[A superpower ability detected.]
[The host had contacted a superpower.]
[Analyzing the power.]
[Power detected..Chaos Reflection.]
[Power is copied into the temporary slot.]
While Hex was too stunned by the sudden chime in his mind, the Chaos Born raised his hands and fired.
A bright light overwhelmed Hex's vision, who had already given up, but..
"...."
The Chaos Born stood there, puzzled, and Hex, who braced himself for impact, suddenly found nothing.
Opening his eyes, he saw his body glowing with an azure halo similar to Chaos Born. He felt hot and stuffy as something invaded his body. It didn't take him too long to understand.
It was an energy blast surging like waves over his body shaking him to the core.
He felt a sudden, suffocating heat invading his body, thick and unnatural. It was like thousands of needles pricking him from the inside, as if boiling waves of alien energy were crashing through his veins. His bones quivered, his muscles clenched involuntarily, and his very soul felt like it was caught in a storm. A nauseating, eerie sensation rattled him to the core, threatening to tear apart his sanity.
Yet miraculously, he could still move. His limping figure straightened.
Shaky but determined, Hex mimicked the Chaos Born's movement, raising his palm.
His body reacted instinctively, naturally—and in the next instant, a surge of the glowing halo erupted from his hand, firing straight at Chaos Born, but it was absorbed by Chaos Born, leaving him perturbed.
'What should I do?'
If this continues, it will be a game of exchange and exchange.
Even the Chaos Born was puzzled not knowing what to do.
In the next moment, Chaos Born fired again, which was absorbed by Hex's body, but this time he didn't fire it abruptly.
"Let's try something else," he whispered, more to himself than anyone else.
He clenched his fist.
The radiant energy, which had been pulsating across his entire body, shifted—gathering toward his hand like a swirling storm. The power concentrated in his palm, and for the first time, he felt something beyond imitation.
It was raw, volatile strength. His fist surged with overwhelming force, as if it could shatter mountains and shake the very skies.
He stepped forward.
Then, with a roar, he punched.
The blow crashed into Chaos Born's chest with devastating might. The collision ignited a reaction of a burst of pure energy not just reflected, but magnified by the combined force of his MSI 8 level and Chaos Reflection.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The Chaos Born's body shot backward, slamming into the road with a deafening crash. It skidded across the ground, carving a deep crevice in its wake.
It twitched trying to rise—but Hex was already over it. His glowing fist descended again, this time aimed at its skull.
BOOOOM!
The ground shook forming a small crevice crack and the head of Chaos Born burst out like watermelon splattering sickening juices of blood and pieces of flesh dying Hex flesh.
"Haaa..."
Looking at Chaos Born's decapacitated body, whose body had lost its shine, Hex finally breathed in relief.
BAANG!
At that moment, Hex noticed a blast around. It was only then that he was able to make sense of the surroundings.
The trail of smoke lingered all around, and blasts were going on. It seemed it wasn't the only Chaos born here.
He could hear the sound of crackling and fighting around. Drones were flying around but it certainly wasn't enough to contain it.
Sector 10 was quite backward and drones of Public Safety were outdated, a testament to less spending by the locally ruled.
"Should I look around?" Hex wondered aloud, clearly eager to test his newfound power again. But in the very next moment, his expression froze.
As he attempted to summon the power once more, nothing happened.
"What's going on? It was as easy as breathing before... what happened now?" he muttered, confusion and frustration swelling in his chest.
Then a vivid memory flickered in his mind.
Temporary slot.
Understanding dawned with a bitter taste.
He knelt beside the lifeless carcass of the Chaos Born and pressed his hand against it, waiting for familiar words to chime in.
But there was nothing.Just a cold, empty shell.
"Does it only work... on living bodies?" he whispered, a sinking feeling settling deep in his gut.
Hex drew in a long, shaky breath and slowly shook his head. "Let's not be hasty... I should retreat."
He pushed himself to his feet, muscles still tense. But as he turned to move, he suddenly paused. Something tugged at his senses like a beckoning, a whisper in the silence. His instinct screamed at him to look again.
His eyes drifted toward a thick, murky puddle nearby. It shimmered oddly, as though something within it was calling out to him.
"What is this feeling...?" Hex asked himself, unease lacing his voice. He cautiously stepped closer, eyes narrowing.
Then he saw it.
A faint glimmer. A shiny mass half-submerged in the squishy muck. It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat trapped in stillness.
"Huh!"
Without thinking, he reached into the puddle and grasped the object. It was small, smooth, and strangely warm—a circular stone of no particular color, translucent like crystal, yet heavier than it looked.
Just as his curiosity piqued—
[Gene essence crystal Detected.]
[Do you want to collect it?]
Hex stiffened. He hesitated, eyes darting around at the destruction, the broken buildings, the dying embers of war. Whatever this thing was—it might be his only edge.
"…Do it!"
His voice cut through the silence like a blade.
The moment he gave consent, a chilling, almost pleasant coolness swept up from his fingertips. It slithered up his arm, into his chest and then..
"AHHHHHHHH!!"
A violent scream tore from his throat as pain exploded in his skull. It was as if someone had split his mind open with a hammer. Agonizing memories, sensations, and fragments of something alien surged through him.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his head.
"Damnnnnnn itttt!"
"It was a mistake...!"
The words barely left his lips before his consciousness shattered under the weight of the pain.
And just like that..
He blacked out.