Despite his earlier troubles, Adam had to admit that the day was rather nice.
The air held a touch of spring and the sweet scent of dew filled his senses. Not as much as another smell, though.
"Must you wear so much spray?" Adam asked with a slight chuckle.
Cynthia merely shrugged as she imitated using even more perfume. Then she did something even more disgusting as she imitated shoving an entire stick of deodorant on his armpits and said, "You're just mad because you don't know how to put on deodorant."
Adam rolled his eyes as he held his hand up, clasping Cynthia's head and keeping her at arm's length. "I already have deodorant on, though."
They bantered like this the entire trip to the local ice cream parlor, each of them doing their best to one-up the other.
To passersby, they probably looked like couples because of how different their physical appearance was. Cynthia had golden auburn hair that dazzled under the sun, and Adam had perfectly white hair except for the few red strips he had colored in a rebellious fit.
At first, those were the actions of a 10-year-old who thought he knew everything. However, once he saw his new hairstyle in the mirror, Adam couldn't help but appreciate his new look.
Hair wasn't the only difference though. Adam had pale skin, whereas Cynthia's was clearly sunkissed; Cynthia wore a casual caramel hoodie and cream sweatpants combo, while Adam wore a simple black suit.
Even though they couldn't look any more different physically, mentally it was very clear they were siblings.
...
It didn't take long for them to get to the ice cream parlor, but once they did, they were met with the longest line in history.
"This is longer than China's Great Wall!" Cynthia lamented as she tried to peer ahead of the 10 people in front of her.
Adam shrugged as he pulled out his phone, checking his bank account real quick to make sure he actually had enough money for ice cream.
[Balance: $4.51]
'An ice cream sundae costs 4 dollars. Damn.' Adam sighed.
Cynthia mistook the sigh as one that meant 'behave, dammit!' This caused her to calm down, or at least try to. She knew that Adam didn't like to cause scenes as it was generally embarrassing.
It took around 10 minutes for the line to get their snacks. Adam spent this time refreshing his bank account to make sure that there wasn't any random subscription he had forgotten about. To his relief, when it was their turn to purchase their food he still had the $4.51.
Cynthia patiently waited for Adam to tell the clerk what he wanted. Because he was the one paying, he should have first dibs. However, Adam didn't entertain the idea that he'd get something while leaving his sister to rot for a second.
Nudging her, he playfully said, "Not hungry anymore?"
"I was waiting for you!"
"Eh, not hungry," Adam said with a shrug.
Cynthia pursed her lips before turning to the clerk and ordering her usual. 2 scoops, banana in between, with plenty of chocolate on top. However, when Adam went to pay, she did something surprising.
She took 2 spoons.
"Why? I'm not—"
"Yeah, that's bullshit. Can't lie to your sister, idiot." Cynthia laughed as she stuck her tongue out before walking to their seat.
Adam shook his head in exasperation as he pressed his hand to the screen. Debit cards hadn't been used since even before the great war and kaiju crisis. In fact, if his grandpa didn't have one Adam couldn't imagine such a thing actually existing.
Wouldn't people just lose their cards? It's much harder to lose a hand.
The clerk smiled as the purchase went through and asked, "Hey, kid. You sure you don't want anything on the house?"
Adam blinked in surprise for a second, taken aback by his kindness. Then he fervently shook his head. If he didn't earn it, Adam didn't want it. Handouts would dampen his desire to get a job, which would only hurt them in the long run.
"Hmm. Ok, then! Tell your sister she better enjoy that sundae then!"
Adam nodded as he said, "Yeah," and walked over to Cynthia.
Sitting down, Adam felt a sudden stark rising in Qi in the air. Looking around, he instantly searched for a dimensional collapse but didn't see a single sign of one.
'Could it be an exalted is here then?' He thought as he continued scanning the area. Most people were oblivious because those without qi couldn't sense it, but Adam quickly found 2 people who seemed to notice the same rise in energy as he had.
"Hey! You think you can just be some selfless asshole and then ignore me?! I got us both a spoon so stop looking at the birds!"
"Weirdo," Adam responded to her stern cry before turning back. As promised, she had positioned one of the spoons so that he could easily reach it. Additionally, she had split the sundae perfectly in half.
Well, except for the chocolate. She had scraped almost all of it to her side.
Smiling. Adam leaned forward as he prepared to accept his sister's little present.
Crack!!!
Every hair stood on Adam's neck as a dimensional rift opened above them, probably no more than 100 yards away.
He had already flung the table to the side, splattering their ice cream somewhere. Without hesitation he picked up Cynthia, who was too stunned to move, and began running.
There was no time to turn around and see what kaiju appeared from the rift. It was likely strong, at least a [Leviathan] class due to how the air itself cried in its presence. That was more than enough for Adam to be convinced that he had no chance of saving his sister and fighting the beast.
Therefore, he was running at a speed well over 300 mph, making sure that he didn't allow his adrenaline to make him move so fast that he accidentally splattered Cynthia.
After a few hundred yards, he felt that they had created enough distance between them and the kaiju.
Then a giant purple and red tentacle slammed into a building beside them. Screams and red mist filled the air as those who weren't lucky enough to die from the initial hit were impaled or stranded on the top floors of the building. Soon, he knew he'd see people jumping.
If he survived long enough, that is.
Escape was futile. He had run as fast as he could, yet because of the kaiju's immense size, it had meant nothing. Turning around, he knew his only hope was those exalted he had sensed just minutes ago.
All he could do was stall until they arrived. Which shouldn't be too long, so he looked upon the massive Kraken as he waited for one of its tentacles to terraform the ground. Its purple and red face rose high above even the tallest skyscrapers, hoisted by 2 appendages. 12 tentacles sprouted from underneath its cavernous mouth, slamming into the city around it.
If it didn't die within seconds... the entire block was going to be destroyed. Tens of thousands of lives gone just like that.
Gritting his teeth, Adam turned to his sister as he gripped her arms and stared into her eyes.
"Listen to me, okay! Stay down, stay the fuck down and don't move! Make yourself as small as possible, you understand me!"
Even though she was petrified, Cynthia still nodded through her tears. However, despite that affirmation, she still didn't fall to the ground as she was too scared to move.
With a single kick, Adam swept her from under the feet. The crack as she hit the ground was torturous, but he knew that she didn't actually hurt anything.
Wondering what he could even do, Adam stared the beast down. He was just another one of the Wasted, a weak person who couldn't help against even the lowest-class kaiju.
Still...
If that beast went unattended, his sister was going to die. Even if he only distracted the beast for a second, if its tentacle crushing Adam gave the exalted time to kill it and save his sister, then...
"Do you think it's destroyed enough yet?"
"Eh, no. There's still a few news sites that need to broadcast. Give it a few more minutes."
"He's tearing through the city pretty good. You sure we shouldn't go in yet?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Unless you want to miss out on all that publicity, you soft son of a bitch."
"No. I was just worried about bad optics. You know, if anyone saw us standing here."
'What the hell?'
The next second, one of the Kraken's tentacles slammed right into the spot he forced his sister to stay at. As if to spite him.
Before Adam could even cry out in rage or grief, his entire world went black.