90 Black-Mask Returns

A little bit earlier. Hayden stood up. "Ma'am, can you please not sit on that platform?"

"Why, Hayden dear?" Usually, she was strict. When it came to Hayden, her manner of speaking was gentle. He was too charming even for the teachers. "Are you afraid that something might happen to me?"

"Precisely." Hayden nodded, his face unchanging. "What if those criminals have bombs?" You'll be the first to take the brunt of the damage. In fact, I think everyone should stay as far back as they can."

"Okay." The teacher thought Hayden's words made sense. "You heard the man. Everyone, go stand on the backside of the room."

Without saying anything, everyone stood up and heeded Hayden's words. They were all terrified, and Hayden's words really does make sense. What if someone is unpredictably able to break down that Shojin Steel door? Nobody had the desire to die.

Hayden's face didn't budge one bit. Faye stuck close to him, to the point that she held Hayden's arms unconsciously, her hands trembling. Hayden let her as that wouldn't last for long anyways. The matter at hand comes first.

He approached Courtney. Hayden locked eyes with her and signaled for her to come to him. With the students bunched up behind the classroom, an object unnoticeably flickered in Hayden's hands. It was one of the smoke grenades he bought back in December.

Hayden whispered to Courtney. "You can make illusions, right? You don't have to fight. You only have to make an illusion of me when I move."

"I-I can make one right now." Courtney stammered. She didn't want to be in this situation at all. She closed her eyes for a short few seconds. "I-It's done. You can move freely without anybody being bothered."

Hayden nodded. "Are you certain?"

"Swat Faye's hands then." Courtney's attitude spun a 180-degree, her tone containing absolute confidence.

And Hayden did. When he did that, he also stepped in front. Seemingly, nobody noticed him. As for him, he noticed a 'Hayden' standing adjacent to Faye, her hands remaining to hold onto him.

Hayden was pleasantly surprised. He thought, 'What a handy Ability. She'd be a useful ally in the future.'

With that, he was determined to help Courtney in the future when she needed it and to give her advice on improving her Ability. Her illusions were too realistic. Without a warning, the smoke grenade that Hayden hid in his sleeve in preparation reappeared in his hands. He pressed a button and threw it on the desk.

Courtney's brows furrowed in confusion. What was that circular object? She wasn't able to see a clear glimpse as it started to spray out smoke. She vaguely caught sight of Hayden in a black mask prior to the whole room being enveloped in opaque smoke.

"Proceed with caution, Kim Min-jun." George informed Kim Min-jun of the situation in Hayden's classroom. "I've lost vision of Hayden."

"I-" Before Kim Min-jun can finish his sentence, Hayden kneed him in the chest with such force that he flew to the tables behind him. The earpiece on his ear flew out.

Groaning, he was going to curse out, when he saw a black-masked man punching towards him. He rolled over as the tile he was on cracked from the immense force that Hayden's fist carried.

Mid-punch, he perceived a ridiculously jacked clown flying out of Daniel's classroom from a blast of water. He disregarded it as he focused on Kim Min-jun.

"Nice reflexes. If you're a human." Hayden deepened his voice without the use of his Indestructible Devil; which is why his voice didn't have that demonic feel to it.

Abruptly, he executed a front flip, avoiding a transparent light gray tentacle that pierced the tile cleanly.

Mid-air, Hayden noticed that the tentacle came from the man's hands. The tentacle retracted. The second Hayden's left foot touched the ground, Hayden propelled himself to the right, a tentacle shooting out again to where he previously was.

Subsequently, he forcefully boosted himself forward. In that instance, lots of tentacles shot out of Kim Min-jun's hands.

Hayden's perception of time slowed down, his brain rapidly calculating the trajectories of each. Simulating the trajectories of each tentacle, Hayden jumped at an unnatural angle, avoiding every single tentacle.

This shocked Kim Min-jun greatly. He unconsciously blurted out, "Who the hell are you?"

Hayden landed ala-terminator style. Although that didn't last long, with Hayden vanishing from his position. Hayden reappeared in front of Kim Min-jun. He was in a bow stance. His upper body and arms formed a C-shape, with his left hand punching towards Kim Min-Jun's face, his right hand to his stomach. It was the Yama-Zuki move in Karate.

