Ability Wielders

He was deducing what are the limits of the Ability of his opponent, after all, an elemental user was already troublesome enough, what more, one that uses lightning as their weapon. Lightning was one of the most powerful elements after all, and one that would render his Indestructible Devil ineffective.

Why would this make his Indestructible Devil ineffective? Due to the powerful electrical charge that lightning bolts carry, along with its deadly amperage! "I wouldn"t even dare to receive a lightning bolt from nature, much less one that came from a wielder…"

Naturally, Hayden a.s.sumed the worst and equated the power of this lightning user to the power of natural bolts. In fact, he presumed this lightning user to be able to generate lightning bolts more powerful than the ones that nature generates!

He also antic.i.p.ated the worst scenario that this one was a Level 3 wielder. "A Level 2 wielder that wields lightning bolts is already enough trouble, yet, what if this guy is actually a Level 3?"

Involuntarily, Hayden shivered at the thought of this. "If he"s a Level 3 wielder, then he would have two more additions to his power… That maneuver he"s performing in the clouds is definitely one of it… The question is, what is the other add-on?"

Hayden, sitting on his bed, thought of two possibilities, one is that the guy has the power to surf on lightning, and the second is that he has the power to transform into lightning. "From what I observed, the second one is improbable, however, what if that was the case?"

He didn"t doubt that these two hypotheses are plausible, though the latter has, without a doubt, an infinitesimal chance of occurring from what he perceived earlier. Despite that, he didn"t dare throw this idea away as anything was possible in the world of wielders, h.e.l.l, s.p.a.ce Rings exist, why can"t a wielder that can transform into lightning can?

"If he can transform into lightning, then I really have the worst luck…" Hayden muttered, sighing in worry. "I knew it, the universe is killing me off, tsk."

Unable to progress any further, Hayden dropped the matter for now. At that moment, his phone rang out. It was a message from Eun-ha. Checking the time, Hayden realized it was already 5:30.

"Good morning," the message was simple, yet it made Hayden smile, his worry washed away. Shaking his head, Hayden snorted, "d.a.m.n, the feeling of a woman saying good morning to you is something else…"

Touching his cheek, he recalled last night"s kiss from Eun-ha. With that, the two chatted all morning again, flirting, laughing, the flame growing.

…..

10:33 AM, Indonesia, Vermillion City. The area surrounding the fortress" walls were strewn with countless bodies of individuals wearing red shawls, white shirt, and black pants. A handful of them wore the black uniform of Kamay ng Lagim.

Inside the walls, in the very center of the Vermillion City, at the city square, Black Devil was holding up a woman, obviously a member of Crimson Cloud, and choking her with a single hand.

"Y-you will n-never win!" The woman struggled to utter a few words, fiercely glaring at Black Devil. "C-crimson Cloud i-is eternal! C-crimson cloud… is absolute!"

"Oh shut the f.u.c.k up," Black Devil said with a nonchalant tone, rolling his eyes underneath his mask. With that, a white transparent energy engulfed his hands, and when he pressed down, the woman"s neck was crushed to smithereens, disconnecting her head to her body.

"Tsk, I bloodied my hands just for a Level 3 wielder that can"t even fight?" Disappointed was present in Black Devil"s tone. "I guess Crimson Cloud are all just a bunch of trash."

Abruptly, he sensed a presence behind him. Snapping his right finger, he vanished and reappeared three meters to his right. When he teleported, he saw an enormous boar the size of a small house charging towards his former location. It was a Babi Ngepet, a demonic boar in Indonesian mythology.

"You killed her!" The Babi Ngepet spoke in an enraged demonic voice. "You f.u.c.king killed her!"

"Oh boohoo," Black Devil snorted, placing his arms behind his back, not paying any attention to the Babi Ngepet. "f.u.c.king die along with your love life."

Uncontainable rage welled in the Babi Ngepet"s heart, its tusks turning black, its eyes becoming completely red. Stomping its right leg, the Babi Ngepet rushed towards Black Devil, producing a sonic boom due to its speed.

"Idiot…" Black Devil yawned, snapping his right finger as a black portal showed up in front of him. Up high in the sky, estimated 15 kilometers above, a black portal was created.

The Babi Ngepet, as it was in berserk mode, anger clouding its judgement, ran inside the portal, reemerging on the portal up high in the air. "NO!"

