The Reincarnated Hitman

"A second awakening," Sable said before calmly taking a sip of the alcohol before him.

Riley had a dark frown on her face as she looked at the man before her.

The two were currently in what seemed to be the private area of a bar on a date... though Riley would never admit it.

She claimed that she was only here to find out what she could about Liam from the grey market agent.

Though Sable was barely telling her anything.

"What do you mean by second awakening?" Riley asked.

"You also looked into the kid, didn’t you?" Sable asked as he set down the glass, "That’s the only explanation that would make sense in his situation."

A Second awakening, like a normal awakening, was a rare phenomenon.

After one’s Pragma crossed a certain threshold, they awakened a Factor.

Whilst one’s Pragma could be increased after that, one was stuck with the Factor they initially awakened.

But in rare cases, an awakened human would go through a second awakening, an awakening that evolved one’s Factor.

And according to Sable, Liam might’ve gone through such an awakening, especially given that he was previously stated to almost be a Null.

"That’s impossible," she finally said.

"Yes, but that’s the only conclusion that makes sense right now," Sable answered with a shrug.

He then picked up the glass again, but instead of drinking, he simply looked through the amber liquid.

"But if the kid truly has gone through a second awakening, then he should be a lot stronger than he lets on," the agent added.

After all, the few who had experienced a second awakening had ended up becoming absolute monsters.

***

Zero wished that weren’t the case for the current Torque in front of him, but all the signs told him otherwise.

"Why the hell would you go through a second awakening right now?" The hitman said before letting out an exhausted sigh, "You just made my job a lot harder."

Though his words seemed casually said, even he knew the danger Torque now posed.

The hero walked out the hole created by Zero’s body and stopped a small distance away from the hitman.

His blue eyes were now glowing, a fact that was made all the more obvious by the darkness surrounding them.

Torque looked down at his palm, as he could feel himself brimming with power.

It almost felt like he had ascended to a level he never thought he would reach, and he very much liked that feeling.

He then lifted his head towards the white-haired man who had come here to kill him before saying, "Since I owe my second awakening to you, I’ll end this quickly."

He then lifted his hand, and the next second, Zero was launched from his position, straight into the wall.

"Ack!"

The hitman hadn’t been given a chance to even react before he found himself buried into a wall.

"Well," Torque muttered, "as soon as I learn to control it."

He then lifted his hand again, and with the slightest motion, he pulled the hitman from the wall and straight towards him.

Torque then grabbed Zero by the neck before asking, "Now then, are you still disappointed?"

The hitman suddenly closed his eyes before replying, "Yup."

Before the hero had the chance to understand his intentions, Zero tossed a familiar canister in the air between them.

Torque didn’t get enough time to react when the flash-bang suddenly went off, blinding him again.

The sudden flash of light disrupted his Factor’s hold over the hitman, allowing him to escape.

Although Zero’s ears were ringing, he ignored it for now as his katana reappeared in his hand.

Without the slightest bit of hesitation, the hitman swung it towards Torque’s neck; after all, there was no chance of him awakening for the third time if he had no head.

Unfortunately, just before the sword could reach its target, it came to a sudden halt, stopping inches away from Torque’s neck.

Or rather, the hitman was the one who had been completely stopped in place.

"Cute," Torque spoke up as he turned towards the frozen Zero, "but that trick is getting old; try another."

He realized that he didn’t need his vision to manipulate the Forces within an object anymore, as long as his Pragma was touching it, then he could manipulate it.

The hero launched the hitman into the wall again, once again knocking the breath out of him.

Zero fell to one knee, blood dripping from his nose....He most definitely had gotten a concussion from being slammed through walls multiple times.

Perhaps even his brain had been affected, hence the reason for his smile, even while he was losing blood.

The hitman slowly stood up, wiped the blood from the side of his lips and said, "I’ve figured it out."

Torque looked at him in confusion, wondering if he had slammed him a bit too hard into the wall.

Well.... Considering the human-shaped dents and holes decorating the walls, he most definitely had.

But that wouldn’t matter, since he intended to end the assassin’s life.

He lifted his hand with the intention to launch Zero into the wall again, this time headfirst, but nothing seemed to happen.

Torque frowned as he tried again, but the results were still the same; he couldn’t affect the forces within the white-haired man before him.

"Told you, didn’t I?" Zero said with a chuckle, "I figured it out."

"What the hell are you talking about?" The hero asked, confused.

So far, his Factor had been working just fine on the hitman, so what the hell was happening right now?

"You see," Zero started with a grin still on his lips, "ever since I received your file, I wondered how your Factor truly worked."

He looked at the still confused hero before continuing, "after all, it wouldn’t make sense for your Factor to just activate on your targets without some sort of contact."

"So I did a bit of an experiment," he added, lifting the katana still in his hand, "I coated my katana in my pragma."

Torque’s face got a bit paler as he realized that another one of his weaknesses had been discovered....a weakness that his second awakening hadn’t fixed.

"Since you couldn’t stop the katana, you decided to stop me instead, and that’s when I realized," an even larger grin appeared on Zero’s face as he added, "you need to wrap your Pragma around your targets to manipulate the forces within them."

He then stood up straight and opened both arms wide as he finished, "and to counter it, I just need to wrap my own Pragma around myself."

Torque was silent for a while before letting out a sigh and muttering to himself, "How annoying."

Zero then took a low stance and said, "Now then, it’s my turn."

The next second, he disappeared completely.

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A/N: Thank you so much for the Castle CapNoLife