The Masked Man III

He got up from bed, they were coming and they were bringing with them an evil he couldn't see. His gift was clairvoyance. A grade one Advocate and arguably the strongest amongst the five grade ones in existence.

His gift made it almost impossible to lose in any fight or even do anything wrong. Being able to see things before they happened was a broken ability and only him had it.

He rose from the bed and threw a robe over himself rushing down immediately to welcome his approaching disciple and also to prevent any damage from reaching his house while he took care of the evil that trailed them.

He often miscalculated his own powers but it was definitely because he was too relaxed and careless with things. He had been sitting on his doorstep for over half an hour now and still no show of any signs of any approach. He was already half asleep now, nodding and definitely enjoying the unheard beats of sleep while he waited patiently for their arrival.

The sound of a drifting vehicle finally woke him from his half eyed sleep just before the vehicle's headlights almost blinded him waking him up completely. He rose from the step and raised his hands waving gleefully at his student like a child.

Wilson finally cancelled out his illusion over the two siblings breaking the out of their trance and hurriedly ushering them out of the vehicle. He had already expected his teacher to be awake waiting for them. He was aware of his powers and he had seen the man in action firsthand and confirmed he was still a weakling compared to him. He was arguably the strongest amongst them and the only person who could possibly rival him in the grade one Advocates was Charles King. A psychic whose powers were almost unmatched that even the Guild higher ups shivered when they heard his name.

His teacher, a twenty eight year old man was always so carefree even in times where things were dead serious. He wasn't really afraid of anything at all since he could already see into the future and know how things ended. His power did come with a great risk though, anytime he changed the outcome of the future too much than he should, he always faced the risk of death. The energy required to change the future was just too much for any normal human being but heavens had graced him with as much energy as he needed to weild the power making him almost invincible.

Justin woke up from the bump he had received from the seat after being thrown forward due to the car coming to a sudden hault. It wasn't a dream after all, he was confused not knowing what to believe was real or not any longer but this definitely felt more real than the other. He pinched himself just to make sure he wasn't dreaming and surely he wasn't even though he truly hoped it wasn't real. He shook his head trying to understand what was happening and how they'd just arrived where they were now.

Ashley had also awakened from the force of the sudden hault almost jumping up as she woke. She took quick glances around quickly realizing that this was real and the other was a mere fantasy. The last thing she could remember was the police officer suddenly lighting a cigarette in their distress and suddenly she had passed out after just mere inhalation of the smoke that came out from his mouth. Something was definitely in the cigarette like some sort of magic or something she didn't know but she was sure this wasn't ordinary.

"Friends!" Charles exclaimed clapping his hands together rapidly like an excited girl. His facial expressions soon changed just before he spoke again.

"Who are these people Wilson?" He asked, his once pitchy and girlish voice now dark and almost threatening.

"I'll explain later, right now we're being chased after and you were the closest refuge I could seek" Wilson explained.

"I saw, but I remember clearly that Harry's house is definitely a few metres before here. I'm exhausted and you still trouble me" The grown man complained. The change of emotions and expression was so perfect it almost seemed rehearsed and perfected also.

"Get inside now!" The sad faced man commanded almost startling the three of them with his switch of character. Whatever it was that followed them was close by and sensing it's energy, it wasn't a weak one. They had made the right choice coming to him instead of the grade two Advocate who lived not far from his residence.

The three of them scampered into the building, the siblings not saying anything clearly still shocked from what they had just experienced and were still trying to process things as fast as they could.

Charles once again returned to his doorstep and sat down not interested in the game of hide and seek his opponent and student stalker was playing. If he wanted something, then he'd better show himself or ask for it or rather leave the premises of his home. Such evil energy around brought bad luck even though he rarely experienced anything luck.

He didn't speak a word obviously still exhausted and angry for his sleep being interrupted.

The masked man finally appeared materializing slowly with his demon dog by his side.

"What do you want?" Charles asked almost immediately not even waiting for the intruder to make his full entrance. From the whip, the mask and the dog by his side it was clearly the formidable, infamous Masked Death.

They had never really met but he could already tell this man was as formidable as the tales told. The sixth member of the grade one Guild members out the nine in existence, he was sure to be a formidable foe.

"Why do you Advocates choose death over the option of escape?" The Masked man began staring blankly at the sitted man in front of him. From what he had sensed so far, this was definitely a grade one Advocate only here to buy his escapees more time to run away.

"I'll offer you one more chance at life, run now and I might consider sparing you" he offered rubbing the back of his hellhound.

"So you're the one called the masked Death? I've heard so much about you and your works and I'm not so happy with them? Here's a counter offer, turn around and leave before I lose my temper and decide to end your life here" Charles offered now standing from where he sat. He had already seen the outcome of their battle and unfortunately, it didn't end well for the Guild member and he barely even broke a sweat but he wasn't going to underestimate the man, the future was not set in stone. But nevertheless, somethings were bound to happen and changing those things was an intentional attempt at suicide.

"You have only thirty seconds to leave" Charles added taking a peek at his wrist watch to make sure he didn't exceed his time of grace by a second. "Times ticking" He reminded returning to his doorstep.

Thirty seconds had elapsed and there was no sign of movement detected. This man had chosen death over escape. He was as stupid as he appeared.

