The massive doors of the cathedral groaned as they slowly opened, the sound echoing across the ruined land like a warning, and from within the shadowed interior stepped two figures who immediately commanded attention by their presence alone. The first was a tall man, standing nearly as high as Eclipser, dressed in a black tank top, black cargo pants, and heavy black boots that looked as though they had been worn through countless battles. A chain hung loosely around his neck, and at its end rested a small picture of a red cardinal, the only hint of color on him at all. His hair was brown, cut short and practical, and his muscular build was carried with the rigid stillness of someone who was always prepared to move. His expression, set and unyielding, held no warmth whatsoever.
Beside him stood a woman, slightly shorter at around five feet and nine inches, though she carried herself with a quiet, cutting confidence that made her presence just as imposing. She wore a black long-sleeved shirt, black jeans, and black high-heeled boots that sank slightly into the decayed ground beneath her. Her long blonde hair fell to the middle of her back, parting neatly around her face and tucked behind both ears, framing eyes of a piercing blue that seemed to glow faintly even in the dim, ruined light.
"Halt." The man said, "you are not permitted to stand on these grounds, lower forms of life. See to it that you remove yourselves, or be thrown away to rot in these lands." His voice was harsh and absolute, each word delivered with the weight of finality, leaving no room for excuses, negotiations, or empty pleas.
"We come here with knowledge." Viroth said, his tone steady despite the hostility, while the man and woman's expressions remained completely unchanged. "I have data that will be much of use to our kind. All you have to do is let us in, and we'll explain everything."
"Who is 'our kind'?" The woman said, her voice carrying an underlying sweetness that clashed sharply with the sternness behind it. "Do not associate yourself with us. Understand your place, feeble being."
Viroth did not speak after that, and Eclipser did not move, the silence between them stretching just long enough to feel heavy.
'Shit. These two are really keen on displacing themselves away from us, despite us all being Humans of Ruin,' Viroth thought, his eyes fixed on them. 'The only reason they have this view is because of their power. These dipshits may have been alive around the time of our creation, but they grew up here, constantly strengthening themselves by the second.'
'If it weren't for that, they'd be equal or weaker than us. I can't stand their ego,' Viroth continued, the irritation simmering beneath his calm exterior.
'I hope Viroth has a plan here. Outside of brandishing our information, that is to create more Humans of Ruin, I have no clue what he's on about, or what comes next,' Eclipser thought, watching the pair carefully. 'When it comes down to it, I'm the brawn, and he's the brain. But leaving me out of the plan isn't something that he should be doing. I'm starting to wonder if he even has a plan.'
Suddenly, both the woman and the man wore shocked expressions, as if something unseen had reached them at the same time. They looked at each other briefly, then nodded in silent agreement before turning their full attention back to Viroth and Eclipser. The man stepped forward first, his movements deliberate and heavy with intent, with the woman following just a moment after.
"Since you will not listen and step off these lands, we have no choice but to end your pitiful existence on our sacred grounds." He said, and in the same breath he dashed toward Viroth.
Viroth leaped back quickly, narrowly avoiding the initial strike, and the man gave chase without hesitation, leaving the woman to face Eclipser alone.
"I think this is ridiculous." Eclipser said, the first words he had spoken since their arrival. "We are the same race, the same kind. We should be celebrating our return to our home. Not fighting like a bunch of savages."
"It is you two, who are the savages. You are invading our home, our land, and we will get rid of you, parasites!" The woman hissed before charging straight at him.
Eclipser raised his guard just in time to block her punch, her speed impressive for someone with such a lightweight build, yet the force behind the blow was something else entirely—something he had not expected. The impact carried a tremendous weight, a level of raw strength that rivaled his own, and it sent a sharp jolt through his arms.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him, his other fist already aimed at the side of her head, but she twisted her body forward with fluid precision, lifting her legs high into the air, kicking his arm away and wrapping her ankles tightly around his neck. With a swift, controlled turn, she used his own momentum against him and sent Eclipser flying across the battlefield and straight into the rotten land below.
