Ability Wielders - Chapter 167 Hayden the Juggernau

The two landed. Daniel wryly smiled at Hayden, scratching the back of his head. “You still beat me, huh?”

“Yes.” Hayden simply said. “This was the most intense fight that you’ve ever brought me. You’re improving.”

Daniel nodded, his smile obviously containing a bit of disheartenment. “Thanks.”

Hayden walked over to Daniel and put his hand on his right shoulder. “I don’t have the words to boost your confidence. But be reminded that I’m not an obstacle, nor a rival. I’m your friend that views you as an equal.”

Daniel was taken aback by Hayden’s statement. Daniel stifled a chuckle. “You… Did you just call me friend? You view me as an equal?”

“Shut up.” Hayden’s face wrinkled. “Don’t you get all mushy-mushy in the future.”

Daniel laughed. Hayden’s words were an eye-opener for him. When he finished laughing, he shouted, “I give up.”

“Bravo!” A loud howl resounded. It was from Gerald. “This is the spirit of youth! Everybody be more like these two! Amazing fight! Such spirit!”

This went on for a few more minutes, which everybody ignored as they were confounded by Daniel’s laugh at Hayden’s statement and the fact that Hayden was capable of muttering the word ‘friend.’ No, they were stunned that Hayden was Daniel’s friend. Hayden was regarded as an antisocial person after all.

As for the Blue Agents, they were all inspired by Hayden, forgetting that Hayden was an antisocial person. A Blue Agent-oriented White Agent beat a Red Agent? With technique, intelligence, and resourcefulness? This was a revelation for them.

Jasmine noticed this and grinned. “Heh, there will be an uprising in Puting Araw. Once a precedent and a paragon is established, many will follow. Hayden might change the course of the Philippines’ world of wielders’ history.”

“His physique is way off the charts for a Blue Agent. Even if many of them tried, only a few of them may succeed.” Heather, Mahiwagang Mangkukulam (Illusive Witch) spoke. “Nevertheless, this is true. Hayden is the perfect example of an outlier that goes against the odds.”

“I guess it was correct to bait him in participating in the Yearly Meet, huh?” Kataas-taasang Gwardiya (Supreme Guard) exhaled sharply through his nose. “Hayden displayed us how a wielder should fight. Using everything in their arsenal. More often than not, essence energy shaping and all these essence energy powers are overlooked by our members, discouraging them to fight against the Red Agents. Even us Walong Sinag ng Araw don’t use essence energy shaping to fight. We have a lot to learn with such a figure.”

Needless to say, Ayesha instructed her to zip her mouth and not talk of anything. He has apprised her, along with Harper, and Noah, of his dual wielder status already and was accepted as part of the group.

“What a boss.” Harper shook her head once. She didn’t verbalize her thoughts as she feared Hayden more now. ‘If he can beat someone like me and Daniel with one Ability, then what if he activated his second Ability?’

For a dual wielder, fighting with one Ability, the considered weaker one no less, was akin to fighting with one hand tied behind their back. If this was Hayden ‘holding back,’ then what of Hayden being serious? He could unquestionably kill their group working together in an instant!

‘Finally, I’m the Juggernaut.’ Hayden sighed. ‘Well, Tyler and Julius will probably challenge me. If one of them is a transformation-type…’

Or worse, if both of them was a transformation-type… Hayden was an object that is wrapped helically around an axis. He was screwed. ‘Well, I can offset their attacks with force negating attacks… It was Gerald that I can’t fight.’

Hayden closed his eyes, inhaling and exhaling as if he was calming himself. ‘I just want to win so that I don’t have to participate in this godforsaken event anymore.’

As long as he can get that Conversion Nucleus and the power of utilizing mental energy, Hayden will be contented. For that matter AND for not participating anymore, he’ll do this Juggernaut.

Hayden opened his eyes, insouciantly gazing at the crowd all around him. There was one message in his eyes. ‘Challenge me, I dare you.’

Nobody dared to go forward and challenge Hayden. The way that he didn’t give Daniel a sliver of a chance was a huge deterrent. It’s as if Hayden was a God of Pure Combat that can annihilate anybody with his skills.

If some people had overwhelming firepower, some overwhelming physique, Hayden possessed the overwhelming martial skills. It was a Triforce. People with overwhelming firepower will normally stay at the back. People with overwhelming physique will usually neglect martial skills and emphasize on their usage of their Abilities’ advantage. While people with martial skills were… Well, use their overwhelming skills to bridge the gap with firepower and physique.

Besides, Hayden’s intimidation factor was enormous. This stemmed from his Supreme King of course. Only Daniel was in the know of this.

