Noel: “…”

*Cling!*

*CLANG!*

1: “…”

*Clang!*

*CLING!*

Noel: “…!!”

*CRRACK!*

1: “Huff Huff...twenty...twenty – two.”

Throughout the forest, two blurs constantly cut through the foliage.

Crashing, and clashing with one another. A tree bent carefully after 1’s heavy gravity – strengthened weight bore down on it. Kicking off from it caused some damage to its bark. Meanwhile, Noel outright split a tree in three when he tried to apply a little force into his calves.

{Sorry tree! I’ll see if I can bury your seeds later.}

Trees acted as support for careful footing while the super-powered duo fought with ravenous desperation throughout the forest.

Yes, desperation…

Because the battle continually tipped in both participants’ favor!

Noel held the advantage in speed. He was nimble, his reflexes and perception were swift, His body development leaned majorly towards being agile and fast no matter the situation or circumstances: and incredibly so! Another plus Noel harbored over his adversary was his body strength that sailed a little over peak human levels right now, and heightened intelligence that included an increased thinking processing speed, memory capacity and capability to process many things at once. His physical strength is PRETTY FAR away from somebody like Ophelia, even as they are both harboring a ‘seal’ on their bodies...but his body wasn’t designed to surpass everyone in physical strength to begin with. He COULD have gone that route – but Noel naturally opted instead, for a speedier, slimmer physique – which he also had the aptitude for.

This is a common rule for all who work in the field of ‘raising’ super soldiers. Match their preferences with their talents and see if they can be developed ‘perfectly’ without accidentally producing a ‘defect’. The second school: Super Soldier Development Academy - which specifically trains them, prioritizes the different TYPES of super soldier physiques one can formulate, in order to effectively maximize that student’s potential.

As for his intelligence...well, it also grows with his physique, but that process is usually sped up by his family’s research. They’re taking their time upgrading his chip, along with the volunteers collected from the rejected Malierano children…

...Oh, and ‘Molly the monkey’. Her chip is always the first one increased. She’s really well loved by the core family members.

1 held a large advantage in combat experience. When it came to fighting, he was a complete veteran on the field. He’s tussled with many ‘top rankers’ and oftentimes even come out unscathed. He doesn’t always engage in a head on fight – but he can definitely hold his own against super-powered villains and heroes with superior intelligence, strength and speed. Noel may have a better tailored fighting style passed on to him than 1 that incorporates every martial art in the world by mixing their most destructive and fluid techniques together: But 1 has many of the major fighting styles under his belt too.

This is incomparably important, due to their age difference. Noel may have become an expert in combat, but he falls far too short from ‘mastering’ his family martial art. One may know fewer styles, but he’s completely mastered them within the decades he had lived.

Furthermore, his physique may lose to Noel’s right now, due to only being a peak human at most - but after incorporating gravity to increase the weight of his blows and elevate his speed by a few extra notches…they become slightly comparable.

…

Noel DOES have a few needles hidden up his sleeve!

.

.

.

But 1’s magnetism renders those as a liability more than anything. And that’s without mentioning the fact he carries many more tools just as deadly, if not deadlier than Noel’s homemade needles. 1 even has a few with varying special effects: such as the teleportation patches!

Due to these reasons, Noel found himself at a difficult point. Only two things – he only held onto TWO advantages over his formidable adversary that weren’t somehow countered.

The first was his incredible reflexes. Even if the man codenamed One COULD increase his speed by altering the world’s ‘friction’ ahead of him or utilizing gravity in full force to weighten everyone in a specific area, his body’s naturally conditioned reflexes and reaction speed STILL lose to Noel’s own. Noel is already accustomed to the feel of harboring a superior physique with greater reflexes than those around him. One needs to trade his own perception and adapt whenever he uses his powers – there’s honestly no comparison here. If he’s given more time in the fight, then perhaps things will change…

The second advantage Noel owns right now is a no brainer – the very destructive force that obliterated an energy blast from an origin path member walking the Chaos path, and the bird – like beast made of gas who threatened to consume him head on. His very touch that destroys all who oppose him. This unknown substance which he just barely earned thanks to his absolute ‘force of will’, (there was also his soul’s strengthened formation, the many sacrifices and a contract with the mysterious fragment, yet they weren’t what ultimately kept him alive throughout the entire ordeal – only through parts of it). Touching anyone could be dangerous, so he initially told himself not to use it in school.

‘Seal it away’ in a sense. His goal here was to make FRIENDS after all. NOT to kill people by accident by shaking their hands.

But...against a powerful man like this...a man MORE than willing to kill them all, he couldn’t store it away and further pretend it doesn’t exist. Just like before against 4: except this time he couldn’t afford to keep his ‘trick’ hidden from public view.

