It only took Hiro three words to bring reality crashing back into his world.

"Protocol twenty-seven."

Hiro had enunciated the protocol that would lead to Euna’s demise into the integrated Comms on Sarah's wrist.

Hiro sighed deeply as his vision waned and the world became darker and hazier. He was exhausted and his body had been deprived of nutrient-rich fluids for too long. And it also didn’t help that the fluids that he was being fed through the tube was slowly sedating him. But none of that mattered now. Hiro was safe. He wouldn’t be condemned to the Unaugmentation ceremony, nor would he have to be executed.

“You did a good job Hiro,” the Augmented Captain had said before patting Hiro on the back briefly. “You will be gloriously rewarded for your efforts.”

I am a soldier, thought Hiro.

This was what he was. A soldier. This was what he had to do.

But still, Hiro felt something like a gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something that didn’t sit right with him.

Now, he willed himself to stay awake as he watched the Augmented soldiers fan out, making sure there were no gaps in their encirclement of Euna. Hiro hoped that she would surrender peacefully. He had even pleaded for Euna, asking the Augmented Captain not to take her life. Euna had afterall saved his life, it was the least he could do.

HIro sighed as he felt his eyelids becoming heavier with each blink.

He didn’t want things to end this way, but this was how reality was. Much of the things in life were just...

Hiro glanced down at his armless stumps.

...Out of my hands huh, he chuckled.

The Augmented soldiers shuffled nervously as Euna's predatory gaze swept over them, glowering and hissing like an angered lioness. Euna was slowly being cornered, but still she could smell the fear wafting from the soldiers as they tried to keep their aim steady. They were afraid, and rightly so, for they had seen what a single Altered was capable of. The dozens of grievously wounded soldiers laying incapacitated in the hangar bay--not counting the hundreds who have died in the battlefield--was evidence enough of their terrifying savagery and ferocity.

"Ca-captain Armstrung, I don't think she intends to surrender," a soldier commented quietly into his Comms.

The Augmented Captain stood tall and proud with his two massive Augmented arms crossed over his prodigious chest. They were custom made by Doctor Nequiv himself, the highly esteemed Augmented-Smith whose creations and technological breakthroughs in Augmented-tech have established his name as one of the Great Augmented Founders within the Augmented society.

Euna crimson eyes met Armstrung’s and for a moment there seemed to be an unspoken agreement between the two.

Blood would be spilled.

“Hmph,” Armstrung grunted and then unfolded his arms that were made of highly durable synthetic material that gave off the appearance of chrome steel. Luminous blue lines of complex circuitry could be seen running down his limbs. His arms were Augmented with miniature thrusters at the elbow for added 'impact'. “Very well. Everyone… fire at will!”

The squadron of hastily organized soldiers fired at Euna. Hundreds of tranquilizer darts--each of them potent enough to sedate Whalemoths--flitted through the air, but none of them found their mark.

Euna was already aloft, spinning lithly in the air as her malformed wings blossomed outwards from her shoulder blades. When she landed, it was on the back of a soldier, her claws digging deep into his synthetically reinforced neck before eviscerating his exposed jugular. Euna’s hands came free and what followed was a shower of rich crimson mixed with translucent fluids splattering everywhere.

For a moment, Euna was reminded of her first time hunting animals in the forest. Then she remembered peaceful times as blood and fluids rained onto the fear-stricken soldiers. The village feasts that they had every week, the hunting expeditions that she participated in with the Hunters, the lectures that the village teachers forced her to listen to. And above all else, she cherished her time with her father, Regulus who would tell her stories while they sat in the warmth of a bonfire, bestowing upon her wisdom and knowledge from a time before her.

Now she had taken the life of a man. Not an animal to be hunted and eaten, but a person. A person that could think and feel just like her. Euna could feel an ugly and raw feeling stir within the pit of her stomach, like she had eaten something putrid.

"Fire you cowards!" the Augmented Captain bellowed at his men.

The squadron of fifty Augmented soldiers awoke from their brief stupor, and began firing erratically at Euna.

But Euna reacted instantaneously, folding her wings tight and sprinting with inhuman speed as she zig-zagged between the gaps in the soldier’s formation.

“W-wait!”

“Don’t shoot-”

Dozens of soldiers collapsed into a deep slumber.