Nine minutes passed before, from the right side of the arena, Tyler stood up. Tyler was a man with a fade haircut and with his hair pointed in the direction forward. He was your typical handsome guy that had the vibes of a womanizer.

He jumped down on the arena. He pointed at Hayden. “You don’t intimidate me.”

Hayden didn’t respond, his expression unimpressed. This irked Tyler. Tyler disappeared and reappeared in front of Hayden, his fist flying towards Hayden’s face. Hayden has predicted this and has already tilted his head to the right.

Hayden wasn’t hit. Conversely, it was Tyler who flew backwards. He was kneed by Hayden in the gut. Everybody didn’t know how to react.

One must know that Tyler’s Ability is an all-around physical enhancement-type. It was called Heart of Power.

Heart of Power can enhance his physique by up to four times its rate at Level 1, and six times at Level 2. Furthermore, alike anime characters, the stronger his resolve, the lesser the effect of any mind control and the damage of any Ability is reduced. It was a pretty overpowered Ability in the right hands.

And it was in the right hands. Tyler was a hot-headed, passionate, and righteous person alike Gerald, though he is known for his impulsiveness and irascible nature. In fact, people around him termed him as a shonen protagonist for his personality .

So how powerful was Hayden to repel Tyler like this? Was he caught off-guard? How strong was Hayden’s physique? There were so many questions for the spectators that solely Hayden held the answer.

Nevertheless, they were all cognizant of the fact that Tyler was a recently evolved Level 2 wielder. It was pretty much a given that Hayden will have the capability to beat him.

Tyler charged in without any thought, throwing a haymaker at Hayden. Hayden sidestepped and grabbed his right arm, throwing him to the ground. Hayden’s attack didn’t end there. Hayden lay on Tyler and interlaced his entire body with his, locking him on the floor. It was a bizarre sight for everybody.

“Give up already, Tyler.” Hayden said. Tyler looked over at Hayden and saw the same thing that people see whenever Hayden targets them with his amalgamated Supreme King: Darkness with two red dots and white wisps. Tyler mistook this as Hayden’s oppressive killing intent.

“What is this?” Rose’s eyes widened. She could feel fear from Hayden in spite of his status as a Level 2 wielder. “This… What…?”

“I feel it, too.” Bryant’s customarily calm demeanor was gone, his expression contorted to that of great shock. “This… How can a Level 2 wielder do this? Someone who holds a mental-enhancement and sensory-enhancement Ability no less.”

“I want him…” Jasmine muttered. “I want him as my successor.”

“You’re talking as if you’re going to die.” Ace, the Itim na Kabalyero (Black Knight), shook his head. “Anyhow, I doubt that he’s going to agree as your successor. I mean, he doesn’t care for us at all.”

“I remember the times I was a youth…” The hot-blooded Gerald was nowhere to be found, his gaze full of nostalgia. This turned a 180-degree as the fire in his eyes returned. “I want to spar with him again!”

“His own fighting style is so refined.” The typically laidback Juan Tamad was leaning on the guardrails and was mulling with a solemn countenance. “That combat talent, it’s a waste. I could have taught him my combat style.”

Everybody who heard this, including the branch directors at the back, couldn’t believe their ears. Juan Tamad, the laziest person of the Walong Sinag ng Araw who couldn’t be bothered even with any kind of paperwork, or work for that matter, wanted to teach someone.

“I-I give up…” Tyler was discouraged by Hayden’s disposition. Hayden let him go, offering a hand to Tyler nonchalantly. The aura was gone, yet Hayden’s aloof expression was still there. Tyler accepted the hand and was assisted to stand up by Hayden.

Tyler left the arena wordlessly. Another challenger hopped off the instant that Tyler exited. It was Julius. Julius stared dead straight into the eyes of Hayden.

“Let’s get this over with.” Hayden put up his fighting stance again.

Julius’ clothes vanished, his body transforming into a sleek alligator-like one, with long legs. His back had red triangular spikes that jutted out of them, which were all fiery. His claws and fangs and the tip of his tails were similarly on fire. His eyes changed similar to that of an alligator’s as well.

‘Shiiit, a transformation-type.’ Hayden thought. ‘Well, this is bothersome.’

Hayden took in every single movement of Julius. He examined Julius and learnt that he was a speed-oriented wielder. His toughness was abysmal relative to the tough-looking scales. ‘I wonder what kind of animal this is. Is this the famous salamander in the myths?’

As he has observed, Julius was fast, though not as fast as his Divine Perception’s brain processes. He was able to perceive Julius and plan a counterattack that will beat Julius as fast as possible.

