Chapter 114: Ch152. Sickness - 7 (Approaching the end of the line)
In a fluid movement, but brutally heavy and fast, the hand that was as if on guard, on the belt of Octavius’s pants, went in the direction of the movement, piercing the air with a sudden and precise cut.
Kurt realized what had happened at the same moment he felt the air current hitting him.
***
Kurt’s body, in the hospital room, convulsed, taken by violent spasms.
Keisuke’s eyes widened in fear.
"No. Whatever you’re doing, you’re not going to die on my shift!" The healer said to himself, gritting his teeth.
He placed both hands on Kurt’s chest, and they emanated an extremely strong purple light.
The energy then seemed to be absorbed by Kurt’s body, and Keisuke soon took his hands off the exhausted young man.
"What are you, after all...?"
***
Kurt felt the cut in his stomach, feeling shadows being expelled from where his insides should have been.
And in the next instant, his wound was healed, as if it had never been there.
Kurt let out a chuckle.
’It seems like this skill is really good...’
Kurt charged at Octavius, who prepared to launch another attack, but immediately realized he had fallen into a trap.
Unable to retract his hand, like a sword that had just been drawn from its sheath, Octavius saw the cut forming in the air, and hitting nothing but an after-image of Kurt.
"You scheming little bastard..." Octavius said through gritted teeth.
There were hundreds of after-images of Kurt around Octavius, and Kurt was completely focused on, at least once, after so many attempts and failures throughout their lives, making at least one scratch on that man.
[ONE MINUTE LEFT TO FORCE CANCELLATION OF THE ABILITY]
But Kurt seemed to solemnly ignore the system’s words and voice in his mind.
All that stood before him was Octavius.
And in your mind, just one thought.
’I need to kill you...’
***
Evellyn, Nikolai, and the rest of the rescue van, managed to successfully cross Rock Creek Park, and were already facing heavy fire in front of them.
Wielders appeared from all sides, making crossing to Washington DC almost impossible.
Energy explosions, magic arrows, magic shots, not to mention short-range attacks from opponents, turned everything around into complete chaos.
"DON’T SPLIT UP!" Evelyn screamed. "MAGIC SHOTS COMING AT FOUR O’Clock!"
No one could understand how the girl could so accurately predict the direction of the shots, nor how she could announce where the group needed to move before the attacks began.
But what mattered at that moment was that Evellyn Smith was, without a doubt, the thread that kept the entire group tied to life.
They ran, fought, dodged, doing everything they could to not get separated.
But as not everything in life was like a prediction of the future, Robby’s physical condition was still not the best, and he stumbled at the exact moment when one of the enemy wielders had just arrived at his location.
Nikolai prepared to fire his pistols, and use his Blink to get closer to the boy.
But the wielder seemed to be much more experienced and malicious.
A finely crafted sword appeared in the wielder’s hands, and with it, he arced towards Robby’s body.
Nikolai fired twice, praying that either his skill or the magical shots were fast enough to change the trajectory of that sword’s blow.
He closed his eyes, and prayed to whatever god was above them, looking down on that group of irregulars.
"Did someone call the cavalry?" A strange voice called.
And in the next moment, a burst of energy sent the wielder who was about to cut Robby in half flying.
The owner of that voice was blond, old, not very handsome, but with a smile kind enough to make anyone trust him without even thinking twice.
"You children... I must say you are getting bolder every day..." He said, and his voice sounded like a grandfather’s.
Nikolai could almost see his own grandfather in the man’s features.
"I can’t believe Toshinori asked us to help you... We need to have a serious talk, kid..." Nikolai heard another voice behind him, followed by several gunshots.
"Father?" Nikolai called, surprised.
"What is it, kid? Are you waiting for a special invitation? We don’t have time for questions! The others are arriving. Let us take care of these guys, and you’ll carry out your mission!" Nikolai’s father, Yuri Semenov, said, as he took at least five wielders who looked quite strong to the ground, with just a few blows from their fists, and a few shots from their weapons.
The young people did not look back, but they heard war cries, sounds of fighting, and other voices that were not there before.
Nikolai smiled from side to side as he ran with his friends towards the goal.
They were still far away, but they had already managed to cover a good distance within the park.
Given the fact that they were practically superhuman, even if they weren’t yet in their best condition, they would need to run at most another half hour to reach their goal.
Soon they would be in front of the White House.
And Doctor Lee would be with them, going to Japan.
To cure Kurt of that mysterious illness.
The fight raged between Kurt and Octavius.
It barely seemed like they were exchanging blows for a mere thirty seconds.
And with every second that passed, the system sounded in Kurt’s mind, with that alarm that, if it weren’t for his supernatural focus on the fight, would easily make him get hit more times than he would like.
But Kurt had a smile on his lips.
Octavius was bleeding.
Even though Kurt still realized how much his power wasn’t great enough, he was more than happy to be able to make his father bleed.
But the clock still kept ticking.
And time was not on Kurt’s side.
***
Evellyn and her group, after much effort, were finally face to face with the White House.
They could no longer hear the sound of fighting behind them, having left that unusual group of allied wielders fighting for them in Rock Creek Park.
"Okay... Where to now?" Evellyn wondered, when she heard several clicks of firearms being cocked.
