Mat, after saying those words and pointing at him, pushed himself with his PSI creations towards that man.
"Agh, he's faster."
Mat was now keeping up with him. He was almost as fast as he was. He could dodge his attacks with some ease. At that, Mat tried to attack him with PSI weapons when he was already close to him, but.... It didn't do anything to him.
- So barking dog doesn't bite, heh. - said the man, and thought, "I thought that.... He was going to increase his strength, but no.... What a disappointment. His power is so much better than mine, and yet..."
What had happened was that Mat hadn't increased his strength exponentially, it was about the same. Ah, and even though he was faster now, that was because he reached his speed limit, which he didn't do before.
The man began to easily dodge all of Mat's PSI attacks, while Mat kept getting hit after hit. One of those blows, with his hand, was directed towards his neck, but Mat protected himself with his PSI Creations and didn't hurt him, but.... He had made a feint to attack him elsewhere.
- Agh! - Mat groaned. He had a somewhat deep wound in his abdomen.
- Heh, heh. Is that all, "Hero"?
- Damn!
Mat, after saying that, created pink PSI spears to be able to pierce him. This time he created them sharper than before, but.... The apostle managed to dodge them all. In addition, he touched the ground and... Sharp pieces of earth and concrete shot towards Mathias. He defended himself using his PSI Creations, and also used them to dodge them.
"I really can't do anything to it, there can't be, there must be something I can do!"
He pushed himself again with his PSI Creations (for reference, it's like covering his body with a color barrier to be faster, sorry for not explaining it before). This time he pushed his right arm as well and his hand was gripping some kind of red colored white PSI weapon. He tried to attack it with that, desperate, but.... Due to his inexperience with weapons and in combat, he failed to do it again.
The man delivered another blow to the chest. It threw him several meters again. At that Mat coughed up blood. That blow seemed to have injured one of his lungs. He ignored that fact and tore up the street with his PSI creations and did the same with the surrounding dirt creating a dust to distract him. Mat lunged at him.
- Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! - a scream of pain was heard, it was Mathias'.
When the dust had disappeared, the following could be seen: He had grabbed Mat by the neck, without an arm, and was choking him. His right arm was wrenched a few feet away from him, though. It looked as if it had been ground off. He was covered in dirt, just like Mat.
- Mat! - Sam exclaimed when she saw him like that. She was crying. She was in shock from all the things that had just happened that she still wasn't processing.
At that, the man's fingers began to pierce some of the skin on Mathias' neck.
- How about I take you to Mr. Martin in pieces?
"I have to... Try... But... Will it do? It's okay... I don't care anymore." Mat thought and...
.
..
...
- Hero... You really are... Someone horrible.
A bunch of green PSI spikes came out from inside the man's body. He was torn apart by them. Those thorns went into Mat as well, only they didn't go very far through him. The man's mangled body released Mathias, who was very tired and about to lose consciousness.
- Mat!
Sam shouted and went to him. She was scared. She was crying.
- Mat, Mat!
- S-Sam... - said Mat. - It's... It's over now... And I'm glad you're okay.
Mathias said that, but his body was full of wounds. His clothes were torn and... He was crying. Samantha hugged him. Roundy went to him to heal him too. He was carrying his arm too... This sounds weird.
- Mat, Mat... It's okay... - he said sobbing. - I-it's going to be okay....
He cried again.
- H-hero, I'm going to heal you! - Roundy told him when he arrived.
- I-it's okay... - Mat replied. - It... It doesn't hurt anymore... Sam...
- Y-yes. - stopped hugging him so that he could be healed.
After a minute, Mathias was completely healed. His clothes were in tatters, but he was fine. Without a word, he went back to where his mother was. He knelt down in front of her and said:
- Forgive me.
This he said because he did not know what else to say at that moment. I am repeating this many times already I think, but it was like this. He was lost. Mat, at that, continued speaking, shedding tears.
- You did so many things for me... You loved me like a mother even when I was not.... Even when I wasn't your son and... And... Now... I... I will never be able to thank you for everything you did for me, and... Now I can never again... I couldn't even protect you because I was weak... I... I'm... I-I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...
He started having flashbacks about his mother, stood up and.... He screamed. He realized that, in the end, he also failed to keep his promise not to get depressed after not being able to save someone. Then he turned to look at the TRX group.
- You... This is your fault! Why didn't you do anything to protect them? You didn't even help me!
They just stared at him.
- Mat! - Sam exclaimed, sobbing. - They protected us, but...
- It wasn't enough... - said Blocky. - I know, it's my fault, but... No matter what I say or do now, it's not going to change anything....
Mat knelt down on his knees and continued crying.
- W-why... W-why her? - he was sobbing.
- Hero... - TRX approached him. - This... This is something you're likely to see from here on out. Death of innocent people because of... You know who. That's why we have to stop Martin and...
- “Save the world”, right? - Mat said. - How am I going to save the world if I couldn't save a few people? I don't deserve to be called a Hero.... I don't even deserve to be alive right now....
He said this last thing remembering the other time. Out of nowhere, the mark on his left hand began to glow faintly. In those moments, his body began to brim with energy, he no longer felt tired.
- A-are you serious? - Mathias said, sobbing. - At the moment when I needed it most, it didn't activate.... Agh! Damn! DAMN!
He hit the ground with his fists several times, until he hurt himself a little. After that, he grabbed his left hand and, with his other hand, started to scratch it furiously.
- Damn it! Agh!
- Mat! - Samantha approached him again. She was still crying. - Don't go on... Please... This... It's not... It's not going to change anything...
- If only this thing had been activated before...
She hugged him to comfort him, again.
- Mat... It's not your fault... - she was still sobbing and, despite wanting to comfort Mat, she couldn't find the right words because she was also affected by this. - Mat!
She cried again as she hugged him tightly. Mat did the same. The mark began to fade.
In the distance, stood a man we had seen before. He was sort of hiding, in the middle of several people watching all this (No one wanted to go near the place).
"Wow, you lost... You must have used the book you were given.... But it doesn't matter anymore."
- I think it's time to test that.
After saying that, he snapped his fingers and....
A horrible scream was heard. Everyone freaked out. Even TRX and the others did. The corpse of that man started to regenerate, but.... He was
changing shape. His skin started to turn grayish, he was getting taller and stockier, unbelievably. His skull also changed shape. Now he had no eyes and... He had a... Better look at the illustration:

- Groarghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! - shouted the monster.
That abomination, I think, started walking towards Mat. TRX and the others stood in front of Mat, as if to protect him, but....
- Why don't you die yet? - Mat said, got up and... He turned to look at him. He still had tears in his eyes, but.... He was furious. Yes.
Mathias walked up to the creature and.... Purple PSI spears appeared around it. The creature stood there, not saying a single word, but.... In its mind it said:
"I... I had already fulfilled my purpose... Then... Why? Ah, I get it... Mr. Martin told me too.... We were also part of the experiments without knowing it. But... It doesn't matter anymore. I'm going to die again..."
The creature screamed and lunged towards Mat. It could think, but.... It couldn't control its actions. The second he did, the spears pierced him, but.... He kept going. At that moment, Mathias noticed something too.
"What's going on? It's as if..."
Everything was paralyzed. Only the two of them could move... Although... Mathias could hear things in the distance. Also, some sort of purple smoke was coming out from his hands.
"So that's how it works... Wow... You changed 'power' out of nowhere by turning into that.... No use though."
Mat was right. Having just discovered that ability, that creature wasn't going to know how to use it and.... From the inside, the creature was torn apart, or rather: dismembered, by several multi-colored sharp PSI Creations.
"Sorry."
Thought the creature as it was brutally damaged by that PSI attack.
- It was weaker than before... In that state I don't think it will do anything else anymore.
Just at that moment Shield arrived who, seeing such a scene, just watched. She was surprised.
Mat stood in front of the corpse of the artificial monster, saying nothing. At that, she noticed that Shield was watching him from a distance. She saw him too and approached him.
- Mathias Donovan, explain to me what happened here.
- You are the only one who can help me.... I don't have time to explain but please erase the memories of....
- What have you done? - she said, threatening him with several blades made of silver that were around Mat. - Explain.
"Besides, that's what I'm supposed to do. Change their memories. But... That monster looks like the ones in the church, then..."
- I was the target of that cult, just because I'm the Hero.... On top of that, they wanted to kill me but.... - Mat said and changed to a more mournful tone. - They murdered my mother.
He pointed to where she lay. TRX and the others had already pulled her out. She was riddled with severe wounds all over her body.
"I've never seen creatures like that in my life." Shield thought. She could see their real forms.
Roundy healed her, but.... It was the same. Sam walked over to Mat's mother and.... He cried again after seeing her.
- From the little I know about you guys, I understood how you work, so.... - Mat said, and added, threatening her. - Eliminate me, so things like that don't happen again. If you do, you're going to watch the world go into darkness and disappear.
"But what the hell is this guy talking about? The Hero? Is he delusional or what?"
- What do you mean by that? - Shield asked him.
A few seconds before that, Sam felt a chill again.
- I... Augh!
- W-what is this? - Shield.
They both began to feel a kind of pressure they had never felt before.
- Well, well... In the end he died anyway.... As expected of him, he never disappoints.
- Agh! -Mat shouted.
They froze and... Mat fell, but Shield stayed on her knees. They couldn't stand up and... They felt fear. In Shield's case, she felt fear for the first time in years.
- This is... Disastrous, to be honest.
- Y-you're... - Mat said, trying to get up.
Samantha, who was facing away from him, was also on her knees and stunned by his presence. She tried as hard as she could to see where the presence was coming from and...
- B-but... W-what? - said Sam.
- You... Christopher!? -Mat exclaimed. He said this while he was still trying to stand up.