Chapter 17

Daniel and Jay were out of commission. All the humans available could see that their survival depended on those two doing whatever it was they were doing. So no one attempted to bother them at all rather they kept a safe distance.

So when they saw the bug Daniel had been talking about, they all freaked out.

Why couldn't it come later!!.

And when they saw Eric step up , they prayed to whichever gods would hear them that he at least managed to drive it away long enough for 'the mad' and 'the friendly' to finish whatever it was they were doing .

" You are finally tired of spying?" Eric said as his hands got into position. It was a weird position . But resembled palm martial arts

"Shrieeek!!!" Eric barely saw what happened before the beast got right to him ready to impale him.

Boom!

The bug went hurling back . It didn't understand why and quickly got into the defensive.

Eric though had a stern expression on his face.

" For Daniel to be able to fight this thing?, that boy is really amazing." Eric muttered.

" Why are you talking like I'm not here?" A voice came from behind . Eric didn't turn but stared at the monster.

" Whatever you do , get it out of here before 5 minutes pass . Or else it'll be stuck in with us."

" I'll do you one better , I'll kill it."

" Hmmm , " was Daniels response. He wanted to say it was impossible, but he wasn't versed in what Eric could accomplish.

" Do... not.... fail" Jay who was still strained said . After all he was currently projecting a shield over an entire building

Eric suddenly shot out closing the distance between himself and the bug . He was faster than normal using he's telekinesis in an ingenious way to propel himself. But compared to his opponent he might as well be a snail.

The bug evaded casually the palm strike coming at it . Even though it didn't believe that another of this weak fleshy creature should have the strength to hurt it like the one suspended atop the other, it will remain diligent.

At it was glad it did

Whomp!

The palm strike blasted through the air and even the ground following its direction trenched in !

Jays eyes widened. He had never seen this before! When was this possible?!

He always assumed Eric had to control objects with his mind! This was basically his projectile shield technique!!

"Copyright! Copyright infringement!"

" Don't kid urself!" Daniel retorted.

" Shut it." Eric interjected.

Even as they conversed , Jay still held out his arms like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, and Daniel was still warping space to accommodate Jay's power more easily and strengthen it .

In fact you could say Daniel was doing that thing where in fantasy novels , a specific area becomes a sort of holy ground . Where the protagonist, Antagonist or major character taps into the nature of the land which amplifies their power , or makes it easier to use.

His sensitivity to energy , and Jay's energy barrier were a perfect match . It was a pity he couldn't control energy the way he did space. But maybe if he consumed enough high grade red gems his next evolution might have it .

In any case this sensitivity and his" cannot be expressed enough" superhuman genius made it easy to work around.

Daniel would so love to be engaged in bio engineering right now and not some space technology / physics.But he wasn't.

He wandered if he'd been screwing himself over seeking premade tools made by those lesser than him?

Also weren't bioengineering tools made out of inorganic substances? What if he started from the very scratch , built his own tools the way he wanted.

He remembered that anytime he consumed media , anything fleshy and technically 'alive' gave everyone the creeps , but he felt drawn to that kind of science. It felt more intimate.

'The mad ' was a pretty apt monkier for him.

The bug looked at the devastation wrought by the palm strike and knew it would've hurt .it might not be able to break its carapace but the dent would have been worse

Erics palm strikes now came from the distance , but the bug avoided each time .

If this persisted , the building would be in danger !

Daniel had never witnessed so much destructive power from a human before , and neither had Jay.

Eric was a force ! He adapted his attacks , trying to predict the bugs movement s and succeeded atimes , not to Daniels level but good enough to be considered insane to normal humans no matter what there seemed to be a stalemate .

Eric couldn't catch up in speed, and the bug couldn't get closer either. That's when it's attention was drawn to the normal people watching on the sidelines.

"SHRIEEEK!!!!"

VOOM

The action was instantaneous, blood splattered all over, as the bug run right through their bodies soldier or civilians.

It took moments for Eric to react !.

Chasing after the bug with even greater propulsion. But even then he was still slower.

Those who saw their comrades run through couldn't even process the event as real..

They were Soo close to surviving! Two superhumans were doing ' something, they had a 'protector' everything was in place for 'the heros save the day' type shit. But at the last moment they were being killed indiscriminately, as if their lives didn't matter.

Jay and Daniel stayed silent, not passing commentary, as they watched Eric's erratic expression as he put his all into catching up yet still fail.

They always thought he was a heartless piece of shit, and he was, but he had enough humanity to know that humans should not be soo indiscriminately massacred.

The two themselves were finding it all difficult to watch but they didn't, no they couldn't stop now . They had seen people die and others get injured during the last 6 or so days but never before had they witnessed how fragile being human was !

Anger bubbled up in Jay so much as he witnessed mass murdering! His power grew even stronger. To Daniel witnessing, it wasn't technically Jay getting stronger but more like an adrenaline surge .

At this point there was no point in the barrier if all its inhabitants got killed .

Gun shot rung out as the soldiers tried to defend themselves. It should have been futile , but Daniel knew that the bullets would cause damage to the monster of they hit . And surprisingly one soldier got a hit .

This slowed down the bug as it turned its attention to its attacker.

It was Augustine . She gave Eric the opening he needed to close the gap .

