"AND NOW! FOR THE ROUND EVERYONE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR!! THE BATTLE OF THE YOUNGEST TO TAKE ON THE MILITARY EXAM IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!!!
ON THE RIGHT, WE HAVE THE CHARMING YOUNG BOY AND THE NEXT IN LINE TO BE KING, THOMAS ISAAC OLDTON!!! AND ON THE LEFT WE HAVE THE MYSTERIOUS YOUNG RIVAL, BJÖRN TROMBORG!!!" The announcer speaks out to the large crowd that is present there to see the match between Tommy and Björn.
"Oh my god he is so cute!", "How handsome!", "What a charming boy!", a bunch of similar responses of cheer come from the crowd, especially the girls, upon witnessing Tommy who waves at them.
"TOMMY!! YOU CAN WIN THIS!!" Yoko cheers as loud as she can from the crowd, followed by Oli who had just arrived also cheering on saying, "YOU CAN DO THIS BIG BRO!!", to which Tommy loudly replies, "YOU GUYS GOT NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!!"
Right as the announcer is beginning the countdown from three to then two, Björn doesn't waste a single second and closes the gap between himself and Tommy while he's busy waving at the people cheering for him during the countdown.
Right as the countdown is almost down to one, by the time Tommy diverts his attention to Björn as the countdown is about to hit zero, with not even a nano-second to spare, Björn drops a low kick onto Tommy's lower right leg which catches him off guard.
As Tommy immediately begins to fall towards the left from the impact of the kick, in no time, Björn manages to grab hold of Tommy's left shoulder, slams him onto the center of the ring and unleashes a barrage of seemingly endless punches as the part of the ring beneath Tommy starts cracking from the impact of Björn's attacks on him.
However, within seconds, Tommy sets his palms together in front of Björn's face who cannot seem to stop his barrage of punches at the given moment, and screams, "FORCE: PUSH!!!", which sends Björn flying but he manages to land on his feet in no time, albeit he is dragged to nearly the edge of the ring while trying to land onto it.
"He's strong… I've got to be careful with the pace of my punches or it'll get harder to dodge his repulsive force attack…" Björn thinks to himself while staring at Tommy's direction.
While Björn had been pushed back, after a few seconds of struggle, Tommy manages to get onto his knees from lying flat on the ground earlier but notices that he is still struggling to stand up.
"That darn low kick must've broken my right leg… I've got to give it to him, he's fast, but when he starts continuously punching, his body gets streamlined towards the opponent, in this case, me, which puts way too much friction behind him to pull off a backward dodge… If I manage to pull off a middle cut, he'd be pushed into the void of friction behind him which would temporarily wobble him in the air and leave me a perfect window to land another Force: Push…" Thoughts rush through Tommy's head as he plans a counter attack.
Tommy then uses a sledgehammer onto his lower right leg which makes him squeal in pain for a few seconds but allows him to get back up normally.
"It is gonna keep hurting like hell but if my theory is right, when bones crack, there should be a bubble of pressure there… Using my ability, it should expand that bubble's radius long enough to hold the entire crack in place and make the bone act as if it never broke…" Tommy's thoughts continue for less than an instant as his eyes turn back and onto his opponent.
Having seen but not understood what stunt Tommy had just pulled off, the audience who was first in shock of Tommy potentially having gone insane from the pain, to now, a sigh of relief upon seeing his maneuver letting him stand back up.
"He may look like an airhead but his true intellect always comes through in a battle…" Thoughts rush through a coldly sweating and concerned Yoko's head upon seeing Tommy's growing feats in battle.
"Leave it to brother to come up with surprise maneuvers like that to continue a battle… In my experience training with him and seeing him fight others, it is impossible for him to not find a way to prolong his standing in battle… But what was that punching technique that Björn guy used…?
His speed seems to have increased with each punch yet for so many punches to land, could he be exchanging the impact force's value for just speed alone though…? Something doesn't add up… The friction behind him wouldn't be this high for a feat like that and the extra binding energy he expelled…" Oli's tries to analyze the fight in his head.
"Looks like the low kick couldn't break Tommy's leg at all! Now is he not one of the toughest fighters out there!?" The announcer exclaimed to the audience who now began cheering for Tommy again.
Back to the battle however, Björn retracts his attacking stance seeing how Tommy is just standing there as his own thoughts continue to rush through his head… "He cannot be underestimated. There's a very good chance I could lose if I take one misstep… I might have to retract my technique before it streamlines my body again… But that would slow this fight down a lot… Judging by how quickly he recovered from my low kick, he might recover too fast if I don't let my technique stack its area of effect…"
As Tommy and Björn start walking in circles next to each other, all their minds can think of is the same thing… "This battle is really down from the smarts to now a battle of durability… The one to survive the next major blow and get back up for the final blow will be the true winner… But the real question is… Who is gonna start with the initial attack…"
As they continue walking circles around each other, Björn comes to a sudden realization upon taking a closer look at Tommy… "His right leg… It didn't fully recover… Even if his durability exceeds mine, I am still unharmed and with the damage I had inflicted on him at the start of the match, he still looks fatigued and in pain judging from the blood under the tip of his lip…
Looks like if I keep walking a little longer, whatever remedy he applied would wear off and hinder his movements when he tries to get past my other maneuvers… "
After another few minutes of walking, Björn mumbles, "It's time…", as he opens his arms up and a circle of his afterimages surround Tommy.
