Mocha very quickly discovered that exchanging blows with the lightning swordsman bordered on a fool's errand. Every clash felt less like crossing blades with another awakened and more like trying to halt a speeding freight train using nothing but a piece of sharpened glass.
Their swords met amid showers of emerald pixels and crackling blue-white arcs, only for the overwhelming force behind his strikes to send vibrations racing through her arms until her fingers nearly lost their grip.
The Sleepless operative fought with ruthless efficiency, his movements carrying none of the wasted flourishes that inexperienced swordsmen often relied upon. One of his Runes clearly granted him tremendous physical enhancement in addition to the crackling electricity coating every swing, allowing him to overpower her despite the versatility of her Pixel Rune.
She managed to avoid serious injury through quick reactions and clever maneuvering, repeatedly sprouting Pixel Wings to alter her trajectory at impossible angles, but every exchange left her slightly more convinced that if she continued insisting on this matchup, she would eventually lose.
She ducked beneath another sweeping slash that carved a brilliant crescent of lightning through empty air before kicking backward with both feet, Pixel Wings erupting from her back as she shot across the battlefield. She landed several dozen meters away atop a jagged crimson boulder, immediately cupping her hands around her mouth.
"Psy!"
The Menagerian barely had time to glance over. He was currently surfing through the air atop one of his flying javelins while bombarding the Spirit-channeling Sleepless operative with an endless barrage of oversized spears.
"Huh?"
"Switch!"
Psy blinked.
"...What?"
Mocha was already racing toward him. Within seconds she landed beside his airborne javelin, matching his speed with practiced ease.
"I can't beat that guy."
She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder toward the advancing lightning swordsman.
"So, you go for it."
Psy stared at her and his expression slowly transformed into one of profound disbelief.
"...What the hell, Mocha?"
She smiled sheepishly.
"I believe in you."
He groaned loud enough for half the battlefield to hear. He rubbed the bridge of his nose despite flying hundreds of meters through the air.
"Ugh... Fine. Damn it."
Without another complaint he shifted directions, Aura flooding through the javelin beneath his feet. The weapon accelerated sharply before rapidly enlarging until it resembled an enormous siege lance several stories long. Psy crouched atop it like a surfer riding an impossible metallic wave before launching himself directly toward the lightning swordsman.
The Sleepless operative barely had time to register the incoming attack before Psy brought the colossal spear crashing downward.
The impact shook the air itself.
Meanwhile, Mocha happily abandoned that entire problem. She turned toward the spirit-channeling Sleepless operative, who had likewise paused after witnessing the bizarre exchange.
She pointed dramatically toward him.
"You like animals, do ya?"
The masked man narrowed his eyes and Mocha spread both arms theatrically.
"Well, allow me to introduce you, to the king of the jungle!"
The Sleepless operative immediately became wary.
He had already witnessed numerous examples of her Pixel Rune creating bizarre constructs with surprisingly dangerous applications. If she specifically mentioned the king of the jungle...
He instinctively prepared himself for Mocha to create a lion. Obviously that was what she was referring to. Perhaps some enormous Pixel Lion that was going to attack him?
Though...
Technically lions lived on the savannah and tigers ruled jungles. Perhaps what she would create was instead a tiger? But that wasn't really the point.
The point was...
He expected a large predatory pixelated cat.
Instead...
Reality betrayed him.
Green-black Pixels erupted around Mocha in a swirling cyclone before assembling into something so utterly different from what he'd anticipated that his mind simply failed to process it for a full second.
A dragon.
Its body rivaled the size of a large truck, emerald-black scales formed from countless shimmering pixels reflecting the crimson light surrounding them. Gigantic wings unfolded with a thunderous snap before a serpentine tail lashed through the air behind it. Horns curved elegantly backward from its head while glowing emerald eyes locked immediately onto the stunned Sleepless operative.
Mocha stood proudly on the dragon's head and folded her arms with a raised her chin, declaring with all the confidence of royalty addressing loyal subjects,
"Bow before the Dragon Queen!"
The Sleepless operative simply stared, then he shouted. He actually sounded offended.
"...You damned liar! Where's the lion?!"
Mocha either didn't hear him or deliberately chose not to. Instead, she leaned forwards and the dragon opened its enormous jaws.
Green Pixel Fire erupted outward.
Unlike ordinary flames, the inferno resembled an avalanche of glowing emerald squares flowing together into one devastating torrent. Wherever it passed, reality itself seemed briefly rendered in blocky geometric fragments.
The Sleepless operative cursed violently before throwing himself aside. Simultaneously runic energy erupted around him as another spirit materialized.
This time it was a magnificent bird. Its translucent crimson plumage resembled dancing flames while an elegant crest crowned its head.
A phoenix.
Its spectral wings beat once and the resulting gust launched both spirit and awakened high into the air, carrying them above the sweeping torrent of Pixel Fire mere moments before it engulfed his previous position.
Mocha pouted.
"Aww, you dodged."
The Sleepless operative responded immediately. The phoenix wrapped itself tighter around his body before crimson flames burst outward and a blazing river of fire roared toward Mocha.
The dragon simply folded its wings around her and the flames crashed directly into its chest. Fire washed across emerald Pixel scales, blackening portions of the construct until sections appeared charred and cracked.
Yet, when the flames subsided, though the dragon remained damaged, it seemed entirely unaffected by the attack. Entirely functional.
Mocha patted its head affectionately.
"Good dragon."
The creature rumbled proudly. Then, a chorus of screeches echoed overhead. Every awakened present instinctively looked upward.
Mocha's smile disappeared.
"...Not again."
Dark shapes circled against the eternal black sky.
Nevermores. Their enormous wings blotted out significant portions of the black light as they descended.