Left with no time to react, Kim Min-Jun intuitively raised both of his arms in an X-shape to block the fist coming to his face. When the two fists made contact with Kim Min-jun, Kim Min-jun felt pain on both his arms and stomach.

He flew backwards due to Hayden's powerful attack Yama-Zuki attack. 'What kind of power is this!? Such physical strength! Is he a Level 3 wielder?'

While that was happening, Hayden heard the faint noise of a rifle shot. His head turned to the door of his classroom, staring outside of the window and to the man on the distant roof. The smoke has already cleared out.

Hayden tilted his head to one side, a bullet of light missing him by a hair's breadth. The next second, a throwing knife appeared in his hands.

"Daniel, dodge!" Hayden shouted to the nearby Daniel. Saying that, Hayden threw a flawlessly targeted knife that intercepted a bullet. In addition, he took out the Puting Araw badge and infused essence energy into it prior to storing it back. He only did so in the moment due to being unsure if the attackers were wielders. Now, he was sure.

He refocused to Kim Min-jun. He was just in time to see Kim Min-jun standing up. The tables around them were splattered in a mess because of all the fighting. Kim Min-jun's eyes sharpened.

"You want a piece of this?" Kim Min-jun howled. His voice was a mixture of frenzy and anger. "Come and get me, you punk!"

Kim Min-jun's entire being shifted. The previous disconcerted image was removed in Hayden's mind. This time, Kim Min-jun seemed more oppressive.

'Oh great.' Hayden rolled his eyes underneath his mask. 'Another fucking psychopath.'

Not wishing to prolong this fight, Hayden shaped claws atop his nails with his essence energy shaping. He could tell that the man's flesh was more or less regular. In wielders' terms at least.

The thing he had to be careful about was that mace. There was something about that mace that deeply unsettled him.

Kim Min-jun slammed the mace downwards. Oddly enough when it slammed the ground, it didn't damage the tile. Hayden jumped sidewards as a light gray field of spikes was projected from where he was.

Landing, Hayden rushed at the man, weaving through the ectoplasmic tentacles that Kim Min-jun was shooting him. When Hayden got close, Kim Min-jun swung the mace laterally. Hayden jumped to avoid the attack.

At the same time, he threw a kick to the clown to his temple. Hayden's movement was too fast for Kim Min-jun to do anything; hence he was sent flying for one more time.

Hayden followed up by predicting Kim Min-jun's flight path, running to the middle of it, and slamming him downwards. The tiles cracked alongside Kim Min-jun's ribs to the intense pressure of Hayden's attack.

By this point in the fight, Hayden noticed that his classmates were watching the fight. Hayden disregarded them as he perceived 'himself.' There's no point in worrying that they'll be suspicious of him at all.

Thereupon, Hayden clawed Kim Min-jun's stomach, blood spewing out of the claw marks. Hayden seized the mace, throwing it to the side. Sitting above Kim Min-jun, he removed the mask, revealing his disfigured face.

Hayden pummeled Kim Min-jun without a shred of mercy. The face, the chest, everywhere his fist landed, bones broke. Eventually, Kim Min-jun fainted, his nose was crooked. His jaw was not in its socket anymore. He had black eyes on both eyes. Nobody will be able to recognize the Filipino-Korean, even if it was his own mother and father.

When Kim Min-jun passed out, Hayden left him alone. He opted not to kill him as they'd probably be detained by Puting Araw. He didn't want to get in a fallout with the higher ups in Puting Araw.

He didn't respect them, sure. Especially when he found out they work with Triple A. The thing is, they're all mightier than Hayden in every possible way. He wasn't stupid enough to offend those wielders.

For one, they're all more experienced than him. Second, they're higher in level. Their greater experience was enough to keep him on his toes, what more their wielder level.

Hayden lifted Kim Min-jun, infusing life force into him so that his consciousness would not return anytime soon.

With Kim Min-jun on his shoulders, he stared into the window inside his own classroom. He was checking up on that sniper. It wasn't a surprise for him that the sniper was gone. 'He moved, huh? Or did he escape?'

Walking towards Daniel, Hayden pointed out, "You should probably heat up that water."

"You're demented." Daniel said with exasperation. "Have you contacted Puting Araw?"

"Yep." Hayden nodded, observing the struggling Zhang Yu. "A gorilla. That's new. Anyhow, Puting Araw is on their way here."

