Prior to this, he was celebrating the win of their war with Crimson Cloud within three days, yet, that good mood was trumped by learning that Hayden was alive and kicking.

"What the h.e.l.l happened in South Korea?" Black Devil was confused. A Level 2 wielder surviving an a.s.sa.s.sination of a Level 3 wielder? That was unheard of! "Unless Blood King is right… He can't be a dual wielder, right? No, dual wielders are too rare, with the only ever precedent being Rose… That f.u.c.king righteous woman…"

Black Devil was in denial, not accepting the fact that Hayden possessing two Abilities was possible as it was indeed too rare. Two dual wielders appearing in the same country within a century? What kind of a joke is that? No sane person would consider this at all!

He was already having a rough mood when the sound of a phone call resounded throughout the room he was in, disrupting his sense of desolation.

"Open me a portal, now." The voice on the other phone was solemn. "I'm back in Jakarta, you know where I am."

Snapping, a portal appeared beside him, and out came Maestro of Death in a white robe. "Your men are all incompetent pieces of tras.h.!.+ Did you know that the past few days, a single person, or whatever that things is, destroyed 9% of my earnings, huh!?"

"Whatever do you mean?" Black Devil lost his color beneath the mask. In spite of this percentage being a paltry 9%, this 9% was not, for any matter at all, small. Losing this 9% was a big deal, especially for a greedy motherf.u.c.ker such as Maestro of Death.

"This wielder." Maestro of Death pa.s.sed him two pictures. "He's a member of Ghost Unit, yes? For the past few days, this thing has been destroying my business in Tondo! Submitting in bounty after bounty to the Manila Police Station, and even beheading the business in Tondo by destroying my secret factory of drugs!"

Black Devil was shocked. Staring at the picture, he couldn't help but wonder what was that? A person clad in amber plant-like armor can be seen in the picture, with the eyes behind it having the rare heterochromia. Switching, Black Devil saw a young handsome face with heterochromia.

"You better take care of this." Maestro of Death shook his head. With his thumb, he sliced across his neck. "Otherwise… You know what happens."

Black Devil's mood plummeted down to rock bottom. Watching Maestro of Death depart through the portal, Black Devil's rage soared to an all-time high.

Checking the picture, a person sprung into his mind. "f.u.c.king h.e.l.l… These two kids are the sources of my headaches? f.u.c.k this world!"

The kid in the picture was definitely Daniel. That person that was considered to be Hayden's close friend. "These two people are antagonizing me too much! They're seriously pressing my b.u.t.tons…"

This picture was doubtlessly obtained by Maestro of Death's Vulture Watch, a group of elite wielders that possesses top-notch Abilities when it came to investigation. Black Devil has gotten the Vulture Watch's help personally a few times as well, and their usefulness can be described to be miraculous.

Snapping, the portal on his side didn't vanish. A few minutes later though, out came a black-skinned woman in a red dress.

"What?" Crimson Enchantress asked.

"I want you to f.u.c.k up this kid." Black Devil threw Daniel's picture to Crimson Enchantress. His voice devoid of any emotion at all, making him sound a bit robotic. "I will send a few men of mine to follow him and when I am informed, I want you to take control of his mind. If I can't kill Hayden with a simple Level 3, then let's torture him by killing his best friend, shall we?"

Catching Black Devil's tone of voice, Crimson Enchantress felt overwhelming killing intent rush towards her. He understood herself how enraged Black Devil was as of this instance, silently saying 'yes,' and leaving without making any sound anymore. An infuriated Black Devil was not someone she wanted to encounter.

"Heh," Black Devil snorted. "You piece of trash… You didn't die in South Korea? Well, f.u.c.king suffer then."

…..

"To Mr. Hayden Emperador, we at the Annual Youth Pride Basketball Team extends a hand of invitation to you. In respect to your profoundly deep basketball skills and t.i.tle as MVP in the National Youth Tournament, you would not have to go through the trials and will be a part of the lineup of the team the moment you accept. Sincerely, Coach Ardiente.

P.S. Print the letter attached, instructions are in the file."

Hayden was inside his room back in Philippines. It was already January 2, 2058. The past few days were uneventful, especially since he and Eun-ha was in a long distance relations.h.i.+p.

