Cykopath- Birth

by Luca Braña

  As for the said enhancer, he had long since figured out that no matter how deep a wound he caused, or how fast he tried to inflict them, they would always recover by the time he made another. Even when he tried to aim for areas that caused more pain, or try to cut deeper, it was never enough to take the dragon out long enough to aim at his true vitals: his neck and head. Sure, he had cut into the mutant’s throat, getting covered in blood as a result, but that wound had since healed.

  He needed to think about what to do, something other than just running ahead, taking his attacks and cutting himself apart. Cyko was sure he could keep doing this for hours, but he didn’t have hours. He knew how many guards could storm the place at any second. He needed to kill that monster now or he might never again be able to avenge his little brother.

  Grinning, Cyko knew what to do after a moment of focus. Ever since Cyko and Path fused, he had gained an extensive insight on how his powers worked and how to do many things he thought he could not. This was how he got his holo blades; they were a part of him all along, first manifested by that dream he had on the day he awakened his powers… And since he is also Path now, he knew exactly what he could do to finish this. He had been playing around too much.

  First, he had been fighting as Cyko would have, then, he fought as Path would… Now, it was time to fight like Cykopath and slaughter his enemy. It was time to let his anger, his bloodthirstiness run its course… It was time for a massacre!

  “I hope you enjoyed your five minutes of fame, you ugly lizard,” Cyko said as he dodged another tongue of fire, “because NOW is when the fun starts! Prepare to get slaughtered!”

  “The damage you’ve been doing is nothing more than irritating, you can’t possibly think of defeating me without an army!” the dragon retorted with an air of superiority, not a single scratch present on him. Even the bloodstains from the countless wounds Cyko had inflicted on him had evaporated from his constant use of electricity and heat. Meanwhile, the enhancer looked rather ragged, armor dented in several places, parts of his clothes either torn or burnt, and his skin was scratched and bruised. It was only a matter of time until the annoyance in front of him ran out of stamina, and then, Drago would show him who is superior!

  “An army huh…?” Cyko said with a smug grin on his face before his form wavered, like when a pebble hits water. With a maniacal look on his face, the blue-haired enhancer started to laugh, causing Drago’s eyes to narrow at him.

  “HAHAHAHA! I’M GLAD YOU ASKED!” the boy yelled as mirror images of himself appeared all around the arena, their forms coming forth with a small flash of light.

  Surrounding the mutant leader was a small army of Cykos, every single one of them sporting the holo blades and the same, bloodthirsty grin on their faces. They were technically hologram projections, one ability the boy learned about when his two halves fused, something that would give him the upper hand in any combat situation. They looked solid and their attacks were just as powerful as those with his real holo blades. The clones couldn’t talk or follow complex tasks, but they only needed to follow one order, anyway. Attack; attack without stopping!

  Drago spun around, eyes wide and mouth open, unable to comprehend what the enhancer had just pulled off. How did he do that?! The brat didn’t have this power in his previous battles, or even just a few seconds ago! Had he… had he been holding back?! The thought of that was humiliating! Growling in a rage, the dragon turned around to glare at the original, but he could no longer tell who amongst the sea of clones was who.

  The dragon roared in fury, spreading both arms and sending waves of lightning and a stream of flames from his front, slowly spinning as he did so. In response to his attack, the clones, as one, charged towards the gigantic mutant leader, the voice of Cyko’s mad laugh echoing amongst them.

  Many clones were destroyed trying to get closer to him, as they fearlessly charged head on, but for any five that were devoured by flames or destroyed by lightning, one or two managed to get through and attack the giant, causing several gashes. Legs, arms, knees, chest, tail, wings… No part of Drago stayed safe from the reach of the clones, for even as he destroyed them, Cyko just created more and more.

  Growing tired of the increasing pain from his wounds, even as they healed, the dragon used his limbs to attack, block, swat away, and crush the clones. A swipe of his arm sent ten clones flying away, but it opened the way for three to use their blades to cut up his arm before they were destroyed by the lightning covering his body. Flailing his tail, he kept a dozen of them off his back, but two slipped through and created deep slashes close to his wings.

