86 Bounty Hunters

"W-What is happening?" Courtney panicked. She inched closer towards Daniel. It was a given since she was a nascent wielder. "Who are these guys?"

"Don't worry." Daniel's right iris became gray, with his left turning into amber. He smiled. "What's up guys? Do you really want to mess with us bud?"

"What did you say 'bud?'" The muscular man who called out his full name glowered at Daniel and spoke. His glowering turned into a sneer, "You're surrounded by some of my finest men and you dare say that?"

Daniel coughed. He never was good at intimidating people. Daniel has always been boggled as to how Hayden can release something such as 'killing intent.' For all he knew, killing intent was a 'fictional thing.' Who would expect that killing intent actually exists.

Or maybe it didn't, Hayden was simply naturally intimidating. Who truly knows? Nobody. The answer's nobody. That guy seldom smiles, with the exclusion of being in front of the camera. Outside of that, if he did smile, it's usually cold, aloof, or menacing.

'In fact, I don't think I ever heard him laugh the past six months…' Daniel had the time to think of Hayden while they're in this quagmire. 'Well, I've seen him laugh, but not in the presence of anybody… Only on camera...'

Shrugging this off, Daniel gathered air above him. Simultaneously, he summoned his organic matter armor. The man wasn't surprised of this development, "So you're also a wielder, huh? I guess that's why they put a bounty on you."

"Bounty?" Behind the gap for the eyes on the organic armor, Daniel's eyes narrowed. "Someone put a bounty on me?"

"That doesn't matter now, does it?" The man raised his hands. "Because you're going to die right here, right now."

A gigantic one edged blade with a freakish width materialized in his eyes. Lined along the middle of the blade were runic patterns that glowed blue. Upon closer inspection, one will be able to deduce it as Baybayin, the olden Filipino script.

Daniel didn't study Baybayin in the past, hence he didn't understand it. However, one thing was for sure, the blade was sharp. In addition, it projected absolute might and regality.

"That is one beautiful girl tagging with you." The guy's grin deeply unsettled the two. It was clear that he has been in many fights. "Men, spare the girl. Tie her up. Once I'm done with her, it's going to be your turn."

Courtney convulsed. She has never been in a fight before, therefore not comprehending how to act. In fact, most people in the world, including those in the Defense Force, has never been in a real fight before. Or at least those in the new generation.

With the world entering an era of absolute peace. Disputes between countries has grown to be overrated. Disputes between humans were easily settled with simple talk. It was all too peaceful. Of course, this didn't include those in the underworld.

…..

Without giving them a chance to move, Daniel slammed down the air he gathered above. The unforeseen change of air pressure brought the people to their knees… Or rather, to their faces, falling with a splat.

"How powerful." The man with a huge sword was unaffected. "I guess it will be a much better challenge going after you than that celebrity kid."

"Him?" Daniel couldn't contain his laughter. "That guy is much, much more powerful than me. Do you really think you can beat him?"

"Are you mocking me kid?" The man was infuriated of Daniel's words. He pointed the buster sword towards Daniel. "Don't belittle me."

Daniel shook his head. He muttered, "Courtney, you go and defend yourself. I'll be preoccupied with him. I can't protect you at all. You can do it, he's the sole wielder of the group. They're all regular humans. Use your head."

"Uh…" Before Courtney could refuse, Daniel ran off towards the wielder. The air pressure was lifted off the men. They all started to recover, rubbing their bodies from the pain.

As a result, Courtney ran away, taking the chance to not be encircled by the people sprawled on the floor. When she took five steps, a man was already in front of her.

Panic pervaded her heart. In her panic, she attempted to render herself invisible utilizing Spectral Fantasy. This caused all the men to scratch their heads in confusion.

'That worked?" Courtney wasn't able to move, rigidifying in her position. She didn't dare speak her thoughts aloud in fear of being discovered.

With the people looking around with an oblivious expression, she regained her composure soon enough. A grin appeared on her face, 'Let's try my Ability, shall we?'

She closed her eyes and willed to materialize ten illusion Courtneys around her. All the Courtneys have knives that possessed an edge that has atomic-thickness. In addition, she made it so that they were intangible, yet they can make contact with anything.

She commanded the Courtneys to attack people. The hooligans were frozen in their places. Some rubbed their eyes to see if they were dreaming.

