Chương 20: Apex Awakening.

My body is in really bad shape. I can't take any more of his hits. HEALTH POINTS: 572/1800 One more hit from him and I could die. I tried to stand, but my body refused to co-operate. He was three metres away — Just three metres. Come on, think… The Apex Predator skill… I can use that, but I am not sure I can … He was here.

"You are dead." I don't have any other choice, I have to.

"Activate Apex persona." A flicker, The display appeared. UNIQUE SKILL: APEX PERSONA ACTIVATED. TIME REMAINING: 00: 02: 00 My heartbeat changed. THUMP — THUMP. Something inside me awakened. THUMP — THUMP. The very presence I was afraid of, it echoed in my ears. THUMP — THUMP. I felt it, this terrifying presence. It grew within me, I felt that same ominous aura surrounding my body. My eyes changed colors, I could see the ultraviolet light. Every other senses were heightened inside my body.

That presence came back like it had never left. Like it had just been waiting. … Drago stopped for a moment as he watched me transform. … His head tilted slightly towards left, eyes staring. He just stood there. Then he stepped forward.

"So, you can do magic… good." He swung his arm from the side and landed a hook. The punch came right at my face. It hit me, my head turned sideways with the impact. I hadn't realized what had just happened. Then I felt it inside of my jaw, in my teeth. For a moment I didn't move, the presence still grew heavier. I kept breathing heavily.

"But you are still weak." He said. Then I turned my head slowly, looking at him. The smugness on his face had stayed there. Like he was confident in his ability.

"No matter what you do… you can't break my reinforcement —" TIME REMAINING: 01: 56 Before he finished my fingers curled up, tightly. My fist came from behind my body, in an uppercut motion. A drive filled with rage, filled with emotions, carrying every bit of my strength to his gut. It connected. I felt my knuckles go deep inside his gut, I felt his muscles twisting on the surface of my fist. The impact hit harder. It lifted his body from the ground, in the air and sent him flying towards the tree behind him.

The tree cracked and snapped in half. … He sat up slowly.

"How?" He said quietly. Coughed blood in his mouth.

"How are you stronger than me? I have reinforcement magic. I am —" Before he could say anything else, my body just moved without thinking. I jumped high towards him. He looked up. As my legs were already about to kick his neck. He got his arms up — just in time. Blocked the attack with his hand. But it was not enough, the force of the kick dragged his body sideways across the ground. Three metres before he stopped. He sat up again and spat blood from his mouth.

"I am the mighty Drago, a girl like you, can never beat me!" He stood up, then rushed towards me to attack. His fist came right at me… Everything had slowed down for me at that moment. I saw his arms moving in my direction as it came closer, His fist reached near my face, I moved my head and dodged it. He started swinging his punches more frequently. I dodged those punches coming right at me one by one. Those swings were fast, too fast. Slicing through the air.

His guard was down, I jumped up, using his body as a step, his body stepped back a bit. Allowing space for my kick that went right across his neck. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. A step -up Enzuiguri kick which I learned in my training days. His body turned sideways and fell down a few metres away on his stomach and lay there for a few seconds. … I kept breathing heavily. Drago's mouth spilled blood.

He dragged his body across the ground moving away from me.

"Please… don't" My breathing got even faster, my heart started to beat louder. THUMP — THUMP. … The presence got heavier on me, I stopped for a second. THUMP — THUMP. My hands went over my face, covering it. Pain shooting inside my head and getting stronger each time. THUMP — THUMP. I screamed louder." NO!" Trying to fight that presence, trying to keep myself in control. Drago watched me standing there, he quickly stood up and began to run away.

Something else inside me grew stronger, seeing him run away awakened an instinct. Like a hunter hunts its prey. Like a killer Instinct. … Every fibre of my body screamed one thing, chase and hunt. Before I could think, my body moved on its own. I ran towards his direction. He was fast, already ahead of me. My legs suddenly took long steps as I ran, faster approaching him. He kept running as fast as he could.

"Nooo… go away." But nothing bothered me, I just wanted to chase him. That feeling of hunting just got even more exciting as I got closer to him. He was only a few feet away from me. … I jumped as high as I could. My arms stretched and my hands felt like claws which were about to rip his body. My legs landed on his back, he fell on his stomach. Something came over me and my hands started scratching over his body. Like a predator ripping the flesh of its prey. Fingers clawing into the surface of the skin.

Nothing, It felt like my fingers were clawing into a body which was made of iron. The apex strength couldn't break his reinforcement magic, The more I scratched the harder it became. Like his magic was creating a reinforcement layer on top of each other. Making it stronger. No damage, no blood, just scratches on the surface. At that moment, I realised… I was losing my control over my own body. The presence has grown much stronger, I could feel it trying to take my consciousness. I stepped away from him.

Both hands went over my head.

"Nooo!" The presence pushed harder, it didn't care about my emotions, it didn't care about damage causing my body. It only wanted to burst out of me, to take control over me. … ARGHH Its presence only got stronger and stronger, felt like I would completely lose myself in any second now. Then, a voice echoed in my head. It was her. Fight it, Nova. That voice called me, it recognised me, it reminded me who I was in that moment. Iris… is that you. … Fight it! Nova. Her voice echoed inside my brain.

