The Indulgence

They said time heals everything.

Years after the nightmare that he could still vividly recall, Dan had moved away from the South to the capital city of La Capital. Thanks to the friend he had known for decades, officer Jose, he was able to maintain his position as an officer in the new city. He was only half as competent as before – the job served nothing to him but a source of income. After all, he had little to protect. The only ones he wanted to bring a peaceful world to had been gone for years.

Tonight's shift at the port was more than ordinary. The salty wind from the sea blew with a pleasant coolness. Wherever the flashlight encircled with its white beam, things appeared exactly how they should be.

Until a loud bang came from the distance. The noise was lengthened by a metallic container vibrating. Dan sprinted towards the source of the turmoil. Cursing and yelling became apparent as he got closer. When he turned the corner, he saw three men holding a much shorter figure by the collar, pinging him on the metallic wall. The boy struggled but couldn't get free, but was giving the man a hard time to hold him still.

Dan's flashlight alerted the men. When they saw the officer's gun barrel pointed at them, they fled like a hoard of alerted crow.

Examining the setting, Dan came to a conclusion. The kid's ragged clothes and dirty face suggested that he was likely a thief who stole from the wrong people. Dan assumed that he was the victim, but the two men lying unconscious around the site suggested otherwise.

"You alright?" Dan asked with a calming tone, but received no answers. The boy still sat on the ground with his back to the container. His long, black hair covered most of his face, where wounds and dirt resided.

Dan squatted in front of him. Upon making eye contact, he understood everything: those brown pupils radiated nothing, like abysmal wells filled with freezing water. Amidst the indifference, however, some emblem still glowed deep inside.

That was how his own son looked at him years ago, when he sank deep in hatred but still tried to cling to Dan.

"He still has a chance…" Dan said to himself, in an almost inaudible murmur, "…from all the cruelty."

Silence fell, with the only noise being the sloshing of the sea under the deck. The boy slowly raised his head, locking his eyes on the unfamiliar face with alert.

"Hey, uh, kid," said Dan, trying to avoid staring at him, "if you want some income, I can help with that. A friend of mine needs an assistant in his library."

The kid's face filled with confusion and disbelief. Dan continued.

"Don't look at me like that. It was hard to find anyone for the job. I had to get more candidates," he explained, "so, what do you think?"

Dan knew, of course, that this was just an excuse to accomplish something a lot more profound to him: to atone for his past crime – the crime of watching an innocent soul tumbling down the abyss.

This boy in front of him was the chance to alleviate the guilt, which had tortured him ever since he watched his son perish. The boy looked at him like an scared stray cat. To Dan, his stare was as sharp as that of a judge deciding a criminal's fate. Dan waited for the judgement: whether he could ever receive the indulgence he craved for years.

Finally, the kid made a move. He tried to stand up, only to collapse again – the injuries on his legs were still fresh. He refused help, but the trembling limbs and the growling stomach quickly gave in.

"I accept the job," said he, in an emotionless manner.

The dangling worry within Dan finally settled. He was scared that the kid would turn him down; he was scared that he would, once again, watch a kid struggle in the dark corners of the world when he could've saved him.

"Well, then," said Dan, helping the kid up, "you can call me Dan. How should I call you?"

The boy hesitated, but eventually decided to reveal his name.

"Edwin."

Quietly, Dan reached for the shoulder of the boy. He laid the weight of his hand on it and sighed in relief.

"Oh, that reminds me…" Dan thought to himself, "Albert would've been this big if he were still here."

In Dan's eyes, the kid morphed into a much more familiar figure. He could see his own beloved son striding by his side.

◆ ◆ ◆

Years later, those same eyes were deprived of life. With Dan lying silently on the ground, the teary eyes reflected the flashing red light from the burning surroundings.

Above the body was a demonic, dark figure with glowing eyes. Rubbles surrounded him like swarms of bees around their nest. Edwin lifted more debris, gathering them up around him in to huge chunks of boulder. He bathed in the pleasant feeling of releasing his anger in the form of his new powers. The fabric of reality was no more than a malleable sheet to him. Rubbles flowed like streams towards where the spacetime sank to his will.

"Enjoying the new power of yours, aren't you?" yelled Dirac, "if only you used it against the real enemies!"

"Shut it!" Edwin screamed in rage.

With a twist of his hand in hyperspace, the fabric of reality bent and twisted to form the shape he desired. To him, the boulders of concrete and metal bars floating were simply residing in pits of bent space. A flick of a finger was all it takes to cleanly slice them into thousands of tiny bits. The debris he gathered slid down the paths he dug in space-time, rapidly accelerating towards Dirac.

A rain of rocky bullets flew towards Dirac. Trying to dodge it, he tried leaping sideways – but something held him back.

"What the-" he murmured.

A heavy aura grabbed him, bolting his legs to the ground. He could feel his boots being carved into the ground. It took all his strength just to remain standing.

"Increased gravity? Trivial trick!" he yelled angrily, only to have his voice drowned by the showering bombardment.

Edwin watched the cloud of dust engulfing his enemy.

"This…this is not enough!" he grunted under his breath.

More pebbles few into the center of the dust cloud. Metallic parts and concrete blocks dived towards where Dirac was like seagulls plunging towards their food. The solid thump of rocks smashing into the ground never ceased.

"AHHH!" Edwin's throat was hurting due to the screaming as he drove more and more debris towards his target, but something caught his attention.

The rumbling ceased as soon as he stopped the bombardment. He descended to the ground to check on Dirac, who should have been grinded to a pulp of flesh at this point. The curtains of dust slowly faded. Before they were completely gone, Edwin could almost see what looked a semi-transparent hemisphere within the dust cloud…

A force field of some sort.

