“And then you have to take him to her… because you have to save him…” the autopilot mood of his mind backfired. What he thought, and feared, was expressed openly in front of Aaron. Along with it, the grocery store turned darker and colder, although he didn’t intend to do it. “That’s the only surefire way to save him from that current condition…” 

“Gary… are you okay…?” Aaron asked eventually, a bit scared, but Gary could tell that he was still worried for Harry. “They didn’t attack you psychologically or something…?” 

AND BECAUSE OF THAT, HE’S GOING TO LIVE, AND EVENTUALLY, HE’S GOING TO STAY WITH THE TWO OF YOU. 

The urge grew louder and more savage in his mind, despite his autopilot mood. He didn’t doubt that, if he didn’t leave the store, he would go on rampage toward Aaron, but especially toward the shadow cocoon. It sounded like a delightful result to him, at first, but he was still collected enough to realize what would happen afterwards if he ever did that. 

So he walked out of the store, as normally quickly as he could, as he said, “I’ll distract them, just for a while. You do what needs to be done. And for fuck’s sake, don’t make me regret this,” trying his best to ignore his urge.  

ONCE AGAIN, JUST LIKE BEFORE. 

THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE THIRD, UNEXPECTED, UNDESIRED, UNWANTED, UNLOVED “UNCLE” PERSON. 

AND IT’S ALL BECAUSE YOU CHOOSE TO HAVE YOURSELF SUFFERING. 

Part 4

Gary walked out, looking relaxed and menacing, completely hiding his messed-up thoughts. He summoned lightning on both of his hands, and let it go on rampage, demolishing the surroundings, except for the grocery store. Bolts of lightning spread and jumped from one building to another, turning whatever it touched, which was nothing but concrete, into rubble. His eyes looked around here and there, scanning for any suspicious movement, as the buildings around him were demolished. He did spot a bit of suspicious movements here and there, although not often; it appeared to be flashes, a really fast silhouette moving randomly, with no beginning or end, but merely a midway movement. 

Now you’re silent. Gary said to himself. Whatever. Right now… 

Maintaining the lightning to destroy the surroundings was a bit of a challenge, because he had to find the balance between letting it go wildly and feeding it his energy, while making sure it didn’t backfire at all. And above all, he still had to look around with his keen senses, trying to track where the ninja jumped from and to. Nevertheless, he was doing all of it with good capability. The ninja was still too fast for him, but he could still anticipate his attacks, and the lightning bolts surrounded him, giving no gap for him to slip through to Gary. 

Doesn’t seem to be the kind that would be able to phase through underground, so the ground and the underground should be safe. He thought to himself. 

But what’s his plan here…? And that cannon guy… where is he…? He looked around, trying to find the other person with the big cannon attached onto his arm, but he was nowhere to be seen, at least not out openly. They must be doing a plan here… but what could it be…? 

What even is their purpose…? It can’t be Harry — can’t picture him somehow getting involved with the blessing, to a point where they’re this relentless… thought Gary. It’d make more sense if they’re after Aaron, but even this seems too obsessive… 

If I were them, I would… Gary tried to think of it from their perspective. I would… I would probably dig under the ground for surprise. But as far as I know, that’s not their forte… 

The next best plan would be fire and blast it all. That I can still disrupt the attacks, but that would depend on what kind of attack itself is. If it’s purely energy, I wouldn’t be able to stop it… 

Or could it be that they intend to make me run out of energy to defend myself?! Because I won’t run out that easily, and they don’t know — they wouldn’t know that…! 

No, I don’t have to stay on defensive mode for a long time. I just need to buy Aaron some time for him to decide. 

He looked behind him, to the grocery store. The interior was now filled with his shadow, making it completely covered from the outside. He couldn’t tell what Aaron was doing at the moment, but Gary deduced that he took his advice. All to rescue Harry. 

“Whatever the fuck am I doing…?” said Gary coldly, facepalming and shaking his head. “What a fucking idiot I am…” 

The urge inside him said nothing. Instead, the rage swelled up. The more he looked at the grocery store, the more his thoughts turned wilder, thinking that Aaron would take a close look on his face, even though it might not be true. As if responding to his rage, the lightning grew intense, demolishing its surrounding nearly into dust, and even energizing the nearby electronics, before eventually blowing up due to overload. 

