The advent of EVO was still a mystery to scientists. Though they could explain what triggers it, there were still several unanswered questions like what specific ability would each person get, how to level up quickly or how to suppress one’s abilities if needed. The scientists got busy researching these riddles.

The renowned scientist Dr. Nathaniel Frost and his wife Dr. Orla Frost had also set up their laboratory for researching the EVO traits. After several trials, they had been successful in finding a way to dampen the EVO trait. Though it was not their original intent, even such a discovery would highly benefit mankind. Not all EVOs could control their abilities and some even didn’t want them, though the latter was quite rare, still this discovery had quite the value.

They were very happy that day not only because of the discovery, but their daughter will also return home on holidays from the boarding school.

As an eight year old kid came running at Nathaniel and hugged him from the back, his face was lit up. He had a bright smile on his face. He turned around and flung the little kid in the air and caught her in his arms. “My angel is back!!” he exclaimed. Orla came and plucked her cheeks. The little girl seemed very angry at the gesture and everyone started laughing. It was a happy day for the Frost family.

But like a flip of a coin having happiness on one side and sadness on the other, their happiness was also short-lived. The laboratory was in the basement of their home. They had come up for a family dinner. Both the scientists were so busy that they never had a proper dinner the last few months. On their daughter’s return, they decided to have a grand dinner.

Orla was making the steak. Nathaniel was pouring wine for them. The little girl was efficiently placing all dishes and cutleries on the table. Suddenly, the alarm sounded. Someone had broken through the perimeter boundary of their home.

Nathaniel instantly held the little girl and rushed towards the laboratory which was a hardened bomb shelter. But they were too late. The infiltrators had already entered the home and surrounded them before they could enter the lab.

But eventually, they were taken to the lab where they were held captive.

“Give me the serum, doctor...” a grumpy voice uttered. Nathaniel was surprised. He had only told very few people about it. “Did one of them betray him?” he thought to himself.

“Doctor the serum? I won’t be asking again.”

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Nathaniel stuttered.

“Wrong answer doctor…” the infiltrator shook his head and signaled one of his men holding Orla and the child.

“I need only one of you to tell me. I don’t need both and I don’t have much time.”

Orla was pulled to another side by one of them. He held a whip. With his EVO ability, he had charged the whip with electricity and slashed it on Orla’s back.

Orla cried in pain. But she didn’t tell them anything. The infiltrators kept on slashing until she was half head. Nathaniel could only look with tears flowing from his eyes as he was helpless. But they can’t hand over the serum. It was for the benefit of humanity, not for someone’s profit.

The little girl was tied to the side. Her mouth was tied with a cloth. She kept screaming and crying constantly as they were beating her mom.

“Last chance doctor. Tell me where it is.” The guy with the electric whip charged a slash at the back of the little kid. She screamed in agony as she fell down. Nathaniel couldn’t take it anymore. “Don’t hurt her. I will give it to you.” Nathaniel stood up and approached a safe. He opened it slowly and took out a serum sample.

“Here…” he asked the lead infiltrator to take it. He was about to approach him but Nathaniel threw the serum at his face and it instantly burned his skin.

“Ughhh…” the guy shouted in pain. The guy had an EVO ability to morph his bones. He had instantly turned his hand into a bone knife and it penetrated Nathaniel’s liver. Nathaniel was bleeding badly as he took the support of a table to stand.

All the other infiltrators were in disarray. Seeing this situation Nathaniel quickly took a rack of test tubes and threw them on the floor. The components got mixed and created heavy smoke. He rushed towards the little girl and took her outside. While leaving, he looked at his wife. She was as good as dead. She will die happily if at least their daughter could be saved.

An infiltrator had followed him. He was about to land a hit on Nathaniel when he saw his vision distorted. His head had fallen off his shoulders. Nathaniel had alerted his allies to the sound of the alarm in the beginning. It took some time for them to arrive. Nathaniel and Orla were just stalling for time.

The reinforcement was none other than Kane Calderon. He had stormed his way into the house and taken out the attacking infiltrator. He would have finished the others but Nathaniel requested him to lead them to safety first. “My child is hurt. She needs treatment first.” Kane listened to Nathaniel as they left.

The lead infiltrator’s face was disfigured with the serum thrown at him. But he was not leading the team for anything. He was tenacious enough to follow after them, but when he saw Kane had come to the doctor’s assistance, he retreated. They could only gather certain documents and thesis papers before the laboratory blew from the fire it caught. The fire was an aftereffect of Nathaniel throwing the chemicals in a rack of test tubes.

The little girl woke up in a hospital. She tried to find her parents. But no one was there. “Dad...mom..?” She kept on crying to locate their presence. An old man had appeared in front of her. “Ohh… you woke up. How are you feeling, little lady?” the man asked.

“I am fine. But there is a pain in my back,” she replied. The whiplash had left a scar on her back.

“Where is dad? Where is mom?” she asked politely. She didn’t remember much from that day.

“Your dad is fine. He has some important matters to attend to. He said he will contact you later. But..” the old man stopped in his words. With a feeling of sadness, he replied, “Your mom is no longer with us. She has finally rested.”

Though the girl was a little kid, she had stayed in a boarding school where she would hear stories from her friends. She knew what people said about someone being dead. Tears came rolling through her eyes as she started remembering that day. But there was no sound. The old man came closer and hugged her. The girl felt comfort in her grief and she screamed like a mad girl. It took some time for her to calm down.

When the girl had fully calmed down, the old man said,” Your dad has left you under my care. From now on think of me as your godfather. My name is Rufus Beck.”

