The stillness stifled the air. The passengers sat in shock, eyes wide and breaths shallow, still trying to come to grips with what just happened.
"Amp... Amp has been defeated," a man said in a low, shaky tone, unable to believe his own voice.
The passengers looked upon Seraph.
He now stood between the three fallen bodies, unperturbed and unmarked, as if defeating this calibre of opponent was no different to him than throwing away a piece of trash. And as far as he was concerned, it wasn't.
"To those of you who are shocked by what just happened," Seraph announced, "this is merely a fraction of the power that Nirvana has, that I have. For your sake, I hope you now understand that when we say that this is an act of mercy, you realize it truly is."
As the humming of the ship continued to drone in the background, the passengers sat in silence, hanging onto Seraph's every word.
As expected.
"Now, I had said earlier that you all would be required to join us, but that was a lie. To show you our might and mercy, I had to leave no shadow of a doubt that if we wanted to, we could easily take you by force. But we won't."
Seraph paused, letting his words sink in.
"Aside from certain people, no one is required to join us. So hear me now! As long as I live and breathe, Nirvana won't and will never take away your freedom."
The air lifted slightly as Seraph continued.
The following people will come with us. Anyone under the age of thirteen—"
The passengers, glancing at each other, murmured in confusion. Aside from three families with children, the ship was filled with adults.
Seraph continued. "And any Level 2s—"
They looked down at an incapacitated Amp, drooling on the floor.
"—though aside from one of you, I don't detect any other. Aside from that, you are all free to choose. Pick wisely."
Seraph turned around, and as the silence hung in the air, one passenger clapped, then two.
Eventually, the entire theatre erupted in applause, raw and unsteady at first, then swelling with desperate relief.
Among an empty row of wrecked scorpion chairs, Wade, helped by Eddy, groggily got up.
"And they say it never hurts to have Plan B."
"I think you mean Plan A," Seraph said as he walked straight towards them.
Humming in confusion, Eddy muttered to himself, "How did he hear us from so far away?"
Grimacing, Wade answered, "He's a steel class neo. They often have supersenses on top of their already powerful abilities and supports."
Wade then asked Seraph, "When did you figure me out?"
"About the moment I grabbed you—"
Wade snickered as Seraph continued.
"—more often than not, Precogs are generally hard to catch."
As Seraph stepped closer, Eddy, clenching his fist, stood in front of him.
"If you knew it then, why didn't you stop or hold back?" he asked, glaring at Seraph.
Raising his brow, Seraph looked at Wade. "Impressive, you managed to get yourself a sidekick."
Wade tapped Eddy. "It's alright. I more than deserve it, and look behind him."
Like a flock of sheep being shepherded, almost half the entire ship began making their way into the portal.
Wade continued. "All those people are now filled with the hope that their future is secured."
Eddy let out a breath. Unclenching his fist, grumbling, he said, "Fine."
He then stepped back and sat nearby, watching closely as Wade and Seraph continued to talk.
Thirty metres away from them, on the top right side of the theatre, Savannah and Jakob sat hidden, watching.
"He's getting closer. What do we do?" she whispered.
"Well, given the fact that Elijah's not here, we don't do anything—"
Her pupils dilated as Jakob suddenly stood up.
"—Plus, upon seeing his level of strength, neither Elijah nor I can do anything to stop him. You're on your own."
He then walked back to his chair.
Raising her voice yet still keeping it low, she whispered, "Jakob, come back! Jakob!"
But he ignored her.
Crap, she thought. Maybe him looking at me was just a coincidence.
She looked at Seraph, and he and Wade were in what seemed to be a heated argument.
He's also fully focused on whatever is going on over there. It's probably nothing, but I should get out of here, just in case.
Pretending to be tying her shoes, she stood up from behind a chair.
Here goes.
Putting on her hoodie, she took a couple of steps forward.
Okay, no one's looking or saying anything.
Keeping her eyes forward, she headed straight towards the theatre exit.
That was scary. I wonder what they were arguing about.
At that moment, her hearing suddenly increased. Homing in on Seraph, she heard, "I understand why you did it, but the protection and future of Nirvana is my main priority."
She carried on walking.
My hearing is coming back. The sooner my powers do, the better. She listened on.
"She has a family and has already proven she isn't a threat!"
Her heartbeat rose.
Wait, why does it sound like—
"That may be true for now, but there's no guarantee of that in the future. Even right now, as I'm talking to you, I know she's listening."
An instant chill shot up from Savannah's feet.
No, no, no.
She turned to look down, and Seraph's eyes were staring right at her.
I have to get out of here.
She began to run, but just as she took a step forward, a scorpion chair crashed right in front of her.
Hearing a loud shriek, the remaining passengers on the lower side of the theatre turned to them.
"I believe my message was clear," Seraph announced. "Any Level 2s are to come with us. Not joining us is one thing, but helping the enemy is another."
The scorpion chair dislodged from the wall and crashed onto the floor. Shards shot out, bouncing off her skin but cutting into her hood.
Dirtbag.
She turned to curse him, but by the time she was ready to open her mouth, Eddy had already rushed to him.
"What are you doing!" Eddy yelled at Seraph, standing on his toes, grabbing him by his cloak.
Seraph turned to Wade. "Get him under control, or else I will."
Wade shouted, "Eddy, let him go! You can't—"
"NO!" he shouted back.
Seraph folded his arms. "The dog bites his owner."
Wade yelled, "Seraph, don't—"
Eddy began to float.