  As for the original, Cyko knew his back was the most vulnerable area of his body despite the danger of his large, spiked tail so he kept himself concealed, waiting for the perfect chance to attack. His clones were slowly managing to overwhelm the dragon’s fast recovery, as wounds were created quicker than he could heal, and it was beginning to show as Drago’s attacks got increasingly more desperate and rasher.

  And then, just as the reptile’s tail crashed into the ground, destroying another five of his clones, Cyko found the perfect opening and took advantage of it. Laughing madly, the enhancer launched himself towards his now vulnerable lower back, blades raised and ready to strike.

  “GRAH!” Drago yelled in agony as he felt enormous pain on his lower back, losing strength and control of his legs and falling forwards, trying to support himself with his arms. Cyko cut deep enough to sever the dragon’s spine, crippling him and turning the fearsome beast into a sitting duck for his slaughter!

  Now! Now was the time to cause real damage! Mentally ordering his clones to overwhelm him, he jumped from his position to join the others in causing damage all over Drago’s body, ordering several of them to continue cutting his lower back at the slightest sign of regeneration. He wouldn’t recover this time!

  “GRAH!” Drago continued roaring in pain, trying to keep the clones at bay but failing, quite miserably.

  “Look at yourself, you oversized gecko. Oh, how the mighty have fallen,” Cyko mocked, standing in front of him so the dragon could see his tormentor. “Just like the cliché villains you like to imitate, you are about to have a pathetic end. Someone you called weak, the brother of the person you killed, is about to kill you… slowly.”

  “No… NO! You can’t do this! I AM THE MIGHTY LEADER OF THE MUTANTS!” Drago yelled, launching a powerful wave of fire at Cyko, who vanished, appearing on the other side of his vision. The reptile glared at him, eyes full of hatred and behind that, fear. “I AM DESTINED TO LEAD THEM TO GREATNESS! I AM THE CHOSEN PROTECTOR OF THIS WORLD!” he bellowed, sending another wave of flames at Cyko, who once again dodged them, appearing back in his previous spot.

  “Don’t you get it? You will die, you cannot heal fast enough, and without being able to move, you can barely fight. You are going to die as the pathetic, worthless monster you always were! No one is coming to save you!” Cyko said in a cruel voice, face twisted and vengeful.

  “No! NO! NO!” The blood loss made Drago feel dizzy and cold as panic set in. He would not die, not like this! He is the destined leader of the army! He will not… HE WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY THIS HUMAN!

  “GRRAAAAHHH!” the dragon roared with all his might, concentrating all his energy into his manipulation of electricity. With another powerful boom that made Cyko stumble, a great explosion of lightning occurred with Drago at its epicenter, launching the enhancer several meters away and destroying all clones that were closest to him.

  “NOW YOU’LL DIE AS THE PATHETIC INSECT YOU TRULY ARE! FEEL THE POWER OF A DRAGON’S ROAR!” Drago’s voice bellowed. Recovering from his shock at the reptile’s last-ditch effort to survive, Cyko looked up to spot the dragon flying several meters up in the air, near the ceiling and just in front of the displays used to announce the matches. He was badly cut and bleeding heavily but was also slowly healing. His eyes were wide open and fearful as lightning streaks traveled across his entire body, emitting a strong, white li
ght of pure energy from his mouth.

  In the stands, those who could feel his power widened their eyes at the potency of the attack that Drago was preparing. If he were to unleash that on the arena, chances are that the whole Coliseum would go up in ashes! It could kill everyone here!

  Reddox, Ellyn, Magy, Tela and several others started to struggle against their restraints so they could do something, anything to stop that catastrophe from happening.

  Cyko stared at the dragon with wide-open eyes as he racked his brain for something to do.

  Calming himself, Cyko went deep into thought. It would be risky to rely on his newly strengthened powers to help kill him, since he was still getting the hang of them. He dismissed his clones—they would not be useful for targeting something several meters up, even if they could jump that distance.

