Ability Wielders

"Where did you get this information, how, when?" Hayden talked without pausing, greatly shocking the seven people talking about CHORUS. Usually, Hayden didn"t bother with people, it was evident that Hayden was a VERSE, the fan club of CHORUS. "When will the concert be? The Philippine Arena? Will there be a fansign here in the Philippines?"

"Calm down!" The woman who was talking was absolutely stunned, opting to calm Hayden down. She reddened as this was her first time talking with Hayden. "Haven"t you seen the news of CHORUS announcing their first concert here in the Philippines?"

"No," Hayden admittedly shook his head. For the past few months, Hayden has become so busy that he didn"t have the time to actually check the news. Creating videos, studying, doing a.s.signments, practicing, exercising, learning more languages, and many more. "When did they announce this, let me ask?"

"A few days ago!" The woman, named Nicole, told Hayden everything about this concert. "They already announced their world tour back in November, holding a concert tour in Singapore, then moved on to China and Thailand without resting. Now, they have announced their schedule plans for December and January, doing a concert tour at j.a.pan for the entirety of December, except December 20 and onwards, and here in the Philippines in mid-January at the Philippine Arena, Philippine Hall in Visayas, and Sanctuary Hall in Mindanao."

"Where did you get the information that they will perform in the Philippine Arena?" Hayden interrogated while taking a chair from the other table to sit. This time, the seven of them, three women and four men, were truly shocked. They didn"t expect that the school heart-throb would be such a hardcore fan of CHORUS.

"Well, I do have a cousin in South Korea…." Nicole spoke with a thoughtful expression. "She has connections and is the manager of the fan café of CHORUS, Unforgettable Song. As I"m a VERSE myself, and that we"re pretty close, she gives me the latest information. As for a fan sign. I remember her mentioning that there will indeed be one in here, I"m just not sure where or when."

"Do you really not have any information regarding this?" Hayden was a little disappointed. He knew that fan signs of the modern era were pretty hard to come by, although it was not as up to chance like in the old era of K-pop, the amount of people that wanted to buy the buyable tickets were too much. Hayden didn"t want to rely on his luck, and he wasn"t really too keen on banking on the 1000 tickets that were buyable. "Wait, your cousin has connections, right? Can she somehow acquire a ticket for me, or do I really have to buy 100 more alb.u.ms to at least have a chance?"

Hayden was really desperate. He didn"t have faith on his luck as he was traumatized of leaving such a large event for him up to luck. Based on his experience, he may just be the unluckiest person in the world. When playing minesweeper, 90% of the time, when there are only two uncovered tiles left and is 50/50, Hayden would pick the one that would always have the mine in it. Other than that, whenever he wished for something to happen and for things to go his way, it would really never happen the way he wished for it to be, leading him to believe that his luck was incredibly low.

"Well, come to think of it…" Hayden thought of the recent events. "I"m pretty lucky when it actually counts. I mean, a wielder wouldn"t typically have two Abilities, right?"

Thinking about it now, Hayden was indeed fortunate. Even then, he would never dare to test his chances, it was akin to provoking a wasp"s nest, asking to die. As said, old habits die hard. Plus, looking at his chances, it was indeed just right to be skeptical of his own luck.

Say, if Hayden bought 100 alb.u.ms, would it guarantee him a fan sign ticket? No, not at all! If anything, it would simply be a waste of money. Granted that CHORUS was an international group that was simply adored by hundreds of millions of people, and that their alb.u.m sales were over a billion, trying to gain a chance-ticket to the fan sign event would be nothing but a pipe dream! In actuality, it wouldn"t even be a pipe dream, it would merely be an impossible thing to achieve!

And with his kind of luck? He wouldn"t be surprised if he did get pick even if he bought 1,000,000 alb.u.ms! Why? That"s because over 50,000,000 fans bought an alb.u.m in the Philippines! 1,000,000 alb.u.ms were only a single drop in the ocean!

"Umm…" Nicole hesitated to say it. It was pretty hard to turn down a request from the school"s heart throb, especially since this was the first time Hayden showed interest in any girl. "I could ask my cousin for a favor… However…"

"Say it." Hayden had an expectant gaze, culture shocking the seven of them once more. Is this really the same introverted ice king of their school? "Do you need money? I can pay any price you state as long as I am guaranteed inside."

