I spun around as a blob of shadow rose from the ground towards me, the being was completely void of any colour but black as I also could see the reflection of my surprised expression in it. “Why so surprised mortal? Did you expect to simply betray your God and be left alone by the rest?” the voice was feminine and brought a claustrophobic feeling to me, the shadow encircled me like a serpent “Your potential is… Too great to be ignored. But don’t let my appearance here terrify you into freezing…I come with an offer”. Through quick breaths I spoke “Offer? Like Chaos gave me? No thank you, Leave… I want nothing to do with your war. I have my own!” I lash out with my left arm at the shadow but it only passes through as if nothing was actually there “What the…” when it came out the other side my arm was momentarily all bone until everything else that was supposed to be there began to re appear, I wasn’t injured as I didn’t feel any pain in fact I still felt my arm as normal. I stared as my arm reconstructed itself “Now now…Don’t be so impatient…My offer is nothing like what my brother forwarded to you, I ask of you a very simple thing actually” the shadow had completely encircled me in a ring and suddenly spread out making a wall of shadows all around me, ”My brothers’ war has brought me multitudes of different kinds of pain and anguish, I wish not for you to be a part of it but I’m afraid none of us have a choice. From the ever hungry devourer to the blind fool shining like a dyeing star none will stop until only one of us stands, many of my brothers have set their sights on your kind yet fail to see the potential that lays specifically in you” the wall of shadow began to shift as waves formed at one point and shifted on the whole thing like a body of water.

“Stop beating around the damn bush, what do you want?” it was starting to get more and more difficult to breath while at the same time I felt an increasing pain on multiple areas of my body, “Yes…Indeed you mortals have little patience...My offer is simple, find my children and protect them from what is to come. In turn I will grant you all the remaining power I have accumulated. My childre…” I cut him off which on second thought probably wasn’t the brightest Idea to cut off a God “No, I will not fall for your tricks. You Gods created everything didn’t you? Yet you also destroyed everything from what I understand, why should I trust a being that cannot protect it’s own? Why should I trust a being that must ask others to protect their own?!”. A chilling silence followed for multiple seconds but then suddenly the wall of shadow dropped like liquid and disappeared into the ground, “My offer stands mortal, whenever you feel your own power isn’t enough…The darkness always waits patiently. In the meantime enjoy my parting gift”. The rain began pouring yet again as I buckled onto my knees, the pain had subsided and I took this time to regain my breath “M…M….Ma….Mat…” Saya stuttered and sounded terrified “It’s okay now…I think it’s gone…” I weakly got up but almost stumbled “What’s… wrong with me?...” I felt weakened and different yet a familiar feeling flowed through my whole body, “Saya…what did that thing do to me?...” I felt something I had thought I wouldn’t ever feel again, the mana flow through my body felt different but I could never forget it. “Matt…your soul…it’s…healed…” Saya was right as I felt I could control my mana again along with my aura while at the same time I could sense Saya, Wayne and Ember inside my body. “Why would…” I was confused but more so annoyed at this development (“Putting me in his debt…bastard…”).

Suddenly a presence nearby caught my attention (“Is it because of this change? I couldn’t sense them before…”) “Come out…Or shall I come to you?” I sent out my aura creating a presence of killing intent at multiple ruined buildings, “Finally discovered us huh?” three cloaked figures appeared out from their hiding spots “Zeaxar wasn’t pleased with you losing your Iris” Leya lowered her hood revealing her face. “How long have you been watching me? Oh and I didn’t lose it, I broke it.” I didn’t move as it would make it more difficult for Saya to scan my body, I had sensed her doing so which made me feel strange and naked. “Since you…wait what?!” she held her face and breathed in “Those things aren’t cheap…” she was suddenly startled by something and closed her eyes, “That him? Good, now I won’t need to go find him or have him in my mind. What’s he found?” I waited as she opened her eyes and glared at me (“What?...Not happy of being used as a messenger?”) I fought back a grin as she answered “Our intel have discovered strange movements by your….Oh excuse me…The human government” her snide remark didn’t go unnoticed “You know what are inside those transports don’t you? Do you also know that the government is torn in three sides about it? Those for…that are behind it…those undecided…and those against…who are behind a group of outlaws that have been making terrorist attacks on those transports, Zeaxar wants you to make contact with their leader and find out who exactly is funding them”. Sensing that Saya was done scanning (“Anything abnormal?”) I turned around (“No…Nothing else is different Matt…”) I felt relief “Who’s this ragtag commander?” all three elite’s eyes went wide when I turned around (“So that’s how I never noticed them… they must have tracked me by sense alone…”), my goggles were on top of the hat so I had nothing hiding my face or eyes “John Cain Wilson, what the fuck happened to you?” there expressions were priceless. A grin crept up my lips probably making me look even more menacing “I broke up with a God, really though? Cain? Guess he really is in deep…Unfortunately he’s been eluding even me with his location, I’ll make sure to ask…kindly…if I ever see him”.

