Chapter 11: Obelisk

"Hold up! Are you serious?" Kai inquired with surprise on his face.

Zayn nodded. After all, this was no joke. Electrode was a powerful human who had the ability to control lightning. It was said that after he trained his ability to the level above V, he broke through the limits of the Omega level and gained another ability; one that enabled him to possess nearly infinite energy. In the war against the Crimson Star Dynasty, he was badly injured. He disappeared and was never seen since. It was baffling that Zayn had gotten the location of his heart.

"Where did you even get this information? And is this even a heart?" Kai looked at the image with awe. The crystal in the image shone resplendently as the sparks of lightning revolved around it like planets around a star.

"Yep. It's a heart. After Electrode's death, the ambient energies in his body were drawn to his heart, crystallizing it. For years, it has continuously been absorbing energy from the Earth, and this thing contains enough energy as 10 Dark Matter Pulse Bombs." Zayn confirmed.

"WHAT? 10DMPs?" This time, even Lynn couldn't help but exclaim.

This was truly shocking. Although the Earth's core and landscape had significantly improved after the Rifts energies had strengthened it, that sort of energy could totally level half the Earth! And that was just a conservative estimate.

In the past, the nuclear bomb had always been mankind's greatest weapon. The capabilities of this weapon of mass destruction have been engraved in the hearts of humans since its creation. Not to mention the pollutive radiation it could cause after being released into an area, damaging the ecosystem for hundreds, if not thousands of years, no government would use this weapon if they didn't absolutely have to.

Now think of the collective explosion and damage 15 nuclear bombs could cause, minus the radiation, plus a small scale wormhole that could devastate anything within a 1500km radius for a scale of 2 minutes, and then, you have a Dark Matter Pulse Bomb. 

The dangerous thing about this weapon was the fact that compared to the nuclear bomb, it was relatively 10 times easier to make, provided you had the right manufacturing technology and expertise; and the fact that the government preferred to use this weapon because of the lesser damage it could cause in the long run, though radiation problems were somewhat easier to solve in this new Earth.

"Are we really going after this thing? What if the government comes after our asses? I mean, my old man may be rich and influential and powerful, but he's not gonna be able to save our necks if they find out about this. What do you want it for anyway?" Kai panicked. 

"I need it. For my limiters." Zayn expressed plainly.

The two of them were dumbfounded. Such a powerful thing, and he wanted to use it to create limiters! How dare he!

"Alright look bro. We're tired of all this shit. We can't be doing this man. Sure you won today and proved your strength, but you of all people should know that this wasn't a death match. Ronaldo may have talked big, but everyone knew he wasn't going to kill you. Just stop this man. It's not good for you." Kai complained.

"So what's your point?" Zayn was unfazed.

"Our point is— we can't stand to see you like this. And I for one, can't follow someone who has lost his heart and his will to fight in battle. I want you to stop using the limiters and the bio-toxin. I can help you force it out. But if you decide to keep using them, there won't be a Team Black anymore." Lynn scolded.

"We're both gonna give you a choice this time. We're gonna do everything we can to get this object because knowing you, there's probably not much competition. And when we do get it, you'll either absorb it and increase your power, or not. What happens next is no longer up to you." Kai affirmed.

Zayn looked at them with slight shock on his face. He was dumbfounded. Didn't they know about his problem?

"But—" He tried to speak but was sharply interrupted.

"No buts. We know about your problem if that's what you're thinking. And we will do our very best to help you get through it. But we can't stand to see you like this. Come on man! We were going to be the strongest in the world together. Instead, your fear is holding both you and us back." Kai persuaded.

"Even if you do go Asura, would you rather do it as a weakling? Or as a being above the Omega?" Lynn questioned.

"I— don't know." Zayn sighed.

"You'll have to think about it. What do you really want? To protect? Or to hide?" Kai added.

"You don't have to think about it now. There's still time. So— tell us more about this mad plan of yours." Lynn expressed faintly.

