Ability Wielders

Opening up the notification, Anthony was surprised to see that it was Hayden"s activity of accepting a mission. What surprised him, however, is that Hayden actually accepted a mission for a Blue Agent and not a Red Agent"s, which was what White Agents typically did.

What more, the mission was a high-leveled one that should only be accepted by Second Rank Special Agents or above! Examining the mission details, he understood as to why Hayden came to accept this mission.

It was because Scarlet, the accepter of the mission, approved of Hayden taking part of the mission. "Ahh, I see, I guess it makes sense for Scarlet to want Hayden as a Blue Agent in this mission…"

Scarlet"s partner is one of the best Blue Agents in the Puting Araw main branch, and one that has the most potential. No other Blue Agent can even come close to her Blue Agent capability, even those that are of higher rank than hers.

If anything, solely Hayden can really be a subst.i.tute for her that will be on par, someone with an Ability that enhances his senses, on top of a.n.a.lytical and logical competence, which enhances Hayden"s deductive reasoning.

Clicking and typing here and there for a few minutes, Anthony pulled up a window that showed Hayden the Blue Agent room 641 where Hayden was stationed in.

The next hour, he was as shocked as Scarlet of Hayden"s skill at ordering Scarlet and even expanding on her Ability, giving out tips that would benefit her entire lifetime as it gave the hint that Abilities are not as linear as it is.

This was more valuable than the calming effect of her original partner"s Ability! It was simply too astonishing on how innovative Hayden can get.

"To think that this guy can actually interact with people." What genuinely surprised Anthony was that Hayden was capable of interacting with people normally. "A perfect material for a mentor… Interesting…"

Anthony closed the tab seeing that Hayden was leaving the room as the mission was accomplished, ending with Scarlet calling the Pasay Police Station as a member of the Ghost Unit.

He realized just how Hayden"s Ability, Divine Perception, was unbelievably suitable for Blue Agent missions, especially with the technology they had at hand. "That"s why some of those prestigious people are eyeing Hayden for his potential back then, huh? It"s the ideal Ability for supporting Red Agents."

A few moments later, Anthony shook his head. It was not that Hayden"s Ability was overpowered, it was, but no matter how overpowered an Ability seems to be, it was up to the wielder to push its limit to the fullest. Like how Hayden used his Ability to his advantage to learn 10 martial arts within five months to develop his fighting ability and used it to gain fame through gaming and basketball.

It"s not like Puting Araw restricted usage of Ability outside of missions. The organization and higher-ups were actually quite lax with unsanctioned Ability usage as long as they don"t expose the world of wielders to the public, bring unwanted hurt to civilians, and use it for crimes.

After all, despite the astronomical technological advancement of the human race, Abilities were inexplicable even to the greatest of minds of Puting Araw.

…..

Contemporaneously, excusing himself, Daniel navigated his way out of the Blue Agent division and called a person on his phone. It was Zeke.

"You all set?" Daniel asked. "Shall we set out now?"

"I"m ready when you are." Zeke responded calmly. He was at the bas.e.m.e.nt of Liwayway Hotel in a black SUV. "Meet me in the car."

"Okay." Without saying anything else, Daniel cut the call off. Somberness was evident on his countenance. This time, his mission was not going to be as easy, which is why he got Zeke to help him, who opted that he should go personally.

Midway, Daniel felt a cold shiver go down his spine for an unknown reason. It was as if a wild tiger was eyeing him. That was the time when Scarlet told Hayden that Daniel bragged about him.

Boarding the car, Daniel took out a tablet and started debriefing himself again. As for Zeke, he didn"t need to do so as his Ability perfectly a.n.a.lyzed the situation beforehand. Besides, Zeke was the one driving.

They didn"t wear their Puting Araw uniform for this mission as it would be pure suicide to do so, adorning a casual clubbing get-up that a bunch of teenagers would wear.

They weren"t in any hurry at all, and 45 minutes later, they have arrived at Tondo. Spending a few minutes to find Paraiso, Zeke parked the car somewhere and the duo alighted.

Daniel and Zeke entered the Paraiso club at exactly 9:00 PM, what met them was a raucous party with EDM playing. Countless people were in the dance floor, dancing to said music wildly, while some were on the side, sitting on the bar, downing alcohol.

