POTENTIAL: THIRTY-FIVE

**ALEX POV**

The saying is true that evil persists for a long time. We'd been fighting for half an hour, but Quinn was still standing. However, I noticed that she was weakening.

"Looks like clones lack stamina as well," I teased her, annoying her even more. I tried to read her mind, but I failed. It seemed like their brains were different from the normal human brain. But I didn't care because I was going to end this woman, right here, right now.

Quinn dashed towards me, but I stopped her with my spears. I charged my spears at her, but she managed to dodge. However, she was starting to slow down. Quinn stopped again as if taking a break. She was panting heavily, and I could feel the tremors in her muscles. If I'm not mistaken, she's suffering from muscle strain and fatigue, and if she continues, she will experience muscle damage.

"Give up?" I asked, but she just laughed. She laughed so hard, as if someone tickled her until she suddenly stopped. She looked at me and gave me that evil smile again.

"Give up? I don't even know what that means!" Quinn threw something at me, which I quickly identified as grenades. I protected myself with a force field until it released smoke. A smoke grenade? The thick smoke enveloped the area, making it difficult for me to see Quinn. "Can't find me?" she taunted, followed by an annoying laugh.

So, this is her plan? A surprise attack? Pathetic. She may disable my sense of sight, but not my fifth sense.

I closed my eyes and released an energy wave. I could see running footsteps, but they were too fast. I needed to figure out where she'd attack. Suddenly, the footsteps disappeared, and the ground fell silent.

Where is she? Is she on the right? Left? Back? Front? Wait!

"Got ya!" Quinn exclaimed as she surprised me from above. A gushing sound of blood instantly filled my hearing. It seemed that someone got hurt. I released a shockwave that removed the smoke from our surroundings. It was then that I saw Quinn's fate.

One of my spears mercilessly pierced right through her flesh. I felt pity for her, but my compassion for the people she had killed outweighed it.

"That is for our class secretary."

I motioned my hand, and another spear pierced her again.

"That's for Trisha's friends."

And again.

"That's for Dr. Deguro and Mikel."

And one last strike.

"And that's for all the people you've killed."

Quinn now had four metal spears in her body. She was still alive, but not for long. With the blood escaping from her body, I was sure her condition was critical.

"May you rest in peace in hell."

******

**SKY POV**

I never expected this woman to be this skillful. It's been fifteen minutes, but we were both still standing. I'm out of bullets, so I only had a knife in my hand. Luckily, I was trained by a knife master while we were still in the laboratory. That's how I managed to survive her double blades.

But there's another problem. My body was getting weaker because of what I had done to her men earlier. I consumed too much energy, and now my body was faltering.

"What's wrong, boy? Getting tired already?" she taunted. If she thought she could provoke me, she was mistaken. It's one of the rules: don't let your emotions control you. So, I just waited for her to attack. "Let's get this done," she signaled and quickly ran towards me.

She swayed both her blades towards me, but I dodged them. I tried to hit her legs, but she blocked them with one of her swords. I jumped away from her, but she quickly followed. She delivered another strike using her left blade, but I managed to jump and avoid that attack. However, I was surprised when I saw another one of her swords coming.

I managed to dodge it, but she grazed me on the side. Nevertheless, I retaliated. I gave her a cut on her shoulder. We both stopped to catch our breath and assess our wounds. The cut I gave her was not deep but quite long. In contrast, hers was short but deep.

"I'm enjoying this more!" she exclaimed while grinning. She ran towards me again and delivered an attack. I did a fighting stance, but my body suddenly weakened. I looked at the woman, who seemed to have no intention of stopping. She struck both blades at me, but I managed to stop them with my telekinesis.

"Nice! But too slow!" Suddenly, I felt a kick on my side that knocked me down. I felt a nerve-wracking sting at the site where she kicked me, and she added another kick. I coughed out blood after that blow, along with releasing the knife. My vision slowly blurred, and it seemed like she wanted me to close my eyes.

But I should not. Once I close these eyes, it'll be my end. But it seemed like the end for me is near. I had no strength left. My body was too weak for another fight with this demon.

"How pathetic you are right now," she insulted. She sat down to get closer to me, placing her right blade on my chest and looking at me. "Such a beautiful body you have. Masculine and firm. A perfect ingredient for my new recipe." I closed my eyes, remembering Alex.

I'm sorry, Alex. I can't be with you forever.

"Not today," a voice replied. I quickly opened my eyes and saw the clone wincing and trembling. Her body vibrated as if she was fighting some kind of a force. I was surprised when she suddenly flew back to where she stood before. After that, I saw Alex running towards me.

