Previously on Chapter 23
I was at the top of the rooftops, where I took in my surroundings. There was a billboard behind me and some vents. I walked up to the edge of the building, to look down on what's below.
"Alright, let's do this."
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John POV
I was at the rooftop, watching and waiting for something to happen. While I was watching, I decided to think of a plan to capture this guy.
'Alright, before I proceed with this, I need a plan. Most importantly, I don't have an ability on me. Which is kind of bad.'
'Let's state the obvious stuff first. So the guy's ability is called Tremor. I'm guessing he could create a small earthquake of some sort. He's also an Elite Tier, meaning I need to copy a strong ability. But it needs to be so that they can't know who I am.'
While I was busy with my thoughts, the area from afar started rumbling, shaking me out of my thoughts.
'Guess I was right about the earthquakes. So I guess he's there.' I thought before proceeding to go towards where my target is.
I went over and jumped from roof to roof, until I finally reached my destination. I looked down and I saw him with his ability activated. He was also with three other people. Two of them was maybe his lackeys, and the last one was a woman. She was also injured and Lance was stepping on her.
While I was watching from above, Lance started talking, so I listened in to what he was saying.
"Hah, I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier!"
"Migrating to a Low-Tier district, then taking over. Who would've thought it'd be this easy?!"
"Best part is, Authorities don't give a sh*t about you! So I can literally do whatever I want!" Lance say.
He bends down and grabs the woman's hair, causing me to activate my ability.
"Amora, why not just listen to what I say? Call Newside's administration and have them surrender this town over to me. Then we won't have to do this anymore."
I just kept on listening at what he was saying, until Amora, who's name I heard from Lance, started talking.
"I-In your dreams, Lance! You better get out of our town! Leave us alone!" Amora shouted.
"Oh? Why don't you make me?" Lance replied, with a smug smile.
'Alright, guess this is where I swoop in.' I thought to myself.
I flipped my cloak over to my back, so that I could move better. After that, I jumped off the roof, and prepared to kick that smug looking face.
My cloak waved around the air and casted a shadow over them, making Lance turn his face towards me.
"Hm? What the hell?" Lance says, turning around confused at the sudden obstruction of the light.
But the moment he turned around, he was met with a foot to his face. Lucky for me, because he broke my fall with his face. I then landed on the ground after the kick, that made him skid on the ground.
"AUUGH!!" Lance sounded.
I took a glance at the woman to distinguish what she looked like and what she was feeling right now. She had a surprised looked on her face after my arrival, which was not surprising, especially since I just suddenly came in.
"Boss! You okay?" One of his lackeys say as they run over to him, to help him stand up.
"Ugh... What the hell are you supposed to be!" Lance shouted at me as his face was scratched and his nose what bleeding.
While any other heroes will berate the "bad guy" for his actions. I just stood there and didn't answer him. Not making a single sound.
"..."
"Hey! I'm asking you a question. Are you deaf or something?" Lance shouts as he took a step forward.
Amora took a step backwards in fear, so I stepped up in front of her, signifying to her that I will protect her. At this moment, Lance saw what I was doing, and figured out what I was doing out at night.
"I see... you're one of those vigilantes, are you?" Lance says with a grin. I just stood there and remained silent.
"..."
"You don't look like one at all though. Well, doesn't matter. Haven't you heard the news? Y'know what happens to people like you? They die. You'll regret messing with me." Lance says, before he put his fingers in his mouth to whistle.
After whistling, a bunch of people came out and surrounded me.
Okay, I'm now starting to get nervous. But, I was still quite confident that I can win this. Why? Because more people means more abilities to copy.
The only problem is, if they don't have the abilities I need, then I'm pretty much screwed from here on out.
So I just need to hope that they'll have what I need.
"What? Afraid that you're not able to move anymore?" Lance says.
"Next time, maybe think twice before going out and doing something stupid."
"Alright, boys... GET HIM!" Lance ordered, as everyone dashed towards me.
At that moment, I immediately sensed two people running up from behind me, with my passive. I then used my passive to analyze their aura, and there I found it.
'Alright, that ability will allow me to do rapid attacks, and that one will give me enough strength to smash the ground.' I thought to myself.
'Simple abilities but effective enough to last me through this fight. Plus, they won't be able to figure out who I am. I'll be taking those.'
I then manipulated my aura to match theirs. I also amped the copied abilities, giving me a stronger version.
After I have copied their abilities, I went into my stance and faced my opponent. My first opponent was the one that had the ability to perform rapid attacks. He threw a punch at me, but I just parried it. I kneed him at his mid section right after I parried his punch. Immediately after I kneed him, I threw in an uppercut as well.
After my first opponent was out, I looked towards my next opponent. He jumped up into the air, and clasped his hands together. He then slams his hand down into the ground with a roar. Before I get hit though, I just jumped away.
