Chaos, as usual in his pristine three-piece suit, is sitting in what looks like a storeroom with a candle burning bright in the middle of the room.
There are a lot of cartons, wooden boxes, and packages. There is a small table and two chairs; on the table, the candle is burning, and on one of the chairs sits Chaos. Chaos is sitting calmly, looking forward into the darkness. As the candlelight flickers, faint sounds of bugs’ wings buzzing and rats running around are heard. There is a faint smell of rotting paper and dead rodents.
Suddenly, the sound of boots stepping is heard, which engulfs the sounds of bugs and rats. A man in his 50s appears. He has a mix of black and gray hair, is tall—around 6 feet easily—and is in a traditional two-piece suit and tie. Despite walking into a room with Chaos, the same guy who summoned meteors mid-air, the old man looks rather assured of himself.
Chaos gets up with that all-knowing smile on his face intact, walks up to him, and extends his hand, saying, “Welcome… Mr. Deus! I heard about your conundrum. Maybe we can help each other out!”
Deus first looks at Chaos‘s eyes, then at his extended hand, and shakes it, saying, “That is why I am here, Mr. Chaos! Though the location…”
Chaos chuckles softly, saying, “The world expects men like me to be in a luxury suite talking politics so that they can have a clear shot from the window!… To keep my head intact, I rather prefer this.”
The handshake breaks as Deus looks a little self-satisfied to himself, less to Chaos, almost like he is pleased about his judgment on taking the meeting with the right man.
They take their seats, as Deus says, “Mr. Chaos, as you might know, I am vastly underpowered. And I needed some reinforcements. I did send some men to Titan City to get my hands on the latest rifles that they had developed, but I haven’t heard from them yet!”
Chaos listens and then says, “I do have a rough idea. As a neighbor to Titan City, Royal City is much more feudal… when your brother chose his own daughter as his successor, you felt insulted and revolted, but no one followed you. So now you have decided to gather foreign factions and their resources using your remaining wealth to overpower your own niece… am I correct?”
Deus is about to say something when a small rat runs over his expensive shoes. He looks unsettled, lifting his legs up on the chair and almost choking on a scream. “Kharahh…”
Deus is not a man who is used to the current environment; he is a highborn, after all.
But seeing Chaos not budging a little, looking at his face, likely waiting for his answer, Deus, instead of screaming, composes himself. He does not say anything, only nods his head!
Chaos continues, saying, “In your last raid… the men you sent to rob the head family’s building in Titan City… they… just disappeared?”
Deus silently nods to it too!
Chaos stares deep into Deus‘s eyes and says, “If we think the worst, which I think we should, those six men are not returning. Which brings up the question…” Chaos leans forward, saying, “What do you need?”
Deus takes in a deep breath as he says, “Well, for my last raid I invested most of my platinum bars, so I need some from you, to gather the men, buy some mediocre weapons, and—” He pauses, then says, “a promise that you, Mr. Chaos, will be there for me if a need arises.”
Chaos twitches his lips, looking amused, saying, “That is quite a list! As you might know, platinum is the most valuable currency on this planet. Even me, as influential as you think I am, I do not possess the quantity that you are asking for… if it was gold or silver, that would have been different. But I can certainly find a way. In return…” A little grin comes to Chaos‘s face when saying, “You won’t find me behind you… you are asking a lot, Mr. Deus… if I were to help you in this endeavor, I will own 50 percent of Royal City if or when you take it. What do you say?”
Deus was looking happy until the last line dropped. A thin bead of sweat forms on his forehead as he gulps, saying, “You want to rule Royal City?… Mr. Chaos.”
Chaos chuckles again, saying, “No… no. The city is yours… I just want a foothold there. Since it’s in the middle, I can keep an eye out for both East and West.”
Deus looks relieved, saying, “Oh… that… that’s a… that is certainly a great vision for both you and me.”
They both stand up, Chaos extending his hand again with the smile, saying, “So we have a deal?”
Deus takes his hand with both of his hands, saying, “Absolutely.”
As Deus starts to leave, Chaos, without turning his back to Deus, asks, “I know it is none of my business… but then again, I am your investor, which gives me the right to ask… what are you going to do with this many resources?”
Deus instantly turns, saying, “Well, get those rifles from Titan City, of course!”
With that, Deus leaves,
Chaos shaking his head, saying, “Idiot!”
Right after the cafe fiasco with Taglia, in the evening, the group returns to their skyscraper’s penthouse suite, as Lesca takes her leave for the day.
Jarrod and Friling are sitting on the living room sofa. Friling notices that Jarrod is not himself.
At first, Friling thinks it might be that the stress of almost being killed two days in a row might have taken its toll on him, not to mention he refuses to go to the hospital again; in case anything happens, he wants to be ready! But this is not like Jarrod.
Since the first time Friling met Jarrod, it was always one thing after another—first the intruders, then his severed arm, then the fight with Leon, then today almost being crushed under a building. He never lost his… well, an expression that Friling cannot quite summarize, but today, right now, Jarrod looks down.
Friling finally asks, taking a deep breath, hoping he might or might not get an answer, “Jarrod… you look… absent!”