He pushed himself up slowly, dust and decay clinging to him as he processed just how powerful and unexpected his opponent truly was.
'She's fast, agile, and somehow extremely strong. She caught me off guard with that strength. However…' Eclipser thought, straightening himself. 'She should have waited to show me her true strength. If she is hiding more of it, then the same trick will not get me twice.'
In an instant, Eclipser's form dispersed into countless tiny shadows, dissolving into the dust and sand swirling through the air. The woman's eyes darted around as his presence vanished completely, her guard tightening—until an arm suddenly reached out from her own shadow and clamped down on her ankle. Another arm followed, wrapping around her wrists, and then Eclipser's main body reformed behind her, prompting a faint, confident smile to cross her face.
"You can only use two hands. You can't kill me before I can break out of your grasp." She said.
A massive hand, twice the size of both their bodies combined, materialized overhead and came crashing down onto her with devastating force, driving her into the dirt and sand below. When the fist lifted, it revealed her broken and badly injured form. She did not bleed. Worse than that, her very existence wavered, as though it were on the brink of fading away entirely.
Elsewhere, Viroth narrowly dodged another relentless attack from the man, who showed no signs of slowing down.
'Does this guy have infinite fucking stamina!!??' Viroth thought as he twisted away from yet another strike.
He brushed the ground as he leapt back, and for a brief moment pink and purple pixels flickered into existence before vanishing. When the man stepped into that spot, the ground beneath him erupted violently, the explosion throwing him backward.
'Yes! Perfect power to get there!' Viroth cheered silently.
The man recovered quickly, slamming his hands into the earth, and the ground began to vibrate violently, throwing Viroth off balance. Viroth tapped the ground beneath him, his body shifting and flowing as he turned into water.
'Shit!' He cursed in his head.
The earth beneath them suddenly gave way, opening into a massive cavern hidden under the sand and dirt, and Viroth fell into the darkness below with the man following close behind.
As Viroth descended, sharp spikes formed from sand and dirt and shot toward him from all sides, each one aimed to pierce him before he could recover. He typed into the air in front of him, summoning two arrow-shaped keys from a keyboard, and fired them straight at his pursuer.
The projectiles struck the man in both shoulders, knocking him back, and in that brief window of time, Viroth pulled a blank card from his lab coat and tapped it once. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them slowly, his expression lighting up with excitement.
"Oh, yeah!" He exclaimed, hurling the card toward the man.
A fireball launched forward, and Viroth followed it by throwing several more of the same cards from his coat, each one releasing another blazing explosion, fireball after fireball tearing through the air toward his opponent.
The subcategory ability of Viroth, known as an aspect, and possessed by him as one of the first Humans of Ruin born in the United States, functioned in a way eerily similar to a computer. Every tap of his fingers, hands, or any part of his body registered as a click of a mouse, and whatever Viroth "clicked" would randomly generate either an object or a form of destruction listed on a famous website beginning with a W.
These random generations were completely unknown to Viroth in advance. He could have either the object or the type of destruction in mind, but the specific result would always be randomly selected from the category he chose. This ability did not work on anything alive, and that limitation was itself a defining aspect of his power—something only he and Eclipser possessed, surpassing even Keaton and Beatrix in that regard.
Viroth called this aspect, "Clicking Fever!"
The main aspect of Viroth's ability was the keyboard itself. By tapping commands into his invisible console, he could summon various things pulled from across the internet, shaping them into reality through lines of code only he could see and understand. However, this power carried a severe and unavoidable drawback. If whatever he attempted to summon held a great deal of cultural weight or recognition—such as a famous fictional character from a massive fandom—then the code required to bring it into existence would become exponentially longer, sometimes taking anywhere from ten minutes to a full hour to type out. The exact time frame varied wildly depending on what he was trying to create, and on top of that, he could only summon things that he already knew and understood. Viroth called this primary ability "Central Control."
