Chapter 13: Electrode's Heart!
After navigating through the dark passage and narrowly avoiding some insidious traps placed by God-knows-who, the three boys soon found themselves in a large room with a statue of a man holding a huge axe in his right hand, and a bright glowing octahedral crystal in his left.
"Electrode's heart! This is going to be a piece of cake—"
Before his happiness could get to the three boys, they soon found out that they were not the only ones in the room.
"Oh shit. Really? Is this some kind of sick plot or something?" Zayn moaned.
There they were, the seven figures they met earlier, standing in a corner of the room. Well, one of them was trying to reach for the shiny golden axe about twenty meters above their heads.
Leaping up to grab ahold of the axe, a lean man with short spiky black hair with traces of white streaks on it swiped the axe off the statue.
"I don't know why you were so cautious. This was easy." Handing the axe over to the purple clad man, the lean man stated.
"Was it really that easy? It seemed a little too easy don't you think? Come on guys! Let's go get the crystal." Zayn mumbled the first part.
As the three of them rushed over to get the crystal, a clear voice tried to stop them.
"Stop right there!"
The three of them paid no heed to the voice and moved forward with an even greater speed, with Zayn turning into a electric blur that flew gracefully into the air and grabbed the head sized crystal with a whoosh.
Landing on the ground like a graceful swan, Zayn held the crystal that released faint streams of energy through his palms, like a pulsating heart.
"Did you not hear me? I told you to stop." The lean man spoke in a clear voice.
"I don't really think that you have the right to tell us to stop." Kai grunted forcefully.
"No. But—" The man was fiercely interrupted by Kai.
"But nothing! You guys got what you came for by the looks of things. And we got what we came for. So I don't think that you guys have any reason to block our way, now do you?" Kai shouted rudely.
"Why do you waste so much time with them Ming? You three! Hand the crystal over. Them you can leave." The purple man stated nonchalantly.
The three boys looked at each other.
"Hahaha!" Kai started to laugh heartily. Zayn and Lynn couldn't help but join in, releasing sounds of mirthful laughter.
The seven figures looked at them with confusion and condescension, like they were looking at fools.
"Zayn, you hear what he said? He said we should hand the crystal over! Well, should we? You're the boss after all..." Kai continued to laugh.
"Look, we'd love to play this game with you...but not now. And we need this crystal, so I don't think we can give it to you. Sorry." Zayn stated politely, with Kai stifling a laugh.
"Well, too bad then. I guess we're gonna have to do this the hard way. It would be such a tragedy if three young boys like you could get yourselves killed in such a place. I wonder what your parents might think." The lean man said, licking his lips slightly.
"It's quite funny. I was thinking almost the exact same thing." Zayn cracked his neck.
At the same time, the lean man rushed forward, along with the dark man and the average looking lady; as they released their genetic energy, activating their genetic abilities.
The lean man's speed increased significantly as his figure turned into a blur, running towards the three boys with the intent to kill.
"Trying to show off your speed? Laughable." Zayn smirked.
"Compared to me, you may very well be as slow as a snail." He added as faint sparks of electricity trailed around him. Equally running towards the man, tiny black coloured grain like objects gathered on Zayn's palm.
The two of them swished past each other like a scene from a movie.
Whoosh!
A second later, the lean man suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. Holding his neck tightly, he collapsed on the ground in shock and utter horror.
"Ho...how?" He gasped as he drew his last breath.
"This was no contest. You do not need to look so shocked. You were playing with your life the moment you decided to act against me." Zayn replied with an evil smirk on his face as the thin metallic grain like objects coiled themselves around Zayn's palm like a dangerous whip.
"What the hell? These are just kids! How could they be so strong!" The average looking woman exclaimed angrily.
"Oh. You haven't seen the half of it." Kai interjected with a small chuckle.
Kai burst forward with an inhuman level of speed, taking out a small box which transformed into a two meter long obsidian scythe with a seven feet long curved blade that shone with a cold edge.
Slashing the scythe forward, the blade made a bloody gash on the woman's face before she could even react.
Swish!
Drops of crimson liquid trickled down the scythe's blade as Kai spun it around with an incredible amount of dexterity, evidence that he was very proficient with the weapon.
"Ahh! My face! You little bastard! What have you done to my face! My beautiful face!" She let out a horrified shriek.
"Beautiful?" Kai raised an eyebrow.
"I dunno know about that...but in my opinion, I think you look better this way. It brings out that inner rage in your eye." He added with a casual smile.
'I think this bastard is enjoying this a bit too much. So sadistic. This is why he'll never get a girlfriend.' Zayn laughed inwardly.
"You bastard! I'll kill you!" The woman raged.
She was furious!
How dare this bastard ruin her face?!
She spat out a mouthful of purple gas that quickly diffused into the surroundings. The other five seemed to take note of her ability as they hurriedly put on a set of masks that covered their faces.
Esper Ability, [Acidic Breath]!
The mist soon approached the direction of the three, but before Kai could activate his ability and get into full on battle mode, Zayn gently patted his shoulder.
"Kai. Let me try something." He insisted.
Kai took a step back in agreement.
"Such an ability. Intriguing." Zayn smirked coldly as he stared at the fast approaching purple fog coming towards them.
Snap!
As Zayn snapped his fingers, a huge burst of flames appeared out of nowhere, burning through the mist and incinerating the woman in a matter of seconds.
The woman couldn't even let out a scream as her whole body was engulfed in flames.
Kai, Lynn and the five were flabbergasted.
"What the hell bro?! Do you have Flame Control now?" Kai shouted.
"Nope. Something better." Zayn gave a vague answer.
The dark man hurriedly put a distance between himself and the three, warily staring at them.
"You three possess some skill. How about we let this go and you can leave?" The man in the purple cloak addressed calmly.
"Like hell we are. Do you think that this can be settled as easily as this? Hand over the axe." Kai shouted with a tinge of malice in his voice.
"Do not bite off more than you can chew. For your own good, leave. And this matter may be considered settled." The man stated nonchalantly.
"Nah. We'll take our chances. Hand the axe over." Zayn interrupted sharply.
"Sigh. How troublesome." The man threw off his purple cloak, revealing a set of sleeveless combat gear that accentuated his toned body. On his arm, there was a peculiar fierce looking tattoo of a bat with a very murderous appearance.
The moment Zayn saw this tattoo, his face changed.
"Guys, be careful. He has a gene enhancement." Caution flashed in his raven black eyes.
"Gene enhancement? You mean like a gene symbiote?" Kai asked confusedly.
"Yes. But not a gene symbiote. He used a gene scroll. How do you think Espers became EsGen before the use of gene symbiotes?" Zayn stated.
"Oh. You recognize this. Too bad. You won't live long to get to tell anyone else." The man pointed at the bat tattoo on his arm.
A gene scroll was sort of like a gene symbiote, but it used a different method of creation, a method that seemed closer to magic than anything.
When a beast died, an esper just had to write their genetic data in a set of arcane codes, engrave them into a scroll, and drop the beast's core essence blood into it. Simple.
Although this method was very efficient, there were some problems that existed in actually making a Genetic Scroll. And throughout the passage of time, the method of making them gradually faded away, known only to a select few, who chose to keep this knowledge for themselves.
The man's energy surged like a river as he activated his ability.
Esper Ability, [Bat Devil Transformation]!