Shadows of Existence Part one

In the western part of the city, attack team two, comprised of Seth, Amelia, and Damion, is currently rushing through the city while dispatching enemy after enemy.

"Hey Seth, it was really smart of you to go in the direction that dumbass Kage was going to go; now we can have all these enemies to ourselves."

As Amelia is talking, she jumps over an enemy and cuts him on the back twice, with the blades coming out of the metal bands on her wrist. Amelia lands perfectly on her feet and rushes at two more enemies.

"You're sure to win the bet now!"

Amelia cuts down the two enemies with ease by jumping up and cutting them on their chests.

"You really are better than that loser, Kage, but you already knew that!" Amelia yells with a blush.

Another enemy shows up behind Amelia with a gun in his hand.

"Die, you bitch!"

Damion appears behind the enemy and grabs him by the shoulder.

"You should be careful, Amelia."

The enemy freezes, signaling that he's been trapped in Damion's trauma fuel.

"I sensed him a long time ago Damion. I didn't need your help!"

While Amelia is turned around, another enemy gets behind her and tries to grab her.

Seth comes down from the roof of a building and freezes the enemy attempting to grab Ameilia.

"Are you ok, Amelia?"

"Yeah, now that you're here!"

"But I just saved you too," Damion says silently.

Seth starts using the sense technique to try to find enemies in the area.

"It seems there are no more enemies in this area, but there's more down the road if we keep going forward."

"Wow, you've gotten so good at the sense technique, Seth. I bet it's better than that dumbass Kage's sense technique!"

"Does all she think about is Seth and hating on Kage?" Damion asks himself.

While the three of them start walking down the street, they don't notice the man following them using the sneak technique. The man is 6'5, light-skinned, and is wearing a green T-shirt alongside his khaki pants. He has shaggy hair, and his eyes are slight.

"They're really sending kids out here to fight us now? I guess they don't know that the feared legends aren't the only things they have to worry about because I'm sure they wouldn't send dumb kids to fight some professional mercenaries."

This man is named Derrick, a mercenary from the Mud Zone who is known for breaking his opponents mentally before they die.

With a smile, Derrick pulls out a long pruning shear.

"Now I'll pick these little kids apart and get my payment," Derrick says with a smile.

At the location where attack team two is, they've run into a new group of enemies after walking to the next block.

"Wow, I never thought about how big this city is until now. Who would think this many enemies can run around here so casually?"

After saying this, Seth coats his arms and hands in ice.

"Yeah, Seth, let's take them down!" Amelia screams.

Amelia lets out her two-arm blades and jumps into battle.

"Soul manipulation: soul protection!"

A giant blue see-through projection of Amelia's soul comes out of her body. With her physical body still on the ground, Amelia's soul smacks tons of enemies with its fist, knocking out multiple enemies.

At the same time, Damion uses the accelerate technique to go around and tap as many enemies as possible to trap them in his trauma fuel.

"No one can beat my trauma fuel."

The second Damion says those words, he remembers his battle with Wayne.

"Well, no one will ever break through my trauma fuel again!"

Damion starts punching every person he traps in trauma fuel with the flex technique.

Seth walks up to the last remaining enemies with a cold mist radiating off him.

"Chilling bone!"

The enemies attempt to move but feel their bones snap instantly.

"Don't move too fast, or you might make it permanent."

Seth swipes his hand in the air and sends huge chunks of icicles at the enemies, knocking them all out.

"Oh yeah, no way Kage is beating us; those guys were no match for me and Seth!"

"I helped too," Damion says with a blank expression.

As the three of them celebrate, they suddenly hear a person clapping in the background.

"Yes, that's good! You all have some interesting powers; it will be fun breaking them apart."

All three look behind them and see Derrick sitting on a pile of knocked-out enemies.

"Woah, why are all of you looking at me with such hostility? I didn't even get to scope out the scenario yet."

As Derrick looks around, Seth puts up his left hand and starts releasing a cold mist.

"This guy feels like bad news, but I don't know why," Damion says to himself.

Amelia clenches her fist and releases her arm blades.

"I got your back, Seth!"

Derrick looks at all three students carefully.

"Clearly, I want to be able to have fun on this job, so..."

Derrick looks at Seth moves on to look at Damion and then focuses all his attention on Amelia.

"You'll be the easiest to break!"

The second Derrick makes his target clear Seth forms a giant mountain of ice and throws it at Derrick.

"That's way too big of a target, don't you think?"

Derrick jumps over the mountain of ice.

"Amelia, watch out!"

