Ability Wielders 18 Wretched Tikbalang

"I can't see why not!" Hayden knew what Anthony was talking about but he was pretty adamant in accepting this mission. "I have confidence in my Ability."

In truth, Hayden didn't have complete confidence in fighting a Level 2 wielder with Divine Perception alone. He was simply putting up a façade to gain details about Tikbalang. When he acquires intel, all he had to do was search all around Pasig, which was a pretty small city with Hayden's speed. He did this as he was fairly sure that Anthony would not let a talent of his caliber go on such a dangerous and high-leveled mission.

"Idiot!" Anthony shouted at the phone. He couldn't possibly lose such a talented seedling! "We went through over this lesson last week! You know that Level 1 wielders would never hope to match up with Level 2 wielders!"

It was true. Last Sat.u.r.day, all of the Trainee rank members were given a lesson all about they've known about wielders. There, Hayden learned that there were actually four levels known to wielders, Level 1 was when they awaken, and as time goes on, the more they use their Ability, they will eventually evolve to Level 2.

At Level 2, one's Ability will have an upgrade on its base powers and unlock an extra latent power, while they will have an increased amount of powers stemming from essence energy. When one evolves, they will have the power to enhance all of their physical, mental, and sensory attributes using essence energy, circulate essence energy so that their bodies are always nourished and is constantly getting strengthened, staying at tip-top shape without the need to exercise nor watch what they eat, and infuse essence energy into weapons, strengthening their features.

Meanwhile, one's body would also have an increase in all attributes, in other words, an evolution. As a result, it can be said that Level 2 wielders cannot be cla.s.sified as mere humans anymore. Of course, they have an Origin Limiter that they can place upon themselves through their Origin Crystals, or so what the lecturer said.

As they were all Level 1 wielders, they were asked to not mind about Level 3 wielders yet, which Hayden thought was stupid because what if they encounter a Level 3 wielder?

"I still think I'll be able to hold my ground…" Hayden lied with ease, sounding arrogant, confident, and eccentric. "I can simply, you know, predict every single one of his movements. Thus, if he isn't fast enough, I think I'll win."

"You…" Anthony was speechless. The kid was too hot-blooded! This was not the careful Hayden he had met a few months back. He was getting too confident! "Fine! You're so resolute in doing this? I'll see what you have to say for yourself later! Meet me at my office at 6:00 PM!"

With that, Anthony cut the call prematurely, not letting Hayden say anything else as he thought he would simply die of anger. If he ever knew that Hayden was lying and that he was a dual wielder, without a doubt, Anthony would spurt out blood.

As for the matter whether Hayden was going to be found out after what he's about to do? There's really nothing much to think about. Hayden has thought it through, and that if he shows up, he would just have to act arrogant, then cower after getting the information he needed about Tikbalang's Ability. After he finishes hunting Tikbalang, they would never be able to relate this to Hayden as he 'cowered,' so there's no way that he was the one who killed Tikbalang, right? Plus, Hayden would have his White Fox mask.

In actuality, Hayden already had a gist of what Tikbalang's power was. He was only taking this risk as an added protection for his ident.i.ty and the fact that he had to confirm Tikbalang's Ability. It wasn't bad to be too careful, eh?

…..

Getting home, Hayden took a simple shower, packed his school uniform and Puting Araw uniform in a duffel bag, his White Fox mask, which he drilled some holes a few months ago, in the event that he needed to use his Indestructible Devil, all of his standard-issue weapons, the weapons he bought including his Sinukuan, which he folded, and an extra phone he prepared a long time ago, in case he needed it.

Hayden brought all these items as he had the thought that it would be convenient as his Streamlink account had a sudden upsurge of supporters, and that his bank account was getting larger and larger, having 9.3 million creds in it. Soon, he'll be able to afford that s.p.a.ce Ring.

Plus, he had to show up a front that he was prepared to fight, right? Hailing a taxi, Hayden called his parents and told them that he was staying a night at Liwayway Hotel to teach his tutoring student as he was requested to do so.

