"Care to fill me in the details, Charles?" Kaizer asked.
He raised his sword and prepared for the battle.
Augmenting my lingual speed, I told him all that I knew. While he used his time dilation to understand my speech. From Shura Forest to here, I told everything. He wasn't very convinced about my innocence but witnessing the demons first hand, there was very little he could argue about.
"By the way, what's this hypnotic song all about? Never heard before," he asked, deflecting enemy's laser shots by his sword.
"Huh? Shouldn't you be the one knowing that! How am I supposed to know?" I said, smashing the ground to break the floor and create a semi-wall protecting us from the laser shots.
There were around 68 demons who marched into the factory, they were all tic-less but their physical strength was way beyond humans. Moreover, they had the finest weapons and bodysuits from UU3.
Kaizer's plan was simple: he wanted to kill their captain, and others would just be a flock of sheep with no shepherd. But, there was no way we could approach them cause of the laser bullets.
I rolled out of the semi-wall and punched the air with all my augmented strength.
But unexpectedly, the force was too much and caused a windstorm to appear. Its size eloped the entire auditorium. It blew their formation apart and disturbed their aim, but the same could have been told about us.
"Hey! At least give a warning before doing that. That could have been fatal." Kaizer spoke with exasperated sighs.
"He created that windstorm? Unbelievable,"
"He may be their trump card! Let's kill him first," the demons spoke one after another.
Shatters were heard as the glass from windows fell on the ground as an after-effect from my storm.
"What an overpowered tic. You sure you need my help here?" Kaizer asked, with a smirk, mocking me.
I focussed my heels in the right direction, preparing for a giant leap.
"Look who's talking. Your tic is any day stronger than mine. If only I had your tic, fuck." I said.
[Yeah. Tics are all that matters for a warrior. It's the survival of the fittest, and honestly, before coming to this planet I thought I was lucky to have my Augmenton.]
"Hah. Is that what you are taught in Bezereck? Bullshit. My tic doesn't even come in the upper ranks of the Royal tier. It's in fact a weak tic. It's how you use your powers that matter. You just really suck at using your powers, Charles,"
Saying that he stormed off towards the enemy soldiers. Running at impressive speeds, he deflected the incoming bullets and dodged some. Twenty-three tanky soldiers ran towards him with their giant swords, while the rest tried shooting us down.
His words surprised me. I expected his tic to be in the upper ranks of the Chosen tier, but the reality was far from my expectations. In the tree of survival Kaizer stood much lower than me, so why was he able to fight better than me? I never understood. Perhaps, I was overestimating him?
"Come on cadets, let's do this!" shouted the demons.
Kaizer dodged their blows, deflected the incoming bullets, and attacked them, all at the same time. He did these without the help of his tic.
[Why? Why not use your tic instead? Why bother fight without it?]
His actions confused and humiliated me. A Royal tier tic user was out-performing me. That was unacceptable.
With all my augmented strength, I pushed the ground, taking a leap towards Kaizer. But the force was too much, and in a blink, I leaped farther, to crash into the enemy formation at the entrance.
[Shit! I am still not adjusted to this high Augmentin. Fuck.]
I recovered my stance and taking advantage of those soldiers' confusion, punched the demon who stood before me. The thrust of the punch destroyed his bodysuit and broke his ribcage, as the punch sank deeper into his chest. He gasped and went crashing to a few other soldiers.
[Heh, did you see that Kaizer? One down!]
To my surprise, all the twenty-three soldiers were already beheaded. And Kaizer was nowhere to be seen.
I received a blow to my face from the right side, followed by a series of jabs at my stomach.
[Damn, my guard was off]
A bulky female demon was wrecking my body with her humongous fists. She was later joined by many other soldiers who punched me with incredible power. My clothes ripped and my whole body was in pain. I got bruises everywhere, and blood spurted from my mouth.
I had no time to augment myself, each time I attempted at augmenting, another punch would disrupt my thoughts.
[It pains! It pains like hell! Fuck!]
The final punch on my abdomen lifted me off the ground. My eyeballs and tongue gorged outwards as I flew away, thrashing on the ground, defenseless and weak. The soldier standing behind me drew his laser sword and was about to behead me. Horror and pain forced my eyes shut, as I attempted a last-ditch effort to protect myself by shielding my head with my arms.
"That mark. On his elbow! It can't be, that's a Dragon seal!!" shouted the demon who held the sword.
The other soldiers who were beating the shit out of me also paused and speculated the seal on my arm, and retreated immediately. Opening my eyes to their surprised faces, I looked at what they were talking about and was surprised myself, to see a black weird mark on my right elbow.
The mark resembled an ancient seal and seemed to emit some sort of malicious aura. The shape of the seal resembled a dragon. The mark never existed before, as far as my memory went, and it was a genuine surprise to see something so filthy on my arm. I felt like cutting my arm off seeing that filth.
