Ability Wielders

"Yes, sir, we have all the different types of bullets in stock in the ammunition section right over there." The female shopkeeper spoke with enthusiasm.

Hayden was satisfied of the weapons shop in Puting Araw. He has researched all different types of rounds prior to this when he started to take a fancy on guns when he undertook gun lessons.

He knew that there were different types of ammunitions. In truth, the gun business has already declined in all these years, with most people buying guns for the sole purpose of self-defense or for the sake of collecting it. Of course, that was for regular people as criminal organizations usually have their own methods of acquiring guns or manufacturing them.

Previously, Hayden bought only two types, regular and armor-piercing, as he was confident of his Indestructible Devil"s power. That all changed when he fought with Christopher, thinking that regular ammo would be hopeless in the world of wielders. He simply wanted to prepare in case he was with someone and couldn"t use his Indestructible Devil, hence, he bought everything he needed.

Walking to the ammunition section, Hayden was astonished of the great collection of Puting Araw. "Hollow-point? Nice. High-explosive incendiary? Ooh, flechette bullets. Wow, radically invasive projectile, or RIP ammunition? Awesome."

What were all these rounds? Hollow-point bullets were gun ammo that have a hollow point, expanding upon contact that prioritized inducing larger injuries that would incapacitate a target much faster than regular ammo.

High-explosive incendiary projectiles, as its name suggests, detonates when it makes contact with a surface. As for flechette bullets, there were two subtypes, the regular type was that it shed its jacket, firing the arrow within the bullet and packs penetrative power as it was an arrow fired from a gun. The downside for this subtype is that it needed absolute precision.

The second subtype was the older version and was for shotguns and focused on causing pain for the target than killing them, used in WW1 against the "Viet Cong."

And lastly, the Radically Invasive Projectile, or RIP ammunition, was one of the deadliest type of gun ammo, if not the deadliest. It is an Advanced or Accelerated Energy Transfer Bullet that was designed to break into pieces upon contact so that it poses very little to no threat to secondary targets.

Though that wasn"t the reason it was deadly. The main reason it was deadly is that it had nine tips that separated upon impact, creating nine channel wounds on a target without over-penetrating the skin. This meant that this bullet had a higher chance of hitting an internal organ when it strikes, stimulating greater blood loss and still have the incapacitation power of a hollow-point as it was kind of a hollow-point bullet in itself.

As for the accuracy of these ammunitions, it is all very accurate with the perfection of the gun technology by Puting Araw, unlike those from the olden days of guns. Especially since subsonic bullets are practically obsolete with the invention of proper silencers that silenced gun shots.

"Armor-piercing rounds for all weapons, that"s a must…" Hayden replenished his stockpile of ammos in his s.p.a.ce Ring, got rid of the regular bullets, which he resold for 60% of the price to the store, and even bought some non-lethal rubber bullets just in case.

By the end of his splurging for bullets, he was out of 200,000 credits, his s.p.a.ce Ring for weaponry completely full of ammunition and an all-new weapon, a freaking electromagnetic railgun! That freaking costed a million credits and he bought 100 shots that costed 10,000 credits in. Yes, he spent two million for that.

He didn"t have any qualms though as it was a powerful gun that may possibly save his life one day. "Can"t wait to use this on a Level 3 wielder…"

The sheer power of it can injure a Level 2 wielder with the speed of its projectile that is capable of reaching 12 Mach when it leaves the weapon, able to cause ma.s.s destruction. Imagine what the projectile is capable of when infused with essence energy.

Anyways, it was a new arrival hence this hasn"t caught Hayden"s eyes prior. However, what really interested him was that it was a piece of Essence Technology and converted Essence Energy into electricity, a revolutionary concept as essence energy was literally omnipresent and theoretically infinite as long as the Earth, Sun, moon, stars, and other heavenly bodies produces it.

"Interesting, interesting indeed." Hayden couldn"t wait for the time that he meets this Ba.n.a.l na Tagalikha to be a student of hers. "Think of the possibilities…"

Hayden shook his head, reining in his wild imaginations. By the time he was finished, it was 2:40. "Well, that meeting was a waste of time…"

He a.s.sumed that this would take a long time as he presumed that there were evidences which he could use to figure out what the situation exactly was, down to the extreme minute detail. He didn"t expect that there would be none. "Well, to be fair, I did a.n.a.lyze everything pretty quickly…"

With that, he inputted the best grocery that sold high-cla.s.s things on GPS and drove out of Puting Araw"s parking bas.e.m.e.nt.

