Don returned to April, who looked at him with a confused expression. She had seen the smoke and heard the guards evacuating people. People in the line were also just as confused and scared by what was going on. Some were even asking if the war had started earlier than anticipated and that the rumors were true. "What happened?" April asked.
"I got rid of the threat. We should hurry along." Don said while taking hold of April's hand. April didn't move with him just yet, though. "Don, why did you kill that man?" April asked, but Don didn't turn to look at her. "Come on, April. We need to get going." Don said without replying to her question. He didn't even look at her.
"No. Don. Answer me. I trust your judgment. I know you mean well by us, but I still want to know the reason. Not just the simple, he was a bad man, or he was going to kill us. I want to know the truth." April responded. Since she wasn't going to move, Don was debating internally if he should tell her.
He didn't want to. Not because it was a terrible memory, but because he was unable to do anything to save her back then. "Somethings are better left unsaid," Don muttered. He released April's hand and moved onward. April was stunned by Don's action. Sure, before they were a couple, Don never told her things she asked about, or his answers were vague. However, when they got together, Don told her everything she wanted.
Now, for the first time in a while, Don had not told her what she wanted. She was left to piece together the information on her own. The only reason she wanted to know was that Don had radiated such an immense violent aura that it scared her to her core. She had never seen Don radiate such an aura before. Even when she saw him want to kill someone or was anger. This was the first time she ever saw it.
April didn't know if she should chase after him or not. Don returned to the tent to collect his bike. Miraculously, it was still fine. He put the bike into his Spatial Storage and left the tent. Some people looked at him like he was crazy, but no one approached him. It wasn't that they didn't want to. They wanted to ask him some questions, but it was the pressure he was releasing and the unsavory expression on his face.
He was currently in a terrible mood. "Max and Sam... Maybe I should deal with them now..." Don thought to himself. He needed rest, but right now is mind was filled with undying rage. Thanks for seeing Victor in person. It brought up memories he didn't want to relive. What he truly needed now was rest. He was running on fumes for energy, but his willpower was unyielding.
Willpower.
Such a funny thing. It could bring out abnormalities in normal or less than average humans. Making them do impossible feats or things they never once thought they could achieve. For someone like Don, this strengthened tenfold. Willpower was what kept him going throughout his life. It was his only source of fuel.
Be it to kill the enemies, to keep himself safe, or keep another safe. It was also what allowed him to endure nine years' worth of torment and psychological torture. 'Don, I really think you should rest up. What about April? You also left her back there.' Melissa's said.
Don stopped for a moment. In consumption of his own rage, he wasn't paying much attention. He honestly figured April would just follow him. She always did and was always stuck to him. More so after his death than ever. The truth was, it was bothering him a bit. Not being able to have any space for self-thought or anything else. Still, he didn't want her to not be around him.
He turned back to see that April was not with him. Don also noticed that he had walked a fair distance from where he previously was. He had even gone past the checkpoint and was in the town, where other guards ran around. Quickly, he would turn on his heel to leave, but someone said something to him before he did.
"Found you."
What Don saw before he was a man, strong and proud. He was wearing some kind of military uniform and looked like an important figure. Don knew who this man was and what trouble came with him. "General Smith," Don muttered through grit teeth as he saw the man's expression widen with a grin.
At this time, April hadn't moved from her spot in between the tents. She debated following Don, and during her debate, she was engrossed with her own thoughts that she didn't realize how much time had passed. When she came to a conclusion to follow Don, Don was already out of her sight. April wondered from her little hiding space out into the open.
Several people evacuated the civilians, and even more, people were hosing out the fire and any fire that spread out from the origin. They had managed to put everything out and calm things down, but they still needed to figure out what truly happened. So they started questioning people.
That was when one of the guards came over to April. It was someone April was happy to see since she knew who it was. "Hey, Do you know what happened?" Gabe asked. He was puzzled since he didn't see Don anywhere. "He's not here," April said, seeing how Gabe looked puzzled. "What do you mean?" Gabe asked. It seemed like the two of them were inseparable, but now... it seemed different.
April sighed heavily. "Somethings happened, and Don ran off to do something. Where he is, I do not know." April replied. Gabe could see the sadness in her eyes. His duty was to take reports and try to find out what happened, but right now, his newfound friend was more important. After all, his wife always told him to treasure friendships since they were far more important than anything else.
"Couples get into spats and quarrels all the time. The important thing is to remember that he loves you, and you love him." Gabe said with a friendly and warm smile. April looked at him, puzzled for a second. She didn't understand why Gabe was saying this. "Well, of course. That won't change, no matter what." April replied.
