Chapter 230: Hero

The many memories that surfaced included a particular talk that Cliff heard as he was dining with Meryl, Lynd, and Seeker.

"What is the difference between an Inhuman and a Hero?" Seeker repeated the question.

"Yeah. I mean, we are already at Inhuman. And you mentioned that in your timeline, there wasn't anyone who had a Ranked Heroes body. And I get that all your recent projects are designed to make that. But still, you had heroes in your timeline. And you said that you yourself became Ranked Hero. So what exactly is the difference? If what we could do scientifically was reach the Inhuman stage through our sciences, then how did some become Heroes?"

The group was dining in one of Harker's restaurants, and a vast array of food was before them.

Seeker continued to munch his meals as he often did before. Only this time, Meryl, Lynd, and Cliff also continued to eat the extravagant amount of food before them.

"The difference is similar to the gap that separates a Ranked Hero to an Overcomer. I couldn't answer it before because due to the lack of study and since things were very confusing, I wasn't confident yet. But now that I am an Overcomer, I am certain that I am correct. Though several elements can divide it, I guess the most important thing is their will and fortitude."

"Will and fortitude?" Meryl echoed in confusion.

"So to be a believer, we need Faith, and now we need will and fortitude? What next? Patience, Perseverance, and Love?"

Seeker stoically nodded.

"Yeah. Something like that."

"You can't be serious?"

"Er... what about just the stage between Inhuman and Ranked Hero," Lynd asked again.

"Let me try to put it this way... Heroes don't give up. Even when they are about to die, they won't give up. Champions are basically heroes who have stronger powers that match Overcomers. But the reason why they can't be considered Overcomers is that Overcomers are those who can Overcome regardless of the challenge before them."

"That doesn't help us, Zeek." Meryl frowned.

"If I can say something that can help you, we'd have more Overcomers now. But that's just it! I can't think of a better way to phrase it! It isn't something that can be explained or passed on. It is something that the individual develops on his own. And it's not easy. I mean, I needed to die and live again to get my shot becoming an Overcomer! That's how wide the gap is between a Hero and an Overcomer."

"Could you, at least, be more specific?"

"Alright. How about this. If I compare who I was when I was an Inhuman and became a Ranked Hero, it would be this. An Inhuman will lose hope and give up right about five seconds before they die. When most people see inevitable death, they surrender. But Heroes don't. They fight until they are dead. Champions are basically heroes but are stronger. In comparison, Overcomers believe that they won't die or lose. Even at the last second. You guys are still Inhumans. You need to have that great force of will to be a Hero. But since you did it in my future, I'm sure you'll do it in this. But it would be best if you made the next step further. Be Overcomers, guys." Seeker smiled.

Cliff reflected how he just gave up and finally understood what Seeker meant.

The memories of Amir Mann battle surfaced. Everything he knew and remembered about Amir Mann repeated themselves in his head as he continuously thought about them. His recollections about Gardo also appeared. Every attack Gardo made, his movements, and even his expressions during those battles emerged as well.

These all surfaced together, and Cliff remembered all of them, at the same time.

The recollection process of Cliff was already something that humans couldn't understand. While humans could remember one thing at one time, and Lennox could remember several things because of his multiple thought processes, Cliff recalled everything despite having only one thought process.

His Path grew stronger at that moment.

Cliff's time in his daydream ended.

Cliff took a step forward as his dream world faded and reality continued.

He unsheathed his sword and ran towards the enemy.

"Focus on the wolves! I'll stop Amir Mann! Gardo! Blow up your arms with Red Robin!" Cliff spoke as quickly as he could. He knew that at this moment, everyone's Unlocking was pushed to its max. Their perceptions would have been at their peak.

The wolves that survived and those who managed to move past the bullet field began to hit the end of the Road. The wall of bullets started to shred them. Some of them only had a leg left or had used the last of their might to throw themselves towards the wall of bullets.

Amir Mann moved closer, and as the surrounding wolves got hit by the bullets, their last actions were to harden their muscles as much as they could. The meat shields allowed Amir Mann to pass through the field without a single scratch.

Of course, this was also because Blast, Trigger, and Typical stopped paying attention at Amir Mann. What Cliff didn't know was the respect the Fangs had for this man. The three had fought them and had witnessed the extremely detailed ability of Cliff. They saw how Meryl and Lynd trusted this man with their life. When Cliff ordered the two to shut down all their attacks, the two did flawlessly. It was Cliff who gave the Fang's the first defeat on that battle in China.