"Are yoâ are you a Dragonlord?" the bulky demoness asked.
[Dragonlord? Me? What a joke. Well, I guess, I can bluff my way out of here?]
"Yes. Bow down and worship me, you pigs!" I commanded while trying to feign authority.
There was a sudden pause, and the demons stared at me with astonishment. The pause was broken with a peal of laughter.
"Cut his legs, but keep him alive. His life will be of great value to us, Mother will be glad at our discovery," the demoness commanded after wiping off her sweat.
[Wait, that's not how this was supposed to go!]
"That's not the point," shouted the one who stood beside me.
"Look carefully! It's pitch black." his voice stuttered as he finished his sentence.
Others retreated farther with fear and shock; some were paralyzed as if they saw a ghost, their temples sweat profusely and hands trembled.
"This cannot be happening... on him of all people? KALIâ" the demoness paused as the last word came out of her mouth.
Her eyes gorged out and sockets burst. Blood spurted from ears and mouth, as her body shook with pain. She fell on her knees, holding her head with her hands as if she suffered a terrible headache. Her forehead's veins throbbed with extreme pressure, then burst to cause profuse bleeding. Her hands fell and legs lost all power; after what looked like an attempt to scream, she fell on the ground, lifeless.
"You aren't supposed to take 'his' name, you fool!" another demon shouted while others maintained their distance from me.
This scene gave me goosebumps, my heart paused, and breathing hastened. Within moments of her death, my right elbow stung with a burning sensation. I could feel power swell up within the seal and its size grow. I held my elbow with my other hand and screamed with pain.
[Just taking his name caused this? Seriously!? KALIâ]
A terrible headache struck me as I mistakenly took his name. The seal on my elbow emanated a stronger aura. Perhaps my recognition of KALI triggered it. It started pumping immense energy to the surroundings and created a sphere of black, eloping me.
I rose in the air, as if floating gravityless, my back arched, and body in pain. The seal emitted a powerful shockwave damaging the whole auditorium. The shockwave destroyed the demons' equipment and broke the walls of the auditorium.
I fell down with a thud as the black energy ball disappeared. Paralyzed with fear I was unable to comprehend what happened.
"Wow, what a power. Charles, you truly showed me the difference in our tics. Were you holding back all this time?" Kaizer asked while resting up high in the wall's crevice.
The next moment, Kaizer vanished and beheaded the defenseless demons. Only their captain remained. But it was already over for them.
[That wasn't my power. It was something else. Something very malevolent. I am scared to even move, will it kill me too?]
I was still recovering from the shock of the events, augmenting my endorphin receptors to remove my fear and pain.
The captain drew his spear in the air which had a magic crystal carved on the tip. Magic crystal in abundance could be used as a source of magic mana.
"I never thought I would have to use it, but now you leave me no other choice,"
"Crystal arts, magic drain." saying those words he fled from the scene. Kaizer fell on his knees, giving exasperated gasps to catch his breath.
He clenched his fists and punched the ground with frustration,
"I won't be able to use my tic for a while. Damn!" he said.
He got back up to chase the captain. With a sonic boom, Kaizer's Farcaster arrived from the top and he got inside.
"Hop on, prince. We will catch them alive and prove your innocence. After seeing you fight, I no longer have any doubts. I will speak with Her Highness on your behalf," he said, adjusting the Farcaster.
His words were pleasing, but, but my mind was destroyed by another revelation. The shockwave my seal created earlier, blew the covers of the storerooms. And what was present inside was death itself as I realized we lost the war. It was one after another. My sixteen-year-old mind couldn't handle all this.
Inside were hundreds of electromagnetic containers which emitted the fluorescent blue color I saw back with the tachyon incident. The last piece of the puzzle fitted as I figured out their plan. Devastated, I gave up all hopes, for we were utterly out-smarted.
"Kaizer, can you tell me the current time?" I asked with a meek voice.
He looked confused and irritated.
"6:55 am, why do you ask?"
"If I am not wrong, the Dragonlord festival is being held in Palladium, right?" my voice was meeker and shallow.
"Yes. What's with all these questions? We don't have time! The captain is fleeing," he said tapping his fingers on the wheel.
I lost all energy to fight. Looking down with empty eyes, I regretted every choice that was made.
"I can't believe... such a critical error... it's all over." I muttered.
[I was in the assumption that UU6's aim was Ice-city. Thus estimated the time I had as two days. Moreover, Ice-Queen and Alyssa's time-reversal tic was an ultimate defense for them, so I was less worried. But, I was wrong about everything. Their aim was Palladium. And this huge number of tachyons...]
Kaizer got hyper hearing me speak. He couldn't understand why I said and behaved that way. He repeatedly asked me what was wrong and impatiently pulled me inside the Farcaster.
"Ice-Queen and Alyssa are about to die. No, they might be already dead." I said.