The Endless City, the first Grade-E Abomination, has the highest kill count out of any Abomination ever created.
Experts theorized that this is how its qualities came to be.
Although the area was only a few miles long in the real world, it appeared to be infinite. Looking at it from any angle was like looking into another dimension, and stepping into it was no different.
The most logical explanation was that it killed too many people. All those lives contribute to its size, and it was unable to grow fast enough in the real world. As a result, it began to expand inward, creating infinite space within a finite area.
No one who went inside came back, even Gifted. As soon as they crossed the border, they disappeared.
Except for one person.
An extremely powerful Gifted entered around 7 years later, yet was unable to kill it. The Endless City was a death trap for everyone. However, they brought back valuable information about its powers.
The city itself was a cyberpunk hell crawling with dangerous Abominations. The buildings and streets were mangled, and there was no sense of up or down.
It stretched far below the ground and above the skyline, making it disorienting for anyone. Blueish lights illuminated the area, and certain strange events happened. For example, the Gifted claimed to see a speeding bullet train traveling around unbound to any tracks. It was unclear whether this was an Abomination or not.
The strangest part, however, was how it affected its trespassers.
The people who died that day are not completely gone. Instead, they are frozen in time, scattered across the Endless City. Upon touching them, they will turn into a random Abomination. This means that the Abominations created are not from its core. Some think that this is because the Endless City is so strong that it can breach this rule, but others say that they are already Abominations from the core before they are touched. Until more research is done, it will remain unknown.
As for the reason why these people are frozen, it most likely has something to do with the pressure Gifted faces when entering it. The Gifted soldier who returned was capable of destroying a building with a single punch in the real world. However, in the Endless City, he was only slightly stronger than an average human. It's believed that the Abominations' strength requires one to have immense power just to exist there. As a result, non-Gifted and weaker Gifteds are frozen, while the strongest can only operate on basic levels.
The problem with this is that it doesn't affect the Abominations. Instead of being scaled down along with the Gifted, they remain as strong as the usual lower-grade Abominations.
This makes it nearly impossible to survive, much less defeat the Endless City.
Although this horrific Abomination's expansion has halted, it is considered the highest threat to humanity and the last obstacle to destroying all Abominations.
***
Present day, The Island's center.
[27,432,734QI/27,432,734QI]
Lucas sat on a building looking out into the lush jungle. This was the only space on The Island with a clearing; the visibility in most areas was only 5-10 meters for the most experienced Gifted.
It was still hard for Lucas to believe that the core was right below him. All this time, humanity could have defeated its first Grade-E Abomination, but chose to keep it alive instead.
'The government loves the public's praise. Their support is what keeps most Gifted fighting, which is why this choice is surprising. They actually chose to lie and research rather than promote its defeat.'
Since Lucas was such a talented Gifted, he knew many things that even older Gifted did not know. He had seen how the government chooses to handle most situations. But that's all he was, an observer. It's not like he could change anything.
Yet, deep down, he wanted to help Cullen even more.
Most Gifted would gladly live a life of luxury in the City. They would be labeled a hero, receive privileges everywhere they go, and could get practically anything. Cullen, however, immediately decided against that.
Lucas knew that Cullen knew where The Island's core was. With that bizarre ability of his, it was only a matter of time before it led him back here. He could probably figure out that the government was hiding something.
But, even before he knew, Cullen chose to run away. He actually decided to face a Grade-E Abomination on his own. To Lucas, this meant that Cullen wanted something different compared to everyone else.
Whether he was running away from something or towards it, Cullen was someone that Lucas didn't want to die.
So now, he was simply waiting.
'Without a doubt, Cullen will make it here. He will grow strong enough to fight the core, and when that happens, I'll be there.
No matter how it ends, Lucas wanted to be there.
***
A week later, Cullen found himself yet again hiding in a bush. This time, he was stalking a different Abomination. One he knew very well.
The Kamikazes acted differently from everything else on The Island. Once they emerged from the core, they immediately went to the ocean. It seemed like their only purpose was to catch humans.