"Ahh, it's that time already?" Hayden read the letter of invitation from the renowned Coach Ardiente, the person who coached the legendary Philippine Team in the Olympics back in 2036 to their win. "The cla.s.ses will resume in January 7, ahh… How time flies by…"

Closing the letter Hayden downloaded the attached files. It was all the formalities of signature from the princ.i.p.al and his parents.

"I would be stupid if I didn't join…" Hayden shook his head. "I still haven't lost hope of meeting other wielders in the field."

The truth of Hayden joining the basketball team and even going on his way to show off his basketball skills with Divine Perception was so that he could find other wielders in the field and see if he can compete with them. Of course, another reason was that he could use the fame for his Streamlink, which proved to be extremely beneficial to it.

Unfortunately, he was let down by the Philippine teams of other schools, meeting no wielders in the entirety of the tourney. What he didn't know was that he and Daniel were the only two wielders in the Philippines that awakened at such a young age of 15 in their generation. The ten geniuses that Hayden beat up six months ago were already 12th graders. As for Zeke, it was natural that he'd be at Level 2 already, awakening a year ago and has compatibility with essence energy.

"It's a chance to see if other wielders do exist in other continents… It's impossible that it's solely South Korea and Philippines have wielders, right?" Hayden wanted to find out as early as possible if wielders from foreign countries existed and see of their power. "The problem is that if those wielders are evil and they find out I'm a wielder…"

Hayden s.h.i.+vered at the thought of this, rethinking his choices. What if the wielders of other countries had no wielders that were of good nature? In addition, what if those wielders are of Level 5, or worse, Level 6 and above?

"I can't ignore that possibility…" Hayden muttered. "However, it would also be strange if I declined this invitation as someone who was t.i.tled MVP in the National Youth Tournament without a sufficient reason of declination. It's too late to back out."

With that, Hayden steeled himself for what's to come at January 26, the day when all the talented 16-year-old youths all around the world come together in World Government Island for the Annual Youth Pride.

Setting the printed letter aside, Hayden went out of his house, riding a futuristic black motorcycle he bought back in December 29. As for the family car that he bought in South Korea, it's been delivered and was in the formerly empty garage.

As for his destination? Where else would he go other than Liwayway Hotel? The reason he was going to Liwayway Hotel was to check up on missions.

He had been stagnant for too long, and being left with nothing to do at all, he wanted to check up on missions. On top of that, he hasn't actually done any true mission ever since he became a part of Puting Araw. There was the Bakunawa raid, and outside of that, there was none at all.

Hearing that Daniel was doing missions prior to celebrating Christmas made his blood pump, and remember that he did have responsibilities as a First Rank Special Agent.

With that in mind, he arrived at Puting Araw's secret facility and walked to the Missions Board. Browsing through the various missions posted, categorized with the division it was in, and further broken down to its level of difficulty, he was about to pick one when a hand tugged his sleeve and pulled him away.

Activating his Divine Perception, he recognized the person pulling him as Scarlet, wearing her Puting Araw uniform. "Yo, what the h.e.l.l is this? Where are you taking me?"

"Shut up and come with me." Scarlet's ice queen att.i.tude was still there. "You're the only person I know that's good enough to make up for her absence."

On that note, Hayden's eyes narrowed, grabbing her hand and squiggled free with ease. "Bother someone else, I prefer to work alone. You have Daniel, don't you?"

Nonchalantly, Scarlet stared at him. Suddenly, small blades appeared behind her back, hovering as if threatening Hayden. He was certain that those blades wouldn't even nick his Indestructible Devil as of his evolution. Despite that, he couldn't show his Indestructible Devil here, so he opted to talk first, after all, it was a lady that was in front of him.

"You, you're going to fight me in this public setting?" Hayden asked, coughing dryly. The crowd was already initially around them as they recognized the infamous ice queen Scarlet dragging Hayden. Now that she summoned her blades, they understood there was a good show to watch, hence, they stuck around and made a big s.p.a.ce for the two. He really didn't want to fight a woman in the crowd as he didn't show mercy towards any of his enemies, no matter their gender or s.e.xuality, if they cross him.

Without a word, Scarlet moved her right hand, eighteen blades behind her moving to Hayden at breakneck velocity, forming a swarm. Seeing this, Hayden shook his head, conjuring up an essence energy barrier, his Divine Perception remaining activated. He used the essence energy barrier to simply slow down the blades.

