Descendants of Gibbous
Chapter 43: Overdrive

Chapter 43: Overdrive

’Why does it have to be this pose of all positions?’ Damien groaned, trying to force his aura out like the shadow had told him.

His feet were placed a meter apart, and his body bent in what he now called the toilet position. The shadow was still standing before him, his fiery aura sending powerful radiance around the vast blackness. Even the black waters glistening on the ground were spacing away from the immense energy. Damien could feel the waves splashing violently into his shoes.

"Any second now and you’re going to die. I’m sure you can already feel your body declining, so try forcing the aura out a bit more quickly please," the shadow warned.

"Dude! I can feel poop almost poking out my butthole and you’re telling me it’s still not enough?"

"Hmm."

’Fucking idiot.’

"I can hear your thoughts you know."

"Shut up and let me concentrate!" Damien hissed back, closing his eyes.

The shadow had told him to focus on his flow state and once it was in full operation, he had to imagine the aura in his body coming out of his skin’s pores. So far, the only thing he was able to do was the flow state—the second stage was tough.

Super tough.

Every time he tried to imagine his aura seeping out of his skin and forcing it out, only his poop and a few farts escaped. The aura remained inside, flowing freely unlike what it had done a while ago after Brandon hit the hell out of him.

SPLASH!

A sudden wave of water hit Damien, soaking his clothes as he opened his eyes, losing focus in an instant. The water surrounding him was now restless, and it wasn’t because of his shadow’s aura anymore.

"It’s a countdown of seconds now," the shadow warned again.

"I’m trying damnit!" Damien retorted returning to focusing on his aura.

But before he had even started on his flow state, the shadow gripped the collar of his suit and pulled him from the ground, seething. Despite them being the same height, muscle, and strength, he was able to carry Damien off the ground with one hand nonetheless.

"Next time you come back in here, I won’t be here to guide you. You’re either going to save yourself or die trying, so make sure you change."

"What—"

WHOOSH!

The shadow vaporized before Damien could finish speaking, leaving the boy to flop mercilessly on the ground. Luckily, the water body had increased, assisting with his landing, however, it was now knee height. The once silent atramentous space had now come to life with the loud ragging waves—something that alarmed Damien of his quick approaching death.

He flicked his eyes around, trying to locate the shadow—but it wasn’t anywhere to be found.

At least not on the ground.

A loud whooshing sound from above reached Damien’s ears and when he raised his head to look at the source, the swirling shadow was already near.

"Change your half-assed resolutions," were its last words before it smacked right into Damien’s chest.

He lost balance and fell into the black waters that drowned him in an instant. But the boy didn’t fight for his life.

He didn’t have to.

Right when he closed his eyes, he felt it—the power surge happening around his body. It was the second stage of aura manipulation that the shadow had been trying to teach him all this while.

’So I ended up receiving help again, huh,’ Damien wondered bitterly, opening his eyes only to see that he was back in the stadium.

For some reason—everything was slow. So slow that Damien thought it’d take an entire day before Yong handed his team’s black shirt to the grinning Vestin.

’Is this what the commentator called Overdrive?’ Damien wondered, noticing the black aura surrounding his body—the same as his shadow had in his consciousness.

’Well, better put it to use before it fades away.’

With one dash of his foot, he made a clean sweep between Yong and Vestin, snatching his team’s shirt from the betrayer and putting it on the next second.

Then as if everything that had happened was waiting for him to reach this moment, everything suddenly returned to normal. The noise from the crowd cheering from their seats filled his ears once again, the air brushed past his skin, and the fighting students around him began moving at proper speeds.

Everything was back to normal—except his aura.

It was still swirling around him, raging on like wildfire. Damien knew he couldn’t control it even if he tried to, so he just let it dance around him—a trait he soon noticed made the other students back away from him.

"How did you..." Yong trailed off, pointing at the shirt Damien was wearing.

Eden and Ambrose were also looking at their teammate with dumbfounded looks in their eyes. No one had noticed Damien move, better yet, take the shirt and wear it. It only came as a whoosh of strong wind between them and suddenly, he had the upper hand.

Even Vestin and his minions looked shocked. They hadn’t expected the human boy to be so powerful enough to rival them.

’So he’s the one wearing their shirt,’ Damien thought, finally able to see through Vestins green robe.

Even though everything was back to normal, Damien was still able to see things more clearly and slowly whenever he focused on them.

’I’m sure these guys are the only ones who haven’t been tagged throughout this selection process, not to mention how they’ve probably stacked points from eliminating other teams. Trying to tag them out will only waste my time. Besides, I don’t know how long this power will last," he mulled in his head, glancing at his enemy.

’I’ll tag the other teams out but first, I need to deal with the blonde before the selection process en—’

"Hey Numen, are you going to make a move or should I?" Vestin suddenly cut Damien’s thought process, earning himself a rather frightening glare from Damien.

The boy visibly flinched, slightly backing away.

’Good. It seems he’s scared of me as well. In that case...’

Damien didn’t waste time. With a measured angle, he lunged at the Prince and grabbed hold of his coat before yanking it forcefully.

