88 A School Shooting, But Not Really, It's Seriously More Of A Rampage

Hayden and the CHORUS members were back again in the dining table. Alike last time, Hayden was sandwiched between Eun-ha and Sayuri. The twelve people happily conversed with each other casually.

As might be expected, the CHORUS members praised Hayden again for his culinary skills. Hayden received it well by simply saying thank you to them.

On an unrelated note, lately, Hayden has been watching a lot of videos regarding body language in his free time. This was to help him identify people's emotions more without the usage of his Divine Perception. He was observing Sayuri's body language.

There were the usual signs, recurring preening, the subconscious 'fall' towards him when laughing, and those darting glances. Plus, whenever he catches Sayuri from glancing at him, he'd smile at her and her face would redden slightly. She would then would quickly turn away. Not to mention that he'd notice her pupils dilating whenever she'd look his way.

However, she was trying to not touch him at all. That was an odd thing since frequent touches, unnecessary and lingering, is one of the few things that would give attraction away.

Which is how he noticed just how attracted Sayuri really was with him. You see, Sayuri is a touchy person. That has been well-established. She was a person who liked hugging others and teasing them. She had a dominant extrovert personality. Paradoxical, huh?

Anyhow, Hayden ignored it all. He seriously did not want to be with an extra person at all. Which is why he subtly pushed Sayuri away by displaying extra physical affection with Eun-ha. For the entirety of the night, Hayden's right hand was intertwined with Eun-ha's left hand.

When the twelve finished eating the Chocolate Buko Pie that Hayden baked, they bade farewell to him with hugs. Unexpectedly, and not unexpectedly at the same time, Sayuri's hug was the longest. There was also the 'lingering touch' that didn't disconnect immediately to prolong physical contact with Hayden.

What really caught him off-guard was the kiss Sayuri gave him on the cheek. In Hayden's view, that was a Hail Mary move that prolly took a lot of willpower on Sayuri's part. Much to the consternation of Hayden, Eun-ha chuckled at that action of Sayuri.

Hayden and Eun-ha walked to the elevator. Hayden didn't let go of Eun-ha's hands. Contrarily, he wrapped his arms around her lovingly, pecking her fragrant hair time and time again.

Hayden only let go when they were in the elevator. He put on a mask and shades, handing the same stuff to Eun-ha. They had to be cautious despite of the time of day. Their reputation precedes them too much.

Thankfully, the two got to the basement nary a person riding the elevator. Hayden threw Eun-ha a helmet that hasn't been used yet. He was that prepared, having three helmets in his Space Ring.

By 1:00, Hayden woke up, his head buried in the ample bosom of Eun-ha. He wiggled his way out of Eun-ha's embrace and let her head rest on his broad chest.

Hayden got to planning their raid on that Concepcion Family's mansion that Ayesha spoke of. He thought that the sooner this thing was done, the better. He figured he can hasten the music label plan before he can graduate college.

'I'm sure I can balance all these careers and a love life all at once.' Hayden thought. 'With the help of Divine Perception that is.'

With Divine Perception, everything was possible. In Hayden's opinion, it was handier than Indestructible Devil. At least in this modern day and age.

The time passed without nothing much happening. It was all flirting, some important talk here and there, watching an old sit-com series, and a whole lot of cuddling.

…..

Hayden exited his house in his school uniform. For some reason, the second he exited his front door, he saw Daniel standing there with a grave expression.

He could immediately sense that something happened with Daniel as well. If Daniel rarely sees a smile on Hayden's face, Hayden rarely sees a frown on Daniel's countenance.

"Somebody put a bounty to you too?" Hayden walked past Daniel. "They attacked you?"

"Yeah." Daniel nodded as he strode shoulder to shoulder with Hayden. "You were attacked as well?"

"A total of three times." Hayden rolled his eyes as he sighed in annoyance. "I killed a group and a sniper on a building. The son of bitches."

"You speak of killing as if it's some sort of trivial matter." Daniel's visage twitched. Taking a human life, whether they're a criminal or not, is a big deal.

"Self-defense, man." Hayden shrugged it off. "You know how I am."

"Jeez… Ruthless. Why not knock them out or arrest them?" Daniel inquired.

"Because they didn't offend me that much." Hayden nonchalantly replied. "If they did, they'd suffer a far harsher fate than death. I'd torture them without remorse."

