The words of Maylene landed nowhere, swallowed whole by the moment, because Neon and Atlas were already moving.
Their bodies cut forward through the darkness with a shared instinct that didn’t need to be spoken aloud.
Neon veered right, Atlas veered left, and though neither of them had ever trained a day in their lives…
They both reached inward at the same time, searching for the strange new power humming beneath their skin.
Essence.
They had no idea what it was or how it worked.
Truth be told, they knew almost nothing about this strange, new Earth beyond the instinctive understanding of their abilities and subpaths.
But one thing was crystal clear: the only way forward was to give it a shot.
On top of that, no one on Earth Prime had truly turned into a monster yet.
Everyone was like a newborn, stepping into a world that had just been born again.
And they were determined to turn that collective inexperience into an advantage.
The chubby man watched them with a raised brow and a widening smile, his expression shifting from amusement to predatory delight.
“Well, look at that,” he laughed, his voice thick with mock admiration.
“The pretty boy of the kingdom wants to play hero.” HUMMMMM!!!!!
He raised his hand, and a burst of raw essence erupted from him in a sudden, violent wave.
“Catch, pretty boy,” the chubby man said, his smile twisting into something sharper, almost predatory.
With a swift motion, he shoved his hand forward, sending the surge hurtling ahead.
WHOOOOOSH!!!!!
Without hesitation, six cars surged toward Neon at a speed no person could hope to evade, the air shattering with a deafening crack as the vehicles thundered across the street.
Then, with a sharp turn, he faced Atlas.
“And you—just another useless rich brat.” With a casual flick of his wrist, he set the next move in motion.
WHOOOOOSHHHH!!!!!
The remaining cars shot toward Atlas with equal force, the ground trembling beneath the violent surge of essence.
Seeing the cars incoming, Neon and Atlas tried—truly tried—to channel their own essence, reaching inward for the power they knew existed, but…
they didn’t even have time to experiment.
BOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!
As the first car slammed into Neon head-on, the force hurled him backward, sending him crashing through the side of a building as the wall burst apart in a cloud of dust and debris.
Atlas was struck a heartbeat later, his body slamming into a storefront window with glass shattering around him as he skidded across the floor.
“Neon!” “Atlas!” Maylene’s scream tore out of her throat before she even realized it as her hands flew toward her mouth.
Alice’s voice followed a heartbeat later, higher, sharper, trembling as she cried out, her legs already moving before her mind caught up.
Lucien and Alan froze for a stunned moment, eyes wide and breath caught in their chests, before instinct kicked in.
In that moment, they went forward, their feet tripping over shattered pavement as they hurried toward the collapsed storefronts.
—- Neon lay trapped beneath rubble and twisted metal, cars stacked haphazardly above him.
“So, I’m guessing he has slightly more Authority than me?” he muttered, blinking in slight disbelief as it hit him that he wasn’t actually hurt.
His body ached, shaken but intact—like he’d just taken a solid punch.
From his status, he knew his ability, Ownerless Flesh, was passive, and the fact that he was only slightly injured meant the man had at least more than one authority point.
All in all, he found it all a bit absurd, considering what he had just survived.
“Now… this damn energy,” he said, quickly turning his focus back to the task at hand.
He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and reached inward again, searching for the essence he knew was there.
HUMMMMMM!!!!!!
Before he could truly try anything, a burst of essence erupted nearby.
Then Atlas’s voice rang out, strained but strong.
“Neon!
The energy is essence…
Just picture the amount you want to release!
That’s all it takes!” Hearing those words, Neon didn’t hesitate.
‘Use… 50 Essence,’ he thought, and the moment the thought took shape…
[-50 Essence] HUMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!
His essence burst from him in a surge, ripping outward in a shockwave that obliterated the rubble around him.
Instantly, the cars flew backward, debris shattered into dust, and the ground cracked beneath the force of the release.
Neon rose from the destruction, essence still humming faintly around him like a dark aura.
Maylene and Alice froze mid‑step, their eyes wide, their breaths caught in their throats.
Behind them, the chubby man’s smile slipped away.
“Seems like they’re catching on way too fast…” he muttered, his expression hardening as he shifted into a more serious frame of mind.
Yet he never received the chance to act on that new caution.
Atlas, now free, with essence swirling around him in restless white arcs, was already charging.
“Bastard…
consider that a freebie!” he laughed as he hurled himself forward with everything he had.
Lucien and Alan had only just reached the edge of the debris field when Atlas streaked past them so swiftly that their eyes registered nothing more than a blur of motion and a rush of displaced air.
Both men stood rooted, mouths slightly open, minds struggling to process the impossible speed.
And it wasn’t just Atlas….
Neon followed a heartbeat later, and together the two became twin streaks of black and white aura cutting through the endless night.
Seeing them, the chubby man’s eyes hardened.
[-200 Essence] In that moment, he used more of his essence and latched onto every remaining vehicle within reach.
WHOOOOOSHHHH!!!!!
White energy wrapped around the car like chains, and he hurled the whole mass into their path.
The vehicles shot through the air on intersecting paths, metal groaning under the strain of unnatural speed.
But neither Neon nor Atlas attempted to dodge.
HUMMMMMM!!!!!
[-200 Essence] [-200 Essence] Instead, both instinctively wrapped essence around their fists and slammed their glowing hands straight into the hurling cars.
BOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
BOOOOOOOM!!!!!
In that moment, the impacts detonated in twin explosions of fire and shrapnel.
Flames erupted in rolling orange waves as fuel tanks ruptured and metal folded inward.
Even still…
Atlas and Neon did not slow; they leaped through the inferno itself, bodies silhouetted against the blaze for a single breathtaking instant before gravity claimed them once more.
Side by side they fell through the smoke-filled air, arms already drawn back, fists cocked for the finishing blows.
Almost simultaneously, their punches landed against the chubby man’s raised forearms.
BANGGGGG!!!!!
The combined strength of two young men who had, just moments ago, stumbled upon a bit of essence usage.
The impact lifted the larger man clean off his feet and hurled him backward through the nearest building, then the next….
Concrete and glass exploded outward in a continuous chain of destruction until he vanished somewhere deep within the collapsing structures.
Atlas landed hard, boots skidding across the fractured street, and threw his head back in a wild, breathless laugh.
“Man…
this shit is so cool!” he shouted, white essence still flickering around his knuckles as he flexed his fingers and stared at them in pure wonder.
Neon touched down a few paces away, the dark aura around him thinning as he released a short, controlled breath.
His gaze swept the ruined avenue, noting the positions of Maylene, Alice, Lucien, and Alan, then the distant pile of rubble that still shifted faintly where the man had disappeared.
“Let’s go,” he said, voice low but carrying clear authority, “before that bastard comes back.” Atlas paused mid-step, the laughter dying on his lips as he glanced over his shoulder toward the buried ruin.
“We’re not gonna finish him off?” Neon turned his head just enough to meet Atlas’s eyes, a dry, almost sarcastic tilt to his mouth.
“Sure…
Go ahead—if you’ve already made up your mind to take a life.” The words landed heavier than any punch.
Atlas fell silent, the reckless fire in his expression dimming for a moment as the implication settled.
Then he let out a wry, self-conscious laugh, rubbing the back of his neck with one essence-stained hand.
“Yeah… fair enough.
Hurry up, then!” he said, realizing he’d gotten too caught up in all the recent changes.
But taking a life?
That was something none of them were prepared for.