The atmosphere in the pharmacy was heating up. The pressure caused by the dusty environment increased by the second, and the voice of the man behind me, Rin, and Mi, generated even more tension.
"Be careful, Jin," Mi warned, lightly tapping my chest without looking back.
A small revelation had been granted to me; a divine gift so I wouldn't forget that He was still watching me.
"I thought you had abandoned me, Omega..." I whispered to myself, concentrating a massive amount of spiritual energy into my fingertips.
Let's see how this works...
"Say cheese!" I alerted in a sarcastic tone.
I snapped the middle fingers and thumbs of both hands simultaneously. A blinding explosion of light filled the room, leaving everyone dazed for a brief moment. I seized the opportunity to flank the mysterious man, threatening him from behind with my staff.
"Hands up or I shoot!" I continued the threat, pressing the staff against him to simulate the barrel of a pistol.
"Come on, don't make things complicated," the man surrendered, speaking with a mellow voice and a slight touch of mockery. "I imagine I'm not the only blind one here, kid."
I looked around and a cold sweat broke out: about fifteen men with heavy weaponry kept their sights aimed exactly at my head.
"You don't need all this... do you?" I gave up, dropping the staff on the floor. "You win."
"Now, it's not that big a deal. We aren't enemies, unless you're with the Trins. The massacre outside confirmed the opposite to me," he replied, turning around.
He was a man of approximately thirty years with dark skin. On his vest, the name stood out: "EXTERMINATOR."
"Even after everything, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Tite, General of the First Battalion of the Exterminator Group in Japan."
He extended his right hand, which was wrapped in blood-stained bandages. Mi and Rin seemed relieved and nodded, agreeing to accept them as allies.
"Call me Jin, leader of the hero group," I tried to give the sentence some gravitas, but Tite looked confused. "The kid is Rin, the big one is Mi."
The soldiers finally lowered their weapons.
The Secret Laboratory
"What brought you here?" Mi asked, stepping closer to me.
"We are hunting a woman by direct order of the Savior. Apparently, she is in this region," Tite stated, walking toward a metal door. "By any chance, did any of you see her?"
"She'd already be in custody if we had. I'm also looking for that thief," Mi explained, extending her hand to the General. "We were robbed by her and barely escaped. A man appeared to prevent the worst from happening."
"Perhaps it's the Former General of the Former Army. I heard he knew the thief," Tite sighed deeply.
"Whoever it is, we're counting on you to find them," I bowed in respect.
All the soldiers returned the gesture except for Tite, who remained standing while opening the iron door.
"We say the same," he repeated coldly.
Following him, we entered a room with white walls and few traces of destruction. There were green glass cylinders, likely used for animal experiments or storing specific medications. Shelves filled with robust black boxes occupied one side, while the other held recipe books. In the center, large encapsulating machines were surrounded by puddles of blue and red liquids mixed with glass shards.
"It's recent... someone was here before us," Mi observed, cautious not to touch the substance.
The metal door seemed to be the only exit. Rin remained restless, pacing in circles on his short legs. After two minutes of fruitless searching, Tite began to lose his patience.
"Useless. Staying here is a waste of time," the General grumbled, making a move to leave.
But Rin planted himself in front of the door.
"Get out of the way, kid."
He didn't move.
"Move away from the door!" Tite ordered loudly.
Seeing that the boy didn't intend to yield, the General lunged to grab him by the shirt collar.
"Why, you... I warned you!"
The moment the General was about to seize him, Rin blocked the attack with just one hand, maintaining the same intense gaze from before. Tite froze. In a strange reflex, the General struck himself with a punch.
While the confusion set in, I hurried to search the recipe shelf. I found no clues there, but on a small table in the corner of the room lay a notepad with personal observations. I read quickly, and in moments, the pieces began to fall into place.
The Origin of the Trins (Extra Chapter)
After the Great Day, a colossal amount of energy was hurled toward Earth, modified by passing through various gaseous planets during its journey through the universe. This energy is composed entirely of antimatter. Although invisible to the human eye, it is lethal enough to annihilate anyone within meters. The result was catastrophic: a large part of the population perished in the incident, leaving a trail of radioactivity in objects and supplies.
Some survived. Their bodies absorbed the energy because they possessed a minimal connection to a Chosen of Omega, or through his direct protection. Although there is only one Disciple destined to save the world, others were tasked with protecting their cities.
In the absence of a scientific explanation, the phenomenon came to be known as Spiritual Energy, due to its invisible and supernatural nature. The antimatter fused with the survivors' blood, flowing through the body with a consciousness of its own. The organism constantly tries to expel this force, but doing so is impossible without shedding one's own blood. When activated correctly, the energy can be channeled by the wielder; however, if the antimatter takes control, it transforms the host into a Trin—a being of pure emotion.
