Chapter 49———The Apex
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When the fires of good are almost doused from evil, there are times when it finally dies out...And there are times that small fire becomes a raging inferno.
And that inferno is Enapay Walker, also known by his hero name Chief Apex.
From a scrawny kid that lived in Peat, Navotitlan, to the N0.2 Hero of the N.U.S.N, Enapay came a long way.
Sweats and tears have him a man before Lino could understand years back what made a hero a hero.
I'm glad that kid Shun Yamaguchi told me all about this...To think ZiON kept this all to themselves. It makes my blood boil...They've been struggling, trying to survive this when they're just kids. The hair on his arms stood up from anger and so did his emotions. The looks on their faces...The fear...All of that gets me pissed off...
To get the attention of the N0.2 Hero made Infusco forget about the kids, giving Chief Apex his undivided attention. That's what Enapay wanted and the bastard gave him that, the bastard Infusco left Akina and Ryoji and all the children alone.
The N0.2 Hero suddenly leaped to the center of all this strife, leaving the armored duo by themselves. They stared in the horror at what happened to this amazing beta.
"Jesus Christ, the kids...They're just kids, Auruma. First-Years shouldn't be experiencing something like this...." Silverion, the silver, the sleek armored hero with a masculine voice spoke his mind, his helmet had a large prong in the center of it. His partner, Auruma was identical to his suit except her suit was gold and her helmet had two prongs attached to the side of it.
"Yeah, but thankfully we made it here before things got really bad. Imma gets them." She said, reaching to the speeds of a sonic boom in reaching out to save the others.
"Wait!" He yelled out before realizing it was futile in making her stay. "What the hell....How can I even convince her?"
"What was that?" Ryoji asked himself, disoriented from traveling at high speeds before puking away from Silverion. He cringed in disgust and thought to himself as his partner was rescuing everyone else that needed it. Well, at least go kick ass for me, baby...
Auruma was more composed about heroics, even excelling in it. As if she had done this for quite some time, despite her being a fourth-year student. She knew the rules to heroism and now to spot out the villains with a single blink. And one ninja with binoculars had something that caught his eye.
"That kid, Beri Alliyma Sosa, whose grandfather is the CEO of that Midnight Train company, he's got a little scanner. Gotta kill that kid." Vaniguzu told his comrade Beowulf, who rejected the idea of killing kids and still had her honor instilled in her.
"That's the one rule: Do not kill a child--Especially a Legacy Kid!"
He did not take heed to her warning, brandishing his katana. "Nope. Kid with the nerd goggles gotta die. If his shit has information about us, some vital information. Then he has to die." Teleportation with the use of his powers made it easy for him to get the drop on them, preparing to kill Beri in hopes his secrets cannot be revealed.
Alas, he was slower than the golden-clad heroine who saw when he was teleporting mid-air. "Hey there. Need some help that'll cost your ribs?" Auruma loved to quip with her opponents before giving them a good old beatdown, or in this case: A powerful kick to the ribs was gonna do it for the enhanced human.
Shit...She broke my ribs. Vaniguzu muttered in pain as he felt six ribs broken with one kick, falling to the ground all paralyzed.
She took a good look at Cecilia, Beri, and a few other students of C-2. She remembered when she first saw the great doors of Surwick. Now, it became nostalgia for her. Is it just me or is the required age to enroll in this school got more relaxed where tweens can enter now?
She saw something that piqued her interest: An item from Beri Alliyma Sosa. "Woah, what is that...Some kind of scanner?" She questioned Beri happily. She had never seen one before, something so rustic in her life.
"Yeah!" Beri became excited that someone knew what his invention was. Especially a girl wants to know. "I call it the Omni-Scanner! It studies your Aether Level, your power level, your vitals, everything that you have-"
"Slow down, kid." Auruma politely interrupted Beri, she was happy to hear some terminology from a fellow nerd. But she had a hard time understanding people who spoke fast.
"He's being a simp like usual." Cecilia said before adding, "Whenever he hears a girl's voice, he tends to get all flustered."
"I'm pretty sure you're using that term in the way it is not intended, simp." Yes, Auruma couldn't tolerate bullies, either.
What a bitch. If Auruma could have read minds, then Cecilia would have been screwed.
As Auruma stayed with the first half of the class, Silverion made sure that the second half of C-2 was safe and sound; making the worries of Chief Apex nonexistent as Infusco took notice. "THEY GOT THE KIDS OUT SO THEY CAN WATCH YOU DIE..."
"Nah..." Chief Apex disagreed with his opponent, he unbuttoned his shirt and took it off like a man readying himself for a brawl. Even Igneus looked at him funny from a distance.
Do his abs...have eight packs on them?
"They gonna watch me beat your sorry ass to the ground. I'll defeat you in less than ten minutes."
I will last longer than that. Infusco muttered but Enapay heard him.
And just like that, the fight has already commenced itself. The first thing that chief Apex was going to do was perform a cross chop that made the winds howl with excitement, before realizing Infusco wasn't like all the other villains he faced before.
Chief Apex evaded a talon swipe and delivers a punch of his own, but this attack has no effect as well since Infusco was far away from it. He was confused: What type of sorcery was this?