***

The three boys rode out of the school on a huge eagle with four wings that stood about twelve feet tall, and was retrofitted with machinery on various parts of its body. One of its eyes shone with a red glow as its thirty foot wingspan spread glamorously in the air.

This was a new mode of transportation in this new Earth. By collecting mutated beasts and implanting them with machines using very advanced bionics, humans could use them for various transportation purposes as well as battle.

This was a Four Winged Dark Light Eagle and was the specialty of the Darklight Academy, one of the Five Academies of the Terra Federation. It could travel through the air at very high speed and possessed the ability to control light and darkness for specialized attacks. After being retrofitted with special sensory and warp technology along with special antimatter weapons, this mechanic bird would be a force to reckon with for any unsuspecting idiot that dared to cause trouble for the three young men riding it.

"How did you get this? Isn't this like— very exclusive? Did Darklight finally come to kiss your ass and sent you an invitation to change schools? It's a little too late, isn't it?" Kai smirked.

"Shut up your arse. I got this LEGALLY. You see this—" Zayn showed them a small identification badge of a dragon holding a blue orb like object that seemed to radiate light. It looked very attractive to the eye, but the two were shocked for another reason entirely.

"Shit! You got this from the Dragons? No friggin' way!" Kai shouted. 

In this new Earth, there was no concept of nations in a sense. There was only the Terra Federation, whose leading figures were 100 men and women who governed over the lives of billions of people in the planet. 

The Academies were in charge of training new Espers and they totaled five in number; the Darklight, Halo, Raven, Licht and Skylark Academies. 

And then we had various military and private organizations, all of which had their own agenda, and were spread out in different parts of the globe. The True Dragons was one of such organizations. In fact, this was one of the most powerful organizations and they had a massive scale of operations. It was said that their leader was a powerful Esper who had the ability to turn into a dragon! 

Few dared to mess with such an organization, and those that did rarely ever live to brag about it.

Zayn smirked as the Darklight Eagle whizzed through the air at high speed.

"Though, why didn't you use this to come to the academy? Why use it now?" Kai queried.

Zayn's body shook, and he smiled awkwardly. He couldn't possibly tell them that he didn't want his mom to find out that he had such a thing, could he?

"Oh I see. Your mom!" Kai looked like he'd just found out a huge secret, and laughed heartily at the expense of Zayn's depressed sighs.

The three of them gradually came to a huge desert region. Colossal ancient pyramid structures could be seen on this vast expanse of land, looking like mountains. It looked like a beautiful work of art, and the three of them couldn't help but take in a full view of the area as they sighed deeply.

"This— is beautiful." Kai smiled.

"Yeah. It is. And that— is where we're going." Zayn agreed.

"The pyramid?" Lynn inquired.

"Not quite. That." Zayn pointed at an obelisk like structure that stood at about twenty feet tall and looked very run down, with coarse sand blocking off its view.

"That ugly thing? That is where his heart is? Can't we look at the pyramids a little while longer?" Kai whined.

"No. There's not much time. I can vaguely sense that we're going to have some company. Use your ability and check it out." Zayn announced.

"Really? I thought you said that people wouldn't be able to find this place easily. What's going on man?" Kai questioned.

"Well. Seems like I was wrong." Zayn replied as he looked at a group of 7 figures about a hundred metres away from the obelisk.

This is not going to go down quite easy. Zayn reckoned.

The group of seven stared at the bird in the sky with fever in their eyes. 

"That's a Dark Light Eagle right?" A short man with a stuffy beard and a scar on his cheek asked with a greedy glint.

"It is. And it seems like it was mechanically modified. I can spot various antimatter weapons on it. Seems like the information was not wrong. There is something of reasonable value here. What do we do boss?" A dark man wearing a green vest and a head full of brown hair confirmed.

A tall man wearing a purple mantle grunted coldly. "Leave them be for now. Do not pick a fight with them. At least until we get what we came for."

"What if we're both after the same thing in this goddamn ruin?" A lady with average looking facial features wearing a set of tight fitting clothes complained.

"I hope not. For their sakes at least. Let's go." The man with the purple mantle walked in the direction of the obelisk.