"So this is a club, huh?" Daniel was pleasantly surprised. The atmosphere was much more… suffocating than he expected.

Approaching the bar, the two bought a c.o.c.ktail as they began observing their surroundings. Taking out two Whisperer rings, Zeke pa.s.sed it onto Daniel.

Explaining what the Whisperer ring does, Zeke wore the one he had at hand. Daniel was in a daze as he cannot believe what he just heard. What kind of a wondrous technology was this?

Wearing it, he heard Zeke"s voice in his head. "You hear me?"

Daniel replied with a "yes." At that moment, the c.o.c.ktails they ordered arrived. They acted as if they were merely two teenagers that were drowning their sorrows away whilst looking for the tip that was in their mission.

"I found it." A swift glance at one direction, Daniel saw a staircase leading upstairs. He used the Whisperer. "That"s the VIP area, isn"t it?"

"Yeah, I think it is." Zeke agreed once gazing upon the direction that Daniel talked about. "The problem is how do we get in?"

The entrance to the VIP area was guarded with two ginormous bouncers, and Daniel wasn"t even exaggerating, those two bouncers were unbelievably huge! For Filipinos at least.

"I have a plan." Daniel smiled knowingly. "Go into the dance floor. I"ll signal when it"s okay to move towards the area."

Nodding, Zeke went first and danced on the dance floor, approaching a girl, whispering something to her, then proceeding to dance with her, the girl biting her lips as if aroused. Witnessing this, Daniel whistled. "d.a.m.n, that guy is something."

Gulping down the rest of the c.o.c.ktail he ordered, Daniel was about to stand out when a young beautiful woman approached and sat beside him. "Hey handsome."

"Hey." Daniel smiled amicably. He didn"t want to attract unwanted attention, thus, he entertained the woman for quite a bit. With much effort, Daniel finally removed the woman off his tail, at the cost of a communication link that is.

Dancing on the dance floor a bit, Daniel was observing the two bouncers by the corner of his eyes as he bobbed his head. It was impossible to hide that it was Daniel"s first time inside a club.

Moving around a bit, Daniel deduced the reason as to why the atmosphere was asphyxiating despite it being similar to the School Festival"s dance party.

It was because he was surrounded with strangers and that those strangers are much older than him. Regardless, he was not here to party anyways.

A few moments later, he approached the two guards subtly and activated his G.o.d Eyes, turning both of his irises into a maroon one.

Looming towards the two bouncers, Daniel stopped in front of them, making the two instinctively look right into his eyes, blinding them. Before they could shout or even move, Daniel changed his irises into silver ones and restricted both of their movement.

Zeke, who was on the side, already leaving the company he had, sneaked past to the staircase. With that, the two effortlessly entered the VIP area.

What unfolded in their eyes was essentially the club below, only with a younger, richer crowd, and that there was a stripper pole in the middle. It possessed a much more overall peaceful ambiance, though there was this lingering uncomfortable feeling that Daniel felt.

"Arrogance." Daniel"s face twitched, whispering to himself with a bit of disgust. The air of arrogance and egotism wafted throughout the air. "These young scions…"

Reining in his disgust, Daniel looked around. Zeke did the same, checking the entirety of the VIP area. As aforementioned, the VIP area was essentially the club below, the difference is that there was a stripper pole in the very middle surrounded by the dance floor, and that there were part.i.tions by the side for private encounters.

Making eye contact with each other, Daniel and Zeke talked telepathically. "So, how do you plan to do this?"

"Let"s a.n.a.lyze first. I"m sure somebody would stand out sooner or later." Zeke sent a message to Daniel"s mind.

Nodding, Daniel made his way to the bar. With the bounties he submitted back in December, he had more than a million credits at hand. It was the combination of pay from the police and the small wage from Puting Araw.

With this in mind, Daniel ordered… Well, the cheapest c.o.c.ktail, he was a frugal and prudent person, okay?

As he waited for his c.o.c.ktail, Daniel silently observed his environment. A few seconds later, he noticed a familiar face, one that was engraved in his mind. It was that guy who sent people to beat him up in an alley six months ago.

