New power

The time was past midnight, or approximately three to four hour since Rin lost consciousness. She was currently sitting in a stiff canopy, being glared at by five different persons, who were all criminal. A bead of sweat formed on her forehead as she didn't know what to do.

"No need to be so nervous~" Suddenly, someone hugged her from behind. It was Ursa, the only other girl in the place beside her. "How about you and I become friends, hm? What's your name?" She had a radiant smile on her face, but unfortunately, she reeked of alcohol.

"Heh? Ah, I'm Rin..." Rin was bewildered by the woman's approach and somehow answered her question unintentionally.

"Rin, what a wonderful, and short name," The older girl answered cheerfully. "I'm Ursa, and I'm so happy to meet you. Now, I won't be the only girl here anymore. Finally!"

At this point, Aiden took an empty can of beer and accurately threw it at Ursa's face, making her stumble and separate from Rin.

"Ouch!" Rubbing her forehead, the woman glared dagger at Aiden. "What is it?"

"Don't scare her like that. " He responded, advancing toward the girl. "First of all, how are you feeling now, Rin?"

Being asked that question, Rin began examining her body. "I..." She talked. "Except being lighter, I don't feel any different."

"Hmmm," Aiden mused for a second before speaking. "Well, I guess that's normal. We'll need to find something for you to test your power on."

"Waiiit!" Edward shouted, out of the blue. "I still didn't approve of this, you know!? I say we should just kill that girl right here!"

That sentence immediately earned the man four angry glare from all direction. One from Ursa, who apparently found a friend inside of Rin. One from Aiden, who was the one that brought her here in the first place. One from Stone, who visibly had a soft spot for kid. And finally, one from Rin herself, who, obviously didn't want to die.

"Ugh..." Edward was put to silence.

"...Ah!" Aiden expressed joyfully as if a light bulb had lit up above his head. "Let's do this, then."

◇

"You serious, Aiden?" Ed questioned, with somewhat of an expectant look. "You really want me to fight her?"

Along with Rin, all the member of unchained moved outside the run-down building with the intention of finding a spacious enough space for a mock battle. The area wasn't that crowded, or more like, completely devoid of people at this time of the night, so it didn't take long for them to find the ideal spot.

"Yes, I'm completely serious Ed," Aiden responded. "This will not only clear your doubt about her usefulness, but will also serve as a training for Rin to test her new power." He sounded proud of the idea he found. "Exactly two bird with one stone, wouldn't you say?"

Everyone already took their place, letting Rin and Edward facing each other.

"I'm fine with that, just" Ed said, happy with the response. "Don't go complaining to me when I break her."

"Yeah, yeah," Aiden shrugged off Ed's statement, placing himself between the two contestant. He was going to be the referee. "Well, guys," He looked at the man and the girl's face one last time. "Begin!" He shouted so while getting out of their range of fighting.

◇

Edward didn't waste his time, launching himself rapidly toward Rin the second he heard the signal. He was eager to show his superiority. After all, he, similarly to Rin, wasn't an Elite. He also received his strength through Aiden's upgrade. If he were to lose with the circumstance being like that, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

Meanwhile, Rin was awed by the situation. Ed's speed was something inhuman, he was moving so quickly no one would probably be able to react to it. But that's where lay the thing. She could see it. Oh so very clearly. She had room to spare, she could dodge it. Deciding to do so, she put power into her feet and sidestepped a little.

Or at least, that's what she intended to do. Instead of a 'little' she leaped literally a meter away from her previous position.

"...Wow." Was all she could mutter.

"The hell you're dodging my attack for!?" Ed, in the contrary, shouted. "I'm gonna kill you!"

Ed repeated his motion, this time with more strength, effectively catching Rin off guard. He punched her directly in the face, however, it didn't produce the effect he wanted. He thought Rin would be blown away by his fist, but, only her face turned around.

"It hurts" Rin said, her too surprised. "less than I thought."

Ed's eyes widened, by no means did he hold back on his attack. Yet, how could the girl in front of her resist it so nonchalantly. He was caught up in surprise, which gave Rin an opportunity to strike.

She put strength on her fist, and punched the man on his stomach with everything she's got. Ironically, her attack did blow Ed away.

"You!" Ed rubbed the point of impact with his hand while glaring dagger at Rin. "You b*tch!"

Rin, however, ignored him as she was fascinated by the change that occurred on herself.

"Power, endurance, speed." She looked at her hand, a smile appearing on her face. "I like this."

◇

"Well, didn't I say she was strong?" Aiden commented, watching the fight.

The three other member of unchained didn't say anything and just watched silently. That's how it seemed, at least. In reality, Stone was the only one that looked at it seriously. The other two didn't seem to care all that much about what was happening. Especially Flame, although his eyes were open, it had a void look on it. He was probably imagining something else at the moment. As for Ursa, well, let's just say being drunk doesn't help concentration.

"Come on, guys!" Aiden exclaimed, face palming. "Take this more seriously!"

Sometimes, he couldn't help but think that his group didn't resemble at all to criminal.

"Okay, I got it." He said, seeing his comrade not responding. "Here's an information that should pick your attention." He continued, still getting no answer. "That girl's full name is actually..." Aiden trailed off, trying to build suspense, which was pointless as no one was interested in the first place. "...Rin Kagane!"

