Reborn- Apocalypse 2

by L. M. Kerr

  She avoided contact with practically everyone and had long since removed her mask.

  According to Micheal, their Emissary disguises would become foiled very soon and they wouldn't be able to rely upon them. She would have to move with her own strength, fighting down anyone that came at her.

  Finally, after all of her effort, she managed to reach Shin's location without giving away who she was or talking with any of the Godfather Organization patrols.

  And the moment she got here, she had been met with a challenge to duel and then an immediate attack.

  It was infuriating.

  'If I had wanted to take you down, all I needed to do was stare at you.' She thought, her eyes narrowed. White light flashed from them, the pink aura she used to give off no longer visible.

  While she was traveling, Sophia had put in serious practice when it came to practicing her Fairy Eyes Ability after Micheal's advice. As a result, she reached a point where she could control the color of light they gave off, disguising the Ability.

  She couldn't get rid of the air dropping in temperature, but the progress she made was already enough to make most people clueless.

  It was fantastic progress that would've shocked Micheal. Few people could gain such familiarity and control over their Ability in so short a time. Sophia's talent and adaptability were absolutely as high as he remembered them being.

  Sophia stalked down the stairs, keeping her guard up. She shuffled down them quickly, her footsteps echoing in the mostly quiet stairwell.

  It took her only a few seconds to find out where Shin had gone.

  He'd traveled down two floors, rushing into the hallway with such speed that he left the door stuck open.

  Sophia noticed this with a frown. She walked forward tentatively, her eyes pensive.

  The hallway was well lit, with a plain purple carpet covering the floor. Dozens of doors lined it, and at the end, she could see another stairwell door. Shin was nowhere to be seen.

  The door behind her silently shut as she walked in.

  "Come on out, you brat!" She spoke aloud, her voice full of irritation.

  To her surprise, right after she said that, the lackadaisical figure of Shin actually appeared.

  He had emerged from a room that was only a couple of doors down, his gun put back into a holster on his hip. He gave her a friendly wave as he walked out.

  "Great acting out there, Sophia. That's what you said your name was, right?" Shin gave her a thumbs up.

  The moment she saw him, her hand twitched as she pulled her sword up. She took several steps forward, bringing her sword to bear just a few meters from him.

  Shin noticed all of this with amusement as he waved at her,

  "Woah, steady there, girlo. We're all good in here. They won't be able to see or hear us. You can drop the act." Shin nodded as he finished speaking, gesturing at the various doorways.

  She froze when what he was saying registered in her mind.

  "They… are watching?" She blinked in confusion.

  "Only from outside. They can't hear us in here." Shin nodded again as he walked up to her with a friendly smile. When he spoke, he repeated himself slowly as if talking to a child. A hint of pity appeared in his eyes, as if he was looking at someone that was a bit… mentally slow.

  Sophia stared at him, at a complete loss as she slowly lowered her sword.

  "W-what?" She stuttered out.

  Shin eyed her askance as he sighed,

  "The people that are watching me. You are Sophia, right? The one Micheal sent? The one that replied to my post?" He continued to eye her suspiciously.

  Sophia nodded slowly,

  "Yes, Micheal sent me. He said to find a man named Shin that could teleport." By this point, her anger had completely cooled, replaced by raw confusion.

  "Good! Then we're all done here." Shin clapped his hands together as he went on,

  "I gotta say, you really were convincing. I thought you actually wanted to murder me for a second." Shin laughed out loud.

  "I-I-I" Sophia stuttered more, looking almost as if she was about to cry,

  "I don't understand."

  The duo stared at each other in silence for a few seconds.

  Right after that, Shin began to explain. They walked into one of the side rooms and sat down as he talked, Shin taking a chair while Sophia sat on the bed.

  Sophia's eyes widened as she heard what he had to say. A blush also crept onto her face as she realized her misunderstanding.

  After she found Shin's post, she had eventually left a reply saying she was coming. Shin had replied back to her comment, something that she had completely missed.

