'How?' 

'How did I lose to a kid?' a voice spoke in the dark.

'I am experienced in combat, I easily surpass him in height and bodybuilding, so why did I still lose.' 

A faint glow of light sparked in the dark.

'How am I supposed to prove that I am capable of leading after this?'

The light sparked again in the dark.

'No, I refuse to give up.' the voice continued. 'I can't let it end here.'

After the light glowed faintly for a while, it suddenly became bright before completely outshining the darkness.

"I refuse to be led by a brat!!" the voice screamed out in rage and then exploded in a burst of flames.

The explosion pushed back those around the man as his body got covered in red-hot flames.

"What?!!" Jared asked with surprise on his face.

Everyone became bewildered as they saw what occurred in front of their eyes.

A living person exploded in flames and yet, was still standing.

"Impossible,"

"There's no way," 

Several voices were heard from the crowd as they watch the man completely covered in flames but yet wasn't affected by it.

Ash's eyes widened as what stood before him left him in shock.

'H- he has awakened?' a thought formed in his head.

"Arrrggghh!!" The man yelled out and soon the flames increased as they continued surrounding him.

"Get back!!"

"Don't get close to him,"

Both Ragnar and Jack tried to keep everyone away from him as the heat seemed to be getting more intense.

Immediately, the man dashed out of the flames and headed straight for Ash.

Before he could get close, Jared, Diva, and Gareth tried to tackle him shortly after they jumped down from the upper level of the room.

One by one as they came down on him, the man swiftly weaved through them and continued charging at Ash.

"He's fast," Gareth alerted.

He soon got in front of Ash and immediately threw a direct punch at him but was still too slow to make contact as Ash immediately leaned to his side and avoided the strike.

He decided to get rough and started throwing random punches while tackling him with every little opportunity he had.

'When one awakens, all their senses are immediately heightened.' Ash started to recall his memories of the past.

'They will receive an instant boost in their abilities, making them two times stronger.' Ash leaned to his sides and leaped back and away from the man as he evaded the punches he threw.

'However, he seems to have increased three times in terms of power, just from awakening.'

"Stand and fight me!!" The man yelled out with even more flames pouring out of him.

The people in the room began to move a lot farther from them as the sudden burst of power became intense.

"Maybe if we tackle him together, we can bring him down," Several men suggested as they started surrounding him.

"No!! Stay away from him!!" Ash warned but was too late as one of the men plunged at him.

He quickly grabbed hold of him and tried to pin him down and the rest followed. 

Unfortunately for them, the man exploded again with an even greater burst of flames and charged at Ash again.

"You're relentless," Ash said as they both fought about the open space.

Their speed soon increased as they clashed with each other almost every time they got away from an attack.

"Everyone stay back and keep your distance," Ash warned again fiercely as soon as he leaped away from the man.

'His energy just keeps increasing.' he thought as he engaged the man who seemed to be getting bigger and more aggressive.

'If he keeps going like this, he might mutate.' 

Ash soon got close to the man and immediately ducked when a swing came at him, and then leaped into the air before the man crashed his hand on him.

After a little spin while in mid-air, he then crashed his foot into the neck of the man and brought him down to his knees.

Ash later threw several backflips and landed a few meters away from him.

"Ash, what's going to happen?" Diva asked as they stood far aback from the fight.

"Just stay back and get ready to defend against anything," he answered.

"Can't we help?" Jared asked.

"Not this time," Ash responded again.

"I'll kill you," the man suddenly yelled out. "I'll kill you!! I'll kill you!!!, I'll kill you!!!!!" And soon, he dashed at Ash.

With a serious expression on his face, Ash stood there waiting for him to approach as the man ran towards him.

As the man got close enough, he threw a punch at ash, while Ash leaned to the man's right to avoid the punch and threw an even greater one.

Ash's fist collided with the man's face and turned it back as the man's feet left the floor.

He crashed on the ground after floating through the air from the impact seconds after.

"Arrrggghh," he grunted as he struggled to stand up.

He then noticed Kyle dashing at him before he could stand and so, try to ward him off.

"No, stay back," he warned as he waved his hands against Ash.

A large ball of fire started to form in front of both him and Ash, as Ash charged at him with his eyes widened in shock.

Immediately the ball of fire was sent out as it flew past Ash and headed for a part of the crowd.

Ash instinctively reacted to the speeding ball of fire, and soon appeared in front of it.

Without knowing that he had awakened at the same time the man did, Ash unknowingly imbue his fist with energy as he stood in front of the raging ball of fire.