The Babi Ngepet shouted as it plummeted to its doom. At the same time, in the ground, Black Devil walked away from the town square with a smirk beneath his mask. A few seconds later, the boar fell on the ground with a loud thud, destroying the stone floor of the square, creating a huge crater in the process.

Subsequently, Black Devil snapped his left finger, conjuring up a single portal. From the portal, out came Crimson Enchantress.

"How"s the preparations?" Black Devil asked. "Have you controlled every one that may be of use to us?"

"Yeah, it"s all done," Crimson Enchantress smiled evilly. "I"ve brainwashed the men, now they serve us. There"s an additional 100 Level 2 wielders amongst our ranks as of currently, more than enough to recoup our losses from the battle outside."

"Good job," Black Devil nodded with satisfaction. "It"s a pity that you haven"t evolved yet to Level 4, otherwise this invasion would"ve been easier."

Crimson Enchantress didn"t respond to Black Devil"s remark, her face twitching a bit in annoyance. It was a sore spot for her that she was the only one that was not Level 4 in the Limang Daliri.

"Well, it"s time to kill their leader." Black devil moved on. Snapping his finger, another three portals appeared behind him. "Earthquake, you"ve located Asumi?"

"Yeah, he"s escaping on the southern gate, bringing along with him ten Level 3 wielders." Earthquake informed Black Devil of the information. "Want me to kill off the other ten Level 3 wielders?"

"Nah, we"re good, I"ll deal with it alone," Black Devil said in an impa.s.sive tone. The four of them shivered when Black Devil spoke in this manner. They felt pity for Asumi and his ten men. "You four clean up, I"ll intercept them."

"Okay," the four of them nodded as Black Devil disappeared from their sights. Graybeard spoke, "d.a.m.n, I pity those eleven people."

"I know, right? I wonder what got his blood running?" Alike Graybeard, Blood King expressed his sympathy.

On that note, the four of them dispersed, going in different directions.

…..

Southern Gate, Vermillion City. There were eleven people on the run. The group consisted of six men and five women, a brutish man wearing a black shawl led in front. This brutish man was exactly Asumi, the leader of the Crimson Cloud.

"Hurry, we"re close!" Asumi shouted out as he accelerated. Similarly, the other ten accelerated. "Almost there, don"t give up now!"

They pushed their bodies to their limit, wanting to run out of the open Southern Gate as fast as possible. Unfortunately, a black portal emerged in front of them, crushing their hopes, that was until they saw a lone man in a black oni mask walk out of the portal.

"Does he think we"re that weak?" Asumi howled in anger, a flag appearing in his hands. "f.u.c.k him up!"

"Yes, sir!" The ten people behind him replied solemnly. They a.s.sumed that Black Devil was underestimating their power too much, annoying them greatly.

Black Devil, who saw this scene, was amused and simply laughed as he raised his right hand lightly, then slammed it downwards slowly. With an indifferent voice, he muttered, "Bow down."

The ten people who were rushing towards him sensed enormous pressure acc.u.mulating above them, stopping them from moving at first. Over time, it was as if tens of tons of weight was placed on their shoulders, ultimately making them kneel then kowtow.

"Impossible…" Asumi, who was holding his flag, paled. His allies didn"t even have the chance to activate their Abilities before they were defeated! "A monster…"

Black Devil, whose hands remained stretched outwards, started moving forward at a snail"s pace. Asumi changed directions and ran away with his tail between his legs.

"Is this guy an idiot?" Black Devil asked as he snapped his left hand, a portal appearing in the direction Asumi was running towards.

This portal of Black Devil"s was perfectly calculated, catching Asumi off-guard as he unwittingly ran inside the portal without any time to react. The portal led to the middle of the ten people kowtowing because of the pressure.

The second Asumi appeared, the pressure slammed him to the ground. With his left hand, Black Devil snapped. This snap was used to hammer down a stronger pressure into the heads of one of the brutish man"s men, making his head explode.

Those that remained who saw this hissed, sucking in a breath of cold air. A moment later, another snap rang out, a head exploding. Black Devil constantly snapped at a fixed rhythm, with each, a head exploded.

Soon, only Asumi was left. Black Devil arrived in front of Asumi, his right hand slightly rising to relieve some of the pressure on the brutish man.

