Chapter 9

Letting his instincts take over, Damien activated his power. A rumbling vibration set the whole floor quaking, guards topple and struggle to hold their stand.

The guards immediately tackled Damien and had him held at gunpoint, Brandon dropped Blaze on the ground before assisting Damien. The nails on his hands starting to grow into long talons that looked like mini blades. He swiped it at the guard's weak spot before clashing with the gun.

"DAMEIN!" Brandon yelled in an alarmed tone, still fighting the guards while he pushed them back.

Ray was still in panic but he slowly placed Ethan down from his back and took a small step forward before stopping and looking back at Zephyr. "please..take care of them. We'll settle this as soon as we can." He pleaded and reassured. It didn't sound promising at all.

Zephyr nodded and glanced at the four bodies that laid on the floor lifelessly. He was about to drag them all to a safer spot before he was stopped by an arm blocking his way. He looked up and noticed that he was surrounded by a newer set of guards, they separated him from the others the moment he was distracted.

"So persistent." He murmured, sounding annoyed while he stood in front of the bodies as if protecting them. His arms were slightly raised while his hands were trembling.

"Zephyr Orpheus. It's either we'll take you by force or you'll come to us with your own two feet." The man said in a calm tone while he glanced at the fight going on.

"The people you were with, are fighting a losing battle." The guard stated, confident when he saw that his opponents were seriously outnumbered. Even with so little of them fighting against the intruders, they were winning with little to no effort.

Zephyr stole a glance at the situation around him and accessed it as fast as he could. He was in disarray when he saw his acquaintances getting overpowered. Even with enhanced strengths and a unique power, they were losing. It was a disappointing sight to see for him. However, he didn't fret as he knew that they'll come through. At least he hoped they would.

Zephyr stayed silent as a mice with no intent to fight back. His raised arms dropped while he started at the floor, looking like he was admitting his defeat.

"Good boy." The guard praised with a grin while he took out handcuffs to restrain the boy.

"Say, what do you fear?" Zephyr asked softly, placing out his hands to be cuffed.

The guard brows furrowed while his comrades took out their guns and pointed it at Zephyr when they felt a strange sudden murderous intent coming from the kid words. It was unusual, the tone and voice of the kid was soft and gentle, however, a feeling of discomfort still washed over the guards by the choice of words the kid chose.

"Suffocation, why bother asking?" The guard replied, curious about the kid intentions for asking such a random question. For all he knew, the kid knowing his fear wouldn't be the death of him.

Suddenly, the guard was knocked out by an invisible force, alarming his comrades. The other guards started pointing their guns in every direction while keeping a close eye on Zephyr who stood as still as a statue.

Zephyr felt very slight cold breath on his ear and tilted his head towards that direction. If he was right, the person who knocked the guard out was indeed Ray.

"This pill will strengthen or kill you. I am against this but Damien ordered me to give it to you." Ray whispered so softly that it took so much of Zephyr's concentration in order to fully hear and understand him.

Zephyr felt a small pill being forcibly placed on the palm of his hands. He looked up at the guards who were still watching him closely, if he made a small mistake, the chances of him escaping might disappear in an instant.

A guard could feel someone tugging hard at his pants as if trying to knock him over, he roughly kicked the hands and stepped on it. However, a blast of explosion came right at him and his comrades. They all avoided it due to their quick reflexes and immediately started shooting at the floor while one of the guards was holding tightly onto Zephyr's shoulder.

Taking advantage of the smoke, Zephyr plopped the pill in his mouth and swallowed it, his mouth was extreme dry, making it harder to do so. In less than a second after he swallowed the pill, he felt excruciating pain burning throughout his whole body. He fell to the ground while tears of pain flowed down his face.

"Cover your ears." Zephyr mouthed to Ethan who was staring at him through the thin layer of smoke. Trying to ignore the stinging pain while he gathered up his strength to stand back up again.

After a while, Zephyr came out of the smoke to reveal dead bodies of the guards beneath his feet. If only the pain that the pill brought wasn't so overwhelming, he would maybe have felt a sense of fear or guilt for massacring so many people, innocent or not.

He looked around and noticed that his acquaintances has won the battle. They were terribly injured and bruised but they stared at him with a smile on their faces. If only..

Zephyr fell to the ground once more but this time, he didn't get up again. It came to the others except for Damien as a great shock as he seemed fine all this time.

"Zephyr?" Damien called out, wiping blood off his face while he ran towards the kid and checked his condition. He placed his hands on Zephyr's wrist to check his pulse, his own heartbeat got faster when he didn't feel anything. Until a slight beat was felt from the pulse of the boy, he heaved a loud sigh of relief and fell back.

"Anesthesia is-" Claude said before coughing out blood and wiping it off. "She's coming to us. Tina said that they're close." He continued.

Damien nodded before turning his attention to Ethan who was now wide awake with a look of disbelief on his face while he looked at Zephyr.

"How does your injuries feel?" Damien asked Ethan, concerned for his junior.

"The pain is gone. When I talk my throat slightly hurts but I think you should focus on the other three more." Ethan responded, rubbing his neck.

The hallway stayed silent for a while before the others agreed on taking their unconscious comrades to a more secluded area instead of staying out in the open near dead bodies.

"Zephyr took the pill that I was supposed to take. The higher ups told me not to consume it unless it was an emergency." Damien confessed, feeling guilty of his selfish actions. He had a gut feeling that the kid would choose to consume the pill.

"The kid didn't die and he wiped out half of the other guards. It all worked out in the end, don't stress yourself over it." Claude comforted with a smile.

Ray awkwardly raised his hand to gain the others attention before speaking. "The higher ups ought to know about this." He stated. "The pill was still a work in progress, I was hesitant to give it to the kid even if it were your orders." He admitted.

Brandon nodded in agreement. "Things might've worked out but you placed our top priority in danger, Damien." He reminded.

"It was a terrible decision on my part. I was..too hesitant to take it. I shall take responsibilities for my cowardly actions." Damien promised, placing his fist on the left side of his chest.

"Did you witness Zephyr killing the guards, Ray?" Ethan asked, knowing that Ray was the one who passed the pill.

"I.. didn't." Ray answered while he tried to recall the situation earlier to see if he had forgotten anything he had witnessed.

"You all aren't surprised at how fast he killed them?" Ethan was rather confused at the moment as he had expected his friends to be more repulsed or shocked at Zephyr's capabilities.

"We are. Well, I am. If I didn't know he was capable of wiping out the guards, I wouldn't have chose to pass the power enhancing pill. Him being a naturally calm person also convinced me to pass him the pill." Damien said, taking out a med kit from his bag and bandaging his arm.

'He's the same one I saw when I was younger.' Ethan thought while remembering the scene he had witnessed earlier. It was imprinted in his mind at that current moment.

Jet black hair fluttering in the wind and smoke. Apathetic lifeless green eyes glowing with dominance. It was a captivating sight to behold, his presence and aura was spellbinding.

The guards had choked themselves to death while looks of terror formed on their faces when they realised they weren't in control of their body. They had crossed the styx, perishing due to suffocation.