He wasn't stupid to expect that the essence energy barrier would hold up against it even if it was the thickest he could fabricate. That was why he moved towards Scarlet aggressively as he knew her advantage was her control of the blades. Meanwhile, the crowd was stunned when they saw Hayden creating an essence energy barrier.

Wasn't this guy a Level 2 wielder? How the h.e.l.l can he shape essence energy into a barrier? Was he secretly Level 3? Those in the know wasn't surprised by Hayden's feat however. It was common knowledge amongst some of the stronger ones that Hayden and Daniel were similarly highly compatible with essence energy.

Naturally, Scarlet wasn't surprise with this development. With a calm state of mind, the second Hayden advanced, Scarlet moved her left hand and sent the last 18 blades towards Hayden. With her right hand, she used the 18 blades she sent earlier to change directions and pursue Hayden.

What Hayden did following caused the eyeb.a.l.l.s of those watching to pop out of their sockets. Hayden took out a machine gun, slid on the floor, and while sliding, he was firing the machine gun without looking, each bullet landing on the blades' tip precisely, leading to the blades to lose their trajectory, flung away in random directions.

On the other hand, the eighteen in front was dodged by Hayden with his slide maneuver as they were all targeted for his upper body. Keeping the rifle back into his s.p.a.ce Ring, a karambit knife appeared in his right hand.

Using his left hand, Hayden propelled himself to stand up, his face inches away from Scarlet, his eyes revealing thick killing intent. The 36 blades she sent out earlier had returned, pointing to Hayden's back. The crowd was stunned as these all happened in a single second.

With cold sweat, Scarlet was astounded of Hayden's display of power. Wasn't he a White Agent that was oriented more on the Blue Agent side? What was with this combat sense? She didn't dare to utter a single word because no matter how fast her blades were, Hayden's karambit knife would be undeniably faster.

"Next time I won't be so forgiving. Attacking me without a warning, do you want to kill me?" Hayden's cold impa.s.sive voice sent a chill down her spine. What Hayden disliked the most was being forced to do anything he didn't want to do, thus, he retaliated as Scarlet attacked first anyways.

In Scarlet's mind, Hayden appeared as if he was a demon, a person who has murdered countless people, due to his thick and overwhelming killing intent.

Needless to say, the crowed was slack-jawed. This ice queen Scarlet was infamous for her skill in manipulating her 36 blades and one that was close to breaking through Level 3. If it was any other person who went up against Scarlet, more so a White Agent that had an Ability suited for a Blue Agent, they would have died on the spot because of those sharp blades.

"Drop it!" A voice rang out from the crowd, sounding panicked. This voice was from a disoriented Daniel. Emerging from the crowd, Daniel touched Hayden's shoulder and whispered, "You, what are you doing! Drop your weapon!"

"What? She attacked first." Hayden wasn't ashamed at all. With his Divine Perception, his skin was incredibly thick, even in this situation, he wouldn't drop without an apology. "You know me, Daniel, I don't forgive that easily. Plus, she hasn't expressed regret of her actions yet."

Daniel was really freaking out hearing this. He knew Hayden well, he was a stubborn man that stuck by his principles no matter what people around him said, a good trait at times, a bad one in this moment.

"Bro, do you really want to kill a member of your own organization?" Daniel whispered. "Drop it, I beg you."

Turning to Daniel, he saw the sheer horror in his eyes. Disregarding that, Hayden deduced one more thing from Daniel's shaky voice… It was that Daniel was attracted to Scarlet! That heartbeat didn't come from pure fright. It was from the fear of a loved one in the clutches of death!

"I see…" Hayden deactivated Divine Perception and let go of Scarlet. "Be thankful this man's my best friend, otherwise, your corpse would be down there, cold."

Scarlet deactivated her Ability as well, afraid that Hayden would still make a move. Glancing towards Daniel, she softly spoke. "Thank… you…"

"No problem," Daniel heaved a sigh of relief. "You two, let's talk somewhere else, shall we? You guys, there's no more show to watch! What are you still doing here!?"

This shout from Daniel woke the crowd up from their stupor, dispersing immediately, scared that they would offend Hayden. They sensed Hayden's overflowing killing intent themselves understanding that Hayden had killed before and was willing to do so again without batting an eyelid to anyone that offends him.