Another aspect of his power, something he had only discovered a week ago, involved printing out stacks of blank cards and tapping them with his ability, causing each card to be infused with a random object or a random type of destruction. Once activated, these cards would begin to copy themselves infinitely until the one-minute duration came to an end. This secondary function of his power was something he named "Infectious Trade."
However, using Infectious Trade was extremely taxing on Viroth's energy, draining him to the point where he could collapse and fall asleep in the middle of battle—something he was painfully aware could happen if he pushed himself too far. Even so, the time limit of the ability would not begin unless he actively triggered it by throwing the card himself, giving him at least some measure of control over when that dangerous countdown began.
Without a doubt, Viroth was a digital mastermind.
He slid down the wall, slowing his pace just enough to steady himself, and then, with one hand, he began typing at a blistering speed. A basic stick figure appeared in front of him, already in motion the instant it formed, and it lunged at the man, tackling him and grinding the back of his head hard against the wall. Moments later, more stick figures appeared, each one grabbing hold of different parts of the man's body and pinning him in place. Viroth smiled as he threw card after card toward him, each one summoning even more stick men to join the assault.
In tandem with Infectious Trade, Central Control could copy and then paste the character Viroth had typed onto a printed card, effectively allowing him to mass-produce the same summon. The trade-off was that the duration of these copies was halved, though the energy consumption dropped to almost nothing, making it a far more efficient option in extended fights.
However, if Viroth used Infectious Trade before copying and pasting his summon onto a card, then whatever time he had left—so long as it was below thirty seconds—would continue counting down as normal. Then, once Infectious Trade deactivated, the character he had summoned would linger for an additional thirty seconds before vanishing.
With only ten seconds remaining, Viroth managed to summon twenty-five stick men, all of them swarming the man at once and beating him severely.
Then—both the woman—and the man—had their eyes snap open.
In a single, brutal motion, the man destroyed all of the stick men with one sweeping strike of his arm, reducing them to nothing, before dashing toward Viroth at an incredible speed that left almost no time to react.
At the same time, the woman shot up from her crushed position in the ground, startling Eclipser. He sent the giant fist crashing down on her again, but this time she caught it—and then crushed it in her grip. In a sudden burst of speed, she drove her fist into his stomach, sending him flying through several chunks of broken land before he finally slammed into an already shattered boulder.
'What the hell? Where did this speed and strength come from?' Eclipser thought. 'Just moments ago, she rivaled me, now, she's in a league of her own…'
She appeared in front of him again almost instantly, punching him down into the dirt before he could fully recover. She grabbed him by the throat and hurled him back into the ground once more, then mounted his chest, locking her knees around his neck and squeezing as she began to pummel him relentlessly. Dirt, sand, rock, and even pieces of twisted root exploded upward with every impact.
Then Eclipser caught her punch, one hand emerging from her shadow to seize the other, while more shadowy hands grabbed her by the neck and ankles, and another arm wrapped tightly around her stomach. Slowly, forcefully, they peeled her off his battered body, and Eclipser rose to his feet as well, breathing heavily.
"Now…" he huffed out, "you are going to find out while I'm called Eclipser." He pulled his arm back and released a devastating punch, the impact producing a thunderous shockwave that sent her flying through the air for countless miles, until she finally slammed into a rotten tree and shattered it into minuscule pieces.
The main ability of Eclipser was "Eclipse," a passive power that only functioned when he registered someone as an opponent—and that could only happen when he was fighting someone who was stronger than him, or at least equal to him. If they were better than him at something he already did, or better at something he had never done before, then that capability would be added to his own. Over time, Eclipser would gain the ability and the ease to perform what once seemed impossible, gradually eclipsing his opponent.
There was even a visible symbol of this passive ability: a miniature, almost dreamlike sun and moon that appeared behind Eclipser's body. The moon would slowly, steadily move to block out the sun, signaling the Eclipse drawing closer and closer to completion. This visual did not affect the aspect of the ability itself, but it served as an ominous sign of what was coming. And with a body durable enough to survive the power of multiple of the strongest nuclear missiles exploding, the passive ability became something that was almost impossible to prevent once it had begun.
