90 Black-Mask Returns (1/2)

A little bit earlier. Hayden stood up. ”Ma'am, can you please not sit on that platform?”

”Why, Hayden dear?” Usually, she was strict. When it came to Hayden, her manner of speaking was gentle. He was too charming even for the teachers. ”Are you afraid that something might happen to me?”

”Precisely.” Hayden nodded, his face unchanging. ”What if those criminals have bombs?” You'll be the first to take the brunt of the damage. In fact, I think everyone should stay as far back as they can.”

”Okay.” The teacher thought Hayden's words made sense. ”You heard the man. Everyone, go stand on the backside of the room.”

Without saying anything, everyone stood up and heeded Hayden's words. They were all terrified, and Hayden's words really does make sense. What if someone is unpredictably able to break down that Shojin Steel door? Nobody had the desire to die.

Hayden's face didn't budge one bit. Faye stuck close to him, to the point that she held Hayden's arms unconsciously, her hands trembling. Hayden let her as that wouldn't last for long anyways. The matter at hand comes first.

He approached Courtney. Hayden locked eyes with her and signaled for her to come to him. With the students bunched up behind the classroom, an object unnoticeably flickered in Hayden's hands. It was one of the smoke grenades he bought back in December.

Hayden whispered to Courtney. ”You can make illusions, right? You don't have to fight. You only have to make an illusion of me when I move.”

”I-I can make one right now.” Courtney stammered. She didn't want to be in this situation at all. She closed her eyes for a short few seconds. ”I-It's done. You can move freely without anybody being bothered.”

Hayden nodded. ”Are you certain?”

”Swat Faye's hands then.” Courtney's attitude spun a 180-degree, her tone containing absolute confidence.

And Hayden did. When he did that, he also stepped in front. Seemingly, nobody noticed him. As for him, he noticed a 'Hayden' standing adjacent to Faye, her hands remaining to hold onto him.

Hayden was pleasantly surprised. He thought, 'What a handy Ability. She'd be a useful ally in the future.'

With that, he was determined to help Courtney in the future when she needed it and to give her advice on improving her Ability. Her illusions were too realistic. Without a warning, the smoke grenade that Hayden hid in his sleeve in preparation reappeared in his hands. He pressed a button and threw it on the desk.

Courtney's brows furrowed in confusion. What was that circular object? She wasn't able to see a clear glimpse as it started to spray out smoke. She vaguely caught sight of Hayden in a black mask prior to the whole room being enveloped in opaque smoke.

”Proceed with caution, Kim Min-jun.” George informed Kim Min-jun of the situation in Hayden's classroom. ”I've lost vision of Hayden.”

”I-” Before Kim Min-jun can finish his sentence, Hayden kneed him in the chest with such force that he flew to the tables behind him. The earpiece on his ear flew out.

Groaning, he was going to curse out, when he saw a black-masked man punching towards him. He rolled over as the tile he was on cracked from the immense force that Hayden's fist carried.

Mid-punch, he perceived a ridiculously jacked clown flying out of Daniel's classroom from a blast of water. He disregarded it as he focused on Kim Min-jun.

”Nice reflexes. If you're a human.” Hayden deepened his voice without the use of his Indestructible Devil; which is why his voice didn't have that demonic feel to it.

Abruptly, he executed a front flip, avoiding a transparent light gray tentacle that pierced the tile cleanly.

Mid-air, Hayden noticed that the tentacle came from the man's hands. The tentacle retracted. The second Hayden's left foot touched the ground, Hayden propelled himself to the right, a tentacle shooting out again to where he previously was.

Subsequently, he forcefully boosted himself forward. In that instance, lots of tentacles shot out of Kim Min-jun's hands.

Hayden's perception of time slowed down, his brain rapidly calculating the trajectories of each. Simulating the trajectories of each tentacle, Hayden jumped at an unnatural angle, avoiding every single tentacle.

This shocked Kim Min-jun greatly. He unconsciously blurted out, ”Who the hell are you?”

Hayden landed ala-terminator style. Although that didn't last long, with Hayden vanishing from his position. Hayden reappeared in front of Kim Min-jun. He was in a bow stance. His upper body and arms formed a C-shape, with his left hand punching towards Kim Min-Jun's face, his right hand to his stomach. It was the Yama-Zuki move in Karate.

