RB Chapter 46 Cruel Reality
'Let's try it!' That thought invaded Baguma's mind.
His right hand had at some point moved to the hilt of the sword strapped to the left side of his body.
His left thumb was on the position of where the hilt met the scabbard.
The left thumb straightened at a speed not visible to the normal eye causing the sword to be pushed out of its scabbard and fall into the waiting right hand.
Electrical arcs coursed through the blade. The moment he had ejected the blade with his thumb, the scabbard had produced a repulsive force which was so strong, it was almost comparable to a railgun firing!
But Baguma's dexterous and strong hand managed to catch the ejected blade, and by masterfully directing the force...
He slashed diagonally upwards with such speed that no one, not even the prepared Eric managed to capture the movement if the blade!
The sound of the sheathing blade was all that entered Eric's ears!
All around them, pieces of flesh were raining down coupled with the blood.
"I couldn't control my strength." Baguma said calmly but a note of embarrassment could be caught in his voice.
'I couldn't see the slash, even with my all spectrum eyes!' Eric didn't so much as flinch due to the gore coating his body. He was shocked that he didn't even manage to catch the speed of the blade!
"Shit! Aaaaarck! Bleh!" Elec was on his knees, in the tall grass, emptying his guts out.
This was the second time that he had seen blood, even though that had been just hours apart. But he still hadn't gotten over it.
Eric was awoken by his cursing. He shivered a little as he took in all the gore but he forcefully held it in. He had to get used to this!
He activated all his willpower!
"We need to hurry out of this place! We also need to at least wash off this filth." Baguma started walking without waiting for the boys.
Eric forcefully picked up Elec and hurried after him. He had told them to stay within 10m of him after all!
"How could my eyes have failed to capture even the slightest motion of the blade? Ah! He had moved all his energy to his arm! if I want to capture his movement, I would also have to move energy into my eyes!" Eric mumbled in realisation.
'This boy's clever!' Baguma had his lips curl upwards.
It took over four hours to reach the end of the savanna. They had been attacked by creatures big and small, the weird, the ugly and the downright incomprehensible!
The blood had long dried on their bodies and clothes.
Eric hadn't yet tried energy channeling as it was dangerous! If he got distracted for an instant, he might end up in any creature's body!
"There is a stream about 30 minutes from here. Let's pick up the pace!" Baguma broke into a sprint. The savanna had given way to rocky ground with Thom trees here and there.
"Make sure you don't get close to the trees!" He warned.
Even though the trek had been long, the boys who had never gone into the wilderness didn't complain. Actually they couldn't complain! Their cells had adjusted themselves accordingly. So they were using minimum energy.
'Why are my cells absorbing the dried blood?' Eric was the first to notice something weird.
The blood which had fallen on his skin was dissapearing! Of course it included the blood of other critters apart from the first one Baguma slayed.
The blood wasn't flaking off or anything! It was just disappearing into his skin.
"Why are my cells taking in blood...?" As he was in the midst of asking, he noticed that even Baguma's skin which wasn't covered in clothes was spotless!
"Your cells are awakening to their wildness. Living in a safe environment, the city, had caused them to be slumbering! But super cells innately want to evolve and devour. They only have two wants, evolution and energy. The wilderness is the optimal place for evolution! It must have been triggered by the virus-like supercells floating in the air. The energy barrier enveloping Kampala city blocks them from entering the city." Baguma explained. He was whispering but the two boys weren't having any trouble catching all that he was saying.
"The initial virus-like super cells which were released at the start are still thriving in the wilderness. That's the reason why the beasts are evolving faster than the humans in the city."
"So being in the wilderness is actually more beneficial than being in the city!" Eric was excited.
The rocky dry ground gave way to more trees until a grove could be seen far off on a hill.
------
On reaching the hill, just at the edge of the grove, something with green eyes was stalking them.
The tress were interconnected preventing any sunlight from reaching the ground.
Elec had goosebumps rise up on his skin the moment he caught sight of those eyes.
Baguma was seriously staring into the forest.
Multiple pairs of green eyes appeared. They were watching the trio as if waiting for them to enter the darkness so that they could tear them limb from limb.
"It looks like a tribe of beasts has taken up residence in this grove." Baguma had his left had at the hilt of his blade.
Eric was sure he was considering whether to enter and attack or not.
Judging by his occasional twitching of the thumb, he looked to be anticipating something.
"If a beast masters energy channeling, it will collect others weaker than it and form a beast tribe with it at the head."
Elec turned pale upon hearing about that. Even Eric had his heart skip a beat!
A beast mastering energy channeling?
"This is pretty common in the wilderness. Beasts are stronger than the humans in both population and top tier powerful individuals." That revelation made Eric quake in his boots!
If that was true, then that could only mean that Kampala city was only surviving on luck!
If a beast decided to use all of its energy to perform a powerful attack, even the walls of the city could be breached!
Eric remembered the coat of plasma surrounding Baguma's palm. That was nasty!
"That's why, we prevent the normal populace from going outside the city. They will spread panic in the city if they even manage to survive and get back with such information."
"Then, couldn't you have taught all the people in the city the theory of energy channeling?" Eric asked.
They had decided to just stand and chat at the edge of the grove.
"We didn't know anything about energy channeling, and we think the beasts were trying to keep such knowledge secret. Plus, the one guy who knew about it did not want to expose any information." Baguma lamented. His dark expression had already given Eric an idea of who the guy was.
"Why aren't these beasts attacking?" Elec asked as they had paused their conversation.
"The beasts have a keen instinct for danger." Baguma answered.
So far, none of the beasts had come closer for them to determine what they were dealing with.
"Why aren't we taking any action then?" Elec once again asked.
"I am waiting for their leader to show up ofcourse." Baguma had a grin of excitement spread on his face.
'It looks like he wants to see if he can go toe to toe with a powerful beast which has mastered energy channeling.' Eric was directing his gaze into the forest. He had activated his All spectrum eyes so that he could be prepared for any eventualities.
But he wasn't that confident in his mind. Baguma's slash had made him aware that energy channeling elevated the master's abilities to a whole new dimension. If the leader of this beast tribe attacked, only Baguma would be able to cope.
They waited in silence for about 8 minutes before a low growl was heard coming from the forest.
The gloomy green eyes which had been staring at them the whole time vanished with a sound of the rustling of the undergrowth.
The two boys didn't relax but instead tensed. Something, a sound, so soft that it was like an illusion was heard coming in front of them.
They could make out a massive body moving but, they couldn't see its eyes. They were sure it was staring at them but they couldn't make out its eyes. Eric's vision was showing a bright light moving around inside the beast's body.
Baguma stared directly at the coming beast! His hair was literally standing up!
Eric could even see electrical sparks clambering up and dissipating into the air above!
Baguma was at his most powerful state! That was the feeling that Eric was getting!
His feet were spread apart, his knees a little bit bent, like he was storing force!
Even his right hand was in the hilt of his blade, with the left at the scabbard, thumb poised to eject the blade.
The boys had moved behind him, about 5m away.
They were both having the same reaction, starry eyes! They found the current Baguma cool!
TRIVIA
The original super cells are still alive and well in the entire world! They are like a cancer. They will never die out unless, the entire earth is destroyed, and that's also debatable, after all, they can adapt to any environment! Probably even space!