Chapter 691 Into A Ball Of Fire

Lee Seng shot four bolts out towards the two bodyguards. The woman behind Captain Childs met his attacks with bolts of her own. The light bolts slammed against the gravity bolts, altering them and distorting the space around them.

'What's going on?' Lee Seng thought.

"You have nowhere to run, Lee Seng Chang." Captain Childs spoke. She began to slowly walk towards him as the flames grew around her. Lee Seng could see the smoke literally rising from her. She was different from other fire users. He knew that much after almost dying to smoke. "I'm surprised you didn't die that day. A normal person would've died to smoke, but you… You surpassed my expectations. That's why I need you."

"You need me to work under you?" Lee Seng cracked a smile. His nerves bounced around. The bodyguards were advancing onto his friends and it was clear Captain Childs was going to stop him from doing anything. "What if I don't want to? Could you just kill me instead?"

"Kill you?" Captain Childs shook her head. She seemed shocked that anyone would have the balls to even negotiate. "Your fate is worth more than death. It's with the Master." Childs lifted her hand and sent out a billowing flame. Lee Seng jumped to the side, listening to his stuff immediately ignite. Lee Seng blinked, leaving an after image of himself that waved at Childs. It exploded in an instant, sending her through the apartment wall. Lee Seng appeared in front of his friends, lifting a large cosmic hold on the two bodyguards.

Lee Seng began to shove the two backwards as a flashing light distorted his powers once again. He cursed and slammed himself into the bodyguards in front of him. He watched the bodyguard go flying into the Observer, knocking her over and disrupting her from casting any other spells.

"Raging vortex!" The other bodyguards shouted. A red vortex appeared on top of Lee Seng. It pulled Lee Seng in, tearing at him. Lee Seng grunted as the Dark Matter in his body began to react strangely.

[Devouring Storm's armor has been triggered due to someone trying to steal Energy from you.]

Lee Seng's body exploded in the Dark Matter bodysuit. It pulled the raging vortex into it, dropping Lee Seng onto the floor. The bodyguard's eyes widened as a blast of gravity sent them flying through the kitchen wall. Manny and the others gasped, released from their stun.

"What do we do?" Olivia asked. Ritsuka stood up and ran towards his friends, sword in his hand and his back to his friends. Captain Childs cackled as flames exploded. Lee Seng and the others turned their attention to it. Lee Seng lifted his arm, creating a strange Dark Matter-cosmic shield.

"Jump out of the building." Lee Seng told them.

"What? Y-you know I—" Evan began to say.

"I know you're scared of heights, Evan." Lee Seng interjected. "We don't have time."

"They're just gonna follow us. How are we going to get rid of them?" Manny asked, standing. Lee Seng's tongue clicked as he looked towards his bedroom.

"Get into my room. We can leave there." Lee Seng told them. Light flashed, distorting the cosmic energy in front of Lee Seng. The Dark Matter swirled, eating the strange distortions.

"I can't distort that." The female bodyguard told Captain Childs as they stepped into the apartment. Captain Childs was pissed. She screamed as she threw her at the group.

"Then you can die!" Captain Childs shouted. A large fireball flew at Lee Seng and the others. Manny and Evan moved forwards to block as Lee Seng's gravity shoved everyone backwards and down the hallway.

"H-hey!" Manny shouted. A loud explosion of fire ate Lee Seng and everything around him. The flames rushed in every direction, following after the group as they spilled into Lee Seng's room. The door shut, bursting into flames as flames flew underneath the door.

"Lee!" Manny screamed. He began to clamber towards the door. "Lee!" Flames exploded below and up the door, blocking Manny from going forwards.

"Manny!" Liz shouted. "Get away from the door!" Ritsuka grunted as he ran forward, grabbing Manny and pulling him away from the door.

"Lee! Lee!" Manny screamed.

'Was this what hell feels like?' Lee Seng wondered. It was so hot, he could barely feel a thing. IT was hard for him to understand what was happening. He had somehow suspended himself in air as the screams of the bodyguard off in the kitchen literally roasted to death. The bodyguard's voice seemed to grow quiet as flames continued forwards with no end in sight.

