《The Awakened World》Vol. 1, Ch. 19 : Anticlimactic Ending
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"Right then." CyberKnight claps his hand and the silver gas flows out of him again. It floats towards the Augmented Humans that begin to drop from the ceiling and goes into their noses. The people suddenly start shaking as if they were having a seizure then suddenly go still with the lights on their bodies dying out.
"That was easy," Sophia stated as she sends all of the bodies into a portal.
As she was doing this I was left shocked as the let down that just occurred in the span of twenty seconds. I mean wasn't that a setup for a battle, but it was just over that fast. Well, I don't really care anymore. CyberKnight has been standing over at the computer in the middle of the room doing something on it. I walk over to him since I have been left with nothing else to do.
"What are you doing?" I ask seeing the many tabs he's going through. It seems like he can scan over the data instantly, guess that fits his tech theme.
"I'm searching for what his plans are for the people, and if he had any reason for these people specifically. Oh, what's this?" He pulls up various files on the many screens that display family trees.
"Space Weaver, do these names mean anything to you?" I call her over and she stares at the screen.
"Well, this is slightly confidential, but some of these names are the true identities of some powerful heroes." Does that mean these people around us are possibly related to the heroes?
Then why take them unless… "Are they trying to awaken abilities in the relatives of heroes and make an army?"
[ Through repeated actions skill: Observe(Minor, Passive) has ranked up to Observe(Medium, Passive) ]
I guess that answers my question.
"It may seem so," CyberKnight answered me.
"I guess that makes sense with Dominic's lineage as Hyper Thunder's son," Space Weaver states and CyberKnight twists to her.
"Who the hell is Dominic?"
"A child that went missing and we came here to find him."
"I'm guessing you did this without telling your guild?"
"Yep," I speak up saying, "So what about Jacque, the guy that fell into the trapdoor?"
Sophia doesn't answer my question and instead pulls me over to the trapdoor. "What do you smell?"
What do I smell? Am I being shoved down to the level of a tracking dog? Well, I smell something green. "Flowers," I answer and she grabs CyberKnight and me before teleporting us to the garden area.
"Life-signs detected four feet to your right," Aria speaks up after a long time.
"Aria, where were you?" I exclaimed at the sudden event.
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"Be careful about what you say. Luckily I could mute your voice in your mask. As for your question, my dad had me tasked with taking care of my sister. I still technically am, but I am now off the clock," She explained and continues, "Anyway, something is about to come through the floor in six seconds."
"Uh, hey, my Danger Sense is giving me a signal from four feet to my right," I notify Sophia and CyberKnight.
"Alright, but can I ask you something?" CyberKnight inquired.
"Sure," I replied.
"What rank is your Danger Sense?" Wait I need to check.
[ Skills: Enhanced Senses(Major, Passive)
Observe(Medium, Passive)
Transcription(Passive)
Danger Sense(Medium, Passive)
Inspect(Active)
Sharp Teeth(Major, Passive)
Powerful Jaw(Major, Passive)
Beast Transformation(Active, Hereditary)
Bite(Active)
Jump(Minor, Passive)
Night Vision(Passive)
Sleep Immunity(Passive)
Poison Resistance(Minor, Passive)
Mental Resistance(Minor, Passive)
Soul Resistance(Minor, Passive)
Lunar Power(Passive)
Telepathy(Active, Hereditary)
Meditation(Minimum, Active)
Mana Vision(Passive)
Mana Sense(Passive)
Mana Circulation(Minimum, Active)
Earth Magic I(Minimum, Base)
Rock Hand(Minimum, Active) ]
"It's at medium," I answered.
"Mmm. Okay, that's plausible. Normally you can't get exact distances with that skill, but I think the rank is high enough." He mumbled the last part, but my Enhanced Senses let me hear him anyway. That might have been bad if he questioned me further on my information, but thankfully he didn't.
We walk over and as we move we see some stones on the path start shifting. Jacque pops out of the ground coughing. "Ugh, really should've cleaned that shaft. Those guys will be occupied long enough though." He sees us. "…Shit."
"Hello there," CyberKnight chimed. Sophia, CyberKnight and I tug him out of the ground and he goes limp in our arms out of defeat.
"Ahh, I know why you are here. You're here for the direct descendant, aren't you? The strongest yet is just a child."
I snap my head at the last sentence. The entire reason we started this venture was just to ease a mother's worry and find Dominic. "Where is he?" I would have spit in his face if I wasn't wearing a mask.
"I'll call him. Oh, Cobalt!" When he shouted the ground started shaking as several of those Augmented Humans crawled out of the ground as if they were zombies. In the middle of all of them was a small boy with bright, blue flames surround his body. It was Dominic.
"Right. I take left, you take right Space Weaver?" Commented CyberKnight.
