Nathan ducked under a wild swing, the force of the swing creating a shockwave that cracked the pavement behind him.

  His eyes narrowed as time seemed to slow down. The villain's arm glowed with menacing energy as it passed inches from his face.

  He rolled to the side just in time to avoid another strike. His heart pounded as the fight went on around him.

  Lucas was a blur of motion, his fists hammered into the villain with merciless aggression. Titan charged from the other side, his movements like a ram, aiming to overpower through sheer force.

  Striker, though injured, weaved in and out of the battle, his strikes leaving trails of lightning where they connected. It was precise but ineffective against the villain's adaptable armor.

  Nathan barely had any time to process before he was forced back into the action. He sidestepped, avoiding a sweeping kick.

  He stumbled as an energy blast from Aegis's barrier shattered against the ground beside him, sending transparent fragments of energy scattering like broken glass.

  The battlefield was chaotic, and he was just trying to stay ahead of it.

  He needed clarity. He needed to see what everyone else was missing.

  Nathan stumbled back, breathing hard.

  The battle raged on, but for a moment, he forced himself to step outside the chaos.

  His eyes narrowed in concentration, a faint blue glow coming from them as he activated his power. "Echo," he whispered, the world around him blurring as time rewound a few seconds. He did that a few times. Each rewind revealed new details, small missteps, poor positioning, missed opportunities.

  Lucas overcommitted on his punches, leaving gaps in their formation. Titan was brute-forcing his way forward, ignoring openings for more strategic takedowns. Aegis's barriers were strong but inefficiently placed, blocking allies as often as they blocked the enemy.

  But the villain, he was precise. Nathan's eyes widened as he started to understand it. The villain didn't just react; he adapted. Each attack adjusted based on how the heroes fought. He absorbed hits differently depending on the source, reinforcing where he expected the next blow. He was predicting them, not just countering them.

  Nathan rewound further, focusing on the villain's reactions until everything else blurred away. He had a pattern. The cybernetics flared with blue energy just before an attack landed, redirecting energy in controlled bursts. If they coordinated properly. If they forced the villain to react in a way he wasn't prepared for, they could break the cycle.

  A plan formed in Nathan's mind. It wasn't perfect, but it was the best shot they had. Now he just had to get them to listen.

  Nathan turned, scanning the battlefield for an opening to speak. "Lucas! Titan! We're fighting wrong!" He shouted over the chaos. "He's adapting to our attacks!"

  Titan barely glanced at him before throwing another punch. "Stay out of the way, Echo! Let the real fighters handle this!"

  Striker, still clutching his injured arm but refusing to back down, sneered. "We don't need a strategist. We need firepower." His words were interrupted by a wince of pain.

  Lucas hesitated, caught between the heat of battle and the trust he had in Nathan. "What are you saying?" His eyes remained locked on the villain, muscles tensed and ready.

  "We need to force him into making the wrong move," Nathan insisted, his eyes locked onto the villain.

  For a brief moment, the villain's gaze flickered toward him, a knowing smirk crossing his face. It was subtle, but undeniable. His cybernetic eye glowed as it scanned Nathan, analyzing. He knew that Nathan had figured something out.

  Nathan pressed on. "If we keep attacking the way we are, he'll keep adapting. But if we set up our attacks in a sequence he can't compensate for..."

  A blast of energy erupted between them, the ground exploding in a shower of debris and blinding light that sent them scattering before Nathan could finish. The villain laughed, a metallic edge to his voice, already adjusting to their current patterns. Time was running out.

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  Astra dashed beside Nathan, her gaze sharp. "Tell me what you need."

  Relief flooded through him. He pointed at the villain's joints where the cybernetics pulsed with energy. "His defenses shift based on who's attacking. If we stagger our strikes and mix our timing, we can force a delay in his system."

  She nodded, already moving. "Lucas, trust him! I'll show you!"

  She launched an attack, her hands trailing light as she intentionally mistimed her strike. The villain adjusted, his armor glowing where he expected impact. But the real attack came from elsewhere.

  Lucas saw the opening. He followed through with a thunderous battle cry, his fist connecting with a devastating blow where the defense hadn't set.

  The villain staggered back, genuine surprise flashing across his face for the first time.

  Nathan's heart pounded. It was working. Now, they just had to convince the others before it was too late.

  Nathan's plan was met with resistance at first. Titan scowled but didn't argue, and even Striker, still nursing his injured arm, the fabric of his costume torn and stained dark with blood, begrudgingly fell in line.