Leya nodded and all three of them disappeared in their own way, one in a burst of shadow, one dissolved in the wind while Leya herself sank into the ground leaving no trace “Heh…Flashy bastards”. I looked up at the stormy sky “I guess it is better I head back for now…After all…when things get rolling…I need to be…”

---

Still Matthew’s POV, back to real time.

(“I am…ready…”) the wind blew in my face as I accelerated towards my first target, the place of my nightmares so long ago “Ember…” my skin cracked and morphed as my eyes blazed with fire “Wayne…” I released the grip of my left hand and raised it as the gun appeared out of the shadows into it. A burning feeling filled my gut as literal flames burst out from between my lips as I breathed, I spun the bike sideways and came to a skidding stop as the press on the ground from the bike’s magic sent dust everywhere “We’re here, Hades”. Risa stepped off the bike “What is this place?...” a canyon lay ahead of us like a crack in the earth, “This is where I was trained…” Metal bridges looking like giant pipes flowed from one wall of the canyon to the other “An underground facility with state of the art security and hundreds of guards, this is where monsters are made” . I also got off the bike and stepped towards the edge of the canyon then looked downwards at the huge drop “Make peace with what we’re about to do princess, death will soon become a common event here”, Risa walked out from behind me and leaped off the edge “Make peace? Makers of monsters don’t deserve my thoughts”. I sighed “Whatever you say…” I stepped off and felt the wind blow as I dropped “Hey Ember…” I landed hard on top one of the bridges breaking right through the glass roof and landing inside onto the metal floor “She’s here…” I had released my aura to sense my surroundings which with Saya’s help my range had increased considerably (“I ssensee her assswell….hhsss….”) a low hiss began emanating from my body as I also followed Risa’s movements with my senses, I couldn’t see her but I knew she had landed on a different bridge and found her way in.

“It’s fine if….We lose control…from time to it…isn’t it?...” the hiss grew lounder and lounder until it was the only thing I could hear. I walked down the bridge and began finding my way through the corridors I knew too well, an alarm had been set off but I couldn’t hear anything due to the maddening hiss filling my ears (“Yesss…from time to time…”) (“Let loosee…Destroy…”)(“Hunt….”)(“Down…”) “The prey…..”. I felt Ember and Wayne’s thirst and hunger take over as my own lust for revenge boiled up and exceeded my limits, “This one isn’t under anyone’s protection…She’s free game…” I sensed her, one of the lead researchers that was in charge of me was in here. “Stand down!” suddenly three guards came around the corner, all three wore armoured vests along with helmets and visors while armed with two assault rifles and what looked like a semi-automatic shotgun “Come with us quietly and…Shit…what’s with his fa….eyes…the hel…” I raised both arms and another pistol appeared in my right “Disappear” I shot five times and with each shot a black stream of mana blasted away whole limbs or even chunks of their body. The three guards died with some silently screaming in a choked voice, I stared down at the corpses and made a sudden realisation “Intriguing…” I could not only sense the mana inside them but I could see it leave their body after it died. I released the pistol in my right arm and then reached out to the flow of differently coloured mana which I thought was the elemental affinity, the pistol dissipated mid fall and my arm entered one of the streams of mana that was slowly reaching out to me “Just like a core…the pure mana inside me…”. The stream of ethereal energy twisted around my arm in tendrils “When a sentient dies it’s mana is usually unsalvageable because it’s devoured by the closest core, Dungeons, Slimes and even Planets have cores which are masses of pure mana. Matt, your body is similar now since your mana is pure too! Now that your soul is fully functional you are a core!” Saya excitedly exclaimed this as I moved my arm through each of the three streams of mana making them all reach out with their own tendrils of energy.