"Okay, on that front, we're good…" Hayden muttered in the back of the taxi. A few minutes later, they were in front of Liwayway Hotel. As it had become a better world, even the rich used public transport in rich countries such as the Philippines, thus, there were really not that much traffic.

Paying the driver an extra 1,000 credits for the good service, the driver insisted that he took it back. In response, Hayden shook his head and a.s.sured the taxi driver that he provided good service.

A few minutes of convincing later, Hayden finally got rid of the taxi driver. To be honest, he would rather have taken the jeepney-bus (1) if he didn't bring with him a b.u.t.tload of weapons, which is the main reason he gave the taxi driver 1,000 credits.

It was a good thing that no one would suspect such a person like him carrying such a large amount of weapons. Going inside Liwayway Hotel, Hayden booked a room for a night. Settling all of his weapons down, Hayden went to the penthouse of Anthony.

…..

"I'm here." Hayden said as he walked inside Anthony's office. "So, what are the details of this Tikbalang?"

Anthony smirked as he briefed Hayden. Anthony explained that Tikbalang was a wielder with an Ability that actually turned him into the mythical Tikbalang. This Level 2 wielder had extreme power, especially on his legs, allowing him to run as fast as the wind, and had devastating kicks that injured many of their Level 2 wielders already.

People who tried to hunt down Tikbalang went even as far as saying that Tikbalang was faster than a bullet. On top of that, his parkour skills were extremely high, going from roof to roof, evading every bullet. Tikbalang was the epitome of being slippery.

Since September, Tikbalang has never been caught, not even the wielders in Kamay ng Lagim were able to get in touch with Tikbalang, making them believe that Tikbalang wasn't interested in doing relations with anyone.

That was until, Tikbalang was reported to **** women in the middle of the street! Tikbalang was acting akin to that of a true Tikbalang in Filipino folklore, dangerous, and raping women out in the night.

At first, when Puting Araw discovered Tikbalang, people were sent to recruit him. Upon three incidents of women being raped in the streets of Pasig City was reported, the Main Branch's Mission Board posted a bounty for Tikbalang.

For days when the mission was posted, n.o.body has ever caught Tikbalang. And for a few months after the commotion, Tikbalang has become more covert. When he appeared once more, this time, being even reported in headlines, Puting Araw's wielders were put out for a mission.

That's when they found out that Tikbalang has already become a Level 2 wielder, losing the lives of tens of Level 1 wielder Initiates, and two Level 2 wielders.

When this event occurred, the bounty on Tikbalang's head has been increased, but the higher-ups still didn't make a move as Tikbalang was a Level 2 wielder. Apparently, there were rules about the Level 3 and Level 4 wielders of Puting Araw not making a move unless extremely necessary, such as a mission of their caliber, or when the existence of wielders was at stake. Surprisingly, Tikbalang making the headlines was still considered not grave enough due to the sole reason that these were mere rumors.

Hearing this, Hayden's eyes squinted, appearing calm externally. He didn't express his thoughts, but internally he was absolutely seething with rage. 'You mean to say that a wielder raping women in the dark is not serious enough? What the f.u.c.k is wrong with these people?'

Needless to say, Hayden had a reason for not speaking out. That was because Puting Araw was protecting his family! Whatever happens, even if the situation was too opposed to his moral standards, he still had to put his family first. He was not a saint, if he could save people, of course he would do it, yet, if his family would be in danger in the process, he would look the other way. To not explode in anger, Hayden activated Divine Perception to keep himself calm.

"You get me?" Anthony smiled mockingly. Hayden, who was acting scared right now of hearing Tikbalang's various 'astounding' feats of power, shook his head. "You'll still accept the mission? Or do you admit you were in the wrong?"

"I'm in the wrong…" Hayden stared at the ground and 'hesitatingly' said in response. "I thought I would be up for the challenge. I didn't think that Level 2 wielders are actually this strong!"

"It's good that you understand." Anthony nodded his head in satisfaction. "Okay, you may go home now."

"Oh, I'm not going home." Hayden shook his head again and explained the situation. He looked awkward the entire time. Anthony understood and sent him away impatiently.

