Arc 14 - New Powers

After getting a shower, Nazar went downstairs to eat the breakfast his sister made for him.

(I hope it’s chicken wings.)

Once he went downstairs, he found that she had not finished making breakfast.

“So, what are you making?”

“Just wait for a few minutes.”

“>Sigh< Okay.”

After waiting for nearly 30 minutes, the breakfast was ready.

They both sat around the table. Nazar was disappointed once he saw the food.

“Wait, this is just beans, egg, sausage and tomatoes. Who eats this for breakfast?”

Emma frowned and said, “Who eats chicken wings for breakfast?”

“Okay, fair point.” After admitting his defeat he started to eat. His expression changed. His eyes got wider and said, “It actually tastes pretty good.”

“Anyway, while we were talking earlier, you said you will never have a girlfriend. Why is that?”

“Because I don’t fancy girls.”

“Then boys?”

“No.”

“Then what do you fancy?”

With a deadpan expression, he replied, “Potatoes?”

They both laughed.

“Tell me, the real reason.”

Nazar thought for a little while then continued, “Right now, because I see everything as atoms. Sure, I can change my sight to see like normal humans but I much prefer my atomic vision. I can easily analyse atoms and energy particles. So, why should I fancy one atom more than another atom?" He paused for a little while. "And before getting my powers, I just hated everything about humanity. Due to my genius level intellect and higher state of consciousness, humans were nothing but monkeys.”

With a grave expression, she said, “You should really look at us, humans differently.”

For the next few minutes, they just sat there in silence and ate. To Nazar it was normal, but for someone like Emma who talks a lot, it was uncomfortable. And Nazar seemed to notice that as well.

“Enough about me. What about you?” Nazar asked.

“What about me?”

Before Nazar could ask a question about her life, he felt something. His vision became blurry for a little while. So, he shook his head and looked around but nothing changed. He then continued to scratch his eyes but it did not work either.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Emma asked while getting up from her seat.

“I don’t know… nothing. It normal now.”

Something is wrong but everything went back to normal now.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know but my vision became blurry all of sudden. And my head felt started to hurt as well and for a second, my power levels decreased significantly.” Nazar explained.

“What could have caused this?” Emma asked a rhetorical question.

“Oh well, I guess its nothing to worry about. Let’s eat.” Nazar forced a smile on his face and finished his breakfast.

After a few minutes, he was done with his breakfast. He was about to leave but he felt something different again.

His power grew weaker. His telepathy could easily cover the entire planet, but now it can only do as large as a continent.

He felt his other powers to decrease significantly as well. Before he was so fast that a second felt like a day, but now it only feels like a minute. His strength got decreased as well.

“What is happening?” She was already worried but now it seemed even worse.

For a second there, it seems like he was about to collapse.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

Emma asked the question very loudly a few seconds ago. So, Emily and the others came down as well.

“What’s wrong?” Emily asked with a haunted expression.

“It’s nothing,” Nazar replied with an expression that seemed like everything was perfectly fine.

But at that moment, he felt his powers return again.

He used the full range of his abilities to look around the planet to see what’s happening.

What he found was even more surprising that losing his powers.

He was speechless. What did he see?

“How?” He said.

“How? What are you talking about?” Emma asked.

“Turn on the TV.”

She did just that. The TV was broadcasting as usual. They changed the channels and all they found were regular programs. However, the last three days, it was nothing but news to help inform people.

“Find a news channel,” Nazar told her.

She changed the channels until a news channel appeared.

“...ple are going back to their normal lives today. All around the world, people started continuing with their lives. Businesses are running as usual and even though the governments are a mess, most hospitals are running normally...” The news reporter said.

“What the hell is going on?” Nazar asked a rhetorical question.

“...crime rate has lowered down too. A new organisation called ‘Internal Order’ has come out and have promised us that they will bring the world to what it was. Internal Order is a group of superheroes who saved the planet not long ago...”

“This is a little too weird.”

