Gifted

When the Panther Shadow saw the multitude of soldiers flowing in the forest like a great flood, its instincts immediately flared up. The Shadow pounced on Halberd without a second though, as it doesn't want its prey to just disappear. Although it was driven by instinct, its instinct was driven by greed.

The Panther Shadow was just a few inches away from Halberd, when it was suddenly pulled back by an unknown force.

Behind the Panther Shadow, Apollo stood on one of the tree branches, glowing neon light emanating from each of his fingers. The neon lights on his fingers, produced threads of neon, binding and rendering the Panther Shadow immobile.

The Panther Shadow's movements became erratic, as it attempts to get free from Apollo's binding. While Apollo held the Shadow in place, Pan's clones swiftly rushed to Halberd's dying body and gently placed him on a stretcher, before carrying him to one of the portals. Gabe got a glimpse of Halberd's dire condition when the soldiers passed by him, which sent a wave of intense guilt washing over his whole being. Gabe was frozen in place, feeling like his heart was being stabbed by daggers over and over again. The soldiers were followed by Sharon as they passed through the portal that sent them back to the Guild. Sharon decided to stay with Halberd, as his situation is completely different from the ones that they have previously encountered.

Once Halberd was taken away, Apollo then curled his fingers into tight fists, before swiftly pulling his arms backwards. The neon thread that trapped the Panther Shadow suddenly tightened, making the Shadow yelp in pain. The threads slowly cut through the panther's skin, which eventually led to its demise by being sliced into multiple pieces, along with its core.

Apollo eliminated the Panther Shadow without even breaking a sweat, but it didn't take long before reinforcements came.

Shadows started appearing one by one, from the deep shadows of the forest. Their sizes vary, according to their Shadow level. There were hundreds of Omega Shadows, a few Betas, and one Alpha. The Alpa was gigantic and huge in size, that it really stood out amongst the rest. It has a body of a gorilla, hind legs of a horse, head of a goat, mandibles for a mouth, and a snake for a tail. Its mouth excretes toxic black smoke whenever it breathes out, causing the wildlife that it touches to wither and die. Every step that it took scorched the ground, leaving burnt trails behind it. The aura that it emits was so menacing, that anyone who feels it will be struck by immense pressure, that could surely immobilize a weak body. The Alpha is definitely a good example of things that could only be seen in nightmares or horror films.

The Alpha tear through the forest, parting it like the red sea, leaving only destruction in its wake.

Shiro, Apollo, and Pan were visibly shaken by the immense pressure that the Alpah emits, but no one was more affected than Gabe.

When he took a step back, his shaky leg slipped, causing him to stumble and fell to the ground.

Jae was about to call everyone to retreat, only to stop when he saw his wife's exhausted and pale face. She has been opening multiple portal at once, that it quickly depleted her energy.

"You okay?" Jae asked softly, as concern laced his voice.

"Yeah, I'll live. Just a little bit rusty" Miayaka replied in reassurance to her husband.

"You go rest first, the kids and I will finish this, okay?" Jae said, which Miayaka replied with a grateful nod, as she gave her husband a small but loving smile.

Jae gave Miayaka a soft kiss on the head, before joining the rest of the rescue team, who has already engaged in battle against the incoming Shadows.

"Don't go to crazy! Our goal is to give Miayaka a few minutes to rest, so she can open a portal for us, understood!" Jae instructed the others, which was responded with a "Yes, Sir!" by his team.

"Ladies, mow them down!" Pan ordered with a hard voice of a general, while she herself gunned Shadows left and right.

Shiro drew his twin daggers from their sheathes, attached to the back of his pants. On his right hand, a brilliant sparkling diamond dagger was held; while on his left hand was a gleaming black diamond dagger. The daggers were a present to him, given by his precious brother, Ji Soo. Through many trial and errors, Ji Soo finally was able to create the daggers with the help of Isabelle, of course. Shiro was so speechless when Ji Soo gave him the daggers, saying that it was a gesture of gratitude for all the things that Shiro has done for him. Ji Soo also stated that it was just a small gift, as the things that Shiro has done for him, cannot and will not be replaced by any material thing. Shiro just hugged Ji Soo tightly, as words were really failing him, at that time.

Shiro started fading in and out of the battlefield, slashing shadows left and right.

