"What's a 'cliche anime trope'?" Nya asked.

  "Don't worry about it. I use genre savviness as a coping mechanism for how insane my life has become," Mikayla half-explained as they scrambled up the ladder.

  The Possum was making its way towards them, but at a leisurely pace. Mikayla couldn't tell whether it had noticed them or was just searching.

  They reached the platform at the top of the pillar, and Mikayla glanced at the remains of the bridge that should have been their escape route. That wouldn't do them any good.

  "What are we dealing with?" she muttered, snapping a picture on her phone's Identify app.

  [LEADBEATER POSSUM - TIER 10 - Type: RODENT (Subtype: KAIJU)]

  "There shouldn't be anything that strong in this part of the Hunting Grounds!" Nya wailed, looking at Mikayla's screen. "This isn't a level-appropriate fight!"

  "How did it get here?!"

  "It must have escaped the Upper Hunting Grounds and come to the Lower in search of easy prey," Nya guessed. "I, I'm going to lodge a complaint!" she declared inanely between sharp breaths.

  "Let's focus on living long enough for that,"

  Mikayla looked around. The only bridge to this platform had been destroyed when the beast came plunging down. Getting down from the platform was no issue, with their Armour Cores - but that would get its attention. She couldn't see any way to escape unnoticed.

  "We'll just have to stay hidden up here until it gets bored and goes away," she resolved.

  Nya quietly grimaced. "That's not likely,"

  "Why not?"

  "According to my studies, Possum Kaijus have an incredible sense of smell, and this one looks like it tends towards powerful blunt force strikes. It's only a matter of time until -"

  The tree shook around them. Peering down, they could see the metal marsupial driving its claws into the bark. Its gaze was fixed squarely on the two girls.

  ". . well, that,"

  "Crikey," Mikayla hissed.

  The tree rocked again, leaves shaking free of their branches and falling around them.

  "This can't be happening. This can't be happening!" Nya was on the verge of hyperventilating. "School hasn't even started yet! I can't die here! Today! Like this! This isn't fair, this isn't right, I - ow!"

  Mikayla drove her elbow into Nya's ribs to interrupt her spiral. "Calm down. We need to think. There's got to be a way out of here,"

  The tree quaked. Another glance down told them that the Possum had decided climbing up was a non-starter and instead it would simply use the massive clubs on its paws to knock the tree down.

  "Can you fly? Because I can't fly!" Nya panicked.

  "Honestly, worth looking into," Mikayla noted that down as a future project. "But no. We could jump, try to grab the broken bit of bridge,"

  Nya looked at the massive gulf in the network of platforms that had been left by the fallen tree. "You cannot be serious,"

  "Maybe if one of us distracts it and the other runs for help?" Mikayla tried again.

  "It's a Tier 10, and Possums tend to have high Dexterity builds. Neither of us will be able to outrun it. That'd . . only mean . . one of us dies," Nya slowly realised.

  Mikayla furrowed her brows, still deep in thought, but Nya was struck by the prospect.

  Wasn't that the right thing to do here?

  She was Yevgenia Han, after all. The most successful recreation of the Rosebush Huntress in two hundred years. She mattered. It wasn't right for her to die here, not so early. And Mikayla just didn't have the same pedigree. She was merely a dimensionally displaced drifter, someone who no one would miss. Or, at least, whatever friendships she'd formed were nothing compared to how the City of Roses would mourn Nya's death.

  Most of her competitors would probably be thrilled to hear that she'd died in such a stupid way, actually, which made her want to live all the more.

  It wouldn't be difficult. Just one little shove. Mikayla would fall, summon up her Armour, and Nya could escape while her roommate died fighting.

  It was the right thing to do, wasn't it? That was what her parents would say, at least.

  So . . why was she still thinking about it? Why was she unable to bring herself to take action? It would be so easy, and yet . .

  . . . Only a few days had passed since she'd met this stranger, since Mikayla had started addressing Yevgenia Han as Nya. How was it that she was already thinking of herself by that name? Why did it sound so right - why did she feel so grateful for it?