And despite that, nothing happened yet. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, fucking come out already, you wussy coward.” said Gary, looking around more wildly. Sometimes, he could actually see the face of the ninja amidst the glows of the lightning, flashing here and there, as he jumped from the ground, the pole, the building, or midair. From a glance, he looked quite old to Gary, even though he could move surprisingly fast, enough to appear as blurs to his enhanced eyes. He couldn’t tell how strong he was, considering that he blocked the attack with ice boulders, but he was quite certain anyway that the ninja’s strength point was no joke either. He noticed that the ninja’s eyes were abnormally fixated on Gary, as he leaped here and there in speed. It was also quiet; aside from the sounds of the lightning destroying the surroundings, he could barely hear the footsteps of his jumps and dashes, even though he was flashing really fast. 

Feeling enraged and annoyed, he poured out his fury onto the ninja. 

“What? Am I handsome? Is that why you’re that fixated on me?” mocked Gary, with a smirk on his face. “Stop jumping, and you’ll be able to see how handsome I am.” 

He launched a bolt of lightning from his hand, aimed toward where he saw the movement, although he had never thought that he could move fast enough to attack him. Seeing that it hit a building far away, he knew that he completely missed. 

I could try slowing his movement by adding more pressure on air flow, but I’m using lightning now, and I can’t do both, not at this condition. At least I can consider doing that secret weapon later on when I actually deal with him face-on. Thought Gary to himself. Right now… 

“Come on, now! Don’t you wanna see my handsome face real close?!” He did his best to set his smirking face, without turning his head to the grocery store. Why the fuck is he taking so long?! 

He saw a movement, coming from outside, and heading toward him. He was surprised that there was a movement that could go past the lightning fences, but nevertheless, he anticipated it with an ice burst right away, with just a wave of his hand. Only after he froze whatever it was, did he realize that it was just a bent and rusty piece of metal, already being cut and sliced by the lightning fences. His mind immediately thought of a car bumper. 

“Come on, now! Did I make you mad? All just because of my face?!” He’s testing my defense. Thought Gary. My defense should be strong, but that still depends on how strong — no, how cunning this ninja guy can be… the real problem would be the cannon guy… 

What are they waiting for…? What are they planning…?! Where even is the cannon guy…?! He decided to expand the lightning fences, slowly. He scanned harder and wilder on the buildings, trying to spot any movement, other than the ninja’s fast leaps, but the only other movements were those of the demolished buildings. The ninja himself still leaped here and there, as if trying to search for a gap from his defense; he hadn’t thrown anything else like another car bumper or a big boulder. 

Maybe I should taunt him…? “Okay, you know what, this is getting boring. I’m starting to think that you're just an overrated, pretentious blessing. It’s like you’re trying so hard to be formidable, but you're actually buying time for reinforcement to get here.” 

There was still no response. Not significantly. 

He then acted to roll his eyes openly, trying to trigger further. “Shows everyone how weak and pathetic you truly are. How embarrassing.” Let’s see… he seems to be around fifty years old… he must have developed pride and integrity for his job and responsibility as a blessing… “How the fuck could you even do your field job, if all you do is jump around and throw stuff? Do you spend your nights as your director’s sex slave? Bribing him with yourself to get promoted? Because I literally know someone who does exactly that.” 

He must have a family… occupation doesn’t seem to be his sensitive area. “Can’t imagine how your family must feel. A loser old male being trying to fulfill his family’s needs with his mediocrity, physically and mentally. And in the most blasphemous manner I can imagine? Any sane person would disown you if they were your son.” 

He finally stopped jumping around, and stopped at his left side. Gary paused the lightning’s expansion. He thought about charging him with a lightning bolt, before he thought that it should be easy for him to dodge that as well. So, he decided to hold it, and think of a better solution. As he predicted, the man was relatively old, looking like a fifty-years-old, or probably even older. Although he wasn’t surprised with his speed and possible strength, it somehow still felt weird to see him moving almost as fast as the speed of sound. He wore a thick hooded jacket, with jeans, shoes, and scarf around his neck; although he looked more like a homeless person than a ninja, he couldn’t help but think of him as a ninja, seeing his movements, even as he landed and stopped jumping around. 

