....
Reo watched as Raven flicked him off, decleared that he was invincible and promptly collapsed face-first into the concrete.
"Retard."
Reo murmured as he jumped down from the rooftop.
He went to examine the charred corpse of the monster. Up close, it looked like a husk burnt so badly, that it would take just the slightest breeze to turning into a pile of ashes.
"Can't even do the job reliably."
Reo gave it a final glance and shook his head.
Raven had used lightning without any skills—this by itself was not in the very least impressive, what was impressive was the raw destructive power of the lightning and his "control over it".
Of course, calling it control was a stretch as his own lightning had also burned him too.
The older boy gave the beast's corpse one last look before holsting Raven's own charred body onto his back, not minding the stains as he leaped onto the building again.
'How fortunate.'
Reo mused as he went back.
'If it were any other time, I would have left you to rot.'
Currently, they were at the outskirts of the city, hence they were seldom anyone here.
The outskirts were abandoned a year ago due to the rising number of beasts in this area. The PRU was called, a branch was established here in weeks, and in just a few days they had managed to drive the beasts out of the main areas, leaving the monsters to roam in the outskirts of the city.
The PRU claimed that it was nearly impossible to do so as they multiplied like rats.
Reo did not go directly back to the PRU office, instead he continued his patrol.
Reo's plan since the beginning was simple—he wasn't heartless nor foolish enough to try killing Raven, that was why in the beginning he had opted to discourage him from working with the PRU.
Now, he had chosen a better strategy.
Everything time both of them went on patrols, which would be very frequent considering that they were both doing patrols together, Reo would always pit him against as many beasts as he could find, whether it required going to the outskirts or not.
Hopefully, they would all end up as well as his first encounter with them.
And when Nyx saw it again and again, and again, even she would have to admit that Raven was a liability.
Reo glanced at Raven's charred unconscious face.
If not for Raven's steady, Reo would have already called it a job done okay right there and right now.
He shifted Raven's body as he continued his patrol.
Since it would be impossible for him alone to scout the entire city daily all by himself, him and other PRU members were given sections to scout in.
Reo, however, went past his section, breaking into another member's own.
He leaped down from a building, stopping in front of a shop.
A pharmacy.
A green sign shone overhead with the words proudly insigned onto it.
Reo pushed the door open with his shoulder.
"Good afternoon, ma'am."
He greeted as he entered.
The air in the pharmacy was heavy with the smell of antiseptics and herbs.
"Oh, Reo, what a pleasant surprise."
The old woman at the counter smiled warmly.
"How are you? Are you eating well? You look thinner than when I last saw you."
"I'm eating well."
He replied, dropping Raven onto a chair.
"Oh, what's this? What happened to this young man?"
"His name is Raven, he just joined."
"I didn't ask who he was, I asked what happened to him. Reo, losing your hearing alreadying"
"I'm hearing well, ma'am."
He replied.
"Then how did he get hurt this badly?"
"He was fighting a monster, it managed to get a good hit in."
He lied.
Though his control over the lightning wasn't anything special, there was still no denying that he managed to summon powerful lightning.
The less people knew about it, the less likely Nyx would hear of it.
The old woman walked over from the counter and examined Raven's body.
"Well, the monster wasn't anything special, some good ol' Burn Salve will do just fine."
Reo nodded.
The old woman retrieved a small jar that contained a white paste and handed it to him.
"Make sure you rub it all over him."
"I will."
Reo nodded, then thanked her as he raised Raven's body up.
He thanked her again.
"I'll pay next time I visit."
The old woman nodded.
Reo pushed the door open with his shoulder one more time, then he threw Raven's body high onto the adjacent building and scaled it.
He made sure to move a considerable distance from the pharmacy, going back to his own section.
"Fuck."
Reo cursed.
For the medicine specifically made for awakeneds to work, they either had to be sprayed directly onto the wound—if there was one, or be swallowed.
If he had to rub the burn salve directly onto the wounds, he would have to rub it on every part of Raven's body, considering that it was every part of Raven's body that got burnt.
Every fucking part!
That only left one more option.
"I have to rub it on.... or he has to swallow."
The answer was so clear that it was practically written in fine ink on the air.
Reo uncorked it, scooping a generous amount into his two fingers.
Then, he pried Raven's mouth open and shoved it inside.
At first, there was nothing.
The paste sat there on his tongue.
Reo took a second one on his other hand.
At that moment, Raven gagged.
His eyes shot open, the first sight he saw being the thick creamy substance in his hands.
Now.... there was something bitter in his mouth.
Raven spat it out instinctively.
"Good, you're awake."
Reo said coolly.