Blackie: (ꐦ ◠‿◠) “Oh? So you have the time to pity the bodyguard, do you? Unfreezing the time in three…”
“Blackie!” Noah gasped out, then added, “It’s ok! I’m totally ready! 👍 You can skip the countdown.”
Blackie: “…” Not quite the response I expected…
And just like that, the frozen tongues of fire started flicking again, and the absolute silence turned into a chaotic mess of screeches, stomps, flames crackling, and fireballs wooshing.
Noah continued moving in the same direction Aris had been going in before Noah took over. The invisible barrier Trey kept up on Noah at all times pushed the frantic crowd out of his way, preventing them from bumping into Noah.
Noah didn’t bother to stop or face Trey as he threw out, “Trey! Are you capable of doing a reverse shield?”
An energy shield of a Shielder was a one-directional barrier that prevented passage from one side to the other. The purpose of which was creating a protective bubble to guard its target against outside threats - not to trap its target within a bubble. However, high ranked Shielders that were very proficient in the usage of their power could twist the shape of their shield from convex to concave, turning protection into trapping.
“Yes!” Trey immediately responded in his pleasant baritone.
“Good! Reverse-shield the Blazer! Max strength!”
“Yes, sir!” Trey’s face showed worry and reluctance, but he faithfully followed the commands of his superior; even if those commands were problematic, it was not his place to question them.
All power users had one very clear limit to their power – no multitasking. Soothers could only have one soothing field active at a time, Blazers could only control one connected area of fire at a time, and Shielders could only have one shield active at a time. Thus, as soon as a dome 5 meters (16 feet) in diameter surrounded the Blazer, the shield around Noah and Trey disappeared.
Just like that, the sprays of flame that were previously shooting everywhere were stopped in the confines of the dome.
However, now that Noah and Trey were no longer under the protection of the shield, the rushing crowd no longer avoided their path. They madly ran straight ahead, uncaring if they would injure someone or knock them to the ground.
Trey, who had been following Noah’s steps, quickened his pace to run in front of Noah in order to block all incoming bodies with his own.
Noah wasted no time, he had already stretched his max-output soothing field towards the Blazer, completely enveloping him within. He had received all of Aris’s 18 years of memories just now, even those memories that Aris might not have been able to recall himself. Having all of Aris’s experience in soothing freshly imprinted into his brain, Noah’s proficiency was no worse than that of Aris.
In fact, Noah was a worldborn, a creature with, as Blackie had put it, high specs; his learning ability was first class. It took mere seconds for him to fully grasp how to use this newly acquired power.
Blazer’s rampaging mental power staggered immediately, unruly currents showing signs of regaining some semblance of order.
But Noah’s eyebrow furrowed. Something… seemed not quite right. It was as if the man’s mental power was resisting his Soothing. Aris had never run into such a thing before. Soothing was like healing of the mind, it was beneficial to the person being soothed, it should never be rejected. It would be like a healer trying to heal someone’s flesh wounds but the target saying “No, thank you, I’d rather keep those”
The man was clearly in a berserk state no different from a wild beast, he had no mental capacity to resist his Soothing. Which meant that the reason for his rampage… might not be a pure emotional upheaval as he had previously thought.
Noah’s brows furrowed further. Fine beads of crystalline sweat appearing on his white forehead gave him an entrancing air of frailty.
‘Perhaps…!’ Noah’s eyes narrowed, briefly flashing with a cold gleam ‘…a reverse Soothing?’
Just like high ranked Shielders with proficient control of their powers could reverse their shields, so could Soothers reverse their soothing. A reverse soothing could directly cause everything that it was supposed to fix. In fact, that was exactly how Aris had originally knocked out the Blazer. He had turned his mental healing into a mental attack.
If the man’s chaotic mental power was a work of a Soother, it would explain why the Blazer was unable to regain his wits, devolving into a wild beast until his mental state was on the brink of a total collapse.
And if the Blazer was still under the influence of someone else’s power, that would explain why his mental power seemed to be resisting Noah’s soothing.
Noah’s eyes darted around the station left and right, searching for the presence of another Soother.
Soothers projected a natural soothing field around them just like flowers smelled nice. It wasn’t something they could control intentionally, nor could they prevent themselves from “smelling nice”. They could only spew out more of the nice scent, not less.
Noah was the highest-ranked Soother in the city, there was no way another Soother could even dream of going under his radar.
Oddly enough, his search found no signs of another Soother, but he did catch a sharp glint of light from a nearby building.
Trey caught it too, for not a moment later, he tackled Noah to the ground. Trey’s big strong arms wrapped Noah into a tight embrace, pressing him into Trey’s sturdy chest.
