Ability Wielders

With a frown, Hayden completely unleashed his Indestructible Devil, roaring as a sonic boom was produced in his wake, moving towards "Evershifter" and punching his stomach. He didn"t use his full power as this guy hurt his girlfriend and was going to pay for this.

Hayden nearly lost his mind. If Divine Perception wasn"t there, he would"ve went insane. As "Evershifter" was flying, Hayden was moving towards him at a great speed. He was puzzled once again as this "Evershifter" seemed inexperienced despite her running rampant in Pateros for years.

Not thinking of this matter, he jumped and heel kicked "Evershifter" as he flew by, the cement ground of the road cracking. As Hayden was enraged of Eun-ha being hurt, he sliced off the man"s legs with his claws, along with his arms, prior to tearing his upper suit fully and punching the stomach with his full force, inducing a mini sonic boom behind his fist.

The turtle sh.e.l.l cracked due to the enormous force, the man spewing out blood. The next punch he executed, his fist penetrated the hard sh.e.l.l, exposing the man"s organs. While his fist was inside "Evershifter"s" stomach, Hayden shaped needles of essence energy and sent it flying all throughout the place.

Standing up, Hayden breathed out heavily as his Sinukuan appeared in his hands. Infusing essence energy into it, Hayden loaded a clip of armor-penetrating bullets into it and fired at the far left side of "Evershifter"s" chest.

Of course, as the sh.e.l.l was as hard as Hayden"s claws, it didn"t burst open, it merely made a small crack and dent into the sh.e.l.l. Well, killing him wasn"t Hayden"s intention at all, instead, he changed the clip of Sinukuan into RIP ammunition, enhanced essence energy into the rifle and fired at the exact spot he fired the armor-penetrating bullet.

As Hayden was firing the sniper rifle at a very close range, this RIP bullet pierced the already cracked sh.e.l.l in an instant, and as it was a RIP bullet, it stopped halfway and burst into pieces inside the lungs. Hayden was sure that the man was incapacitated with this, hence, he moved towards Eun-ha. Well, even if the man could fly, Hayden could snipe him with the railgun.

Eun-ha was kneeling on the ground, her mask off, falling out of her soulless eyes were tears. Hayden kept Divine Perception activated so that he could keep an eye on "Evershifter."

Crouching, Hayden took off the jacket"s hoodie and caressed Eun-ha"s face. Eun-ha slowly moved her head to stare at Hayden. At that moment, she completely lost it, crying out, appearing akin to a helpless little girl.

"Are you hurt?" Hayden softly asked. If Scarlet and Zeke was here, they would be surprised that Hayden can be this caring despite him understanding that Eun-ha can"t possibly injured by a mere Level 2 wielder. "Are you fine, noona?"

"H-Hayden-ah…" Eun-ha was crying out so much that Hayden was in absolute disbelief. Who knew that the strong woman who effortlessly saved him from a Level 3 wielder had such a weak side?

Abruptly, Eun-ha went into Hayden"s arms, with Hayden rubbing the back of her head and hushing her whilst comforting her. "I"m here, I"m here…"

He kissed her head and stood up, pulling her up as well, with Eun-ha running to his chest with both arms in front of her. Hayden had no idea why this was happening, but he simply hugged Eun-ha in her time of weakness. He was forming conjectures in his mind in the midst of doing this.

Thankfully, Hayden observed that "Evershifter" breathed his last, and that there were no other people here… Which was strange as surrounding him was a neighborhood and he never heard nary a sound from the houses in the surroundings. Nevertheless, there was a more pressing matter at hand, and that was comforting his girlfriend.

For a few minutes, the two figures stood there, with Hayden rubbing Eun-ha"s back and repeatedly reminding her that he was there. Hayden took off his mask and stored it in his s.p.a.ce Ring. When Eun-ha pulled away, what met her eyes was Hayden"s faint warm smile, his eyes radiating solace and his arms providing her security.

That was the second she realized… She couldn"t resist and kissed Hayden hard. When that finished, she couldn"t help but mutter, "I love you, Hayden-ah."

"Noona…" Hayden rapidly blinked, shocked that she was the first one to say such words in this relationship. Nevertheless, he grinned from ear to ear and gently replied, "I love you, too."

Tears fell out again from Eun-ha"s eyes and she sniffled. Smiling down at her, Hayden wiped the tears, cupped her face with both of his hands, and kissed her. "I"m not sure I should be the one saying this, but I"m here and I"ll protect you, okay?"

