Kyros was in hell. That was the only explanation he could think of at that moment. All he encountered throughout his search in the hospital was blood, death, and gore. Dark shades of crimson liquid painted the hallways of white.

Mangled bodies and innards scattered everywhere.

Proceeding through without stepping on anything was damn near impossible. As Kyros continued his search, he called out to anyone in hopes of finding a survivor. Although foolish, he didn’t let up.

Someone had to be alive. Anyone would do.

The sight of each corpse forced memories that he buried to resurface. However, his stern face refused to show it. Keeping his composure in dire situations as one of a soldier's initial training regimens.

Besides, the completion of the mission took priority over his personal feelings.

Kyros continued his search throughout the second floor. There was nothing.

He moved to the third floor. Nothing there as well.

The fourth floor was next. Nothing found once again.

Finally, he reached the fifth floor.

Off in the distance, a shrilled voice carried down the hallway. Kyros followed the sound and arrived on the scene in a matter of seconds. His eyes widened at the sight of a couple—a man and a woman in medical attire, levitating inches off the ground. They grasped their necks as ragged gasps escaped from their mouths.

Standing before them was another man. Both of his arms extended towards the couple. He had brown, shaggy hair that reached down to his shoulders. His blue eyes burned with intense focus and determination.

The man slowly balled his hands into fists. The pained faces on the couple intensified. Their faces slowly turned blue; tears streamed down their faces.

That scene alone was more than enough for Kyros to conclude that the man in front of him was none other than the Exousia, the one that was responsible for all the gruesome deaths at the restaurant and hospital.

Without warning, Kyros tackled the Exousia to the ground then landed a strike across his face. Whatever hold the man had on the innocent couple was instantly broken. The two of them dropped back down on the floor then desperately tried to catch their breaths.

The military Captain kept the Exousia pinned to the ground then looked over at the couple, “Get out of here! I’ll hold him off!”

Without hesitation, the man and the woman quickly exited the room, leaving him alone with the Exousia. When Kyros returned his attention to the downed man, he noticed the man’s left hand emitting a bright light. Seconds later, a mysterious force took hold of him.

With a quick wave of the Exousia’s hand, Kyros levitated off the ground. He struggled with all his might to break free. But, it was futile.

He was at the complete mercy of the Exousia.

“You've chosen the wrong person to piss off today,” The Exousia glared daggers at Kyros. A sharp pain coursed through his body. The source of the pain came from the wound in his stomach. Blood seeped through the cracks of his fingers and stained his clothes and the floor.

"You're wounded." Kyros pointed out. However, not a shred sympathy resided in his voice.

The Exousia gritted his teeth and moved his free hand over the wound. With another wave of his hand, he violently tossed Kyros against the nearest wall.

"Consider that a warning. Don't interfere again."

The Exousia didn’t even bother to check and see if Kyros was conscious or not. His attention directed elsewhere. He slowly left the room, heading out to chase after the couple that escaped.

Kyros quickly returned to his feet then stepped outside the room. Upon stepping out into the hallway, he came across a familiar sight.

The Exousia used his powers again to levitate the couple off the floor.

"Don't think for a second that I'm going to let you two escape from me!" The Exousia exclaimed. Shards of broken glass lying next to his feet suddenly levitated into the air. With a gesture of his finger, the glass inched closer and closer to towards the eyes of the man and woman.

"Let them go!" Kyros shouted, taking off down the hall towards the Exousia.

The Exousia looked over his shoulder and frowned at the sight of the approaching soldier.

"You again? I thought I told you not to interfere!"

The shards of glass turned and flew across the hallway, heading directly for Kyros.

The military Captain stood his ground and brought his hands up close to his face. Once the shards entered his range, he performed a combination of fast punches, shattering the glass shards with his gauntlets.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

With the shards gone, Kyros bolted down the hallway. Just when he came close to apprehending the Exousia again, he found himself floating in mid-air.

"You’re becoming a pain in my ass," The Exousia complained. He took his eyes off the couple and shifted his gaze to Kyros. "Who the fuck are you?"

"You know it’s rude to ask for my name without introducing yourself first." Kyros sarcastically responded.

"Thelo," The man introduced himself. With another gesture of his index finger, he brought Kyros closer to him. He leaned his head in and glared him right in the eyes. "now who are you?"

"Kyros Aleister. Captain of the fifth recon unit serving under General Zofia's army."

"The military," Thelo blinked in surprise at the realization, "damn it. So, now I gotta deal with the police outside and the military? Can this day get any worse for me?"

Thelo scratched the back of his neck as he contemplated where to go from there. He considered the people lined up outside to be nothing more than a hindrance. One way or another, someone got in his way. All he sought out for was medical attention for the wound in his stomach. Next thing he knew, he had the police on him.

Since he came to the country, he had done nothing wrong. And yet, one after another, people attacked him without provocation. If anything, he was the victim. It wasn’t a crime to defend oneself.

But, Kyros didn’t see it that way. To him, Thelo was nothing more than a murderer. One that he wouldn’t allow harming anyone else.