I knew she was not here with me and my mind was playing some kind of trick but her voice was what I wanted to hear. It brought me hope, a hope that I might survive this. Her voice built up courage inside me.

"I won't… Let you." My scream got louder. Trying to fight back that presence. The voices screamed inside my head, like some kind of devil possessing me and trying to squeeze me, that overwhelming presence fought against me as hard as it could, but I didn't back down.

"GET… AWAYYY FROM MEEE!!!" The voice howled inside my brain. Slowly, the presence started to fade away, it became lighter and lighter. And disappeared as my consciousness took over. I somehow managed to calm myself and took full control over that apex state. My head turned towards him, eyes staring at him.

"Please don't…." Drago said.

"I'll do whatever you say." His voice, I was able to hear clearly in my head. I walked closer to him.

"Don't come closer." He moved back. …

"Please… just… stop." He shouted.

"SHUT… UP!" He still kept moving back.

"You made them serve you all those years." I stood near him.

"Did you stop then?" I lifted him by his leg and swung him sideways towards another tree. Something rose in my chest that was not apex. Their faces, the last time I saw my father's face and then my mother's. The people who took them from me. He was the same, exactly the same.

"You made them your slaves, separated them from their families."

"Did you think for a second… how did they feel." I started walking towards him.

"You crushed everything inside them, their hopes, their dreams, their happiness. Everything!"

"I HATE… PEOPLE LIKE YOU!" My voice slowed down and deepened. Those feelings buried deep inside me, just blurted out of my mouth. Every emotions were heightened at that moment. He sat up.

"No… Please… No more." …

"I'll free them, and leave… just spare my life." I walked closer to him and stood near him. Fist clenched harder.

"I'll… I'll even serve you." He said. A flicker The display appeared. TIME REMAINING: 00: 10 The time had distracted me, it was counting down only ten seconds left. Apex state takes four hours of cooldown., not enough time. If he were to attack me after the apex state, I could die. I had to make sure he was injured, so he doesn't attack again. I had to activate the fracture point again, maybe in this state where all my emotions were heightened, my vision was better, maybe this was how I could find his weakness.

"Activate fracture point" I said. The display changed. WEAKNESS IDENTIFIED: NOSE It never occurred to me, but it made sense, he had a scar on his nose that was his weakness. But he was already bleeding, If I hit him there, he will die for sure. TIME REMAINING: 00: 07 I can't do that, I am not a killer. 00: 06 I can't kill… A person. 00: 05 But if I don't, he will… Kill me. Then he'll kill Oren and his family and all the other sixty one men. 00: 04 I have to do it. My fist clenched tighter. 00: 03 I have to…

00: 02 I tried to convince myself that I could do it but it was not in me. To take someone's life. 00: 01 The countdown came to an end. 00: 00 COOLDOWN: 04: 00: 00 The apex predator has finally worn off me, I felt its presence getting fainter by each second. My vision started coming back to me; it was blurry, legs stumbled as I stepped backwards. I felt pain shooting across my body, I had survived it for two whole minutes.

Last time it was one minute and it was bearable, but two minutes was too much for me to handle. My heart rate stabilized. But my head still hurt from inside, the exhaustion made my body drop to the ground. My legs had given out on me, I kept taking deep breaths. Drago watched me fall… He didn't speak for a few seconds.

"So you ran out of your magic." His voice changed. He laughed.

"You should've killed me, when you had your chance."

"Now you're going to die." The moment he felt the upper hand he returned to his true colors, everything about him changed. The 'please' was gone. Just him again in his true nature. He tried to get up but couldn't. When I attacked his leg, it must have cracked something underneath his muscle, despite him having his reinforcement magic the impact must have weakened. … A footsteps approached in my direction, not running but slowly walking towards me. Maybe it was more of Drago's men.

My body was in bad shape, and I couldn't fight any more of his men.

"You hear that…" Drago chuckled.

"Even if I can't get up. My men will kill you."

"It's not over." He chuckled, his hands stayed on his stomach, pressing it.

"It's never going to be over. And there is nothing you can do about it." The footsteps got closer and the figure appeared. It was Oren. He looked at me then Drago, while holding the flare gun in both hands, like when someone cups water in both of their hands. He was still afraid to hold it, I understood he was bringing the flare gun back to me, to help me. But if he stayed there, Drago's men could find him and kill him.

"Oren… get away from here." I shouted. His eyes stared at Drago for a while.

"Oren… Kill her, and I'll let you live. I'll even forget the fact that you had betrayed me." Oren listened to his words carefully, then looked at me. His lips started quivering, and eyes closed. As he held the gun pointing towards me and Drago. We were both in the same direction. His hands started trembling. I knew he was not thinking properly, and the weight was getting heavier inside him.

"Oren, don't do it… just drop it down on the ground." His hands still shook and eyes filled with tears.

"Please, listen to me Oren." His hand started getting lower but then it stopped.

"Kill her, and you can go live with your family." Drago said. I saw his eyes widened with shock. Like he wanted to hear those exact words from his mouth.

"Don't listen to him, Oren." I said.

"Just drop it down. Okay…" His eyes looked at me, filled with tears.

"No." His voice cracked.

"No."

"I can save them…" He said.

"I have magic in my hands." He moved forward.

"Oren, listen to me." I shouted. Before I say anything else. He pressed the trigger. BANG!