It was a trap!... It was all set up!
But why? Why had Ryu kept him alive rather than killing him previously?
Bain felt his chest rise and fail speedily. But despite the pain, he knew the first principle of escaping was to do it as quickly as possible.
The longer he remained in the enemy's control, the less likely his chances were of fleeing.
His body was on fire, with a gushing wave of dizziness slowly eroding his consciousness.
No!
'I can't afford to fall asleep. Before my body gives way, I must take Ryu down.'
Get up!
Bain stabilized his staggering body, putting off a defensive stance. Seeing this, Ryu, who had always been calm and collected, burst out in cruel laughter.
"Boy!... If you think you can escape, you're much more foolish than I thought." Silver-hair Ryu smiled, reaching for his inner chest pocket with a sly smile on his face.
"Now, now, little one… Since you're new here, you probably haven't heard of me much. Some call me the silver Mad Hatter, others the Silver Maniac… However, I very much prefer the name Doctor Ryu. If it weren't that I valued your body, you would've been dead by now."
What? Valued his body?
Ryu retrieved a syringe, followed by a bottled stock of a strange blue, glowing fluid.
"Kid... Don't look too sad. I am indeed a farmer, but my main profession is a doctor, who just so happens to dabble in experiments of his own." He said, flicking the syringe, releasing the air bubbles inside.
"I've spent the last 120 years studying and perfecting all my creations, one that will push my dreams forward in creating an 'Enhanced' army of my own."
Ryu's eyes flashed with a determined light the more he spoke.
.
The Unlightened!... Humanity's strongest group.
In the Blue Sails, they say just 1/70,000 people have successfully become what many now call The Enhancers.
This alone shows how difficult being an enhancer was. But to explain it all, one has to go back 3,500 years into the past.
The year was RE-500, and the Keltar solution took the world by storm.
The first era of humans took in the keltar solution. The advantages were evident for all to see.
However, this was just the beginning of the global shock.
When the 2nd generation children were born from the first mutated batch, they had far better advantages from birth. But even then, all children had to get injected with these keltar solutions until their body's saturation point.
The more the body could take in, the more talented the individual was likely to become.
The highest recorded number was 11, while the lowest was 3.
If the saturation point had reached, no matter how one tried to inject the keltar solution into the baby, the syringe would mysteriously get blocked as though there was steel in the human body rejecting more.
After the saturation point, no matter how a human tried to take in the solution, it was of no use. Till they died, that was all they would be getting.
But this wasn't the shocking bit.
They also discovered that humans could manually open and close what they now call aura points to control the flow of their aura.
It's also important to know that people who don't train their aura control would have leaked auras flowing out their bodies like water vapor.
All humans had aura. It's the energy produced by all living things.
Thus, all beings emit aura. But if one can train and even assimilate the many auras around them, they would not only be able to store it all but also grow powerful too.
In theory, one should be able to specialize their auras to increase attributes like speed, physical strength, and whatnot
But there was just one major issue here.
Even with humans' current mutated genes, they found they couldn't improve their strength, speed, or any other attributes without a significant backlash.
It can be said that once released, the auras all fought to leave their bodies in every possible direction. And back then, several people had exploded limbs, body parts, and even heads.
Humanity tried to make it work until someone found a way to train and redirect the gathered auras. But to release the power from their bodies, they would need the assistance of projectile weapons.
Rather than say they would get stronger, it was more accurate to say they transferred their powers onto their projectile weapons. For example, if one ever faced an Enhancer with a gun, they would find their bullets shot faster and seemed heavier than usual.
These enhancers made their projectile weapons stronger and faster, with some enhancers able to make their weapons grow slightly bigger once shot.
Others could turn their bullets into ice shards, while some into fire.
.
It's also important to know that once a person chooses their type of aura training, it would be 50 times harder to train another method.
So those who focus on speed might be unable to make their weapons stronger or heavier. They won't be able to train another method too. But that was all they could do.
Of course, there were only 41 enhanced humans since the beginning to become dual Enhancers.
No one could physically morph into better versions of themselves using these powers, or their bodies would blow up.