This earned a giggle from Eun-ha as she slapped Hayden"s chest. With that, Eun-ha pulled away and coughed, picking up her mask and wearing it. Hayden held Eun-ha"s hand and walked to "Evershifter"s" corpse.

"No, that was too easy…" Hayden muttered. That Evershifter was supposed to be a master at covering her tracks, and he was supposed to be a "she," or so the intelligence said. "Shapeshifting into a man? That"s highly likely…"

Hayden had the feeling that this was not the case at all, thinking that there was a much deeper problem here. Eyeing his surroundings, there were still no people here, and with his Heavenly Sense, he couldn"t sense a single lifeform, not a single one, not even an ant.

"That"s weird…" Hayden squinted his eyes. "What"s up with this place? Houses omnipresent, yet, not a single person?"

Hayden suspected that people were only out of his range, yet, when he walked around, Eun-ha"s hands remaining on his hand, he couldn"t sense anything at all. "Either this is a set-up, or…"

A gruesome scene formed in Hayden"s mind. He closed his eyes and used his consciousness separation, entering the house in front of him. Walking around, Hayden didn"t see anything for the first few seconds, and… In the living room, there was a golden retriever"s fresh carca.s.s. "Holy f.u.c.k! It"s as if its head was bitten off…"

Hayden shivered. Who the h.e.l.l could possibly do something…. Oh, yeah, psychopath. Anyway, he went flew and went into one of the rooms, inside… Was a f.u.c.king body! An innocent kid"s body! What more, the kid"s body was mutilated!

Hayden shook his head. He went around the house adjacent to it and saw a similar scene, albeit with more human bodies and no dead dogs.

Returning to his body, Hayden was grateful that he possessed Divine Perception. If it was him from the past, Hayden would have thrown out.

"Hey? You okay?" Eun-ha"s voice rang in his ears, her arms tightly wrapped around his right arm. "Hey, answer me… Hayden-ah…"

"Yeah, I just used a power of my Divine Perception." Hayden said. "I"ll have to report this to Puting Araw, and that body… I think I"ll have to take it to Puting Araw…"

"Why? What did you see?" Enhancing her senses with essence energy, a horrible stench wandered into her nose. "Dead bodies? How many dead bodies?"

"I think it"s all of them…" Hayden whispered, staring at the houses in the roundabout. "Badly mutilated, every single person in this housing area, that"s why it was too quiet around here, they"re all dead…"

Eun-ha was no stranger to this scene, thus, she handled it quite calmly. Regardless, she felt sympathy and angry towards "Evershifter."

"It"s still impossible…" Walking to the corpse of "Evershifter," Hayden dug the man"s heart out and was shocked to see that there was a red Origin Crystal on "Evershifter." "There"s a red Origin Crystal."

"What"s impossible?" Eun-ha asked. "And… Red Origin Crystal? A Cognizant?"

"This is not Evershifter… First of all, Evershifter is a woman, though she"s a shapeshifter, so let"s cross that off." Hayden answered. "Second, Evershifter kills her victims in different ways, and slowly, as if enjoying their pain… This man, if he was the one who killed everyone, mutilated the bodies inside those houses, and from the looks of it, silently and fast, not fitting to Evershifter"s agenda… Don"t get me wrong, this guy"s a psychopath, that"s for sure. The problem is that Evershifter enjoyed screams of agony, which is why myths proliferated in Pateros, and, if it is accurate, she appears as a white lady to innocent bystanders that will later be her victim… Plus, this guy has a… Red Origin Crystal…"

Eun-ha made sense of the situation. Well, what her reaction was stunned Hayden. She punched his arm playfully. "Why would you put the image of human mutilation into my mind? You dummy!"

"So-sorry about that…" Hayden stuttered, shaking his head. He disregarded the fact that he told Eun-ha earlier of human mutilation and was calm and was lightening up the mood. "I love you…"

"I love you, too…" Eun-ha responded mindlessly, looking away and ceasing her punches, her face reddening beneath the mask. "Anyways, I want to rest…"

"Sure, sure, just let me…" Hayden took out a rope and an enormous blanket, tying up the… chimera"s body, took out bullets and transferred it into the 75% full food s.p.a.ce Ring and stored the "Chimera"s" corpse into the weapons s.p.a.ce Ring. "Let"s go home, noona."

"Yeah, let us…" Eun-ha muttered. Subsequently, the two ran hand-in-hand on the rooftops, with Hayden taking out his phone and contacting Anthony, informing him of the corpses in Pateros.

