Ability Wielders

"You!" Haetae was fuming with rage, the hail not touching her at all. "Such a puny Level 2 wielder dares to do this to me!?"

Hayden rolled his eyes underneath his mask. He thought, "What an egotistical maniac… I mean, we"re fighting, of course I"d treat you like this…"

Needless to say, Haetae didn"t notice this eye roll at all. At that moment, her eyes started to glow even redder, her size swelling to double her previous size, her paw-like hands transformed into true paws. She became a true blue Haetae depicted in legends! The problem is that… Her size was as big as a freaking truck!

"Goodness gracious! Just what the h.e.l.l are your limits!?" Hayden involuntarily muttered, cursing his own luck. "The universe is really trying to kill me off, isn"t it?"

"Prepare to die!" Stomping her front foot, the ground violently tremored. This Haetae actually was capable of inducing an earthquake! "Let"s see where you f.u.c.king go now!"

Stomping her foot again, hail rained upon him once more. Keeping his calm, Hayden measured every factor in his current situation by slowing down the perception of his time, pushing his Divine Perception to the limit. First, he checked the magnitude of the earthquake and its radius. The earthquake was contained within a 70-meter radius within from where he was standing, as for its intensity, it was merely an 8.0.

As Divine Perception gave him supernatural balance, he was stuck to the ground, perfectly stabilized. Truth be told, Hayden estimated that even 10.0 magnitude earthquakes wouldn"t be able to topple him, much less an 8.0 one. Nevertheless, his environment didn"t share the same fate that he had, suffering from the violent tremors from the earthquake, the lamp posts, the basketball rings, the ground cracked, everything fell apart.

Second, he tested the power of the hail falling down on him by letting a single one hit his hand. The moment the hail hit, the bones in his hands cracked. Nevertheless, Hayden was relieved that it wasn"t as powerful as he initially thought, his Indestructible Devil instantly closing the cracks of the bone. Finishing testing the waters, his confidence in fighting Haetae gained an enormous boost.

Third, he scrutinized the arrogant and complacent Haetae in front of him. As he examined her physical attributes, he used 50% of his attention on evading the hail as he didn"t want to expose that it actually had minimal effects on him. His evasion style made him appear as if he was doing a "drunken ballet," wobbling while contorting his body in unimaginable ways that made it kind of look elegant.

A few seconds of "drunken ballet," later, Hayden managed to find a window of opportunity. He stopped his perception of time and checked the amount of raw power that Haetae could dish out. From his observations, he was able to conclude that her power will be at least the same as Hayden"s Indestructible Devil with the essence energy.

That meant that when essence energy was added into the mix, a.s.suming that Haetae was a Level 3 wielder with higher attribute augments, Hayden was, still, in no way, a match for her in a contest of strength.

For her speed, thankfully, she remained a little bit inferior than Hayden"s essence energy enhanced state, and by his estimation, the margin of her maximum speed with essence energy would be about 1100 kilometers per hour to 1180 kilometers per hour, a wee bit inferior than Hayden"s true limits minus the wings.

As for the toughness of her scales, he was sure that Sinukuan would be ineffective, even if he infused essence energy into the bullets. If he was to give an approximation, she possessed about the same toughness as his essence energy enhanced state without essence energy augmenting her, and, more or less as tough as his full-powered state if she utilized essence energy.

"It"s manageable," Hayden thought. In terms of physical capabilities, the two of them were fairly matched, a good sign for Hayden. "Well, the question is, how am I going to beat the s.h.i.t out of this thing?"

With that, he resumed the perception of his time, albeit, halved, as he evaded the hail using his "drunken ballet." A few seconds of thinking later, Hayden took out his new knuckle dusters, pumped the power of essence energy into his legs, on top of Indestructible Devil, and disappeared from where he was, a small sonic boom erupting.

Haetae, who was initially in a daze watching Hayden"s graceful eluding moves, was alerted when the figure before her vanished. With eerily calm eyes, Hayden appeared centimeters in front of her, his fist was in its way to her face.

As this all happened in a span of a fraction of a second, the dazed Haetae had no time to react and was punched by Hayden"s full-powered punch in the nose, causing her to fly backwards due to the might. The second she flew backwards, the earthquake and hail ceased as if it was nonexistent in the first place.