  She had never been very internet savvy, and after she left her reply, she hadn't turned the phone back on. She'd never imagined that Shin would've replied back to her, considering the huge number of people that had already replied to him.

  According to Shin, he was currently being watched by some of the elites of the Godfather Organization, something he warned her about in his reply. He even recommended that she wait a day if she could.

  "But why?" Sophia rushed past her embarrassment, jumping straight to the point.

  "Oh, well, that's an easy one. It's because I joined them!" He exclaimed triumphantly, rocking back in his chair.

  "You-what?! Why?! Didn't Micheal say not to join any organizations!" Sophia had unconsciously started to view Micheal's orders as absolute, leaning on him like a strong, solid pillar.

  "Well, kinda, yeah. But they're the good guys here, and they came to recruit me." He explained how he met Admiral Cardell and everything about his previous situation.

  "Besides. If I really need to get away, I can. I have the power to teleport, after all." He shrugged.

  "But… why are they watching you?" She frowned. His explanation didn't explain why he would be watched.

  "Ah, right. I'm currently in the middle of a test, actually. My location has been given out on their network to anyone who wants to challenge a potential Sub-Executive. If you defeat me, you get some sort of reward, though I'm not too sure on the specifics." Shin waved his hands to the side airily,

  "I have to stay here for 12 hours to complete their evaluation. It's been 5 hours now already and I've defeated 7 challengers, but it hasn't been that hard. My Abilities give me a pretty big edge." Shin explained in a completely relaxed manner, not at all like someone that was being hunted.

  "A test for what?!" She stared at him in shock.

  "I told you. They want me to be one of their Sub-Executives. This is the third and last part of their tests to prove I have the strength to become one of the higher-ups in the Godfather Organization." Shin shrugged again.

  "They just- but you've- how- I don't-" Sophia was unable to form a coherent sentence as she stared at him, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

  She took a deep breath, calming herself down.

  "They barely know you, right? Even if they respect your strength, how could they trust you?" Sophia's words contained a certain level of logic in them.

  "Well, of course they trust me. After all…" Shin grinned back a response,

  "I helped cure Head Cameron and saved his life!"

  Sophia's jaw didn't drop, nor did she stutter in surprise. If anything, she seemed to have given up. All she did was blink slowly and then sigh.

  "…you're just like him…" She muttered quietly, looking around the hallway in an annoyed manner.

  "What was that?" Shin perked up cheerfully.

  "Nothing." Sophia ran her fingers through her hair. She quickly regained control of her emotions, turning her attention back to Shin.

  "Micheal told me that poison was supposed to be incurable on the First Layer." She had asked him about it when they were traveling on the Great Bridge, in one of their many casual night talks.

  "Oh yeah. It totally was!" Shin nodded, but didn't say anything else.

  Sophia stared at him expectantly.

  He stared back.

  "And?!" She
broke the stalemate as she gestured at him impatiently,

  Shin hid a smile as he continued,

  "It's true that I'm no expert on poison or anything. However… there is one thing I can do that most people can't." He grinned openly.

  His body disappeared, right before Sophia's eyes.

  Less than a second later, Sophia felt a presence appear right behind her.

  She jumped forward and spun around, leaping from the bed as her heart pounded.

  "I can teleport!" Shin winked at her cheekily, sitting right behind where she had been, with impunity.

  "So what?" She grumbled back as she sat down in his chair.

  "Are you saying you just teleported the poison out of him or something?" She said the last part sarcastically, shaking her head.

  "Yep!" Shin nodded his head seriously.

  "W-what?! You can do that?!" She gaped at him.

  "Well, not normally. But as I practiced teleporting, I figured out a way to teleport myself and someone else. And when I teleport, I have the absolute power to control who teleports with me." He launched into an explanation.

  According to Shin, he could teleport other beings with him, but he was only able to bring a single person alongside him, and it drained a huge amount of energy. It might be possible to bring more, but he found it extremely difficult to just do a single person.

