Right now, we are standing in front of a semi well hidden cave. We were searching for it for last 30 minutes in this region and we found it quite easily. In fact, the cave was exactly north from the northern exit of hub.

~ Shall we go douse the fire? ~

[Sure.]

We stride into the cave. It’s a fairly big one, with a small pond on the right. The pond caught my eye. Well to be specific not the pond itself but the contents of it. The water is pure black, like someone dumped whole lots of black paint into the pond. I squat down on the edge of the pond to examine it closely.

“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.”

I turn my head to the left, from where the voice came from. On the opposite end of the cave’s entrance, two men are sitting side by side on a large boulder. Both of them has lean build. One is wearing a suit, other is wearing only a three-quarter pant and shoes.

[Why not?]

Suit-guy calmly answered me.

“It’s viral, and can spread through touch. If you so much as touch it, the virus will infect you. Your cells will morph into the virus, and start eating on the not-cells inside your body, like your bones, fats. In an hour or so, the infection will spread to your whole body. In short, you will be eaten alive.”

~ Ewww, that sounds painful. ~

“It is indeed painful. But first introductions. I am Alan, he is Evan (Pointing to the pant-guy). Who are you people?”

~ I am Mike. He is Kaushik. We are here to kill you. ~

“…”

“…”

[…]

There was an awkward silence.

~ Ehehehe, opps. ~

The silence was first broken by Mike. Suit-guy hunched over with a curious eye.

“I was expecting you to evade my question with a half assed answer and launch an ambush. You two sure are interesting individuals.”

~ Thanks your compliment, but just to make things clear, we don’t swing that way. ~

“I must say, I didn’t expect a straight forward answer from someone who came here to kill me. Do you know who I am?”

~ Some guy who controls fire and will be dead in a couple of minutes? ~

“The fuck did you say?”

The pant-guy stood up from his seat. I can see two or three vein is popping up on his forehead. Suit-guy hissed at him.

“Sit down Evan. I am still talking.”

“(Looking at the suit-guy) …….. Yes sir (sits back down).”

Suit-guy took a deep breath and rested his gaze on Mike.

“You think you can kill us by yourselves?”

Mike opened his mouth to ridicule him, but I step in and close his mouth.

[Yes, we can kill you.]

“In that case………. (Standing up) COME BRAT. COME WITH ALL YOU GOT.”

~ [With pleasure.] ~

I take out a wingstick and throw it. Suit-guy jumps up on the rock and perfectly evades the projectile. The wingstick harmlessly passed him and dug in the wall of the cave.

‘(Raising my right eyebrow) oho.’

I throw another wingstick to confirm my suspicion. He again dodged it.

‘Like I thought, he has some degree of training and quite a bit of experience. This fight is not gonna be easy.’

I take a peek at Mike and see that he is fighting against the pant-guy. He is also having trouble.

‘Shit. Gotta finish up fast.’

Suit-guy threw a fire lance at me. I dodge it, sheath my daggers, take out a wingstick with my left hand, a throwing knife on the right, and hold another throwing knife between my teeth.

‘(Narrowing my eyes) dodge this.’

I start running towards him. He threw two simultaneous fire lances at me which I dodge easily. When I get roughly within 20 meter of him, I throw the wingstick. As expected, he dodges it. I predicted where he will be after the dodge and throw the knife on my right hand. He dodges it with a bit of panic. But I ain’t letting up. Before he even dodged the knife, I already threw the knife held between my teeth with my left hand. But, to my disappointment, he dodged it again, although by a hair’s breadth, but.

‘(Grinning) checkmate.’

This whole time, I was running towards him. All the previous projectiles were thrown in order to keep him distracted. Now I am close enough to put my knife through his neck. I already pulled my knife, and I don’t hesitate for even a split second before swinging it. He looked at me, and just smiled.

“Not half bad.”

Sizzzzzzzle, drip.

I pull back just second before my knife made contact with his skin. He raised his eyebrows and smirked.

“Hoh…. Nice reflex. An ordinary guy would have lost his arm by now.”

‘What the fuck is that?’

I look at suit-guy. Right now, his whole body is on fire, like some sort of armor. Just before my knife made contact with his neck, he put up that armor which produced enough heat to melt steel within mere seconds.

I look at the knife on my right hand. A bit less than half of the blade is missing. Or more specifically, melted. I look at the place on the floor where the molten steel of my knife is, still red hot and sizzling. My heart is still pounding. Had I not pulled back when I did, my whole arm would have been melted off.

‘(Squinting eyes) an armor with enough heat to melt steel. Not good, absolutely not good. Hmmm, now that I think about it, a super-duper-hot armor? (Eyes bulging from a sudden realization) then, how come I am not feeling any heat when I am only 7 or 8 meter away from him? Also how is he withstanding such heat?’

As if understanding my thoughts, suit-guy answered my question.