"I don't think he should be able to withstand that." Captain Childs spoke. The Observer kept a shimmering light barrier around them. It distorted the flames to not kill her and her captain. "Do you sense him?" Captain Childs looked at the Observer. The Observer peered into the flames, searching for any signs of life.

The Observer's eyes widened. She could see a large dark gray energy eating away at the flames. The dark gray energy's shape continued to grow into something out of an Eldritch Horror movie.

"What is that?" The Observer's voice shook. She was taken aback by the horrific sight in front of her. "Captain, I think you should come out here."

"Why? He shouldn't be able to live through that." Captain Childs looked towards the fire.

"Captain." The Observer grew more scared. She started to back out of the burning apartment as the Eldritch energy grew into a horrific roaring mouth. It screamed at her, making the Observer's legs fall. "Oh… No."

The flames dispersed around Lee Seng as he floated. Tendrils whipped and licked the flames around him. There was no more apartment. Captain Childs' fireball attack had destroyed everything. Lee Seng turned his attention towards the hallway, noticing it was still seemingly intact. Tendrils had covered the entire hallway with bits of fire flying through the cracks.

Lee Seng moved down the hallway, tendrils responding to him as he moved to the door. He reached for the door handle, only to remember it might be hot. The tendrils responded to him by grabbing it and throwing it open. The flames had eaten part of the room as Ritsuka and the others held a crying Manny.

"LEE!" Manny shouted. He broke out of their grasps as he scrambled over. Lee Seng floated in and shut the door. He lifted his hand towards his pillow and watched his phone fly into his hand. "You're okay!" Manny tackled Lee Seng with a bear hug.

"I… can't breathe!" Lee Seng croaked.

"I thought you were dead!" Manny smothered him with sobs. Lee Seng patted Manny to try to hush him. It only made Manny cry even more. "I just got you back! Please don't leave me! I'm sorry for what I did!"

"Manny… Now's…" Lee Seng sighed as he continued to comfort him.

"What do we do now?" Olivia asked. She cautiously watched the door. "Aren't they still there?"

"They can't get over here. She burnt the entire apartment." As if on cue, the apartment began to groan and shatter. Manny reluctantly pulled away from Lee Seng. He wiped his tears as Lee Seng opened his phone. He had messages from Calis, Valen and Chrono.  He quickly tapped his phone and sent a single message out to all of them: SOS. He slipped his phone into the Dark Matter suit, not watching it disappear into him.

"Okay, let's go." Lee Seng told the group.

"W-we're still gonna… go out through the…" Evan gulped, looking behind him. His legs shook, almost giving away as Ritsuka held him up.

"Just close your eyes. Lee Seng has done this before. You'll be fine. We will all be fine." Ritsuka reminded Evan that they had done this before and were fine.

"But we didn't jump from this high before!" Evan protested. "I-I don't wanna die!"

"Where are we gonna go anyways?" Liz asked. Lee Seng's phone buzzed somewhere within him as he pulled the shades open. He peered out of the view and sighed. "Do you have a place in mind?"

"I guess you guys have no choice but to come with me…" Lee Seng sighed. He turned to face the group. "Are you okay with being known as people who are friends with a murderer and an irresponsible son? I'm going to be branded anything to make the entire city, hell, even the entire world think I'm the enemy. Anything is possible against those people.."

"What do you mean, Lee?" Manny asked. "T-those guys are terrorists. They came in here and tried to kill us! They want you!" Lee Seng nodded.

"That silver haired woman… She's a Deimon." Lee Seng told them.

"A D-Deimon? Is that why she's so powerful?" Olivia asked.

"The Deimons are closer to me than I think they are…" Lee Seng clicked his tongue. He sighed and pushed that away. "We gotta leave this place before it crumbles on us. I'm pretty sure this place is going to burn to pieces." A helicopter flew past.

"They're here quick." Ritsuka commented. "What do we do now?"

"Promise me." Lee Seng told them. "You have to promise me you won't leave me. You won't betray us. You won't regret being with me. Promise me that."