Ability Wielders 15 Departure

"A member of a gang called Bakunawa (1) recently awakened," Engkanto briefed Hayden and Daniel on their first a.s.signment. They were in a briefing room in the underground facility of Puting Araw, a room that had a holographic strategy table playing a video. "The gang is stationed in Quezon City. You two will want to sleep here tonight as you will go tomorrow at 4:00 AM. This member of Bakunawa killed their leader according to our intel, using his Ability to overpower him, and now, the gang terrorized the citizens too much, the police couldn't handle him, being reported as a 'supernatural' incident."

"He's endangering the existence of wielders?" Hayden's face twitched. "Causing trouble on his first day? What an idiot."

Engkanto looked at him and shook his head. Hayden was too hot-blooded when he's not calm, in his opinion. Whenever Hayden hears of a fight, he becomes too excited and invigorated, not at all like how he first met him. However, Engkanto knew full well that whenever Hayden was serious, he was as calm as still water, nothing fazing him, not even when Anthony tried to intimidate him.

"Well, he's too fast for the police to with their naked eyes," Engkanto said. "That's why we're sending in you two. This guy poses no danger at all to you guys, a perfect target, with his Ability merely enhancing his speed, at least according to what the reconnaissance team was able to deduce. Be careful tomorrow, as some Abilities are not as they look like at times. If a dangerous situation were to occur, report immediately through your earpieces. You two know what to do."

The earpieces that Engkanto was talking about was the standard-issue earpieces. Apparently, once one becomes an Initiate, they are given equipment to aid them in doing missions, including their standard-issue uniforms, which was a white coat that was insusceptible to environmental effects and keep the wearer warm, a white polo that had a built-in kinetic energy absorption ceramic, black trousers that were also immune to environmental factors, and combat boots that neutralizes footsteps on any solid surface. In addition, they were given tranquilizer pistols that contained fast-acting non-lethal poison that can knock out even an elephant instantly, and hand-held stun guns. They were given non-lethal equipment due to the fact that most of the time, Puting Araw members dealt with normal citizens and that they were tasked to always bring in a wielder alive if they encounter one unless the situation is dire enough.

"Yes, sir!" Hayden and Daniel saluted to the leaving Engkanto. When he left, Hayden sighed. "What an idiot… Seriously, showing his power to regular humans… I mean, if it was an emergency, I can understand, but he did it for the sake of killing a regular person, tsk."

Hayden was reminded of Asw.a.n.g, putting him in a bitter mood. He had the resolve that he will destroy Kamay ng Lagim, the one who sent Asw.a.n.g to him, according to Anthony and Asw.a.n.g himself.

"You go do what you want, I'm going to go get some more weapons in the weapons shop." Hayden said as he waved goodbye to Daniel.

"Ahh," Daniel rolled his eyes. "That guy's too much of a paranoid, still wanting to order a new weapon at this point in time? Shouldn't he be eating? The food here in the facility is really delicious…"

…..

Going to the weapons shop in the underground facility, Hayden looked around. Seeing all types of grenades in the shop, high-quality ropes, and almost every single weapon imaginable. There was a sign in front of the shop that they also took orders for custom-made weapons.

In actuality, the underground facility of Puting Araw was akin to that of a mall, except that it had shops for weapons, armor, a Mission Board for when one wants to accept a mission, and many more. The place was bustling, with many of the 4,000 members of the Main Branch gathering here daily.

Hayden took three flashbangs, and three circle shaped compressed smoke grenades. The smoke grenades were based on the shape of a sphere so as to be able to contain the compressed smoke without much stress.

Taking another item, a high-quality rope made of Black Fiber, a type of fiber that possessed unbelievable tensile strength, capable of lifting 5 tons, yet is still as light as a piece of paper for one 10-meter rope.

Putting it on the counter, Hayden paid the 7,300 credits for the seven items. As he was exiting the shop, an item caught his eye. Turning around, his eyes nearly popped out of its sockets. Observing the black plain-looking ring, he shook his head in utter disbelief.

"A… s.p.a.ce ring?" Hayden couldn't believe what he was seeing. This was not a martial arts novel. Why would a s.p.a.ce ring exist in this world!? "What the h.e.l.l, am I dreaming? Am I in an illusion?"

Hayden walked up to it and was about to touch it when a man stopped him from doing so. Rotating his head, the man was half a head taller than him and had an intimidating body.

"Hands off the merchandise, good sir," the man spoke respectfully. Hayden and Daniel had earned quite a bit of reputation in their stay here. "This is a state of the art technology manufactured by the most skillful members by our friends in the Apayao branch. Not to be disrespectful, however, if you're not buying, please don't touch it."

"What is its… functions?" Hayden hesitantly asked. If it was this valuable, clearly, it was the real thing! "And how much is it?"

