Levi's eyes burned holes in Noah's back, completely forgetting the dangerous situation they were in, for in Levi's mind, there was no situation direr than his darling disliking him, fearing him, staying at a distance.
Did his baby notice the reluctance with which he had saved Trey? To be so coldblooded towards someone who was on their side… wouldn't he have looked cruel and heartless to his kitten?? No one would want to keep a rabid dog by their side that might bite them at any moment with no provocation!
And then, even his murderous aura had reared its ugly head. Putting the final nail on his coffin. His carefully crafted puppy-dog disguise fell apart, revealing the sharp teeth of the wolf underneath.
Things were going too smoothly; he had gotten complacent.
He had forgotten that he had reached this step exactly because he had shelved away his oppressive, cold indifference. He had gotten this close to his darling because he had kept all his inner darkness tightly hidden.
His adorable baby liked cute things like kittens, not wild and dangerous creatures such as him!
Right now, was his baby regretting getting too close to him, Levi?
Was he thinking that he had misjudged him, Levi, or was he thinking that Levi had intentionally portrayed himself as something he was not?
He… he didn't mean to deceive his baby! He just wanted to be liked!
Blackie: (°A°╬) 'You still have the time for this long and grueling monologue?!? Are we in a life and death crisis or not?!? How can you break my much enjoyed fast-paced action scene with this BS?!?'
(ノಠAಠ)ノ︵┻━┻
If Noah could hear the nonsense Levi's brain pit was coming up with, he would have, for once, agreed with Blackie, 'What do you mean portrayed yourself as something you are not?? Just because you didn't bare your teeth at me?!? Are you serious? There is a difference between being wild, and being mad! Even wild wolves don't bite their own cubs! We all act in different ways with different people! That's not pretending, that's just being human!'
Noah had gotten out of Levi's arms, naturally because, why wouldn't he?? The Fluxer had been temporarily contained. What excuse would he have to be carried around in another man's arms like a child?!
What intimidating, murderous aura of a dangerous wild creature? Didn't Levi know that true brain-dead animal lovers like Noah could look at crazed wildlife and go "Aaah, look! Isn't it cute?" no matter if it was docilely sitting there or biting into fresh meat with its razor-sharp teeth?
What transformation from a puppy into a wolf?? This brain-dead animal lover didn't even notice the difference!
As for why Noah wanted a double shield, it was because he was afraid someone else might rush in to make this bomb explode. Just like the previous Soother had popped up, what if another showed up? Trey's shield couldn't block Noah's power because the difference in the ranks of their powers was too large, but most other Soothers wouldn't be able to reverse-soothe the Fluxer through Trey's shield.
And also, what if law enforcement or resort guards popped up uninformed and attacked the Fluxer who was also a victim in this incident? Since Trey could protect both sides, why not utilize it so he can soothe the Fluxer with a peace of mind?
Besides, the more Noah thought about this whole matter, the more his hair stood on its end.
He had initially suspected these rampages were caused by reverse soothing, but he had been present from start to finish this time and could confirm that it was definitely not caused by reverse-soothing. And he could also confirm that this was definitely not a natural occurrence.
There was something very amiss here.
A sneaking suspicion made chills run down Noah's spine.
What if the intention behind these incidents was to cause the rampaging power user to self-destruct? The first time it happened, Aris happened to be at the scene and would have caused a devastating explosion due to the usage of reverse soothing if Noah hadn't taken over in time.
The second time it happened, another high ranked Soother just happened to be in the vicinity and was just about to cause another devastating explosion.
Noah's eyebrows were furrowed in alarmed distraught as he utilized his maximum power output to soothe the rampaging mental power of the Fluxer. It was much more difficult to soothe this Fluxer than it had been to soothe the Blazer.
Noah wasn't sure whether it was due to the Fluxer being of a higher power rank than the Blazer, or because the Fluxer's mind was in bigger chaos.
However, Noah could tell that there was something very wrong in the man's mental power. It almost desperately resisted his efforts, fought against his power as if it was trying to remain in chaos. It was unnatural; as if his mind was a pot of boiling water but instead of cooling off once taken off the stove, it kept boiling all on its own.
Unless it wasn't boiling all on its own. Perhaps it had never been taken off the stove in the first place.
Perhaps right now, Noah kept dumping ice cubes into a pot of water that was still on the fire.
With the Fluxer's rampage contained, the air slowly cleared of smoke and steam, revealing the gruesome sights of fallen people with missing limbs and burned flesh.
Fine beads of sweat glistened on Noah's wrinkled nose. The cries for help from the injured and fallen were too distracting, too piercing to the ear. He just couldn't block them out.
Noah tightly shut his eyes, utilizing 100% of his effort to his struggle against the Fluxer's mental power. It slowly, very slowly, died down, until eventually, the struggle ceased altogether.
Noah finally let out a long exhale and switched from a high-intensity single target soothing to an area effect of lesser intensity. The shrieks and wails faded into sobs and whimpers.
Noah finally opened his eyes to look at the traumatizing sight in front of him. He couldn't turn away his eyes from the truth just because he didn't like what he saw.
His decision turned to have been very correct, because only now could he tell that many victims were going into shock and the several unfortunate ones were losing blood too quickly.
The paramedics wouldn't make it in time to save them!
He, Levi, and Trey only had two arms each! They couldn't put pressure on so many wounds at the same time! Inevitably, some would be forsaken.
Some injured had already lost consciousness, while others were writhing on the floor. Life leaked out of them in scarlet streams, pooling in the crevices of the floor tiles.