Chapter 33: Reaching Charm Threshold
The swarm moved like an extension of his will. With a casual wave, they rushed towards Nicholas in a black torrent.
Nicholas was already moving. Staying in one place for too long made him an easy target.
He slipped his hands into his pocket, pulling out his gun, ’Attacking the swarm is pointless, if I kill the king, the rest will die’
BANG BANG BANG
Several shots ripped through the air, leaving faint distortions in their wake.
Zayx frowned, but didn’t seem the least bit bothered as he willed the swarm to block the attack.
The swarm came together, forming a cocoon that blocked the path of the bullets.
They spread out once more, like tentacles and shot at Nicholas from several sides, locking him in one position.
They moved too fast. And he didn’t have the time to react as they slammed into him like a sledgehammer.
BOOM!
Nicholas was hurled through the dirt, slamming his back on a building, Pain exploded through his back and raced across his body.
The swarm didn’t stop and quickly dived back in, Nicholas gritted his teeth sliding his hands into his pocket and throwing a smoke bomb.
The confused swarm slammed into the wall, while he rolled off to the side, his breath hurried.
[Josh246: A gun? What happened to using abilities... Is this some wannabe hero or the real deal?]
[VitaminDih: Don’t tell me this peach fairy tricked us just to farm views. What’s this?]
[KnightOfRoundtable: No, bro is quite good. Watch closely. He’s aiming at the controller, not the swarm.]
[CrazyJoe: Bro thinks he’s Batman.]
[PervertedSage: Why is the camerawoman always finding chaos?]
Julie watched the flood of negative comments and couldn’t help but feel the cold sweat run down her spine.
’Why isn’t he using his abilities?’ Julie thought to herself, but it wasn’t just her. Everyone else had the same thoughts in their mind as they watched the battle unfold.
And more than most, Selena was the most surprised, ’He’s not using his abilities? Is there some sort of restrictions or conditions that have to be met’
She had only seen Nicholas use hand to hand combat and weapons more often, she simply thought it was because of the nature of his abilities.
But if it truly had some sort of condition or limitation that she didn’t know of, now was definitely not the best time to find out.
His previous enemies were humans who had no abilities, but right now, facing an awakened impure with no abilities....
That was a death penalty.
To make matters worse, she couldn’t support him thanks to her current state. She couldn’t fight half naked.
’Stupid brat, don’t go dying after your first mission’ She thought, gritting her teeth in frustration. her expression a clash of worry and fear.
But the fear faded as she was quickly hit with realisation, "Julie! Tag the association to the live stream, so they can send support!"
"A-alright!" Julie snapped out of her daze, tagging the association.
[100,000 users just joined your livestream]
"Gracious goodness" Julie almost felt her soul jump right out of her body.
[BBC HUB has requested rebroadcast rights.]
"BBC HUB is helping me broadcast?!" Julie freaked out, feeling her hands go sweaty as she accepted the request.
[1,000,000 users joined]
"Eeee!! This is a bit too much.. what do I do?!!!" Julie saw the numbers rising rapidly.
On the broadcast TV the news headlines quickly went up.
Phantom Hero Appears Once More, Facing B-Rank Impure Buzz.
With the heading title, in seconds the broadcast reached thousands even millions of more people.
Everyone was currently tuned in to see what was going on.
Across the association cafeteria, heroes stopped eating.
Conversations died.
Screens turned toward the livestream.
But as they tuned in, their excitement quickly shifted into worry and doubt.
Nicholas was using guns and conventional weapons, in a pretty impressive way.
But impressive wasn’t enough to defeat an impure, in fact with simple weapons. That was unachievable.
"Is that the phantom hero? Doesn’t he have any abilities? Does he want to die?"
"Someone should get there and do something already. That guy seems like he could get his ass beaten at any time"
One of the people watching the stream from the Association was Vixen, seeing Nicholas on screen again, her eyes lit up with curiosity, ’What a surprise to see him around again’ she thought to herself.
Nicholas didn’t falter, with his attacks.
After his failed gun shot, he knew the next best attack for a situation like this.
’Let’s see if your flies can protect you from a grenade’ Nicholas shoved his hands into his pocket, picking out a grenade.
He cocked it open and tossed it at Zayx.
Zayx’s expression twisted, the flies gathered together in an attempt to protect him.
BOOM!
The explosive sound tore through the air, sending dead flies in all directions.
[....: He’s actually keeping his own against the buzz guy. A grenade though? Is he some sort of vigilante?]
[Awesome, I would love to have a grenade too... Government should give everyone one]
’He still fights without using his abilities?’ Vixen thought to herself, curious and even impressed. Vixen watched the screen in silence.
Most heroes would’ve used their abilities immediately, but him?
He Kept adapting. Kept fighting.
The corner of her mouth twitched upward.
Nicholas had surprised her once again with his wit, but was that all he had?
Was he terribly smart and skilled in combat? What made him special?
Her gaze was locked on the broadcast, filled with curiosity and intrigue.
Meanwhile, as the explosion settled, Zayx still landed on the rooftop, most of his flies dead from the attack, his face contorted, his compound eyes turning furious, "You killed them! You killed them!"
The thick black miasma exploded from him spreading out through the air.
Then low vibrations began to spread through the city.
"What’s going on?" Selena asked as she stared around.
Soon flies began to gather, like a sworn army.
From rooftops. Alleys. Drainpipes.
They gathered in thousands, millions in fact.
The sky went dark, as they formed a canopy over them, Zayx stood on the rooftop, staring down at Nicholas.
"You deserve death!"
Selena, Julie looked up in terror the entire sky covered by what seemed to be an army of mutated flies.
Nicholas frowned as well, ’I still can’t use the Void ability, am I screwed?’ for the first time, he felt cold sweat trickle down his face.
But just then.
{Ding!}
{Charm threshold has been exceeded}
{Hero Vixen is impressed with you. You have reached the charm threshold, would you like to copy heroes abilities?}
{Copy slots: 0/5}
Seeing the notification before him, Nicholas froze.
But his attention was quickly drawn back to the danger before him.
As the swarm began to gather, forming a hammer twenty meters wide, dense enough to block out the sky above him.
Enough to crush him whole.
The tall hammer cast a large shadow over him, covering more space than he could run.
[fuck someone should send an actual hero out there... This guy’s going to die!]
[Is he even a hero? He should use his abilities]
The hammer of flies came crashing down with intensity, parting the air as it came down.
Selena only stare in horror as the hammer was sent going down, ’No hero would be able to make it here on time!’ she bit her lips in frustration, but as she turned her gaze to Nicholas and rather than fear, what she saw was a large smirk cutting across his face.
The hand was barely a meter away, the vibration from countless wings sent out a wave of air that made his hair shake as though an intense wind was blowing past him.
Windows around shattered and the world seemed to hold its breath, at the very last second only a single word left Nicholas mouth.
"Copy"
And just then.
{Ding}
