ESITA Chapter 10: Pulling him apart from them is almost impossible

The presence of the 'abilities' changed the way of the human life altogether. Not only they could now fight back and survive in the apocalypse, they now also have new things they could do and can have new dreams previously never imagined.

They have a whole new 'world' to conquer in a general sense.

Fighting off against magical beasts, conquering new lands, surviving the huge geographical and weather changes.

New communities, associations, organizations, as well as religions sprung up all over the world.

As the whole world changes, so as their outlook and endeavors for the future of the humanity. They now realize that the apocalypse, is in fact not the 'end' after all. It is the destruction of the old times and the initiation of a new era. The era where humans now have to live along with magic and magical creatures and beast.

A lot of countries fell. Catastrophic large amount of civilization collapse and the death toll is still rapidly rising. However, it doesn't mean they're still as hopeless as before. With the end, comes with a new beginning. A door closes, and a new ones opens with infinite possibilities.

A lot lost their jobs, friends, and family. It is very painful living everyday, but they have to fight for survival, bring honor to those they have lost and try their best to live for them.

Will and his family are rather living peacefully, however, that doesn't mean they aren't anxious. Everyday, they train themselves for higher chance of survival. The military near the town is slowly, but surely eliminating the zombie villages one at a time.

The military also suffers from injuries and casualties, however as the time goes on, their abilities grows stronger and stronger. Maximizing their efficiency and mastering their abilities to their limits.

The mountain enshrouded by the miasma is now officially called 'dark mountain' where it is publicly known that there are many undead beasts lurking all over the place. Weak ability users might get influenced by the miasma and also start mutating into even more stronger undead. That is why, the military focus in training specialized ability user's corps so that they could fight off its influence.

The GEPCA is carefully selecting dynamic ability users and training them. Planning of releasing them to accomplish hard and complicated tasks and rescues.

The department of education are now trying to form coalition with GEPCA and plans to create new curriculums to supplement the needs of educating young ability users and enhance their abilities.

Ability users flaunts their feats via the internet while also giving out tips to those other ability users aligned to their 'Class'. This cause a trend and a new 'ability influencers' term was born.

Masked vigilantes sprung all over the world who boldly self-proclaims as superheroes or heroes of justice. They go to the streets and protect their neighborhood.

Of course, white and black are the two inseparable components of shades. With power given to everyone indiscriminately, bad people with evil intentions now, also have power to heighten the scale of their evil deeds.

Fights and explosions constantly bombard the cities from fierce fight from the criminals and authorities. Criminal organizations are also training their own teams of devils to fight back and get it all there is to squeeze in the city.

The neighborhood where the Merlin family resides is as quiet and peaceful as always.

"Green, Blue… Be wary and act according to practice" Sean instructs his summons. Green is a small fairy with abilities that could cure, create barriers, and enchant his allies. Blue, is a jelly and round slime with viscous and physical resilient body.

Black, the dragon still acts as the main attacker and initiator.

Typical creatures straight out of a fantasy book are now Sean's friends as well as weapons. His ability seems to be only limited once he depletes all his energy, however, this doesn't mean he still wouldn't be able to fight.

Sean's energy supplements his three summons without stopping. This makes them hold and immense amount of energy even after their user depletes it. Sean's fighting ability heightens now with the presence of his two new companions.

Creating them, Sean needs to solidify his imagination of them from the details of the texture of their exterior, to the properties of their abilities. He also needs to give them personality and what course of actions would they take at certain situations.

Sean couldn't afford to mistake them of their identities or roles, or they might get confused and weaken instead.

Sean could now fight back his illness now that he has Green with the ability to heal and enhance him physically.

Will finds Sean's ability to be very dynamic and potent. His potential seems to be limitless. With that, Will now feels less jealous but instead, looks forward to his improvement and want to see through the extent of his limits. It should also be because Will could now bond with his family in the VR world where everything is possible in the palm of his hand.

The VR world is slowly getting filled up with the other's help. Also, Will doesn't have to burden himself in solely supplying it by his energy, but through Point Link, everybody contributes to its continues function and growth.