"Let's go to the cafeteria, you two…" Daniel's face suddenly contorted in anger, dragging the two of them to the cafeteria of the secret facility.

…..

"What the h.e.l.l are you two thinking?" Daniel asked with agitation. "You, Hayden, wanting to kill a woman in public, you want to get kicked out of Puting Araw? You, Scarlet, what did you do to offend Hayden? He's not that easily slighted, what happened?"

"I dragged him away…" Scarlet meekly said. She sounded as if she was choking back her tears, fl.u.s.tering Daniel. "I… Just wanted to ask for his help for a matter…"

"Ahh," Daniel realized the situation from this few words of Scarlet's. Offering his handkerchief, he spoke gently, "Wait here for a little while, okay?"

Glaring at Hayden, Daniel signaled for them to talk. A few meters away from Scarlet's table, he asked, "You…. Did you really have to do that?"

"What? Simply because she's a woman I cannot retaliate?" Hayden asked with a hint of cold sarcasm. "I won't even show mercy if we were to fight, why should I show mercy to her, a woman I don't even know all that well. Liking her is not enough reason to be this illogical."

Hearing this, Daniel was rattled. Abruptly, Daniel's att.i.tude turned a 180 degrees. "I can't hide anything from you, can I? If you understand, please, please help me. Come on, be my wingman, next time you need help with a lady, I'll help you… Well, not that you need any help with the ladies?"

"Tsk," Hayden rolled his eyes at Daniel's flattery. "I have a girlfriend, you know?"

"Oh my goodness, thank-" Daniel's mouth froze midway, his brain finally processing Hayden's words. Shaking his head in disbelief, he stuttered, "Y-you have a g-girlfriend? You of all people, have a girlfriend? Hayden Emperador, the recluse, has a girlfriend!?"

"Jeez, what's so surprising about that?" Hayden's face twitched. He messed up telling Daniel of all people that he has a girlfriend. "Shut up, don't ever tell anyone, I'll help you with Scarlet."

"Deal!" Daniel's eyes lit up. "Hey, hey, let me ask, who's the lucky girl that is your girlfriend? Come on, tell me!"

"Can't tell you," Hayden shook his head, leaving Daniel to back to Scarlet's table. On the way, Daniel relentlessly bugged him, buzzing around his ears akin to a fly. With Daniel's constant b.u.g.g.e.ring, Hayden gave him a sufficient reason to not ask anymore. "I can't tell you because I'd have to kill you if you knew. You still want to know?"

That line from Hayden revealed killing intent and his utter annoyance. This shut Daniel up immediately as he knew that Hayden wouldn't reveal his girlfriend's ident.i.ty even if it killed him.

Coming back to Scarlet's table, Hayden spoke. "I'll help you at the cost of a date…"

Daniel rapidly rotated his head to Hayden, confounded. Scarlet's face turned rosy in an instant. Daniel tugged at his arm sleeves and revealed a look saying 'What the h.e.l.l are you doing? Thought you had a girlfriend?'

"Wait," clearing his throat, Hayden spoke once more. "Let me rephrase my sentence. I'll help you at the cost of you going on a date with this guy."

This time, Daniel nearly exploded with embarra.s.sment. When I told you to be my wingman, I didn't mean this way! What the h.e.l.l are you doing! This is basically saying 'He likes you, so go on a date with him!'

Closing his eyes, Daniel sighed, regretting he ever asked Hayden, an absolutely dense introvert, to be a wingman. What the h.e.l.l was he thinking? Taking a deep breath, Daniel prepared himself for the worst when…

"I… Agree…" Scarlet had her eyes away from the both of them as she expressed her decision in a small voice. "But be my Blue Agent for the remainder of this mission."

"Deal," Hayden nodded. All the while, Daniel was wide-eyed when he heard of this. Did she just… Agree on a date with him!? When he looked at Hayden, Hayden was smiling at him smugly prior to winking. "So, what is with this mission anyways?"

"Err…" Scarlet's countenance returned to normal. "You two, come with me, I'm not that good at explaining this type of things without materials…"

.....

Hi guys, DesolateNightSky here. First of all, I'd like to thank you guys for supporting this novel of mine. Second, d.a.m.n, I hate Author's Thoughts of being limited to 500 words. Anyways.