This ability had no cooldown and no duration. Once someone had been eclipsed, they would remain that way forever.
Eclipser dispersed into shadows once again, reappearing in front of the woman faster than the blink of an eye.
An aspect of Eclipse, called "Shadow Strike," allowed him to open shadows from anywhere near him and move through them at the speed of darkness itself.
Multiple fists, each one even larger than a semi-truck, formed above the woman and slammed down on her repeatedly. After that, two long spears appeared behind Eclipser, crossing into an X shape before angling downward toward her.
Another aspect of Eclipse, called "Appearing Shadow," created various limbs and weapons—excluding heads—that formed and attacked at the speed of darkness.
The woman let out a piercing scream and shattered the shadow-forged weapons. She threw a punch toward Eclipser, and he raised his hand to block it, but the sheer power behind the blow still sent him flying backward, even though his posture never changed.
"Oh, so you do have extra strength." He said as he landed, watching her charge toward him. "Then bring it on! Let the moon block the sun!"
Eclipser dashed forward and met her in the middle, the collision releasing another shockwave. She kicked him to the ground, but he rolled back to his feet as if it were nothing and dodged her follow-up strike.
He drove his fist into her gut, knocking the wind out of her, and she leapt back, recalibrating her approach. Then her shadow opened, and a shadowy hand reached up toward her neck. Before it could grab her, she caught the wrist and yanked it free from the darkness.
But that was exactly what Eclipser wanted.
He rushed toward her, but before he could reach her, a right-angled triangle suddenly appeared across his torso.
"Cosine!" She said, slicing a triangle through his chest.
Eclipser fell to the ground, dead, his existence wavering.
The woman's ability, called "Angular Construction," allowed her to create any angle she desired—whether in the air, on an object, or directly on a person or even their soul. By cutting through space itself, she could place the angle onto her target faster than Eclipser could react, even when moving through shadows.
She stood over him, her arm extended, a single finger leveled at his chest as though passing judgment itself.
"Divide and Subtract."
The symbols manifested instantly—the division sign and the subtraction sign twisting into existence, the two lines crossing into an X while the dots hovered above and below, suspended in the air over Eclipser's body—and in the same moment, everything that made him him, from flesh to bone to the very atoms that composed him, was deconstructed, scattered apart, and ultimately erased, leaving behind nothing but blood and torn fragments of cloth that fell uselessly to the ground.
An aspect of Angular Construction, simply called "Division," allowed her to divide anything she wished. In Eclipser's case, she divided his body—down to the level of atoms—separating them from the surrounding matter, and then followed it with another aspect, called "Subtraction," subtracting those same atoms from themselves, leaving behind an absolute zero, erasing both sides of the equation at once to ensure that nothing remained and that he could never return.
The woman turned away, the task finished, already convinced the fight had ended. Then, after only a moment, she stopped, a strange unease crawling up her spine, and turned back one last time to look upon what she had done—only to find that his body was gone.
She turned fully around again—and was met with a fully formed Eclipser standing there, intact, alive, and looking at her, the shock of it hitting her like a physical wave.
"The one thing about darkness..." he said, and then three more Eclipsers appeared—one to each side of her and one behind her—"Is that you can never scatter its shadow."
They all vanished at once, only to reappear in four positions around her.
'Is there really more than one of him?' she thought. 'No, that's illogical. He's just moving really fast.' She forced herself to settle on that conclusion.
At the point where there had been four Eclipsers, there was only one—he had simply been moving at an extreme speed, weaving between those positions so quickly that it created the illusion of multiplicity, though what she didn't realize was that such movement required a speed hundreds of times faster than darkness itself to even attempt.
'I can't tell which one is the real one. He's moving too fast for me to keep up with,' she thought.