My mouth curved up into a crooked smile “Hah…” I stepped forward between the bodies and reached out with my aura, just like I had done with the dungeon although on a much smaller scale I absorbed the mana. “This is what it meant…Hah…Hahah…” I began to chuckle with my cold serpentine voice “Potential? Heh…I can work with this” I kept moving forward and turned around the corner the guards came from, “LIGHT HIM UP!” the turn took me to a short corridor with two doors on each side and suddenly from each door a guard peaked their rifle around and began firing. I stepped back and took cover “Right…” I snapped myself out of my bloodlust and reminded myself that these are trained soldiers and are nothing like the Devil guards but in the end my smile only grew wider as I spun around and faced the metallic wall to the right of the turn, I raised my left arm and waited a couple moments until I sensed two of the guards moving in on my position. “Shred” I pulled the trigger and a blast of black mana ate away at the wall in front of me and behind the wall itself, I summoned the second pistol to my right hand again and stepped through the hole I had made. The blast had charred the next wall but not enough to make a hole in it, I glanced at the floor where a set of feet lay charred on it “Should have moved…” I turned to the left and came out in the corridor where two of the guards stood between the doorway and the turn while the third was staring straight at me from the doorway opposite of mine. I raised my right pistol at the one in front of me and pulled the trigger which made everything from his neck up disappear, I then rushed in to his room and turned around while raising both pistols at the door “Come come roaches…”. One of the guards rushed to the left side of the door way while I sensed the other with his back to the right side “You never learn…”, “Surrender now! You’re cornered!” I widened the gap between my arms and aimed at the walls to each side of the door way “Cornered?” I pulled both triggers after having charged them both up and two blasts of mana ate away at the walls making two human sized holes.

I lowered my arms and walked out of the room “You seem to mistaken your position here…” I glanced up at one of the many cameras in the corridor and gave a mad smile “You’re the ones stuck in here with me!”, my blood boiled as did my excitement and with a burst of speed I rushed down the corridor while with a single shot I blasted open the door at the end. I slowly stepped into the room while continuing to focus my senses on my main target which was still three rooms away “She’s trying to escape…” (“But the fun’s only just begun!”) the moment I entered the room multiple explosions destroyed what remained of the doorway, “Did we get it?” one of the many guards in the room asked the one with the enhanced looking RPG as they all stared at the rising smoke and falling debris with guns raised but what they didn’t notice was the shadows distorting behind them. Using another of Wayne’s memories of an old ability I called mist form Saya had come up with this, “You missed” the shadow condensed and I was reformed behind the barricades the guards had set up from crates and other objects. The second they turned three shots had already left my pistols hitting three of them, the second they began firing their assortment of weapons my form had begun dissipating into shadow and moments later I reappeared where the explosion had occurred with both guns still raised and triggers being pulled. Four more guards swiftly fell while only three remained with one screaming in pain from losing his arm “What the hell is it?! Fucking monster!?”, they began to panic but suddenly a shift in the roof caught my attention. “You work for monsters yourselves” the security level must have been raised as multiple areas in the roof opened up and automated laser sensory turrets took their place, the turrets shot at anything alive in the room including the guards which gave me enough time to leap back into the corridor I came from “This won’t stop me”. I stood there waiting and bleeding from the multiple gunshot wounds on my body as they healed with unnatural speed albeit any bullet that was inside stayed there, when the bleeding stopped I stepped back into the room.