  The enhancer closed his eyes and concentrated, feeling the world around him slow down. Deep inside him, he accessed the well of power that represented his abilities, now much stronger than they ever used to be.

  When he opened his eyes, they were glowing a pure cyan color, the blue aura that covered his body increasing in intensity, showing just how much energy he would put into this. As the light from the dragon’s mouth got brighter and brighter, Cyko knew this would be his only chance. He focused as much as he could, increasing his own perception of time tenfold to spot the perfect moment to strike… There!

  “GRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!” Drago let out a thunderous roar, throwing his head downwards as he launched the beam of energy from his mouth, its shine tinting the whole Coliseum white.

  Just as the attack had reached halfway to the Coliseum floor, a spinning blue projectile covered in a great aura of cyan rose to meet it, colliding with the white sphere of destruction and stopping it in its tracks as they competed for dominance. A threshold was reached when the great ball of energy gave out and exploded like a supernova. It had a wide path of destruction that thankfully was too high to hit anyone, even as the shock-waves traveled through the air, knocking the displays off their strengthened supports.

  As Drago looked at the explosion with hope, he saw something that made his heart skip a beat.

  “AAAAHHHHHH!” The scream of a psychopath covered in blue, cutting through the explosion and the air at an astounding speed, the tip of the blade on his right arm leading him forward. Unable to get over his shock of his strongest attack failing, Drago’s exhaustion from the long battle against the enhancer worked in Cyko’s favor.

  Drago opened his mouth to scream, but only a torrent of blood came out as Cyko struck the ceiling and, using his momentum to temporarily stand upside down, he looked towards the falling dragon, grinning as he spotted a large hole in the middle of his chest.

  Letting himself fall back down, the blood covered child struck the ground moments after Drago, who was in a crater the size of his body. Drago was twitching, still trying to hang on to life… But his wound was not healing. Either he had hit a vital spot, or his body was too exhausted to heal him, but he was not getting better.

  “No… this… No… I don’t… want… to die…” The dragon whined, trying to stand up, trying to will his body to fix the hole in his chest, but it was useless. He was too drained, too weak… too defeated.

  Cyko approached him, dismissing his holo blades, as they served their purpose for now.

  “I don’t… want to die… I am… supposed… to be… great…” Drago whimpered in pain, coughing blood as he stared at the ceiling, trying in vain to survive.

  “You killed Myo—this is what you deserve. This pathetic end, whimpering and begging for your life, is all your own doing, the consequence for your actions,” Cyko said coldly.

  “You wanted to play the tyrant, guess what? Tyrants are always overthrown in the end. Now die, knowing you never amounted to anything but a pathetic brat who was a slave for scientists who saw you as nothing but a zoo animal,” the enhancer said, watching as tears of despair flooded out of the dragon’s drooping eyes, as he was losing strength to keep them open.

  “I… I don’t… want to… die… I… miss… my… family…” Drago whispered, trying his best to keep his eyes open, sobbing as he felt his life leaving him, unable to do anything to stop it.

  “I’m… just… seven… years… old…” he said in a whisper, his voice child-like for the first time since Cyko had met him. He let out one last wracked sob before closing his eyes forever. Cyko stared at the now dead mutant, eyes hard and cold as he let his hatred pulse through his veins.

  “Myo… I avenged you,” Cyko whispered to himself, his face softening. Killing Drago wouldn’t bring his little brother back. Nothing would. “I’m sorry for failing you, I hope you are somewhere better now,” the child said in a small, sad voice, letting tears run down his cheeks as he turned towards the stands of the Coliseum. As the battle between him and Drago finished, a torrent of guards entered the arena, taking position to shoot at him.

  There were a lot, but Cyko still had the energy to fight. If he could take as many of them down as he did before… then maybe that would make things easier for Tela and for the others. He didn’t know, but part of him was itching to try, to let out the psychopath once again and cause a bloodbath amongst those cruel beings. The war would never end until they were free. The moment he realized this, however, was when he felt a pair of eyes on him.