She slammed her power into the ground beneath her feet, shattering it and sending a violent shockwave outward, blasting away the mirages of Eclipser along with Eclipser himself. She dashed toward the lingering presence she could still feel, reaching out—only for the four images to surround her again. In one fluid, merciless motion, Eclipser moved through each position, striking her with the side of his fist—one blow to her left cheek, another to her right, one to the back of her head, and one directly into her face.
The woman recoiled and dropped to one knee—and then, as the ground split beneath her, she saw a shadowy spear erupt upward and pierce straight through her torso. Blood spilled from her mouth as she looked down and saw the massive spear occupying nearly her entire stomach.
Eclipser grabbed her by the throat and tore her free from the spear, letting her body collapse heavily onto the ground. He stood over her, looking down, his gaze burning into the back of her head as she struggled to breathe, or even to move—now it wasn't just exhaustion gripping her anymore. Now it was fear.
The final aspect of Eclispe, by far the most powerful one, worthy enough to be called the main ability, called,
"'The Darkest Shadow.'" Eclipser said.
Behind him, an eclipse formed—the moon sliding before the sun and devouring its light—and at the same time, the woman's body began to fade from reality itself, from existence, her form slowly being erased as her own shadow rose up and consumed her.
---
Viroth was dragged down the wall of the cavern, his body scraping against stone as blood streamed from a wound on his forehead and trailed down the right side of his face.
The man kicked off the wall, sending himself backward and dragging Viroth with him before hurling him toward the ground. Viroth hit with a heavy thud, dirt and dust exploding upward around his body.
The man thrust his arm toward the rocky wall and shouted, "Arccosine!", and the angle of the wall twisted unnaturally, the stone reversing into smaller, broken fragments that immediately began to fall. Then he swung his arm downward and yelled, "Add!", and, "Multiply!"
The rocks multiplied rapidly, their numbers increasing again and again, and with each repetition, their power and weight surged higher, being multiplied against themselves over and over until the cavern was filled with massive, boulder-sized chunks of stone that barely fit within the space, all of them crashing down toward Viroth under their own overwhelming weight.
The man's ability, called "Arccosine," allowed him to reverse the state of whatever he aimed his arm at into whatever form he desired. By reversing an object, he could choose whether it became solid, vapor, or liquid, and could decide its shape and size as well. This power, however, could not affect anything living.
One aspect of Arccosine, called "Addition," allowed him to add more of whatever he was looking at. This could work on living things, even himself, but doing so split the natural power of whatever was added in half, and the more that was added, the weaker each individual part became. There was also a time limit on Addition—it lasted for ten minutes.
Another aspect of Arccosine, called "Multiplication," multiplied the natural power of whatever he chose against itself, producing a total, then multiplying that total again and again, creating a new value each time and continuing the process endlessly. This could work on living things, but not on himself. After Addition created something new, it could no longer be affected by Multiplication. Once applied, Multiplication was permanent.
The rocks slammed into the ground, kicking up another massive cloud of dirt and debris. As the man descended, nearing the ground, his eyes widened when he saw Viroth's form—unharmed, aside from the wounds from earlier—standing there with a huge, manic smile stretched across his face.
In his hands, he held a deck of cards.
'What?! Did he somehow absorb the rocks into those cards? It must have something to do with his ability,' the man thought. 'But that doesn't explain how he survived the ones that did land. It should have crushed him where he stood.'
As more of the dust settled, he saw it—a massive, translucent, mystical shield standing between Viroth and the impact point, the barrier that had stopped the rocks from ever reaching him.
"Surprise, you bastard!" Viroth said, and hurled the cards toward the descending man, sending the rocks—whose power had been so heavily multiplied—back at him.
There existed a separate part of Viroth's Infectious Trade. It functioned in much the same way, but relied on another person to activate it. If someone threw something at Viroth—whether it was invisible, made of energy, or lacked a physical form—it could be stored inside a card and then copied. This version shared the same one-minute time limit, but consumed less energy to use.
If the man were hit by those attacks, he would surely die.