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Isabelle once thought that Shiro's Gift was teleportation, but through their extended studies and careful training of Shiro, they finally concluded that Shiro's Gift is not as black and white as they have previously though. Isabelle's team concluded that Shiro has the ability to distort the space around him, which grants him access to a "parallel plain". While in the plain, Shiro's human capabilities increases to a hundred fold, giving him the freedom to move as he pleases. Shiro is capable of bringing people into this plain, which was why Isabelle vehemently volunteered herself to enter the plain with Shiro. Once in the plain, the first thing that Isabelle noticed was that, everything around them is black and white, just like in the old movies. The second thing that she noticed was that, time seems to slow down and the only ones that are not affected were Shiro and her.

This facts made the illusion that Shiro is teleporting, when in reality, he really isn't. Isabelle was having fun at first, when Shiro brought her to the plain, but when they got out of the plain, she immediately regrets volunteering herself. Isabelle felt like she was hit by a truck of motion sickness. Her head spun, causing her severe dizziness, which was actually a backlash from returning back to the normal flow of time. This is the reason why, as much as possible, Shiro wouldn't bring someone with him to the plain; And only do so, if it's absolutely necessary.

When Shiro saw Isabelle ran to the bathroom to empty her stomach, he started to feel a mix feeling of concern and wanting to laugh. When Shiro first got his Gift, his situation was actually worse than of Isabelle. There was a time that he couldn't even distinguish the "real plain" from the "parallel plain", which almost killed him.

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While Shiro and Pan did their thing, Apollo never fell back. Neon light blades extended on each arm, slashing Shadows left and right. His fast and free mobility gave him access for swift and easy kills. Everyone was doing great, until the Alpha decided that it was enough. The Alpha rampaged, destroying anything on its way. Be it friend or foe, the Alpha did not care.

"Pan, can you handle the small fries, while Apollo and I will handle the big one?" Shiro asked the moment he faded in next to Pan.

"We sure can" Pan answered with a confident smile.

"Thanks!" Shiro smile at her confidence, before fading out.

Shiro and Apollo tagged teamed the Alpha with perfect coordination. Shiro faded in at back of the Alpha, plunging his daggers, deep on the Apha's back, while Apollo strangled the Shadow's neck with neon light threads. The Alpha's skin was tougher that what Apollo though, as his extremely hot neon threads weren't even leaving a dent on the Alpha's neck. Even so, Apollo did his best in keeping the Alpha in place, so that Shiro could freely attack it.

Shiro once again faded in, but this time in front of the Alpha. His arms looked like they were multiplying, when Shiro began stabbing the Alpha on its stomach, at a blinding speed. Black soot started oozing out from the Alpha's wounds, while jet black liquid started gushing out from them. The air started becoming really toxic, that just by inhaling, ones lungs could corrode. When the black liquid splashed onto Shiro, it immediately started dissolving his clothes, while the ones that got on his skin, started searing his flesh.

Shiro quickly retreated, creating a significant amount of distance between him and the Alpha. Apollo started coughing blood, due to too much inhalation of the toxic air; that he lost hold of the Alpha.

Free at last, the Alpha didn't think twice and charged forward, swatting Apollo with its huge gorilla hands, like a mosquito. While Shiro got hit by the Alpha's tail, which sent him flying to a huge tree. Shiro crashed on a huge tree, while Apollo's body skipped through the ground before crashing to a tree.

The Alpha moved as such blinding speed, that Shiro and Apollo couldn't even defend themselves from the incoming attack. As the Alpha started running towards Shiro, blood spears rained from above, temporarily incapacitating the Alpha.

Jae created a huge bow out of his own blood and began shooting gigantic arrows at the Alpha. The Alpha was so annoyed by the things that were preventing it from moving, that it let out a loud roar, that produce a huge and powerful shock wave.

Now free, the Alpha now changed its aggro to Jae, who still kept shooting arrows at it. The Alpha charged towards Jae, not even caring for the arrows that continually flew and pieced its body. The Alpha didn't even reached half of its distance towards Jae, when a diamond dagger suddenly plunged into its right temple.

Not a second after, Shiro faded in at the top of the Alpha, before plunging his black diamond dagger on its left temple with a loud roar: "死ね!!!!! ('SHINEEEE!!!!!'or 'DIEEEEEE!!!!!')".