Left with no time to react, Kim Min-Jun intuitively raised both of his arms in an X-shape to block the fist coming to his face. When the two fists made contact with Kim Min-jun, Kim Min-jun felt pain on both his arms and stomach.

He flew backwards due to Hayden's powerful attack Yama-Zuki attack. 'What kind of power is this!? Such physical strength! Is he a Level 3 wielder?'

While that was happening, Hayden heard the faint noise of a rifle shot. His head turned to the door of his classroom, staring outside of the window and to the man on the distant roof. The smoke has already cleared out.

Hayden tilted his head to one side, a bullet of light missing him by a hair's breadth. The next second, a throwing knife appeared in his hands.

”Daniel, dodge!” Hayden shouted to the nearby Daniel. Saying that, Hayden threw a flawlessly targeted knife that intercepted a bullet. In addition, he took out the Puting Araw badge and infused essence energy into it prior to storing it back. He only did so in the moment due to being unsure if the attackers were wielders. Now, he was sure.

He refocused to Kim Min-jun. He was just in time to see Kim Min-jun standing up. The tables around them were splattered in a mess because of all the fighting. Kim Min-jun's eyes sharpened.

”You want a piece of this?” Kim Min-jun howled. His voice was a mixture of frenzy and anger. ”Come and get me, you punk!”

Kim Min-jun's entire being shifted. The previous disconcerted image was removed in Hayden's mind. This time, Kim Min-jun seemed more oppressive.

'Oh great.' Hayden rolled his eyes underneath his mask. 'Another fucking psychopath.'

Not wishing to prolong this fight, Hayden shaped claws atop his nails with his essence energy shaping. He could tell that the man's flesh was more or less regular. In wielders' terms at least.

The thing he had to be careful about was that mace. There was something about that mace that deeply unsettled him.

Kim Min-jun slammed the mace downwards. Oddly enough when it slammed the ground, it didn't damage the tile. Hayden jumped sidewards as a light gray field of spikes was projected from where he was.

Landing, Hayden rushed at the man, weaving through the ectoplasmic tentacles that Kim Min-jun was shooting him. When Hayden got close, Kim Min-jun swung the mace laterally. Hayden jumped to avoid the attack.

At the same time, he threw a kick to the clown to his temple. Hayden's movement was too fast for Kim Min-jun to do anything; hence he was sent flying for one more time.

Hayden followed up by predicting Kim Min-jun's flight path, running to the middle of it, and slamming him downwards. The tiles cracked alongside Kim Min-jun's ribs to the intense pressure of Hayden's attack.

By this point in the fight, Hayden noticed that his classmates were watching the fight. Hayden disregarded them as he perceived 'himself.' There's no point in worrying that they'll be suspicious of him at all.

Thereupon, Hayden clawed Kim Min-jun's stomach, blood spewing out of the claw marks. Hayden seized the mace, throwing it to the side. Sitting above Kim Min-jun, he removed the mask, revealing his disfigured face.

Hayden pummeled Kim Min-jun without a shred of mercy. The face, the chest, everywhere his fist landed, bones broke. Eventually, Kim Min-jun fainted, his nose was crooked. His jaw was not in its socket anymore. He had black eyes on both eyes. Nobody will be able to recognize the Filipino-Korean, even if it was his own mother and father.

When Kim Min-jun passed out, Hayden left him alone. He opted not to kill him as they'd probably be detained by Puting Araw. He didn't want to get in a fallout with the higher ups in Puting Araw.

He didn't respect them, sure. Especially when he found out they work with Triple A. The thing is, they're all mightier than Hayden in every possible way. He wasn't stupid enough to offend those wielders.

For one, they're all more experienced than him. Second, they're higher in level. Their greater experience was enough to keep him on his toes, what more their wielder level.

Hayden lifted Kim Min-jun, infusing life force into him so that his consciousness would not return anytime soon.

With Kim Min-jun on his shoulders, he stared into the window inside his own classroom. He was checking up on that sniper. It wasn't a surprise for him that the sniper was gone. 'He moved, huh? Or did he escape?'