Compton District, Divisional Police Headquarters.

At the top-most floor of this 4-story building, the Divisional Police Officer stood with a livid expression on his face as he stared at the holographic projection being projected right in front of his divisional police headquarters in mid-air.

On the left side of his chest was a chest badge with his name.

[Sergeant Mahmoud]

At this moment, this Sergeant's whole face already turned red from rage as he clenched his fists tightly. "Those goddamn terrorists!" He smashed his fists against his desk in a fit of rage.

"Get 5 pursuit Aerodynes ready for transport immediately!"

"Yes Sergeant!" His assistant saluted and quickly rushed off to meet his demands.

The Sergeant stared at the holo-projection hatefully, gritting his teeth. 'They actually dare attack directly inside the city?'

'How did they even get inside the city?'

He knew what the terrorists clearly had planned.

Unlike the small 2-seater Aerodynes meant for patrol, the pursuit Aerodynes that he demanded for were modified versions of the air transport mostly used for police missions and pursuit.

They were bigger, stronger, and faster with a carrying capacity of up to 10 police officers.

Though he didn't really pay attention to them yet since the Extremist Movement had never attacked the city till today, this Sergeant had heard about their methods and knew how they operated.

He knew that the terrorists did this operation while having him and the divisional police headquarters in mind.

For them to attack, they obviously had a plan to escape.

This massacre was a taunt at the police specifically, mocking them that the city was not safe and that they could attack anywhere they wanted and escape without being caught.

By the time the Aerodynes get ready to leave, the casualty list would have reached stratospheric levels already and then the terrorists would escape, forcing the police transports into a high-speed aerial chase.

The question was, how exactly did they want to escape from the city?

Sergeant Mahmoud was confident. 'I don't know how you bastards entered the city but once the city barrier is on, I want to see just how you will escape'.

KABOOM!

Another public transport Aerozep exploded in the projection, making him flinch and wince at the potential casualty list.

Thinking of children who were probably seeing this projection at home or even children right there in the massacre scene, he seethed.

He felt his blood pressure rising as his rage skyrocketed.

"Get me my goddamn Rifle!" He growled.

And then, the scene showing in the holo-projection suddenly changed.

From the terrorist transport going on an unresisted massacre, even before the police could arrive, a foreign resistance interfered.

In the holo-projection, he didn't see how the man came into the picture due to the limited range of the hidden cameras but he saw him jump into the projection frame, bringing out a Rifle before shooting at the terrorist transport.

They retaliated but unlike what this Sergeant expected, this guy didn't die. Instead, he dodged the bullets in mid-air!

His eyes widened. 'What? Who is that?'

He already recognized that this stranger was an Ascended after that single exchange.

As the DPO of the Divisional Police Headquarters of Compton District, he was also an Ascended, an F Rank Proto Gene Augur.

His blood pressure rose even more as he saw this man singlehandedly stage a battle against the terrorists, surviving their assault, and then riding a sword… riding a sword!

This was the first time that this Sergeant had ever seen a man ride a sword.

This man valiantly charged at the terrorists and instantly, this Sergeant's pulse accelerated as he knew that this was the chance he was looking for.

'We can kill these bastards right there if I move fast enough!'

'If only he can survive for a few minutes!'

He quickly turned around and charged towards the door, bellowing at his assistant. "Where is my goddamn Rifle?!"

Less than a minute later, 5 Aerodynes lined up on the roof of the 4-story building. Led by Sergeant Mahmoud himself, dozens of heavily armed police officers entered the 5 police air transports and then they took off.

…

WHOOSH!

Leon felt the air resistance as the wind whipped against his face and his body, making him wobble but he regained his balance every single time.

Riding a sword in mid-air, Leon had never thought of it before today.

But in the spur of the moment, witnessing the massacre, his rage fueled him to rain retribution on the terrorists and the idea spontaneously came with his rage.

And with it, for the first time, Leon flew.

They kept on shooting at him but he dodged.

He charged towards the black train-like air transport in mid-air, twisting and turning, rapidly changing direction to keep the terrorists guessing, making it extremely difficult for them to get a direct aim at him.

But then…

Bam!

A bullet slammed into Leon's ribs, effortlessly penetrating his black shirt as he grunted in pain.

He almost fell from the sword drone in that moment, but he double-downed and gritted his teeth.

Blood flowed from his abdomen but he didn't stop.

Due to how fast he was moving through the air, he didn't have the necessary balance to aim with his Rifle and retaliate against the terrorists in mid-air while flying so he simply gave up on the Rifle after the first shot that destroyed the air transport's energy shield.

But for what he sacrificed by being unable to shoot back at the terrorists, Leon gained in speed as he closed the distance to the terrorist air transport in just a little more than 30 seconds!

Just before he arrived, having observed the attack pattern of the terrorists for the past 30 seconds, his eyes gleamed as he crafted a simple attack plan.

His ADE flared again as he executed his plan.

Miniaturization!

The QZ-07 Air Gun Rifle shrunk again, becoming a tiny toy gun as he adeptly stored it back in his backpack through the tiny opening on the zip.

After that, Leon unstrapped the backpack, holding it with his left hand as with his right hand, he opened the zip completely and rummaged inside it.

At this close range, he was in danger.

Any accurate shot from the terrorists would deal devastating damage to him but at the same time, the proximity gave him easy access to them.

As the sword drone accelerated past the side of the transport, he grabbed two tiny tennis ball-shaped circular objects from inside a slot in the leather bag where he kept them, one gray and the other brown, and then he looked at the terrorists.

In that moment, time slowed down.

The terrorists looked at him, he looked back at them.