“That’s because all the heat has been compressed into a thin layer around me. You can only feel it if you come in contact with it.”

‘(Eyes relaxing) I see. Something like a heat shield?’

“Yes, exactly like a heat shield.”

‘(Eyes squinting from suspicion) is he reading my mind?’

“I am not. I can tell what you’re thinking right now from your facial expression.”

‘So I need some way to bypass that shield.’

I channel my breath into the knife and again swing it. This time, the steel didn’t melt immediately. It became a red hot though. He just smiled and taunted me.

“Hoh. I don’t know what you did, but I guess it’s effective. That all you got?”

I take out my pistol and sheath my knife. I thought I could wrap this up without firing a bullet but I guess I was wrong. A breath imbued object has some resistant to heat. And I expect he can’t melt down a speeding bullet imbued with breath. I channel breath into the pistol and take ai……

[AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH…..]

I scream from a sudden piercing and burning feeling coming from my thighs. I drop the pistol and kneeled down on the ground from the intense pain. What’s going on?

I look down to see two fire lances has pierced through my thighs and embedded themselves on the ground. They pierced right through the flesh and burned it at the same time. The wounds are not critical, but shit, it HURRRRRRRRRRRRRTS!!!

“I am a pyro-kinetic brat. I can control any and every fire, have you forgotten?”

These lances are the ones he threw before. As the lances are made of fire, sonar didn’t pick them up. Speaking of which, more lances are heading towards me. I have to dodg….. fuuuuuuuck my leeeeeeg (gritting my teeth from pain), I can’t move as I want. I scramble to dodge, and managed to evade almost all of them but one pierced my right shoulder. I grit my teeth and endure the pain. This much is nothing. Another lance immediately pierces my left shoulder, followed by another through my stomach and another through my chest. I started howling from all the pain.

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH…..]

~ Rooooooy. Hold on Roy. Just hold on. I am coming. ~

I look up weakly. Mike is in a lot worse condition than me. His armor has burned off in places. He has third degree burns in his arms and legs. He dodged a punch from the pant-guy, but his lost his balance, probably from the pain. Pant-guy pierced Mike’s left hand with a fire lance, pinned his right wrist under his shoe and put his hand on Mike’s left cheek.

It started sizzling.

~ AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. ~

[MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE.]

SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT. These fuckers are playing with us. Instead of going for a one hit kill, they are torturing us. My body is still convulsing from all the pain. Move damn it. I take a few deep breaths to calm down. But alas, another lance went through my chest and I start howling again from the fresh wave of pain.

“I just remembered something. I have some…. Things in my possession. But I am yet to test them to see their effectiveness. Will you be so kind to become my test subject?”

[Go (cough)…. Fuck (cough cough)…. Yourself….]

“Fantastic. Thank you for your kind cooperation.”

I open my eyes a little bit. I see he took out a silver ball with yellow lining. Then he squatted down beside me and looked into my eye.

“Know what this is?”

[…]

“Of course you don’t. How could you? Silly me. This, my boy, is an electro grenade, with an output of nearly 1000 volts. You see, I am always relying on my ability, and I dare say I am yet to find any worthy opponent. So I have never used these grenades. What I want to see is, what happens when a living human body is zapped with 1000 volt. Should be quite a spectacle, don’t you agree?”

[…]

“Of course you agree. How couldn’t you? Silly me.”

He pressed a button on the device and placed it on my chest. I try to move my body, but it ain’t listening to me anymore. So this is how I am going to die, huh? Well at least it’s better than being tortured to death.

I close my eyes and brace for the upcoming shock. I don’t think there is a single person who can withstand 1000 volts of electricity. If I am lucky, I will not suffer. If anything, I will be dead even before I know it.

1 second passes.

2 second passes.

ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP.

Here it is. The sparking sound of high electricity output from the grenade. Had I been looking at me from third person, I am sure the whole situation would have looked like a fine moment from any anime. A person, fully covered with blue thingy, with electricity coursing along his body. Good thinking, me.

THINKING???

Wait a minute, how am I still able to think? Shouldn’t I be dead right about now? My brain should have already been fried. How am I calmly comparing this situation to a anime?

“External power source detected. Nano-suit boot up sequence initialized.”

[WHAT THE…]

“Visor, online.”

“Cloak, online.”

“Enhancements, online.”

“Nano-suit boot up complete. All systems optimal.”

“Good morning mysterious Roy. What mystery should I help you create today?”

[…]

[…]

‘Is this really happening?’

[Pfft… kukukukukuku… AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…]

“(Suit-guy with clear hint of confusion) how did… just how you are alive?”

I laugh uncontrollably while lying down. Suit-guy is looking at me with a face of pure horror, like he saw a freaking zombie. What an irony. The grenade, which was meant to kill me, became the power source for my suit. Is this all fate, or was I just too damn lucky?

[(Standing up slowly and taking a stance) COME BRAT. COME WITH ALL YOU GOT.]

