Chapter 31: Chapter 31
10 minutes earlier, in a small room in an abandoned house, two people were sitting across the coffee table.
"How long are you going to make us wait here?" Dr. Delein asked
"Be patient. Those two will start their mission anytime now, and that will be our cue to leave," the man sitting across from him replied.
"So you plan to ensue chaos in this peaceful country, killing innocents in order to create a distraction so that we can leave comfortably?" Dr. Delein asked sarcastically.
"Why? You have a problem with that? Has staying here made you weak? If that's the case, then I doubt you will be beneficial to us any longer." The man asked while laughing; however, Dr. Delein could tell that it was a threat.
"No. It isn't anything like that." Dr. Delein replied
"Good. I would hate to have all my hard work recovering you go down the drain and kill you just because you said something stupid."
Silence filled the room, and Dr. Delein felt as if time was moving incredibly slowly.
Just a few days ago, he was happily staying under the protective custody of Korea's Awakened Union, but then this man arrived. Bringing with him a reminder that he can't escape his past.
He didn't want to go back and work for his previous agency, yet the possibility of his disciple dying because of his mistake made him agree to this guy's demands.
-BOOM!!
At that moment, a huge explosion was heard. The building's debris flew everywhere, destroying even more buildings and killing more innocents.
And he got a VIP seat to witness this horror.
"Amazing! It seems that he is truly stronger than before." The man said that, and he was completely enjoying himself as he witnessed the sight.
"Alright. Let's go," he declared, and he stood up. "If we miss this window, all of this work will be wasted."
Just as they were leaving, his phone rang, and he picked up the call.
"This better be good," he said as he picked up the call.
"Sir. We have found Owen Knight."
A wide smile spread across his face.
"Good. This is amazing news! Beat him, and then bring him to me. But don't underestimate him. Even though he is young, he is still the most powerful rookie in the world." He said that and ended the call.
"What was that all about?" Dr. Delein asked him
"None of your business. Let's go," he said.
"The most powerful rookie? You must be talking about Owen Knight." Dr. Delein said
"You know of him?"
"I still keep track of the important events in the world." Dr. Delein said, "I also know that he is in Korea right now. What are you going to do with someone of his status?"
"Didn't I say it was none of your business? Or are you somehow connected to him?" he asked in a threatening tone.
"No. I was just curious."
"Hmph. Let's go now. We have wasted enough time." He said that, and the two of them left.
***
I looked over at the sight of the blast with wide eyes.
Something like this shouldn't happen. This will risk the information about the existence of the awakened ones getting leaked to the public.
If the 'Spatial Isolation' isn't casted immediately, then more people will witness that man using his powers.
I suddenly felt the air turn chilly, and an ice wall blocked my path as I was making my way towards the blast site.
I stopped and hopped backwards to dodge any other attack coming from the ice wall. After all, it's a common method used by the awakened ones who have ice as their power.
And I was right. The surface of the ice wall morphed, and a dozen or two ice daggers flew towards me.
I dodged all of them and arrived behind the enemy's back instantly by using Soru.
He was wearing a long black trench coat and had a buzz cut.
I was about to land a punch on the back of his head and knock him unconscious, but sensing another attack coming my way, I used Soru right after using Skywalk and managed to avoid the attack mid-air and then landed on top of a nearby building.
I focused on my surroundings closely and sensed that there were at least 20 people all around me blocking my escape routes.
There were a total of eight people on top of the six buildings surrounding this one: two in front of me, who launched the assault; four of them were below me in this building only; and the rest of them were scattered around the field away from me, blocking my escape routes in case I tried to escape.
All of them wore the same attire. So they were from one organisation, that's for sure. And there is only one organisation in Korea that uses the powers of ice, and that is the Korean Union.
But why the hell are they attacking me?
"What does the Union want from me?" I asked
It wasn't an important question, but I wanted to confirm my suspicion. If they could give a coherent answer, then some huge misunderstanding is at play here. And if they can't, then they are under someone else's control.
I already know that they are under someone else's control since they didn't deploy "spatial "isolation" before attacking me, and that is in clear violation of an awakened Union's rules regardless of which country, but it is still better to confirm.
In regard to my question, the person who attacked me just kept staring at me without saying anything. He looked down and nodded his head.
And just as he did that, the entire roof of the building I was standing on collapsed, and in it's place, a huge structure of ice with pointy ends was erected.
I had already sensed the attack, but I didn't know it would be at this scale. It seems like the people below me pooled their power together to launch this attack.
I couldn't let the public see this. So, despite this being a very good opportunity to launch a counter, I covered my fists in Haki and punched at the entire structure before it could form completely, destroying it.
I looked at the blast site while I was still in mid-air and sensed that Jiwoo had arrived there to fight the man responsible for that.