"Everyone, we have to be careful. Our opponent is the all time champion… he's very strong" Sean says while looking at the countdown.

"big bro Sean! Let's have fun once again! Please try harder to last longer this time!" The six years old Tom cheerfully says from the opponent's side.

Sean laughs dryly. "I'll try my best… get ready!"

The horn signifying the start of the match resounds.

Tom did not waste time and aims three shuriken at Sean's three summons while another one is aiming directly at the user himself.

Black knows the lethality of these weapons and couldn't afford to clash with it. It dodge to the side at the last minute.

Green the fairy set up a transparent barrier to surround Sean, while Blue the slime blocks the three shuriken coming their way.

Blue stretches and the shuriken hits his viscous body and slow down their rotation speed a notch. When the shuriken hit the barrier, it thankfully didn't completely pierce it this time. However, cracks starts appearing from where its hit and spread all over the dome as if egg that's about to hatch.

Black attacks Tom now that the shuriken are far from reaching him. However, this doesn't mean Tom is defenseless.

An invisible force tries clutching him to stop his movements. This slows the small dragon down while a shuriken goes after him once again.

Sean's summons tries their hardest to block the shuriken and defeat the small Tom. The match prolongs for almost fifteen minutes but ultimately, Tom wins once again.

An unexpected turn of event. While four shuriken aims at each of them and the summons fends for it, the shuriken that is the closest to Sean suddenly split into two. This makes five shuriken with considerable speed and power attack and overwhelming Sean's team of four. The new shuriken strike Sean at an unexpected timing.

The isolated match space disappears and Sean's body returns to normal from the glitch and cut form.

Above Tom's head is the word 'WINNER', and trumpets airs while confetti falls from the sky.

The leaderboard displays Tom's name with a crown beside it and his number of wins.

"Wow… Tom is too strong. He's unbeatable!..." Sean says while heaving a resigned sigh. He get close to Tom and rub his soft hair.

"How can we win against Tom?!" Rick exclaims after witnessing the fierce match just now.

"Wait, how does your shuriken keeps multiplying, Tom?..." Ask Jess after realizing a crucial mystery.

"Big bro gave me ten of them! He said I could increase one as my control to them gets better!..." Tom proudly explains.

"What?!" Rick couldn't help but shout in shock.

Will stacked ten shuriken into one. They're enchanted to merge their molecules and merge into one unless Tom break them apart. As they divide, they also could only turn sharper and sharper.

Everybody else imagine Tom controlling ten shuriken and defeat them all at once. That could be a highly plausible future. Also, Tom is still growing. He's only getting more and more stronger and proficient in using his ability.

"Maybe this is why Will avoid having a match with Tom…" Rick mutters.

Everyone agrees. In fact, Will couldn't afford to see his younger brother fight against him. He also don't want to harm him in anyway with his own hands. That's why, he couldn't accept Tom's match request even if he asks multiple times.

Although, Will and Tom often use the 'obstacle courses' room or the 'robot virtual enemy' room.

"Right.. By the way, where's Will? Have you seen him anywhere Rick?" Jess asks.

"I don't know, maybe is creating something again… he doesn't seem to be logged in to the VR world." Rick replies with uncertainty.

"Does anyone want to come to the 'beach room' with me and Tommy?" Sean asks.

"I'll go! I still don't want to logout yet. My mum will keep urging me to enroll to the training curriculum of the GEPCA… She just don't know what I'll miss once I go. The VR world is so much better to train in." Jess says.

"What are the GEPCA thinking? We're going back to school? It's still in the middle of the apocalypse!" Rick knows what Jess feels. His mom also wants him to get enrolled.

"Well, apparently, they said that kids under fifteen should still be studying in school. They also want to train ability user saplings. A lot of kids are enrolling actually. Unlike us, they don't have Will…" Sean reasons.

With that, they head to the 'beach room' and starts playing under the sun with the sand and waves.

