Ability Wielders - Chapter 139 Crimson Hitman

With his Danger Sense’s reliable power, Hayden can gauge whether he should pursue one matter or not. This set of eyes that were scrutinizing him from top to bottom were of no threat.

He could tell that he was being scrutinized from top to bottom as everywhere those eyes focused, Hayden’s skin would have this cold feeling. It was uncanny.

In the lobby of the hotel they stayed at, the feeling of being watched vanished into thin air. ‘Seems that they’re observing my movements. Is it the Overseers?’

Honestly, Hayden wouldn’t blame them if they placed heavy surveillance on him. This was regardless if this surveillance was for protection, or for keeping an eye on him. Why you ask?

Hayden’s Void Sealing was way too dangerous to be left in the hands of someone they met recently. In fact, if Hayden was in their position, and if a person, no matter how much loyalty they’ve showed in the past, unlocked an Innate Gift with the power to permanently incapacitate a wielder, he would unconditionally place a monitor on them one way or another.

For example, overseeing their actions personally. Even if it was Eun-ha, Sayuri, Daniel, or his parents. He would never, ever, let that person out of his sight. Needless to say, most of the time, he’d do it as discreet as possible.

Without further ado, Hayden went to his room in high spirits. He was excited of imagining what kind of evolution he will have.

Entering his room, Hayden saw Sayuri and Eun-ha snuggled up in bed with Dusk and Dawn, watching a variety show. They were wearing casual attire.

“Finally.” Sayuri’s face lit up when she saw Hayden. It was one of those little things that, when you notice, was heartwarming. “Come here, baby.”

Hayden stripped his board shorts and white shirt, putting on his own version of casual clothing: A black tank top and his boxer briefs. The two, used to Hayden’s clothes being this minimalistic, didn’t care all that much.

Hayden squeezed in between the two and wrapped his arms around them. He pecked the two on the forehead. “Tsk, the two of you are really cuddly.”

“You want us to stop?” Eun-ha looked at Hayden with a cute pout.

“Oh god, please don’t.” Hayden formed an expression of agony and groaned. “It’s too amazing with you two in my arms.”

“Heh, nice answer.” Sayuri raised her head a little and smooched Hayden’s neck.

For the remainder of the time, the three hung out and watched comedic movies or variety shows. It was a simple time that Hayden wished would last forever.

…..

Meanwhile, Philippines. A few hours ago. 7:00 PM. Tuesday. Puting Araw main headquarters in Makati. In one of the training areas. There was a woman who stood at 162 centimeters and was incredibly sexy.

She was in a taekwondo stance. In front of her is another woman who wore more or less the same outfit. The woman whispered, “Come.”

Courtney dashed in with amazing footwork. She twisted her body and did a back kick. The woman effortlessly eluded this. Swiftly, Courtney pulled back her foot, put it on the ground, pivoted, and threw a twist kick aimed at the temple of her opponent.

The sheer speed of Courtney during this short exchange was surprising for a newly awakened wielder, and for someone who trained for a measly two weeks.

“You’re good.” The woman fell to the ground, muddled. She shook her head. “You’ve worked hard for the past two weeks. Your taekwondo skills, in conjunction with your impressive Ability, will be devastating. You have great potential.”

“Thank you.” Courtney’s entire person has changed along with her mindset the past few weeks. She has teared down the posters of TITANIUM on her walls, changed her fashion, and started exercising. It has been great.

“Do you want to go to World Government Island?” The woman asked, putting her hand on Courtney’s shoulder. “You’re young, you should go. Your friends are there, right?”

“Friends?” Courtney blinked. She remembered Hayden and Daniel. “Oh yes, those two… I mean, we’re not exactly friends…”

“Courtney, you’re young.” The woman repeated. “Finding friends are the first thing that should be on your to-do list. You will regret it if you don’t.”

“…Fine.” Courtney really did want to get close with Hayden and Daniel. It was just that those two were way beyond her.

…..

Concurrent to that, at the Pangkat Anino headquarters. On the fourth floor. Annie’s room. The room was lightly decorated with a white wall design and a wooden floor. It was in a studio-type apartment set-up.

Annie was lying on the bed with a blanket covering her. She had her phone in her hand. On the phone highlights of Hayden’s games were playing.

