Seizing the research base heading the illegal ability implantation and enhancement procedures somehow managed to stop the large-scale strange events across the Terrarian Star System that happened that year. For a long while after that, there was peace as Terrarians continued to prosper through the galaxies.
At least, that was what the public felt.
But for Necomir, his time went on tediously. Suddenly, five years had passed since he left college to enter the military to meet the demands of the government in the aftermath of that research base’s end. In those five years, he was forced to undergo a ruthless training regiment before he was deployed across the galaxies to deal with highly confidential threats to Terrarian civilization.
Gone was the young adult who only knew how to fiddle with mecha all day and train like an immature brat who just wanted to prove his worth to other immature brats. Gone was that pathetic idiot who got himself too easily into trouble without a fight, who got himself forever altered too easily, who got himself making his beloved feel so guilty he never wanted to see him again.
Now, there was just a trained soldier who has seen more than the average Terrarian his age had.
“Tomorrow, the starship will dock on the Solar System’s Venus Space Station.” Their leader, Captain Hwang, first named Seju, spoke coolly while looking pointedly at his subordinates sitting around the table. Necomir continued to look down at his fingers, drumming silently along the clean surface of the table. It was unknown what he was thinking, but it was probably a little similar to the thoughts that his comrades had regarding the matter.
“Oh? No one’s cheering?” Captain Hwang mused, raising an eyebrow.
The soldiers all looked at each other and then burst into a perfunctory ruckus.
“Yay, there’s finally a break.”
“Good for us.”
“We can rest for a day.”
Necomir remained silent, but he did raise his head and gave the captain a perfectly-timed smile when he looked at him for any reaction.
Seju chuckled upon hearing their mechanical voices and polite faces. “You guys are so perfunctory.”
The man next to Necomir named Hiram burst out laughing and then said, “Captain, everyone knows docking at any planet does not mean we are taking a break. It just means we’re on standby for another arbitrary mission.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Seju looked impressed as he nodded, caressing his white beard. “I see, you have learned. Since you know what will happen anyway, then I’ll just dismiss you for today. You can do whatever you want – train, sleep, watch movies, whatever. Rest well and prepare for tomorrow.”
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As he stared at this young man whose thoughts ran deep, Seju could only sigh. Of course, although his circumstances were a secret to the other soldiers, Seju was completely in the know about it. Being an ability user forcefully and illegally enhanced, the government took necessary precautions to keep him from being led astray by giving him intense training regiments, psych sessions, and most importantly, not letting him contact his family to keep him from being influenced. Although the other soldiers were just the same as him, he was different. His family was in politics, so who knew what he was capable of. However, for Seju, there was nothing bad about this kid at all. He was broody and aloof but was a good comrade to the others, never acting stuck up or arrogant despite being from an influential family. Seju naturally felt some care for him.
“Mr. Aquila,” Seju greeted him. “What is it that you want to tell me?”
Necomir finally lifted his eyes and looked at him. With hesitance in his strides, he walked over to the captain.
“When can I come back home?”
He didn’t sound pitiful or melancholic like Seju expected. Rather, Necomir sounded just like any other employee asking their boss for a vacation. So nonchalant, like he had not been deprived of the right to go home to see his loved ones for the past five years due to government-sanctioned restrictions.
This only made the old captain feel a little bit more distressed for him.
“I’ve been asking the higher ups that too, kiddo,” Seju carefully articulated as he patted his shoulder. “But you know them, they’re afraid of taking any chances. They want to keep you restrained for the rest of your life.”
“I’m not going to rebel,” Necomir abruptly said. “I only want some semblance of revenge which I can get from simply doing my duties. I do not care about politics. I know there are more of them still out there. That’s why we’re here on Venus for another mission.”
Seju could only sigh. “I know you won’t, you’re a good person. How about this, I’ll try to talk to them and see if they can at least let you receive some souvenirs from your hometown. Sounds good?”
Necomir immediately nodded and quietly thanked the captain. He exchanged a few more words with him before turning around to go back to his room.
The Crypt was the starship solely used by the special military unit that Necomir was assigned to. They were called the Enciphered Blades, specializing in dealing with missions that cannot be disclosed to the public at all costs.
It turned out that Necomir wasn’t the only person who was a victim of the forced ability enhancement. The government had been cracking down on these illegal researchers for years, gathering all kinds of dangerous and unstable enhanced ability users to be turned into weapons. In recent years, Necomir was thankfully the youngest and the only new addition. He didn’t want any other people to suffer through what they had, but he knew that was just wishful thinking.