"Had your tantrum?" Dirac brushed his shoulders in a defiant manner. It was obvious that he no longer wanted to play around. "Your childish emotions are tiring me out, brat!"

Edwin clenched his hand, digging a deep well in the space-time beneath Dirac. The enormous gravity dragged everything within its range to the ground. Even the floor was cracking under the huge pressure. Yet, at the center of the increased gravity field, Dirac walked no less casually than taking a walk in the park.

"How…" Edwin murmured under his breath, biting his teeth tighter as he increased the strength of the gravity field.

"I'll give you a hint – you are not the only gravity bender out here." A malicious smile crept upon his face. "Try as hard as want. I'll wait."

Such act of mockery enraged Edwin. He could feel the rage building in him exploding. Squeezing out the last bit of strength he had available, Edwin's muscles trembled under the sheer stress. Nose bleeds began flowing out while veins crept into his eyeballs, forming a red web around his pupils. Finally, he could no longer keep it up.

The suppressing aura around Dirac fell silent. The rumbling in the air disappeared instantly. Seeing that Edwin was finally tired out, Dirac walked closer.

"My turn."

The black sky grew brighter and brighter. The deadly wave of heat was closing faster and faster…

"Ugh!" With a light groan from Dirac, the blinding light dimmed immediately. Edwin opened his eyes, only to see the energy beam firing off into the empty night sky, dissipating in no time. He then looked in front of him.

Dirac stumbled a little, holding his face cheek. Edwin rubbed his eyes to confirm the unbelievable scene he witnessed: dark, red blood seeped out between Dirac's fingers.

"Despicable bastard!" he yelled and looked around, the bloody scar stretched across his cheek, "who was it? Show yourself!"

Something glistened in the shadows of the destroyed concrete structures. In less than a second, a silent yet distinct whoosh whipped across the space between Edwin and Dirac. The sharp spear of ice stabbed itself into the solid metal plate lying behind Dirac.

Such an indestructible ice spear and with such ridiculous momentum…

"You guys came…" Edwin saw a grim of hope.

◆ ◆ ◆

The heavy bombardment of crystal spears began. Glistening spears ripped the air with the power of armor-piercing shells, exploding when they hit the walls behind Dirac. With his attention put into defense, he easily deflected the attacks as they curved away from him.

"Enough is enough!" Dirac responded with a pair of energy beams from his hands. The two enormous pillars of plasma formed wall of light, vaporizing all projectiles in its way.

In the meantime, a pair of hands held up Edwin by the shoulders.

"You good, buddy?" Edwin heard the familiar female voice.

"Weakness…" He ignored Tracy since his mind was occupied by only one thing. "Dirac…he has a weakness."

"I might need to catch up a bit," said Tracy, hurrying Edwin away from the field of boulders, "god, you are heavy."

Edwin felt a soft cushion forming beneath him. Tracy concentrated the air beneath him, creating a little hovercraft, easily pushing away the exhausted body of Edwin into the relative safety of an empty store along the street.

"He's invincible from your attacks!" cried Edwin, then coughed heavily, spitting out droplets of blood, "but how did you manage to hit him?"

"I…don't know," admitted Tracy, "so who are we up against?"

The ground rumbled heavily as if bombs were dropped in the vicinity, shattering the windows around Edwin and Tracy. Seems that Dirac was caught up with someone else.

"Right," coughed Edwin, "long story short…"

◆ ◆ ◆

In the meantime, a battle of vengeance had begun.

"Remind me, what's the grudge between us?" Dirac frowned at the blonde teen.

"I've been looking for you!" Emilio yelled, his eyes staring furiously at the murderer of his father, "you are going to pay for what you did to my old man!"

A sense of relief came to Emilio as he finally declared war towards the man who took everything from him. There wasn't a single hour that passed without him thinking about his loss…It took just one night for Emilio to lose his best mentor, his closest friend, and his only family.

"Oh, dear boy, you gotta be more specific," Dirac laughed, "I've killed a lot of dads in my life."

That was the last straw. The pin of the grenade was pulled out.

Finally, Emilio could unleash all the anger he had built up ever since the day of the tragedy. Does this monster not have any idea what damage he had done? That shamelessly proud laugh of his suggested no remorse whatsoever.

"I'll wipe that grin off of you!"

Emilio grabbed the corner of a huge concrete chunk, then raised it above his head like a piece of foam.

"What ability is this…" wondered Dirac.

The giant block of concrete was then hurled towards Dirac. Seeing how easily it was lifted, one would think that it would be easily stopped mid-air by mere air resistance. Yet the huge chunk showed no sign of deceleration. Only when it was meters away did Dirac realize the gravity of the situation.

"Mass-manipulation…" he murmured, then grinned, "reminds me of my old times in the army."

The Earth itself shook as an explosion detonated at the position of impact. Cracks spread on the walls of nearby buildings with the crispy cracking noise. All windows nearby exploded into fragments, producing a glistening rain of glass shards.

"My revenge is far from over!" shouted Emilio, standing on the edge of the crater – one that was at least twenty meters wide and five meters deep.

The dust was far from settling, revealing only the rough outline of the devastation. Everything around the vicinity sounded awfully quiet after the impact, for the explosion made even the loudest screams seem like a light breeze. Emilio gazed around – there were no human beings around him. Maybe it was finally over?

"This death is too merciful for you!" yelled Emilio into the crater, his voice echoing around the devasted scenery that was once a city block.

Yet a sudden shiver fell on him when he heard footsteps coming from behind. But how could he? That monster should've been smashed into a pancake by now…

"How strange of you to talk to a corpse…" spoke the robed man.