“This guy…” Annie muttered. “Isn’t he way too above the level of a typical high school basketball player…”

Annie blankly affixed her gaze on the screen. “I wonder how high his strength is… He can probably beat me in a fight.”

Incomprehensibly, her heart throbbed loudly at the sight of the forceful dunk of Hayden. A knock from her door pulled her away from this state.

Annie removed the blanket draped on her and shouted, “It’s open.”

In came Caesar, wearing his usual butler suit. “We have a mission, Ms. Annie.”

“Stop calling me Ms. Annie now, jeez.” Annie stood up. Caesar was bothered that Annie was only wearing a yellow shirt with a cute bear face on the middle and a panty. There was nothing else.

“I���ll wait outside. Please dress up.” Caesar’s eyes narrowed into slits, not looking at Annie’s bottom part at all. “This mission concerns Kamay ng Lagim, Annie.”

“Okay, get out. I’m dressing up.” Annie’s eyes changed immediately at the mention of Kamay ng Lagim. “I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

Going into the lobby, Annie was wearing a yellow crop-top blouse, black leggings, and simple sneakers. Clasped in her hand was an intricately designed orange tiger mask with a white rhinoceros’ horn protruding on the middle of the forehead.

On one of the sofas, Caesar was sitting elegantly cross-legged. He changed out of his suit into jeans, brown leather jacket, and white shirt. He was sipping tea from a white teacup. By the side was a white mask with two black teardrops underneath the eyes.

Opposite from him was another man. A handsome youth that was wearing a small black vest on top of a red shirt and ’70s style jeans. His crimson-colored hair was styled in a mullet. He was twirling around a black helmet with a visor.

This was Crimson Hitman, a Level 2 wielder that was considered as one of the stronger ones. His Ability was, well, Crimson Hitman.

Crimson Hitman allowed him to summon up three types of guns: A snipe rifle, a shotgun, and a handheld minigun. All of the guns are crimson in color.

The bullets of these guns have the effect of explosion. The velocity of each bullet is much faster than regular bullets. He can only summon one at a time.

Its Level 2 Ability is that Crimson Hitman can now be used to summon a rocket launcher that can fire, well, a rocket. This rocket’s flames when blowing up are so intense that it can bulldoze an entire building with a single shot. The trajectory of the rocket can be manipulated by Crimson Hitman. The downside to this is that it can be fired only every five minutes.

This may not sound long, but in a battle between wielders, five minutes was lengthy. Especially between wielders that have high-ranking Abilities.

Annie, upon seeing Crimson Hitman, furrowed her brows, her steps slowing down. Reaching the place where the two was sitting, Annie questioned with malcontent, “What’s this person doing here?”

“He’s been tasked to cooperate with us in infiltrating one of the lairs of Kamay ng Lagim.” Caesar declared. “We three are to be made into a unit for the entirety of the mission.”

“Why?” Annie asked with transparent enmity. “Doesn’t anyone know that this guy is a spiteful person?”

“It’s not like I am fond of the idea as well.” Crimson Hitman rolled his eyes in annoyance. “However, since it is an order from The Boss, we have no choice but to accept it. He has shown us much hospitality, we have to repay it back by being obedient.”

“Ms. Annie, Sir Marco, we don’t have time on bickering.” Caesar could sense there was something else underlying between the two’s belligerent attitude towards each other. He ignored it. “We have to get moving.”

“Fine.” Annie agreed acrimoniously. “Let’s finish this as quickly as possible.”

“We finally see eye to eye on one matter.” Marco walked to the elevator lobby with hurried steps. “Let’s go.”

“This guy is seriously overbearing.” Annie’s face contorted in contempt, staring at the leaving back of Marco. “I hate his guts.”

“You know, sometimes hate is confu-” Caesar couldn’t finish his sentence.

“Stop your line of thought.” Annie asseverated. “If you’re pulling my leg, it is not funny no matter the angle.”

Caesar didn’t talk anymore. As a response, Annie snorted and stormed in Marco’s trail. Caesar silently shadowed Annie.

…..

The trio stopped in front of an abandoned factory complex.

“Why are we in front of an abandoned factory in Laguna?” Annie questioned. “And why are these even here?”

“It’s because they’ve been bought, duh.” Marco superciliously remarked. “It’s a front. These abandoned buildings are private property that cannot be touched by any government body. Not even the World Government can.”

