[Two Weeks Later]
A soldier in a black-red battle-suit stood in front of a window at an abandoned laboratory. He was alone. He was calm and relaxed. There had been a report on the radio recently. A group of twenty was acting on a credible source. They found a strong lead and had set up a stronghold. They were barricading the unknowns in.
Another soldier in a battle-suit stood behind him, doing stretches and warm-ups to prepare for entry.
"Sikhail, we're really not going in officially? I'm taking a huge risk like this," the soldier asked.
"The risk is yours to take. I'm here to stir the pot. I have no problem with it. This isn't required for me to accept your duel," Sikhail replied.
"You mean covert insubordination. I joined because I was interested. I always wanted to try something like this," Sophia interjected with a smile.
"You have reservations," Sikhail stated bluntly, calling her out.
"They needed a team of twenty to not fall into the same situation. We're three less than my original team," Sophia explained.
A strange yet profound aura burst from Sikhail. He slapped the air with a palm, rerouting it. It penetrated the building, covering it from the inside out. Strange moans could be heard amid the sounds of scurrying. Sophia immediately shuddered from the sound.
"Wait, your battle-suit is changing right in front of me! How is that possible??" Sophia whispered loudly.
He looked down. The battle-suit was deforming and reforming as it bathed in the aura he released. The color red became the material diamond. Random slots appeared on his arm. A similar sensation was spreading all over his back. He keenly felt that they were for extra weapons. His battle-suit was thicker and bulkier but still as flexible and lightweight.
He didn't expect the battle-suit to be affected by his Supernatural affinity. A name appeared in his mind.
'Extreme Hollow Overlord, a Holo-suit,' Sikhail thought.
It was forged by concentrating enormous energy in an isolated space. The flow of energy in the building reversed the flow of causality back at him, reforging the suit.
'How unexpected. My Supernatural affinity has such weird interactions. Where do I even begin with this,' Sikhail sighed upon realization.
As that thought consumed his mind, a vast void appeared. He looked around, vigilant but stunned. He laughed a moment later.
'Is this a tutorial on demand? I was only kidding. This kind of thing should be explored later when I'm alone. Sometimes thoughts aren't literal. I still appreciate this, though. Unfortunately, I have no insight into the state of my physical body.'
He observed the state of the world around him. Hundreds, maybe thousands of pillars were everywhere, all hanging in the void. The distance between them was not that great, but not exactly short either.
He stepped to the edge and looked down. No end in sight. He stretched and turned, extending his hand out. The presence of five different elements ignited and combusted on his arm, surprising him. He recognized them as fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning. The motion of gripping his hands caused a gun to appear. It resembled a pistol, a shotgun, a rifle, and many other things, but the form factor was closest to a pistol. Curiosity overcame him as he pointed to a pillar and pulled the trigger.
A scattershot hit every pillar in a straight line as far as the eye could see. He kept on aiming, kept on pulling the trigger. The convenience of a pistol, a shotgun's spread, an explosive's destructive capability, and a rifle's precision. This pistol was impossible, yet he was holding it.
'I guess I close the distance? The name of the Holo-suit sounds familiar.'
Overlord.
Someone who rules over others.
Hollow.
Empty space.
Extreme.
Highest degree or very great.
Great empty space. Rules over others.
Ruling others over extreme space…
Could it be?
Extreme space.
He looked at a distant pillar, contemplating momentarily before running to the edge and jumping. He focused on it, focusing more and more. The pillar got bigger and bigger. His feet touched the pillar. He took a few more steps. He looked around and looked back.
'Was this better than a teleport?'
He concentrated and focused. Slowly, bit by bit, each pillar moved, stacking below his own pillar. The more that were pulled, the heavier the burden became. At first, he was having an easy time. His muscles eventually started to strain. The trembling got worse and worse until he stopped. He took a few minutes to rest before checking his work.
'What!'
The void around him had distorted, squeezed. It pulled in millions of pillars from vast distances. It shocked him how many there were.
'Should I be concerned that I overdid it unknowingly or happy that I can bend and twist the concept of space?'
He was contemplating the situation when the stacked pillars began to rise. Above him, a black hole chewed through the fabric of space and time, pulling everything into its endless mouth.
'Not good!'
