“…You gotta be joking, sixty percent Demon? From what!?” I began looking over the data again and decided to retake the test in case something went wrong but the same results were presented to me, “Ember was serpent and gained Draconic, Wayne lost his mammalian, gained Draconic and already had serpent…did they have demonic traits?…well at the very least it explains the horn…” I pondered over the possibilities that I gained so much Demonic from Ember and Wayne but it simply didn’t add up. “Why so much more than Draconic though? Why no serpent?” then it dawned on me “No…I shouldn’t be worrying about why it is…but that it is…Draconic and Demonic…that in itself is very dangerous…Just a hobgoblin who is Fae, Orc and Demonic with very little Draconic can…” I began staring at my hands as if expecting them to explode. “You’re not going to explode Matt…Hobgoblins do that due to their Fae nature alongside Draconic and Demonic.” Saya took her goggles form,” Think of it like this, Fae is the spark while Draconic is the fuse and Demonic with Fae is the explosive. Thankfully I didn’t merge with you or else we would have a whole lot to worry about!”. I was impressed “How do you know all this?” she made a strange noise which sounded like a prideful sigh “My mother and grandmother before her were Dungeon Fairies, we are monster experts! You humans are most probably a sub race of Demons and never made the connection, that is the only explanation as I didn’t sense any Demonic blood from Ember and Wayne and spirit evolution can only go two ways. One is losing a trait to gain another like Wayne did, the other is gaining a trait but is weaker than the previous choice. Spirits can only gain one and they both gained Draconic, meaning that even though I wasn’t conscious to sense the change they couldn’t have possible gained two. If they did then serpent would have been completely lost and they’d be full dragons, as for why you even gained Demonic in the first place I’m wondering if it had anything to do with Chaos? The closer we got to it the…more pungent it’s affinity became”, now I was thoroughly impressed and although her logic made sense there was one flaw I wasn’t so sure of.

I sighed and stood up “Alright but there is something wrong with your logic there, Demons and Humans aren’t opposites but they sure are close to being. The difference in DNA is enormous, Dwarves and Elves have more similarities with us than Demons”, she then somehow made a snapping sound with her non-existing fingers “Ah and that is where my main theory drops in!” she was having way too much fun with this “Think of Goblins, they are the breed of Fae and Orcs while Hobgoblins earned Demonic through bloodline and Draconic through magical manipulation. Let’s actually just stay on Goblins…Yeah Fae and Orc are so far from each other they might as well be opposites but one trait will overcome the other and in this case Orc overcame Fae making goblin, if it was the other way around we’d have a completely different race! In the case of Humans I suspect something was powerful enough to overcome the Demonic bloodline!” I hadn’t completely understood her Goblin analysis but mostly understood her theory. I stared down at my hands again “But what bloodline runs so deep that it can overcome Demon? All known Demon hybrids have Demonic as their prime bloodline…Even Draconic has never been found to describe a hybrid with Demonic blood…and the Etyrians have had a long time to research that fact…” I sighed again, “Don’t know…whatever it is…you’re only ten percent human now…that is all you have left of it” Saya also seemed stumped. Suddenly I heard a vehicle turning into our street “They’re here…” I sensed three Humans inside along with a single Wood Elf, the vehicle stopped at our front gate so I peeked out of the window “That’s a government release vehicle…” four figures exited the black car. “Two soldiers, one high ranking officer and…” I glared at the cloaked figure “Zeaxar’s bitch”, I turned away from the window and walked out into the corridor where I found Risa waiting for me “Who are they?” she must have sensed them too. I shook my head “They’re here for me, we separate here. Go with Natasha and Clyde, they’ll keep you s…” my words were cut off when she leaped into my chest and embraced my lips with hers, when she let go the door had already rung multiple times and Abbey was answering it “I’ll see you on the other side, don’t worry”.

