Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

The moment we met eyes, I still admired the way her eyes stood out like Artem's—though hers had a little more depth and contrast—compared to Artem's who almost blends in with the color of his skin and his grey-ish facial hair but yeah, she looked a tad nervous by being alone with me just wearing gym clothing though I wave her over to sit down in front of me in the center of our gym mat.

"O-Okay, sir…"

"So… How are you?"

"Umm… Fine?"

"You sure?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Pfft… That doesn't sound too sure?"

"I mean—"

"On a scale of 1-10, how much do you want to smack my face right now?"

"Ah—"

"Be honest, alright? I'm not like my wife, some things could still pass through my detection skill…"

"Umm… Y-You see… I— T-There must be a reason for putting us through that but for a moment there, I really thought you were gonna kill us. But…"

"But?"

"W-When… You know… When the curtains fell and the tricks are revealed… I… I felt relieved and safe obviously but there's this… There's this something inside me that's been lingering but doing nothing e-ever since."

"You mean trauma?"

"Ah— N-Not exactly that but I-I dunno… I… F-For some reason I've been… Umm… Noticing things more? I don't really know how to put it, I'm sorry—"

"No, don't apologize. This is good stuff… Aside from noticing things, what else is new?"

Williams looked away for a moment, thinking deeply before looking back to me, "I-I don't really wanna say the other one b-but… I've never slept this good in a while… M-My body's a wreck after that run and I was having cramps at that time but this… but this time… with all the mental stress and all… I didn't think I'd slept that good…"

"I see, I see… So why don't you wanna say the other one? You can tell me anything—"

"I-It's just—"

"Look, whatever you're experiencing right now, I've been through it. So… here's a shot in the dark… Libido's gone way~~~ up, right?"

"...! H-How— That's not even a shot in the dark! I-It's a fucking bullseye!"

I chuckled, "I told you already, I've been there. This might sound inappropriate but have you had a release yet?"

"Ah— That's unbelievably inappropriate! I— Have YOU had a release yet?! See how it feels!"

"I did, actually. Multiple times. I'm surprised you haven't heard of— n-no, please don't ask about me… it's better that way…"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Ah— I may have heard of your… exploits… Hmm… A-Anyway, is this what we're doing here? J-Just talking—"

As Williams was still in mid-sentence, I let out a faint smile before the area got unbelievably cold and she felt the edge of my blade pressing on her neck before seeing the rest of her body—as her head fell off the floor.

Of course, it was all an illusion from the need I wanted to materialize at the moment but I could clearly see how Williams' eyes dilated as she clutched her neck and screamed.

It took her a minute or so to realize that her head was still attached to the rest of her body and I had no chance in hell to do what she saw because I didn't even bring my blades with me or even the fake knife I kept stabbing them with.

Yesterday was just a mix of reality and illusion but this time, I won't need to use props to make them see the actual difference.

'Or if they were that sensitive to perceiving it…'

"W-What… H-Ha… Ha… What just happened?!"

I smiled, "Nothing."

"What do you mean—"

"It's the limit of what I can do, but this one's my goal for all of you—"

Once again, the room got unbelievably cold but this time, Williams' body froze for a moment before she gritted her teeth until blood came out, making her able to jump back and get away from my circle of influence.

Seeing that, I assumed she bit part of her lip to transfer the fear over into pain and I was actually surprised she found the quick solution from seeing the watered-down version of my first ability.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

I waved her over with a smile, "Easy, easy—"

All of a sudden, the fear that turned to pain slowly turned to anger as more blood flowed from her mouth—and the moment I saw an inkling of its partial activation, I overpowered her release with my own.

It was already a surprise in itself she could do it—even subconsciously—but this type of thing should be reined in the moment you see it happen like I did with Eden, though I'd let her loose for a bit to see what she could do on her own.

So despite the overwhelming differences of our release, she lunged at me like Eden did though she opened up with an overhead punch.

I easily dodged to the side which she followed by sneaking in her elbow but I caught it with my palm, redirected it to the side, before giving her face a nice good slap.

Anyone else would've grimaced if they heard the noise it made but Williams was so eager to hit me with her attacks as she tried to aim for a late simultaneous hit from the small opening I gave from slapping her. It's just that that type of attack would only work on fucking idiots since it was another Hail Mary punch, so I caught her left arm heading for me and threw her to the mat.

Then again, she didn't want to let me go as she wrapped her legs around my body and then quickly performed an armbar that was just a setup to send a kick to my jaw. I wasn't exactly sure how she used a setup—though I could argue her release wasn't comparable to Eden—but it just allowed me to get a proper grip on her ankle as I pried her off my body like a fucking leech.

She couldn't believe the strength I was exhibiting with my grip but out of all the things she'd do next, I didn't expect her to suddenly kiss me.