As I stood there, processing my next move, I sensed someone coming up from behind me, thanks to my passive. Plus, he was also stupid enough to talk. Like, dude... if you're going to do a sneak attack, stay quiet.
"Stupid f*ckin' sh*t" The guy says, before throwing a punch.
I just ducked down from the punch, making him miss. After I was down, I just sweep his legs, making him fall onto the ground.
"Woa- Ugh!" He sounded as he fall onto the ground. He then tried to stand up, but I'm not going to allow that. I immediately did a heavy blow to his face, knocking him out.
I stood up immediately after I was finished. I then looked at Lance to see what he was doing while I was fighting the others. He had a look of shock displayed on his face.
'He must be shocked that I'm actually doing better than he thought.' I thought.
While I looking at Lance, I noticed that the one that helped him stand up awhile ago, had his ability activated. So I decided to look at what is his ability if I can add another one to what I currently have.
I used my passive to analyze his aura. After I looked at his aura, I immediately thought that this would help me finish all of this.
'This ability would help me deal heavy blows. If I copy it, it is decided that I would win this.' I thought, while I still have my passive focused on him.
So after that, I immediately copied his ability. I amped it afterwards as well. After I have copied the new ability though, my focus immediately turn back to Lance, as I saw Lance's aura having some activity.
The ground started shaking and cracking, as everyone dashed towards me.
'The ground is shaking. I can't focus.' I thought to myself, when suddenly I felt someone right behind me.
I immediately jumped away with all my strength and speed. Luckily, I was able to jump away.
'Sh*t, that was close. If I didn't have my passive, I would've had a cut in my face.' I thought, as I took a glance at the one that attacked me. But then, I sensed another person coming up from behind me.
So, I just leaned my body to my right, and dodged the attack. After I leaned to my right, I saw the punch at my left side, coming from the back.
I grabbed the arm with my right hand, and I grabbed the person's collar with my left hand. After that, I used the momentum of his body and slammed him down onto ground. To make sure he didn't stand up again, I chopped the side of his neck, knocking him out.
After I was finish with him, I jumped away from him, and prepared for my next opponent.
As I stood there, I took in my surroundings. Many people surrounded me, all of them had their abilities activated, and Lance was still using his ability to create tremors.
'This is bad, I can't focus on the others while Lance is using his ability. Meaning I need stop Lance from creating earthquakes. How can you stop an earthquake though?'
'Wait, how does he create earthquakes anyway?' I thought.
So, I used my passive on Lance and looked at him. I saw his aura, the source of his aura right in his chest, and some channels running through his body. He had very little aura running through the channels in his arms. Most of his aura is running through the channels in his legs.
As I watched his aura, I saw the aura running through his legs, and releasing outside of his feet, creating an earthquake.
'Okay, now I get how his ability works. His aura runs through his legs then it releases a force to create an earthquake.'
'If I want to stop his earthquake, then I need to create a force much greater than what his ability is releasing. And I know just what to do.'
I clasped my hands together and raised them up in the air.
'Let's see if you guys can handle this.' I thought, before I slammed my hands into the ground with all my strength.
As I slammed the ground with my hands, I created an impact crater and the ground shook.
This seem to have done the job cause I was able to cancel out Lance's earthquake. Plus, all of the others seems to be having trouble balancing.
'Time to finish this.' I thought before dashing towards the closest person.
After I was close enough, I kicked him in the mid section and sent him flying towards the other person.
After I did my kick, I shifted my body in a better position for balance and slid on the ground. After that, I immediately dashed towards the next person.
Then I went to the next, next, next, in a really fast pace. I did all of that until I took them all out. After they were all out, my last opponent was Lance.
I stood there, as everyone was lying on the ground, unconscious.
Lance had a look of shock, and clearly didn't know what to do since I took out all of his lackeys without a single scratch on me.
After a bit of staring contest between me and him, I dashed right towards him.
A few moments later, he sent a tremor towards me, as I ran towards him. It made me lose a bit of my focus, so after I was close enough, I jumped in the air, and did a flying kick to his chin, sending him back onto the ground.
"AUGH!!" Lance sounded as he landed on the ground.
"Ugh... AW F*CK, YOU LITTLE SH*T! Just wait till I get hands on you." Lance says as he tried to stand up.
Before that happens, I bent down and put my knee onto his chest, preventing him from standing up.
I then clench my right hand into a fist and raised it up in the air. But then.
"W-WAIT!! NONONONONO! P-PLEASE STOP!" Lance shouted.
I just stayed silent, fist still raised up and directed towards him.
"LOOK, I'M SORRY! I O-OBVIOUSLY WASN'T BEING SERIOUS! I SURRENDER OKAY!? DON'T HURT ME FURTHER." Lance pleaded, tears appearing on his eyes.
