Arc 13 - Superhumans

Dozens of superhumans from Internal Order show up. They are right now in front of a small alley. They appeared out of thin air because they used teleportation technology.

This kind of technology was something that only existed in fiction a few years ago is now being used by many people around the planet. However, not everyone knows about this kind of technology.

These superhumans show up in this particular place to stop Nazar.

Nazar the first superhuman and possibly the most powerful person on the face of the planet. They came here to stop him because they think he is going too far.

“Ah, 002. I was wondering I might see 001 this time.” Nazar disappointingly.

“You are going too far. You must stop this.” 002 said to Nazar.

All Nazar did was smile. He always had that arrogant smile on his face when he was standing against someone. He always saw them as his lesser beings. But there dozens of superhumans in front of him. Can he even stand a chance?

002 showed up with more than 40 different superhumans. Some of them have powers light super strength and super speed. But some of them have other complex powers like weather manipulation.

In the crowd, he noticed 022.

“Oh, hi 022.”

She was shocked to hear her name but she kept quiet.

Nazar then looked back to the woman behind him.

“Anyway, missy, where were you going?”

“Um...h-home.” She could barely talk. She was scared of the four men before but she is now even more scared. Out of everyone, it seems like a death sentence to meet Nazar. Maybe deep down he meant good, but on the outside, he wanted to keep the sinister appearance.

“And where do you live?”

“Huh?...oh. E-eight off c-c-”

Nazar was just wasting time at this point. He just reached his hand into her mind and collected the information he needed. He then waved his hand and she was gone.

The woman disappeared into thin air and then reappear from nowhere in a place which she knows very well. She was home.

“Now then. How are you planning to stop me?” Nazar said sarcastically. It is true he has no information on them thanks to the ANT (Anti-Nazar Tech) but that should not be a problem.

(Scanning.) Nazar thought of this power and now he has it. This power will allow him to analyse the environment around him much better.

(Status Reading.) He also added another power. This power will allow him to understand his enemy stats much better. He will know what powers they have and how powerful they really are.

Looking in front of him, he saw that 002 can only turn his body into steel. This will increase his strength and endurance. He might also be able to jump a little higher and his speed might increase a little too.

He saw 022’s stat next. He found out that her power is weather manipulation. She can manipulate any kind of weather and temperature. She can create thunder and turn summer into winter. She is possibly the most powerful person standing before him.

With this power, he can see what powers and abilities each person have. But the stats that are given to him regarding their power levels are still alien to him. He needs to find a way to categorise power levels.

He then looked at 079. He already knew that she has super speed but he wanted to check anyway. He found out that besides superspeed she also has a little-increased strength and durability.

He then proceeded to look at other superhumans. Their powers were strength, speed, flight, telekinesis, invisibility, teleportation, phase shifting, and many more. Basically, all the powers in front of him were basic powers.

Nazar then twitched his eyebrows and the camera vanished. He also removed the telepathic link between him and the rest of the world.

“Now, how were you planning on stopping me?”

“We outnumber you.”

Nazar laughed upon hearing that.

“Outnumber? Me? In which reality?” After a little while, he calmed down and said, “There is no need to fight. Why don’t you help me bring a little more peace to this people?”

“Forced peace is not needed.”

“Hmm… you are right. Then why don’t you try and make them stop fighting one another…? Oh, that’s right. You tried but failed miserably.”

As he said that, the whole alley and the street in front of the alley were filled with superhumans. He was surrounded by hundreds of them. He looked up and he found more on the building.

“As I said, we outnumber you.” 002 said.

Nazar looked around and checked their powers. Some of the powers they had were very common in fiction but some of them were rare power.

One of them had matter manipulation. Another had absolute speed. One of them had Clairvoyance, which might be a little useless in battle but it’s still a good superpower. One of them had Gravity manipulation. One of them had precognition, which is possibly one of the most dangerous powers to have.

(Having precognition means that the person could easily predict the future… No, they can see the future. Even if the power is weak, it will allow you to see a few seconds into the future. Thus, there is sufficient damage to the original timeline.)

Nazar thought about the dangers of some of these powers.

