Cross Conviction

"Alright, guys," Gustavo quietly spoke to the frogs in his palm, "remember not to panic. Freeze up if they get too close and, if you have to jump, jump as far as you can."

The three smooth, bright orange amphibians began to bob their heads in understanding rapidly as the wet black pearls of their eyes remained unblinking. Though uneasy at the notion of risking his minute companions' safety, Gustavo nevertheless placed his confidence in the tiny animals. With a final nod, he held his open hand above the ground and allowed the frogs to hop off. Immediately, the diminutive vibrations caught the attention of the mud men, whose heads all snapped toward the group.

"T-they're looking directly at us..." Magnolia stuttered nervously.

His brow furrowed with resolve, Gustavo replied, "Let them scramble."

With surprising speed, the frogs broke away from each other and rushed across the room and into the open. Agitated by the patter of twelve tiny feet across the hard tile floor, the bud creatures immediately flew into a frantic rage. They lunged in all directions, howling as they swiped at the air. Occasionally, a few would stop to stamp on the ground near a frog. When that happened, the frog would leap as far as it could, throwing the mud creatures into a rampage once more.

As his plan came to fruition before his eyes, Gustavo closed his eyes in satisfaction. "Idiotic things..." he said under his breath as he ran his right middle and index fingers along the visor of his cap.

"Ha!" Max exclaimed as he replaced his previously jettisoned claw, "It's actually working!"

"Okay, everyone!" Gustavo hollered, "Take them down!"

Altogether, Max, Emmy, Eduard, and Gustavo dove into action. Easily the fastest of the group, Max stomped by one of the small frogs and made first contact. Vaulting into the air, he spun around and cleaved the head clean off one of the mud creatures, just as before. Another to his right panicked and lashed out, but Max handily avoided the retaliation and cross-raked his claws through its chest in an "X" before quickly following up with a powerful kick. With its internal supports compromised by the serrated teeth of Max's claws, the powerful blow was enough to break the creature in half.

Though a third mud man initially moved toward the boy with intent, it became distracted when the frog near its foot moved once more. Mud dripping from its gaping mouth, the creature loomed over the tiny animal. However, before it could take action, Max's foot collided with its upper back from above, crushing its full form against the ground and shattering its wooden spine.

Standing in a pile of bubbling mud, Max raised a claw to the air in triumph. "Ha ha! How's that, ya scumbags?"

Across the room, Emmy was occupied with battling two creatures at once. She narrowly ducked under one attempted strike and dashed past the beast responsible. Then, sliding around behind the second mud man, she gripped its spongey arm with both hands. As soon as her fingers made contact with the lanky appendage, its silty skin began to harden. Within seconds the arm was entirely petrified and glazed in frost. Mustering every ounce of strength in her small body, Emmy snapped the frozen limb away from its shoulder. Continuing one fluid motion, she spun around and slammed the hard makeshift club into the first monster's neck, sending its head splattering halfway up the foyer staircase.

As the decapitated body dropped to its knees, Emmy turned her focus back to the other, now one-armed, creature. Without hesitation, she rushed forward and plunged both hands into its mire-like chest. The monster howled in response, wrapped its lanky arm tightly around her, and began to squeeze. However, before it could do any harm, the beast swiftly froze over. Its cries were reduced to a quiet hiss as the sludge comprising its body was racked by ice crystals. Finally, all at once, the creature shattered around Emmy and fell at her feet as a mound of icy shards.

Looking upon his allies' swift victories, Eduard slowly removed his thick lambskin gloves and tucked them into his breast pocket. Just as one of the creatures began to close in on one of Gustavo's frogs, Eduard stomped his foot to capture the beast's attention. As expected, it quickly picked up on the heavier vibration of the boy's foot and charged toward him with arms outstretched. However, before it could make contact, Eduard slid between its legs and hopped to his feet behind it. The creature had no chance to react before the knight candidate struck it in the back with his left hand several times. 

While Eduard's attack had done little damage, the monster was soon lifted off the ground, as if under the influence of an unseen force. It continued to rise higher into the air, its arms and legs flailing frantically until it was just shy of the ten-meter-high foyer ceiling. 

"Unbelievable!" cried Magnolia, "How did he do that?!"

Having concluded that the creature had reached a satisfactory height, Eduard snapped the fingers of his left hand. Whatever influence had levitated the creature was instantly removed, causing it to crash back to the floor. Though mangled by the impact, the monster thrashed viciously in an attempt to right itself. 

Eduard pounded his left hand against his chest twice before weightlessly leaping five meters into the air. At the peak of his trajectory, he hammered his boot with his closed right fist before snapping his left fingers once more. This caused Eduard to drop from the air at a high velocity, crushing the injured mud man's wooden upper spine beneath his weighted foot and splashing sludge in all directions. Now kneeling, in a puddle of splinters and silt, Eduard snapped the fingers of his right hand before rising back to his feet.

Magnolia watched on, taken back by what had unfolded before her. "I don't understand... Why did that thing fly into the air?"

"That's Eduard's aberrance," explained Dominic, "His left hand decreases the force of gravity on anything that it makes contact with, while his right hand increases it."

The girl's eyes widened in amazement. "Why would such a powerful aberrance be relegated to the Recovery Team? It's wasted potential."

Dominic shrugged. "Well... maybe you see it that way, but it's useful for transporting heavy objects during our clean-ups."