Typical would even use that attack to remind how the Fangs should trust each other, further moving the Fangs to see Cliff more formidable than ever. And even though it was sudden, when Cliff said those words, they gained more courage. They could put their trust on Cliff because they had tasted defeat because of him.

With Cliff assuring them at that last second, they immediately acted and focused on making the Road to Damascus a road that will slaughter and stop the wolves.

Typical did the same and used his needles to attack the wolves instead of the alpha.

Amir was spinning around as it left the last line of the Road to Damascus. It saw Cliff running towards him as he landed on his fours. His upper torso had already transformed into a werewolf with long claws. He got up and gave an upward slash at the sprinting Cliff.

At the very exact moment, Cliff's descending foot was no longer a step forward, but an awkward and reckless stomp to stop his fast sprint. Cliff's sprint was so fast that this stomp actually strained the muscles on his foot!

For a split second, Cliff stopped moving since his leg had stomped to the floor. But Cliff's other half of his body was continuously running.

Cliff allowed the remaining kinetic energy from his sprint to throw him towards the right when the upwards swipe moved past his face.

Excellent motor control for an Unlocked, and especially for someone like Cliff, was different. The muscles of the body could even work in contradiction to each other. This allowed their bodies to move in a stranger manner. Richie and Meng had taught the principles of this, and it was something that Cliff practiced after his first encounter with Amir Mann.

The empty swipe missed, and Cliff almost laughed.

On those small seconds, his presumption proved correct. Amir's Unlocking wasn't as strong as it was. The deception of how the other wolves grew stronger and became Unlocked was a hollow lie.

When the wolves began their sprint within the Road to Damascus, Cliff recalled how the wolves evaded. The wolves and even Amir Mann always dodged on the last possible second. The illusion that they could evade made the Fangs and even Cliff himself believe that they were Unlocked and could avoid. But this was only a half-truth.

It took Seeker, Charles, and everyone else months for them to maximize an Unbecoming drug. Even now, with all their advantages, it was insufficient to perfect it. How could Amir Mann do that so quickly?

And so, with this doubt in mind, Cliff finally found the truth. Amir Mann simply made these werewolves similar to him. It did heighten their perception, but what it mainly gifted the wolves was the ability to do muscle memory evasion. What looked like a pack of Inhumans wolves was a pack of tricksters and imperfect copies that paled compared to Surmounting Unbecoming!

When Cliff used his daydream's remaining time to observe Amir, he noticed that Amir's Unlocking was actually still lacking. His perception was only at the low stages of Unbecoming. He was using his muscle memory to move. The proof was that in Cliff's memories, Amir would only evade most of the bullets when it would make contact with the very hairs on Amir's body.

Amir Mann's missed attack was proof of this. Had this been a really Inhuman like Typical, the attack wouldn't have missed.

Cliff made sure that even the hairs of Amir's wolf-like hands would not touch him as it might have triggered Amir's muscle memory.

"Arthur's right." Cliff thought.

"One step at a time. The world could fall for all I care. I just need to make my next step!"

He landed towards the right side of Amir Mann and immediately crouched down. Amir Mann relied on a very unimaginable touch-responsive counter-attack. But if Cliff were not to make any contact against Amir, no attacks or counter-attacks would be made.

After delivering a sweeping uppercut with his left arm, Amir immediately sent a total kick with his right leg. His body was Unlocked. It was here that he showcased just how fast his attacks were. Relying on his superior body that could bend and flex to a greater extreme than most gymnasts had, Amir's kick was designed to decimate anyone who was around him.

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He didn't know that this ability of Amir to send out explosive and fast attacks was already noticed by Cliff. And this attack was in Cliff's Daydream.

When Amir Mann grabbed Typical's arm and pulled it, Cliff could see just how fast it was. It was a good thing that Typical had already reached the Proficient stage of the Unlocking. If it was anyone else on Proficient, be it, Lynd or Meryl, they would have died. But for Typical, his perception was fast enough to see the quick touch response of Amir Mann.

Amir Mann pulled as if his body had a programmed code that would act when triggered. As for Typical, he used his perception to immediately redirect his own needs to stab and cut his arm so that Amir Mann failed in pulling Typical.

Amir's kick was so strong that it broke the speed of sound. But yet again, he missed. Cliff had already crouched down when Amir's kick swept by.

"Just as I daydreamed." Cliff laughed.

Now that Cliff was proven right, Cliff even dared to do something that no one else under the Ranked Hero stage would try against a Near Overcomer.

Cliff readied his attacks. With a roundhouse kick that created a sonic bomb, Cliff positioned himself on Amir's blind spot and began his attacks.

