8: A Humbling Experience

A Humbling Experience

The second story of this building was given a complete makeover, and it wasn't a positive one, considering the fact that I couldn't spot a single thing in here that wasn't destroyed.

Valuable equipment was damaged beyond repair, chemicals were spilled onto the floor, and everything else basically shared the same fate.

Although, there was one exception.

In front of us, blocking their way to the third and last level, was a reinforced wall that came down from the ceiling. The four masked men were using their superhuman strength on the security measure, caving it in even further with each punch that was thrown.

Darren made the first move, which was smart as they were all currently distracted. Manipulating his shadow, it burst forth and started to transform into a terrifying mass of darkness.

(The picture of the shadow creature will be here.)

It let out a roar that made the men stop in their tracks and turn around, preparing themselves for a fight. One of them cried out in shock, stumbling backwards before regaining their composure.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!"

The monster began to charge straight towards them, flexing it's oversized arm and reeling it back for a powerful strike. I didn't waste any time, deciding to take two of them on so that Darren could fight the others.

My legs began to move towards a guy reaching for an assault rifle, too focused on the thing straight out of a horror movie to notice when I grabbed the barrel of his gun and bent it sideways. He must've pressed down on the trigger out of reflex or surprise when he finally saw me, which caused the firearm to explode because of the bends severity.

The man grunted in pain, his durability most likely enhanced enough to where it didn't cause as much damage as it would've to a regular person. My brain didn't linger on that for too long though because by the time he dropped his weapon, I was already wrapping my arms around his midsection and running him through a wall.

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One of the other masked men witnessed all of that happen in under eight seconds before turning his head in the direction of another roar nearly shaking the building, watching as some kind of evil beast fought against the two remaining members of their team.

That creature didn't even pay attention to bullets going through it's body, the holes quickly sealing up seconds later as if nothing occurred in the first place. It's small arm began to shoot out tendrils of darkness, which latched onto a fist that was inches away from smashing down on it's head. The result was a drugged up criminal being effortlessly flung out of the window that their attackers originally came from.

Witnessing all of that go down, he decided it would be best to go through the recently made hole in the wall instead of following the fight outside.

It just seemed like the best option, you know?

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~Darren's POV~

I always made sure to be careful when using my powers.

The unique ability definitely presented a lot of versatility, but a downside to overusing it or trying certain things without enough practice is that it causes my mind to slowly deteriorate until I eventually go insane.

When I had decided to use one of the moves that requires a bit more energy due to it's larger size, I had some difficulty reining in the emotional backlash that was produced as a result.

The fight continued even after all three of us were outside, duking it out on the street below.

"You're getting your ass whooped! How does that feel, huh?!" I taunted, a smirk etched onto my face. One of the guys cried out in pain as the monstrous form I was controlling sunk it's teeth into the mans shoulder, drawing a decent amount of blood that began to drip onto the ground.

"AARGH!" He screamed, unable to hold himself back because of the agonizing pain.

The bleeding man retaliated by gritting his teeth and slamming a fist onto the head of the creature, loosening the grip it had on his shoulder, which allowed him to kick it a few yards away in order to catch a small break.

Of course, that didn't stop the one who was thrown out the window to get up and jump back into the fray, seething with rage as he tried his hardest to find some type of way to hurt the demonic giant. The veins in his arms bulged as a wave of extra strength due to his anger issues washed over him, resulting in my creation losing it's oversized arm with a squelching noise.

The lost limb began to disappear once it hit the ground, slowly turning into a black vapor.

It felt satisfying when I sent a command to my creation and it replaced the empty space with a three foot blade. The dangerous weapon turned out to be very sharp when my creation used it to pierce the street thug's abdomen.

Yanking the blade out of his body, the man promptly dropped dead onto the concrete.

I couldn't stop myself from chuckling at the shocked look on the other guy's face as any blood that remained was washed away by the heavy rainfall.

Salvation didn't specify whether or not we had to capture all of them, which must mean it didn't matter. Just keeping one alive should be enough for them.

My creation rushed towards the frozen criminal, switching it's blade out for a hand that wrapped around the street thug's head completely, eliminating the possibility to breathe in oxygen.

Soon after that, the man proceeded to lose consciousness.

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~Dante's POV~

I wasn't having a good time.

The harsh punches that were connecting with my body never seemed to stop. Blow after blow, my reflexes were beginning to slow down, and the strength I had left wasn't going to be enough to win against this guy.

Something was clearly wrong.

"BAHAHA! You're barely standing on two feet and yet you still have the gall to raise your fists towards me, challenging my power?!"

The one that I originally put through a wall at the beginning had changed. His body was marginally different compared to the other members of his crew now, towering over me with about three feet in height difference, and that still didn't give me any idea as to how his body grew so much more muscle that he almost didn't even look human anymore.

His strength had also been given an exceptional increase and I definitely wasn't a fan of it.

"You cannot defeat me, Tolenka Kozlov!"

(The picture of Tolenka's appearance will be here.)

Managing to duck under his massive arm, which swung overhead so fast that I could feel a small gust of wind, my body tried it's best to stay upright and keep moving. I glanced to the side and saw the other guy who came in after us, knocked unconscious from the beating he got from me.

I wasn't fast enough when Tolenka whirled around and hit me in the chest, knocking me to the ground. There was barely enough time for me to roll out of the way before his huge fist went through the floor next to me, unintentionally getting stuck in the process.

