Chapter 8: Triple Awakened

It happened to be the darkest day of Lucifer's life. The weather had been quite bad from the morning. There were no glistening sun rays, no lovely clouds in the sky, and no gentle wind.

Black clouds had taken over the sky as if trying to foretell the upcoming ominous events of the day.

A violent storm raged outside his house as thunder returned the call of lightning, making a thunderous roar.

Heavy rains also accompanied the thunder; however, Lucifer didn't care about any of it. He was watching TV; it was broadcasting a program about his parents, and how they helped humanity against the dungeon dwellers.

His eyes held the admiration and sparkled with happiness occasionally as he watched various footage of his parents fighting the monsters heroically.

The girl—who was appointed as Lucifer's babysitter—was in the kitchen making lunch for him.

Bam!

The introductory scenes had ended and the program had just started when Lucifer heard a loud sound. His curious eyes followed the source to the sound, finding that the front door of his house had been opened forcefully.

Many men barged inside the house, dressed in military uniforms. A few black-clothed men also accompanied them, bringing with them a feeling of solemnity.

They didn't hesitate in the slightest as they informed Lucifer about the death of his parents and the fact that he needed to go with them for his protection. The information sank in him slowly as he looked at them with his big round eyes.

"Dead?"

'What did they mean? My parents are dead?' Lucifer thought in confusion, failing to understand the graveness of the situation. Even though he didn't understand or believe what these people had said, his eyes still grew moist.

"Yes. The two of them were killed. They're never coming back. You must come with us," the black-clothed men informed Lucifer.

Gritting his teeth, Lucifer yelled at the men who stood before him, "You are lying! Nothing bad can happen to them! They are the strongest among humanity."

Ignoring his words, the men started to drag him out. Lucifer resisted by slamming his fists and feet in all directions, struggling as hard as he could, when the military men dragged him out of his house.

Despite using all his strength, he couldn't stop them. Lucifer sat inside a jeep and watched his home getting distant with each passing second. That was the moment he realized that he had lost everything. Nobody was coming for him anymore.

That was the last time he had seen his home before the agents took him to the facility, where he spent his next five years until recently when he died.

Shaking his head sideways, Lucifer tried to clear the memories of that vicious day so that he could focus on what was important now.

'I need a direction…' He thought as he frowned, looking around him.

Lucifer carefully scanned the people around him and selected a passerby. He approached the man straight away.

"Tell me the direction of Legion City," he commanded like a boss.

If an adult had said something in such a commanding tone, the man might have been offended. However, such words were told by a cute kid who seemed to be only ten years old. The man didn't take any offense.

The child with silver hair, glistening under the sunlight and a pair of round ocean blue eyes, was cute enough to melt his heart.

"Legion City is in that direction, little guy," the man answered as he smiled while pointing his finger towards his left.

"Where are your parents, kiddo?" he asked, only to realize that Lucifer wasn't even there anymore. As soon as he had told the direction, Lucifer left without delaying for even a single second. He didn't even thank the man as if the passerby didn't do him a favor by helping him, but he was obliged to help him.

The man smiled wryly as he shook his head sideways, "What a strange Kid!"

***

Lucifer left from the southern exit of the town, heading in the direction of Legion City without looking back. He was determined to find his home even if he had to search the entire city.

He was unaware that a few minutes after he left, three helicopters passed through the sky, flying from the north. The helicopters stopped above the restaurant and continued hovering in the air, fifteen feet above the ground.

The helicopter's doors slid open as around 20 people jumped out of it without any harness. They landed in front of the restaurant effortlessly as if it was a daily routine for them to jump out like that.

One of them stood a few steps ahead of the others, facing the restaurant. By the aura he gave off, it was clear that he was the leader.

The man seemed to be in his late twenties. He had a head of short, wavy red hair that was slightly parted around his forehead. It made him stand out amongst the crowd the most because of his unique color.

Due to slight gusts of wind, his wavy red hair flew slightly, making him look even more dazzling under the sunlight.

Wearing a long black coat on top of black pants, he gave off a strong aura. The collars of his coat remained standing, probably on purpose.

The frontal right of the man's shirt had a tattoo-like print of burning fire, and both his palms were covered in black gloves. The left of his shirt had a golden chained badge hanging there; both his shoulders had golden star badges. They were an indicator of his rank.

"Flourance, is this the place?" The red-haired man asked as his eyes gazed at the place in front of them like an eagle.

Another man stood just one step behind the red-haired man. He nodded his head as he answered in response, "This should be the place we were told about…"

The man who was addressed as Flourance seemed like the second in command of this team. None of the twenty men wore military uniforms despite coming out of military helicopters; they weren't part of the army.

