104 Dusk and Dawn (1/2)
Eun-ha and the others were all going to move when they saw that… The gigantic canid pup licked Hayden's mask. It didn't attack him at all.
Not removing his mask, Hayden petted the canid by its wet nose as he was down on the ground. He wanted to remove his mask. He decided against it. He didn't want to risk being exposed by people in here.
”What the…” Eun-ha's eyes were wide in shock at this astonishing sight. ”Why are the… Cognizants… fawning over Hayden…?”
Hayden stood up and knelt in front of the canid. He petted the wolf canid's chin. Finally, the bear cub arrived, growling as if saying it wanted its turn.
The canid snarled. Hayden snapped his finger to get the wolf pup's attention. It whimpered when the pup saw Hayden pointing to the side. The pup moved to the side of Hayden, letting the bear cub replace it.
The bear cub growled not in anger, but in joy. It rubbed its ginormous head on Hayden's chest. Hayden petted it. The CHORUS members rapidly blinked their eyes watching this sight. All of them wanted to curse.
In that instance, the pup barked… Or howled. Don't blame Hayden as he now only remembered that the canid didn't simply resemble a wolf. It resembled a maned wolf, with its slender legs and red mane-like line of fur on the back.
”Yes?” Hayden turned to the maned wolf sitting beside him. It stood up and kowtowed. Well, not exactly. Its nose touched Hayden's chest. Or rather, it was signaling for Hayden's Origin Crystal. ”What do you want?”
Hayden gathered life force in his hand and ripped a hole open on his chest where the Origin Crystal was located. The wolf smelled it first prior to touching it with its nose.
Multiple memories were implanted on Hayden's brain. A beam of red light shot upwards. Tons of information poured over Hayden's brain as his person was enveloped with white light.
Eun-ha was going to rush over when Sayuri blocked her with her arm. ”You can't stop this… It's a universal law thing… I… I can sense it.”
Eun-ha bit her lip in worry. Her lower lip slightly bled under the force of her bite. 'Don't you dare do something terrible, Hayden Emperador.'
'What the…' Hayden was stunned of the contents of the memories. 'Contract? No… It's not a mere contract…'
Well, in general terms, it was indeed a contract. However, it's not something that was exclusive to a wielder and a cognizant. You can also make a contract with other wielders. It befitted its name of the Origin Bonding Contract.
With the Origin Bonding Contract in place, the two Ability Wielders are able to contact one another no matter their distance. It doesn't end there. According to the information, the stronger the bonds between the two, the stronger the effects too.
The Origin Bonding Contract can grow so strong to the point that one of the contract holders may sacrifice their own life in place of the other contract holder.
If one contract holder has multiple contracts that are at that level, the Ability Wielder with the strongest desire will be the one to be sacrificed.
The Origin Bonding Contract also has many effects. Essentially, all of the effects fall under telepathy. As the bonds get stronger, the stronger the telepathy was. For example, at the lowest level, one can only convey vague information.
When the two contract holders are tight-knit, the telepathy can become strong enough to skim through each other's memories.
Hayden was informed that there were many other types of contracts too. However, there was no information regarding these contracts at all.
Eventually, the lights faded. Hayden stared at the maned wolf sitting upright in a daze. Aside from the information pertaining to contracts, Hayden gained information of the maned wolf in front of him.
Apparently, the pup was from a species termed as 'Desrothis.' In literal translation, it meant Infernal Wolf.
Abruptly, the bear cub growled. Hayden oriented his body towards the bear cub. The cub responded by diving in towards Hayden's Origin Crystal. The similar phenomenon transpired, except this time, it was shorter. Probably because the first time information was transferred already.
The bear was from a species called 'Hazium.' In literal translation, it meant Celestial Bear. 'Go figure. A Celestial Bear and an Infernal Wolf… Both females to boot… What a freaking headache.'
Hayden sent a message to the two, asking if they have smaller forms or something. The Desrothis pup released black smoke that obscured its figure. When the smoke dissipated, Hayden found a cute little maned wolf pup.
The CHORUS members all expressed their emotions by saying 'aww' to the pup. On the side, the bear cub was enveloped in light, and out came a smaller bear cub reminiscent to that of a plushy. The holy strings of light surrounding it remained though.
