Perfecto brought his finger closer to the trigger to tranquilize Lucifer. Unfortunately, things didnât go as planned.
Before he could even touch the trigger, something changed.
His eyes opened wide in disbelief as he gazed upon Lucifer, who had unexpectedly increased his speed to the thresholds that were humanly feasible.
Lucifer not only used his Super Strength to dash, but he also utilized his wind to stimulate his speed even further.
Even though it wasnât flawless, it was still enough to make him close in the distance between him and Perfecto within a blink of an eye.
Perfectoâs finger had just brushed against the trigger, but before he could pull it, he found Luciferâs fist in front of his eyes.
It all happened so abruptly that no one had an opportunity to comprehend what precisely happened when the fist landed on Perfectoâs chests, making him fly back like a broken doll.
As Perfecto was tossed back helplessly, he crossed the house entrance, which was left open, and slammed outside as he coughed out a mouthful of blood.
He could sense that his chest was broken. Thatâs what it felt like, at least to him.
"Stop!"
Zoom was the first one to react in this situation as he saw what had transpired.
Without waiting for any commands, he ran towards Lucifer at his faster than humanly possible speed.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
He appeared before Lucifer within the blink of an eye as he kicked towards his neck. He didnât care that Lucifer was a child. For him, they were attacked, and they needed to respond in force, even if that meant hurting the kid.
****
"You mean you send those four to take care of the kid?"
In a helicopter that was flying in the direction of Legion City, the leading members of the Delta Squad were sitting.
Flourance looked at Xander in disbelief as he heard that Xander had an idea about Luciferâs whereabouts, and he had sent Zach and his team.
"Yeah? Is there something wrong with it?" Xander asked, frowning.
"They are kids! They recently joined our squad. They donât have any real-world experience against real enemies!" Flourance informed Xander.
"Donât worry. I know they are new and among our weakest members, but they happened to be the only ones in that city. Time is of the essence. I had to act, and I sent them," Xander responded.
"In any case, theyâre a part of our squad. They should be able to handle Lucifer. They at least went through our training even if they donât have experience. The enemy theyâll face is someone who neither had any experience of fighting against the Variants nor training," he added.
The other Delta Squad members also started chiming in, supporting the decision.
"Thatâs right. Donât worry. They can take care of a kid."
" Weâre the Deltas. If we canât take care of a kid when there are four of us, then wonât we be too useless?"
"Thereâs no need to worry."
Flourance heard their response and shook his head slightly.
"Even if the kid doesnât have experience or training, he is a Warlock that has S-Rank abilities. The ones that are sent might be Deltas, but theyâre kids with B-Rank abilities," Flourance replied.
"They wouldnât even be able to join our Delta Squad if last year the higher-ups hadnât changed the policy to allow recruiting of the Variants with B-Rank abilities," he further added as he gazed at the people who were trying to educate him.
"None of us have abilities that weak. You canât compare them to us," he added.
"Itâs not a right or wrong situation. You canât say the kid has S-Rank ability, so heâll win against people with B-Rank abilities. Even if he has S-Rank, he only recently awakened. He wonât be able to use even a fraction of those abilities," a dark-haired Delta Squad member alluded to Flourance.
Flourance gazed towards the window as he grumbled, "Thatâs true, but still, I donât know why, but I feel a little uneasy. As if weâre underestimating our enemy."
"Donât you think so?" he raised a question to Xander.
"No. I am a leader. And as a leader, itâs my duty to have faith in my team and our training. You should have faith too," Xander replied right away without much emotion.
He seemed to be as calm as a person could possibly be, as if he had no doubt that Zach and his team could take care of Lucifer.
*****
Zoomâs kick advanced towards Luciferâs neck, who also reacted fast by raising his hand to shield his neck.
The kick landed on Luciferâs forearm, making him lose balance. He couldnât help but take two steps back before he gained the balance again.
"Ouch, is it his arm or a hammer? My legs hurt from just that," Zoom muttered as he stretched his legs a bit.
"No, Zoom! Keep your distance. Move back, his-" Zach warned Zoom as he understood that closing in on Lucifer was an awful choice because of his abilities.
"You worry too much. I know all about the Decay of Clarisse! Itâs in the hands. As long as he canât touch, he is useless. As for my speed, let alone touching me, he canât even get close," Zoom laughed out as he ignored the commands and once again ran towards Lucifer.
"No, stop. You crazy idiot!" Zach thundered, but he was too late.
Zoom has already closed in on Lucifer and kicked once again, but this time his aim was Luciferâs face.
He tried to be even faster than before to not give any time to Lucifer for thinking.
As his legs closed in towards Luciferâs face, Lucifer seemed like he didnât care to save his face this time; instead, he packed his fist and aimed at the manâs chest as he punched out.
A leg and a hand moved in the opposite direction, targeting different parts of the bodies of two different people, and both of them happened to land at the same time.
*****
"I guess youâre right. Even if theyâre new, they should still be able to take care. Zach is with them. Even though heâs a B-Rank Sorcerer, his abilities arenât much weaker than A-Rank when he overdrive," Flourance nodded his head in return to Xander.
"Also, they wonât mess up basic teamwork. A proper team of four B-rank Variants is no less than an A-Rank Variants," he added. "I might be worrying needlessly. As a Vice-leader, I should also have trust in the team."
..... To be continued.