  “Cyko… Please, don’t do anything, don’t fight anymore,” Tela thought to him, her voice one of extreme sadness, surprising him as he had never felt his friend that depressed before. However, before he could voice his protest at wanting to keep fighting, another wave of sadness hit him, stopping the enhancer in his tracks.

  “I don’t care about the guards, about Drago… I care about you! If you continue fighting, they may be forced to take you down for good! But if you surrender now, they should let you live because of your power. Please, Cyko, don’t keep struggling, not now!” Tela begged him, crying as she was forced to stand up by a pair of guards who began to escort everyone out to deal with Cyko alone.

  The enhancer surveyed around him, counting the number of guards he could see. Around a hundred, without counting the number that were taking the other children away, presumably to their cells. Standing in the level the mages were in, right next to their corpses, the guards all pointed their weapons at him, waiting for him to make the slightest move. Cyko paused, analyzing the situation, his powers begging him to kill them and bathe in their blood, but he couldn’t get Tela’s pleas out of his head.

  “Attention Subject Number 444, surrender and stand down. If you comply, we can guarantee you will not come to harm,” the cold voice of the wretched scientist who started this all was heard from somewhere above him.

  “Subject Number 444, surrender and stand down, we promise to not take harsh action against you if you cooperate,” the head scientist repeated, to which Cyko scowled.

  “Please Cyko… We can fight another day! Please don’t throw your life away, I don’t want to lose you too… not more than I already have…” Tela whispered in his mind, her feelings of loss, sadness and regret bleeding over to him, causing the enhancer’s own eyes to waver.

  Cyko realized how hard this must have been for Tela. She once said she could sense what someone else was feeling, so if she could also sense what Myo had felt in his last moments and what he himself had felt when he changed...

  “Tela… No matter how crazy I become from here on out, you haven’t lost me yet,” Cyko replied to her, hoping she could feel the reassurance he tried to send her alongside his loyalty and friendship. Looking around the Coliseum one more time, the boy sighed before willing his power to fade away. His glowing eyes and blue aura vanished. He was not giving up. No, he was just going to survive today so he could continue helping his loved ones out.

  Raising his arms in the universal sign of surrender, he could feel enormous relief passing through him, likely from Tela, before a feeling of warmth covered him like an embrace.

  “Thank you…” she
whispered in erratic relief, not wanting to see another child who she had sworn to protect, and a friend, die in front of her while she was helpless.

  The boy smiled, watching as the guards descended towards the arena, approaching him from all sides with their weapons still aimed in his direction.

  7

  Magy sat in Myo’s bed, hugging herself with her arms. The room felt huge, too big to be comfortable. The sweet little boy’s scent still hung around the covers, the pillows, and the bed itself. It reminded her of how innocent, emotive and lively he was, how much he wished to be free, to have a normal, happy life even with the disease he had. She hadn’t spent as much time with him as Cyko had, but she still thought of him as a little brother, wanting nothing more than for him to be happy and safe… but he was dead.

  To make matters worse, after Cyko surrendered himself to the guards, they took him away somewhere unknown to do who knows what. She had tried asking Tela about his whereabouts, but all she had gotten was a sad “I don’t know…” explaining that her connection with him had been severed.

  That was 3 hours ago.

  Myo’s death was still fresh in her mind and heart, the pain from losing him tearing her apart and pressing on her soul like the weight of a thousand rocks. She feared losing her dear friend, Cyko, on the same day. Fresh sobs wracked through her body, making the pink-haired girl clench her arms tighter in a useless attempt of self-comfort.

  She felt a hum coming from the depths of her soul, calming her down a little. Scythe, her closest friend, her heart and determination, was trying to reassure her that everything would be all right, that Cyko was strong and would come back. Magy wanted nothing more than to believe her, but it was hard, with how much her heart was wavering.

  Then, the loud bang of the door opening brought the girl out of her depression long enough to stare at the intruder, spotting the giant guard who seemed to be in charge of their ward. The man said nothing and shoved a blue-haired boy inside, snapping the door closed.