I separated from her and began descending the stairs where at the end I found Natasha, Clyde and Kyle peeking at the door from around the corner, “They’re not here for you, It’s for me” I walked over to Kyle and patted his head “Be good to Abbey, she’ll take care of you from now on alright?” he nodded so I tapped his shoulder and walked down the corridor to the exit where two armed soldiers were expecting me. They stood right beside Abbey which made them look average height compared to her monstrous size, “Exile Matthew Anderson, The Grey Reaper Vigilante. We will accompany you out, please follow us” all seemed within regulations, the greeting and all but that was until they turned off their compulsory mics within their helmets and took them off half way down the path. Behind the gate an aged man with an officer’s military outfit stood by a cloaked Wood Elf, the two soldiers stopped on each side of them and turned to face me. “Mr. Anderson it is my pleasure to finally meet you, I am General Josef Decker and I believe you already know this lady” He forwarded his hand which I shook but did not glance at Leya who seemed uninterested in the conversation anyway, “It has been recorded that you’ll be going through the normal procedure of leaving through the public Tunnels but…I wish to save you the humiliation. You will instead be heading to the Edge Alpha HQ in Olympus where you will take the private tunnel there instead, might you have any questions?”. “I have a few but I’ll satisfy myself with these two, I want you to be realistic with me General, has all the material of the Cerberus project been destroyed?” my gaze stayed frozen even after he met it with his own, he sighed “Probably not, I will promise you that no human experimentation will ever take place as long as my men are in charge but as for the documents themselves…I do not have the clearance for that information”. My expression didn’t change as I asked my second question “You’ve mentioned the route without mentioning yourself, will you not be accompanying us?”, he shook his head “I will not, I have other business here other than you my boy”.

“Hmm, very well then” I stepped around him and began walking over to the car along with the two soldiers and Leya but stopped by it “General, I want you to convey a message for me” my form changed as I merged with Wayne “Banishment is only a punishment on paper, if the act of human experimentation is ever taken up again…I will know, I will come, nothing will stop me and nobody will ever see me coming. Don’t make me show why I am called the Grey reaper, such a distasteful colour only knows death”. I could sense the fear running down everyone’s spine as I unmerged and entered the car’s back seats, Leya cleared her throat to get the soldiers’ attention and they entered the car’s front seats while she sat next to me. The soldier who sat in the driver’s seat fidgeted with the keys momentarily then finally turned the ignition, I simply stayed silent the whole ride while looking out my window. When we arrived at Olympus’s gates the driver had to get out and show the guard post some papers along with others passed down from underneath, glancing over I noticed Leya seemed annoyed at how easily the guards were corrupt. She noticed my amusement “What’s so amusing?” she glanced away from me, “Not much, just that the underling of the most underhanded being seems to dislike underhanded methods” the driver came back into the car as the large metal gate descended into the ground opening up the path for us. We drove into the city which was large enough to be called a state, we drove quickly through the long straight roads taking only a couple turns as the empty streets posed no problem. Suddenly multiple signatures of mana came into range making me sigh “Stop the car” three Aether Mechs began tailing us at high speed and caught up to us within seconds, the Mechs surrounded the car as it slowed down to a stop “What is this?!” Leya was eyeing the machines angrily. I got out of the car “A show of strength” as I said so multiple hover crafts filled the sky above us with soldiers handling large weapons connected to the side of the crafts, “Exile Matthew Anderson, due to changes to your sentence you have now been raised to terrorist” a male voice spoke on a loudspeaker from one of the square looking black crafts “Because of this, Execution is to commence immediately”.

“Seems like Zeaxar pissed off someone very high up with his tempering…” I whispered to Leya “Get out of here, you’re in my way” she grimaced as she nodded and melted into the shadows, I shouted the next words “You’ve made your homework, true this much would have been enough to kill me before…” for the first time ever since gaining it I tapped into the power of Anir while merging with Wayne. Along with the change in my eyes and the black spikes growing out of my joints more changes took effect on my body, my horn grew longer and divided into two ends while a piercing pain momentarily filled my back as if two spears had been trying to cut their way out. (“This is…not what I expected…”) the power wasn’t anything separate like Ember and Wayne are to each other but actually seemed to enhance them, I could feel my whole body pulsating with mana as it rushed in from the crystal on my horn while the ground beneath me crumbled under the pressure I was emanating. (“Shall we kill them all master?”) I could feel Wayne’s bloodlust reaching out to all three Mechs, (“No…I want to tear up the whole area myself but…they are just soldiers. We’ll go around them, only if necessary through them as well”) I lowered my posture as the three Mechs raised their shields forming a triangular barrier around me while one of the crafts hovered over and raised its own barrier to make the roof. I waited as the Mechs’s weapons rotated and charged up while each soldier on the craft held on to the side with belts and aimed down towards me, the other five crafts encircled the sky covering any roof I could leap to while also having sight on both sides of the road. In every sense of the word I was surrounded and outgunned. The moment the barrier was dropped I activated shadow rebound and appeared behind the Mech facing the front of the vehicle, I glanced back momentarily to see the empty vehicle torn to shreds and explode but then quickly faced forward and sprinted. The Mechs turned and began giving chase, two of them drove side by side to me and turned slightly as their weapons began to fire. I had summoned Ember and charged the Mech to my left as off the corner of my eyes I could see three of the aircrafts also giving chase while the others and the third Mech held their position in case I rebound back.