Annie didn’t talk. She was not the kind of person that will ‘shame’ a person with what they know by commenting something like ‘sure, Mr. Smarty Pants.’

“That is correct.” Caesar backed Marco’s conclusion. “These are all registered to some tycoon named Andre Matthias. He is the most likely suspect as that Maestro of Death.”

“Maestro of Death, huh?” Annie shivered at the mention of the name.

“Anyhow, let’s wear the issued white masks now. We can’t let them know that we’re from Pangkat Anino.” Caesar ordered. The two shed their masks, stored them away in their respective Space Rings, and put on a plain white mask, the symbol of Puting Araw’s Ghost Unit division.

This was an infiltration mission that was dedicated to fan the fires of the war between Puting Araw and Kamay ng Lagim. Why was this, you ask?

It’s because Pangkat Anino was going to intrude on this war. Kamay ng Lagim was a common enemy for Puting Araw and Pangkat Anino. Ultimately, although Puting Araw’s methods were vastly different than Pangkat Anino’s, both of their goals were for wielders to have a freedom to live a normal life and overall peace.

“I’m going to infiltrate.” Caesar stated. He took out a chip from his Space Ring and passed it to Marco. “For the two of you, Marco, hack the security. Annie, please protect Marco’s back as he does that.”

“On it.” Marco didn’t complain much. Annie didn’t utter a single word either.

Caesar started to disappear. Eventually, he was invisible to the naked eye and to the extrasensory essence energy sensing of Level 3 wielders.

A few minutes passed. Marco was busy typing on a floating holographic computer. On the side, Annie was getting bored being a bodyguard for Marco. “Are you done with the hacking?”

“Almost there…” Marco muttered. He was in a state of full concentration. “Give me a few minutes.”

Annie groaned in boredom. She twisted the Whisperer wrapped around her left index finger and telepathically sent a message to Caesar. ‘Hey, how is the situation inside there?’

‘I’m returning there.’ Caesar relayed. ‘Once Marco is done with the hacking, you two will come in guns blazing. You two will be the vanguard, and I will protect your rear.’

‘Got it.’ Annie stretched her body to ready herself for the upcoming battle. ‘Return as fast as possible. Marco says he’ll be done any minute.’

Caesar didn’t respond to that. A few minutes passed. Annie, in her boredom, was shadowboxing. Caesar arrived in the midst of this.

A few seconds after Caesar’s arrival, Marco quietly announced, “I’m done. I’ve bypassed their security and turned it off. I’ve planted a mine that will detonate the security system’s mainframe once they regain access, buying us more time. That will be our cue on leaving.”

“Nicely done.” Caesar nodded in approval. “Proceed with the plan.”

“You don’t have to tell me.” Caesar’s eyes changed into that of cruel bloodthirst. A red minigun materialized in his hands. “I’m ready.”

Synchronously, Annie activated her Celestial Tigris-Rhinoceros. Her size nearly doubled. She charged to the gate and rammed into it, obliterating it.

Alarm sounds rang all around. Their main mission here was to ostracize the Kamay ng Lagim by sowing as much destruction as they can to this factory. The total annihilation of it was a secondary and optional goal.

There were no alarm sounds that blared at their entrance. Annie started to walk to the entrance. The impatient Marco cursed under his breath, “Tsk, this is taking too long.”

Marco unsummoned his minigun. A rocket launcher replaced it. “Caesar, where’s the building?”

“You’re going to blow it to bits and pieces?” Caesar wondered how speedier Marco’s method would be. He pointed to a particular direction, to a huge abandoned factory.

Aiming at the building, Marco fired a high-speed missile into it. The rocket would have landed on its target if not for a woman appearing in their sights and getting in its way. Marco, left with no time to react, wasn’t able to steer the projectile away.

Accordingly, the woman was engulfed in an intense explosion that was enough to decimate a modern tank.

The duo went agape when a woman’s voice rang out from within the conflagration. “Tsk, what a bother. He said that there’ll be an intruder. And there you are.”

A woman walked out of the flames. At first, from the light of the fire, her face cannot be made out by Annie and Marco. As the fire dwindled and slowly settled, the two was able to see the woman.