  Whenever he teleported, he, along with whomever he was bringing along, were teleported with everything they had on them.

  However… he had noticed something, through experimentation.

  Shin had joined the Godfather Organization a while ago. In that time, he had undergone an extensive training program set by the person that helped bring him in, Admiral Cardell. He sparred and fought in live combat several hours every day, to help train his fighting technique in a safe, controlled environment.

  When he wasn't practicing, he was resting his aching body and relaxing. If it hadn't been for the fact that Micheal warned him of the danger in the future, and how his best friend needed him, he would've given up outright and gone off to laze his days away, exploring the Main Cluster.

  During his live combat sparring, he would occasionally be hit with blasts of energy. He always wore a 12,000 Points 'Blast Armor Plate' and 9,000 Points 'Blast Armor Legs' when sparring, supplied by the Godfather Organization. The gear protected his life, but the energy still collided and hit him.

  Whenever he teleported, the energy that had hit him remained back where he had been. Even if the energy had pierced into his skin, when he teleported away, his body was free of all of it.

  From that, he reached a simple conclusion.

  'Energy can't teleport with me. Only tangible, physical things can.' He wasn't sure if it was a perfectly accurate conclusion since he could teleport with the Ki energy in his veins, but it was enough for now. Perhaps that energy was considered a natural 'part' of his body.

  "But how did that get rid of Head Cameron's poison?" Sophia interjected.

  "He was poisoned by someone with the Poison Ruler Type. The particular poison he was hit with was composed entirely of energy. When I heard about that, I offered my assistance." Shin shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal,

  "And… one thing led to another, and here I am now. A decorated and honored member of the Godfather Organization that is taking the final test to become a Sub-Executive, and the man that saved Head Cameron." He patted himself on the shoulder.

  "Huh. Wow." Sophia was genuinely impressed.

  "I know, right? Impressive." Shin seemed to preen as he congratulated himself.

  "But then… why try to shoot me?" She asked the question that had bothered her the most.

  "Well, this is a live test and I'm not allowed to have help. I wasn't actually aiming at you, but at a spot slightly to the right of your legs. When I saw your Defensive Artifact deflect the bullet, I figured you would have read the reply I left you and come prepared." He sighed, glancing at her apologetically.

  Sophia blushed as he explained his reasoning more. He had put on the act so she could maintain her privacy and not give anything away to the spectators. She was now seen as just one of the random challengers that had come to take down Shin for the posted reward.

  She had been the one going on the offensive, yet, it seemed Shin had been two steps ahead, thinking and planning carefully.

  "So that's everything?" Sophia replied, looking him up and down. It sounded incredible, but considering this was one of Micheal's allies, she was willing to believe it.

  Shin nodded, but hesitated, as if he was about to speak but changed his mind.

  Sophia caught that and stared at him, eyes full of curiosity,

  "What?" She added, when she saw he wasn't going to speak.

  "Well… I did end up seeing something else, but it doesn't seem like too big a deal." Shin rubbed his hands together,

  "After I got rid of the poison, Head Cameron retired back to his room to rest. Admiral Cardell helped him walk back since the Head was still shaky and tired. Just as they were leaving, I saw something kinda strange by happenstance…" He frowned as he went on,

  "A blip of darkness seemed to shoot out from Admiral Cardell's mouth and land on Head Cameron's chest. I only saw this for a split second before they left my sight."

  "A blip of darkness?" Sophia replied, her eyes narrowing as she processed this, and everything else Shin had told her.

  "Well, I was exhausted at the time, so it might have been nothing. Neither the Admiral nor Head Cameron acted any differently after that, so it might've just been my imagination, but that's the only other thing of note that I saw." Shin replied with a sigh,

  "It was probably just me being exhausted and seeing things. I figured I'd mention it, just in case." Shin finished speaking and closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall behind him.