"This is what its creator calls s.p.a.ce Ring. Once a wielder wears it, they would have a link with the wearer and is able to open up a 10-cubic-meter s.p.a.ce inside." The man spoke nonchalantly. This kind of product doesn't need promotion anymore as it was already too much of a fictional item. "Plus, only its wearer, and its wearer alone, can open the s.p.a.ce, as long as they live of course. This is the latest type of s.p.a.ce Ring and can be used by Level 1 wielders as well, contrary to the previous version that can only be used by Level 2 wielders and above, and has a built-in Fluxstone that can show you what's inside the s.p.a.ce powered by essence energy. As for its cost…. It's 10,000,000 credits!"

Hayden sighed as he heard the price. Leaving disappointedly, Hayden rea.s.sured himself that he would buy that one day. Imagine being able to pull out weapons into your hand without delay, it would be awesome, for concealed attacks and for cosmetics!

Checking his account, he saw that there was 8,300,000 in. As his fanbase grew, the money he earned grew as well. Just these few hours, he already earned 600,000 credits. Thinking that he would be able to earn the money in a few days' time, Hayden threw the matter out of the window for now.

While carrying an eco-bag with the newly bought equipment contained within it, Hayden walked to the cafeteria.

…..

Reaching the cafeteria, Hayden lined up to buy food. The cafeteria had a modernistic and elegant design, enriching the food experience. Additionally, the food they served were delicious and nutritious, and the best thing? If you were an Initiate, the first dishes you would take for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, was free!

During his six months of training in here, Hayden frequently dined here during dinner as the food was simply energizing. When he acquired his food, he eyed his surroundings and saw… Daniel and the woman who took him here eating together!

Hayden had a peculiar expression as he saw Daniel talking happily as the woman ignored him, eating her soup. From what he remembered the other day, the woman was a Third Rank Special Agent, that meant that she was at least a Level 2 wielder and that her contributions were not small!

"May I sit here?" Walking cautiously to the table, Hayden asked the two if he can sit here. The woman simply glimpsed at him for a moment before similarly disregarding him while Daniel had an awkward face.

"Go ahead." Daniel invited Hayden to sit. "Ahh! Hayden, this is Scarlet, Scarlet Gintong-Langit, a friend of mine. Scarlet, this is Hayden, Hayden Emperador."

"h.e.l.lo," Hayden nodded towards Scarlet, who just made a sound of acknowledgement. She didn't even look at Hayden. 'What an ice queen!'

Hayden rolled his eyes as he started eating. While eating, Hayden was annoyed of Daniel's continuously flapping mouth. For the entirety of the meal, he didn't speak along with Scarlet.

It was no surprise that Scarlet would be this quiet, but it was a surprise for him that she would not leave due to Daniel's blabbering!

'If I was still my past self, I would've left already…' Hayden was speechless of his friend's constant talking. It wasn't as if he didn't need to breathe because he actually didn't need to! 'd.a.m.n, what kind of Daniel was I talking to these past few months?'

Remembering the time he spent with Daniel, they normally only exchanged a few words at a time; hence, seeing Daniel being this talkative truly stunned him. 'No, wait… There's something fishy here…'

Squinting his eyes, Hayden ate the last piece of his food. An idea of what was happening here popped up in his mind. 'He likes her… Definitely…. No man would be this talkative if they didn't like the one they were talking to…'

"I'll go ahead…" Hayden excused himself, being suffocated of the awkward atmosphere between the two. Observing Scarlet's expression, he was the one heartbroken for Daniel. "Rest in peace, my brother…"

Hayden knew of Scarlet's true power and that Daniel wouldn't be a match at all against her. With that, Hayden hit the gym. As a wielder, and with the effects brought by Devil's Persistence, his metabolism was incredibly fast and efficient, that's why he had no pretenses in exercising even though he ate just a few minutes ago.

Lifting weights, doing push-ups, running, Hayden did it all for a few hours. Soon, the clock hit 9:00 PM. Checking his phone, he contacted his mother to say that he was going to stay at the place of his student as his tutor asked him to do so.

Hayden long established his independency and was already an adult at 16, thus, his mother didn't reject it. Hayden notified his father afterwards.

With that, Hayden booked a room in Liwayway Hotel, took a shower, and checked his bank account. There were an added 200,000 credits for when he previously checked it. He was giddy on the thought of buying that s.p.a.ce Ring.

Viewing his supporters, it was at 6.8 million supporters, growing steadily by the minute. He couldn't help but feel grateful to Ares for featuring him on a livestream, granting him countless fans. Every minute, credits would seep inside his bank account.

"Seriously," Hayden exhaled heavily with a smile on his face. "I guess I really have to show up at Pro a.s.sembly this year, huh? Otherwise, they would think I ran with my tail between my legs."

For the past six months, Hayden was termed as unbeatable as Hayden carried in all of his games without losing at all. He would, time to time, show his states for proof that he hasn't played a single match that wasn't recorded, and that each and every game was absolutely fair. This led people to speculate that Hayden, or rather, his online ident.i.ty, Supremacy, was better than Ares. Fan wars started to blow up, arriving at a deadlock when Supremacy's fan argued that Hayden was simply too good, while Ares' fans retorted that Philippine players were weak, which was true.

