House of Cards

The Demon Among Demons

“Looks like we were worried for nothing.” The leader added as he glare at the guy who got hit by the chair. ‘Who is this guy? He got hit by a chair but doesn’t look like he was fazed about it, it looked like he deliberately took it since he doesn’t see it as a threat.’ I thought to myself as I stepped back. “That guy is not normal.” I mutter to myself. The guy glanced at our faces after he pats the dust off his clothes. “What do you mean not normal?  All of us here are also not normal as well. He looks a little younger than us so what is there to be afraid of?” our leader denied my claim as let out a sigh. “Looks like we need to prove it ourselves right?” our leader punched in the air and sent strong wind pressure to the other guy standing in front of us. “Wind pressure huh?” the other guy immediately recognized the leader’s attack in an instant as he dodges the wind pressure directed towards him. “Ho- it looks like you are quite knowledgeable, are you an Olympian perhaps?” our leader asked after seeing how the other guy moved to dodge his invisible attack. ‘Nice going- getting information about the enemy while fighting. Leader really is quite a thinker.’ I thought to myself as we recover from the surprise when he knew what leader’s special ability is. “I am an Olympian- and I heard that Olympians can get thrashed by the people from your organization.” The other guy retorted without even a slight change of his expression. “Oh! That’s right, our seniors can easily defeat a person from Olympus without even trying so hard. I, myself am a being that is close enough to their status so I advise you to keep your guard up because it won’t be long before I trample you to death.” Our leader declared proudly as he stood with his head held high. “Is that so? Well, I guess I have believe what that person said since you were also claiming the same thing.” The guy admitted defeat far sooner than expected.

“That’s right, there is no other way than to believe that what we said. I should say, that person who told you must have been really strong to be able to convince you, an Olympian, about something that involves yourself. I would like to meet him later and learn his methods.” Our leader said after a chuckle. “I believe that would be impossible. That ability-copying guy is long dead.” The other guy’s words sent chill to my spine after he mentioned about someone who has the ability to copy another person’s special ability. ‘Impossible, it can’t be. There is no other person from the organization that has the same ability! Is it possible that Ben’s dead?’ I thought to myself after he revealed something as ridiculous as that. “That’s impossible! Ben can easily adapt to every ability that he copies, there is no way he would lose to an Olympian!” one of our subordinates yelled as he grit his teeth in anger the moment he heard what that guy said. ‘Figures, there is no way you would believe that your best friend died right? I might reacted the same if my very close friend were to die without me even knowing.

               “Though I must say, he really is quite really adaptive to the cards that he copies. He must have been really strong for you guys to show that kind of reaction. But unfortunately he just have touch one of my friends so I guess he needed to be punished and to think that my technique really works, I saw all of your faces from his memory so I guess it was a success.” The other guy mumbled and then made a front kick which immediately knocked out one of our subordinates who decided to pounce on to him.

               *BAM!* *STUMBLE!*

               “He said you are able to beat down an Olympian. Well, then shall we try and see if it really is true?” the other guy said as he took a fighting stance. “That’s impossible, there is no way Ben can be defeated just like that. He is one of the best fighter from our batch and even our seniors are praising him highly for his talent at such a young age.” Kalon whispered to us without taking his eyes off the guy. “That’s some nice trick you are doing man, I really like your guts. Trying to shake us knowing that it will make us falter, that guy is as slippery as an eel so there is no use in continuing what you are doing.” Our leader told him off trying to keep us from backing out since he knows how high Ben’s skill is.

               ‘I’ve been with that guy ever since I entered that organization so there is no way that he would kick the bucket that fast. This is bad, I stated earlier that I am a being almost as strong as our seniors so what if he aims for me first? If he really did defeat Ben, the person who is superior from all of us then how will we deal with him when our best man could not even kill him, and it looks like he did not suffer any injuries as well. Did he die a swift death? If that’s the case then we are screwed.’ I told myself as I swallow a mouthful of spit as my clothes getting drenched in sweat. I look at the other guys behind me and saw that they are quite shocked at what that guy said. ‘It must have been really hard to believe since that guy has so much capabilities than me.’ I bit my lip in frustration at the current situation that we are in. “I will attack first Kalon volunteered. “Make sure to hit him this time” he added as he charges on. “I will provide support.” Lapis supported. “There is no need to tell me twice, I will blow that mother*cker’s head off before you can even land a hit.” I declared proudly as we begin our assault but then something unimaginable happened.

               ‘Huh? What is this?! He is standing there and yet there is no heat coming from his body?! Is this person really human?!’ my eyes widen as I try to observe their battle from the back. And then I felt a presence behind me as I heard electrical buzzing.