Hayden rolled his eyes the second he turned around. Going to his room, Hayden turned off Divine Perception and breathed heavily. "What kind of b.a.s.t.a.r.ds…"

He couldn't believe what kind of an organization he joined in. Nevertheless, as they were protecting his family, it would be stupid to leave because of such a reason as this. He steeled himself for what else would possibly come his way and started doing his own thing.

Researching, Hayden was able to roughly guess Tikbalang's modus operandi and narrow down where he operates. This way, Hayden would spend the minimal amount of time trying to find Tikbalang, and perhaps be able to at least save a single life.

Checking his bank account, Hayden's face twitched, it was stuck at 9.35 million credits. "Still short for that s.p.a.ce Ring…"

He needed that s.p.a.ce Ring for this operation. Hence, upon seeing that the account was stuck at 9.35 million credits, he was a little p.i.s.sed off. If anybody were to hear his thoughts though, they would have smacked him to death.

"Brother, you think that being stuck at 9.35 million credits was bad? I wish my account was stuck at that! You… f.u.c.king… son… of a b.i.t.c.h!"

…..

Deciding to do a last spurt, Hayden opted to publish two more prepared videos at 7:30 PM, which seven minutes later. Calming himself down, Hayden turned on the television for the news.

While doing so, he sporadically checked his bank account. Noticing that it was increasing at slight amounts, yet at least faster than before, he heaved a sigh of relief. Ordering room service, Hayden ate chicken wings and such.

Regardless of being able to replenish their bodies with essence energy, any chance they got, wielders would still eat. That was because it was human to eat! One, it would be weird if they didn't eat. Second, they liked the taste of food!

More so for Hayden, who grew up eating his mother's amazing Filipino cuisine. A few hours pa.s.sed, his videos were steadily gaining views and likes. Checking his bank at 11:33 PM, Hayden's eyes gleamed as the bank account contained about 10.15 million already!

"Finally!" Hayden groaned impatiently. He was excited of being able to use that s.p.a.ce Ring as it was an item that was literally out of this world! As a fan of xianxia and wuxia novels prior to becoming a wielder, it was not strange for him to dream of being able to own something as fictional as the s.p.a.ce Ring.

…..

"So, how does it work?" Hayden imposed a question to the manager of the weapons store, his eyes glowing. "How much s.p.a.ce did you say it has? I can see an 'inventory' of the weapons, right?"

"It works by touching willing the s.p.a.ce Ring to store an item…" The manager shook his head as he explained everything to Hayden.

A few minutes later, Hayden was able to use the s.p.a.ce Ring effortlessly. He also asked the origins of the s.p.a.ce Ring and the manager was kind enough to let him know.

The s.p.a.ce Ring was actually made of something dubbed as the 's.p.a.ce Stone.' This s.p.a.ce Stones were unknown in origin, at least, unknown to the manager. However, what the manager did know is that the s.p.a.ce Stone has the mysterious property of having a s.p.a.ce within them when essence energy interacts with them.

It was unknown as to how it was created. Despite that, Hayden didn't care, it was a G.o.dd.a.m.n s.p.a.ce Ring! Who cares how it was created? Going back to his room, Hayden stored all of his belongings in the s.p.a.ce Ring. In his room, he admired the slick beauty of the black ring with a small white gem in the center, which is the Fluxstone (2).

The s.p.a.ce Ring had a s.p.a.ce of ten cubic meters, and all of the belongings he brought able to fit in it, some s.p.a.ce was even left. The s.p.a.ce Ring's functions were the same as those seen in novels, food inside it didn't spoil, yet, you can't store living organisms.

Meanwhile, those that you touch while willing it to be stored can be stored inside, and you can take out items by touching the s.p.a.ce Ring with any of your fingers. Hayden wore the ring on his right middle finger and used his right thumb to touch the ring, which was more efficient. In addition, when Hayden evolves to a Level 2 wielder, he can infuse essence energy into it and will be able to see all of the contents inside and is able to take in and take out items without actually touching it.

Hayden didn't mind this little inconvenience as, and he couldn't stress this enough, it was a G.o.dd.a.m.n s.p.a.ce Ring! Obtaining this at last, Hayden went out of Liwayway Hotel, saying that he wanted to eat out.