(Precognitive Immunity.) Just with a thought, he added another power to this list. (With this I should be able to stop her from predicting my future. Thus, reducing the damage to the timeline. To be honest, the damage should not be much but if this power develops further, it could cause a lot of problems. Might need to get rid of her sooner.)

While he was thinking about this, he heard someone attack him from the back. Even though the attacker was using invisibility, he still heard her footsteps.

The invisible attacker clenched her fists. She was sweating. And Nazar knew it. He used his enhance senses to detect her and then he tasted the increased salt and sugar on her face. The sweat itself has no smell but it contains a small amount of sugar and salt, giving it a salty taste.

She swung her fist. She moved it back and then pushed it forward, increasing the strength in her fist. It moved faster than 20 KM/PH. It moved so fast that some people could not see it. Even though she was invisible, that might not have been her own power.

Her fist was now 5 CM away from Nazar. She pushed it even further.

It was now 4 CM away from Nazar.

It was still moving when Nazar just looked back. She didn’t even notice that he blocked her punch.

He analysed her powers and found out that she has basic strength, speed and endurance. She is not as fast as the speedsters in her team but she is much faster than a normal human. She is also not as strong as 002.

“Seriously, how many of you have strength, speed and endurance? This power is so basic that it hurts.”

The woman who was now visible was extremely shocked.

“However, I do like your teamwork. It seems that you guys have trained together all your life.”

While he was talking, the speedster moved. Yes, she was fast. But not as fast as Nazar. Another massive difference was that she had to move for a while before increasing her speed. But Nazar could just use his power called instant acceleration to move beyond the speed of sound.

079 was now on the other side of the street. In less than 5 seconds she moved hundreds of meters and was now speeding up.

Nazar monitored her movement using his X-Ray vision. This power allows him to look beyond anything in front of him and see something that he wants. For example, he can look beyond a human’s clothes and their skin and muscles to see their bones. So, all he is doing now is looking at her even though there is a wall in between them.

079 was coming back this way. She was speeding up. She reached Mach 3 in less than 10 seconds. She thought this speed was enough to land a hit on Nazar.

She was returning. Faster than she left. She was getting closer and closer.

After 3 seconds, she was right behind her teammates. She dodged each one of them. There was a little space between each one and she used that to her advantage.

She wanted to use this opportunity to land a surprise hit on Nazar. She left because she thought it will deceive Nazar and let his guard down. The next phase of her plan was to return much faster and then use the little spaces between her teammates to cover his view.

She moved between each of them as she had planned. She was now behind 002, who was the closest to Nazar. They were all standing still.

While she was behind 002, she clenched her fist and threw her hand towards Nazar.

On the opposite side of the punch was Nazar. He already saw through her plan. He was going to dodge it but then he decided it will be fun to let her get hurt.

While she was moving, Nazar calculated her speed and her movements. He timed her arrival and using his vector manipulation, he created a barrier around him. With this form of calculations, 079’s punch will hit Nazar but her fist’s strength will double. Once her fist’s strength is increased, she will then punch the barrier around Nazar. As she hit the barrier, it will feel like punching the hardest wall possible.

She went along with Nazar’s plan. She clenched her fist and moved toward Nazar. Along the way, her fist’s strength increased without her knowledge.

She continued to punch Nazar without thinking about the consequences.

She punched Nazar at Mach 3. Her fist’s strength was already increased but she did not know it had been doubled.

CRACK! As she hit Nazar, it let out a sound.

As she hit Nazar, she felt her hand hurt. She then looked down at her fist and saw the bones in her hand slowly move around. She saw her bones stand out before piercing her skin. She saw each of her bone come out.

“AAHH! AGH!” As she let out a cry of pain, she fell on the floor. She was now sitting down with her legs behind her back.

She let out a sound that she was expecting out of Nazar. She was looking at her hand. Blood was pouring from it.

She then looked at Nazar who was just smiling.

Everyone looked surprised. Some of them even looked the other way. Despite having powers, they probably have not seen anything this gruesome.

Nazar, without paying attention to the people around him, who might attack any second, he bends down a little and touched 079’s hand. In a mere second, her hand was healed. Like nothing happened.

He stood back up properly and looked to the people in front of him.

In an unknown location, a big burly man gives orders.

“Send in more.”

As he said that, over a hundred more superhumans vanished into thin air, only to appear in New York. They are all surrounding Nazar.