Yet they weren't alone. Among them flew creatures Mocha recognized only from archives and intelligence briefings.
Manticores.
She believed that they were native to the dream realm of Atlas, but she wasn't entirely sure. She had forgotten some of the types of grimm and where exactly in which region of the Dream Realm that they could be found.
Their leonine bodies rippled with muscle while massive bat-like wings propelled them effortlessly through the air. Long scorpion tails curved ominously behind them, each venomous stinger glistening beneath crimson illumination.
Mocha had never actually seen one before, only studied them. She'd rather have kept it that way.
The aerial Grimm descended almost immediately and chaos returned. The group found themselves forced to split attention between their Sleepless opponents and an ever-growing swarm of Grimm diving from every direction.
Predictably...
The Grimm ignored the masked operatives entirely and Nevermores flew past them without hostility.
Manticores landed beside them and even the lesser Grimm instinctively avoided interfering with Sleepless.
Instead...
They coordinated naturally. Whether commanded directly or simply accepting the masked figures as allies no longer mattered.
The result remained identical.
Mocha's group now fought an entire army. Once again Charr roared for everyone to regroup. Mechanism surged and a new fortress followed.
Metal and Pixel fused together yet again into their increasingly ridiculous hybrid creation.
The mobile fortress lurched into existence, looking somehow even more like an enormous futuristic sailing ship mounted atop colossal wheels than before. Harpoon launchers fired continuously while Pixel Cannons provided suppressive fire, allowing them to carve desperately through the encroaching Grimm tide.
For a while, it worked as the fortress once again smashed Beowolves aside, ran over Creeps and knocked Lesser Ursa tumbling through the crimson dust.
Psy transformed oversized javelins into devastating siege weapons while Picto reinforced weak points with barriers whenever Grimm threatened to breach the hull.
However, every second they kept fighting, more Aura disappeared. Mocha could feel it and the others clearly felt it too.
Eventually Charr's expression darkened.
"...We're almost dry."
Nobody argued. The fortress itself began flickering and sections disappeared before reforming. The wheels slowed and each of the mechanism constructs dissolved one after another.
Mocha finally shook her head.
"We can't keep it up."
Charr swore.
"Abandon it!"
The moving fortress collapsed behind them as each awakened leapt clear moments before the remaining structure disintegrated into loose runic energy.
Now, they simply ran. Nothing fancy or a magnificent fortress. They couldn't even demonstrate any elaborate teamwork.
Just four exhausted awakened sprinting across the crimson moon while every surviving Grimm chased them.
Land Grimm bounded after them and flying grimm circled overhead. Behind the monsters, the three remaining Sleepless operatives steadily gained ground.
Everyone's Aura reserves hovered dangerously close to empty. Mocha knew exactly what that meant.
One mistake and one clean hit meant that they couldn't use their runes to defend. Someone would die.
Perhaps all of them. Even she began preparing herself for the possibility.
Then...
Wind.
A single gust swept across the battlefield.
Not violent, but simply fast. Too fast to even register the black blur that passed through the wind. The air itself seemed to split apart and the first Nevermore exploded into black ash.
Then another, then an Ursa, then three Beowolves. Something blurred between them so quickly Mocha couldn't even distinguish its outline.
Everywhere the blur traveled, hordes of grimm died. Entire packs simply ceased existing before collapsing into dissolving corpses.
The Sleepless operatives noticed immediately and for the first time since the whole debacle had occurred, they looked frightened.
Each attempted to defend themselves but it was too little too late. The blur of movement reached the first person, and a single flash occurred.
The Sleepless member's body separated vertically from shoulder to hip. The second died before his halves even struck the ground and the third attempted to leap backward but a second later, he too split cleanly down the middle.
None of them even managed to complete a defensive technique. The speed exceeded their ability to perceive.
Silence gradually settled across the battlefield.
Thirty seconds.
That was all.
Thirty seconds transformed overwhelming defeat into impossible victory. Mocha, Charr, Psy and Picto simply stood there breathing heavily while staring at the now-empty landscape.
Every Grimm was gone and all three Sleepless operatives.
Dead.
Nothing remained moving except drifting ash and blood. Mocha's eyes widened, then, joy erupted across her face.
The others noticed her expression.
Before anyone could ask, the blur returned and headed straight toward them. Instinctively everyone except for Mocha raised their weapons, but it was completely useless. The blur passed directly through their formation faster than thought itself.
Then...
Mocha vanished.
"...What?!"
Charr spun around. Psy nearly dropped one of his javelins and even Picto blinked repeatedly. Several dozen meters away...
The blur finally stopped.
A brown haired young man hovered effortlessly in open air, his body lying almost horizontally as though gravity represented little more than an optional suggestion. Handsome features remained perfectly relaxed despite having just exterminated an entire battlefield. His clothes fluttered gently in the lingering wind while one arm securely supported Mocha in a perfect princess carry.
She looked up at him and relief flooded every feature. Without hesitation he leaned downward and their lips met in an intense clash of emotion.
It was neither a hurried kiss nor was it merely reassurance—but a deep, lingering kiss between two people who had genuinely feared they might never see one another again.
Mocha melted almost instantly.
Her arms wrapped themselves around his neck as though refusing to ever let go again, every ounce of tension she'd accumulated since arriving upon the crimson moon simply dissolving into that single embrace.
The three remaining awakened watched the scene in stunned silence.
Finally...
Charr slowly lowered his weapon.
He stared at the man hovering effortlessly in the air while carrying another awakened as though both weighed absolutely nothing.
Then he quietly muttered the only conclusion that made any sense.
"...Oh shit..."
His eyes remained fixed upon the newcomer.
"...It's a Rank Two."