Immediately it got close enough, Ash struck and sent it to his side, far above the crowd as it rotated before exploding on the ceiling.

[Bomm!!]

The whole place quaked as debris from the ceiling started to rain down on the crowd.

"Quick!! Get away from there," Gareth shouted as he watched the rocks fall.

Quickly, the crowd was able to avoid being crushed by the debris as they ran away from there.

While the whole place became rowdy, the man still roared out in anger without controlling his rage.

The flames he gave off shone brightly as they gave more intensity.

'This is getting out of hand.' Ash thought as he stood amidst the crowd.

"You won't get away with this!!" The man yelled out and soon, dashed at him with his flames exploding behind him.

He ran for some seconds approaching Ash and as he got closer, a punch dragged behind him...

He got slammed, head first into the ground by Ash who was now on top of him as he pinned him down.

The wave of energy as well as dust particles shot out from them and soon dissipated into the air.

"Did you see how fast he was?" Someone asked from the crowd.

"I barely saw a thing," the other replied.

Everyone began to murmur among themselves about how the rampage suddenly ended.

"Was he hiding that kind of power this whole time?" 

"I doubt it. If you have been paying attention, you'll realize that his speed suddenly increased,"

"That's enough," Ash commanded and the whole room went quiet. The man underneath him still tried to struggle but it was futile. Ash's grip on him was too strong.

'Was he always this strong?' thoughts started to form in the man's head as he glanced at Ash from underneath him.

He noticed the glow in his eyes goes off almost immediately.

'That was the last thing I saw before he disappeared from my sight and next, I was on the floor.'

'He is not your ordinary person.'

After a while, Ash got up from him and walked away.

"If you think you can do well on your own or maybe in the little group you'll form afterward, pls leave. Being part of something isn't for everyone," he voiced out with anger ringing with every word he spoke.

"However, if you're going to stay, you will and you must follow orders, even if they come from those lower than you,"

"Y'all are dismissed. Survive as much as possible until the next time we will meet," 

"W- what are we gonna be doing before then?" Jack asked as Ash climbed the stairs. "Should we go back to the way we were?" 

Ash quickly thought of something until Jared whispered into his ears.

"Hey, Ash, what if they encounter a zombie like the one you took down? How will they be able to defeat it?"

That question rang in Ash's head for a while as he glanced around.

'They definitely won't survive, if they should go head to head with the zombie, I can guarantee that they'll all die. But as some of us, if not all have already awakened, we should not have a hard time.'

'However, the question is, can they use their powers?'

'I didn't think of a situation like this before coming here.'

"Tsk," he clicked his tongue before reluctantly speaking. "Listen up, I'm splitting everyone into groups, three to be exact,"

"While you are in those groups, you'll take turns in real training under the supervision of those in charge of the groups," he said as he turned to face them.

"Edgar will be in charge of the first group, he has the knowledge and skills to lead you through the training," as he spoke, a man walked closer to him from the stairs.

As he walked closer, he gave off a dark and serious aura, his long dark shade hair fell to his back with his beard neatly styled.

His black long top was made of leather along with his boots, his trousers slightly matched his crystal blue eyes.

"Following him is Jack," Ash mentioned again.

"Wait, me?" Jack questioned as soon as he heard his name.

"Congrats buddy," Aidan said as he patted his shoulder.

"He will be in charge of the next group. He and his team will also be responsible for gathering weapons,"

"And finally," Ash took in a deep breath before continuing. "Jared will lead the last group,"

Ash then walked up to Jared who stood there in surprise, he looked at Gareth and Diva, but both of them nodded their heads. He could not believe he was picked as a leading figure.

"Before you take your group out for training, you will tag along with me," Ash whispered to him and he nodded after he gulped down hard.

He then turned to the man he fought with and saw him still sitting on the same spot in shame.

"Since you can't control your rage, I'm placing you under Jared," Ash offered him a hand but the man reluctantly took it and was pulled up to his feet.

"He may be younger than you are, but from him, you'll learn to follow orders," Ash said and soon turned to leave.

"If you are dissatisfied with the current leading figures, feel free to complain," he echoed in a dark and cold tone as he walked up the stairs.

"For the shocking issue at hand, you have all been gifted with powers," 

As he uttered those words, like a moving wave of electricity, everyone became shocked.

"You may not know or feel it now, but you will eventually," he watched them all observing their bodies or hands, searching for any signs of their powers.

"The ones who will lead you will aid you in controlling your powers,"

"You are all dismissed,"