The Invader And The Puppet Master

The boy found himself in a barren, dark hill, the air was thick while the whole world was enveloped by red mist.

In the distance, stood a lone church that overlooked a vast graveyard, thousands upon thousands of graves filled that ominous graveyard, every single one of them was open, empty… as if waiting to be filled. 

On this dark hill, the boy faced Zachary, who was momentarily stunned by the unusual surroundings.

Zachary strained to discern the assailant's identity, shrouded in red mist. The only visible features were a singular blood-red eye gleaming through the mist and a small frame belonging to someone around the age of 17, leaving his assailant's identity shrouded in mystery. 

The boy rushed at him with staggering speed. Before Zachary could gather his composure, the boy swiftly swiped at Zachary's sides, causing him intense pain. 

The boy was still unfamiliar with his strange gift, so he knew that he had to be cautious, especially against such an opponent as Zachary who ruled the slums of Dein.

Suddenly, the boy jumped back, sensing danger from Zachary, who just smiled at him with one of the most twisted and terrifying expressions the boy had ever seen. 

"What a strange gift you have… but it won't matter I beat you until you are half dead then give you to the hunters!" Chuckled Zachary to himself then turned to the boy with a chilling expression, then slowly said:

"That's what you get for going against me, I'm a king here, you are nothing but a problem that I solve in a minute" Growled Zachary while his expression turned increasingly hostile.

The boy who was silent the whole time, suddenly spat at Zachary:

"You might think that you have significant power in the slums, and that may be right, Zachary, but inside here, I'm INVINCIBLE."

Roared the boy with the expression of a maniac. As he thrust his hand forward, the very earth seemed to heed his call. 

From the ground, a stone spear materialized right into his hand.

Yet again, the boy rushed at Zachary, this time with the stone spear in his hand. This time, Zachary did not even try to dodge the strike coming towards him with speed that could never be achieved by a normal human.

The boy watched with a shocked face that Zachary did not even try to dodge at the last minute as the spear drilled into his guts. 

But this time, that monster of a man did not even wince in pain, just smiled at the boy and said:

"Got you now." Before a sudden attack struck him in the side of his head, sending him flying several meters away.

As the boy was trying to slowly get up from the ground he saw that Zachary leisurely walked towards him while removing the spear from his guts.

His wounds closed right before the boy's eyes. 

"Who is going to report who?" Joked the boy with a dark tone while struggling to get up.

After Zachary revealed the fact that he was not a normal human either, Gifted by the power of regeneration, the boy knew that chances of victory were slim, yet he did not despair...yet. 

With murderous resolve, he used his Gift to command the earth again, this time four earthen spikes suddenly impaled Zachary, two of these spikes went for his legs, while the remaining two went straight for the heart.

After witnessing his fellow Gifted's power, he had no delusions about finishing him with the spikes. Instead, he opened the earth under his feet to bury Zachary alive.

"You can regenerate, but can you live without any air in your lungs?" Taunted the boy, his voice was barely louder than a whisper, he was too tired. 

Using his Gift, be it entering this dream domain, or using his gift to command the earth itself, it always takes a lot out of him.

The boy, after waiting for what felt like an eternity, grew certain of his victory. The ground, where he had buried Zachary with his Gift, remained undisturbed for two long minutes.

Being sure of his triumph, he relaxed, which turned out to be a grave mistake as Zachary broke out of the ground, and with one crushing blow, crushed the boy's skull.

***

"I'm sorry I-" Before he could even finish his sentence, the boy broke down into a series of hacking coughs, each painful spasm accompanied by a spray of blood.

"Are you alright?" asked the girl, rushing to his side with panic in her voice. She tried to help him stand up, but that only worsened his condition as he started to cough even more violently.

"Be careful, he's like us." He managed to finish his warning before coughing violently one more time, then passing out in her arms. 

She gave him a gentle look, full of warmth as she brushed his long black hair out of his eye and whispered: "Don't worry, I've got it from here." 

"Oh, so it was that rat, yeah, only having one eye should have given it away. And here you said that you are invincible, what a joke!" Said Zachary, his tone full of ridicule, then he switched his eyes to the girl.

"Look like I'm goin to rid the slums of two rodents today-" Before he could even finish his words of ridicule, almost invisible strings wrapped around his throat, attempting to sever his head from his neck.

The girl almost succeeded, her fingers dancing while her fingertips let out strings from them. 

But to her terror, Zachary grabbed the strings with his bare hands and tore them off, in the process severing almost every finger. Yet his expression showed no pain, only a deeply sick enjoyment.

As Zachary stood still, his fingers started to regrow while the severe bleeding from having his throat cut, stopped entirely.

A deep sense of fear started to take root in the girl's heart while she taught:

'No wonder he lost to this guy, he is a monster, can I even win this? If I have to—' She couldn't even finish her line of thoughts as he heard Zachary shout.

"Zolen, what are you just standing there for, and why is Dale tied up while you do nothing, you bastard?

Zolen did not say a word back to his boss, just started to walk towards him slowly and constantly stumbling while holding his short sword. 

Zachary roared as a lion, veins popping from his forehead as he ran towards Zolen while screaming like a madman:

"Traitorous bastard, that's how you repay us for all those years, by siding with these freaks?!"

Zolen did not look like he was about to answer, even then, Zachary did not give him enough time for that as he punched Zolen's chest with all of his might, creating a bloody mess as his fist pierced Zolen's chest.

Because of the hole that he had just punched, from the wound, almost a dozen invisible strings burrowed deeply into his hand.

Before he could even think about anything, the short sword that the now-dead Zolen held in his hands, pierced his liver.

This time, everything became clear for Zachary as he slowly looked at the girl.

He growled in a low voice:

"I've had enough of the both of you. I don't even care about the hunters. First, I will kill you as slowly and painfully as possible. If the other rat is alive, he will watch every single moment of it. Then, he follows you right after I've done the same to him."

The girl whose heart was already full of doubt, succumbed entirely to despair as she could see Zachary slowly walking towards her.

Completely out of options, she just sat down right beside the boy as she whispered with a heart-wrenching tone: "This is the end of the road, at least we won't have to run away anymore..."

just as she muttered these words to him, the boy weakly opened his eyes as he looked straight into the girl's eyes, offering a weak and strained smile to try and console his friend.

As the two of them accepted their fate and their grim reaper drew closer and closer, they managed to pick up some strange words coming from behind them: 

"Okay, seen enough."

Just then, their executioner froze and turned into ice.

"Impressive, kids. For a while, I even thought that the two of you could win against him, heh.

Anyways, my name is Damien Frost! What is yours?"

The two of them just looked at the strange man with a dumbfounded expression, neither of them dared to mutter a word, or in the case of the boy, he couldn't, even if he wanted to.

The strange man had long white hair, it was just like snow, while his eyes were blue, deep like the ocean itself, he wore a blue and white military uniform, even the uniform could not hide his toned muscles.

The aura around him was ice cold, yet the expression he showed the two of them was warm, warmer than they had ever seen from anyone else.

The girl slowly picked up the courage to say: "We don't have names" The boy tried to say the same but he was too weak to even mutter a word.

"Nameless Gifted, huh..." Damien muttered silently under his breath while thinking deeply.

*Crack*

Just then, the sound of breaking ice could be heard.