Reborn: Apocalypse

Double release tomorrow, as a reward for all the people voting their Power Stones and getting us to Rank 9 :)

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"A way to track and kill these… Golden Morenkai?…" Sophia looked rather unconvinced as she stared at Micheal.

"How would you even know wha- ah." She cut herself off as she saw Micheal tap his head.

"Right. You're a Seer. Well, that's very convenient, if it's all true." She finished, crossing her arms.

"It is, and we can prove it right now!" Micheal walked towards one of the windows, looking out at the crowd of shambling Morenkai. He kept his movements slow, not wanting to catch any attention. The Morenkai had terrible vision, but that didn't mean he should be careless.

"Alright, here is what you need to do." Micheal began to explain,

"Your Fairy Eyes Ability allows you to trap someone in a world of your own design as long as they look into your eyes. As I'm sure you're aware, this Ability works on normal Morenkai despite their lack of visible eyes." While the Morenkai didn't have visible eyes, they still could see through some type of sensory power that was equivalent to a weak set of eyes.

Micheal continued, motioning at the window,

"The Morenkai are a unique type of being. Unlike humans, all Morenkai seem to have a very dim connection to all other Morenkai. It's why they don't mindlessly attack each other. They are not very intelligent and move instinctually, they won't attack one of their own." He nodded,

"However, not all connections are equal. Certain special Morenkai give off different wavelengths when compared to normal ones. Some, but not all, of the Abnormal Morenkai are like this…" His eyes flashed,

"And the Golden Morenkai are like this as well."

"All you need to do is activate your Fairy Eyes and send the Morenkai off in search of Morenkai that give off different wavelengths. With the confusing illusions your Ability can create, and normal Morenkai's low intelligence, such a thing should be quite simple." He finished, his voice confident.

"Once they find a special Morenkai, we can travel to its location and kill it! This is how you and I can gain a huge amount of Points in a short period!"

There was another, better method to find Golden Morenkai, one that was far less dangerous. However, that method required a large amount of teamwork and cooperation from many people, as well as time to set up, things he didn't have.

Sophia took in everything he said, her eyes widening. If what Micheal said was true…

"Assuming this is all true." She began, nodding at the thronging Morenkai outside,

"Why do you think I won't betray you? After all, it sounds like you need me far more than I need you." Her voice gave nothing away.

Michael smiled,

"The Morenkai you track will lead us to certain special Morenkai, but not all of those will be Golden Morenkai. Some of them are bound to be powerful Abnormals. And while you might not have realized this yet, there exist Abnormals that can resist your Fairy Eyes." He turned and looked at her, eye to eye.


"I know you have some type of protective Artifact that protects you from guns, but can it stop a relentless physical assault?" He queried calmly.

Sophia looked back, her mouth twisting ever so slightly.

From Micheal's original timeline, Sophia was known to be immune to normal bullets because of a rare, secret Artifact she used. There were many possibilities in the Shop, such that even Micheal wasn't sure what she had.

However, the fact that she became horribly maimed and crippled in the battles with the Black Flag Pirates led him to believe the Artifact could only stop long range attacks.

And, indeed, her reactions here gave it away. She did indeed have a weakness to a rushed physical attack.

"I, on the other hand, am a warrior." Micheal tapped on his Spatial Ring, withdrawing his Steelborn sword.

"I know you likely haven't heard, but I am an Irregular just like you. I came in this Wave, again, just like you. My particular powers give me an advantage when it comes to melee combat." He moved his blade around lazily. He snapped a finger,

WHOOSH

A Life Orb flew out of his body and floated in the air. He mentally commanded it to move around in a jerking pattern, as if smashing into enemies.

"Especially my telekinetic orbs." A second Life Orb flew out. He didn't specify that they could bring him back to life, keeping that a secret for now. He'd reveal that only if and when he came to fully trust her.

"With my brawn, and your capabilities to find the Golden Morenkai, we can split the Points we gain evenly by trading kills." It wasn't possible to transfer or trade Points in any way.

