Quantum Limit

There exist three kinds of people in this world. Firstly, there are the normal people. Then there are people who were normal but changed as certain circumstances forced them to. Thirdly, there are those who have been able to control supernatural phenomena ever since birth. These people who control supernatural phenomena by will are known as Artifact Users. Alongside controlling supernatural phenomena they also possess superhuman strength allowing them to run faster and jump higher than normal humans.

…

Noah lay down on top of an old abandoned building, sniper out, and after positioning it in a suitable position he looked through the scope. He first observed the bridge that lay a few miles north from his temporary shelter and then slowly he started moving his sniper to the right. Through the scope he carefully examined the road that extended from the bridge. Upon realizing he couldn't see any farther he let out a small sigh, and after taking one last look, making out essentially small dots moving on the road he shut his right eye and spoke;

“AIMBOT Activate”

“AIMBOT ACTIVATED,”Came a familiar autonomous voice from inside his head and he opened his right eye.

The moment he opened his right eye, small changes appeared in his vision and an “AIMBOT Activated, ” indicator appeared in his vision on the bottom left. His right eye also changed form, showing an intricately designed scope instead of his normal pale-green eye, which still remained in his other eye.This phenomena is experienced by every artifact user, though it differs from person to person, the main concept is the same.

“ x 8, ” Noah thought, focusing his right eye, and two Neon Blue Circles appeared in front of him.

He looked through the scope again and the circles moved in front of the scope acting as an extension of the previous lens, allowing him to see farther. This was the aimbot skill enhanced vision; it allowed him to see farther, tell him how far things were from him, show him the speed at which they were going and how much time until those specified things reached a specific destination. Only people with the aimbot artifact could see these complex details.

Noah watched the approaching vehicles and after some time he spoke into his earpiece,

“Two light vehicles in the front, one truck, the other a carrier guarded by a farther two light vehicles. They’re moving in a straight line at an average of 60 kmph, they’ll be here in about 5 minutes and 36 seconds.”

“Everyone to their positions and remember, if you make a mistake you ain’t goin’ home, and forget even thinkin’ about food.” bellowed Aaron from the earpiece, pretty much deafening everyone in the process.

“That applies to you as well you goddamn spastic twat of a team ‘leader’,” Came the reply from Ian, Aarons antics starting to get on his nerves.

“Waaaaaaaaaaahaaaahhahhahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhaha, why you bully me you four eyed ********, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaha,” Aaron cried out, actually had tears in his eyes, in the middle of the operation. “A perfectly responsible and somber leader,” thought Ian.

*Beep*

“s

“They’re here,” Came Jins voice, who had been silent all along. He knew it was better stay quiet rather than simply add fuel to the fire.

Upon hearing Jin’s remark everyone went quiet and watched the road.

“Well, guess it’s my turn now,” thought Aaron, donning his cloak, and slowly walked towards the opposite side of the bridge from the vehicles.

…

“Umm. Sir there’s someone in front of the bridge, should we just let them pass by or should we stop em’,” said the driver, without hesitation.

“Must be one of those ever present beggars, he’ll move on by himself when we reach him.If he doesn't we’ll force him to,” Came the nonchalant reply from what seemed to be the commander.

The driver couldn't shake the feeling that there was something Wrong with the beggar and he quietly continued to watch the stranger.

“Why does this situation seem so similar...,” he thought, desperately trying to remember. In the end nothing came to mind, that was to be his downfall.

…

As Noah saw Aaron move, he positioned his sniper towards the first vehicle and started a countdown;

“ 6,5,4,3,2,1... NOW” Noah shouted into his earpiece, his perfect timing helped by his astute professionalism.

“Got it,” replied Aaron, Followed by an “Eye Of Time, ACTIVATE,”

“EYE OF TIME ACTIVATED,” Came the ever familiar voice.

Aaron opened his eye, revealing a small delicately designed clock along with a matrix in the background, in the place where his blue eye was.

