Ability Wielders

Thankfully, his father wasn"t home right now as he was on a retreat in Visayas. At least he had one less person to worry about. Taking advantage of the calmness brought by Divine Perception, Hayden was still thinking carefully, attempting to narrow down who had some beef with him.

Hayden thought that the invisible guy in his lawn was a person that didn"t know that he had an Ability. "Invisibility, huh? Could it be that guy...?"

Stunned, he thought of Asw.a.n.g who left no traces at all during his murders. "If he was invisible, then it would explain how he avoided surveillance. The thing that doesn"t make sense is how Asw.a.n.g removed his fingerprints."

At that moment, an idea occurred to him. "That"s because his invisibility allows him to not leave traces!"

Thinking more to himself, comparing the scenarios in his mind, Hayden was more sure that the person squatting in his lawn while invisible was Asw.a.n.g. "My Ability is a multi-layered one, allowing me to have various powers when activated. It must be the same for him whenever he"s invisible! Since there were no weapons used, he probably used his own hands, and since he left no traces, possibly, while he is invisible, he doesn"t leave anything at all!"

The more Hayden speculated, the more scared he got. If it was all true, then there was a serial killer on his lawn! "Well, f.u.c.k… I wouldn"t sleep for now. That guy would make a move any second…"

He looked around for a weapon. He remembered that there were knives in the kitchen. Since he was a minor, he wouldn"t be able to buy guns or any of the sort, hence, he had to make do of the knife he can get. Before he got down, a realization dawned upon him.

"I still have my claws…" Hayden opened his right palm and released his claws. "Looking pretty sharp. I guess I will fight barehanded then… If a fight were to occur. The guy can be a random wielder or something… Wait, what if somebody"s watching? I can"t possibly risk divulging the fact that I"m a wielder…"

Hayden was getting a headache of thinking over things. He wished that the person squatting outside was merely a random wielder who awakened his Ability recently, wishing to test it out.

An hour later, Hayden"s wish was unfulfilled as the man seemed like he moved from the position he was squatting at to the door of their house.

Looking at the time, it was currently 7:00 PM. The man had planned it all out, attacking at night! Even if the night was young, the cover of it was still better than broad daylight.

"So brazen…" Abruptly, Hayden noticed that the person in front of their door went back to squat on the lawn, allowing him a sigh of relief. When he "felt" through his Divine Perception that the man went back to his position, he started getting nervous again. "Still waiting…"

Hayden groaned because of the agony from this long wait. He would rather go out and a.s.sault the man by himself, but that would be removing his advantage of information, thus, he restricted himself from doing so.

"I don"t know if his target is me, or my mother… Please don"t be my mother…" Hayden mumbled to himself. At the thought of the person in the lawn targeting his mother, he flared up immediately. "f.u.c.k you if you target my mother."

He steeled himself to kill the person if the person ever made a move. It would be disastrous if the person still got out after a failed attempt if Hayden was successful in intercepting his "targeting."

Especially if the person was indeed Asw.a.n.g! Letting a wielder serial killer on a loose was not an option. It would not only endanger the existence of wielders, it would also put many innocent lives at stake!

Waiting for hours, Hayden was focused on the invisible person outside. Although he wasn"t actually looking at him as this would give Hayden away, he could hear his heartbeat, his breath, feel the movements of his lungs, and the vibrations he would release every time he shifted his position.

He couldn"t make out the face of the person, but he was certain that the guy was large, far larger than Hayden.

As the time pa.s.sed, Hayden"s conviction was wavering. Did he really have to kill a person? After all, it was a big decision to kill a person for a regular human, more so, a high school student.

"I"m not ready for this…" Hayden uttered. This was going to be his first fight against another wielder, a.s.suming that the guy did make a move. "If only you wouldn"t…"

9:00 PM, Hayden was still observing as the man was unmoving. "He"s squatting like that for hours now, isn"t he-"

At that moment, the man moved again. This time, his mom was already asleep. "I guess I have to take this downstairs."

Taking a pair of fresh clothes and going downstairs, he acted as if he didn"t know anything and got water from the fridge to drink some. While doing so, Hayden was observing the man standing in front of their door using his three other senses and took a knife discreetly.

…..

"Why is time so slow?" Gabriel thought to himself while squatting. "It"s getting pretty tiring to squat in the kid"s front lawn."

Even if he complained, Gabriel persisted as he wanted to do the job well. He was given 100,000 credits for such a simple job, might as well experience some hardship, right?

Plus, he wanted to see that woman"s face below him while he violates her. When he thought of that, all of the exhaustion from squatting was removed in an instant, and he smiled sinisterly.

Not that anyone can see him as he was invisible. Needless to say, Gabriel still wanted to be careful as he only planned to ravage the kid"s mom and kill her, not alert the kid, this way, it would do more damage to the kid.

