This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

SHADE

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"This isn't good..."

Shade panted as he drew his [Rozen] back to him, his power glowing faintly as his rose turned whip dripped with the blood of their enemies. With his suit tattered and his face smeared with blood from both himself and his enemies, the situation brewing around them was clearly going from bad to worse. Sure, he was doing rather decently than what he honestly expected from himself, but that wasn't going to change a thing if their enemies just kept on coming.

"Shen!"

"K... [Keep Working]..."

Like clockwork, Shen whacked him from behind, her wrench painfully hitting his back despite it being her usual healing [Move]. Their mechanic's power washed over him once more, allowing him to push his body just a little bit further.

"Thanks, Shen," he breathed out, his tone taking on a weary tone as he brandished his weapon at the ready.

"I... No problem," she weakly chuckled, her pride still shining through despite her tired state. "I'll leave ya to it... I have ta get ta Maruki..."

Just as quickly as she appeared, Shade felt Shen's disappearing presence behind him as he kept his attention on more pressing matters. Even after that second explosion of black and green happened from a ways away, these Marqueans just kept on coming at them with everything they had. They weren't that skilled in combat, thankfully, but it was only a matter of time before someone that actually knew what they were doing finally arrived.

"[Charm]... [Inconspicous]..."

With each [Move] he did, the more his stamina suffered. He ducked and weaved through throngs of these amateur Somatics, sure, but his overall damage just wasn't enough for him to cut through dozens of enemies at a time. He just wasn't built for combat unlike the Princess or even Moriya. Instead, he did what he did best even at the cost of his own energy.

"[Turn]!"

With a flail, his thorned whip glowed red as a wave of rose petals fluttered outward from his location. All around him, the Marqueans turned to face him, their eyes glowing under the influence of his power.

"Go and fight against one another!" he declared, his [Rozen] still up in the air as he strained his voice. "Leave us foreigners alone!"

With a snap of his fingers, another wave of petals washed over him. In that instant, any and all Marqueans around him began fighting amongst themselves, their weapons clashing without purpose as they followed Shade's orders.

"That's one mob down for now," he breathed out, exhaustion starting to overtake him once more. "Have to help Maruki thin out the herd."

Calling his [Rozen] back, Shade shook his head clear of any thoughts before making his way over to where his friend was currently taking everything their enemies threw at him without complaint. Behind him, Shen constantly healed the man, her wrench thwacking and thudding against his armor like there was no tomorrow.

"[Fix]... [Fix]... [Fix]...."

"[TAUNT!] [RAMPART!]"

Brandishing his [Rozen] once more, Shade ignored his friend's efforts in keeping themselves alive as he went to work.

"[Inconspicuous]...."

Rose petals engulfed the Vestygian once more, shielding him from any and all outward attention as he did his best to locate the center of the mob despite the flurry of attacks flying overhead.

"Hah! I can take any and all of the punishment you can give!"

Hearing Maruki taunt the Marqueans, Shade couldn't help but scoff as he positioned himself, his [Rozen] drawn and ready as he let his [Move] dissipate. Normally, he would've been dead by now just by being caught right in the middle of enemy territory. But with Maruki taking all the heat off him by using his [Move], he was free to do what needed to be done and give themselves a brief reprieve from the fighting.

"[Turn]!"

Same as last time, a wave of rose petals erupted from his [Manifest], washing over each and every person present in his range as they all stopped to look at him for a single order.

"Fight amongst yourselves!" Shade called out, his eyes quickly scanning the crowd for anybody that might've dodged his [Move]. "Ignore any foreigner you see!"

A beat passed before the crowd around him followed, their eyes turning amongst themselves as they all began fighting each other. Using [Inconspicuous] on himself once more, Shade slipped out of the roaring crowd and back to the safety of his friends, both of which were obviously exhausted and were threatening to keel over.

"That'll keep them busy for a minute or so," Shade told the two of them, his rose still in its whip form as he pulled Maruki up from the ground. "You okay?"

"Never felt better!" the tank laughed aloud despite the obvious glaring wounds peeking through his armor. "Shen had kept my body in peak condition throughout the exchange, and she was invaluable in helping me uphold my duty!"

"Good," Shade nodded. "That means we can try and make our way to that explosion."

"Dat's.... where they are, right?"

Turning to Shen, Shade grimaced as the mechanic fell to the ground. "Shen?!"

Moving quickly, Shade knelt to help the mechanic back up, the girl breathing heavily as she used her wrench as some sort of support for herself.

"I'm... fine..." she gasped out, each breath labored as she held onto his arm. "Still hafta heal ya two..."

"Shen, if you can't handle it anymore, you should tell us," Shade frowned, his eyes darting back and forth between her and the crowd of enemies still fighting amongst themselves around them. "We'll punch through them and try to get you to safety."

"That is correct!" Maruki shouted out loud. "We can force the issue on these heathens if the need arises! We are only standing our ground now to make it easier for the Princess to locate us!"

Shade nodded. Well, that was the plan, at least. They initially thought that they could pierce through their encirclement and try to make a break for it despite the Head Intellect being present, but it was also due to the fact that they were so utterly hemmed in and unable to make progress. Despite their enemies' clearly inferior combat prowess, the Head Intellect commanded her men with such wit and foresight that they just couldn't get through to them. Instead, they were forced to play even more defensively than they had planned, relegating them to simply surviving the onslaught as opposed of escaping it.

"Well clearly, that's changed," Shade pointed out. "We have a clear view of where they could be. With the last explosion that happened, I'm sure that they're well on their way."

"G-Good... I wanna... I wanna whack... Shizu for leaving me..." Shen weakly grumbled, her sense of humor still working despite her exhaustion. "Damn... princess..."

Maruki visibly winced beside him as Shade moved to carry Shen up on his back. He didn't take no for an answer as he hoisted her up, ignoring the girl's weak protests as he felt her squirm on her back.

"H-Hey, put me down!"

"As if you can even use your legs to walk on your own right now," Shade scoffed. He then turned to Maruki. "Take the front. I'll do my best to keep us hidden."

"Of course!" the tank exclaimed.

"As for you, Shen, have a bit of rest," Shade chuckled. "You need it."

"N-No, I don't..." she weakly grumbled.

Shaking his head, Shade chuckled before he willed his [Rozen] to life in his front pocket. With a thought, his power glowed as he began the preparations for casting another round of [Inconspicuous] around them.

"Maruki, stick close."

Seeing the tank draw close, Shade then promptly cast the stealth [Move], shielding them from most forms of sight and attention before they carefully began their escape away from all the infighting around them. Still, he knew that this state of things wouldn't last for very long now, especially since he used the [Move] on so many people that its effectiveness would've surely taken a hit.

"We have to hurry," he urged his friend. "My grip on these people's starting to wane."

Sure enough, slowly but surely, some of their enemies began coming out of their charmed state, some of them looking at each other in confusion as they now sported wounds all coming from fighting their own allies.

"W-What in the-"

"Where are they!?"

Shade and his company quickly kept their mouths shut as they all wormed their way out of the increasingly incensed mob. More and more of them were finally starting to get a grip on themselves, all of them righteously angry after their brief confusion quickly passed.

"Find them!"

"They haven't gone that far!"

"The Head Intellect will have our heads if we couldn't arrest them like this!"

Taking a deep breath, Shade concentrated on keeping his [Move] up, placing a hand on Maruki's shoulder as a way of keeping himself on track as he relied on his friend to lead the way.

"We'll get out of this..." he mumbled to himself, Shen obviously hearing him with the way she shuffled on his back. "Just have to hold on."

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