Courtney squeezed her way out and walked to them. On the doorway, there was another Courtney. She obviously used her Ability. She stammered, "W-who are these guys?"

"Bounty Hunters." Daniel spoke. "Similar to the people yesterday."

"Did you notify Puting Araw of our situations?" Hayden inquired impassively. The calmness of the duo's conversation was terrifying for Courtney.

It was as if the situation they were entangled in was trivial and occurs normally. If anybody from Puting Araw heard her thoughts, they'd laugh at her. As a newbie, she doesn't grasp how strong these two were for Level 2 wielders. Hayden and Daniel were behemoth Level 2 wielders who can plausibly defeat any Level 2 wielder in Puting Araw.

Finally, Zhang Yu's body went limp. Daniel sighed out. "Finally, jeez. The gorilla can hold his breath."

"Told you. You should've boiled him." Hayden snorted. Courtney was visibly horrified of Hayden's notion. "It would've been faster."

"Oh yeah, did you know that Puting Araw has people who can modify memories?" Daniel ignored Hayden's remark.

"Yeah, I kind of figured it when your mother and father thought that you were on vacation." During the timeframe that Daniel was missing, Hayden visited Daniel's parents once. For some reason, they thought that he was 'on vacation.'

"Aren't you scared of the possibilities?" Daniel put down Zhang Yu on the ground. He shouted, "Go back to your rooms. Close the door. Nothing to see here."

On the door of Hayden's classroom, the braver people went back, the door closing. "The paranoid that I am? Of course I'm not worried about that memory changing shit!"

The blatant sarcasm of Hayden earned an eye roll from Daniel. Hayden continued, "However, we cannot possibly live in fear of it. At any rate, we're part of their organization. They're only going to change our memories if they're hiding something. That's what we should be worried about."

Daniel's skin crawled hearing of Hayden's tone. Was… Hayden was implying that Puting Araw had a secret? Well, yes. Yes, he was. Hayden was simply warning Daniel. He was not stupid enough to reveal that Triple A connection. He doesn't even know what the exact connection between the two was.

As might be expected, Daniel was smart enough to figure out on his own that Hayden knew something about Puting Araw. 'I guess I should really be careful, huh?'

Courtney was the same. The subliminal messaging of Hayden was too apparent for the two. It was easy to get what he was hinting about.

On the other side, the elevator dinged. Out came five people, two women, three men, in dark blue police polo uniforms, black slacks, and black combat boots. They had the Makati Police Department insignia embedded on their left chest pocket. Atop that were their names.

From left to right, they were, Anthony Ibarra, Arya Habla, Felix Fernandez, Bea Del Rosario, and Oscar Bolante.

Anthony was a muscular light-skinned man with average looks and stature, his face unmemorable and unassuming. Arya was a petite woman with a bob. Bea was a tall woman with amazing body proportions, unfortunately, her face was rather unappealing. Oscar is a gray-haired middle-aged man with an amicable, yet dangerous, smile on his face, his well-groomed beard made him seem like he was a 'wise old man' from anime stereotypes.

Lastly, Felix, the leader of the five, had hulking muscular body, his black hair slicked back, his eagle eyes intimidating. His left eye had a single claw scar that completed his look of intimidation. His face was in a permanent frown, his entire being screaming 'the solemn person who takes everything seriously.'

What people isn't aware of was that they were part of the Puting Araw Public Protection Force, or PAPPF. The PAPPF is a division of Puting Araw that, as its name suggests, dealt with the protection of the public and was responsible for wiping any witnesses' memories when they see something unnatural.

All PAPPF agents are low-lying police officers who are solely cops in name. They are placed on the cases that are confirmed to be caused by wielders. They're forbidden by WISERA to effortlessly rise up in rank by using their Abilities on the job.

They were one of the vital divisions that kept the existence of the wielders all around Philippines secluded and a secret. Half of them were wielders with mental Abilities, with some of them being able to manipulate memories. The rest were wielders who had combat Abilities, Abilities that can clean up a mess, hackers, etc. In simpler terms, imagine Men in Black. They're the Men in Black of the Philippines' wielder world, just with less gadgets and more powers.

On that note, wielders are also forbidden to run in politics. Or at least those who are in Puting Araw and those families allied with Puting Araw. Kamay ng Lagim wasn't in the jurisdiction of Puting Araw after all.