Little by little, several CIA agents rounded up the group, and everyone assumed offensive postures, when Evellyn and Rodrick spoke, almost in unison.
"Nobody moves!"
Rodrick was silent after that, letting Evellyn speak.
"We need to talk to Doctor Lee, we know she’s down there."
One of the agents, a middle-aged man with dark glasses, muscular and very short gray hair, approached, without any weapon pointed at them.
"And who are you children? Am I wrong in thinking that this big guy is the leader of the group?"
Evelyn looked at the man closely.
A few moments later, his eyes glowed gold.
Even she herself was surprised at how her powers had developed after Kurt had returned from his counterpart’s world.
"Howard Steele, forty-seven years old, worked at the CIA for twenty years until he was promoted to the personal guard of the President of the United States. He has a seventeen-year-old daughter who recently joined the BWA, but you were worried about her safety , after the incident three years ago, and moved her to another educational institution for awakened.
Right now, you’re feeling confident that you can take us out with a few shots, since we’re just kids in your eyes, but you’re worried about Rodrick, the one you called the big guy, behind me. And on top of all that, he’s also shocked, even scared, at how a little girl is able to peer into his past, and practically read his thoughts." Evellyn said, as the agent, Howard Steele, opened his eyes wider and wider.
The middle-aged man’s chin dropped so low, he would have almost touched the ground, if it wasn’t just a figure of speech.
"We’re not here to hurt the president, Mr. Steele." Evelyn continued. "Our friend is sick, and only Doctor Lee can cure him, so we’ve come a long way to get her out of here."
"And who is this friend of yours, that you have come all this way, just for him...?"
Evellyn’s eyes shone again, and after a few moments of pondering, she finally broke the silence and said.
"Our friend is Kurt Blake, son and sworn enemy of the president of the wielders association, leader of the New Dawn guild, Octavius Blake." Evellyn saw the light disappear from Howard’s eyes. "Yes, he was the one who killed Rhegal Vir’Dun, the leader of the Ishir. But, contrary to what you are thinking, it is not his fault that the country is in the situation it is in."
The agent raised an eyebrow.
"No. He just ended up bringing forward something that was already about to happen, but that’s exactly why we’re here, Mr. Steele..." Evellyn paused again, in which the weapons were still pointed at each of the irregulars, and the silence around them still remained oppressive. "Because Kurt Blake is our only hope of ending this mess that the Ishir have caused, and that New Dawn is taking advantage of..."
The agent rested his chin in his hands, analyzing the girl carefully.
"You’re pretty perceptive for a little girl... You must have quite an innate awakening ability, to be able to visualize so much of my life..." Howard said. "Luckily for you, Doctor Lee had already warned us that someone would come for her, and so we were camped out here, taking care that if any sign of the battle at Rock Creek Park came anywhere near here , we could activate the president’s private guild."
Evellyn’s jaw almost dropped.
How was it possible that someone other than her could have any ability to see the future?
Something there didn’t seem right, but the opportunity was presenting itself before her.
So Evellyn made a choice.
"The quicker we get out of here with the doctor, the better. Could you take us to her, or at least bring her to us?"
Howard smiled.
"Clever little girl. We’ll bring her to you, but on one condition, from the doctor herself."
"Which?"
"Let the agent who is accompanying her come along. He really wants to meet this friend of yours."
The atmosphere seemed to thicken around them.
Evellyn tried hard to hide her perplexity, but with each passing second, it became more and more evident that something was very out of place.
She glanced at Rodrick and Nikolai as Howard entered the White House, after ordering his men to keep an eye on them, and nodded very subtly to each of them.
And she crossed her fingers that they understood what she meant by that gesture.
Not long later, when the sounds of the battle of Creek Rock were somewhat closer, Howard left the presidential residence again, accompanied by two other people.
’That must be Doctor Lee and the agent Howard said was accompanying her.’ Evelyn thought.
She knew that if she tried to see what was in their past, or even their future, she would be caught, thanks to the distinctive golden glow in her eyes, so she saved the idea for later.
"Children, this is Doctor Corina Lee, and this is Agent Collins. Will they escort you back to...?"
Evellyn hesitated for a brief moment, before responding.
"To Tokyo."
"To Tokyo, that’s right." Howard continued. "To begin treatment on your friend. Now, if you’ll allow us, we need to go in, we’ve just started the Stars and Stripes protocol, and the president’s private guild will be here in a few minutes. We don’t want you guys to get caught in the middle of it. fight, right?"
Evellyn nodded, looking with suspicion at Dr. Lee and her colleague.
But their mission had been accomplished, so they had no more time to waste there.
"Alright, guys, let’s move out!"
***
Daichi was already exhausted by the effort of keeping that barrier up and giving back the fire directed to them in the jet.
So it was a big relief when they heard Rodrick’s voice in the comms.
"Mission accomplished, gather at rendezvous point in five!"
"You heard him! Let’s flap out wings and roll out!" Toshinori said, with a smile on his face. "What an incredible feat, that is... Almost impossible, I should say... They won’t believe it when we arrive in one piece."
But the guild master had said it a little too soon.
The next moment, Daichi fell to the jet’s floor, unconscious.
And they all shook by a huge explosion on the outside of the airplane.