"What did you expect to happen when you attacked a restaurant and a hospital, killing dozens of innocent people? Did you think that no one would act? Did you think that you would get away with your crimes? Did you…” Kyros suddenly stopped once an intense sensation around his throat silenced him.

The source of the sensation came from Thelo. The Exousia activated his powers to strangle the helpless man. He stood there emotionlessly as he watched the color in Kyros’ face slowly change. When the military man’s arms fell limp at his sides, he canceled his chokehold.

"Don't talk all high and mighty just because you're in the military. If I wished, I could kill you right here and now," Thelo threatened him, "but I don't have time to mess around with you anymore. Out of my sight."

Thelo extended his arm out, throwing Kyros all the way down the hall with once again. He skidded across the ground then came to a complete stop after colliding with the wall.

Kyros pushed himself off the ground and looked down the hall. Thelo’s focus returned to the couple once more. The military captain quickly stood.

Afterward, he slammed his fists together and enabled one of the functions equipped with his gauntlets. The Ignis Vitalis glowed an intense red, igniting and consuming the gauntlets in flames.

Kyros let out a mighty yell and threw a punch. A column of flames in the form of a fist traveled down the hallway and struck Thelo in the back. The man roared in excruciating pain as the fire consumed him. He dropped to the floor, frantically rolling around in a desperate attempt to douse the flames. His hold on the man and woman also severed. The couple fell back onto the ground and watched the Exousia cry out in agonizing pain.

"What are you standing around for? Get out of here right now!" Kyros demanded.

The man and woman soon came to their senses and heeded his words. Without hesitation, the two of them escaped down the stairwell. Once they left, Kyros looked back over to Thelo.

The smoke from the flames swirled upward to the ceiling, eventually reaching the smoke detectors, thus setting them off and activating the sprinklers for the entire floor. Water sprayed out and poured down on everything, unfortunately extinguishing the flames on Thelo. The man lied on his back, taking deep breaths.

"Now you've gone and done it." Thelo struggled to his feet as he glared furiously at Kyros.

Any ordinary person would’ve been terrified—trapped on a floor with an angered Exousia with hardly any other means of escape. But not Kyros. He knew that it was only a matter of time until he won.

Thelo seemed far too wounded to handle a long, drawn-out battle. More blood seeped from the wound in his stomach. His legs wobbled uncontrollably. At any moment, the man would succumb to his injuries and collapse.

"Why are you so adamant about hunting those two down? What have they done to you?" Kyros demanded with a firm, assertive tone.

"What does it matter," Thelo responded, "this has nothing to do with you. This was between them and me. I warned you to stay out of my way the first time. But now it's too late for you to leave this hospital with your life."

"You need to stop fighting. You're not going to survive much longer with that wound." Kyros pointed out.

"Who the hell do you think you are?! Looking down on me?!" roared Thelo; multiple objects lifted off the floor. "You're just a puny human! You're powerless against me! And yet here you are, standing in my way?!"

With another angered roar, the Exousia launched all the objects he could at Kyros. The soldier quickly dodged each object. The man took off down the hallway when the onslaught ceased, escaping from Thelo's line of sight.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me. I don't have time for this." Thelo made his way around the corner, not wanting his new target to escape. The damage his pride suffered wouldn't heal until Kyros was dead. The moment he reared his face around the corner, Kyros' fist collided into it.

It didn’t end there.

Kyros pinned Thelo down to the ground and relentlessly pounded away at him. Images of the corpses that he saw that day flashed through his mind at that moment, fueling his intense rage. Men, women, children, it didn’t matter to that monster. Thelo killed without discrimination, without hesitation.

Kyros despised people like him. People that killed only for the thrill of it. He wanted to see to it that the man paid for everything that he had done to the innocents of the country.

Before he could deliver the final blow, Thelo's hand caught Kyros' fist. Then, the Exousia shot up and slammed his forehead into Kyros’ face, knocking him to the floor instantly. Next thing the downed soldier knew, he was lifted into the air by Thelo's telekinetic powers.

Thelo swung his arm out and tossed Kyros through the nearest wall. He walked over to the hole in the wall and peered his head through it. In the middle of the room lied Kyros' motionless body.

"Already dead?" Thelo slowly approached the body. When he got too close, Kyros quickly rose and opened the palm of his hand, activating another function of his gauntlets. That time, he used the Lumen Vitalis.

A bright light emanated from the gauntlets and blinded the unsuspecting man. Thelo backed away from the wall with his hands covering his eyes, exclaiming in pain.

Not wasting the chance, Kyros jumped through the hole in the wall and engaged the Exousia in combat once again. Approaching him quickly, Kyros landed consecutive strikes against Thelo. Mainly punches and a few occasional kicks. The last attack managed to force Thelo down to his knees.

He went in for the final blow, but his body froze at the last second. Despite trying with all his might, he couldn’t move a single muscle.

Thelo used his telekinesis to subdue him again.

"Enough of this! Go to hell!" Thelo shouted. In an extreme show of power, he blasted Kyros down the hall. He was blown back with enough force to crash through the walls until he was outside of the hospital building.

He knew that because instead of a ceiling, he found himself staring up at the night sky. Gravity soon took its course and sent the man plummeting down to the street below.