"Seriously, what kind of overpowered character did they send after me?" Hayden whispered dejectedly, cursing at the universe as they truly wanted to kill him off. "Well, at least it gave me powerful Abilities...."

That was the only thing he managed to pick up from this situation, that the universe gave him such powerful Abilities to protect himself for when it tried to kill him off.

Watching the sliding Haetae, Hayden sighed, not putting down his guard, contrary to that, his alertness soared. Meanwhile, Haetae recovered, stopping the momentum transferred to her by Hayden"s punch as she growled at him.

"Just who the h.e.l.l are you?" Haetae shouted. "Dodging those basketball-sized hail with uncanny precision, killing people with a gun, each managing to land a target no matter how they intended to dodge, powerful strength, insane fighting capabilities, just who the h.e.l.l are you!?"

"Why do I have to answer that?" Hayden switched his language from English to Korean. He acted haughtily and coldly at the same time to give off the vibe of "undefeatable and arrogant." An "expert" must have the disposition of an expert, right? "I mean, you"re my opponent, right? I guess I acknowledge your power enough to give you my namesake. You may call me… White Fox."

Haetae was speechless of Hayden"s arrogant att.i.tude. If it was any other Level 2 wielder who said those words straight to her face, she would have ravaged them with her claws without saying anything at all. However, it was Hayden who said those to her, and experiencing the terror of his combat capabilities herself, she understood how powerful Hayden was, leaving a shadow in her heart.

"Well, I have to utilize my full power now, don"t I?" Despite that, she didn"t give up on killing Hayden. "I didn"t want to do this as "mistress" said to bring you alive, but do I have any choice? You"re a troublesome person, she"d understand why I had to kill you."

"A mistress, huh?" Hayden"s face darkened. He remembered how troublesome the s.h.i.t he stepped on. "Great, this is about the cognizant, isn"t it? First, I"m hunted down in the Philippines, now, I"m a fugitive in South Korea, great, simply great!"

…..

Flying in the air, Eun-ha was wearing her k.u.miho get-up. She dug a phone out of her hanbok and dialed in a number.

"Hey, where are you?" Eun-ha asked. On the other line was Chung-hee. "Have you arrived at Gw.a.n.gnaru Hangang Park? It isn"t that far from you, right?"

"Yeah, well, the soccer field is a mess." Chung-hee said, surrounded by tigers seemingly made of different elements. One of the tigers was made of pure light, the other made of pure darkness, the other made of pure fire. "There are so many dead bodies strewn on the ground. As for your boyfriend? There"s no sign of him."

"Hey, I"m not even sure if it"s Hayden, okay?" Eun-ha was annoyed and fl.u.s.tered. Coughing, she continued, "Have you checked the others? Maybe on the other parts of the park?"

At that moment, hail started to rain down upon a certain area of the park. "I think I"ve found them, and it looks like Haetae is fighting someone."

"Haetae?" Eun-ha asked in surprise. "What the h.e.l.l is she doing there? Check on it, okay? I"m getting near Gandgong-gu as well."

"Yeah, yeah, I"ll check." Chung-hee grumbled with exasperation. "You owe me dinner for this…"

"Fine, fine!" Eun-ha snorted, cutting the call. "I really hope that it"s not Hayden… If you are, please be safe!"

…..

Chung-hee hurried to the basketball court and was shocked of the sight that unfolded before her eyes. A man in a white fox mask was dodging basketball-sized hail! What kind of inhuman Ability does this guy have?

In spite of being quite distant from the scene, she observed everything clearly. Using her essence energy sensing, White Fox was indeed a Level 2 wielder, and his opponent, Haetae, was a Level 3 wielder.

Precipitously, she witnessed Hayden disappearing in her sight and reappearing in front of Haetae, punching out. "This… A Level 2 wielder actually penetrated the defenses of the "Invincible Lion," Haetae!?"

Exclaiming quietly, she gasped out in astonishment. "We underestimated his combat capabilities! To think that he was more powerful than he appears to be…"

It was not simply his physical abilities that amazed her, but also his combat sense, allowing White Fox to surprise Haetae time and time again. After all, as a spectator, she had a clearer insight of what was happening, and she knew that Hayden picked the right time to charge out as Haetae was at the peak of her stupor.

In that second, a woman landed beside her. It was Eun-ha, wearing a white hanbok, as well as a white fox mask.