Aaron focused his eye onto the first two vehicles activating the eye. As soon as the vehicles reached onto the bridge Aaron spoke,

“TIME PAUSE.”

…

“Everything is going smoothly so far,” thought the commander of the convoy.

Not a second passed after he had his thought that the vehicle abruptly came to a jerk and then stopped moving all together. The commander fell from his chair and smacked his head into the windshield.

“WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING, STOPPING ALL OF A SUDDEN, DIDN’T I ORDER YOU TO NOT STOP.” Came the commanders ferocious voice.

“Sir in front of us,” shouted the driver trembling in fear.

....

Noah aimed his sniper at the commander of the convoy and fired. His aim assuredly precise, he smiled in a morbid satisfaction. Watching the bullet.

The bullet itself whizzed through the air, shattered the window of the vehicle and went through the commander. Right through him, no resistance. That's what a perfect shot looks like. Blood seemed to explode outwards from his head and covered the inside of the vehicle, bathing the entirety of the interior a deep, crimson red.

“ what the f-,” came the commanders last words, his voice edged with annoyance. Before the bullet hit, that is.

The driver, horrified at the scene in front of him, pulled out his portable radio that hung on his belt and began speaking,

“Its an amb-,” he began. unfortunately he wasn’t able to finish his sentence. He almost instantly dropped dead as another, similarly precise, bullet pierced his head. Noah’s aim was a thing to be trusted, even in the worst of times.

*BANG

*BANG

*BANG

*BANG

Four shots. Four dead. Noah sighed, it's too easy at this point. He had cleared the entirety of the second vehicle. The windows of the light vehicles now basically planes of crimson.

Aaron Dug his feet in the ground, preparing. Then he jumped. He flew over the first vehicle and landed in front of the second vehicle. He put his hands in the bags attached to each side of his belt and pulled out two sharp knives, one in each hand. Almost immediately he swung his hands and threw the knives. The knives travelled in a perfectly straight line, the first one shattered the bloody window, and the second one flew through the newly created space and headed straight towards the forehead of a soldier who had been standing in the far corner. The soldier shut his eyes in fear, but reopened them when nothing seemed to have happened. He looked and saw a knife floating in air, barely touching his forehead.

“MONSTER, You’re a Monster!,” He shouted in fear, his voice quavering even through the accusations.

“Tch, I changed my mind,” Aaron started, the annoyance clear “you guys are better of dead, nighty night,” Aaron broke away his focus from the knife, and the knife regained its stolen momentum. That is to say, it continued its path of flight. Unfortunately, That was into the soldier. Unfortunately, it went right into his head. The corpse sagged in its now, very dead, prone position. Unfortunately.

“Hehehe, You forgot one, my kill now,” came Aarons cheerful voice through the earpiece, his macabre words not fitting at all with his tone.

“ shut up, I still killed more than you,”came Noah’s bemused voice.

Noah gathered his equipment and began relocating to a better suited position.

“DEACTIVATE,” came his voice and his right eye slowly faded back to it’s normal pale greenish color.

...

Using artifacts for extended periods of time puts a huge strain on your body and results in symptoms such as bleeding from eyes, or mouth, a loss of humanity and potentially a change of personality. Continuing to use artifacts even after these symptoms first present eventually breaks down your body and mind. This is why almost every artifact user deactivates his artifact when they are not needed anymore.

…

Meanwhile, jin and ian leaped from their hiding spots and headed towards the two vehicles in the back. Ian blinked and his right eye changed form, his pupil turning into a purple colored circle with a star in it. Unlike the others, Ian and Aaron were very skilled with their artifacts and so didn’t need to activate them manually, simply thinking would activate them. The reason Aaron does it manually he finds ‘cooler’ to do so. Ian waved his hands while running and 4 magic circles appeared in the air, he then moved his hand towards the vehicle and the magic circles followed suite, they surrounded it. He than stopped moving and clenched his hands into a fist. Again, the magic circles followed his command and as soon as he closed his fist massive black thorns erupted outwards from the circles and pierced through the already-surrounded light vehicle killing everyone inside. Soldiers jumped from the truck and the other light vehicle, after processing what had happened. Immediately, they began shooting at Jin And Ian. Jin dodged the bullets while moving forward and, while doing so, he unsheathed his sword and sliced a man in half. Almost immediately he started moving forward again, dodging bullets and deflecting the ones that couldn’t be dodged by his sword. Occasionally, when one of the soldiers made the ill-considered battle borne decision of rushing him, he would simply swing his blade. Ending their life,.