"What the!? Now there's a bunch more of him… It has got to be related to his speed considering the distortions in his image but it is going to be difficult to make out where the real one is…" Tommy thinks to himself upon being surrounded by a bunch of Björn's.
The afterimages then start attacking Tommy who gets stuck in a dilemma to figure out which of the afterimages is actually Björn. Having hit multiple of them, a bunch just disappeared into the air upon being hit while the ones Tommy lands and dodges disappear after their own respective hits until Tommy is finally kicked on the back by the real Björn which sends Tommy flying due to not being able to maintain a grip on the ground because of one of his legs being injured at the start of the fight.
Björn then dashes ahead of Tommy and finally unleashes his unrelenting barrage of punches yet again while Tommy is completely vulnerable
As his barrage of punches gets stronger and stronger with each punch, Björn finally speaks up to Tommy saying, "Now that your loss is imminent, I'll let you in on my technique… We both manipulate force through our binding energy abilities. While yours is greater for ranged combat and final blows, I on the other hand excel at close combat! Have you ever heard of how force can not only cause movement but also change the shape and size of the bodies it is directed on?
My ability allows me to exchange the impact value of the punches that land on my opponent into speed as well as expanding and changing the shape of their vitals inside their body… This in turn causes ruptures and fractures at a faster rate inside the opponent… And this is…"
As Björn's explanation finishes, he screams, "THE FINAL BLOW!!!", as he unleashes his final punch onto Tommy's gut which makes his pupils disappear momentarily, sending him flying onto the edge of the ring and falling unconscious.
Upon seeing Tommy fall unconscious, as Björn starts taking steps towards walking out of the ring, he speaks up to the unconscious Tommy yet again saying, "You were a tough opponent Tommy. Our intellect and durability were almost in sync but in the end, my technique was superior, that's why I won… Better luck next year…"
Momentarily as Björn was almost about to step off the ring, the announcer was counting down from ten until one. As the countdown approached five, Björn with his back turned on the announcer and the unconscious Tommy simply spoke up again saying, "There is no use in counting down… He'll be out for quite a few days judging by the blow my perfect balance technique had inflicted on his vitals… It's better to not deduct those few seconds of precious life he has from the indefinite amount of time left for him to survive…"
The audience is at the edge of their seats as the countdown approaches eight. The kids his age that had been rooting for him have their hands in front of their eyes from the violence they had just witnessed. Yoko has a noticeable frown on her face yet her fists are clenched as she prepares herself to finally scream, "TOMMY!! GET UP!!! YOU CANNOT LOSE LIKE THIS!!! I KNOW YOU'VE GOT MORE FIGHT LEFT IN YOU!!!"
"What's big bro doing… He hasn't even put up a real fight… I remember him being far stronger than this… What could've made him hold back this gravely…" Oli's thoughts rush through his head as his eyes stare at the battle ground with a cold sweat and an extremely serious look of concern on his face.
The candidates from the first round of the military exam are nearly tearing up while Björn just shrugs it off with a smug face as the countdown comes down to the last second.
Right before the countdown could hit one, at unprecedented speeds that no one could perceive, Tommy had gotten up in no time and had inflicted a heavy uppercut from his knee and onto Björn's crotch which sent him flying upward and falling onto his knees while grabbing his crotch in utter pain.
While Björn is busy trying to stand while also seething in pain, Tommy gets a devilish grin on his face and instantaneously takes a giant leap in the air, kicks Björn in the butt while he's bent over and continues the combo with another three kicks which nearly makes Björn run into the edge of the ring and fall off but he maintains his balance at the last instant.
As Björn takes a step backwards to look at Tommy, Tommy then exclaims, "Hah! You didn't think you're the only one who can do something like that right? Call it payback for hitting me when I wasn't looking right before the countdown at the start of the fight!"
"BUT HOW!? NOT EVEN THE MOST EXPERIENCED OF SOLDIERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO TANK MY FINAL BLOW!? COULD HE REALLY HAVE WON THE BATTLE OF DURABILITY ON TWO OF MY STRONGEST BLOWS!?" Björn thinks to himself while squealing from the pain of the numerous kicks Tommy had inflicted on him.
"What? Are you not gonna fight me anymore? Are you really gonna give up like that? Scared to hit me when I am still probably weak?" Tommy continues taunting Björn from a distance.
"DON'T GET TOO COCKY TOMMY, YOU'LL NOT SURVIVE THE SAME MANEUVER OF MINE AGAIN!!! MAYBE YOU SHOULD START PRAYING NOW!!!" Björn screams as he expands his arm into the air again to form afterimages and gets prepared to strike Tommy yet again, however, this time, Tommy simply rotates his body like a tornado while balancing on the leg that wasn't broken and dispels the afterimages Björn had formed with the kick of his other leg on all sides.
The tornado kick continues until he had hit the actual one and knocked had him back.
"You were saying how I should start praying earlier right buddy? You should know I would have assessed a solution to your afterimages by now! It should be you who should be concerned about not being able to land the same maneuver twice!" Tommy continues taunting Björn after performing a magnificent counter attack to his afterimages.
Within no time again however, Björn recreates the afterimages, however, this time, they double up and form two circles around Tommy as Björn, with a devilish expression of angst on his face, continues to speak up saying, "How're you gonna escape me this time Tommy?"
With no change in the calm and smug expression Tommy has on his face, he simply replies saying, "Like this!!!", and slams his fist onto the ground which sends a shockwave through where Björn was standing, temporarily dispels his afterimages and gives Tommy an opportunity to dash on on leg, rotate in the air and kick the real Björn in the face and send him flying to the edge of the ring again.
