The inevitable meeting

" You sure have a way with words. I’m coming with you!"

" Then let’s get this off. Shō, it’s showtime!"

" Yes sir!"

" How many times did I told you to stop calling me that?"

" Sorry sir."

" You did it again."

" Thanks!"

" No need. I would like to introduce myself but there is no time. Are you ready to run?"

" Yes sir!"

" You are doing that intentionally, aren’t you?"

" Perhaps. Let’s go!"

" I have a plan. You know where we are right?"

" In the city down below, right?"

" That would have been awesome but we are actually in the dome."

" What?"

" Do you think they would have let you in a dump in which you could escape anytime? They need you to find out about the curse.

" The curse?"

" No time. I also can’t explain the plan, so I ask you to trust me. Can you do that?"

" Do I really have a choice?"

" That’s what I thought. Let’s go!"

They all started running and Hikaru followed them. They turned right, the place where the loud sound came from earlier. It was a big hole in the wall up ahead.

" Hey! Are your powers based on blood control?"

" Yes."

" I would cut myself if I where you. Miyu give him a knife!"

" Do I really have to?"

" Just do it already!"

" Ok, ok."

" Thanks, I guess."

" One last thing."

" What?"

" Jump."

As they reached the hole everyone jumped, so Hikaru did the same, but when he got out of the building he saw the whole city. It was beautiful. All the buildings were massive. It was all so bright. The city was covered in neon lights. It was the polar opposite of the city down below.

" I don’t want to ruin your fun but you need to land down there."

As Hikaru looked down he realized he was at one of the highest points in the city. Where he needed to land was about 5 floors below.

" Miyu do your thing."

When he said that they all got teleported on the platform, except Hikaru.

'I cannot believe this. What should I do? I might be able to survive if I use both enhancement and my blood.'

He activated his strength enhancement because that also hardens his body, and he covered his feet in hardened blood. When he touched the ground his blood defense broke and he almost broke his feet but his enhancement managed to pull through.

" Seems like you are pretty strong. I couldn’t have done that."

" You sure are a crazy bastard. Now what?"

" Get aboard the train."

" What train?"

" You are staying on him."

" This is a train?"

" I forgot. You didn’t come here before. I will explain inside. We need to go."

" Shō, did you managed to start?"

" Yes sir! Are we all inside?"

" Of course. Let’s go!"

As the train started it moved so fast he couldn’t see the station anymore.

" This is so fast."

" I know. We will get to the platform in about 15 min."

" And how far is that?"

" 90 km."

" What? This is insane."

" I guess the only trains you learned about down there are the one with coal, right?"

" Yes! So this is a normal train for them?"

" No. This is the fastest in the city. The others come close but this is the best."

" Then why was there a station for it in front of the prison. Anyone could do what we just did."

" That’s where you are wrong. The police station is structured so you can’t take it. The first five floors are the station itself, the ten floors left are the prison. The higher you are the more dangerous and important you are, so you were on the highest floor, from that floor you can’t get to the train as it is on the tenth floor, unless you have powers like us. The station was made before powers like ours started to surface, and the train only leads to the prison and the platform. It was made to get prisoners there fast so they couldn’t cause any more problems."

" Ok. I understand now."

" Sir! There is someone on the track!"

" So they already mobilized. Let him climb on the roof!"

" Miyu!"

" Yes."

" Can you get ride of him?"

" Is that even a question?"

" Go wild but don’t waste time, we don’t have much more until we arrive."

" Roger that."

A loud bang was heard on the roof of the train. Miyu got out the window and went after the sound.

" Wait a second! How can they battle on a train moving at this speed?"

" It’s actually pretty easy. The police guy is a robot so he can have some kind of grip on his feet, but Miyu can just enhance her body because if she does she will have enough strength in them to hold on to the surface. Now let’s go watch!"

As I got out the window to see the fight I heard Miyu’s voice taunting the enemy and just before the fight started she said something.

" Game on!"

She assumed a battle stance in which she could touch the ground. Hikaru saw her leaving a sign on the ground, but it was clear she didn’t want the enemy to know so she took two knifes out of her boots and throwed them at his head. The knifes had the same symbol as the one she left on the ground. The police man dodged both knifes but when he looked in front of him again she was gone. He heard a breath from behind and when he turned she was there with another knife. She stabbed him in the shoulder. The police man didn’t even flinch but she already disappeared. Then he felt a strong kick from behind. She returned to where she started and jumped using the speed of the train to kick the police. It was enough to make him lose his footing and fall off. She almost feel with him but she managed to hang on to the end of the train using enhancement.

