Hector P.O.V.
Ptu I spat a blob of blood (again), the bastard gave me a lot of cuts in my mouth.
At least I didn’t lose any teeth… Well, that is not luck.
That was the result of one of the new skills that I trained.
As I walk back to my bags, I casually grab a rock on the ground and throw it in the air.
The trajectory is perfect to land on my extended hand, but when the rock approaches, it starts to slow down till it lands harmlessly on my palm.
“I think there are better names than ‘Telekinetic Cushion’…’ I say to myself.
Basically, I’m keeping a force field of my telekinesis around me to “grab” anything that gets close.
Like Ten from the Nen system for HunterxHunter, or Gojo’s Infinity…
But it is much, much weaker… And hard to keep in battle, I basically only kept it around my head, so that I wouldn’t die.
Thanks to that, I have all my teeth, even though I can feel my face swollen like a fucking muffin.
“Heavy-ho!” I finally reach my grabs and take them from the ground with a little effort… Man, I’m beaten!
Let’s find a place to recover.
……..
After flying for some time, I find a small town and drop by an empty shed.
My face is a little too busted to go around, not that I care too much, but I am also not in dire need of anything.
I still have some food and water, so I can rest for some days and heal.
Thanks to the Hercules Method, I can make a conscious effort to heal by using my body-mind connection.
After some hours, I was able to move the blood accumulated in my face and other parts of my body around the rest of my body, reducing the swelling.
I think a day more, even the cracks in my bones will heal.
This is kinda like concentrating my healing factor in one point, it’s kinda cool.
“But a true healing factor is still a must… I have some ideas.
“I contemplate about my mistakes and the places where I can improve while reaching for my bag and for my glasses.
I barely need to use them right now, only to rest or read.
But when I put them in my face, I notice an even bigger difference… They are not needed anymore, not even for those small things.
“…Did I level up just now?”
I stare at the glasses in my palm… Maybe the last physical representation of my past self… I changed faster than I expected, but maybe it’s natural for everyone.
Crack
I clench my hand to break them mercilessly.
No, it does not have any great symbolism of “leaving the past behind”.
I’m still a big fucking nerd on the inside, and I like it.
Those glasses are maybe the last thing my shitty parents gave me… I’m rejecting them.
“I will be getting some sunglasses or fake ones later.” I comment while throwing the glasses away like trash.
They are ugly anyway; the next ones will, at least, give me some drip.
Now I will concentrate on healing, because I now have a mission…
Initially, I just wanted to train in the Hercules Method and travel the world.
Now things have changed… They tried to kill me… No, they tried to do something worse!
They try to imprison me.
Tired of taking away my liberty, my freedom?!!
You fucking pathetic bitches!
A bunch of small fishes in even smaller ponds!!
How the fuck do you think you are!?!
My freedom???
Mine???
I’m gonna kill you all… You are all fucked.
You all should have left me alone.
I just wanted to be left alone, but you all think that I’m a pushover, right?
Hector is just one more normal guy… He has nothing on you… Oh, I’m gonna prove you all wrong.
It’s a matter of principle now.
I will gain nothing doing this, and it is not risk-free, but I’m gonna do it.
I can’t have this pathetic mentality of not returning “favors”.
And you all are not gonna stop, right?
I know your type… You think yourself superior, so why should you stop when you are in the winning position?
You are never gonna leave me alone, right?
Okay…
Oh boy, I will enjoy being your face when you discover that your strength and immortality mean shit.
….
After recovering, I’m flying back to the United States.
In this world, the Big Boss is the “First Murderer” Cain.
I know about him, but I do not know where his ” hideout ” is.
In the comics, it was never specified where… So I can only wait for them to contact me first.
If everything goes well, I can attract the attention of “that woman” and be guided to Cain.
Let’s go back to the same path I took.
This will make it easier for them to track me.
I go north, passing through familiar sites, and the thing that sticks with me is that… My methods of killing the criminals and gangs did jack-shit.
Others took their place after the power vacuum, which was expected, but damn… Half-measures really mean nothing.
I mean, I think I helped some people who are being threatened directly by the members, or are owing money and all that… Like, I kinda reset the trouble, erasing the history and all that.
But it was exchanged from 6 to half a dozen.
Now it’s a coin flip if the new people are better or worse…
BUT… New people mean something else… New corpses!
Bang Bang Bang Boom
“Hahaha!
You are all like monsters!
Respawning and all that!” I laugh while smashing the heads of two criminals together.
“Cockroaches!”
Maybe if I create a legend, they will be afraid of returning…
And that’s how I travel north, repeating what I did going south.