Right before Björn could stand again and finish recreating his afterimages, Tommy starts punching the ground repeatedly this time and in the direction of Björn which ends up forming a rock slide under feet that sends him flying in the air.
Seeing that, not sparing a moment to rest, Tommy takes another giant leap off the ground to fight Björn mid-air, however, Björn this time, formed his afterimages like a spiral around Tommy as he continued to speak up to him saying, "You've called this disadvantage upon yourself Tommy! You cannot dispel my afterimages in aerial combat with your ground punching!"
After saying what he had to say, Björn unleashes his special technique once again and starts pushing Tommy down to the ground from the air with another brutal barrage of punches. Smoke surrounds the entire ring leaving the audience at the edge of their seat again to see as to what the outcome of the mid air combat was.
As the smoke cleared, a smug Tommy had simply blocked Björn's final blow with a simple cross-armed defensive stance which had him in utter shock.
Björn immediately takes a few steps back in shock and awe of the situation. He is unable to assess what had just happened. It was impossible in his eyes to have anyone block the final blow of his special ability but Tommy just stood there smug as ever.
"Now that the ability you were so confident in has failed to land even a single blow on me right in front of your eyes, I guess you're in shambles now ain't ya Björn? A critical flaw with your technique is that you can never be sure of your own strength and your opponent's durability just at a glance.
I could hypothetically ask you to hit an average sized iron wall and you could maybe tear it down but if I were to ask you to hit a comically large iron blob, the closely packed iron atoms would reduce your ability to cause a mere dent while inflicting massive recoil on you." Tommy starts explaining to Björn the observations he had made throughout their match.
Björn just stands there shocked but continues to vocally ask, "Your reasoning is sound but that doesn't explain your case. You're just a human, not a comically large blob of iron!"
"I was getting to that. I simply used my force manipulation ability to form a barrier around my body that slows your punches down to 0 before reaching me. Also, since everything is made of binding energy, your punches materialized the binding energy making up this barrier from empty space. This acted like the closely packed atomic arrangement of the hypothetical and comically large iron blob I was talking about. And see these distortions in the air around me…?" Tommy continues to reply as the initial smug expression on his face turns into a devilish grin.
Björn's eyes nearly start popping out of his skull in fear realizing that his punches just now had led to his own downfall as the last of his thoughts pop up in his head saying, "So all those punches just now… Have turned Tommy's force barrier into a ticking time bomb…"
Tommy again with his devilish grin starts laughing as he continues saying, "I guess you've figured out how much recoil this barrier has in store haven't you? But that's not it, my ability can amplify the impact of this barrier setting off without any extra cost. I call that aspect of it the double impact that I learned from a cowboy named Max around a year ago.
It simply sums up all forces from mine and the opponent's directions at one hundred percent value right at the opponent with no energy to waste. And thanks to you telling me about your ability, I've learned that I can exchange some of the impact energy created with a different aspect of force itself.
Why am I telling you all this…? Because we both know that the radius of this barrier leaves you no room to escape. So much for you saying your technique is 'superior' to mine!"
Upon hearing all this, Björn braces himself for what is about to come by crossing his arms together and taking a defensive stance while staring at Tommy intensely.
Tommy's devilish grin gets exceedingly scarier as he brings his lower arm up. The distortions around him start gaining sparks around them as he flicks his fingers while uttering the words, "Strength of a thousand blows… MAXIMUM IMPACT!!!"
A gigantic explosive sound is heard within an instant of Tommy flicking his finger that leaves even the audience grabbing their ears in immense pain as a massive and visible white shockwave hits Björn, tears through his clothes and sends him flying through several walls several miles away. The impact of the move destroyed the entire arena, a bunch of the military exam grounds, as well as shredded a lot of the audience area, although everyone was safe and sound.
As the smoke and the sound clears, Tommy stands victorious with a smug look on his face yet again as he takes a giant leap off the ground and screams, "I WON!!!"
Right as Tommy takes the leap, the announcer finally screams his heart out by telling the result to the audience, "AND WITH THAT, THE WINNER OF THE MATCH IS THOMAS ISAAC OLDTON!!!"
Immediately, having seen the most intense final phase in any military exam, even the generals present there, along with the audience, start applauding like crazy to the immense feats of intellect and strength they could probably only see once if ever in their entire lifetime.
"HE DID IT!!!" Yoko and Oli scream while giving each other a high five.
"THAT'S MY GRANDSON!!!" The King screams after immediately getting up from his chair and waving his hands in the air.
"That kid might just be a captain class already..." Takeda speaks of Tommy's feats with an expression of amazement on his face while Toru continues, "As if he isn't already... He could really make it into the ranks of one in a few years…"
From a distance, M1ke and his team also feel the sheer impact of Tommy's binding energy and stand there surprised as M1ke himself exclaims, "Hah, looks like Tommy passed the military exam!", while his subordinates scream, "HELL YEAH!!!"
Leaving no time for the generals, the king or Yoko and Oli to come down to the ground and congratulate him, Tommy takes a high speed dash into Björn's direction.
In the distance, Björn laid down in the crater of the impact of Tommy's 'Maximum Impact'. His body was covered by bruises and cuts everywhere.
