1% Lifesteal

Phillip couldn’t help but think that if a psychological researcher had the opportunity to observe their group throughout their time in the trap room, they would have learned quite a few exciting things.

While there was no doubt that some among them, like Jacob, would have preferred to work through their emotions in privacy, it was undeniable that most of them were more than happy to not be alone through their suffering, himself included.

That was good and all for the first few days in captivity, but as it stretched on and on, having absolutely zero privacy soon turned into a nightmare.

Two-star archhumans had more efficient bodily functions. Everything from breathing, drinking, and eating to going to the toilet operated at greater intervals. There was absolutely no trouble in the first category, but there was plenty of trouble in the second.

Naturally, there were tools and methods available for coping with this stuff. This was far from the first time a group of archhumans had to hide in a passage realm for a prolonged period. But those methods had their limits.

That was the first problem that made things awkward for the group. The second was Theodore and Beatrice. Those two were satisfying a completely different category of urges, and while they never went as far as to strip bare and go at it like rabbits, they got… shockingly daring at times.

For the most part, everyone just kind of looked the other way. But at one point, one of the strangers nearly got into a fight with the two of them.

Phillip spent most of his time either trying to talk to Karen or thinking about his future. He had kind of known this from the beginning, but as time passed, it became more obvious that Karen really didn’t want to talk to him.

She had humored his conversational attempts many times, most likely just to be polite, but when she hit him with the “I apologize, but I am not in the right mood for a conversation at the moment”—yeah… he knew that he had fucked up massively at some point along the line. Was it his eagerness? Maybe he had been a bit too annoying.

From the moment he first laid his eyes on her, he had been enchanted with the woman. She radiated a sense of culture and civility, values he greatly appreciated. The woman was also quite… pleasant to the eye. And rich. And from an influential family. And powerful herself.

He couldn’t help but lament it. The woman had been out of his league from the very start. True, he was no common rabble, but he was no true elite, either. He’d put himself in the same category as Jacob.

At a certain point, he started noticing something odd. People, more specifically, the few women in the room, were giving him strange glances. They weren’t flattering. And then, he realized it—hadn’t he basically been harassing Karen?

While some fools could be tricked into thinking he was truly just earnestly fascinated by her as a conversational partner, it was evident that he had a crush. He hadn’t considered it much due to the power difference between them, but…

Oh dear God, I was being so creepy, wasn’t I?

As time passed, more and more of these small transgressions kept piling up, and as the people within gradually grew more irritatable, these occurrences only grew more common and, eventually, a bit violent.

Naturally, everyone present understood that a full-on fight was beyond stupid in these circumstances, and nobody among them had a willpower weak enough to succumb that badly. But that didn’t stop the shouting, Not-so-playful kicks and jabs became commonplace. Even from people Phillip honestly didn’t expect it from, including Karen, who raised her voice in response to something Jean said for the first time since he met her.

Surprisingly, it was Theodore who first stepped up to help de-escalate the situation. His suggestion was to task the earth-affinity archs among them with constructing thin barriers around the room, allowing all of them at least an illusion of privacy. This worked surprisingly well. From there, they started organizing party games. This just made everyone even more violent, so they decided to begin strategizing instead.

There was a non-zero chance of encountering the terrorists. Sure, they had detailed a few basic plans in case this happened, but there was always more they could do. Besides, even minor improvements gave them confidence and boosted morale.

They first recollected absolutely everything they had seen the terrorists do, and eventually, the group was left with a relatively detailed profile of all the ones who survived. Next was a more thorough strategy, both to specifically confront the invaders based on their known powers and better cooperate with one another.

And finally, they started sharing tips. Everyone who specialized in something tutored others on improving in that field if it applied to their skills. Jean taught Karen some neat tricks she could do with negative pressure while Karen taught her about swordsmanship.

