On the roof, Arlo met up with Isen to get the information he'd asked for. Isen wondered why exactly he wanted him to look into low-tiers to begin with. It felt like an absolute waste of time… that was until he saw Vritra beat up bullies, his ability was something he had never seen before in his life. A composite ability that turned him more reptilian. It was definitely intriguing, and it could potentially give a good headline for the school paper.
"Is this it?" Arlo, dissatisfied, flicked through the pages. There was nothing of interest to read.
"Nothing I can do about that. Those two were born to two cripples, they awakened their ability just a little over two weeks ago. Their abilities themselves weren't recorded but their levels were. They got in trouble for hiding their abilities to the authorities and got helped out by the headmaster."
"And they aren't related?" Arlo looked at the profile pages Isen had put his sweat and tears to make.
"No, they aren't related." He reiterated. "They didn't even live in the same cities. No connection. Most likely a common ancestor or something."
"Well. That was a waste of time," Arlo angrily crumpled Isen's hard work. "I want you to shadow one of them. I've asked Blyke to do the same." Arlo looked at Isen with his eyes narrowed. "Find more information on Vritra if you can."
"Hell no!" Isen realized what he had just said and cleared his throat. There were several notes on the police interrogation on Vritra, chief among them: Sharp Senses. Isen didn't want to be in a ten meter pole of Vritra. His ability was busted from what he could gather. An ability that let you get stronger the longer a fight took? The whole strategy there is to buy time and wait until you are stronger than the enemy. No thanks.
"What?" Arlo looked down at Isen, he hated the fact Arlo was taller than him sometimes. It was a mistake to say his opinion out loud like that. If he was not careful he would get beaten up into a pulp.
"Sorry… I'd rather Shadow Azazel."
Then the day continued, and Isen was never more happy in his life. His choice was the right one. Blyke would have to shadow this crazed draconic fiend. Azazel in comparison was probably not as bad.
Vritra left the dorms and walking behind him – doing the world's worst job of shadowing – was Blyke. Azazel in the meantime, closed the door behind him. Isen used his ability and looked through the walls and stared at him. He leaned back in his bed and put both hands behind his back as he watched something on the screen of his computer. Isen could only see the outlines of people with his Hunter ability, so he wasn't sure what he was looking at.
After a few minutes, Azazel got bored of it and closed the laptop before tossing it on the bed and heading outside. Isen didn't have to follow him closely thanks to Hunting, so he did just that, targeted him with his ability, and followed him from far away. It didn't take too much time for him to get into trouble though.
Waiting just outside the male dorms were two girls. Isen recognized her. They had formed some coalition of Mid-Tiers to bully low-tier students. Illena and Wenqi. The former had maroonish-terracotta hair and a bob cut. Her eyes were blue, and her ability, if Isen recalled, was strength. Which did just that, enhanced the power of her strikes.
The latter was a blond girl with long hair and golden eyes. Her ability was Speed. From what Isen understood, she would give Azazel the most trouble if they were to fight. There wasn't much he could do against that after all.
He got closer to both of them so he could activate his ability to spy on what they were saying instead of what they were doing. He hid behind a tree and looked straight through it.
"So you guys noticed you couldn't beat me in a one on one, and thus came at me with twos? Interesting plan, not very well thought out." Azazel looked as tired and carefree as always. According to the information Isen gathered, he was a cripple that kept to himself and went largely unnoticed by anyone and everyone.
"You must have really pissed off Arlo." Illena took initiative and walked a few steps forward. "I hate the high-tiers with a passion, but having him owe us a favor can come in handy. I hope you don't hate us for it." There was a smugness in her tone. So this was Arlo's real intention, he wanted Isen to analyze how they fought and give him information on that. He was curious as to how he beat Remi.
"Obviously we couldn't come alone. You beat the Queen of Wellston." Wenqi took a few steps back. Isen couldn't see much of the fight, he peeked from the tree and stared at them by enhancing his vision. In that second, Wenqi activated her ability. Illena and Azazel followed suit.
"I should warn you both before this begins…" Azazel's expression was not visible from the angle Isen was looking from, but from what he had gathered from past events, he was probably grinning like a malicious villain in a cartoon. It always looked like he was searching for an excuse to fight and prove he was stronger. "I am absolute."