The two rolled on the hard ground with much force, but Noah felt no pain, fully cradled in a warm and comfortable embrace. Though Noah had no mind to appreciate the careful care of his guard right now, “Blackie!! Was that what I think it was?!”
“Indeed, see that crack in the concrete over there? That should have been your head.” Blackie responded rather gleefully, the amusement he found in Noah’s current predicament more than apparent.
“This was not in the script!! Didn’t you say that Aris’s death was a complete accident?!? Why is there a sniper after my head?!?” If he had known someone was eyeing his head, he wouldn’t have so casually gifted his lifesaving shield to a living torch dude!
“Oh, the headshot didn’t happen to Aris. He went and died all on his own.” Blackie chortled rather nonchalantly.
“Did he now?!? I am starting to doubt just how accidental this accident was!!”
“Why so agitated? It’s not like you would have died. As annoying as it might be, ensuring you don’t die does fall into the scope of my work duties.” ╮(╯∀╰)╭
“Don’t think I can’t tell what you’re thinking! Can’t hit the head? No problem! Just hit another, less crucial body part, am I right? (°ㅂ°╬)”
Blackie fell silent for a moment, but the silence was a clear answer in itself.
“…pain blocking function is free of charge.” Blackie finally reassured.
Noah: QAQ!!! You just received 1,000 middle fingers in my heart!!!
Time didn’t wait for Noah this time; while he was conversing with Blackie, his tumble-roll had finished, and he was now pinned under Trey’s body, the other’s big frame blocking the sniper’s line of sight to Noah.Noah’s heart thumped inside his chest as if it wanted to break out of it, time seemed to be passing excruciatingly slowly as countless thoughts flashed through his head.Why would someone want Aris dead? Aris wasn’t dangerou
What followed after was exactly as one would expect. Ambulances took the injured to the hospital, and firemen quickly put out the remaining flames. Policemen took Noah’s and Trey’s statements first, then proceeded to question other witnesses.The two were told that they would be contacted for follow up questions shortly by the investigator who will be taking over the case. And since Aris worked with the police regularly due to his identity and Soothing abilities, he’d probably just get a call from one of his inspector buddies.
When Noah touched his communicator, his sister’s bright voice immediately started replaying in his ear:“Sorry, brother. Can’t take you out for lunch. A bunch of burn victims popped in. ╮(╯▽╰)╭ My time is totally booked for today, and probably for the following days as well. A real pity…”A pity indeed. Noah nodded his head in agreement.
Astar Levi stood, leaning on a wall near the exit of the train station. The transparent screen projected in front of him by his communicator showed many new, just published news articles with new ones popping up every minute.“Cordia Aris saves the day”, “Horrifying power rampage in Concordia city”, “Over a hundred injured by a Blazer”, “This is why highly dangerous power users should not be allowed to roam freely”, “An accident or an act of terrorism” were some of the phrases his eyes caught while he scrolled.
Levi must have gotten out of bed the wrong way today, otherwise why would he be feeling so strange?Getting no response from the other party, Noah continued in a tone that was two parts guilty, three parts regretful, and five parts apologetic “Once again, I am so sorry about all this, brother-in-law! Sister and I were supposed to take you around together, but it seems you are stuck with just me today.”“Oh! And my personal bodyguard Trey,” Noah
It was while they were taking a Magcart that Levi started to suspect that something wasn’t quite right with bodyguard Trey. As soon as Aris sat down, the man jumped to take the seat next to him as if afraid Levi would act faster than him.A futile effort. Levi wasn’t planning on sitting next to Aris anyway. ┐( ̄ヘ ̄)┌How would he be able to observe Aris properly if he was sitting right next to him?(/≧ω\)
And what else…? What else…. What… else…?? Noah’s eyes spun around in circles. He did an internet search on his brother-in-law while he was riding the Magcart from the hospital to the train station, but that only gave him clues on what to insult Levi with! If you wanted to compliment him… Damn it, even if you killed him, Noah couldn’t come up with anything else that would be considered a compliment!! QAQBlackie watched his stupid host struggle so desperately to find a valid compliment, instead of just making some shit up, and felt sadistic amusement bubble up inside of him. If you wanted him to h
Soon enough, their ordered food arrived, and Noah started to happily munch on his fish. Pure bliss was radiating off of him as he ate. In his entire life on Cradle, he had never before eaten something so tasty. In fact, he had never even bought an expensive meal before. As an orphan, he had no funds to buy himself a high-quality meal. He did get a scholarship due to his excellent school grades, but naturally, the thought of eating this hard-earned reward away had never occurred to him.Thus, this meal was Noah’s first hedonistic indulgence in his entire life. And he was positively glowing.