"It didn't take long for him to start attacking me once he knew that I contacted Kayla! It turns out he doesn't want to go for the safer option which is just retreating…!" Astra broke a sweat as she evaded the beam of energy. It had struck the wall and left a small crater on it.
As a blinding smoke of light appeared, Astra noticed that Omar had looked towards Anna's direction.
Unlike before, Anna wasn't there. It seemed as if she had blended in with the surrounding area.
Immediately, he began dashing in that direction.
Astra was in no hurry to stop the man. She immediately took out her phone, and saw that Kayla had seen her message.
"Perfect…" Astra muttered to herself as she put the phone back and began stretching her shoulders.
"All I have to do is wait." Astra thought.
For now, evading Omar's attacks and counterattacking when possible was a reasonable strategy.
Meanwhile, Omar found himself running into an illusory darkness that enveloped him. His thoughts were starting to turn sluggish as he felt himself entering a dreamlike state. Faint cries were reverberating throughout the darkness.
"That's…expected." He thought to himself.
Knowing this, Omar didn't waste any time, lest he be fully pulled into a dream.
Suddenly, he stretched his arm out and a light yellow circle that contained many symbols appeared on his palm.
Immediately, he allowed his senses and intuition to figure out the source of the darkness.
He pointed his arm in that particular direction and shot a laser beam.
As the laser beam traveled, a brown haired girl curled up into a fetal position had appeared in the residual light in the distance.
She had worn a dead expression and her eyes were lifeless.
As the laser beam dissipated, so did the light it emitted. Thus the girl had eventually faded into the darkness.
Omar didn't hesitate. He dashed towards the direction of the brown haired girl. The moment he felt that he had approached her, he had positioned his arm in preparation to grab her.
Unfortunately for him, once he had completed that motion, all he grabbed was nothing.
Immediately, the darkness began to shatter and the half-lit corridor had revealed itself.
Pow!
The instant Omar had realized he was back in the real world, a blunt and sudden pain had hit the side of his head.
It was Astra who had exerted her full strength to punch him with a clean hit to his head!
Instantly, Omar was sent flying into the walls of the corridor, causing cracks to form in the wall.
"This woman isn't affected by Anna's Illusion Creation? Why type of mutant is she?" Omar thought with a pained expression as his nose had started to bleed and marks began to appear on his face and clothes.
Initially, Omar's strategy was to target Anna to force her to hide herself using dreams. There was not much she could have done, since she is the weaker link with little combat ability. This was confirmed when he heard Astra telling Anna to hide herself.
Once she inevitably hides herself, since her control over her powers isn't that great, her surroundings would inevitably be affected. This would include Astra. And since she isn't using any Ethereon, she would undoubtedly be more affected by it than him.
Once that happens, with his senses that were enhanced by the Energy domain, he'd be able to find Anna despite her illusions. This would require a game of cat and mouse, with him tracking Anna, and Anna repeatedly having to dispel the darkness. This would drain her Ethereon usage, and he would eventually catch her, making him have the upper hand.
And, with Astra affected by the illusions, she would almost be a non-factor in this "cat and mouse game".
But Astra wasn't affected at all. His assumption was wrong!
This was why Astra had let Omar hear him!
Astra didn't let Omar spend more time regretting his decision on the wall. She immediately rushed towards him and cocked her fist back, punching his face again with all of her strength.
Pa!
More cracks appeared behind the wall as Omar took another punch.
But Astra wasn't greedy. After the punch connected, she had attempted to move back before an unexpected attack came.
Suddenly, she felt a firm grip on her left arm.
She was too slow! Or perhaps, she had too many openings!
"I can tell you've never fought before." Omar said hoarsely as he wiped the blood off of his nose with his left arm.
In a moment that didn't last a second, strange light yellow symbols began to form on Omar's wrist. A point of light began to form in the middle of it, and it was protruding as if it wanted to burst.
"Sh*t-!" Astra didn't have the luxury to think as the point of light suddenly expanded and exploded, causing her to be sent flying.
Crash…
"Ow…!"
Not long after, she crashed into the wall as she yelped in pain. Her purple sweater became torn and her hair that was once curled suddenly became messy as a chilling sensation swelled throughout her body.
As she tumbled onto the ground, she saw Omar dashing towards her direction in the corner of her eye.
Since adrenaline was flowing through her body, Astra was able to ignore the pain somewhat.
She tried to hurriedly got up to move to the side to evade Omar's attack.
Unfortunately for her, Omar had already grabbed her neck and raised her toward the wall.
Because of the feedback from the pain, she was too slow to dodge at the moment.
"Guh…" Astra began to choke as her throat felt like a boulder was pressing on it. Her face was twisting in pain as she struggled to try and leave his grip. Small droplets of water were rushing down her forehead and onto the man's hand.
