"You are living because I want you to," Kiba’s voice filled with heavy murderous intention entered her ears. "So appreciate the time you have left."
"!!"
Anamarie’s scalp prickled with danger. Her body lost all its remaining strength.
The terrifying gap in the strength was already too much and now his words horrified her further.
She realized he didn’t even care about her existence. He was aloof like a dragon, not caring about existence of lowly mortals like her.
Kiba freed his hand from her throat, and she began falling down. With strong cracking sound, she sprawled on the ground.
Kiba floated in midair for a moment before shooting off, disappearing in an instant.
On the ground, the guards didn’t even dare take a breath. They were at a lost for words and didn’t know how to react at the chilling development.
A mighty Dark Star was defeated...
The guards touched their foreheads drenching with icy sweat. While frightened, they were secretly relieved it was not them who tried to stop Kiba.
They moved to help Anamarie.
...
A few minutes later.
Kiba flew among trees. The twigs parted on their own and made space for him as he dashed forward.
Suddenly, heavy rumbling sound ringed throughout the area. Kiba moved sidewards as a tree began falling down with a loud thud.
The grass and trees imploded as the ground parted to shoot a dozen of sharp spears. The spears were covered with an earthly glint that reinforced their might by countless folds.
High above, Kiba floated in mid-air. His expression remained nonchalant and his eyes moved towards a particular spot in the forest.
Behind a large tree, Maddox was standing.
Around an hour ago, he has escaped by using a green gemstone. The power of gemstone transferred him in this part of the forest. Later on, he met a few mutants from Iron Blood Mercenaries Corps.
A minute ago, he noticed Kiba passing by and the greed in his heart flared back. He also thirsted for payback for the humiliation he received from Kiba.
After all, how could he forget being ’bitch-slapped’ by two walls as if he was some tennis ball?
The spears he launched carried almost all strength that he could summon in his injured stat. This time he was ready to kill.
The air exploded with a sonic boom as the spears penetrated through it. With an impossible speed, they proceeded to impale Kiba throughout his body.
Kiba didn’t take any action but just looked at the incoming spears. As if from their own violation, the earth element inside the spears started trembling.
BANG
The spears imploded into fine particles. Particles so small that they didn’t even create any dust. They quickly dispersed in thin air.
"No way!"
Maddox has a look of complete disbelief on his face.
"How could he overpower my attack without doing anything?!"
Maddox refused to believe this scene. He has used more power compared to The Fair, and yet, this time Kiba didn’t even move a single body muscle.
The others beside him were wide-eyed. They have heard from Maddox that Kiba was telekinetic but this was different.
Meanwhile, high in the air, streams of golden current cascaded out of Kiba. The space in front of him blurred along with a heavy swoosh sound.
On the ground, Maddox’s face instantly paled.
"Impossible!"
In the sky, out of nowhere, thousands of spears has appeared in thin air. The spears resembled the ones created by Maddox’s ability but this itself shocked him out of wits.
He used potential energy stored inside the ground along with geological components to create and shoot those spears out.
Yet, Kiba has summoned similar spears without such a source of energy like him. What’s more, the quantity was countless times greater than what Maddox was capable of.
"Run!" A mutant beside him shouted.
He instantly regretted accompanying Maddox and cursed his own luck. Neither he or others even participate but just virtue of company, they were now targetted.
The others didn’t really need a reminder. They were mercenaries and fleeing after facing something out of their league came naturally to them.
They knew trying to explain to Kiba would be a futile effort since their former intentions could have been easily guessed.
Maddox gulped down and he too made a dash for his life.
"Imagine my surprise, these spears have appeared for you all," Kiba said with a faint smile. "What’s more, they are begging to embrace you all."
With a whoosh sound, the spears fell towards the running group of mutants. It was like there was a rain of spears.
A mutant rolled his hand out and an air vortex shot out of his palms. He was hoping to destroy the three spears piercing towards him, but much to his horror and disappointment, the spears passed right through the vortex without any damage.
He didn’t even get an opportunity to shriek as one spear penetrated through his throat while the other two at his heart and forehead.
"Such close love," Kiba remarked.
A female mutant turned into a liquid mass and sipped into the grassland. She has just entered the ground by a meter when the soil layers around her exploded. Her liquid body was blasted outward and she screamed as two spears impaled through her. She transformed back into her solid form before breathing for the final time.