"You're too cruel." Daniel sighed. "What's up in that twisted brain of yours?"

"Necessities. Work. Love." Hayden answered uncharacteristically.

"Love? Are you joking me?" Daniel couldn't deduce whether Hayden was joking or not. "Did that frozen heart of yours get melted by your girlfriend?"

"Yep." Hayden displayed a genuine smile at the. This was a photo opportunity for the students and people who were checking out Hayden, yet they didn't due to being star-struck by Hayden's attractiveness. "I don't lie when I say that."

"Whoa there." Daniel was startled of Hayden agreeing. He nearly shouted, but stopped himself, "You… You're freaking in love…?"

"Apparently." Hayden chuckled. Meanwhile, Daniel was absolutely incredulous and confused of Hayden's response.

"Are you serious?" Daniel gaped at Hayden as he walked. "What happened to you, man?"

"I just told you." Hayden scrunched up his countenance as he stared at Daniel. "What don't you get?"

"Who the hell is this girl!?" Daniel whisper-shouted. "To make you like this. You're not Hayden. You're a shapeshifter, aren't you?"

"You want me to kill you?" Hayden coughed dryly. "I'm still human, jeez."

"Sure, sure." Daniel said with suspicion. "You are human, sure."

Hayden sighed. "Be thankful you're my friend."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm joking." Daniel patted Hayden on the back. Afterwards, the two conversed regarding the collaboration career.

The two reached the school at 6:00. They rode the elevator in silence in respect for the people around them.

…..

1:31 PM Makati Scholar Academy entrance gate. Kim Min-jun and Zhang Yu were donning terrifying clown masks that resemble those from horror movies and colorful jester suits.

Zhang Yu's jester suit was inordinately baggy for his own height. In their ears were earpieces. Saddled on their backs were MG 42s, the old era ones, not the modern ones. What's the difference? Again, it's the silencers. It's always the silencers. And bullets. It's always those two.

From a distant building, George donned a black stealth-op suit with a sizable backpack in his back. He was crouching down. To his left was a mounted sniper rifle. To his right was a laptop. He was using binoculars designed for espionage to check up on the two.

"Kill the guards." George ordered the two assassins in clown suits.

"We know." Kim Min-jun exasperatedly responded. "You don't have to order us."

George was irked. "Hey, I'm the leader of this group, aren't I?"

"You're only a logistic and reconnaissance informant!" Zhang Yu scolded George. His entire body inflated along with his height. He grew up to be more hulking than Kim Min-jun, who was buff. His jester suit became skin tight with the growth of his size.

Zhang Yu rammed the gate. Without resistance, the metal gate flew off of its hinges. The metal gates hit one of the female guards patrolling nearby, killing her instantly.

Alarm sounds rang all around the school at the sensing of the two people. Two security guards charged at them, holding them at gunpoint. Well, in this case, 'taserpoint.'

"Stop or I'll have no choice but to use this on you!" One of the guards trembled. He was horrified of the clowns. Well, anybody would be.

The clown duo didn't stop inching forward. The guard shot the taser thoughtlessly. Zhang Yu moved forward, letting the taser stick to him.

Unfortunately for the guards, Zhang Yu cannot be affected by such meagre electricity at all. His status as a wielder, and the fact that he technically currently wasn't human, made him invulnerable to such a meagre amperage of electricity.

The other guard pulled out an actual pistol. Well, not really. The gun was simply a rubber bullet pistol. She fired absentmindedly at the towering clown monster.

To no avail. Regular guns would have no effect against them at all, much less rubber bullet guns. When those bullets landed on Zhang Yu's body, it ripped open parts of the jester suit. Irrespective of that, the second the bullets perforated the jester suit, the bullets seemingly lost its kinetic energy.

Bits of white colored hair can be seen sticking out from the parts where holes can be in, while those on the torso unveiled a fraction of the gray sculpted abs that Zhang Yu had.

It should be mentioned that Zhang Yu's Ability was Stone Gorilla. Stone Gorilla granted him the power to transform into an ancient race named, well, Stone Gorilla obviously. Although its name was Stone Gorilla, its body was tougher than stone and any living organism in the world, including the land tortoise and a rhinoceros' thick hide.

Its Level 1 power gave Zhang Yu the power to become a Stone Gorilla. Its Level 2 power provided him the power to be able to control the earth. It was quite powerful.