Putting the car on automatic mode he texted if Eun-ha was awake and when she responded, Hayden called her, asking if she wanted anything in particular for lunch.

Her answer of "surprise me" was taken by Hayden seriously and directly went to the grocery store, buying ingredients for all types of sushi. Yes, he learnt how to create all types of sushi in the six months he was training.

Whenever he was bored and all alone, Hayden would experiment with his taste buds, which is how he impressed Eun-ha with the breakfast he cooked. All in all, Hayden"s cooking skill rose to indescribable heights, which he never revealed to anyone until Eun-ha as he was too busy doing something else whenever his parents were at home.

Furthermore, with the revolution of the cuisine of the entire world and all these taste-modified GMOs, fast-growing GMOs that solved world hunger alongside livestock GMOs, healthy yet unhealthy in taste GMOs, advanced the world of cooking farther.

"And that sweetened salmon…" Hayden was at the supermarket portion of the grocery, staring at the high-grade sweetened salmon that he always used for making nigiri and sashimi sushi. "Definitely, and with my original soy sauce blend… Heh, no one can escape the trap of my cooking… Wait… Let me buy for a rainy day… So lucky to be born in this era."

Other than the GMOs having attributes such as fast-growing or taste-modified or enhanced, with modern technology, everything had a shelf-life of over a year without refrigeration, and with refrigeration, it can last for three years.

With that in mind, Hayden bought an entire cart that costed him 40,000 for a measly lunch… Well, in his defense, he was going to produce extra sushi for dinner and leftover reheating or as a snack.

...

2:00 AM, Seoul, South Korea. Eun-ha woke up, full of energy, brushed her teeth, and went down to the living room.

"Good morning." Eun-ha greeted the seven people watching TV and fiddling with their phones, Mi-sun, Madoka, Sayuri, Mieko, Hsiao-Han, Chung-hee, and Shu-Ching. The smell of pancakes wafted out the kitchen and, suddenly, the sound of vacuum entered her ears. Sitting on the couch, Eun-ha glanced at Jae-hwa briefly to see her cleaning.

Eun-ha would have said something if she didn"t know better. Jae-hwa was the clean-freak in their dorm and couldn"t stand even a single clutter on the ground, this was her way of stress release in spite of being a wielder.

"Good morning, lover girl." Sayuri smiled at her with a meaningful glance, teasing her in this early morning. "You going to have a reunion with him later?"

"Jeez, eonni, stop, it"s too early for this." Eun-ha sighed, keeping her eyes on the TV. The members, including her, were used to Sayuri"s antics.

"Okay, okay, I"ll stop." Sayuri snorted, pulling Eun-ha"s head to her shoulders. "But seriously, you are going to visit him, right?"

"Yeah, he"s going to pick me up." Eun-ha spoke softly. "Why are you asking?"

At that moment, Chung-hee, the one who helped Eun-ha at the time in the park, stood up and approached Eun-ha. Mieko scooched over silently.

Chung-hee smiled sweetly at Mieko, sitting and leaning on her. "Eun-ha eonni, let me ask… How come you agreed to date someone younger than you? I mean, you turned down all those men who were enchanted by you, yet Hayden?"

"I don"t really know as well…" Eun-ha blankly watched the news playing on the TV. "It"s… ineffable seriously… I saw him at Baegjo, and one day, I saw him in my hometown… That gaze, he approached me with this clueless innocent gaze and next thing I know, I"m agreeing to a date and… Flirting with him, granting his communication link request, and texting him…"

"So you were the one who flirted with him, huh?" Sayuri chimed in, back to her teasing Eun-ha.

"Well… I can"t deny that…" Eun-ha giggled, reminisced her and Hayden"s first encounter. Abruptly, Eun-ha shook her head. "Why do I feel like I"m telling my love story to my children?"

"Come on, continue…" Mieko, who rarely expresses herself, actually showed interest in this story.

The members were surprised and looked at Mieko. Even Jae-hwa was behind them and ceased cleaning the house. "Yeah, continue…"

Eun-ha continued. For the following hours, Eun-ha retold her and Hayden"s story, causing her to antic.i.p.ate their reunion even more. She realized just how perfect Hayden was in every sense, everything can be found with Hayden, in fact, more can be found with Hayden. Successful, intelligent, mature, unbelievably toned body, attractive, strong, an athlete, popular, and can cook to boot.