The hell? He fought many things and he knew that punch was going to finish the job for him, so it wasn't a simple miscalculation. I knew that punch was going to reach him. I'm guessing he can stop time ...
"EXACTLY. I CAN STOP TIME BY ABOUT SEVEN SECONDS. I JUST NEED ONE SECOND TO KILL YOU." Infusco told the truth, this was no way of lying to his enemy. He loved to fight with everything from his toolkit and this was going to be the one time for this fight.
Then dodge this, asshole!
Enapay wanted to unleash one more flick yet he felt a sharp sensation coming to the top of his chest, and Infusco cackled as he inflicted terrible pain. The blood came out of his chest, he was not fazed by it. Instead, he soldiers on by firing more flicks at him and again but it just couldn't work.
This guy is dodging my attacks with his abilities, but I'm way smarter than him. Enapay was not going to give up hope on defeating his enemy. He promised Akina Willoby that he will train her in the ways of a true hero. He'll be damned if he dies today. Every punch was him trying to fight for the future, he was fighting for his ideals. The new generation of heroes free from the teachings of Lino Saon, to die a valiant death, to protect and serve others---It is what Lada had wanted.
The more Infusco dodged his attacks, the more Chief Apex's plan was working. Again? This guy is a one-trick pony. Seriously?
Unfortunately, Enapay had his calves slashed away from the much faster Infusco and made Chief Apex still for him. "SO SLOW. SO WEAK. I WAS HOPING THAT YOU WOULD HAVE MORE OOPMH TO YOUR PUNCHES. I'M DISAPPOINTED IN YOU: CHIEF APEX. ALL YOU WERE WAS BLOWING AIR AND THROWING POINTLESS PUNCHES."
Unfortunately for Infusco, he couldn't move. He simply couldn't move for the sake of getting the contract fulfilled, he needed that money.
"WHAT'S YOUR NEXT MOVE?! I CANNOT EVEN READ YOU! AND THIS Trap!! What DID YOU do TO ME?!"
"You got your ass handed to you by monologuing so much! You're so damn sure of yourself about that damned time power that you have is so invincible. That you forgot about the drawbacks you mentioned earlier."
"Allow me to explain how you've made an amateur mistake: You only have seven seconds and you already have used 'em. One second to avoid my first punch, three seconds in stopping my flick and causing a good wound to my torso, and another three seconds to evade my last attacks.
That's You see, I have this watch...." He pointed at his watch and explained even more, "This was given to me by the dear Principal himself as a token of our friendship, and it seems that your time powers have reached their limit for today, now hasn't?"
"NO! That ain't it! THAT AIN'T It!" Infusco screamed uncontrollably, writhing around and trying to escape without no avail.
"Oh, and what I did was a trap. I may not have been good at magic, but I know a good trick or two." Chief Apex said while cracking his knuckles and releasing his mighty wrath. "This is the part where I'm gonna beat the unholy shit out of you."
Now he was ready to do an onslaught on the villain.
Every punch was equivalent to that of a thousand megatons of hydrogen bombs going off at once.
You thought you were gonna last for ten minutes? You only lasted three minutes.
"Iroquois Impact!" He roared and put his entire back to his punch and threw it against the chest of Infusco.
He stuck with his words. He truly beat Infusco to the ground... Yami Shinra fell to her knees, she couldn't accept it. She couldn't accept any of this. No...No! DAMN It! All of this was supposed to work! Why didn't it work?!
"Yami Shinra." A voice echoed throughout the entire facility: The principal has finally arrived, along with the rest of the faculty and Shun Yamaguchi as well.
She couldn't accept, Yami knew it. Yet, she couldn't accept it.
"I'm...I'm going to kill you where you stand, Lino Saon." Yami declared, raising her broken blade at him. She had persistence and the Principal took notice of it. So, he shattered it.
"You sure?" Lino chuckled before mentally pulling her over to him. She needed to hear she has lost this fight. "Go home. Your army has been defeated. Your generals are weary and the mercenaries you bought have lost in combat. I knew your father. Yet, I can tell you are not his blood. Be disappointed from your failed attempt to be even a quarter the person your father was. You're nothing like him."
She mouthed something to her nemesis. Ryoji nor Akina couldn't understand, but Ryoji did have something in mind: This isn't over.
This was the birth of a war between the two, a conflict that will affect here in the Garden and the rest of the world today.
After she was pushed to the side, Yami pointed at Lino and disappeared behind the portal that took her and her army back to her occupied states.
"Are you all right, Enapay?"
"Yeah. Lil scratch, but I'm all good." Enapay reassured his friend, despite their differences. But Enapay greatly respected his teacher and the latter did as well.
My friend...You are truly the Apex.
Lino had many loose ties before he could pass the torch to Chief Apex but he stills had work to do.
Yet, Lino did not doubt that the torch won't drop to the floor and be quelled.
Lino would retire this very day to prove to the world: They can always count on the good guys.
But he still had much to do and his enemies would revel in his demise.
He snapped out of his dream and faked a smile while ruminating in reality. Oh, I would love to retire and just enjoy life...However, Enapay, I still have a few errands to finish and loose ends to tie up. This world needs to change and only I have the power to do it.
———Track 49 Ended———