Everyone felt it—the crushing weight in the air, thick enough to choke on. And it all came from one man: Craven.
He hadn't lifted a finger—just spoken. But that alone was enough to freeze everyone in place. Even Chuck, who was seconds from unleashing his Talent, backed off instantly. If one man could radiate this much pressure just by standing there… no one wanted to find out what else he could do.
"Craven...." Wyatt said softly. He was happy Craven was here, but he didn't have any energy left to show his happiness, he even passed out immediately.
Seeing Wyatt on the floor and the state Tai was in, his expression changed for an instant.
Seeing this made the alarm bells in Chuck's go off immediately. "Wait. It's not what it looks like-" But he was too late, Craven immediately moved to the nearest person, Jay.
Jay prepared his trusty shield in the nick of time, no matter how strong he was there was no way he could punch through an advanced grade Deviant shield.
Craven didn't stop, even with the shield raised in front of him. He drove his fist straight into its center—there was a deafening bang… and Jay was gone.
Craven's punch didn't stop at the shield—it steamrolled Jay, launching him through the air like a ragdoll. He flew past Chuck and Tai in a blur, crashing down unconscious before anyone could react.
"I asked a question." Craven said. "And I expect a f*ckin' answer."
Chuck instantly lost all will to fight. If it wasn't for the fact that his friends couldn't stand on their own, he would have turned tails and ran away.
"P-please stop." Chuck stammered. "W-we are from the Vipers faction, we only c-came to defend one of our own."
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that Chuck was scared sh*tless. This man just blew away someone with an advanced grade weapon with his bare hands, and he didn't even look to be in the slightest pain.
"Oh, so yer all Bumi's brats?" It was clear that Craven was at least familiar with the Vipers. "I thought me and that bastard had a deal." He said with a thoughtful expression.
"Y-you do." Chuck said immediately. "We were just messing around and things got out of hand. It's just harmless fun" He was trying his best to convince Craven to not go on rampage.
"They came here to beat Wyatt up!" Tai screamed.
Everybody froze from fear. The were all doomed.
That b*tch...' Chuck muttered, eyes wide with disbelief. He was about to cry. Their leader had always said it—Craven wasn't someone you provoke. That's why, even with the friction between them and the Dark Bulls, they kept things cool. But someone just made the worst mistake.
Craven didn't reply. He only took a step forward, causing all the boys to flinch.
He walked over to where Wyatt lay, crouched beside him, and checked his condition. Head bleeding, probably a couple concussions but other than that he was fine.
"Tai, come take Wyatt inside. When the others get back get Callum to heal ya both up." He said as casually as ever.
Tai did as she was told, Chuck didn't even try to stop her, he knew better than to offend Craven who didn't seem too angry about the whole situation.
She rushed inside with Wyatt, heart pounding. Craven was holding back—she could tell. He wasn't the type to show rage on his face, but she'd seen him truly angry before… and this was dangerously close.
Craven waited until the two children were out of sight before he turned to the boys. He noticed some of them were moving away, trying to slowly run away.
"Ain't no point in runnin', lads,"Craven said, voice low and steady. "Ya do, an' I'll walk right up to yer base and fish yer all out."
The moment he said it, everyone froze. A few even stepped back to where they'd originally stood. No one wanted to find out what would happen if he showed up at their base—because they all knew it wouldn't be pretty.
"Now," He said coldly as he walked up to the shivering young men. "Y'all have six seconds to convince me not to kill ya." he cracked his knuckles so they could all hear.
"I-if you do then our captain will retaliate," One of the boys suddenly shouted. Causing Craven to stop for a moment. Everyone seeing this we're internally happy, looks like using their captain's name would get them out of this.
Seeing this the boy continued with a smile as he made his way to the front. "You know our captain, he isn't one to take hurting his men lightly. In fact-"
Bang.
A deafening bang echoed through the air. The boy was down—unconscious. Craven stood over him, fist still buried in his face like the punch hadn't even finished landing.
"Time's up." Craven said with a cold glare.
Seeing this, everyone scurried as they ran away scared. It was clear that Craven had already made up his mind.
They all bolted, scrambling to escape—Then came the sound, A low, tearing crunch like roots being ripped from the earth. One of them turned just in time to see it:
Craven had ripped a tree clean from the ground… and hurled it straight at them.