People on top of roofs. People in front of him. People behind him. People above him flying. They appeared all around him.

It was a sight out of a comic book. It was a sight that should not be possible in real life, right? Seeing hundreds of superpowered beings jump on another powerful being, who is almost a god-level person, it is unbelievable. What is real in this reality and what is fake?

If you told someone two years ago that a man can fly, they will laugh at you. But what do these people think of this sight?

“Oooh. This is getting interesting.”

(Superpower Manipulation.) Nazar thought of this power. A power that allows him to manipulate other people’s powers. A power that he can use to depower his enemies or make them stronger.

(Hmm… actually, I am not going to use it.)

While the superhumans prepaid their attack, he just vanished.

They all looked at each other in confusion.

“Huh?”

“Where did he go?”

They all asked these question but there was no answer.

No one was looking up to notice Nazar above them. To be honest, even if they looked up they would not see because he was now outside of Earth’s orbit.

He was looking down on them with a smile on his face.

“To think these idiots stand a chance against me. Hmm… maybe I should go easy on them? Nah.” He muttered.

(Mass Manipulation.) With this power, he should be able to increase his size and as well as his weight.

He let go of his flight power. He did not remove but just stopped using it. He increased his mass. 1 ton. Then 2 tons. Then 3, then 4 and finally 5 tons. Imagine an object that weighs 5 tons hit the surface of Earth?

With his mass increased, he should be able to fall down. But as he was outside of Earth’s orbit, the gravity is weaker. So, he gave himself a push. He pushed himself by flying down and then letting go of his flight power.

Down here on Earth, the superhumans all vanished into thin air and then reappeared in an unfamiliar location. They were now the Sonoran Desert. A place with no humans lives for miles. A perfect place to thrash all the superhumans at once.

“Where are we?”

“How did this happen?”

One confusing event after another. Little did they know that Nazar is the one pulling their strings at the moment. He did not want to thrash most of New York by throwing a 5-ton object in the middle of it.

Above them, Nazar was coming down like a Metroid. He was now on fire due to the friction. But to him, it made no difference.

“Something is coming...” a superhuman, who goes by the name 050 said. He has enhanced senses. He can hear something that miles away. He can smell something that is a few hundred meters away. He heard something that sounded like a sonic boom. He looked around but saw nothing, so he decided to look up and saw something coming down.

“What?” 002 asked a question. But he will get no answer because something was coming down. Fast and hard.

050 just pointed up.

They looked up. Something was coming down. It was getting faster and faster. It was getting closer and closer by the second.

They have only less than a minute left until impact.

The speedsters and teleporters get to work. It has only been a few seconds but they already started evacuating some of their teammates.

The speedster moved them a few hundred meters away and left them there. They need to get as many people as they can away from the main impact. The teleporters did the same. They could evacuate more people if they just moved them for a few hundred meters.

While the teleports and speedsters were moving them away, the psychics created a shield for their teammates.

(They have a good team working skills.) Nazar thought. He was amazed to see them like this.

It was getting closer and the rescuers were getting desperate. They moved faster than they ever have done. Their teammates will not go undamaged but the damage will be much lower.

It was getting closer.

And closer.

Then…

BOOM!

A sound so loud that it can be heard for miles.

Nazar hit the ground undamaged. He then immediately lowered down his mass to his original mass.

He stood up, still smiling. He looked around and found the superhumans to be lying down on the ground but they were still above him. There was a massive crater in the ground, where he landed.

The crater was not very big. Maybe it was because Nazar contained the area of impact. For some reason, he does not want to kill them. Does he want to make them scared? Or perhaps wants them to become stronger?

“He is insane.” 002 said. He was not damaged. In fact, none of them was seriously damaged.

“My, my. You guys have a good team working skills.” Nazar said. His tone and expression barely ever changes. Before getting his powers, he never smiled while talking to anyone or while doing anything. He had an expressionless face. His tone never changed either. It was as if you were talking to a robot. But now, he always has a smile on his face and talks mostly in a sarcastic tone. It does change sometimes, but most of the time, it is always the same.

“You bast...” before 002 could finish his sentence, he stopped because he saw something.

He waved his fingers and a green energy covered everyone. They were all healed in an instant.

