Riven, after finally awakening, was now in battle with Milo, but Ashley was still plowing through and killing students and teachers alike. Jordan, seeing this, got the same idea as Riven.
When he pulled up the system, he could tell it wasn't that many points he had on his own. Riven always gave everybody their own points equally, but Jordan, seeing his points, realized he could only buy two potions. Something that was in his favor was the fact that he had been awakened longer than anybody in the group—meaning, when it came down to them drinking Awakening Potions, he didn't have to drink as many as them to awaken to the next level. Buying two potions and drinking them, he realized he still couldn't awaken.
But Tessa, Wren, and Leo, seeing what the boy was trying to do, all helped him out by giving him two things of potions. Luckily, it was just as Jordan thought—he didn't have to drink as many potions as Riven did to awaken. Thanks to what the system said, Jordan also had a True Awakening form. But instead of being purple or light blue like Riven and Harkel, it was pitch black, dark energy flowing around him. He then used his wind to blast off towards Ashley, trying to help the teachers in the fight they were in.
Tessa, realizing they still had two more potions, gave both of them to Joey. She didn't know if it would help him or not, but it was worth something.
"This power is amazing," Jordan said as he stood face-to-face with Ashley. He then used ink in the form of a chain that tied her to the ground. He threw out a blow that connected with Ashley, sending her flying back. The arm he had on didn't have its four-times-damage effect anymore, but it still gave him extra stats.
He then whipped out his sword, ready to go. Jordan and Ashley then clashed. Ashley tried to kick Jordan, but the boy was able to jump up and crack her leg. Ashley yelled out; she then ate one of the dead students on the ground, making her leg heal.
Ashley was the weakest out of all the wolves. Not only was her physical strength and speed not up to theirs, but the female wolf also didn't know how to fight. All she would do is win with her pure strength and speed. But when those are taken out of the picture, she's just a regular human—with more durability and a healing factor.
"Why? Why won't you just let us take revenge on them for what they did to us?" Ashley said. It looked like the female was ready to do another howl, but before she did, the ink that was originally holding her down quickly came up to her mouth and was put on her like a type of muzzle.
"We won't let you take revenge. You say we did nothing to you guys. This was a simple outing, in and out. Maybe some students were going to die on this outing, but most of us are dead—and it's because of you guys. Because you want revenge. If you wanted revenge so bad, you would've found it another way. Yet you try to put that energy on us and kill us. We did nothing to you people. You came out first. We were just defending ourselves. We're kids. They were kids. And you killed them. So what—you can get back at the Broken Veil? You're doing nothing but making them happier."
Jordan had a lot of things pent up inside of him. After hearing that a lot of students died on the first day here, after seeing his friend Joey in a near-death state because of one of these experiments, he had enough. All these people were basically hypocrites who wanted revenge on the Broken Veil, yet they were helping them out by getting rid of evolvers.
"None of us asked to be here. None of us wanted to go on our outing in the first place. You blame us because of what Darius did to you, but Darius did us wrong as well. We would've never been here if it wasn't for that silver-haired bastard. A normal school year? Yeah, now we have to come here and watch most of our peers die in front of us. You didn't ask for this—and neither did we. We're all victims here. But you guys—you use that as an excuse to kill… to kill innocent people."
Jordan was starting to tear up. Even though it had only been one day of being in this world, hearing what happened to his peers, seeing what happened to his peers—it made him heartbroken. He didn't know the people, yes, but that didn't change the fact that they were all innocent and had nothing to do with any of these wolves and their chase for revenge.
Ashley was able to get the muzzle off of her face, tears coming down her eyes.
"I know that, and I'm sorry. But he says we cannot have any witnesses, and that if we let you guys out of here, you're most likely going to tell someone. And it'll get the attention of one of the Broken Veil's spies, and we can't have that. So I'm sorry—but I have no choice."
This was Ashley's simple reply to Jordan's words.
"Who is he?" Jordan asked.