“What is?” Emily asked.

“Internal Order is an organisation that has overtaken ANTF, ANT and NSE.”

With a confused look on her face, Emily asked, “And what does it stand for?”

“Anti-Nazar Task Force, Anti-Nazar Tech and Next Step of Evolution. All related to me.”

They were surprised to hear that.

Nazar did not notice their shocked expression and continued, “ANTF and ANT as specifically created to take me down, but so far they have failed. NSE was created because they wanted to create superhumans but they failed, too.”

“No, they didn’t.”

“What do you mean, Emily?”

“Look. Did you not think for a second who these superhumans are? Did you really think that they were born with powers?”

“I did not really think about it.”

Until this day, he never thought how they got their superpowers.

If they really did succeed in less than a year, why did they fail over and over again for more than 20 years?

Nazar just sat there and tried to think it over.

(What if they actually managed to find a way to make me weak? What if they actually created a powerful esper?)

After a few minutes, he saw Emily leaving the house.

“Where are you going?”

“To meet my brother.”

Nazar was shocked to hear that. She never told him about her brother.

“I didn’t know you had a brother.”

“I am pretty sure I told you once.”

“No. If you did tell me, I would never forget it. Also, how come I have never seen him before?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Don’t worry, I will accompany till you reach your brother. And then you can tell me what happened.”

It is a little unusual for Nazar to really do anything like this. Offering to accompany her is something Nazar have never done.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

After that, they both left the house. The place where she was going to meet her brother was not very far away. So, they walked.

“So, tell me.”

“Long story short, my brother ran away when he was just 12. That was 10 years ago. And we have been keeping up with each other but this is the first time we will meet in years. He did come here a few times but refused to meet my parents. Last time, I saw him was three years ago.” Emily explained.

“Ran away at 11?”

“I still don’t know why,” Emily responded.

For a while, they walked and talked about many things. While being busy talking, Nazar felt something off again as soon as they reached their destination.

“Okay, I will go now,” Nazar said.

He was about to turn away and leave but Emily stopped him.

“Why don’t you and meet him?”

“That will be very awkward.”

“Then why did you come here?”

“Well, because you know how the world is, so I did not want you to get hurt.”

“That’s disappointing,” Emily said jokingly. “I thought you just wanted to spend some time with me.”

“Fine. I will go in.” He paused for a while then continued. “Anyway, who meets someone at this early hour?”

“I don’t know. He was always a little weird.”

Nazar used his telepathy to change how he appears to other people. He just wanted to look like himself in front of Emily’s brother.

They both walked into the cafe where her brother was. Once they entered, there were only a handful of people there.

Behind the counter was a young girl who was serving coffee and there was another person in the back room.

The cafe was big enough to fit more than 50 people at once.

Most of the seats were empty. There were about 10 people and they were all scattered across the cafe.

Once they entered, everyone looked at them. Except for one person.

(They should not be able to see me, right?)

Emily went to the table that was next to the window. The table is already being used by someone. The table is large enough for four people.

The person sitting there had grey hair. He was at in his early 20s. Once they got closer, they saw his eyes too. His eyes were grey too.

Emily sat opposite him and Nazar next to her.

He did not give any expression when they appeared. Not even to Nazar.

Emily was very happy but her brother was somewhat expressionless.

“It has been a while.” Her brother said. He then reached his hand out to Nazar and said, “My name is Jake Jones. Nice to meet you.”

During the last few seconds, his expressions did not change. He even shook hands with Nazar but it was not something you would expect from someone you just met. For someone like Nazar, who barely ever smiles, he smiled but Jake did not return the smile. He also did not greet his sister. Emily did not try to shake hand or anything either.

“I am Nazar. Nice to meet you, too.”

Nazar was surprised when he first saw him. He has seen this man somewhere and Nazar knows his secret.

“He is my best friend,” Emily said.

“Ah. I see.” He paused for a while but then continued. “She talked so much about you, so I thought maybe you two were more than just friends.”