Boom ! Instantly an arm was blown off the bugs body . It seemed Eric had gotten really serious. But he didn't stop there , Daniel never thought Eric was a martial artist. But Eric seemed to have hidden it really well .

He made use of his momentum and upper kicked the bug from its princers

Boom!

Eric shouldn't be able to fly was what Daniel assumed , and it was true. But the man had learnt to use the very air as a kind of platform. Plus he should have upgraded from the previous level with all the bugs he'd been hunting down the past week.

And a drop kick from above . The bug did manage to block with it's 5 other hand , but two more exploded in a gruesome fashion.

In Daniels eyes , both combatants were using a lot of unnecessary movements, but that was what made it fun . If one fought with perfect efficiency and effectiveness . One wouldn't develop a style that was unique to themselves. And the funny thing was others didn't know which actions were actually unnecessary , and sought out perfection.

Perfection was relative , and a situational concept, and not one that could apply to all.

No matter the field of study or action.

A perfect martial arts would take into consideration all optimum conditions weather , terrain, time, anatomy , even micro, changes like atomic movement and bonds

.

Perfection was unattainable by mortals . All you could do , was do the best with what you had , and right now Eric was putting his best Forward

" Shrieeek!!!" The bug begun to panic . It tried escaping only for a second shot to nudge it back into Eric's incoming attack

Boom !

At this point half it's face/ shell was gone , but remained standing.

Not to mistake , it was strong . So strong no human before the end of the world would hold a candle to it above average or otherwise.

But Eric was stronger. He might not be as fast , but he still won .

He pulled his bd back ready to finish it off when suddenly he found himself beside Daniel in the air above Jay .

He was confused and was about to ask something when his eyes moved to check the blue bug , only for sweat to drench him as he saw a 4 meters long hand covered in diamond looking gems sticking out of a blackish rift were he stood just moments ago.

Daniel was quick with his subsequent actions his hands waved in mesmerizing motions but in reality he scrambled the space within the barrier causing the hand to fall back into its rift and disappear.

The blue bug though seemed to have hardly processed that it's backer would be banished soo easily!

"SHRIEEEK SHRIEEEK SHRIEEEK!!!!!?"

Eric himself was still processing the events. But one thing was for sure , Daniel had saved his life.

VaBoom

Jay sent a heavy blue plume and removed the head off it's shoulders instantly.

And this point heavy breaths could be heard from all places and the rumbling seemed to have come to the commercial district.

Out of everyone Daniel was still doing stuff with his fingers and arms. The burden on Jay had been relieved so much that he just felt like he was projecting a small barrier around his body .not only that , but as the seconds passed by , he felt more structure coming to his barrier.

Daniel was too remarkable.

" Did you teleport me?" Eric asked with mild confusion . He wanted to understand how at one point he was at point A and the next ,at point B .

" No , I folded your point in space until you were close enough."

"...."

" What was that thing ?" First lieutenant Madison asked as she and the survivors got close . Their numbers had been reduced dramatically to 20. It was soo heart breaking, but no one could cry just yet , when it was still debatable if the plan was working .

" I don't know , but it came from a rift. Though smaller in size, so we can probably guess it from the other side." Eric said .

" It is still trying to get in here " Daniel said as his handmovements got faster and faster . Eric jumped off the sky and back to the ground, and looked back up at Daniel .

"How did you close the rift ?" Eric asked

" I didn't really close it . A rift is like a door , space is like the walls around the door. I scrambled it up till the door couldn't be used any longer within the barrier."

" What do you mean when you said it's still trying to get here ? " Jay added

" It's trying to open the door even when the walls are closing in on it and crushing it."

The finger movements at this time had become so incomprehensible and fast it wasn't even funny .

Daniel was basically double tasking , strengthening their defenses and preventing a absolutely powerful creature from getting into their protected area.

The more the beast on the other side attacked , the more Daniel got a glimpse at spacial techniques, the more he thought of assimilating the offensive knowledge, developing counters and applying connections to his understanding and strengthening the barrier around the building.

This was how his power should be used . He felt it , he didn't reject it , but he wanted something more .

But right now lives were at stake , his and Jay's lives too . He was a selfish person, and that hadn't changed. His goals aligned with himself. But he wasn't an asshole. As long as the help didn't inconvenience him he would offer it , at a price of course.

" They are here" Eric said as he pulled out a big fat red crystal out of the carcass of the blue bug. It was soo big it shouldn't be digestable

" Daniel can you shrink this thing down a big?"

" Not possible. That is matter / high grade energy , not empty space. But even if I could my hands are currently tied strengthening our barrier and preventing a monstrously powerful entity from hitching a ride directly into our barrier.. figure it out on your own ."

" Haa fuck !" Eric stored it in a pocket .

Boom .

It seemed they had arrived right at their door steps. The monsters seemed to be targeting all life on this side of the rift , and in their already small town that had most of their population murderer, they were the only ones available.

The barrier hardly fliched the first time, giving everyone hope .

But soon .

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

The barrier held on , but the reverberations shocked the ground beneath them and the building begun to release loose concrete sands from above .

They had succeed, yet failed at once . It was possible, but achieving it would have been insane , demolishing by sound and vibration

They were in deep shit .

And Daniel even more so , as he felt two more monstrosities join the one already trying to breach into their barrier.

" FUCK!"