Ability Wielders - Chapter 160 Back To Philippines

Getting off the plane and into the terminal… Hayden was met with countless Filipino fans shouting his name and congratulating him. Hayden of course politely bowed and waved at the fans. There were robotic sentinels fending off the wave of fans that were holding up signs of him.

That’s when an incident occurred. A dog of the Pomeranian breed, which was carried by one of the fans, got loose and ran at Hayden. It miraculously avoided being stepped over by the fans and got to the space where Hayden and everybody else was walking.

The owner panicked. Not only was her dog going to bother Hayden, the robotic sentinels will definitely recognize the Pomeranian as a threat and attack it. Nonetheless, worst case scenario here would be the robotic sentinels shooting the Pomeranian with a nonlethal tranquilizer dart.

Hayden noticed the Pomeranian sprinting at him and the robotic sentinel taking aim. Hayden lugged his baggage and ran to the Pomeranian, holding out his hand and shouting, “Stop, stop. Don’t shoot. Cease targeting system.”

As Hayden was registered to be the one being protected, Hayden was given partial rights to command the robotic sentinels to not attack somebody. The code was ‘cease targeting system.’

The robotic sentinel stood down. Hayden sighed and stared at the Pomeranian below him, who was now sitting. Hayden smiled and crouched, petting the Pomeranian. “So cute. Are you okay, little guy? Or maybe gal?”

It was only then that Hayden discovered his Danger Sense warning him of the Pomeranian. There was no malicious intent, but the dog was dangerous. By his estimate, this was the feeling of a Level 4 wielder, which will make the Pomeranian a Level 3 cognizant. Hayden disregarded this as there was no malicious intent anyway.

Hayden picked the Pomeranian up. It licked his face while wagging its tail. When it finished licking Hayden’s face thrice, the Pomeranian barked at Hayden cutely. It then went back to licking him.

Unknowingly to Hayden, this whole scene, from top to the present, was recorded by many people. They didn’t stop recording when the owner of the Pomeranian ran over in panic to the front of the crowd.

The owner was a beautiful woman at age 19, 20 years old. She was the epitome of Filipina beauty, with a flawless tanned skin tone, and perfect eyes. Her lips were seamless, her nose small and round. Her black hair has a tint of brownness in it. She was even better looking than Ayesha.

Hayden walked over to the owner. “Is this your dog?”

He sneakily eyed her, his Danger Sense ringing, albeit lesser than the dog. The woman was an absolute nonthreat.

The woman nodded. Hayden grinned at the dog and asked, “What’s… Her name?”

“O-Olive.” The woman stammered.

Olive barked and looked at Hayden innocently and adorably. Hayden chuckled and handed Olive to her owner and patted her. “Bye.”

He didn’t care for the woman nor the dog as they didn’t have the intent to hurt him in the slightest. Thus, he waved goodbye to the owner-dog pair and carried his luggage to the taxi stand. Hayden sat in the front with Daniel in the back and greeted the middle-aged cab driver.

“Oh, you two are the guys who won the Annual Youth Pride!” The cab driver immediately recognized the two. “You two are getting popular. My daughter’s a big fan. Congratulations and thank you for bringing honor to our country.”

“You flatter us.” Hayden respectfully replied. “It is our honor to play for the country.”

“What a humble young man.” The cab driver put the wheel on semi-automatic AI, which was a mode of a car where the driving is automatic but you can still override the driving AI when there is an unrecognized accident on the road. This feature was only used by cabs as most driving AI are that secure nowadays, especially Hayden’s high-end cars. “Can I have the autograph of you two?”

The cab driver gave Hayden pen and paper. Hayden signed it and passed it to Daniel. The cab driver spoke. “So, young man, do you have a girlfriend?”

“I do not have a girlfriend.” Hayden shook his head, lying naturally. “I want to focus on my studies first and do everything I can whilst I’m young.”

“That is for the best, isn’t it?” The driver laughed. “Will you go to college?”

“I plan on doing so.” Hayden nodded. The rest of the ride was Hayden and the cab driver chatting. Hayden was used to chatting with cab drivers so he entertained him. At the end of the ride, Hayden paid the driver and put in a 500-credit tip, which was hesitatingly accepted by the driver due to the tip being too large.

After removing Dusk and Dawn from the crate, Hayden wondered on what he was going to do. It was Saturday and all that came to Hayden’s mind was practicing. What was he going to practice you ask? Steel Storm.

