Chapter 52

Challenge – Part 3

Detroit, Michigan, USA – Earth:

Standing in an empty mall, Nazar – as Ion – and Edward “Eddie” Hunt, they were looking at a dark red energy bubble floating a few hundred meters above the city.

"A gravity bomb, huh?"

The dark red energy bubble appeared once the gravity bomb exploded.

A bomb was coming towards the mall, but Eddie blew it up in mid-air.

However, he was not expecting this.

“You really are dumb, aren’t you?”

“No…” Eddie gulped.

The dark red energy bubble was sucking in everything beneath it.

It started with sucking in the roofs of the buildings.

The dark red bubble was floating a few hundred meters above a newly created library, just a mile away from the mall. The library was surrounded by tall buildings.

Most of these buildings were constructed recently by Bradley Conglomerate. It was part of their plan to turn Detroit into a much larger city which can be compared to some of the other big cities in the world, like New York City.

They wanted to make this city an international attraction because it was Ishaya Bradley’s father, Adrian Bradley’s last wish. His son is doing everything he can to make his father’s last wish comes true.

“Well, that’s interesting.”

“It’s not,” Eddie sounded angry.

He was not angry at the situation but himself. He was too careless.

Nazar whistled once he saw the roofs breaking apart slowly into debris then flying towards the dark red energy.

He could see the nearby buildings.

Nazar noticed something.

The more it sucked in, the red dark energy started to grow slowly in size.

Nazar’s eyes widened once he noticed what it was.

To make sure what it was, he used his armour and analysed it.

“If that keeps growing…”

Eddie’s eyes lit up with light blue energy.

“We could be dealing with a BLACK HOLE!”

Eddie sucked in a breath.

"Haha, just kidding. Maybe, I am not."

Eddie frowned.

"I don't know much about black holes but from what Graviti told me, this bomb could potentially open a black hole."

"Why don't you study something useful for once?"

Nazar shrugged.

“We can stop it, right?”

“Without my powers… No.”

Eddie noticed a cold sweat pouring down on his face.

“But if I put my mind to it… Yes.”

Eddie looked back with a confused look.

“I need some time, though.”

“How much?”

“Luckily, besides powers, this form is also far more intelligent than my human form.”

“…?”

“Not as much as my normal form but still pretty intelligent.”

“How. Much. Time. Do. You. Need?” Eddie said as he gritted his teeth.

“An hour.”

Eddie’s heart skipped a beat in fear.

Nazar laughed.

“10 minutes max.”

Eddie clenched his fist.

“Uh, Eddie?”

Eddie punched Nazar in the face.

He put up his force field and the punch didn’t hurt him in the slightest.

But of course, Eddie didn’t punch him as he hard as he should have.

“Keep people safe…”

Nazar smiled thinly.

“Backup will be here.”

“Solace?”

“No, I haven’t completed her yes. But.”

Eddie started to float.

“I want to test out the new superhumans. So, this should be good enough for a test run.”

Eddie clicked his tongue and started to fly away.

“I will keep the people safe.”

Once Eddie left, inside Nazar’s mask, the screen changed.

It showed small pictures of superhumans.

There was a red cross on Chris Fisher’s picture. Some of them were grey and some of them were green.

The armour was connected to his brain, so he controlled everything on the screen with his mind.

His eyes lit up with yellow energy.

(“Listen, everyone!”)

He talked to the eight new superhumans.

He was now waiting for them to reply.

(“Ugh, what the hell is it?”) Zhi Yan sounded sleepy.

(“Wah?!”) Jose Santos sounded scared.

(“There… There is a VOICE IN MY HEAD?!?!”) Matthew Jackson was wary of it.

(“Ooh? Is that telepathy?!”) Illya Kolisnyk, however, seemed a little excited.

(“…”)

(“…”)

Both Arno and Jalil kept quiet.

