Strongest Awakener: Villain's Ascent

'I'm still alive?'

Beep!

'What's that sound?' a boy asks in his thoughts as he slowly opens his eyes and is met with a blinding illumination from the fluorescent light above.

Wincing at the strain, he closes his eyes to seek shelter in the darkness he has become accustomed to.

"Too much?" teases an all-too-familiar male voice.

Taking three steps forward, a shadow is cast over the boy. The cold gaze of the head scientist stares down at him.

The man has a silver tag of 'Dr. Damian Reed' strapped to the pocket of his white lab coat.

The boy slowly made another attempt to open his eyes, utilizing the shadow cast over him.

Sigh!

Damian sneers with contempt, pinches the bridge of his nose, and shakes his head. "You're a disappointment," he says.

Damian looks to his side and at one of the scientists who nods in understanding before dimming the light with a press of a switch.

Shoving his hands into his black dress pants pocket, he circles the boy like a vulture observing its meal.

"Again! We're running out of options here!" He orders, placing his hand on the glass and peering at the boy who lies motionless on the surgical table.

"The anomaly is already broken, Sir. We should opt out for plan B." One of them pleads with Damian.

Three nurses dressed in green-fitted medical scrubs nod their heads in agreement, never hiding the horror in their eyes as they stare at the 19-year-old boy.

Since the start of their experiments five years ago, they have never gotten any anomaly who has the mental awakener rank such as the one that lies in front of them.

All they need is to verify the information sold by the boy's parents, only then can they start harnessing his energy.

Shaking his head at the suggestion, Damian points at the glass, "you see those eyes?"

The others all look at the boy whose pale purple eyes are sunken in their sockets and glaring back at them with unspoken hostility.

'I will kill you all, you will pay for all of your transgressions!' The boy bellows in his thoughts.

His long black unkempt hair scatters around his head, chapped purple lips fighting for the urge to make coherent words.

With a lean frame, his pale body is barely covered by the oversized, worn-out green hospital gown he has put on for more than a year.

"Those are the eyes of a monster still hopeful. That isn't broken–at least not yet!" Damian slams his fist on the glass.

Crrk!

His silver ring makes an imprint on the glass, which has tiny cracks spread out as he withdraws his hand.

The other scientists jump back in fear at how careless their superior is with the tempered glass.

Letting out a burst of mad laughter at how fearful the rest are of the boy, "it's been a year now, don't tell me you all are scared of an anomaly with a dormant unverified ability."

Sharing a knowing look amongst themselves, they shake their heads with nervous smiles.

"Come on, show us the magic trick once more! I promise to examine you respectfully," Damian mocks with a smirk and his hand raised in an oath.

'Enjoy the feeling while you still can! I will rip off that smirk!'

With a snap of his finger to a nurse, Damian opens his palm to receive a notepad and a red pen.

"Sylvester Cullen..." He mutters, circling the name written repeatedly until he makes an X mark with a smiley face.

A mischievous grin graces his lips as he traces the pen to a familiar name.

"Lila Cullen..." He reads aloud.

"It's about time they finally have their little family reunion after three weeks since her lovely arrival. Don't you think so, Sylvester?"

Beep!

Beep!

Beeeep!

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They all whip their heads to the patient monitor, regulating the boy's irregular heartbeat.

'She's only 5, I want to hold her once again, play in the grassy field like we used to, not this!'

A frail and bony finger of Sylvester moves slightly, as his eyes dart in all directions.

All present are temporarily suspended in motion, with a shared memory of Sylvester in a grassy field playing hide and seek with Lila, replaying in an infinite loop.

Hehehe!

Hehehe!

The giggles of Lila in his thoughts make him subconsciously smile at the prospect of hearing that cute sound once more.

'Lila!' He whimpers in anguish. Hopelessly opening his arms in his thoughts and waiting for her hug as she spent an endless amount of time trying to reach him.

Struggling to gain control of his thoughts and body, Damian's right-hand trembles as he forces it down and stabs his right thigh with his pen.

