Chapter 31

When the initial heatwave was released Peter was just outside the office door, waiting for an opportunity to sneak in. The flames did make him uncomfortable but it was nowhere near as bad as previously. He wondered why that was, since his endurance wasn't that much higher but he was quickly given an explanation.

[Divinity attribute serves as protection against all abilities of divine origin.]

"Right. Forgot about that."

Knowing that he was safe, Peter slowly made his way inside the office. Gregory should have seen him, but he was a little distracted and wasn't able to concentrate on the blurry figure, he was just firing away like his life depended on it.

Every time a column of fire left Gregory's still attached hand, Peter felt like he was being slapped across the face. However, it was only taking a few percentage points of health each time and he got behind the blazing man in relatively good shape.

[Health: 78%]

[Stamina: 84%]

Soon after, the flames stopped. It might have seemed like the end of the world to the terrified gang leader but he was still the strongest person in the room and could easily get away. Instead, he started throwing hands towards the one person in the world who wasn't bothered by it.

Peter wanted to help out but was limited in his methods. He could have tried joining the fight directly but it wouldn't have achieved much, he didn't get that much stronger since their last fight and he had a weapon back then. His only other way of causing harm was stealing abilities. He could do it in two ways in this case. The opponent was obviously way too strong for the regular approach which left him with stealing stars, which he wasn't sure how to do properly.

[Stars can be collected if the target is either dead or unable to resist.]

That was all the information he got. He assumed that Gregory not being able to use his fire abilities meant he was exhausted enough to not resist, so he placed his hands on the man's back and hoped for the best.

[You have collected a Star of Hellfire.]

[Reward: All physical attributes +0.2, MGC +0.1, DVN +0.05]

[You can now use divine weaponry]

[Target's entity class has decreased from 14 to 12]

Peter was finally noticed, so he had to get away as soon as possible. Hoping to get some awesome power boost, he summoned his newly unlocked weapon… and immediately dropped it.

He didn't have time to properly observe the item that appeared in his hand. The only thing he noticed in the heat of the moment was that it was long and unnaturally heavy. Although it wasn't the desired effect, the stunt did distract Gregory long enough for Anthony to tackle him.

Due to the large forces involved, the two men were moving at high speeds towards the edge of the room, then out of the room and down to the ground. After a long fall they hit the road, forming a neat little crater around them, with the combined forces of the Green dragons and the police quickly surrounding them.

Gregory was barely conscious while Anthony, still disfigured, was standing up without much difficulty. With everything in the ideal place, Helen pulled out one of her disposable guns making the police chief start desperately pleading for her to stop.

"Please don't do it! You have no idea what will happen when news gets out!"

"Don't worry, I won't kill him."

Alexander was relieved for a moment until he saw her throw the gun into the crater towards the burned man who used it without hesitation immediately after catching it.

"What have you done!? You just doomed us all!!"

His worries weren't unfounded, but unfortunately for him, no one present cared. He had no idea who the burned man was, but he was evidently a lot less reasonable than the late Anthony Williams. He was scared not because of what the people in front of him wanted to do, but because of what the people behind the scenes could do. A feeling that was mildly shaken when the man in the crater spoke.

"If memory serves me right, you still owe me an arm."

Alexander prepared to fight after hearing what was obviously a challenge. Helen however stopped the situation from escalating just in time.

"You should pick up the kids and go home for now. I'll handle it from here."

Anthony reluctantly made his way towards the destroyed and still burning building to pick up the three kids. He was glad that the initial problem has been resolved but that didn't change the fact that there were a number of other people he would have liked to shoot. First among them being the man who, in his opinion, had one too many hands.

But Helen was right. He should just pick up the kids and prepare for the well-deserved vacation at his agency's expense starting the next day.