“You fools! Hold your fire!” shouted Captain Armstrung but it was too late. The damage had been done. More than half of the squadron were incapacitated from friendly-fire.

“Gahh…” Captain Armstrung sighed deeply before stepping forward, pushing his men aside. His hastily organized soldiers--most of them recruited from the wounded in the hangar bay--were far too incompetent. Armstrung had to take matters into his own hands now, before he lost the rest of his men.

“Stand behind me!” Armstrung commanded.

The Augmented soldiers who were still standing, promptly moved themselves into an orderly formation behind their Captain.

Euna straightened up from a crouch to meet the Captain’s eyes. Once again they found themselves in a stare-off.

Armstrung looked at the Altered girl who only stood as tall as his waist.

“Why haven’t you shed your human form?” Armstrung asked inquisitively. “Perhaps you are still nascent?”

Euna glared at the Augmented Captain, ignoring his questions, then demanded, “take me to General Corax. I don’t want to kill anymore of you... Please.”

Armstrung broke into a laughter bordering on hysteria. “How ludicrous! You monsters have slain tens of thousands of us like flies. Your hands are soaked in blood and yet you speak of mercy?” Arustrung spat, then began pacing around Euna. “Your words are an insult to all the brave men and women who have died before me. Your kind is smeared in the blood of my people. Your attempt at nobility disgusts me. This is a war that will never end until the Altered are eradicated from this land.”

Euna stared at her blood stained claws.

War..., Euna thought. This was what it truly meant to be at war? To ruthlessly slaughter the opposing faction until none remained. It seemed so irrational, so mindless and… and stupid.

“What is your name?” Armstrung asked, still pacing around Euna.

“Euna.”

“Euna, I’ll remember you. You are a strange one indeed. I am Armstrung. Helick Armstrung. My family have served the Augmented Empire for many centuries, fighting and dying to you monsters, but today… Today I will have myself a new Altered trophy.”

Before Euna could even respond, Armstrung suddenly flew. WIth a explosive burst of ignition from Armstrung’s elbow and ankle thrusters, he was suddenly in front of Euna, closing the ten metre gap between them almost instantaneously despite his bulky figure.

Euna, caught by surprise and at the same time, confused by the sudden speed of the Captain, only managed to raise her arms in defense.

Armstrung punched with the weight of his entire frame combined with the force of his rocket propelled velocity. His fist connected with Euna’s forearms, instantly pulverizing her bones, then crushing her internal organs before launching her flying across the hangar bay.

Euna’s limp body smashed into a half-destroyed Vessel, stopping her momentum before falling directly onto the floor.

Silence pervaded the room as Euna lay unmoving.

“Is she... dead?” a soldier asked curiously, breaking the silence.

Another soldier stepped forward, dragging a heavy jumble of carbon fiber cables. “sir, shall we restrain her?”

Armstrung raised his arm to the side, stopping the soldier. “Fool, do you want to die? An Altered won’t go down this easily. Look carefully.”

Euna tried to gasp for air but found her lungs crushed and her heart demolished. She could feel her body screaming from all the pain and carnage that her body had suffered but she knew not to panic. Regulus had always told her that the Altered must always have full command of their body, that their mind and body must be one. Euna focused, clearing her mind of emotion, letting herself fall into a deep meditative state. Slowly Euna could feel an empowering somatic sense of every fiber in her body, a distinct and individual sensation for every cell condensed into her singular mind. It was overwhelming, an explosion of stimuli at a level that Euna had never reached before. By subconscious thought alone, her cells became subservient to her will, multiplying and repairing her ruined organs even without Euna’s deliberate control or understanding of the fundamental processes in motion.

Euna stood up, lucid and fully recovered from injuries that would have been fatal for an ordinary human being.

This… this is what it means to be an Altered, Euna thought. To defy the laws of biology. Beings that are the epitome of genetic phenomenon.

She had never suffered wounds this severe before and yet she had recovered in a matter of seconds, now standing tall and steadfast as she observed her clawed hands. Extending out of the ends of her fingerips were sharp, bladelike nails that were as long as her hands.

Euna steered her gaze around her, seeing the world through a haze of red. She saw the wounded Augmented soldiers cower from her, then laid her eyes on the Augmented Captain that was now a distance away.

Armstrung’s strength was fearsome, Euna acknowledged. He could kill her, easily, thought Euna. A blow like the one she had taken, but to her head? It would be fatal.