When it was 9:00 PM, thinking that it was time, he stood up and moved to the door. Gabriel stood there for a few minutes before opening the door with force, breaking the lock.

When he peered inside, he saw Hayden drinking water who turned around with a serious face. Gabriel felt a chill run through his spine because of the serious look Hayden had.

"This kid can"t see me, can he?" Gabriel thought to himself. Remembering something that Black Devil said to him, the kid was being watched by two more people, that means that this kid was possibly a wielder! "No, even if he was, what are the chances that he can sense or see me, right?"

Contrary to his expectations, Hayden walked straight to him. For some reason, he was getting terrified every step Hayden took. With that, he brandished his claws and attacked Hayden.

…..

When Hayden heard the door of their house was pried open, without delay, he looked at the invisible person. Walking straight to him with a grave face was his current best decision as this guy would definitely not expect that he can see him.

As he got closer to the invisible person, he was able to make out that Asw.a.n.g was attacking him. Using his superior reflexes, he moved backwards a little, avoiding the trajectory the airwaves were coming from and rushed back in to punch the person"s stomach.

Even though he could not see him, using the power of his sense of hearing, touch, and smell, Hayden knew where exactly the person was. In fact, there was an outline in his mind, allowing him to be 100% certain.

As Asw.a.n.g was a person who had no true combat experience, he failed to react to this blow from Hayden and was pushed back outside. His Ability only gave him the power of enhanced strength, claws, not leaving any clues, and invisibility. Taking away his greatest advantage, which was the element of stealth, Asw.a.n.g was nothing else more than a weakling in front of Hayden"s Divine Perception.

Naturally, this powerful blow that could send a big and heavy person such as Asw.a.n.g could be attributed to Hayden"s training the past few days and the power of Divine Perception that allows him to control all of his muscle groups with ease, letting him dish out more power.

"That"s why I"ve been given 100,000 credits…" Asw.a.n.g had a dazed expression. "The kid, how is he so powerful?"

Standing up, Asw.a.n.g saw Hayden rushing towards him with a knife, greatly giving him a shock. All those years from being a spineless coward came back to him in front of a strong person as Hayden. He tried to run, to no avail, he was kicked down by Hayden in the shin.

Afterwards, Hayden crouched beside the person, staring straight at him in the eyes. Asw.a.n.g forgot the fact that he was invisible due to the fierce look of the other party.

"You think you"ve won?" Asw.a.n.g said, unwittingly deactivating his Invisible Hunter. "You"re merely a kid! How audacious of you to do this to someone-"

Unable to finish his sentence, Asw.a.n.g was punched in the face by Hayden. Hayden augmented his strength a little using Indestructible Devil, thus, this punch injured Asw.a.n.g, blood spurting out of his lips.

"f.u.c.k you!" Asw.a.n.g was enraged as a crazed glint appeared in his eyes. He launched an attack to Hayden using his claws. Unguarded, Hayden was. .h.i.t by this claw and was sent flying to the streets. "Ha, in the end, you"re just a f.u.c.king child!"

Asw.a.n.g regained his confidence, running towards Hayden, his fat jumping around as he moved. With claws and a psychotic smile, it made for a horrifying sight.

On the other hand, Hayden, who was lying on the ground, tried to shake his head to wake up from a daze. "Dammit, I let down my guard!"

Suddenly, Asw.a.n.g was in front of him already, wanting to kick Hayden"s stomach. Hayden"s Divine Perception acted up at this instant and slowed his perception of time. Using the knife he was still grasping onto until now, he stabbed the kicking Asw.a.n.g"s foot.

The second Asw.a.n.g felt this wave of pain, he collapsed and sat on the asphalt road. He has never experienced this kind of physical pain in his entire life. Sure, he was beaten up, but that was with fists! He has never been stabbed! And as an inexperienced greenhorn, he succ.u.mbed to the pain.

Seeing Hayden standing up, Asw.a.n.g had a sense of impending doom. Hayden augmented the physical strength of his legs prior to kicking Asw.a.n.g, sending him back to their front lawn.

Asw.a.n.g lied down there, feeling powerless. Hayden walked to him and sat on his big belly, beating the living daylights out of Asw.a.n.g. A few seconds later, Asw.a.n.g was already unrecognizable, full of bruises.

"Who the f.u.c.k are you? Who sent you? What"s. Your. Purpose!?" Hayden had an unquenched rage inside of his heart right now. "Answer me, or I"ll kill you!"

As a coward, Asw.a.n.g immediately obliged. "I was sent by an organization called Kamay ng Lagim… They wanted me to terrorize your life… You know what? I won"t f.u.c.king die here! I"ve killed so much people, and you"re simply a brat!"