"Kneel," Black Devil said to Asumi, enormous killing intent emanating from him.

Hearing this, Asumi attempted to rise from his position to kneel. With effort, he did it, and when he looked up, Black Devil literally appeared as a devil in his eyes.

"How disgraceful, the master of the revered Crimson Cloud has been reduced to this?" Black Devil shook his head. "How disappointing, I thought you"d put up more of a fight."

"In front of a monster such as you?" Asumi spoke through gritted teeth. "Well, it"s not like I"ll lose anything when I die. I tell you, I"ll be avenged."

In that instance, Asumi courageously stared into the abyssal eyes of Black Devil visible behind the mask. This gaze made Black Devil a little paranoid, though he ignored it as there couldn"t possibly be anyone else that could stand up to him, with the leader of Pangkat Anino and Puting Araw the only ones left.

"You really think someone will avenge you?" Black Devil cackled. "f.u.c.king deplorable. Swear allegiance to us now, make an Origin Promise."

"I"d rather die than serve people such as you!" Asumi glared fiercely towards Black Devil with a determined countenance. "So… f.u.c.k… Off!"

His face twitching, Black Devil shook his head again. "How ungrateful, I gave you a chance to live, yet you don"t take it. Ahh, how stupid, I wonder if this is why Crimson Cloud cannot protect its own supposedly "Impenetrable Fortress.""

Subsequently, Black Devil didn"t let Asumi speak anymore as he used his left hand to do a slicing motion. The head of Asumi rolled to the ground. Dispersing the pressure, Black Devil picked up the head of Asumi.

…..

5:00, Hayden was getting ready, donning the new 20,000-credit suit that he bought earlier. He needed to make a quick run to the mall for this one as he brought no suit from home. "I mean, who would have thought I"d land a date here? Much more, with Eun-ha…"

As for why he needed a suit? That was because the two of them were going on a date at Baegjo, or Swan in English, a high cla.s.s restaurant co-owned by two cast members of Challenger. Plus, it was natural that Hayden would wear an expensive suit such as this, as this was going to be their first dinner date, at a high-end restaurant to boot.

Needless to say, Baegjo was a Celebrity Hub, one of the popular ones as well. According to Eun-ha, Baegjo was a popular choice for celebrity couples who hasn"t yet revealed their relationship status to the public, or isn"t planning to at all.

In other words, Baegjo was popular due to its romantic atmosphere! Because of this, Hayden would not dare to slack off one bit. "I"m lucky that she has no pursuers concurrently. How the h.e.l.l am I supposed to stand against those pretty boys in the k-pop industry…"

Staring into the mirror, Hayden was getting nervous. Ultimately, Hayden was still someone who previously lacked self-confidence and easily overlooked by people, one cannot get rid of one"s inferiority complex in a mere six months.

"Luckily, I don"t sweat when I"m nervous…" Hayden thanked the heavens for this one biological advantage that he had. Activating his Divine Perception, Hayden sprayed cologne in all the right places. "Not overbearing, but memorable enough. A fine cologne, no doubt."

In his room, Hayden was pacing around anxiously. He was supposed to pick up Eun-ha at 7:00 PM, their reservations at 7:30, and as the clock ticked by, he was getting more restless. In spite of his Divine Perception"s activation, Hayden couldn"t calm down at all.

Examining his heartbeat, it was beating unbelievably fast. This was the first time in his life that he was this apprehensive, not even comparable to when he was going to present alone in front of a huge crowd prior to awakening his Divine Perception.

"Deep breaths, deep breaths…" Hayden sat down on his bed, reminding himself to breathe. "Dammit Hayden, this is a date, you"ve already had a date with her yesterday, so what the h.e.l.l are you getting fretful for? She even let you call her noona! Get rid of your s.h.i.tty mindset!"

Hayden resorted to giving himself a pep talk, cursing himself in the process. It was the best that he could do now that Divine Perception is proving itself ineffective in front of such a life-changing event.

With that, the time did not fly at all, in fact, Hayden felt it was an eternity. At 6:50, Hayden went downstairs, met by his mom who was glaring at him. Guiltily, Hayden spoke, "Don"t worry mom, I"m going to introduce her to you one day. It"s our second date, you understand yourself that introducing a girl to one"s family is a big deal."