Julius appeared in front of him mid-air, his heel going towards Hayden’s right temple. Hayden ducked. Julius landed and punched with his right hand. Unfortunately, Hayden has already moved his left foot at an unnatural angle whilst crouching and swept Julius off of his feet with a kick at the shin.

Hayden then put his right hand on the floor and supported himself with it, giving Julius an axe kick at such a position. Succeeding this, Hayden maneuvered over to the feet of Julius and restricted him from moving in that position.

Everybody was in utter disbelief. If Tyler was beaten because he was a recently evolved Level 2 wielder, how was Julius losing? Julius was a Level 2 wielder that has evolved six months ago. Plus, Julius was renowned for his speed and skill in Taekwondo.

“Give up, Julius.” Hayden spoke alike how he spoke with Tyler. “You’re not a strength-oriented wielder. If Tyler can’t get out of my hold, you can’t.”

“S-shut-” In the midst of his sentence, Julius got a glimpse of Hayden’s menacing form. “I… I…”

Julius stammered with fear. All he wanted to do right now was submit to Hayden. It was peculiar, yet he could simply admit his inferiority to Hayden. His aura was that powerful.

“I give up!’ Julius shouted in a panic. Hayden let go of him. Julius stared at him with fear, getting up by himself. Hayden knew when he was unwelcome, so he didn’t even offer his hand and treated him with indifference.

Julius’ eyes expressed his thoughts of Hayden. Hayden was a monster that he should never get near. Hayden was uninterested of his opinion in the slightest.

“He’s good.” Bryant approved of Hayden’s fast-paced attacks. “Instead of cowering, he counters at the vulnerable moment and seize the chance, breaking the rhythm of his opponent. This is vital when fighting against enemies stronger than yourself.”

“Indeed.” Rose bobbed her head. “He pulls people into his rhythm instead of getting sucked into other peoples’ rhythm. With one swift strike, he attacks with a guaranteed knockdown. He intimidates them to avoid further resistance. And it somehow works.”

Hayden sat in the middle with a tired expression, as if The Juggernaut event was tiresome for him, which it was. Every time somebody stood up, Hayden would glance into their direction and gave them the stink eye with his Supreme King. This demolished their desire on ever fighting Hayden.

10 minutes passed and Hayden won without anybody else challenging him. Rose coughed. “We have the winner for The Juggernaut. It is Third Rank Special Agent, Hayden Emperador! For displaying such an outstanding display of skill, it is rightful that he be granted the first place rewards of the Wielder Standoffs. Let him be a reminder that combat isn’t based purely on strength and physique, but also the brains and technique.”

Hayden didn’t react. Internally though, he was absolutely irked by Rose’s words. Exemplary? ‘Bitch, I just fought with all my skills. Why make me an example? My physique is clearly way above those regular Blue Agents. Don’t give them false hope.’

Still, this was one of the predictions of what will happen when Hayden does fight against a transformation-type and all that. It’s just that this event has one of the lowest likeliness of occurring.

‘I was careless. I could’ve prevented this.’ Hayden’s mission of laying low was compromised by such a large margin. ‘Well, I couldn’t possibly have lay low if I wanted to accomplish big things.’

This was the truth. If Hayden truly wanted to lay low, he had to do nothing at all. In the modern world where your standing is based on skill, he couldn’t possibly do nothing. Besides, being a ‘normal’ person was… It was a nightmare. Especially after that 10 years of suffering normalcy in his mental tribulation.

‘Never again.’ Hayden was determined to protect his family and his two girlfriends and making it big while minimalizing his actual exposure. Fame as a celebrity doesn’t count. What he was talking about when he says exposure is ‘fame as a wielder.’

Hayden got off the stage succeeding Rose’s speech. The next event was the actual Wielder Standoffs. First was the preliminaries.

Every year, the Wielder Standoffs do the preliminary as a simple free-for-all fight. There are 800 wielders that will participate in this free-for-all fight, one in each branch. This time though, as the three branches in Visayas was destroyed, there were 200 in the main branch of Makati, 200 from Nueva Vizcaya, and 200 from Samar.

The cut-off for being eligible for the preliminary is based on the performance of a person and their rank. All Third Rank Special Agents will make the cut-off of course. As for the rest, it’s how much they have contributed to Puting Araw the past year.

This preliminary free-for-all was for the Red Agents. The Blue Agents will have the same amount of numbers and the identical cut-off, but has a different preliminary.

The preliminary for the Blue Agents you ask? It was a test created by the Blue Agent-oriented White Agent Jasmine and Heather. The test was virtual and the Blue Agent is going to guide a human-like AI out of a tricky situation. It is a test of speed of one’s brain, calculation, and adaptability to unexpected situations.

