Journey of the Son of Ares

The large space, basked in faint yellow light, stayed quiet for a while after Aurelius managed to even the odds.

If the other party lost their leverage, the situation would fall apart. Every movement was crucial, and at any moment, Aurelius' hostage could escape his grasp. It was too late to make her unconscious, though. He had to keep reinforcement on and he couldn't lose the compressed ball of essence, or the girl would get the opportunity to try escaping without being blown to bits immediately. In other words, he couldn't use enhancement to its full effect in this situation, and there was no way to knock the girl out without it.

Aurelius tightened his grasp on the girl's throat while he looked to her sister. "Get closer. When you're close enough, we will be able to make the exchange."

"You come closer. My hostage is in a chair."

"My hostage is unconscious," Aurelius spat, "and I can't hold this compression for long, so if you don't want to see your sister's brains splattered on this asphalt, then get moving!"

The masked woman tilted her head down and began striding forward, dragging the chair behind her. She seemed awfully confident that Cade wouldn't wake up. What had they done to her?

Aurelius watched in suspense as he focused every bit of his sense of touch to feel any movements his hostage made.

When the one dragging Cade along then stopped just a couple of meters away, Aurelius slowly let go of the girl's throat, and let the compressed ball of essence fade away bit by bit. The masked girl stepped to the side of Cade's chair. Both knew that if the other made any sudden movement, a hostage would die in the blink of an eye.

Aurelius let go of his hostage as the masked girl backed away from hers. Then, Aurelius figured it was safe to dash forward.

He let go and let the ball in his hand disappear before enhancing his body to the max and launching at Cade. When the masked woman saw her sister be freed, she materialized a long blade and stabbed it at Cade's throat. Aurelius had known it before it happened, though, and a wall of essence had already formed.

Aurelius picked up the metal chair Cade was tied to, as if it weighed as much as an apple or two, and ran straight at the back wall of the factory space. The hunters were already behind him, though, so he wasted no time in ripping through the back wall and jumping to the steel roof of a nearby building.

The sun had set, and it had grown dark. Everything was dark gray, muddy and slippery from the never-ending drizzle.

He proceeded to maneuver from rooftop to rooftop while he put reinforcement on a mini-supply and tried to figure things out. He tried waking Cade up, but had no success. He couldn't break Cade free in a situation like this. He had to simply give the hunters what they wanted. He already knew they weren't willing to sacrifice each other for their mission, so the path was clear.

Aurelius jumped to the highest roof in the area, over half a hundred meters in the air, and put the metal chair down before looking back. The hunters were about to make their way up as well, jumping from roof to roof.

Aurelius reached in his pocket and took out the vial. He then closed his eyes for a split second and moved his lips in something akin to a prayer before taking off the lid and gulping down the cursed beast's lifeblood.

Immediately, his entire body tensed, and afterward, an illusory feeling traveled throughout his bloodstream. Then, warmth exploded from the center of his body and spread everywhere, lighting up his brain and tickling the backs of his eyeballs.

It all happened so fast, but it was such a unique and utterly addicting feeling.

The thing that scared Aurelius deep within was that even before his mind had thought it, his body had jumped forward into action. In the air, he faced the pair of hunters that were trying to make it to Cade. Then essence seemed to explode in the area as they clashed in the dark gray expanse. Aurelius couldn't hold his strength. It was so great that it had to be expressed.

He strengthened reinforcement and coated his body in a layer of materialization. Then his bare hand met the blades of the twins and before they could slice his skin, he crushed the materialized essence like glass between his fingers. The girls gasped, but Aurelius spared no time before shoving the airborne figures of the cloaked hunters back where they came from. The pair couldn't counter the impact and plummeted to the rooftop they had jumped from.

Aurelius was left alone in the sky, standing on a faint blue platform of essence that provided almost all the illumination there was, while he stared at the hunters below. The shove hadn't done much. The girls had recovered quickly and were now standing about ten meters apart on the steel-plated rooftop, the only evidence of their fall being the depressions that decorated the plates of steel.

Aurelius walked a few steps in the sky until he was right in the middle of the masked girls and let the platform disappear, things growing dark for the moment he was falling to the ground.

When he landed, he crouched straight away, and two light blades crossed at the place his neck would have been.