Sighing, his mom waved him off. She knew full well how right his son was, it was just that Hayden didn"t have a girlfriend at all ever since birth, and now he"s meeting someone in a foreign country? It was all too… coincidental! She couldn"t help but think that Hayden planned this vacation simply to meet his "girlfriend."

On his car, Hayden took another deep breath. Only after he took five deep breaths did he set out to drive to Eun-ha"s house. At 6:55, Hayden arrived in front of her car and texted her.

Alighting, Hayden stared at her window. That was when their front door opened, and out came Eun-ha… Followed by her parents… Blinking rapidly, Hayden"s world turned upside down for two reasons.

The first one being Eun-ha"s beauty in that stunning red dress was out of this world. On top of that, this red dress accentuated her curvy body figure, any men who would lay their eyes on her would certainly be unable to take it off once they do so.

Secondly, the look on her father"s scrutinizing face sent a chill down his spine. Hayden was positive that this was the legendary protective father cliché! He didn"t know what to do as of this moment as her parents stood there at the door, while Eun-ha walked over to him.

Should he go greet them? Should he not? He was getting insane due to his indecision. Clearly, Hayden has never been put into this kind of scenario in his life. Walking forward, Hayden stopped in front of his car when Eun-ha signaled to him to stay put.

Noticing this, Hayden was secretly relieved as he smiled towards Eun-ha"s parents. When her father saw this, he similarly smiled, albeit, one that gave off murderous and protective vibes, not the friendly sort.

Sucking in cold air, Eun-ha arrived in front of him. When he took a glimpse at her, her smile trapped his gaze, putting him in a stupor. "Don"t stare too long in the presence of my parents, dummy…"

Gulping, Hayden shook his head to wake himself up and opened the door. Hurriedly, he scuttled into the driver"s seat and drove away without looking back.

A few minutes of driving in silence, he put the car in automatic mode then turned to Eun-ha with twinkling eyes. In admiration, Hayden unconsciously blurted out, "You look so beautiful…"

From this sudden compliment, Eun-ha"s eyes locked with Hayden. She unwittingly laughed at Hayden"s stupefied face. Hayden felt surreal when Eun-ha laughed. Was he really going on a date with such a gorgeous woman?

He resisted the urge to slap himself to see if he was in a dream to avoid embarra.s.sment. Instead, he tilted his head and looked at Eun-ha wearing a smile, along with a longing gaze, not hiding his desire to be with her.

"Stop staring," Eun-ha was fl.u.s.tered when she witnessed this, punching Hayden in the shoulder playfully. The second her hand made contact with his arm, she was surprised that his muscles were as tough as a cement wall. She didn"t let this get to her however.

"I"m sorry, I was just wondering if I"m in a dream or not," Hayden said a rightly timed line that unwittingly struck the iron while it"s hot. "Thanks for confirming that this is reality…"

"You really have a glib tongue for someone with no experience with girls!" Eun-ha snorted, unable to contain her laughter.

Once she uttered this, the atmosphere was not the same as last night"s drive. If last night, the ambiance was friendly, in the present, it was romantic, sparks figuratively flying all around, the attraction of the two to each other visible in their eyes.

Incapable of controlling himself, Hayden caressed Eun-ha"s cheeks, a truly bold move. Meanwhile, Eun-ha, the recipient of this, gently smiled, closing her eyes and letting the weight of her head fall into Hayden"s hands.

When she opened her eyes again, the fervent gaze of the youth in front of her was intense, causing her face to burn up. Akin to a frightened little kitten, Hayden pulled back his hand and reddened in an instant. Ashamed, Hayden looked away to his side of the window.

Touching Eun-ha"s face was the limit of Hayden"s boldness, going in for a kiss was unimaginable for him, more so with a girl he met just yesterday. He may be brave, but he was not someone who was brash and audacious!

"Tsk," unexpectedly, Eun-ha criticized him. "You really have no experience with women, one time you"re courageous, and the next second you"re cowardly…"

Sighing, Hayden thought this date was ruined hearing this, his heart broken. That was till he felt two hands touch his face rotate his head forcefully and pull him towards Eun-ha. The two"s lips touched, causing Hayden"s mind that was already in a disarray completely blank out.