"STOP!" a woman yelled.
Time in the immediate area froze. Everything turned gray.
Viroth, his cards, and the amplified rocks halted in midair. The man stopped instantly in his descent. The Darkest Shadow froze in place. Neither Eclipser nor the woman could move, and her shadow no longer continued devouring her existence.
'What the hell... is this?' Eclipser thought. 'I can't move, and I can't see anyone for Eclipse to begin...'
'Time stopped?' Viroth thought. 'Yet I'm able to think. A woman yelled, saying stop. She must be the one behind time suddenly freezing. What an insane and precise control over the flow of time.'
Then, a mystical being appeared above Viroth and the man. She wore an all-white gown and an all-white veil that draped over her like falling light. She looked to be in her fifties, with dark, thick black hair hidden beneath the veil. Behind the thin fabric, her eyes glowed a faint black, and her feet were completely concealed by the incredible length of her gown as she hovered there, untouched by gravity.
At the same time, the same woman—though appearing far less mystical—manifested above Eclipser and the woman as well.
"You all have fought extremely well." She said, her voice echoing slightly. It was gentle and welcoming, betraying nothing of her apparent ability to stop time itself.
Eclipser looked at her, trying to force himself to see her as an enemy, but her presence was so extravagant, so serene and composed, that he simply couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Please, stop this fight. You," she gestured to Eclipser.
"You," she gestured to Viroth.
"Are welcomed into the cathedral." She said. And in the same instant, both the man and Viroth appeared beside Eclipser and the woman.
The rocks that had been hurtling toward the man were gone. The woman's shadow, which had been erasing her from existence, had ceased its work entirely. Then time unfroze, snapping back into motion and sending both Viroth and the man tumbling forward to land flat on their faces.
"Please, tell us your names." The elegant woman said. "I am Kristella, Queen of Ruin."
Viroth stood, dusting off his pants, then looked toward Eclipser, who—if looks could speak—was clearly giving him a very expressive "wtf" stare.
"Uhm... I am Viroth, 'king of viruses.'" Viroth said, adding a cool nickname so he wouldn't feel left out.
"And I am Eclipser, lord of the dark." Eclipser said, feeling the same way Viroth did.
Viroth shot Eclipser a mock-angry glare, clearly offended that Eclipser's title sounded cooler than his.
"It is wonderful to meet you both." Kristella said with a warm smile, then gestured toward the man and the woman. "He is Kyle, and she is Alex."
They looked toward Kyle and Alex, who waved back at them casually. Viroth turned again to face Kristella, confusion written plainly across his face.
"But I don't understand. Fifteen minutes ago, these two were trying to ANNIHILATE us. Not to mention their cocky demeanor, too. What's with the attitude change?" He asked.
"That was a test." Kirstella said. "If you two were killed by Kyle and Alex, then that would have been that. You were no use to us if you could not handle them." She said casually, either unaware of how dark and inhumane her words sounded—or fully aware and simply not caring.
"We initially thought, some like myself, hoped that you would defeat them. But what you two did was exceptional. I have never seen an ability quite like 'The Darkest Shadow' before. Neither an ability as unique as holding an object into a card and throwing it about." Kristella continued, genuine joy evident in her voice. "Well done, you two."
Viroth looked at Eclipser. Eclipser looked back at Viroth. At the same time, they both thought, 'What an insane bitch.'
"Well," Viroth said, breaking the brief silence, "I'm glad we passed that test. And I assume with flying colors, right?"
"Indeed!" Kristella said, then gestured toward the massive doors of the cathedral. "Come inside. It's time you meet the rest of our kind."
With one final look at each other, Eclipser and Viroth followed behind Kristella, Kyle, and Alex as they entered the cathedral.
The hallway beyond was dark, lined with stands of blackened knight armor, with dull brown walls rising behind them. A single red carpet trimmed in gold stretched beneath their feet, seeming to run on endlessly into the distance.
