Blue Comet

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In one swift motion, not giving his enemies any chance to react, Dale grabbed a stop sign in the middle of the road and plucked it like a blade of grass.

The concrete broke apart like dirt...

He didn't stop there, he kicked the ground and took an extra step, meeting straight to face with a hooded man, that had yet to react to his sudden appearance!

It was only when the stop sign was a palm from his face did he react…

The hooded man jumped backward, lifting his arms to block his face.

Even so, that wasn't quick enough.

/BAM!/

Like a club, Dale swung the sign, making sure to hit the man with the concrete block in the lower portion of the metal rod.

Not only that, but he hit the hooded man straight in the face, sending him flying until he hit the wall of one of the houses in the alley, bounding straight towards the ground.

But Dale had already turned around, and before the man even hit the wall, Dale had already rushed towards the car.

He could hear faint confused noises coming from within, it seemed they had started to react...

Yet it was too late.

All of this happened in such a short moment that the people inside only had time to process the noises before Dale plunged his fist into the van!

/CRUSH!/

The reinforced aluminum alloy the van was made of was like paper as his two arms pierced through it.

/BEEP! BEEP!/

The van started to beep loudly, the impact of his arms was so severe the van was pushed back slightly.

"Come here." Dale said deeply

He grasped something within the car, what he believed to be their necks, and pulled!

"!"

'Tsk, I missed one of them.'

/CRUSH!/

"AHHH!"

One of the men screamed as he felt the tugging force and the pain that followed as his body was forcibly pulled against the metal frame of the car.

/RIP!/

However, luckily for him, he felt that something was wrong just at the right time, taking a step forward and evading being grasped by the neck.

So instead of feeling immense pain, his shirt simply couldn't take it as it ripped apart, although his neck and shoulders were still injured, the feeling of having your shirt pulled at high speeds isn't a comfortable one...

The other one wasn't as lucky as he didn't even have the chance to cream as his neck was tightly grasped and pulled outside of the van, the noises of the car breaking apart muffling the sounds of his neck breaking.

With a serious expression, Dale watched as he pulled the man out of the van like a kid opening a Christmas present.

/THUD!/

/Crack!/

He threw him brutally towards the ground, he wasn't a problem anymore, making his body bounce and produce some crunching sounds, most likely, more of his bones had broken…

"What is going on!?" Screamed the other man as he rushed to grab something

It was a black assault rifle!

/BAM!/

But Dale didn't allow him to.

He lifted his foot, and with it, the entire Van! Making it spin in the air and fall onto its back.

"Huff!"

Dale raised his hand and smashed his stop sign at the head of the man now trying to get up, making him lose conscience as blood seeped out from his nape.

With two down, he quickly got into a stance and turned around.

Although it was dark, his eyes could perfectly see the enemy deep in the alley.

Unconsciously, due to the feeling of urgency and adrenaline, the Mana within his body started to move, making his eyes glow slightly in the dark.

"I knew it." Dale said in a heavy tone

'I can't say about these 2, they seem "normal"...'

'But I can't say the same about that guy.'

Within the darkness of the alley, the hooded man stood there, his 2 hands opened wide as they glowed in faint purple light.

"Mana…"

'He can use it too... Shit!'

Due to this shock, Dale forgot to capitalize on his advantage and rush forward, giving his enemy time to breathe and assess the situation.

The hooded man cracked his neck, his eyes were now sharpened and wary.

It was clear he wasn't normal, he received such a strong blow, yet, he was still conscious, his nose was bleeding heavily, while his forehead, chin, and cheeks were only severely scratched.

That was nothing compared to what Dale expected.

"A total failure…" The hooded man said in a low tone

'He got me by total surprise. His documented fighting experience is wrong.'

'My carelessness resulted in my subordinates' deaths...'

For him, this situation was already irreparable, and those two on the ground were as good as dead.

'Instead of paying attention to him, I was more focused on the enemy outside, allowing him to hit me in the face and break my nose.'

/Pff!/

He spat some blood on the ground.

'He took out Guy and Sputize within 3 seconds, I only heard Guy's scream followed by the sound of the van toppling over.'

'This combination of strength and action wasn't in the report… It was my mistake for trusting those bastards.'

"!"

The moment he blinked and reopened his eyes, he realized that Dale had suddenly moved, and that he had already covered half of the distance between them.

/Shing!/

This time, he was ready, he raised his two hands, purple light shining around them as he got into a stance.

Dale on the other hand held his sign, which was now slightly bent.

It was much fainter than the hooded guy, but his stop sign was glowing in a bluish-green light...

/CLANG!/

The sound of metal clashing, the purple light, and the green light collided, causing sparks to light up the alley.

"!"

'He wasn't pushed back?'

"..."

Contrary to his expectations, the villain didn't utter a single word, he blocked Dale's assault with his two hands in a cross position without even taking a single step back.

But the ground beneath him had shattered into several large chunks.

"Huff!"