Jarrod doesn’t turn, looking out the window for a few moments, then turns, saying, “Yeah… back east we had… I had to survive to make a day’s living, but in here… it’s all so heavy… nothing makes sense.”
Friling leans in, saying, “What do you mean?”
Jarrod also leans in, saying, “That Coke guy, I saw him there… I saw him feeling uncertain when the ceiling was about to collapse on him… I used Pull, but I got pulled in toward him instead. I never felt it… it was like—” Jarrod looks at his own palms, saying, “It was like I was trying to pull the whole world close to me!”
Friling‘s eyes widen slightly, but Jarrod does not stop there. He continues, “But what I do not understand and makes me feel eerie is when I was about to be crushed by the ceiling… That thing!”
Friling leans back, taking a subtle gulp which Jarrod does not notice since he is still zoned out in the memory from a few hours ago,
as Friling says, his voice a little tight, “What about that thing?”
Jarrod says, “It was… it was inhuman…”
Jarrod‘s eyes are for the first time unsettled as he says, “Like a ghoul… made of bone and old thick blood, and when it kicked me, I could feel its Heat… its intentions… It wasn’t pure… hell, it wasn’t anything remotely normal.” Jarrod rubs his palms together as he says, “It was pure malevolence!”
Friling looks out the window hearing the words from Jarrod, as the room goes silent with the two of them sitting in it.
Lesca, in her room, has taken off her coat. She is sitting on the balcony railing, which is easily 11 stories high, with her feet dangling below, as she looks into the sky imagining the strange man she met.
Who was everything that she is, but maybe more, or maybe nothing! His eyes—they said he does not care. His posture said he is always ready, even in his relaxed state, but there was something in him. Was it his Heat? Or was it his soul? And how did he disappear? Was it teleportation or pure speed?
All these questions are eating Lesca alive from the inside, but from the outside, she is as aloof as she always was!
When evening turns into night,
Deus arrives from the West of Titan City in its 3rd block with 12 to 20 men full of swords, knives, axes, and hammers, which means Chaos kept his promise.
The men are all taller, muscular, and gruff. Among these 12 to 20 men stands one around 5’10”. Even at night with only mild wind currents, his duster coat is fluttering. Unlike the others who are determined, which is necessary as they are given a job to do, this man looks rather bored. The biggest reason is standing beside him:
a rather young man of the same size and height, playing with his katana like it’s a toy, saying things like, “Dude, look how slick this is, man!”
Taglia looks deeply offended about it, saying, “It’s not a toy, kid… It’s a blade of honor, conviction, and a code.”
The young man says, “Yeah, yeah, whatever, it looks sharp, I bet it would cut through people like butter!”
Taglia sighs, closes his eyes, faces forward, and opens his eyes.
Deus sends these men into the city toward the 2nd block where Friling‘s tower is, saying, “Gentlemen, you have one job. Go to the 2nd block and you will naturally spot the tallest tower; there lies a storage container. Bring it to me… unscratched. Anything else you find is yours… anyone comes in your way,” Deus grins, saying, “Make sure they are not in your way. Now go!”
All the men charge forward like a stampede. Taglia is a little slower, hands in his pockets.
As he passes Deus,
Deus says, “Mr. Taglia, I am paying you a premium rate to keep an eye out. Please do not disappoint!”
Taglia stops, does not turn his head toward Deus, and calmly says, but with the sarcasm apparent, “Aye aye, captain,” and leaves.
In their path, the mercenaries first start slaughtering the night patrol security of Titan City. Yes, these hired men are not Heat users, but their size is a visual and literal proof they have experience and can take down standard security!
While the men surge forward, a few meters behind them is Taglia, his hands in his jacket pockets and a loathsome look on his face!
One can guess he does not like the people he is working with! Then why did he join them? Well, from the looks of it, he is a vagabond type—no home, no family, no steady income—so to keep his belly full and quirks intact, he needs to run some occasional errands, much to his displeasure. And what is better than to watch, seeing his philosophy about the world burning come to reality.
While others are destroying shops, looting them, killing security as well as civilians who are still on the streets by stabbing them, bashing their heads on the wall, slashing their torsos, Taglia hasn’t touched a single person, let alone laid a finger on them. Whenever some injured survive and Taglia is about to pass by them, the injured either get scared of him or ask for his help; as a reaction, he only sighs and walks away.
When all of this is happening, and as the men are about to cross the field where the fight between Jarrod and Leon took place, JDen appears.
To keep his promise to Leon about protecting the city, he had to come!
He takes down two guys with pure strength, but when he gets circled around by four guys, he closes his eyes and activates his Heat! Flesh Eater’s Insatiable Hunger!
His whole body, including his clothing, turns into hundreds of giant dragonflies and starts attacking the men who were circling around him. They are not your small dragonflies; these are big, like your palm’s size, with a constant ZINGGG-like buzzing of their wings, and their bites do not just cut the body but tear out pieces of flesh from those men who surrounded JDen.
Others nearby scream and start to run away as one falls near Taglia‘s feet, saying, “Oyee, weren’t you brought in to protect us? Do something!”
By then, JDen flies have killed, or more precisely gobbled up, two more men!