  While Nya had been struggling internally, Mikayla had been holding an internal debate of her own. But hers had been much easier to resolve. "I might have something that can get us out of this mess. But I need you to promise to keep it secret, okay?"

  "That's, um," Nya hesitated, startled at being dragged out of her own thoughts. "I've been cautioned against making agreements without hearing the full terms beforehand,"

  Mikayla rolled her eyes as the tree shook around them again. "Would you rather die? Look, I swear it's not anything illegal or unethical. Just a trump card I really don't want too many people to know about, okay?"

  "I . . suppose that's acceptable. And preferable to getting killed," Nya agreed. "Go on, then!"

  Mikayla took a deep breath and silently apologised to Asika. It hadn't even been a week. "Access Demigod System," she hissed.

  [DEMIGOD SYSTEM ACTIVATED. WELCOME, INHERITOR.]

  Nya's jaw fell open as she processed those words. Demigod. Mikayla was a demigod? At her level? How? Her roommate was a demigod. She'd just been trying to talk herself into feeding a demigod to a Kaiju. Everyone knew, that was not okay.

  "Yeah," Mikayla focused on the white-and-gold menu that had appeared in her vision. "And that's only the first half. System? Apply the Perfect Rainbow Blessing of Teamwork to myself and Nya!"

  [APPLYING PERFECT RAINBOW BLESSING OF {TEAMWORK} TO TWO INDIVIDUALS.]

  [YOUR CURRENT FAITH POINT TOTAL IS: 3,050.]

  [CORES DETECTED. SYNERGY DETECTED. CONDITIONS SATISFIED TO INITIATE PANTHEON PROTOCOL.]

  Mikayla idly noticed that her Faith Points had jumped from 3,223 to 3,250 before she took out two hundred to fuel this blessing. Were Keldryn, Anza and Asika all praying for her? That was flattering. Even if three points a day was only a drop in the bucket.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  A cordon of rainbow light erupted from her Core Gauntlet, snaking through the air and linking Nya's Core Controller. Mikayla's red aura flowed outwards and met Nya's purple. "What's happening?" Nya looked confused, verging on panic.

  "Just go with it," Mikayla advised before they were both swallowed up by the expanding shapes of rainbow light.

  Refuting her own advice, she threw her Willpower into sculpting a new cockpit, one with two seats side by side. A clear delineation and partnership. Keeping herself and Nya separate, but working together.

  Before she'd even opened her eyes, she heard her roommate let out a sharp, pained noise. "Nya? You okay?" The cockpit looked fine. Two seats, controls around them both, a large viewscreen.

  "This seat was built for humans," Nya growled, shifting uncomfortably and trying to get her tail into a position where she wasn't sitting on it.

  "Oh. Um, whoops. I'll fix that. Can I fix that?" Mikayla looked around.

  "What in the stars is going on?!"

  The newly merged Armour Core rocked, and she noticed a bit too late that they'd already swelled to full size.

  Their feet hit the ground, the platform having collapsed under them without their even noticing. At this size, the fall was over before it had even begun.

  Perhaps unsurprisingly, this new combination wasn't the same Black Knight Duplex that she'd previously made by combining with Skyward Grasscutter. This time, though, the combination had gone a different way; rather than essentially having the upper half of the Black Knight and lower half of her partner, this time it was the gauntlets and boots of the Armour Core that retained the spiky bulk of the Black Knight. Their upper arms and legs matched Moonlight Rose's sleek and dexterous form, as well as a tail that had emerged from the Black Knight's spiked armour skirt. It made their proportions almost cartoonish, but she could feel the power contained in them. The Black Knight's visor was now adorned with the horns and grinning fangs of Moonlight Rose.

  Mikayla was a bit disconcerted to realise she could feel Nya's tail as though it was part of her own body. Blocking out the sensation, she checked their Stat lines.