Now, for my actual purpose. First, I will be taking a break for one week without releasing chapters. BUT WHY!? ARE YOU GOING TO BE DROPPING THIS NOVEL!? h.e.l.l no, get your mind out of the gutter. There are a few reasons as to why I am doing this.

1. Sleep Deprived - My sleep cycle and circadian rhythm has reversed the past few months, I sleep at 6 AM till 2 AM, sometimes only until 10 or 11 AM and unable to get sleep afterwards, which is abnormal because I do not have a night job, nor do I have a job, cause I'm a student. So, yeah, I want to take time to fix my circadian rhythm first.

2. Mental Health - Writing at least 3,000 words per chapter and forcing myself to write those 3,000 words have taken a toll for sure in my mind. Don't get me wrong, I have all these fantastic ideas in my mind (SO I'M NOT GOING TO DROP THE NOVEL), it's just that I can't express it comfortably the past few days, which leads me to procrastinate on writing chapters, whereas I could write two chapters of 3,000 words back in May. It's probably because of the sleep deprivation thing. Also, fun fact, I've rewritten the South Korea arc, the one currently posted, as I thought the first version was too s.h.i.+tty. In truth, when I started releasing, I've already written 30 chapters, which went all to naught because of the s.h.i.+tty quality. Now, I'm merely 6 chapters ahead, and with my concurrent writing speed, only two chapters, with the second one not even finished.

3. Rest - With me forcing myself to write all the chapters I want to rest first and release all the stress of writing by not releasing for a week at least. Don't get me wrong, I am still going to write the week I'm taking a small break, I simply want the pressure of wanting to get ahead by at least a week to be gone on my shoulders for a while. As you can see, writing without backup chapters is bad, it's terrible, that's why I want to get ahead again. Also, I was getting migraines the past few days when I wake up, so, yeah, there's that.

4. Catching up - As I said, writing without backup chapters is bad, it's f.u.c.king terrible, don't plan to write without backup chapters nor outlining your ideas first, or you'll be d.a.m.ned and doomed. That was the case with the previous Ability Wielders, unplanned and not outlined. I need to brainstorm an outline for the next chapters as I can only see vague ideas, leading to a dark tunnel up ahead. You see, the next few parts were unplanned and was giving me a headache on how I want these chapters to end up.

Second matter, when the novel reaches 60 chapters in a few weeks, I will be dialing it back down to 5 chapters per week. Again, BUT WHY!? Well, there are also a few reasons.

1 Unpaid - I have decided I will not be taking any contracts to be paid by Webnovel for the entirety of this novel, even if it hits 1,000,000 words and all that. So, if it is how I think the system works, the novel will be free without premium all the way till the end. I will treat Ability Wielders as a writing experience first before wanting to start a career on writing.

2 It's not at all easy - 3,000 words per chapter is not, at all, easy writing. Well, actually, it WAS easy, but that's before I didn't have this struggle of coming up with how to coherently verbalize - or, in this situation, type - my plot into words.

3 Focus on other things - With how I read Webnovel contracts go, I don't see writing as a viable career choice for the future as of now and would want to study other things for the sake of my future. Again, Ability Wielders will only be a hobby for me and will not be my main focus, that's why I'm going to release five chapters a week after releasing 60 chapters, which will be just short of 200,000 words already.

4 Future of the novel - I have many plots and ideas in mind, it's only that I don't see the possible end yet (WHICH WILL NOT BE COMING THIS SOON, I JUST WANT TO THINK OF IT EARLIER SO THAT I CAN MAKE IT BETTER, SO THAT THAT 30 CHAPTER-RESTART WOULD NOT OCCUR ONCE MORE), so I am dialing it down so that I could truly conceptualize and bring the best out of my mind to produce the best version of Ability Wielders, at least the best in my perception.

So, there's that. I'm not dropping this novel, but I will go to be unpaid. I don't know if it will become premium whether or not I sign a contract with Webnovel, but keep in mind that I would be unpaid till the day I finish this novel. With that in mind, I would be taking breaks time and time again, especially when cla.s.ses (online) resume in my country, which is, I think, September? Or August? By then, I think I would be unable to update as much, so to be safe, I would be stockpiling on chapters this early, which is one of the purposes of my break.

I hope you dear readers would understand. Again, thank you for the support!