Am I insane?
The definition of insanity is repeating the same actions, expecting different results.
“Ah… I’m not expecting different results, I simply do not care…” I nod to myself, enlightened.
When I finally reached the United States again, disappointed in not finding any clue(any clue coming to me in this case), I considered going to see if Luther Strode was following Canon.
“He should have already killed The Librarian at this point…” He will not be that useful at this point; he must be stronger than me on the Hercules Method, but I still have my telekinesis.
The Librarian, huh?
Librarian, Binder, Gardener, Shooter… Maybe I should take a cool nickname that ends with “er”.
“I just can’t be N-” Swish My dark joke was stopped by the sound of wind being cut captured by my ears.
I crouch down fast, but even so, I feel my back being cut.
Two very long cuts, from my waist to my shoulder… I almost lost my arms… I can’t lose limbs this easily.
It will be too troublesome to replace them, I will need to waste a Travel.
Now, here on this dark street barely illuminated by flickering lamp posts, I straighten myself while observing my ambusher.
It’s a very skinny man, covered in bandages from head to toe, a long dark coat, and a black Coco hat.
The picture of a twisted gentleman from the 19th century… The two knives in his hands are also not in the usual gentleman’s attire.
Where is the cane?
“Jack, The Ripper…” I remember him in the story.
The whole Luther Strode saga is fairly short, so it is not that hard to remember the characters…
“I was out of the show for so long that I thought no one would recognize me…”
“Ripper… Another one that ends with ‘er’…” I ignore this maniac and keep to my own thoughts.
That is on purpose, of course, this way I can annoy him.
If my opponents act on emotions, the better for me…
He suddenly attacks ruthlessly, trying to dismember me, not appearing to be affected by my words.
Well, maybe it’s natural, this is an old guy after all… I won’t easily get under his skin.
I do my best to dodge but this guy is on a different level from the Binder.
He jumps from lamp post to lamp post, from wall to asphalt, and then to a wall again… Okay, I can barely keep up with him… I’m fucked, he can cut my neck any time.
Shit.
Don’t panic Hector!
Subtle spread your telekinesis, try to feel his movements with it, and with your sense of touch… The wind that he moves…
Tsk, a pity that I can’t grab him with my telekinesis.
I know for a fact that he is not alone.
In canon, Jack the Ripper was released by the Binder to deal with Luther Strode.
In this timeline, the Binder didn’t think I was worth much and acted alone…
But the fact that the Ripper is one of the “rogue users” of the Hercules Method and is kept locked is an undeniable fact that didn’t change with my presence.
Someone released him… And this someone is still nearby…
Not showing my telekinesis then.
What a bad situation I’m in… Hehe~ Hm, why am I laughing?
Swish Swish
The Ripper moves around erratically, his glowing eyes leaving traces of his trajectory, but is simply too unpredictable for me to even try to counter.
But I try anyway… Protecting my vitals, I aim for a punch in his direction, the Ripper’s body twists in the air very unnaturally, he can spin his joints in the weirdest of angles… My forearm is skinned in a second.
It hurts like hell, it stings, and I feel like it’s numb… Maybe because I don’t have skin anymore.
Fuck… Fighting hurts…
But it’s not like I’m not prepared for it… I didn’t officially train in any martial arts, but I watched videos, and one of the things that consistently appeared in almost every teaching of the basics is to learn how to take a hit, get used to it…
Keep your eyes open, not lower your guard…
So even after losing a good chunk of my skin, I did not stop crying while clutching my wounded hand, I ignored it and kept my focus on my opponent.
I will not win if I drag this shit out… The guy is faster than me, the most OP of the stats!
And I can’t use telekinesis!
because of the outsider watching me… Well, not outwardly at least.
I just need to… Grab him…
While the Ripper was jumping around, cutting a slice of me at every attack, I was concentrating on catching him.
I’m close… Just… a little…
“Gotcha!” When he attacked once more, I did my best to give him a hug.
“Do you think this is enough, boy?” He asks calmly, despite my arms squeezing him tightly, he doesn’t look bothered.
In truth, his body starts to contort in natural ways, his joints dislocating, and he shows that he can still attack me at any moment.
“Yes, it will be enough…” I smile at him
“Very optimi- hm?” He finally noticed.
I’m holding him with my telekinesis now.
From this close distance I can exert a lot of power and the observer will not find it strange… If I squeeze him to death.
Jack the Ripper can’t even open his mouth to say shit now.
“That’s the thing about this low-level world… It’s easy to get killed.” I say and crush his body with all I have.
Buchi Gaah
It’s a very gory sight, expected from this world… I broke him in two, snapping his spine and crushing his skull.