               *BUZZ!* *BUZZ!* *BUZZ!* *CRACCKLE!* *CRACKLE!* *CRACKLE!*

“Flight and Corrosion huh? To think that you have quite the set of cards.” The voice of the guy who the others are supposed to apprehend came from behind me. I turned my head and saw electricity like flashing from his body as he stands behind me like nothing is wrong. But there is one thing that is certain, we are all screwed. If he is able to move this fast then he can kill us even before we can blink. ‘Sh*t! To be able to move that fast, no wonder Ben got killed.’ I thought to myself as I backed off in horror while thinking of the things that might happen to us from that point on. “Hey, man. How did he get there? I swear he was just standing here a few seconds ago!” Kalon exclaimed as he corrode the metal that he grabbed after he charged. “Gerard, protect Ur!” I heard Lapis yelled the instant he saw that guy behind me. Gerard reacted late and threw a punch towards me and sending a strong wind pressure that struck the wall behind us after he dodge Gerard’s attack again as I crawled back to them after I dodged his attack. “What the heck was that?! Were you expecting me to evade that attack just now? What would happen if I failed to evade that?!”I shouted the instant I got beside him. “Sorry. I was just startled that’s all.” He muttered in confusion. ‘Looks like the death of Ben struck him the worst. If he breaks down now then there is no chance for us to get out of here alive.’ I thought to myself as I try to snap him back. “Get it together Gerard, all of us are as equally shocked as you. But if you fall right now then it will be the end of us as well.” I tried my luck in comforting him since he will be our last chance at survival.

               ‘What Ur said it’s true, I need to get it together for our sakes. If Ben kicked the bucket before us then that would only mean that he is weaker than us and all of the fuss about being superior were fake. I need to prove to them that I am stronger than Ben.’ I told myself after Ur shake me off.  “Thanks Ur.” I said as I take out a special syringe from my pocket. ‘If we want to survive this then we should resort to this.’ I looked at the others and saw that they are willing to do the same thing. ‘I guess that we should resort to this method.” I said as I injected myself the formula inside the syringe.

               My eyes widen after seeing what the leader did to himself. ‘Impossible!’ I thought to myself when something came to my mind after seeing that happen in front of me. ‘Corruption.’ The one and only thing that made Jake go and run amok to everything that he sees and caused that tragedy. It was already late to try and stop their leader but I can at least stop the others from injecting it as well.

               *FWOOOSH!* *s***h!*

               Kalon’s hands flew in an instant before he can inject himself while Lapis flew away before he was attacked. “ARG!” Kalon cry in pain as blood spurted out of his cut offed hands. ‘What the hell!? It was an instant but I saw his lightning took shape of a blade before it cut off Kalon’s hands.’ I gasp in my head in awe as I turned back and saw that guy’s angry expression that made me shiver in terror that it felt like I am gazing at a raging demon right now. I fell on my knees after I felt his ominous aura surrounding me that it almost felt like my intestines are getting twisted with brute force as my senses are telling me not to struggle for what awaits is only death.

               *FWOOP!*

               I nearly lost myself when I cut off that guy’s hands but before I can do even more damage to that guy, their leader swept me away with his strong wind pressure while destroying everything around me. Almost half of the house got blown away by his attack. ‘To think that that thing’s effect is faster than it was thirty two years ago is really concerning. I wasn’t able to deal with the guy that can fly. By now the effect should have taken effect on him.’ I bit my lower lip in anger when I remembered what happened at that time but then their leader attacked me again and showing the same destructive power that he did earlier after injecting himself with the serum.

               *FWOOP!*

               “Gaaah!” their leader shouted as he threw another set of punches towards me which I have evaded perfectly. ‘Looks like the effects are still the same and the only thing that changed is the time that the effect starts. I need to kill them now before they can cause harm to the others.’ I told myself as I unconsciously let out a terrorizing aura as the lightning slowly coat my arms and legs and my veins started turning black like it did back then. I can feel my consciousness fading but due to my second ability, I can stay conscious even when I pushed my ability to the fullest. ‘That serum is designed and formulated to make the users use their abilities to the fullest and that is the same thing that I am doing, to think that I, myself have the same thing as the one they used to inject themselves.’ How ironic. I started to feel like there is someone other than me using my body as I charged towards him thoughtlessly and in a flash I sliced the leader in half and proceeded to the one I had his hands cut off but then suddenly the one flying grabbed him by his shirt as he rolls on the ground with a swift swoop.

               “Hahahaha! You think you can get away from me just like that?!” the Olympian yelled but then the ground rumble heavily that even the stones around him float. “Haaaa!” he screamed as ten lightning pillars that looked like spears appeared around him. And as of that moment, I learned that there are even more powerful beings than our seniors no- even more powerful than the heads of the organization. What I am looking at right now doesn’t resemble something that a human can do naturally. The veins in his arms, face and neck turned dark blue and it seemed like it is glowing. “I haven’t done this in a whole while so let’s try this again!” he screamed as he gestured a throw towards Lapis’ direction and in an instant the lightning pillars on the ground followed his bidding and took off in an instant. The Olympian looked like he is vulnerable in that instant so I grabbed the dagger on my legs and approached him but then his eyes moved towards me that made me think twice about what I am about to do then after that a hand grabbed my shoulder and whispered to my ears “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

               *BOOM!*

               A huge explosion shook the skies as all the electronic devices around us got fried. ‘What the heck? That guy flew almost a kilometer away and it still affected us?’ I swallowed my spit as I glanced through the window. “Van that’s dangerous you know? He looked like he lost it.” I mutter to myself as I immediately get out of the car.