Lui was flying, swept along by the currents, carrying a man who wouldn't stop screaming in his arms. The weight was hard to bear. No matter how desperate his situation was, he kept yelling to himself that he would never let his people fall into anyone else's hands.
A transparent panel opened before him, displaying a map of the Shadow Council. It was possible to reach it via live location tracking. Lui noticed that with each meter he advanced, the fixed red dot on the map was moving.
"How much further?" he hissed, struggling to breathe. The man writhed as if he were drowning.
"Hey, shut up a little!" Lui scolded him. The man instantly fell silent out of sheer fear.
Lui continued flying toward the triangular castle that appeared ahead.
[Distance to Shadow Council: 100 meters remaining!]
"I thought time passed faster in the air," said Lui, pressing the man tighter in his grip and thrusting forward. The wind current had soaked into him. The man's whimpering buzz echoed in Lui's ears.
"Don't you ever shut up, man? We haven't even killed or cut anything yet!" he snapped.
The man fell silent again, as if to mumble something else but swallowed it.
Lui felt the carrying capacity of his mental power weakening. He was growing increasingly exhausted. With his remaining strength, he surged forward and closed a distance of about 50 meters. The pointed tip of the castle was now clearly visible.
It looked as though shadows were dancing around the structure.
A massive sign towered above: Shadow CouncilSo this was the place. It lived up to its name.
[Balance combination activated. Descent commencing.]
They began to tremble in the air.
A soulful hymn rose from the conical top of the turret. Lui's feet drifted. The sound echoed in his ears; the cool scent of the wind wandered through his nostrils. He leaned forward, then pulled back to initiate the descent. As the altitude decreased, the scenery expanded; buildings became wider and clearer.
[Current altitude: 10 meters.]
"All right, time to land!" said Lui, straining the mental suspension lines. "Come on, brain, just a little more!" He made a small internal negotiation with himself.
His brain, saying nothing, sent this message:
[8 meters remaining!]
Lui groaned, "Come on!" He no longer felt like a prince, but a parachutist.
[7 meters remaining.]
The man began to crackle again from the velocity. "Gravity!" he shouted.
He now understood the pain Newton's apple must have felt while falling.
"Stories don't go the way they're told," said Lui, loosening the weapons he had placed in the man's coat slightly.
[2 meters remaining.]
Lui and the man crying like a baby in his arms finally touched the ground.
[Landing successful! Flight Star reward earned! Your resonance level while flying is now higher! Do you accept the reward?]
Lui grunted, "Hrrn."
The man dropped from Lui's loosened arms like a sack of flour. He was breathing heavily.Fear of heights.
[Remaining time: 15 minutes and 38 seconds.]
"Damn! How am I supposed to get in within that time?" Lui thought.
He dragged the man by his feet up to the castle gate. The prisoner showed no intention of getting up. He would've fallen asleep if not for the shame.
Right in front of the door, Lui pointed his weapon at the man, eliminating any chance of escape.
[Please present your card to the door.]
Lui happily took the card out of his pocket and held it to the reader.
[Card not recognized!]
What?!
He tried again.
[Card not recognized.]
How was this possible? The system itself had issued this card!
Lui wanted to connect to Kaji Caesar. Sweat was streaming down his face. "Connect me!" he commanded the system.
[Try asking a little more nicely next time. CONNECTING…]
Lui drummed his fingers on his weapon as he waited.
[The user is busy!]
I'm screwed now! Damn!
He locked eyes with the prisoner.
"Do you know how to get in?" Lui asked, his amber softness instantly hardening—like a volcano cooling rapidly.
"N-No!" stammered the man.
Lui studied his eyes carefully and sensed he was hiding something. "You're lying."
"I swear I'm not!" the prisoner pleaded, trembling.
"Yes, you are," insisted Lui. "If you don't tell me in five seconds, I'll kill you."
"I don't know… If I knew, wouldn't I have told you?" he begged.
Lui hesitated. Could he really kill him? Even if he was a Lightning Council soldier?
