Chapter 6 – He who died on his first day on the job

Giving Blackie a middle finger in his heart, Noah returned his attention to the situation at hand.

This wide-open area he was currently in was a Magcart station. It was like a subway station, but instead of being inside a dirty and creepy underground tunnel, it was out in the open. So basically: safer, cleaner, and most importantly – it came with free wi-fi that wasn’t shit and actually worked. Hurray for technology! (ﾉ*^o^)ﾉ*

Oh, there was also the fact that they weren’t based on outdated machinery, but on super-fast and energy-efficient magnetic levitation. But let’s be honest with our priorities here – we all know it’s the internet, right? (¬‿¬)

Aris had naturally come here for the same reason as everyone else - to download some shit from the internet and check his social media… just kidding, he was here to take a Magcart to the Central Hospital where his sister worked. The two often ate lunch together, and they had even made special plans today.

And if you are wondering why a little prince was taking public transportation instead of a private hovercraft, it was naturally because Magcarts and Maglev trains were the fastest and most efficient methods of transportation in the world. Be it a prince or a beggar, the only reason to take a hovercraft nowadays was if their destination didn’t have a Magcart station in its vicinity.

That, and if you wanted to minimize contact with other people. Like, you know, in case of a deadly pandemic. Or not nearly as deadly (according to the total death count) psycho currently preoccupied with shooting flames everywhere. ╮(╯▽╰)╭

Noah craned his neck to look past the disorderly crowd towards the mentioned psycho, who was in the center of this commotion. It was a frantic middle-aged man whose appearance couldn’t be seen clearly due to the flames covering his body.

Alright, alright, so calling him a psycho was a bit harsh since, judging by his rampaging mental power, he had long lost any semblance of control over his flames, and, judging from his full-blown panic attack, probably had no intention of causing a massacre this fine afternoon.

Unfortunately for everyone, the panic-induced loss of control was a vicious cycle that was difficult to break out of without a Soother’s intervention. The more panicked the man became, the more he lost control of his power, the more damage he caused to himself and others, the more panicked he became.

All Noah could say to this was… Dude! If you are a high ranked Blazer going through a harsh breakup, maybe consider not taking public transport next time around? ಠ_ಠ

Luckily, while a power user losing control of his power wasn’t uncommon, such a devastating loss of control was extremely rare. Aris had been called in to deal with plenty of similar situations in the past, and none of them had severe consequences. Thus, when he encountered such an incident in his vicinity, he had bravely stepped forward to resolve it without any hesitation.

Aris, and by extension Noah, had arrived at the scene not long after this rampage had started, so while many were harmed in the outburst, as of this moment, none were critically injured. Including the living torch that had caused this mess. While others would have already been burned into a crisp had they been enveloped by those tongues of fire in the same way; as the Blazer who had caused the flames in the first place, the man had a certain degree of resistance to them, so while he was thrashing about and screeching in agony, his life wasn’t in any immediate danger.

Now, Noah, as an SS-ranked Soother, had two options available: he could either soothe the man’s rampaging mental power, which would probably snap him out of his berserk state that cannot be reasoned with. Or he could perform a mental attack to knock him unconscious, which in his current state, would be detrimental to his mental health.

The former would make the man regain control of his ability, and if he had indeed had no intention to cause this incident, this could be resolved peacefully, with the Blazer even helping out to extinguish the flames.

The problem with this method was not just the uncertain factor of the man himself, but also the fact that soothing mental power took time. True, it didn’t take much time for a Soother of his caliber, but, in the current situation where the man was setting everything on fire, even that short period was too long.

The latter method, although detrimental to the Blazer, would instantly stop his rampage. The flames, however, would require a call to the firefighters.

Aris had chosen not to put his hopes on this unreliable man’s help and risk the wellbeing of many people, but to knock him out with a good old mental punch to the head. Aris had thought, if this attack ended up causing the man harm, then Aris would take responsibility and help nurse him back to full health in the future.

Unfortunately, that mental punch ended up being more than the man could take. While the plan of knocking him out indeed succeeded, the man’s mental power ended up completely collapsing. The implosion of which brought forth serious consequences. The man’s power flooded out everywhere, incinerating anything and everything it touched.

In Aris’s defense, he couldn’t have predicted something like this would happen, because honestly, he had never even heard of such a thing happening.

But if you asked Noah, which of the two he would have chosen to do in this situation, even if he wasn’t aware of Aris’s failure, he would have chosen to take the other path.

Not because he vainly thought everything would magically work out for the best, but because there was a Shielder by his side whose energy barriers could buy him just the time he needed.

Noah turned his attention towards the handsome, imposing man trailing only a step behind Aris.

His name was Trey, and he was a dashing bloke in his mid-twenties whose tall stature and strong, well-defined muscles simply oozed masculine charm.

He wore an all-black outfit: tight tactical protective vest, black military cargo pants, black combat boots, and black fingerless gloves with knuckle protectors. Even his eyes and his short spiky hair were black.

Yet, while undoubtedly looking rather badass, instead of resembling a shadowy assassin, he looked every bit proud and just soldier.

His facial expression was solemn, but instead of giving off a cold or stern feeling, it made him look mature and reliable. There was a certain steadiness in his demeanor which left one feeling safe in his company.

If there was anyone more unfortunate than Aris in this whole fiasco, it would be this pitiful newly appointed bodyguard of his.

That’s right! This guy had the infamous worst luck possible of dying on his first day on the job!

If Noah hadn’t transmigrated in to save the day, this man’s name would probably become a laughing stock of the entire guard community! Someone would probably take his picture and turn it into a meme! Higher-ups would tell fresh recruits, “…and remember! Don’t pull a Trey on us!” o(￣▽￣)ｄ

What injustice! Pitiful Trey honestly held no responsibility for the original tragic outcome! He might have been one of the most powerful Shielders in the entire city, but the only way for his energy shield to withstand the catastrophic devastation caused by a mental power collapse would be if his mind imploded as well! And collapsing your own mind isn’t really something you can do on-demand. I mean, it’s not like people came with a self-destruct button.

Noah shook his head in sympathy. Bodyguards sure had it tough.