Quickly rising up, I reeled an arm back and used my decreased strength to hit him directly in the throat. The man couldn't stop himself from choking due to the well placed strike, using his free hand to grab at it unconsciously, hoping that some air would go back into his lungs.

Not wasting the opportunity, I followed up with an uppercut to the chin that launched his body into the ceiling, which also ripped his arm out of the hole that it was stuck in. I could still hear him coughing a bit as he landed on the floor with a loud thud.

Although he was hurt by my punches, the man seemed to recover fast enough so that I wasn't expecting him to reach his arm out for my neck at such a high speed, his hand so big that it held part of my shoulder as well.

Tolenka began to stand back up, my body rising along with his, and he glowered at me before speaking angrily. "I must admit, you are the strongest opponent that I have ever faced. However, as the chosen one, it was your fate to lose against me."

That was the last thing I heard before passing out from lack of oxygen.

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~Darren's POV~

A sense of worry was beginning to fill my body.

Fifteen minutes had passed until the sounds of fighting just randomly stopped, yet Dante never yelled out a confirmation that he was done. The reason I hadn't gone back in there was because I knew how strong Dante was, but even that fact wouldn't be enough for me soon.

The street thugs clearly enhanced on some type of drug were still weaker than my partner so I didn't understand what the problem was. Dante should've been done a couple of minutes ago and then they were going to call Salvation to let them know the mission had been completed, but it seemed like it wasn't over just yet.

After finishing up on my end, I had gone back to the car in order to grab some special rope that would've been strong enough to keep someone like these criminals restrained for a short while, and used it on the one I left alive.

Eventually, I figured it had taken long enough.

I began to walk towards the building, preparing to use my control over darkness in order to help me get back inside. Right before I could do anything, a massive explosion shook the area and blew out all of the windows, most likely destroying everything on the inside as well.

The force of the explosion launched me backwards, throwing my body into the wall of another building. A wave of heat was also released from the blast, which felt like a blanket of fire wrapping around me, and I quickly prevented it from causing me any harm by covering myself in a thick layer of darkness.

Even then, the light created by the explosion somewhat weakened my powers, but I was still able to keep it up and strong enough to where the heat wasn't bothersome anymore.

I only had one question running through my mind at that moment.0

What happened to Dante?

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~Dante's POV~

It was so dark.

Everywhere I looked, all my eyes could see was the void.

Although, my body felt much better now that I was here instead of the real world.

Was I dead?

I didn't know, nor did I honestly care.

To be beaten in such a manner... I didn't expect it. Ever since I was thrown into that world, my superhuman attributes sort of made me feel like I was above others in a way, and then I was promptly humbled during the first opportunity that I got to fight someone like myself.

Perhaps, it was meant to be.

Maybe what Tolenka said was true... it was my fate to lose against him.

"You're wrong, Dante."

My eyes widened and I quickly whirled around, coming face to face with a plasma-based life-form whose body was composed of a super hot inner plasma body covered by dark reddish brown volcanic rocks.

(The picture of Heatblast's appearance will be here.)

Wait... how did I even know that?

Shaking off my surprise, I asked the first question that came to mind. Aside from the fact that there was some kind of alien floating in front of me. "Uh, who are you?"

"We are the same person."

I raised an eyebrow, heavily doubting that statement. He seemed to sense it, his shoulders sagging despondently, appearing as if that hurt his feelings. My heart began to ache at the sight of his mood change for some reason and I couldn't help but straighten up a bit in hopes of brightening the atmosphere.

"Look, I'm lost. My ass was just kicked seven ways to Sunday and it kind of flipped my whole world upside down. I don't know what to do anymore, not to mention I'm stuck in this place."

The flaming entity mimicked me, standing up straighter as he intently listened to my little rant.

"For the longest time, I always thought that there was no one stronger than me. It was a mistake on my part, letting the superhuman abilities that I was capable of get to my head, which slowly increased the size of my ego as time went on. It was already too late when the realization dawned on me."

"What do you mean?" The alien on fire tilted his head to the side, curious as to what I was talking about.

"I needed to find an anchor. Essentially, a weight that keeps me grounded whenever something blocks the path that I choose to walk. My minds safe place, which would be used to pull me back if I ever strayed away from my morality. A set of memories, special people in my life, or even a simple hobby could all potentially work in this case."

He hummed to himself in contemplation, musing the unique concept over within his mind.

I would've let him continue, but my curiosity was still going strong after what he said earlier. "Anyways, not to be rude, but what are you doing here?"

The walking lighter crossed his arms, becoming serious at the sudden inquiry. "I sensed your arrival. Not only that, but you were beginning to let the combination of self-doubt and Tolenka's bullshit rule over your mind. I think it's about time you find your anchor and become a new man."

A smile crawled onto my face at that, which didn't last for long when I realized that there was no way out of here. "With the time that I've been given inside of this empty space, it's already been found. Unfortunately, there isn't an exit for this place."

He chuckled for seemingly no reason before stretching his arm out with an open palm, a clear sign that he wanted me to grab ahold of it. The fact that his body was literally on fire made me reluctant, which he apparently took notice of.

"Remember what I said, Dante?"

I slowly nodded, realizing where he was going with this.

"You need to trust me."

Taking a deep breath in order to settle my nerves, my arm began to reach out for his. Right before they made contact, we unintentionally whispered the same thing simultaneously.

"We are the same person."

I could feel a subtle change in my body as it disappeared from the desolate void, returning to the real world with a reinforced willpower, as well as a new mindset this time around.

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