A loud deep gorilla growl escaped Zhang Yu's mouth, "Oh, man, this jester suit is quite expensive!"

"Kill them already." Kim Min-jun threw his head back in annoyance.

"Fine, fine." Without delaying any further, Zhang Yu charged in. Reflexively, the two ran away from Zhang Yu. Needless to say, Zhang Yu was faster than them, effortlessly catching up to them. He grabbed their heads with his enormous gloved hands. "How feeble."

Zhang Yu lifted them up with their heads and flung them away akin to a couple of ragdolls. When they landed, if one listened carefully, you might be able to hear the faint shattering of bones amidst the sound of the bodies landing.

To make it worse, when they stopped, they didn't die at all. Pain surged all throughout their body. They winced, unable to move, unable to call help. It was a hellish experience.

Kim Min-jun led Zhang Yu inside. They had their MG 42s out since it was supposed to be a school shooting, not a plain rampage with their Abilities.

In the sky, a white futuristic helicopter appeared. The whirling of its rotor blades was silent, though Kim Min-jun and Zhang Yu can still hear it from the ground with their essence-energy enhanced senses.

"George." Kim Min-jun tapped on his earpiece. "Can you take care of that?"

There was no response. "Goddammit George! Wake up!"

"Huh?" On the rooftop, George snapped awake. "I'm sorry. Oh, the helicopter. Sure, sure. I'll deal with it."

…..

One minute earlier. Hayden got permission to go to the restroom. In the hallway, he bumped into Courtney on the way to the restroom. She had her Ability activated. Hayden didn't care for her usage of Ability.

He wasn't a hypocrite. If he had some kind of Ability that had a similar nature as Courtney's he'd definitely use it to his advantage as well. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that he'd use it for his own appearances. Which is why he's a bit repulsed of Courtney's usage of it.

Illusions were absurdly useful. He didn't precisely have knowledge of Courtney's own Ability, howbeit, he can irrefutably conclude that it was overpowered. It was highly likely that it was even more overpowered than his status as a dual wielder and Daniel's God Eyes.

"W-wait." Courtney touched his shoulder. "I… I apologize for attempting on doing something to you."

"Sure." Hayden swatted Courtney's hand off of his shoulder. "It's not that I blame you for wanting to take advantage. It was a human error. We all make one. The thing is, if you do it again…"

Hayden released his cold-blooded killing intent. He faced Courtney and drew a line across his neck with his right index finger. In Courtney's perspective, Hayden transformed into some sort of demon. Her hair stood up on its ends.

She nearly pissed herself in fear. What kind of a demon was this guy? She nodded and stammered, "I… I promise I won't bother you again…"

"Good." Hayden proceeded on his way to the restroom, leaving the petrified Courtney. When he got to the restroom, he relieved himself.

The second he was zipping up his pants, the alarm sounded out. Hayden washed his hands with a grim, at the same time dry, expression. "What now…?"

Sitting on a stall, Courtney's heart beat faster. She urged her body to relieve itself faster. "What is happening?"

In his classroom, Daniel was startled. He thought, 'Holy fuck. What is happening? Are bounty hunters these days this brazen?'

"Everyone outside of their classrooms, please return. Remain calm and do not panic." The robotic PA system of the school resounded. "Cease all lessons this instant. All doors will be locked in a minute."

All of the people roaming immediately returned at the notice of the PA system. Hayden did the same as he didn't want to arouse any suspicion at all.

…..

The news.

"Breaking news!" An old newscaster spoke. "There are two masked men breaking in Makati Scholar Academy as I report this."

The screen switched into a helicopter view of the large school grounds of the Makati Scholar Academy. It zoomed in just in time for the cameras on the helicopter to witness Zhang Yu hurl the two guards away.

In that instant, the live video feed rotated around. Eventually, the video feed was cut off. "It seems that something has happened to our helicopter on site. Do not worry, dear parents. The police are on their way."

A few seconds earlier. Back in the building that George was on. He took aim with his sniper rifle. The mouth of the rifle gradually lit up in white.

He pulled the trigger. In place of a bullet, a beam of white light shot out. The beam of light penetrated the hull of the helicopter, causing it to rapidly lose altitude as it spiraled downwards.