She was just in time to see Hayden hara.s.s Haetae with his strength and technique. When Haetae swiped her claws towards Hayden, he ducked and returned an uppercut, when Haetae charged, Hayden jumped upwards and kicked her, performing a quick backflip to recover, when Haetae wanted to bite Hayden, he sidestepped and karate chopped her thick neck, leading her to plummet on the ground with a large thud.

"Holy c.r.a.p…" Eun-ha was similarly slack-jawed when she watched this amazing scene. "This guy knows every movement of hers, the second she moves to attack, he dodges and counters. How?"

"Your boyfriend"s pretty good!" Chung-hee shook her head in disbelief. "How does he move in that manner. That flexibility, that finesse, woah…"

The two"s minds were blown away when Haetae stood up, took a swipe at Hayden, and Hayden somehow managed to get under her appendage, grab it with both of his arms, and threw her out.

"Is that really him?" Eun-ha subconsciously muttered. Was this really the Hayden she met? The introvert who initially couldn"t even keep a conversation up? The shy 16-year-old that unwittingly speaks of pick-up lines by speaking the truth? "There"s no way, right?"

"Hey, it"s possible." Chung-hee tapped Eun-ha"s shoulder. "Imagine if he becomes a Level 3 wielder, I wonder how powerful he would be by then?"

"I don"t know, that guy"s a monster, someone who doesn"t appear in a hundred years," Eun-ha exhaled deeply. "I think he doesn"t need our help."

When Eun-ha turned her back, Chung-hee abruptly grabbed her arm and spoke, "No, I think he does need our help…"

"What?" Eun-ha quickly rotated and witnessed Hayden sprawled on the ground. "Haetae"s using heatwave!"

…..

When Hayden threw Haetae out, his win was pretty much supposedly already secured. That was, until, without a warning, his surroundings became unbearably hot, the moisture of his body was extracted in an instant.

He was lucky that the essence energy in his body prevented him from drying out in this immense heat, while his Indestructible Devil"s regenerative capabilities healed the withering of his body parts.

In spite of that, the heat still invaded his body, inducing intolerable dizziness in him. It was quite a miracle that Hayden lasted this long. From his Divine Perception, the environment was 150 degrees Celsius! Any Level 1 or Level 2 wielder would have died the instant this heat invaded their body, much less a human being.

Hayden struggled to keep his stance, the strength of his legs rapidly being sapped away as it shook. A few seconds later, he collapsed. It was one thing to be hit by electricity, environmental heat was another. As long as it was a person, or any other creature, no matter how healthy you are, this kind of heat cannot be survived!

"f.u.c.king h.e.l.l…" Hayden cursed weakly as he laid on the scorching hot ground. "The universe wanted to kill me off… Was it because I"m a mistake? An anomaly? Is it trying to keep balance? Just, why? Why am I so unlucky?"

As he closed his eyes, Hayden recalled his time with Kim Eun-ha, the best few days of his entire life. "At least I got to have a date with Eun-ha… That is enough, my life is fulfilled, I can die in peace… Kidlat, I hope you take care of my parents well…"

All the while Hayden was muttering his last words, Haetae has already walked over to him, returning to her primary form of a bipedal human-Haetae hybrid.

"Not so tough now, are we, White Fox?" Haetae vehemently laughed evilly. "You thought you were winning, huh? I wasn"t using my full strength! Why do you think you beat me up to the point of that? Well, be proud, I haven"t used this calamity for a while, you"ve successfully drawn out my full power."

"Egotistical b.i.t.c.h," Hayden cursed in his heart till the very end. "Wait… Someone"s coming! No, not someone, two people!"

Sensing two lifeforms in the shape of a human in his immediate vicinity, Hayden didn"t know how to feel. What if those two people were enemies? Then he would simply feel nonchalant as he was dying anyways. However, what if they were there to help him?

He couldn"t determine as his eyes were closed, unable to open them. Soon, he was elated when he perceived that the two figures attack Haetae.

Subsequent to Haetae being attacked, the heat from the surroundings dispersed, allowing him to recover immediately. A hand helped him to stand up. It was a woman in a hanbok with a white fox mask.

"Are you okay?" The woman"s voice rang in Hayden"s ears. She heard of Hayden"s "last words," and was shook to the core. This guy was indeed Hayden! "Don"t you dare say that your last wish fulfilled was taking me out on a date.

