Chapter 6: Awakening
Carla had seen many types of prey in her life. There were those who cried on the spot during their last moments, those who fought back till the very end while cursing, and even those who simply collapsed in despair and didn't move even as they were being savaged.
To her, the despair-filled Kaizer was just another one of such prey, until she saw him raise his hands. Amused, she gave him props for breaking out of despair in the final moments and mastering his last will to fight, but what good would it do?
As such, when his eyes lit up like the stars on the earth, she was at first puzzled until she heard the words that came blasting out of his mouth.
"STOP!"
Carla considered herself a rebel. After all, when she awakened as an esper with transformative abilities, she didn't choose to be a goody two-shoes or even join any faction. She simply gave in to her instincts and did as she pleased, when she pleased, regardless of the death and suffering she caused.
But at this moment, she sincerely doubted her entire life as her pounce was halted mere inches away from the face of her target, who was looking at her with a sort of regal coldness that chilled her to the bone. Her body was completely frozen in mid-air, unable to move as a blue outline surrounded her silhouette.
Kaizer, stunned by the sudden change, felt his concentration slip, which caused the blue outline surrounding Carla to disappear, and she, now freed, leapt backwards with her hackles fully raised, her expression one of complete ferocity as her tail stood on end.
"What the hell was that?" They both asked at the same time, in strange synchronization.
Kaizer paused and closed his eyes. After taking a deep breath and calming himself, he realized he could feel it. He could feel the entire world around him in a way completely different from before, not reliant on his five senses, but on a strange sixth one.
Interestingly, this sixth sense was a combination of all five, giving him in-depth feedback of everything around him in a more complete way than he had ever felt before. The range was not that great, only a hundred meters, but within this hundred meters, Kaizer felt like he was King!
With his eyes still closed and savoring this new feeling, he sidestepped Carla's charge, which shocked the feline woman. She paused and leapt again, bouncing off the walls and the ground to claw at Kaizer, but the young man dodged it all at the last second, feeling even more and more in tune with his mind.
"What the hell are you?!" Carla roared with hatred and anger, not understanding why everything had changed when she was about to succeed.
She made a powerful charge toward Kaizer, coming from directly in front of him, and this time the young man didn't dodge. Instead, he opened his eyes, revealing two glowing pupils that looked like the sea reflecting the stars, then raised his hand once more with a look of casual indifference.
He didn't utter a word, but a blue outline formed around the body of Carla that trapped her on the spot again, halting her like a frozen sculpture. Except, one could still make out her hurried breathing and her eyeballs darting around in their sockets from fear.
Kaizer opened his outstretched palm, and then snapped it shut, squeezing his fist tightly.
Carla, who was bound by him, also began to compress, much like a soda can that was being squeezed, except she possessed a body of flesh and blood. As such, the outcome was a gory scene as she screamed in agony as her bones were crushed and her organs were forced out of every orifice she possessed.
Kaizer released his grip, causing a mangled corpse to fall to the ground that was still twitching due to the rather strong life force within. However, he soon detected that all thoughts coming from the corpse before him came to an end, leaving her well and truly dead.
Kaizer brought his hand to his face with a look of boyish excitement. "Holy shit, that was ama…zing?"
His words cut off halfway as he felt a hotness around his nose, and wiped that area to see that it was… blood? Kaizer did not even have the chance to think as his eyes became dull and he fell to his knees, then to the ground, completely unconscious before he even hit the floor.
...........
"Kaizer!"
The cry of a familiar voice echoed in Kaizer's ears, causing him to furrow his brow as he slowly opened his eyes.
All around him were blurry lights and a slew of barely discernible faces. Even with his mind groggy and his cognition impaired, he immediately recognized those faces that were filled with worry and relief.
"Mom…? Dad…?"
Kaizer's voice was hoarse, as if he hadn't had a drop of liquid touch his throat in months. This actually made him much more awake as he opened his eyes a bit more, a focused light coming to them as he tried to sit up.
His body was fine, not really as weak as he sounded. However, there was a splitting pain at the underside of his scalp, like his brain juice was boiling. His brain itself seemed a bit heavier, but it was this mild discomfort that made him grimace slightly.
Charlene leaned forward to gently help him up, her eyes full of maternal worry. She didn't say a word, only gently stroked her son's back to make him feel comfortable. This actually helped Kaizer a lot more than he thought, allowing him to sense his surroundings better.
Because of this, he could hear his father roaring outside the ward door at a pair of police inspectors who had to bow their heads in his presence, questioning why a bunch of 'car thieves' would smash the item they were trying to steal and kill his son?!
No matter what Keith said, no matter how he threatened, cajoled, or inquired, the police inspectors simply apologized and stated that this was a matter of confidentiality, which made the fellow realize that this matter was not simple at all. Despite this, his verbal onslaught didn't stop, and it was precisely because he understood that this matter was not simple that he had to show his stance.
Charlene and Kaizer were silent until Keith eventually dismissed the fellows and walked into the ward. His irate expression immediately shifted to one of concern as he rushed over to hold his wife and son, his body trembling slightly.
"Kaizer, my son. Is everything okay? Are you okay? Do you need anything?"
Kaizer smiled at his father. "You sure chewed them out, Dad. You were like a tiger, just as Aunt Katherine said."
Keith blushed while Charlene chuckled. Katherine often teased Keith for being fierce in public but extremely soft behind closed doors, which was actually his normal state. However, after his endeavors yielded extreme profit and propelled his small family into financial power, he had to adapt quickly and create a strong external persona to ward off the wolves.
But when it came to his family members, Keith did not joke around at all. After all, what was the point of working so hard all these years if not to protect and provide for those he cared for?