“Hah, fighting without an artifact sure is tough,” he whispered to himself as he shifted his foot and slashed at another soldier who had crept up behind him, again their instincts making them push even though they had guns. Idiots.

By this time Noah had found a suitable position for himself. After settling down he activated aimbot and joined in the chaos.

*BANG*
*BANG*

He shot, his face showing not the slightest hint of hesitation.

Ian turned his left hand towards the firing soldiers and moved two circles towards them while keeping two with himself as they acted as his shields with small thorns deflecting the bullets. The soldiers had earlier witnessed the raw destructive power of these circles were and began shooting at them, helplessly shooting at the incorporeal forms trying to damage them in any way possible.

Ian, seeing these attempts to damage his power, simply laughed. “it's futile….. They aren't real things!,“ he laughed hysterically.

He then flicked his hand upwards and the magic circles pointed towards the group of enemies, and finally he clenched his hand into a fist. The magic circles began to glow and then sprayed out small thorns the size of a bullet, and after some time the group that stood there was all but nothing.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH, Leave some kills for mee!!” Shouted Aaron throwing his knives at a lone soldier.

*BANG*

Came Noah's sniper and the lone soldier who had been Aaron’s target fell to the ground, a crimson pool where his head had been. Aaron’s eyebrows twitched, a sign of frustration

“YOU A**HOLE THIS IS THE GODDAMN FOURTH TIME YOU’VE STOLEN MY KILL.” He shouted.

“Hehe,”Giggled Noah through his earphone

“ffs” Thought Aaron, reaching for his belt. He then pulled out two pistols, one in each hand and started shooting at the first sight of the enemy. His hand never left the trigger but the bullets never seemed to come out, instead whoever his gun pointed at would fall and and blood would then leak from the corpse.

“Damn,” Thought Noah, “Using his artifact to speed up the time of the bullet and the gun while maintaining absolute focus and balance.”

Aarons eyes moved perfectly in sync with his hand, left, down, right, left again, up…

At last after a few seconds the spectacle came to end, everyone who had been standing there only moments ago was no more and puddles of blood covered the road. Jin couldn't help but stare in amazement, trying to figure out what had just happened. Meanwhile, Noah packed his stuff and embarked towards the group on the bridge.

“Well, that’s the end of that, now for the main objective,” said Ian, slowly walking towards the back of the carrier which, in the fury of the melee, had been painted a morbid shade of red. After reaching the back he raised his right hand and the four magic circles combined into one big circle, he then clenched his hand into a fist and then back into an open palm. A huge thorn pierced the hatch of truck and then quickly disappeared back into the circle, LEAVING a hole.

Ian peered into the truck and saw a group of kids cowering in fear in the far end of the carrier. 10, 11, 12,13… 13 kids he counted in his head. The kids all eyed Ian with suspicion, their fear obvious.

“Don’t worry, we won’t kill you. You can come out now.” spoke Ian softly, his voice so much more amiable when compared to his earlier tone.

The children first stared at him. Then they looked at each other. They nodded in agreement and slowly leaped out of the truck, one by one, through the hole.

“Are we really free?” one kid asked, still shaking.

“Haha, yeah you're free.” exclaimed Ian, remembering all the times someone asked him this question.

Ian then spoke into his earphone, “We’re done here, bring the vehicles.”

Meanwhile another kid worked up some courage and asked,

“Who are you?”

Hearing this, Aaron who had been picking up booty nearby, suddenly leaped between Ian and the kids and shouted in excitement,

“We are QUANTUM LIMIT!!”