The hair on Adam's neck stood as the chilly voice washed over him.
For a second, he wondered if he could turn around and face it. However, from the direction of the voice, he knew it was right behind him.
And he knew who the voice belonged to.
'That stupid girl...' Adam thought as he subconsciously focused his Qi on defense and Quantum Energy on shielding.
"Hmm. Your Qi has gotten fairly stronger since we last met. Good job," she said as she walked forward, arms crossed in front of her stomach so that they were just under her breasts.
'If only she was Faye instead of some brute...' Adam thought before shaking himself internally, setting his mind straight.
The girl didn't seem to notice that, as she was staring intently at the man meditating below. A stark increase of energy flowed from his position all the way up to the hill they watched from, rustling their hair.
It felt quite weaker than his own, but the girl still smiled and nodded her head in approval. Then she lifted her hand, summoning a small ball of swirling light in the center of her palm.
Adam's eyes raised as he asked, "What are you doing?"
Ignoring him, the girl put more and more energy into this swirling light until it was the size of a larger bowling ball. Seemingly satisfied, she closed her hand into a fist, and that ball turned into a solid beam of light, colliding directly into the man below and instantly knocking him out.
'Dangerous,' Adam recalled his first instinctive reaction to her as he switched his arm into a longsword while simultaneously rising from the ground.
Her move had a charge-up time, albeit small. Also, there was a chance that she wouldn't be expecting such a swift attack. A small chance, but it was there nonetheless.
Meaning he was going to seize that opportunity!
Adam swung his sword toward her midsection as fast as he possibly could.
Shhhng!!
His sword connected directly with her afterimage.
'What?!' Adam thought as a sudden, severe pressure was applied to the side of his neck, and his world became dark.
...
"Ugghh..." Adam groaned as he woke up, for a second thinking he was back home.
His vision groggy and dark, all he could rely on was his sense of smell and hearing. A thick, aromatic smell of several foods assaulted his nose. He could clearly make out even the individual spices on the steaks cooking over an open grill, the soft but pleasant scent of some gravy that was sautéed expertly. Someone to the side was cutting up potatoes perfectly.
He didn't exactly know how everything was being cooked to the umpteenth degree of perfection or when his parents had learned such cooking skills. However, the fact was pleasantly and blatantly evident to his spoiled nose.
Somewhere to the side, he heard his sister and Faye talking—
'No, that's not their voice,' Adam thought as the fantasy eroded.
There was still a feast prepared and people bantering. However, they weren't people he knew. Which meant they could be dangerous.
Opening his eyes, he saw seven strangers sitting around some ornate wooden table. It was large and round and looked decidedly old. Somehow sitting at the head of a round table was the girl, who he now realized carried an extremely authoritative aura even though she was probably the youngest of everyone here.
Looking around what he thought looked like a room in a mansion, Adam saw that everyone was around his age. He figured these people were other Inheritors, so he thought it was kind of strange that the age was so perfectly aligned.
'It's like we were curated specifically to become these Inheritors,' Adam realized.
Even the Exalted, who one could say were deliberately chosen due to the small amount of them, had a fairly wide range of ages. Some were as young as 16, while the older range ended at around 42 from what he could remember.
So, the fact that they were all young adults was suspicious to Adam.
Letting his eyes fall to nearly closed, Adam feigned sleep in an attempt to spy on them. Of course, the stupid boss girl who was younger than him instantly saw through his ruse.
"He's awake. Good."
A sudden force picked up Adam from behind and then perfectly placed him on a chair. Before he could even offer an awkward chuckle, a plate was placed in front of him filled with steak and potatoes covered with gravy.
It looked really delicious. The only cook that he thought could do a better job was his parents. Still, he wasn't one to turn down food, especially if it was divine.
Cutting off a thick piece of steak for his first piece, Adam was about to pick it up when he noticed everyone else's stare. His hand hovered over his plate as he glanced back, wondering why they suddenly began staring at him.
"Hey. We don't eat until Commander Aria tells us to. We have to do our daily thanks first," a small voice called from his right, followed by a soft nudge.
Dejectedly placing his fork back on the plate, delicious steak still skewered, he nodded before turning to the voice.
It belonged to a small girl with round glasses, a squarish face, and short black hair. To Adam, she looked a bit more like a nerd than a fighter.
However, looking around the table, he thought it was best not to underestimate anyone. Sure, they all looked like kids, but Adam would too if he didn't have a bionic arm. The simple fact was that everyone here had Qi. Everyone here was an Inheritor, and while Adam didn't know exactly what that meant, he did know that he himself had grown much stronger.
He knew that he had killed.
So even if only two other people here looked like killers to him—boss lady (Aria?) and a red-haired kid with an empty laugh—Adam wasn't going to underestimate a single one of them. In fact, he wanted them to be strong. As long as they weren't enemies.
Because an apocalyptic event was coming, and even if they survived it, that would only be the beginning. Even with his new power, Adam knew that this wasn't a battle any single man could win. The entirety of humanity was going to be pushed to the brink of extinction, so the entirety of humanity had to band together.
"Ok. Now that we have everyone here, I'm going to lay a few ground rules and then we can eat," Aria called from the head of the round table.
At her words, the few scattered whispers instantly silenced. Somehow, it seemed even the wind obeyed her as the entire room became quiet.
She flashed a quick, surprisingly warm smile to everyone and then began, "First off, I am your leader. When I give you an order, you obey it. I don't care how you feel about that order, you obey it. Understand?"
As she said that last part, she looked directly at Adam. He understood why, because defiance was already filling up inside of him. However, this almost accusatory stare only strengthened his resolve.
If she gave a good order, he'd be fine obeying it. On the off chance she gave an order that was even slightly stupid, though, he wouldn't hesitate to ignore it completely.
Looking around, Adam saw that most of the kids nodded their solemn understanding. The only one who didn't was his fellow killer, Mr. Red Hair.
Noticing the more or less unanimous obedience, Aria nodded her head and then continued. "Second, you are all welcome here. I cannot tell you much about this place just yet, but I can assure you of two things. First, we will do everything in our power to accommodate you. Second—"
She took in a deep breath as if readying for some harsh reveal.
"There is terror unlike anything you can imagine waiting to exterminate humanity as a whole. This terror is what we call Kaiju. They are large monstrosities that are able to level entire cities overnight. If you need any proof of how deadly they are, just ask Adam."
Adam's heart plummeted as he felt the stare of the other kids. Though, if they were meant to ask him...
'They didn't know about the Kaiju?' Adam thought.
Not leaving any room for darkness to take hold in the silence, Aria continued as quickly as she could. Only Adam could hear the slight quiver forming in her voice.
"What I mean to say is this. We are the only hope humanity has against these Kaiju. In just a short amount of time, five [Leviathan] class Kaiju are going to wreak havoc on Earth. Unless we grow stronger, billions are going to die."
A heavy silence fell over the kids. After a few seconds, Mr. Red Hair shrugged and asked, "So, what should we do then? To get stronger, I mean."
A glint of light shone in Aria's eyes as her slight shakiness turned into an overabundant excitement. "Well, that's what your first mission is all about. Learning to kill Kaiju."