A few minutes later, Hayden and Eun-ha arrived at his house. Entering it, Eun-ha removed her mask and hid it in Hayden"s jacket that she was wearing. Hayden similarly took off his mask and stored it into his s.p.a.ce Ring.

That was when Hayden"s mom"s voice rang out. "Son, where have you been? It"s already 8 in the night…"

Hayden"s mom, Hayden, and Eun-ha stared at each other for a few seconds. In his mind, Hayden was cursing that he didn"t check with his Divine Perception first if his mom was home or not.

"h.e.l.lo, mom…" Hayden smiled awkwardly, his mom glaring at him. "I"ve never formally introduced you two. Eun-ha, this is my mom. Mom, this is Eun-ha, my girlfriend…"

Squinting her eyes at Hayden, his mom smiled at Eun-ha, talking in English. "Honey, did you two go on a date? Good thing the public didn"t recognize you? It must be hard being a celebrity of this caliber, huh?"

"Yes…" Eun-ha responded in fluent English and, as she read up on old Filipino culture that survived the revolution, took Hayden"s mom"s right hand and pulled it to her forehead, slightly bowing in the process. "Good evening, Mrs. Emperador…"

Hayden shook his head. He didn"t know that Eun-ha can speak English as CHORUS didn"t have an official English speaker nor did anybody in the group seem to understand any English at all whenever they"re interviewed.

"Why good evening, sweetie, don"t be so polite, come here." Hayden"s mom beamed at Eun-ha and pulling her into her embrace. Hayden smiled at this scene. "Come in, come in, don"t be a stranger… Sorry as our place is so small."

"It"s no problem… I think it"s lovely." Eun-ha meekly verbalized herself, following Hayden"s mom nervously. Catching up to her, Hayden took her hand, calming her.

"Mom, there"s sushi left in the fridge, both of us will have to excuse ourselves to my room." Hayden didn"t stand ceremony as this shouldn"t have happened. Hayden pulled Eun-ha to the stairs and ascended.

"Okay, lovebirds." Hayden"s mom laughed. In a lighthearted tone, she joked, "Use protection, okay? There"s some in our bedroom!"

"Mom! I"m sixteen!" Hayden shouted out, embarra.s.sed. Meanwhile, hearing this, Eun-ha reddened as she giggled. "We"re not going to do that!"

"Sure, honey. Me and your father were once teenagers, we all know what"s going to happen when a man and a woman is alone in a room!" Hayden"s mom joked again, causing Hayden to roll his eyes as he opened the door to his room.

"I"m so sorry about my mom…" Hayden shook his head, sitting on the couch by the side.

"Don"t worry about it, she"s cute." Eun-ha smiled, sitting beside Hayden and leaning on his shoulder. In a hushed voice, she said, "Thanks for doing that…"

"No problem, noona." Hayden wrapped his right arm around her. "By the way, you didn"t tell me you can speak English fluently?"

"All of us in CHORUS can." Eun-ha faintly informed Hayden. "We pretend we can"t because, well, we"re one of the busiest group in the industry… It"s public that I can speak j.a.panese quite well, it would be rather questionable if we can speak English at the same time."

"Fair enough," Hayden shrugged this off. "So, what was… All that?"

Eun-ha sighed. "I guess you should know all this then…"

Eun-ha told Hayden her story. Apparently, as aforementioned, she had encounters with deranged people from the past, and those happenstances nearly killed her, giving her PTSD, one that was so severe that it affected her in spite of her being such a strong wielder.

The first time was when she was wondering around Seoul prior to awakening, running into a man with a knife in his hand. That man rushed to her, waving his knife around in her face. And as the man was, well, a man, he physically overpowered her and thrusted her into the ground. Screaming once, the man covered her mouth, those eyes… She can remember it to these days. Fortunately, prior to her being killed, a patrolling police that heard her screams arrived an shot the man as the knife was descending to her heart.

That one left her traumatized, which was the night she awakened, cleansing her of her trauma… Until one day, as a Level 2 wielder, she was kidnapped by a Level 3 wielder due to her Fox"s Charm. That Level 3 wielder told her of his plans on doing all these s.e.xually devious things to her… Luckily, Kim Taehyung, the CEO of KTM Entertainment, arrived and killed the Level 3 wielder before he could make a move on her.

That was how she was discovered by Kim Taehyung. Regardless of saving her life, Kim Taehyung was kind enough to offer her a huge salary when she won as one of the winning members of CHORUS in Sing It Off!