In conclusion, aura training was so difficult that only 1/70,000th of the population achieved this feat. Even in wealthy homes, many still saw failure time and time again.
They discovered that the mutated gene human body was like a sealed chamber refusing to open.
But though the results were disheartening, this still meant all humans had the ability to one day become enhancers. And with this drive, many hidden forces and scientists began moving in the shadows.
Several forbidden drugs have been created with no success in making one become an 'enhancer.'
Every hundred years or so, one would hear of the Absolutes bringing these mad scientists to justice, winning the people's love.
But who is to say they weren't in on it too? Heh…
Ryu Ryu smiled, staring at the precious jewel before them.
Yes… Why didn't he kill Bain? Because from the time many men had stormed into his territory, he had been observing and watching them fiercely.
Running through the woods, Bain had torn his legs on a bush, leaving his blood behind.
A determined doctor like himself always walked around with a few solutions in his pockets.
So as usual, he dropped a single drop of his pink solution on the blood spot expecting no reaction. However, he was pleasantly surprised by Bain's unique blood… He had never seen anything like it before.
There was something special in it.
'I must begin experimentation now!'
The creepily smiling Ryu Ryu approached Bain with the pointy syringe in his hand.
"Come now, Boy… It's time for you to prove my theory right! "
…
Judging from the boy's stance, a single blow from him should send the boy fast asleep. Good boy… Ryu maniacally inched closer with the syringe, not taking Bain seriously. But then, something happened. What?!!! Ryu crossed his hands against his chest in defense. But it was already too late. Boom! He smashed into the fireplace, burning his ass on the fire below and having the boiling hot broth pour on his body. Part of Ryu's face was burnt to a peel, with his mouth oozing blood. This… This can't be! He recognized the force that pushed him back. The boy… The boy was an enhancer! But the boy had no weapon on him. So how could he release enhanced powers? Wait! Ryu's eyes darted about in transfixed shock. The boy didn't need a weapon… His body was the weapon! Terrible! Terrible! Ryu squirmed amid his pain but soon revealed an excited smile. Hahahahahaha~ It must be the world's will for him to run across such a perfect subject. So how could he let him go? Pain? What pain? R
-Heart Headquarters, Arrow City, Southern Territories, Mainland 01-.In a vast and grand room, several men stood motionless. Some wore suits and others loose shirts. They formed straight lines along the path, creating a wide space between them.~Bam!A bloodied figure plunged into the room, falling on his nose in anguish.Following him were 2 other men; one wearing a suit with an emotionless face, and another wearing a red open-buttoned flowery shirt, having a playful and silly expression on his face.But don't let his friendly smile fool you. This man was colder than the freezing seas of Gantia."Owww~... A buddy, I think we broke your nose." The playful man commented, putting his hands in his pockets and kicking the bloodied man in the butt."Claus… That's enough." A deep voice from ahead echoed, and the playful man restrained himself.He was loyal and completely obedient to his leader!'I don't want to die. I don't want to die.'The bloodied man didn't care about his injuries, gro
James' heart sped up, seeing those mysterious eyes flash his way. And before he knew it, he was stuttering."I, I, I, I….""Mr. James…" The cold voice ahead called slowly, yet it made James' clothes feel damp with sweat.The figure unhurriedly stood, revealing himself into the light.Inky dark hair, raven eyes, and a face christened by the gods, the man was indeed good-looking. But James had no time to admire his beauty.His eyes were dark and deep like an abyss, drawing those who stared to fall into its bottomless pit.~Bam!James didn't see the kick coming."Ahhhh~... Ugh-Ugh"Son of a b**tch!His nose was all broken!James inwardly cursed from habit, controlling himself from cursing loudly. Did he dare? Of course he didn't. His fear for Mr. Hearts kept his lips sealed.And while he was rolling and holding his nose in anguish, Elric placed one hand in his pocket, taking and releasing a thick fog of smoke from his massive cigar."Mr. James… we didn't bring you here to listen to your
