Chapter 34: The Hunter and the Hunted
We’d crafted a plan to take down Abdu before he could fight back, banking on the Squads awakened powers.
Billie’s hands weaved through the air, bending electromagnetic waves—visible light bowing effortlessly to his will. Bill-board’s fingers flickered, sculpting sound waves and shattering the silence with infrasonic rumbles. With a flicker of focus, Billie woved illusions across a 200-meter radius, a spectacle of shimmering energy.
I stood there, jaw tight, marveling at how they shaped the world beyond their own bodies—something my mind struggled to grasp.
The twins struck first, their powers flowing together with lethal grace. Billie’s light warped and twisted, painting the battlefield with the vivid blues of a restless sea. Bill-board’s sound surged in, drowning out reality with the roar of crashing waves.
The illusion pulsed with life, so real I could almost taste the salt.
Their mirage was our trap. While Abdu’s eyes darted through the false ocean, I’d slip in for the kill, my speed a literal silent blade. Billie conjured a mirror-like shimmer between us—Abdu wouldn’t hear my steps or see my shadow. My hyper visual sense cut through the deception, locking onto him like a hunter’s gaze. I was the only one who could do this.
A sharp breath, then I whispered to 2.0.
The Solid State activated.
My body ignited, muscles screaming as I hit sonic speed—the fastest I’d seen any Neogen reach without a special powers.
Those with lower speeds usually compensated with greater strength. After an awakening, however, an individual’s speed and strength would at least double, depending on the nature of their new special ability
I’d crunched the numbers: my momentum could cleave through somone as powerful as Abdu. Backing up hundreds of meters, I coiled, then launched—wind howling past, 2.0’s 2% boost crackling through me. My limits shattered; my bones rattled. I aimed for Abdu’s neck, sword flashing—until it met his skin and then unexpectedly, it exploded into shards.
A fist slammed into my gut, Abdu’s blow a thunderclap that crushed my insides and hurled me across the field.