V1-021

"Foolish girl, they don't call me the Lightning Count for no reason," Balto said in a gruff voice as the hand resting against Kris's abdomen twitched, and he fired a bolt of electricity straight through her body into the wall behind her.

Time seemed to slow down, and I didn't think about the consequences; I just reacted.

With horror in my eyes, I jumped over the table, caught Kris with my right arm, and with my left, ripped the knife from Kris's hand, which was previously against Balto's throat, spun it into a reverse grip, and jammed it straight into Balto's chest.

My actions were almost too swift to perceive, and Balto's eyes flickered open and close before he fell unconscious. All the while, an incredulous expression painted his face.

As he slumped over, he couldn't fathom or understand how I could move so swiftly; even if I were an Electrokinetic, it shouldn't be possible to stimulate my muscles without any visual effect.

Landing lightly on the ground beside his partner, I angrily snapped my head toward Jimmy, causing him to release a shrill, feminine scream of terror that brought the guards outside into the room, followed by one of our guards and Nile.

They entered right as Balto's lifeless body slumped back in his chair and fell over with a large knife planted firmly in his chest.

Luckily, upon entering the room and observing the state of Balto, Nile didn't hesitate. In one swooping motion, the man grabbed both enemy-armed guards, cracked their heads with a loud thud, then raced to the table to my side.

Ignoring the annoying and frantic screams and cries for help coming out of Jimmy's mouth, I carefully handed Kris to Nile; and felt my heart shattering upon hearing her gasping for air and seeing the woman holding her stomach to keep the organs from spilling out.

Gently receiving Kris, Nile laid her carefully on the ground and tore open her shirt, without any perverse thoughts, to examine the wound as Kris spat out a mouthful of blood.

While my subordinate worked diligently on Kris, I focused on the still-screaming Jimmy. Feeling my rage boiling over because my woman was at death's door, I snarled, causing Jimmy's face to be pale with pure terror.

Mouth agape and baring my teeth like a wolf, I Lunged at him, clutched his entire face with a clawed hand, and slammed him into the concrete ground with as much force as I could muster.

The force of impact bounced his noggin off the concrete flooring violently, with a sick thud, instantly rendering the man unconscious as blood pooled under the back of his head, a sign that I had caused severe trauma.

Glancing at the golden Pentagram floating in my vision, I spun it, changing which Ability I had active until it landed on my original Ability, Conduit, and activated my power.

Upon reaching Gold Rank, my Ability had at long last changed, and like with every upgrade brought about by increasing my rank; I unlocked a new skill.

Unlike in the past, when I had to be hit with another Person's Ability to copy it, when I evolved to Gold Rank, Conduit now allowed me to absorb the Abilities of those I killed or brought extremely close to death's door.

The only downside to such an upgrade was the Toll. Unlike my usual timer, currently set to 5 hours of use, any Ability I copied upon killing my opponent came with a measly one hour of activation time.

Uncaring about the length of time I would have access to this new Healing Ability, one hour was all I needed to heal Kris and save her life, as she had done so many times for me.

With that thought in mind, I clutched Jimmy's head tightly before brutally slamming it against the ground several more times with my Ability active until; I finally felt the familiar sensation of copying someone elses power, which was successfully added to my queue.

Luckily, killing someone with a Healing Factor was incredibly difficult, so although I had practically caved in the back of Jimmy's skull, I could see the faint rise and fall of his chest.

Healing Abilities were scarce, and if someone was found to have obtained such power, they were swiftly taken in by any of the factions, even the Purists.

In Kris's short time before she died, the chances of me finding another Healer other than stealing the Ability were extremely slim. As such, I wasn't reserved in nearly killing Jimmy, even though he was a high-ranking official in a well-known and influential Faction.

"Dean, hurry up; I can't stop the bleeding!" Nile shouted frantically; seeing the glowing gold aura around my body and recognizing I had obtained what I needed from Jimmy, Nile understood I was the only one who could save Kris.

With a nod, I exploded into motion, tossed the table separating our negotiations to the side with one hand, and scooped Kris up in my arms.

Luckily, the pain she was experiencing had knocked her out seconds before I could pick her up, so I didn't have to worry about Kris experiencing more pain than necessary.

Scanning her body and analyzing The damage Balto had done to her, my eyes narrowed, and I grit my teeth hard enough to taste the metallic flavor of blood.

Without her shirt on, the damage he caused was apparent, and my eyes fell on the baseball-size gaping hole that allowed the light to come through her abdomen where the vital organs once sat.

Steeling my resolve, I spun my Pentagram to Jimmy's Healing Ability. This would hurt, but I needed her by my side, and the pain would only be temporary for me.

Carefully guiding my hand over the gaping hole in her stomach, I felt the sickly sensation of fresh blood and tried to ignore it while pressing down on her injury. Soon, the gross feeling of blood was replaced by warmth naturally associated with Activating one of my powers.

I had used a healer's Ability on multiple occasions, and it was honestly one of the most double-edged and painful experiences I had ever incurred.

Whatever damage is done will be reversed, and the damage will be inflicted on me instead. However, as time was of the essence, it didn't matter to me; sure, it would suck for a few minutes as I healed Kris, but I had been through more intense pain.

As expected, the pain was instant when the Healing Ability kicked in, and I could feel a fresh hole wound tearing open my body. Releasing a grunt, I made a slow, sweeping motion over the injury, passing from left to right.

Her body matched my steady hand motion as my hand moved, and the wound slowly stitched itself back up. While this transpired, my eyes flicked from the injury to her face, and I observed Kris as the color flushed back into her face and her breathing began to regulate itself.

Nevertheless, her injury was stitched up, and the wound closed. Still, as expected, the damage was transferred and inflicted on me instead, so looking now, I noticed a large circle of deep crimson on my uniform blouse.

Aside from the extreme pain, the blood splotch on my uniform was proof enough that I was now the one with a massive gaping hole in my stomach.

In agony, I gritted my teeth and continued healing my second in command, knowing I would lose consciousness soon.

Feeling the world spin and my feet leave the ground, my eyes became heavier by the second, and my breaths became sharper and harsher.

Fighting through the sensations and doing my best to keep my feet rooted in place, I focused all my attention on fixing the remaining damage until finally completing the healing process.

Wearing a pained and exhausted expression, I barely had enough time to look at the stunned Nile before collapsing from the intense pain I had inflicted on myself and shutting my eyes while the world fell to darkness.

However, as my consciousness slipped away, I heard several voices yelling, and although I wanted to speak, I was too weak even to open my eyes.

"Arrest these men; they have attacked us in our most desperate of times and killed Commander Balto and Jimmy. I demand you arrest them!" A voice shouted angrily.

"What happened here? Why is Commander Fairaday unconscious?" Voice Two asked in response.

"The lunatic half of the Ragnarok Brothers Attacked and murdered our Commanders!" Voice one responded to voice two.

Suddenly I felt weightless as a pair of strong arms lifted me off the ground and carried my limp body, but as soon as we started walking, our movement was halted.

"You have one second to release me before I obliterate not only you but every one of your followers and leaders." Voice two said in a fierce and furious tone.

Upon hearing his voice, I felt a warm sensation for some reason, and I knew, although I could not move and was still semiconscious, everything would be fine; either that or HellFire was about to rain down on the world.

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