"Noona?" Hayden called out her name silently the second her voice entered his ears. How did he know for sure she was Eun-ha? Well, he spent enough time with her that he can identify her from a mile away using solely her scent alone, while he could identify that familiar angelic voice anytime he will hear it.

Plus, those words, she surely heard of his "last words," he would be stupid if he didn"t think that it was Eun-ha who saved him.

As for how he could identify her scent? Hayden remembered an article that stated that humans have a unique natural scent, that"s how a blind dog identified their owner.

"You really are Hayden-ah…." Eun-ha touched his white fox mask, wanting to remove it, but held back as she knew why a mask was significant. "You, we"ll talk later, I"ll deal with Haetae. You rest, okay? I"ll be back."

"Be careful," groaning in pain, Hayden sat cross-legged to recover from his injuries earlier. "I can"t believe she"s a wielder…"

A few seconds later, Hayden opened his eyes and saw six figures, three of which were tigers. "Huh, interesting…"

Hayden stood up to watch the fight happening in a distance. At first, Eun-ha was merely spectating, letting the one wearing a tiger mask fight it out with Haetae, or more specifically, her tigers fought Haetae.

"Let me handle this," Eun-ha tapped Chung-hee"s shoulder. "You look after him, you two catch up, check to see if he"s really trustworthy."

Hearing this, Hayden felt a little heartbroken, yet, he still understood Eun-ha. A wielder wearing a mask was keen on keeping their ident.i.ty a secret, if they were keeping their ident.i.ty a secret, there must be a reason, right? Hayden would have a train of thought the same as Eun-ha"s if he found a wielder wearing a mask, in fact, he would be more extreme if he did.

For example, if someone in a mask saved his life, Hayden still wouldn"t trust them blindly, leaving room for doubt. Needless to say, he would trust them as he owes the other party, just not to the point that he would do anything for the other party. In fact, even if they weren"t wearing a mask, Hayden would still leave room for doubt. He was a paranoid after all.

Looking back, Chung-hee stared at Hayden, sending a shiver down his spine. Then, three tigers ran towards him, baring their fangs at him.

Chung-hee arrived at him in a mere second and stared at him, her eyes behind the cute tiger mask full of curiosity. As for Hayden, he kept calm as he knew that the tigers wouldn"t hurt him.

Thus, he focused his attention with the fight of Eun-ha and Haetae. Being ignored, Chung-hee"s face beneath her mask twitched. She cannot do anything about that though. With that, she walked to Hayden"s side grumpily and watched Eun-ha"s fight.

"She"ll win, if that"s your worried about." Chung-hee spoke impa.s.sively. "What"s your relation with Eun-ha?"

"I"m dating her," Hayden shamelessly responded. Chung-hee was, without a doubt, Eun-ha"s friend, otherwise, she wouldn"t ask this kind of question straight up. "Chung-hee, right?"

Stiffly, Chung-hee glanced at Hayden who was focused in the fight. "How the heck did you know?"

"Your voice, it"s distinctive, easily recognizable even without the help of my Ability" Hayden didn"t care as he heard Chung-hee"s voice multiple times. As someone who was younger than Eun-ha, he took notice of Chung-hee in several occasions, especially during one particular era where Chung-hee stood out the most.

…..

"You hurt White Fox?" Eun-ha interrogated Haetae, her tone overflowing with tranquility. "You"ve grown quite a bit overbearing. Don"t you think? Killing people in Seoul and all?"

"k.u.miho, we"ve met again." Haetae shifted to her human form, revealing the woman"s naked body, a cold smile imprinted on her face. "Want to have a rematch?"

"You"ve lost once, what"s making you think that you"re going to win?" Eun-ha taciturnly replied. "Well, even if you didn"t ask, I"m killing you anyways, to end your vile deeds once and for all."

"Killing me? Isn"t that a vile deed?" Haetae chuckled prior to smirking. "I"m a Level 3, and our last match was when we were Level 2, don"t you think-"

Before she can finish her words, she subconsciously activated her essence energy sensing and sensed that Eun-ha was Level 4 already. Fully alert, Haetae transformed into her full Haetae state immediately, growling at Eun-ha.

"You"re done?" Eun-ha asked. "Well, let"s get this sorted, shall we?"