Chapter 178 178: Death's Threshold

Death they say comes for us all, and while Cole didn't think he was immortal, he never thought he would have to face the ultimate question of his own mortality so soon. It's a scary experience and one that once faced with, all men, women and. Children would have to make their peace with.

But Cole was never one to accept his fate in life with open arms, even now when there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it. So even after the trigger was pulled and he closed his eyes shut in fear, he was still reluctant, if he could he would rage against the heavens and bring it down.

He wanted to live, he wanted to achieve his goals and he wanted to be right at the top of the mountain looking down over all that exists in this world. The bullet shattered a massive vase that was right besides him, spilling out it's contents of soft earth and flowers onto the ground as Cole's life flashed before his eyes. His heart skipped a beat as he opened his eyes in time to see that Tehilla had driven her wheelchair into his aunt and they were both tangled on the ground, fighting for control over the gun.

Cole could not help but let out a sigh of relief as a single tear slid down the side of his face. It his feeling of relief was cut short when his aunt slammed the gun into the side of Tehilla's head, causing her head to buck back as she was split open. Cole realized there was no time relief, he was still very much in danger and so too was Tehilla.

However the woman was made of sterner stuff than Cole would have ever thought as she rocked her head forward, smashing it into the bridge of his aunt's nose, causing the older woman to let out a cry of pain as she cursed out loud.

"You fucking cripple!"

Tehilla's response to that was to smash her head into the bridge of her nose again. Then sent her elbow flying across her face for good measure before she pulled back, grabbing the gun as she attempted to stand.

His aunt did not make it any easier on her as she smashed her foot into Tehilla's sternum, launching Cole's former fiancée or current one across the room, with more force and power than a normal human being was supposed to have. Cole was not stupid, he knew she was also an Aspirant, it was the only explanation for how she had been able to get the jump on him. And from the looks of her abilities and power, she was just as strong as he was…. At least for now.

The gun skittered out of Tehilla's hand, rolling under the bed as his aunt got up. Cole was still worried, with all of her abilities she didn't need a gun to kill an ordinary person Like Tehilla. With her power and even skills, a well placed to the head would do it.

By sheer force of willpower alone, Cole called upon his abilities, pushing past the wall that seemed to have been raised between him and his abilities as he raised his hand and pointed it in the direction of his aunt who was slowly walking towards a disoriented Tehilla.

For Cole it was now or never, and with how hard she had fought just to save his life, there was no way in hell he would let anything happen to her.

[Chaos Blast]

The ball of chaos flew out of his hands, heading towards his aunt with all the fury and chaos Cole could possibly muster. It was driven by sheer desperation and the horror of badly wanting to live.

Just like the lamp he had thrown at her she batted the skill out of the air, in fact the moment she touched it, it fizzled out, disappearing with a pop. Cole's eyes widened in shock as he finally realized just why he had been unable to fight back, and the next set of words she spoke more than proved it to him.

"So you can bypass my nullify ability, that's impressive and even more of a reason why you need to die. I can save your little bitch for later, and if it's any consolation to you, just know that I'm going to make it painful for her. I'll make it slow and make sure every second of it hurts, and perhaps….. I'll do it in front of you. No need to save the desert for later, I'll just yank out her ribs now and use it to write a letter to you and your bastard family!."

She paused, cursed softly as the sounds of footsteps pounding down the hallway was heard. Cole gulped, he could not dare to give himself hope, there was still enough time for her to kill them. She shrugged as she took a step forward to Tehilla and stepped on her left ankle, hard. The bones were crushed along with her flesh until it was flat as a pancake.

Tehilla's shrill scream of pain cut down deep to Cole's core, the tears that rushed down her eyes and the manic glee in the face of his aunt as she repeated the same act to her right ankle, seemed to break something in Cole that he never knew he had, perhaps it was his heart or it was his sanity, but either way, he was no longer afraid or worried, he was angry, so very angry.

"let me leave you a Memento my sweet nephew. Let it be a promise, because soon I'll be back to come finish what I started, and next time I'll make sure I get through that thick skull of yours."

She gave a small laugh and turned towards the window, about to jump out, but there was no way Cole would let her go without giving her a word of his own.

"You better kill me now, because I promise you, there will not be a second chance. I will hunt you to every corner of the fucking universe, I'll find you and anything you love and I will break it. Your life, your world, it is now marked for suffering and death, and nothing, nothing! Not the hosts of heaven or the legions of hell itself would stop me from ripping out your spine and beating you to death with it. Because of what you have done, this universe, this fractured reality is no longer large enough for the both of us….. I will not just hunt you I will haunt you.

The shadow behind every corner and the voice behind every whisper. You're marked for death, and no amount of running will save you from it. This I so promise you, on the very blood you have spilt today. My sweet aunt….. I'm going to fucking kill you."

She paused for a moment, almost as if she was really contemplating whether or not she should just kill Cole and be done with it. She had a faraway look in her eyes as she held Cole's gaze, then she furrowed her eyebrows when she realized that he was looking back at her with golden eyes that then quickly bled into a blood red inferno of rage.

She was looking at the eyes of a demon, a predator. She knew Cole was telling the truth, he would come looking for her, then she smiled and said to him.

"I'll be waiting sweet Nephew, make sure you don't keep me waiting or it will be I coming for you." With that said she jumped out, leaving an Irate Cole and a still crying Tehilla behind.

Cole struggled and picked himself up, the entire room wobbling and tilting as he made his way to Tehilla as quickly as he could, his body crashing down to the floor in front of her as he crawled towards her.

He felt his hand touch something wet as he looked down to see the floor slick and covered with her blood. Both her ankles were completely crushed, it was no surprise that she was bleeding out, Cole had only a matter of moments to save her. He touched her, and she reacted violently as she screamed at him, and with such force that he was startled enough to take a pause.

"Don't touch me!"

What was broken shattered even more, the look in her eyes was one of hatred and blame, and this time she would be right in doing so. This was his fault, but he would not let that stop him, he had a plan.

And while he wasn't sure it could actually work, he knew the one true limits on the system, his abilities and all of his advantages was his own mind.

And right now he had an over abundance of energy, or in this case EXP. It was so much that even in his real human body he could still feel it, and so using [Sin Eater] but in total reverse and utilizing all of his [Energy Manipulation] he began to pour it into Tehilla's body, letting his [Demon Constitution] skill be the template with which the energy moved into Tehilla's body.

Cole was sure he was doing the right thing, this was the only way he could save her. But he was not ready for the pain that came with it, and unsurprisingly enough, neither was Tehilla.