“Oh, no. It’s nothing like that,” Nazar said.

While they were talking, Nazar felt something was off again. He looked around, only to see that everyone in the coffee shop is looking at them. He also felt his powers being weird again.

(“Emily? Can you hear me?”) He sent out a telepathic request but she did not receive it.

(That confirms it.)

He then continued with the meeting as nothing has happened.

After a little while, he looked around again and saw that no one new has come into the cafe and the same people are still here.

“Is something wrong?” Jake asked.

“Nothing. I was just looking around to see how beautiful this cafe is.”

(Play your card well.) He started to smile.

He knew who they were. He knows what was wrong with him.

“So, what are your goals in life, Nazar?”

“I have achieved all my goals.”

“Really? All of them?” Jake said.

“Yes,” Nazar replied without hesitation. He paused for a while then continued. “There was one goal I had back in my high school days. That goal is no longer relevant and I have thrown it out of the window.”

“And what was that?”

“Every guy in their school days have one goal. They want the most beautiful girl in the school to come to them and ask them out on a date. I had a similar goal but mine was also different at the same time. I wanted to be asked out by a beautiful girl, only to say ‘Nope’ and then walk away. It would have been hilarious.”

No said anything for a while. Then Jake.

After a while, Jake said, “Emily, can you give us a minute?”

She was surprised to hear that. But she agreed anyway. “Okay.”

As soon as she left the cafe, Jake looked at Nazar, who was smirking.

“Really? You should at least try to hide?”

“So, you know?”

“Of course, I do. I saw your face the other day. My telepathy is much more powerful than yours. It was a good technique. Using your telepathy to change your appearance in front of people and avoiding any kind of cameras, but I am just too powerful for you.”

“You are powerful but not for long.”

“Tell me something, 001. Did they find a way to finally kill me?”

“Yes,” replied 001.

“Good. I cannot wait to die. So, can you do it in the next few days?”

Everyone looked at Nazar. They were surprised to hear that.

“What are you talking about?”

“Death,” Nazar said. “I want to die, so can you hurry up?”

“Are you mocking us?”

“No. I just want to die. I have achieved every goal in my life and want to see what the afterlife is like. I have already removed all my powers, so get on with it.”

“Did you find me here on accident?”

“No,” said Nazar while smiling. “I knew you would be here, so I accompanied your sister. Just now, I knew she would invite me in. This is why I love her (As a friend, that is). She is amazing.”

“How…?”

“This morning, I used my powers to see what has happened to the world. I saw almost every place on the face of Earth, but some were hidden. One of the places that were hidden from my telepathy was this cafe. So, I used microscopic vision and X-Ray vision to see this area specifically. Your technology can mess with my telepathy and a few other powers but it cannot mess all of them. Also, someone informed me about your mission.”

There was a little silence. 001 thought back to a few hours ago. A few hours ago, when he was assigned his mission.

More than 10 hours ago, the superhumans returned from their failed mission to stop people from killing one another. Once they returned, they found Nazar on each screen where he threatened everyone who dares do anything that he did not like.

After a while, Nazar returned and kept his promise. Internal Order sent dozens of their members to stop Nazar. But 001, 110, 200, 325, 545, 125, 29 and 149 was given another mission.

“001, here is the mission brief.” Said the big burly leader of Internal Order as he handed a tablet to 001.

After a few minutes of speedreading through the mission brief, his expression changed. Before getting his mission, he seemed a little excited. He is after all, the second most powerful Internal Order member. He thought it was finally his chance to prove his worth.

However, fate… no, Internal Order had his planned something else.

“W-what is this?” His happy expression changed to a scared one. His eyes widened, not with awe but fear. Fear not for himself, but for someone else.

“This? Your mission brief.” The man said. He was wearing his usual attire. His usual attire is made of, black trousers, black blazer, black tie, black shoes and a white shirt.

“But...”

Before 001 could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by his boss.