"Ugh… I can't get up… It has to be a miracle that I am even alive right now… It feels like most of my bones were broken by the effect of whatever move Tommy had used on me… It's getting harder to breathe… Am I really going to die like this…" Björn thinks to himself as his eyes are about to close but right at that moment, they reopen upon hearing the surging sound of Tommy dashing through to him.
"Yo! Björn!! Are you okay…? I didn't mean to hit you this hard… I tried to hold back some of the impact force by exchanging its value with the amount of distance you'd be thrown at but I guess I got carried away by the hype I had in my head… I didn't mean to injure you this badly… And for that I apologize…" Tommy bows and speaks up to Björn.
Upon seeing Tommy apologize, Björn just smiles and replies, "Shut up dumbass! We both decided from the start that we'll go all out even if the both of us are friends! And for honoring that my friend, I thank you! You put up a way better fight than I could've ever imagined…". However, immediately after saying all that, he starts coughing blood which scares Tommy as he rushes to his aid and helps Björn get up.
"Well.. I am glad you don't hold it against me… But we gotta get you to a hospital real quick…" Tommy mumbles as he lifts Björn to where he could get proper medical attention.
From a distance, a bunch of vehicles are seen coming. Out of those come out the generals, the king, a bunch of medical practitioners as well as Yoko and Oli. Not leaving a second to waste in the rescue, the medical practitioners put Björn on a stretcher and rushed him into an operation room.
"Not only did you display amazing feats as a fighter, but also as a human today. Despite whatever had transpired today, you rushed to your friend's aid first. And for that, I'm proud of you Tommy!" The king speaks up while walking towards Tommy and proceeds to pat his head.
"Great going kid. I'm excited to see what more you can do once you join us!" Similar opinions arise from the generals present there.
"TOMMY!!!!" Yoko screams while running towards Tommy's direction to hug him tightly. She then proceeds to give Tommy a long kiss on his cheek and proceeds to scream yet again saying, "I'M SO GLAD YOU WON!!! AHHH!!!"
Tommy is left blushing from Yoko's reaction and while he's still being hugged, Oli and Tommy just do a simple brofist, followed by Oli saying, "I knew you couldn't have lost. You were far from unleashing your full power when you were losing but then I figured you must be assessing the situation… That one month of training we had really paid off! You were amazing out there big bro!!"
"Thank you lil bro!" Tommy replies with a gentle smile on his face which is then reciprocated by Oli who passes a gentle smile to him as well.
The king then clears his throat and finally makes the announcement… "Thomas Isaac Oldton, on completion of the military exam, I hereby appoint you as a Lieutenant in the Interspace Military! Also… Happy birthday my grandson!!"
Upon the declaration, everyone present there starts clapping yet again as the king puts the badge of lieutenant onto his grandson Tommy while also saying, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMMY!!!"
About 30 mins into the celebration came running one of M1ke's subordinates, Joseph, who pants a bit and then says, "Has any one of you seen Petra around?", to which, all of them say they haven't, which suddenly changes everyone's expression to that of worry.
Right around that instant, Joseph had just received a message from M1ke's other subordinate, Neil, saying, "I've found blood around the sixth lane from the exam grounds. It smells as if she were here about two hours ago. I'll continue my search."
Upon getting hang of the info, Tommy immediately headed to the exit of the exam grounds without waiting a single second for anyone else to join him. Just then, one of the medical practitioners also reported that Björn had gone missing from his resting quarters.
With so much info to take care of, some of the generals and military personnel also scatter throughout the city to help out.
Luckily for Tommy, in no time while on his way to find Petra, he had spotted the escaped Björn. On seeing him, he called out for him by screaming his name but the sound seemingly did not reach his ears. In shock and fatigue of the situation, Tommy grits his teeth with a cold sweat on his face and decides to follow Björn through the city.
After following Björn for about an hour, Tommy had reached a really thin, covered up and isolated alleyway at the outskirts of the city. Without making a single noise, Tommy decides to follow Björn into this alleyway. Little did Tommy know that Yoko had silently been following him as well and was just behind him by about 10 minutes while also using her own intuition as to where Tommy may have gone and those being the more isolated areas in the city.
As Tommy continues going deeper into the alleyway, Yoko also finds a way to it and reports the others about the route as well. Continuing to walk into the alleyway, Björn enters what seems like an air vent which Tommy follows him into as well but as soon as Tommy goes through it, he realizes that it wasn't a vent but a completely hidden route to something much deeper.
From the looks of it, it seemed like an abandoned military operations facility that was underground but had recently been used for quite a bit before being abandoned again. Hiding behind a wall, Tommy observes Björn go down some sort of elevator and waits for Björn to make his way down first so as to not be caught by rushing his way in.
"What even is this place…? And how does Björn know about it…? Something's definitely not right here." Tommy mumbles.
"Yup, really fishy…" Yoko speaks up from right behind Tommy, now that she had been caught up to the situation at hand herself. Hearing her voice completely startles Tommy at first but then he replies, "What are you doing here…?", to which, she replies back saying, "We can talk about that later Tommy. I don't think you should be alone in this though. I'm not saying we should wait for more backup but the more you have right now, the merrier right?", to which Tommy nods in agreement.
After the elevator box had shown that the elevator had finally reached its destination floor and was coming back up, Tommy and Yoko sneakily walked right towards it. The elevator surprisingly only had a route to one floor and that was eighty meters below the city. Paying no heed to that, the two decide to proceed into this unknown abyss.