Phillip discussed defensive posture, Jacob gave Jack tips on water abilities, Jack taught Theodore how to use the light affinity to become invisible, and Theodore, who had been struggling with this for a long time because of his poverty and inability to afford tutorship, finally managed to complete the ability, becoming an even more valuable asset in the process.

Everyone contributed, everyone gained.

Except for one person—the armored man.

The man was by far the least troublesome when it came to conflict. He was quiet and kept to himself, responding with a dismissive yet disarming tone if anyone tried talking to him, and given his elderly aura, nobody bothered him too much.

But it became… strange after some point.

People got pretty damn talkative in that scenario. Phillip knew some deeply personal stuff about almost everyone there, as none of them had managed to stay entirely out of the conversation, even the ones on the quiet side.

But the armored man? Nobody knew a single thing about him. Absolutely nothing. Not his name, not his powers, not his background…

Not his allegiance.

He was strange. Too strange. Too silent—too unbothered. The man could stay eerily still for ridiculous lengths of time, to the point where nobody could tell whether he was awake or asleep.

Eventually, Jacob grew too frustrated with this to remain still and got up to confront him. “Hey, old man,” he called rudely. “We have to talk.”

The armored man turned his helmet head in Jacob’s direction, saying nothing.

The burly party leader bent down, squatting right before the silent man as he said authoritatively, “I need you to tell me what you’re capable of. You have stayed out of the conversation for too long. At the very least, I’d like to hear about your talent and affinities.”

The man remained quiet, simply staying still for almost ten seconds. “You wish to hear about my powers?” he asked slowly.

“Yes,” Jacob confirmed. “And I don’t want to hear any excuses,” he added. “If you want to keep your privacy, feel free to go somewhere else.”

“Jacob!” Jean yelled, frowning at him as she got up. “Show some respect!” she requested.

“Calm down, Jean,” Jack said, placating his sister as he turned to face Jacob. “Jacob, there is no need to be rude about it. I’m sure the man will speak if you ask nicely.”

“‘The man,’” Jacob said, mimicking air quotes with his hands, “isn’t going to say shit. As you can see, ‘the man’ is the only way you can even refer to him because guess fucking what, we don’t know the man’s name! He has said nothing about himself at any point during our stay here. Does anyone here know anything about him? You don’t.”

“Jacob, please.” Theodore rushed to his feet. “I get your point, but antagonizing the poor guy won’t get him to open up.”

Jacob squinted, and Theodore walked up to him. “Just step back, okay?” he told Jacob. “I’ll take it over from here.”

“Fine.”

Theodore walked up to the armored man, sitting on the ground before him and meeting his eyes—or, rather, the empty, black slits in his helmet. “So… what can you tell us about your powers?”

The man stared at him for a long moment, remaining quiet. The attention of everyone in the room was upon him, but this wasn’t the first time that had happened. Nobody had ever gone this far to get him to speak, however, and the man appeared to break under the pressure. “I sincerely apologize,” he said, bowing his head slightly. “This old fart didn’t see that his stubbornness was bringing you anguish. For that, I am genuinely sorry. Very well, then.

“My talent allows me to rapidly recover from any harm done to me. It also, in return for severely limiting the amount I can expend at once, provides me with effectively unlimited essence. Physically, my prowess is significantly boosted, and I can see in a 360-degree range, including above and below me. If I am killed, well… it would be pretty inconvenient for a while.

“As for my affinities, I have dark, unholy, and ritual, with an emphasis on curses and using material shadows to restrain my opponents. That’s it in broad strokes,” the man declared without as much as a hint of humor. “I will not bore you with the finer details unless, of course, there is something else you wish to know?”

“… No,” Theodore said after a long moment of hesitation.

Phillip stared at the man, looking for any, even the tiniest hint that he was joking. It wasn’t strange for an old man to have a slightly odd sense of humor. However, as he peered into the empty slits in the helmet, he didn’t see anything—not even the faintest glimmer of light.

As if there was nothing there.

With a shiver, Phillip looked away.

“Hey, uh… Jacob?” Theodore called. “Can I talk to you for a second?” He walked up to Jacob and whispered something in his ear.

