"I-I am not afraid of you, your powers can't affect me!" Exclaimed the Wight Anomaly, picking up a sword and trying to appear calm.

"And who said I need them in order to kill you?" I inquired maliciously, as I walked forward, taking out one of my X-Blade handles.

"Don't get cocky!" He snarled, racing towards me and swinging his blade at my head.

I easily ducked underneath it and swung my X-Blade up at him, which pierced into and vertically slashed up through his right side, eliciting a cry of pain from him as he stumbled back, blood pouring out of his wound.

"Like I said, I don't need my powers in order to kill you," I smirked, taking a step forward, "But just so you know, my powers would totally work on you."

"That's impossible! You can't affect-!" He began, before quickly jumping away in alarm as a chunk of rubble appeared above him and fell down, narrowly avoiding getting squashed.

Yeah, I used my new Tier Three powers with inaudible chanting to take him by surprise, I used Cut on a random chunk of rubble from the broken walls and the Paste to make it reappear above him.

"Tch...you have to admit, I almost had you just then," I remarked with a condescending look on my face, in order to provoke him and hide my frustration at my attack failing to hit.

As he stood back up, he glanced around a bit, his eyes darting left and right, scanning the surroundings...his gaze lingered for a second on the crumbled part of the walls, as he tore off a strip of clothing and pressed it against his slash wound, soaking up the blood and slowing the bleeding...I see, he's looking for an opening to escape. Killing him would be a waste, I should try to capture him instead...maybe cutting off a leg or two would work?

I then stiffened as I heard a faint sound coming from behind me, deeper in the path...a voice? I glanced back while keeping the Wight in my peripheral, to see a faint red flash rapidly growing bigger and brighter, approaching from behind. Is that...?

"Zax, I found you! Woah, did you do this?" She exclaimed as she closed in, noticing the Wight corpses, before seeing my unconscious classmates and landing, letting out a sigh of relief as she gave them each a quick glance, "Looks like everyone's alive, that's good. So, one Wight left, huh?"

"Yeah, and he's an Anomaly, so try to capture him without killing him if you can," I replied, as she walked up next to me.

The Wight took a wary step back, reaching into his pocket as he narrowed his eyes at Kilella.

"I remember you...you were at the attack on our base camp, there's no point in me fighting a losing battle," He remarked cautiously, before pulling something out of his pocket and throwing it down, a smoke screen bursting out as it hit the ground.

Damn it, a smoke bomb!

"He's not getting away from m- oof!" Began Kilella, starting to fly after him, before hitting the ground face-first as I grabbed her ankle to stop her, "Ow, my nose..."

"Sorry 'bout that, sis...but he can turn himself both invisible and intangible, plus he may have other powers too...it's too risky," I remarked with a reluctant sigh.

I don't want to let him get away, but we don't have a way to chase someone who's both invisible and intangible, we'd just be giving him a golden opportunity to turn the tables.

"Zax...aw, that's so sweet, little bro, you're worried about me!" She exclaimed, hugging me tight.

"...cut it out, sis."

...

About an hour later, the attack was over, all the Wights had been hunted down and the X-Warrior Zone HQ was scrambling to deal with the aftermath of the whole situation. Including the Wight Anomaly that had gotten away, there had been a little over fifty of them in total...and the fact that they all snuck in unnoticed means that the Wight Anomaly was able to cast both his invisibility and intangibility powers on more than fifty others.

Most of the Wights had been killed, and four had been captured, though they had all tried to commit suicide, so I doubt they'd talk easily.

The South Quadrant had sustained some pretty heavy damage in many of its areas, the structural damage aside, more than four hundred people had been killed. And it wasn't just the South Quadrant. Some of the Wights had found the Teleportation Points and forced the attendants to teleport them to the other Quadrants.

However, none had suffered as much damage as the South Quadrant did, the other three Quadrants and the X-Warrior Zone combined only had fifty-three deaths in total and minimal structural damage. And of course, all that death and devastatation had only been a diversion from their main goal...killing me.

Which is, not gonna lie, kinda flattering, but also very, very unsettling. Especially since that Wight Anomaly has the ability to sense the presences of other Anomalies and even the nature of their powers, to an extent. I survived this time, but it's very likely that they'll try again. Well, it's not all bad, I suppose...I finally unlocked another Tier of my Anomaly powers.