(“Telepathy, huh? Kind of feels weird having a voice in my head. It does feel a little weird but somehow it feels just right?”) Katie Campbell sounded confused.

(“Nazar?”)

Among all of them, only Haru Watanabe recognised Nazar’s voice.

(“We have a situation.”)

(“And you called us why?”)

(“If you don’t act, Detroit will be swallowed by this gravity bomb. And I don’t have to tell you what happens when this bomb swallows more.”)

(“What will happen?”)

Illya sounded confused.

(“It could potentially open a black hole.”)

All of them gasped.

(“So, come here. And help Norse God.”)

(“And we are going to help you… Why?”)

(“Zhi… Do you really want the world to be swallowed by the black hole?”)

(“…”)

(“Do any of you have a choice here?”)

(“…No.”)

(“But why can’t you just get rid of it yourself?”)

(“I have lost… I am not as powerful as I was the other day, Haru. I am losing my powers.”)

(“Haha, seriously?”)

(“Har har, laugh all you want, but sadly, I can’t use my powers. So, save your own world?”)

(“Fine.”)

(“So, how do we get to Detroit? Not all of us can fly.”)

(“Good question, Haru.”)

Nazar smiled.

Nazar used his mind and something changed on the screen.

It showed the world map and suddenly, something changed.

Next to Nazar, eight people showed up.

Some of them looked like they were sleep-deprived.

Zhi was wearing her pyjamas, which consisted of a grey short and a short white top.

Illya was wearing just shorts, so he was trying to hide behind a pillar in the mall.

Some others of them were wearing pyjamas too, so he sighed.

He pointed at a store on the second floor.

“Uh, there are clothes there. You guys should change. I will pay for it, so don’t worry about whatever you choose. You have three minutes.”

Everyone heard it in their own language since Nazar had a translator on.

“After that, go and help Norse God in keeping everyone safe.”

“And you?”

“I am going to find a way to get rid of this thing. And I just need ten minutes.”

Haru was hesitant but nodded and flew up to the second floor.

Zhi and Illya followed.

Nazar took a deep breath.

“If you guys are not going to change, then go and help Ed—Norse God, please?”

Arno, Jalil, Jose and Katie and Matthew stayed behind.

“How are we supposed…?”

“Katie, use your telekinesis and save some people. Keep them away from being sucked in. It’s hard but Haru will be here soon. After that maybe place a force field around it and it should help. It should be easier if both of you do it.”

Katie nodded as she placed a telekinetic barrier and flew away towards the dark red energy bubble.

“Jalil, manipulate the reality and try to help Arno to get rid of the gravity bomb. So, all you have to do is weaken the pull of gravity enough for Arno to erase it. Got it?.”

Both of them blinked blankly and exchanged glances.

“Reality warping is easy. Just think and make it real, Jalil.”

“Make it real?”

“Think about weakening the pull of gravity.”

Jalil didn’t understand much.

“And Arno…”

“And I make it unreal?”

Nazar was a little surprised.

“That’s exactly what you need to do.”

They exchanged confused glances once more but walked towards the dark red energy bubble anyway.

“Make it real.”

“Make it unreal.”

Nazar sighed once he noticed them muttering to themselves.

“This is going to suck…”

His costume changed.

It created the parts he needed.

“Let’s do this!”

A thin smile appeared on his face once his armour was completely off and turned into many different devices.

He moved extremely fast and got a pair of clothes.

He was now wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt.

Coming back down, Nazar started to levitate.

He looked at the device closely.

“Hm. To get rid of that energy bubble, I need to make an anti-gravity bomb. If I can reverse the numbers, I should be able to get rid of the bomb. But to reverse the bomb, I first need to get the numbers I need. So, once it’s made, it will blow up and it should theoretically negate each other. That should work.”

Nazar’s eyes lit up with yellow energy once more.

“Or maybe I should make something else? Just in case if this doesn’t work.”

The devices started to float around him.