A few mutants tried to protect themselves by combining their abilities to create a large elemental shield, but sadly, when the rain of spears crashed down, the shield cracked like a layer of frail glass. They let out heart-wrenching screams as the spears embraced them into a close bond...
A young mutant transformed into a bird and soared high to save his poor life. Fate has something else in mind as he soon realized. He sensed ten spears changing their direction in mid-air and rushing at him.
"No!"
The transformed mutant wailed for the final time.
Maddox was regretting his decision of trying to hunt Kiba. He shuddered as he heard screams behind him. He couldn’t believe how quickly and easily his companions died.
"They should not be this weak, right?" Maddox thought while running at full speed. He has ducked a lot of spears in the process, saving himself by a hairbreadth.
"They want to hug you, and yet you are acting like that," Kiba’s voice entered his ears. "You don’t have to be so stubborn, you know?"
Maddox’s pupils dilated and his skin crawled with a terrible sensation.
He felt Kiba’s voice was like a common friend trying to pacify a fighting couple. A friend who wanted the best for both parties...
"Damn! Like hell, he wants best for me!" Maddox accelerated his speed.
Either due to fate or by some twisted working of the fate, a small stone crashed onto his feet. He lost balance and collapsed on the ground. He raised his head towards the sky while trying to get back on his feet.
"No!" Maddox screamed as he saw hundreds of spears raining down. He gritted his teeth and sucked strength from soil. The strength flew through his bloodstream and enveloped his main vitals.
"AHHHHH!"
Maddox cried a terrifying scream. Spears pierced through his limbs and chest, planting him to the ground.
"Shit! No choice!"
Maddox was on verge of dying. He shattered one of his teeth, under which a green gemstone was visible.
Maddox didn’t want to resort to this method. This was the last remnants of his life-escape treasure but he was forced to use it again.
The gemstone flashed with a green glow, and the next moment, he vanished, leaving behind blood-stained spears.
"Again?"
Kiba didn’t really care much about Maddox’s another escape.
Meanwhile, a kilometer or two away, there was faint rattling sound. An advanced attack helicopter - heavily armed with rockets - rapidly flew.
The helicopter offered a strong defense, heavy attack power, and even stealth. It could avoid detection thanks to camouflage technology.
Inside it, a team of five mutants was sitting. They were a part of a larger group that was staying in The Fair. When they heard about Kiba’s actions, they decided to target him.
After knowing he has ’escaped’ from two Dark Stars due to the intervention of others, they brought the helicopter to increase their chances of finding him.
They were not the only ones who were after Kiba. Even Beta-rank mutants have left The Fair to hunt him.
The group inside the helicopter was pleasantly surprised to see him floating in mid-air. They thought it would take them a long while to find him in the vast forest.
"We found him first," An agility-type mutant named Seema said.
"Luck is on our side," The pilot said with a smirk.
"Haha, let’s overpower him," A mutant named Gilo said. He was blessed with enhanced physical strength.
"If others find him, we would lose our golden chance."
"True!"
The others in the team readily agreed.
The pilot locked sensors on Kiba, and after receiving beeping sound, he pulled the trigger.
The mechanism activated and the rocket launcher created heavy sounds as the rockets got ready to fire off.
Suddenly, the eyes of the pilot constricted in alarm as he looked at the stats on the screen. Sweat started dripping from his brows and he frantically started pressing switches.
The person next to him noticed his reaction and was taken aback.
"What’s wrong?" He asked, a bit worried.
"The rockets are not launching off!" The pilot answered, his voice hoarse. "But the rockets have already been activated!"
"What?!"
"I’m not able to deactivate them! There is some internal problem!" The pilot was getting hysterical by every passing moment.
"Damn! You should have checked before we came here!"
The group glanced at Kiba who was still in the same position. The group reasoned he hasn’t noticed them due to the camouflage technology.
"We need to capture him! Do something before he escapes!" Seema shouted.
"I’m trying! FUCK!" Pilot swore loudly and his eyes bulged.
"Now what?!" Gilo was annoyed by the pilot’s constant whining.
"The rocket motor has short-circuited!" The pilot muttered.
"What does it mean---?"
The pilot didn’t even wait for the question to be completed. He discarded the controls and jumped out of the helicopter.
"He...!!"
The others instantly understood what it implied.