Gabe chuckled lightly and scratched the back of his head, "I see." Perhaps he misunderstood something, but it seemed like April was hurt, which was why he said what he did. "Well, would you like to tell me what happened?" Gabe asked. April debated on the offer, but in the end, she decided to tell him what happened. She didn't see Gabe as a terrible person.
While April told Gabe everything, Don and General Smith were having their staredown. "What do you want, General?" Don narrowed his eyes at the man. He wasn't in a good mood, and this person coming up now only soured it even further. So his tone with the man was less than polite.
The General scoffed at Don. "What do I want? I am here to finish you off for good. You won't escape from me again." General Smith said and activated one of his Seed Powers. A green aura started to flare over the tips of his fingers, and with a swift slicing motion, blades of wind shot from his fingers. Not just one, but five for each hand.
Don could see the arcs of wind more vividly than before. Perhaps it had something to do with his new body, but they looked like green arcs. Don jumped to the side to avoid the first volley, then noticed a second coming in his direction. He jumped away again, narrowly avoiding the second volley, but Don didn't notice a slab of earth beside him.
He slammed into the slab, and before he could move, the slab would jut out spikes that pierced through him. Don activated his Spatial Distortion to distort his arm while jumping away from the slab. A growl left his lungs, and he shifted his attention towards the General.
Several spears of flames were racing towards him now, and without hesitation, Don dashed towards them. Using his Spatial Distortion, he brought out his Tonto and the Longsword and cut down the spears of flames. Even if he wasn't a master swordsman, he knew his way around a blade. In addition to that, his experience in combat and knowledge of weapons would come to his aid.
This wasn't the first time he had cut down or shot down objects coming at him, and it wouldn't be his last. He'd be damned to die here, by the hands of a Government Dog, no less. Don hated the New World Government for reasons that could easily be known. Regardless, with the General being here, it meant that infiltrating the fortress later would be easier since one of the Warlords was in front of him.
The General saw his attacks weren't getting him anywhere and moved to another strategy. Quickly he began creating small balls of ice in the palm of his hand and had them viciously rub against one another. An electrical charge started to spark around his hand, and when he found the output just right, he swung his arm out.
A bolt of lightning shot from the electrical charge. Don wasn't expecting this at all, so it caught him by surprise. Although, he did not panic. The moment he saw the electrical discharge, he activated a lesser version of Timeless Flow, which didn't halt time, but merely slowed it. Even if he wanted to halt the time around him, it wouldn't be possible. He was only able to use his Seed Powers due to his immense amount of willpower.
Don tossed the tonto at the bolt of lighting, using the metal as a conductor to pull the lighting towards it. He would slip past it and toss the Longsword at General Smith. This wasn't something someone normally did, and this caught the man off guard for two reasons. The first being how fast Don was moving. So the movement of the tossed Tonto and tossed Longsword seemed extraordinarily fast. The second being that Don tossed the weapon at all.
Out of reflex, General Smith created an ice wall to shield himself from the longsword. This blocked his view of Don, which was not a good thing since when he dropped the wall of ice, Don was no longer there. Looking around quickly, General Smith saw the barrel of a pistol in front of his face and used another of his Seed Powers as an emergency evasion tactic. It was called Blink.
It allowed the person to teleport in any direction within a fraction of a second. There was no limit to how many times it could be used, but it consumed a lot of energy just to use it. It wasn't a Speed or Reflex Seed Power like most thought. No, it was a Space Seed Power. It was legit teleportation, not just rapid movement.
This was why Don's bullet missed even though the gun was right in front of the man. Don kissed his teeth and turned around to see General Smith right behind him. Quickly, Don readjusted his aim and pulled the trigger. General Smith was actually going to try and assassinate Don, which was why he teleported behind him.
But Don knew what the General was after. He had nine years' worth of memories fighting against this man. So, he knew how the man operated. Even though he knew this, it didn't mean that killing the man would be any less of a pain in the ass.
General Smith used Blink once again, but instead of appearing behind Don, he just appeared away from him. "This kid.... he reacts to everything I do. Is he related to the Rosario Group? That's impossible. The reports said he had no connection to them." General Smith thought.
Don glared at the General. 'He's still a pain in the ass, huh?' Melissa said, and Don nodded. "He has at least ten different Seed Powers. All of which are evolved, and none of them are weak or useless." Don said internally while wiping some sweat from his forehead to prevent it from entering his eyes.
His skin was starting to break out in a sweat. A sign that he had no longer had the energy to use his Seed Power. Even with the Mutated Seed keeping him alive and rewinding his body, he still needed rest. Even the boy told him he would still need to rest, sleep, and eat. After all, the Mutated Seed still drew upon energy.