My form shifted to shadow as I rushed inside reaching the middle of the room when the turrets locked on to me and began firing, the bullets went straight through the misty shadow as it dissipated and reappeared back at the entrance of the room where moments later my body also reappeared. The turrets relocked onto me and began firing “Machines…Too stupid” my body shifted to shadow again as the magic took effect and my body reappeared in the middle of the room, while the turrets shot at the entrance I rushed to the other door and blasted it open. I leaped through the doorway just as the turrets began firing on my new position, this magic was something Saya made from Wayne’s mist form and another magic called shadow step, she called it shadow rebound. I slammed my back onto the wall and released the pistol in my right hand which then dissipated, I raised my now free hand and made a claw as actual claws grew out of my finger nails “Shit..” the claws sunk deep into my left arm as I forcibly pulled out the bullet and then did the same to the one in my right leg “Hahah…that hurts…”. I glanced back at the corpses in the room “Can’t collect those…” I summoned the pistol to my right hand and ran down the corridor, I met with no guards but instead multiple turrets had been activated throughout the lab. The first came out the moment I ran underneath it so I leaped to the left wall and then off it while spinning my body to turn mid-air, I raised my left pistol at the turret and my right pistol at another turret that began setting up further down the corridor then pulled both triggers. Both shots hit their mark destroying or disabling the turrets. I hit the other wall and skid back down to the floor, turning around I continued to run down the corridor ignoring two turrets appearing as I made a sharp turn to the right and out of their sight. “Fo…ound….You.,..” I shot at the door at the end of the corridor moments before both pistols dissipated into shadow, I dashed inside the room just as my form began to change since Wayne began to take over from Ember.

The room was dimly lit and messy with papers and objects scatted from the four long tables and the floor, a single person was standing next to a large backpack with multiple files in her arms. The woman wore a white lab coat with a pink shirt underneath and white pants, she stared at me with a mix of fear and sadness as she held on to the files and back away from me. Her long brown hair got caught on something from the table “St…sstay…away…” she pulled and pulled as I moved in closer to her side of the room, the scales on my body disappeared as my skin momentarily returned to normal while patches of black fur like spikes grew out of my joints like the shoulders and elbows. As the spikes tore through the ethereal clothing and curved slightly what most noticeably changed and what she was focusing on was my eyes, darkness filled my eyes as the red crack like pattern later fills in, I moved closer to the pitiful woman as she stared up terrified at my yellow slit eyes. “N..no…dd…don’t….” she tripped which in turn pulled and tore her hair, “Do you remember me?” her eyes widened at the sound of my crackly voice and she shook her head slowly. “Oh but you took such good care of me for all those years…So much so that you brought me back to life after I died…” I raised my right arm just as a blazing fire grew out of my hand forming a long white pole which I gripped tightly, the fire blazed on at the top of the pole forming an axe like blade with a long curved blade opposite of it. The halberd’s axe started normally with the usual curve at the top but with a much longer spike at the bottom of the blade giving it a sinister look, the opposite blade grew perpendicular of the pole and was twice as long as the axe giving it a scythe like feel. Both blades were pitch black with fiery red crack like patterns, this halberd was what Saya could manifest Ember as although it surprised me melee still indeed had its uses in combat. I held the halberd with my right hand while resting it on my shoulder leaving the arm long back blade hide behind me, the woman looked up at me with fear and confusion as tears streamed down her eyes “Pl…pleas….please….d…don…” she stuttered as she spoke while visibly shaking.

“You remembered me now? Hah….Hahaha…” a crackling chuckle full of joy exited my lips making her shake more violently “So you remember my vow? What I told all of you that day?” I remembered my words perfectly, it was days after the Cerberii project was supposedly stopped and on that day the government had announced their plans for the surviving scientists. When I heard that they would be kept under guard to continue on different kinds of research I had given them a visit where they were all gathered, I had snuck into the prison and stood between their cages as they stared out to me from between the bars. I told them “While all life is precious, while everyone deserves a second chance. If the atrocities you made someday carry on” I began to lower my posture “No matter where you are…” I was on one knee now staring right into her eyes “No matter how many I have to kill…” the halberd on my shoulder blazed awake with white flames lashing out at the woman as she screamed from the burning pain “I will find you…then destroy you” I stood there as the fire ate away at her body viciously while she screamed in agony, slowly her skin began to char and her flesh burn away along with her blood until even the bones began turning to ash. I rose up “You will all soon learn…some things are not meant for us mere mortals to do” I walked out of the room and began heading down another corridor to the right (“We’ll make them fear…so that they understand…we will make them afraid…so they will never again…never…do this…again”) “Saya, cover my face. A reaper doesn’t look this human”.

