Ability Wielders - Chapter 157 Baroloix

A minute passed and Yora’s head has regenerated. It was a funny sight for Hayden to be honest, as if Yora’s body just glitched back to existence from a save.

When Yora was resurrected by the Qewtyour, she stood up groggily and looked at Hayden with hate and, simultaneously, admiration. She then harrumphed at Hayden and hopped off the stage to her pillar. Somebody delivered a new Qewtyour to her.

‘What a diva.’ Hayden thought without any change in his expression. ‘That Darakth is more useful than her. Still, my group is indeed missing a mind controller and a ranged attacker.’

What Hayden referred to as his group as Daniel, Christopher, Harper, Scarlet, Zeke, Sophia, and Courtney. In a battle formation, Hayden would most definitely be effective being the main vanguard.

Daniel is at the middle, able to assist, attack, and defend people with his extreme versatility. Christopher will act as one of the vanguards, too, though he can provide support for the backline as well. Harper would be an assassin, a short-ranged burst damage dealer that will pounce on somebody if she gets the chance. Zeke and Sophia would be out of the formation, providing assistance from a safe distance. Courtney was pretty versatile as well, but her importance is that she can create an escape route for the group. If she ever evolves to be a Level 2 that is.

‘Those three should be evolving to a Level 3 wielder pretty soon.’ Hayden thought, not paying any attention to the people around him. ‘I wonder what that Blade Terpsichore, Peerless Mind, and Maiden of Tranquility will bring those three… Oh yeah, that reminds me, it’s probably a good idea to hide my status as a Level 3 wielder for the meantime.’

If Hayden reveals his status as a Level 3 wielder to anybody, other than Eun-ha and Sayuri, it would give rise to a lot of question marks. First, Hayden only evolved to a Level 2 wielder a month ago. This was no big secret. If so, how did Hayden evolve to a Level 3 in a month? One must know that it normally takes a year or two for a Level 2 wielder to evolve to a Level 3 in the outside world.

If Hayden evolved in such a short span of time, there must be somebody who helped him. Who is his helper? Who was the one backing him? Hayden got a headache from simply thinking of this incessant questioning.

Nine minutes passed without anybody challenging Hayden. Hayden was irked as to how weak-willed these so-called new generation protectors of the Source Heart were. If one wanted to be strong, they should gather experience as much as they could.

Hayden was a gold mine of experience. Not only has he trained in 10 different martial arts and developed his very own fighting style that incorporates the concepts and techniques of nine of the martial arts he has trained in, his Supreme King was a mighty weapon that attacks your will. You won’t die anyway, so why not temper your will and combat prowess at the same time by charging in at Hayden?

What truly peeved Hayden was that, whenever he would scan somebody with his eyes, they would avoid his gaze. Yet, whenever Hayden caught a glimpse of somebody’s eyes, there was fear there. Hayden recognized it as the fear of death.

It would have been fine if stopped there. Everybody, with a few exceptions like him, was afraid of death. It was natural that Forish are similarly afraid of death. Specifically, these new generation Forish that was bred in a time of peace.

But no, these Level 3 wielders were fucking looking at him as if he was a slave. It was condescendence! They all had the guts to view him with condescendence, yet, froze when they are stared at by ‘death’?

Alike Hayden, many of the Toritius heads and Starakt himself was in disbelief of how fearful the younger generation were. They wondered if they slacked off on training the resolutions of these people.

‘No, that’s not it.’ Starakt sat in the tower at the southern side. He was sitting in a round table alongside the Rixeus, five males and seven females. ‘Hayden’s Supreme King… Is growing. It’s developing into something more than a Supreme King… What kind of monster did Gaia release into the world…? Still… They’re… Cowardly… Young people should challenge the odds as much as they can…’

30 seconds passed. As anticipated, nobody challenged Hayden at all. It was not out of fear. It was that everybody knew that they can never beat that freak. Abruptly…

“Seriously? This is the younger generation of the strongest force on Earth?” Hayden shouted in his demonic voice as he stood up. Fury was brimming in his eyes, his Supreme King wafting out to engulf the totality of the Requasi. “Weak-willed people who doesn’t want to fight if there’s no hope of winning? What if, in 30 years, the invaders invade Foriast? Need I remind you that those invaders are all powerful and trained soldiers? Not to mention, outworlders that may possibly be cognizants? Will you cower in the face of death? If you don’t have the resolve to temper yourself in the face of ‘death’ without actual death, if you haven’t embraced death, then why the hell are you looking at me with those eyes?”

