KINETIC

The battles fought, both within the city of Drom and the Infernum headquarters, had left a mark on the Infernai.

They were all going about their duties as though there was this negative force surrounding them. Nobody could blame them for this, many of them had lost their friends during the battles, some even lost their family.

Leo had been brought back to the Infernum headquarters and was taken to his room to rest. Initially he was supposed to be taken to the medical wing but he insisted otherwise, stating his injuries were fatigue based and only required time to heal.

It was middle to late afternoon and Leo had been brought to his room only an hour ago. There was a knock on the door and leo asked Kelly to let whoever it was in.

She had been waiting in the room to help Leo with whatever he need since he was unable to move on his own due to the pain.

She opened the door and three people walked in, Clay and two others that Leo didn't recognize. Clay noticed Leo's curious expression while looking at the two he brought so he went on to explain.

"I know you said you weren't exactly injured but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have some healers see what they could do, just incase it helps." Clay explained.

He put on a small smile as he spoke but his eyes conveyed his true emotions. His eyes were listless and his pusture showed he was feeling some mixture of negative emotions.

" Alright..." Leo replied. Even talking would hurt him so he had to use as few words as possible to reply.

'I doubt the healers will be able to do anything but it would hurt too much to protest.' Leo thought in resignation.

The healers sat down on the bed, one on each side. One placed their hands on Leo's chest and the other placed a hand on each leg.

The started using their abilities and the warm feeling that usually accompanies a healing ability spread through his body, soothing his pain slightly.

There was this look on Clay's face that suggested he had something to say but didn't want to be the one to say it.

"Just tell me." Leo said, his voice hoarse.

"We lost a lot of our people last night. First I'll tell you about what happened in Drom. Connor managed to lead the defence of city and eventually claimed victory over the attacking monsters.

Many Infernai died to achieve said victory... Just over 80% of all the forces placed within the city to be more specific." Clay said with a solemn tone.

Leo eyes went wide when he heard the number. "We had fifty Infernai in the city..." Leo said, his tone matching Clay's.

"Yeah... There were only 9 survivors. The good news is that by having so many losses on our side, the civilians managed to stay relatively safe. There were very few casualties among the population thanks to our people sacrificing their lives to defend them."

Leo didn't say anything in reply. He knew that Clay's words were true and that it was their duty to protect the people but even so, to have so many of them lose their lives felt wrong.

"Tell the statistic... For the battle here." Leo asked, his voice still hoarse but slightly less so than before.

"One of Platoon two's squads had left the morning before the attack, so we had very minimal defenses here in terms of our best fighters. Only two sqauds equipped to fight were present during the attack, the others were all supporters or our less powerful Infernai.

In total, we lost one hundred and sixty three of our people, with a hundred and eleven of those being from Platoon one. Combined its one third of Infernums total forces that were lost across the two battles." Clay said.

There was a period of silence in the room as everyone absorbed the information they had just heard. Although Clay was only speaking to Leo, the healers and Kelly were still present in the room and couldn't help but listen.

"I need to speak with Clay alone." Leo said, breaking the silence. The others in the room acknowledged the request and left the room. Clay didn't say anything and just waited for Leo to say what he needed to.

"I'm going to be much weaker than usual for the next few days. On my way to the city I was attacked by a woman and an Elite tier monster. Based off what she said I think its safe to assume she was controlling the monsters with an ability.

I knew I couldn't defeat the monster through my usual power, so I did something that put immense strain on my body and ability core. I killed the monster and the woman but passed out shortly after.

I'm telling you this so you understand my situation. My ability and body were pushed too far and now I'm suffering the consequences." Leo explained.

Clay nodded with an expression of understanding" So it was an ability user after all."

" It was."

"At least it was within our possible explanations for the unusual monster activity, if it had been something else I would have been disappointed in my ability to think logically." Clay said half jokingly.

He continued on to say "Even if you had to push through your limits and hurt yourself to do it, killing an Elite tier monster on your own is still impressive. I actually think you're the youngest person to ever do so."

"The youngest? So there are others who have done it before?" Leo asked, both surprised and confused.

"Well yeah. The military have been using life energy to increase their physical strength and speed. That's how they've been dealing with monsters." Clay answered.

"Life energy... Right, we were supposed to learn how to use the technique when we graduated from the academy." Leo said, curious about when they would be able to learn it now.

"Actually, they tried to teach the technique to the rankers at the academy while we were away. It turns out ability users can't use the technique. Our physical attributes increase as our abilities grow stronger, so there isn't actually a need for it anyway. " Clay explained.

"That's good to know." Leo said "I think I'm going to get some rest now, we can talk more later."

"Yeah, of course." Clay replied as he got up and left the room.

'Dreifus. If life energy is supposed to increase your physical attributes, wouldn't it be the same as when my stats increase?' Leo asked.

'I was thinking the same thing. Since your stats increase seperatly from your abilities growth, I would say it functions the same way.' Dreifus replied.

'So that would mean I'm the only ability user thats able to use life energy to grow stronger. Its not exactly the same but it's the same effect...'

'I believe that's correct. I suppose it means you have more potential for physical growth than any other ability users. You could theoretically surpass the strength of a strength ability, or the speed of a speed ability.' Dreifus said, subtle excitement in his voice.

' Speed is more reasonable since I have Dash but surpassing a strength ability would be far more difficult. I imagine their ability works like a multiplier, taking their base strength and increasing it based on a percentage. I don't have any strength based skills to close a gap like that.'

'It might take longer but it's possible, you could also obtain a strength based skill at some point. Not that it matters, your ability is your real source of power, not your physical strength.' Dreifus said.

'Yeah. You're not wrong.' Leo said, thinking back on the fight when he used Transformation.

'I used skills I've never used before last night during the transformation but I couldn't replicate them with my current power even if I wanted to.' Leo suddenly said.

'Why not?'

'I used an excessive amount of power to achieve the lightning attacks and flight. I had no control and basically used brute force to stumble through the use of those skills. If I want to use them without Transformation then I need to find a more Energy efficient way. They'll be weaker than when using Transformation too.' Leo explained.

' I see. I saw how you were using skills I've never seen you use but I just assumed that meant you could do them whenever you wanted now because you figured them out or something.' Dreifus said.

' I know how to use lightning attacks, I just need to figure out an efficient way to use my Energy in that regard. The flight is impossible with my current Energy, it takes far too much and would drain me in less than a minute. I might be able to achieve something close to flight though...' Leo started thinking hard about a way to achieve said goal.

' Regardless of what you could and couldn't do. You'll have to wait until the penalty is over before you try anything.' Dreifus pointed out.

' Yeah... I still have just over three days left.' Leo said.

'It'll pass quicker than you think. Just rest for now, you've done all you can.'

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