Luc didn’t hesitate and ran for it. He would just do the same thing; cause the horned man to run out of portals and then flee or defeat him.

  The rich neighborhood was unusually clean, and the garbage had already been collected.

  “Damn these rich people and their cleanliness…”

  Finding trash was normally so easy, but Luc was having difficulties and when he found something it was just a discarded napkin, something he couldn't use his ability on.

  “Is this how I die?” was what he said as he turned around a the sight of a red portal appearing in front of him.

  A woman waved at him and pointed at 3 empty boxes she had put outside.

  “Charlotte? How is she so calm…”

  Charlotte grabbed a hose and aimed it at the horned man, who stepped out of a portal and was now between Luc and Charlotte’s house.

  “Powering appliances… does that involve a hose that isn’t connected?” Luc didn’t want to find out and dove to the side as a water blast erupted from the hose and knocked the horned man over.

  Luc ran toward Charlotte as the horned man wash, fighting back against the water pressure.

  “I only have boxes of a microwave, a powerbank for my phone and a blender, sorry…”

  “Microwave it is, worked the last time.” Luc said as he neatly folded the box.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Folding it? How am I supposed to otherwise throw a box?”

  Luc aimed and threw the box like a frisbee, which got refilled and landed a direct hit after the microwave got refilled.

  “I’m refilling the blender next, if he resorts to close combat, power it and catch his hands in it.”

  Charlotte made a face of disgust but accepted the refilled blender. “I suppose anything goes when wanting to stay alive.”

  “As for this powerbank… hey, can you overcharge these and make them explode?”

  Charlotte’s face lit up, which meant a ‘yes’. She put the hose down and got ready to fling an overcharged powerbank.

  The first powerbank got refilled, handed toward Charlotte, which overcharged it and threw it. A red sphere of energy formed in front of the horned man, which caught the powerbank, setting off a mild explosion.

  “More! I can do better!”

  Luc refilled the box again and handed Charlotte the powerbank, which got flung after she overcharged it.

  “Say, does your refill work on those powerbanks?”

  “If they get produced with full charge, yes, otherwise, no.”

  The man disappeared into a portal and evaded the 3rd powerbank bomb.

  “Did he run?”

  “I don’t know, but this place is too clean, we need a place with more trash in case he comes back!”

  Luc folded the powerbank box and ran off. Charlotte picked up the blender and ran after him.

  “So…what's the plan?” Charlotte asked after 10 minutes, while panting heavily.

  “We find trash, we thrash him or get taken out with the thrash ourselves.”

  “Really Luc? Isn't there a more elegant way to say that?"

  “We find elegant trash, we trash him elegantly or get trashed flashily ourselves?”

  Charlotte's expression told Luc that his attempt wasn't adequate.

  They turned as a red portal opened and left the rich neighborhood and got to what was normally a wide, busy street.

  “This is so wrong! What's going on?!" Charlotte asked as she looked around at the deserted street.

  “I don't know, but that's more like it!” Luc ran toward some empty bottles but hesitated. “I don't have my gloves on me…”

  His desire to live won over his desire to avoid touching trash directly, and flung the bottles at the horned man after refilling them.

  "23 more left…" he said to himself. He wanted to ask Charlotte to do something but remembered her ability was more restrictive than his and also had fewer uses.

  Countless red spheres spread out from the horned man, which forced Luc and Charlotte to evade constantly.

  “gey Luc, the one you fought before used only purple attacks right? This one only uses red ones. Do you think it has any significance?”

  Luc ducked and pulled Charlotte down as a red disk flew where their necks were moments ago.

  "It could be, not sure how that's going to help us!”

  Luc refilled a dirty empty bottle and flinging it at the horned man but missed.

  “Say, if I buy an apple juice bottle, empty it, fill it with water and empty it again, what will your ability refill?”

  “Really?! You want to do that now?!"

  Luc ignored a plastic bag, as he had no idea if it would be useful.

  “It would try to refill whatever it contained originally, so the apple juice, however, it could get diluted as water had been the last fluid inside. It's not something I can't fix, but I prefer to use things that I'm sure didn't have anything else in it."

  "So what if I had stored something else in those boxes before?”

  "It prioritizes the original product. It also won't refill anything that has less volume than the original.”

  “What a strange ability…”

  The red spheres spreading around didn't disappear after collision with random trash, so Luc and Charlotte had to find a sufficient hiding place, lest they wanted to evade attacks forever.

  “I forgot to ask, did the purple man show signs of running out of mana when you fought him?”

  Luc and Charlotte hid behind a bus stop stall, hoping it would serve as an adequate hiding spot as the barrage of red energy spheres had yet to stop.