"Aaahhh!" He hisses in pain, hyperventilating before his eyes blink open.

Huff!

Huff!

He looks around him and at everyone who still stands suspended in place. To his disbelief, he watches as one of the scientists' heads heats up to the point it gets oddly red with steam escaping from his ears.

'What the hell?' He does a double-take on the sight.

This peculiar phenomenon alerts Damian to limp toward the metal table to grab a syringe with a purple glowing liquid placed in a tray.

Injecting the sedative into the IV drip bag, there is a sigh of relief as the beeping sound stops as did the others suspended in motion.

Under the advice of the boy's parents, a few employees of their organization–Collux Haven have been directed to administer a sedative that would induce weakness, slow down cognitive development, and heighten pain sensitivity.

Up until a few minutes ago, Damian had not thought the direction from their superiors was important since they had made no progress with the anomaly.

'I had underestimated you.' Damian winces at the throbbing pain in his thighs, examining it.

Thud!

The scientist who had a heated red face drops to the floor with his eyes wide in anguish before succumbing to his death.

'Useless anyways.' Damian watches with dead eyes at the drool that trails from the corpse.

Gasp!

The others regroup and push against the wall, their eyes glued to their fallen teammate and partner.

"Of all the things to display on the first attempt, a cringe memory with that little monster?!" Damian spits in disbelief and facepalms.

'What... did... you... d... d...' Sylvester struggles to stay awake after the dose injected in his IV drip begins to kick in.

"At least now we know you still care for that little sister of yours!" Damian mumbles to himself, rubbing his chin.

The corners of his lips rise as his gaze observes a hospital bed being wheeled into their room.

A muffled shriek can be heard as a little girl fights the restraint, with her wrist and ankles scraping the steel. A gag has been forced into her mouth. She sobs into the black cotton blindfold strapped around her eyes.

Her pale blonde hair is in a tangled mess, a shadow of its usual two tails tied with dark hair ties.

Temporarily hesitating the moment she feels the presence of her brother.

"Bmmm Fff!!! (Brother Sylve!!!)"

'Lila!' Sylvester calls out desperately in his thoughts.

Wheeled in front of Sylvester, her bed is pushed upright, held back by the restraints.

The surgical bed squeaks with burning fury seething off Sylvester as his eyes scan over her bruised body held in restraints similar to his.

'You monster! How dare you treat a child so inhumanely?!'

"Yes!" Damian burst into a peal of maniacal laughter, "channel that anger!"

He looks at the tubes that stick out of Sylvester's chest, taking a glance at the monitor which resonates as it drills an inch into him as it charges.

Ding!

Ding!

Diiiiiiing!

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Wincing in pain, Sylvester's eyes bulge, teeth chatter, and his body convulse as he feels his internal organs getting stabbed by the tubes.

Just like every other anomaly, regeneration from the injuries kick-starts before permanent damage can be realized.

Unable to identify or willingly use his ability, tears trickle down the side of his cheeks as he stares helplessly at his defenseless sister.

'I'm sorry Lila, your brother is too weak to stand up for you.'

"Y–" Sylvester mutters a letter but is quick to give up at the wave of pain that shoots up his brain blocking his thoughts.

Damian's grin fades into a thin line with a frown as even the constant sight of his sister is not enough to trigger Sylvester effectively.

"This is disappointing." He deadpans with a sigh, turning around to face Lila.

Looking at the trembling Lila, his grin spreads as they can accurately deduce what her ability is, the only problem is researching how to negate the side effects before they can weaponize such a monstrous ability.

"Death's touch..." He mutters to himself as he casts a shadow over Lila while standing in front of her. "For a cute little monster like you, isn't that just a large ugly burden to bear?"

"Mmmf!" Lila tugs at her restraints, screaming into the gag.

With a vicious idea springing up, Damian looks over his shoulder at Sylvester with a hideous smirk.

'You wouldn't do that to her!' Sylvester pleads mentally and physically against Damian who has already made up his mind on this matter. 

His eyes widen, and a wild guess has him uneasy, switching his gaze from Damian to Lila in worry.