April stood in the training hall, the G-force from her last strike still thrumming through her veins.
Kai rolled his shoulders, shaking off the impact.
"Alright," he exhaled, grinning. "That's definitely not normal."
Saya walked in with Jax and Dante behind her. Jax's expression was unreadable, but his sharp gaze flicked to April's hands.
"You felt it again, didn't you?," He asked.
April nodded. "It's getting stronger. It's like my body knows something I don't."
Jax sighed, exchanging a glance with Saya.
"I figured it was time we had this talk anyway. Sit down."
April frowned but complied, taking a seat on the bench. The others gathered around.
Jax leaned against the wall. "Let's start with the basics. You already know about TakeOver Mode—the ability to push past human limits using your Gear. But what you don't know is that TakeOver Mode has two levels."
April raised an eyebrow. "Levels?"
Saya nodded. "The 2nd level is the more dangerous one called RageMode."
Kai scoffed. "Dangerous is an understatement. It's a death sentence for most people."
Jax crossed his arms. "TakeOver Mode is like overclocking your body, but RageMode is something else entirely. It's when a user pushes so far past their limit that their mind and body stop working all together."
Juno added. "You become stronger, faster, and deadlier—but you lose complete control. Most people don't come back from it. Their bodies burn out, or worse, their minds shatter. Allowing their Gear's consciousness to take complete control over them."
April's stomach twisted. "And Vance was about to enter that Mode, wasn't he?"
Jax nodded. "If he had, you wouldn't have been fighting a person. You would've been fighting a monster."
April's grip tightened.
She had come dangerously close to that battle going a different way.
Saya continued, "But RageMode isn't the only thing we need to talk about. Your Gear… it's different. We suspected it before, but after what you just did, we're sure now."
April narrowed her eyes. "Different how?"
Jax exhaled. "There are different classifications of Gears. Mine, Dante and Saya's—are classified as Animalistic type. While yours is… known as a zodiac type."
April tilted her head. "Animalistic? Zodiac?"
Saya smirked. "It means we don't follow the usual rules. Our abilities aren't straightforward, and they evolve in unpredictable ways. Most Gears have a defined function—ours don't. While the ones like yours are unknown."
Jax continued, "Animalistic types are rare. Most people don't even believe they exist. They can manifest in ways that defy logic—like my ability to read movements at an unnatural level."
April frowned. "So you guy's are basically freaks among freaks?"
Kai snorted. "Pretty much."
Dante smirked. "But that's not all. There are other classifications, too."
April leaned forward. "Like what?"
Jax listed them off.
"First, there are Monstarious type Gears. We don't know much about them. The few people who have them are either missing or dead, and any data on them is classified."
Saya added, "From what little we do know, Monstarious types might be connected to something deeper—something primal. They don't function like normal Gears, and their abilities can warp reality itself."
April shivered. That sounded… unsettling.
"And the next?"
Dante crossed his arms. "Zodiac type Gears. Again, little info exists, but the name suggests there are only twelve of them and you April are one of them. Zodiac type Gears are rumored to have abilities tied to astrological concepts. We've never encountered one. That is until we met you."
April's mind reeled. "And the last type?"
Jax's expression darkened. "That's where things get messy. There's a classification that has no name. No real records. No confirmed users. Just whispers."
Kai muttered, "But we do know one thing—the leader of Ragnarök the 2nd & 3rd seat all have one."
April's blood ran cold.
Jax's voice was grim. "If that's true, then we're dealing with individual's beyond any of us."
April clenched her fists.
First TakeOver, then RageMode, and now an entire classification of Gears that no one understood?
The deeper she went, the more she realized
—She was only scratching the surface.