Chapter 21: Ch61. Surge - 3 (All-out confrontation)
The power went back to normal a few seconds after the surge, due to the hospital’s mana core generator. But Dr. Lee was still shook, looking from Kurt to the director and back to Kurt.
Nina came in hurriedly, eyes wide and out of breath.
"What... What happened?" She asked, looking at Dr. Lee.
"Well..." The doctor replied with visible anger on her face. "Your boy here somehow fried all my equipment with this mana burst..."
Nina covered her mouth with her hands.
"Does... Does it mean that...?"
"He’s not dead, ma’am." Dr. Lee reassured her. "But with the last session of the treatment cut short like that, I don’t know what’s going to happen."
"But we’re doing our best to wake your kid up." Director Roosevelt spoke in a reassuring manner.
Dr. Lee glared at him, but didn’t say a thing.
They didn’t notice anything, but Kurt’s eyes began to slightly move underneath the eyelids.
***
Kurt knew that there was a limit to how much he could run inside that space of the system without feeling the fatigue.
Luckily for him, he only started to feel it building in when he had the idea.
’A movement to confuse the opponent, right?’
It wasn’t like a dream, and Kurt knew it. But he decided to try it, still.
The air outside the shattered space of the [HIDDEN ROOM] felt different, but it still had the same feeling of possibility. So Kurt began moving as fast as he could, vibrating just like he did when he learned that skill from his older self.
[GHOST STEPS OF A THOUSAND FEET]
Kurt himself started seeing his after images forming in the air. Here, there, then everywhere.
’But I can’t just avoid that thing forever...’ He thought hard, looking for a way to strike it. ’Let’s start with the basics, then.’
Kurt didn’t notice how much momentum he was was getting until he got close enough to the faceless silver figure and punched it on what should be its ribs.
His fist felt the impact first, sending an insurmountable amount of pain through his nerves.
But it was effective!
The figure stumbled several steps to the left, and the silvery skin where his ribs should be looked cracked, oozing out a disgusting black muddy substance.
"FUCK! You’re sturdy!" Kurt couldn’t help but speak out loud to try to ease the pain.
The figure, however, was fast too, and it appeared behind him as if he didn’t get hurt just a second before.
"Damn it..." Kurt avoided the blow that came to his head by a hairsbreadth and went back to his strategy of ghosting the figure until he was able to get a clean hit.
***
Outside the Massachusetts General, half an hour later, the Association’s monitoring division arrived and dealt with the regulars and the press.
"What’s the situation status, Erick?" Chief Leblanc asked, approaching the leader of the science division of the Guardian guild.
"Chief Leblanc... We have something unprecedented in our hands..."
But Leblanc already had his jaw dropped, looking at the Nest’s entrance in awe.
It wasn’t a blue or red bubble, like the Association called the gate that led to the Nest.
It was black.
"What in all hells is this...?"
"That’s what we’re trying to figure out. All we know until now is that whatever’s on the other side of this bubble, isn’t a regular Nest. It doesn’t even release mana!" Erick’s voice shook with fear and excitement at the same time. "Do your guys at the Association’s science division, by any chance have some new equipment that we can test in this bubble?"
Leblanc laughed bitterly.
"Sorry to disappoint you today, Erick, but this time we’ll have to trust your attack squad on this."
"Captain Blake is with them, so I think it’ll be all right."
Leblanc’s eyes went wide.
"Octavius went with them? Does it mean that the Angels...?"
Erick nodded.
Leblanc then broke out in an aost maniacal laughter.
"I don’t even know why you called us in then, Erick. Those guys are a bunch of ruthless, twisted bastards. No Nest in the whole world could handle them all together!"
But Erick didn’t feel so good about Leblanc’s remark.
The Angels were a top notch division, known by every guild in the world, but it was Octavius who ordered them to step up, so he had to at least have a gut feeling about it that they didn’t.
***
The sky was the color of sand, sprinkled with countless red stars.
Near the horizon, three huge moons glowed ominously.
The sandy plains and the mountains around Octavius and his subordinates were deadly silent.
Stone inhaled deeply, ready to speak, but Octavius immediately took a finger to his lips, shushing the attack squad leader.
Octavius sharpened his senses, searching for any sound that could indicate enemies around them, but there was none.
Even the wind wasn’t blowing.
One of the attack squad members looked behind to check on the bubble, and when the last of the Angels crossed, the black bubble started to close.
"C-captain...?"
Octavius turned to the young man, no older than twenty years, but before he could reprimand the warrior, he saw what it meant.
Octavius sensed something, and sprinted towards the bubble, sending a powerful slash towards it.
"ARGH!" He stomped his foot onto the sandy ground as the bubble closed. "It got away!"
"What... Got away, sir?" The young warrior asked.
"A beast with some kind of camouflage or invisibility. It just went through the bubble before it closed!"
He didn’t see any reasons to not speak anymore.
If a beast like that lived in that kind of Nest, that looked more like an alien planet than the regular Nests they used to raid...
"It means there are more like him out there. Stay sharp and eyes up, guys!"
All guild members nodded, taking arms.
***
In front of the Massachusetts General, the Beast appeared from the bubble, in front of both the Guardian’s science division and the monitoring division.
The regulars around started to run, panicking and screaming.
"Fuck... WE GOT COMPANY, GUYS!" Leblanc shouted, preparing his telekinetic ability, his eyes glowing gold.
It didn’t seem like any other Beasts he had seen before, looking like werewolf covered in dragon scales, and his head resembled that of a dragon.
The Beast growled towards Leblanc, who was already exerting his telekinesis over the creature to restrain its movements.
When suddenly they saw the creature move its mouth.
"Where is the host.."