The VR world have everything they could ever imagine. Instead of going out, they would very much prefer to lock themselves in their rooms and login and play for the majority of the time. This might be perhaps why their parents are getting worried. They have no any idea about the existence of the VR world after all.

Buzzing sound and faint air whirling flies under the expanse of the blue sky. Thin smokes of clouds spreads, glimmering in white. The white and blue warps as something invisible pass by.

It flies over houses' roofs and trees as it heads to a certain courtyard. A leaf fell from a tree nearby and it spins and flip as the small whirl of wind gets close and graze it as it enters an open window.

After passing by the swaying curtains, it becomes visible. Four propellers slows down as it lands on the bedside table. It's a quadcopter drone with intricate design. The most striking feature of it are the lines that spreads on all of its surface with complicated patterns as it gleam a beautiful neon-blue color.

A hand covers its body and it glows even brighter. As the hand pulls back up, a gleaming crystal also appears with it.

"It's getting more and more hard for my drones to get back undamaged. It seems like 'they' are already expecting them to come and hide to ambush my poor drones… " Will murmurs and open the drawer of the bedside table. Will puts the new crystal he just got his hands on in it and it clatters like silverware when it bumps into a few other similar crystals.

Will now have more than twenty of these crystals but he still couldn't seem to find anything to use them for.

He could simply use his enchant with the assist of Brain2.0 to create various complicated stuffs like the Point Link bracelets.

Will would feel like putting the crystals into waste since they could be even in more use if he use it to enchant and absorb something more complicated.

However, looking at them piling up like this, maybe he's just being too greedy to get more power for himself. What happened when he acquired Brain2.0 might just be a one time thing. Using the crystals to upgrade his powers would go to waste since Brain2.0 is evolving on its own as the time goes by. Also, just because he absorbs a burst of energy doesn't mean his energy reserves also increases. It might even kill him if he eats more than he can chew.

He should focus in creating gears and weapons for his family and friends since there are too much of these crystals anyway. However, Will also knows from experience that depending too much in powerful gears and weapons could be bad for a person. If that person has became too used with their weapon but for some chance lose it or wouldn't be able to use it, it could cause very bad consequences.

As for Tom's case, he's still too young and have more time to practice his accuracy and reaction speed. The ten shuriken is something Will prepared for him to practice his ability in a specific direction. Instead of letting tom get used to his telekinesis lifting heavy weighted objects, Will wants for Tom to increase the time frame of his ability's usability. Also, even if Tom somehow lose the shuriken, Tom could now instinctively find other objects he could control as new weapons instead of wearying himself by using his ability directly at the enemy. Of course this could depend on the situation. Splatting the enemies all at once might work when the situation calls for it, but Tom could learn of this along the way.

Helping them upgrade their own abilities should be enough. With this, they could grow as their own ability users and could go on even if they happen to part ways. Someday, somehow. That would be only for the worst case scenario and Will don't ever plan to part with them. He won't let that happen. But as practical as Will, even the 'could be' situation should be counted on.

Will's brain fights and reasons against itself. This is too much for him to handle.

Will sighs. "If only these crystals could upgrade the ability itself… " Will's wishful thinking. "Maybe they really could only be energy supplements… but that's too wasteful for their endless possibilities…"

Will feels so conflicted and slump his face on the bed. He knows who could use these energy crystals and show a considerable improvement. However, Will is too reluctant to give this power to him.

Will couldn't fully trust him yet. Also, if he gets even more powerful, maybe he could charm and steal his family once again.

"There seems to be no other choice…"

Will walks out of his room and head to the living room. As expected, Sean is there seemingly meditating on the sofa. Will sits close by and wait for the other to logout.

Tom is also laying down on the sofa. He have a pleasant smile on his face seemingly having a good dream.

Will peers at what they're doing in the VR world. Soon, he easily finds them inside the 'beach room'.

Will chuckles. "Just like clockwork… this boy really likes the beach huh…"

Will glance back at the figure of Sean cross-legged on the sofa. He scrutinize the other's fluctuating energy and the three small creatures sleeping around him.