Hayden pointed to the 22 Level 3 wielders surrounding him. “Those arrogant and spiteful eyes that view me as an inferior being since I’m from the outside world. You don’t have any idea what it is to be in a true life-and-death situation, do you? You all haven’t bloodied your own two hands in a bid to protect your own life. And all those people out there. Yes, the upper echelon of Foriast. The ever-so-powerful Toritius! You are supposed to be leaders! Leaders of the last line of defense of Earth! You are all responsible for training these wusses to sacrifice their lives for the Source Heart! That’s what you Forish are! Yet, you haven’t taught them the skill to assume the worst! Many of you have experienced thirteen large-scale wars under the leadership of the present Yorixia! You all know how it feels to be in a war! You’re Forish, but we are still human. You feel. You have emotions. You all know how painful it is to lose family. Watching your own flesh and blood drop dead like flies being killed in the battlefield. To lose a loved one. Yet you don’t harden your younger generation to withstand the kind of mental torture in participating in a war? When the largest war in the history of Earth may be nigh? These are the best results of your training? You are all disappointing. Fucking pathetic. Such potential wasted in the hands of cowards.”

Hayden’s anger was at its peak. One might say that this was hypocritical of Hayden since he himself has given up in the face of a Level 4 wielder. That was different. Black Devil was a Level 4 wielder. A Level 4 wielder, no matter how much his Level 2 wielder self retaliated, Hayden will be killed off with a single slap. It was actually a miracle that Hayden was saved from the hands of Black Devil.

The Level 3 wielders who didn’t want to die or at least endeavor to defeat Hayden became irascible when Hayden called them out for their attitude. They all wanted to show that they weren’t that cowardly when the mental announcement of Hayden’s win echoed in their minds.

Every Toritius family head and elders were stunned by Hayden’s words. Some of them have experienced war. A gory war between wielders. This was especially for Starakt, who has led Foriast to victory in thirteen great wars and participated in it himself, losing his significant other in the process. Therefore, they all knew what Hayden was talking about. They knew what it meant to devote themselves, their lives, and everything else, for the protection of the Source Heart.

They hated to admit that Hayden was right. Starakt was surprised by this. During Starakt’s youth, their lives were filled with countless battles. Now, as times changed, and there was a time of peace even in Foriast. Starakt had to admit that he, too, has lately been becoming negligent, focusing more on ‘going with the times’ than enforcing training. He has become soft.

Hayden exited the arena under the watchful gazes of the Forish. Returning to the locker room and reacquiring his possessions, he returned to his seat at the stands. He watched the remainder of the Quasilix, looking forward to the match of Gired Derinth. Likoria whispered to him, “That speech… You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?”

Hayden disregarded Likoria. All he was here for was to test his newfound Level 3 Abilities. The Level 3 wielders here were too weak. Hayden was at that spot where he far exceeds the power level of a regular Level 3 wielder, yet will not be able to beat a singular considered-weak Level 4 wielder. It was the same situation when he fought Christopher.

“You… How strong exactly are you?” Darakth questioned at the side. “And that speech… It was moving.”

Hayden remained in his own mind, turning a blind eye to the two. He was cooking up on how to improve himself. He had one idea. ‘Build a practice room underneath my house and practice with Eun-ha and Sayuri. That may work.’

When Hayden was taken out of the equation, the fighting between the Level 3 wielders became fiercer. Particularly, the fights between those of the lower people and the bout of Yaliko and Quaris. Eventually, Yora took second place, while Quaris took third.

However, due to the earlier commotion caused by Hayden, nobody cheered for the battles. Most of the older generation couldn’t shake Hayden’s words off their mind while those from the younger generations felt they were lacking.

In due course, the Level 4 wielders’ finals started. Gired volunteered to go first. When Gired stepped onto the stage, something astonishing occurred. It was that Hayden couldn’t see anybody’s movements. The Level 4 wielders actually fought at a much higher pace than they did in the preliminary round.

‘I don’t want to risk it.’ Hayden sorely desired to activate his Divine Perception. He resisted it. ‘Sometimes I hate my paranoia.’