Kristella suddenly stopped and reached forward, placing her hand against an invisible surface. The air rippled and glowed where she touched it, waves spreading outward, and then the unseen barrier shattered like glass, revealing a massive door at the far end of the hallway.
"Come along. That was a simple premeasure for anyone trying to get inside. Only I can activate and deactivate it." Kristella said, gesturing for Viroth and Eclipser to follow.
They reached the door, and Kristella opened it, revealing a vast chamber beyond. Six enormous pillars held up the ceiling, and the red carpet continued between them, leading toward yet another set of doors. Between every two pillars they passed, there was a door on either side. Kristella opened one of them, revealing another hallway that split in two. She turned left and walked down it, stopping at another door and opening it to reveal a massive round stone table surrounded by heavy stone chairs in a dimly lit room.
At the head of the table sat the largest chair of all, more a throne than a seat. Kristella took her place there and gestured for Viroth and Eclipser to sit across from her. They walked in alongside Kyle and Alex, passing several people already seated in smaller, though still throne-like, chairs. Finally, they sat down beside each other, facing Kristella.
"I'm sure everyone in this room is full aware of why we, and these two strangers, are here today." Kristella said.
"Yeah, I know. And I think it's a waste of time." A man said, his voice raspy and gruff.
He wore a cowboy hat on his head and a poncho draped around his torso.
"Oh, come on, Weston, you always have a grumpy attitude." A woman said from across the table. She wore an all-purple cloak that covered her entire body, dark purple hair spilling down to her chest.
Weston groaned. "Whatever you say, Chelsea. You're always filled with energy." He said, sounding too tired to argue any further.
Chelsea stuck out her tongue, one of her eyes—each holding a single star—closing as she winked at him, holding her hand upside down in a thumbs-up against her forehead. "You know it!"
"Why are they really here?" Another man asked from the right side of Kristella's seat, gesturing toward Eclipser and Viroth. He wore a simple, thin black hoodie with black strings, and his entire skull was visible—dark yellow with a few white spots scattered across it.
"They have proven excellent in combat against Kyle and Alex, and they would have killed them if I hadn't stepped in. And they come here boasting information on positively affecting our kind." Kristella said. "You know that any information, even a tiny amount that is useful, will benefit our kind greatly."
"Doing good in combat against Kyle and Alex doesn't mean anything. They are the weakest among the strongest we have. Doing well against them in fight, or bringing them close to death, doesn't meant anything when it's them." The man said again.
"You talk as though that isn't something to go by." Another woman said, drawing his attention.
"Sister." He said.
"They may be the weakest, but they are there for a reason, Legion. Do not dismiss their power." She said. She wore a white kitsune mask over her face, along with a long-sleeved gingham dress, a heavy shirt, and an apron. There was something unsettlingly elusive about her presence, as though her existence itself might have been nothing more than a carefully maintained illusion.
"Comparatively, they are by far, Mercy. They are useless." Legion said.
"Comparatively, they are also the strongest we've got amongst us. And judging their worth is not for you to decide." Mercy said sternly.
"Listen," Viroth said, interrupting their sibling feud and drawing the attention of the entire room, "we came here to relay information."
"Of course," Kirstella said, "please, by all means, ignore these two and start."
"I'm afraid I cannot do that yet. How do we know that you'll allow us to stay here, to let us seek shelter from the world outside?" Viroth asked.
"It will be guaranteed." Kristella said. "We will shield you from all military action the United States deploys, protect you from the rest of the world and their militaries, and from all Monarchs, as well."
Viroth nodded at her words, accepting the weight of the promise.
"And about Alma Daedulus Alastor? Have you heard of him?" An immediate chill ran down the backs of everyone present— even Kristella— at the sound of his name.
"Yes, I have." Kristella said, her earlier confidence fading, replaced by something carefully controlled, but unmistakably close to fear. "He's the one causing us all this trouble."
"I heard he was the one who killed Keaton and finished what the Chimera Monarch started with Beatrix out in the woods." Legion said.
"You know? How so?" Eclipser asked.