Will grab a crystal from his pocket and compares it to Sean's summons. The crystal's energy is as still as ice while the summons are constantly sucking up on Sean's energy and their body seems to glitter from the movements of different properties inside them as if blood pumped all over a human body.

"He's quite lucky…" Will murmurs.

  Seeing Sean and the others playing on the beach, it doesn't seem like they'll logout soon.

Suddenly, the doorbell rings. Will looks up and couldn't seem to recall that they've ordered a food delivery. Will's parents must also be inside the VR world training somewhere. This means that only Will could check who is at the door.

"Please just a second…" Will says and then open the door.

"Oh! If it isn't Will Merlin himself! I wasn't expecting to receive the honor of being greeted by your presence right at the doorstep!..."

"I'm sorry, who might you be?... Can I help you?" Will checks the woman by the porch and sees the badge of the GEPCA.

"Of course you could help! Or more like… 'we' could perhaps help 'you'!" The woman seems to be so energetic as a teenage girl.

"I don't thing my family applied a job or enrolled me to your curriculum…" Will gives the woman a skeptical look.

"That's exactly why I'm on your doorstep… um, do you mind? If you, entertain me, like inside?... your house? We have a lot of things to discuss!" The woman boldly says so.

Will's face turns indescribably uncomfortable and reluctant. He can't afford to let a stranger in while the others are logged in to the VR world. Especially a person from GEPCA.

"Oh, such a good boy! You can't let a stranger barge in to your home can you?" The woman laughs and grab her ID under her coat. "My name is Laurine Dementres. And I am from the department of dynamic ability research and recruitment from the GEPCA!" The woman turns her voice as child-friendly as possible. However, this only makes Will feel repulsed. Especially on the fact that the woman works in the department that gave him a hard time before.

"Actually, my parents are busy… maybe you could get back later… I don't thing we could entertain a distinguished guest, especially coming from the GEPCA. I'm sorry…" Will says, trying so hard not to show sourness on his face.

The woman did not break her smile. She seems to be very professional in the recruitment area. "Is that so? But I actually especially came for you, Will Merlin. Your ability is badly needed by the GEPCA, especially in our department… we were waiting for you to be enrolled to our curriculum and train you until you turn fifteen so you could work with us! We were wondering why there seems to be no movements coming from your family especially considering your previous experiences and superior abilities!" The woman is persistent and still want to enter the house. She keeps looking around behind Will, seemingly finds something amusing.

"Infrared…" Will murmurs. Realizing this woman has been checking what's inside Will's home all along.

"What was that? You knew from a few glance? As expected we can't let you waste your ability from being holed up in the house!" The woman's face turns surprised in amazement.

"I'm so sorry but I believe you're invading our privacy…" Will couldn't help but turn his tone frigid. His eyes looks at the woman sharply and then he activate an enchantment by the door to conceal the insides from the woman's infrared eyes.

"Oh, so dynamic… your ability seems a lot more special from the others belonging in the 'imperium class' don't you think you'll waste this gift just staying in your house all day? The world is still undergoing big changes and we don't know what will happen next… isn't it much better to train this ability for everybody's sake?"

Will could only curse inside. This was the woman's plan all along. And he flew right at it as if attracted by the light from a bug killer.

Will releases a breath and looks up to the woman. Will don't want for others to know of the existence of his VR world. If others take control of it, it might not be as fun as it is now. Will still have his long term plan to amass power by starting his own company strong enough so that even the government or the GEPCA couldn't touch him or bend decisions for him and his family.

"I'll talk with my family. They've been telling me to get enrolled but I refused. I still can't get over my trauma that time…" Will could only make a lie to outsmart this woman.

"Oh, so that means you'll change your decision and come over to school?" The woman becomes elated and brushed off the word trauma that Will deliberately added.

"Y-yes… I guess so. I now realize the importance of helping each other at these times… I was held back by those dark experiences and couldn't go outside. Even my parents couldn't do anything… You even have to trouble and go all the way to come yourself. Maybe its time for me to prove my worth and do something good with my gifts" Will acts. Even he himself couldn't believe what he's doing.

