??? (Rewrite)

"Are you… serious right now?"

"Dead serious."

Hikari just about finished telling Leia his story, it seems like she didn't know most of it. Not all that surprising considering how hush hush that facility was.

"I knew that you were a homunculi made to be a weapon, but that treatment still isn't acceptable."

He didn't answer her. Right, he's not really human, but he can't really do anything about that now. All he can do is move forward and strive for his personal goal. 

"So, what are you gonna do now?"

"Live as a normal human-"

Just before Hikari could even finish what he was saying, red lights flashed around the building as a voice from the speaker announced a Rift Beast attack.

[Warning! All Drifters, the Dimensional Rift is spewing out Wolf Type Rift Beasts. Threat level: Town Rank.]

Somewhat annoyed, Hikari took Leia's burger, which was on her tray, and dashed outside the arcade. He left a few sparks in his wake, his irritation growing more apparent. Before he could do something though, Aster yelled out his name.

"Hikari! Back me up!"

Hikari didn't argue, part of him wanting this to happen in the first place. This was a good time to gauge just how vast the difference between him and other Drifters were after all. And so, he nodded, letting Aster lead him to where the clump of Celest was.

Once there, Aster brought out his Claymore as Hikari brought out his gun, Ignis.

Usually, Hikari would just one shot these Rift Beasts, but since he's delegated to a supporter role at the moment, he decided to decrease his output and only hit areas of weakness. This could also deal some damage, so he decided to just make the energy bullets slow down just before the point of impact. 

He shot the first wolf on its two front legs, making it fall on its front as Aster dashed and landed a devastating blow to its head, splitting it in two. The other two wolves jumped towards him. Once more, Hikari shot the wolves, this time on their hind legs. 

With one fell swoop, Aster cut their heads off, but some felt amiss. The bodies didn't disintegrate. Rather, the energy output only increased. Although unnoticed, Hikari's eyes widened just a small bit.

"Aster, back away."

The boy just looked at him curiously before hopping back to his side. Hikari on the other hand brought his hand up, and with an unknown tongue, he raised his hand.

"◾◾◾◾"

A quill. Crystalline in appearance and dark in hue. It was as if it was plucked from a bird made out of the most valuable material in existence.

"These Rift Beasts are mutants… I can't believe that they're actually appearing again."

Once more, Aster looked at him confusedly when his eyes widened as soon as he saw the wolves regenerate. Regen was not that uncommon in Rift Beasts, but for ones of this rank? No way in hell. Aster looked at his temporary teammate, wondering what he had in store for this mutation. 

… That is until "Nothingness" enveloped the world.

It was neither dark nor light, it was silent yet loud. Aster felt like floating but also felt like drowning. Multiple effects within a single minute. Complete an utter chaos. Nothing less, nothing more. 

"Their reproduction can cause… quite the problem. That's why, I'll End them here."

The feather glowed brightly, morphing into a sword that has that same crystalline appearance. The sword pulsed as he raised it up. Hikari's eyes flared purple as his fingers started going black, as if he was starting to get infected with Celest.

Then, he swung.

In that single moment, everything momentarily disappeared. All of reality ceased to exist. Only for a moment though, as the next second reality returned to normal. No Rift Beasts, no damage to the surroundings, nothing. It was as if nothing even happened in the first place.

"Haah…" Hikari breathed out, smoke exiting his mouth as if he were a machine overheating. His hair, now turned ashen gray, fluttered in the air. His right hand now turned pitch black. He looked monstrous in a way. His body started to emit smoke as his eyes glowed a brilliant purple.

"You…" Aster looked at him with wide eyes. He knew he wasn't dreaming as he still felt the cold sweat forming all over his body. Run. His instincts flared and told him to run.

"...so they weren't lying when they said you were the most powerful." Aster immediately looked behind him, recognizing the voice. How could he not? That's the voice of the most popular idol in the world. 

"Leia Starfall…?" Aster said in confusion. How was she here? Did she know Hikari? From her words alone, that might actually be the case.

"Hello there," Leia waved at him with a smile. His heart skipped a bit at that. "Mind if I take your friend here for a bit?"

"Uh-"

"Thanks!" Before Aster could even reply, Leia was already dragging Hikari off somewhere. That confirms it, she knows him.

-x-X-x-

"Are you dumb?" Leia asked as she looked at the bed beside her.

"Quite the opposite, but just this time, I think so." Hikari answered with a strain.

Right now, Hikari was lying down on a bed while a barrier made by Leia was around him. This was so that the Celest exiting from Hikari's body was contained and can be reabsorbed back into him. If not, the whole area would resemble a place that was pumped full of radiation.

"Thanks for this."

"No problem, and even if I didn't want to, I'm the only one who can somewhat contain you."

"As expected from the Strongest Natural." Hikari replied with a sigh.

Being created for battle with almost mythical beings, Hikari and the other bioweapons were naturally blessed with nigh-infinite stamina. However, mental fatigue still exists. While his ◾◾◾◾ may not cause him physical harm and fatigue, it cause a large mental fatigue on him just by being in that form for more than a few seconds.

"Tell me, just what is your Gift exactly?"

"..."

Gifts, a unique aspect to any individual in this world. It only has a rate of 1/100,000 to appear on someone. Even then, it can range from some minor niche power or reality bending. Of course, the bioweapons already have gifts from the get go, although theirs are artificially developed.

"It's fine if-"

"I don't know."

"Pardon?" Leia asked confusedly at his interjection.

"When I looked at my files, my Gift was listed as unknown. Not only that, when I dug more, I noticed that my files were more recent than the others. It was as if it was created after I came to be rather than being the baseline for my creation. That's how it was with the others after all." Hikari said as he looked at the ceiling, carefully remembering the details of that day.

This was new for Leia. As far as she knew, all of the homunculi were created based on the files that the facilities that created them had. So for Hikari to exist before his file… That could mean that Hikari was an unprecedented event within their calculations.

"Now you're turning more and more interesting for me…Hikari." Leia thought to herself. 

"Those mutants should be neutralized as soon as they appear. What I did earlier was the most effective method. With that said, I'm afraid that they'll start appearing more and more now."

"What do you mean 'most effective'?"

"Erasure. From what I've observed, my Gift completely erases something from existence as soon as I defeat it. You've noticed it earlier right? Not even a speck of Celest was left of those Rift Beasts."

Leia recalled back to earlier and, much to her surprise, she did recall that there wasn't even a speck of Celest left on that area. Except for Hikari's of course. This gives Leia a general idea as to what the nature of Hikari's Gift really is. It wasn't for Destruction, but rather, it was for Erasure. Truly, it was befitting of him in her opinion.