She had an amazing figure. She didn’t wear any type of clothing on her person. What’s amazing is that her skin was entirely silver, her irises were silver as well, while her long flowing hair was white.

“Two Level 2s? Can’t believe Puting Araw will send such weaklings.” The woman sighed in disappointment. “Well, I guess I can feed you to Smiley, huh?”

“Smiley?” Annie and Marco had this foreboding feeling of danger. Caesar, on the side, invisible, narrowed his eyes.

He warned the two. ‘Stay on your toes. Be vigilant.’

The two naturally knew this. But Caesar’s alert increased their wariness. The ground suddenly opened up. The trio were shocked of what jumped out.

It was a black dog. A gigantic black dog the size of a truck. Its eyes were red in color. Its milky white teeth were revealed by its growling. Its razor sharp claws were terrifying to even look at.

To worsen the situation, the dog howled, putting Annie, Marco, and Caesar in a dizzy spell. Caesar wasn’t that much affected as the dog was merely a Level 2 cognizant. But Annie and Marco wasn’t so lucky. They were disoriented.

“Meet Smiley.” The woman sadistically smiled at Annie and Marco. “He’ll be the one to eat the two of you.”

‘Run!’ Caesar transmitted to the two. The two didn’t respond. Not like they can as their heads were spinning. All they can do was stay on their feet. ‘Fuck.’

Caesar, not anticipating this situation, ran at the cognizant at great speed. His Ability, Invisible Hunter, was the exact same one with Aswang. Although relatively common in the wielder world, it was a useful combat-oriented Ability that focused on prowling attacks with its sharp claws.

Its Level 1 Ability granted its user invisibility, claws, and incredible arm strength. Its Level 2 power was better, conferring its wielder to become inodorous and inaudible in movement. Their claws are also sharpened.

Its Level 3 power was nothing short of harrowing. With the usage of their purified essence energy, they can become invisible in most, if not all, wielders’ essence energy sensing. Moreover, they have one more power: Clone illusion.

Clone illusion, as its name suggests, is the power to create a phantom image of one’s self and control it. It was a power that can purely be used to create distractions. What’s phenomenal with this power was that it creates an exact replica of the user, including their ‘souls’ and physical state at the time.

Alike Spectral Fantasy, the clones are tangible, albeit cannot attack. Additionally, once it takes enough damage, it would pop, literally, like a balloon.

As such, Caesar charged at Smiley without fear. He activated the cloning illusion and sent it in front of the canine. Smiley’s focus was diverted to the clone.

“Oho, you have a Level 3 wielder with you?” The woman looked at the clone with skepticism. She had an inkling that there was something amiss of Caesar. “That’s a clone, isn’t it? Mhm…”

Caesar ignored the woman’s suspicion, following Smiley, who was switched tagets and was running around in circles, chasing Caesar’s clone. It seems that Smiley was too bloodthirsty to think about its situation. Or perhaps its intelligence was below that of your average cognizant.

Therefore, it was no sweat for Caesar to slash at Smiley’s torso. Smiley yelped in pain as it hastily surveyed its surroundings in an attempt to find the perpetrator.

Timely, Annie and Marco was removed from their dazed state. They shook their heads to shake off the remnant of the howls’ effects.

Smiley, not seeing its perpetrator, wanted to howl again. Caesar didn’t let it do that by kicking it below the snout.

“There you are.” Caesar’s small window of visibility during his attack didn’t escape the observant eyes of the woman. Her figure flashed as she kicked at where Caesar was. Caesar was pulled away from his invisibility as he flew backwards. “Heh, an Invisible Hunter, huh? A Level 3 as well. What a rare find.”

Recovering, Caesar didn’t go invisible. The best case scenario here would be for him to fight this woman, and for Annie and Marco to face the injured Smiley.

As such, he momentarily went invisible and split himself into two. The woman was impressed of his usage of the Ability. “No Invisible Hunter wielder has ever thought to use that in this manner. How exciting.”

“Chase me if you can.” The two Caesars sneered at the woman before retreating from the scene in the same direction. The woman, provoked, chased after him. Caesar imparted a message to Annie and Marco on the fly. ‘I’ve taken away the woman. You two, at least hold the cognizant off till I finish with her.’

Annie and Marco, faced with the horrific Smiley snarling at them, quaked. They were plunged in a conundrum.