Talent Awakening: Draconic Overlord Of The Apocalypse

The Union officers stormed in, visored helmets gleaming under the chamber's flickering lights. "Open fire!" their leader roared, raising a pulse rifle.

Aiku tilted his head, smirking. "I'm not sure you'd want to do that."

The officers pulled their triggers—and their rifles exploded in a cacophony of sparks and shrapnel.

The men stumbled, dazed, clutching scorched hands. Before they could recover, Aiku suddenly appeared before one, moving with precision.

"What's the possibility," he mused, raising a single finger, "that a single flick from me could completely destroy your skull?"

The officer froze, trembling behind his cracked visor, eyes wide with terror. Aiku's smile widened. "Very likely."

With a casual flick, the officer's head exploded, armor shattering like glass.

His body crumpled, headless, to the floor. The other officers gaped, shock rooting them in place.

They had just witnessed a man blow off an officer's head with a single finger flick—and the man who did it wasn't even that muscular.

He didn't even possess a strength or speed enhancement talent.

No.

But what he possessed was perhaps more terrifying... null-type talents that made him a threat to even the Union President.

Two of them, in fact.

His talents were—Absolute Luck SS and Gamble the Fate SS—twisted reality, making the improbable inevitable.

Aiku turned to the remaining officers, their rifles trembling in their grips.

"Officers... it seems your luck has unfortunately run out."

The chamber went still.

A breathless silence stretched, thick with dread.

Claus stood back, letting the reality of Aiku's display sink in. He had seen his fair share of horrors, of powers that defied reason—but this was different. There had been no warning, no buildup. Just a flick… and death.

"Fall back!" one of the officers shouted, panic overtaking protocol.

"Negative!" barked another. "Hold the line! He's bluffing—he has to be!"

Aiku's golden gaze slid to the officer who spoke. "Bluffing?" he repeated, stepping forward with a soft chuckle. "Dear boy, do I look like I need to bluff?"

One officer, trembling, pointed a shaking gun forward despite the earlier explosion. "I… I'll shoot!"

Aiku raised a single eyebrow. "Another fool ready to test his luck?"

The officer fired.

Click.

A misfire.

Aiku's grin widened as he casually walked toward him. "Unlucky."

Aiku turned, dusting imaginary ash from his sleeves. "Your lives are on borrowed time, gentlemen. I suggest you return them before interest kicks in."

More officers soon showed up.

Existing officers whose guns had exploded pulled out plasma swords.

"Target is anomalous! Use lethal force!"

The hallway burst into chaos. Muzzle flashes strobed the chamber in harsh light as bullets roared toward Aiku from all sides.

He didn't move.

Not a single step.

He simply smiled.

The bullets closed in, but they never hit. They veered.

One ricocheted off a chunk of fallen metal and buried itself into the shooter's own shoulder.

Another shattered mid-air, shards slicing into the arm of a second officer.

Two more tripped over their own feet as their guns inexplicably jammed, sparks flying from their weapons.

Aiku sighed as he lazily stepped forward, ducking a blade swing—not because he saw it coming, but because he bent to dust imaginary dirt off his boots.

The attacker's momentum carried him forward—and he slipped on a spent casing, twisting in mid-air and landing directly on the edge of his own plasma blade.

The chamber went still again.

The other plasma sword users rushed in as the remaining officers shot, their weapons humming with deadly energy. Sparks flew as the blades carved through the air, leaving trails of molten light.

Aiku didn't flinch.

The first swordsman lunged.

Aiku sidestepped effortlessly—no flourish, no wasted movement. The man's blade slammed into the floor, molten steel hissing. Before the officer could recover, Aiku casually flicked a loose screw from the ground with his toe, and the man's leg exploded. He fell to the floor, screaming. The screw spun through the air, struck a hanging light—

—ricocheted once—

—and embedded itself clean into the swordsman's exposed neck joint.