This made Ashley realize no one here knew who Kael was, or that there even was another werewolf like her. And she was correct. Everyone who made contact with Kael was either dead or not in the area. Little did Kael know himself—he was basically a master at covering his tracks. The only people who knew about Kael were Luka and Team C, and that was it. They were lucky to survive so long, since Kael was stronger than all of the wolves, even in the state they were in now. Kael—the red wolf—could beat them easily.
"Who is he?" Jordan asked again.
"No one," Ashley said back as she charged in, but Jordan easily dodged her and kicked her in the face. Doing that threw her back into a tree.
Jordan was no fool. He knew what this probably meant—there was another wolf out there. And by the way she talked about him, he was definitely stronger than all of them combined.
"I'm sorry," Jordan said as the last thing before he sliced Ashley's throat and blood spilled out. He then clapped his hands together, praying for her, knowing that she was a victim herself in more ways than one.
Jordan then looked at his brother and Milo, but he saw his brother on the back foot. Jordan then lifted his hand up, but instead of ink going Milo's way, Milo's shadow started to grow up around his arms and also performed a type of chain—just like he did with Ashley. Riven then punched Milo in the face, but when he removed his fist, all he could see was a big smile on Milo. He then easily broke out of Jordan's chains and tried to claw Riven's throat out, but using the teleportation evolution, Riven was able to get out of the way of the attack. When he looked back at the attack, he could see claw slashes come out and hit a tree, knocking the tree over.
Riven was next to his brother.
"So what now?" Riven asked.
"I don't know," Jordan replied back. "Maybe if Harkel was still in the fight we could think of a plan, but after that powerful blow, he's most likely out for good now. Also tells us we cannot take a direct blow from him—and if we do, we need to take it in a non-vital area."
Riven agreed with his brother's statement.
"Joey…" a voice said in their heads. It was none other than Harkel. "Joey—if he wakes up, he'll most likely awaken. We both felt the same feeling before coming here, like we were close to the next step."
The two took his words into consideration, but they didn't have much time to think, as Milo was rushing toward them with incredible speed. Riven then closed his eyes.
"Lawless Space!" Riven yelled as a purple dome came up, covering 30 meters. When Milo came into this area, he felt his feet come off the ground. When he did, a giant ink sword tried to slice him in two—but all it did was knock him to the ground.
"'Lawless Space.' Nice name," Harkel said in the telepathic link skill.
"Not the time, Harkel," Jordan said back. Harkel apologized. The purple dome then went away.
"Sorry—it takes a lot of my energy to use that ability, so we're most likely going to have to hold off on that for now."
Jordan nodded, and they both got ready. Riven had his black and green armor set on, while Jordan actually had Harkel's armor set, since the boy was out of the fight. And Jordan himself had Harkel's air evolution. The two then rushed forward—and so did Milo.
⸻
Back with Team C…
All the teachers were running at full speed. Since they were the only ones left of the team—all of the students were dead, all killed by a single wolf—and even though they were going fast, the wolf still looked annoyed.
"Ahhhh, is this you guys' full speed?" the wolf asked.
None of them wanted to say yes, even though it was most of their full speed. They knew what would happen if they shook their head yes. Some of them actually did have a bit more speed in them, but most likely nowhere near the speed of the wolf.
"Your silence gave me my answer," the wolf said as his body grew bigger. He then grabbed all the teachers—not killing them, but instead holding them. All the teachers looked frightened while being in the wolf's arms like a couple of babies. The red-eyed wolf then sped off, with Wolf Kelvin still giving him directions—but barely, since the wolf was going too fast even for him
Both Riven and Jordan rusht in, and Milo did the same. Riven went below, smashing his gontlet into Milo's chest. Then Jordan was above, shooting air and ink down on Milo's face, makeing his body hit the ground.
Jordan, if he tryed to use his sword, it most likely wouldn't of worked in the first place. He'd seen how strong Milo's skin was, and that was before he ate Xander.
