"It's over for you, battle-crazed killer." A man spoke. By his uniform, he was a super soldier. However, there were some odd features to him.
First of all, his right eye was glowing purely in crimson red. His black hair was rather long, bushy, and very spiky. He had numerous scars on his face, making him look rather scary. The strangest characteristic of him was that he had a metallic glove on his right arm.
He was standing over a grievously injured Charles, who was bleeding profusely. Charles' intestines were exposed on the floor, and his right arm was severely mangled.
"You've killed many people to fulfill your battle lust, but in the face of true power, you could do nothing but get crushed." With a cold expression, the super soldier mocked Charles.
* * *
I was never motivated to get stronger until the day I fought that guy. But I've been able to go all out since! But maybe, with the NPC...
"Anytime you're ready." The NPC said.
With an excited smile, Charles responded, "Yeah! Let's go!" before running at him. They immediately started to fistfight. Right off the bat, the fight was more intense, as they were both moving around, unlike when the NPC only had to stay in place when fighting Nathan.
Despite the difference in Charles and the NPC's body proportions, they seemed dead even so far.
The doctor had healed Nathan, and he regained consciousness. He immediately noticed their fight.
"What the hell is going on now...?" Nathan asked.
"Charles got excited when he saw you get your ass beat that easily, and now they're fighting," Jack responded.
Get my ass beat...you didn't need to say it like that.
"Don't worry, Nathan, you're pretty good when it comes to leadership and decision-making," Zack said, attempting to console Nathan. Ada looked a bit annoyed upon hearing that.
"C'mon, let's take this 'sparring' up a notch!" Charles said before attempting to deliver a much harder punch to the NPC's chest. However, he avoided it and countered with a palm strike directly to the side of Charles' face.
That only made Charles more excited as he grabbed the NPC's arm.
This guy.
Charles proceeded to throw the NPC into the wall surrounding the perimeter of the warehouse. The NPC landed on the wall rather gracefully, and with physical strength alone, he stuck his right hand into the wall to stay on it.
Instantly, Charles rushed the NPC and tried punching him as he hung from the wall, but he blocked his fist with his free arm. The force sent him straight through the wall, though.
"The reinforced walls!" The doctor said in surprise.
Charles and the NPC continued their fist fight. They were moving around at rapid speeds now.
"HAHAHA! THIS WAREHOUSE IS IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! LET'S GO ALL OUT USING THE OPEN SPACE!" Charles declared with a crazy smile filling his face.
"Physical Enhancement - Adrenaline Doping!"
Charles' muscles got noticeably larger and more defined after saying this. As he was going in for a punch, the NPC was about to block and attempt to counter as he did before, but this time he noticed something.
Huh?
Just before Charles struck, the NPC moved out of the way. As Charles missed, a large gust of wind was generated from Charles' attack. Without letting up, Charles continued attacking the NPC. Instead of blocking, the NPC decided to dodge his attacks, with each of them creating large gusts of wind due to the pressure.
"Damn...I can't see anything!" Nathan said as he had to protect his eyes with his hands due to the air force. Everyone else had to do the same thing except for Jack.
"Damn, that bugger is pretty strong," Jack noted. "I wonder how much effort it would take to kill him." Although Jack said this, the gusts of winds were so loud that no one heard his statement.
"Haha! Why are you dodging all of a sudden!" Charles asked, still smiling immensely as he attacked.
"You did something to get stronger, didn't you?" The NPC responded as he was dodging.
"Haha! Yeah, I forcefully activated my adrenaline to send more blood to my brain and muscles, which increases my strength and speed!" Charles responded. "I'm glad that you can keep up for this long!"
"Heh, what makes you think I've been going all out?"
"Huh--" Much to Charles' surprise, the NPC caught his fist. That resulted in a massive gust of wind blowing all around them. The NPC immediately grabbed his arm with his next arm. Having both arms holding Charles' fist, the NPC turned around in front of him.