Being positioned at a blind spot with Amir's back against Cliff, Cliff knew this was the position he needed to be. His daydreams worked. He was exactly where he wanted to be. Using this amazing position as his advantage, Cliff moved on to the next phase of his attack. He quickly moved following Amir Mann's blindside and began to attack the most critical parts of Amir Mann's body.

Amir Mann's fur. This was Cliff's target.

Cliff sent out a single stab aimed at the fur.

When it touched the fur, Amir Mann would use his touch-reaction to evade and counter-attack. Only that Cliff was no longer there and had already positioned himself on another location.

Several thunderous kicks and punches erupted around Cliff.

In contrast to these explosive attacks, Cliff's movements were simple. Sometimes he would make a broad jump, and sometimes he would simply crouch down or take a small step to the right or left on some attacks.

But the scene continued. Cliff was there, triggering Amir Mann's counter-reactive attacks but would stay at a place where he wouldn't be attacked.

Two seconds passed with this scenario. Somewhere in between evading and attacking, Cliff took out a small metallic ball and detonated it.

It was long enough for Typical and the group to notice the battle.

"Focus!" Typical shouted at the two who were getting distracted.

Cliff gave one more attack and leaped as hard as he could towards the back. As Cliff jumped backward, he threw the sword on his hand along with the metallic ball.

He had fought Amir Mann on two occasions, and both memories gave him an estimate on the possible moment when Amir would be greatly angered.

And just as Cliff dreamed, Amir Mann forcibly canceled his counter-reactive attacks and focused his attention on the leaping Cliff. He moved and immediately and jumped towards Cliff.

Cliff could finally relax. There was only one more thing that Cliff envisioned would happen. His memories allowed him to predict Amir Mann's movements, and he kept at it for two seconds. With that last attack, he could only hope to have succeeded. He fought and used all that he could prepare. At that moment, he lamented. He wasn't a Hero.

Because the moment he threw the sword and the metallic ball, he felt a strange sense of peace.

He exhausted all of his attacks and gave up. He still lacked the qualities because he would fight to the last breath. But Cliff no longer had any attacks left.

"I guess I should have prepared more." Cliff sighed as he looked and hoped for the best.

The sword flew, and Amir's face was right in front of it.

The moment it grazed his skin, Amir immediately turned his head and his body as he began to spin the sword passed by, but he didn't notice the small bomb that Cliff tossed. Since he did not have the eyesight that could even match a superior Unbecoming, he failed to see it.

The Balls of Thunder exploded out.

It sent Amir flying towards the right side of Cliff.

Cliff gave a relieved sigh as his plans worked. All that was left was to hope on Gardo.

Gardo had seen the battle and was extremely impressed at Cliff. He couldn't understand how Cliff evaded all those attacks. It looked rather straightforward. In fact, it made the terrifying Amir Mann look very weak. But when he saw Amir Mann flying towards him, he knew what to do.

"Blow up my arms. What a crazy plan. So he prepared all of this to give me the best opportunity to attack Amir." Gardo laughed.

Both of his arms were bright red as he was sprinting towards Amir's approaching figure. Amir wasn't giving up. He was trying to get into a proper position when he saw Gardo.

Gardo decided not to name the attack with the same name his idol called it, fearing possible copyright infringement.

Gardo had listened to the sage-knowledge of Typical and had been pondering on what his Path could become. He thought he was dead for sure when Amir started attacking. But seeing Cliff fight Amir it gave him even more confidence.

"I must do the impossible too! My Path is not yet this! This is science. I must find a way to make this my Path! Let's see just how strong my explosions are!"

"Red Thunder!" Gardo shouted his killer attack as he clapped his hands in front of approaching Amir.

BOOM!

It was as if a powerful Pangean Eradication bomb exploded.

Amir Mann's burn figure could be seen zooming towards the other side.

Several seconds later, all the wolves that were trying to breach the road all fell and died.

"He's unconscious! Get him and begin evacuation!" Typical ordered Suit.

Cliff reached the figure of Gardo. His two arms were gone, and the front of his body had significant burns.

"You can... heal me, right?" Gardo asked with a weak voice.

"Yeah. I'm sure Typical has medicines for the Unlocked. Let's get out of here." Cliff sighed.

With Suit following the evacuation orders and who stopped blocking the attacks from the Horn and the Titan, the ice and the lighting charges began to fall on their location.

Cliff carried Gardo and rushed off towards one of the pieces of Suit's Armor.

"That was fun." Gardo replied as he fell unconscious.

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