At the mention of that name, however, he obtained the result he wanted. Stone stopped watching the fight and turned to Aiden with a serious face. Flame instantly got out of his daze and similarly looked at his leader. Ursa miraculously sobered up and immediately shouted,

"Kagane? As in that 'Kagane'?!"

Faced with these reaction, Aiden finally smiled. "Exactly!" He stated with a smug face. "See? You guys ought to take this more seriously."

◇

Rin and Edward's mock battle was still ongoing. Ed became more serious about their fight after their first clash of movement, and didn't leave anytime for Rin to breath. He launched blow after blow without leaving any opening.

However, even though he had the advantage, his frown only deepened further. At the rate it was going, he was sure he was going to win. No doubt about that. But, what bugged him was his enemy. According to Aiden's word, this should be the first time she was fighting while having the upgrade.

'This shouldn't be so difficult.' Ed thought.

Ed remembered the first time he received the boost. At that time, his overall physical ability evolved and took a step into the inhuman realm. He had felt so powerful. Nevertheless, there was still one big drawback that he had needed to overcome.

Having his capacity increased by multitude, he had lost his sense of balance. Or in other word, he couldn't control his power. Simply jumping would propel him higher than he could ever imagine. Opening a door would result in it breaking. He needed days and weeks to finally be able to drink from a cup of tea without destroying it. Let alone fight, he even had difficulty to take a proper stance.

And yet! The foe in front of him managed to overcome these drawbacks just after waking up.

'Nonsense!'

Edward grew angrier by the minute. His chain of attack still not stopping. In fact, they seemed to have become stronger. To his surprise, though, his blow connected less and less.

'—!!' Remarking something, Edward' s mind was thrown into disarray. 'What the fuck is this!!?'

He couldn't believe it. He was steadily losing his ground. Rin slowly, but surely began to take the upper hand.

"Don't get carried away, you f*cker!!!" He shouted, preparing to launch his strongest attack yet.

However, he was cut short by Aiden's voice. "We'll stop it here for today."

The leader marched toward them with the three other spectator behind him.

"I believe that should have been enough to convince you. Right, Ed?" Aiden said with a knowing smile.

Edward put down his stance, gritting his teeth in dissatisfaction. "I don't like that girl!" He shouted and looked at Rin. There, he was surprised to see a smile plastered on her face.

'This damn girl!' He cursed inside his mind, as he now remarked that she smiled like that the entire fight.

◇

Rin silently followed back the group to the run down building. For some reason, her nervousness around them disappeared after the fight. Surely, it was because she had experienced her new ability. In all her life she had never felt so powerful.

Although her movement were more difficult to control, she had so much more possibility than she ever had before. With these power, she didn't feel like losing to any monster anymore.

Rin had grown confident. Though, that is not to say that she was overconfident. She was aware that she certainly has a limit somewhere and that obtaining these abilities didn't make her the strongest. She must still thread carefully. Especially now that she has entered a part of the underworld.

"Now that everyone is convinced, let us hold a formal introduction for our new member." Having reached their (filthy) home base, Aiden started to say cheerfully. He placed Rin in front of the four other member, and one by one she presented them to her.

Rin already had plenty of information on 'unchained', however, so she didn't really see the point of what Aiden was doing.

"And finally, I present to you all, Rin Kagane!" He ended the introduction by saying her name loudly. "Nevertheless, due to various reason, it is necessary for us to call her 'Princess' instead during mission."

"What?" Rin choked hearing Aiden's statement. "Why do I need to be called like that?"

"To ensure your identity will be kept secret, of course." The man answered, his grin never leaving his face. "By the way, I also need you to wear this for that same objective." He handed to Rin a faceless mask he took from who know where.

Rin took it, still not letting go of the earlier topic. "Can't you change that name, at least?" She asked, having no desire to be called princess out of nowhere.

Aiden simply laughed at her. "Nope. There's no way I'm ever changing it, Princess."

A vein popped up on the girl's forehead. If one were to wonder, this was probably the moment when Rin didn't consider Aiden as a dangerous criminal anymore, but just as a stupid piece of crap.

◇

The time was now 3 o'clock in the morning, so it was still dark. Rin walked slowly on the quiet road, on her way to her house. She had said to Aiden that she would rather die than stay in that stinky, abandoned building any longer. Honestly, she was even surprised that any human was able to sleep in there.

"I guess criminal has it tough too, huh." She muttered to no one in particular.

Many things happened to her just on this day alone. Her best friend departed to the world's most renown Island. She, herself, had obtained power beyond human comprehension. And most importantly, she had joined a criminal organization. The only real good thing that occurred to her was that she was discharged from the hospital.

It couldn't be said to be a good day for Rin, yet it couldn't be said to be a bad day either.

One thing is for sure, though, and that is,

[ "One more thing, Rin." Aiden said, momentarily stopping the girl from leaving. "How did you find your 'upgrade'?" ]

From today onward,

[ "It was..." Rin smiled brightly, turning her head to her new leader.  "...Amazing." ]

Rin's life has  changed.