"It's a shame that I have to kill you. Someone with your looks and your strength would be very useful to us." Omar said with a smug grin as he pulled back his hoodie, revealing his short black hair.
While saying this, a faint light yellow circle with many symbols engraved on it appeared on the wrist of the hand choking Astra.
"Cough…cough!" Astra kept choking as she used both of her arms to try and break free from the man's grip that seemed to continue to tighten.
"Where…is…Kayla…" Astra's thoughts couldn't help but stray towards the person who she had contacted to save her.
However, she had known that it was still way too early.
In that instant, Omar had felt his thoughts turn sluggish and his surroundings turning dark.
"I'm…not surprised." Omar thought as he noticed that his grip on Astra had vanished.
He knew that this was just an illusion, so he kept his tight 'grip' on Astra.
After a moment, the darkness had shattered once again and Omar was brought back to the corridor that was half-lit with the velvet lights from the highway.
As his hand was still hoisted up, which looked like it appeared to be gripping something, he had noticed something strange.
Astra was gone!
This was because when Omar's thoughts turned sluggish, his grip had naturally slightly loosened. This slight decrease in strength was enough to make Astra leave his grip.
Omar didn't dwell on this thought. He looked around and saw that Astra was on her knees and holding her throat while coughing. She was at the end of the corridor, and the illumination of the highway casted a shadow on the ground below her.
"Cough! Gah…" Astra's throat was in extreme pain; it had felt like little spikes were piercing through it. It was very likely that if Anna was a second or two late, Astra's neck might have snapped.
As for why Anna can't keep using her Illusion Creation, it's because it expends a lot of Ethereon. She perhaps only had 2 or 3 more uses left, and these uses wouldn't be as strong.
"She's by the wall I had set up." Omar stared at the choking Astra as he started to think.
"I know she wants me to break it so she can escape. But in this state, she won't be able to. Though, knowing how cunning she is, she should definitely be aware of this. So why is she there? To attract any bystanders?" He began to grin.
"Heh. Either way, I want her away from that spot!" He suddenly dashed towards Astra.
Astra hurriedly got up from her knees and side stepped to the side, moving back to the piece of the wall that had multiple cracks on it.
Omar had expected this. He immediately switched directions and spun around, kicking Astra in the process.
"Gah!" She spat blood as this kick made her flew onto the wall.
More bits of metal and brick from the wall began to crack, with some even falling.
Astra's body ached in pain as she stood in front of the damaged wall.
Omar didn't give her time to recover. Faint yellow circles with mysterious symbols on them appeared on his wrists as he began to strike Astra's face.
Pow!
More and more cracks began to form on the wall, with each crack becoming larger and larger.
"Gah…" Astra let out a small whimper as blood began to flow furiously from her nose.
"It hurts…it hurts…!" She couldn't help but think as she wondered if this was worth it.
Pow!
Omar had struck with even more force. The damaged wall was beginning to crumble entirely.
As for Astra, she was silent as blood rushed down her face. She had become almost numb to the pain.
Pow!
As the third punch had struck, Omar had an inhuman grin on his face. His teeth were almost exaggerated as it was stained slightly by both his and Astra's blood.
"Haha…" After getting numb to the pain, she couldn't help but think this strange thought. It was almost as if she was acting to compose herself.
Soon enough, all of her thoughts became sluggish. Her body was beginning to drop to the ground to lay flat, but Omar wasn't going to give her the luxury.
It was at this moment that Astra had fully realized how dangerous this world was, and the measures needed to survive in it.
And…she hasn't even crossed the border to enter yet.
She had merely gazed at it as it tried to stretch its arms towards her to pull her in.
"Ha…of course…Kayla…wouldn't help…me…I need…to rely…on…myself…" Astra thought as her vision began to blur and fade into darkness. Before this happened, she saw an inhuman man throwing his fists at her.
Pow!
As the fourth punch struck, Omar's thoughts and movements began to turn sluggish.
He had been enveloped in an illusory darkness yet again.
"The effects are weaker this time…clearly her Ethereon usage is nearing its limits." Omar thought as his senses made him point his eyes towards a particular direction.
In that direction, he saw a brown haired girl with blue eyes in the darkness.
However unlike before, these sparkling blue eyes seemed to have a little life in them.
Water rolled down the girl's eyes as she wore a horrified expression, her body shaking.
"Heh. She can't even hide herself in this darkness anymore. I'm a little surprised that she was so bold that she'd telegraph her location just to save this mutant. I thought she'd be more scared of me…" Omar grinned slightly as he rushed in her direction.
Immediately after he did, the darkness shattered yet again. This made Omar suddenly stop his movements.