  "Hmm." Sophia frowned,

  "If it's as you say, it probably was nothing. Still, you should tell Micheal about it when we meet back up." She had no idea what it could be. Maybe it was something that the Admiral used to help stabilize Head Cameron after his recovery, some type of medicine. Micheal would know. He seemed to know everything.

  "You got it, girlo. I have an excellent memory, Annabel. I'll make sure to tell him!" He gave her a convincing smile.

  Sophia glared at him.

  "It's Sophia."

  Before they could continue, a loud voice interrupted them, echoing out loud in the air. It was so audible that it made Sophia wince, covering up her ears in pain.

  "The Supreme Phaser Shin, I, the Black Blade, hereby challenge you! Come and face me on the roof, if you have the guts!" A tangible, powerful aura seemed to pulse behind the speaker's words.

  Both of them looked at each other, startled.

  Shin stood up, his eyes flashing. He walked over with a serious expression on his face as he looked at Sophia. He then patted her on the back.

  "I think he's here for you." He stared at her innocently.

  She blinked back, her face impassive.

  Shin sighed and began unholstering his weapon, a long, sleek gun. He seemed supremely unconcerned, despite the powerful aura behind the loud voice.

  "Alright. Duty calls. We can talk about this a bit more when I finish up with the test. Even if I can't beat him, all I have to do is teleport below." Shin's voice faded as he closed his eyes, preparing to teleport.

  Right before he vanished, he added a few more lines,

  "Oh right, your name has 3 syllables, it's kinda long. I came up with a shorter nickname for you!"

  Sophia's eyes widened, an uneasy feeling of anticipation settling upon her.

  One last line echoed out as Shin's body vanished, teleporting away.

  "I'll tell you about it when I get back, Sofaaaa!"

  .

  Chapter 34

  …The next day…

  Micheal leaned over the edge of a random skyscraper, taking in a deep, relaxing breath. The morning light was starting to creep over the horizon, the dawn starting
its ceaseless assault on the night.

  He looked out at the surrounding skyscrapers, his eyes peaceful.

  He could see the figures of a few shambling Morenkai moving across a bridge that connected to a skyscraper opposite him. He didn't see any teams hunting Morenkai, the early morning and relatively uncrowded state of the Main Cluster meaning that few people were near him.

  'Uncrowded for now, anyway.' He thought, a rueful smile appearing on his face.

  He tapped on his Spatial Ring, bringing out a sleek, metal object that was painted black. Two cylindrical tubes were connected by a thick piece of metal, with a short, looped rope attached to its back end.

  A pair of modern binoculars.

  Micheal slung them around his neck, making sure they were secured. He had bought them from the Shop yesterday for a small number of Points.

  Right after that, he pulled out a long set of white robes. The edges of these robes were decorated with a specific design, a large circle with three smaller circles lined up inside, spread horizontally.

  He had spent a couple of hours last night painstakingly making it. At the same time, he pulled out a specially prepared mask.

  It was a featureless white mask that would cover his face completely. A mask that no major power or force was known to use, Micheal had chosen it for simplicity.

  His Heron identity was compromised by this point, for certain. Commander Kenneth would've reported the fact that he killed Leila to the Angels Arcadia and, after they checked, they would know he was a fraud.

  Beyond that, Micheal was certain that the leader of the Nightrunners, Director Prime, would have been infuriated by his actions. The man would have an entire investigation team running on him.

  After donning his mask and the robes, Micheal took a deep breath.

  Then, with a grunt, Micheal stepped off the edge of the skyscraper and jumped up into the air.

  He soared a full 3 meters high, his superhuman strength propelling him. A burst of wind brushed past him as his leap disturbed the nearby air. His muscles bulged slightly as he stretched, extending himself fully.

  Just as he reached the peak of his arc, he stepped onto thin air for a split second, and then jumped again. His Cloud Stepping Shoes felt like a part of his body and were just as easy to operate, following his mental commands. The feeling of stepping on air was a wondrous one that never got old, in Micheal's eyes.