But...seriously, these unlock conditions fucking suck.

Anyway, for now, it was over. The captured Wights were being held to be interrogated later, while X-Warriors were sweeping through the South Quadrant to make sure that there weren't any more Wights hiding somewhere. Meanwhile, I was at the X-Warrior Zone HQ, in Director Silva's office.

The others who'd been there in the maze with me were currently recovering in Healing Pods in another room, none of them had suffered any serious injuries thankfully, so they should all be just fine. My sister was out helping with the search and rescue efforts in the South Quadrant.

Which left me alone with Director Silva in her office, which was kinda awkward because she was really stressed out and restless. Not that I can blame her in this situation, I suppose.

"So, their target really was you?" She inquired, a frown on her face and she typed something on her laptop, probably responding to damage reports or something.

"Yeah, that's what they said...remember the part of my recording during our attack on the Wights, where the Wight Anomaly we previously captured approached me? That was apparently a distraction, while the other Wight Anomaly who was present, the one that attacked today, escaped to report my existence to the rest of the Wights. Though I'm not sure why he needed a distraction, since he can turn invisible and intangible at the same time."

"I don't like it...a power like that is a huge threat, even though our fortifications of the outside of the Sanctuary aren't complete yet, his power would have worked even if they had been complete. I can't think of a way to counter it," She remarked with a grimace, "And I'm assuming that's how the Wights feel about you."

"Huh, maybe so...hey, I've got an idea, what if you add a vacuum layer inside the outer dome of the Sanctuary? You know, like a hollow, airtight space with no oxygen...oh, and spikes on the ground too! I bet his intangibility doesn't apply to the bottom of his feet, since otherwise he'd just fall right through the ground," I suggested, as the idea came into mind, "Motion and heat sensors might work too."

"That...actually sounds pretty great, though I don't know if it's realistic to add a vacuum layer to the entire dome. I'll have to consult the specialists and find out, I guess. The sensors are a definite option worth considering though. What a mess this is, it's starting to look like an all-out war is inevitable," Sighed Director Silva, spinning around in her chair while staring up at the ceiling.

I've never seen her so fed-up and exasperated. Well, there have been a lot of things going wrong lately, so it's not unjustified, I suppose.

"Yeah, that would suck...if you want my opinion, if there really is no alternative, we should go for a preemptive strike, be proactive instead of reactive, you know?" I suggested objectively.

"You may very well be right about that...but that decision is probably still a long way off, even if we do decide to do so, we'll need time to prepare...you know what, that's enough talk on this matter, I need a mental break for a bit...things are going to get pretty hectic over the next few days."

"I can imagine...well, I wouldn't want to be you, but good luck-."

"You're talking like this doesn't involve you...because it does. Or at least, it probably will. We're likely going to see an uptick in crime in the South Quadrant...if and when that happens, I'll be counting on your assistance, Kilzachs. Understood?" She remarked, staring at me with narrowed eyes.

"...I mean, I'd rather not, but since you do have blackmail material against me, I don't really have a choice, do I?" I sighed wistfully.

"Don't get smart with me. And speaking of that...for now, the official statement was that this was a kamikaze attack to throw the Sanctuary into chaos, I won't mention their real objective. But that's only because I think that it's more advantageous to keep it under wraps for a while yet...that said, I can't promise you that it'll remain that way forever."

"Yeah, I figured as much while in the maze...more than half my classmates now know about it now, so there's that," I added with a sigh, "They even know that I can stop time...because that Wight called me 'time stopper'."

"I see...once they're done recuperating, we'll have a talk with them. I'm curious about something, by the way...did you awaken a new power? After all the hidden cameras were initially deactivated, I was able to restore power to some of them, so I saw a bit of the fight...but then, the hidden cameras in the area where you encountered the Wights all got cut off just after it seemed like all of you had been defeated, and then came a bright yellow flash and the cameras went dead."

I suppose that I could lie, but she probably knows about the side effects that occur right before an Anomaly power is awakened, so...

"Yeah, I did. Mind if I keep the specifics to myself?" I inquired with a wry smile.

"Hm...that's fine for now, I guess," She relented hesitantly, before adding as she got a notification on her laptop, "Oh, it looks like your classmates have finished their treatment. You should probably tell them to keep your powers a secret, don't you agree? Let's head to the infirmary, shall we?"

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