Meanwhile on the floor at the bottom of it all… Two figures, one completely covered in the shadows and the other being the black cloaked man who had killed Petra were standing next to each other… Next to them were corpses of nearly a hundred innocent people…
"You've done well, Kendall…" A mysterious dark figure with a robotic voice says to the black cloaked man, now revealed to go by the name Kendall, from earlier.
"Thank you boss… With this… The glory of the Tromborg clan will soon return…" Kendall replies.
"Think of it as you may. I'll only be taking only sixty six of these… Do as you wish with the rest… I am well aware of your resentment for the inhabitants of the royal capital. So as a reward for your assistance, thirty four of these hundred corpses are yours…." The mysterious dark figure continued.
"It was an honor to do business with you, Mr. Sina… However, I do have one question… Why did all corpses have to be… virgin women…?" Kendall asks.
"It is none of your business. I have no time for queries right now. Time is a very important currency for those who strive to be a cut above the rest. I will be taking my leave." The mysterious dark figure now revealed to be Sina replies.
"Well… I look forward to working with you again in the future, boss!" Kendall replies in a rather clumsy fashion.
"Your contributions end today. You may continue with your own ambitions for now… You never know when it will be the last day that you will ever be able to carry, let alone have any ambitions in your short life…" Sina passes his last reply before disappearing without a moment's notice.
"Sometimes the boss creeps me out too…" Kendall thinks to himself.
Just then, Björn had finally arrived in the room. Kendall, who has his arms on his waist and a slightly annoyed look asks, "So who made such a mockery of the Tromborg clan's prodigy and my only brother?", to which Björn replies saying, "I lost fairly… But I'll make sure to get stronger and not lose again."
"Not lose again eh…? But what is the point? You lost to the arch nemesis I've been preparing you for your entire childhood. I helped you come up with one of the strongest applications of the abilities one can have and this is what you've come to tell me? You lost anyways? Do you have any idea how much you have shamed the many lives of our clansmen that were taken by the royal family years ago during the war? Is this what you will tell them in the afterlife…? That their final descendant lost too??" Kendall speaks to Björn furiously while slamming his hands on a table and breaking it.
"I apologize…" Björn replies while being completely frightened by his brother's wrath.
"Apologize…? What do you take me for…? A FOOL?! I know what you were doing there the entire time. I have a tracker and audio recorder installed inside one of your molars. While you were busy softening yourself up to your so-called 'friend' that belongs to the ROYAL BLOODLINE, our SOLE ENEMY, I was busy fighting for the cause of the great Tromborg clan alone!
See all these thirty four corpses lying around here? These are the wretched citizens of the royal capital you were so eager to cozy up with. They slaughtered our people the same way and we were here to bring about the same fate to them. You were to infiltrate the military by today and follow the elaborate plan I had set up to take the entire main base of its operations down. But because of you, it has been delayed and my pals out there are angry at ME for something YOU are at fault for." Kendall continues screaming at Björn while slamming things around.
"Maybe not all of them are evil… People change… These people weren't even in the war… Neither I nor Tommy were even born until the war had ended… Why do we have to annihilate all and not just the ones that harmed us… They are still innocent… Wasn't our clan's value to protect the innocent…? Wasn't it YOUR values that I looked up to you for…?" Björn replies while crying aggressively.
"You talking about values to ME? YOUR OWN BIG BROTHER?? Let me get this straight to your head…" Kendall speaks to Björn in an even more wrathful tone before bringing out an electrocution-based weapon out of his pocket and igniting it with electrical sparks.
As Kendall tases his younger brother and makes him scream in pain, he screams, "BY ENDING THE LIVES OF THE BLOOD OF SINNERS, I AVENGE THE VERY LOST SOULS OF THE PEOPLE OF OUR CLAN THAT DIED IN THE WAR!! NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO, THEY WERE BORN OF THE SEED OF A SINNER AND WILL PAY FOR IT WITH THEIR OWN DEATH!! GET IT NOW!?!"
"I GET IT!! I GET IT!! STOP!!" Björn screams until another voice apart from the two echoes…
"HEE YAH!!" Comes a kick to Kendall's face from Tommy which sends him flying and slams him onto a wall.
"You good, Björn?" Tommy asks.
"I'M FINE BUT HOW DID YOU FIND THIS PLACE!?" Björn screams back at Tommy with the same frightened expression because of the act of abuse his brother had done against him.
"Ask the questions later… I am here to get you out of here so we can get to finding Petra. And don't worry. You're right. Your brother however…" Tommy continues to reply to Björn but immediately shifts his face towards Kendall as he continues, "I, Lieutenant Tommy of the Interspace Military am now here to arrest you for the murder of thirty four innocent people from the royal capital. NOW HANDS IN THE AIR BUDDY!!!"
"Hahaha… The prince himself… Quite an honor to have been acquainted with you today… Quite a change of pace in today's events ain't it…?" Kendall speaks back to Tommy with a creepy smile.
"And I feel quite disdained having such a vile piece of shit in front of me. Now hands where I can see them like I told ya earlier!" Tommy exclaims with an enraged look in his eyes.
"Oh my… Scary… Hear me out though! I've got a deal for you! You let me go and I'll give that person you're looking for back to you! Who was she again…? Oh yes! Petra! Although… I can't guarantee she is in the best shape right now… And it'll only get worse if you force me to comply!" Kendall replies to Tommy in a creepily sarcastic manner.
"Don't you dare say her name you freak! She better be okay or I will-" Tommy's tone of voice seems to get more aggressive as he positions his palms in front of his face and sparks start showing up around his palms.