Gaining a boost on his confidence, Asw.a.n.g tried to lift Hayden off his belly. He abruptly stopped as Hayden choked him using one hand. Of course, this was Hayden"s Indestructible Devil.

"What kind of monstrous strength is this?" Asw.a.n.g was scared out of his wits. He gagged and gagged, until Hayden let him go and lifted him up. It was quite a scene, seeing a person bigger than them being lifted up to the ground like this.

Hayden"s left hand took out the knife from Asw.a.n.g"s foot and he stabbed Asw.a.n.g in the heart. Hayden deduced that since his perpetrator was sent here on the purpose of terrorizing his life, then the chance that they were targeting his mother was extremely high!

"You dare target my family?" Hayden had a heartless smile. As aforementioned, he was not a saint, anybody who would be good to him he would be good to them, it was fine even if they bullied him as long as they don"t touch what"s precious of him. From this incident, a straw broke inside of him. "Go to f.u.c.king h.e.l.l…"

His face was sprayed with his opponent"s blood. This was his first kill. Despite being agitated or puking, Hayden"s mind became calmer than ever. He thought it was necessary. There was no other way as if he let this go, there was a high chance that the man would come back for them, more prepared.

This night changed Hayden"s view of the world. He thought that the saying "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, would make the whole world blind," was such a sorry excuse for serving the people"s just desserts. He was just wanting to live his life as a normal teenager, albeit, with superpowers in tow, why did they have to "terrorize" him?

Thinking more, Hayden realized that as he was plunged into this world, it was inevitable not to kill. "Well, at least, my first time kill is an eye-opener, and is self-defense… Tsk, the whole world became better, yet to think these kind of sc.u.m still roam the Earth…"

Dropping Asw.a.n.g"s body, Hayden spat on it as he took a shovel from their garage. In an inconspicuous place of their lawn, on the side of their house, away from the lights, Hayden dug a hole 25 meters below, at every meter jumping out to test what was his limit. He also made sure that there was no person who was watching him using Divine Perception.

"I guess this is the best I can do for now…" Hayden mumbled, dragging Asw.a.n.g"s body. Before burying Asw.a.n.g, Hayden dug the Origin Crystal of Asw.a.n.g. He didn"t say anything else as he removed all of his clothing and threw it down the hole along with Asw.a.n.g.

With that, Hayden put back the dirt. Finishing that, Hayden used their garden hose to clean himself a bit. When he dried enough to not drip water inside their house, Hayden went inside, took a quick shower, scrubbed the blood off his face, and went to sleep.

Hayden felt absolutely nothing from popping his "kill virginity." It was as if the night was the same as any other night.

...

Stalker observed the fight between Hayden and Asw.a.n.g closely. Due to the nature of his Ability, he can see perfectly without any light at all, much less in this environment, where streetlights were prolific. With that in mind, he observed from the roof of the house in front of Hayden"s, which was across the road while using his Ability to hid himself.

When he observed Hayden taking his first kill, and saw that Hayden had this expressionless and tranquil face while burying the body, he was shocked.

The kid was a natural-born killer! Not puking on his first kill? Not dwelling on it? And not even changing your expression while burying the body? That was the sign of a future cold-blooded killer!

The Stalker had no way to know that Hayden had another Ability, one that had no visible effects, that allowed Hayden to remain calm the entire time.

"Well, I mean, it is just self-defense… He probably thinks he did what was best…" Stalker acknowledged what Hayden did. "On top of that, such a powerful Ability that allowed him to know where exactly Asw.a.n.g was, and that kind of strength… Just what is your Ability, kid?"

Unhurriedly, he phoned in his boss. "Told you, boss, this kid was worth the surveillance!"

"Oh?" The Boss was dumbfounded. "Why? What happened? Did Asw.a.n.g attack him?"

"I was observing Asw.a.n.g the past few days," The Stalker said. "He was actually hired by Kamay ng Lagim. From what I can gather, Kamay ng Lagim tasked him to ruin the life of Hayden due to our and Puting Araw"s watch."

"Then?" The Boss was eager to find out what happened. "Tell me what happened already."

"When Asw.a.n.g attacked," The Stalker obliged his boss. "This kid sent him out of their house with a single punch, held him down, and killed him on the spot without changing his expression at all!"

"Oho," The Boss mused. "That kid is something… Continue what you"re doing, I grant you special permission to do so. Don"t make a move unless the kid"s life is in danger, I"m also sending Techno and Plague Doctor to a.s.sist you."

"Okay, boss!" The Stalker replied before cutting the call off. "Techno and Plague Doctor, huh?"

...

The 1st Arc, Awakening Arc, is finally done! What will happen to our dear mc after the events of this arc? Stay tuned for the next arc.