In an unknown location, the leader of the IO was standing in a control room and watching the operation. The lightning in this room was extremely dim. The only light there came from the computer screens. The room itself was a circular room with monitors all around it and the people sitting in front of 1 or more monitors.

“Send in ‘Final Resort’,” the big burly man ordered.

“Okay, sir.”

The man who sits in front of a screen that was monitoring every movement of the person who is referred to as the ‘Final Resort’. She was sitting in a room with no windows or doors. She was sitting in a room that looked like a jail. Every colour in the room was white. The walls were painted white. The bed was white. The pillow was white. However, her clothes were grey. The same colour clothes as other IO superhumans. Each of their clothes had a number on their right arm. On top of their heart and left arm, there was an IO logo. The rest of the clothes had no other decorations on it and it looked like a military uniform.

The man sitting in front of the computer hit a button that was bright red. It was a massive button that had no writing on it. As he hit the big red button, the little girl vanished into thin air.

“I am tired,” Nazar said. “See you some other ti...”

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw someone familiar. Who is she? Why did he stop in his tracks when he saw her? Where did the arrogant smile go? Is it because she is powerful? Or is it because it’s something else?

The girl, who appeared before him, looked like she was about 9 years old. She had blue hair and blue eyes. Her hair had a different colour before. Last time Nazar saw her, her hair colour was red.

His arrogant smile disappeared. In return, he looked at the person and was completely shocked. He did not believe his eyes. It’s like he has seen a ghost.

With a smile on the little girl’s face, she replied. “What’s up cuz?”

Cuz? Cousin? Could it be one of those people Nazar saved not long ago?

“Aria?” Nazar said in a voice that could not be heard by anyone.

She held her hands out sideways and said, “Surprised to see me here?”

Nazar gritted his teeth and asked, “Why?”

“Haha. Because power that’s why.” She let out a psychotic laugh.

As she said that, the superhumans vanished into thin air.

Nazar tried to track their whereabouts but he could not.

“That damned technology.” He muttered.

He then proceeded to vanish into thin air too.

A few seconds later, the superhumans reappeared in the meeting room.

“What the hell happened there?” The big burly man asked.

“We ambushed him but then he vanished. The next second we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere. We nearly died because he just dropped himself on top of us for no reason.” 002 concluded his short report.

“I want you to submit a full report tomorrow morning.” The big man ordered 002. As a team leader, he must make sure to report everything. He must not leave anything behind. He was about to leave but looked back and smiled. “Good work, 010.”

As he left, some of the superhumans were still traumatized by what happened.

“Just...just what is he?” one of them asked. But there was no answer.

“That was scary.”

“Eh?” 002 said and started to look around. “Where did 010 go?”

Apparently, she was teleported back into her room after the big man left.

On the other side of the planet, Nazar reappeared in his old home, in London. He reappeared in his old bedroom again. Even though no one has used it in more than one year, it was still clean.

As soon as he entered the bedroom, he found it the way it was. It was a small room. A room large enough to hold just one single bedroom and a small table. The space was very limited but that was the kind of place Nazar liked.

He placed a barrier around him so he cannot hear sounds or thoughts. That was another trick he learned in the last few days. He used his vector manipulation to block out any kind of sound and turned off his telepathy. He can gain any power he wants. He can remove any power he wants. Or he can just turn it off and use it later. It makes no difference to him.

As soon as he laid on his bed and closed his eyes, he was fast asleep. It was 10 PM and he was tired.

Just below his bedroom, four other people were just sitting there in silence. They were watching TV. Most TV channels are operating, especially the news channels. They were watching the news to find out what had happened but no one knows anything.

Emily looked at the clock in the room and said, “Shit, I have to go...” Before she could finish her sentence, she noticed that her teleporter was gone. It was a device Nazar gave her to make her travel much easier. “Eh? Where did it go?”

With a puzzled expression, Emma asked, “What are you talking about?”

“The teleporter.”

“Huh? You lost it?”

“Maybe I left on the moon?”

“Well, you can look for it tomorrow. You can stay here tonight.”

John and Mary, who sits on the sofa seemed to agree as well. They have rather quiet for a long time now. They don't really speak anymore and most of the time, they seem very scared.

“No, it’s al...”

