FLAW: FIFTY-SEVEN

**ALEX POV**

We are all seated on a set of sofas inside Dao's secret bunker. He and Sky were busy hacking the Glias system while the rest of us waited, bored.

"How much longer will it take?" Wernie asked, exhausted from continuously scrolling up and down on his phone to pass the time. Trevor and Justin, on the other hand, were happily playing RPGs on their phones. Maica was practicing her clairaudience, with Trisha assisting her. Meanwhile, Calli watched the two hackers.

Everyone was occupied in their own ways while I sat there watching them all. I sighed deeply and leaned back on the sofa, gazing up at the white ceiling. Before long, drowsiness overcame me. I was about to doze off when we all felt the ground shaking.

They all paused their activities, and I sat up. We stared at each other, waiting for the next tremor. As expected, another one followed.

"What was that?" Wernie asked with concern.

"There's an energy shift just a few meters away from here," Dao informed, prompting us to look at the large screen displaying a subdivision map with a flashing red dot.

"I'll check it out."

"I'm coming with you," Sky suggested, but I quickly declined.

"Just help Dao with the hacking. Besides, I'm the only one who can handle whatever caused that earthquake and energy shift," I pointed out, and he agreed. I knew he wanted to help, but Dao needed his assistance more.

"Just be careful," he added before I left the room. I glanced back at him with a smile.

I headed outside Dao's house. As I approached the street, I noticed a dark smoke a few meters away from where I stood. I quickly made my way towards it. A burning house surprised me as I arrived. Firefighters and curious neighbors were already present. Fortunately, the house had a firewall, preventing the fire from spreading.

The conversation between two firefighters caught my attention, so I used my clairaudience to eavesdrop.

"What caused the fire?"

"The owner said his wife suddenly burst into flames while they were having dinner."

"What?!"

"It's just my guess, sir, but I think human combustion occurred here."

Human combustion. Our biology professor had mentioned it in class. Due to the phosphorus content in our blood, instances of human combustion could occur. It's a fact, but it's often believed that something malicious or otherworldly is behind it, possibly supernatural or arson. Considering Dao's information about the energy shift, I speculated that the cause of this fire was indeed supernatural.

"It might be a fire spirit!" a woman exclaimed, wide-eyed with fear. St. Elmo's Fire is both a superstitious belief and a scientific phenomenon. But as I said, there's no doubt that some entity is involved.

"Alex!"

"Maica?"

"Yes!"

"What's wrong?"

"Dao speculated that a fire spirit is behind this incident." Fire spirit? That means I need clairvoyance to see it! "Don't worry, Trisha is on her way."

"What?! That's too dangerous!"

"We couldn't stop her. She left abruptly when she learned about the fire spirit."

"Okay. Thanks for the info."

"Welcome. Take care."

"I will."

Maica ended the connection, bringing me back to watching the burning house. I couldn't just enter without facing the reprimand of the firefighters.

"It's you!" a man shouted. I looked at him and was surprised to see him staring at me, pointing his finger. He's a firefighter, judging by his uniform. He looked familiar, but I couldn't remember where I'd seen him. "You're the guy I found in the burning building!" he exclaimed, widening my eyes. I remembered now!

"You might be mistaken," I lied, trying to hide an embarrassing smile.

"No! I can't be wrong. I've been thinking about you since the day I met you!" he stated. For some reason, my cheeks suddenly felt warm. "That just sounds wrong," he added, and I was shocked to see his face turning red.

This is awkward.

"Sorry," he apologized, but I just shook my head with a smile. "So, what are you doing here? Don't tell me you're here because of the fire?" he asked, surprising me.

"No!" I quickly denied it, shaking my head.

"I'm Reif," he introduced himself, extending his hand for a handshake. I hesitated upon his introduction, but seeing his friendly smile made me accept it.

"Alex," I replied, shaking his hand.

"Alex? Oh my god! You're that Alex?!" he asked with wide eyes, gripping my hand tighter. "The one with psychic abilities?" he added, and with his loud voice, he caught the attention of others.

I looked at them one by one, wearing concerned expressions. "Ye-yes," I hesitantly confirmed, surprising him even more. Then, he smiled with joy and bliss as if he had just seen his favorite artist.

"Sorry," he apologized, releasing my hand. "So, you're here to deal with this fire?" he asked, about to respond when a woman suddenly screamed.

We all looked at her and realized that she was the victim's wife. I noticed the firefighters stepping back, leaving me puzzled. I crossed the yellow tape and approached the burning house. I thought Reif might stop me, but he just let me through.

I was surprised to see a figure walking engulfed in flames. But something caught my eye. His chest was glowing red like a ruby attached to it. He stared at his wife while she looked at him in shock. He reached out his hand as if asking for help, but I noticed fire forming in his hand.