Suddenly, Necomir sensed something. He lightly slid his body to the side just as a fireball landed where he had been originally standing.
Turning around, Necomir saw an empty hallway, but there was an echo of gleeful voices through the walls.
“I told you guys, even if Augustine is distracted, no one will win against him!”
“I was so close to crushing him, though!”
“Don’t be delusional, he didn’t even break a sweat!”
Necomir smiled helplessly when the invisible cover created by Hiram finally retreated, revealing five men huddled in a corner and laughing among themselves.
This wasn’t new at all. It was always boring on The Crypt, and since its material is highly indestructible, this rag tag group of enhanced ability users would pick on Necomir every time he is distracted and try to beat him using their powers. With his ability of precognition, they practically can never defeat him – but that never stopped them from trying over and over again.
“You’d have to be actually powerful first before you can beat me,” Necomir casually remarked, earning a series of gasps and “ooohs” from the others as the fire ability user, Nizar, feigned offense and hurt as he acted like he was going to faint.
“Are you just going to accept that? If it was me, I definitely wouldn’t!” A guy named Seth tried fanning the fire as he massaged Nizar’s shoulders.
“Listen here, brat!” Nizar exclaimed as he wagged a finger at Necomir. “I demand we fight today!”
“Yeah! Let’s see Necomir beat him up!” Hiram happily clapped his hands as the other guys cheered.
Nizar looked at them in disbelief and knocked Hiram’s head. “You! Whose side are you on!”
Necomir indulged their idiocy, knowing how dull life for them was. Although they were allowed to contact their relatives at extremely controlled conditions, they still weren’t allowed much recreation aside from fighting and watching movies. In a way, Necomir actually felt grateful these people would invite him whenever they burned time.
Necomir and his comrades walked down the cold halls of The Crypt before entering a certain wide chamber. This chamber was designed to control the environment and adapt to the changes when they fight.
“Rock paper scissors! Rock paper scissors!” Everyone howled, pushing Nizar towards Necomir as they expertly flashed their hands.
A shit-eating grin appeared across the older man’s face as he showed scissors while Necomir expressionlessly showed paper.
“Nizar gets to do the first move!” Hiram announced happily as he and the others backed up, letting Necomir and Nizar start dueling it out.
Five years of training had made Necomir finally gain better control of his new ability. Compared to before when his body would painfully transform into lightning, he can now effectively use this form in combat.
Similarly, Nizar had been enhanced to make his whole body erupt into flames. When he transformed, his skin turned a painful deep maroon color with cracks of yellow. His hair also burned bright like a torch, and the only thing you can see on his face was his glowing orange eyes and his mouth that had turned into a void with the shape of a smile.
“Don’t hold back, kid!” Nizar grunted with an unearthly voice as he burst into even brighter flames before rushing towards Necomir.
Using his lightning form required calmness and peace of mind and heart. Necomir’s hands started sparking when Nizar hurtled towards him. Just before his heat burned his skin, Necomir crackled into lightning and met him head-on.
An emergency dome surrounded their other comrades as they cheered, watching in awe as Necomir’s vibrant crackling body met halfway with Nizar’s flaming form. The environment immediately turned into that of a climate hellscape of thunderstorms and heat waves. These bunch of soldiers had no fear, amazed at the spectacle right in front of them. It was like watching two gods fighting in their purest, most natural forms. Even though they constantly made fun of Nizar, it was no joke that he was the most powerful offensive ability user among them before Necomir came along and mastered his own abilities.
The battle went on for almost two hours before Nizar finally acquiesced, being the older of the two. His energy had run out before Necomir. Youth always won when it came to fights, after all.
“You’re becoming stronger day by day,” Nizar laughed boisterously as they both transformed back to their human forms. His head was comically smoking, making Necomir muse with the thought of putting him out with a bucket of cold water.
“I need to, that’s our purpose,” Necomir answered simply.
There was unreadable darkness in his eyes.
Author’s Notes:
I truly apologize for ghosting this story for such a long time. As promised, I’m not dropping this. I’m just having a hard time because I’m graduating and will be getting my licensure exam soon as well. Thank you to everyone who stuck around! Mwah mwah <3
honestly i think that treating them like that and isolating them is more harmful than anything… i hope one day they rebel to show the damn government that they’re not just some tool at their disposal 😤😤
really happy to see this story come back even for a brief chapter, and even though i forgot almost everything 😂 a re-read is in order for later ig
finally, good luck with school!! i wish you all the best and may you get your diploma
Thank you so much!!!
Thanks for not forgetting us, author
Thank you so much for hanging around!