Aurelius bounced up in an instant and pushed both the girls back with his palms. They flew farther than expected. Aurelius looked down at his hands. He wasn't sure at what rate his essence supplies were at. Hell, he wasn't even sure what he was using. Everything came so naturally in this state. It was like heaven. Not in the sense that he was in the presence of gods, but in the sense that he was one. Things just listened to his commands and lined up exactly as he wanted.

The hunters rushed from both sides. This time, they seemed faster. Aurelius poured all the essence he could muster to pretty much anywhere he felt it could fit and watched things happen. Despite the darkness, his sight was so clear that he could distinctly see each movement of the hunters in the dark, and his body seemed to react by itself. The enhancer... it had amplified his instincts.

Everything was great. Aurelius dodged and dodged. Even when he was hit, it was nothing but a dull impact that faded as fast as it came. All the while, he swung his arms and felt as the world shifted under his power. It was all so right.

It was too overwhelming to follow as attacks flew around. The hunters worked with all sorts of blades and bounced off of one another like they were part of the same being. Aurelius smiled as he watched. It was great. So great. All the attacks went right before his eyes.

Then he fired back. Instantly, his eyes went wide with ecstasy. Just one hit! One hit was all that was all that was required from him to crack a multitude of one of the hunter's reinforced ribs.

The hunter continued fighting, but blood dripped from underneath her mask. Aurelius could feel his victory creeping closer as he was throwing strikes that got closer and closer each time. The only thing keeping these people alive was their battle prowess. Without it, they were nothing to Aurelius. If the fight had been a simple contest of speed, Aurelius would have won a thousand times over.

It was just a matter of time until he won, though, as the hunter's still hadn't landed anything significant. Or so he thought.

He truly hadn't felt a thing.

But he was no longer able to live his fantasy when, during an encounter, his knees buckled and he collapsed onto his back. His eyes flew open in confusion, but then he looked down, and the questions turned to unfiltered horror.

His body was more covered in blood than clothing. And among the stripes of crimson, there was a sickening amalgamation that moved in swirls of black. Aurelius gasped for breath as blood boiled at the back of his throat. He tried to flood his body with enhancement, but none of it had any effect.

At that moment, Cade's words came back to him. 'Enhancers can help you get a one-time feeling of superiority before leading you to a miserable death.'

Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked up at the black-and-white hunter about to plunge the shining sword into Aurelius's heart. He tried to form his last thoughts, but all his head could process were the whines coming from his own mouth as he struggled back. Behind him was the other hunter, though, with her own blade hoisted up in the air.

He would die like this. He didn't want to, but he deserved to. Perhaps, it was right.

Then the blades came down. At least half way, until a figure cut through the air and came down with her own blade, going straight through the hunter's cloak and neck all the same.

The hunter behind Aurelius was still and silent for a moment before letting out a wail and bringing her blade down at Aurelius' helpless figure, spilling blood onto the wet plates on the roof, dyeing the whole thing red. Aurelius' tried lifting his forearms as defense, but no shield came forth.

One wasn't necessary, though, as his savior rushed at the other hunter. She twisted the hunter's arm, and a crack came before a scream that held within a palpable pain that nobody could escape from.

The scream didn't last long, however, as a blade went through her throat and she slumped down to the ground, motionless and dead.

Aurelius opened and closed her mouth as oxygen was running out. He was gradually choking on his own blood, but his neck wouldn't move and he couldn't spit the blood out.

It was then that Cade came to his side and went on her knees before turning him to his side so that the blood could flow out freely. Aurelius looked at Cade's expression, which was riddled with worry as bits of glistening light formed at the bottoms of her eyes. He smiled with blissful ignorance of the situation.

"Why?" she asked. "Why did you come for me? Why did you take an enhancer? I told you not to!"

Aurelius tried reaching up a hand, but fell short. Cade noticed the effort and took his hand into hers.

Then Aurelius opened his mouth and painfully managed to get out a few words. "For you."

Cade's expression shaped into a deep frown as he squeezed Aurelius' hand. "Hold on. I'll take you somewhere warm. Just stay with me. Re— Rey? Rey!"

She yelled, but Aurelius couldn't hear. His consciousness faded, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head while a smile stayed plastered on his face.