Ever since awakening during the station collapse,
Fang Ran had never really experienced a normal battle against someone of the same rank.
Because of Ling, because of "Infinity," because of all those coincidences,
the enemies he faced had always been far beyond his rank. He needed all kinds of external help or had to endure overloads just to contend with them. Crossing one or two ranks had practically become normal,
and the one time he encountered an E-50 he could have overwhelmed by rank, he was chased through several streets instead.
Yeah, that had been the time Fang Ran got chased down the worst.
The only opponents who could be considered evenly matched were probably Osphia during the National War, and that sentient "alternate identity" from the qualification scenario not long ago.
The latter had been one of only two times he had fought an A-rank Upper Tier.
But that mirror-like battle against himself could hardly be called normal experience.
So there had only truly been one clash with an A-rank Upper Tier.
The one against the Demoness.
But that had also happened in a scenario, and it had been a hundred years ago. In the current era, aside from the unknown number of Night Watchers in Midnight,
there were only thirteen confirmed A-rank Upper Tiers in the entire world of Night Battles.
Although he had glimpsed Clotilde's and Dead Line's power during the Europe incident, had spent quite a long time with Ling, and had repeatedly sought the Demoness's aid,
Fang Ran had never fought any of them head-on with both sides going all out.
So even if the External Core allowed him to unleash "Infinity," endure the overload for a short time, crush any A-rank with sheer magical energy, and even suppress three Zero Riders working together,
he