'Well, I don't really care…' Hayden thought to himself. 'I started it simply as a means of business, and I achieved it, right? It's off the charts as well! I'm exceedingly lucky when it counts, huh?'

Having nostalgia to the times he was frowned upon by Lady Luck, he was put in a bitter mood. Closing his eyes, a few minutes later, Hayden drifted to sleep.

…..

Waking up at 2:00 AM, Hayden readied himself. Hitting the gym once more for an hour, taking a shower, eating, putting on his uniform, ensuring that two of his tranquilizer pistols were fully loaded up, with his stun gun and two karambit knives behind his waist. Loading up, Hayden put the six grenades on the optional grenade bag, and put some throwing knives in the leftover five spots.

As this was his first mission, and that they were not ordered to perform stealth kills, but subdue the perpetrator, Hayden and the two was needed to confront the wielder and not kill the 'innocent.'

This was the reason Hayden didn't bring his Sinukuan sniper rifle and only a single one of his Black Piercer and a few of his throwing knives.

At 3:30 AM, Hayden was fully readied. If people saw him, they would think that he came out of a fictional movie, a handsome, tall man, with a powerful presence and militaristic aura, a main character of a movie.

Confirming that everything was in place and that he didn't forget anything else, Hayden went downstairs to see Daniel. The last person they were waiting on was Engkanto, their supervisor. For their first mission, naturally, Engkanto would be there to a.s.sist.

Although the word 'a.s.sist' was used, in reality, supervisors was simply there to watch the performance of the Initiate instead of actually helping them. They moved only at crucial times when the Initiate encounters a situation that would bring greatly endanger their lives.

Waiting for five minutes, Engkanto arrived in a Puting Araw uniform with a yellow sun symbol that had eight rays, symbolizing that he was an Eighth Rank Special Agent and a member of the Walong Sinag ng Araw.

Asking if they were ready, the trio boarded a black SUV going to SUV. In the car, Engkanto briefed them once more, this time, he gave them the full details of the mission, how many men were inside, where the base of Bakunawa was, and a video of the recently awakened wielder fighting against police.

…..

Arriving on their destination, the backside of an abandoned building, the three alighted and went inside. "In the front side of this abandoned building is where the base of operations of the Bakunawa gang. Simple enough, right?"

"However, I have to make you watch the video once more," Engkanto said. "Maybe you'll be able to deduce something."

The two of them were given tablets and the video last night played. In the video, a flash was running around, killing police, while the police were trying to fire at the figure. Clearly, it was a human, yet, even Hayden was unable to deduce the human as it was in a video.

"Okay, what do you want to do? Head-on confrontation, or covert ops a.s.sa.s.sination?" Finishing the video, Engkanto asked the duo.

"Covert ops a.s.sa.s.sination (Head-on confrontation)" Hayden and Daniel answered at the same time. They turned to look at each other. Reaching a compromising agreement, Daniel was the one who spoke this time.

"He'll be in the background, supporting me and a.s.sa.s.sinating, while I go to confront people directly." Daniel said. Hayden didn't intervene in Daniel's speech, agreeing with Daniel. "I guess we'll be depending on senior to save our lives if the situation is dire."

"Of course, leave that to me," Engkanto was an amicable person. He knew that the two recognized that he was there solely for grading their performance and protection. At the end of the day, if they stayed inside the base cooped up for their entire lives, they wouldn't grow. "Go now, then!'

It was currently 5:10 AM, Hayden, holding a Black Piercer on his right hand and a karambit knife in his left, was behind Daniel. Hayden mistakenly thought they planned to draw out the leader by killing the forces first.

"First time killing, are you okay with that?" Hayden asked Daniel if he was okay with killing people. "Will you be really okay?"

Daniel paled when he heard this. He had a look of horror when Hayden asked him this question. "We're not going to kill people! We were ordered to subdue, not kill! Wait, you have killed people before?"

"Singular, person." Hayden affirmed. "Asw.a.n.g attacked me, it was self-defense. Law of the jungle, hunt, or be hunted. It was necessary."

"Oh…" Daniel was speechless of Hayden's reasoning because it was factual in the absolute sense. Even Daniel would be willing to kill if he was attacked by a serial killer and targeted his life. "Well, we were tasked to subdue, so do not kill people!"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Hayden shrugged it off. "I guess I'll use this…"

Hayden hesitantly put away his Black Piercer and karambit knife, taking out a tranquilizer gun on his right and a stun gun on his left.

Then, the two exited on the main entrance of the abandoned building and noticed two guards in front of an abandoned factory.

…..

1 Bakunawa – In Filipino folklore, Bakunawa was a dragon (the eastern serpent-like one) who attempts to eat the moon during lunar eclipses, and is said to be the causes of earthquakes, rains, and wind.