"Don't worry, I won't be too rough." As Eddy spun in the air, Seraph continued. "This is for her benefit; she should live a peaceful life at Nirvana rather than be turned into a weapon by the F.F.H."
Eddy strained to reply. "That's her choice to make."
Suddenly, a pressure closed Eddy's mouth.
"Don't be foolish. As a Level 2, she has no choice. Not with them."
Seraph left Eddy floating in the air. He slowly flew towards Savannah.
"Let him go!" she yelled.
He narrowed his eyes. "Normally, a neo of your level would have already attacked, so why?"
Seraph quickly turned. "Wade, you let them nullify her!"
Wade, who was now trying to get Eddy to the ground, replied, "I didn't let them do anything. They did it, and I could only watch. Kinda like now."
Seraph growled before turning back to Savannah. He reached his hand out. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. I wouldn't have thrown that chair so hard—"
Savannah slapped his hand out of her face. "Just leave me alone. I can take care of myself."
She then began to run, but as her feet moved, she didn't. The room lowered as her feet left the ground.
"Why, you!—"
A pressure silenced her.
"It's okay," Seraph said. "You'll thank me one day."
Suddenly, a loud metallic clang was heard.
Seraph turned, and Wade was standing next to a fallen scorpion chair.
"What happened to—" He saw Wade pointing behind him.
WHACK.
A punch landed on his face.
"Hmm?" he said, not flinching. "Ah, I understand," he added, as Eddy landed in front of him.
Eddy quickly grabbed Savannah, and as he made contact with her, she was replaced with a scorpion chair.
I'm… I'm doing it, Eddy thought.
With a heavy grunt, he spun around and slammed the chair into Seraph.
As the metal shrieked and the chair coiled around him, Seraph stood unbothered by Eddy's assault.
"So you're a teleporter."
Eddy backed away. "Figured it wouldn't be so easy, that's why—"
He teleported again. As Seraph stood in place, Eddy reappeared above him, behind him an entire row of scorpion chairs, clinking as they rained from above.
"—I'm not done," he said, teleporting again.
As the chairs fell on Seraph, they repelled off of him, as if they themselves did not want to offend him.
Savannah, lying on the floor, got up. "He's not even moving."
As the last chair fell, Eddy appeared behind Seraph.
"Damn it, not even a scratch, guess I'll have to—" Seraph grabbed him by the collar. "Enough!"
The debris and chairs instantly blew away from them.
"It's impressive that you're willing to put your life at risk for another, however." Using one arm, Seraph lifted Eddy and pulled him close. "If you're going to do so, you better be able to back it up."
CLICK. CLICK.
Eddy, glaring back at Amp, pulled out the pistol that the captain from earlier had lost. "How's this for backup?"
As they stared at each other, eye to eye, Eddy said, "Still not reacting, huh?"
"I'll do that when there's something worth reacting to."
Eddy teleported a metre away from him. "You're strong, but give it up. Even you won't be able to survive this," he said, now aiming the gun at his head.
Seraph's eyebrow raised. "You've never killed before, have you?"
"Just take your people and go."
Seraph snickered. "I take back my compliment." He took a step forward.
"I'm warning you, this gun's a new addition, lethal to some Level 2s, and at this range, even you will be severely hurt."
Another step, and then, right before his eyes, Seraph glowed and vanished.
What the— Eddy shot, but Seraph quickly evaded the bullet.
He's fast, I need to maintain distance. "Too late."
With a sickening crunch, Seraph kneed him in the sternum, folding Eddy like a wet paper bag.
"Ugh."
Collapsing onto the floor, he could only watch as Seraph kicked the gun away.
"I manipulated the light emanating from me to make you see a delayed image of myself. Just in case you were wondering."
Struggling to breathe, almost convulsing, Eddy lay on the floor, coughing and spitting violently. Seraph squatted down next to him.
"You're fighting to stay conscious, good. I want you to remember this—"
Savannah appeared behind Seraph. Yelling with abysmal form, she threw a punch, but was instantly flipped forward and then hung in midair.
Seraph continued, whispering, "Sometime in the future, Nirvana will wage war against New Sentinel. Before we do, I'll send a contact to warn you. At that time, you'll only have a few hours to get you and whoever you care about out of there."
He then stood up, but as he was about to leave, Eddy got out a faint, laboured, "Why me?"
He paused. "Because when Wade told me someone in the F.F.H was actually trying to be a hero, I didn't believe him. Make sure you survive until that day, and also, don't pull out a gun unless you're prepared to use it."
From the corner of his eye, he saw Wade sitting on the steps, holding his ribs.
"I see why you like him. Given more time, I would have liked to train him," he said, walking past.
His jaw tightening, Wade replied, "Between you and the F.F.H, I'm struggling to tell the difference between you two."
"In the F.F.H, you wouldn't be allowed to say that," Seraph said as Savannah floated next to him like an accessorised balloon animal.
Her eyes widened.
Really? Now you're going to do something? she thought.
Seraph's breath stilled and his heartbeat rose as he looked at Jakob.
"Where did you come from?" he shouted.
Jakob took off his glasses. With a short exhale, he yelled out, "What did you do? How did you get out of the temple?"
Seraph's face twisted. "Temple? What are you—"
With the force of a jet-propelled baseball bat smashing against a concrete wall, a fist collided with the side of Seraph's neck, whacking him towards the stage.
"He wasn't talking to you," Elijah said with a yawn, now standing where Seraph stood, crackling with electricity.
As Seraph barrelled in the air, a slight smile grew upon his face.
"Humph."