Noah stared down at the scene below, his expression neutral behind the mask. In the alley below, his target ran with vigor, desperation colouring his face as he ran in hopes of making an escape.
Noah had already taken care of the man's accomplices. They barely put up a fight, now he was here for the last one, the one who pulled the trigger, killing a security guard in the process.
The guard, a man in his late thirties, had been doing his work diligently, planning to wrap up his shift, then retreat home to his daughter.
Unfortunately, life, merciless and cold, happened. He succumbed to the gun wound in seconds, and now his daughter, still in her young teenage years, would not receive her father tonight but instead news of his death.
Noah leapt to the next building before him. His thoughts split but still attentive, a perk of parallel processing. The rush of adrenaline as he ran filled him with thrill. The feeling was one of the reasons he secretly enjoyed his nightly crusade, and no matter how much he did it, the feeling was always fresh.
Usually, the prospect of taking up the role of a hero repulsed him to the core, in fact, he saw it as a hindrance. However, the growing need to earn ability points superseded his repulsion, and in the end, practicality won. Acts of heroism triggered missions, and missions gave ability points, the answer was obvious.
And at first, the main goal was to earn ability points, but over time his perspective slowly began to deviate. Now acts of heroism brought him a sense of accomplishment that he still struggled to accept.
Noah shrugged off the thoughts for now, no longer wishing to delve deeper. He focused all his attention on the man below.
The man was growing tired, his every movement growing sluggish with each passing second.
He decided it was time to end this farce, he had chased for long enough. Taking things seriously, his muscles tensed, and his speed shot through the roof, the wind crashed against his suit as his speed shattered human limits. Using the momentum he gathered, he leapt to the next building before him in a single bound.
In just a few breaths, he had already caught up, and with another leap, he crashed down with immense force, landing before the man with a thundering crash that shattered the concrete beneath him.
The man, tired and exhausted, staggered back and froze, his face twisting with fear and despair, his body trembling as the dreaded dark knight stood before him, radiating an oppressive aura that made him gulp instinctively.
Noah stood from his crouched position and walked towards the man with clinical calmness. The robber, tired and exhausted, had no thoughts of running anymore, and once pushed to the corner, his response could only vary so much.
"Stay back!" the man said as he whipped out a pistol, pointing it at Noah. Noah, however, only stopped for a brief second, but with a dull expression, he continued walking forward, ignoring the man's threat. "I swear to God I'll shoot, stay back!"
With trembling hands, the man unloaded the entire clip at Noah, but having already anticipated the move, Noah didn't flinch. His response was swift and calculating, he dodged with inhuman accuracy, left, right, right, left.
Despite the rapid fire, the bullets met only air. Noah had dodged them all effortlessly. He closed the distance rapidly, and before the man could even articulate what happened, Noah was already upon him. Noah's attack was brutal and merciless.
The ordeal lasted less than thirty seconds, but by the end of it, the man had no less than a broken nose, swollen eye, broken limbs, and internal bleeding. If the man wasn't saved in time, he would likely meet his end here today.
But Noah didn't simply stop. Before the man could crumble to the floor unconscious, a palm strike hit him in the center of the chest. This blow, however, differed from an ordinary attack, not only did it pack more force behind it, the man's spiritual body was directly separated from his physical body.
This was one of the applications of astral projection, not only could he astrally project his spiritual body, but he could also forcefully project other people's spiritual bodies. It was one of the reasons he kept the ability. Even though the effectiveness differed from person to person or race to race. Either way, it was still a trump card.
To the man's shock, his astral body was knocked out of his body, and in real-time, he watched as his physical body collapsed before his very eyes. He couldn't help but panic, his expression shifting to one of utter horror. One horrifying question ran through his mind, was he dead?
Noah watched the scene with brief amusement. His nightly escapades granted him lots of scapegoats to practice his abilities on. What he did was a simple application of astral projection. He could use it himself and apply it to others as well.
In the man's case, with his astral body knocked out of his body from the physical, he made sure he would be forced to watch as his body deteriorated, slowly succumbing to his injuries. This wa Noah made sure not to grant him the reprieve of dying unconscious. He didn't give the scene another glance and quickly walked off.
As he made his way back to his base of operations, Noah took a quiet corner. His armor shimmered faintly before vanishing from sight, the suit's anti-detection field cloaking him completely. Within minutes, he slipped into one of his modified warehouses, a hideout for his heroic endeavors.
The elevator descended with a low hum, carrying him into the heart of his setup. Paper-thin monitors lined the walls, and holographic displays hung in the air, displaying data of ongoing activities in the city and the world at large.
Noah stepped out of the suit, exhaling as the armor retracted and sealed itself behind him. His eyes drifted toward the main screen where a timer counted down.
24 days, 5 hours, 56 minutes.
That was how much time stood between him and the completion of the lizard serum. In just under twenty-five days, the serum would be completed. His progress rate had spiked considerably, and the completion time shortened as he expected. His anticipation only continued to grow each day.
And concerning his abilities, he made a lot of progress. Not only had his telekinesis reached level four, many of his abilities now reached level three, on the cusp of leveling up. The newer ones, while lower-leveled, were quickly catching up.
A lot of his abilities had reached unprecedented heights. Using his telekinesis, he could now exert force close to three tons.
On the other hand, his hypermotility now pushed his speed, reaction, and even strength to superhuman limits. At level two, his reaction speed crushed human standards, now at a proper superhuman level, and just as he expected, the ability also provided enhancement to his agility to keep up with his reaction speed. This also indirectly affected his strength.
Now at level three, he could lift close to twenty tons with much effort, and his movement speed could clock at one hundred and fifty kilometers per hour, much faster than a cheetah. His reaction speed sat comfortably at twenty-five milliseconds.
Bioluminescence had made much improvement, but to realize his concept, he still required a high healing factor that could only be granted by the lizard serum.
Then his extrasensory perception ability, a synthesis of multiple sensory abilities he gained. The fusion consisted of macroscopic vision, thermal vision, auditory sense, spatial visualization, scent detection, and heightened taste.
All together, the abilities formed extrasensory perception, the ability having all the advantages whilst granting new ones. Now, in addition, he had microscopic sight and a budding sixth sense that was slowly starting to form.
The parallel processing ability too was a synthesis of two abilities, namely mind split and thought acceleration. The fusion combined the two, now they functioned as one.
Astral projection was straightforward, simple, and practical, its various possible applications made him keep it despite its simplicity.
Then there was frequency manipulation. This ability, in particular, if used right, could become a trump card against Viltrumites. It was a clear counter that he made sure to practice regularly.
After the whole month, Noah could now confidently say he wasn't a weakling. With the lineup of abilities in his arsenal, he could hold his own against the oncoming crisis, but he knew he wasn't there yet, he still wasn't ready for the Viltrumites.
Having rounded up things for the night, he locked down the place, security protocols active, energy shield up, and all defenses in place. After making sure he wasn't being tailed or anything of the sort, Noah made his way home.
When he arrived, everyone was at the dinner table already having dinner. He walked up to his seat, served himself and the night passed just like any other.