"It would not be cheap." Nicole shook her head. From this, Hayden"s heart sank, thinking that it would be over millions of credits. "Let"s say… More or less, 50,000 credits."

"Deal!" Hayden was instantly relieved. He thought that it would be an exorbitant, yet it was actually this inexpensive! "Let"s make the transaction now."

The seven were dumbfounded of Hayden breaking his character. When there"s a lecture, this lad would have fierce and intense gaze, meanwhile, when a teacher is not conducting a lecture, he would ignore everything around him, reading. He was approachable, but his replies are extremely short, cutting any attempt on befriending him, and only talking when he is needed for a group project or something.

"Here…" Similarly, Nicole was confounded. Hayden was a high school student, is it possible that he"s rich? Taking out her phone in a daze, she made the transaction with Hayden. "I"ll also need to establish a communication link…"

"Sure!" Hayden would normally decline this kind of request, but for seeing CHORUS? He would not decline anything as long as it was within his capability! "Just send me if there are any additional requests. Money is not an issue as long as you get me into that fan sign event! I"ll leave things in your hand."

With that, Hayden left, leaving the seven in a shock. What a tyc.o.o.n! Easily spending 50,000 credits that easily? No wonder Hayden was able to hone that much skills! This shock was soon replaced by envy on the four boys. On the other hand, the women"s shock was replaced by another wave of admiration.

Rich, handsome, tall, athletic, muscular, and smart? What else could you ask for a man. If the seven knew that this was all Hayden"s hard-earned money, they would definitely spurt blood. A high school student that was incredibly rich and hardworking? Brother, could you not make the rest of us look this bad? You"re breaking through the heavens here!

Subsequent to eating at the cafeteria, Hayden returned to his cla.s.sroom and read while listening to music. There was really nothing much to do during this week as their 2nd quarter exams were done and the Christmas Break was nearing.

The last few things that mattered these past few days was the planning for the Christmas party and their results for their tests. Alike his 1st Quarter examination results, Hayden scored perfectly in everything. His report card was sure to have full 100s again.

In Hayden"s defense, it was not that he wanted to be in the spotlight, it was that he couldn"t be contented in answering the questionnaires without doing it correctly. In other words, Hayden was overtaken by OCD and couldn"t bear to go wrong.

The next moments were pretty uneventful. Finishing school, Hayden went home, exercised a bit, consolidated the knowledge in his mind, doing his hobbies as he was getting bored, took a shower, ate, and all his usual routine.

Checking his bank account and seeing that there were already 8.9 million credits, he was excited of buying the s.p.a.ce Ring manufactured by Puting Araw. Letting his imagination run amok, Hayden drifted to sleep in 9:00 PM.

...

September 28, 2057, South Korea, in one of the buildings of the Big Four K-pop companies of South Korea, KTH Entertainment, home to the nation"s girl group, CHORUS, within the main building, the 11 members of CHORUS were training within.

The nine members of CHORUS were Yamamoto Aiko, Jin Mi-sun, Yang Jae-hwa, Takahashi Madoka, Miyazato Sayuri, Bang Jin-ae, Makio Mieko, Zhang Hsiao-Han, Kim Eun-ha, Sung Chung-hee, and Chang Shu-Ching.

Jin-ae is the leader of CHORUS, as elected by the other members. On their break, Jin-ae got a call from their founder and CEO, Kim Taehyung.

"Meeting, after your practice." Kim Taehyung spoke in a straightforward manner. Their CEO was typically friendly, although when it was about work he gets solemn like this.

Jin-ae was used to this att.i.tude from Kim Taehyung. At the end of the day, she already did debut five years ago, she knew her own boss" att.i.tude, especially since he took care of them very well.

"Okay, girls," Jin-ae shouted to the other members of CHORUS. "We will be going to have a meeting with PDnim post-practice. Now, let"s do five more dances before going!"

Subsequently, the nine beautiful girls danced to their new song, Sweet Love, five more times. They didn"t make a single mistake during the five laps, showing absolute mastery over the dance.

Consecutively, they changed clothes, freshened up, before going to the office of their CEO, which was located at the very top of the building.

...

"World tour, thoughts?" Kim Taehyung turned around his chair when CHORUS went inside. Whenever it was work-related, he would become simplistic and incredibly efficient, becoming reserved in words.