“Huuf~” I breathe out.
“Immortals die like everyone else…”
“Indeed.” A voice interrupts my monologue, a female voice that makes me turn around.
As expected, the Ripper was not alone, and it was really her…
“Who are you?” I say, feigning ignorance, putting my guard up “You’re one of them, right?”
“Yes, but no.” This mocha-skinned woman with short hair approaches me while talking cryptically.
Tch.
“I’m indeed like him… Like you.
But I’m not with them.”
“Them?”
“The ones hunting you.
The ones that treat this world as their playground and the people as their plaything.” She tries to give a grand speech, but I interrupt her.
“You didn’t tell me who you are…” I say with my eyes cold.
Should I try subduing her?
If I use my telekinesis, I think I can, and I don’t think there are more of them observing.
She is the one who will take me to Cain… Let’s play along with her bullshit for now.
She smiled despite my rudeness, a smile that did not reach her eyes.
“I’m Delilah.” I know that “And I can be your ally.” I doubt that.
“Ally?”
“Yes…” She looks down at the destroyed body of the Ripper, as if she were not the one who brought him here.
“They will not stop, you know?
You will never find peace.”
“I reached that conclusion alone.
That’s why I decided to kill all of them.” I act my age… Petulant and conceited, to make her underestimate me.
“You will not be able to do it… Not alone at least.” She says calmly
“And that’s where you enter, I suppose.” I smirk, acting smart.
“Yes, precisely.
I know where your enemies live… We can ambush them.” She says
“All of them?”
“Most of them… But we can discover together as we progress.”
“Hmm.” I stop to think.
“Well, better than simply waiting for them to come… I was never the patient type anyway.” I smile predatorily
That’s a fucking lie.
I’m the patient type.
Let’s go with her till she betrays me…
“Very good.” She nods and I extend a hand to her, making her look at it strangely
“Allies?” I ask
“…allies” She takes my hand
The two of us hide our true intentions.
……..
With Delilah, I finally traveled the world, going beyond the American continent.
In the paper, we are searching for the hideout of the Hercules Method users, but I know that Delilah is only using me.
She guided me to kill the Gardener, a huge and very durable guy, she even took me after the Shooter.
The meeting with the Shooter was a little out of script, it happened when we were not searching for him.
….
Third Person P.O.V.
In a certain rundown bar in a European city, Hector and Delilah are leaving the place after talking with one of Delilah’s many informants.
“Living for a long time must be interesting… Do you know people in every place on Earth?” Hector asks, carrying his duffel bag over his shoulder, his most prized possessions on it
“More or less… Sometimes they die earlier than I can meet new people though.” Delilah answers in a calm tone of voice. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
At this point, they are on somewhat good terms, Delilah can’t deny that she likes Hector’s inquisitive nature.
he asks a lot about her life, but nothing personal that will make her uncomfortable… his questions are about things that she never considered, and in a certain way, make her open her mind a little.
As he continues to bother her with questions that make her think deeply about her life, they find a peculiar scene of some guys beating another.
There is not much strange to happen on a night outside a bar… But certain things add a little context to the scene.
The fact that all the aggressors are bald white guys filled with tattoos, and the victim is a black man.
With his enhanced eyesight, Hector can very well see the swastika in the neck of one of the white guys.
“Hmm… I never killed a nazi…” He comments “I can finally put it off my bucket list.”
It ended in 5 seconds.
Hector broke all the arms of the skinheads while shooing the victim away.
“You know, I never understood racists… Do you know that our DNA is 98.8% similar to the chimps’?
Now imagine with all the other humans… We are all the same.
It’s even weirder now that I can see your muscles.
We are all red meat, you know?” Thanks to the Hercules Method, he can see people’s muscle movements.
Hector walks to one of the neo-nazis that is kneeling with his arms broken at his sides.
“And like… You have a bad impression of someone before even meeting them…One of the fun things about life is meeting new people.
Imagine if everyone were equal, how boring would that be?” He shakes his head “Like, being racist is like withholding yourself from enjoying life more, do you get what I mean?
Imagine only meeting the same type of people again and again… It’s so dumb.” He looks disgusted.
As an Omniversal Traveller, the concept of discriminating against someone based on a small thing like skin color is so dumb that he finds it funny.
He will one day meet aliens and other strange lifeforms.
He pauses to wait for some sort of explanation; he wants this guy to tell him the reason for being racist.
“So… What do you have to say for yourself?”
But the neo-nazi only groans in pain.
“…
maybe I’m an idiot for expecting a smart answer from you.” He shakes his head again, and Crack breaks the guy’s neck.