And then he suddenly raised his right hand and threw the brown tennis ball at them before they count re-orient and aim their guns at him.

They finally reoriented and aimed, then they pulled the trigger but Leon was already gone.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Leon dodged.

Already expecting their retaliation, the moment after he threw the tennis ball at them, with Drone Control Matrix, he controlled the sword drone to suddenly plummet with speed which was the maneuver that enabled him to dodge.

He didn't just dodge. By plummeting, he went right under the terrorist air transport and then he brought out another toy gun from his backpack.

He gently threw the toy gun up, zipped the backpack, slung it on one side of his shoulder and then grabbed the toy gun again before the wind could blow it away.

His grayish white ADE flared again.

Miniaturization!

The toy gun expanded, turning into a Rifle but it was not the same Rifle that he first attacked the terrorists with. This time, it was a different Rifle, a sleek-looking long black Rifle with a menacing edge.

Leon looked up and aimed the Rifle up right at the propulsion system of the terrorist air transport that was underneath it, the electromagnetic propulsion system.

As he aimed, there was a sudden loud boom inside the air transport.

BOOM!

The tennis ball-shaped fragmentation grenade that he threw finally detonated inside the transport as it shuddered in mid-air.

Leon couldn't see what was happening inside but he could imagine it, and he acted nonetheless.

He raised his head and looked at the glowing bluish electromagnetic field above him, then he aimed his Terra Nova 71 Rifle at it.

With his index finger, he shifted the Rifle's regulator that was just beside the trigger to the second slot, then he took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.

Enhance!

BAM!

With Enhance draining his ADE to massively empower the weapon, one single EMP blast was all it took as instantly the train-like air transport lost power!

It shuddered in mid-air as if struggling to reboot but it could not, and then it started free-falling from the sky.

Leon dodged from the transport's path as it plummeted.

And just as the train-like air transport plummeted past him, with eerie accuracy, he threw the final tennis ball that was on his hand since into the air transport, the gray-colored one.

1… 2… 3…

POOF!

His smoke bomb detonated inside the transport and all the terrorists heard was a muffled sound.

The inside of the train-like transport instantly filled up with thick black smoke that obscured the vision of the terrorists.

The terrorists felt helpless in the face of this stranger. Their air transport was crashing from the sky, they were scrambling to fix it, and now, they were suddenly covered by thick black smoke.

They couldn't even see the enemy anymore.

While they could not see him, Leon took his time to dip his hand in his backpack again, once again restoring the Terra Nova 71 to a toy gun size and storing it before bringing out 2 new gadgets, a kinetic pistol and a dagger.

Then with Drone Control Matrix, he finally made the sword drone accelerate again, throwing him inside the plummeting air transport.

The moment the sword drone threw him inside, Leon controlled it as it pivoted and shot towards the pilot trying to restart the air transport like a bullet.

Whoosh!

It slashed through the head of the pilot!

Leon was ruthless.

Due to the thick black smoke, the terrorists couldn't see but they heard the eerie sound of metal slicing through flesh.

Before they could react…

Thud!

Leon landed on the surface of the air transport and he rolled to confuse the terrorists, then standing on one knee he aimed with the kinetic pistol and shot.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Blood blossomed inside the air transport.

The terrorists panicked.

Just like the terrorists, Leon couldn't see but they didn't know that. And since he had only terrorists surrounding him from every side, he was free to shoot as much as he wanted without worrying about friendly fire.

His shots gave the terrorists the illusion that he could see in the thick black smoke and it made their reactions slow as they panicked.

When one of the terrorists shot him in the abdomen, Leon already realized that there was at least a single Ascended in this air transport.

And now, taking advantage of their panic, he moved towards the last direction where he envisioned the Ascended to be.

As he moved while shooting with his right hand, his left hand stabbed with his dagger at any flesh that was nearby.

Panicking, the terrorists retaliated.

Tutututututu…!

The terrorists shot blindly without thinking but all they did was filling their ally bodies with holes as Leon reacted on time, either ducking or rolling to avoid the flying bullets.

He weaved and bobbed in between the terrorists like some asura from hell.

By the time they knew it, the blood and bodies of their allies were all that littered the surface of the crashing air transport and then the surviving terrorists finally gave up.

They didn't give up in despair though, they gave up in religious extremism.

"Gud er større!"

"Gud er større!"

They all began chanting and the next moment, they committed suicide, including the F Rank Ascended who led this mission!

When the smoke started subsiding, Leon observed the gory scene inside the transport with a mortified expression on his face. 'They committed suicide?'

His face twisted in dread. 'Just how extreme are these people?'

'Ah, I hate extremists!'

He finally jumped out of the crashing air transport, landing back on top the sword drone that floated in the sky waiting for him.

Due to how much fuel he just burned chasing the air transport and overexerting the sword drone's battery in the process, Leon knew that its battery was already down to less than 20% battery health.

And this battle didn't even take 3 minutes.

He finally looked down.

Due to the panic and fear, the ground directly beneath the crashing air transport was already deserted of all people.

Leon heaved a sigh of relief since this meant the crashing air transport won't cause more casualties.

Hearing a sound coming from the distance, he turned his head southward and then he saw 5 military-grade helicopters flying towards his direction.

'The police?' He thought.

When the police convoy arrived, Sergeant Mahmoud stared at the debris of the terrorist air transport down below and then he looked at the unaffiliated Ascended with a look of disbelief on his face.

"Who are you?"

Genuinely feeling amused by that question, Leon wanted to smile and say 'Me? I'm just a man who blow bubbles and fight crimes' but remembering Thomas Riley's persona, he looked at the Divisional Police Officer coldly.

"My name is Thomas Riley".

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