The Mech spun at the last second making me miss its legs so I stomped the ground hard and leaped upwards, I grabbed onto the side of one of the aircrafts and threw myself higher up. Ember’s form changed as it’s spike grew to twice it’s normal size along with the other blades shrinking, I threw the weapon with all my might as it pierced right through the aircraft’s front where I supposed the cockpit was. I used shadow rebound again and appeared behind Ember as it pierced through the ground while the aircraft I struck lost control and hit the ground behind me, I quickly grabbed Ember and continued running while the two Mechs continued chasing. (“Now that the road is blocked the other aircrafts will give chase too while the third Mech will probably take a different route around to cut me off”) The two Mechs drive by me again this time firing before I was fully in their sights so even if I stopped they would hit me while if I continued running they would also eventually hit me due to their speed, the hail of projectiles had almost reached my legs when I noticed four aircrafts angling themselves above to also shoot at me. I locked my sights on the furthest aircraft of the four that flew right behind me, I stomped the ground again and leaped upwards towards it while flipping back. I hit its bottom surface and leaped off it towards the Mech to the right as Ember’s scythe grew longer while the spike and axe shrunk, I spun mid-air as I flew right between its legs and sliced them off. When I hit the ground I rebalanced myself and continued to run which was when the aircrafts began to fire at me while the other Mech stopped to assist it’s wingman who had fallen, I used the shadow step part of shadow rebound to evade multiple times without rebounding back which used up more mana and required me to have eye contact with the surface I wished to appear at. After evading a couple times, I rebounded back and leaped onto the side of a building which I used to leap up even higher “I am tired of this” darkness engulfed my whole body as Ember’s axe grew which I then used to slice off one of the craft’s cockpits.

I momentarily held onto the same craft (“Saya, wings!”) I leaped off the craft towards another (“I can’t! Something is blocking me from summoning them!”) I grimaced as the craft turned away from me letting the four soldiers armed automatic Aether-rifles take aim on me. “Too bad” I unsummoned Ember as I crashed through two of the soldiers making the two behind them fall off the craft while still being held by their belts, “But you leave me no choice” I merged in with Ember taking my most Draconic form as the soldiers went for their side-arms. The scales that usually replaces my skin this time were larger and grew out like small blades all over my body, three of the soldiers turned to me with pistols and pulled their triggers multiple times but the mana infused projectiles simply ricocheted off me. I stomped my foot and the whole craft shook as my aura disrupted its flow of mana, (“I guess this form’s supreme aura control has some uses for combat…”) I walked over to the craft’s side as it fell to the ground and leaped off making it turn slightly due to the force I created. I hit the wall and began running while using my aura to keep myself from falling sideways, I sensed the remaining crafts pursuing me and leaped off the wall when they began to fire. I unmerged from Wayne mid-air and quickly summoned two pistols into my already raised arms, using Ember’s heat manipulation magic I spun mid-air and fired multiple times with my left pistol as I charged up my right. Three shots hit per three crafts as the first two broke through the barrier the last damaged the pilot’s control, two of the crafts hit lost control and crashed into the ground while the third held on it’s pursuit. I raised my right arm as I fell towards the ground while making sure I got the angle correct, I pulled the trigger and a wide blast of mana shot forth towards the last craft destroying its roof. I landed and quickly turned while raising both pistols, I had sensed the third Mech moving towards me from the other side of the street with four others behind it (“Ember, set it ablaze”) I switched form into Wayne and summoned Ember into my hands again.

