Enlightened Violence 62

Chapter 62: Awakening

"I don't... I don't know," Billy said between gasps as he stopped screaming. "But it hurts and burns inside me..." he added as he opened his eyes, revealing the yellow, fiery glint inside them.

And that was when I felt it; the unmistakable of detecting an energy signature. What's more, it was coming from inside little Billy.

It felt both warm and scorching at the same time, as if it was countless light specks merging to form a sun, holding the promise of both life and an endless purgatory of flames.

"Don't worry big. It looks you're awakening your energy..." I said with a smile as I got up and made my way towards a chair. "It should be over soon, and you'll be a lot stronger when it does..." I added as I took a seat, intending to look over Billy until the end of his awakening.

"Will... will Billy stop being useless if he awakens energy?" Billy asked in between gasps as he looked at me, even the intense yellow glow in his eyes unable to hide the hope in them as he did.

"Will Billy finally be able to help...?" he asked in an unsure tone, but there was hope in both of his voice and expression. 

"You've never been useless, big guy," I said with a sigh as I looked at the big fool. "But you'll be stronger and able to do many things that you weren't previously capable of," I added with a smile, making him smile as well, despite his pained expression.

"That's good..." Billy said as he closed his eyes with a goofy smile on his face. "Billy is even happier now..." he added, relaxing his body as he seemingly went to sleep, making me sigh again.

Billy has been very self-conscious about what little he could do since we came to Fallout town, as he usually kept himself busy by helping with building the fortifications back in the game.

The compound was already decently fortified, and there wasn't much for us to add to its structure's defensive capabilities, other than a few modifications here and there. And Billy has been more than happy to help with that.

However, he's been idle since then other than a few training sessions with me as I taught him how to defend himself, and even such occasions were rare.

He even went as far as to ask for me to let him join the fight when the gangsters surrounded the compound in his desperation to be of help, but I refused, of course, because he wasn't ready for this sort of carnage.

I didn't intend to treat him with kiddy gloves forever, but letting him experience that kind of slaughter would surely backfire, as he still had the mind of a child.

'That fucking piece of shit, I should have tortured him for a bit before killing him and throwing him to the undead...' I sighed, shaking my head as I remembered "Uncle Norman," the piece of shit who was using Billy back in the game. 

I didn't know for sure if it was him who drilled the mentality of having to be useful to live that Billy seemed to live by or if it was someone else, but it's going to be a problem I would need to resolve sooner or later. 

The big oaf had considerably grown on me, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I might have a soft spot for his goofy smile, so I just might be doing a good deed with no ulterior motive for the first time since I came to this world. 

'Doesn't feel bad, actually... But I better not get used to it.' I shook my head with a sigh. I couldn't afford going soft, not now, probably never.

And so, with this line of thinking, or overthinking, I closed my eyes and spent the next couple of hours watching over Billy. 

...

I opened my eyes as I felt the energy emanating from little Billy started disseminating little by little and smiled as the big guy himself woke up and stood, looking around with a confused expression. 

I cleared my throat, causing Billy to slightly jump as he turned to look at me with a startled expression, only to smile as he recognized me. "Big brother, Kaden, it doesn't hurt anymore..." he said, his smile faltering as he put on a thoughtful expression.

"But it feels weird... somehow," he said, trailing in the middle of his sentence as he tried to think up the appropriate words to describe what he's feeling. However, it seems he gave halfway and went with the easy way out. 

"That's your energy, and we can go ahead and figure out the type of power you gained once you're ready," I said with a nod as I made my way towards Billy and patted his shoulder. 

"But rest up for now, and we'll get to that later," I added as I removed my hand and took a step back, intending to leave. 

"Alright, Billy will rest, but did anyone else come to see Billy when he was sick...?" billy asked in a nervous tone, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. 

"Yup," I replied with a nod of my head. "Vilhelm and Briar came, they'll be happy to know you're better now, so I better go and tell them the good news," I added, smiling as Billy smiled broadly, infecting me in the process.

"I'll see you later, big guy," I concluded, waving my hand as I exited the room.

... 

"Took your time," Vilhelm said as I saw him standing near Billy's room, smoking a cigarette. "How's the kid?" he asked as he threw the cigarette to the ground, stomping on it.

"Were you waiting here all this time?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as I turned to look at Vilhelm with amusement in my expression.

"It's my day off, and the sun feels great in this spot..." Vilhelm replied with a blank expression as he fished out another cigarette. "Anyway, how's the kid?" he asked again after lighting the cigarette.

"He's fine," I said with a chuckle, choosing not to say anything about Vilhelm's tsundere act. "He just needs some rest, is all," I added, involuntarily letting out a yawn as the exhaustion of the day finally caught up to me.

"So, what was wrong with him in the first place?" Vilhelm asked with a frown as he noticed my exhaustion, getting straight into the subject to make the conversation short and not keep me from resting any longer.

"Nothing," I replied, shaking my head as Vilhelm's frown became more pronounced. "Billy just awakened his energy," I added with a shrug of my shoulders. 

"What sort of energy did he awaken?" Vilhelm asked after freezing for a second, making me raise an eyebrow. I did some digging on energy awakening and the types of energy in this world, and I find absolutely nothing on public channels. 

As it would seem, energy was kept a secret for some reason, and regular people knew nothing about it, leaving only people who awaken energy and those involved working with them or studying energy in the know about it. 

"I don't know, but we'll do some testing and figure it out once he's well-rested," I replied with a shrug as I stopped thinking about why Vilhelm knew about energy until I got some rest, at least.

Vilhelm heard my words and froze for another second, but he grunted with a nod and excused himself, a thoughtful expression on his face as he left.

I shrugged my shoulder as I watched Vilhelm leave and left the scene as well, intending to find Clark.

...

It didn't take me long to find Clark, as he usually hung around in his little office room, surrounded by paperwork, as he goes the reports of the various missions my Phoenix Wings go through on a daily basis. 

I had already introduced him to Charmaine's subordinates, who were responsible for delegating missions, and let him handle the assignment of our members. 

And he proved more than capable of doing that as he used his ability to calculate the chances of success for said missions, anticipate potential risks, and choose the most suitable person for the job, but that is neither here nor there. 

"Clark," I greeted in a neutral tone as I stepped into his office.

"Boss," Clark greeted with a nod as he raised his head that was buried in paperwork, nodding at me with a deadpan expression. "What can I do for you?" he asked in a curious tone, seemingly confused as to why I'm visiting him right now, as I rarely do so.

"Billy awakened an ability, and I'll be needing the training room to test it tomorrow," I said while gesturing with my hand in the training room's direction. 

The training room in question was actually a simple storage room that came with the compound, but we needed someplace for our members to train and release some steam, so we proposed it into a training room after enforcing the walls. 

"Hmm, so that's why he was sick for the past day..." Clark said with a thoughtful expression. "At any rate, how soon do you need it? Because I was planning to start a fighting tournament between the Phoenix Wings members, and it's scheduled for tomorrow..." he added, trailing at the end of his sentence as he resumed his deadpan expression. 

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about that," I said with a sigh, rubbing my forehead. "Then I guess testing Billy's ability will have to wait for the day after tomorrow," I added with a shrug. 

"Very well, then. I'll have it ready for your use after the tournament," Clark said with a nod as he buried his head back into the paperwork.

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get some sleep," I concluded as I turned around and left.

(Author's note: I won't have much time to write today, so I decided to add an extra scene into this chapter since it was shorter than usual to even things out)