"We have eyes throughout America. The Queen allows us to frequently view them. However, the way Keaton died especially was peculiar." Legion said, his voice lowering slightly.
"Huh? And how come?" Eclipser asked.
"It was but an instant. No—faster than even that. No matter how slow I augmented time, the way Keaton was killed could not be seen. It was as if he simply died and vanished. However, I did hear what that man used. It was called, the 'Endless Labyrinth.' My guess is that it trapped Keaton within a realm separate from this one. If we can somehow open it up, then we can free Keaton from it." Kristella said.
"No offense to you, my Queen, but that is a poor idea. Keaton is worthless. He was the weakest, even out of the bunch here in this room. He isn't worth going up against the Dragon Monarch." Legion said.
"Perhaps he is now. But in due time, I believe him capable of surpassing me—maybe even the Dragon Monarch in strength." Kristella said.
Reluctantly, Legion inclined his head. "As you say, my Queen."
"Alma Alastor is a dangerous person. The worst there ever has been. He's likely the reason all of us exist today—an evolution forced by creation itself to combat him. That man exists with powers separate from that of a Dragon Monarch. It is the best and only choice to remain hidden from the world, and from him, until all of us grow stronger."
They all nodded. Alma Daedulus Alastor was their first target to destroy. After him, the rest of the world would follow.
"Great to hear. If you really are letting us stay, then we'll pass you the information. All we ask is that you give us time to settle in and become adjusted." Viroth said.
Kristella nodded. "Do as you may. Two months from now, we'll be advancing to the fallen Kingdom of Atoria—the nation formed under many others, the people that once inhabited these lands."
"Be prepared for that mission." Kristella said.
"Understood. Thank you." Viroth said.
---
January 20th, 2033.
Over a month had passed since the atrocities of December 5th, 2032. A new year had arrived, and with it, countless lives had been changed.
That was no less true for Alma Alastor. Many people had been notified of the tragedy at the California State University in Fresno. Many blamed Alma for what happened there, and many more praised him for it.
The backlash from what happened at the White House—nearly all the historical treasures and part of the monument itself being destroyed—had fallen squarely onto Emmanuel's shoulders. Even though half of America stood behind him, he felt the criticism was deserved.
He had failed. And he knew there was nothing he could do to undo it or please everyone. For now, all he could do was let the storm pass and repair whatever damage it had left behind.
As for Alma Alastor, he didn't use social media, nor did he bother watching the news. His attention was fixed entirely on the Endless Labyrinth. He had discovered that with each activation, he could instantly travel to wherever he wanted—whether it was a foot in front of him, out onto the street beyond his apartment, or even to the moon itself.
The only requirement was guessing the exact distance. It was unreliable, but it usually placed him close enough to where he intended to go. And with even a little prior knowledge of a location, that guess became easier to refine.
As for Spear, he tried to manipulate its trajectory. Instead of firing in a straight line, he wanted to control where it went after release—something inspired directly by what happened in Seattle. But no matter how many times he tried, Spear would not, and could not, change course once launched.
It went straight ahead—a killing machine that destroyed anything in its path.
As for Shield, he learned how to make its interior transparent while keeping the exterior intact, allowing him to see his opponents with his own eyes instead of only seeing their souls. Seeing the soul was useful—often better than seeing the physical form—but Alma wanted the luxury of both.
Altogether, it took him a month to achieve this. The next month, he planned to devote entirely to testing whether the clones created by Mirage could use Spear or Shield—or to finding some way to alter Spear's path after launch.
Max, meanwhile, had devoted all of December and January to developing a weapon capable of harming a Beast of Ruin. He knew doing so would expose him to the government—and then the world—but if it helped Alma and the United States, that was enough for him.
Jasmine, on the other hand, was anything but satisfied. She lived in a constant state of nervous anticipation, afraid that something would eventually come to light. The days of hiding her family were coming to an end, and that thought terrified her more than anything else.
The mountain range was most deadly at the top.