Chapter 9: The Standoff

BOOOMMM!!

With a single punch, another wave of Cannes were obliterated.

I extended my hands towards the ground and forced some energy through my fingers.

The surface of the dry desert bursted upwards in a giant pillar of rock and sand, enveloping the rest of the Cannes in less than a second.

Another second later, there were no more of those filthy, weak creatures.

I took a deep breath, smiling secretly to myself.

Beat that, Hrydib.

The world around me began evaporating into bits and code, and I soon found myself back in the Simulation Room.

The hidden door by the side opened up, and Hrydib came rushing in with a bright smile on his face. "Wow, Daniel! That was awesome! A hundred enemies in less than ten seconds?!"

"I didn't even try." I stated calmly as I wiped my hands on my outfit.

"Can I try too?" Hrydib tilted his head.

"Of course, that's the reason I even brought you here." I rolled my eyes.

Let's see what you can do...

--

Hrydib stood patiently in the center of the Simulation Room.

"So... I just stand here?" He asked.

"Yep..." I said into the microphone as I tweaked a couple of notches in the display board. I looked back out though the one-way window, staring done at Hrydib below. "You saw what you're going up against, right? I'm gonna spawn the enemies now... just try to kill a thousand of them, no shame if you can't."

But it proves that I'm stronger than you...

"Okay!" Hrydib cracked his knuckles.

I smirked smugly, putting a finger on a red switch.

And pushed it.

Immediately, the Simulation Room sprang to life.

The walls, ceiling and floor turned into a desert wasteland similar to before. Code-like particles spread out all across the ground, forming sand hills, rocks, cactuses and whatever is usually inside a desert.

Hrydib spun around in childlike wonder, admiring the scenery around him like it was some sort of amusement park.

"Ooo... so cool..." He grinned, crouching down and rubbing the sand, "It's so real..."

So childish.

"Hey! Daniel! This is— Huh?!"

Fortunately, reality was about to hit him in the face.

In the distance, a stampede of dust rushed towards Hrydib, causing a massive rumbling to shake the entire surface.

Hrydib watched was wide eyes as a wave of these... things... charged towards him.

These 'things' look like an elephant, an ant, a gorilla, and a lion decided to merge together to create this hideous being.

It had six, furry legs, sticking out from a grotesque, scaly torso. Its head was covered in hair, the only things showing that it was a head was the long appendage that stuck on from the front of its face. It moved as quick as lightning, and cover probably five kilometers in the span of a few seconds.

Cannes, was what they were called, a fictional creature created by John to simulate the feeling of disgust when facing an abnormal opponent.

It was meant to train someone not to hesitate no matter how gross one looked, and it worked alright.

But I don't think John intended this many Cannes to attack a single entity.

There were about a million of them, all hungry for flesh.

Of course, I handled them with ease, as seen before... but how about Hrydib?

It was time to see his Powers, and how strong they are.

The tidal wave of Cannes was about a kilometer away from Hrydib, and they were closing in fast.

Why wasn't Hrydib doing anything?

"Hey Umm... Hrydib?" I spoke into the microphone. "You might want to do something right about now..."

"Hmm..." He still looked quite calm.

I sighed. Did I really have to shut off the Simulator Room?

This was such a pai—

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSHH!!!

"Huh?" I blinked.

The wave suddenly dispersed.

Not as in the Cannes split off, but the entire wave...

Just disappeared.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

I looked for Hrydib, but he was still standing where he was earlier.

"Wha—!"

I immediately checked the insides of the display board.

Did something go wrong? Was the Simulation Room broken?

I ruffled through the tons of wires that crisscrossed all over the place.

No... nothing was wrong.

I turned to the side, facing a monitor next to the display board.

It was a monitor that was linked to a extremely high-speed camera that recorded everything inside the Simulation Room from a bird's eye view.

I rewinded back to the moment the Cannes disappeared.

And played it again.

I rubbed my eyes.

The same thing happened.

In one second, the Cannes were there. The next, they were all gone.

I slowed down the recording to a thousand frames a second. The same result.

I slowed it down to a million frames a second. Exact result.

Down to a billion. Still the same.

A trillion.

A quadrillion.

A quintillion—

"Huh?!?" I paused it immediately.

The recording was extremely slow, and yet the Cannes still completely disappeared as a whole group.

But this time, it was different.

Now, instead of disappearing in one frame, to the next. It took THREE frames to record it down.

The first and the third were like earlier, one with all of them, and the other without.

But the frame in between them, the second one.

It was a complete blur.

But the blurs did not take up the entire screen. They only took up the area that the army of Cannes took up.

And it looked like the 'web of blurs' started from the exact spot Hrydib stood at...

I zoomed into the blurs. My eyes widened.

It was not the army of Cannes that was blurred out, but the area in front of them.

And it was all of them.

No way.

No. Freaking. Way.

In front of every single Cannes was a blurred out figure, and it looked like—

Hrydib.

Hrydib had somehow cloned himself a million times to appear in front of every single Cannes, and then wiped them all out from existence.

But then... why were they all blurry—

I realized it.

Hrydib did not clone himself. Every single blurred out figure was the same Hrydib that stood on that hill.

Or more accurately, they were afterimages.

Hrydib travelled at a speed fast enough to appear in front of every Cannes, all one MILLION of them, yet managed to remain undetected by a camera recoding at a quintillion frames per second.

"Hey! Daniel?!" I turned towards the sound of his voice, "Was that all?"

My heart started thumping.

Who was Hrydib? Truly?

--

I snapped my fingers, and the Simulation Room began materializing into the exact city landscape that John and I fought in yesterday.

I stared down at a still-oblivious Hrydib, analyzing his every move.

"Are you ready, Hrydib?" I asked menacingly.

"I was born ready!" He gave me a look of determination, "Also, What are we doing again?"

I sighed.

How could he be so stupid?

"I told you earlier, we're gonna be having a friendly duel. Which means that we can go all out on each other, but we do not blame each other if anything goes wrong, got it?"

"Oh right..." He looked embarrassed, "Got it!"

I clenched my fists.

I'm honestly half convinced that he's just faking his stupidity right now. He must be trying to make me let down my guard.

"So, I ask you now, for reals..." I gritted my teeth, "Are you ready?!"

"Yes sir!" He stood at attention and saluted.

I tried to exhale patiently, but it must have looked like a snort.

Remember Daniel! I assured myself, You are just testing his limits. You are not here to kill him...

But honestly, I don't know if I can.

His power... That power... he couldn't be THAT powerful, right?

Right?!

This was the first time in a long while since I felt this much doubt.

I need to find out for myself.

"Then we're starting in Three... Two..."

I charged up a punch in my right fist. Getting ready for a CityNova.

"One!"

And I took off at him.

"CITYNOVA!!!"

BAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!