59: Mindless Beast

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With his mind clear, Shinji began to question some things.

How did Declan Klein get this strong? His ability which was only supposed to be Pyrokinesis was now able to affect the temperature around him. Heck, even his skin was scorching hot.

It was almost as if his ability... evolved.

While he was fighting the man, he observed a few things...

The damn Criminal has definitely gotten stronger, but that also came with its side effects.

Whoever or whatever did this to him seemed to take away their sentience. No matter how much taunting the teen did, the Criminal only responded with a shout following it with an attack.

He hasn't spoken a single word to him... The teen doubts that Declan could even be called human anymore with how he's acting. He's just a mindless beast now.

...

Shinji encased Declan in ice, but the man just melted through it. He even tried encasing him in water, but it turned into steam not soon after.

The red-haired man ran up close to him, so Shinji had to use Gyrokinesis to push him back with a strong invisible force. The man was pushed back so hard that he was jammed into a building's wall.

Shinji could end it all now, but he wanted to use this opportunity to test out an ability that he rarely uses. The teen's body seemed to become invisible but in reality, he merely camouflaged with his surroundings.

Declan, all bloody from Shinji's attacks, walked away from the wall and started looking around for the raven-haired teen. After a few seconds of nothing, Declan erupted fire all around him, spreading throughout the city block.

'Hmm... So, not totally mindless. But then... Why don't I see anything when I use my Surface Thoughts Scanning Ability..?' he thought, sighing to himself.

He used Pyrokinesis to dissipate the fire and rushed to the unaware Declan. Deactivating his Camouflage, Declan sent several fireballs toward him. But, again, using Pyrokinesis, he just pushed them out of the way.

Shinji then raised his hand, pulling it back almost instantly. The sound of something stabbing someone echoed throughout the block. Delcan looked down, and there it was. A metal shard protruded out of his stomach.

"Though I doubt you're even registering this, that was for my forearm, a*shole. And these..." Shinji spoke and as he raised both of his hands, metal shards and broken iron bars rose as well.

The adult man yelled once more, trying to blast an enormous fireball toward the teen, but he couldn't accomplish it since all of the shards and iron bars pierced his body.

"Those are for my sister's injury," he said as Declan's lifeless body plopped on the ground.

Shinji's eyes widened as he realized... He had just killed someone. A disgusting feeling rose from within him.

He had just killed someone... Wait. Pause. Is he really feeling pity for a f*cking Criminal?!

He'd read the crimes that the Klein Brothers committed... From arson to straight-up human trafficking.

So, based on that, the bastard honestly deserved to die. 'Tch.' The teen couldn't believe that he felt bad for someone like him.

He sighed, ignoring those thoughts for now. And...

It has been some time since he last used so many Abilities in one fight, so...

Shinji slumped down on the ground as well, checking to see if his nose was bleeding. He didn't have a splitting pain in his head, so that was a good sign.

Nope, no blood from his nose. He sighed in relief.

He doesn't want to admit it, but it looks like he developed some sort of trauma back when he activated so many Abilities all at once.

[A/N: Reference from Chapter 24 :)]

Moving on... He hasn't gotten an injury this bad for years. It's almost... refreshing in a sense.

"It truly is different when you're a genius, hah!" he exclaimed smugly.

Speaking of the injury, he should probably get it treated immediately.

- - - - -

A couple of days passed since the incident, and when he got the burn treated, he learned that it was actually a 3rd-Degree Burn. But, it wasn't that serious since the Union had managed to get someone with a weak Healing Ability.

That was all they could manage to find since Abilities like Healing are very rare. It's the reason why Kartein is very sought-after.

Also, about Declan's body, Union took it but it's currently in Shinhwa for some kind of testing.

Aside from those, Shinji also learned that Jiyoung had fought and won against a Criminal from the Top 100 named Alvine. She supposedly went out to help Shinji, which made him very giddy, but she was stopped by the guy.

When the Shinhwa Chairwoman apprehended him, she confiscated a vial, inside it was a red-colored liquid. They still have no idea on what it is, but they do have some theories...

Now, about Doctor Delein, Seongha was able to catch him after beating Loberne, the guy who was escorting the Doctor. Wooin was there too, injured from fighting him.

"Sigh, I missed so much while I was fighting that damn Criminal..." A raven-haired teen said, looking at the bandages wrapped around his forearm.

"I wouldn't say that." a light-cream-haired teen said.

"Pfft, of course not. You're not a fight-crazed maniac like him." a girl with bandages wrapped around her left arm voiced out.

"Are you high? This kind idiot totally likes fighting." a white-haired teen said with a smirk. A silent teen agreed with a smile.

Shinji stood up, saying, "Is this what you guys do?"

"Yep! Sometimes, they watch me train too!" Jiwoo replied cheefully.

The raven-haired teen looked at him blankly, "Oh... Well, that's boring so I'm gonna go..." As he walked out of the door, he added in a gruff voice, "Don't stay up too late, kids!"

"Damn weirdo..." Jisuk said which got him a slap in the head by Subin.

*****

Could you lend me some stones? ôヮô