“Don’t worry, there is a free room. Nazar does not come here anymore, so no one is using it.”

Emily sighed and said, “Okay, then.”

Both Emma and Emily left the room and headed upstairs.

The house had only two floors. The ground floor only had a living room, dining room and kitchen. The first floor had two big bedrooms and one very small bedroom. The small bedroom was Nazar’s. It was his little safe house, back when he used to live here.

Emma and Emily went upstairs. Once they reached the room, Emma opened the door. The light was off, so she turned it on. Once she turned on the light, she saw someone in black clothes lying on the bed.

Nazar was lying the bed. His arm was on top of the pillow and his face was resting on top of his arm.

“...”

“...”

Both of them just stood there speechless and looked at one another. What would he be doing here?

Emma then went to open the windows of the room. It was a hot summer night, so she just opened the windows to let some air through.

“You can sleep in my room,” Emma suggested.

“O-okay.”

They were not sure what was happening. Nazar had his own place on the moon with bedroom and everything, so why was he here?

The night passed without any problems. The streets where people were killing and fighting one another were quite now. Nazar’s warning worked. Even though it did not affect everyone, the majority were scared and stopped causing others problems.

The next day, at 5 AM, Nazar opened his eyes. The sun had risen but the rays of the sun did not reach Nazar’s room yet.

(I wonder why I came here last night.)

He then sat down on his bed and looked around. The room was almost exactly the way he left it. There were comic books and manga on the table and in the small cupboard. There were some action figures too. One of these figures was of Superman. Another of Sentry. Another of Spider-Man. Another of Kaneki. Another of All Might. And a few others.

He looked at them and smiled. A sad smile. A smile that you only show when you are thinking about something good that happened a long time ago.

He then looked at the small cupboard in the room. He opened the door of the cupboard and found more comics and manga.

He looked through them. This was where he kept his personal favourite comics.

(Ah. Blackest Night. I just went through something similar not long ago.)

Just as he was looking at his lost treasures. Just as he was looking back at his old reality. He could not stop smiling. He now had all the copies of these comics in his base on the Moon, but these were special. He has kept them around for years. He kept them safe. And he paid for it by himself. He did not spend his allowance on hanging around with friends, maybe because he did not have any, but he used that money to purchase these comics.

While he was looking at the comics like a someone would look at their lover, the door opened.

“Still wake up at 5?” Emma asked.

“I thought you used to wake up at 6.”

They both laughed, but not too loud.

“I always wondered, why do you wake up so early?”

“Well, back in the day, I woke up early because I could read or watch something before going to school. Wanted to make sure I had a good day.” He paused for a little while and then continued. “But why do you wake up at 6?”

“Hmm… I don’t know. I just do.”

Nazar looked back at the books in front of him. He then held the book out to Emma and asked, “Do you want to read this? It’s one of my favourites.”

“I already have. In fact, I have read all the things you have here.”

Nazar was surprised to hear that. He never thought she would be interested in reading this kind of stuff.

“Anyway, I need to get going.”

“You are not going anywhere. We need to talk.”

“Why?”

“Come on, tell me everything.”

“That’s going to take forever.”

“I did not wake up one hour early just to hear that excuse. I have a lot of free time.”

“Are you sure?” Emma just replied with a nod and then Nazar continued. “Long story short, a demon and angel fought. They were banished into Earth with no powers. The demons tried to take control of the planet but the angel stopped him whenever she could. One day, the angel lost sight of the demon and he actually took control of the entire planet. After 50 years or so, he wanted to fight the angel again and this time he will receive his power again. The angel was also weak so she asked me to help her. On the day of the battle, the demon cheated and started his invasion on Earth. Which I helped stop and then later went into another dimension and saved the angel and helped her win her battle.”

“What?!” Emma could not believe what he just said.

She had a puzzled expression like everyone else would. How can you believe someone who comes up to you and says that a demon was ruling the world?

Nazar noticed her expressions and sighed. “Fine, I will tell you the whole story in more details.”

Nazar then proceeded to her a tale. A tale that started thousands of years ago. A tale that involves demons and angels. He told his sister a story of a powerless demon who tried to take over the world and a story of how a powerless angel stopped his plans many times. He also told her how the angel failed and how the demon succeeded. He told her how the demon ruled over us, without us knowing about it. He told her how Nazar, himself was involved in this long tale. He told her how the demon brought the world she sees before her eyes.