General Smith noticed just how exhausted Don looked as well. "Perhaps that explosion earlier was him. If that is the case, then he probably just got out of a battle. No wonder he looks tired. This is my chance to kill him." General Smith thought and used multiple Seed Powers at once. Several flaming swords appeared on his right side, several spears of ice appeared on his left side, and arcs of wind that looked like saw blades seemed to appear above him.
If that wasn't enough, there were pellets of the earth starting to form beneath him. Seeing this, Don couldn't help but chuckle. "This bastard, even if he exhausts himself, he still plans on trying to kill me," Don muttered. He was thinking of a way to escape this attack. He couldn't use his Seed Power, and he didn't have any blades, just a pistol.
"Ah... fuck. This is gonna hurt..." Don said to himself and closed his eyes. There wasn't a thing he could do. He at least needed to shield his heart and head. If he did that, he was sure that the Mutated Seed would sustain him.
However, just as he thought about that, another thought came to mind. "Would it? If I have no energy to feed it, would it still keep me alive?" Don thought to himself, but there wasn't time to do anything about it. General Smith launched the overkill barrage of attacks. Don tucked himself in and used his arms to shield his head and chest, but his eyes went wide at what he saw.
A shadow of a figure had slipped in front of him at the last possible second. Arms spread out wide, with their back facing the attacks. Not all of the attacks hit, but once the attacks went through, the person stumbled forward with a weak smile on their face.
"Hey... Darling...." April said weakly. Don's eyes went wide, and horror overtook his features. April had several spears of ice in her body, areas of her body had been burned, and other parts bruised and cut deeply. She looked like a mess, and it was a wonder how she was still even alive.
"No..." Don spoke softly.
Don would step forward and catch April, who collapsed in his arms. He couldn't feel faint breath against him and a weak tremble.
"I.." April's voice was soft.
"Love...." Her voice was weak.
"You..." She finished with the last of her words, and her body became limp in his arms. Don fell onto his knees with disbelief at his features. This wasn't like back then when April was shot at. This time, April was in his arms. She wasn't moving, nor was she breathing. He checked her pulse, and when he found none, a wave of anguish washed over him.
"No. No. No. No. No. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Don exclaimed after repeating over and over again. His voice steadily went from a low mutter to a loud scream. "Again!? I lost you again!? Again!? But I am stronger! I trained everyone! I saved you! We had our base! I did everything right! No! This isn't right!"
Don screamed over and over as if his mental state was beginning to fall. Unknowing to him, his Mutated Seed was starting to pulsate and beat. In resonance with his present emotion. "If I hadn't left you alone... If I just told you... If I just forced you with me... None of this would have happened. It's all my fault again... Again, I was too weak... Again I was not strong enough... Again..." Don's voice went into a murmur.
"April..." Gabe felt pain in his heart at what he saw. He was with April the entire time. They decided to search the entry since they heard a thunderous sound coming from there. When they did arrive, they saw General Smith preparing a massive attack for Don, who looked as if he couldn't move.
Gabe didn't know what to do, but April had rushed towards Don before he knew it. He tried calling out to her and reaching his arm for her, but it was too late. She was already dead set on saving Don, and now that he saw what had just happened. He felt sorrow. Sure, they only knew each other for some moments now, but April was a cheery girl. She was full of light. It was easy to get along with her and befriend her. He saw their friendship being long and great, but now that was not happening.
Still, Gabe wasn't the only one who saw this. General Smith saw it as well, and even a crowd had formed to see what was going on. Everyone looked sad because the girl in Don's arms looked so young. General Smith didn't expect this to happen, but it didn't matter to him. "Well, how unexpected. Oh well, there is no need to worry. You will be joining her soon." General Smith prepared another volley of attacks, although this volley wasn't as powerful or massive as the last.
"I know what the problem is...." Don's voice was cold.
"I just need to kill everyone...." Don's voice slowly started to become monotone.
"I just need to kill everything...." An emotionless tone from Don.
"It doesn't matter what run it is, nor how many times I go back in time. You and everyone else always get in my way..." Don's expression became deadpan. Emotionless. Empty. As if telling someone he had nothing left to lose.
"Not this time..." Don's body began to distort intensely. It wasn't a normal distortion that would usually make his body look like an illusion of some kind. No, instead, it was more vicious. His body was starting to shift all over the place as if several souls were jumping from his body, trying to escape. The souls looked like various expressions and emotions that Don could have possibly expressed at this time.
Don set April down gently before standing up. "Once I reach the final month, I will make sure to keep my memories. I will hunt all of you down. Nightfall, The New World Government, Newborn, Richard, all of you who took from me. I will kill all within the first six months." Don's words felt like an unparallel oath. So much so that the Boy and his sisters, who were watching at the time, shivered in fear, which they never did.