"Relax! I kept her out of the hundred or so corpses I had gathered… Alive!" Kendall continues speaking to Tommy in an even creepier tone as he opens the door next to him and makes an expression through his hand which was asking Tommy to follow him.
With cautious steps, Tommy walked behind Kendall into the room along with Yoko and the severely injured Björn who had just been electrocuted as well, only to see a sight no one could see in their wildest nightmares…
"T-Tommy…? R-Run… It is n-not… S-Safe here…" A severely weak and feminine tone of voice could be heard from the pitch black room. Upon taking his torch out however, it was a sight he and the others would've never wanted to see… A sight so vile, anyone would want it out of their memories…
Lying there was the amputated body of Petra that had been stripped naked and hung by her hair onto the ceiling… One of her eyes gouged out… A clear insight that she had been brutally violated by the man standing next to her, the man behind the hundred murders himself, Kendall…
"Tommy… R-Run… Please-" Petra tries to give her last warning to Tommy out of concern for his safety against the vile man Kendall who had done this to her, only to be interrupted by Kendall who slits her throat with a knife and her entire head bends down as if she had gone inanimate…
"You speak too much lady… Dead people should tell no tales…" Kendall speaks as his tone goes from extremely calm to creepy, loud and hysterical laughter you could only hear from a psychopath who had gone beyond insane.
Yoko couldn't bear to see this sight and had closed her eyes while crying and screaming loudly upon witnessing the loss and demise of Petra in such a terrifying and vile fashion.
"Ms. Petra… How could anyone do this to you…?" Yoko continues to cry while her voice starts cracking from fear.
While Björn is stunned into silence, Tommy's eyes are open so wide that they could fall out of his skull. The sound of his anger could be heard from the noise of his fists merely clenching. His teeth start gritting at an immeasurable speed. His eyebrows are almost about to cross through his eyes from the wrath he had been trying to hold in this short while he had been down in this underground abyss.
"Oh my! Looks like the prince is angry!" Kendall speaks up to Tommy again in his creepy and sarcastic tone but it soon changes to that of worry upon witnessing the expression on Tommy's face.
Tommy's body starts to get completely enveloped by a dark aura that causes nearly everyone present in the room to suffocate. The voices coming out of his mouth were not human at all but as if some wild beast was about to hunt his prey. His eyes go completely pitch black as he lets out a loud roar that starts shaking the entire room up.
Suddenly, the fear and attention of everyone had been diverted to Tommy from what was just mere moments ago belonging to Kendall.
"What is this…!?" Kendall mumbles in fear as he takes a gulp from the state of feeling utterly frightened by what he was just witnessing.
"I'm… about to… kill you…" These five words come out of Tommy's mouth as if they weren't just him alone. Behind his voice was another voice that sounded like that of a beast.
In no time, Tommy simply disappears from the spot he was standing in and appears out of thin air from behind Kendall as he screams, "FORCE: PUSH!!!", which sends Kendall flying into the wall and cracking through it into the next room.
"AHHH!!!" Screamed Kendall who was in unbearable pain from a mere Force: Push from Tommy. Crawling from fear, he is then grabbed onto by the collar by Tommy who rolls him into the air and slams him onto a wall again.
Upon slamming Kendall onto a wall, he starts furiously punching his chest and finishes it with an uppercut that not only sends his head flying up but also cracks the wall behind him as well as the ceiling above him as if it was bulldozed professionally.
The uppercut was so powerful that Kendall's head had gone through the crack and had been stuck but Tommy simply pulled him down by the leg and slammed him into another wall. This blow was so powerful that his entire face had deformed, one of his eyes couldn't even open up and many of his teeth were broken. This combined with the fact that the barrage of punches from earlier had completely destroyed his ribcage, forced him to crawl on the ground to get away from Tommy.
While trying to get away and screaming like there was no tomorrow for him, Tommy simply continued to walk slow steps towards Kendall before inevitably lifting him by the hair and throwing him onto another wall which caused a dust cloud to show up.
After the dust had settled, Kendall was completely stuck onto the wall, unable to move while pathetically begging for Tommy's mercy by saying. Upon hearing Kendall pleading for mercy, Tommy gets a creepy smile on his face and the dark aura surrounding him grows even larger and even more suffocating than before.
"And what about the hundred or so innocent lives you took huh? What about Petra? Did you show any mercy to them? DID YOU!?" Tommy screams at Kendall's plea for mercy with a far scarier and rageful expression than before with veins showing up on Tommy's face and his canines looking more like beastly fangs, and of course, the beastly voice he had been speaking in for as long as he had been beating Kendall up until now.
Before Kendall could even say anything, Tommy pins his throat to the wall with his elbow even harder and grabs both of his arms as he continues saying, "These are the very arms that assisted you in taking the lives of all those people who were going about with their day right…? Well not anymore…"
Right upon saying that, Tommy continues talking by chanting, "Infinite Pressure Technique…". Upon saying that, Kendall's arms swell as if a growing tornado was inside them and literally burst into nothing but blood.
Having his arms exploded, Kendall literally starts crying from the excruciating pain Tommy was having him go through. Unable to see this, Yoko tries to stop Tommy before he becomes something that he would never want to be but with a mere push of a finger, Tommy slams Yoko onto the wall on his right and says, "Stay out of this woman…", which scares Yoko to the point she faints.