Wenqi took initiative and rushed toward him, and Azazel moved as fast as he could, but there was nothing to do. He was punched on the chest and sent flying back. Wenqi ran past him and kicked him toward Illena. Isen deadpanned, is this who beat Remi? He just couldn't see that or visualize it, Remi was faster and could electrocute him into submission.
"Tch." Azazel's heart was still calm and collected. For someone getting beat up, that was unusual, then again he was a low tier so he probably understood what it felt like. Illena readied her fist and got ready to punch him.
Azazel kicked mid-air and turned toward Illena while upside down. What kind of bullshit was this? Isen had never seen bullshit like this before. He used his longer range to heel kick Illena. She just barely dodged by tilting her head and got her shoulder dug into by his leg. She tried punching his knee, and he used his other leg to push off her, straight into Wenqi, who punched him back toward Illena.
His heart began beating faster now. Isen couldn't tell if it was anxiety, nervousness or annoyance. Illena thrusted her fist forward, and Azazel grabbed the side of her wrist and used his momentum to add on to hers. He spun his body while digging his feet on the ground, turning his horizontal momentum into rotational. That would definitely hurt his joines when he got older. Doing this, he judo-threw Illya onto Wenqi who grabbed her friend.
"Fighting you is a waste of time," Azazel said, like his ass wasn't getting beaten by the two of them. He put his hand on the back of his neck. Now that Isen was facing him, he could tell he looked annoyed, not nervous. "You're the best Arlo could come up with? I'm disappointed."
"Shut it asshole!" Illena gather her bearings and stood next to Wenqi. Azazel activated his ability and smoke poured from his body, gathering in front of them. Isen activated his ability and saw Azazel at one end of the smoke dome, while the two mid-tiers were in the middle. What was he trying to accomplish with that? Isen would get an answer to his question immediately. Despite clearly having her ability active, Wenqi's speed was greatly diminished inside the smoke, she was slower than she was without her ability.
"That's how," Isen whispered, "his smoke also slows down people inside… ugh another composite ability." Isen wanted to cry. Composite abilities like the ones both of them had were so annoying to deal with. He slowed down Remi and hit her while she panicked from being inside a smoke she couldn't see through. A truly disgusting ability for a disgusting person. From his blazer, an object slipped out. Isen's eyes widened, he was hiding a weapon inside his school uniform!? "That's the pipe I've heard so much about." A steel pipe which he used to beat people with.
The fight didn't take long after that. What were the mid-tiers going to do? They were blind and slowed down. All they could do was get hit by Azazel and flail about aimlessly hoping to hit him. Without a long range ability, dealing with his nonsense was nigh-impossible.
The smoke cleared and Azazel was out of it standing on top of Wenqi and Illena who were on the ground. Illena's temple bled, her arms were broken and her breathing was raspy. Wenqi had both her legs broken in the scuffle and her head also received injuries. He broke the main aspect of their abilities so they couldn't do anything to him after they recovered. Cold, malicious and calculated… or maybe just petty?
"C-coward" Illena said between gasps.
Azazel simply grinned at the statement. He wiped the blood from his pipe with Illena's clothes, then hid it back inside the sleeve of his blazer – which Isen had just realized was modified to have bigger sleeves.
"Losers don't get to talk," Azazel put his index finger on his lips, "they may only writhe on the ground silently. Like the worms they are."
"What makes you different from us? You're also tied down by the high-tiers."
He crouched down and stared straight at both of them, "I don't lose. It's just who I am, ever since I was born. The only one who could beat me, is me. The difference between you and I, is an infinity you may never grasp. I am, absolute."
A loud crash turned his attention to the window on the second floor of school. Something was going on in the school. Isen turned on his hunter ability, sure enough Vritra was there.
"Again – does your brain become that of a lizard's as well?" Flames peeked through the window. Azazel's heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened, he was anxious. Immediately, he rushed toward the school.
He was way faster than Isen expected.
That's how he met up with Blyke, who had been shadowing Vritra that day as well.
"Again?"
"Again… They keep targeting low-tiers while he's fighting… and then things go to shit."
Azazel managed to calm his taller doppelganger down, again. Isen understood why Arlo wanted him to shadow both of them. Vritra's ability evolved with threat, and Azazel's blinded and slowed enemies. If Azazel were to use his ability on Vritra, his ability would ramp up in power quickly as he lost his vision and became slowed.