[Absorb Energy?]
Thinking it through, Steve saw no reason to say no. His body felt like it could handle it now... right?
[Energy absorbed]
"200/100?" Steve thought, his mind reeling. "What the hell? It's like the energy is here, but my body can't process it."
With that, the crystal dulled in his hands, surprising everyone around him. Aniyah was the first to break the stunned silence.
"That's a rank three crystal," she muttered, staring at him in disbelief. "It should've taken you a while to absorb it. But you... you did it instantly."
While the team remained dumbfounded, Aniyah cut off the scorpion's stingers, placing them into a container large enough to hold them.
"Alright, let's head back," she said, her voice steady despite the shock of what had just happened. The group made their way to the car, but as they drove back, Steve's mind kept turning over the strange events of the day.
He couldn't help but ask. "That thing you guys did back there—how did you do it? Those... 'Abilities'?"
"Hmm," Danso pondered, glancing at Steve, "Seems like your memory loss is so severe that you've forgotten something that's basically second nature."
Zuri added, sounding almost like the expert in the room, "It's the manipulation of energy, Steve."
"Energy?" Steve repeated. Something about the word sounded familiar—he'd felt it when he absorbed the crystal, and it seemed connected to that strange purple ball he'd seen earlier.
"Yeah, energy. It's one of the mysteries of life," Zuri continued. "It can be used in many ways, but we mainly use it to activate our abilities."
Steve let the information sink in, but the questions kept mounting in his mind.
---
"Did you hear about him?"
"Yeah, they say he's sick—mental problems. Apparently, he beats up people for no reason, leaves them bloody."
"Shut up! He might hear you!"
"I heard he watched his whole class die once... anyone would go crazy after that."
"Freakishly strong for a normal human being, and he's only about 13."
"Whoa, really? He Is that young?"
"Well, yes, he is the son of an enerion, so he is probably one."
Everywhere Steve walked, whispers followed. Some called him a monster, some pitied him—but it always stung, no matter how often he heard it.
"I asked my dad to train me after that," Steve muttered under his breath. "Now I can take on a low-rank hunter without even being one myself. They think I'm crazy, but I just beat up people who annoy me."
His dad had been a hunter, but that wasn't Steve's goal. He was going to become the best hunter on the planet—maybe then people would stop annoying him.
---
Then, a shift. The moment of clarity.
We have information about Mr. Amari. He died in action against a rank 7 beast.
"My dad... is dead?" Steve thought, his mind racing.
"Which beast?"
"A flame attribute one. We're still looking for it."
It's a flame beast... the same one? Steve didn't know why, but something about the phrasing irritated him. Still searching for it, they said. As if they would actually care after a week passed.
---
His thoughts turned inward, thoughts of his mother—the only person in the world who loved him, despite everything. He'd never had friends, not really. His dad was gone. And his mother, she was everything.
She'd taught him, corrected him, and made him a better person. She never hated, even after his father's death. She cried, sure, but she never once showed anger or resentment.
"Neto, no matter how angry you are, never kill a human being. A life is precious. Do what you can to protect people."
"But some people don't need protection. They're stains in our world. If I kill them, the world will be better."
"My child, you think incorrectly. All life is precious, whether good or bad. It doesn't matter what they do. Killing them will not help. If you can correct them, you do so."
"Ahh, whatever you say, mum."
"And stop beating other children up. I'll flog you if you injure someone else again. Your dad didn't train you to beat up children your age."
"Yes, yes, whatever you say, mum."
Neto never won an argument against his mother, but he never lost one either. She was the only one who could break through his insanity.
---
But then, one moment shattered his world.
He'd just returned home, holding his mother's favourite snacks, ready to surprise her. Instead, the scene before him was something out of a nightmare. His mother's body, bloody ,almost lifeless, was held by one of two men. One man gripped her by the neck, lifting her off the ground, while the other stood by, cold and uncaring.
"M...mum?"
"I'm sorry I couldn't stay with you longer," she whispered, blood dripping from her mouth, smiling through the pain. "I... I couldn't save you, but maybe... maybe you can save others."