Consequently, the ten mirages approached ten people with ease. In chorus, the ten mirages stabbed the men in front of them, spraying blood everywhere. Courtney nearly threw up at the sight of blood.

What ensued next was a slugfest, blood slew and flew about in all directions. Every now and again, Courtney drew in a cold breath when a man was stabbed in the gut, was strangled by her illusions to the death, or when they were kicked in the nuts.

'I wonder if these are real…' Courtney rubbed her chin, ignoring the chaos that ensued from the rampage of her ten phantoms. She was too preoccupied to watch Daniel fighting with the boss.

…..

Rushing towards the boss, Daniel prompted to not test how sharp the buster blade at all. He did not have the desire to tempt fate at all. That's why he sidestepped when the sword sliced downwards.

When he arrived in punching length of the thug, he threw a palm strike at him with his right leg going forward. This palm strike produced a flinch from the man. He slid across the pavement slightly.

Without delaying, Daniel shifted his eyes into peach and indigo. The man cackled, "You're quite powerful for a kid!"

"And you're pretty weak for a man." Daniel scorned.

The man howled in anger. One more blade materialized in the man's hands. "Prepare to die, boy!"

The man dashed towards Daniel. Daniel didn't move at all and was calm. The thug jumped and sliced down both of his blades. Mid-air, he laughed, "Look at you, paralyzed in fear!"

When the blades were mere inches away from his face, Daniel looked forward and teleported. This attack caused a huge shockwave that cracked the pavement. Daniel withstood the aftershock and touched the man, converting his peach iris into indigo in the process.

He utilized both of his hands to make contact with the man's temples. The thug shivered, his eyes and mouth gaping wide as it froze over.

He made sure to not prolong the fight as he wasn't fond of leaving a neophyte wielder such as Courtney to fend off by herself against a horde of gangsters. The best way to do that was to kill the man.

Letting go, Daniel turned both of his irises into brown. He rapidly materialized a small shiv and an earthen glove. Driving the shiv into the man's heart, Daniel ripped his chest open and acquired the bloody Origin Crystal with his gloved hand.

He altered both eyes into red and burned the body into dust. When that finished, he forced the winds carry the ashes away up far away in the troposphere.

Storing the Origin Crystal into his Space Ring, Daniel focused his attention to Courtney. A shocking sight met his eyes, which was people slumped all around, covered in blood. Courtney was nowhere to be found.

He approached the crime scene with cautious eyes. He noticed that some of them glitched out irregularly. He called out, "Courtney? Where are you?"

"I'm here." Courtney actualized in front of him, startling him. Daniel took a step backward.

"Did you do all these?" Daniel was impressed of Courtney's fighting prowess. Or maybe illusions. He didn't know. "You'd be a great fighter."

"I don't think these are true…" Courtney deactivated her Ability. Her true form was shown to Daniel. She still donned her previous outfit, albeit a wee stuffed. "See, they're rising up."

Daniel was a bit repulsed of Courtney putting up a façade. Why did she have to do so? He did not voice this out, out of respect for Courtney. Moreover, there was a more pressing matter at hand.

Turning his head, he witnessed the people lying down realize that the pain has subsided and they can move again. They were delighted that they weren't dead.

"Leave." Daniel's voice boomed. He amplified his voice with the use of his air manipulation. "Don't ever come back or I'll kill you like I did to your boss."

All of them scuttled away. They were all scared of the pain that came along with their experience of death. From now on, Daniel was sure that they'd treasure life more than they previously did.

"Your illusions are powerful." Daniel said with clear astonishment. "To keep such a level head and do that much mental damage… You'd make a great fighter and a stealth-ops agent."

"Huh?" Courtney innocently asked. She returned to her illusion form. "What do you mean?"

"Come, let's take a taxi there." Daniel walked away. He was tailed by Courtney. The two made small talk on the way.

Along the ride to Liwayway Hotel was smooth-sailing, especially with Daniel's socialization skills. Just in case, Daniel remained cautious and looked around him from time to time

"Why are we in a hotel?" Courtney inquired.

"Don't worry." Daniel verbalized without emotion. "I can't precisely clarify as I'm not allowed to."

Courtney chose to trust Daniel for the meantime. If she had to choose to trust anybody, it would be someone who was at least studying in the same school she was in.

