"Kage… One of the top hundred awakened is here." The tattooed man took a step forward, his voice low with awe.
"Niko Bronca. You're aware this area falls entirely under ORBIS' jurisdictions, aren't you? Yet here you are, stepping into our territory without a hint of permission. So, tell me, do you take ORBIS lightly?" Kage said, striding right up to Niko until they were face to face.
"Are you saying that I need permission? For what? Minding my own business?", Niko said as his gaurd unsheathed his katana appearing behind Kage, and aiming it at his neck.
But before the blade could make contact, a fierce wave of searing heat tore through the air. In an instant, the guard's upper body disintegrated, flesh and blood spattering the ground, the remains of charred organs scattered in a horrific, sizzling scent. What was left of his lower half collapsed, lifeless, onto the ground, leaving the scene dripping in silence as smoke curled from the remains.
The space inside the dome, witnessed a sudden increase in pressure as all the awakened from inside the villa surrounded Kage.
With a total of fourteen awakeners holding katanas in their hands surrounding Kage's exits, A man with strikingly similar appearance to Niko stepped beside Niko. The only notable difference was the right burned eye, instead of left.
"You've got some numbers", Kage muttered glancing around him. "Riko Bronca."
"Inject yourselves now!", Riko spoke up with a deadly smirk, looking at Kage.
"?" Kage squinted his brows in confusion.
He glanced around, watching as the guards, with hollow, unblinking eyes, each drew a syringe from within their coats. One by one, they pressed the needles into their necks, and the viscous red liquid slid through the syringes, disappearing into their veins.
Within seconds, their faces twisted, and they began to crumple to the ground. Some clutched at their throats, others at their chests, their expressions transforming into raw masks of pain.
Bloodshot eyes bulged, veins writhed under their skin, stretching it to the point of tearing.
Flecks of drool and blood slipped from their mouths as they convulsed, limbs jerking with unnatural force.
Their skin split at the seams, muscles swelling grotesquely beneath until they ripped through the skin, twisting into misshapen bulks of sinew and flesh.
The scent of iron filled the air as their bodies contorted, no longer fully human but emerging as something really monstrous.
"Good luck with them," Riko Bronca said, turning around and tapping his brother's shoulder, who was grinning at the sight of his men in agony.
Before Kage could react, a mutated awakened, now lost to sense and life, rushed forward with enormous speed.
This wasn't the power of his core but pure muscle, pushed beyond its natural limits. His clawed, muscular fingers extended, sprouting extra bones that sharpened into blades, with the blood coursing visibly through bulging veins all over his body.
Kage took his right hand from his pocket, concentrating the energy of his core and swung it freely at the incoming mutated. The space around him heated up, with a steam of hot air an extreme force was create that blew the body of the mutated one, only leaving a lump of muscle mass sticked to the bone flying far onto the ground.
By the time Bronca Brothers had left, and the wouldn't hold longer without the creator.
"Those bastards", Kage gritted his teeth, loosening his tie with a low growl.
His voice had the hint of thick anger. With sparks ignited around him, flickering against the darkness as an intense heat radiated from his body, charging the air.
In a second, an explosive wave of energy rippled outward, scorching through the dome and reducing everything in the vicinity to ash and dust. The heat poured from his mouth in a fiery exhale, and he closed his eyes, briefly lowering his head in a solemn gesture of condolence for the dead awakened.
Above him, the reality veil began to fracture, cracks spiderwebbing across it like shattered glass.
Shards of the veil crumbled, cascading down and dissolving before touching the ground, leaving no sign of destruction. In this twisted calm, there was no visible damage, but the uncomfortable presence of silence.
+++
"What happened to her?" Mason asked as he took a seat beside me in the hospital corridor. Her parents were already in the room with her. However, I—lacked the courage to face that self.
"She'll be alright if the doctors said there's no problem. It must be a high fever, or maybe an allergy to something she shouldn't have eaten. No need to stress so much." That's not the case, though. I wanted to tell him the reason, but would he believe me?
What's the point of my power if I couldn't protect the very person I care about?
"Don't worry, man… My mom knows some really good doctors and has connections in the best hospitals. If things don't work out here, I'll handle everything," he said, handing a can of soft drink to me.
I feel… pathetic. Useless and… this, this long-lost sense of-
"Would you just stare at the can or take it?" He pushed the cold can into my hands. I held the can, feeling the cold sensation of the metal.
It was getting hard to breathe as time passed. Was it frustration? Anger? Or worry? I just didn't know. This feeling, whatever it was, I hated it.
I hated this the most.
I placed the can on the bench and stood up, adjusting my cap as I put it back on.
"Where are you going?" Mason asked me. I didn't know. All I knew was that if I didn't do anything, I'd die from the foreign feeling creeping up my chest.
"Rest," I muttered.
Mason nodded. "Yeah, you should go rest a bit. I'll call you the moment she wakes up; don't worry."
I stepped out of the hospital, leaving behind the scent of antiseptics. The night outside was quiet but not calming enough for me.