“Haru.”

Nazar called out to her because she had finished changing and was about to fly towards the dark red energy bubble.

“What?”

“Can you do something for me?”

“… What is it?”

“Take this device and throw it into the bubble.”

“What does it do?”

“It will help me with the numbers I need.”

The device flew towards Haru and she caught it with her telekinesis.

“Just throw it in and don’t worry about the rest. After that please try and keep the people safe.”

“Do you even care about them?”

“…”

Nazar didn’t answer.

“Thanks for your help.”

"..."

"Also, I have a feeling that they might throw more bombs towards us, so be ready for it. Got it?"

"...Yes."

Haru flew away towards the dark red bubble.

She left Nazar to work on building his own device.

Flying towards the red dark bubble, Haru noticed a figure who was moving at an extremely fast speed and saving people from different buildings.

Haru threw the device towards the red bubble and it went inside it.

Seeing that, she landed on top of a building.

The building was slowly breaking apart and being sucked in towards the dark red bubble, so she planned on stopping it.

Her eyes lit up with yellow energy and placed her hands on the roof.

A thin energy barrier covered the whole building.

She sucked in a breath and closed her eyes.

“What am I doing?” she muttered to herself under her breath.

She wasn’t sure what she was doing exactly but she was doing it.

She had placed a thin barrier around the building subconsciously but if she tried to do step by step, she might not be able to do it.

Haru concentrated on the barrier and let everything she had.

Letting her subconscious take control and do the job, the thin barrier turned into bubbles around the people in the building.

After a few seconds, every single person was out of the building and was flying away from here.

Far away from the red dark circle and a few seconds later, the people found themselves sitting on the ground.

Haru, a few miles away from them, noticed their relieved thoughts and smiled.

She wasn’t sure why but she smiled.

“Can you do that again?”

Eddie, who was floating above her said in a serious tone.

She knows how powerful Nazar and can sense his energies but for some reasons, she finds Eddie to be far more intimidating.

“M-maybe.”

Eddie looked down to the street and noticed Katie putting a barrier around other people and moving them. Of course, she wasn’t as powerful as Haru, so she was struggling a lot with just moving one person.

Furthermore, Haru somehow already knows how to use her powers perfectly well compared to Katie. Inside her mind, she has this knowledge which came out of nowhere. Neither she nor Nazar knows where it's from. But Nazar thinks that he might be the one who gave her both the increased powers and knowledge.

Looking around, he noticed a flier who was also struggling in moving people.

Seeing the scene before him, Eddie groaned in annoyance.

“What was he thinking?”

He took a deep breath and flew away.

Haru saw him as Eddie continued to save people.

“I wonder who that is… He appeared out of nowhere but he seems so powerful.”

Eddie had helped Ion publicly before but no one ever saw him. They only ever saw the thunder and a figure sometimes covered in fog or electricity.

A few days ago, he appeared before the world and showed them that there is a new and more powerful hero. To the public, he is the most powerful person on the face of the planet.

Even though he does not wear a mask or a uniform, people cannot find out his secret identity.

Nazar had placed the whole world under a form of hypnotism that won't allow them to figure out Eddie's identity.

Haru looked up to the dark red energy bubble.

It was floating above the library and it was trying to suck in the buildings and the library bit by bit.

Haru could feel the increase in the gravity of the bubble.

She was thinking back at what Nazar said.

“Will it really turn into a black hole?”

Haru shuddered.

She took a deep breath.

(“Arno. Jalil.”)

(“…?”)

(“…?”)

(“What are you guys doing?”)

(“We… Uh…”)

(“Jalil is supposed to think and make it real. And I am supposed to make them disappear.”)

Haru frowned.

(“And he didn’t EVEN TEACH YOU?!?!”)

(“Uh…”)

(“Can I… uh… ask a question?”)

Hearing Jalil’s voice, Haru sighed.

(“Yes, you can.”)