Dale kicked the ground once more, rushing towards his enemy, he couldn't let him escape!

"!"

'He's coming!'

/CLANG!/

Once again, Dale pierced with his stop sign while the man blocked, but this time, he was sent back as he gritted his teeth.

"This didn't work either?" Dale mumbled with a serious gaze

'I used quite a bit of energy there… Curses, if only I could do something else instead of just barbarically adding energy onto my spear…'

'If this can even be called a spear…'

The stop sign was now fully bent, after two strikes, it couldn't be used for anything else other than a club.

But it had done its job.

/Clong…/

Dale threw it to the side, it was useless to hold onto it now.

/FWOOSH!/

/CLANG!/

"..."

'He's testing me now?'

Dale tried his luck by throwing the metallic disk of the sign towards his enemy, but the hooded man effortlessly parried it away.

But he didn't do anything after... The hooded man continued to observe Dale as he thought of a way to escape.

He didn't care if he could take him down or not, he just needed a way to escape, the mission was a failure, and now, it was time to retreat.

If he fails to do so, he will spend the next few days wishing for a quick death…

'What is he going to do now?' He thought to himself as he watched Dale throw his stop sign away

'Behind me there's a wall, passing through it is an option, but if I reveal an opening, he'll strike me.'

'He isn't that proficient with his gift, he probably became an Adapter not so long ago.'

'However, his raw power is immense, even after punching through the thick, ballistic-proof frame of the van, his fists are unharmed.'

'And he doesn't look tired in the least… What was his age again? 19?'

'What a fucking monster…'

'But I guess this is why I'm here.'

'This should be enough as an excuse for my failure…!'

/FWOOSH!/

Although it only took 6 seconds from the moment they clashed until now, Dale had enough.

But so did the hooded man, who was getting fed up with clashing against Dale like this, his time was running out, and he needed to leave ASAP…

The purple light within his hand started to change, forming a pair of whips!

/SNAP!/

Like lighting, he moved the 2 whips with elegant precision, aiming one at Dale's forehead and once at his crotch!

But Dale did not waver, perhaps after several fights inside Azimuth, he had grown used to facing danger like this…

However, the reality wasn't so simple.

Dale had a pair of mental Skills that helped him in maintaining calm and focus, thanks to it, he didn't panic and instead, moved his head to the side as he jumped to the left, effectively evading the man's 2 blows.

"Not so quick." The man said for the first time

The 2 purple whips moved, seemingly alive as they bound Dale's neck and right leg.

"HUFF!"

"?!"

But instead of exclaiming, Dale pulled, the sheer force of it made the man fly forward with a look of disbelief plastered on his face.

Even though the 2 whips were trying their best to choke him, Dale didn't care as he made an uppercut with all his power.

/BAM!/

"URG!"

/Crack!/

The man blocked the uppercut, but his right arm fractured as he was sent 4 stories into the sky.

He quickly looked around and took this opportunity to escape! Materializing a new pair of whips that wrapped around a metal beam of one of the houses.

"Tsk."

But Dale was still focused, his target had yet to move from his sight…

With his right foot, he kicked a small stone into his hand as he took a pitcher stance.

'Testros told me to never do this… But I have no option, he can't escape.'

'Besides, I want to see what will happen…' Dale thought as a smile formed on his lips

He started to power every drop of Mana he could move towards his right arm and the rock in his hand.

It was the fastest he could manage without severely damaging his arm, but even so, the rock started to shine brightly like a lightbulb in the dark.

/Step…/

Dale lifted his leg and stepped forward, bending his back as his arm moved.

/FWOOSH!/

"Shit!" The man exclaimed as he tried to block the rock…

But it was to no avail as there was no way he could block it.

Barely even reacting to it, the man only had time to protect his head.

/CRACK!/

Due to the energy contained within it, the rock shattered into many pieces, and like a shotgun blast, dozens of small stone fragments hit his body all at once…

/BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!/

Before exploding like blue fireworks in the sky!

/Shater!/

The sound of the explosion was so loud that several houses immediately had their windows burst, and even Dale was thrown backward as he stumbled down.

"..."

'No wonder he didn't allow me to practice inside his house… I'll stop complaining.'

'Besides… I don't feel that tired, my arm is a bit sore, looks like I forced it.'

Despite all of this, Dale felt mildly worked up, he could still feel the warm energy on his chest, and although it had decreased, he believed he could try at least 3 or 4 more times with the same intensity unless he decided to burst all of it at once.

'I need to go after him, he's definitely injured…'

/Chatter!/

/Weee Wooo! Weee Wooo!/

However, he only had so much time to think as the people living around the place had finally started to react, sirens rang all around, and screams started to fill the street.

Even though this confrontation had only taken half a minute, it was enough to startle half of the neighborhood.

"To go after him… Or…"

So his eyes sharpened as he took a step back and turned around, making his way to the two fallen kidnappers.

He wouldn't get out of here without some answers.

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Notes