Now of all times, Euna yearned to be like her father. Regulus’s Altered form, a colossal titan of monstrosity. Massive scales and diamond-hard carapace weaved around his body like armor, it was a supernatural phenomenon, a genetic warping of nature’s natural defenses. She was weak. Nothing like her father, and it baffled her. Surely, if her father could produce genetic Alterations of that magnitude, then she too, should be able to do something similar to an extent.

Armstrung broke into a sprint towards Euna, leaving his soldiers positioned behind him. His thrusters activated and suddenly he was half-running and half-flying towards Euna.

Euna didn’t hesitate this time. She tapped into the pool of genetic Alteration Codes and transformed, her legs becoming the hind legs of a quadruped, her malformed wings becoming a fan of blades and her hands morphing into massive ivory claws that were as long as her forearm. She leaped forward to meet Armstrung with even greater animal agility than before.

As Armstrung approached Euna, he swung a rocket propelled hook aimed at her side, but Euna became a blur, zipping and dancing around the bulky soldier as an elegant storm of blades eviscerated the man.

Armstrung didn’t even flinch, he barely seemed to register any pain at all as his body became nicked by Euna’s blades.

Too shallow, need to cut deeper, Euna thought. Armstrung’s skin seemed to be reinforced with synthetic material of a different caliber than the rest of the soldiers.

Suddenly Armstrung spun around, his thrusters already in ignition. He lifted his elbows towards Euna and a blazing blue stream of fire flared towards her. Euna felt the scorching heat lick her back as she dashed to the side, already she could smell her skin being cooked.

Euna circled around Armstrung wary of the flames. She feinted an attack or two, but the Augmented Captain seemed content to wait for her to attack. She obliged, closing the distance between them.

It was at the same moment that Armstrung decided to attack, leaping forward before throwing a spinning round kick. Euna slid under the man, then twirled, her wings reaching upwards like claws and lacerating Armstrung.

Armstrung spun around again, another hook flew towards Euna, this time aimed at her head. She ducked, dodging the blow by a hair’s breadth. Almost simultaneously, Euna had counterattacked, her massive claw extending towards Armstrung’s heart. It was a lethal blow that Armstrung accepted.

As Euna’s clawed fingers perforated his chest, Armstrung grabbed her by the wrist and simply yanked her into a bear hug. The massive man tightened his grip, squeezing and compressing Euna’s torso.

Euna screamed, a raw and guttural cry as she felt her spine snap, her ribcage shattering and puncturing her own organs like shrapnel.

“Come on!”, Armstrung shouted at his men, “fire you cowards!”

Euna’s mind was overcome with pain, her entire world flooded with overwhelming stimuli. She closed her eyes, clearing her mind of all her physical senses. She could still feel the heightened somatic sense within her. She attempted to flare it, pushing it up a notch.

“Is she out cold?!” a soldier yelled but received a sharp rebuke from Armstrung.

“Keep firing you fools! You two, get the restraints on her!”

Euna’s world became pitch black, but somehow she felt more awake than ever before as her somatic sense intensified, she could suddenly feel something distinctly familiar and at the same time, foreign deep within the pool of genetic code that she had learned to tap into since she was a child. An ability inherent in all Altereds, it was what allowed Euna to grow malformed wings, enhance her senses at a whim, and turn her fingers into razor-sharp claws that aided her in hunting prey. She reached out, her consciousness expanding within the void of her genetic pool and saw thousands, millions of possibilities. An incomprehensible matrix of genetic sequences that would take her an eternity to decipher. But within that pool, Euna could feel selections and mixtures of chromatin that were coherent, familiar, and accessible to her through a long chain of genetic memory ingrained into her from generations of Altered before her.

This is it, Euna realized. Euna could feel it all come together. It was all within her grasp. A touch away from reaching a higher plane of Alteration.

Then Euna remembered the fear she felt when she saw her father and villagers change into beings of hulking absurdities.

A monster. Is that truly what I want to become? Would being a monster help me end this war? Euna wondered.

Suddenly Euna could feel the presence of something foreign within her, but her mind was transfixed by the incredible beauty of the transcendent genetic matrix. Allured by the prospect of power, Euna gave in.

Euna ‘touched’ with her somatic sense, the Alteration code that would give her the strength to end a war.

‘Finally,’ the voice within her uttered.

Euna’s world turned white.