---

President of Humus Academy POV, four days later

I was sitting in my office which is located on the fourth floor in the academy, I was reading over the reports from the various attacks dealt to the laboratories made by the guard survivors “Monster? Demon? Seriously? Nobody even knows what is attacking us…” I sigh as I put down the reports and lay back in my chair. Suddenly agitated knocking comes from the door “What is it?” I grab the files and put them inside a drawer, the door opens and my assistant walks in with an exasperated expression “Chairman…Kal is under attack…” I slam my right hand on the table making her jump “Well!? Have we gained visual of the attacker!?”. She nods “We’re streaming the security camera system, here” she rushed over to the left wall where multiple monitors hung around a larger one, she grabbed a remote from the drawers there and turned them on “Channel…” she looked at her phone then back at the remote “13!” all monitors except for one began showing the live footage of the security cameras at Kal Laboratory. “There! Focus on that one!” the main monitor changed to the camera I pointed out, the camera was viewing one of the many labs where the Cerberii clones are being made “What the hell is that…” five scientists stood by the controls desk as an otherworldy being stepped closer to them. The creature wore dark clothes and had marble white skin along with eight or so black spike like appendages growing out of each joint on its body, “Zoom in on the door, what is…Oh god…” my assistant turned on the other smaller monitor and zoomed in on the door from it. Burned corpses littered the doorway “Oh…” I held my mouth with my right hand and stood up then looked back at the main monitor, “We...gained audio!” she fiddled with the controls and sound recorded from the cameras was now being given “You have messed with powers that are unethical, your lives are now forfeit as payment for your disgusting deeds” Its voice cracked like a choking man’s but was much louder and clearer. I wanted to see what it looked like but its face was covered by its wide hat since the camera was on the roof, “Is there no other cameras in the room!?”I shouted at my assistant.

One of the researchers stepped in front of the others “And who are you to decide that?! We do what we must to survive and nothing more! If it wasn’t for demons like you!” he is an old grizzled man but spoke with anger in his voice along with fear, “Like me!? Hah…Hahha…HAHAHAHAHA” the being’s laugh sent chills down and up my spine “What you must?! HAHAHAHA! Fool! Old fool! It’s BECAUSE of people like you that MONSTERS like me are made!” it stepped forward and raised its right arm. “There!” my assistant was messaging someone with her phone and suddenly she spoke out and began fiddling with the remote, the main monitor changed to another camera in the room that was located behind the researches “That’s worse! Now I can’t even see it you damn dolt!”. Suddenly I noticed a bright light as I shouted at her which made me turn to look back at the monitor just as all four researchers behind the old man got cleaved in half by a fiery halberd, “As for who I am? I am the one who devours souls of those unworthy of life” the being turned around to look at the old man as he took steps back “I am the monster that was created for one sole purpose, the demon awakened by the blood you spill” I then noticed its red hair and mask. It raised the halberd up and white flames lashed out at each corpse burning them to ash one by one until it was the old man’s turn, “I’m the reaper” the flames ate away at the scientist as he screamed and shouted in agony. The reaper as it called itself turned around and looked straight into the camera “Oh? Is this on?” it tilted its head as it turned while we both gasped when it’s face filled the monitor, it wore a red mask with the design of a skull’s face that covered everything except for its eyes…its eyes were pitch black with a red shattered pattern of lines while in the centre…was a yellow slit that retracted further as it stared. It glanced back at the hall of hundreds of cylindrical containment baths with Cerberii clones inside “Let it be known human, that such blasphemy WILL be punished” suddenly its halberd turned into a blazing fire that shot at the baths and turned into a giant wildfire that destroyed each of them.

“Also…” suddenly the being's skin began to change into what I perceived as scales while the spikes retracted back into its body, it looked back into the camera “Humus Academy…Do you need someone to work the graveyard shift? Well…I can help with that”. Its voice was replaced with a serpentine slitter as it chuckled merrily while moving closer to the camera, when it got close enough it raised its left hand towards the camera and the feed was cut.