Chapter 9: Absolute Evasion

Part 1

July 10, 2011, at 21:25

Philip was waiting for Bill, but it was not his friend who stood before him, but a fated enemy he was soon to face for the Eyre stones.

—Good evening, Philip Mrown, or should I say, Ze~ro?

With her long hair parted in pigtails, her slitter eyes and her red qipao with gold accents, she smiled deviously at him.

—Willo..." he whispered. He immediately decided to change to a serious voice. Who are you?

—Come on, let's go. Don't play dumb with me. You know very well who I am, and I know very well who you are, Bill Hecker has told me everything.

—What?

A cold sweat broke out all over his back. A terrible fear came over him.

—Ah, but don't worry about him. I didn't torture him or anything like that to get this information.

—Huh? What do you mean?

She laughs loudly at the look of desolation on Philip's face.

—He sent me here because you would be helpless. He's been helping me for a long time to get the Eyre stones. He has betrayed you.

—¡¿?!

Philip's eyes widened. The words were stuck in his throat.

—I'm going to be blunt. If you want this to end without bloodshed, give me the stone you possess in that stamp. I promise you'll walk out of here unharmed.

Philip leaned against the rooftop railing, having nowhere to run.

Death.

If he confronts her he can only see that outcome. He has no way to convince her and if what she says is true, he no longer has any allies.

—You know you can't beat me, and I don't want to kill you. Just hand her over to me and disappear. I've already told you, stay away from the dark energy. The stamp on your arm should be proof enough of what I'm talking about.

He clenched his fists and looked down. All the resolve he had taken on the night of 2 July was being taken away from him.

What was there left to do?

Was it true what this girl had said? Had Bill betrayed him? Or was there something else behind it?

He didn't even question the fact that Bill knew them, it was a very real possibility, as the Hecker clinic is where people with a lot of underworld information end up.

If he gives him the stone, it's all over, and he'll never know the truth or live up to the expectations he set for himself.

—Make up your mind. Whatever you choose, the rest will only take a few seconds.

—Guh.

"If I can't face her or convince her, there's only one viable option.

Philip sits on the railing. She immediately realizes what he's trying to do.

—I won't let you!

Two black spheres appear in Willo's hands, two purple beams shoot out from them in the direction of the boy.

But too late.

He had already dropped his body into the void, so the beams hit the railing, a piece of it also fell in the direction of the street.

—Damn idiot.

Philip was falling face down at high speed. Next to him, a piece of the roof railing threatened passers—by who were unaware of what was happening above their heads.

—Ugh. I must... do... something.

He touched the button on the bracelet on his right wrist and activated the element 347 gauntlet that was tucked inside.

As best, he could, he stretched his right arm towards the debris that was descending at the same speed as him. The gauntlet lit up and fired a light blue light that shattered the fragment of the railing into small, harmless pieces.

—Good! Now it's my turn to save myself.

He was still a long way from the ground, but if he didn't do something, he was going to crash to the asphalt.

He dropped into a fetal position to shift his center of gravity, turning his body all the way around. When he finally had his legs pointing down, he stretched his body again. The soles of his slippers unfolded sideways, revealing that inside was a small area filled with tiny crystalline lamp—like spheres. These were illuminated with a light blue hue. These celestial lights became almost as strong as small flares and began to push Philip upwards, slowing his fall. Soon, as those lights became more intense, the descent turned into ascent, and that ascent became faster and faster.

Both those lights on the thrusters and the one on his glove are energy that he collects from the wind as wind power, thanks to a system invented by Bill.

Willo had jumped shortly after Philip. Seeing that he was beginning to rise, aimed his dark spheres at him, but he had been quicker and when he reached his side he broke one of the spheres with a downward blow, taking advantage of the surprise effect.

He continued upwards until he was over the roof of the building they were on. Began to move away to the west, looking for a place where he could hide or, failing that, one where he could engage her with some strategy.

Willo began to follow closely behind.

Part 2

10 July 2011 at 22:05

Curfew had just begun and Melbourne looked like a ghost town.

After fleeing through the inner—city buildings, Philip decided it was time for a direct confrontation, even though he considered it highly dangerous.

He could not shake off the presence of that girl. She was fast and could use her magnetism to cling to the iron in the concrete of the buildings and propel herself like a magnetic catapult.

He couldn't win an aerial combat with a psychi, and he was going to be caught on the ground anyway. He was forced to confront it.

He found it difficult to devise a strategy. Willo's power is too high, over a hundred and ten cells according to what he has shown, and the only defense Philip has to his attacks is that gray glove on his right hand, nothing else. Let alone if he attacks him with a power similar to the one she used against The Redhead. An electrical storm of pure power at high speed, no one could dodge that.

Or is there someone?

Philip landed in the middle of a huge park where there was a white fountain, in which sat a huge statue of a soldier, and several paths lit by huge lamp posts.