That was disturbed when Hayden texted and swiftly called. Under the playful eyes of her co-members, Eun-ha chatted with Hayden for a few minutes.

...

7:00 AM, Gimpo International Airport, the eleven alighted their company"s executive vans, met by countless shouting fans and photographers. They were escorted by guards, paving the way for them with photographers taking a picture here and there.

Needless to say, the eleven women stopped for a photo op, with most of the men ogling Eun-ha due to her Fox"s Charm. Good thing there were those truly loyal to their biases that disillusioned them from the effect of the charm as the effect was generally stronger for wielders.

A few minutes later, the eleven started moving again and stopped at the waiting area. It was fortunate that people were so polite these days, giving celebrities an easier time when pictures have already been snapped during photo op and alighting their cars.

Well, of course, they had to vlog the trip for publicity and was required by their contract. Anyhow, it wasn"t that hard as they were used to doing this.

"I still can"t believe that we"re here." Eun-ha talked with Sayuri with a camera in front of them, recollecting their past in the show Sing It Out! "Those times, huh?"

Sing It Out! Was a show of KTM Entertainment where 33 women competed in dancing and singing to form KTM Entertainment"s new group CHORUS. The t.i.tle was unoriginal, sure, but it was conforming to the goal of the show.

"Yeah, all that hard work paid off." Sayuri agreed with Eun-ha, a surge of nostalgia rushing to her brain. "It"s rather amazing, receiving all this love from VERSEs, thank you very much, you guys!"

Eun-ha thanked the VERSEs as well. Vlogging everything, from the waiting area, to the plane, until they were flying, stopping the recording solely when they landed.

Dismounting the plane at the airport in Manila, they were greeted by the energetic cheers of the myriads of Filipino fans at the airport. It was normal as this was their first time visiting the Philippines and the fact that approximately 10% of their hundreds of millions of their fans were from the Philippines.

Another photo op occurred, succeeded by acknowledging their fans, waving at them, and being momentarily interviewed by the Filipino media. They spent an hour in the airport before they could board the executive vans prepared by KTM Entertainment.

The eleven ladies broke down into three groups. Eun-ha got on the van with Sayuri and Mieko, their usual trio.

At 1 PM, in Philippine time, they arrived at the top-floor suite of the Rain Sanctuary hotel, one of the best and largest hotel chains in the world built by a Filipino. When they entered the suite, they were welcomed by a lavish and fancy interior that had a great view of the totality of Manila.

"Got to admit that this is one of the best hotels we"ve stayed at." Sayuri verbalized the others" thoughts with this. After all, Sayuri was the most extroverted and outspoken of them all, with Hsiao-Han the following person.

This was also the reason that Sayuri was the person that was closest with all the members, though they were close with each other when they are in the same group for five years. Everybody just had that soft spot with Sayuri and her cutesy voice and innocently kind-of-naïve personality. In truth, she was the third-most popular after Eun-ha and Shu-Ching, the youngest, exclusively because of her personality, and followed by Madoka, hailed as one of the greatest dancers in the history of dancing.

There were four rooms in the suite, two on the left wing, and two on the right, with a common area connecting said wings. Sayuri got the first dibs on a bedroom, as usual, and it was a given that Eun-ha would be staying with her, along with Mieko, who simply wanted to settle down and rest.

On that note, Eun-ha unpacked her things and arranged it, preparing herself to meet with Hayden. As you may infer, wielders didn"t experience jet lag, or easily fatigued, hence, Eun-ha and the other eleven members had enough energy to do anything they wanted as it was a rest day.

Nevertheless, frankly, they couldn"t wander around even if they desired as they would likely be recognized by their fans, swarming them. As idols, they couldn"t possibly turn down picture requests and be rude to their fans no matter what as their reputation would suffer.

Thus, the ten members decidedly stayed at the room. Except for Eun-ha, who, at 1:30, received a call from Hayden. She wore blue denim shorts and a simple white blouse, on top of a facemask and shades so that she wouldn"t be recognized.

"You there at the bas.e.m.e.nt parking?" Eun-ha asked, exiting her room. "You brought the SUV? That"s great, where?"

