Reed

For a moment, Reed's anger gave way to curiosity. This man was a mystery. He seemed to know Selene, and she seemed to trust him. But who was he? Reed couldn't shake the feeling that he was having right now.

He nudged at Aria, one of his teammates who was still standing by his side, whispering to her while Selene was busy with her own teammate, "Do you know who that man is?" he asked, his voice low and serious.

Aria shook her head. "I don't," she said. "But he must be someone important to Selene. She seemed very protective of him from what we've seen. Considering her nature and character, we know that is hardly possible if no string is attached."

Reed nodded in agreement as he had come to the same conclusion too.

"Tell me, Selene, since when did you start playing hero? I thought you care about none else aside from those in your team, and that's even because you needed them in the team. Is the sun rising from the north now and our dear Selene now has a caring heart for others?" Reed said mockingly while gesturing with his raised chin at the absentminded Artur some distance away.

Selene turned to face Reed, her expression icy. "You know nothing about me," she said. "Or about what I care about. So don't pretend that you do. Also, I owe nobody an explanation of the decisions I make. If anyone doesn't like them, then deal with it because I don't give a f*ck what they think about it."

Reed's smile widened, and he leaned in closer to Selene. "Oh, I know enough," he said, his voice low and threatening. "I know that you're just like the rest of us. A user of powers, someone who has taken more than they have given."

Selene's eyes flashed, and she took a step towards Reed. "I am nothing like you," she said, her voice shaking with anger.

The others took a step back. Those in Selene's team couldn't find words to retort in support of Selene since what Reed said is true.

Selene, who had always put the team first in all things, placed them in jeopardy just because of a stranger at which they all almost lost their lives.

As for Reed's team, they knew best not to get involved as this is more like a love rival fight than what it actually looks like.

"Oh really, tell me then Selene, aside from fighting to get stronger, disregarding everyone else's interest as long as it had nothing to profit you. What else have you done for what remains of humanity?"

Selene was looking for words to retort but found none, as she truly doesn't care for anyone other than herself before now.

She couldn't even tell if the care and commitment she gets towards her teammate were just strictly business and not personal.

Her eyes were darting around to find a way out of the situation.

Reed, on the other hand, was gloating in his self-claimed victory, having a sadistic fulfillment of putting Selene on a tight spot.

She would have to be mindful of her words not to hurt her teammate's feelings.

Just then he felt a piercing gaze landing on him. Out of instinct, he traced the direction he was having the feeling from and was startled by the deep blue eyes staring at him.

Arthur had his head cocked toward his direction, giving him a weird intense look.

A look that seems to be begging him to say one more nonsense and to pay the hard price.

The tension in the air was thick, as if a storm was about to break. Arthur's gaze was fixed on Reed, and the others in the room could feel the energy between them. It was as if the two were having a battle of wills, and the others were caught in the crossfire.

Selene felt herself grow hot with anger from her own end, unaware of the little scoff going on between the two. She forced herself to take a deep breath. She knew that if she let her temper get the best of her, it would only make things worse.

Reed, however, seemed to be enjoying himself. He smirked at Arthur, as if daring him to do his worst.

At first, he had felt a tinge of fear but it didn't last long. After all, he is an advanced fathom level ability user, stronger than Selene or anyone in her team. And she was the one protecting this guy.

So he should be weaker than Selene from the look of things.

Arthur's expression remained calm, but there was a fire in his eyes. He took a step forward, closing the distance between him and Reed.

"You should be careful with your words," he said, his voice cold and hard. "There are consequences for every action, and you may not like the consequences of your words."

Reed's smirk turned into a sneer. "What are you going to do, Mr. Hero trying to save his princess?" he taunted.

"Try to scare me with your big, bad eyes? Or are you going to try to hurt me with your words?"

Arthur didn't respond to him. Selene and the others were lost for what to say, seeing how things were developing.

It's obvious this stranger doesn't know the strength of Reed. In fact, he knew nothing of the Awakener world.

A mundane, as Awakeners would call it, Selene decided to step in and mediate the issue.