He's going to burn his wife!

I quickly ran towards the woman, surprising Reif and the other firefighters. When I reached the woman, the man released a deadly fire. Using my force field, I managed to stop it from hitting us.

"Get away from here!" I ordered the woman, who ran away without hesitation. I also noticed people moving away to avoid this man's attack.

When he stopped, I unleashed a powerful shockwave on him, sending him back towards the burning house, giving me a break.

"Alex!" Trisha called out. "Hit his chest!" she shouted, referring to the ruby on the man's chest. I nodded at Trisha and then looked at Reif.

"I need water!" I shouted to my new firefighter friend. I noticed Reif panicking due to my sudden command, but he managed to grab the hose and point it at me. He opened it, creating a massive puddle beneath me. "Thanks!"

"Alex!" Trisha shouted again, causing me to look at the man I had thrown earlier. He was on his feet again, but I noticed the intensification of his fire.

Suddenly, he launched towards me, which was a wrong move. I met him with water provided by Reif. I drowned him, but I was impressed that his fire was still not extinguished. I was about to remove the ruby using my telekinesis, but I was surprised when he suddenly exploded, releasing a destructive shockwave.

I was thrown several meters from where I stood earlier by the shockwave he unleashed. The firefighters, Trisha, and some neighbors were also knocked down. I looked back at the man, surprised to see that he was still intact. I thought he exploded, but it seemed like I was wrong.

I noticed his fire intensifying even more as the concrete beneath him glowed like magma. After a while, it turned into something resembling molten lava from a volcano. Five fireballs appeared above him, which he immediately released towards me. I deflected all of them, but they blocked my vision due to the dark smoke it emitted.

I was surprised to see him just a meter away from where I stood. He pulled his right flaming fist and delivered a deadly scorching punch on my barrier. I released a shockwave, but it wasn't effective. I did manage to push him back, but not like earlier. Now, I released psi balls and threw them at him. He received the attack, but he remained unhurt.

Using telekinesis, I crashed two nearby cars into him like a mosquito. But the car melted, leaving the man uninjured. I was about to attack him again when suddenly liquid nitrogen poured over him. I looked up, revealing a helicopter hovering above us. I thought it was the firefighters' companion, but when I saw a familiar insignia, I realized they were our formidable enemies, the Glias.

I looked back at the man but couldn't see him anymore. He was surrounded by mist from the nitrogen and his own fire. It released a hissing sound like a pressure cooker releasing built-up steam. I decided to get rid of the steam using my hydrokinesis since the steam consisted of water vapor.

When it cleared, I was surprised to see that his body was no longer on fire, leaving burnt and cooked human flesh. I could smell the burnt meat, like grilled pork. It made me hungry, but seeing his condition, I quickly felt disgusted.

"Alex! The ruby!" Trisha reminded me. I was about to walk towards the man but couldn't move my body. It was the same thing that happened to me earlier at the factory. I couldn't see who was behind this, but I guessed one of our accomplices was inside the helicopter and preventing me.

From the helicopter, a box made of glass was lowered. It enveloped the man and released steam. But knowing that the glass started to freeze, it wasn't a steam of heat but of cold, making the fire spirit vulnerable. After a moment, the Glias left with the victim. Trisha rushed towards me, along with the firefighter, especially Reif. He was worried about me, which puzzled me.

"It's not her, Alex. It's a man,” Trisha informed me, referring to whoever stopped me earlier.

"Are you okay, Alex?" Reif asked with concern. Trisha also looked at him curiously.

"I'm fine," I replied, nodding at him.

The firefighters continued extinguishing the remaining fire in the house while Trisha and I walked back to where the others were. Of course, we said goodbye to Reif after he thanked me for my help.

"So, what does the fire spirit look like?" I asked as we walked back to Dao's house.

"Just what the name said, it's made of fire and has two red eyes," Trisha described.

"Why did you ask me to remove the ruby earlier?"

"That ruby is a mark that he owns the victim," explained Trisha, and I nodded. After a long walk, we reached Dao's house. We noticed some of them waiting outside to greet us. When we arrived, we went straight to where Dao and Sky were.

"Update?" I asked Sky as I approached him. He was busy typing something on the keyboard that I couldn't understand.

"We're almost through. We just need to surpass the last firewall," he replied, and I nodded in acknowledgment.

After half an hour, the two of them finished. However, we still needed to wait a few more hours to download the files. So, we decided to go home for now and come back tomorrow. But Sky insisted on staying; he said they needed to check the files immediately to explain everything adequately the next day, which made sense. So, I allowed him to stay.

As his boyfriend, I had to be supportive. Besides, it was for the sake of the world, so I saw nothing wrong with it. My only concern was his safety. I couldn't afford to lose him too.