Crisis

Kaizer breathed out a sigh of relief and glanced casually at Leo, who was frowning heavily. Leo looked over to Lyle and saw that the guy was in really bad shape and would need to be healed soon if he ever wanted to regain use of his arms, which made him curse how vicious this young man was.

"You have done well. You killed Carla by yourself and crippled both Lyle and Barnes, a feat I will admit that even I cannot do. However, have you considered the consequences of your actions?" Leo asked as he stood up, glaring at Kaizer coldly.

Kaizer was not in the mood to trade words since he knew Leo was stalling for time to activate his ability's power.

The abilities of this squad were pretty straightforward.

The first, Carla, had the E-Rank Esper Ability of Feline Shifting, allowing her to take the form of a humanoid cat woman. She would then possess the reflexes of a house cat, the agility of a panther, and the strength of a lioness.

The second, Barnes, possessed the F-Rank Esper Ability of Strength Enhancement, which boosted his base strength passively in proportion to his body weight. The fatter he could make himself, the more muscle he would gain when he unleashed his full strength.

The third, Lyle, possessed the F-Rank ability of Hypnotism. He could force a single person to do his bidding as long as his hypnosis took effect, and the strength of the hypnotized person could potentially be higher than his if their mental strength was weak.

The fourth, Leo, possessed the C-Rank ability of Marked Teleportation. He—and those he marked—could teleport up to 50 kilometers between any person he had previously marked. He could only have three active marks at any time. One mark was on Lyle, one mark was on Barnes, and the final one was on… Raul.

Leo could send people to and from himself, acting like a base station as long as the mark was present. He and his three marked people were interconnected in terms of accessibility, and the farther they were from each other, the more they could do.

This was why he was made the captain of this team and assigned only three members. Carla previously had a mark, but she was now dead, so he canceled hers. As for Raul having a mark, it was not because the bodyguard was a traitor, but because a normal person like him could not guard against Lyle, who easily hypnotized him.

However, every Esper had a limit to how much power they could use because no matter how powerful their ability, they were still flesh and blood. Even Kaizer deeply understood this, as his seemingly potent psychic powers were limited by his own body's endurance.

Leo had used a long-distance teleportation to send Barnes to Kaizer, then to bring him back along with Kaizer, who wasn't marked. After that, he repeatedly used his ability to position himself and Barnes in the fight, and finally to escape the battlefield towards Lyle.

He was clearly running on fumes and so pulled out the old faithful of time-wasting: monologuing about the situation.

Kaizer did not usually try this because it was risky, but he had no more time. He used his telekinesis to form an outline around Leo's head, who was still talking, and then yanked downward with all his strength.

Leo, who was talking one moment, found himself face-to-face with the ground the next, and his forehead almost shattered as it crashed with the ground. Blood gushed out as the fellow blacked out immediately, his life and death uncertain.

Kaizer did not have time to care as he charged out of the warehouse, kicking the door open with his enhanced telekinetic strength and running at full speed while occasionally 'bursting' himself forward with telekinesis.

This was his only option as Leo would definitely not willingly teleport him back to Raul, and he did not yet have the ability to control the minds of others to force him to do his bidding. As such, he would have to travel this distance with his own two feet.

As Kaizer sped along, making himself a blur as he tried to take more secluded pathways and avoid the cameras, he only prayed that Rina was safe.

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Approximately ten minutes ago, when Kaizer had suddenly disappeared after being touched by a fat man in a striped tuxedo, the entire campus courtyard was dumbfounded, wondering if their eyes were deceiving them. One moment they were watching a romcom drama, and the next, magic?

However, before anyone could regain their senses, there was the sound of gunfire from the edges of the campus. Everyone snapped to attention and looked back, seeing that the gates that were initially so close were now sealed by a group of militarized trucks.

From them came down nearly thirty armed men in full combat gear, who immediately raised their weapons and began firing wantonly into the campus. In just a second or two, many went down, including two female friends who had accompanied Rina, causing everyone to scream in panic.

"Shit! The target has disappeared and we're under attack!" Raul shouted as he rushed towards Franco.

"We have to try and find the target, but our other orders were to protect his family as well," Franco said as he dashed towards the stunned Rina and pulled her along.

Both men covered Rina with their bodies as they carried her into the department building before them, not daring to fire back and attract the attention of the assailants. After all, there was a whole campus of students to kill, and they hoped the attackers would choose other targets before coming for them.

They had already messed up royally by letting Kaizer leave their sight somehow; they definitely were not going to fail a second time by failing to protect Rina. As ex-servicemen, the thing they were least afraid of was situations where their lives were in danger.

After all, their wills were penned the moment they took this job, and the money would directly go to their wives and children, so they had no fear. In fact, they feared fleeing for their lives more, because in that case, they wouldn't receive a dime but would be forced to pay a hefty amount of damages that would cripple their families for life.

Raul and Franco had just been in this building and had inspected it together for any dangerous elements while Kaizer was in class, so they were quite familiar with its layout. They charged towards the teachers' offices in the department building, which were nearest to the back and might afford them a high vantage point as well as a place to escape the campus grounds.

"My phone has no service!" Rina called out as she tried to call the police or her uncle, and the two bodyguards cursed.

"Luckily, we came prepared," Franco said as he took out a brick-like green phone that was actually a military satellite phone. These types of phones bypassed signal jammers due to special construction and unique frequencies, so they were not unable to make a call at all.

Franco quickly called the head of the police force in Alpha City, which had been set as a priority contact by Keith should anything happen.

The situation, after all, was dire!