The Mechs were almost within firing range when multiple blazing red runic circles appeared in the air around me “With pleasssure…massster” as Ember spoke thin lines of embers sparked alive from each circle and shot towards the Mechs, the embers snaked around each Mech and suddenly exploded with a strong blast. (“Three down”) I turned and rushed to the side of a building then focused mana underneath me before stomping down creating a strong blast that propelled me upwards, I landed at the edge of the building’s roof and immediately continued running towards the same direction while propelling myself forward with blasts of mana underneath each step to increase my already abnormal speed. (“Seriously?!...”) behind me I sensed the Mechs climbing up the building’s walls and onto the roof, (“Ember, leave your form but let it retain some mana. Understand?”) I felt Ember leaving the halberd as it’s glow died out but the weapon itself didn’t disappear. I dropped the halberd mid leap and continued running for a couple moments (“Now!”) a large explosion occurred behind me throwing one of the Mechs off the roof while the other was sent flying backwards, a barrier shimmered throughout the buildings as it took the brunt of the blast. I kept running when I suddenly sensed multiple non-human signatures heading towards me, seven cloaked figures appeared around me “You’re almost there, they can’t touch you inside the HQ” the elites disappeared as quickly as they appeared. I sighed “What?...Not gonna help?” I continued running till I reached the end of the block, across the street was my goal, the E.A Earth HQ but there was a big problem…one that flies. Above me a large military transport craft made a fly by to drop multiple oval metallic objects “Fuck me…”,the objects dive-bombed straight into the street as I leaped off the roof heading towards the entrance and when they hit the ground they began to rotate and change form. These were automated Aether battle soldiers, robotic machines made specifically to take out dangerous targets normal soldiers wouldn’t be able to and I was there current target.

I rushed forward as the oval machines opened up into spider like robots with four legs and four arms with an Aether cannon on each one, they rushed to cut me off at insane speed while I activated another of Wayne’s abilities. A black mist exploded from where I stood and expanded to cover the whole street, blasts of energy shot from every angle towards me as I evaded and shadow stepped within the thick mist. When I finally saw a window in-between shots I stopped moving and leaped upwards and out of the mist, “Boom” the mist momentarily gained a red hue before turning into a hellfire of explosions which in turn blasted me higher up. I glanced at one of the windows of the large skyscraper and shadow stepped onto the glass, I grabbed hold of the window’s edge and smashed it open before jumping inside. I took a peek outside to see the AABS staring up at the window but doing nothing about it, I sighed in relief “For once…the system helps…” I then glanced around the room. The office had basalt black floor tiles with blood red walls and golden trimming around the corners and edges “Don’t tell me…” before I even finished my thought the door opened, “You broke my window…” Zeaxar walked in with a mug in his hand and a smug expression. My annoyance must have clearly showed on my face as his amusement showed on his, “You were late so I thought I’d have a coffee…Oh well, this way then” he turned around and walked out of the office so I followed him out with my clothes still smoking from the earlier flames. “I must say, I didn’t expect them to retaliate like that!” he chuckled before taking a sip of his coffee, “Sure you didn’t, it was a show of strength. They probably didn’t want the populace to think them unorganized and weak, also they must have not liked your way of doing things Zeaxar” I continued to follow him through the corridor until we arrived to a console. “Why must you distrust me so, boy? We are kin now, family should trust each other!”, his comment had taken me aback and I wasn’t able to process it all before the teleportation initiated “Family? Kin? What do you…” so my words were cut off.