The quintet closed in on Hayden, Daniel, and Courtney. Felix was the one who talked. In contrast to his threatening appearance, his voice was soft. "Who are you masked men?"

"Daniel Luntiang-Dahon, sir." Daniel salute with respect.

"Hayden Emperador here." Meanwhile, Hayden was absolutely insouciant.

"Don't salute." Felix laughed casually. "I've heard so much about you two. Howbeit, we have matters of higher importance. Did anybody see these two. There are cameras here, right?"

Hayden pointed to the positions of the camera. "As for those who witnessed these, I think it'd be safer if we assume that all people on this floor saw it."

"That's the correct answer." Felix did the finger-guns uncharacteristically. The four people who accompanied him flinched. "We should be cautious when it comes to the existence of wielders. They were right, you're a smart one. You guys are free to go back to your classrooms."

Hayden and Courtney did that. Hayden stored his black hoodie back into his Space Ring. Hayden said, "You know what to do, right?"

"Y-yes, sir." Courtney was frightened of Hayden. She watched how Hayden beat up Kim Min-jun. That ruthlessness… "I have to keep up the illusion till we get back to place, right?"

"Correct." Hayden nodded, keeping the black mask back in his Space Ring, Courtney was met by a nonchalant expression. "You do what you got to do. I'll thank you later."

"Y-you'll thank me?" Courtney's voice shuddered. She didn't know what to expect of this thanks. "H-how would you thank me?"

"Three choices." Hayden opened the door. No one in the crowd of students in his room reacted, indicating that Hayden was invisible to them, nor did the door open for their point of view. "Brainstorming for your Ability. A specified exercise regimen. Or 100,000 credits."

"O-one hundred thousand credits?" Courtney was utterly shocked at Hayden's treatment of 100,000 credits. "Y-you can give me 100,000 credits? Why would you do that?"

"I told you. It's thanks." Hayden didn't return to his initial position first. "100,00 credits is not big for payment for what you did, and all the lives you've saved by helping me."

Hayden's words made Courtney realize how much weight her actions had. "I-I… I'll take the 100,000 credits."

"Okay." Hayden was disappointed of Courtney's decision. Well, it was her decision, not his. "I'll wire you the money later. Oh, a word of advice. First, I must remind you I'm not body shaming. I'm just saying that you should exercise instead of using your Ability for appearances. Again, I'm not going to be a hypocrite since I do use my Ability for my own gains, but I advise you that utilizing such a useful Ability in that way is a bad mindset. Do you really want people to admire this outer appearance of yours instead of you for you? You think that altering your appearance to become beautiful will be fulfilling in the long run? It will feel good early, but it won't later on. Remember that personality matters just as much as outer appearance."

It was true. Hayden didn't fall for Eun-ha only for her appearance. It is irrefutable that physical attraction matters, but Hayden fell for the entirety of Eun-ha, her quirks, her gentleness, her mischief, and her smile. That damned smile.

Without saying anything else, Hayden went back to his position, with Faye's hands still wrapped around Hayden's shoulder.

Courtney mindlessly assisted Hayden. His words made sense. If Daniel's stories of Hayden were true, Hayden didn't plainly abuse his Ability, he worked hard on everything.

She similarly stood adjacent to Hayden, her former location. She was in deep thought as she undid the illusion of her and Hayden's invisibility. Or at least the illusion of them being invisible. Her physical illusion stayed.

What transpired for the next few hours were: The arrest of the two 'gunners,' the lockdown of the school was ended, school was ended early due to this incident, the announcement of the principal of the suspension of school for two weeks, and parents calling their children. Hayden was no exception, assuring his mother that he was fine.

What's surprising though was that how fast the PAPPF got to cleaning up. When Hayden got out of his classroom, the place was spotless, students were escorted by newly arrived police, which Hayden assumed to be PAPPF too, back to their homes, and Hayden, Daniel, and Courtney was escorted by Felix's team back to Puting Araw.

Here we are in the present. Hayden and Daniel was in Anthony's office. Anthony praised the duo. "Nice work out there, the two of you. Great job on saving those classmates of yours."

Hayden didn't mutter a single word. He merely grunted as a form of acknowledgement. On the contrary, Daniel was vocal of his accomplishment. "I don't desire to be the root of the loss of great Filipino talents."

"Okay, for the matter at hand." Anthony coughed. "What do you guys wish to do regarding the target painted on your backs?"