By this point, Max had easily dispatched another two mud creatures and set his sights on a sixth, facing the main entrance door. The boy ran at the monster and catapulted himself into its lower back, causing it to splatter against the door. Despite the immense damage suffered by the mud man, Max had not managed to break any of its internal support structures. As such, it remained active, though stuck to the door in a semi-amorphous state.

"Tough one, are ya?" Max growled before detaching his claws and allowing them to fall to his sides. 

He then reinforced his knuckles with thick, calcified plates and began to wildly pound on the creature's smeared body, searching for its wooden skeleton. Unfortunately, Max only succeeded in further plastering the creature across the intricately carved front entrance. Growing increasingly frustrated with this particular mud man's resilience, Max was ignorant of another monster's approach from behind.

Seeing this, Magnolia cried out in distress, "Max, you imbecile! Turn around!"

Despite his teammate's warnings, Max remained oblivious. Magnolia's voice was drowned out by Max's aggressive ramblings and the repeated thud of his fist against the door.

"Damn it..." Magnolia growled through clenched teeth, quickly checking the room to see the state of the other combatants.

Finding Gustavo, Emmy, and Eduard each preoccupied with their respective mud creatures, Magnolia swallowed her reservations and jumped into action. Alerted by her rapid, heavy footsteps, the monster spun around to face her and began to wail. Magnolia, however unsure of her chances, charged forth unabated.

What the hell am I doing? she thought to herself as she entered the creature's attack range, I have no idea if this will even work...

Having thrown caution to the wind, Magnolia stomped the thick block heel of her boot into the monster's spongey foot and gripped its right knee with both hands in a desperate attempt to hold it in place. Then, just as she had done to Max in their sparring match, she vibrated her hands at extreme speed. The creature screeched in response but was not hampered in any obvious way. Gurgling menacingly, it raised its two long limbs into the air, ready to slam them downward on the girl.

Her wide, emerald eyes filled with terror, Magnolia looked up to see the creature preparing to strike. Unlike her allies, she lacked the superhuman speed necessary to outmaneuver opponents at such close range.

Unable to defend against the impending attack, the girl cried, "Wait!"

Then, just before the beast could crush Magnolia beneath its lengthy arms, it was suddenly torn in two at the waist from behind. As the beast let out one final gargling groan, the top half of its body sloughed off to the side, revealing Max beyond its lower half. Luckily, he had dispatched his adversary and noticed Magnolia's predicament just in time.

"Hey, that was close, huh?" he chuckled.

Stunned, Magnolia stared with her mouth slightly ajar before forcing a nod.

"Seriously though," he continued, "Leave this one to me, alright? This'll be way easier if I don't have to worry about saving you!"

His comments caused Magnolia's face to flush red with anger, but she was too drained after her close call to argue. Instead, the girl sat down on the floor and shook her head in frustration.

From the start of the battle, Gustavo found himself locked in a continuous duel with the same mud man. Through his fair hand-to-hand combat skill, he had gained the advantage against his enemy several times. Without his gun, however, he was unable to dispatch the creature.

When the monster became distracted by one of Gustavo's frogs, the boy launched himself toward it. With the full force of his weight, he knocked the creature toward a decorative wooden bench. The mud man then stumbled and tripped over the obstacle before falling to the ground. Having eliminated his own target, Eduard jumped from the staircase and crushed the monster under his weighted foot, just as he had before.

"Thanks..." said Gustavo as he removed his ski cap and wiped the sweat from his brow.

Max hurried over beside the two boys and scanned the room excitedly. "Was that the last of them? I definitely got the most, right?"

Suddenly, the frozen body of another mud man dropped from above and shattered in the middle of the foyer. Surprised, Max looked up to see Emmy leaning over the open second-story railing. 

"No, but that was," she said with a slight smile before hopping over the wooden barrier, back down to the first floor.

Annoyed, Max huffed, "Yeah, well, I still got the most."

Emmy glanced down and began to rub the backs of her hands with a wince. Curious, Max leaned toward her and found the skin on her hands to be bright red, as if it had been burned.

"Woah, what the hell, Gustavo?" Max complained, "I thought you said those guys were just regular mud?"

Gustavo tilted his head in confusion at the challenge. "They are."

"Well Emmy touched them and now her hands are burned, man. What's up with that?"

The girl perked up in response to Max's words. "O-oh", she stuttered awkwardly, "No Max, it's not like that."

Max raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "What happened then? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said with a soft smile, "It's just that... when I freeze something, I do it by removing its heat. All of that heat has to go somewhere, though..."

"Oh wow..." Max replied in a somber tone, "I'm really sorry, that definitely sucks."

"Don't worry about it," said Emmy reassuringly, "I'm used to it. And besides, I heal just as quickly as most any other exceptional."

As she rejoined the group, Magnolia's eyes narrowed in aggravation. Emmy's words were true. Most exceptionals healed much faster than the average human, just as most exceptionals benefited from superhuman speed. Magnolia, however, was unlike most exceptionals.

Having heard enough, she coyly interrupted the conversation, in a way that wouldn't draw attention to her feelings of inadequacy. "Well then Max," she cooed fraudulently, "How many of the monsters did you defeat?"

"Uh... let's see," said Max before beginning to count on his fingers. "One, two, three, four, five... six..." he trailed off in thought before his eyes lit up, "Oh, and the one I saved you from! Seven!"

Magnolia's jaw clenched as she became increasingly furious. her attempt to spare herself the aggravations associated with the prior conversation had backfired. 

This kid... Magnolia hissed internally as her anger bubbled.