A-rank

A knock echoed through the house, Sa-iq stood up to answer it. Looking through the peephole, he smiled.

"Normine!" said Sa-iq ecstatically.

Normine stood with her arms crossed, looking down due to Sa-iqs height.

"Sa-iq, I'm glad to see you doing alright. I need to talk to you about something," she said, staring a hole through Sa-iq. Sa-iq got a blank look, realizing that he had done something wrong.

***

Normine sat down on the couch, putting her elbows on the table, resting her head on her hands.

"I heard you joined the agency while I was overseas," said Normine.

Normine had just come back from Ghana. It was rare seeing a dark skinned person in the Levant, especially someone who grew up there. However nobody really cared as they assumed Normine was an agent doing work overseas. Her skin was clear, combined with curly hair reaching to her shoulders and golden colored eyes making her stand out. She was someone who took good care of herself.

“Uhhh yeah?” he said, unsure.

"Why shouldn't I join the agency? I get to use my abilities freely without anyone nagging me, and I get to help people and get paid," he followed.

"I don't mind, as long as I'm here I don't think anything bad will happen to you or Sara," responded Normine.

She gave Sa-iq a sharp look.

“I’d just appreciate you not doing stupid stuff behind my back,”

“S-sorry,” he muttered.

"It's also about those other 2 who joined. Why should I look after 2 other boys who I didn’t even know existed, huh?" she responded.

"We-well it’s not like I told them to join, they did so themselves!"

"You probably flexed being a Dermine on them, and made them want to join. Hah whatever, I really couldn’t care less anymore,” she continued. Sa-iq kept silent while staring down at the table.

"Anyways, why I came here is to teach you and Sara a little more about combat. The next time an E or D-ranked demon pops out I want you two to take care of it. I’ll be with you guys, so if something goes wrong I’ll step in," she said. Sa-iqs eyes widened, then he smiled.

“Hell yeah!”

"Please no Ms. Normine, I don't want my precious Sara to go through anything terrible again," said their mom after she overheard the conversation. Normine looked up at her.

"I will be accompanying them, nothing bad will happen, I won't allow it," said Normine.

"Still, I think she might still be traumatized from you know, that day,” she said. Sa-iq wondered why she only worried about Sara. Layla walked away shortly after.

"And she doesn't even bother to ask about you,” muttered Normine under her breath.

“Anyways I'll cancel this lesson then, you can't beat a D-rank on your own. I just wanted to see how well you two could fight together,” continued Normine, disappointed.

"Can I bring one of my friends?" Sa-iq asked.

Normine began to lightly tap Sa-iq on the head.

"They're Z-ranked, stupid, they wouldn't be able to do much," she giggled.

Sa-iq shook his head then looked straight at her.

"Not true, a couple of days ago the school was attacked by a demon, my friend was the one who saved me. I was THIS close to dying."

"Hmm, well you'll get some experience from it, and it might traumatize the kid and make him quit so I don't mind actually," said Normine.

***

As the football flew towards Sam, he started contemplating how to score the goal. People from the other team were rushing him, so he couldn't just take his time, stop the ball and do a perfect shot, instead he had to shoot as soon as the ball was near him. He did just that.

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" yelled one of his teammates angrily after Sam had missed.

"Hehe, my bad," he said. Before he could keep talking his phone went off. He took it out of his pocket to see the notification.

"Hmm, I need to meet up with Sa-iq about the thing he mentioned the other day. Oh well," he murmured to himself.

"See you all later!" he then said, waving back at them.

“You won’t be missed!” said another of his teammates.

***

Sam rested his hands on his knees, gasping for air. He noticed Normine eyeing him down and asked what’s wrong.

"Nothing, I guess idiots attract each other," said Normine.

"Anyways, D-rank, unknown ability, male. That's all we know about this one. Oh well good luck and remember, if anything bad happens I'll save ya. Come on let's get moving, the thing should be like 3 kilometres away,” she said.

***

"I see it over there!" said Sa-iq to Sam. The demon was choking a person. The shop that it had breached looked like it had just been through a riot.

“I have a plan. I’ll rush in and distract it, then you deliver the final blow, got it?” asked Sa-iq.

“Alright boss,”

With sparks of electricity surrounding him, Sa-iq got ready to dash in. The demon's ears twitched. He looked behind him, watching blue sparks come off a random kid.

Sa-iq dashed. The demon brought its hand out, “freezing” Sa-iq in place.

“What the?!” he thought.

The demon kept his hand up.

“A 2 on 1?” thought the demon.

He immediately swiped his hand to the right, flinging Sa-iq into a wall. The demon then rushed towards Sam so fast that Sam wasn't able to react. He then held Sam by his neck and started choking him.