"Huh, guys," one of Reed's men called out before Selene could make a move.

"We got to get out of here now," he added as the scanner in his hands was beeping crazily.

Everyone turned to look at the man who had spoken, and their eyes widened in shock.

On the scanner's display, three large red circles were rapidly approaching their location.

They were moving so fast that they would be upon them in a matter of minutes.

"What is going on?" Selene asked, her voice shaking slightly.

"I'm not sure," the man replied. "But it's definitely not good news as I don't want to stay here and find out."

Just then, a deafening roar split the air, and the ground shook beneath their feet. The red circles on the scanner were growing ever closer and had now become five.

"We need to get out of here now!" Aria shouted out as she made the first move.

A burst of flame surged out from underneath her feet, granting the boost she needed to quicken her movement.

The others didn't stand on ceremony, all using their abilities to escape what lay ahead in their way.

Selene grabbed Arthur, using her ability to allow them to float as they flew from the area.

As they flew away, they could see the same creatures they had just battled, alongside countless low-level ones, drawing closer and closer to their previous location.

Then, there was a deafening boom that shook the very air around them.

When the sound died down, they dared to look back. What they saw made their blood run cold.

Where the ruins of the city had once stood, there was now nothing but a smoldering crater. The buildings, the damaged cars, etc., all gone in an instant. Nothing but ash remained.

And in the center of the crater was one of the five advanced Fathom-level creatures roaring in anger as it saw its prey fleeing.

The team gulped at this sight. "What the hell, aren't these advanced Fathom-level Selenites supposed to be deep in the restricted areas?" Oliver asked in panic.

"I don't know," Selene replied, her voice trembling. "I don't understand how so many could have gotten out from the depth to the peripheral area of the restricted area, not to mention these once a variant Selenites."

When Selene and Oliver were having that little exchange, Selene was suddenly pushed by Arthur.

Shocking the others who had seen this and were about to lash out on Arthur, why he had done that when it suddenly looked like everything went through a slow motion as they all saw a huge wind blade slice past the space Arthur had created between himself and Selene.

Selene wasn't exempted from this, as she too was mad and wondering why the one she is helping would push her.

Only for her eyes to widen when he saw the wind blade flash past where she would have been if she hadn't been pushed to the side, missing her only by a hair's length as the blade dashed past her, splitting an abandoned vehicle in its trajectory into two clean halves.

Reed almost choked on his breath when he saw this, the person he was taunting a few moments back got an incredible sense of awareness. A nagging question bugging his mind, is he an awakener too?

That split-second distraction would have cost him his life if he wasn't fast enough, using flame to propel himself upward like a rocket as a powerful clamping sound resounded from where he once was. One of the five selenites had suddenly appeared behind him, biting down hard at him but missed as he had shot up using blasts of flame from his hands and feet.

"Damn it, this one seems to have a spatial motion innate skill," Reed cursed, looking over his shoulder at the creature that had just appeared behind him, as he continued to use his flame to propel himself forward like a flame jetpack.

"Everyone get to the safe zone at once," he commanded, obviously to his team as all eight members in his team dashed past Selene and her team, chasing after Reed who had taken the lead. Some took to the sky completely covered in flame, some were partially using flame for flight, while a few created a flame surf or other flame skills that helped them increase their speed and got away, leaving Selene and the others behind.

Selene watched as Reed and his team disappeared into the distance, leaving her and her team behind. She felt a mixture of emotions - anger, fear, and disappointment.

"So much for caring, such a hypocrite," she spat out angrily.

She turned to look at her own team, who were looking back at her, their faces full of concern.

"We have to do our best to get out of here," she said, her voice calm and steady despite the storm of emotions inside her.

"We can't stay here, like sitting ducks for whatever the reason is. We can pull through if we believe we can, so don't you go giving up on me now."

No one argued with her, and they began to make their way towards the safe zone, the selenites hot on their trail.

"Hey you," Arthur suddenly called to the one using a bow as a weapon after dodging another wind blade while doing his best not to get caught up with the one using spatial motion innate skill to gain on the group ever so often, increasing the difficulty of survival.