“Are you satisfied?” Delilah asks in a calm voice after watching Hector play along with his victims.
“A little.” He admits “If you are going to be racist, be against a race that deserves it… Like Goblins from Goblin Slayer… Demons from Frieren… or Skrulls.”
“?”
…
Thanks to that little show of old justice, the Shooter ended up approaching them.
You see, the Shooter’s backstory is tragic.
He originally was a slave taken from his home, then after acquiring the Hercules Method, he lived through the Wild West and segregation while being hunted by the Binder.
It’s not for nothing that he doesn’t trust anyone and is hard to find.
To this day, he acts like a vigilante, destroying rings of human trafficking and other unsavory businesses that are connected with his past of suffering.
Hector would go as far as to call him a hero…
“Why are you searching for me, boy?” The Shooter, wearing cowboy attire, appears from the shadows and asks Hector “And this is your next victim, Delilah?” He practically glares at the woman.
“…” But Delilah shows no expression.
“For your good work back there, kiddo.
I’m gonna give you some advice… Don’t trust this woman.” The Shooter warns him.
“I know what I’m doing…” Hector answers cryptically, he doesn’t need to be warned.
“Hmpf, suit yourself.” The Shooter scoffs
“Now that you are here, why don’t you tell us what we want to know?” Delilah steps forward and asks the Shooter.
“…” The Shooter stares at her intensely before shrugging his shoulders and throwing a piece of paper at Delilah.
With that, he jumps away and disappears.
“…” Delilah opened the paper and read something “He gave us Cain’s location.”
“…” Hector side glances her “Oh, perfect then!” He smiles brightly
…..
They travel to the secret location where Cain stayed for many millennia.
Delilah drives the Humvee through the desert till the can finally see a huge building, like a palace pyramid.
It’s big and completely out of place in the middle of the empty desert.
“So there is where the final boss lies…” Hector says dramatically, jumping out of the car, he leaves his duffel bag in the backseat.
“Yes, it is…” Delilah speaks.
“…”
“…”
“So that’s the moment when you betray me?” Hector asks without taking his eyes off the huge building
“…” Delilah side glances him and speaks in a calm voice ” Do you really think I would do that?”
“Oh, sorry… ‘Betray’ is the wrong word; you are never on my side from the beginning.” Hector adds
“Why do you think that?”
“Please… You’re Delilah.” He says, like the answer is obvious
“And what does this mean?”
“The great weakness of men is women…” Hector says “We are dumb and fall in love with you all, and some of you learned to use our love to manipulate it…” He continues to stare forward for some time before turning to her.
“…”
“And you, Delilah, was the first one to do that.” He laughs “How the heck do you think I would trust you??”
“…”
“You’re the first femme fatale… the first vixen… The first woman betrayer… The Ancestor of Malty, Makima, Rachel, and many other trashy women who are conceived after you… You started it all!
The CEO of the bitches”
“…some would say that Eve was the first…” Delilah says in a weak attempt to defend herself.
“Hey, don’t talk about humanity’s mother like that… She was just a little naive.” Hector mocks “Not like you that betrayed Samson.
Tell me… Did you ever love him?
Or did you think he was a fool from the beginning till the end?”
“…” Something changes on Delilah’s face.
Her eyes become red and with black sclera.
Boom Hector reacts fast and doesn’t look at her.
He knows that she can hypnotize people… His movements raise a lot of sand around them, blocking her vision and…
“Gark!
Guh??” Delilah starts floating in the air, clawing her neck like she is being squeezed by something.
“…” Hector emerges from behind her as the sand falls.
Everything happened in an instant and he finally revealed his telekinesis.
“A smart man learns from his mistakes… A wise man learns from the mistakes of others…” Hector comments from behind her, his voice cold.
Delilah continues to struggle in the air “I will never fall for a woman bullshit.
Those hands are Rated E, Delilah… Thank you for reminding me of this valuable lesson.”
When he finishes his words, he rips her body into dozens of pieces.
Mercilessly.
Once again, something changed in him… This experience, this decision made by him… It changed him a little, or maybe showed him whole he really is… In the end, it doesn’t matter.
He will continue to grow aimless, without any idea of what he will become in the end… A hero?
A villain?
A saint?
A monster?
It matters not; he will not waver because of the fear of change.
First, he needs to aim to be unordinary.
His cold eyes stop looking at Delilah’s remains and turn to the huge building where his enemies wait… They are stronger than him, but he will face them.
The situation is not hopeless, so he will not run away.
“Haah~ The first world that I will complete.” He chuckles “I’m enjoying this too much.”