That's exactly what he did. Going to a 24-hour restaurant near Liwayway Hotel named Gourmand's Tongue, Hayden ordered a few of what he thought were tasty dishes. Finis.h.i.+ng, Hayden paid for his food and went to the comfort room.

Inside the comfort room, Hayden took out his stealth suit, took off his clothes, and put on the stealth suit. Afterwards, he took out the white fox mask and a.s.sumed the ident.i.ty of White Fox.

Using his Divine Perception, Hayden made sure that there were no people in the comfort room prior to getting out through the small window in the room. Thereupon, he started his sprint towards Pasig City.

Pouring in essence energy to his legs, while activating Indestructible Devil's strength and speed augment, Hayden zoomed. If anybody were to see Hayden, he would be a meager black streak in their eyes because of how fast Hayden was going.

Sure, 500 kilometers per hour would be slow in comparison with a plane, which moved at about 976 kilometers per hour, but that was because they were far and is large in ma.s.s. If you saw a body of matter traveling at 500 kilometers per hour and at such close proximity, this was the result, a black streak. It was akin to a speedster, albeit, slower.

With Divine Perception active, Hayden was still able to clearly grasp his surroundings, dodging cars, making necessary turns, and such. A few seconds later, he arrived at the border of Makati City and Pasig City.

Of course, Hayden ran on the road as it was too risky to run in the sidewalk. Imagine hitting a person on the speed he's traveling? Hayden s.h.i.+vered at the thought.

Soon, Hayden arrived at the radius of Tikbalang's operation, or, rather, what he has calculated. For a regular person, the radius would be pretty large, however, that was not the case for Hayden at all.

"Where are you, oh horsie, horsie?" Traveling round and round, Hayden attempted to locate this sp.a.w.n of devil, Tikbalang. "Well, that's kind of a stretch. If you think about it, I'm the sp.a.w.n of the devil…."

Rolling his eyes at his own quip that he blurted out, he picked up a strange sound from an alleyway. "The neigh of a horse? And a woman's soft moans?"

Hayden's face became peculiar underneath the white fox mask he was wearing. This was just so… messed up…

"Well, I can't believe I'll find you this fast!" Hayden was a little disappointed. Jumping on a roof, he perfectly controlled his strength, landing perfectly on top of a roof without a sound. Hayden ran on top of the roofs, jumping here and there.

Soon, Hayden saw the weirdest scene he ever saw in his life. A part-human part-horse… having intercourse with a woman. Unable to watch a single second anymore, Hayden jumped down with the urge to kill Tikbalang.

…..

1 Jeepneys – Jeepneys are a mode of public transportation in the Philippines and is ubiquitous wherever one goes. Jeepney-buses are the next generation jeepneys, which is basically an amalgamation of a bus and a jeepney. These are jeepneys:

https://www.google.com/search?q=jeepneyu0026sxsrf=ALeKk01Mpx37f4lfBWy53cQp_fpUsSfP_A:1590756602988u0026source=lnmsu0026tbm=ischu0026sa=Xu0026ved=2ahUKEwigzfqRjtnpAhUNK6YKHX3NDcEQ_AUoAXoECB0QAwu0026biw=1366u0026bih=657#imgrc=ETr-uLyHFIBGhM

I'll let your imagination run wild on how jeepneys and buses can be combined. As for Filipinos, you already know of those air-conditioned jeeps, just imagine that, it's basically the same.

2 For reference, you can think of something like this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=black+ringu0026tbm=ischu0026ved=2ahUKEwjc3emMnNfpAhULBJQKHd2qBsgQ2-cCegQIABAAu0026oq=black+ringu0026gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECCMQJzICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADoECAAQQ1Cj7AhYx_EIYKHyCGgAcAB4AIABsQGIAZcJkgEDMC44mAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcu0026sclient=imgu0026ei=LgfQXtyOM4uI0ATd1ZrADAu0026bih=657u0026biw=1366u0026rlz=1C1CHZL_enPH757PH757u0026hl=en#imgrc=r-meaxWr4XfEXM