Bugging.
Incredibly bugging.
I could tap into memories and future of ANY person on this planet but not this man's.
You must be wondering I could do this simple trick of predicting the future so I'd know what would happen, right?
Wrong.
It was Incredibly frustrating to know..
That...
EVERY FUTURE EVENT WITH CYRUS IN IT WAS COMPLETELY OUT OF PREDICTIONS!
It's like a film roll being cut abruptly whenever there is indication of his presence predicted in the future.
Why was this a happening phenomenon? I didn't understand at all. I tried to deduce thousands of theories only for them to be proven wrong at the end.
So imagine the kind of glare I was throwing at the back of his head as he walked ahead of us. Hands up behind his head, jolly and humming an unknown tune. He was exploiting his power over me unknowingly. I hated it.
The exciting part of the day was coming closer.
Our gait faltered on the forest floor. Thankfully, there was a scattered littering of trees around us. Mostly a grassland. The soil rippled with the force of what was about to come.
Gena and Akira clung to each other, shaking to their bones.
Cyrus and I knew this wasn't an ordinary Shifter.
It was Elemental.
Shifters find different ways to bind with the dead. Some only use the flesh of the host.
The higher level some use every atom around them to be reborn into their dead human host's skin.
And some...very few...manipulate the very structure of matter around them. Like...alchemists.
Like...witches and magus.
This was the mid tier one.
It was an Elemental, than Thaumaturge.
So the species are divided into these categories:
Necroloids: Mist common, also called the SHIFTERS. Aproximately 42.6 Billion killed, 679 million roaming freely since discovery.
Elementals: An overestimated count of 12,738 and counting with each appearance throughout history. And today, we were about to discover another one. So, 12,739.
Last but not least,
Thaumaturges: 3 seen till date.
They are the scariest of them all for a reason. They can manipulate anything. And with unlimited power, they could throw over human colonies to extinction within few hours. Yes. Whole of humanity.
Given that reason, they were still very much alive and thriving since the day they were discovered.
Interestingly...we were about to cross paths with one in the future, too.
"AHHHHH!" Gena's blood curdling scream sent us into overdrive.
The Elemental wrapped its toughened crusty fingers across her body. Only then we realized the absolute size of the monster.
"I'm claiming its neck!" I yelled in rage. No one hurts my friends.
The Elemental hadn't risen from the crust yet. Gena's blood curdling screams were distracting me. Before it all went down, the screams stopped suddenly.
Of Gena.
But the creature below us was starting to emit decibels of deafening screams that boggled with our heads. Confused, I looked over my shoulder as the ground still shook.
Cyrus was freeing Gena from the severed hand of the Elemental.
That's what made the Elemental scream.
Cyrus had his priorities clear. He needed to save the people over killing the beast.
And my priority...skipped the safety of my friend.
...I can't believe I did that...
"Time to bring it up so we can see, don't you think?" The next moment, Cyrus was right beside me. Was he commanding me? Or was he proposing to work together?
"We need to bring this down together and not waste time." He stated. It was the latter.
I gave the man a curt nod.
"Wanna see something cool?" He said.
Suddenly, Cyrus stuck his 6 foot tall blade all the way down into the crust. A surge of inexplicable energy passed through his hands into the blade. I was able to see his golden aura coursing through.
I was in awe...
Cyrus was extending the blade farther than 6 feet into the ground.
He was prying the beast out using his aura...
I was amazed to say the least. How did he even figure that out?
Auras were special, incredibly special, traits for humans since the Shifters have appeared. It was the human gene way to evolve under crises to fight out enemies. That was the long shot theory.
Or that humans always had this gene. Wasn't discovered until such a threat exposed itself.
Aside from that, the Aura is almost like matter manipulation. Humans were always fascinated with alchemy. Because it truly exists.
"ARGHHHHHH!" The Elemental covered is dust burst through the surface, tearing through soil like it was paper.
I gasped when an overwhelming piece of blade pierced through its skull. It exited from the Elemental's skull!?!
"ROXY! SEVER ITS HEAD! GO!"
Cyrus's strained voice shocked me. It put me into a perspective.
He was holding the Elemental in place so I could sever it with my own blade.
So that's what I did.
But I wasn't gonna do it alone.
"AKIRA!" I screamed for him.
He knew what exactly to do.
Besides Gena was the satchel. Akira left her side briefly to maneuver the huge gun out of the satchel.
His strength was now definitive. He put the 11 ton metal on his shoulder and locked on the neck of the beast.
*ZZZ.....BOOM!!*
A large laser blast that snipped through air like millions of swords burst the neck open on our target. Amazing shot!
Akira felt lightheaded immediately. But I wasn't gonna stop.
My incredible speed and jump took me flying through falling debris.
Turns out, Akira shot through meters and meters thick layer of solidified clay. It would've taken me much time to trim through it all to reach it's neck.
This beast was cunningly intelligent.
"ARGH!"
And it felt like I was floating in slow motion.
I exerted myself to slice through its exposed neck.
Blood and goo squirted out and I felt victorious.
In my hand...was the one thing that could make any Shifter Hunter a Rockstar.
Iridescent. Hard. Resin like yet pearly and shinier than a thousand suns.
I held in my hand the CORE OF AN ELEMENTAL.
"This is definitely going on my wall of victory— HEY!"
Before I could thrive in my victory, Cyrus snatched the core from my hands.
"Not so soon, Princess. This is what Janet wants from me."
The...Elemental Core?
She is one confusing woman.