on mana, but only this much? What a joke. The attack doesn't need to land, as long as we find an opening, brother should be able to work something out.  No more humans should be caught up in this mess, dead bodies everywhere. It's been the same since i arrived at this building, the smell of death, always lingering'.

"Alright, i'll come from above you take the left. If we get in the way of Loys mana sense we may interupt the process" Shin said giving the ready sign.

"Eighty-nine, I have something to ask".

Turning over to look I see that he has a worried face so i question him.

"I can see the demons mana circuits fine and clear but, there's no mana, not a trace of the stuff's in that demons body".

I tell him not to let up and keep track of the demons mana. 

'That's weird though, how can it warp the corridor if it's got no mana" I ask Loy.

"Warp the corridor? The corridor is huge, it shouldn't be able to warp a corridor that's this big, the difference in the mana to object ratio is too huge" Loy said with sweat pouring from his chin.

All of a sudden a clash had happened, our conversation which had felt like hours had in turn only been a few seconds. Shin had struck the demon, further damaging its already damage horn. Roy hit the demon with a strike to the gut, you could see a shockwave of mana rush out the back of the demon. Relentlessly the two unleashed a seemingly uncountable amount of strikes to the ribs and stomach of the demon dropping it to its knees. The surroundings started to shift ever so slightly.

"Loy, do you still have your perception trick going?" I ask Loy expecting a quick response.

"Yea I do but i can't keep this up much longer, it puts a lot of strain on my eyes and brain due to all the information that my eyes and brain are taking in as well as ignoring" Loy responds.

"I'm going to attack now, I have little mana but that should be alright. This time don't look at the circuits of just the demon but everything else. I want to confirm whether i'm right or not, it should only take a second or two".

'Frustratingly enough I really don't have any mana left, i'm feeling sick, this isn't good, the demon was never the problem to begin with, damn, losing feeling in my legs. One attack's all I need and Loy should realise what's going on'.

Charging onwards with the feeling in my legs fading away, I signal for Roy and Shin to coordinate an attack with me as I close in on the demon. 

Shin and Roy miraculously, stop the demon from slicing my neck open. As i begin the motion to punch the demon, the demon freezes in place for what i could swear was a second andthen dissapears, this asshole keeps appearing back in the same place every time.

"Loy did you find out what's happening, we're running low on time. We're going to die here, you need to do something otherwise we're all dead, not just me, but all of us!" I said falling to my knees as my conscience gradually starts to fade.

"Yea, I can't explain it well, but put simply, it's kind of reversing time, not exactly reversing time it kind of speeds up the process to where you all have been replenished of mana and takes it all from you, then warps space to put distance between you all, i'm guessing that it does this otherwise you'll interupt its process of extraction, our plan of attack should be to attack the corridor or else we're dead".

"Eighty-nine? Eighty-nine! Guys, something's wrong with Eighty, He's not waking up". Roy said with a pale face as if he too was going to fade out.

"It'll be alright, i'll get you all out of here. I'm sorry Loy, I always thought of myself as above you, like I was the king and you were a lowly peasant ready to be given bread and water, your innate ability was really useless too. An ability that allows you to see mana circuits, if only you could use it effectively in a battle, it's a waste of mana".

 

A chant was followed up by a roar of mana, we could only imagine what had happened after it was all over, we all lost something that day. For Loy, it was his partner, his teammate who had fought countless battles alongside him. For Roy, it was his pride and leadership that earned him two green stars and for me, Eighty-nine, a loss of a family member, my brother Shin, the treasure of our family had now passed onto the afterlife. Although great, we experienced great loss, we were awarded, for what. Why exactly were we awarded.

We let a unit member die, we were useless... I was useless. i couldn't do anything against a demon. An overwhelming force completely shut me down, my entire body was a ragdoll, i was stripped of my rights to use mana infront of that beast, it might as well have been god.

"To the incredible members of our unit force, we now award Roy. G. two. the rank of Brown Eight due to his heroic efforts in the fight against a code four demon. Next up we have Eigh, a soldier who was recruited a little over three months ago was said to have come up with the plan to stop the demon. Because of Eighs contribution to the fight and his leadership that perservered him and the rest of the unit that was on the scene to a hard fought victory, we at the HQ believe he is deserving of rank, Pink One. And lastly on our list we have a soldier who has already been acomplished in many battles we are awarding Loy. G. three. with the Rank of Brown Nine.

The crowd was clapping, this is ridiculous, if they knew what had actually happened they wouldn't be praising me but rather ridiculing me for my poor actions that, ultimatley led to the death af my brother. Parents will catch wind of this incident sooner or later, nothing i can do about it, the death of Shin'll put them over the edge, probably. I've just accepted it, the way they treat me, being born with an innate ability doesn't mean much when your brother is Shin. The innate ability to amplify your own mana, copy other innate abilities as well as crumble people's souls, he was just simply, a monster, the REAL demon, i'm thankful that, that being has met their demise.

 I start walking to HQ, this green scenery is amazing, you kinda forget that your brother, your fellow unit member just blew themselves up to save three other unit members, maybe i could use my innate ability for once, although brother was treasured by my family but all other units, it doesn't take away how amazing i think my own innate ability is.

"What you doing Eigh?" a womanly body said from beyond the trees.

"Who's there" I asked spooked out.

'Maybe I shouldn't use my ability while she's watch me'.

"I've just come to check how you're going. I just heard your brother died while in combat with a code four demon, it's amazing that any of you made it back from that. No it's honestly crazy that three of you made it back without taking serious injuries. Sure Roy lost an arm but that can be easily fixed with Sherras ability".

"Takemi, is that you?". I ask

"Oh, how'd you know, is it because of my beautiful adult figure that you guessed it was me?".

There was silence, the absence of noise was deathly.

"Don't ignore me you bastard!" the woman said.

"Well i'll be going now, i'm going to HQ, i have something important to tell them, if you don't mind i'll be on my way now, i'll give you attention later if that's what you want" replying to the young woman.

I hide my physical body with a coat of mana. I use the mana to create a fake structure that replicates the scenery behind me so it'll look like i've just dissapeared out of thin air as i use my ability to traverse my way to HQ.

'Eigh really is an idiot, just cause you've got an innate ability doesn't mean you should use it, I guess him using it once every few months isn't too bad, it'll be bad for him if he doesnt use it either, im worried about the stress he builds up in these difficult fights knowing that victory could be achieved using his ability. It really isn't easy for a member of the Drazich house, even when giffted with amazing strength it still can't be used under any circumstance'.

'Why did Takemi have to show up then.

The time here appears to have slowed down since the battle with the demon. No that wasn't a battle, it was a suicide mission and those HQ pets must've known that there was going to be casualties.

Now why is time slow here. Is it because i ran dry of mana during the fight? No it mustn't be since this an innate ability, most innate abilities don't run on mana and that goes for mine. Storms too, the once sunny sky has now turned into a mindless, raging, landscape. Hail and rain comes without surprise either. It's going to be tough to get to HQ if this storm keeps raging on, and why is the lightning red? That's unusual even for this place'.