Unable to observe the matches, Hayden redirected his attention to Darakth. “So, Ro-Darakth. Care to join Likoria in an early Tiroga?”

“What did you say?” Darakth exclaimed. “I… I can’t, the Yorixia wouldn’t let me.”

“But if he did, will you join Likoria?” Hayden asked persistently.

“Why are you doing this?” Darakth was confused of Hayden’s attitude. Earlier, he ignored him. Now, he was trying to recruit him.

“You have potential, Ro-Darakth.” Hayden said insouciantly. “Your Ability is powerful. All you need is an ego boost and training. Actual training. Not the training here in Foriast.”

“What do you define as training exactly?” Likoria casually voiced herself. “I mean, you do know that we train day in and day night the second we awaken, seldom getting rest, right?”

“What use is that training if you don’t get out and experience true combat?” Hayden whipped out his phone to text Eun-ha and Sayuri. It was already 12:00 AM, and his flight was early. “The true teacher of fighting are enemies that are seriously attempting to kill you. Without facing at least one of those, you can’t strengthen your resolve. Can the two of you assure that you would not get cold feet in the face of a Level 4 wielder?”

The two didn’t answer, dispirited that Hayden’s rhetorical question was spot-on. A Level 4 wielder was a powerful existence. Can you blame them? Sure, there may be a few special cases. Regardless, no mere Level 3 wielder can escape a Level 4 wielder’s grasp, much less kill one. Thus, it was a given that they’ll get cold feet.

“I… I guess I will do it if, somehow, the Yorixia agrees.” Darakth stammered, confounded by Hayden’s actions.

Hayden knew what to do with his request. When the Level 4 finals finished, the winners of the Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 Quasilix was announced mentally.

The nine people all went down. Irrespective of their status as winners, only a few people seemed all right standing with Hayden. Hayden was the sole person that had his head held high, his aloof expression was domineering.

The nine people stood in circles arranged in a circle. The moment Hayden stood in the assigned circle, there was a golden halo that rose on the outlines of the circle. On the circle that Yora was standing on, a silver outline rose, while Quaris’ was copper. This was analogous with the Level 2 and Level 4 winners. In the middle of the encirclement of the nine wielders, Starakt appeared.

“Hello, winners.” Starakt greeted in Roshist. “Let me first congratulate all of you for going this far. You are the crème de la crème of our Foriast, except for Hayden of course, who’s an ally.”

Everybody tensed up when Hayden’s name was mentioned. The Level 4 wielders weren’t an exclusion to this. Hayden was… A bit threatening.

Starakt asked the winner of the Level 2 wielders what she desires as her reward. Her answer was absurd. “I want to undergo Tiroga with a guardian in case that I am attacked and with the permission to control my Abilities.”

Hayden nearly choked. This woman was audacious and overbearing. She was the one who wanted to experience the outside world, yet she requests a guardian? What the fuck?

“Granted.” Starakt nodded, not batting an eyelid. “How about you, Gired? Any requests?”

“I simply want to get my privilege points to increase my standing.” Gired answered. Hayden has heard that Gired has won five of this Quasilix by now, hence the nonchalance.

“Understandable.” Starakt chuckled. He turned to Hayden. “How about you, little friend? What is your request?”

“First, I want Le-Gafar, Te-Ysa, and Le-Jin, to be rewarded my points in addition to some more. I don’t have any use to this points after all.” Hayden’s request utterly shocked the people. “Second, I seek permission in place of Ro-Darakth for an early Tiroga and join me for his training. Also, grant him access to the Xirixian vault.”

“I-is that all?” Starakt asked with his left eyebrow raised. “That’s all of your requests?”

“Yes.” Hayden nodded without much thought. “Now, can I go back to the Xirixian vault? My flight is kind of early. I have a life in the outside world, you know?”

Hayden’s exasperation caused the Forish to be repulsed by Hayden. Hayden didn’t care at all. The feeling was mutual.

With this, the Quasilix was concluded at 1:00 in the morning. The first and second placers of the Quasilix, minus Gired, and together with Darakth, all went to the Xirixian vault.

In the Tizik’s floor elevator, Darakth stuck close to Hayden, who was texting with Eun-ha and Sayuri. Darakth spoke to Hayden. “Why? Why are you helping me?”