He tried to move to a pillar in the distance, but it only accelerated its momentum into the black hole. He went into overdrive, thinking about a possible solution when it hit him. He ran to the edge, jumped off, and moved forward into the endless void opposite the black hole.
'Flight! That has to be it! That has to be it! Moving myself to point A. Making point B come to me. Those are just clues to the main point! I can close the space to reposition a target. It's superior to flight!'
He continued to urge himself forward, and to his surprise, it went quite effortlessly. He did not know how far he had traveled when he suddenly crashed into the ground. He got up slowly, fearful that the black hole was still behind him. He sighed in relief. Sophia was helping him up. She had ran the moment he collapsed. He had solved the puzzle. He was back out now with a newfound understanding of the upgraded battle-suit.
"What happened? Are you alright?" Sophia asked with a worried tone.
"I'm fine. I was just lost in thought, and my legs fell asleep randomly," Sikhail shook his head, his heart touched.
Sophia frowned, unconvinced by the weird excuse, but shrugged it away at the end.
"Second thoughts?" Sikhail commented as though it wasn't a question.
"Did you already know about these things?" Sophia asked out of curiosity.
"Now I know," Sikhail stated.
"You're not scared?" Sophia asked, intrigued.
"Ruling over me through fear? Interesting. I'll be up for such a battle," Sikhail dismissed with a broad smile.
"When should we go in then?" Sophia changed the convo.
"When the coast is clear," Sikhail explained as he found somewhere to sit down and lean against.
"How are we gonna find out something like that over here?" Sophia asked.
"That aura I released earlier. I can sense their movements," Sikhail revealed.
"Is that one of your supernatural abilities?" Sophia asked, smiling.
"I wasn't able to lock onto those things. It's confirmation that they have supernatural methods to hide from me. They also know a supernatural being is nearby now. Doesn't matter though. Knowing and performing are entirely different ideas," Sikhail smiled before switching to a more neutral tone.
"Aren't they afraid? They were moaning," Sophia recalled.
"That was their reaction. How did you derive the meaning?" Sikhail corrected as he closed his eyes.
"Right," Sophia said, embarrassed.
Overhead, the moon was slowly navigating the starry sky. Wherever it was reflected, a midnight sheen provided a sense of warmth, friendship, and a place to call home. Numerous marvels comfortable in the night came out. Glow in the dark insects, owls, predators in the dark, an entire ecosystem.
She didn't know when, but he disappeared into the night. She looked left and right but couldn't find any trace of him. She knew where he had sat down, but currently, it looked more like a giant mound hill, a gathering for trade. Carpenter ants carried food, and raccoons ambushed anything smaller than them and attacked in crowds if it was bigger. Cats scoped out friendly critters, silently following them. A mouse quickly ran from cover to cover, picking up scraps it saw. It was a chaotic scene that mesmerized her.
(Huffff)
She quickly pulled out a gun as something grabbed at her. A shadow of a cat reaching out to hunt. She looked over and smiled. A cat was on her bucket list. She continued waiting.
-You still coming? Last chance-
-What! When did you leave-
-I waved to you earlier. You didn't respond. Assumed you had cold feet. Decided to ask again-
-I didn't see anything-
-You were distracted. That's why I waved-
-Alright, I'm coming. Where are you? Wait, how did you enter? I don't see a disturbance-
-Try and figure it out. Isn't leaving behind a sign of entry the same as admitting guilt-
-Damn it. Leaving me behind. Next time whisper or shout or something-
-The less noise, the better-
-You're making noise right now-
-Important noise is an acceptable risk-
-Hmmph. Better make sure next time-
Inside, a battle-suit began to materialize. The Extreme Hollow Overlord was a diamond in the rough. It had a distinct appearance in the otherwise empty room. It was a Holo-suit. It could be considered an advancement in technology, but it wasn't another battle-suit. At this time, it disappeared, fading into the surroundings. One needed an exceptional eye to be stunned by its splendor.
'Manipulating the space between two points. It could be used in this manner,' Sikhail said with a smirk.
He looked around. He turned on the onboard sensors, combining them with the aura he had left earlier. It created a mini-map of his surroundings on the interface. He installed his hybrid weapon where his hand, wrist, and upper forearm connected, one of many open slots for modifications. He set the trigger to fire off a shot when he clenched his fists. The threshold was above what he needed to land a devastating blow. It symbolized intent to kill.