After a few seconds of contemplating, I then relaxed my hand. Which in turn made Lance relax.
Even though Lance was now defeated, there is still a chance that he could escape. And I couldn't let that happen. So I knocked him out by chopping the side of his neck. I stood up from his unconscious body, right after.
At this moment, I realized that I was still not finished. I turned around and looked for the woman. I then saw her, watching from quite a distance.
So I walked up to her, to see if she is okay. Before I talked to her, I made to sure to at least change the tone of my voice. And I need to keep talking with others to a minimum so that they won't figure out who I am.
So this may be one of the few times I'll be talking to others.
"Hey, you okay?" I asked her, to which she replies.
"W-what do you want?"
"I just want to help. Here, how about I help you stand up." I say as I tried to help her. But then...
"Just mind your own damn business! We don't want you here!" Amora barked.
"Huh?" I sounded, confused at what she just said.
"Don't expect me to believe you came all the way here because you actually cared about us!"
"No, you must have some other motive. i'm sure of it!"
I just stood there, silent and not answering her.
"You're here for something else, aren't you?" Amora asked, which surprised me, but she took it the wrong way.
"I knew it! Well, Newside doesn't have anything left for you to take! Lance cleaned us out!"
"We'll need weeks to undo the damage he's done. So just leave us alone!"
I just stood there before giving a sigh.
"*Sigh* Look lady, I came here with a reason, yes. But it's not because of any ulterior motive."
"The reason I came here was because of what I did before in the past. I was thinking that maybe If I helped others and cared for them, I may be able to redeem myself. That is all." I say to Amora, as I remembered everything I have done in the past.
"No way... You're lying!"
"Well, it's up to you if you want to believe it or not. But for now, I just want to say that Lance and his gang have been immobilized." I say, as I turned around.
"They won't be waking up for awhile. So the town should be able to handle it from here. Good luck." I say before leaving Amora.
I ran to an alleyway to avoid being seen further, if there are some bystanders. I ran through a few alleyways to get to my destination, the place where I hid my clothes. After I arrived, I took out my bag from the hiding place and changed my clothes.
I put my suit back in the bag and wore my normal undercover clothes. After all of that was done, I grabbed my bag and started going towards my way out of this town, the train station.
'Huh, that was actually quite easy. None of them was able to do a single hit on me.' I thought as I walked the silent street.
'But, note to self, before going out as a vigilante, scout for abilities first.' I thought to myself.
I then continued walking towards the train station. After I arrived, I just sat on a bench to wait for the train. While waiting, I just thought of who I'm going to target next. After a bit of waiting, the train finally arrived.
I stood up from the bench and went into the train. I sat down on one of seat and checked my surroundings. Since it was night, there were only a few people in the train with me.
It was then only a matter of time till the train departs from the station. After it does so, I was now heading back home.
While the train was heading back to Wellston, I just continued thinking about my next target. During the train ride, where I was busy with my thoughts, my eyelids were starting to become heavy.
'My eyes... it's getting hard to keep them wide open. Maybe it's because of my fight. I must be really tired. Well, If I'm tired, then I'll just take a little nap. Not like anything's bad going to happen, right?' I thought to myself.
There is now a problem because John was back in the same nightmare he keeps having.
~Nightmare~
I stood in the middle of the darkness. I looked around and found no one besides me. Well, that was until...
"So this is your plan?" A voice sounded behind me. I turned around and found my past self, or a more fitting tittle, the darkness of my mind.
I just stood there, silent and not answering.
"..."
"Doesn't matter if you answer or not. Do you really think this would work?"
I just kept quiet and didn't do a single thing.
"..."
"Fine, don't answer. But know this, no matter what you do, you won't change. You say you don't want to hurt others anymore, yet what are you doing? You're still doing the same things you did in the past."
"You're still using you're ability to hurt others, you monster."
At that moment, I violently shot up from my sleep. I looked around and I was still in the train. A voice then sounded in the train, so I listened to what it was saying.
"Arriving at Wellston in about 3 minutes. Make sure that you have all you're belongings with you, so you don't leave anything behind, thank you."
I looked at my duffel bag, and found that it was right beside me. I grabbed it and waited for the train to arrive at the station. After it does so, I stepped off of the train and proceeded walking towards the exit.
I was then making my way towards the place I call home, for now. As I walked the silent street, my mind recall back the nightmare I had at the train.
'*Scoff* Who cares what he think? Monster this, monster that, It's getting really annoying. I'll use this ability to protect all the good people and there're nobody going to stop me.' I thought with confidence and determination.
I then proceeded to walk back to the cabin, where I will take my rest, so I can hunt down my next target next time.