He wouldn’t be able to sleep until tomorrow anyways. And he needed only four hours of sleep every 44 hours of waking time. And that wasn’t the limit of his wielder body, allowing him to function normally for as long as 96 hours, which was the equivalent of a 24-hour shift for Hayden. He also had that water from the River of Life, allowing him to forego sleep altogether.

Hayden sat in front of his computer after feeding Dusk, Dawn, and Shadow. Hayden felt that Dusk and Dawn were becoming too complacent in their lives, so he planned on training the two to fight. Hayden was sure that fighting was ingrained into their bones, being technically wild animals as a cognizant and all. Irrespectively, he couldn’t let the two go without combat or else they might die out there. These two cute organisms might die under his care. Hayden can’t stand the thought at all.

Switching on his computer, Hayden was going to launch Steel Storm when a notification popped up. It was an e-mail from his school principal. It was an e-mail to inform him that he will have an interview with the principal for skipping grades and graduating this year.

‘Huh, this is possible?’ Hayden was confused. In the history of Scholar Academies, an elite public school that was advanced by grades in terms of lessons in comparison to other high schools, there was no one who has the capability to skip grades.

As aforementioned, the Scholar Academies of the Philippines were way ahead in terms of lessons. What was taught in the ninth grade in Scholar Academies were the lessons taught in the twelfth grade in regular high schools. Meanwhile, the lessons in the tenth grade and above in Scholar Academies is already collegiate level. It is not strange at all that students wouldn’t be able to skip grades.

However, attached to the letter is Hayden’s tests, which was apparently different from the rest. They were all collegiate level and that Hayden aced every single test. ‘I was too preoccupied answering them to notice that they were different from others’ test.’

Hayden scratched his head. This was something that he has never expected to happen at all. Reining in his surprise, Hayden felt jovial for this. He cackled. “It seems that I’ll be able to execute my plan much earlier than calculated!”

Shadow, Dusk, and Dawn, who were eating peacefully, was disturbed. The trio looked at Hayden with bafflement. They all had one thought. “Is Hayden going crazy?”

The trio went back to eating as they accepted that Hayden was always going to be the eccentric person that he was. They were well taken care of anyways. Besides, Hayden wasn’t a bad person.

When Hayden was done reading the e-mail, he practiced Steel Storm as he has planned. He trained in practice mode by measuring different speeds of mouse movement and doing all these stopping at just the right moment to kill a player with a 360-no-scope.

It was basically extrapolation of his basketball training and War of Honor skillshot prediction training. It had extra steps since there were hidden physics to the game like bullet fall-off and wind resistance. He also has to take into account player movement, which will be tempered later on in the real battlefield.

With his new and improved Divine Perception, Hayden has completed his training within four hours and has won six games back-to-back using his Divine Perception. In those six games, Hayden has more or less mastered dodging bullets and predicting player movement.

When that concluded, Hayden desired to practice his combat prowess but was unable to do so. He lived in the city. There was no place he can go to without causing a disturbance. That was the reason Hayden opted to add in a training room in the architecture of his new 4,800 square-meter mansion in a 6,000 square-meter lot.

“A mansion, huh?” Hayden sat back on his chair. “Seven months ago, I was dirt poor… Damn, Divine Perception really helped a lot.”

Hayden thought back to all the times that Divine Perception aided him. In fact, he wouldn’t be alive today if he didn’t possess Divine Perception to digest all the information he gathered. It can be said that Divine Perception is his most powerful Ability.

“Yet everybody underestimates the power of the mind.” Hayden muttered. “Well, that might be rich coming from me. Since I do have Indestructible Devil, yet… Many things can be done with the power of calculation and memory.”

Still, Hayden couldn’t blame everyone as, with these powers, the world will return to primitive times, where the law of the jungle prevails. It was combat strength that was absolute. If Hayden, at Level 3, had enough power to dominate the world if he was the sole wielder in it, then a Level 6 wielder who has an identical Ability as him can definitely destroy the world.

“Well, since I really don’t have anything to do…” Hayden pulled up the Language Archives and checked up on the remaining Asian languages he hasn’t committed to memory. “Let’s learn these, shall we?”

…

Concurrently… Puting Araw main headquarter branch. Anthony’s penthouse. The members of the Walong Sinag ng Araw and the five remaining branch directors gathered akin to the Annual Gathering.

“Has everybody made their preparations?” Rose was standing in the middle this time instead of Anthony. “Are the preparations to invade the Dark Haven Guild branches finished?”

“I have arranged a small group of three.” Jasmine (Banal na Tagalikha – Heavenly Creator) was the first to speak up. “They consist of a Level 3, a Level 2, and a Level 1.”

