Chapter 8

"I'm not done with him yet.", The Destroyer aimed his knuckle at his target. In almost an instant he shot a giant enraged projection of his fist. 

"Do something, Chief!", Axel commanded his superior.

"What do you mean, do something?! It was my job to rescue him, now it is your job to make sure he gets here alive.", the chief explained.

"Oh yeah right, I forgot.", Axel conjured a giant bubble and sent it flying to block the enraged projection. The giant bubble bulldozed itself to the location and shielded Martin's unconscious body from the attack. The collision of the enraged projection and the giant bubble pushed Martin from the floating rock he was lying on. 

"Damn it!", the chief yelled.

"I need to detach and lift up another piece of the ground. You need to protect him again.", the chief ordered.

"But do it better this time.", he glared at him.

"Hey, I'm trying but I don't have a lot of enraged energy.", Axel said. The impact of the attack woke Martin up. He tried to get up, but he looked behind him and saw another attack from the enemy.

"Rise and shine, but unfortunately this will be your last one.", The Destroyer smiled at him.

"What was happening?", Martin muttered. Before the enemy could land another attack, a sound of breaking glass blazed through the enraged prison. The ghouls ate each other and metamorphosized as one giant ghoul. The titan broke through the barrier and roared to let everyone know its thirst for violence.

"Finally, something worthy of my time.", The Destroyer shifted his attention back to his enemy.

"Hurry! Come here.", Axel gestured at his colleague. Martin did not utter a word. He gathered enraged energy from his solar plexus and quickly expanded through his entire body. The enraged energy adrenalized his body to move rapidly to reach his destination faster.

"Let's see what else can you do.", The Destroyer returned to the ground to fight the ghouls now ghoul. The titan opened its mouth and an orb of green light appeared. Natural energy from the ground to the plants to the trees and to the air was absorbed by the orb. The ground was turning parch and infertile, and the trees and plants were withering. As it was eating energies from the environment, it was growing in size and power.

"That's it, keep eating and show me how powerful you can be.", The Destroyer proudly observed. After it finished devouring natural energies, the titan dashed in front of him and shot a laser from its eyes at him. The Destroyer blocked the attack and shot himself up in the air. He locked eyes with the titan, the titan swung a punch at him. He instantly dodged and counterattacked with a giant enraged projection of his fist. The titan grabbed the projection and crushed it with its hand. While the two powerhouses were fighting, Martin made it to his colleagues. He was weary from using too much adrenaline and everything that had happened earlier.

"Finally!", Axel cheered.

"You must be so tired, I will give you a ride with my signature ability.", the chief said.

"We can talk about the crime you committed later. But honestly, we all commit mistakes so I will let it pass.", the chief added.

"What do you mean?", Martin asked.

"A lot of our police officers had done questionable actions in the past as well, we just never let it out in public. Just promise me to not do it again, and I will have your back just this time.", the chief explained.

"That sounds wrong, but anyway what do we do now?", Axel asked.

"Well, he's not our problem for now so first let's focus on leaving this place, then I will call the National Defense Forces for backup to deal with this guy.", the chief answered.

"That answer sounds hauntingly familiar.", Axel said.

"Those people never come when you ask them for help.", Martin crossed his arms.

"Well, at least we can say we did something.", the chief said.

"That one as well.", Axel pointed at the chief.

"The worst case is us having to evacuate completely and leave Arcland.", the chief looked at the onslaught in front of him.

"Alright.", Axel uttered. At a distance, the two monsters were exchanging blows with one another. The titan was fighting with its fists and laser from its eyes while The Destroyer was fighting with projections and enraged energy blasts. The ghoul titan was always on the offense while The Destroyer was gracefully dodging the attacks. Before the tidal could throw an enraged punch, The Destroyer tackled its face with a full-body enraged strike. The Destroyer spun and kicked its face with an enraged kick which led to the titan plummeting to the ground. 

"The ghoul is already down!", Axel looked behind them as they escaped the scene.

"Jess…", Martin frowned.

"Her sacrifice was not for nothing if we could escape and warn the others.", Jackson tapped his shoulder. Before they could walk again, out of nowhere a firework exploded into the sky. Before he could do anything, The Destroyer's full attention shifted to the firework. He stared at it for a few seconds and smiled as he remembered his true intention for going out that night.

"That is my cue.", The Destroyer whispered to himself.

"But I'm going to wrap everything up before I leave.", he smiled. He walked to the titan and touched it with his left hand. His own enraged energy flowed from his body to his target until it was fully covered with it. The target groaned as it started to lose its own senses. He levitated the titan up in the air and followed it. 

"This is my last gift to this awful place!", The Destroyer punched the titan with all his might and sent it flying outside the city. The people, the police officers escaping, and the law enforcement officers who left earlier were in shock to see such a giant entity soared above them. As it reached the neighboring province it was preparing to uncontrollably devour the natural energy around the place. The Destroyer maximized its absorption capabilities to the point of frenzy. He weaponized an enemy in a nonlethal but destructive way, not by killing people but by destroying their resources. The trio of police officers finally made it to the police department, where the others were staying outside.

"What is happening? What was that?", the captain said.

"It was the ghouls from before, but they combined into one giant monster.", the chief replied.

"It was on our side, right?", the captain asked.

"Yes, it was on our side but I think it lost. We are going to need better people to deal with The Destroyer and whatever mess is about to happen with the titan.", he answered.

"Whatever it is that is happening, it should cause enough problems for the national defense team to take action with their hands. I'm gonna go get a coffee, it has been a tough night.", she said.

"It is and will be because you are under investigation.", the chief warned.

"I will find a way to get away with it, this is a flawed nation with flawed law after all.", the captain grabbed a cigarette from her pocket and lit it up with a lighter.

"I'm not the only one with dirt here, if I go down, I will go down and take those people with me.", she glared at him one last time before disappearing inside the station.

"What a stupid world.", the chief sat down in a chair.

"Anyone has a spare cigarette?", he looked around him and asked the other police officers nearby. 

"I got an extra one, here take it.", August appeared behind him and offered him a cigarette. He used his signature ability to magnetize a chair and sat next to his superior.

"Thanks.", he grabbed the lighter that the captain used and lit up his cigarette.

"You don't look good, Chief.", he randomly uttered.

"I'm sorry, those words just randomly blurted out of my mouth.", August awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"It's fine.", the chief smoked his cigarette and breathed out a dark haze of smoke into the air. After a few seconds of silence, he announced something that shocked his peer.

"I'm retiring.", he said.

"What?! Whoa! I mean, why? That was so random.", the announcement caught the assistant chief by surprise.

"I just, I-", the chief tried to speak but struggled to find the right words.

"I-I feel like-", he was making gestures with his hands due to frustration.

"It's okay, pause, relax, and then talk.", August was curiously staring at him.

"Okay.", the chief inhaled and exhaled deeply.

"I-I guess, I just feel like a fraud.", he finally finished his sentence.

"Why, what happened back there when we were gone? Also, what do we do now with Martin?", he took a glimpse of Martin and pointed at him with his eyebrows.

"I don't really want to talk about this now. I'm gonna go grab some coffee, good night.", he abruptly ended their conversation as he headed back to the station.