Derrick lands right behind Amelia, puts his hand on her shoulder, and, with a smile, starts whispering in her ear.

"So from what I heard, that guy's name is Seth, and you admire him a lot. I wonder what would happen if you found him strung up and dead."

"What did you just say?" she asks as she turns around with a face full of murderous intent.

"Uh, oh, it looks like I struck a nerve. How about you come to get me, or should I just kill your soft-ass boyfriend already?"

"Soul torture!"

"Oh, here we go!

Derrick backs away from Amelia as she tries to stab him with her arm blades.

"Come on, let's play a game of tag! Come catch me!"

Derrick starts to run around the area by taking sharp turns around buildings, making it harder to find him with each movement.

"You won't get away from me, you bitch!" Amelia yells while hot on his trail.

Seth and Damion run after the two of them. Seth uses ice to push him up to the top of one of the building's roofs.

"Amelia, calm down; it might be a trap!"

"Seth, we lost them!"

"Damn it, that guy was clearly baiting her; whatever he's going to do can't be good!"

A few blocks away from Seth and Damion, Derrick is sitting down on a box.

"So you really were able to keep up with me."

Amelia lands in front of Derrick with an infuriated expression.

"I'm going to torture your soul until there's nothing left!"

"Go ahead, but let me show you something first."

Derrick gets out of his seat, and the first thing Amelia notices is that he has shrunk to her height.

"Wait, your not only short but your physique and clothes. They're all mine!"

"Oh, don't be selfish; it isn't yours."

Derrick grabs his face with a smile.

"It's ours!" he screams as he tears his face off.

"Why do you have my face?" Amelia screams.

"Come on, don't be dumb; it's my power "clone replacement."

"Hey, Amelia, we finally found you!"

Both Amelia and Derrick look behind them and see Seth and Damion.

"Seth! That weirdo made himself look like me! Please help me!"

"They can't hear you, dumbass. Have you not realized yet?"

Derrick, who has made himself look exactly like Amelia, walks straight through Amelia, almost like she's not there.

"Wait what?"

Derrick walks up to Seth and Damion with a smile.

"Oh, what's up, guys? It seems that guy got away from me, but I'm sure we can find him together!"

"Oh yeah, sure, but Amelia, you really can't be just running off like that, especially against dangerous enemies like this; it could've been a trap."

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry for that, Seth; it's just that I couldn't let him disrespect you," Derrick says with a conveying smile.

As Seth and Derrick speak, Damion is watching them, confused.

"Wait a minute, that guy was able to escape from Amelia? That should be impossible because of her secret ability to track the soul of a person she's seen before. It should have been easy for her to catch that guy. Something is off not only with that but with Amelia's personality as well."

While Damion is thinking to himself, Derrick is also thinking to himself.

"That Damion kid suspects me well good because his powers are too dangerous to be left unchecked anyway. I'll bust his head open and let his brains leak onto the ground. Then I'll blame it on myself and take this stupid bitch's life completely!"

On the outside, Derrick has a fake happy expression, but on the inside, he has a maniacal one.

Derrick looks back over to Amelia, who is currently on the ground, slowly fading away. When he sees her panicked and sad expression, he laughs.

"Yep, that's how my power works. Once I touch you and transform into you, you start to cease to exist. Then I get to be you until I decide to transform into someone else. I had the body I was using before for two years, so I thought it was time to switch it up."

Derrick walks over to Amelia and looks down at her.

"I'm not sorry I have to do this, but I do feel bad. You seem to be taking this pretty badly."

"No, please stop it."

"Oh, it seems you realize what's happening."

Derrick kneels down in front of the fading Amelia and looks her directly in the eyes with a smile.

"Sorry for confusing you earlier when I said this body is ours because it's actually mine. Your life is mine!"

Amelia starts to cry as Derrick walks away with her body.

"Please, no, he can't forget me again! Please come back; don't leave!"

Derrick walks over to Damion and Seth.

"OK, shouldn't we start looking for that asshole?"

"Yeah, of course we should, but what were you doing over there, Amelia? Were you talking to someone or something?" Seth asks.

"No, of course not; just looking for some clues, that's all. Let's go already!"

Amelia turns Seth and Damion around and pushes them away from the ally.

"Woah, ok, Amelia, we're moving!"

As the three of them leave, Amelia is in the alleyway with tears running down her face as her body continues to fade and has gotten to the point where she can even see through herself.

"No, please, Seth, that's not me!"

Derrick looks up at the three of them, leaving with tears covering her face and a weak voice.

"Please don't forget me."

Chapter 144 end