When we next appeared we stood inside the building’s private tunnel room, he glanced back at me “You honestly thought I wouldn’t find out? I smell the demon in you, let alone see the damn horn. Hell all you’re missing is the wings since you already got the eyes…well eye, I have no clue what the other is about”. “Tch, no point hiding it now I guess” I glanced around the room, the only other person here was the clerk who must have ranked around squad leader due to his position. “Speak up then, all eyes and ears within my establishments are mine to control” he turned around with a mocking expression, “I merged with my spirits after they evolved due to the mass amount of mana I gained from being Chaos’s champion, due to the physical change the connection to my soul was shredded and with it my connection to Chaos as my mana’s affinity took a hit to it’s efficiency. Along with my mana now being pure my DNA was also altered due to me merging with my spirit’s physical bodies not their soul, from the data I collected…I am only ten percent human, sixty percent demon and…thirty percent dragon” he dropped his mug and as it shattered his eyes widened. “Anderson…Do you even comprehend what you just told me?...You hold two of the most powerful bloodlines known to the races…A Draconic Demon…Kekekekeke…” he began chuckling madly “The only other known Draconic Demon known to have been born without going completely insane and slayed hours later was my grandfather, Kekekeke!” he grabbed my shoulders and stared down at me with amazement “It seems like I’ve made a great choice for our ranks! Boy…No…Matthew , you’re destined for power!”. He turned around and practically guided me to the tunnel, reality swirled and before I knew it we were on Etyria again. “Ah, cylia! Have my guests moved to my office, I’ll be there shortly!” he barely glanced at the clerk “My name is Kelly…” even after she corrected him he continued to ignore her, “Come now , we must keep the squads waiting” he walked over to the console and I followed shortly after (“You keep everyone waiting…Hell I bet they got here before us…”) .

He selected his office at the very top of the fortress and went through a series of verifications before the teleportation activated “I swear when I told those humans that I wanted top of the line security they must have had runic code all over their mind” he mumbled to himself as the ring formed and activated, we teleported straight into the middle of his…”office”. The room was similarly decorated as the one on earth with some…other…”decorations”, to the front corners of the room one could notice two metal poles along with a locked chest next to them while in another corner was a king sized black bed. Zeaxar walked over to his desk and sat down on the dark crystal throne behind it (“I sometimes forget he’s an actual king”) he pressed a crystal on his desk and spoke into it “Let them in kelly” I internally cringed knowing that was probably not her name, he then crossed his legs and lay back in the throne as I stood casually in front of the desk. The large dark wooden doors behind me opened and the whole elite squad entered followed by multiple others, some that I was expecting and others that I wasn’t. The elite squad stood at attention to my left as Risa, Clyde, Natasha, Anabel, Ell and Alexus entered behind them, all of them stood to my right except for Alexus who went to stand by the throne. “Well now that everyone is here let me explain why, as you all know the Elite squad was founded to act as my personal guard and to take on high tier contracts. Currently there is only one squad and the tasks at home have them quiet busy, so I decided to found a new Elite squad to work directly under me while on expeditions to other realms” this was when I remembered what he had asked of me before I had left for earth (“You don’t mean…”) he glanced at me with an amused smile “Matthew Anderson, you will be the leader of said squad” (“Just kill me now…”) , he then glanced at each of the others “You five are the first candidates to join said squad under said leader, but first some of you still have to pass the ranking test, Xioqu and the twins are those. Now since I already know you are stronger than the average member, what is that saying humans have? Killing what with one stone? Whatever…anyway, since the ceremony for joining the Elite squad entails surviving combat with the squad leader for ten minutes you will be ranked within that time period”.

“Any questions? “Anabel, Clyde and me moved to talk at the same time ” No? Good, now get out of my sight I have papers to fill” he didn’t even give us time to ask a question as he flicked his fingers and an instant teleportation ring underneath us activated, we appeared in the cafeteria along with Leya who did not seem pleased about it. “I don’t think that was an accident…” Natasha pointed it out which made Leya sigh, “No…it probably wasn’t…You will be sent a notification of when and where…I’ll…be going…” she quickly dissolved into shadows. “Matt?...That really you?...” I glanced behind me where Anabel and Ell stood while staring at me in disbelief, their expressions made me chuckle “Yeah it is , Ell. Long story but in short…I’m no longer human and I’m a wanted criminal on Earth, great home coming. How you two been?” somewhere in between Risa had slyly moved under my arm and was holding onto me as if I could disappear. I didn’t question her why she was suddenly so clingy since…well it felt normal, Anabel and Ell on the other hand looked surprised more than anything while Natasha thought I didn’t notice her giving Risa the thumbs up. Then there was Clyde who hadn’t looked away from Ell since entering Zeaxar’s office although I presumed before that as well, “Huh…well how about we catch up and you introduce us to your new…friends” Anabel gestured to the tables and I nodded “Yeah sure…what happened to your hair?” I had just noticed that she now had a short cut “Huh?...N...nothing…” Anabel turned around as quickly as her cheeks went red “let’s…sit down…” we followed her over to the cafeteria.