One weapon pointed at the prisoner, the other at the door. He pulled the trigger.
The moment he fired, the entire area surged with current.
Electrons raced through Lui's veins.
AAAAA!The man convulsed from the ground charge, trembling like a patient struck by two electroshocks.
Lui wasn't affected at all.
His heart pounded faster. His blood ran thick. Wild. Furious.
[Resonance Prince activated. Please fire at the door once more.]
Without blinking, Lui pulled the trigger.
The door exploded with a crack.
Boom!
Objects scattered in all directions.
He looked at the prisoner. His eyes were focused on the flying objects. He was moving them.Lui remembered that even Class C members had some resonance abilities. Dust particles floated in the air. Grains of sand danced before his eyes, stinging them. He covered his eyes in pain.
Scanning the chaos around him, Lui charged his electric power. He thought about plugging the man in like a socket.
He tried to open his eyes. They still stung.
The man was exerting all his power on the objects. Lui realized his weapon was slipping from his fingers.
He's controlling my weapon!
No! He gripped it tighter. What trembled in his hand wasn't the weapon, but his heart.
The man stared directly into Lui's eyes, then turned toward the tower and shattered one of the castle windows.
The hymn's pitch rose behind them.
Lui felt everything slipping out of control.
The rest of the windows shattered as well, broken by the prisoner's mental force. Shards of glass scattered like flower petals in the fall.Lui tried to use his own mental power. He managed to lift himself slightly. Rose on his toes. His mind was exhausted.
A shard struck his brow at that very moment. A cut opened above his eyes. It hurt. Ignoring the pain, Lui tried to lift himself again and began to choke the man from behind. The prisoner was clearly incapable of moving himself with that level of strength. Yet he was exploiting his power with striking efficiency. He kept stirring up dust storms and flinging glass around.
"Wait," Lui ordered, reaching for the weapon on the ground—when a vase fell and hit him on the head.
AH!
[Power level dropping! 5 minutes remaining to complete the mission!]
Lui fell on his back and looked up at the sky. He shielded his eyes.
He was about to lose consciousness. The flowerpot had hit hard. His head throbbed with a cold numbness.
He tried to get up. His wound was bleeding.
As he sank deeper, the only sound he heard was:
[Armed attack initiated!]
Flashes of scenes passed through Lui's mind. His people fleeing in all directions, his father dying in bed from sorrow. Tears filled his eyes, but he couldn't cry. Before he even knew what was happening, innocent, poor people were being shot from above. The sound of bombs rang in Lui's ears.
"I couldn't save you," he murmured.The bodies of his people were scattered like trash bags. Bullets flew through the air.
[Penalty trailer! Preview of what's to come! Mission status: Critical. Video for training purposes.]
[Stats:Fear: 100Death Level: HighSurvival Probability: Very lowKing's Death: PossibleDisappointment: Very highBetrayal of Father: Very high]
Fuzulin stared into Lui's eyes and froze, his teary gaze fixed in the distance.He was dead.
[Father's spirit denied forgiveness! Honor points: -100]
[Forecast: Mission failed! Your people are about to be attacked! Expected casualties: 1000!]
"No," said Lui, as if begging to wake up from this nightmare. "No."
[Flower virus initiating… 10 seconds remaining.]
Lui opened his eyes and roared. "No!"Electricity began crackling in his mind. His feet lifted off the ground. His back was no longer on the rocks. He soared through the clouds. The current pushed behind him. He charged toward the fleeing prisoner. The man had gotten far. Lui launched himself forward.
[7 seconds remaining.]
Blood dripped from his forehead.
The death of his father flashed before him like water.
[5 seconds remaining.]
He closed the distance between them.
[3 seconds remaining.]
No, even if he caught him, there was no time to take him back to the castle.
He felt the lights go out—for his people.
He spent the last of his strength. Then he fainted.
[Mission failed! Flower virus initiated!][Flower virus active.]
What remained from the flowers that passed through Lui's eyes?