The three other Walong Sinag ng Araw members, except Bryant (Engkanto), that remained to have their defended bases all voiced the same answer.

“How about you, Bryant?” Rose turned to Bryant. “Have you gathered your team? Or are you waiting for those two’s return?”

“Yes, that’s correct. I will send them.” Bryant nodded. “Alongside Jenny and Vera. Those four will be an unstoppable force if they work together.”

“That is true.” Rose bobbed her head. “Still, we have to check if they have sufficient combat prowess. We will see this in the Wielder Standoffs.”

“Do you think Hayden will participate in this?” Jasmine, who has personally interacted with Hayden, queried. “It may be mandatory, but that kid is… Well, how do I describe him as shortly as possible… He’s a nonconformist, pragmatist, and a far-sighted person. He is fully capable of training himself with that ridiculous Divine Perception of his. He has turned my invitation down once already without thinking about it, even with my enticement of Essence Technology. This signifies that he has better things to do than tinkering with Essence Technology. Many Level 2 wielders may view being taken under our tutelage a privilege, but Hayden would never do so. He is a rebel that doesn’t respect the higher-ups. So… I propose a bait to lure him in.”

Jasmine pulled out an intricate high-tech orb the size of a ping-pong ball. “I have no doubt that Hayden or Daniel would win with Hayden’s astronomical physique and Daniel’s godly Ability. So let’s offer the knowledge of Essence Technology without any strings attached.”

“You’re just finding an excuse to teach Hayden your Essence Technology and rope him into your branch!” Anthony stood up in anger and pointed his finger at Jasmine. “I object this proposal.”

“I support this proposal.” Bryant verbalized his concurrence. “Hayden is a unique existence that may possess the strongest mentality out of all the Level 2 wielders we’ve ever groomed. His personality may be off-putting, but his potential is certainly high. Anyways, what if Hayden is pulled to the side of Jasmine? Hayden is a technological nut who has spent millions to buy pieces of Essence Technology. Plus, Jasmine has informed us of Hayden coming up with a solution for the Beam Rifles within a second of seeing the blueprint. His genius is unfathomable.”

Anthony couldn’t help acquiescing to the words of Bryant. Anthony has this information on-hand as well. Beam Rifles’ manufacturing have been started thanks to Hayden’s design flaw fix. Not only did the steampunk-esque smoke that it emitted flashy as hell, it was practical for dispersing heat.

“Fine.” Anthony reluctantly sat back down. “I must remind you all that this is a double-edged sword. If Hayden or Daniel unexpectedly doesn’t win, you have compromised the secretive knowledge of Puting Araw.”

“Okay.” Rose clapped. “Let’s have a show of hands. Who here agrees with Jasmine’s suggestion?”

Everybody raised their hands except for Anthony, Juan Tamad, and the branch director of Jasmine’s branch. “So it’s agreed upon that Hayden will be baited out with a Conversion Nucleus. Okay, now let’s talk of our next step, a backup plan, and a backup plan for the backup plan, and a backup plan for that.”

Juan Tamad groaned and lifted his foot, positioning it on the table. Nobody spared him a glance.

…..

Pangkat Anino. Annie’s room. Annie was sitting by the computer, wearing a headset on her head. Annie shouted in despair as the screen showed ‘defeated.’ She was playing War of Honor.

“This game is hard…” Annie took off her headset and pouted. “How does that guy do this? Is one of his Ability a mental-enhancement?”

Just then, a knock came to Annie’s door. Annie shouted, “It’s open.”

The door swung open, and in came Caesar. “Ms. Annie. Hayden has arrived in the Philippines.”

“I heard.” Annie nodded. “Hey, do you think Hayden will fall for me if I seduce him?”

“No.” Caesar frankly answered. “Rumors say that Hayden is a one-track person with tunnel-vision for his obscure, far-sighted goals. His mentality and personality is far too disparate from yours.”

“Way to shoot down my dreams.” Annie harrumphed at Caesar. “Hey, when will you get a girlfriend?”

“I do not have such desires.” Caesar shot down Annie’s ideas without any qualms. “At least for the intervening period of time. Until Crimson Cloud is avenged, I will not let myself go astray.”

“You’re always so serious.” Annie stood up. “It’s not bad to loosen up once in a while. I’m going for a walk. Don’t follow me.”

“Please don’t go knocking on Hayden’s door.” Caesar bowed towards the departing back of Annie.