Taglia looks at the front at the flies, saying, “I am here to keep an eye out… not to play bodyguard.”
The man who is still on his feet still has some brain left in him as he looks back at those dragonflies and says, “Yeah, yeah, but if we die, we won’t be able to deliver the package and you won’t get paid, right?… Please, man, do something!”
Taglia finally looks down at the man near his feet. A smirk appears.
As he finally gets his left hand out of his jacket pocket, the air flow surrounding him stalls for a moment.
He extends it and swats his hand, and five precision wind cutters are instantly created and charge toward the flies. One moment there is a buzzing, and the next—
SLACKKK!
—the middle portion of the swarm is gone as the cutters hit the store in their way, breaking down its windows and doors and scratching its walls violently… in a moment, the rest of the swarm is pulled back inside the store.
JDen slowly comes out some moments later, battered. His torso and elbows look like someone gashed him with five claws.
The mercenaries—all of them, the runners, the fighters, and the one near Taglia‘s foot—look at the store, gawking, one question in all of their minds: What just happened?
Taglia calmly says, “GO ON!” and the men, hearing the words again feeling like the voice of God or maybe the command of the devil, resume their charge!
When passing by JDen, someone bashes him with a hammer, knocking him down!
Finally, a guard rings the city-wide bell! News reaches Jarrod, Friling, and Lesca, who was still on her balcony.
Since the head family has a chopper on the roof, the three decide to go in that, for two primary reasons: first, it is faster, and second, they need to conserve their energies. As they are walking into an enemy trap, if they use their Heat simply to close the distance, they will reach the battlefield with half their stamina.
Jarrod doesn’t even wait for the chopper to land. The moment he sees the killers, all his hesitation and uncertainty take a back seat.
He jumps.
A mercenary is right below him; he opens his palms, using Push directly at his neck—even in this situation, not going for killer’s head—and controls his fall, grabs the mercenary’s neck, and
DHAMMMM,
buries him into the road!
Friling and Lesca wait for the chopper to fully land.
First goes Jarrod.
It’s like the pain from his previous injuries and the last couple of days of human depravity have started to have an effect on him. And the brawl with the ceiling—the constant push and pull—somehow helped him increase his own mass.
He can simply push the killers away from hurting the civilians, pull them toward him, and then push them at the exact moment before contact, throwing them like chopsticks! The irony is these people are the same size as the intruders who attacked Friling‘s building. But unlike them, whom Jarrod found heavy, he can easily handle these guys—a literal proof his struggles are paying off!
Jarrod is using not enough force to actually kill them, but being 6 to 10 feet in the air and then experiencing a sudden drop onto the concrete makes sure they are out cold for a long time.
Friling, behind him, whispers his Heat, “Raphael’s Wings!” and glorious silver wings spread to his sides, which are twice his size when fully extended. As he closes his eyes, dozens of feathers break free from the wings and start to get planted into the civilians, security guards, and every single bystander’s body!
It is indeed a majestic sight to behold: Jarrod at the front using his Push and Pull to toss the mercenaries away like they are spoons, forks, or empty cans.
Behind him, Friling is walking, eyes closed, his wings extended to both his sides, his arms out, palms up, as his fingers move like an orchestra conductor’s hands and fingers move when the session is on! It is like he is seeing the world through his wings and feathers, using his fingers to choose the feathers’ targets.
The fight does not last long, as this is mostly a one-sided slaughter.
About 20 ordinary men, no matter how big or strong, are being crushed by someone who can literally summon strength from the realm of the metaphysical!
Since Taglia was behind the group, when he reaches Jarrod‘s eye range and they lock eyes,
Taglia is the first to break eye contact with Jarrod—not as a sign of submission, but to see the situation, as he sees his so-called comrades planted in the streets or walls!
Then Taglia‘s eyes fall behind Jarrod onto Friling, especially his wings. Taglia raises one of his eyebrows.
It does not take a genius to figure out he is the healer, and with the ability to heal this fast and in such an extended area, it is a headache if a fight breaks out. Yes, Taglia has met Friling before during the coffee shop aftermath, but he did not see his wings.
Then finally, Taglia sees the person walking far behind… Lesca. Taglia‘s eyes do not stay on her for long.
Why would they? She has zero presence, zero antics, and unlike her brother, nothing unusual is coming out of her!
But the same cannot be said for Lesca. Seeing Taglia is like the Creator—the one Jarrod always preaches about—has granted her wish to see him again. A subtle smirk appears on her face.
Taglia finally shrugs his shoulders, his hands still in his pockets, turns, and is about to leave!
As being powerful is his second quality; being a pragmatist is his first. And he did not get paid enough to fight two Heat users at once and alone for the payment of a simple retrieve and escort.
But Jarrod‘s voice roars out, “Wait, you are with these guys?!”
Jarrod takes a step forward.
He is beyond irritated; he is currently in a state of righteous fury and says, “Weren’t you the guy who said he was keeping an eye out?” Jarrod‘s hands at his sides turn to fists. “So you are the one behind the meteors? Behind the slaughter of tonight… behind everything! WHO. ARE. YOU? And this time, you are not leaving without answering me.”
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