******

**ALEX POV**

After throwing Quinnie's clone, I quickly ran towards Sky lying wounded on the floor. I immediately knelt down to talk to him closely.

"Are you okay?" I asked while examining his body for any wounds, and indeed, there was one. He had a cut on his right side, but it wasn't too deep. Just a graze.

"Behind you," he mumbled. I swiftly turned around and saw Quinnie's approaching clone with two blades made from her hands. She was furious, but her anger was nothing compared to what I felt. I stood up and faced her, extending my hand to stop her.

I flicked my hand, throwing her back to where she came from. I quickly levitated a dozen guns around and aimed them at her. As she stood up, her rage and irritation were more evident.

"This is for my boyfriend." Simultaneous gunfire echoed throughout the room. Relentlessly, the bullets rained down on the woman at the other end of the space. It took a minute or two before the bullets were exhausted. The clone of Quinnie was no more.

I turned back to Sky, who had lost consciousness. I quickly checked his carotid pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when I felt it. But I needed to take him to the hospital. I closed my eyes and established a connection with Maica.

"Maica?"

"Yes, Alex?"

"I need you."

"Where are you?"

"Unova Food Corp. In Quinnie's office. Bring Trisha with you. She knows where it is."

"We're on our way."

"When you arrive, bring Sky to the hospital. Don't wait for me. I'll be back soon."

"Okay, Alex. Take care."

"Thanks."

I opened my eyes again, and Sky was looking at me. I applied pressure to his wound to stop the bleeding.

"Go," he urged, irritating me.

"No. We'll wait for Maica. They're on their way," I refused his suggestion.

"Just go. Carlo and the kids need your help. Don't worry; I can handle this," Sky convinced me emotionlessly.

For the second time, I refused. "No! I won't leave you like this."

"It's just a cut, Alex. What worse could happen?"

"Even so! I can't leave you in this condition!"

"Yes, you can."

"Sky, just stop!" I bowed my head as tears welled up. I couldn't cry like this. I closed my eyes and tried to contact Carlo.

"Carlo?"

"What the— hello?"

"It's me, Carlo, Alex. I'm using telepathy right now."

"Mind-to-mind communication?"

"Yes. What about you? Did you find them?"

"Yes. We're outside the factory, and I've also called the police."

"That's good. Just stay there and keep them safe."

"How about Sky? Is he okay?"

"Not really, but it's not that bad."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left him."

"It's fine. It's not your fault. Sometimes you must follow him or things will go the other way around. Anyway, I'll cut this short."

"Okay, take care."

I opened my eyes again, and Sky was looking at me. I gave him a smile and continued to apply pressure to his wound. After fifteen minutes, Maica arrived with Carlo and Trisha.

"How's he?" Maica asked with concern. Trisha volunteered to apply pressure to the wound while Carlo anxiously looked at Sky.

"He's just sleeping," Trisha answered Maica's question.

"You take care of him. I still have something to do," I bid them farewell. I stood up and was about to leave when Trisha called out to me.

"Thank you." I gave her a smile and then left.

I ran until I reached an elevator and stairs. I knelt down and closed my eyes. I released an energy wave that spread throughout the building. I noticed that the depth of the elevator didn't match the engine room at the end of the stairs. This meant there was a room below.

I opened my eyes again and found myself in the engine room. This was strange. Only authorized personnel seemed to have access here. It seemed I needed to go down manually.

I exited the elevator and created an energy orb. Once it was complete, I directed it toward the elevator floor. A hole was left on the floor, leading to a dark, pitch-black shaft. I enlarged the hole and passed through.

Using the stairs on the wall, I slowly descended to whatever was below. It took me five minutes before I reached another elevator door. I opened it using my telekinesis and entered.

I found myself walking in a well-lit and white-tinted hallway. It seemed to be a laboratory, as the scent of antiseptic and medicine filled the air. I continued walking until I stopped at what I saw.

On both sides were glass windows, and beyond them were glass tubes I couldn't count due to their sheer number. But what was more surprising was that they contained people.

"You seem surprised," a familiar voice suddenly remarked. It was Jasper, standing stiffly a few meters in front of me. Both hands were on his back imitating a butler waiting for his master's next command.

"What are you doing to them?"

"For the procedure to be successful, we need a tremendous amount of blood, until the antibodies localize her body," he replied, surprising me even more.

"You're forcing them to become blood donors?"

"We don't have a choice. The Blood Bank can't give us enough blood bags, so we must find an alternative."

"You call this an alternative?"

"As I've said, we don't have a choice."

I couldn't control myself anymore and released a shockwave. The window glasses on both sides cracked, and Jasper was thrown back.

"Then you leave me no choice, either."