The Transcenders

Chapter 51 - Obscure Guild (6)

Jenna closed her eyes and focused. Seconds later, her body started levitating as nature bent to her will. She reopened her eyes and flew off into the distance.

Going against the wind, she arrived over the wall to the north when she saw smoke chaining up in the sky; there was a dangerous forest fire.

"Luo!" Jenna dived down to see what was going on.

...

Luo was in an intense battle controlled by rage. His hands cast black flames at his opponent, who did the same by spitting flames instead. The two intense fires collided like waves.

Luo forced every muscle in his body to throw as much fire as he could, but it wasn't enough. The middle-aged artificial trainer was winning by a large margin, and the advanced magician could only slow the fire from spreading. Stopping or countering it proved too hard.

Luo's clothes were burning, and his skin was barely sticking to him. It hurt. It was torture. He was slowly killing himself with his own fire as it spread everywhere around and onto him.

Although he couldn't stop his fire from running wild, he had a solution to the other problem. The AI's flames grew evermore vital as they rushed towards him. Subconsciously, he fuelled his blazing flames with even more anger.

Luo went into a fury, losing complete control of himself and let out an intimidating roar. And it worked. His arms suddenly regained their strength as they fixated on the man in a black and white suit. His dark fire became pure black as it overpowered the man farther away.

Luo's flames turned the NPC's flames against him as all the fire turned into one colossal wave washing quickly. When Luo thought it was over, the programmed NPC suddenly jumped toward the sky and avoided the chaos altogether.

He had used combustion to fly into the sky by spewing fire out of his mouth. Luo noticed this and, without thinking, in rage, followed after him with his own fire and smoke. It was his first time flying, as he had never managed to do it before since his old red fire wasn't strong enough.

The AI looked down. All of the smoke from Luo's previous attack clouded his vision. He had accomplished his task, the training had run perfectly, and his job was over. The program now wanted to retire and, just like Snoid promised, obtain an artificial body to roam in the human world. He could already imagine how nice it would be, how nice it would be to live as a sentient being.

Unexpectedly, he spotted Luo's figure soaring up at him. The figure enlarged as Luo approached him. Frowning, the AI tried to escape by going farther up. The robot knew its limits. Fighting would be too risky.

The predator was chasing its prey. Luo had caught up, and before his humanless opponent could process what was going on, he appeared above him with a fiery fist.

"DIE!"

The prey was punched in the stomach and lost control as his body spun into the air. However, it wasn't enough to beat him. With fear, the NPC dashed at Luo for one last bout, with the will to survive.

"RAAAAAAH!" Both yelled at the top of their lungs as they prepared their finishing move.

Luo prepared to launch a fire tsunami while the NPC sprew a storm of fire. However-

"Luo!"

Luo looked at the figure above him. It was Jenna who was struggling to breathe through all the toxic smoke.

The airforce general widened his eyes, and -before he knew it- the colour of his fire started changing. His black flames turned into the colour of the sky, full of warmth and rid of all hatred.

"Nooo!" The retired program felt lost. Ridded of the small amount of rage left in him, his fire dissipated.

The player brought his arm forward, and the giant blue wave engulfed the NPC, burning him to cinders.

As soon as the smoke cloud dissipated, Jenna spotted her general. He smiled and fell asleep mid-air.

"NO! LUO!"

Jenna flew down and caught him before his body fell into the black forest fire. She was relieved.

"The heat from his body heat is burning my hands."

Despite her hands, the lieutenant flew her general above the wall to the east, away from all the chaos.

...

The sun was setting, and the wind was getting colder. But Aaron's eyes were burning with his desire to kill- to kill the sadistic dark-haired woman who had murdered him again and again.

The young woman threw another small red magic orb at him, but this time he avoided it and dashed toward her. A turquoise, green trail emitted from his eyes and around his body as he closed the gap. The mage was controlling the wind.

He couldn't shoot with his pistol until he was sure it'd land at this distance, so he kept running with the wind. The wind mage was getting dangerously close as he dodged all the red magic orbs from the woman's attacks.

The NPC smirked. "Good job, let's push you more!"

She cast two long red swords in her hands, but knowing Aaron would beat her in close combat, she flung the two swords at him with the intent they'll slice him apart.

That provided Aaron with a chance. The programs were not omniscient, and Snoid had programmed her that way himself. She had messed up.

While her goal was to hit Aaron with the swords' sharp tips, Aaron controlled the wind in one skillful move. He deviated them just before they could strike him and sent them back at her.

The woman barely avoided when the two longswords stuck to the ground beneath her feet. Aaron had already anticipated this and jumped right at her with his handgun. She couldn't dodge in time.

"Oh, no..." With no way out, she succumbed to his pistol.

Aaron pulled the trigger three times. He stuck one bullet in her forehead, another in the heart and a final one to blow up her liver just to be safe.

The sun was now gone. Aaron looked at the shining moon and saw a figure in the dark sky. The person that landed next to him was Jenna, who was carrying Luo like a baby.

"Aaron?"

Aaron didn't speak. He looked at the moon silently. Aaron's gaze wasn't on Jenna. Nonetheless, it sent shivers down her spine.

Aaron Amon holstered his pistol while emitting extreme bloodlust, the one of someone who has faced death countless times, of someone who can kill without remorse, without flinching.

Author's note: Thanks for reading! Yes, these artificial intelligence NPCs are sentient. I wonder how Isaac's training is going? Also, I've been having some problems with the novel's cover page. Hopefully, it looks better now. It was a hassle having to constantly re-crop it to fit each publishing site's resolution.