Upon her fainting, Tommy's voice loses any semblance of him being himself and sounds completely like that of a beast as he faces Kendall again and screams, "LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!!!", and grabs Kendall by the neck.
"SAY YOUR PRAYERS BECAUSE THIS IS THE LAST DAY OF YOUR LIFE!! FOR ALL THE LIVES YOU HAVE TAKEN, I IMPOSE UPON YOU… THE DEATH PENALTY!!!" Tommy screams as his grip on Kendall's throat gets even tighter and he continues saying, "Oh I am going to enjoy pummeling your head with anti-gravitational force hehehe…", and BOOM! Kendall's head had completely exploded.
Blood had splattered all around Tommy's face. All that was left of Kendall was his torso and his pair of legs attached to it. A body with no arms or head. A dead body. For the first time in his life, Tommy had ruthlessly killed someone.
Upon the sight of all this, not only Björn who was already shocked by this whole ordeal since the start, but Tommy as well who had now come to realize what he had done, let out a loud scream.
"Me…? Killed someone..? I couldn't have… I have never done this before… Surely I am dreaming right…? SURELY I AM DREAMING RIGHT!?!" Tommy starts mumbling in a weak tone of voice and switches to screaming as if he had gone insane. With his bloody hands on his face, tears came out of his eyes at what he had just done today. Unable to process the situation, Tommy starts bursting into laughter, slams his head onto the wall several times.
As Tommy continued to laugh as if he had gone mad and his shadow from a distance had appeared to change shape into that of a grown figure with long hair…
Suddenly in a dark place away from the universe itself came a familiar voice… A familiar tone of laughter… There sat a long haired and bare chested man with long black hair laughing… He was tied up… His body was filled with scars… "At last… I, Seth… WILL FINALLY FULFILL MY DESTINY!! HAHAHAHA!!!" The figure named Seth said.
As the figure kept laughing, cracks started appearing around his surroundings… His chains started to shatter… Everything came back to the room Tommy was hysterically laughing in… His eyes glowed red like the one named Seth for a moment… As the laughter continued, his voice started to get tired and he ended up puking before completely fainting because of the events that had transpired there.
Back in the realm away from the universe, angelic beings started showing up at the cracks around where Seth sat… Everything they said came down to one singular similar phrase… Back in our own universe… In a dark room sat Sina who coined their phrase down in his own sentence… "When the righteous vessel of Seth sheds the blood of a sinner, the first seal of the apocalypse is broken…"
Soon afterwards, back at where Kendall had died, M1ke, his squad and several generals arrive at the scene and are horrified at what had happened. While Mari tries to calm Yoko down, M1ke asks his squad to take a look around the place to find any clue that could lead them to Sina.
"There's no way Tommy could've done this… He is not like that…" M1ke thinks to himself while taking a look at the room and then walking towards the unconscious Tommy to take him outside and into an ambulance.
A few hours later… It was the night of Tommy's birthday… The same day one year ago when Tommy had lost his parents in the castle fire… The same day this year when he had just passed the military exams… And the same day this year when Tommy had murdered someone in cold blood…
"He was not like himself… It was like he was enveloped by some dark energy… It made it difficult to even breathe around him… His voice had completely changed… As if it wasn't Tommy…" Yoko recited to M1ke and Mari what had happened with a traumatized expression on her face despite several hours having passed since the terrifying incident.
After hugging Yoko, patting her on the head and telling her that everything would be fine and that they'll do their best to have things be normal again, Mari and M1ke leave the room to finally meet Tommy…
"I have no idea what happened at that moment… I felt so overwhelmed by anger that I couldn't breathe… My head felt like it was clogged with too many thoughts and voices at once and then suddenly… Everything went blank… I could feel like my body was moving on its own…
I was overtaken by some urge to kill as if I wasn't me but a wild animal… After that… I can't remember what happened… Even what I am saying right now is really blurry in my memories…" Tommy speaks to M1ke and Mari about his interpretation of what had happened there while sounding completely terrified and shocked about how it could ever have been him.
"It has to be a mistake right…? It is definitely a dream… A long dream… Yeah… RIGHT! A LONG DREAM! I JUST HAVE TO WAKE UP! No… I killed him… With these very hands…" Tommy starts mumbling to himself before going completely insane again and imagining seeing blood right on his hands. Having seen the non-existent blood out of the fear of himself, he then remembers Kendall's dead body and ends up puking again.
Not taking even a moment to hesitate, Mari puts her hand on Tommy's back to comfort him and helps him clean up with a handkerchief.
After Mari is done, M1ke pats Tommy on the head and says, "Things like these are common in the lives of us soldiers Tommy and now you are part of it. All we can do is try our best to save lives and not take any… But sometimes… Slip up happens… You're new right now… It will sting for a bit… But it'll get better with time… We'll just leave you here for now so you can have time for yourself… See you in a few days at my office Tommy…"
Continuing to walk out after him was Mari who kisses Tommy's cheek before leaving and says, "M1ke is right. Use this time to heal yourself mentally. Life as a soldier is tough. As a medic, even in my days as a trainee, I've seen countless deaths and injuries but had to get over them in order to treat those who were dear to me… Anyways, feel free to order whatever you want to eat, I'll bring it for you!"