”Okay, for now, you are Puppy.” Hayden pointed at the Desrothis pup. Puppy barked in protest for its name. ”Don't worry, it's temporary. As for you, you're Cub. We have to get out of here, we don't want any trouble.”
Waking up from her daze, Eun-ha took out Mi-sun's guise and threw it to her. With a flicker, Mi-sun was back in her human form and hanbok.
In that second, a group of four people showed up on Hayden's Heavenly Sense. 'No wait, there's five people… Someone has disconnected from the group.'
Hayden sent a message to the two cognizants he contracted with to hide as far away as possible from the location. He didn't desire to have any mishap happening.
The group of people moved fast. A booming voice resounded from the end of the road. ”Who goes there?”
From the origin of the voice, a gigantic muscular man in white can be seen. It was Lakas. Behind him was Magiting, Corina, and Ligaya. He was speaking Filipino. ”Who the hell are you guys?”
”Cool it, big guy.” Magiting walked forward. ”They're the illustrious White Fox group. That White Fox was the one to intercept our Daniel and kill Crimson Enchantress.”
In a relaxed manner, Magiting strode towards the group of Hayden. He stopped ten meters away from them. He bowed. ”Greetings to all of you. I am Magiting of Puting Araw. We come in peace and not to seek a fight. We just want to ask you one question.”
”Really?” Hayden stepped up. He talked in Filipino with a deeper voice. ”We likewise don't seek trouble, good friend. We're simply passing by.”
In reality, Hayden was rattled of Magiting. He has heard of him. His group, named White Blade, was the topmost group in Puting Araw. His Ability was a bit unusual, called Arms of Hell.
From this, one can deduce that his fighting style revolved around punching, i.e., Boxing. Hayden would not take any chances in letting him fight Eun-ha or anybody else. If a fight can be avoided, Hayden would strive to.
”From the traces of the fight behind you…” Magiting smiled amicably. Within that smile was a threatening one. There was a hint of pride too. ”The cognizants were here. Can you point us to which direction they've gone to?”
”No can do, compadre.” Hayden shook his head. Lying in this situation would be idiotic. ”We have already killed the cognizant. We are the killer, hence, the body is ours. As for the Lagusang Itim, it has closed.”
”Give us the body, or else.” Lakas punched his open left hand with his right in an intimidating manner. Needless to say, this wasn't enough to intimidate Hayden.
”Or else what?” Hayden didn't back down, with Eun-ha and the others stepping up to reveal their auras. ”You really think that the five of you can defeat the eleven of them?”
A throwing knife materialized in Hayden's hands. Infusing it with life force, Hayden threw it to the sky. When it reached upwards, a powerful fire thruster was emitted on its side that changed its direction towards the right.
It then vanished at an extreme speed, going into one of the buildings. Inside the building, the knife navigated by itself at supersonic speed. This was a technique Hayden termed as 'Storing Energy Release.'
Basically, the life force is programmed to withhold the kinetic energy from Hayden's throw, fully releasing it at a certain point. With precise programming and timing, it was easy to do what he did.
It reached a corner where Abby was standing with holographic screens surrounding her. Abby caught the throwing knife in a cinch.
As a Level 4 wielder, of course this throwing knife wouldn't faze her at all. She had a Whisperer ring on. Utilizing this, she composedly sent a message to the four, 'My position's been compromised.'
Magiting, Ligaya, Corina, and Lakas were all shocked. Was he really a Level 2 wielder? And what exactly was his Ability? Detection? Infusion?
”Do you want to make an enemy out of Puting Araw?” Ligaya's eyebrows were furrowed. ”Are you sure?”
”Hey, you guys were the ones threatening us.” He said in a matter-of-factly tone before yawning. He continued, ”We were curious, we checked it out, we solved it. Don't worry, the cognizant that came out is a mere Level 2. You don't have to be this uptight.”
”You!” Ligaya was going to charge at Hayden when Magiting stopped her. ”What? He's obviously mocking us!”
”If it's a meagre Level 2 cognizant, we will go, friend.” Magiting bowed in respect. He turned around. ”Let's go, we don't have any business here any longer.”