RIP!

The sound made everyone watching widen their eyes and gasp as Damien tore Vestin’s coat in half.

"You son of a—"

Vestin raised his fist and aimed at Damien’s chest, but the boy flicked it to the side like it was nothing, his aura flaring when he returned his hand to the Prince’s face.

SMACK!

He hit the Prince with his back-fist, sending him staggering like a drunk man. Then as if to mock him, Damien jabbed Vestin’s chest five times, making him fall to the ground in a rather shameful manner like a toddler whilst he groaned.

’As I suspected. No buzzer to show they’ve been eliminated.’

Before the guy could collect himself and counterattack, Damien vanished from his presence and aimed for his main target.

Brandon.

In an instant, he flashed behind the unsuspecting blonde whose eyes were probably scanning around the grounds for him.

’Surprise, surprise mother fucker!’

Stealthily rooting one foot to the ground firmly, Damien twisted himself around, the flying foot’s heel aimed at Brandon’s jaw. But the blonde felt Damien’s presence from behind quickly, and he acted accordingly. Brandon ducked and flipped himself around just in time to see Damien flexing his leg after making a full 360-degree rotation that sent wind blowing in his face.

An icy chuckle came from Damien as he readied himself for a second attack.

’Of course, he can sense me. He’s in his overdrive state too.’

However, Damien could see the wince on his opponent’s face, and how the aura around him was getting weaker by the second.

’Oh, how the mighty have fallen.’

With a sudden burst of speed, Damien attacked. Brandon tried to escape a second time, but he was too late. Damien was focused on him. His movements were tedious, such that by the time Damien’s fist clashed with his jaw, he could see the saliva slowly escaping his mouth as tears welled in his eyes.

Brandon stumbled backward, landing amongst Damien’s teammates who flinched at the impact.

Before Damien could give him a payback punch, Brandon was knocked off Eden’s back by Ambrose, receiving a flip kick that sent him lurching in Damien’s direction.

’Damn, she’s ruthless,’ Damien smirked to himself, slamming his fist into Brandon’s belly—right by the liver.

"Ugh," the blonde wavered back in his sister’s direction, coughing out blood. But Ambrose didn’t give him a chance to recollect himself.

Damien winced when he heard what sounded like a bone cracking after Ambrose landed a flying kick right by her brother’s shoulder, sending him unnaturally kneeling to the ground as she stood triumphantly beside him.

’Guess I wasn’t the only one waiting to pummel into him,’ Damien noted, his flinch response suddenly kicking in.

He noticed the sudden flash coming from his right and stepped away, letting one of Vestin’s minions fly past him with his foot in the air.

’So they’ve decided to finally attack huh?’

A sudden soft impact bump came from behind Damien and he glanced at it, to see Ambrose glued by his side, fists pumped and ready for action.

"Thanks, I really needed those hits," she announced, focusing on the enemy.

"Aren’t you repelled by my aura?" Damien asked surprised she wasn’t wincing.

"Mmm, just a little. I’ve handled worse. I can help you fight these guys off the shirt."

’Fast, tough, smart, and beautiful. What isn’t she capable of?’

Damien soon added powerful aura to the collection when he sensed her releasing it. It was massive, the kind Damien would have bowed to not too long ago.

’It’s stronger than her brother’s too.’

"You can do the overdrive thing?"

"You bet I can," Ambrose replied, fixating her eyes on the three boys surrounding her and Damien. She had left her brother in Eden’s hands. The princess was now sitting on him, pinning his hands and slapping his unconscious body out of spite.

"Let’s make this quick. I have to tag some teams out to gain us points—"

WHOOSH!

Damien glanced at the source of the wind that flashed past him and wasn’t surprised to see Yong standing back to back with him and Ambrose.

"Go. I’ll help her fight these guys," he announced, focusing on Vestin who was creeping closer to them now.

"And what makes you think I’ll trust you again?" Damien hissed.

"Well, clearly I was wrong about you guys being weak. You should’ve just shown me your talents from the beginning instead of waiting for such a pivotal moment to take action. I couldn’t watch you guys getting hurt anymore."

Damien paused. His reasoning made sense, but it still didn’t justify his betrayal.

"Okay, I’ll give you one more chance since I have the shirt now. Protect the girls and—"

"I don’t need anyone’s protection," Ambrose cut him.

"Right, protect Eden, and once we’re done with this battle, we’ll determine your punishment for betraying the team—"

"I’ll make you pay for humiliating me!" Vestin suddenly shouted much to Damien’s annoyance.

’Can I finish my speech in peace for once?!’

"Go. I can handle him," Yong told Damien.

The look in his eyes was enough to tell Damien that he was serious. Besides, even if he wasn’t, Damien had the shirt now.

"Alright, we’ll punish you later, dragon boy."

Having said his last words, Damien took off in the ragging battle’s direction, grabbing one of Vestin’s team members by the neck as he passed by him before slamming his head into the ground.

’Can’t be too safe right?’

Turning his attention to the fighting students, Damien immediately marked the black shirts he wanted to tag out—thirty in total.

’1200 points, here I come.’