Gasping for breath a man covered in black steel armour, the insignia of the Alliances Rapid Response troops, a flaming angel, sitting on his shoulder, skidded to a stop, glancing in all directions as the glow from his armour's enhancements pushed back the darkness.

It was only early evening, but the ruined buildings around him and the threatening dark grey sky above the former Demon Capital made it almost impossible to see clearly and, unfortunately for the soldier, caused him to stick out like a sore thumb with the blue hue surrounding him.

Bodies and rubble littered the nearby streets, portraying a scene reminiscent of any of the seven Hells. Yet that is not why his heart hammered against his ribs, feeling like it would burst at any moment, and terror threatened to overwhelm his mind.

He was being hunted.

The last survivor of his squad, possibly even his battalion, though the sounds of sporadic fighting lead him to believe there were still a few others left out there, the man let out a deep breath as he cocked his head to the side to listen.

Memories of the briefing, a few days earlier, distracted him as he internally cursed the high command. The mission was meant to be dangerous but simple.

Make a path through the unintelligent abominations, the cities previous citizens before the event which was now being called the Demon Cataclysm, identify if the City Stone was still saveable and if so, extract it so they could find out what had actually happened.

A simple smash and grab before sending in the ground troops to retake the city.

How wrong they were. Not only was the city infested with abominations, but a new type had also emerged and was quickly given the simple name of mutant.

Mutants looked very similar to what ever base race they mutated from with the only differences being light grey skin, white hair and piercing blue eyes. They were extremely intelligent, without mercy and, worst of all, could control the mindless abominations.

Due to earlier events and the leaks of combat footage from the failed attack on the Devil, giving them a good view of Ru's true form, everyone immediately saw the similarities of the glowing blue eyes and came to the assumption that the Devil was just another variant though they had no time to speculate further.

Two sky battleships, the pride and joy of the Alliance navy had joined their sister, the Scourge, as wrecks littering the Demonic Plains as giant abominations hammered them with magical beams of pure mana, melting through magic, metal and flesh alike.

Never in alliance history had a sky battle ship been grounded and now three of them were beyond salvageable yet that was not the worst blow. From the chatter of the communication gems, the fifteen battalions sent to secure the city after the ARR had completed their objective had been slaughtered to a man.

The single largest loss of life since the Dark Wars. Over fifteen thousand elite troops killed or missing in action. Combined with the ARR, support divisions and battle ship crews, the final number would easily be double that and become a devastating blow to morale in the north as they realised their military strength were no longer undisputed.

A falling stone broke the man from his depressing thoughts as he turned his head in the direction he had come from.

Slow, heavy footsteps rippled the water in a pot hole nearby as his eyes once again darted about.

Spotting a large clump of Alliance bodies, who looked like they had attempted some sort of the last stand, the man sprinted forward and dove into the pile, deactivating his armour's runes and lying motionless.

A couple of moments after he had done this, a giant abomination, its thick grey skin covered in blisters of blue liquid, stomped around the corner followed by a squad of mutants. They wore a mismatched combination of pillaged armour, mainly silver and black but did not bother with the helms as their blue eyes scanned the street around them, looking for any sign of life.

At first, with its technological advantage and highly trained troops, the Alliance had held the advantage, but as each body fell, either alliance, abomination or mutant, the remaining mutants nearby became stronger.

It had been decided that they fed off the mana released at death. Not only that, but many suspected that they transformed the acquired mana and turn it into physical and magical strength. A few even believed that they also absorbed the memories of the fallen after seeing the rapid advancement in tactics and strategies employed since the start of the battle.

It wasn't long before the opposing forces were at a stalemate, and even shorter until the pockets of Alliance resistance were overrun.

Luckily for them, at least at the start, it seemed the mutants fought amongst themselves almost as much as against the soldiers, trying to establish a hierarchy where none was needed before.

It appeared that the mutants with the most power quickly subjugated or absorbed the others and then started the systematic elimination of anything that wasn't a mutant or abomination.

The group slowly moved down the road before another batch of sporadic fighting drew them down a narrow side street and out of view.

Waiting for a little over five minutes, the man's armour flickered to life as he jumped up and ran towards the city walls, just visible through a few crumpled buildings.

His team, against all the odds, had completed the first half of the mission. They had identified the damaged but working City Stone. The problem was that it was in mutant hands and, unsurprising with what they now knew about their new foe, the mutants knew how to use it.

They were bringing the city slowly back to life, at least regarding defences and surveillance providing the new defenders with incredible amounts of information and support, turning a bad situation for the Alliance, into a hopeless one. They didn't stand a chance and, before declaring crystal silence, the last order was for all troops to escape and deliver as much knowledge to the high command.

Luckily for the man, it appeared the City Stone was too damaged to track everyone at once and by moving alone, he had made it to the outer districts with relative ease.

However, he did not feel relief. He knew it was just a matter of time until they worked out that by feeding it mana, they could increase its repair rate. If the city became fully functional, without other lifeforms to hide amongst, he would be found in minutes.

Sucking in another deep breath through the ventilation slits of his armour, the man peeked around the corner only to instinctively stab out with the small dagger in his hand as his eyes went wide with fear.