Jacob nodded, walking over to Jean and then waving everyone over to the two of them.

Once everyone stood in a small circle, Jean raised her hand and cast Sound Barrier.

“Okay, what the fuck was that?” Theodore asked. “He’s obviously lying, but this is getting creepy.”

“Maybe he just has a strange sense of humor?” Beatrice tried, but…

“That’s strange indeed,” Jack commented. “Too strange. What do you think, Jacob?”

Jacob stood still, arms crossed and brow furrowed. “We hadn’t considered it so far, but it’s possible he’s with the terrorists.”

Everyone froze at that and tried not to move their head to face the man. Phillip failed to stop himself, and as he looked over, he felt a strong chill move down his spine. He glanced away, swallowing nervously.

“Think about it,” Jacob continued, turning his head aside so the man couldn’t see his lips. “He hasn’t told us anything about himself. On top of that, this whole situation doesn’t seem to bother him at all.”

“You’d have to be pretty batshit insane not to crack,” Theodore concluded. “Honestly, with their weird cult vibes, I’m sure he’d fit right in.”

“Okay, okay, slow down!” The man with the crooked nose—Gabriel—spoke up. “We’re making some big leaps in judgment here, no? What if he’s been traumatized? The poor man might’ve lost his damn mind.”

That… As seen by their shifting posture, most of them at least considered it a viable possibility.

“We’re being too hasty,” Jack declared, siding with Gabriel. “If he’s with the terrorists, why on New Earth would he go out of his way to make himself look so suspicious? You’d think he’d at least try to fit in.”

“We do not know what those people are after,” Karen stated. “We also have one more possibility to consider.”

“And what’s that?” Jack asked.

“That the man is telling the truth.”

“Pfft—” Theodore snorted, chuckling. “Look, Karen, I have a talent that allows me to estimate how much of a threat someone poses. This man’s aura is a dark shade of orange, meaning he’d pose a serious threat to me, but given that almost all of you are a scary shade of red, that makes him among the weakest in the group. If he actually had the powers he said… fuck red, he’d be a pitch-black void! Power like that would be impressive even by the standards of five-stars. Tone the delusions down, okay?”

A brief scowl flickered on her brow, but she schooled her expression. “You have previously admitted that your talent isn’t always reliable.”

“That is true, yes,” he said, “but not like this. Sometimes, I can’t see people’s auras at all. Besides, come on, get real! There is absolutely no way that this man is that powerful! You’d have to be high to think that.”

Her expression grew cold as she looked him over. “Those who fail to consider all possibilities are doomed to death by ignorance.”

“Oh, really?” He snickered. “Get a load of Socrates over here.”

“Theodore, that’s enough,” Jacob interrupted, raising a hand. “Look, the dude’s weird. We can all agree on that. We’ll ask him more questions and get his measure. Theodore, keep an eye on him with your talent. Even if he’s only orange, he’s good enough to have managed to survive that slaughter. Maybe you’ll get a glimpse of something else.”

“So what do we do now?” Phillip asked, feeling unnerved by the man’s presence. “I’m going to be honest, just being in the room with him is uncomfortable enough.”

A few of the others nodded in agreement. Even if he wasn’t with the terrorists, the man was an additional strain on their already fraying mental health.

“We can not remove the man from this shelter,” Karen said.

“I agree,” Theodore added, surprisingly enough. “His presence might be a bit jarring, but kicking a crazy old man out to fend for himself isn’t gonna improve our sleep quality, that’s for sure.”

Jacob’s hands balled into fists as he looked down to the ground. “Whatever. We aren’t doing anything, then.”

“But you’re the one who—”

“Take the fucking barrier down, Jean.”

Jean nodded and deactivated her ability.

Jacob turned around and walked over to the old man. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but a moment later, he closed it and turned around, walking back to his small corner.

Nobody else said a thing, either, simply moving to their personal space and crawling inside.