Point-of-View: Tara Williams
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"Hm? Who's there!? Answer me or I'll fuck you up, cunt!" He exclaimed, as my footsteps echoed out.
Ugh, how charming. I'm getting a serious itch to kill this guy, and I really don't want to resist that desire.
"Tch, how absolutely repulsive," I spat in disgust, as I emerged from the shadows and came into view, "I'm not going to waste any more of my time, so I'll cut right to the chase...comply and come along quietly, or I'll be the one to fuck you up...cunt. This is your first and last warning."
There was a woman next to him-...or rather, there was a dead woman next to him. Her clothes had been ripped apart, and she was pierced onto a tall spike, which looked like it had burst up through her crotch and out her mouth, blood pooling around it.
"Huh? Who the hell are you, you uppity bitch!? Got a nasty mouth on you," He growled in response, before his eyes trailed up and down my body lustfully, "Mm, but that body isn't half-bad...think I'll use it to give my pipes another quick drain before I go out and have more fun again! And after I'm done, you'll end up just like this little whore!"
Oh, I can't wait to see the look on his face when this doesn't go the way he's envisioning it right now. He then fired out blocks of earth aimed at my legs, in an attempt to break them, but I saw his attack coming a mile away, and right before the chunks of earth could strike me, I broke them apart into tiny pieces with a blast of several water slashes.
"Wh-what the hell-...!?" He stuttered in shock, stumbling back.
"Hmph...fuck you up it is, then," I replied with a smirk, before shooting myself forward towards him with a blast of wind, closing the distance before he even realized what was going on.
I then grabbed his face with my right hand, kicked his heel to knock him off-balance, before slamming his head onto the floor with all my strength, eliciting a sharp gasp of pain from him as I felt his skull fracture, his head crashing down with a devastating impact.
Deep, heavy cracks spread out along the tiles from the point of impact, as the building shook and a cloud of dust got kicked up. Oops, I suppose that I shouldn't be using my full physical strength in a rundown place like this, another hit like that and this rooftop will cave in like an eggshell, and if that happens, then this building will collapse for sure.
I don't have the Physical Skill, but I'm still quite physically powerful...all Meta-Humans gain varying boosts to their physical abilities compared to normal humans, and for someone without a Physical Skill, my raw strength is especially high, and I forget to hold it back when I'm pissed...let's try and calm d-...
"Wh-what the-...who the h-hell are you, you m-monster!?" He blurted out, a slightly dazed look in his eyes as I lifted him up, a firm grip on the top of his head.
Huh? What'd he just call me?
"Care to repeat what you just said, you piece of shit?" I responded icily, glaring at him as I met his gaze, causing him to flinch like a little bitch, before tossing him straight up, grabbing his left ankle and then swinging him down like a whip with my full strength as I exclaimed furiously, "Just who do you think you're calling a monster, you lowly trash worm?!"
As his shoulders and the back of his head slammed onto the floor of the rooftop, the cracks rapidly widened further, and with a deep rumble, collapsed in on itself, loud crashes echoing out one after the other as the building began to fall apart, collapsing in on itself, forming a massive pile of rubble below as a heavy dust cloud rose up.
I kept myself from falling by using my Aero Skill to hover in the air, and I had secured the target, holding onto his ankle...I better get away from here though, otherwise I'll be clearly visible once the cloud of dust settles. I was using my Aero Skill to filter the dust around me, to keep myself from inhaling any of it.
I then quickly flew away as a crowd began to gather around the crumbled building, swooping down into a dark alleyway between a couple of half-built structures. I don't think anyone will come across me here, and if someone does, I can silence them without having to worry about any witnesses.
Hm? Is this guy dead? In hindsight, I might have slammed him a bit too hard back there...I mean, the impact collapsed the entire building, regardless of the fact that it was an old, rotting structure that was already starting to crumble and fall apart.
There's a big bump on the back of his head, along with a bit of a blood trickle, but he's still breathing, plus I can still feel his Aura. Tch, I suppose I should heal his head at the very least, I'll get an earful if he dies because of this.
"What a waste of my Aura...Light Skill: Healing," I sighed, reluctantly healing his head injury, before striking his midsection with my elbow to make sure that he'd remain unconscious.
Now, then...I suppose it's about time I wrap this up. But damn, seriously, even while unconscious his Aura is this immense? The first, and one of the most important, skills we Meta-Humans are taught is to keep our Aura suppressed in order to prevent others from sensing us, called Aura Control. And while it's relatively easy to master, it's an absolutely crucial technique for a Meta-Human to learn.
The hardest part of that training is to keep your Aura suppressed while sleeping...that's done by making suppressed the default state of your Aura, which requires a ton of repetitive, boring practice. Anyway, before Aura control is mastered, a person's Aura while unconscious is only about half as potent as it is while they're awake.
But even with that fact, I can still feel this guy's Aura very, very clearly, it's even more immense than some Meta-Humans are with their Aura at full capacity...it's a good thing that he isn't in control of it, otherwise the pressure might have slowed me down. Well, anyway, I need to stop wasting time and leave already...
I took out my phone and dialed a number, contacting the nearest Harmony base.
"Hello? Yeah, this is Williams, you should have been informed already. Yes, that's right...come pick me up at my current coordinates, I've got the target in my custody. How long will you take? Seriously, half an hour!? Tch, fine, just hurry up...and I swear, if you take even a minute longer than half an hour, I'll-...hello? Did they just...hang up on me? I'm gonna-...!" I began, before trailing off as I sensed something.