As the darkness shattered and Omar found himself coming back to reality, he had also found himself standing over Anna.
She was curled up on the ground hugging her legs, and had a horrified expression.
"No!" Anna screamed;
"Please! No!" And Anna begged.
Omar couldn't help but shake his head as he had a smug grin on his face.
At that same time, it looked as if darkness had instantly enveloped the land.
"A last ditch effort huh…I'm almost proud of her."
…
Meanwhile, a large pile of rubble had collected onto Astra's body.
This was because the fourth strike that was meant for her had hit the wall, and it had completely destroyed that portion of it.
As her bruised body lay flat on the ground, she saw a strange looking metal stick. It was thin, and it was black with many streaks of light. Under it was a small crater the shape of the stick, as if it was burying into the surface.
Her mouth curled up into a strange smile as blood rushed down her face.
In that instant, she felt and saw a strange darkness envelop her.
…
"Those Dreamscape powers are quite annoying. I should've never let it be so easy for you to get that orb," Omar said in a teasing tone as he casually looked around his dark surroundings.
"Why-?" Anna asked. She had wanted to say "Why don't you just leave me alone?" But her throat had stopped her. She was starting before her throat stopped her.
"Why…" She tried her best to say the rest, but was unable to.
In frustration, she quickly wiped the tears from her face. She was able to stand up, but she struggled to do so as if her body was refusing it.
"…I'll answer you after everything is said and done." Omar didn't entertain himself seeing Anna struggle to talk any longer.
"I have to leave here as fast as possible before that thing arrives. Even though I doubt that I've killed the mutant, she should be unconscious by now." Omar thought as he prepared himself to carry Anna, who continued to have a horrified expression.
"It'll be sometime before the police arrives. Hopefully by then, she'll die due to her injuries. A woman shouldn't be that strong anyway-"
WHACK!
Omar's thoughts were interrupted as a sharp, sudden pain was felt in his head!
The pain was akin to a regular human getting hit in the head with a metal baseball bat!
Anna looked at the scene of Omar strangely getting hit by an invisible force in shock.
This shock made her instantly dissipate the illusion involuntarily!
Immediately, Anna fell onto the ground in exhaustion.
"Huff…puff…" Anna was panting as her eyes were starting to close involuntarily.
She had finally reached her limits.
As for Omar, since the darkness had dissipated when he got hit, he was instantly sent flying as he crashed through the invisible wall. This shattered it entirely, its ethereal pieces falling onto the ground and then disappearing.
Omar's body then landed onto the sidewalk, and it appeared motionless.
Bystanders and onlookers looked at the body in curiosity. Some looked in fear, others looked in shock and confusion.
Inside of the corridor, Anna's eyes stayed heavy as she attempted to stare at the man who got sent through the end of the corridor. She was curious to see the current state of this man, to see if he is still able to hurt her.
In the corner of her eye, she saw a woman suddenly appear in her field of vision. Her purple sweater was torn, and her blonde hair was messy. Her body was bruised, and her dark skinned face was bloody.
In the neon velvet light, she was walking towards the man as if she was limping towards her right side. In her right hand, there was a thin, black metal stick that had little streaks of light. With each step, she tapped this metal stick on the ground as if she used it to assist her to walk.
"He's going to get up soon. I have to finish him." A soft but dry voice vibrated through the air.
"…" Anna couldn't believe her eyes, ears, and all of her senses.
Tap! Tap!
The woman kept walking towards the man, step by step. With each step, the metal stick had cracked and dug through the concrete.
"Argh…" The man called Omar couldn't help but hold his head as it felt like it was going to explode. His vision was blurry and his thoughts felt mushed.
In that instant, he saw a shadowy figure stand above him.
The figure was tall, bruised and had messy hair. The figure had a well built body and had a strange beauty to it. This figure was female. But most importantly, she was a human—not a mutant.
While struggling greatly, she had held the metal rod up above her shoulder with both of her hands.
Her mouth curled up into a faint smile as she stared at the black haired, red eyed man that was on the floor, still dazed.
"…" Astra had hesitated slightly. This was not only because she had never done something this gruesome before, but also because she was considering whether or not this would bring about inconvenient consequences. After all, she would be bashing someone's head in with people watching.
Even if she wasn't going to kill him, it wouldn't have been a pretty scene regardless.
She then happened to glance at the corridor slightly.
She saw a brown haired girl wearing a starry skirt and a black sweater. She looked pretty and delicate.
She had blue eyes that seemed to be sparkling, like they were filled with hope for the first time.
Upon seeing this, Astra had thought back on her previous words.
"Tonight will be the night where she will become somebody…"
This time, Astra didn't hesitate. She took a deep breath and happened to wear a serious expression.
WHACK!