I have heard about him from others that he is very powerful and all, but I can't trust that. From what I have seen, he doesn't even have enough energy to enter the WAA.
I needed to end this quick and then go there to fight that guy if need be.
'Looks like I have no other choice.'
I gathered up my energy and released it into my surroundings, covering a small area, just enough to trap the 14 people around me.
This was my 'Spatial Isolation'.
I was taught this by my grandpa in case of emergencies, but I don't like to use it. I don't have enough control over it yet, and it consumes 50% of my energy to deploy even this small one.
Not to mention, it isn't even stable enough to have a long fight.
Five minutes is my limit.
But I suppose that is enough for now.
I used my speed and Haki to punch and destroy the building that was in front of me.
The guy on top of that building jumped away after losing his footing, and the attention of everyone present there switched to him in order to attack me if I tried to go and attack this guy. The very same tactic they used before.
I, in turn, destroyed another building the same way, making a different guy lose his footing.
I continued to do this for the other four buildings.
My plan was to create chaos, make a smoke screen of a kind, and attack all of them one by one after their formation breaks.
After doing this, I made 'myself' known as I emerged from the smoke covering the area, making all of them focus on me.
This is the reason why I love speed. After getting fast enough, creating believable speed mirages is a child's play.
I attacked the person who was completely isolated from the rest of the group and knocked him unconscious.
These guys only have their number and teamwork going on for them.
They are pathetically weak individually. I guess the rumours about Korea having very weak awakeners aren't completely false either.
It's more like there are a couple of amazingly strong people among the weak ones.
Anyway, I sensed six more people entering my spatial isolation; they were probably the ones keeping my escape routes in check but decided to fight me up front after I deployed the spatial isolation.
They might be possessed, but it seems that their fighting abilities aren't hindered that much.
Though that wasn't a smart decision on their part, more chaos makes it easier for me to defeat them.
***
[General POV]
Two minutes later, inside Owen's spatial isolation, the entire area was laid to waste. Not one building or structure survived.
It looked as if the city had been hit by a massive earthquake.
Everything was destroyed, and in the centre of it was Owen, standing in leisure while looking at a member of the Korean Union on his knees, wheezing and coughing uncontrollably.
The rest of those who attacked him were laying bleeding and unconscious all around the battlefield.
"Do you remember anything before you were hypnotised?" Owen asked
However, the person in question still couldn't answer.
This was the very person who first attacked Owen and continued to pass on orders during the fight.
Owen went especially hard on this guy and beat him up a lot.
It took him a few more seconds to properly answer the question. He said, "There was a guy with green hair. He was with Dr. Delein, and when we confronted him, he looked at us directly in the eyes, and after that, we were in his control."
Owen had an amused look on his face when he heard that, but the man continued saying, "I do not know the exact reason, but he wanted us to kidnap you. It is just my guess, but he seemed to have some sort of connection to your mother."
After he heard that, Owen frowned and tried to remember who it could have been.
He made sure to know about all of his parent's enemies. After all, it wouldn't be surprising for them to go after him in order to get back at them, and in case that happened, he wanted to be prepared.
And Owen realised who it was instantly.
It was Albert Stokes.
He was the man his mother defeated in the past, and it looks like he had come here for revenge.
He hasn't been active in recent years, and he isn't a high-ranking awakened one either, just barely qualifying to be in the top 200, but he is still considered a threat due to his ability.
"Pfftt" Owen tried to control his laugh and asked the man in front of him with a serious expression.
"Did he mention where he was going?" Owen asked
"I am sorry. But I shouldn't tell an outsider this information. I will report it to my superiors, and proper procedure will take place."
"Are you fucking kidding me right now? Your 'Oh, so powerful' union members are lying on the ground, defeated by a 17-year-old. Do you really expect me to trust you guys to be able to produce any results at all? Besides, I do not think that I am an 'outsider' if my mom is so deeply involved in this matter. So answer me now."
"I...I can't!"
"Don't make me torture information out of you." Owen said this with his eyes narrowed and bloodlust flowing out of his body.
The man in front of him felt scared as he looked at Owen's striking blue eyes. The eyes, which were normally so serene, were raging. The more he looked at them, the more he felt that Owen would explode at any moment now.
"H-He.....He was planning to leave the country along with Dr. Delein through one of the ports, but he didn't mention which one."
"Alright." Owen said this and walked away, disabling his spatial isolation.
As soon as he did that, the surrounding buildings and infrastructure that had been destroyed went back to the way they were.
Owen then looked at the area that was blasted and noticed a 'barrier' surrounding it. He judged it to be the spatial isolation deployed by some members of the Union.
He disappeared from his place immediately and entered the area in order to see Jiwoo's condition and fight alongside him.
He also determined that Jisuk and others might have also engaged the enemy in order to help Jiwoo so he rushed there and hoped he would make it in time before something happens to them.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone