Zaki stood there still unbelieving at what his eyes were showing him. It was rarely that he gets so shocked to the point of being so taken aback that his mind went blank and did not know how to process what was going on for a few additional seconds. The white-haired man who was still standing casually in the lounge chuckled again. His seemingly innocent laugh echoing in the eerily silent living room.
“Geez. Stop looking as if you’ve just seen a ghost, Zero.” He sighed, all previous traces of light-hearted laughter wiped out and his face was blank. His ice blue eyes were still as cold and unfeeling, just exactly as how Zaki remembered – simply soulless. “I am real. I am not a dream. And I’m here to meet you after so many years.”
“How? How did you even…” Zaki still couldn’t get himself to believe One was standing right in front of him. Was he really awake right now? Was this still a continuation of his nightmare? Perhaps this was one of those nightmares that you get a nightmare in your nightmare? This man was supposed to be dead, long ago!
“Hmm…” he fiddled with his bangs as he acted as though he was trying to recall some obscure memory, long buried at the back of his mind. “I’m not sure how…but we were dragged out of the lab before the explosion.” He shrugged.
“We?” Zaki’s eyes widened at that statement. “You’re saying you’re not the only one…” His heart was hammering away at the thought that more of them had survived.
“Yep.” One smiled. “Though not all of us managed to survive all the way until now. Just like you, I have two of them with me. Seven and Three are here too.”
At that moment, the nightmare Zaki just had a while ago flashed in his head and terror filled his eyes. Zaki’s aura immediately turned ferocious, and his eyes glowed fiercely with all the danger in the world. But the man before him did not even react. He stood there, calmly staring at Zaki and remained smiling.
When Zaki moved to leave, One blocked him. “Ah, ah ah… I can’t let you go, Zero.”
Zaki gritted his teeth. He could feel the waves of danger rolling off from One. And he knew very well from the past what kind of strength this man possessed. Before Sei took him out of the lab, the scientists in that lab often arranged for the experimental children to be pitted in a fight against each other until they were close to death. Zaki had fought against One not once but thrice and he had never won against him. Never.
One was the best product amongst all of the experimental children. The most obedient, the strongest and most importantly – the one who was unbeatable. Zaki could still remember the looks in the scientists’ eyes every time they observed One. One was their pride and joy, their perfect and absolute product.
Zaki could never in his life also ever forget how this white-haired man had gone on and slaughtered numbers of children and even a.d.u.l.t men without batting an eye just because he was ordered to do so. True, the experimental children were all considered to be monsters, but One was the ultimate monster among them. He was in a different league, all on his own.
“What the hell are you doing in this place?!” Zaki asked, his instincts had long since kicked in, preparing his body and mind for a battle to the death. He must take this man down at all costs. Because if he cannot achieve it, this monster would end up going around killing everyone.
“We’ve been hunting you down for a long time now, Zero. Our master had managed to keep us under his control and disposal for many years since that day. But now that our time is getting closer, he had handed us over to the military.” One started, smiling wickedly. “After using us for so many years, he had the audacity to throw us away now that we’re expiring. The military said they’d save us from the pain, but I know they are just trying to create a copy of us. And that is the ultimate and only reason why they are still keeping us. So, we decided to escape after I accidentally caught sight of an intel about you, Zero. Who would’ve thought that the supposedly rejected product ended up being the one whom the world knew and is actually looking up to right now? We have been hiding away for so many years in the shadows while you… YOU are up here living a perfectly happy and normal life.”
A soft chuckle echoed again. An emotionless chuckle that sounded chillier than any hysteric laughter. “Was it enjoyable? Huh, Zero? Living like you actually are a normal human?” he questioned. His soulless eyes narrowing with a tinge of emotion as he stared into Zaki’s eyes. “I heard Seven saying you are lucky. Well, I guess, he was right. You were after all the very first one who was taken out of that lab. Even though you were the rejected one.”
A sickening bloodl.u.s.t filled the living room as One took a step closer to Zaki. “You know…I was supposed to be the first one who should be chosen at that time. Not you, Zero. And now…” he laughed again, a hollow and broken sound. “And now, you actually have a genius scientist who has successfully found a way to save you… What was her name? Dr. Davi Chen?” One flashed an evil grin after saying that name.
The terror in Zaki’s eyes intensified. He snarled at One. “Don’t you dare touch her, One.” Zaki’s eyes were blazing with the lethal intensity of a death threat.
“Well, Seven and Three are currently headed to the sanatorium while I came to visit you here. So, I don’t exactly know what’s going on over there right now –” The implied threat and danger in that sentence nearly drove Zaki insane with worry and fear.
Not letting One finish his statement, Zaki charged at him without any prior warning. He was so fast the best human fighter could not have possibly stopped that attack even after realising the move was made. However, One unfortunately was not a normal human fighter. He was a monster – the worse kind there is.
One blocked Zaki’s oncoming attack and with that, the two clashed fiercely in the living room.