Milo tryed to kick Riven back, but a ink wall apeared, blocking his kick. Then spikes protruded outta the wall, penetrating Milo's leg a little. Milo then used his other foot and kicked on the ground to make space beetween the three.
"Dang it I should be out there helping," Harkel thought.
"No, you're on the virge of fainting, and you no it. That direct punch did a number on you," Wren told Harkel, who kept opening and closeing his eyes.
Leo then steped up but was quickly stoped by his sister.
"No, you can't. You're gonna barely land a hit on him, and when you did land a hit, it wasn't a instant killing blow. And now you don't even have that buff anymore do you? Because if you did Jordan would be using our armor still," Tessa said while holding her brother back. All Leo could do was click his tung; he knew his sister was right.
Riven then tryed to force Milo down, but the wolf was resisting. Jordan then came from above with two swords, one being made outta ink, and started slicing Milo mulitple times. But Milo then did a quick howl, knocking the two brothers away.
"Dang, this isn't working. If I could get a blade like Harkel's… but I need to use the efect of my blade," Jordan said.
Another Jordan then appeared, but this Jordan didn't have no armor on. All this Jordan had was the sword.
The too Jordans then went ahead twards Milo. Riven also rusht in. One of the speshal traits of his true awakeing is that he basicly has the 'Wheightless' abilty on the hole time. He rusht and jumped over Milo and pushd him twards the too Jordans. Milo then stoped himself from going any closer but both Jordans were up close and started slicing him — one was more stronger than the other thank's to the armor. Before Milo could retalieight, Riven came from below, takeing his back leg, making him go to his nees. It allowd both Jordans to similtainously go for his neck but Milo was able to guard his neck and head with his arm's, both Jordans then boostid there attacks with ink and wind, makeing severel scraches.
"Damn, this is bad. I can heal, but the more I do, the more energy I lose. Even if I eat one of these weaklings, that won't stop them from just doing the same thing again. I need a better sorce. Wait… Ashley. The brown-haired boy killed her, didn't he?"
Milo, with his gard still up, looked around eagerly until he saw what he was looking for — Ashley's body was up against a tree, neck sliced open.
Milo then prepared to do another short howl and knock them like he did last time.
"Not this time," Jordan and his clone yelled out as they both gathered black liquid in there hands and covered Milo's mouth in the same type of muzzle as he originaly did to Ashley — but this one was stronger.
"Dang it, I need to think, and fast," Milo said in his mind. Then he thought of something. The wolf slammed his legs on the ground and put all his force into it. He launcht himself into the air, kicking up dirt and makeing a type of smoke screen. Jordan and his clone quickly blew the smoke away using air, but not quick enough. When it all cleared, they heard a crunching noise. Both Riven and Jordan turned to where they heard the sound. The two looked disgusted at what they saw.
Milo was eating Ashley's body — bones crunching, blood gushing on Milo's body and mouth. Riven and Jordan looked away. Even though they had a lot of power in them, they were still kids, and things made them sick to their stomachs — and this was one of them. They was holding themselves back from throwing up, while other teachers and students were throwing up — including Tessa, Wren, Harkel, Leo, and the boy who was healing Joey.
"This is barbarick. Even if you grow strength from eating others, why would he eat his own? If what Riven said was true, they've been here together for years. How could you just eat somebody like that, espeshally one that you knew for many years and that had went through the same things as you? This is some real fucked-up shit," Harkel said aloud so everyone could here, including Milo.
"Ashley…" Jordan said slowly. "I can tell now. She was diffrent from you and Xander. She had no choice in the matter. She was scared. But you and Xander, and whoever she was afraid of… you people are borderline insane. You enjoyed the killing — I could tell in her face she didn't want this. She was just scared for her own life. Xander deserved to die, and after what she did, Ashley deserved it too. But I can tell… you guys went through that experament because you just wanted power to force others and do anything to anyone you desired. And you deserved what happened to you. But not Ashley. She was just a girl who wanted to live a dream."