  [NAME: Mikayla Aiadon, Yevgenia Han

  LEVEL: 47 (24+23)

  RACE: Human (Demigod), Yaoguai (Pureblood)

  STATISTICS: (1 Lock Cleared, 125% Efficiency)

  HEALTH: 3625/3625

  MANA: 4250/4250

  STAMINA: 5125/5125

  STRENGTH: 51.25 (BASE VALUE: 16+25)

  DEXTERITY: 46.25 (BASE VALUE: 16+21)

  CONSTITUTION: 36.25 (BASE VALUE: 16+13)

  CHARISMA: 40 (BASE VALUE: 16+16)

  INTELLIGENCE: 42.5 (BASE VALUE: 17+17)

  WILLPOWER: 42.5 (BASE VALUE: 20+14)

  MAY YOU FIND ATARAXIA WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST.

  TRUE STRENGTH COMES WHEN MANY HANDS ACT AS ONE.]

  "I can work with that," she grinned. "Now, weaponry,"

  Her sword and Nya's kusarigama had merged into a long, spear-like weapon, and she could sense the lengths of chain coiled within it. Nya's knives had been added to her shield, making its face bristle with thorns. There were wheels in their heels, like integrated rollerblades, probably contributed from her Motocross Core and whatever Conveyance Core Nya had yet to show her. Mikayla's Blunderbuss and Cannon had taken up the slots on their shoulders, nestled amidst the spikes.

  There was no sign of Nocturnus in their cockpit. It seemed that leaving him out of the Blessing had locked him away. She didn't mind that too much, it was going to be hard enough to explain this to Nya without 'oh, also, the Black Traitor is haunting my Armour'.

  "Hah, what'll we call this one? Moonlight Knight?" Mikayla idly wondered.

  Nya's eye twitched as she took in their state. "What did you do to the hallowed visage of Moonlight Rose?!"

  "What?"

  Uncaring for their argument, the Possum lunged at them. It was smaller, but that didn't stop it from slamming its massive metal paws into their chest. Moonlight Knight stumbled backwards, its limbs flailing.

  "How do we control this thing?" Nya wailed.

  "You take the legs and tail, I've got the arms!" Mikayla effectively divided their labour, assuming a defensive stance with shield in front and spear held at the ready.

  "Nonsense! You may have the shield, but it is my duty to attack! I will not be reduced to the legs!" Mikayla felt herself lose control of their right arm as Nya swung their spear. She triggered a Technique of some kind that sent the spear's tip flying outwards on a length of chain, flicking forwards and coiling around the Possum.

  "Ah-ha! Now, we . . um," Nya belatedly realised that, with their main weapon caught up in trapping the Possum, she had no way to actually press the attack, since their other hand was full of shield.

  Her hesitation gave the Possum time to act, and it let out a furious snarl. Green energy wrapped around its body, and with a mighty flex of Stamina-infused muscles, it broke free, shattering the chain and causing the sword to dissipate into twinkles of light. The recoil sent Moonlight Knight staggering backwards, clutching the broken half of its spear.

  Nya's jaw worked disbelievingly. ". . Oop," was the most she managed to muster.

  The Leadbeater Possum hissed, and pillars of metal erupted from the ground, launching it into the air as its hands became blades levelled at their heart.

  Nya screamed.

  Mikayla opened fire.

  The Cannon and Blunderbuss on their shoulders both spat their projectiles, a single large projectile and a cluster of splinters crashing into the Possum within seconds of each other. Its momentum was halted and it tumbled to the ground. Taking advantage of Nya's distraction, Mikayla seized control of the arms once more, stepping forward and bashing the rodent's skull with their spiky shield to make sure it stayed down, then driving the bladed butt of the spear into its back, aiming for the heart.

  "There," Mikayla breathed a sigh of relief. "That was a fatal wound,"

  Nya peered through the viewscreen. "No, it wasn't,"

  "What? But I stabbed it through the heart!"

  "It's Tier 10! It can live without its heart long enough to regenerate one!"

  Mikayla's response to this latest brand of Kaiju bullshit was preempted by an angry roar, and then the Possum exploded.