"So? Are you in?" He smiled, storing his blade and Life Orbs away.

Sophia blinked, and then shook her head, her eyes full of determination… to find her sister, to find the power she needed to survive, to not waste away or hide in fear.

"I'm in. I'll try it."

"Good! Get ready right now, then!" He returned, his eyes flashing,

"Let's jump to it!" Without hesitating, Micheal threw open the door to the outside. Almost immediately, several Morenkai that had been shambling by paused, their heads swiveling ominously.

"Welcome to the party, friends!"

.. .. .. .. .. ..

A short amount of time later, Micheal and Sophia found themselves standing atop the skyscraper they had just been at the base of.

They had run into a minor mishap, but nothing serious. Right after Micheal threw the door open, a solid half dozen Morenkai had rushed in. Micheal had backpedaled, ready to throw out any of his three Life Orbs at the drop of a hat. The Orb he'd lost when he'd regenerated, after the battle with the large group of Morenkai, had been reformed while he slept last night.

Sophia had come through, activating her Fairy Eyes. Micheal wanted to see a good look at her using her Ability, so as he fell back, avoiding interacting directly with the Morenkai.

A pinkish hue seemed to color the air around his new somewhat square-chinned ally. Sophia's eyes flashed with cool light and the air around her dropped to several degrees colder.

At the same time, almost all of the charging Morenkai had frozen up.

One of them hadn't, however, and continued to lumber forward.

"I can only affect 5 beings right now with my illusions! You'll need to handle the last one!" Her voice was strained as she spoke, as if concentrating.

"Oh, my bad." In his mind, Micheal still pictured her as the S Rank Demon Fairy. Right now, she was still in the midst of her growth, nowhere near as powerful.

As he thought that, a twinge of worry filled him.

'Did I treat Shin the same way? Did I give him too much to handle?' His brother in arms was a fighter that had stuck by him through thick and thin, it hadn't fully occurred to him that he would need to regain all that experience.

"Hup!" He put the thought aside for now and leapt forward with his blade and made short work of the Morenkai, smoothly cutting its legs out from under it and then stabbing its head, killing it. His movements were more graceful than before, his body able to handle more stress thanks to the increase in strength.

Sophia witnessed all of this as she glanced off to the side, while still keeping her Fairy Eyes Ability targeted on the 5 other Morenkai. When she saw the precision and ease that Michael dispatched the Morenkai with, as well as how easily he sliced it apart, her eyes widened with shock.

"Alright! Handled it! Now, let's send 'em off!" Micheal turned around after wiping his blade, giving her a nod.

Sophia nodded back and focused on her Ability. Gradually, she manipulated the illusion worlds these Morenkai were seeing. Since she didn't know exactly how the Morenkai interpreted the feeling of other Morenkai, she used her Fairy Eyes to change what they saw vaguely.

The instinctive minds of the Morenkai did the rest as they fell into the trap.

In only a few short moments, all five of the Morenkai left. In their minds, they now believed the special wavelengths they were tracking would lead them to prey, to humans, and not to special Morenkai.

And now, back atop the skyscraper, Micheal looked out over the edge.

"Which way are they moving? Do you still have a solid reading on them?" He queried.

"Yes." Sophia returned,

"I can hold them like this for at least 30-40 minutes. I can sense that three of the five are trying to move to a location that is too far. The other two, however, are moving to different spots that are somewhat nearby." Her eyes glowed faintly as she spoke, still active.

"Excellent! Cut the 3 that are too far lose, and focus on the nearby pair. Pick one and lead us towards it!" Micheal felt a tinge of excitement filled him.

Sophia paused for a moment, looking around. She raised her hand and closed her eyes in concentration.

"That way." She pointed off to the right, towards a rickety rope bridge that connected to another skyscraper.

"It's moving in that direction."

Micheal smiled, starting to jog towards the bridge.

"After it!"

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