"World tour?" The eleven members were surprised. This was going to be their first ever world tour, naturally making them excited. Talking for a moment, Jin-ae, as the leader, spoke. "We would like to have a world tour, PDnim."

"Okay," Kim Taehyung smiled. "We will start in Seoul, going to Singapore, then China, then Thailand, before going to j.a.pan in December. Next, you will have a Christmas and New Year"s break, continuing the concert in January…"

Kim Taehyung discussed the world tour plan, which spanned around six months. Finishing discussing the plan, Kim Taehyung looked to the members of CHORUS once more.

"Disagreements?" He asked. Kim Taehyung didn"t have the intention to intimidate people, yet, people couldn"t help feeling intimidated in front of him. After all, Kim Taehyung was the founder of one of the biggest companies in the entire world, adding to the fact that he was hailed as one of the greatest soloist performers in the entire history of k-pop scene, creating a new era of Korean wave in his prime, along with discovering world-famous idols, CHORUS was just one example.

"No, PDnim!" Jin-ae responded after inquiring about her members" thoughts. "We won"t fail you! We will definitely do our best!"

"That"s what I like to hear," Kim Taehyung"s shoulder relaxed, falling on the chair"s backrest. "Dismissed."

When the CHORUS members left, they were all excited. They were finally going to perform all around the world!

…..

In September 30, the group CHORUS announced their concert list up to China, which will last until November 30. It was only when CHORUS finished the last concert of November in Thailand did KTH entertainment release the schedule for the months of December and January, there was a measly five concerts in December, which was in j.a.pan, in five different stadiums… And surprisingly, there were indeed concerts in Philippines!

Hayden was oblivious to all of these as he was, as aforementioned, absolutely busy the past six months.

…..

December 10, 2057, Tuesday, 2:00 AM. Hayden woke up. Due to his evolving Indestructible Devil, apparently, he is now able to sleep completely refreshed after five hours ever since the first of December.

The moment that he got up, he remembered the matter yesterday regarding about CHORUS having a concert, looking it up in the internet, he was elated! However, there was no mention of a fan sign event in online search engines. When he went to the fan café called Memorable Verse, he was relieved when he saw the event, which still had no confirmed location.

"Thankfully, she wasn"t lying," Hayden had no trust in people in general, a true paranoid per se. "Well, even if she did lie, 50,000 would be a small sum…"

Hayden"s sense of the value of money transformed these past six months. To him, 50,000 credits was now a small sum. Prior to doing Streamlink, he would think that 50,000 was a humongous sum that could not even be earned by not eating lunch for the entire school year. He would never have predicted that he would be in possession of millions of credits in his account now.

Reminiscing a bit, Hayden turned on his treadmill, immediately running at a brisk pace. The more his body evolved, the more he didn"t need any warm ups, thinking that it was now obsolete for him. In an hour, Hayden was able to run at 28 kilometers per hour non-stop. For Hayden, that was only a jogging speed, and he is able to maintain that speed for an hour straight without batting an eyelid.

The past six months, as said before, Hayden"s body has improved by leaps and bounds. He is able to run 28 kilometers per hour three hours straight, feeling the exhaustion only at the 2 hours and 30 minute-mark. On top of that, his top speed is about 50 kilometers per hour, even faster than world-cla.s.s sprinters, and he can maintain this speed for half an hour, possibly an hour if he grits his teeth without using the replenishment of essence energy, otherwise, he"d be able to run as long as there was essence energy in the surroundings, which appeared to never run out.

In addition, if his essence energy physical enhancement was added into the mix, Hayden can run as fast as 100 kilometers per hour, which is his current limit that he hasn"t shown to anybody. Moreover, if the full power of Indestructible Devil was added to the mix, which he pinpointed that it increased his essence energy-enhanced speed by an estimated of five times, he is able to break through the 500 kilometers per hour mark, overwhelming even Level 2 wielders.

His strength allowed him to lift a 150-kilogram barbell, if essence energy was used, he is capable of lifting a maximum 326.41 kilograms, with the 150-kilogram weight being able to be lifted effortlessly using one hand.