“I’m helping myself.” Hayden reasoned, typing on his phone with both of his thumbs. “I need a strong backline or a true elemental specialist. Likoria will be another vanguard. All I want right now is a backline. With your attitude, you probably would have trained your whole life in long-ranged attacks. Your Ability is suitable for it as well. You will be an invincible backline that can become a vanguard if needed.”

“Uh….” Darakth couldn’t respond to Hayden’s words. In reality, all Darakth could hear was ‘blah blah blah.’ Hayden’s words were somehow too complicated for him. “Okay, I guess?”

“Terrific.” The way Hayden said that wasn’t enthusiastic at all. Suddenly, Hayden smiled. Sweetly. It was a sight that Darakth was surprised of.

“Can’t believe you can smile.” Darakth shook his head. “Underneath that hard shell of yours, you are human, aren’t you?”

“I’d be offended if I hadn’t fathomed that you don’t know how to deal with people at all.” Hayden looked at Darakth in the eyes and shook his head. “Learn to read social cues. I’ve been warding you off with my body language all night, you know?”

“Y-you were?” Darakth was embarrassed. “I… I’m pretty dense when it comes to social interactions…”

“No shit.” Hayden rolled his eyes.

“Hey, not like you’re any better.” Darakth rolled his eyes.

“I can read the social cues, and body language with ease.” Hayden declared, a sweet smile that can melt anybody attracted to men was plastered to his face. “I’m purely choosing to not follow it as I don’t care if you’re offended by my words or not.”

Darakth was understanding Hayden’s personality more and more. He grasped that Hayden was the type of person to speak his mind. Nonetheless, Hayden didn’t articulate his thoughts carelessly, it is well thought-out and in such a manner that seems to be the most efficient of conveying his full message.

“Oh yes, training you to be thick-skinned isn’t necessary.” Hayden put away his phone, aware that they’ve reached the Xirixian vault. “You’re already thick-skinned.”

Hayden leisurely walked with the group. He has long deduced what kind of Xirxian he would want to form a contract with this time. He has to possess a hidden weapon that can dish out quick and discreet strikes. Alike his Voidstone dagger.

‘Like that old-school Assassin’s Creed games… The hidden blade.’ Hayden was a sucker for that innovative piece of technology. ‘It may be a pipe dream, but possessing one will be awesome. Even if it’s a decoration.’

He then dropped his obsession on in-game objects and brought up the memory of his first time in the Xirixian vault. He remembered one that caught his eye for its uniqueness among the Xirixian. It was a pair of dark blue, nearing black, plain-looking skin-tight leather gloves that will cover up to 70% of Hayden’s forearm.

The moment Hayden entered the vault, Hayden sprinted to the blue leather gloves he was interested in. Standing in front of it, a handsome white-skinned man of Asian descent, most likely Japanese, with long blue hair tied in a ponytail and donning a gray kimono and hakama underneath a dark blue haori materialized.

“You were the man that was here a few days ago.” The man casually spoke to Hayden. The man scrutinized Hayden emotionlessly. “You’ve grown more powerful from the last time you were here. Level 3, huh?”

“You do know that that particular Xirxian right there is an Ashikza. One of the most powerful ones. The third mightiest Ashikza.” Starakt’s voice sounded adjacent to Hayden. “Hello Baroloix (Ba-ro-loy). Long time no see.”

“Starakt. You’ve aged.” Baroloix gave a nod to acknowledge Starakt. “It is unfortunate. What happened to your father.”

“I knew it!” Hayden interrupted, the nerd in him coming out. “You are that Xirxian that Starakt’s father used to assassinate the leader of the Cartials (Car-ti-yals) back in 384 BC. I trusted my instincts and it led me right to a stealthy Xirxian.”

“You want me to form a contract with you?” Baroloix’s laidback countenance shifted to a pensive expression. He whispered to himself, “On one hand, he has formed a contract with three other Xirixian. On the other, he has a ridiculously colossal potential, treats Xirixian pretty well, and is a dual wielder.”

A minute passed, Baroloix thinking long and hard. During that minute, Hayden has learned that Baroloix has been masterless since Starakt’s father’s death. That means that Baroloix has been dormant for approximately 1800 years.

“Okay.” Baroloix’s response befuddled Starakt. “My powers are…”

Meanwhile, when Hayden heard Baroloix’s powers, he was utterly devastated…