As a result of the parts that contained the AI of the helicopter being destroyed, along with the controls, the helicopter spiraled down on the road. Ultimately, the helicopter crashed, exploding into a small mushroom cloud.

This was George's Ability, the common Psionics. Psionics is an Ability that conferred anybody that possessed it the power to use common mental or psychic powers. For its Level 1 power, it increased its wielder's mental capacity passively and grants them the power to be aware of their surroundings.

The Level 2 power bestowed the wielder the power to affect their surroundings with their mind, also known as telekinesis.

What George did was that he infused the bullet with enough telekinetic force and essence energy so that the bullet traveled ridiculously fast. The light trail effect was the effect of the bullet losing the excess essence energy.

Instantaneously, he moved to the laptop on his right. His hands flashed at an astonishing speed, pulling up the name sheets of the 9th grade students.

"What classroom is that Hayden and Daniel?" Zhang Yu was the one to inquire this time around. "I want to kill them to get this over with."

"Yeah, the police would come. Sooner or later, Puting Araw will be alerted as well." Kim Min-jun concurred.

"Hayden and Daniel are at the same floor, the seventh." George informed the two people of the precise locations of Hayden and Daniel.

Then, he moved to his binoculars and checked up on the window. "Yep, Hayden Emperador is in that classroom. Will you kill everyone?"

"I want to be the one to kill that Hayden Emperador. I feel there's something special with him." Kim Min-jun licked his lips, his eyes disgorging killing intent. "And of course, we're going to kill everyone. Why did we bother doing this if we don't kill everyone?"

…..

A little earlier. Hayden returned to his classroom. In his hands, he had his Puting Araw badge clutched. He was ready to infuse essence energy into it in case that the alarms were triggered by wielders.

He sat on his seat, inexplicable calmness oozing out of him. Faye, who sat next to him, couldn't help her eyes to wander to Hayden.

Hayden disregarded her by closing his eyes. He was using his Heavenly Sense to check up on the people. The building was a mere 100 feet high, or 30 meters. He can survive a jump from that height if he used his essence energy enhancement and walk away without any injury at all. That's without his Indestructible Devil.

In the emergency exit to the right of the building were two people. One was slightly shorter than the height of an average Filipino and one that was quite tall.

Judging from their body outline with his Heavenly Sense, in which their hands holding out, Hayden fathomed that they were holding guns. Machine guns to boot.

'Fucking bounty hunters.' Hayden breathed out sharply. In that instance, a pervading sense of danger crept in his heart. Someone was most definitely watching him from afar.

He peered into the direction with his Divine Perception activated. Unbeknownst to him, the kingly aura he released last night emanated from his entire body.

The students around him couldn't exactly understand, but they felt safe. Especially Faye, who can feel the intense majesty of Hayden's entire person. She felt small in his presence.

'When did that happen?' She thought as she observed Hayden stare into the direction of the windows, which was on the left side of the room. Since they were on the right side, Hayden was facing her, albeit not directly at her. She admired his face. 'That aura added more to his own persona. What the…'

At that moment, the door flew open. In came Courtney with panic on her face. In her hurry, she didn't notice that she came in Classroom 3-8 instead of 3-7.

The door automatically closed and locked behind her. The PA system resounded, "The doors will now lock."

She was speechless when she perceived that the students and the petite female teacher stared at her with mouth agape.

On the right side, she noticed Hayden frowning, his left eyebrow raised as if asking, 'What the hell are you doing here?'

"You go sit in the back, the doors have locked anyway." The female teacher pointed to the back of the class, wherein there were multiple vacant seats. "Okay. Please make yourself comfortable."

Hayden's face twitched when he heard that sentence. There was death looming in front of our doorsteps, and you ask us to be comfortable? Shouldn't 'calm' be the right word?

"Distract yourselves in the meantime." The female teacher continued. "We're locked in, and those doors are made of military-grade Shojin Steel. We don't have to worry of anybody invading us."

Now Hayden's anxiety got worse. That sentence was doubtlessly going to be a jinx. The universe was fucking playing with him! He had to start a plan right then and there because if he doesn't, all of his classmates may die!

Which may be for the best if they ever found something out, but he wasn't a true devil that didn't care for human life.

That was when his eyes wandered to Courtney on the back. An idea popped up in his head. Courtney shivered when Hayden's eyes landed on her. 'What is he thinking of?'