  “The frequency or effectiveness of his attacks didn't seem to drop, just the portal.”

  “Hmm, so the portal either has limited uses or uses a lot of mana. We need to run!” Charlotte said as she pointed at the red disk that had appeared near them.

  Luc led the retreat and fled to his neighborhood. It wasn't necessarily messy, but it was easier to find trash.

  “A 5 liter laundry detergent jug! My neighborhood never fails!” Luc picked up the large plastic jug and spotted another one of a different brand in the bushes not too far.

  “Say Luc, I was thinking, when you refill…”

  “Not now!” Luc flung a jug, which refilled and plowed through a red sphere and grazed the horned man.

  Luc flung the other one, which prompted the horned man to evade.

  That was all for the trash, he would have to upturn a garbage bin or return home to increase his arsenal but wondered why Charlotte was asking him so many questions about his ability.

  He went through his pocket and found a candy wrapper.

  “Unlikely to kill him or do anything…”

  He contemplated still flinging it, but he didn’t have unlimited refill uses, so this would be a waste.

  “Can you keep him busy? I need to go home and grab 2 fridge boxes!”

  “Uhh, how? And how many do you have?”

  “Those will be my last ones, unfortunately, as for how to keep him busy… ehhh.”

  Luc pointed at a scooter leaning into a wall close-by.

  “My ability is to power objects, not to steal them!”

  “Well, I’m out of ideas! Good luck!”

  Luc approached his apartment while running and realized he didn't bring his keys. “Ugh, window it is…”

  Luc ran to the back, where he always had a window opened. He pulled it open, and reached for the latch that would allow him to pull it open even more so he could climb in.

  “To think I'm breaking in my own house… maybe I should learn from this and close my windows when I go out…”

  The window opened fully and Luc climbed in. he grabbed his backpack, stuffed whatever box he could find inside, grabbed his keys and left.

  Charlotte was holding a strange pocket knife and threatening the horned man. It was questionable as Luc didn’t think that would work, but Charlotte was still alive and not under assault, so its effectiveness was real.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  The first box flew and refilled with a microwave. The horned man, who was distracted by Charlotte’s knife, didn’t notice and took a microwave headshot.

  “I’m getting good at this!”

  The second box flew, but this one was a fridge box and landed on the ground.

  Charlotte walked over to Luc while keeping an eye on the horned man, who was thrashing on the ground, clutching his head and giving off red energy while speaking words neither could comprehend.

  “What’s with that knife, by the way?”

  “Oh this? A gift from my grandpa. It has a lot of mana in it which has the use of intimidating anyone who gets faced with it, but that horned man… he wasn't intimidated, it appeared to hypnotize him or something as if he wanted my knife.”

  “Aha, nice trump card, now for the plan.” Luc pointed at the flat folded box on the ground, not too far from the horned man. “We try to lure him on that box, depending on the situation, we will either crush him between fridges or that one will launch him into the air and either the launch or the fall would kill him. It's certainly the messier version of the plan.”

  “Why would getting launched kill him?”

  “Well… how well do you think your body will hold up if a 2-meter tall fridge rises u[ from under you in an instant? I’ve tested it on microwaves and… they flew up faster than my eyes could follow. I assume human like objects will have a similar problem…”

  “Now I'm getting envious. You’ve been creative with your ability while…”

  “No time! He’s getting up! Here, these are clothing iron boxes. Use them! I will draw his attention while you try to get some hits in. Hey over here!” Luc said as he ran to the side and flung another microwave box.

  Charlotte pulled the irons out of the boxes that had refilled and thus unfolded and powered them before staring at the boxes. “It doesn't just refill… it also returns the container to a near perfect state… it seems to be from the duplicate ability family, but it might also have a temporal rewind or a restoration effect… Maybe he doesn’t realize this part of his ability yet…” Charlotte said to herself as she ran to the distracted horned man with heated irons in her hands.

  Luc was successfully provoking the horned man and evading red energy attacks, allowing Charlotte to get close.

  A sizzling sound got followed up by a scream as one iron pressed into the man’s face while the other in his stomach.

  A force repelled Charlotte, who rolled over the ground and got put to a stop after crashing into the wall of a residence.

  “Charlotte!”

  The man was walking toward Charlotte, who tried to get up but was clearly injured.

  “I suppose I will have to launch him…”

  Be it luck or planned out, charlotte had gotten sent flying in the direction which would have the man walk over the box Luc had thrown earlier.

  The man disappeared the moment he stepped on the box as a fridge sized box took his place. All Luc could see was a red streak flash and fly upward. As expected, he couldn't follow it with his eyes, but the man had gone sent flying.

