Broken World - Part I - Awakening of the Beastmaster - #8CCMay24

Chapter 16 : Friend Or Foe

The traveling reptilian cat wraps its body in multicolored energy and disappears. As I look around in apprehension, I hear a voice that I wasn't supposed to hear.

"You did well down there, but it's only the beginning. The world of masters and beasts is full of mysteries and dangers. You can get all the riches in the world or lose it all in an instant." Says a soft, penetrating voice that comes from the roof of a two-story building.

The voice gives the impression of crossing the space itself to reach my ears. I look up and on the roof of this two-story building, I see this woman I had rarely seen in the past. She sits on the edge of the roof without worrying about the dangers that a fall at this height can entail.

''You're ... Énama's girlfriend...'' I ask surprised by the presence of this woman who seems to be much more than the girlfriend of my ex-friend who has become my worst enemy.

The young woman sitting casually looks at me and responds in a natural way.

"His girlfriend? What could he have told you? In the best case, I was just hanging out with him to gather information about your little group, but he sprang into action too quickly." Says the young woman.

''Took action too quickly? She knew what he was up to and didn't bother to warn me. I could have avoided all this. Maybe you even ...'' I say to myself.

Rage rises in me when I imagine that it is possible that this woman who gave me her support at the funeral could be in cahoots with Énama. The next moment, I hold my two blades in my hands, ready to fight.

"So, it's true... You work with him... Because of you, I lost my parents." I scream, pointing my blade at the young woman who remains as relaxed as when I arrived.

''...''

Overwhelmed by anger and the thirst for revenge, I don't even take the time to listen to what this mysterious young woman has to say. The young woman, noticing my serious look, stands up and faces me.

I amplify my strength as best I can and then I throw one blade in the air and the other at the young woman. I use the ability of the blade in the air and pull my body towards it while the other blade slices through the air at full speed towards the young woman. I appear below the blade which is a few meters above the young woman. The foot rests on the handle and the head towards the ground. I lightly hit the blade and changed the direction of the blade, then I turned on myself and I hit the blade violently with all my strength at the end of the rotation. The two blades rush at the young woman at full speed. As the one I threw at her from the ground is about to slice her face in half, she tilts her head and shoulder slightly to the right and dodges my blade with disconcerting ease. As if in slow motion, I see the blade pass by her face and her calm eyes that look at this blade carefully. When the handle reaches her face, with her right hand she grabs the handle of the blade and stops it in its tracks.

"At this speed with the weight of this blade! What a phenomenal strength." I say to myself.

The young woman squeezes her feet to the ground so as not to be dragged down by the inertia of the blade. The concrete under his feet cracks, unable to withstand this pressure. A few moments later, the other blade arrives above the young woman. She lifts the blade she has just grabbed and then blocks the second. I use the blade's ability and appear on top of the young woman holding the blade. Still in the air holding the blade in both hands, I raise it above my head and strike with all my might, at the same time amplifying its mass to the maximum. The young woman blocks this blow with the blade she holds in her hand. The ground beneath her feet cracks even more. She tenses the muscles in her hand and feet and pushes me away violently. While I am in the air, the concrete under her feet finally gives way and collapses. However, she managed to jump just in time and landed far from the damaged part of the building's roof. Still in the air, I look at the ground several meters away from me and I throw my blade towards the ground. It slices through the air at full speed and plants itself on the ground. I use the blade's ability and appear standing on the pommel of the blade planted in the ground.

I hear a sound that sounds like applause and I raise my head. I see the young woman on the roof applauding.

"In just two days you have changed so much. I'm impressed, but you still have a long way to go." Says the young woman.

''How...'' I wonder.

"How did you do that? Are you even human?'' I ask the young woman?

"And you? Can you answer those questions?'' The young woman asks, keeping her calm and mysterious air. "Take the time to calm down and come see me in two days... I know that this scythe can bring you back to it... I have work. See you again.''

Without even taking the time to listen to my answer, she turns her head towards the city located a few kilometers from the industrial site where we are. It is possible to see a few skyscrapers in the distance

The young woman clenches her fists and two powerful stone wings appear behind her. I know these wings but I am unable to make the link between this young woman and the origin of them.

The young woman spreads her wings and flies towards the city but disappears after a few seconds.

"I haven't cancelled the weight of this blade but she manages to hold it with such ease." I say, sincerely impressed.

''What a prodigious strength!'' I whisper with my eyes riveted on this young woman whom I admire with contemplation as she disappears into the distance. "It was presumptuous of me to attack her."

After a few seconds, I come back to myself and I really realize that I'm back and that I'm no longer in danger for the moment.

"I have to find shelter somewhere where I won't attract attention." I say to myself.

"I still have to walk to the city." I say with a sigh.

I take my phone out of my pocket. These two days of adventures have not spared him. It is unusable. Between the burns and cracks, it's even a miracle to find it in one piece.

********

After a few hours of walking, I finally find myself in town. Fortunately, my parents have several emergency residences for unforeseen situations. I head for one of these. With my fingerprint and a password, I can easily open the metal gate. I enter the residence and head to the parking lot where several cars are parked. I open the trunk of one of them and I see a suitcase and a briefcase. I open the briefcase and find wads of cash, credit cards, a phone and a terminal that has access to our data center's private network. I close the trunk and enter the house. I take a shower and change and then I go out immediately. Enama may be aware of the existence of these houses. He can set up an ambush if I hang out in one of them too long.

I get in the car and leave the residence. I slowly walk through the city and finally walk out of the city like a fugitive. It's only when I find myself on the highway that I realize that I've just gone two days without eating or drinking. Fortunately, I see the sign of a restaurant shining in the distance and I decide to stop there.

I retrieve the briefcase from the trunk of the car and enter the restaurant which does not have many customers. I notice a very suspicious-looking group at the back of the restaurant. Three men and one woman. They drink beers and talk out loud. A young woman sitting by the counter drinks coffee and gives panoramic glances from time to time in the room. A few other customers occupy tables here and there and don't care about what's going on in the restaurant. I sit down and take a bottle of water that I empty very quickly. I place an order for a double portion of steak with fries.

While waiting for my meal, I opened my briefcase and took out my terminal. As I close the briefcase, I meet the eyes of the young woman sitting near the counter. I boot up my terminal and connect to our data center's private network.

"I don't really know what Enama did. It's better that I start by analyzing my parents' navigation data." I say to myself. "I might discover something new."

I access the navigation archives and I briefly explore the data but something strikes me.

"These communications are extremely heavy. I say to myself. "At first glance, it doesn't look suspicious if you consider that there are very high-definition video files and several data from multiple sensors and scientific instruments, but it's still too heavy."

Ianalyze the data and group it by data types and realize that the data densityis too high.