Chapter 32：Confrontation

James landed and looked around. No one seemed to be hurt but there were many unconscious people that were being shaken by, who James thought to be, friends or family. The explosion had originated from the ground were there seemed to be an entrance leading underground. Some people in lab coats crawled out of the hole with burn marks on their clothes. James walked over to one and crouched in front of them.

"What happened here?" asked James. The person looked up at his and their eyes widened in surprise.

"I-it's you! Please, there's still people in there. Someone wearing a black cloak and hood came out of nowhere and started destroying the place and did something weird to some of our ... patients." explained the person. They were obviously lying about the patients but James did care. He knew who it was attacking them.

Jack.

James walked over to the hole and jumped down. At the bottom, it branched off in many hallways but there was one with fire and pitch black slash marks. James started to walk down it.

"Are you sure we should do this straight away? You only just got your new arm and I'd rather not die while on earth inside my grandson's mind." pleaded Lucifer. James ignored him. Without his celestial weapon, he wouldn't be able to fully match Jack's power but he could at least try to keep up.

That's when James found it. Halfway down the hallway, was a doorway that had been widened by an explosion and the thick steel door was lying warped and broken on the floor on the other side of the hallway. James stepped through and found Jack holding a small boy by their face as a light blue colour aura was sapped out of the boy and into Jack's scythe. The boy frantically flailed about, trying to escape Jack's grip but their movements quickly stopped as the aura stopped flowing and Jack dropped the boy to the ground. Jack paid no interest in James and preceded to walk over to a little girl who was curled up in the corner of the room crying. Jack waved his hand and black arms grew out of the shadows on the wall created by the fire and they grabbed the girl's limbs. She was lifted up and Jack went to grab his face like he had done with the boy.

James pushed off the floor with his right leg. He went in to a rocket like motion and spun towards the Jack. He grabbed Jack's hand that was reaching for the girl, pulled him around with his spin, and slammed him in the ground with a shock wave that shattered some glass beakers on a table. Jack quickly responded with a swift punch to James' gut and kicked him into the ceiling. Some more shadow arms held James in place as Jack returned to the girl. Jack reached out again but the girl started to scream. Light burst from her mouth and eyes that grew brighter and brighter. Even Jack receded a little. The arms, now without shadow, disappeared and James fell to the ground. The light from the girl grew even brighter and it was now shining from her arms and legs. Jack tapped the bottom of his scythe on the ground twice and his disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

"SHE'S GONNA BLOW!" shouted Lucifer. James looked at the other people on the floor and ran towards them. He picked up the boy and two others in the room and ran out the door. He threw the three of them down the wall, picked up the door from the floor, and slammed it into the wall.

When James turned back to the other three they were still in midair and slowly falling to the floor. James caught up with them, picked them back up, carried them back up the hole from which he had come down, and place them on the ground.

"Lucifer, what happened? They were moving really slow for some reason." asked James. He looked at the crowd of people now moving away from the hole. Everyone was moving at normal speed and so were the three James saved.

"I spread the energy of your arm across your whole body. I created a sort of overclock effect." explained Lucifer.

Suddenly, light burst out of the hole. A person in a lab coat ran up to James.

"Her ability is implode! We need to get out of here, NOW!" they shouted. The ground began cracking and moving downwards. Trees started to bend towards were the girl was underground. Small pebbles and dust moved over to one point. Finally, the ground gave way and everything started being ripped from its position and rushed towards the girl who was bursting with light. Everything attracted to her that touched her appeared to disintegrate and form a very fine orbit around her. James looked at the crowd. Nearly everyone had escaped into the woods but one woman was clinging to a tree. The roots began ripping and snapping and the tree tilted towards the girl. James started running towards the woman.

A large boulder came out of the forest and James punched it with his right arm. Cracks of blue light appeared on the boulder and it exploded into tiny pieces that resumed their fast travel to the girl. James continued to run to the woman and jumped and ducked over and under trees and rocks until he reached her. The girl, nearly reaching her limit, let out one last push and the light shot upwards like a sword into the sky. Her radius of influence was clearly seen as a nearly perfect circle was visible around her. James grabbed the woman and pushed off the tree as it was torn from the ground. Holding the woman and protecting her, James landed, rolled, and stopped near the crowd. They watched as the light stopped shooting upwards and the orbit of debris fell with the girl to the ground.

James skidded down the side of the crater and stopped at the girls's unconscious body. He picked her up and went to jump out but a piece of paper settling on the ground stopped him in his tracks. James layed the girl back down and picked up the paper. It was slightly ripped and burnt but a small section of it was still readable:

Experiment AD392 - 18/5/2019

Our scans have provided very useful information. Patient PK00 may have been a disaster but PK01 and PK02 show promising signs of extreme fighting capabilities. The only thing standing in our way is doctor Abigail. She is very against man-made elemental users but seems to be fine with experimenting on her so called daughter. I'll admit, she is a very powerful creature indeed but her implode abilities are getting more and more dangerous. If she isn't terminated soon, all our hard work will disappear in a matter of seconds.

The rest of the paper was too ruined to read. James threw it into the air and it went up in flames. James picked the girl back up and launched himself into the sky again. The lights of cars heading towards the crater pierced the dark as James flew towards the warehouse.

Meanwhile, Jack reappeared in a dark room with a large round table in the middle. Sitting in one seats with his feet on the table was a man with short black hair, dark drown eyes, a knee long leather jacket, black shirt, and dark trousers. His name was Okubi. Jack walked up to him and pushed his feet off the table with the blade of his scythe.

"There was an altercation with one. James seems to have grow in power much faster than anticipated. He didn't even use his sword. I suspect someone is helping him." replied Jack.

"Why do you think that?" asked Okubi. He past the scythe back to Jack who put it away.

"After my enlightenment, James seemed to tap into the power of Lucifer, your son. Now that I think about it, his right arm seemed to be made out of some blue energy of some sort." Jack gripped his wrist where James had grabbed it.

"My son is on Earth!? We'll leave him be for now. He isn't a threat to us. After I take down the Omni-god, NOTHING will be a threat to us. Why don't you take a break Jack. Our prisoner may want some company." Without a word Jack got up and walked over to a door that lead down a set of stairs.

At the bottom, was a hallway lined with cells that housed uncountable prisoners. At the end of the hallway was a large metal door. Jack opened it and walked inside. The room was all white and padded like in a mental asylum and in the corner was a man rocking forwards and backwards. Jack knelt down in front of them and they stopped rocking instantly. Using only one finger, Jack lifted their head to look them in the eye. One of them had been gauged out during one of their ... torture sessions.

"Hey there buddy," said Jack in a fake, soft, and caring voice, "how are we doing today Edward." Edward looked back with a blank expression. Two months of torture can take any emotion out of person. No matter who or what they are.