“Talkative, aren’t you?” spoke the ninja with its bass voice. “Trying to rile me up with all the insults you can think of.” 

He can see through me… definitely not the kind that can get easily riled up… “The weird thing is, it feels like I touched on some truths there… maybe not all, but, you know…” 

“We both know it’s as true as your teenage life as an edgelord who makes his parents dead, because he made them indebted by buying too much coke and whores, without them knowing it. Which is another word for ‘completely wrong’.” he spoke, with a neutral tone, as if it was a normal conversation, unlike Gary’s aggravating tone. “Unless I get it right?” 

Now he’s the one getting on my edge… nevertheless, he didn’t allow it to get to him. “Oh, someone’s getting mad.” said Gary, smirking. 

Calm down. I need to think of an attack he wouldn’t manage to dodge… the best chance should be the element of surprise, when he’d expect it the least… Thought Gary, as he was thinking of a way to attack faster than the ninja could move. 

“Not really. I just feel bored. There has to be a better way to get under my skin than making up edgy stuff, even if it’s all just buying time for your friend over there.” said the ninja. 

Lightning would be the fastest — oh fuck. 

His mind short-circuited, switching from the way to attack the ninja to the right response to reply to his right guess. It was fortunate that he realized something along with it, as well as an opportunity, even though it was just a weak one. 

“I can say the same for you. Where’s your cannon guy, anyway?” said Gary. “Must be hiding around, waiting for the right moment to blast us to death.” 

He didn’t answer for a few seconds. His face looked empty, as if he was daydreaming of something in his mind. As Gary was about to say something, he spoke, “There’s a limit to what he can do, even if he seems to be invincible.” 

“Oh, he finally died? Is that what you’re saying? Thank goodness, if that’s true.” sighed Gary in relief and mockery. 

“I wish I could say the same. But, no. he’s not dead. He’s just gravely wounded, thanks to that lightning of yours.” 

He delivered the information with the tone, as if they were two friends having a normal conversation about daily life. Gary couldn’t tell whether he was excited or enraged by the fact, but considering that his tone sounded extremely normal, he deduced that the ninja couldn’t care less about the cannon holder’s wellbeing, that he had no choice other than taking the news as the truth. So they’re not that friendly with each other… this feels really new and unexpected… 

“But don’t worry. Your guess is right. I am also buying time.” said the ninja. “It’s a hell of a move, though.” 

And before he knew it, the ground where he stood was deconstructed. 

“How is he, Arias?” 

She walked as carefully as she could, amidst the demolished rooftop with unstable rubble and falling rocks. She was thinking of reforming the demolished rooftop, before canceling that thought, all to reserve her energy. A part of her still feared if the enemies would fire another bolt of lightning, and in such a way that it spread into a wide range and demolished everything it touched; the sound itself was deafening, even though she wasn’t nearby when it happened. She could only convince herself that such an attack shouldn’t be possibly done twice within a few minutes, even though there was no telling of that. 

It took her a while to find the body of the blessing. “Doesn’t look good… I can fix him, but it’d probably take a long time.” 

He landed next to her, to see what she meant. 

Amidst the rubble and pieces of concrete, a single left hand popped out, showing that the rest of the cannon user’s body was buried beneath the rubble. It was stiff, not moving a centimeter, so she thought that he was already dead, again. Without using any of their powers, it would likely take quite a while to fully dig the body out of the concrete. 

“We don’t have time for that. They would have escaped already…” he turned back, before saying, “or come up with a solid plan.” 

Arias followed his look. Her sight wasn’t as good as him, but even from afar, she could see a man walking out of a broken store, before he saw something shining from the man. It expanded relatively fast, forming into a sort of spherical, glowing net of something fluid and sharp-looking, destroying everything it touched. 

“What are they trying to do…? They’re not escaping…?” said Arias to herself. 

“Too early to tell. But I can say that we need to move fast, too.” 

He grabbed her by her arm, and pulled her onto his back, before she could say anything further. Although she was still not used to it, she said nothing, and instinctively landed on his back, wrapping around his neck with her arms and his waist with her legs, as her head leaned hard toward his. 

In one second, they were on the destroyed rooftop of a building. 

In the next second, they were on the ground, behind a completely different building, hidden from the enemy’s sight.