“I want you to get close to Nazar by using your sister.”

Sweat started pouring down on 001’s face. He has not seen his sister for years, but that does not mean that he does not love her.

“I...refuse.” 001 said.

With a smile on the big man’s face, he said, “I knew you would say that. That’s why we prepared this little device.”

As he said that, he opened the drawer in his desk and took a device. He got up with the device in one hand and placed on 001’s shoulder. The device moved by itself and entered inside of 001 via his ears.

For a few seconds he felt pain and cried in pain, but suddenly it stopped and his face became expressionless.

Now, he is sitting in the coffee shop. He should be happy to be able to see his sister after a long time or he should be said that he is using his sister, but he is completely expressionless.

“So, when are you going to kill me?” Nazar said, interrupting 001’s thoughts.

“I am...”

“Stop pretending to be 001.”

They looked surprised.

“What are you talking about?”

“I am talking to the person who is controlling this body. Why don’t we meet face-to-face?”

The big man in the control room of Internal Order was standing speechless. For a split second, it felt like his heart stopped.

“What are you talking about?” Said the big man in the control room but Nazar heard this from 001.

Internal Order has been working on ways to increase the power of their super-powered individuals.

“So, why do you take control of your soldiers? Oh, wait. I know the answer.” Nazar said. “It’s because some of them cannot control their powers, so you take control of their bodies and let a software do everything they cannot. For example, you have a soldier whose power is ‘Vector Manipulation’ but because his calculation skills are bad, you take control of his body and let the software do the calculations.”

Everyone was silent now. The people in the cafe. The people in the control room. They were all shocked but Nazar was smiling.

“How…?”

Before the big man could finish his sentence, Nazar interrupted him, again.

“Hey, have you heard from 625 recently?”

Everyone in the control room looked at one another. With a nod from the big man, one person who was sitting in front of a computer pulled the list of all active superhumans. Every single one of them should be labelled green.

A green label means that the soldier is operational. Red means that the soldier is dead. Grey means that the soldier is either comprised or their whereabouts are unknown.

625’s label was grey.

“...?!”

The big man did not say a thing. But Nazar knew what he was thinking.

“I am pretty sure the suspense is killing you, so I will tell you what happened.”

This morning, Nazar woke up at 5 AM. His sister woke up at the same time. They sat down in his room and talked for hours. During this time, Nazar felt a disturbance in his power quite a few times.

While talking to his sister, he created a clone of himself. Once the clone was made, he replaced Nazar and the original left the place. His clone sat there talking to his sister and ate breakfast with him.

Nazar left the house and teleported a few times. While teleporting around, he felt rifts being opened in London. He teleported back to where the rift has opened and saw superhumans from Internal Order. He usually cannot tell where exactly a rift is being opened, but because he was close to the location, he could easily pinpoint the rift in the time-space continuum.

625, 001, 110, 200, 325, 545, 125, 29 and 149 were together. However, after following them for about 10 minutes, 625 got separated from the rest.

625’s power is light manipulation. The ability to manipulate visible spectrum. 625 can create light constructs and weapons from the visible spectrum.

He got separated from the group because he probably had a different mission.

Instead of teleporting, he was just walking around. What was his plan?

While he was walking in the busy street, he saw someone standing in front of him. Someone who is much taller and much more powerful than him. 625 is about 20 years old. He has black hair and grey eyes. He is not very tall. His height is about 150 CM.

Before he stood a being who could kill him with just a thought.

As soon as 625 saw him, he was so scared that he felt his heart stopped pounding. His eyes widened and his whole body trembling. He tried to hit the button on his chest, which will teleport him, but he could not reach it on time. He hand was still moving but it was very far away from his chest. With a blink of an eye, he was already teleported out of the busy street and was now in the middle of nowhere. It was so dark in this place. He could not see a thing.

“W-where am I?” 625 said while trembling. He said this in a very low voice that no one should be able to hear.

But one man did.