Gasp!Bain woke, panting heavily with vigilant eyes.The room was still a mess, with the table flipped, books scattered, tools displaced, and everywhere looking like a wind storm had flown by.Speaking of his body, he no longer felt any burning pains from before."I was right. Those pills did the trick." He murmured.His muscles had recovered, and now, he was in his best state.Thankfully, because he slept pre-battle, his body didn't feel like sleeping for long this time.Looking at how high the sun was, as well as the shadow it casted on the objects outside the small square-shaped window, Bain knew he had slept for no more than 2 hours.It should be 4:20 P.M by now.'I must leave this place before someone discovers Ryu's disappearance.'But first, he had to burn the place down.Towards the door were 2 baskets of neatly cleaned clothes now scattered and pushed aside.Bain's eyes lit up enthusiastically.Perfect!Bain quickly rummaged through the pile, setting his sights on the pair of
"Dammit! Barman! Where's my f**king beer?""Shut your damn piehole already. Beer, beer, beer. Here's your damn beer!""Hahahaha~ Old Toothless… I didn't think the operation would go that smoothly.F**k yeah! We're all rich, stinking rich!""Have, have you heard, the old called the Venomous Queen is on the loose with her gang of Butterfly bandits again.""True or false?""True! I tell you, those ladies sure pack a mean punch. Best not to anger them.""Bahahahaha~... Are you serious? Is the famous La Diva performing tonight at Fantasy house? Great! Just great! This time, I must watch her show!"…Within the massive space were all sorts of drunken bandits, goons, and thugs seated about with countless bottles scattered across their tables.Some were sleeping in a drunken state with one hand on their weapons. When you live here long enough, your weapon becomes an additional limb, always ready to take a life.The room was smoky, with countless people having cigarettes in their mouths. Some
Bain reached for the blades underneath his pillow, caution flashing through his eyes.He was about to move closer to the wall and stick his ears to listen in. But before he could get out of bed, a rain of bullets flooded the wall.Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!Bain rolled to the other side of his bed, quickly covered. From the booming sounds, it's clear the bullets were a mix of all sorts.The walls had holes of many sizes, some the size of 2 fingers joined together. The bullet flashes from the room fired were not the only things that peered through these holes."Quickly! Shoot the couch! He's behind it!!!""Hahahahahaha~... Bastard! Do you dare to steal from the snake gang? This is what you get!""Ahhhh!!---... It was a trap! He was behind the bedpost all along! Quickly, take cover!""Rooney! Rooney's down!... Mark too! Hyu Jin!...""Dammit! What the f***k are you little girls doing? You claim to be men, yet you can't even shoot the little punk down? My niece can shoot better than you!""B
Oden took a whiff of his cigarette, lightly chuckling at the trembling moron."Mr. Ignus... I've been the owner of this establishment for 175 years. I've had customers come and go and go. So you wouldn't be so foolish to think we have some special relationship, no?""But, but, but... Bah! I've spent so much money in this f**king rundown place. No matter what you say, that should count as something."~Bang!"Ahhhhhh!!!---"The gang leader couldn't believe it, but the pain was a reminder that he was really shot.His gun dropped to the floor. And when he tried to reach for it with another hand, another bullet pierced through the air."Ahhhh!~The gang leaders' cries echoed, but no one seemed to care.Oden's face was flat and expressionless."Mr. Ignus... I hate being pointed at. If you're not going to take the shot, then I suggest you keep your filthy hands away from your opponent's face."Gahhh!~Son of a b**ch!!!Oden stopped on the gang leader's bloodied right hand, awakening a nightm
"Watch where ya' going, you crazy bum!""Bloody hell! Did these bastards throw my stand of oranges to the ground? F**king assholes! Why don't you taste my bullets then?"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!The sounds of bullets thundered in the air as several people laid their frustration on the culprits that disrupted their businesses. F***! Can't a person do business and earn money in peace nowadays? Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang!~ The roadside vendor was furious. But the crazy van running zig-zag on the roads, not bothered at all. It drove for a while, finally making a blockbuster drift on the sideways. Well, it would've been 10/10 if not for the motorcycle it crutches underneath its tires. Bam! The van's back doors were opened, and several men jumped off, peering their eyes around vigilantly and others hastily transporting their passed-out victims. Hahahahahaha~ One of them smiled, smashing another on his back. "F***! We're going to be rich! I can't believe we picked up 6 white fa