With both of them having walked out, Tommy sat there with a dead expression on his face and bags under his eyes while gazing upon the moon from his window with tears in his eyes as he continued to say, "It has been a whole year since mom and dad died… Back then, you were the one light I had in such a sad night… Asking you to take me away so I can see mom and dad in the Stars… Mom always told me that the late people in my life… would end up as Stars in the night sky…
Then I grew stronger… Before I knew it, I was fighting the toughest of criminals with ease… I had started to see you thinking I will surpass your mocking gaze on me and be the only guy that people in the same spot as me once would need... Not you... But as it stands… After what had happened today… After what I did to Yoko… All I really did… Was to bluff that I am strong to hide the fact of what I have always been… Weak.... I always needed something that could help me treat all battles in life as a joke to make the time I have to do the right thing look easy… It was the fact your light abundantly made it clear to me a year ago…"
As Tommy's inner monologue came to an end, tears poured down his eyes as he continued to gaze upon the moon…
A few days later, Tommy had finally started looking healthier again. His hair started to grow out more and part of it had started to cover his left eye. Putting back his usual cowboy attire of a blue shirt, black pants and a black vest followed by the necker he got from Max, we finally got out of the hospital to see M1ke right as planned.
After Tommy had finally reached M1ke's quarters after walking down the stairs of the military's base, he stopped by the door to overhear a peculiar conversation from M1ke while he was on the phone.
"Yes sensei, looks like Sina has escaped our grasp once again. But worry not… From the abandoned base that we had uncovered a few days ago, we found a bunch of leads on him. A bunch of files related to his shipments and of course… The case of trafficking corpses of sixty six out of the hundred virgin corpses that were supposed to be in that abandoned base…
We're working tirelessly to connect all of his shipment routes and the data he left behind years ago… We're closer to catching him than ever… Soon… He will pay for all crimes he has committed… Especially the castle fire a year ago…" M1ke explains to the King what events had transpired recently on a call.
"The man behind the castle fire a year ago…? Sina…?" Tommy's thoughts rumble upon hearing the conversation between M1ke and the King. His pupils start turning pitch black and his facial expression turns dead again from the smile he had just moments ago.
M1ke then takes his trenchcoat and starts to walk out of his quarters to spot Tommy as he continues to say, "Oh hey, I was just looking for you. Starting now, I am your boss officially and you're one of many lieutenants that work under me. Let's go to the other room to discuss where you'll be posted!"
As they walk into the next room with Tommy having continued the dead expression on his face, M1ke lists out a bunch of missions, fetch quests and guard posts for Tommy but it seems to not phase his expression one bit. Trying to have a little bit of fun, M1ke posts Tommy's nose to get his attention and asks, "So you there? What assignment would you like to take? Eh Tommy?"
"Anything goes…" Tommy continues to reply with the dead expression once again.
"My my… That expression even kills my mood… If you don't wanna work today, that's fine with me! Just don't give me that look ya know!" M1ke also continues to reply with his playful expression.
"It's fine…" Tommy replies while looking away and trying to contain his dead expression with a rather annoyed one.
"Alright… I'll make your first mission worthwhile… There's a hot and demanding post on the planet of Shobunak… General Takeda is also assigned there and has requested some skilled soldiers to aid him… Unfortunately, most of our high ranked soldiers are either booked or on break… But I think you can do better than most of them out there… Whaddaya say? If you accept this one, I'll let you take Oli with you as a trainee too!" M1ke replies to Tommy while touching his nose again.
"Okay…" Tommy replies with a cold expression.
"Geez… And I thought Mari on her period was cold… Okay I'll send the mission details to you on your phone… You can go now hero…" M1ke replies with an expression of discomfort because of Tommy not being his usual cheerful self that morning.
"Before I go… Can I ask you something old man…?" Tommy looks back to ask M1ke before leaving through the door.
"Yeah sure! Anything!" M1ke replies to Tommy with his playful expression again having seen Tommy be even remotely interested in the prospect of being curious enough to ask him a question.
"What can you tell me about this… Sina person…?" Tommy asks with a cold stare.
"How do you know that name…? Did you overhear my conversation earlier?" M1ke asks with a look of concern.
"Perhaps I did… And before you blame me for sneaking my way into it… Shouldn't you have told me about it earlier…? After all… This is related to the incident where my parents died…" Tommy continues with aggression increasing in his tone of voice.
"I didn't tell you about this because he is a really powerful threat to the military… He is not some run of the mill criminal… He is what caused me and your father trouble for over decades now… Our arch-nemesis… If he could survive against us for this long… Imagine what he could've done to you had I not taken the initiative to keep you safe and sound as well as out of this matter…" M1ke explains in a worried tone of voice.
"Ah… Fair… I'll not bother you about this topic any further then… But I really do hope you let me be involved when you think I am 'worthy' of your notice, in this case old man…" Tommy replies back with a disappointed expression.
"Hey you don't have to put it that way ya know… But rest assured… When the time comes… I'll tell you all about it… Be patient… As I said, he is not some run of the mill criminal but a mastermind… Even I need to take each step with severe precautions in mind… Anyways, you may leave now… I have matters to attend to…" M1ke says his final words to Tommy before both go their separate ways for the time being.
As Tommy leaves the room after nodding in agreement with M1ke, the dead expression on his face changes into a creepy smile as thoughts rush into his head again… "Sina… The one who killed my parents… The one who killed mom… Hahahahaha… Once I get my hands on you… You have no idea how I'll be cutting you down… I will have my revenge…"
As Tommy's dark monologue finishes, the flames of revenge ignite the spark in him to get stronger again and the story takes a twisted turn in a direction only time can tell whether it was for the better… or for the worse…
To be continued in Chapter - 16…