Well, with these two powerful cards up his sleeve, he managed to swiftly take the advantage in their clash. His purple and black energy obliterated any gravity induced attacks from long distance, and magnetic propulsion wave trying to target the ‘metal’ within Noel’s blood stream. All of One’s strikes, regardless of property or element, failed.

Left with no other choice...he took another pill out of a vest pocket, but this time instead of crushing it: he directly swallowed instead.

And after that pill reached tumbled into his belly – it seemingly evaporated without resistance!!

His body did not get stronger

Nor did he get faster. His fists grew neither heavier nor did his feet become lighter. All that changed, was a faint dark glow around his fists, which slowly reddened with time increasingly ticking away.

He didn’t NEED more power nor agility.

What 1 lacked in superior strength and speed he more than made up for with his gravity capabilities. Although he couldn’t predict where Noel was going to hit him, as unpredictability was a specialty of Noel’s fighting style that would precisely aim for critical spots…

...He just needed to think about where he himself was most vulnerable, and protect it! If that fails to work, all he had to do was CREATE a false opening!

No.

What 1 needed RIGHT now, at THIS very moment…

was the ability to ‘touch his prey, without suffering from that...’King Midas’ like touch.

…

*Clang!*

*Clash!*

*Clang!*

Thousands of clashes saw a sharp needle striking against a slew of magnetically controlled saws. Each tool involved in the battle was imbued with special dark energy. To Noel’s surprise...The saws weren’t disintegrating as quickly!

Noel: “...What?? What now?! First that guy...he reaches my speed in a matter of moments; and NOW his saws suddenly can’t be disintegrated??”

Mysterious Fragment: “…”

{Fragment!! Fragment if you’re there answer me! You said my power was SPECIAL!! That I wouldn’t lose in terms of destruction because my origin output is higher than any mortals...or something like that! Answer me!!}

.

.

.

Noel: “Haah. This sucks – it COMPLETELY, entirely sucks…

...Hm? Wait.

.

.

.

...Is...is it...it is! It’s very slow, but…

They’re still disintegrating!”

After giving it a bit more thought, the tiny killer felt a bit embarrassed for acting happy over his energy disintegrating about a centimeter’s worth of mass from one, single saw.

And it was then that Noel realized exactly How the man managed to suddenly block his destruction energy – imbued needle!

Just as Noel began taking special notice of the faint glow circulating his adversary’s fist: One decided he had seen enough. He swiftly brought the battle to close quarters once more, and after all of his persistent buffing: the tide shifted in his favor.

Suddenly, a loud noise interrupted the battlefield.

*Ring~*

1: ”...”

*Ring Ring~*

Noel: “...”

1 didn’t want to answer the cell phone...but the call was coming from 6. She knows the rules, not to call during the operation since it only takes a single call to change the tide of battle. He didn not want to pick up.

*Ring~*

Desperately so.

*Ring~*

...But he had to. There was no logical alternative. Either A: she broke the rules due to an emergency… such as an accident

Or B) Somebody incapacitated her, stole her cell phone, hacked into it after bypassing her security and is now calling the only number available. The result either way, was a dire need for more information.

The only problem, was...

Noel: “...Hehehe~ Hey.”

There. The boy before him, clearly shaken up thanks to his step by step plan to control the flow of the battle, now sported a calm, irascible smile.

Similar to the calm before the storm, so too was his soothing, death – sentence of a smile.

Noel: “...Hey. Aren’t you planning on answering that? I don’t mind. Really~”

1: “...FUCK!”

*Picks up*

1: “Huff...Huff...wh...what do you – ow! Want 6??--”

*BOOM!*

1: “AAAH!”

6: “...First, are YOU okay? You don’t sound good at all...should I use my last heal on you??”

1: “Huff...Huff, not right now. I’ll call when I-”

*BOOM!*

*BOOM!*

1: “….When I really need---wait what?! DID YOU JUST SAY LAST?! What the hell happened over there??”

6: “5’s down. He was completely useless during the entire fight. I encountered 3 children, but they gave me the slip through the windows. Can you check if there’s any groups of three wandering around the forest? Pretty please?”

1: “H...Hold on.”

Noel took full advantage of 1’s predicament. He decided to give everything he’s got to absolutely crush his opponent right here, right now. He was NOT taking any chances anymore with this unpredictable fellow. And first strike...was aimed directly for 1’s stronger right leg.

1: “…

…

…

...Nope. Nothing. Are you sure they left? There’s a pair of two, one holding another. And there’s one on their own. But the one being held in the pair of two looks dead. Either these three are the ones you’re after split apart or—AAHHH!”

*CRACK!*

That crack resounding throughout the afternoon breeze, reverberating and bouncing off the trees...represented two important things shattering.

One) His only means of contacting his allies – cracked due to a black needle piercing through it.

And two?

His right leg, exactly where the kneecap connected to the shin.

…

And then, that child’s 'killer smile’ returned.

Noel: “Hehehe~ Got you!”

---