"Will Merlin. You're an excellent student with perfect evaluation all this time. You technically helped the human race to stand up on our feet. We are very thankful for your discovery and disclosed it to the public. But you know there are more people out there who desperately needs help. I can now see why and understand that you still haven't seen the world beyond this peaceful neighborhood. But you experienced it yourself. What happened to you is still happening to more kids and adults alike out there somewhere… your ability could be very much in use for their sake. There's still frighteningly little facts we know about the abilities and these… monsters that are appearing everywhere in the world… strictly speaking, we could drag you out of your home right now and force you to work for us because the martial law is still in active. But we know this town, especially you needs time to recuperate…. But to be honest your all just wasting time. Everybody else are desperate for answers and solutions for us humanity"

"I understand now… but, can you please give me a bit more time?"

"Of course. Your our hero after all…" the woman hands Will a card.

"We have two options for you. You can call me if you decide to work for us directly and let us supervise and train you, or you could just throw this away if you decide to attend our curriculum…" She smiles softly.

"Thank you for your understanding. I will discuss this with my family. They will be very happy after knowing that you personally came to recruit me…"

With that, the woman left a few words and then went to the car parked nearby.

Will could feel the woman suspects something. Will felt honestly creepy about that fact.

"This is not going according to plan…" Will sighs.

Will predicted this happening to some extent. The government have been monitoring their town all that time. Will couldn't just destroy those evidence when they're already seen. That will cause more suspicion instead.

What Will did not expect is to be moved by what that woman said.

Will also realize that what they're doing and improving their abilities in the VR world aren't contributing to the reality at all. That's because that's the purpose of it after all.

The 'real' real life battle experience is through eliminating the harm and surviving difficult situation out there in the real world.

Although they're slowly improving inside the VR world, the effects are solely for their own sakes. The world outside is still as dangerous as before. While they're playing and doing nothing to help it.

Thinking about it thoroughly, working for the GEPCA or the government wouldn't be so bad all along. They're fighting for good cause and helping the people who are suffering from the aftermath.

Selfishly doing what he wants. That's what he's doing right now. Realizing this, Will could feel bad in his stomach.

He was lucky that all his family members survived. But countless others couldn't. Their living and fighting each day with pain holding on the memories of their loved ones. Will knows this all along because he have seen all this real-time. It's still ongoing until now.

"I'm living my life in the wrong path… but I can't let my family be in danger…" That's also a factor that's been holding Will back.

Will close the door and heads towards his room.

"Who was that Will?..." Sean appears to have finally logout.

"Oh, it's the GEPCA…" Will replies nonchalantly.

"What… what are they doing here?..." Sean asks nervously.

"They seem to want to recruit me…" Will shows the card to Sean.

Sean silenced and couldn't seem to find the appropriate words to reply.

"More importantly, now that your awake. There's something that I want to show you… would you like to offer your participation?"

Sean has a foreboding feeling. "W-what is it?..."

"Well, it's a very simple experiment…"

In a car speeding towards the city.

"Ms. Dementres. What's the result? Did they let him agree?..." asks a male's voice on the phone.

"Well, apparently, the Merlin family wants to enroll Mr. Will to the curriculum. However, he acted like a pitiful child and apparently suffered psychologically and don't want to go outside… but I could see there's inconsistency from his initial reaction. He's also the one who opened the door for me. But, it seems like he would agree to the offer. We just need to wait some time"

"… that's acceptable. There's something fishy about that household. Our technical team couldn't sniff anything near them… Continue observing than nearby…"

"But sir. The kid seems shrewd and might get even more cautious. We've seen what's he's capable of during the zombie outbreak. He's the reason it ended for only a few days… Also, he's ability could block mine, he even knew it right away only after a few seconds…"

"Be more careful then… but you said that he would agree right? The brain and ability of that child is outstanding. His GPA and IQ surpasses the charts. He could work right away without the need for more education"

"But sir, we proposed that children under fifteen should still be studying, ourselves… Mr. Will Merlin is still turning thirteen a few months later"

"… He'll be an exception then. We already proposed to him his options. Just wait for his reply. Either way is good enough" With that, the call ends.