The Twenty men were from the Awakened Protection Force, which was also known to the populace as the 'APF'. They were a special organization of the country that dealt with the crimes committed by the Dark Variants that misused their powers. They were an organization that consisted only of Variants.

They were the best of the variants, trained under a strict program, and nurtured to survive the toughest of situations. Only after surviving a brutal test were they selected to be a part of it.

All the twenty men were selected to be Variants of APF.

"We didn't need to come here ourselves, did we? According to the reports, there was only a single Variant that created a stir in this restaurant. We could have just let the ground squad do their job, couldn't we?" Flourance asked the red-haired man as he smiled wryly.

"What would people say if they realize that the leader of the Delta Squad of APF, Xander Blake, came personally to catch a small rioter?" He continued as he shook his head while his eyebrows creased a little.

The APF had three squads, which were more like the three branches. The highest-positioned squad was the Alpha Squad, which was also the strongest. The Second position belonged to the Beta Squad. With that, the Delta Squad acquired the Third position, and the red-haired man was its leader, Xander Blake.

Even though the Delta Squad was the weakest in APF, in reality, it wasn't weak at all. The APF itself consisted of only the best of the best variants who wished to protect their country and didn't even hesitate to put their lives on the line for that very cause.

Just being a part of this organization was proof that the Variants were strong, sharp, and skilled. As the Leader Of the Delta Squad, Xander wasn't an exception. He was one of the most powerful variants alive.

"There's no problem with checking it out, is there? We happened to be passing by when we heard the information from base. The ground squad would have taken some more time to reach here. Since we were already near the location, it makes sense for us to check things out," Xander answered as he started walking towards the restaurant with a Stoic expression.

Xander's purple eyes were fixed on the restaurant all the time as if he was trying to scan the whole place through the concrete walls.

"Let's not waste any more time and get to work. We have a rogue Variant to catch," he commanded as he pushed the door open before stepping inside.

The others also stepped inside the restaurant after Xander.

"Looks like we are already late," Flourance mumbled as his eyes scanned over the room filled with at least Twenty-five dead bodies.

Xander also noticed the dead bodies, and his eyes turned dark, followed by an unreadable expression on his face. 

There seemed to be no one alive here.

He walked over to one of the dead bodies and observed it closely.

"As expected, it's the work of a Variant—a strong one at that. Just look at the destruction that occurred here," Xander spoke as he pointed at a man's broken rib cage.

Flourance asked curiously, "But why would a strong Variant cause a massacre in such a small restaurant? Even the evil organization of Variant Uprising would not send anyone to do it in a place like this."

"These bodies…why do they look like the victim of the Power of Decay? Only the Dual Elemental Sorcerer Clarisse was able to use it, right? The previous strongest Sorcerer? Isn't she dead? Can it be that someone else has awakened a similar power?" A dark-haired Delta Squad member asked as he pointed at a decayed body.

It was the body of the last person who was killed by Lucifer. He had thrown the body away before the body could turn to ash.

Xander walked over to the body and observed it closely before nodding his head in affirmation.

Gazing around the room, he added, "That's not all. Look at the destruction. The counter is lying near the door... The person probably had the Physical Power that amplified his strength as well or something that helped him move heavy objects."

"Wait a minute... Elemental Power of Decay and Physical Power as well? Doesn't that mean it was the work of a Warlock?" Flourance noted, shocked at his discovery.

Xander nodded his head. "That's what I believe."

He continued the investigation, scrutinizing each object at the crime scene. Soon, he noticed the bullet shells scattered on the ground that were covered in blood.

"That isn't all. I think that the man had other powers as well. This gun had fired some shots. For the man to dodge the bullets, he must either have had the Elemental Power of Wind or the Physical Power of Speed," He assumed since he didn't find anybody with bullet wounds.

Xander believed that the bullets had hit the Variant, but not in his vital parts. According to him, the bullets might have only grazed his skin since he managed to get out of here alive after performing such a huge massacre here.

"Even though he was fast, he was still grazed by the bullets as the bullets have bloodstains on them. Unfortunately, the wounds probably weren't deadly; otherwise, he would be lying amongst the dead bodies as well," he acknowledged and further added with a thoughtful expression, "I still believe that he would be seriously wounded."

Flourance agreed with the observation. He thought the same thing. Thus, he suggested, "We must ask the townspeople if they saw a wounded man around this area of the town. We might even find a description of his appearance this way and identify him."

Xander nodded his head, permitting Flourance to do so.

"A Triple Awakened Warlock who has the S-Rank power of Decay? This could be problematic if that person isn't found soon. I hope we find him before he causes any more trouble..." he mumbled as he clenched his fist, his eyes lingering on the brutal massacre in the room.