“I’m not going to do that!” Annie smacked Caesar on the head. She coughed. “Tsk, your sense of humor is irking. Don’t follow me.”

When Annie left, Caesar sighed and shook his head. “I’m worried for that girl.”

Annie took the elevator to the first floor of the base. On the elevator, Annie received a message for her to go to Training Room #16 by her combat counselor, Angel. Annie headed straight for the Training Room #16. When she opened it, there was Angel in her usual Qipao, and Faye.

Faye was in a simple tight-fitting black shirt and denim pants. Annie was astounded by Faye’s beauty and body figure. ‘Who is this woman?’

Ultimately, Annie ignored Faye. “Ate Angel, you called for me?”

“Yes. I want the two of us to spar to demonstrate what a wielder fight is.” Angel stretched her body. “For this lovely new member, Faye. As you know, she’s a Level 1 and has recently awakened. I will be training her as well.”

“I see.” Annie nodded her head. She immediately shifted into her half-human half-Celestial Tigris-Rhinoceros. She growled at Angel… Well, it was more of a combination of a growl and a rhino’s snort, which was weird. “I will beat you this time, Ate Angel.”

“Come at me.” Angel’s arms multiplied by two. “Let’s see the progress of your training for the past week.”

Annie brandished her claws and rushed at Angel. This time, Annie utilized her claws to strike at Angel’s throat, aiming for the kill. Angel dodged it by moving backwards. “Whoa there, you are aiming for the kill now, huh?”

“You taught me to aim for the kill.” Annie apathetically replied. “If we’re demonstrating a real fight… This is what it is!”

“Then I won’t hold back!” Angel’s right arms became three. All three of those arms punched out at Annie. Annie reacted swiftly, intercepting the punch with her own. The fists collided and created a shockwave.

While that was happening, Annie’s right arm swung at Angel, and was going to slice at Angel’s head. Angel responded by ducking and using her left arm to counter. She landed a clean hit on Annie’s abdomen.

Annie coughed, retreating backwards. ‘She’s still as powerful as ever.’

Annie changed her stance into that of Muay Thai’s signature stance. Angel was the one who charged in this time, going in a six-armed orthodox boxing stance.

Angel threw a haymaker at Annie mid-run. Annie crossed her arms. When the punch landed, Annie was thrown backwards from the force. She prevented from going further backwards by forcefully stopping the inertia with her feet.

Uncrossing her arms, Annie saw Angel’s left arms punching all at once at her right side, going for a liver shot. Annie took one step backward, causing Angel to miss narrowly. Without hesitation, Annie twisted and kicked at the right side of Angel. Angel was surprised by the counterattack.

By the side, Faye was put in a daze by the speed of the fight and how violent it is. Furthermore, even with her status as a rookie, she understood how powerful those punches are. And that kick… It must have been painful.

Angel crashed to the wall. It was a good thing that the wall is made of Multiplicative-Absorbing Cement, not cracking in the slightest from the force that it was subjected to. Annie ran after Angel.

Angel stood up. “I won’t hold back then.”

Angel did the orthodox boxing stance once again and punched with her right arms at the charging Annie. This time, the arms were aiming at different points instead of one cluster. The top one was aiming for the head. The middle one was aiming for the chest. While the lower one was aiming for the stomach.

What’s more, Angel hurled her left arms at Annie too. It was the same targets, except this time, the targets were on the left side. Annie couldn’t react in time to halt her advance. Thus, she leveled both of her arms to try to receive all six attacks. Unfortunately, both the lower arms hit her chest squarely.

Annie was thankful for her tough defense, experiencing only a minor pain. Nevertheless, she was pushed back. “I admit defeat.”

“Admitting defeat this early?” Angel brushed herself up. “In the week we haven’t trained, you have improved. That’s amazing.”

By the side, Angel couldn’t believe her eyes. ‘So this is what a fight between wielders look like… I wonder what that Hayde- No, let’s not think of him. I wonder if I can fight like that in the future, too?’

“Yes, you can fight like that in the future.” As if reading her mind, Angel pointed at her. “Don’t worry. I will train you in your preferred requested fighting style of Capoeira. I learned it back then.”

“That’s why I forfeited.” Annie exhaled heavily through her mouth and shifted back to human. “Ate Angel here has mastered three martial arts. Capoeira. Muay Thai. Boxing. Capoeira is her strongest point. I think you’ll see why later on. Anyways, goodbye. I want to go for a stroll.”

For some reason, Annie felt an affinity with Faye. Faye had a similar sensation with Annie. They couldn’t fathom what it was. Annie left wordlessly.