Willo descended in front of Philip until she was standing on the statue at the top of the fountain.

The surrounding static caused her hair to stand on end and cover most of her body, giving her a disturbing appearance.

Her angry expression filtered through her hair.

—Last warning, hand over the stone or die!

—Shit.

Willo pointed at the boy with his right hand, in which he held one of the black spheres that allowed him to use his ability. Several bolts of lightning flew towards him.

—Wooo.

Philip rolled forward to dodge the first one aimed at his head. To the side to dodge the one aimed at his left leg, but he didn't have time to dodge the one aimed at his right arm, which hit directly at the stamp.

—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH!

A sharp pain shot through him.

Willo launched an attack again, this time a multipronged one that cut off any chance of escape. Certain death was heading Philip's way. Purple beams that looked like lasers, coming at him from all directions.

Philip's vision blurred, all color disappeared. Just at that instant when his death had been decided, the world had gone completely white.

??????? δ

The hero with the gun crouched down to be on the same level as his disciple. The boy knew it was an important conversation, as he had been failing quite badly in recent training.

—Listen, absolute evasion is a technique that engages all your senses. Not just touch, sight, smell, taste, and hearing. There's one more that we can't control, but it's there.

The boy tilted his head in intrigue.

—Which one?

—God

—God?

—It's a difficult thing to explain. Mmmmm... Do you believe in him?

The boy shook his head.

—Why?

—I would be very disappointed if he existed. Someone powerful enough to create all this, and yet he allows the injustices of this world.

—That is unfair of you to God. He has created us to achieve what we believe is right. If we are convinced that there is someone who does wrong, we should be the ones to judge him in life. God will do that when he dies.

The boy grimaced wryly.

—If everyone followed that logic, the world would be terrible.

—That's why states are created, they provide security and justice, but since they are inefficient, it's also the job of us heroes.

The boy's eyes widened.

—Let's not get sidetracked. Listen, boy, when there's something you're after or something you have to protect, a strength is born inside you that can't even compare to that of the strongest psychis. Within that strength is a world where any attack, no matter how deadly it may seem, is avoidable. It is the strength of heroes to overcome anyone who is on the wrong track. God's gift, the absolute escape. It took me a long time to get to that white place. You will have to keep training hard from now on to see it.

Part 3

—Yes… I see it.

Forward, backward, left, right, up and down. Forward, vertically, horizontally. Willo had launched an attack that seemed impossible to dodge, but Philip realized in just a second that it wasn't so.

Rather, his body had realized.

He moved forward, towards one of the vertical beams that could cut his body in half, and using his gauntlet swept it away.

He rolled onto his side, making himself as thin as possible so that an instant later, the left and right beams would pass through without even grazing him. He jumped up and put his knees to his chest, making himself small so that when the horizontal attacks from above and below passed through, they would not damage him.

He moved his upper body from left to right, rhythmically, the attacks failing to touch him.

He was completely out of the deadly cage that Willo had prepared for him. That was the capacity for absolute evasion.

She gawked at him, unable to move.

—H—how is that possible?

Philip was panting from the effort, but he faced her again with a smile.

—Go ahead, Willo. Show me what you're capable of. Then we'll both find out what I'm capable of!

She gritted her teeth hard, making a noise similar to scratching a blackboard with her fingernails.

The sky lit up, and he prepared to run towards her, a distance of just over a hundred and fifty metres separating them.

Philip knew it, it was the attack with which he fulminated The Redhead and his henchmen.

—DAMNNNNNNNNNNN!

Lightning began to strike the place. Philip dodged the first one by jumping forward.

He blocked one that was about to hit his head with the element 347 gauntlet.

—He's not throwing them all at the same time as last time. This is my chance.

Moving his feet side to side evenly along with his torso, he makes a footwork that allows him to dodge all the beams in the same place.

An attack bent in the air and came from the front. He swung his head to the left, narrowly dodging it.

—So he can direct them. Then I'll have to go faster.

Philip activated his thrusters and approached Willo at high speed, she gathered around sixty containers into a single sphere and aimed it at him, launching an attack worthy of the highest ranking skill he had ever faced. Philip stretched out his arm and parried the attack, but it contained so much power, it would not allow him to advance any further.

The thrusters under his trainers lit up with even more power, slowly pushing him towards Willo.

—Guh.

—Du—die at once.

The distance between them grew shorter and shorter, until it was almost zero.

Neither was giving up a bit of his strength.

And, as Philip's glove was about to touch the dark sphere in Willo's hand, it released a lot of power all at once and in all directions. Philip did not expect this and could not prepare a countermeasure.

Even absolute evasion could not help him.

He was thrown forcefully to the ground. His body rolled several meters until he was suddenly stopped.

His head had hit one of the light poles in the park.

Everything went dark.