Laurine Dementres glance at the man beside her.

"Did you find out something in that kid? What did you see in him?"

"That kid's potential is very 'bright'… too bright, actually. That was too surprising for me. I haven't seen anybody else's 'light' blinding me that much…" The man says with utter amazement.

"Well, that's to be expected…"

"However…" the man adds with a mysterious face.

"What? Did you found out something more?" Laurine asks eagerly.

"Well… I'm not sure you'll believe this but there's more just behind that door. A light so bright not losing to Will Merlin's brilliance…"

"Well, his brother is also something else. But he's just six, we can't possibly make use of his talents this early…" The woman remembers Tom's battles so far.

"No… I already counted on that… there's one more…"

"One more? Are you certain?" the woman asks in surprise.

"Yes… I thought I was just seeing it so I inspected it more closely and confirmed it. There are three of them in that house… also, there's one nearby brighter than normal people too…"

"find more men to Investigate those people immediately!" Laurine orders another man.

The future are in the hands of these kids.

"Where did you get all these gems?... I've seen this before! There's some documentaries regarding the 'magical beast'! These gems are like those mysterious things that could be found in the bodies of the 'magical beast'!" Sean exclaims after seeing the highly familiar gems and get a closer look at it.

"That's exactly what they are…" Will replies.

"Did… did you fight them and got these yourself?! Why are there too many?!"

"I did… or more like, my drones did. More importantly, it seems that you know a thing or two about these so this makes things for me easier…" Will is nonchalant as always.

"Don't give me that 'more importantly' thing you always says! I don't know anything about these gems! In fact… not even the authorities. These are considered as mysterious gems because no one knows what they are capable of. Unless…"

"Yes. I know…"

Sean stops acting so surprised and finally decided to open his brain for anything Will is capable of.

"Wow… shiny…" Tom picks one and put it up against the light.

Sean looks at Tom and remembers hearing the authorities said not to touch these things. "So, what are these gems exactly? Is it safe to just touch them casually?"

"Yes. These gems are the crystallization of pure energy similar to that of our abilities. They are highly concentrated so they don't emit something that could affect the human body. Also, the energy isn't something harmful of radioactive at all…" Will grabs one and shows it to Sean.

"Would we be able to utilize them somehow?"

"Strictly speaking at the current ability users, only 'us' could use them as efficiently and unlock its potential. If others use them, it could bring back the energies they used, but if they absorb too much… it might kill them"

"Us… you mean you and me?" Sean realizes it too. Will already explained what his summons are made of. They are exactly the same as the gems.

"Yes, the two of us… we could use them like how others could, like energy reserves, but imagine if your summons absorbs these gems. Since they're purely made out of energies themselves, there's a high possibility that it wouldn't harm them. Instead, upgrade them…"

Sean looks at his summons and wonders that possibility with amazement.

"Now, I would like to offer you to split these gems between us if you help me with something…"

"H-help you?..."

"You already know your and my capabilities don't you? You could materialize anything that you imagine as long as you have the spare energy, while I can influence or control external energies and, or imbue them on inanimate objects so I could turn them into weapons… but later I found out that using these gems, I could use it to transform physical things into magical energy and absorb them. That's how I got Brain2.0… however, if I absorb more energies than my body could handle, as I told you just now, I might die…."

"You mean… you want me to create something for you?..." Sean asks unsure. Even the idea that its possible make him feel absurd.

"That's it. If you make some things for me… I will give you eleven gemstones to upgrade your summons. A good deal right?"

"Right…" Sean realizes that his and Will's ability seems highly compatible. But then he realizes something. "Wait, you mean to say that you could have my summons for yourself all along?..."

"Well, yes… but I don't plan to"

Apocalypse arc ends.