Axel waited for the others to leave before he got up and left. But right when he turned to the next alley, he slipped and tumbled.

A slightly big lump was lying in the street. His legs were still unstable, and he could not avoid it in time. Luckily, his butt only hit the ground beside the lump, he did not hit it directly.

Axel curiously looked at the lump.

It was a cat.

A big tuxedo cat with a fluffy belly.

Axel is not fond of animals… but his brother is. He remembered that his brother would adopt cats, feed them, and if they didn’t stay inside the house, he just let them go. But Nyx will always leave cat food in the backyard, just in case it comes again.

As Axel took a closer look, this fluffy tuxedo cat is injured. It’s belly has an ugly wound and blood pooled around it. Axel stretched his hand to heal the little thing but he can’t muster any healing aura on his hand.

He was able to regain his physical strength but not his abilities.

Axel gritted his teeth.

This won’t do. How will he survive if he was this weak? How can he get revenge if using his abilities within one hour is his limit?

“Come on, come on, come on.” He push himself. He pictured in his mind multiple times that the cat will be healed. Just like how he did it with Luna.

But there was still no warm sensation flowing on his hand.

Axel took a deep breath. His two hands touched the cat and his senses started to sharpen. He can picture out the body of the cat, the bone structure, the lasceration. Axel can picture a soft yellow glow that pass from his fingers into the body of the cat.

He willed it to pass through the wound and fix it. Slowly, the yellow light followed his instructions and mended the wound.

But it was a slow process. Axel began to have a hard time keeping the yellow light in control.

After twenty minutes, Axel succeeded. His sight is getting fuzzy and he can’t feel some parts of his body.

“Damn.”

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The alleyway is near a dumpster and the smell of rotten food almost strangled him.

Axel get up and shook the little cat. “You okay, little buddy?”

The cat did not budge. But it’s wound already disappeared. And it’s breathing is no longer faint. He can feel it’s already stabilized. Axel got up and started to walk away.

But before he can take a step forward, he heard three vicious growls behind his back. He looked just in time to see three big black dogs menacingly growling at the cat.

The cat stirred because it senses danger.

But it was still too weak to get up.

Axel picked it up and throw a stone at the dogs.

“Get the fucking out of here.” He picked up a broken bottle and threw it at the vicious dog on the center.

It hit its head perfectly.

“Get out of here.”

With a weak cat in his arms, Axel left the alley. The dogs did not come after him.

Even though he was no longer in the area, the ten men he helped was still looking for him. Speculating how strong is the Challenger that can take down the very monster the ten of them tried so hard to kill.

Gabriel and Cyril run a perimeter check in the area, but could not sense a Challenger’s presence nearby.

“That person must have already left.” Cyril suggested.

Gabriel looked down at the remnants of the Level 1 monster.

“Do you think that person did not reveal themselves because they are somehow involved in this man’s transformation?”

Cyril frowned. “Are you saying the Challenger that killed it is the person responsible for transforming humans to monsters?”

Gabriel shrugged. “There’s a big possibility for that.”

“No, I don’t think so. Out of similar cases, it was only this time that a Challenger happens to be in the area. They must be in a hurry or something. They left right after killing the damn thing.”

“Hmm,”

“Anyway, did you hear the news?”

“Not interested in news.” Gabriel shrugged Cyril off and headed towards their car. They have checked the whole town and there are no longer any unusual presence. No signs of Challengers either. Since the monster department is here, it’s time for them to go.

“Oh, you should. It was you who went to his school.”

“Huh?”

“Nyx’s younger brother. I think his name was Axel or Axe? A week ago, he died accidentally after his classmate misused his ability. And now, he miraculously came back to life!”

Gabriel stopped in his tracks.

“Is that true?”

“Yes! It’s all over the news. The media wanted to get more scoop but this Axe boy do not want to be interviewed. It was said he discharged himself from the hospital and is recuperating in his home. I believe it was next week where he’s returning back to school.”

“Is that really possible? Don’t you think they are exaggerating?” Gabriel expressed his doubts.

“Right? I also thought that too. But they showed a picture of his dead body and a video of his alive healthy self in the hospital. Here, let me show you.”

The picture had Axel’s unrecognizable body laid out in a stretcher. That was the time he died after being boiled to death. The after picture is when the doctor swarmed in his ward with the reporters.

He looked so much like Nyx when he was still starting out as the first Challenger. The messy hair, the youthful features. It’s like watching a young Nyx inspiring the nation for his achievement in challenging the Tower.

“I’m curious. Want to pay a visit to the kid next week? We can ask approval from our supervisor. I’m sure this kid has already awakened so he needs to be registered! We can take care of that for him!