  The battle had dragged on long enough. Whether they liked it or not, they had to trust Nathan now.

  Astra took point, following Nathan's calculated strikes. Her energy blasts hitting the villain at unexpected angles, leaving a starburst of light.

  Lucas, finally understanding the rhythm, adjusted his attacks, landing heavy blows exactly where the cybernetics were weakest.

  Aegis reinforced their movements with barriers, cutting off the villain's escape routes with walls of translucent energy. Even Titan, despite his pride, followed through, his brute force now directed with actual intent rather than blind aggression.

  Nathan watched carefully, rewinding subtle moments in his mind, catching small miscalculations before they happened. He called out, adjusting their sequence just in time.

  A final coordinated assault struck home, Lucas hammering down with a decisive punch that cracked the villain's chest plate, Astra's energy beam striking from above with pinpoint accuracy, and Titan delivering a crushing finishing blow that sent their opponent crashing into the rubble, leaving a fifteen feet wide crater.

  The villain's cybernetics sparked wildly, his systems overloaded. He tried to rise but collapsed, the fight finally drained from him. Silence filled the battlefield.

  It was over.

  The moment of victory was fleeting. Relief barely had time to settle before the atmosphere grew tense again.

  Titan's team pulled away first. Aegis lingered for a moment, glancing at Nathan before shaking his head. "You're too weak. Your strategies are good, but at the end of the day, power is what decides a fight." Striker shook his head, muttering something under his breath. Aegis gave a curt nod, while Titan simply turned and crossed his arms, his jaw tight. They had won, but not in the way they wanted.

  Nathan exhaled, feeling the weight of it all pressing down on him. Lucas clapped him on the shoulder, offering a rare grin. "Told you they'd listen. Eventually."

  Before Nathan could respond, a sharp voice cut through the tension. "Stand down, trainees. Situation secured."

  Senior heroes had arrived. Their presence was commanding, their uniforms pristine despite the destruction around them. They assessed the battlefield with experienced eyes, nodding in approval at the contained threat. But as their gaze landed on Nathan, there was something else. A flicker of hesitation.

  One of the senior heroes, a veteran with a hardened expression, murmured to a colleague, "Too much reliance on over-analysis. We need heroes who act, not hesitate."

  Nathan clenched his fists. A dull pain flared in his side, the spot where he'd been struck earlier. The adrenaline was fading, and with it, the pain returned worse than before.

  He exhaled slowly, trying to steady himself, but the weight of the battle and the words around him made it harder to ignore. Even now, even after everything, was that really all they saw?

  The trainees were assembled in the debriefing hall, standing in rigid lines as the senior heroes reviewed the battle footage. The screen flickered with moments from the fight. Titan and Lucas's brute force, Astra's calculated strikes, Nathan's desperate attempts to get them to listen.

  "Tactically sound," one of the instructors noted, pausing the footage on Astra's pinpoint attacks. "She understood how to apply strategy effectively."

  Titan's finishing blow played next. "Raw strength is still the deciding factor," another instructor added approvingly. "Without it, no amount of planning would have sealed the win."

  Then, the footage shifted to Nathan, rewinding, analyzing, calling out commands that were ignored. The room was quiet as the instructors exchanged looks.

  "You took too long to act," one of the senior heroes finally said. "Heroes don't have time to overthink. A battlefield isn't a chessboard."

  Aegis crossed his arms. "And let's be real, without powers to back it up, all the planning in the world won't save you."

  Nathan glanced sideways, waiting for someone, Lucas, Astra, anyone, to speak up. To say something in his defense.

  No one did.

  The silence was worse than the criticism.

  His stomach twisted. The growing ache in his ribs felt insignificant compared to the cold realization settling in his chest.

  He was alone in this.

  Nathan left the debriefing room feeling like a ghost. The hallways of the Hero Association were bustling, yet the noise felt distant, muffled against the storm inside his mind.

  This wasn't just about today. It wasn't just this battle, or this failure to gain recognition. It was something deeper, something fundamental.

  Heroes like Titan were celebrated because they embodied strength. Those like Astra and Aegis, with refined abilities and controlled tactics, found their place. But where did that leave him?

  He pressed a hand against his ribs, the pain sharper now. Maybe worse than he thought. Maybe worse than anyone had noticed.

  As he reached the exit, he overheard a group of instructors discussing the exercise. "Analysis has its place, but when it matters most, power is what wins."

  Nathan exhaled slowly. Then what happens to people like me?