Suit-guy is clearly in a panic. After all, there is no living human who gets zapped with 1000 volts and lives. I ain’t letting up this chance. This time, I will make sure to kill him.

I look at Mike. Pant-guy also used an electro grenade on him, so theoretically his suit is also charged up. But why isn’t he moving?

“EVAN, DO IT.”

Suit-guy bellowed towards the pant-guy. He immediately took out a dart. A moderate sized dart containing a black liquid.

“(Suit voice) Reflex enhancement active. Muscle enhancement active.”

Time instantly slowed down for me and I bolt towards the pant-guy, ignoring all the pain. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what that black liquid is. And under no circumstance, I can let that touch my best friend.

I appear instantly in front of the pant-guy and kick him squarely in the face. With muscle enhancement active, he was blown away and skidded on the floor for a good 5 meter. Then I took aim with the gun and shot him in the head.

“Die you persistent bastard.”

Suit-guy bellowed while he sent a fire wave towards us. I immediately pick up Mike’s limp body and get ready to jump. But, to my dismay, my legs couldn’t handle the added weight and gave in from the pain.

And it hit us head on. And again to my dismay, the fire wave not only burned, but also pushed with an explosive force. I lost my hold on Mike and his limp body was blown up in the air. I once again experience being burned alive, but I paid it no mind, for I am now seeing a horror scene unfold in slow motion.

Mike flew in an ark in the air, hand and legs spread apart. His body spinning, to the point which will put a professional ice dancers to shame. Then when his body could not attain any more height, it started descending head first to the ground. His body gaining speed with every passing moment. I scramble towards him in an attempt to catch him before he hits the ground, but.

SPLASH.

A sound of a body falling into water with great force rang out in the whole cave. That’s right, Mike fell right into the pond. I wait for him to surface, but he is not surfacing.

I turn back and look at the suit-guy. My mind is totally calm right now. I wonder what’s wrong. My best friend is dead. A man with whom I shared my happy moments, sad moments, erotic moments, serious moments, trolling moments, is dead. Why I am not feeling the urge to rush at the guy who killed him and punch him until he dies?

I start walking to the suit-guy. He panics and throws some fire lances at me, which I dodge. Odd. I distinctly remember I was feeling lots of pain even for simple movements. How come I don’t feel anything right now? Suit-guy is shouting something to me, but I can’t hear him. I start running towards hm.

He panics even more and starts throwing endless number of lances at me. Some lances I dodge, some lances missed me, some lances grazed past me, some pierced through me. Again I don’t feel anything.

When I reached within 30 meters of him, he started getting hysterical. But I paid no mind and continued my charge. I know when I will reach within 20 meter from him, my suit’s cloaking feature will kick in.

And right on mark, it did. Suit-guy widened his eyes in panic and immediately turned around to see if I am behind him. I shortened our distance within that short time and drove my hand through his chest.

Suit-guy’s squints his eyes as he felt a huge pain coming from his chest. He looked down to see a big hole where his heart was and currently, his own heart is hovering in air outside his body, still beating.

Next moment, cloak disengaged. His face changed to a horror filled one as he saw a hand protruding from his chest. The hand is holding his own beating heart in it’s palm. He kept watching as the hand crushed his heart and retracted through the hole in his chest. He looked back, and smiled manically.

“Not bad.”

As if showing a sign of defiance, a wave of fire gushed out from his body and knocked me off my feet. I turn my head and see I am heading for the pond.

I have no strength left in my body. I already received a major damage during first fire wave. Now I collided with a fire wave again. I am pretty sure if the suit hadn’t booted up by sheer luck, I wouldn’t have been able to kill those two bastards.

But enough of the useless thinking. I am pretty sure this time, I am going to die. I am heading for a virus infected pond which devours anything. I doubt any living thing will survive it.

Mom, thank you. I never got the chance to tell you how much both me and Mike loved you. You may not have given birth to us, but we always considered you our true mother.

Dad, thanks for everything you have done for us. I never told you how much grateful I am for many things. I am a lucky man to be your son.

Chief, I know you prefer to keep things all business like between us. But truth to be told, I always considered you as my second father.

Neha, I know I have already broken our promise. But I hoped someday, somehow I will find my way to you and explain everything. But it looks like you aren’t getting any explanation anytime soon.

Sena, thank you for being with us. Thanks to you, I was able to keep myself calm and think about our next step, although all those thinking did nothing good.

Alice, thank you for trusting us and helping us out. I am really glad that I met YOU that day in the forest, not some other person.

And lastly Mike, I am sorry. For me, you had to get trapped in this parallel world. For me, you had to break your promise your girlfriend. And yet, for me, you had to die. If you can Mike, please forgive me, as I am soon going to follow you to afterlife.

SPLASH!

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(Refer to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1OyFgQCA2Q for the mechanical voice)