'Is that a smile on her face? I think I'm seeing things.'

"Sir, one of them managed to get in."

"I leave this to you Hikaru."

Hikaru took a glass from a table, broke it and cut his hand. As he summoned his sword he started to enhance his body. The policeman who made it was just enrolled so he didn't have time to get used to his newly upgraded body so as Hikaru sprinted at him his reaction wasn't fast enough so he attempted a neck slice but in the middle of it Hikaru hesitated and hit him with the pommel in the temple. After he knocked him out he turned around to see Miyu with a death stare.

"What was that? You want us dead?"

" SIR! We need to jump off. Now!"

"We will talk about this later. Let's go for now."

As they jumped off the train they got between two buildings. There was a sewer mouth. they climbed down the stairs into the sewer. The whole thing was massive. You could fit a whole army in there.

" What are we doing here?"

" We need to teleport with Miyu’s powers but it’s not so easy. Her powers have a range, even doe it’s massive, the range is still there, so we need jump."

" Of course. Makes sense."

As soon as we got to the lowest point Miyu put one of her signs on the wall and Shō camouflaged it, and then she put a sign on all of their backs, and as she finished Shō punched a hole in the ground. The second Shō stepped away Hikaru felt something hitting him from behind. It was Ryūji, he pushed him.

"Are you crazy? I'm going to die."

"Stop screaming you coward!"

they all jumped and as soon as they got close to half of the the distance without even a second passing Hikaru found himself in a strange place. It was like a bunker and it had nuclear explosion signs all over the place.

" Welcome to the base! Like it?"

"I'm going to kill you!"

"Sorry, did that scare you?"

"You sick bastard! Anyway, what is this place?"

" It was the nuclear bunker which was used in the third world war."

" Third world war?"

" Guess they don’t call it that, do they? They called it the cleansing."

" The one in which almost all humanity died for a greater cause, and this is the last remaining city?"

" Yes, but it wasn’t a greater cause. They did it for power. The world was destroyed because of a feud between more countries, but Japan was ready for it and build this and a shield which could stop the radiation if the explosion wasn’t really close, and inside that shield was constructed this city. That’s why we can’t go to far from the wall, there is nothing but a wasteland out there. Anyway, we have a room available for you, Shō will lead you there."

It was a small room. It was just a bed, a shelf above the bed and a desk, all cramped in there, but to Hikaru it felt cozy, he didn’t sleep in a bed for so long. When he was ready to go to sleep someone came. It was Ryūji.

" Hey buddy!"

" I want to sleep. Be quick!"

" This is a serious matter! Please listen."

" Ok. Tell me."

" I checked your background."

" And?"

" You killed a man, and not just any man, you had altercations with him before didn't you?

"Yes. He is the reason I lost everything."

Hikaru looked at the ground. Ryūji noticed the depressed tone in which he said it.

"I will tell you a secret. I never killed before."

Hikaru lifted his face to see a dead serious Ryūji.

"How is it to kill someone?"

"At first i thought it would make me finally happy, after all he was the reason i was unhappy, but i would only find emptiness and self hatred. The reason i killed him was for killing my friend, but aren't I exactly like him? I keep asking myself the same question everyday, but I can't stop now, I need to see this through the end."

"Then i only have one solution for you. Help me make a better world, in which people don't need to become killers. I want you to sacrifice your humanity to help me reach my dream, nothing will change if we aren't ready to make sacrifices. Are you in this with me?"

'Was I a coward all this time? Did I try to give up after giving up my morals?'

"After that speech made especially for me? How could i say no?"

" I'm glad to have you. I don't know if we have enough power to fight this war. I don't think we have enough even with you, but I need to keep pushing forward, even if the odds are impossible I have people who believe in me, and i have people i believe in. See you tomorrow."

"See ya!"

'Does that mean he believes in me? I need to get myself in the game. I can't keep holding back. I either hold their backs like i should or leave, I can't keep doing this, i don't want people important to me to die again.'

As he said that he cowered in the corner as he fell asleep there.