Chapter 8: Cover Blown: The Fight Amongst Artifact Users

Commander Vision found more of his men in the forest, all of them unconscious too. He analyzes the pattern in which they were all laid out and tries to determine where and what the threat could be. Because all his men were scattered around and with random injuries, he wasn't able to determine much from their bodies. After this observation of his, he starts to hear rustling within the bushes.

He leisurely walked around the forest and patiently waited for the enemy to appear. During his walk, he was constantly disturbed by the noise of rustling bushes and leaves and shaking tree branches. He suddenly comes to a complete stop when he notices movement and inconspicuously checks his surroundings. He double-checks every direction and finds nothing. With a sense of foreboding, he pulls out a red pill and quickly tosses it into his mouth. Before the pill could make its way down his throat, Warren lunges out of the shadows and delivers a heavy side kick into his neck.

Warren is sent flying through the forest and forcefully crashes into multiple trees before coming to a stop. He breathes heavily as he stands up and wipes the blood off of his forehead. He casually fixes his jaw then looks back in the direction he flew from.

"Show yourself, you damn coward!"

Vision's taunt was soon followed by Warren's kick to his stomach. To Warren's surprise, Vision caught his leg before contact and swept him onto the ground. Shocked, Warren started blocking his head as Vision distributed a barrage of hulking punches. Warren was petrified by the look in his eyes, they were completely murderous and lacked remorse as he smiled disturbingly. Warren tried to sneak in a right kick during his cascade of attacks but failed when Vision predicted his movement and grabbed his leg.

Warren used this as an opening and tried to kick him off with his left leg instead, but Vision grabbed it before it made contact. At this point, Warren places his hands-on Vision's neck and sends a loud headbutt. This headbutt stuns Vision for a second and releases his hold on Warren, at which point, he crawls away from Vision and quickly retreats.

Vision violently breathes as he tries to provoke Warren again. He takes out another red pill and swallows it. He pauses for a moment and starts reflecting on his previous engagement with Warren. He has a puzzled face, which gradually changes to an enraged expression. He shouts and punches a tree in anger before he starts hunting for Warren.

As Vision starts his hunt, Warren is trying to get his breathing under control while hiding behind a tree. He reviews everything that Vision has done in an attempt to uncover the power of his level five artifact as well as his own power. With no luck in discovering Vision's powers, he chooses to prioritize the red pills. He concludes that the red pills are the cause of the extraordinary healing powers.

As he gathers his thoughts, he looks over his shoulder and is greeted with close eye contact with Vision. Before he has the chance to be startled, Vision takes Warren's crown, grabs him by the neck with his right hand, and lifts him up against the tree. Vision holds the golden crown in front of Warren as he aggressively interrogates him.

"Where did you get this artifact?"

Getting no response, he lowers Warren and gives him a hard knee blow to the stomach.

"The artifact. Where did you get it!?"

His question echoed through the quiet forest and Warren had started to get lightheaded. Before almost blacking out, Warren tightly grips Visions' right wrist and gives a supersonic kick to the chest. Warren started coughing uncontrollably afterward. Without wasting time, he rushes at Vision with supersonic speed and bombards him with a volley of vigorous punches and kicks.

Every single attack is executed within the blink of an eye and shortly disables Vision's ability to think. During the barrage of lethal attacks, Warren is stealthy searching through Vision's pockets and looking for the red pills. He eventually finds them inside his uniform and starts to slow down his attacks. When Vision notices his change in speed, he quickly acts on it by sending a strong vertical kick to Warren's chin. Vision backs up after the kick and hurriedly reaches for his red pills.

He felt all over his uniform looking for the pills, but when he couldn't find them, he quickly checked the ground. He hears a sound similar to pills shaking in a bottle coming from Warren's direction. He fixes his vision at Warren to find that he had had the pills on him. The two of them had a stare down at this moment.

"As much as I want to murder you right now, I respect your skill in combat and decision-making." Vision unenthusiastically complements Warren on his efforts.

"I guess you don't need the artifact to be fast or strong. It was fun but playtime is over, kid." He gestures towards the bottle of pills, "Hand me the pills and I'll leave you and your village alone."

Warren impudently smirks and says, "Playtime is over? I'm the one at an advantage here. You're trying to end a fight in which you're the one at a disadvantage. I'm not that stupid. And the Kannon have never made peaceful negotiations, so you can kiss my ass."

Vision casually laughs while tightening his grip on the golden crown and retorts Warren's statement.

"You're one cheeky bastard." Vision pulls out a Teleporter Bead from his pocket and uses it to send the golden crown back to his base.

"When I strangle you to death, I'll be sure to take my time."