Chapter 12: The Awakening of Fury
Adam groaned as he slowly regained his footing amidst the chaos.
The shockwave from the blast had sent him sprawling, leaving him covered in dust and debris.
Anger bubbled within him, boiling over as he muttered to himself, "Enough is enough. I won't hold back anymore. I don't care what happens to me now; these people need to be taught a lesson."
As Adam stood, his body bore the brunt of his trials—his only remaining clothing was a pair of tattered pants hanging loosely, torn from the explosion.
His breaths came heavy and deep, but his resolve was unshaken.
Suddenly, a voice rang out from the distance, firm and commanding. It was General Core.
"Kid! Listen to me. Put your hands up as a precaution. You need to understand, we have no choice but to test you!"
The air was thick with dust kicked up by the blasts, and Adam could barely see the ground around him.
Soldiers clad in tactical gear had taken positions, their night-vision goggles glinting faintly in the low light.
The ominous glow of laser sights danced across Adam's body.
The realization struck him hard: over a hundred laser dots were trained on him, most aimed directly at his head.
Adam squinted against the brightness of the lasers and raised an arm to shield his eyes, his fingers brushing against his face.
With deliberate slowness, he stood upright, his other hand drifting behind his back.
Then, with a sudden twist of his body, he unleashed a powerful sweep of air.
The ground trembled as a massive burst of pressure radiated outward, scattering the dust in a shockwave.
Soldiers stumbled as their visibility cleared, leaving the battlefield eerily exposed.
Adam stood at the epicenter of it all, a figure of defiance amid the cleared ground.
General Core's lips tightened in astonishment. He muttered under his breath, "Please, kid, just listen and surrender." But his words carried no hope.
---
As the dust settled, the soldiers finally got a clear view of Adam. His upper body was bare, lean but muscular, and streaked with dirt.
The torn pants barely clung to him, giving him the appearance of a man who had walked through hell and survived.
Fixing them with an icy glare, Adam spoke, his voice low but laced with fury.
"You've broken my patience. Now, I'll show you what it means to awaken my wrath."
The soldiers exchanged uneasy glances, their tension palpable.
General Core took a deep breath before barking out an order.
"Attack! Do not hesitate!"
The command spurred the soldiers into action. Hidden behind sandbags, they began firing.
The first bullet tore through the air, and as it neared Adam, time itself seemed to slow for him.
His senses sharpened to an almost supernatural level.
The world became a realm of suspended motion, where he could see the bullets crawling toward him in midair.
Each one shimmered faintly, a deadly promise of pain.
The soldiers' gunfire grew relentless, a symphony of destruction.
Bullets rained upon Adam, ricocheting off his hardened body and clattering uselessly to the ground.
From the soldiers' perspective, it was surreal. The projectiles they fired with deadly precision seemed to have no effect.
Adam, standing in the middle of the onslaught, remained unyielding, his arms crossed protectively in front of his face.
When the soldiers finally paused to reload, the battlefield fell eerily silent.
The ground beneath Adam's feet was littered with a sea of spent bullets.
Slowly, Adam lowered his arms and stared at them, his gaze piercing.
"My turn," he said coldly.
---
Panic gripped the soldiers as they scrambled to reload their weapons, but before any of them could react, Adam vanished.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared right in front of General Core.
The general didn't flinch. His steely demeanor remained intact as he stared up at Adam, his resolve unshaken.
But before Adam could make a move, a loud whistle pierced the air. It was a signal from one of the soldiers stationed behind the general, armed with a bazooka.
Anticipating Adam's approach, the soldier had already locked on and fired.
The rocket streaked toward Adam with a fiery roar. In the fraction of a second it took to reach him,
Adam turned his head, his eyes narrowing in recognition of the imminent impact. The rocket struck him directly in the chest, detonating with a deafening explosion.
Adam's body was hurled backward with violent force.
He tumbled through the air, crashing into the ground, only to bounce up again and slam into the earth repeatedly.
The impact carried him far from the epicenter, rolling him across the battlefield like a ragdoll.
"Keep firing!" General Core's voice thundered across the field as the soldiers unleashed another barrage of bullets.
---
Adam's body finally came to a halt, half-buried in the dirt.
Smoke rose from his form as he struggled to stand, his muscles straining.
There is no minor wounds, but his supernatural resilience had left him largely unscathed.
His clothes, however, hadn't fared as well. The blast had torn away what little remained, leaving him utterly exposed.
The cold air bit against his skin, now covered in dust and grime.
For a moment, Adam stood still, taking in the state of his body.
He clenched his fists and muttered under his breath, his voice filled with exasperation and anger.
"Someone get me my clothes."
Adam slowly sits on the ground and looks at the soldiers surrounding him. Most of the soldiers turn their guns towards Adam and start firing.
Adam is once again hit by bullets that come at him at great speed and ricochet off his skin.
The battlefield fell silent as the soldiers and General Core watched him from afar.
Despite everything they had thrown at him, Adam stood tall, his figure imposing even in his disheveled state.
The dust around him swirled like an aura, as though the world itself bowed to his defiance.
The chapter ends here, a prelude to the storm yet to come.