The tree soared over their heads and slammed into the ground in front of them, forcing them to stop in their tracks. One by one, they turned around to face him. If they were going down, they were damn sure going down with a fight.
Big mistake.
Craven's fury finally cracked through his calm. His face twisted with rage, and unstable energy erupted around him like fire licking at the edge of control.
"So this is him." Chuck muttered as cold sweat dripped down his forehead. "This is the man they called the demon of the Drecan clan."
…....
"What's going on? I saw like twenty six dead bodies outside." Julius asked as he entered inside the base. He wasn't alone, everyone except Craven, Tai and Wyatt were with him. They had all gone to get supplies and essentials. Tai was supposed to go with them but she had insisted on staying behind with Wyatt.
"Nah, only about half were dead. A few were breathing." Randy said casually.
"I don't like dead bodies." Bob said quietly but his voice was overshadowed by Tai's urgent shout.
"Callum! Come quick. Wyatt, he's not responding." She shouted, ignoring her own wounds.
Callum and Lung rushed over immediately, Callum went over to Wyatt's unconscious body, while Lung was immediately at his sister's side.
"What happened? Was it him again? I knew we shouldn't have left you alone with this nut job, I'll kill him." Lung asked frantically as he checked his sister for anymore injuries. She didn't answer any of his questions, she just watched as Callum loomed over Wyatt with a worried expression.
Callum was sweating slightly as he was trying to heal Wyatt up. 'It's the same as last time. He's healing slowly on his own, while trying to resist my healing. I can feel it, my Talent struggling with his body whilst still healing him.'
"Calm down, dude." Randy said to Lung. "We can't be sure what exactly what happened."
"Yeah. And besides, Wyatt hasn't shown any signs of possession for months now. We can't be sure it's him. I think it's connected to the people outside." Candy added. Making Lung calm down a bit.
"The dead people?" Julius asked, earning him a glare from Candy.
"I really don't like dead people." Bob said with a low tone. Annie and Candy held each of his hands to comfort him.
"Whew." Callum sighed.
Tai immediately rushed to him, not giving him any breathing space. "How's he?"
"He's fine." Callum lightly pushed her away from his face. "He isn't completely healed but he isn't in any danger. Frankly, I think we should be more worried about you. Your injuries look more serious."
"I'm fine." She replied matter-of-factually. "Just make sure he's okay."
"You are definitely not fine." Lung shunned her. "Callum, heal her please."
"No." She glared at Lung before turning to Callum. "Heal him completely."
"Callum, heal her now." Lung persisted.
"Callum, if you bring those hands near me without healing him completely, I'll snap them off." She threatened in a serious tone.
"Enough." Callum said. "I can do a little healing on him, but your wounds need attention too. So I'll do some 'first aid healing' on him them come back to you." He was afraid to come near her without healing Wyatt a little first.
Tai relaxed a bit, which in turn made Lung relax as well. The whole room was silent for a while.
"you think she has a crush on him?" Julius asked aloud to no one in particular, which made Candy elbow him in his stomach.
After a while Callum sighed again. "Alright, I'm done. Randy, take him to his room." He ordered.
"Do it yourself." Randy said. Candy stomped on his foot with all her might, which made him reluctantly take Wyatt to him room while murmuring the whole way.
"Your turn Tai." Callum walked over to Tai, a little scared due to her earlier threat, but she was cooperative and let him do his thing. The other's went to go drop the supplies while Lung stayed by his sister's side.
"Seriously, What do we do about the bodies outside?" Julius asked aloud. "And where's Craven?"
…....
Inside a spacious, dimly lit office, a bald man with pale skin sat behind a polished black desk, smoke curling lazily from the cigarette between his fingers. In his other hand, he held a stack of papers, eyes scanning the lines with quiet focus—Until the door slammed open with a bang, shattering the calm.
Craven walked in without a word. The door hung open behind him. In one hand, he held Chuck—beaten, bloodied, and barely breathing.
"It's alright." Craven said after seeing the worried expression on the man's face. "He's alive. So are the others." He dropped Chuck to the ground with zero care, like tossing out trash.
"Now, What's say me and you have a lil' chat." He said with a smile.