Chapter 17 - Hungry…

  After a few seconds, the smoke finally cleared, revealing the figure of Alex standing within it.

  Apart from the gown on him which was blackened by the explosion, he was completely unharmed.

   "How dare you…?" Alex muttered, in a voice that sounded more like a growl than words.

    'Damn it…' He thought, gritting his teeth in annoyance.

   He could still feel the loud bang from the explosion ringing inside his head, which only infuriated him further.

   'I let down my guard.' He thought, clenching his hands into a fist. However, he knew even if he had expected it, there was no way for him to avoid it. 

    He never expected himself to survive that explosion, and the fact that he was still alive was a shock to him even.

   When the explosion first went off, he thought he was dead. During that moment, he felt fear… at thought that he was going to die without accomplishing anything he wanted to do.

   To be honest, he didn't feel even close as much pain he had expected. After all, an explosion literally detonated in his head, yet, all he felt was a slight headache. It still felt annoying though. 

   Nonetheless, he could feel a burning hot sensation rising up from his chest as he stared at the man.

   He was angry… annoyed at the fact that such a cowardly attack almost killed him.

    Alex looked back at the glass separating them for a split second, before clenching his right hand into a fist.

   "I-it's pointless… y-you can't b-break it." Port'hov muttered, his body trembling in fear. "The glass… is u-unbreakable."

   However, with what just happened, even he didn't believe his words.

   Alex simply ignored him, swinging his fist towards the large glass with immense force.

Bam!

Shatter!!

    The punch connected sweetly with the glass, instantly shattering it with a loud noise.

Swoosh!

   "W-what… a-are yo—" Port'hov was barely able to complete his words, when a slight breeze swept past him, and Alex suddenly vanished from his sight. 

Bam!

   In the next second, he felt a powerful force lift him from the chair before slamming his body into the wall behind him.

   "Argh!!" He grunted in pain, as his back was suddenly planted into the wall, making a small dent on its surface.

   "Kukh!" He groaned, as Alex tightly gripped his neck, pinning him to the wall,  

   "Y-you…" His body shuddered in fear as he looked into the pair of glowing red eyes staring at him.

   "S-sir Port'hov! L-let… him go!" The green haired woman who was standing beside him before shouted, dashing straight for Alex.

   "Shut up." Alex gritted his teeth in annoyance, swiftly swinging his other hand towards her. 

Fwoosh!

   What followed was a powerful shockwave, which blasted towards the woman at terrifying speed.

Bang!

   The shockwave struck the woman within a split second, sending her flying through the air.

Crack!

   Her body slammed into the wall at the other end of the room, creating a massive dent on its surface.

Drip!

Drip!

  Her body immediately went still, with a thick red liquid gushing out of her head. The blood trickled down her body, gathering to form a small pool beneath her.

Plop!

   After a few seconds, her body slowly slid to the ground, completely motionless.

   However, just before she died, she muttered something, which Alex's sharp ears easily picked up: "M-monster…"

   A weird glint flickered through his glowing eyes when he heard that, but it quickly vanished without a trace. 

    Meanwhile, Port'hov's eyes widened in horror as he stared at the bloodied body of the woman lying across him.

   He didn't need anyone to tell him… she was dead.

   "N-no… Qer'sa…" He mumbled, his body trembling in fear.

   "H-how c—"

Swissh!

   He wasn't able to complete his words, as Alex suddenly swung his claws at his head, ripping his head into pieces.

Blitz!

  However, rather than blood, a couple of thin wires abruptly bursted out of the split pieces, with electric sparks dancing all over them.

   "A clone… I knew it." Alex muttered, his brows furrowing into a deep frown.

   'That Port'hov…' He thought, flinging the lifeless clone to the ground in disappointment. 

  Ever since he 'woke up' from the experiment, he noticed his senses had gotten a lot sharper. 

   He could hear every single thing going on around him, from the gentle flow of the breeze around him to the tiniest sound going on around him.

  In fact, if he focused just a little bit, he could hear everything happening not just in the kingdom, but in Zenon as a whole.

   That was how he was able to realize that the Port'hov standing in front of him was just a clone.

   Despite him looking like a normal human being, Alex couldn't hear any heart beating within him, which he found very strange.

   It was also why he didn't just charge at him after waking up, as he was quite curious to see what this 'Port'hov' was really made up of.

  His heightened senses weren't just linked to his hearing though, his sight had also become over a thousand times sharper.

   Everything around him was a lot clearer, and he could easily see even the littlest details.

   It was a strange, yet thrilling sensation. 

   However, the strangest part about it was how "normal" all of this felt.

   Despite all his senses becoming heightened to insane levels, he didn't feel overwhelmed in the slightest bit.

   It was as if it had always been like this, as if he had always been able to see like this… hear like this.

   Even his newfound strength didn't feel the tiniest bit strange to him, almost as if he had always possessed these powers since birth.

   It was why he instinctively knew he had claws, and why he was able to balance himself so effortlessly despite moving at such terrifying speed.

    "Hah…" Alex let out a light sigh, his lips slowly curling into a smirk.

   His gaze slowly drifted to the bloodied body of the woman lying motionlessly on the other side of the room, and a strange glint flashed through his eyes.

   He slowly walked towards the woman, before crouching in front of her body.

  Suddenly, his breathing became a little heavier, and he gulped, his gaze fixed on the thick blood gushing out of her split skull.

   'I feel… hungry…' Alex mumbled inwardly, growling as he lightly clutched his abdomen.