The kid was in front of the stripper pole, surrounded by guards, an average-looking man beside him. The man was about the age of Zeke, as tall as Daniel, and wore a nonchalant, uncaring expression whilst the kid who ordered thugs to beat up Daniel was busy howling for the stripper.

Daniel sighed, rolling his eyes and ignoring the kid. At that moment, the bouncers he immobilized earlier emerged out from the staircase. Perceiving the two, Daniel didn"t panic. What did he expect? He did immobilize and blind them.

However, what surprised Daniel was that they were not looking for him. The two bouncers walked straight, a refined man in a fancy suit and black gla.s.ses carrying a suitcase tailing them. Behind the man were three other rugged guys, sporting guard-like attires.

"You see those guys?" Needless to say, the appearance of the five people didn"t go unnoticed by Zeke, someone who was used on going on stakeouts and reconnaissance. Zeke was in front of the stripper pole, acting as if he was enjoying the show. "You know what to do."

The five people went straight through a door, with the two bouncers that Daniel disabled standing guard. No matter what angle Daniel and Zeke peered at it, it was nothing but suspicious. "For quite a high ranked mission, this is quite easy…"

"Indeed." Zeke agreed with Daniel, sending a message to him in a worried tone. "Be careful out there. I don"t have combat capabilities at all, so I can"t help you when all goes to s.h.i.t."

"I know." Daniel chugged down the remains of his c.o.c.ktail. He couldn"t help feeling something was up. "I"m going now."

Standing up, Daniel searched for the restroom and found it in less than a second. Inside the restroom, ensuring that no one was around, Daniel turned invisible.

With that, he walked out the restroom. Maneuvering the significantly smaller crowd without b.u.mping into people was unproblematic for Daniel, someone who was trained for combat. In no time, Daniel was in front of the door, with the two unable to see him.

It was convenient that his invisibility skill extended to all items on his person, including ones that are in his pockets. Same went for his phasing power actually.

Changing his right iris into pink, he phased right through the door and turned up on the other side, in a poorly lit short hallway. "I"m in."

"Roger. Be careful." Zeke reminded Daniel to be careful as, alike Daniel, he had a bad feeling that there was going to be something. It did feel a little too easy for a mission normally outside their rank.

Walking on the hallway for about a minute, Daniel was met by a door. With silent steps, Daniel walked inside with his phasing power.

Within, Daniel saw numerous tables with men playing old-school tabletop gambling games, poker, blackjack, mahjong, that popular trading card game nowadays, chess, go, and many more. On some of them, women were sitting on their laps.

Confused, Daniel took a glimpse on the other parts of the room, and on the very center, there was the man he saw earlier, sitting on the table, his three bodyguards behind him.

Opposite to him was another man, a fat person in a leather jacket and tight-fitting blue shirt beneath it. At his rear, there were three guards in blue denim jackets and emitted the aura of thugs.

Daniel, who walked over to the side, peeking out the wall, remaining invisible, he sent a picture to Zeke using the Whisperer. "That"s him, right?"

He recognized the fat person as the main bounty of the target. Apparently, the person was nicknamed "Butcher," whom is rumored to possess some kind of power. After all, the Ghost Unit merely dealt with wielders, and high-end bounties like raiding that factory.

"Yep, that"s him alright." Zeke replied. "Wait though, just how much people are in there with those guys?"

"25 people, excluding the women and the eight people in the middle." Daniel counted the people in the room nonchalantly. "Hey, you know, I"m not good at doing this stealth thing."

"Yo," Zeke a.s.severated, his face darkening. "We don"t have that much information. What if that Butcher is really powerful?"

"Eh, don"t care," Daniel"s reckless side took over, examining the people around him. Sighing, Daniel walked to approximately the middle of the room, took out the Ghost Unit mask from his s.p.a.ce Ring, which thankfully came out invisible, then transformed his right iris into yellow, the crackle of electricity started to come out from both his hands. "I"m simply much better with head-on confrontation."

With that, Zeke panicked internally a bit. What kind of recklessness was this? Daniel was even more hot-headed than he thought! "f.u.c.king… This guy…"

"What is that?" Everyone in the room was alarmed, with the refined guy asking where the sound of electricity came from.

"Get-…" Butcher barely finished his sentence as the room was submerged in absolute darkness, the sound of the screams and thuds of people all around collapsing on the floor, women and men alike, reverberated alongside the noise of electricity cutting the air and striking people down. "It"s a f.u.c.king wielder attack!"