  “So that’s what would happen to me if I refill fridges instantly under myself…”

  Luc rand toward Charlotte and helped her get up. “Are you okay?”

  “Some scrapes and bruises, although my knee hurts quite a bit.” Charlotte reached her hand toward a large scrape wound on her knee and pulled her hand back as she winced.

  Luc put her arm over his shoulder and helped her get up. “I don’t know if the horned man can survive that, but we need to get you to one of your healers.”

  “They… are quite busy… I got lucky that they were available for you…”

  “Ah, well, time to visit my friend Genie then.”

  “Your friend is a healer?”

  “Uhh, not really. His ability is very useful and useless at the same time.”

  “Ouch…my knee. Does your friend live far?”

  “He does, let's rest at my place, and I'll see if I can get a hold of him. He's difficult to reach, so it's likely we have to go to him…”

  The duo entered Luc's home, and he locked the door before looking for disinfectant and bandages.

  “Shit, I don't have any bandages, and I'm sorry, I should have been the one to attack…”

  " Oh no! This is fine! I haven't felt so alive in forever! Always the same routine, the same meetings, being formal, pretending to not notice the disdain or disapproval around me. This was some needed fresh air!”

  "I see, so you hit your head too. I need to be a bit more specific when I ask Genie for help.”

  “This Genie, what's his ability exactly?”

  “It's easier to explain when you see it as its restriction sounds silly but becomes clear when you see it. You seem to be very interested in others' abilities."

  “Well as a leader I need to be well aware of what my team can do, and it has bled into my personality a bit. Your ability seems to do a bit more than just refill. That jug you found didn't have a cap, but the cap appeared out of nowhere after you refilled it. The weathered labels on it also got restored."

  “Eh? Didn't notice that."

  Charlotte picked up a folded box nearby and inspected it. “Probably because you seem to take good care of the trash you collect. It looks new despite being folded. I don't think you would have noticed, as you don't seem to store damaged boxes or bottles.” Charlotte said as she pointed at several neatly stacked folded boxes and empty bottles.

  “Aha, so what does that mean?”

  “I don't know…”

  Silence fell, and Luc wondered why she would bring that up if she didn't know.

  “Wait, so I don't need to find intact boxes? I can also use scraps?”

  " I don't know, but you could try it “

  Luc looked around but couldn't find any, so he turned a burger box into shreds and used his ability on it.

  The scraps turned into the box he had destroyed moments ago, but it had a fresh burger inside of it.

  “Oh that's cool.”

  Luc took a bite and almost spat it out.

  He ran to the kitchen to clean his mouth. “Yuck! It seems the quality of the product turns into trash!"

  “I suppose more mana goes into the restoration of the ‘container’ leaving less for the ‘refill’.”

  "So it's possible but not recommended, that's easy to understand.” Luc said, as he returned to the living room, grabbed an empty bottle and refilled it.

  A light orange liquid filled the bottle, which disappeared into Luc's gullet moments later.

  “An interesting ability, does it run in the family? If so, your family must be quite influential, right?’’

  Luc lowered the bottle slowly and placed it with the other empty bottles.

  “I'd rather not talk about them. They're associated with a lot of bad memories."

  “Oh, my excuses.”

  Silence fell as the conversation died and Luc tried to get a hold of his friend.

  “Either he’s not checking his phone or lost it again… I suppose will have to visit him.” Luc said after being unsuccessful for 10 minutes.

  “Luc, come look!” Charlotte beckoned him and pointed out of the window.

  Luc approached and noticed how people outside were gathering around the boxed fridge.

  “They must think something strange is going on with fridges popping up left and right, but… why do they notice only now?”

  “Maybe those horned men have an ability we overlooked; to keep people away.”

  “While that sounds logical, it has a flaw; why weren’t we being kept away as well?”

  Charlotte’s failure to answer already said enough; she didn’t know. Luc didn’t know either, but it was both convenient and inconvenient at the same time. They wouldn't get help from outside, but they could also go all out without getting found out or seen.

  “Maybe this means that the horned men are more common than we think, as they can just walk around and keep people away. It’s likely nobody notices that they're being kept away from some place.” Charlotte said as she broke the silence.

  “That’s very concerning. What do we even do against that?”

  “We either defeat them or find an ability user that can bring them out in the open.”

  “Does a convenient ability user like that even exist?”

  “I can use my family’s connections to find out. It is a fact that there are many abilities that are deemed ‘useless’ but that could also be because they haven't found their niche yet. An ability that allows you to find hidden objects is relatively useless in the grand scale but could be invaluable here.”