"Children poking their nose where it shouldn't be. What makes you think you can defeat a demon when you're not able to dodge a bullet?" said the demon.

"D-did no one tell you? Y-you don’t play with fire…" said Sam while struggling to speak. In a blink of an eye, both Sam and the demon were set on fire. Sa-iq, who had just gotten off the wall, looked at the pit with his mouth agape.

The fire dissipated, revealing an uninjured Sam and a demon with a bunch of burn marks.

"You little-!" he let out before using his telekinesis and throwing a rock at Sam. The rock hit Sam right in the head, causing Sam to fall unconscious and thump on the floor. With bloodlust in its eyes and its sharp nails ready, it swung at Sam's unconscious body.

"Die!" he yelled. Sa-iq quickly stepped in front, blocking the demon's attack. He held tightly on his sword's handle, his eyes widened in panic but they were still locked in focus.

"And when do you give up?" said the demon, before freezing Sa-iq in his place and kicking him right in the gut, knocking Sa-iq over the road. In just a short moment, the demon knocked both of them out.

"The Dermines are doomed to fall, so much potential in your ability, yet you still have the durability of a normal human, learn to use your DER, you privileged brats,” he said mockingly. He then raised his hand, ready to finish the fight. He swung at Sa-iqs body, only for someone to hold his nails in place with their mere palm.

“What the hell is the deal with all of you punks? You even look older than those 2,” he said. His hand was still frozen in place due to Normines grip.

"I’d appreciate not being called a punk," snickered Normine. After loosening her grip, the demon backed off, his eyes running down Normine, trying to analyze her and her potential abilities.

"What a waste, why would you risk your life fighting demons when you could just be a housewife instead. You have the looks going for you as well," said the demon while giggling.

"I appreciate the compliment, but I really do prefer you guys being man eaters instead of sexist,” replied Normine.

Normine blitzed the demon, punching him in the gut so hard that the demon flew towards a nearby building. While still flying, Normine closed in on the demon, thrusting her hand towards its eyes. Her hand suddenly turned into a ball of light, acting like a flashlight. The demon was blinded, and before he even collided with the wall he was immediately kicked back into the road, creating a small crater.

"Awwww, I'll hear so many complaints if I destroy more private property, but the road is owned by the government so I should be fine," she murmured while walking towards the demon.

"You’re pathetic honestly. You talked so much trash to those two boys over there, yet here you are puking up blood."

“Augh,” he let out while his clothes soaked in his own blood.

Normine began to summon her sword, ready to decapitate the demon. However, mid-motion, her hand froze.

"M-my ability is telekinesis controlled by my hand. I can move anything as long as I use my hand to aim. You're clearly a higher ranked person as I can't control your entire body, but the fact that I can control your hand just means that you will die by your own hand!" he said while struggling to control her.

“Forcing me to not use my sword, that’s dirty,”

She ignored the fact that her hand was being controlled. She could resist enough to where the demon wouldn’t make her hurt herself and instead focused on her DER.

"Dermine Extra, Protective layer," yelled Normine.

Dermine Extras are abilities, however they are not tied to someone's actual ability. This means that anyone can use Dermine Extras.

Her eyes began to light up as her DER levels rose.

“I never thought I’d use this against someone like you,” she said.

A beam emitted from her index, swallowing everything inside the layer but herself.

Normines strongest attack “Gamma Ray,” can absorb the entire Earth as it's the same size as an actual gamma ray. To prevent this, Normine casts a layer whose sole purpose is to keep what's inside inside and keep what's outside outside.

Once the beam stopped going, she took a look. The demon’s body was entirely evaporated. She let go of the layer, watching as its borders broke like glass.

Sa-iq looked at Normine, his eyes wide.

"We need to get rid of the body before it explodes!"

"Don't worry about it, his body’s evaporated.”

Normine eyed Sa-iq down, he looked completely fine.

“You were knocked out cold just a moment ago, how the hell are you up again?”

“I don’t know. I had to wake Sam up too,”

She looked back at Sam, noticing how his hair strands stood straight up.

“Yeah I see that. Next time don’t use your ability for something silly like that ok?” she said while giving Sam an awkward smile.

“You’re okay right? Do you need a hospital?” she asked while crouched down at Sam.

"N-no I’m fine,” responded Sam.

"Oh well, no matter what you two did a great job. That demon's ability was just a little busted but it's fine. You guys will rank up in no time. Anyways, I got another call for another demon so I’ll go now,” she said before disappearing, leaving only wind where she stood.

"Don't mind her, she's fast," said Sa-iq.

"And she's harsh too, I'm surprised she just complimented us,” replied Sam.

"It’s fine deep inside she does care, without her I wouldn't know what I would be doing," said Sa-iq.

“Yeah I see that. Normine’s awesome,” said Sam.

“I know right?” replied Sa-iq.