"Ugh, enough yapping. Ashley was weak anyway. We was most likely gonna kill her off before or after we got to Earth. But doesn't matter — you did our job for us. I'ma thank you," Milo said with a cheeky smile.
This angered Jordan even more, as a big wolf-like beast came up from his shadow. Then a creature who looked similar to Milo came out and ran twards him. This shocked Milo. He didn't know Jordan had a abilty that could do something like this, and he wondered what else he could do. Milo then went in to fight an inky version of hisself, but there was a clear winner. Milo was way faster and way stronger than this inky creature. But it wasn't like Jordan's ink monster was weaker than Milo before he ate Ashley — it was because Milo grew way stronger after eating Ashley. Even tho she was weak, she could still give him a big power boost. He then destroyed his inky clone and rushed toward Jordan and Riven.
After puking they're hearts out, everyone was able to focus again on the battlefeild. Then they sensed two figuers. Everyone got on gard, but when they saw two figuers, they dropped them.
"Kira! Luka!" Nico yelled.
"Hey guys, what's happening?" Luka replied back, looking shocked at what he was looking at — Jordan and Riven being in front of a wolf-like beast, dead students, and teachers on the ground.
"Wait… you're awakened, aren't you?" Tessa asked.
Everyone knew why she asked that question, and they started to lead her toward Joey's unconscious body. She then started to heal the boy, and everyone imedietly started to see a result. Joey's eyes opend wide, and he started to cough up blood.
"Joey!" they all yelled.
"God, you scared us for a sec," Leo said. "I mean dude, even Wren was scared for you."
"Why is that such a big shock?" Wren said. "He's my friend too," she muttered.
Harkel could see Joey was looking in one direction. It was where Jordan and Riven were fighting Milo. When he looked over there, he was shocked at the way Joey was looking.
"Riven… Jordan…" Joey said weakly.
And everybody looked to where they was fighting and couldn't believe there eyes. The two brothers were being beaten by the werewolf. Jordan's clone was still there, which was why Jordan never wanted to use the ability. The clone wasn't just someone who would poof away after takeing a few hits or after a certain amount of time passed — no, the clone was its own person with Jordan's memory and body. This was the reason why Jordan never wanted to use the clone ability in the first place. It was like playing God with another soul — with his own soul. Milo had trashed Riven and the original Jordan. The clone then went for a killing blow on Riven, but the clone Jordan appeared, using his ink to push Riven out of the way. Milo was getting annoyed with the clone, since the clone had no armor. It was slower than the two. Milo then rushed ahead, grabbing the clone.
"Nooo, stop!" Riven yelled out.
But Milo didn't care, as he crushed the clone in the palm of his hand, killing it and letting its crushed body drop on the floor. Riven knew this wasn't his brother, but that didn't change the fact it had his brother's body and that it saved him. It was like looking at his actual brother dying, and he could do nothing about it. Riven was angry that he couldn't do nothing. But there was one boy who had more anger than him — it was Joey.
He didn't know what was going on. All he saw was a person he cared about being killed — a person he saw as a brother. In Joey's eyes, that was the Jordan. He didn't even take in the fact that there was another Jordan with armor on. He was only focused on the one that died.
"Jordan! No! Jordan! No!" As Joey kept repeating hisself, something started to happen. Riven and every bonded party member saw something in there system:
[System: User Joey Cross is doing something that was first seemed to be impossible… but now he's makeing it possible.]
Riven didn't no what the system was talking about, but he then heard a voice growing:
"Nooo! Stop hurting them! Stop hurting! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!"
Then when Joey yelled the last words, a beam of light came down, blowing everyone near him away.
[System: Joey Cross has unlocked the Light Affinity.]
Joey stood there alone, with a single light flashing on him thru the gray skies, with his hair flowing in a light golden aura surounding his body.
Joey had done more than unlock his true awakening form.