  “Ah… See your point. But now you say that… we might not have to look.”

  “Your friend Genie again?”

  Luc nodded.

  Charlotte directed her gaze back to the people outside and tried to use context to find out what ability this Genie person had.

  “Either way, let's use the amount of people around us as a measuring stick. Let's avoid quiet places as we head toward the city center, to his hardware store.”

  “Okay. We’re going to look strange, however…”

  “Well, I don’t own a car nor a box of a car. Do you?”

  “I could buy one, but it won’t be here today…”

  “Thought so… let's go.”

  They left Luc’s residence, Charlotte got on the back of Luc’s bicycle, who drove off.

  He was getting some looks as people had often seen him riding his bicycle but never with a woman on the back.

  He pushed his embarrassment aside and sped up.

  “Don’t forget to avoid empty streets, going to the left would be faster, but there seems to be nobody there!”

  “Ah right, thanks.” Luc turned right, which would be a detour, but at least there were people and cars on the street.

  Several questionable turns had been made and even some backtracking.

  “Ugh, lazy people, can’t they get up and go outside?!” Luc complained.

  A trip that normally would take 45 minutes took almost 2 hours, but the city center drew near and Luc paused to catch his breath.

  “Genie…better be there…” Luc said as he refilled a bottle and gulped its contents and refilled another empty bottle for Charlotte.

  “Thank you. And I'm sorry for kidnapping you so early in the morning…”

  “As long as you keep it at that and don't harvest my organs, I’m fine.”

  “I won’t, don’t worry…Luc look!”

  Charlotte pointed at the busy street and how people were all going inside as if something compelled them to.”

  “Uh oh… Come!” Luc abandoned his bicycle and pulled Charlotte to the nearest store, but the door was locked. “Huh?”

  They tried another and another store, but the doors were locked and the people inside just shopped without realizing something was off. There were some confused people but couldn’t act due to the crowd.

  “Luc, I think I know what’s going on. We’re exempt from this effect as we’re ability users.” Charlotte said as she pointed at someone inside who stretched his neck above the crowd to breathe and was looking quite confused.

  “Hmm, well ability and magic users only make up 20% of the population, so it’s indeed a useful ability…”

  A red glow drew their attention as a red disk appeared and a red horned man stepped out. Red had already been part of his attire, but blood-red had been added to it as he still appeared to be injured.

  “That didn’t kill him? Not good… Charlotte, can you see if you can communicate with some ability users inside? I will draw his attention.”

  “Wait! That’s dangerous! Can’t we just go to your friend's place?”

  “That’s 2 blocks away, I don’t think we will make it in time…” Luc slapped a box on the ground in front of him, which turned into a fridge. Luc placed his back to the fridge as it shook as it took the hit of the red sphere attacks.

  Not knowing how long a fridge would be able to block magic, he ran away from his cover and flung another microwave box.

  Neither red spheres nor the microwave hit, and Luc started flinging empty bottles.

  He was being careful with his refill uses, so he was forced to fling empty bottles.

  “Still not biting?” Luc said as he glanced at Charlotte, who was banging on glass panes and doors but not getting any reaction. “Maybe this was a mistake after all…”

  Luc turned around and ran toward Charlotte as the horned man wasn’t taking the bait. He was just indiscriminately spreading red spheres and hitting anything nearby.

  Was he out of portal uses, or did he know what they were planning? Luc didn’t know.

  He spotted some people cowering in corners and alleys and concluded that they must be ability users too. Unfortunately, this didn’t come with courage or lack of self-preservation. Luc would have done the same if he was in this situation and not targeted.

  “Come Charlotte. Can you wear my backpack? I will carry you on my back!”

  “But…”

  “No time for arguing!” Luc said as he flung another microwave box, which refilled and exploded after hitting the red sphere coming at them.

  Inaudible words got directed at them as Charlotte climbed on Luc’s back with his backpack.

  Red and black energy formed in front of the horned man, and Luc knew what this meant.

  “Oof, you’re heavy!”

  “Hey! That’s rude!”

  Luc ran, at least he tried to but couldn't move very fast, and he sighed as he had gotten bad idea after bad idea.

  A red and black energy beam shot at them as the horned man yelled. Charlotte screamed and Luc though that this was the end of them when a giant paperclip dropped from the sky, planted itself into the ground and blocked the energy beam.

  “It must be you! You must be the reason why my favorite donut shop is closed!” A voice sad as a short man with spiky blonde hair walked up to the giant paperclip. “Give me my donuts back! They would have a sale till noon and its...” The man checked his phone. “Huh? 8 missed calls from Luc? Oh uh…”