At the common area, there was the ten co-members chilling out, making small talk. They noticed Eun-ha"s appearance whilst on the phone and started grinning impishly.

"You going out, babe?" Sayuri shouted at Eun-ha, inducing a laugh from the other members. "Can you take us?"

Taking her ears off the phone, she turned to Sayuri and said, "No. I haven"t seen him for a week. Next time I"ll let him come over to cook for you guys."

Hurriedly, Eun-ha departed from the suite, leaving the ten to themselves. She opted to take the stairs down as she didn"t want to be recognized. When there was no one around, she infused essence energy into her body and deactivated her Origin Limiter, disappearing, staying on the silver lining of subsonic speed and supersonic speed.

Safely, she arrived at the bas.e.m.e.nt, and a few minutes later, she found Hayden"s SUV. Hayden stepped off the car and opened the door for Eun-ha, who strode, resisting the urge to hug Hayden.

Quickly, Hayden alike boarded the car and drove out the hotel"s bas.e.m.e.nt. Good thing that Rain Sanctuary Hotel was part of the Grand Hotelier Conglomerate of Anthony"s granting him easy access to the bas.e.m.e.nt parking lot. He couldn"t believe how much influence Anthony has on the hotel management business.

In the car, breathing out deeply, Hayden felt surreal again, speaking in Korean. "Wow, I can"t believe that we"re sneaking out like this…"

"Well, you better believe it." Removing her facemask and shades, she leaned in, found the switch for automated driving mode, and kissed Hayden. "I missed you."

"That sure is obvious." Hayden smiled, hugging Eun-ha tightly, kissing her on the cheek. "d.a.m.n, you look even more stunning without the make-up."

"Really?" Eun-ha was face to face with Hayden, her nose touching his, their eyes locked in with each other. Giggling, Eun-ha spoke, "What a bootlicker."

Hayden rolled his eyes at Eun-ha"s words. "It"s probably not a good idea to use automated driving mode in this traffic… You guys have too much fans in the Philippines, rich and popular ones at that."

Returning to her seat, Eun-ha put in her seatbelt and t.i.ttered, Hayden positioning his hand on the wheel and turning off the automated driving mode. The automated driving mode technology still hasn"t been perfected despite it relatively safe.

It can be used frequently, but that was in highways and less crowded roads. If there was a surmount of personal cars from the overly rich and popular in the road, it wasn"t recommended for use. Well, the thing was, that situation was rare nowadays.

The traffic in Manila only surged due to the arrival of CHORUS. The reason is that countless fans from other regions flew or drove out here specifically to see them earlier than the concert of the fan meet.

Because of the heavy traffic, the two spent an hour to travel from Rain Sanctuary Hotel to Hayden"s house. Parking the car in the garage and closing the garage door, Hayden opened the door for Eun-ha.

"You starving?" Hayden reveled at Eun-ha"s top-notch beauty that was further enhanced by her Fox"s Charm. "I have prepared a special surprise for you, hehe."

"Can"t wait." Eun-ha candidly answered when she recalled tasting Hayden"s cooking for the first time. "That bacon omelet was heavenly!"

"Oh, that"s only one of my low-tier dishes." Hayden bragged for the first time since elementary, opening the door to their house and inviting Eun-ha in. "What I will cook this time is, without a doubt, at G.o.d-tier."

This made Eun-ha playfully punch Hayden"s arm. Eun-ha entered, removing her sandals and holding it. Hayden did the same for his shoes and took the sandals off of Eun-ha"s hands, leaving it at the shoe locker in front of their door.

Eyeing her surroundings, she was surprised that Hayden lived in such a modest home, it was not huge, nor was it small. Hayden talked, "This is my parent"s house, and my parents didn"t want to sell it. Well, I actually also wouldn"t sell it as there are indeed many memories in here. Anyhow, welcome to our humble abode."

Eun-ha didn"t judge as she was a filial daughter that, alike Hayden, lived with her parents if you disregard the fact that she was, at most times, in an independent dorm. She tailed Hayden to the kitchen, leaning in on the counter directly facing Hayden. "What will you be making by the way?"

"The best sushi you will ever taste in your life." Hayden went straight to work at the kitchen, donning her black ap.r.o.n and winking at Eun-ha. He was proud of his own sushi, and this was the only trait that he would ever brag about.