"Fine, I will grace you a painless death" Charles promised standing from where he sat once more before making an approach towards the masked man whose hellhound immediately sprung forward at the approaching Charles.

He stopped in-between steps and simply sidestepped the creature now gliding beside him it's aim at the empty air. He grabbed the creature by the leg just before it could land and slammed it backwards creating a pothole at the point of impact

The creature rose again and sprung forward again but as usual he had made his usual sidestep even before the creature began it's motion. He grabbed it by the tail this time, slamming it into the ground Numerous times before finally kicking it off the earth sending it towards it's owner.

"Disgusting" He shivered while trying to get rid of a drool that had mistakenly landed on him.

The masked man reached down to his broken pet rubbing it's messed up fur sending him back to where it had come from. He had misjudged this individual by his appearance but he had easily without even an ounce of difficulty destroyed the most powerful summoning he had.

His gift was summoning, and he had access to much more of these creatures but bringing them out would definitely mean sentencing them to death and if he was out of summonings, then he was as good as any normal human.

He cracked the whip that was rolled up his arm letting it now glide on the dust as he walked steadily towards the man who still battled with the dirt on his clothing.

He swung the whip forward, extending it's lengths and reinforcing it with energy to increase the damage it dealt.

In an instant, Charles leapt backwards avoiding the attack completely but was taken unawares when the whip came flying backwards towards him. He summersaulted backwards but wasn't fast enough. The tip of the whip had reached him and tore through his robe and his flesh. The masked man had twisted the stupid whip and had immediately changed it's direction. Such mastery over a weapon was commendable. He didn't see this happening in his revelation but again, the future wasn't set in stone and he had to pay more attention to his for.

He smiled to himself, convincing himself once more that this was definitely an amateur advocate. He swung the whip forward once more twisting it mid air and reinforcing it with energy at the same time.

The whip chased around him like a snake seriously hunting his prey but he dodged the attacks mid difficulty. Most of the things happening now, hadn't happened in his visions. He could still see into the future now, but everytime he did, it was rewritten almost as if what he had seen was cancelled out. He had began to wonder if his opponent had the same ability as he did or was this another power that he hadn't heard about.

'No, it isn't' It wasn't the opponent, this was something else, and he had just noticed. His visions was only a point off accuracy earlier but after the whip had touched him, it was as if he couldn't even see correctly any longer. Everything he envisioned was rewritten almost immediately or completely cancelled out leaving him to face reality without without the aid of his powers but even at that, this man was still no match for him.

******

Justin and his sister watched from the window how the man had easily dismantled the beast who had almost gotten them without much effort. There were things in this world that he wasn't aware of and this was definitely one of them. He watched as the man toyed around with the Masked man who looked wicked and evil from his attire only making him look like a fool while he looked cool in his night robes. It was the most ironical twist he had witnessed since this week and it was definitely worth it.

Even though the robed man was injured, he could still feel the vibe of an unserious person from him while the masked man tried his best to bring him down.

Wilson also watched from the window. Something was definitely up. He knew his master very well and he didn't like prolonged fights because his ability took a lot of energy and ending the fight as soon as possible was his strategy. For him to have let the fight last this long was either he wasn't using his powers and didn't take the masked Death seriously or he couldn't use his powers for some reason but even with those options, his victory was already assured from the dynamics of the fight.

******

He had finally gotten bored of playing around and the sun was already rising from the horizon and he barely got enough sleep. He stood still and after letting out a sigh of disappointment and tiredness, he gripped the whip with his bloodied palm which had been covering his bleeding shoulder stopping it's motion completely. He had enclosed his palm with his energy canceling out the one that flowed through the whip only feeling the normal pain it would cause but it did still tear through his flesh but nevertheless, he held on to it mentally telling the masked man that playtime was over.

In a blink, he was behind the still shocked man kicking him off his feet and slamming him into the ground. Having a gift did increase one's physical capabilities a little but they were still as fragile as any regular human. Any life threatening blow to a normal human would probably have the same effect on them. He watched as blood wetted the man's oral mask since the liquid couldn't escape. Another deadly blow followed and soon, he was playing with the man with only one arm and his two legs. Finally, he sent him down into the earth and raised his leg over his head aiming to crush the man's skull.

The whip suddenly wrapped around his raised leg flinging him off balance and throwing him down on the dusty floor finally ruining his almost perfect robe.

The Masked Death rose from the floor he laid in as fast as he could and without even making any attempt at a comeback, cracked his whip and disappeared with the sound escaping from the fight.

Charles rose the floor, his face now sad as he stared at his now dirty robe whimpering as he approached the house.

"It's ruined" He complained, his eyes already tearing up.

Ashley watched in utter surprise at the childish behavior exhibited by a man who had single handedly defeated a demon and it's summoner without much effort. Was this even real? She still questioned not believing what she was looking at.

Wilson consoled his teacher while helping him dust his robe. It was believed that Charles power somehow affected his mental stability due to the energy such a gift sapped from the body and that was why he never went into long battles. There was no telling when he might loose total control and go against his comrades and it made his teacher even more dangerous and feared but he trusted in the man's capabilities, after all, this man was his elder brother.