The following events were Daniel introducing Courtney to Anthony and her joining Puting Araw. Afterwards, Daniel went to find Scarlet.

"Hey, you." Scarlet and Daniel met at the cafeteria. Scarlet couldn't help her lips to move upward. She hugged Daniel on her own accord, dumbfounding the people around them. She pecked him on the lips.

"Oh." Daniel was similarly nonplussed by Scarlet's actions. Daniel kissed her forehead. "You're getting fairly physical."

A judder went down his spine. When he eyed his surroundings, Daniel perceived the hawk-like gazes of the men around him. He shrugged, "What?"

This shout from Daniel made them all retreat. They understood how powerful Daniel was from that incident at the Camp General Basilio Navarro. Like hell they'd want to offend him.

"Hey, uh, Hayden invited us to ride with him to the fansign event of CHORUS." The two sat on an available two-seater. "Are you… Comfortable with that?"

"Uh… Sure…" Scarlet gulped, her eyes wandering to the left. This didn't go unnoticed by Daniel. "Is he… Okay with that? I mean…"

"Yeah, he personally invited us." Daniel was worried that Scarlet wouldn't get along with Hayden. "Hey, uh… Look, Hayden's a good guy, he just… Doesn't grasp how to express it… Wait, no, that's wrong…"

Daniel rubbed his temples. He revised what he said, "Let me roll back. Look, Hayden's a good guy, he simply despises dealing with people. You have to wear him down and make him comfortable in your presence. I mean, even I get death threats occasionally. That's coming from his best friend."

"Correction. Only friend." Scarlet reflexively and nonchalantly said. She coughed at the realization of her own words. "Oh god…"

Daniel covered his mouth. A second passed and Daniel burst out with a belly laugh. "You… You mimicked the guy."

Scarlet reddened. "You don't have to worry about me and him. I mean, his words can be offensive, but I guess it makes sense. It's not like he's an arrogant idiot. Besides, I admit he is pretty cool."

"Exactly." Daniel nodded. "Has he ever treated you to a smoothie to this place without you asking?"

"Yeah, that's so weird…" Scarlet and Daniel's choice of topic was Hayden for the remainder of their time.

…..

A man and a woman dressed in standard guard's uniform rushed through the crowd. They had three robotic humanoid sentinels in tow. Their head was shaped in a fashion that had a semblance of knight's t-shaped helmet with blue glows from where the holes should be. Their sheening Shojin Steel exoskeletons had gaps that had blue light radiating from it were futuristic and daunting.

This was the standard-issue robotic sentinels designed for human apprehension. They can release electricity in their fingertips to act as tasers, can fire tranquilizing bullets from their wrists, and has storages for handcuffs. They were also equipped with state-of-the-art scanners that can scan identities from sight, scan when someone has a dangerous unlicensed weapon with them, and when someone gets aggressive.

You'd be surprised how far AI has come and how humanlike some AI can act nowadays. There were even some people who believe that a robot uprising may be possible in the near future. Many fears it.

Furthermore, they are incredibly strong, capable of lifting up to 200 kilograms with ease, run at 80 kilometers per hour, and is immune to short-circuiting when water comes into contact with them. The best thing was that they run on pure solar energy and biofuel.

This unit of humanoid-robot attracted much attention. Some people tagged on with them out of curiosity. Eventually, they arrived at the Itim na Bituin.

A bustling flock of nosey people and busybodies gathered all around, gossiping. Mainly about how Hayden saved them from a calamitous situation. They were all praises. Meanwhile, some of them nattered on how Hayden had a beautiful woman companion inside. Such is the fickle nature of humans.

The security shooed them away, going inside. The security was confounded when they saw Hayden casually conversing with someone as if nothing transpired at all.

"Dear security guards." The barista on the counter had a concerned voice. "That man pulled a gun on one of our customers."

The barista pointed onto the man on the floor. The male security guard queried, "Can I get security footage?"

"The cameras seemed to have malfunctioned." The barista was dejected. "I don't understand what happened, but there's no video footage from when the man pulled his gun out till the present."

The female security guard's eyes became slits. As for Hayden, he wondered if the psycho was part of that Concepcion Family and if that's how they disabled the cameras from Ayesha's house.