BOOM
At the same time, inside the launcher, the rockets exploded. The fire of explosion engulfed helicopter and it started falling down from a high altitude.
Smog and fire swept out from the burning helicopter. It was reinforced with protective materials, and this was the only reason it could barely maintain its feeble existence.
Out of the group of five, the pilot has already jumped. Two were unlucky enough to die the moment the explosion occurred while other two - Seema and Gilo leaped before the explosion could engulf them.
Seema rotated her arms rapidly to create air streams for support. She was rapidly falling down but she has enough confidence to survive.
She suddenly flinched as she sensed a huge danger approaching her.
"Ah!"
Seema cried out in shock as she saw the fire-wrapped helicopter. The rotor-head has ripped from helicopter body, and now, rotary wings were swinging towards her, in blurred motion.
The rotary wings were sharp like a sword and fire of explosion has done no harm to them. They continued to twirl as before.
Their movement flashed with an extraordinary sharpness as they drew close to her. It was like the blow from explosion has propelled them with super speed that was enough to catch up with Seema.
"How could they be so fast?!"
Seema got no time to think. She was rapidly approaching ground and the rotor blades were closing to her.
Gritting her teeth, she activated a protective item that wrapped her body with a cocoon-like shield.
SLICE
Much to her horror, one of the rotating blades ripped through her protective cocoon. The blades continued to rotate, and like a sharp knife, the edge of the same blade pierced her stomach, splashing blood in air.
A gut-wrenching pain swept in her senses and she let out a miserable scream.
Sadly, even her scream didn’t last long. Another blade slashed through her neck, tossing her head away.
Blood gushed out from her sliced neck as her lifeless body crashed into the ground. The blades finally stopped rotating.
BANG
With strong rumbling sound, the helicopter crashed onto the ground. It was entirely destroyed, no better than scorched wreckage. It would be impossible for anyone to believe this helicopter was capable of surviving any offensive attack.
Some distance away, Gilo landed on the ground, on all his fours. Thanks to his high strength, he was able to safely land without a single injury.
"Those bastards didn’t even carry out a safety check," Gilo cursed as he glanced at the wreckage of helicopter. "Two lives lost."
Smoke and sparks were continuously flying out of the wreckage, polluting the fresh air.
"Where are others?" Gilo wondered. The next moment, he saw the head of Seema.
"How?!"
He turned around and noticed her headless corpse, impaled by rotor blades.
"She couldn’t escape from blades despite her agility?" Gilo was having a hard time comprehending the situation.
Things have escalated far too quickly for him to make sense. One moment, he and his team were laughing at their upcoming success, and the next moment, a tragedy struck them.
Gilo looked around and he was further shocked. He saw his pilot companion some hundred meters away.
He expected the pilot to be alright, at least not in the state he was seeing now.
The pilot was smashed into a bloody paste. It was like he directly crushed into the ground, without any preventive action on his part.
Gilo felt nauseated from seeing corpses of his former companions.
TAP
He heard a tapping sound from behind and just as he turned around, his vision was shrouded by an approaching hand.
"Argh!"
The hand pressed on his face and lifted him into the air. Then without any warning, his entire body was struck into a tree behind.
Gilo was a strength-type mutant and such attack should be like a breeze, but now, he felt as if he was crushed between two mountains. Sound of cracking came from his face and entire body, and the next moment, he exploded into pieces.
As his shredded face fell down, his eyes were visible. They were filled with resentment and despair. Even till his final moment, he did not get a chance to fight back much less see the face of his attacker.
But he has a feeling he knew the attacker.
This was the last thought that ran in his mind as death embraced him...
Kiba stood among blood and gore but not a single stain on his body. His expression remained nonchalant as he saw the remnants of dead.
When a person kills someone, a whirlwind of emotions that take over heart and mind. Taking a life is something that can’t be undone, and the experience of being responsible for the same can push a person to edge.
Guilt, depression, and nightmares corrode the very soul of a killer.
But this is only restricted for those born in normal, civil society.
A society which conditions the thought process of its citizens towards one set of morals.
On the other hand, for a hunter, there are no complex emotions involved. If there is something involved then it is the rush of adrenaline and the thrill from destruction of life.
Feelings which only a true hunter can appreciate.
Kiba raised his head and looked at the bright sun. As the vibrant sunlight basked his face, the corners of his mouth curled up.
"Why was I holding back for some plan? This is so much fun."