A sharp faced, female mutant smiled warmly as she slapped the knife from his hand, bending both it and his metal armour in the wrong direction which elicited a blood-curdling scream, echoing off the walls around them, from him.

"Weee, I finally get my own toy," smiled the woman as she lazily kicked the man in the chest, sending him flying into the nearby wall before he slid to his knees.

Spotting a few mutants appear on the surrounding rooftops, the woman waved them away as she hooked a strand of her long, white hair behind an ear and walked forward. "You are good at hiding. It took me forever to find you but was fun."

The smile started to wane. "But you look weak... If you're not strong, I have to take your mana. Stay strong for me. I promise we play hide and find again."

The man's armour increased its glow as it released pain suppressants and stimulants into his blood stream and its magical runes prepared his body for fight or flight. "I'll tell you nothing mutant."

He knew, from watching the scene he now found himself in, many times while on the run, that more than likely, he would die and have his life mana taken from him, but the alternative seemed worse. If they were this brutal with standard interrogation, what would it be like if it was proven that he had any useful information on him?

"We are not mutants, the old people of these bodies are dead. We are new. We have new... what do you call them. Souls and mind... yes that's it. So we, not mutants," declared the woman as she tilted her head to the side as she watched him. "Now, where are you friends and what did you see in the centre of buildings?"

"I will never betray my kind." The man immediately knew that this conversation was important and activated the recording function of his suit. They knew precious little of the mutants and anything they could get, even at the cost of his own life, would perhaps save hundreds if not thousands in the future.

The mutant frowned in confusion. "I do not want to know about your kind, or for you to hurt them. We have already absorbed the people coming to help you in the sky and pushed back the people that walk on land. What I want to know about is where your friends are and our Prime."

The man displayed his confusion on his face, only to realise he was still wearing his helmet and so coughed a little, relieving some of the pain from the kick. "Prime?"

"The one who is like us." The woman's body flickered as it changed into an exact match of Ru in his true form before returning back.

The man let out a deep breath. He had avoided the topic of his companions, even if he didn't know if they were still alive.

Unlike Ru's transformation, hers seemed to shift and move, bones cracking audibly as they readjusted.

"This man. Black skin. Blue eyes. Kills Alliance. We have seen the memories your friends have. We know you are looking for him. Like when I was looking for you."

"What do you want with the Devil?" The man felt his breath catch in his throat. There was a link between them. The Devil was their Prime, what ever that was. It sounded important. He knew that he had to get this information back somehow. "Who is he to you?"

"Who is he to me?" The woman smiled and crouched. "He is strong, and from the shiny stone in the centre of buildings, he is our creator. Also, he seems fun."

She frowned. "He is not like us, but is at the same time, order givers say he is. That we will become like him when we absorb enough but many don't believe it. Big ugly guys are bottom, we are better, he is best. We have been told to find him. Whoever finds him and makes friends gets to be the top order giver."

"He like the golden stripes on your order giver's shoulders," continued the woman. "You call him Devil?"

"Yes," responded the man, trying to take everything in.

The woman stood and stretched her long legs. "Does that mean the faceless one a lot of you kneel to is our enemy?"

"Yes. So you want to find him to lead?" The man was only giving one-word answers in the hope of keeping the mutant happy so he could get more information out of her without revealing too much.

"Me? No. I am too.... little and do not want to be attacked for being top, but I still would like to be friends with the Prime. Memories told me that he looks after weak pointy ears. If he looks after her, maybe he will look after me. That way I won't need to run away when the big order givers get hungry. I might not even need to fight and find people anymore."

The man laughed, though there was no humour in it. "You guys are like children."

"We are new but not like your weak children. We are strong," pouted the woman.

The man sighed, knowing that this was going to be the end, but at least maybe it would make a difference. He didn't regret his life, but he wished he could have been more. "Are you sure you just don't want to absorb him? He is made from pure mana after all?"

From the eye witnesses and the multiple recordings of the battle with Ru, it was now well known he was a being of mana and it wasn't just because all of the alliances sensors said so. Projectiles passed through him, his body broke down and repaired, and when he was in his true form, it had no rigid structure.

"He's pure mana?" The woman's eyes lit up before worry overcame her. "I do not think we would be able to absorb that. Big guy tried with the stone. He died by falling apart and sending his body everywhere... Do you think he would he eat us?"

The soldier laughed. "Why not. You are basically walking mana meals for him. You wouldn't even put up a fight. The men that he faced were the best of the best, we don't even compare, and he took them all on, by himself, while protecting another."

The woman revealed a warm smile. "Hmm, maybe he will not be hungry when I meet him. I can show him to the order givers, they are much tastier than me."

The woman's hand touched the man's armour, causing the blue glow to fade before reaching up and grasping his helmet. "You're fun. I will keep you. My name is Felina. Whats yours?"

Pain assaulted the man's senses as his armours support died. Marks training kicked in and he revealed the bare minimum information. "Mark, ARR,405SH."

"Well Mark Arr 405sh, let us go. I need to have you marked or you may be absorbed by another."