The male security guard nodded. There was no point in the barista lying, thus the guard took his words seriously. He approached Hayden and Ayesha. "Sir Hayden, I've received that you were the one who apprehended this man?"

Hayden affirmed with a singular nod. "Can we go? We have an important appointment to get to."

"Sure. But we'd have to contact you to get a personal statement of what occurred in this shop. Will that be okay?" The female was the one who verbalized this time.

"Of course." Hayden gave them his e-mail address. "Ayesha, let's go."

Ayesha stood up and fiddly walked behind Hayden. Exiting the Itim na Bituin, Hayden was addressed by applause from the crowd that was within Itim na Bituin with him. Hayden plainly acknowledged them and a few words of thanks or welcome with a bow prior to leaving them behind.

"W-where are we going?" Ayesha nervously asked.

"Someplace private." Hayden responded without anything else. Thereupon, he pulled out his phone and called Eun-ha.

"Gonjunim," Hayden greeted in Korean. "Are you back there in Rain Sanctuary Hotel?"

Ayesha blinked her eyes. She recognized the unique pronunciation of Korean. What kind of a fiendish prodigy was Hayden to learn so much things?

"Hey, honey." Eun-ha optimistically returned his greeting. "Yeah. We're eating. Will you be dropping by to fetch me?"

"Actually." Hayden glanced at Ayesha. Ayesha shivered. "I will have a guest that I'll want your help with."

"Oh?" Eun-ha was caught off-guard by Hayden. "Who is this guest? Is she a girl?"

"In truth, she is." Hayden answered. "She's the owner of the land. Her father was kidnapped. I'll explain later. Put your masks on when we arrive."

All of a sudden, a scuffle and what sounded like a rumble was heard. "Uh… Gonjunim, you okay?"

"You're bringing a woman in our place?" Sayuri's cutesy high-pitched voice rang out. Due to the loudness, even Ayesha's ears picked her voice up. "How dare you! Hayden-ah, we trusted you with our little Eun-ha-ya!"

Hayden's face creased dryly. He didn't know whether Sayuri was joking or not as Sayuri's tone was always cheerful. A few seconds later, Hayden coughed, "Don't worry. She's the owner of the land I want to buy. Long story."

"You have to cook for us if you want to bring her!" Sayuri demanded. "It should be genuine Filipino cuisine, not other!"

"Does it have to be tonight?" Hayden's shoulders slumped.

"Yes, it has to be tonight!" Sayuri's childish voice was irresistible for some reason. Her voice was too compelling.

"Fine, I'll stop by the department store to get some things." Hayden sighed in defeat. "What do you guys want?"

"Hayden-ah agreed!" Hayden deducted that Sayuri shouted to her co-members. A faint wave of cheers echoed. "He's asking what do we want?"

Another brawl arose. It seemed that Eun-ha wrestled the phone out of Sayuri's hands. Hayden found that cute and chuckled.

This stunned Ayesha to great degrees. Who was Hayden talking to have such an overturn in mood? Was it his girlfriend?

"Honey?" Eun-ha's pleasant voice returned. "Sorry about that. I was held down by these ruffians. "Make something not hard to make. Dessert, cook dessert. I'll meet you here, okay? I love you."

"Yeah, I still can't say that." Hayden grumbled. He sweetly threw a rejoinder, "But you know I do too, Gonjunim."

"Heh." Eun-ha giggled. "Okay, okay. I'll see you here."

Hayden hung up, his countenance reverting back to its trademarked impassiveness. This baffled Ayesha a great deal.

"I'm going to have to make a pit stop in the groceries…" Hayden declared without getting Ayesha's opinion.

Accordingly, Ayesha obediently tailed Hayden, who purchased the supplies for making one of the famous desserts in the Philippines, the Buko Pie. He bought something else, which was cocoa solids.

He planned on making his proven-and-tested-to-be-profoundly-delectable Chocolate Buko Pie.

Finishing that, Hayden went on to his motorcycle. He took out a helmet from his Space Ring behind Ayesha and out of sight of cameras. Again, he was prepared for any situation, therefore he had three helmets in his space ring. Spotting the helmet, Ayesha was confused as to when and where Hayden acquired a new helmet.

Throwing the helmet to Ayesha, Hayden put the two ecobags of ingredients on each of the handle. The two proceeded to ride, with Ayesha flustered of hugging Hayden.