"Wielder?" The refined man muttered with absolute incredulity, the guards behind him surrounding him to protect him regardless of incapable of seeing. Immediately, the guards were all destabilized as they were hit by the same electricity. The guards of Butcher shared the same fate.

In that instance, the light turned back on, a man-shaped amber-colored organic creature with a white-masked face showed itself in front of them. Everyone in their surroundings were all lying on the ground helplessly and unconscious, occasionally quivering due to the electrical shock they received.

Of course, this was all Daniel"s doing, with his darkness manipulation and electrical manipulation. He merely needed to use the electrical manipulation to replicate the power of a stun gun and shot it all around the room, effectively paralyzing everyone.

He deliberately left out the refined man and Butcher, the left iris underneath the mask turning into silver. The two men attempted to move, yet were unable to.

"Don"t bother." Daniel muttered. "You won"t be able to move no matter how you try."

Abruptly, the Butcher broke free of his restraint easily, fishing out a cigarette from his pocket. Seeing this, Daniel was pleasantly surprised. "Oho, you are indeed a wielder, a Level 2 wielder, I suppose?"

"f.u.c.k you." Butcher talked impa.s.sively, even going as far as resting his feet up the table. "You"re the rumored person that has been wiping out our people recently, huh?"

"What?" Daniel turned wary hearing this from Butcher. He deduced from his words that he was part of some large organization. If Hayden was here, he would"ve grabbed Daniel and went away instantly, not caring whether the mission is complete or not. This was most definitely a trap!

With that, he pumped his essence energy all over his body, strengthening it to the absolute limit. His left arm turned into a shield, his right arm becoming a sharp edge.

"Oho, that"s cute." Butcher spoke, spattering out the cigarette on his mouth. "Well, no matter what, you"re still dead."

A forthcoming sense of doom overcame Daniel, charging towards Butcher with his blade, easily beheading him. His eyes widened as he did so.

"You…" This was Daniel���s first ever kill, something that he didn"t expect to happen. Precipitously, the head talked.

"I"m not the real Butcher, and I"m not even here." The head talked as the body and head simultaneously vanished from his sight.

...

Outside, at the VIP area, Zeke was sweating as Daniel wasn"t responding to his telepathic communication. It has already been a few minutes, and his anxiety was growing stronger as time pa.s.sed.

"f.u.c.king h.e.l.l, Daniel, what are you doing?" Zeke muttered, unable to act any longer. At the corner of his eyes, he saw a young person surrounded by a guard standing up and going to the room that Daniel was in. "s.h.i.t…"

As he had no combat power at all, he didn"t move an inch, solely discreetly observing the man as he neared at the door. The two bouncers didn"t stop him at all. It was crystal clear that the two bouncers knew the young man.

The young man was the one that Daniel saw accompanying the youth who ordered to beat Daniel up back at the alley.

Watching the young man, Zeke sent a telepathic message. This was undoubtedly a set-up! "Holy s.h.i.t, Daniel, go out of that room, now, f.u.c.king fly out!"

"The target is non-existent, we"ve been baited. Escape now while you still can, I"ll meet you at the car, don"t worry." Zeke received a telepathic message from Daniel.

Being the level-headed man that he was, and understanding Daniel"s rigidly head-strong and stubborn personality, he didn"t attempt to convince him neither. Instead, he walked out of the VIP area, taking Daniel"s advice at face value.

10 minutes later, Zeke was already out of Paraiso, on the SUV, nervously waiting for Daniel. That was when he received the last message that Daniel sent him.

"I suspect I"m facing a Level 3 wielder who has mind control powers. I"m not going to make it, if anything, I"m doomed. There"s a mole in our Puting Araw, the Butcher in the picture was not the real Butcher. Also, go find Hayde-" The message stopped there, incomplete.

Receiving this, Zeke shook his head with disbelief. At that moment, a huge explosion happened at the top of Paraiso. With a solemn face, Zeke took off without delaying further, taking off the Whisperer ring.

From the explosion, a figure came flying out. It was Daniel, his face unmasked, his eyes devoid of life, soulless.

.....

1 Paraiso - Paradise in English.