Chapter 15 - Andres

Andres was venturing through the treacherous Black Zone, in search of a particular individual. His eyes relentlessly searching as he move at high speeds. 

"He should appear any moment now," he murmured while scanning his surroundings.

As expected, shortly after, another person materialized. Andres patiently waited for the materialization to complete, surprising the other person as he introduced himself politely despite his previous aggressive behavior towards others.

"I'm not your enemy, no need to worry. I'm Andres, and I believe you're Marcus De Vera, right?"

"Yes, that's me... But have we met before?" Marcus responded sternly and somewhat annoyed.

"No, we haven't met, but I know you well... I've researched your situation, and I hope we can become allies to climb this tower together." Andres extended his hand for a handshake.

"Climb together? I'm more than capable of handling it alone." Marcus started walking away until Andres said something that piqued his interest.

"We'll be equals; I won't boss you around. Besides, you could use assistance in controlling your inner power. I can help curb your rampages and prove it to you right now—I can be a tremendous aid in mastering your psychic abilities."

Marcus turned back, unimpressed, and responded by unleashing his full power. "Fine... Don't die."

As Marcus unleashed his power, the ground trembled relentlessly. His green hair floated upwards, his eyes glowed, and he was enveloped in a white aura. Casually raising and hammering down his left hand, he commanded a powerful force, as if a colossal invisible hand was pressing down on Andres.

"Fuck–!" He gritted his teeth, resisting as best he could, but it was only a matter of time before he would be overwhelmed. He needed to find a way out.

'He's finally lost control... This power of his is really terrifying,' he thought, refusing to back down. He needed this man as an ally to achieve his long-desired revenge, and to climb the tower faster, he sought more powerful individuals like him. He had no interest in "heroic" or morally upright people; he required those who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals. Luckily, he already had a few potential candidates in mind, after he get Marcus' allegiance.

Being barefoot, he harnessed his unique power—implanted within his very essence during his creation in a lab—a power he despised but recognized as incredibly useful: the ability to manipulate every cell in his body. He formed a line of flesh that he burrowed into the ground, sending it towards Marcus with lethal intent as it rose up in an attempt to do a surprise attack. Despite Marcus swiftly using his psychic abilities to swat the construct away, a foot-long projectile followed, yet it too missed due to Marcus' psychic redirection.

However, with Marcus currently in a rampaging state, his focus was easily shattered, since he is merely fighting out of pure instincts and external stimuli as of the moment with the only purpose being is to kill others, creating a brief window of opportunity. Seizing the moment, Andres used Shunpo, teleporting to where the previous projectile flew after being deflected—Above Marcus.

Utilizing his weapon designed to subdue Marcus' rampages, Ultrasound, he transformed and configured his vocal cords to emit it. As psychics are sensitive to sounds at ultrasound levels, disrupting their concentration renders their powers useless since they thrive by having great focus and concentration, if their focus is disrupted, they mostly become useless since they can't channel their powers and being a psychic is a result of a heightened and enhanced brain that capable of picking up sound higher than normal, alongside their heightened senses. 

Naturally, powerful psychics like Marcus were accustomed to dealing with distractions aimed at breaking their focus. The previous projectile worked because Marcus was currently unconscious, making his focus vulnerable. Had he been conscious, Andres would have been in a dire situation. Therefore, Ultrasound remained the only viable solution to halt Marcus' rampages, regardless of his consciousness.

"STOP!" Andres shouted, but Marcus quickly erected a grayish, transparent forcefield, rendering the attempt futile.

"Dammit!" Andres retreated immediately, not wanting to be ensnared by Marcus' menacing psychic abilities.

With a single finger raised, Marcus uprooted more than a dozen oak trees from the surrounding forest and hurled them toward Andres simultaneously.

In response, Andres groaned in annoyance and transformed his entire right arm into a metallic form, with each cell turning into nanomachines. This was his second ability—a two-fold integration. In Organic mode, he could manipulate individual cells, healing and forming flesh constructs just like before. In Technology mode, like now, he could perform various technological feats, one of which is the following.

Gathering mana into his metal arm, it faintly glowed red as he concentrated the energy. In just a second, he released a powerful red beam to obliterate the incoming tree trunks. While he wanted to target Marcus, he needed to neutralize the attack first. He couldn't teleport away, nor could he withstand this level of damage, as his healing and durability had their limits.

Rushing towards him, the rampaging Marcus unleashed constructs made of the same energy as his previous forcefield.

These seven triangular constructs loomed large, and Andres desperately tried to escape their onslaught. However, Marcus repeatedly hurled them towards him, making dodging a challenge. Despite his efforts, either one of Andres' arms, even when reinforced with mana, got crushed upon impact or vaporized when caught between two colliding constructs. The shockwaves produced by their collisions further does even more damage as those messes up and jumbles his internal organs. Still, given Andres' ability to heal and remain conscious, these injuries were relatively minor as long as his head or brain remains intact and remains, he's good to go.

To make matters worse, Marcus relentlessly pursued him at high speeds, employing various attacks in addition to the constructs.

"I need to end this and convince him; running away won't work forever," Andres resolved.

He took a deep breath, shifted into an offensive stance, and propelled himself forward like a rocket, using the same red energy from before to transform his heels into metal. His entire arm transformed into a large, sharp blade made of flesh and bone as he confronted Marcus head-on, determined to face both the constructs and Marcus' devastating power.

Marcus fought on pure instinct, responding to stimuli and rarely retreating unless faced with grave danger. Andres aimed to exploit this by the end, understanding that, at their current power levels, Marcus wouldn't retreat from him.

Swinging his blade, Andres forced his way through the onslaught of constructs while deftly avoiding Marcus' telekinetic assaults. As Marcus flew above, continuously hurling the constructs and unleashing telekinetic powers, the battlefield became chaotic, with trees flying everywhere as a result of Marcus' destructive pursuit of Andres.

Amid the turmoil, Andres devised a plan to gain an edge. He implanted a lot of flesh below the ground, biding his time in the epicenter of scattered constructs, luring Marcus into his trap. 'My absorption isn't as fast as Jose's, but it should suffice,'  he thought.

Sure enough, the unconscious Marcus, currently incapable of strategizing, fell for the bait and hurled all the constructs toward Andres. Seizing the opportunity, the mass of flesh buried in the ground surged upward, forming a tall circular wall around him. The wall then swiftly folded in front, ensnaring the seven constructs within its grasp. This move was part of Andres' real plan—to continuously absorb the energy from these constructs, finally enabling him to go head-to-head against Marcus on equal terms. In reality, both his power modes relied on Mana, and while his Mana Capacity was not low and actually above average, it wasn't sufficient to contend with someone of Marcus' caliber.