However, the eyes of those two people repulsed her. She said that those were three years ago, and meeting that chimera triggered that PTSD. It was a good thing that she had released her Origin Limiter and no Level 2 wielder can match the raw physique of a Level 4 wielder"s released Origin Limiter no matter what kind of Ability they wield.

"I guess unless you have a mental-enhancing Ability, mental disabilities can still affect you, huh?" Hayden thought. Regardless of not feeling pity, Hayden did sympathize with her, simply hugging her, silently consoling her.

"You know?" Eun-ha smiled, drawing away from Hayden. "You are literally the man of dreams of all women. A man that can listen, can cook amazing food, athletic, intelligent and successful, the right amalgamation of a pa.s.sionate romantic and serious romantic, headstrong and physically strong, thoughtful, absurdly diligent, unbelievably handsome, humorous? Your room is even clean and neatly arranged!"

"Heeey, that"s too much compliments…" Hayden hadn"t thought of these things, and would never, as he was working himself akin to a horse. "I mean, what the h.e.l.l did I do to become a "pa.s.sionate romantic" and "serious romantic" at the same time?"

In reality, he never viewed himself as Eun-ha described. Regardless of possessing Abilities, the shadow in his heart of years of insecurity plagued him, thinking that he"ll never be enough. That"s the reason why he works so hard in his career and is always careful to say anything at all, to the point that he is branded as a loner by his cla.s.smates due to him being so reserved.

Divine Perception is the sole reason he comes off as Eun-ha described, it was merely a façade that he put up for himself.

"Your gestures," Eun-ha reacted. "You clearly want a genuine relationship from stopping my advances… As you said, no man can resist that, especially when I do this…"

Eun-ha suddenly pushed Hayden down and sat on his crotch, leaning in and zealously kissed Hayden. Hayden utilized his hands and, a few seconds later, Eun-ha was below him.

"How did you do that?" Eun-ha was surprised as it all happened so fast. "Continuing on, see that? You doing this…"

A quiet shriek came out from Eun-ha as Hayden interrupted him by lifting her up and throwing her to his bed, locking the door before he threw himself at her. "Don"t you have to go back at the hotel?"

"Don"t worry, our schedule starts at 8:00 AM." Eun-ha bit her lip. With that Hayden kissed Eun-ha and let his hand meander around her body. Kissing her neck, Hayden put his hand underneath her short, caressing her rose.

Eun-ha moaned in pleasure, taking off Hayden"s top. Subsequently, Hayden stripped Eun-ha down to her bare skin and did all kinds of foreplay, till he… The night was amazing.

Anyways, over an hour pa.s.sed, and it was now 9:30 PM, Hayden and Eun-ha rested there once more, with Eun-ha"s head on Hayden"s chest. "I love you so much."

"Love you, too," Eun-ha tightened her hug. A long silence followed, and eventually, the two fell asleep in each other"s company.

…..

Waking up at 2:00 AM, the same happenstance earlier occurred, with Eun-ha on Hayden"s arms, albeit, Eun-ha was talking quietly and not fiddling with her phone. He activated Divine Perception.

"Why did I fall for you?" Eun-ha was caressing Hayden"s face. "I mean, you are handsome, charming, everything you can ever find in a guy… But, if anything, perfection isn"t so perfect… I"ve never fallen for those otherwise similarly considered perfect guys out there, so what"s so different with you…?"

"I wonder why as well?" Hayden opened his eyes and momentarily caught a glimpse of Eun-ha"s face lit by the moonlight piercing through the window. Her eyes were intently locked onto Hayden"s face with a glimmer in it, a faint smile plastered on her face. It was a memory that Hayden wouldn"t be able to forget, not like he can due to his Divine Perception jogging up his memory every time.

"How much did you hear?" Eun-ha"s smile wasn"t wiped off her face as she imposed a question, pecking Hayden on the lips.

"Everything…" Hayden spoke with a grin on his face. "My head is getting big from all these compliments, noona. Why do you have to keep complimenting me?"

"Heh, stop being so full of yourself." Eun-ha turned over, lying down on her belly. "Why do you like me?"

"Well, I wasn"t always a big fan of CHORUS. Until one day…" Hayden told Eun-ha his backstory of how she came to notice him, and everything that he liked about her… Which was actually everything, and how every time he watches CHORUS, she stuck out like a sore thumb, always catching Hayden"s eye.

"Now my head is getting big…" Eun-ha muttered, engendering a snort-laugh from Hayden. Proceeding, the two talked for an hour, and at 3:30 in the morning, Hayden took a shower, with Eun-ha sneaking in and… You already know what transpired in the shower.