The girl shied away from others for about a year or so. Then she finally realized the only way to protect herself and take revenge for what happened is to get stronger. If all their enemies were gone, her father could safely come back home.

But the events of that day had triggered something within her. She could not feel fear anymore. Initially, she didn't put much thought to it and started training herself. Without having this fear quotient, she could challenge herself to do things impossible for 9-10 year olds.

After training diligently for another 6 years, she had become a War Goddess in people’s eyes and her name is Angelika-Rose Frost.

…

Noah opened his eyes to find himself in a hospital.

“Ugh…my head”, Noah held his head which was in pain. Earlier, he fell on the ground over his head and as a result got hurt.

“It’s a small wound pervert...” a voice uttered.

Noah looked to the side and saw Angelika sitting on the window. She had come up the pipes and sat on the window to check up on Noah. After the incidents that happened in the Outdoor Arena, she had talked to Principal Rufus and Melv as well. She came to know about the identity of Noah, how the lowest level guy who was just EQ11 a few days back had survived the NMZ and returned safely. He also leveled up to EQ15 in no time. “What fortuitous event did he come across in the wilderness”, she thought.

But she was amazed at how a person whom everyone referred to as Trash could possess such swift and agile movements. Also, Melv had bragged about how Noah’s goal was Alpha class. This had intrigued Angelika quite a bit. She wanted to see how far his grasp could reach.

“I am deeply sorry for everything that happened”, Noah replied after a pause. He didn’t expect to see Angelika just after opening his eyes. So it took some time to react.

“I didn’t mean to say those words but dunno why it came out of my mouth. Also for that...umm...if you want I can show you my back. So that we can call things even.”

Angelika seemed stupefied at Noah’s proposal. “Who wants to see your back? Idiot”, she screamed as her face turned red at the thought.

“A pervert is always a pervert.” She turned around to jump from the window. But before jumping she uttered, “You should not faint so quickly in a battle. People will call you weak. Anyways, take care.” Angelika jumped out of the window.

Noah hurriedly stepped down from the bed to check on her. When he reached the window, Angelika had already leaped on several window panes and landed on the ground. The room where Noah was being treated was on the 3rd floor. Noah was amazed at the dexterity of Angelika. “But wait, did she just apologize to me?” Noah thought to himself.

The doctors and nurses had come to check on him. “Only a concussion, nothing to worry about.”

The person next to meet him was Principal Rufus Beck.

“How are you feeling now?” asked the old man as he entered the room. Noah tried to sit properly as he saw the Principal. “No, no, lie down..It’s okay.” But still, Noah had somewhat raised his body to sit up.

“Just a headache”, replied Noah.

“Ah..Thank goodness. That girl sometimes loses it and her ability goes out of control.” Principal Beck shook his head in remorse. “I told her to come and apologize but she won’t come.”

“But she…”, Noah stopped in his words. He realized Angelika had her reasons for not letting everyone know she had come to check on him. She had a proud character after all. So he changed his words. “Ability you say?”

“Yes, her ability is why you fainted and were admitted to the hospital. Several other onlookers in the Outdoor Arena were affected too, but not as severely as you. They woke up after a few sprinkles of water. They are fine.” Noah was now having a hundred questions in his mind. “Can there be such an ability? What a strong intent!” Noah’s inquisitive mind wanted all the answers.

“Fear, that is her ability.”

“She can control it most of the time but certain emotional aspects make her lose it.”

“She can trigger the fear trait in an individual, who would start panicking and do things he is not supposed to. The individuals’ fight-or-flight functionality would go haywire, blood pressure would increase, pupils dilate and certain organs stop functioning.”

Noah recalled the things that had happened to him from the shower room to the changing room to the arena. Everything can be put in place now.

“But this ability is a double-edged sword for her. She cannot feel fear. The organ responsible for the fear response was destroyed at an early age where she suffered trauma.” Noah immediately recalled the scar on her back and assumed something painful must have happened to her at a young age. Principal Beck continued.

“Now she doesn’t feel fear and instead causes fear in others as an EVO ability. But this also means she cannot convert some of her short-term memory to long-term memory. She doesn’t know herself which memories that will be. So she trains every day, fearing that she might forget her training.” Principal finished his words with a deep sigh.

Noah felt a deep sorrow in his heart. He can’t even imagine the level of pain she is handling each day. Not only physically but mentally as well. Not knowing what one might forget and trying to grasp whatever they can grab on to. The feeling itself caused his heart to cry out. But he composed himself in front of the Principal.

“I wanted to tell you this because I didn’t want you to hate her. She does not use her power intentionally to harm others. It got triggered somehow. I don’t know what happened between you two but both of you are precious to me now.” Principal Beck looked worried.

“It is fine between us. Whatever happened has been resolved. I will not pursue this matter anymore and as for her, I don’t think she will as well. But in case anything such arises, I assure you that I will talk to her and clear things out.” Noah gave an assuring smile.

Principal Beck was relieved to hear it. Coming here was also so that Noah does not spread the news of Angelika’s abilities and after listening to Noah he was quite assured.

“Good kid”, he replied. “Take proper rest for 2 days before discharge. The exams are coming so you should rest while you can. The classes will be over by this week. I have relayed to all the Professors, if you need help from any of them, they would oblige.” Principal Beck lectured an unwilling Noah who thought about leaving this place by the next morning.

Before leaving the door Principal Beck turned back at Noah. He seemed to have this habit of turning every time. “...and of course, how can I forget? I have upgraded your gym pass from After hours to Full Time Pass. This was a request from a persistent young lady. So use it however you like, but after taking care of your health.”

…