"Silvernight, you'll take Dominic. No killing anybody." Sophia gave her unspoken confirmation and gave me an order to stop Dominic.
"I'll try."
CyberKnight darted off and Sophia jumped forward. I started to slowly walk towards Dominic, trying not to elicit any aggressive reaction. However, he immediately blasted a column of fire in my direction, but I was already jumping due to Danger Sense.
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"You know, it's funny. The son of a lightning based hero has an incredible affinity towards fire." I heard Jacque laugh somewhere behind me.
I dart to the left in an attempt to get behind Dominic, but he creates a shell of fire around himself. Suddenly waves of fire begin emitting from Dominic at the center, completely incinerating all nearby plants and causing several small fires.
I begin jumping around and over all the fire as I try and think up a plan to get into Dominic's shell. I can't think of anything, but I am really amazed at my speed in dodging these attacks. I then hear CyberKnight and Sophia speaking across the battlefield.
"That girl you're taking care of seems to be quite a lot faster than she was underground," CyberKnight states leisurely, speaking almost as if he isn't fighting six Augmented Humans at once.
"Perhaps it has something to do with being outside. Maybe the moon?" Sophia speculates. "It's a full moon tonight, if that's anything."
Oh right. I forgot about my Lunar Power skill.
[ Lunar Power - Allows the user a stat multiplier under varying states of the moon and none during day. ]
[Moon multipliers: New Moon - 1x
Waxing Crescent - 1.25x
First Quarter - 1.5x
Waxing Gibbous - 1.75x
Full Moon - 2x
Waning Gibbous - 1.75x
Third Quarter - 1.5x
Waning Crescent - 1.25x ]
Yeah, that.
We continue on for a few minutes at a stalemate, but eventually a couple of the Augmented Humans are taken out. "Silvernight! Can you take care of this fire?" CyberKnight shouts at me.
"No, I don't have any water based attacks!" I shout back. It was at this moment when we heard a shout of terror come from outside the fight. All of us, except Jacque as he seems to have run away, look over at the source and see a random employee.
He turns on his heels and starts shouting, "Fire! Fire! Everybody get out!" We start to hear more sounds of commotion as more employees wake up.
"I left you alone for part of the night and you set my workplace on fire. Congrats." Natalie came out to see the excitement and deadpans at the situation. "Right then. PHIL!" At her shout, the plant-watering robot comes from nowhere to her side.
"Hello…Miss…Woodhull. How…may…I…be…of…assistance?" Phil drones on.
"Phil, initiate fire extinguishing protocol over the garden zone." Natalie commands.
"As…you…wish." Phil's sprinkler arm starts gushing out water with the strength of a fire hose over the surrounding area. It douses Dominic's sphere of flames and reveals the boy in his true form. He looked the same as the others just with two batteries and two propane tanks on his back as well. He looks down at his hand in confusion before glaring at Phil.
He blasts another of column of fire at Phil gaining its attention. The two stare at each other for a moment before stating the same thing, "Eliminating…source." They then both fire opposing beams of water and fire at each other creating a stalemate as they continued firing.
Utilizing this moment as Dominic is distracted, I use my increased strength to rip the two batteries out of Dominic's back, making him collapse. Phil looks at me. "Thank…you…for…the…assistance." It then continues showering the area in a torrent of water. Without the distraction of flames, CyberKnight and Sophia start winning against the rest of Augmented Humans.
I pick up Dominic in a princess-carry and bring him over to Natalie who seems to be watching with a passive face. "Can you get him out of here and keep him safe?" I ask her.
She gazed at the body before looking back to me. "Anything for you." She gave me a small smile, the most emotion I've ever seen from her in all the years I've known her, before taking Dominic into her arms and running away.
"Thank you," I whisper, not knowing whether or not she ever heard it, then return to the now extinguished garden with CyberKnight and Sophia taking out the last Augmented Human.
I walk over to them and was about to ask what we do next when we heard the P.A. system activate. "Now then, why did you destroy the future of our, the people's, protection? They were going to overcome the emotional heroes and provide us with our salvation." We heard Jacque's voice whine over the speakers.
"We spent so much money figuring out how to activate people's leveling system. Only to find it activated in blood relatives of those damned heroes. I'm guessing you found those canisters in our basement?" Jacque continued his monologue.
"Space Weaver. What canisters?" CyberKnight whispered. Sophia opened a portal and gave him one of the canisters we found.
"This is?" He exclaims out loud.
"Yes, yes. Those. They were used as the core in the batteries you ripped out. Luckily, they were equipped with explosives in this event. Goodbye." At the last statement CyberKnight's silver extensions grabbed Sophia and I together and she portaled the three of us away.
The last thing I saw before collapsing was a white flash.
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