(“Is he really God?”)

Haru’s eyes widened slightly.

(“…”)

She looked down and thought.

(“Does it matter?”)

(“…Maybe.”)

Jalil felt very uneasy.

(“If that’s really God then all this time… My belief in him… And history… Was it all wrong?”)

(“Is this really time for that, Jalil?”)

Arno sounded a little angry.

(“I am sorry. But it’s just… I don’t even know what to think. Everything I have been thought in life and everything that happened in my life so far… All the things I lost… I just--”)

(“No.”)

(“What?”)

(“He isn’t God.”)

(“I see.”)

Haru noticed that Jalil felt a little relieved.

And then suddenly…

“Woah!”

Haru’s eyes and mouth opened wide in surprise.

A white energy barrier appeared around the city and the bubble stopped sucking it in.

“What… just… happened…?” Haru muttered to herself slowly.

Haru flew down as soon as fast as she could.

Flying low above the ground at a fast speed, she found Arno and Jalil standing in front of the mall.

“Wah-What just happened?”

Jalil looked in pain and he seemed to be struggling. So, he couldn’t answer her.

“He is using his power.”

Even though Haru knew that, but she was still surprised.

Arno stretched his body.

“I am going to use mine now.”

“Um? Why can--”

“He is making the world become stronger and that red bubble become weaker.”

Arno smiled.

“I will just erase the weakened bubble.”

“O-oh.”

Haru felt very anxious and confused.

She looked up at the red dark bubble carefully.

Arno took a deep breath.

He looked at the red bubble and held his palm towards it.

Taking another deep breath, he closed his eyes.

Haru watched in anticipation while Jalil struggled to keep everyone safe in the vicinity.

Arno held his palm towards the dark red bubble.

"He told me to imagine it and make it 'unreal.'. I don't get what it means but…"

Arno opened his eyes abruptly

“Erase!”

Arno has a power called Erasure. It erases everything. Objects, people, concepts and more.

In order to use Reality Warping, the user has to imagine it and make it real. But for Erasure, the user has to make a certain thing not exist. The user must want it to erase both subconsciously and consciously.

If they fail to do so, it will not work.

As with any power, this also has a weakness. If the user's subconscious and conscious is not in sync, it will not work at all.

Right now, Arno's conscious and subconscious were in sync, so...

"It…"

"It worked?!?!" Arno blurted out in surprise.

The dark red bubble had vanished completely.

All of them collectively let out a sigh of relief.

လလလ

Kingsville, Texas, USA – Earth:

Inside a small dome in Kingsville city, Chris Fisher placed his hand on a machine.

“Is that enough?”

“Just a little more.”

He was inside a lab, surrounded by machines and people in lab coats.

He had placed his hand on a screen. It was transferring his power into it.

“Just a little more and we should be done."

“Okay.”

He was struggling but he did not show it on his face.

With a brave face, he was smiling.

He looked at the device and it was close to 100%.

Looking around, he noticed two scientists talking casually. So, he listened carefully.

"I wonder why the boss wanted us to attack Detroit. I mean, New York woulda been better, right?"

"Yeah but the boss wants to hurt Ishaya, I guess."

"Sigh. Why?"

"Dude, he is the richest man in the world. Everyone wants to ruin him. And boss thinks he can hurt him if he were to destroy his plan to make Detroit a world-class city."

"Wouldn't this attract more attention to it instead?"

"...."

Chris sighed and looked at the device.

He noticed that it reached 100%.

As soon as it reached that state, everyone smiled.

One of them, who was holding a tablet, hit a button on it.

“32 missiles made of gravity will hit Detroit.”

Chris Fisher knew that he was helping them but even then, he felt a little uneasy. He wasn't sure if it will work.

He watched as 32 missiles were shot from the dome and towards Detroit.

“For the future of No Names…”

The person in the lab coat smiled with huge pride.

”We are going to show the world what we can do.”