Chapter 30

The Lord of Vermilion’s Test 13

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The science branch of superpower research has always been lagging behind compared to the other disciplines.

This was because science often followed logic, reason and common sense to a certain extent.

Mind you, the science branch often breaks said rules, but it required a lot of time, resources and manpower to pull off.

The best example of this was Theo’s lethal injury comprising of a shattered left hand and ribcage alongside a collapsed lung and a stopped heart.

If he had magic based powers, a simple healing spell would instantly negate the damage.

How?

It’s magic!

Your arguments have been invalidated!

If it was mythical martial arts, they could easily channel chi into prevent damage from reaching the internal organs.

A martial artist could take a 120mm shell (the one used in tanks) and not explode like a tomato.

On the science side, it was normally impossible to survive the damage Theo received unless the person was a cyborg or wielded a battle focused power armor.

All of which required large amounts money, time and resources.

Because of this, the science side was often underestimated.

Asura assumed that Theo was dead after receiving such a horrific punch.

Asura assumed wrong.

The millisecond the catastrophic damage was inflicted on Theo, the Ankh on Theo’s belt pumped large amounts of liquefied omni gel into his body.

Theo didn’t have time to feel all the damage done to him by the punch because the searing pain of the omni gel overwrote it.

In an instant, Theo was good as new and he wanted payback.

As Theo flew off the building, he drew his grappling gun and fired at Asura.

Thanks to Theo’s momentum, he was able to drag Asura off the roof along with him.

Due to the shock of ‘killing’ Theo, Asura was like a puppet without a puppet master.

Theo used an archon battery charge as the grappling gun pulled the 2 together during their fall.

“Since your last hit hurt like hell, don’t hold it against me if I hurt you a ‘little’ kay?”

Theo punched Asura into the building.

By this time, the two just passed the 35th floor.

Asura went through the 35th all the way down to the 33rd floor

Since his trajectory was about 35 degrees, Asura had to go through tons of concrete before reaching the floor below.

Did Asura die?

Nope.

Theo made sure to hit Asura on the shoulder.

The worst it could do is the shattering of every bone in the shoulder area.

If you add all the damage he received after going through all those concrete, Asura would be hospitalized for at least 2 weeks.

At most 2 months.

Isnt Chi amazing/unfair?

Since he already took out 2 of the 3, it was now his time to escape.

Theo fired a grappling hook and swung to another building.

Sadly, he wasn’t able to prepare any hostages to keep Vulture distracted.

Shurikens hounded Theo during his swing. All of which he shot down before it could hit him or the rope of the grappling gun.

He shot the glass wall and landed safely on the 23rd floor of the building Diego assaulted.

So far, so good.

Oh, and for those who were curious as to Sheriff’s fate, he was on the 10th floor sky bridge that connected the 3 buildings together.

He was able to use his grappling lasso to slow his decent enough to land safely.

He became one of the Smoke Group’s most valuable hostages.

At least he gets to live.

Back to Theo and his attempts to escape.

Sadly, it wasn’t going to be easy.

Superheroes were known to be a tenacious bunch.

Even HAA trainees were raised to be as such.

Vulture jumped off the building and used her cape to glide after Theo

Crow, Sparrow and Vulture’s capes were special cloths that become rigid if electric current was sent through it.

While Theo could make one for himself, he viewed capes as a safety hazard.

The perfect example of this was his fight with Vulture.

He waited for the petite crime fighter as she executed a glide kick on him

He dodge rolled under her as he grabbed her cape, then violently slamming her into the ground.

From a lying position, Vulture launched a capoeira kick.

Theo blocked while still holding her cape.

He quickly realized that this was a mistake as Vulture showered him with a flurry of fists.

She was much better at him in CQC.

Theo let go of the cape and used the bob and weave while firing his pistol into her gut.

After receiving 2 shots into her sort-of bullet proof armor, Vulture changed tactics and used a hit-and-run with a hint of acrobatics.

If Theo was at 100%, he could have easily dealt with her with some fancy running and gunning.

Unfortunately, Theo was in his last legs.

His brain was overheating from the overclocking.

His body, while 100% healthy, was in pain from Asura’s punch and the excruciating Omni Gel healing.

Theo was not going to last much longer

As such, he decided to cheese this fight.

He fired off all of his flamethrowers at the same time.

Without worrying about fuel consumption, he unleashed a firestorm that engulfed the entire 23rd floor.

Vulture tried to escape, but Theo used a grappling hook to catch her by the cape and dragged her to him.

Theo no longer had any energy to dodge Vulture’s blow, so he took everything until he caught one of her legs.

He then brutally elbowed it with his left arm, causing Vulture’s leg to bend 90 degrees the wrong way.

Her agonized scream stab at Theo’s heart.

Based on her voice, Vulture was probably a cute girl.

Driven by curiosity, Theo tried to remove her mask.

Naturally, Vulture resisted, but it was nothing a few adamantium punches to the gut wont solve.

He tore off Vulture’s mask and was surprised and mildly amused of her identity.

“How’s your dad doing, Dorothy Boreal? I heard he got a new job in as a region manager for convenience store chain. Good for him.” Said Theo

Dorothy didn’t speak but horror was plastered all over her face.

Dorothy Boreal was largely called as the ‘Creepy girl of HAA’.

Petite in size, pale skin due to being an avid otaku, long messy yet surprisingly sexy brown hair and a confusing personality

Despite being quite a beauty herself, being a die hard otaku kept any hopefuls away.

Her dad was once a successful employee of a certain trucking firm and was relatively well off

Theo wasn’t sure of the details, but the company that her father worked for went under due to corruption

She wasn’t one of the goddesses of HAA, but she’s fairly high up there.

She was actually quite a looker as long as she kept her mouth shut and actually made an effort to wear some normal looking clothes. Both of which she rarely ever did.

The main reason why Theo was familiar with Dorothy was because she belonged to the same ‘club’ as his good friend Phoebe Tharja.

Sometimes Dorothy would join Theo, Phoebe and Vivi behind the toolshed just to get away from the chaotic cafeteria of HAA.

The fact that a creepy, introverted loner girl like Dorothy was the famed Crow’s sidekick was very amusing indeed.

“Wait… if you’re Vulture then Crow must be…. AH! So that’s who she is! Interesting! Very interesting!” said Theo in amusement.

“Please! Crow and Father have nothing to do with this fight! Please don’t hurt them!” pleaded Dorothy.

“That depends on your willingness to do everything I desire. And I do mean everything” Theo laughed evilly as he returned Dorothy’s mask. “I’ll contact you in the future. Refuse and something ‘interesting’ will happen.”

Truth be told, Theo had absolutely no intention of doing anything to both Vulture/Dorothy, Crow and her father.

However, having a Crow knockoff as a pawn was a chance too valuable to let slip.

He wasn’t sure what to do with Dorothy, but who knows what will happen in the future.

With a calm yet painfully fake chuckle of pure evil, Theo left Dorothy in fear and despair.

Theo made his way to the elevators, jumped down the elevator shaft and mysteriously disappeared

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