It took just a few seconds of running to find the line of black vans, as traffic had been severely disrupted. And as the senior officer had mentioned, the Special Unit was engaged with the criminals.
Coming to a sudden stop, Asher assessed the state of the place. There was death and destruction all over the place: vehicles toppled over and set ablaze, collapsed walls and holes in the ground. Police officers, civilians and criminals lay in pools of blood.
This was not a common scene one would see in the city. Academic City, like any other place, had crime and underworld activities, but this... this was too daring. ’To think one person could push them to act so brazenly. No... this is something more.’
His intuition told him this went far beyond just teaching Adam a lesson or forcing him into servitude. Someone desperately wanted Adam, and they were willing to go to any length to get him.
The question was why.
Asher moved around as though the fighting and commotion had nothing to do with him. Stray attacks passed through his body like he was some kind of phantom. The police officers exchanged rapid fire with the criminals, while the criminals ran around dishing out abilities at them.
He was only there for his disciple, and not some hero arriving to enact justice. Arriving at the closest van, he pulled off the door and looked inside.
Empty.
"Who the fuck are you?!" asked one of the criminals as he charged at the vice-principal with his daggers.
Asher did not even turn to look at the individual when he reduced him to slices. The person, or at least his pieces, collapsed with a wet, gruesome thud. Those who witnessed the horrific sight dared not approach and scurried away, their instincts warning them of extreme danger.
He continued searching for Adam as he moved through the chaos and destruction. Whoever crossed his path found themselves reduced to slabs of meat. Asher turned the corner after failing to find Adam in any of the vans.
’That’s him.’
Several tens of meters ahead of him was the main skull-masked man locked in a brutal fight with two Special Unit officers. They moved across the street with terrifying speed, leaving destruction whenever they stepped.
Farther back in the distance was another blockade as several police officers put the area on lockdown. They had their guns out while they somberly watched the brutal exchange — if they could actually follow it.
The skull-masked man was holding his own against the two officers, his steel-like body holding against whatever attacks they threw at him. Two more Special Unit officers watched on from a distance, clearly injured and out of the fight.
Focusing on those fighting, he watched as one of the officers crackling with red lightning manoeuvred around the skull-masked man, dishing out attacks with a long sword.
His ability seemed to be the most effective against the skull-masked man, as the man was forced on the defensive whenever that officer attacked. Whenever an opening presented itself, the second officer would charge in, delivering devastating blows with a massive war hammer.
Across his skin were red, imposing scales like those of a dragon. A particularly heavy swing of his hammer slammed into the skull-masked man’s crossed arm, hurtling him into nearby debris.
Red lightning followed right after, crackling across the skull-masked man’s body. But somehow, the man seemed to always get back up, charging right back into the fray. The two officers were breathing heavily, their moves getting sloppy as time passed.
’They won’t last for long.’ Asher noted after observing for a while.
He looked around but did not find any other van, a spark of anxiety igniting in his heart. Left with no other option, he slowly approached the fight, his hands casually tucked in his pockets.
The fight had reached a crescendo, as the skull-masked man seemed to possess infinite stamina. He abruptly switched things up as blades protruded from his knuckles, which he used in a surprise attack to impale the hammer officer.
"Captain!"
Several screams resounded as the lightning officer charged forward recklessly, the other two injured officers rejoining the fray without a thought. The skull-masked man capitalised on the situation and effortlessly stepped back, evading the mad charge of the lightning officer.
"Ah...!!"
Stepping back, however, was just the appetiser, as his knuckle blades tore through the lightning officer’s side with far greater ease. Moments after cutting through the lightning officer, he dove to the side as a flurry of spikes rained from ahead, tearing through the asphalt with ease.
The skull-masked man momentarily glanced at the approaching Asher before focusing on the suicidal officers. With the strongest two of their unit down, the skull-masked man had an easier time dealing with the rest.
He withdrew his knuckle blades and caught a lightning-fast thrust of a blade with his left hand. A heavy steel punch then tore through the officer’s chest, ending him right then and there.
"Elias!"
The last standing member of the Special Unit hurled a bundle of spiked vines at the skull-masked man, his expression a mask of desperation and fury. With agility and moves unbecoming of someone with his ability, the skull-masked man manoeuvred through the spiked vines and closed in on the desperate officer.
A high kick connected with the officer’s head with bone-crushing force, sending him flying into a building. The skull-masked man finally turned to face Asher, who had come to a stop a few meters away, his hand still tucked in his pocket.
"I-Isn’t that..."
"It’s him!"
"That bastard’s finally done for!"
Some of the blockade-forming officers lowered their weapons as they recognised the purple-haired tall man. They finally saw hope after watching their fellow officers die at the hands of the skull-masked man and his goons.
"Asher Princeton." The skull-masked man called out in a deep voice as he stared at the vice-principal. "A person of your status should not be here."
"Since you already know who I am, then you know you have no hope of escaping," Asher spoke with an expressionless face. "Save yourself the trouble and hand over my student."
"..."
Asher held the man’s gaze through the lens of his mask. There was no world where the skull-masked man defeated him. A chasm of difference stood between their realms.
He could end the skull-masked man in the blink of an eye, and the man would be none the wiser. But Adam’s safe return was his priority. His retaliation would come later.
"What are you doing, sir! Kill that bastard!"
The hammer officer roared from his place on the ground, clutching his bleeding stomach with a vengeful expression. Asher looked to the captain but did not respond.
Right at that moment, another skull-masked criminal appeared beside the man and vanished with him. For a moment, silence settled over the street like a heavy blanket.
Asher flashed the briefest of smiles and looked in a particular direction. Did they really think they could deceive his spatial senses? He had simply allowed the act to take place.
With a thought, he vanished, leaving dozens of police officers in a daze.
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