“You are in my torture room.” A voice tore through the silence. There was no light to tell who it was, but he knew that voice very well. It belonged to his grim reaper, Nazar. Even though 625 could not see anything in the room, he knew that Nazar had a massive grin on his face.

“What…?”

“I need your help.”

Just as he said that 625 found light just around him. The room was still pitch black but there was a light around just him.

As the light appeared, Nazar started walking as well. 625 heard the footstep of the man get closer and closer, but he could not do anything against him. How can you do anything against a God?

“I have created new powers a few seconds ago.”

625 heard the voice but he could not see the man. The footstep was still getting closer and closer.

“I want to test that power on you.”

“Why…?”

Just as he said that Nazar entered the area where there was light. It was not an ordinary light. It was light given off by 625. It is true that he can manipulate light but he can also store it within himself and then he can use it later.

“Why you? Hmm…let me think.” Nazar paused for a while but then continued. “Tch. Can’t think of anything.”

“Internal Order will...”

Nazar did not even finish his sentence. It is true that Nazar cannot use telepathy on them but he knew what 625 was going to say.

“No, they will not help you. We are not in the same dimensional space as them.”

Nazar said this casually but 625 was in shock. What did he mean by that?

Nazar saw the surprised expression on 625 faces. He frowned and said, “I told you I added new powers.” He paused for a little while and then continued. “I created a power called ‘Dimension Creation’. This power allows me to create another dimension. It can be anything I want. The laws of the physics will be whatever I want it to be. So, I created this dimension where your technology will never reach here. The flaw of time is different in here.“

625 could not believe what was going on. He knew that Nazar was extremely powerful, but this is on another level.

625 swallowed his fear and said, “So, what do you want with me?”

Nazar punched him in the leg. His leg was now broken.

“Arrghhhh” 625 cried out in pain.

Nazar healed his leg and continued to punch him again. He punched in many different places and healed him straight away.

All 625 could do was cry out in pain.

Nazar burned him once. Removed his skin. Removed his nails. Took out every single hair from his body.

He used so many different torture methods. He just wanted to beat the crap out of him.

He then healed him all over again.

“Which bones do I need to break first?” He said this with a smile.

While he was talking, he moved his hand around his body and started naming each bone.

“If I break your skull first, you will probably die.” He paused for a while, then let out a psychotic laugh. “Then, I will just start with your legs.”

Crack!

The sound of bones cracking can be heard. He broke bones in 625’s leg. Started with his feet, then his leg, then his thighs, then did the same to his arms. Breaking fingers then the whole palm. Breaking the arm and shoulder.

He then moved his hand to 625’s back but broke his spine.

“W-why… are you… doing… this?” 625 could barely speak due to the pain. Having all the bones broken in his body made it impossible for him to even speak or even breathe properly.

“Oh, I am torturing you?” Nazar said while smiling.

He then healed him all over again.

“I need answers and I want to test my powers if you don’t answer them correctly.”

625 let out a forced laugh. It did not even last a second. He tried to act brave. "You need to ask.. questions during... torture."

That laugh was replaced by a cry.

When he let out a laugh, Nazar just punched a hole through his chest.

“Arrghhhhh,” 625 cried out in pain.

"Oh, sorry. It's my first time torturing anyone."

If a normal human is punched through their chest, they will die. 625 was supposed to die but Nazar kept him alive. He healed him immediately.

Nazar’s smile was no longer visible. With his teeth trembling because of anger, Nazar said, “Now, what were you guys doing in London?”

“...”

625 did not say anything. He kept quiet.

Nazar got even angrier. This time, he used his heat vision. A split second later, 625 started crying in pain. He looked to the place that hurt the most and found out that his arm was now missing.

Nazar cut off his arm.

“Answer my question.”

“We… we are... on a... m-mission, okay?” 625 found it hard to speak with this pain.

Nazar then reattached his hand. He healed his hand completely.

“What was the mission?”