Why was the test like this even though Blue Agents technically encompass those mind-manipulation wielders, you ask? Because mind-manipulation wielders have different purposes than mental-enhancement wielders.

Mind manipulating Abilities occurs in about 1 in 1,000 wielders. They are all prized and vital for any organization, whether it be Puting Araw, Kamay ng Lagim, or Pangkat Anino. However, with their usually weak information processing and physiques, they are rather useless on the battlefield.

As such, they are almost always hidden by these three organizations to be used as interrogation specialists, spies, and as deterrents.

That’s why, in Puting Araw, mind-manipulation agents are just Blue Agents in name. They have a higher role in Puting Araw and are all part of a special division in Puting Araw led by Heather and Rose, the Mahiwagang Mangkukulam (Illusive Witch). This division was the Illusory Sun.

Anyways, many of them choose to be Red Agents in the first place, choosing to use their mind manipulation capabilities for combat instead of wasting away as a useless Blue Agent. This was also the reason Hayden was worried of encountering a mind-manipulating bastard during the Juggernaut event.

Moving on. This preliminary is for those that weren’t voted by the Walong Sinag ng Araw as seeded participants, who were Red Agents who has their own Blue Agents seed partners unless they were a White Agent.

As Daniel was considered a pure Red Agent than a White Agent, he was a seeded competitor with Zeke as his partner.

Alike The Juggernaut event, the preliminaries remain to be more a test of skill than actual combat strength, with everybody activating their Origin Limiter to Level 1 to make it fair for the Level 1 wielders.

Hayden didn’t stay to watch as he knew that Daniel will win no matter what. Daniel may be physically lacking, but he wasn’t lacking in skills and overall combat strength.

He was on his way to go home when he was intercepted by Jasmine. Jasmine signaled to him to follow her. Hayden sighed before silently following her to one of the workshops in the Azure Section of the secret facility.

“Are you going to teach me the knowledge of Conversion Nucleus now?” Hayden questioned as Jasmine took out a Conversion Nucleus. Hayden’s eyes were stuck onto the Conversion Nucleus.

“Isn’t this what you want?” Jasmine snorted, acting high-and-mighty. “You see, there is something you have to know first on the production of Conversion Nucleus. It’s that it uses an art that combines mental energy and something called bodily essence energy.”

‘Yes, essence formations, I know this.’ Hayden was taciturn, seemingly unimpressed. This vexed Jasmine.

“You see, I have a mental-enhancement Ability just like yours, but I am able to fight way beyond the norms.” Jasmine revealed. “It is through the use of a magical art…”

Jasmine went on to explain what life force is and the Essence Manipulation Arts. Hayden opted to act impressed even though it was tiresome. He didn’t want to be interrogated later on as his relationship with CHORUS might be put in a peril if he were to do so.

“Are you willing to learn it under my tutelage, Hayden?” Jasmine grinned.

“No.” Hayden shook his head. “Please give me a set of complex instructions and I’ll be on my way.”

Hayden’s answer nearly choked Jasmine. After hearing all those, Hayden still wanted to ‘learn’ by himself? ‘Well, I did research everything pertaining to this art by myself, so…’

“Okay, first off, you have to learn to take in essence energy through your breathing.” Jasmine went on to expound to Hayden what Breathing Technique is.

Hayden has long mastered Breathing Technique and he always use this to speed up his essence energy. Of course, he doesn’t use the full version of the Breathing Technique as it is too loud and tones it down by up to 50% of its power.

“I see, I see.” Hayden acted as if he grasped Breathing Technique for the first time. “This technique ensures that we don’t run out of bodily essence energy, right?”

“That is correct.” Jasmine nodded. “Okay, next is to ‘move’ essence energy with your mind out of your body.”

Jasmine was a bad teacher. It appears that she was one of those people that acquires knowledge through instincts, explaining things to a beginner as if they’re ‘as simple as breathing.’

The thing is, Hayden understood her intentions. The glint in her eyes suggested that she deliberately explained in this manner so as to give Hayden no choice but to learn under her. It was a good thing Hayden has encountered Colt before.

As such, Hayden released life force gases out of his fingertips, willing its properties to be flammable, and snapped to create friction, creating a finger blowtorch.

“You were able to understand that?” Jasmine rapidly blinked. She cleared her throat. “I mean… You’re very talented. Fine. I’ll give you my research.”

Jasmine threw Hayden a black coin bag. “That has the new Space Stone technology that was posted in the rewards.”

When Hayden heard of the function of the new Space Stone Technology, he couldn’t help gulping. ‘What the fuck?’