Steve's world collapsed around him, but it was the words of the men that made everything snap.
"What a waste of our talent. We were told to kill this useless waste. What a waste of time."
My mother is a waste?
Huh?
HUH??
waste ... waste .. WASTE...WASTE?
My mother is a waste.....
My mother is a waste?
MY MOTHER IS A WASTE?????
The words repeated over and over in my head, each one burning into my mind like a brand.
I could feel my blood beginning to boil, heat surging through me, hotter than anything I'd ever felt before.
My body trembled, and my vision blurred. Everything I'd known-the lessons my mother taught me, the love she had given me--was crumbling.
In that instant, it all shattered, like glass crashing against the floor.
The world around me started to fade. My thoughts began to spiral. There was no room for reason, no space for anything but the dark, gnawing rage growing within me. And then...
Ahh, I understand now.
The word echoed in my mind. A cold, cruel whisper, pulling me into a deeper darkness
Mum, you were wrong. Some people don't need saving.
_KILL_
The anger welled up inside me, hotter and fiercer than ever before The rage, the frustration--it consumed me.
I felt it pushing through my veins, filling me with a power I didn't understand.
I didn't care.
I didn't want to.
That's it.
Some people need to burn in the deepest, darkest parts of hell.
_KILL_
I could feel it all.
The overwhelming urge to rip, to destroy, to obliterate these men-these....these animals who had taken my mother from me - deserved nothing less than annihilation,
_KILL_
The thought of my mother's smiling face, blood dripping from her lips, her last words echoing in my ears.
And new ones filling it.
_KILL_
"Is that his son ? Should we kill him."
"No, it's not needed."
_Come on, we know you want it.-
I looked through the shadows, pulling me into insanity and smiling they we were on the same track for once.
"Is that so ? My mother is a waste, huh? I'LL KILL YOU, "
A smile spread across my face, twisted and broken.
With a ferocity that even I didn't recognize, I took control of that rage, no longer fighting it.
I ripped their bodies apart with so much as my bare hands
My smile widened as I killed my fellow humans , ripping their body skin and bones alike .
Laughter filled the air, my own, as the world around me crumbled.
Blood dripping around me,body parts scattered around me .
I sat in the centre of my damage with my mum's body in my arms ,my body drenched in blood not belonging to me .
"See, mum ,I did it .They are dead ,they won't harm you anymore, mum."
His blood boiled. The world went silent, the only sound his heartbeat pounding in his ears.
---
A loud knocking interrupted the silence.
"THIS IS THE A.E.D., OPEN UP!"
"Mum, should I answer them?" Steve murmured, his voice unnaturally calm.
A bulky man broke through the door, his eyes widening in shock at the scene.
"I'm in ,Where are y- HOLY FUCK "
"What's wrong captain,did you see the ki- shit.
Did a Beast do this?,Why wasn't there any alarms ."
"I don't think any beast was here ,look at that kid."
"Wait ,sir you don't think....."
"Exactly,he did this ."
"No fucking way."
What ,are you guys scared?
"Mum ,these guys annoy me. Can I kill them?....Okay, mum, I won't kill them ."
"Shit, Ummm kid, we need to take you out of here. Can we take that body away from you ?"
"Terrible liar .
This is my mum ,If anything hurts her, I'll kill you ."
"Of course."
' I'm a D rank hunter, and this kid freaks the flipping shit out of me .He looks like he could kill me at any moment
He's probably an enerion.'
"Let get to the head quarters,"
These guys are terrible at lying,they want to arrest me .
But as long as nothing harms my mum's body, I won't kill anybody.
"We have found the kid ,and he's the same one in that incident.
....Opposite actually he's the cause this time,i guess he snapped."The bulky man said over his phone.
---
Was that a vision?
A memory? whose ? mine ?
Was that me?
A deranged 13 yr old?
No way.
If so, that means my name is Neto.
In the midst of the chaos, the fragments of Steve's memory began to fall into place, and then—
[Quest obtained: Absorb rank 5 crystals to regain all memories and cure body]
[Change name to Neto? Y/N]