625 wanted to keep quiet but Nazar raised his hand. His hand kept rising slowly. 625 started to feel fear again.

However, 625 did not answer. Nazar continued to cut off a little bit of his flesh. He was using his telekinesis as weapons of torture.

625 still did not answer. So, Nazar continued with removing a little bit of his flesh. After a few minutes, 625 did not have a skin. All he could do was cry in pain.

Nazar used his healing power and he was back to normal.

“001 is supposed to use his sister to get closer to you.” 625 shouted.

As Nazar heard that, his hand lowered down and a smile appeared on his face.

625 continued. “001 refused but Internal Order took control of his body.”

“What do you mean?”

625 did nothing. He did not answer.

Nazar grinned. That grin sent chills down 625’s spine.

“Okay, I will tell you. Please stop.”

“Go on.”

“Because we are nothing compared to you, they created a device that will let them control using a software. That software can use all powers in our bodies and can use it much more efficiently. I don’t even know how to create a proper construct but that software can do it. We are just vessels.” 625 paused for a while and then laughed. He continued while still laughing slowly. “Internal Order found a way to weaken you and kill you. You are done, for.”

“How?”

“They have scattered technology all over the world. That technology can kill you. I don’t know it works but it created to kill you. Your time is short.”

There was a pause for a while. Nazar was not scared or angry. In fact, he was actually happy.

“Hmm... how were you created?”

625, who was looking down now, looked up when he heard the question. He thought for a while and said, “I don’t know.”

As Nazar heard the answer, he was not happy with it. He took a step back and raised his fist. He moved his fist and slammed it on 625’s head.

There used to be ahead there, but now there was nothing but blood. The brains and the bones of the man had splattered across the nothingness.

625 died. He could no longer feel pain or sadness. He could no longer feel love or happiness. He could no longer eat or drink. The last thing he saw was a punch from Nazar and now he cannot see anything anymore.

Before he got hit by the punch, he smirked. He felt happy. He knew that he would die one day, but the sooner the better.

He could no longer see anything. It was just darkness.

Nazar stood over the dead body and smiled.

“Time to test my other powers.”

He opened his palm and an energy ball appeared in his palm.

The energy ball was white light. He then took the energy ball and placed it on the dead corpse.

625 saw a white light appear in the darkness.

When he first saw the light, it was very small. It was the same size as a tennis ball, but after a few seconds, it covered all the darkness.

“Wh-what?”

He was alive again.

“It looks like my new power worked.”

In a confused tone, 625 asked, “New power?”

“Resurrection.”

Hearing the answer, 625 felt even more fear. He knew that he would die over and over again.

Nazar continued with the interrogation. He wanted to know about his cousin and how she ended up there, but 625 did not have any answers. So, Nazar beat him to a pulp.

Nazar asked him other questions, but all he got was “I don’t know.”

Back on Earth, Nazar’s clone sits in front of 001… or rather in front of Internal Order’s head.

“So, that’s how I got my information,” Nazar said that with a smile on his face. “Also, the technology you used earlier to weaken me only worked because he wanted it that way.”

Everyone in the cafe and in the control room were shocked. They knew that Nazar was powerful, but they never expected him to this powerful. They were not worried about this colleague, they were scared.

Everyone was in shock. Their mouths moved but no word came out. They could not move at that moment.

While everyone was in shock, Nazar’s clone stood up.

As soon as he did that, a rift opened next to him.

A tall man in black clothes came out. It was Nazar. His hand was holding someone in his hand. Nazar was pulling the body behind him using 625’s hand. The body was lying on the floor. It was beaten to near death.

625’s body seemed so lifeless. His face was bloody. His clothes were bloody. That grey uniform was now replaced by red blood.

As usual, Nazar was just smiling.

As soon as he came out of the rift, the clone naturally got absorbed into the original.

He threw the nearly dead body of 625 on the table and look at 001’s body.

“Now, how about start killing me? It’s going to be fun.”