“...” The whole story with all the details took over 30 minutes to complete. In this 30 minutes, Emma did not say a word and she is not talking. She is just sitting there speechless.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Y-yeah… it’s just a lot to take in. Demons. Angels. This is too much.”

He shrugged his shoulders and said, “I should have told you this will turn into a unbelievable story.”

“It’s not that I do not believe the story, it’s just too much. It’s...it’s like we have been living in a world of lies.”

After a few minutes, she came to her senses. She had a lot to think about.

“Anyway, why did you kill all those people last year?”

“Oh, those guys. Well, for the starter, they were developing weapons of mass destruction, were responsible for the death of millions and they experimented on me. They were also responsible on experimenting on hundreds of other people. They tried to give them superpowers but failed. And once the subject failed, they either died or just could not live properly afterwards.”

“But that’s no reason to kill them.”

“If they were still around, many more people would have died.”

Emma did not say anything for a while then she asked about something that happened recently.

“Were you actually going to kill them yesterday if… those other guys did not intervene?”

“Yes.”

“Just how can you say this? What gives you…?”

Before she could finish her question, she was interrupted.

“You know, I was only going to kill just those four. They were supposed to set an example and that’s it.”

“But still, we are talking about killing someone...”

Nazar who never loses his temper said, “Do you have any idea what they have done?” He paused for a while and let himself calm down. Emma seemed a little scared at that moment. “Those four people are involved in over 100 different cases of murder, assault, robbery, kidnapping, rape, and even some cases of pedophelia. They were sent to court a few times, but there was no solid evidence. So, I ask you, what kind of sane person would let them live? No one would let them live after they find out about what they had done. No one found out about them because they covered their tracks. But they could never remove their memories. And you know what makes it worse, they were proud of their achievements.”

Both of them just sat there in silence for a few minutes. No one said anything. For Emma, it took a few minutes to think about what had happened but for Nazar, it took a few seconds to go back to the way he was.

“Anyway, let’s change the topic.”

Nazar looked up and said, “So, what do you want to talk about?”

“How powerful are you really?”

“As powerful as the plot needs me to be.”

With a confused look on her face, she asked, “What?”

“Just kidding. I, sometime like to think I am in a fiction universe. It makes me feel better. And the answer to your question is, I can get any power I want at any level I want.”

“So, you can be even omnipotent?” Emma said jokingly.

“Maybe. I have not tried but it is possible. But I don’t want to.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Well, there are some powers that I love but don’t want to have them. It can cause a lot of problems.”

“So, do you have a girlfriend?”

With an annoyed look on his face, he said, “You are changing subjects way too often. And no I don’t have a girlfriend and never will.”

“Then who was that beautiful blonde woman that day?”

“Didn’t I tell you earlier? She is the angel.”

“I know, but I thought maybe it was a little more than that.” She was disappointed in the answer.

After that, they talked for a very long time about random stuff. The topics changed way too often. One second they would be talking about powers then the next they would talk about comics.

After an hour the conversation changed from random stuff to food.

“So, how can you eat chicken wings every single day?”

“Because it tastes good?” Nazar said that while he rolled his eyes.

“How often do you eat something else besides chicken wings?”

“I eat chicken wings 3 times a day. Seven days a week. 52 weeks a year.”

“What?!” She was surprised to hear that.

Who eats one type of food all the time?

“Anyway, I will make some food for you now.”

“Since when can you cook?”

“Since forever?” She said this sarcastically. “I have been cooking for a while now.”

“I wonder how bad it tastes.”

“Come on now, I am a pretty good cook.” She paused for a while then continued. “Go and get a shower. Until then I will make something for you.”

“I don’t need to take shower.”

With a disgusting look on her face, she just asked, “WHAT?! Since when?”

“Since last year?” Nazar saw the disgusted expression on Emma’s face, so he decided to clarify. “I can use my powers...”

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear about it. Get out and get a shower. Seriously.”

She left the room and Nazar went to the bathroom to take shower for the first time in a very long time.

Emma thought back and smiled. She was truly happy. This was the first time she had properly talked to her brother. They talked for a long time and about so many other things.