Acting as a parasite, the energy consumes the human brain and alters the physical appearance to reflect the heaviest emotion felt by the individual during their life. Sentiment is essential to the level of force released from the body. On the other hand, those who can control the energy can use it to fight the Trins, but they tend to be weaker since maximum force would control them, turning them into an even stronger monster.
The Secret Passage and the Cursed Book
Everything seemed like a personal note printed by someone aware of my existence who knew this new world very well, though they hadn't had time to complete all the information. When I closed the small notepad, I noticed a red button exactly where it had been lying. Before I could think of doing anything, Rin stepped in front of me and clicked it three times hard with the palm of his hand.
"That was it!" Rin exclaimed with a smile plastered on his face.
I could only notice the look of surprise on Tite's face, both for being defied and for the punch he gave himself by a child's orders. A square of approximately four square meters opened in the floor next to the machines, leading to a floor below.
"Your instincts are sharp, Rin!" Mi praised as she picked up her weapons again.
"She's probably here; you better prepare yourselves in case there are more of them," Tite warned his soldiers.
I took the lead and went down to check the environment: another metal door, this time with two green lights on top and no lock. A room sealed by a wooden door imbued with spiritual energy is what the secret hall left us. However, only I was able to feel the different energy coming from the wall.
"It's locked," Mi complained with a deep sigh. "I'll need to break it down, excuse me."
She then delivered three kicks to the apparently rotting wood, but her foot didn't even reach it.
"Why...?"
"Close your eyes and concentrate your senses on the door, also ignore all external distractions," I ordered while doing the same to transform my arm. Even though she gave me a look of doubt, she closed them and tilted her head forward.
Bit by bit, her mouth opened in surprise and formed a small smile.
"I can see it!" Mi shouted incredulously. "The shape of the objects, the invisible chain on the door, and... a gigantic white wave behind you!"
"Try using your vision to open the lock."
Maybe I could do that. Mi's spiritual aura is completely concentrated in her head. She is the only person I've seen like that since the Great Day. The General didn't understand the situation, nor did his soldiers.
"Tsc..." the General muttered. "What idiocy, her kick must not have been strong enough."
"Hold this for me," he handed his weapon to his subordinate. He prepared to run toward the door, a path that would go right over Mi and disrupt her concentration.
"Kid, do your magic," I whispered in his ear and gave him a light tap on the shoulder.
His eye changed color and fixed on the General, who turned his direction toward me. His face was visibly altered, the marks on his forehead exposing his nervousness.
"Shh... don't disturb my friend," I held the General by the collar of his shirt.
"Get your hands off me!" he struggled until he got away.
The door opened with a screeching, high-pitched noise, showing possible wear and tear from time.
"Man, this is incredible! It feels like I have superpowers!" Mi exclaimed, her eyes shining.
"And don't you? You possess spiritual energy; that's not normal for humans," I shot back, taking the lead.
Mi was so happy that telling her all her energy was concentrated in her head might discourage her. However, the room was almost empty. Was it all in vain? The four walls and the floor were made of the same darkened wood, which had absorbed moisture and grown some weeds in its cracks. Only a lamp illuminated a book on the floor, its cover illegible from the dust. I sensed no danger in the room.
"Our targets must be in another corridor," the General said with his arms crossed.
"I told you! They make us waste our time in useless places!" he completed, turning his back. "We're leaving. May 'God' be with you."
Calling all his soldiers, they left. During the discussion, the boy passed by my side and bent down to pick up the book but, without strength, only opened it near the middle.
Focus...
The object contained, albeit little, spiritual energy inside. It is common for it to be blue, but this was red.
"Kid! Don't touch the book!" I tried to warn him before it happened, but it was useless.
An absurd pressure took over the room and left us dizzy.
"What is that thing?!" Mi screamed, stepping back.
Nothing was physically in the room. The spiritual energy contained in the book concentrated and formed an empty circle that floated in the air, filling up over time.
"It's sucking our energy... get out of here, fast!"
At the end of my sentence, Mi collapsed unconscious on the floor. Her energy disappeared completely, just as the boy's continued to decrease.
"Close your eyes!" I alerted him, trying to move in his direction; my body felt heavy as if I were chained.
The four meters separating me from the boy felt like kilometers in a desert, where the heat of the sun wore me down amidst sand as heavy as iron. No matter how fast I tried to be, I could barely lift my leg.
"O great hand, come to me and shroud this concentration!" I conjured with a great expenditure of energy.
This time, the hand emerged from my stomach, brighter than ever. Stretching out to the ball of energy and grasping it completely, returning it to me instead of destroying it.
"Hey! I didn't ask for this!"