He dropped, gargling.

Another officer charged with a cry, swinging wide.

"Predictable," Aiku muttered, ducking so lazily it looked like he was checking his shoes again. The plasma blade carved into another charging officer behind him, slicing the man in half.

"Oops," Aiku said with a wink. "Friendly fire's a b*tch."

Three more came at once, surrounding him.

Aiku smiled.

The moment their blades swung, the lights flickered—one officer's visor shorted from an earlier explosion, and he blindly spun. His sword hit another's weapon, rebounding it—

—into his own thigh. He screamed.

The third's blade got caught in the floor plating—right as Aiku nudged the back of his helmet. He stumbled forward—

—into the path of another wild swing.

Three down in a heartbeat.

"Honestly though, what is Galisk teaching you people? Even a bunch of circus monkeys would have had less predictable attacks. On a different note, when was the last time you people cleaned this place? It's so dusty. To think Galisk kept me down here for a century," Aiku said, a bit annoyed, brushing a spark off his coat.

One officer howled and leapt overhead for a downward slash.

Aiku didn't even look. He sneezed.

The sneeze jolted his head just enough to dodge the sword—and the officer crashed into a broken pipe, scalding steam bursting into his face as he screamed and dropped his blade.

Aiku blinked, mildly surprised. "Huh. Didn't see that one coming."

More sword users hesitated now, circling him like vultures.

"Come on then," Aiku said, holding out his arms mockingly. "Let's see which one of you has the luckiest death."

His grin was dazzling, his golden eyes gleaming like a golden coin flip.

Another's blade handle suddenly sparked, the weapon shorting out completely. As he stared at it in confusion, Aiku stepped forward and slapped him across the face.

The man's helmet exploded on impact.

Aiku sighed, looking at his hand.

"I was trying to make that one a mercy kill. Seems I've gotten a bit rusty with my strength."

He looked at the last remaining sword user—shaking, pale, plasma blade trembling in his grip.

"Go ahead," Aiku whispered. "Make a wish."

The officer screamed, charged—

—and slipped on blood.

Aiku caught him by the collar mid-fall, leaned in, and whispered, "Bad roll."

Then he let go.

The man's neck cracked as he hit the floor.

Then Aiku looked at the other officers... then vanished.

One officer blinked—and Aiku was in front of him, palm resting lightly against the man's chest.

"You might want to brace yourself."

He tapped once.

The officer flew back as if struck by a truck, slamming into the far wall with a sickening crunch. His bones cracked audibly even through the armor.

Another screamed and opened fire point-blank—only for his weapon to combust in his hands. His body flailed backward, flames licking at his suit as he rolled to extinguish himself.

One tried to rush Claus instead, deciding the detective was the real threat—but Aiku didn't allow it.

A single playing card shimmered into existence between his fingers. With a casual flick, he sent it flying. The card sliced through the air like a razor, embedding itself in the man's throat.

He dropped wordlessly.

Claus, from behind, didn't flinch—but his hand did drift slightly to his coat, fingers hovering near his own gun, just in case.

Aiku stood in the center of the carnage, surrounded by groaning, bleeding bodies.

The last officer standing looked around in terror, his lips trembling.

Aiku approached him slowly.

"Let me guess," he said gently. "You're thinking of running."

The man nodded frantically.

Aiku smiled. "Good instinct."

The officer bolted.

And promptly slipped on a blood-slicked tile, tumbling face-first into a jagged piece of metal debris.

Unconscious. Maybe worse.

Aiku turned, brushing hair from his face, and exhaled with satisfaction. "Now that," he said, "was statistically improbable… and artistically beautiful."

Claus finally stepped forward through the chaos.

"You done?"

"For now," Aiku said with a tilt of his head. "But this was just a warm-up. The real game's still waiting."

And then, as if it were an afterthought, he added with a grin:

"Also, I'm going to need that deck of cards. Preferably gold-edged."