By the time Wallace walked to the elevator, he had already finished his evolution and killed everyone who tried to stop him. He clenched his fist and felt the strength flowing through him. His clairvoyance ability had become more powerful, with its range extending up to a hundred meters, and it could now penetrate the metals that the base was made of.
His eyes turned cold as he looked at the elevator beside him, which was coming down. There were close to ten guards inside, armed with heavy weapons and determined to blast him to death. He looked at the energy guns and clenched his fist; the elevator folded in on itself, squeezing the humans inside to death and turning them into a puddle of flesh and blood.
He took the elevator upwards, and it soon stopped.
"Time to test it now," he thought, as his shadow spread out and turned into a barrier surrounding him. He manipulated the streams of light around him with his left hand, turning them into thin rays that carried terrifying penetrative force, while the air around him formed an air bubble.
This was his new ability, gained after evolution – darkness and light control. However, his control over darkness was limited to his shadow, and he could only control a limited range of light around him.
The elevator opened, and people were already waiting. "Bang, Bang!" They blasted him with terrifying energy beams that carried penetrative force. It converged on him immediately.
"Boom!" The air exploded around him, engulfing him and tearing apart the air bubble. The blast reached the shadow surrounding him, slowing down visibly.
Wallace noticed what had happened and sped out of the shadow. His shadow crawled back to his fist as the energy beams blasted the spot he had been in before. Hundreds of rays pierced through the guards outside, and the fifty guards fell with multiple holes in their bodies.
The air soon disintegrated, and sweat formed on his brow. The two new elements had caused a massive drain on his body. He walked out of the building into the stronghold. Helicopters roared to life as the entrance was bombarded with countless machine guns the moment he came out, but he had already left at a speed that broke the sound barrier.
The guns, not locking onto anyone, had to stop shooting before they started looking for Wallace. The sky darkened as clouds converged, and lightning roared out aloud. Thick bolts of lightning struck down, taking down the aircraft in the air.
Wallace clenched his fist as sweat dripped down from his whole body, and a headache bombarded him. He was already pushed to the limit of what his body and brain could take. Blood dripped from the side of his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears as his face turned pale, and his body skin turned a shade whiter.
The ability control made his body the medium; his body energy and cells were the medium through which he could control fire, water, air, lightning, metal, wood, light, and darkness. His brain gave commands on what he wanted to be done. Right now, what he was controlling was far too demanding, and it had drained all the energy in his body.
The energy was the unique energy that fueled his body ever since he had merged with his soul. Just like he got energy from food, his body produced this energy, allowing him to display his unique abilities. However, he had exhausted everything at once. The rate at which he used them was far more than the rate at which his body produced them, so it had serious side effects on him.
The rate at which his cells worked visibly slowed down, his brain was in disarray, and a massive headache had hit him. His skin was ghastly pale. His clairvoyant ability had decreased from its initial hundred meters to ten meters, and he had lost his connection with most of the elements he could control before.
The only thing he had was his incredible physical prowess, and that was because his body was still fueled by the excessive energy he got from the evolution of his body. He couldn't even use it as he could only utilize less than fifty percent of his strength because the energy was being converted into mysterious energy as an emergency, making him feel weak.
Anyway, it wasn't much; he had already dealt with the stronghold itself. He took out his phone from his pocket. Thankfully, it was not seized from him as he dialed Lucia's number, but no one picked up the call. He frowned, feeling like crap at that moment. Even though he didn't feel tired, he still felt like crap.
This made him realize something – the energy he used for his physical activities was gotten from eating and stuff, while his body also produced energy that allowed him to use his mythical abilities. The two were interdependent on each other. The energy he gained from food was like fuel to a car, while the energy his body produced was like air and water that a car needed.
Without fuel, the car would stop, but no considerable damage would be done to the car. However, if there was no air and water, the engine would be damaged, and its lifespan might be shortened or, in the worst-case scenario, it would stop working.
Though it wasn't as bad as that for him, the damage caused to his body was too steep. No matter what, he must not overexert himself like he did. He left the base and walked for an hour in the direction the car came from. He finally stopped at a fairly safe place far from the base.
He entered an abandoned factory he saw and sat on the floor, closing his eyes. Wails rang out from around him as skulls moved around him. This continued until midnight before he was finally able to recover a little. The headache had reduced considerably, and the crappy feeling he had had been reduced to a minimum.
He had regained connection with the various elements, and his clairvoyant ability range had increased to seventy meters. He stood up and walked out of the factory. Lucia and Laura were still not picking up their calls.
"Zoom!" He took off, moving even faster than the speed of the car that brought him. The journey that took the car three hours only took him close to one and a half hours. However, by the time he got to the gate of his house, he was too exhausted.
He didn't have any energy left, and his body was even leaner than before. The skin on his face and hands had shrunk and wrinkled a little from dehydration. His body had consumed all its energy, so it turned to his reserve energy – his cells – and converted them to energy.
He didn't feel anything on the way, but the moment he stopped, he felt dizzy and weak. He took out his phone and dialed Emilia's number.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Hmm, I just got home," he replied.
"Hope they didn't do anything to you," she asked worriedly.
"Nothing happened; I just had to speak sense into them," he said, dusting off his wrinkled clothes. The clothes looked like they needed ironing.
"It's a relief to hear that, then," she replied.
"Hmm, I'll leave you to prepare for tomorrow's flight," he said.
"Okay," she answered.
He thought about Lucia and Laura as he entered the house. They weren't picking up their calls, which was very strange. He couldn't even go to their place now, as he had bought the house for them, and only their faces and fingerprints had been recorded.
If he wanted to get in, he would have to hack the database. However, from his connection, he could detect that they weren't in danger, so it wasn't necessary.
Thankfully, when he entered and settled down on the sofa after stuffing himself with food to replenish his energy, he received their call.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"Boss, Laura and I were watching a movie last night when we suddenly felt pain, just like the time when you transformed me. We fell unconscious after," Lucia said.
"Are you okay now?" he asked.
"Yes, but I feel much stronger than before, and I can feel my control over the metal element has deepened," Lucia replied.
"Oh, just keep checking your body and inform me if there's any side effect," he told her.
"Okay," she answered and cut the call.
"It looks like those I've changed will also get stronger as I get stronger," he thought, lighting up a cigarette.
***************
Back at the SHIELD base, a helicopter landed, and a man who looked like he was in his sixties with white hair walked down from the helicopter. A man was already waiting for him.
"How did it happen?" the man asked.
"We received the emergency signal, but by the time we got here, everything had been destroyed," the other man replied.
"Any clue?" he asked.
"We checked the footages and saw that this man is the cause of everything," the man answered, handing a tablet with Wallace's face to the man.
"What should we do now?" he asked.
"Wait," the man said, taking out his phone and messaging. After a while,
"We've been told to keep what happened here a secret and stop any information from spreading out."
The man answered.