Suddenly, Charles felt himself being lifted off the ground. The NPC was about to do a throw on him.
This guy. He definitely reminds me of that super soldier.
As Charles was being lifted, the memory of the super soldier that defeated him flashed in his mind.
Their strength...strength that's enough to eat me up! This is the rush I miss!!!
With a smile on Charles' face, the NPC slammed him on the ground. The force of the impact was so great that it created many cracks in the ground and felt like it was the sound of an explosion.
Nathan and the rest of the party's jaws were dropped at what they witnessed.
The NPC stood still and watched Charles to see if he wanted to continue. Unsurprisingly, Charles got up with a grin.
"HAHA! YOU KNOW THIS ISN'T OVER YET, RIGHT!!!" Charles declared as he was bleeding a little from the head. That didn't phase him however as his eyes were bloodshot, and his signature battle-crazed smile was at its peak.
"Su--" Before the NPC could respond, the doctor came up.
"Guys! That's enough! You're causing way too much of a ruckus!"
"Come on! Just a little more!" Charles pleaded. Suddenly, the NPC's phone rang, attracting everyone's attention. He quickly answered.
"You heard the doctor, NPC. That's enough." The developer said. "Besides, if you guys accidentally destroy the warehouse, especially the trailer filled with explosives, that'll be a huge problem."
"Yes, developer, I understand. My apologies." The NPC said. "Sorry, Charles, I guess that we have to stop here for now." The NPC stated as the developer hung up.
"Sigh...okay," Charles said, immediately losing all excitement. "But next time, we'll have to finish this!"
"Sure." The NPC agreed. With the doctor sighing with relief, they returned to the warehouse.
Upon returning, Ada noticed she had received a message on her smartphone. She checked to see what it was about, and after reading the message, a devious smile formed on her face.
Good, they're wasting no time...this is why I like you guys.
In an attempt to not be noticed, Ada quickly wiped the smile off of her face. Unaware of the fact, however, Nathan had noticed her expression when she checked her phone.
* * *
Over to Rebecca, she had made her way back to her military base. She was limping in a passageway. The concerned eyes of fellow super soldiers were upon her.
"Hey Rebecca? Are you okay?" A super soldier asked, but she limped past them without responding.
This is all my fault...I let that disaster take place earlier...I need to make my way to the infirmary and get better quickly so I can go out and properly get rid of those criminals--
As she was internally resolving, she bumped into a super soldier.
"S-Sorry--" As Rebecca apologized, she noticed who she had run into. The super soldier was the same man that was in Charles' flashback.
Shit!
Fear immediately came over Rebecca as she looked at him.
"Rebecca." He started to speak. His voice was cold as ice, and he had a demeanor that pierced through Rebecca's soul. She was completely frozen in fear.
"What were you doing." He asked.
"I-I encountered one o-of the S-Class criminals." She stuttered. The fear was evident through her expression and her voice. "B-but they had back up, and I was--"
Before she was finished, he gave her a slap to her face. That stunned not only Rebecca but all the other super soldiers in the passageway who had noticed.
"Were you given orders to go deal with the threats of the criminals?" He asked. "Was it not the regular law enforcement dispatched around the country and not us, to mitigate collateral damage due to our strength?"
Rebecca, even though she was still fearful and shocked from the slap, started to shake in anger at his words.
"The...regular officers and soldiers aren't enough." Rebecca countered. "More people will just die if we don't help!"
And...I can't just sit by and do nothing after what they did to Malcolm and Rachel!
"You don't understand. What you feel isn't a factor. Going against the directions of superiors is not tolerated, Rebecca. But, go get patched up. I will give you one chance." He said as he walked past her. "Do not do anything on your own like that again."
Rebecca was left in her frustration, and spectating super soldiers were just looking at her in surprise and concern.
Damn it...stop acting like you're the greatest thing. You failed to get rid of Charles all those years ago.