The Alpha let out a roar of pain, as it tries to shake Shiro off of his head. The moment Shiro pulled his dagged out of the Alpha's temple, black liquid gushed out from its wounds.

Turning its head towards the opposite direction of Jae, Shiro just faded in a few meter away from the Alpha and gave it a death glare, that made him look oh so cool. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Alpha also gave Shiro a death glare, as it no longer enjoys playing with it preys. The Alpha realized that the preys in front of him are no easy target like the ones that he enjoyed devouring before.

The Alpha let out a powerful roar once again, before shooting out a devastating beam. Shiro was able to fade out immediately, successfully dodging the Alpha's attack. The beam was small, but the destruction it dealt was bloodcurdling. When Shiro faded in once again, he saw the aftermath of the attack and was thankful that he was able to dodge, or else he would've been erased like the part of the forest that the beam passed through. There was now a huge crater on the location where the beam hit.

The Alpha, then once again turned to Shiro and fired its death beam once again.

Shiro injuries were now taking a toll on him, as his energy started fading and fading. When he saw another death beam was aimed at him, Shiro faded out to dodge, only to fade in not too far from where he used to be. The moment he faded in, he dropped to his knees and started coughing out large amounts for blood.

Shiro thought he was really about to die, but when the Alpha was about to shoot, neon threads wrapped around the Alpha's goat horns and pulled its head, so the beam was shot upwards instead.

"Not so fast you *cough* *cough* bastard" Apollo said with a low raspy voice, filled with disgust and loathing.

Now really annoyed, the Alpha's snake tail went and bit down Apollo's left arm, causing him to release the Alpha's horns and let out an excruciating scream. Apollo clenched his teeth, as a neon light blade extended on his right arm. Apollo swung the blade on the snake's head, slicing it like butter. The moment he got free, Apollo immediately created some distance between him and the alpha, leaving a neon trail behind him.

The Alpha was about to give chance, but the blood arrows that was pierced on its body suddenly turned liquid and started swirling around it. As Jae's eyes glowed red, the blood that was swirling around the Alpha, swirled faster; trapping the Alpha inside a blood vortex. As Jae provided the vortex more of his own blood, the more it became stronger, creating a crimson tornado.

The Alpha tried breaking out of the vortex, but every time it came in contact with the blood, the vortex started eating the Alpha's body.

"Crimson Subjugation" Jae said, as his ominous voice resounded across the forest.

With a snap of his finger, the blood vortex suddenly closed in on the Alpha. The Alpha struggled for its life, but its attempts were futile. Eventually the blood vortex consumed the Alpha, not leaving a single trace of it behind.

Once the blood vortex disappeared, Jae's body started to wobble and eventually fell. Thankfully Miayaka was able to catch her husband just in time. Tears of blood started trickling down from Jae's bloodshot eyes, staining his handsome face. Jae's skin was so pale because of extreme blood loss. It was amazing he was still alive. Jae started coughing blood, before he was able to open his eyes, barely.

The moment he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the face of his tender and loving wife.

"You did a great job. You now need to rest, okay?" Miayaka said with a soft and tender voice, as she gently brushed her husband's hair with her fingers.

"H-How are the kids?" Jae asked with a soft but raspy voice.

"They will live" Miayaka just answered, as she did not want her husband to be put into even more stress.

In all honesty, the outcome was not bad. They managed to kill the Alpha Shadow, while taking down a lot of omegas and some betas. The moment that the Alpha disappeared without a trace, the rest of the Shadow that it was with, began retreating in fear that they might be next.

Pan's clones immediately rushed to Apollo and Shiro's aid, the moment she deemed it safe. They placed Jae, Shiro and Apollo into a stretcher and rushed into the portal, the moment Miayaka was able to create one. Gabe on the other hand, still sat frozen on the ground, shell-shocked. Miayaka pitied the boy as she felt that a deep trauma and guilt is slowly eating the boy alive. Gabe didn't even noticed when Miayaka helped him stand up and guided him to the portal.

Nadet flew as fast as his two wings can, while both his hands held onto two live human beings. Andrew and Alisa held tight onto Nadet's each hand, as they flew across the sky, heading straight to Master Scott's Guild Mansion.