It was very, very faint, but I could feel a few Auras around me...am I surrounded? I quickly channeled Aura around my eyes and glanced around, to see several Auras around me, Meta-Humans...none of them looked all that powerful though. There's a lot of them, and there might be more of them than I'm sensing and seeing.
I think the ones that I am sensing are unable to fully suppress their Auras, meaning that they couldn't master Aura control completely...how insulting, that means they're likely Category 4s and 5s, the lowest ranked Meta-Humans.
Most of those that are ranked as such tend to live normal lives in regular society, since their Meta powers are too weak...them trying to fight me is like a house cat trying to fight a tiger. And that's me being generous.
No doubt that the fact that they're sneaking around means...they're from Eden. Tch, they must have followed me by keeping track of this douchebag's Aura. Unbelievable, I can't believe they sent such weaklings to face me. Still, I'm not going to underestimate them...no, I'll crush them with everything I've got.
"Who's there!?" I exclaimed, feigning nervousness as I put up my guard, "Come out and show yourselves!"
After a few seconds passed by with no response, I then heard footsteps closing in on me from every direction, as several figures appeared all around me.
"There sure are a lot of you, huh?" I remarked icily, scanning my surroundings.
Tch, normally these numbers would be nothing for me, especially at their levels, but all of my attacks that could wipe them all out in one go aren't viable options, because I'd definitely end up killing this guy too.
"It's only natural...one of us was tailing the Outlier by your feet, when they spotted you in pursuit, one of the Category 0 Meta-Humans of Harmony, Tara Williams. And the only logical move after that was to call in as many reinforcements as possible. First, we will retrieve the Outlier, and then, we will dispose of you, even if costs us our lives," Remarked one of them.
"Outlier? Is that what Eden's calling them?" I responded with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, he isn't a natural Meta-Human, so that makes him an outlier to the norm, doesn't it?"
I suppose that makes sense...and it would be good to have a term to refer to these artificial Meta-Humans with, I suppose. Now, then, time to focus...
By the way these Eden lackeys carry themselves, it's just like I thought...most of them seem to be Category 4 or 5 Meta-Humans, with a few that might be lower-end Category 3s. Definitely no Category 2s or above, none that I can see, anyway...which means that they're delusional if they actually think they can beat me.
Stealing the Outlier from me, though...yeah, that's pretty likely, actually. If I fight while defending him, I'll have to hold back a lot, and with their numbers, they might actually be able to kill me in that scenario...minute and unlikely as that possibility is, it still exists.
And you know what, I refuse to sacrifice myself for this piece of shit, him being an artificial Meta-Human notwithstanding, I find him to be a disgusting human being in general.
"Alright, then, you want this thing?" I inquired, stepping on his head, before taunting with a smirk, "Well, what are you waiting for? Come and get him!"
They didn't need a second invitation, as they shot towards me simultaneously, before several got knocked away as I fired out a wave of wind from myself, though a few managed to stay standing.
"Take this, Pyro Skill: Fireball!" Exclaimed one of them, as she leapt up in front of me with a fireball in her hands.
"Light Skill: Flash!" Yelled out one of the others that was behind her, right as another one sprang up behind me.
Hmph, do they really think blinding me is enough to get me? Even when fully suppressed, Aura can still be sensed if it's at a close range, within upto around six meters to be precise, the exact number varies from person to person, depending on their Aura capacity.
And most of these losers can't even fully suppress their Auras, so that range was probably more like eight to ten meters...so I don't need to see these weaklings in order to counter their movements, I can sense them coming well in advance.
I fired out a powerful blast of water at the one who had leapt straight at me with the fireball, putting out the flames as I simultaneously swung my foot out behind me to knock away the one to my back, my heel slamming onto the bottom of his face at an angle, the force breaking his neck, his Aura fading fast as he lifelessly collapsed to the ground with a thud...alright, I don't sense anyone else nearby behind me.
I then shot forward towards the one that had blinded me, who stumbled back a bit in alarm...
"Aqua Skill: Water Slash!"
As I sliced off their head, something felt off...none of the others are getting close at all. Oh, looks like my eyes are almost back to normal...I slowly opened them, to see that the remaining Eden lackeys were looking at me triumphantly...oh, no, don't tell me-...!
Tch, I got careless...one of the ones behind me had captured the Outlier. His arms were literally wrapped around his unconscious body, stretched out like rubber bands...damn it, I see why I didn't sense him...had he been hiding in wait for an opportunity to steal the Outlier from me? I can't believe I missed it, that guy must be at least a Category 2, maybe even a Category 1...
He's got a Physical Skill that lets him extend and elastify his arms, he must have stretched his arms out while I was blinded and preoccupied with taking out the three that were attacking me at the time...he's slinking away now, while the rest are surrounding me and closing in. And their seemingly-uncontrolled Auras were now perfectly under control.
Tch, don't tell me that the others partially released their Auras on purpose to distract me by making it seem like they're lower-ranked than they actually are, and get my attention away from the one with the stretchy arms?
Damn it, they got me, how infuriatingly humiliating...fine, guess I don't have a choice, I'll make sure none of them live to talk about it. Not that I was planning on letting them get away alive anyway...
"You think you can make a fool out of me? Hmph...congratulations, Eden scum...you've managed to royally piss me off!" I snapped, as I unleashed the full extent of my Aura, a powerful shockwave bursting forth from me and causing them to stumble back with terror in their eyes, their knees buckling and their bodies trembling as I released my full power...
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