If Indestructible Devil"s full power augmentation was taken into account, he is able to lift, at most, 1.5 tons of weight using all of his strength, while 754 kilograms on each of his hand. His feats of strength aren"t limited to using his arms. When he jumps, with his raw power, he is able to jump 100 meters if he readies, while 70 meters high if not, landing without damage. When he uses essence energy, Hayden is able to jump as high as 250 meters when he prepares, while 190 meters was his max when he didn"t prepare. He couldn"t test the effects of his Indestructible Devil on his jumping power as he was being watched by Puting Araw almost every second.

The one that gained the most transformation was his toughness. Testing his own toughness, Hayden was able to conclude that his regular un-augmented toughness is able to withstand a punch from a world-cla.s.s boxer in the liver, the face, the solar plexus, or even the throat, without being injured or pa.s.sing out at all. When enhanced by essence energy, regular steel knives are unable to do any damage to him, in fact, the knife was the one that broke. Regardless, the most surprising thing is that when he uses Indestructible Devil"s powerful toughness enhancement, his body becomes incredibly resilient, allowing him to deflect Shojin Alloy bullets at point blank range, tested by himself shooting the Black Piercer on his foot.

In addition, whenever Hayden truly activates Indestructible Devil, denoting that he actually becomes the Indestructible Devil, with reddish skin, increased size, tail, horns, claws, and all that, his speed, strength, and toughness are augmented by another degree, which Hayden feels because whenever he transforms, he feels boundless power flowing in his veins. Despite this conjecture Hayden hasn"t fully tested this yet. There was no way he would go out of bathroom while being a devil. Knowing that he was under surveillance 24/7, he would not be stupid to reveal his trump card by doing tests.

This unbelievable power-up of his was the reason that Hayden felt bored during the attack on Bakunawa. He became a battle freak in the short six months he trained, on top of that, he beat every single one of his adversary with him holding back. What if he didn"t hold back? Then wouldn"t it be easier? A single punch from him can literally kill them. In fact, no regular people in the world isn"t his match anymore, cognizants and wielders are the only ones left that can match him.

This was the reason that Hayden mostly holds back his own abilities when fighting, it would be too boring. When he fought in the Youth Tournament on Basketball, he was yawning while tricking his own opponents. It wasn"t that he was underestimating or looking down on them, it was because it was too boring for Hayden.

"Such a pity…" Hayden shook his head to the fact that he had to limit his own physical prowess. "When will I actually have the opportunity to use this boundless power in my veins? Well, I"m not hoping that I have to resort to it, but being restrained in using it is so suffocating…"

After that, he did 500 one-arm planche push-ups on each arm, 500 one-arm pull-ups on each arm, 500 inverted sit ups on a pull-up bar he bought, and lastly, 500 handstand push-ups. His body was pretty light, but still packed incredibly dense muscles, allowing him to do all this. In one hour, without resting between exercises, he did all this. If anybody saw him do all this, they would definitely think that Hayden was not human, after all, these are not stunts that regular humans should be able to perform.

Five minutes of resting, the Devil"s Persistence kicked in. The micro-tears in his muscles were repaired as if he never exercised at all, while the fatigue stemming from exercises wiped clean. Hayden felt as refreshed as if he just woke up.

Standing up, he took a shower, and lied down on his bed. It was only 4:37 AM, what was he supposed to do? He already mastered so much ch.o.r.eographies that the thrill of dancing that once existed didn"t excite him anymore, while he was in no mood to learn languages anymore as, in his mind, were 25 perfectly mastered languages stored permanently.

"I guess there"s nothing else to do but eat." Hayden shrugged off his boredom, going downstairs to cook food for himself.

While he was eating, Hayden was browsing through the news in his phone. The most eye-catching news was that a "Tikbalang (2)" was seen in Pasig City.

Finishing his meal, Hayden immediately called Anthony, wanting to inquire about this Tikbalang.

"Good morning, director." Hayden said while smiling. "Have you seen the news about that Tikbalang? Is he a wielder? Or is that guy a cognizant?"

"Jeez, it"s early in the morning," Anthony"s sleepy voice sounded out. "Tikbalang"s a wielder, yes. Why did you wake me up? Just to ask me that?"

"Yep," Hayden laughed. "Can I undertake the mission of hunting this guy down?"

…..

1 Tikbalang – A Filipino mythical creature that has the head and hooves of a horse. Tikbalangs are tall creatures, traveling using the cover of the night to **** females, who will then give birth to another Tikbalang.