With that said, although they weren't actively trying to kill Cullen, it was still tricky to hunt them.
If he didn't remain unnoticed and got too close, it would explode, sending Cullen to a different part of The Island. Well, that's what he assumed at least. Maybe it would be different if the explosion occurred on The Island, but Cullen doubted it.
Over the past week, Cullen's strength had significantly increased. He trained speed, strength, and endurance until his body couldn't take it anymore, then used his compasses to avoid Abominations while resting. He also found a different way to use his ability.
Since Cullen didn't have any more uses for the Wolf's ability, he used them as food. At first, living alone seemed like a problem because everything he killed would be transformed into an object. This made it impossible to eat anything. Luckily, he found out that he could directly use his power to turn the Abominations into meat, instead of using their abilities.
This meant that, along with taking their abilities, he could also take their qualities. Arthur's hard skin was not an ability, yet he still forged a dagger out of it. This gave new possibilities for Cullen.
With his diet and training, Cullen didn't even need his dagger to fight the Wolves anymore. Yet, he was still nowhere near the levels of strength Lucas and August have.
Because of that, Cullen was unsure if he could kill the Kamikaze before it exploded. August had shattered it in one punch, but Cullen was uncertain if he could do the same.
Luckily, he didn't need to. His dagger should make it much easier to break the core, and he could also attack with surprise. On top of that, Cullen was 99% sure that if he failed, he would just get sent to a different part of The Island.
After weighing the pros and cons, Cullen decided to go for it.
The crawling sphere slowly moved past the bush Cullen was hiding in, prompting him to leap forward with explosive force.
He drew his arm back and twisted his torso midair, preparing a devastating blow with his dagger. Once he grabbed onto the Abomination, he whipped the right side of his body at a terrifying speed, plunging the sharp tip into the fragile core.
As soon as it made contact, Cullen felt it break through as cracks spread throughout the Kamikaze like broken glass, proving it wasn't invincible.
Then, one of Lucas's most essential lessons went through Cullen's mind.
'If you don't shatter the core completely, it may still be alive. Even if the core is slightly broken, the Abomination's life won't end unless it is shattered."
With that said, Cullen felt his left hand slowly growing warmer. His face was illuminated with a bright yellow, slowly turning orange, then red.
Swiftly removing his dagger, Cullen launched another strike, piercing the Abomination and sending even more fractures through the Abomination. The sound of glass breaking filled his ears as he desperately stabbed the Kamikaze.
The color had reached a dark red, and his hand was burning. Yet, instead of exploding, Cullen struck one last time, driving his whole hand through the damaged core.
It slowly crumpled apart, the color dimming, and Cullen fell to his knees. His relief only lasted a second, though, as he had to provide his full attention to his ability.
He already knew exactly what he wanted.
Cullen's ability activated in full effect, condensing the remains of the broken Abomination into his new toy. After a few seconds, a small core with vines lay where the previous Kamikaze was.
In fact, it was a perfect replica of the Abomination. It almost looked like it had shrunk, small enough to fit in Cullen's hand.
If it worked as Cullen intended it to, breaking this would cause a small explosion and send him to a random place on The Island. He wanted to call it the Mini Kamikaze, as that was precisely its purpose.
A getaway, in case Cullen was in dire danger.
Sadly, he couldn't test it as it was a one-time use. It wouldn't make sense for it to explode, then be used again. For his ability to work, Cullen had to understand everything about the object he made.
Take the compasses, for example. Cullen had a pretty good understanding of what made a normal compass work, so he could use the Wolf's ability to create special ones. But what about a GPS? Wouldn't that be much better at showing location than a compass? It would, yet Cullen didn't know how GPSs were made. Electronics were much more advanced, so it was impossible for Cullen to recreate something like that. The Kamikazes' whole ability revolved around destroying itself to create a magical transporting explosion. Cullen saw no way to make an object that could repeat that multiple times, as it would defeat the purpose of a Kamikaze.
So if Cullen wanted more, he would just have to kill more Abominations.
Luckily, that wasn't a problem. Though it was a close call this time, he would only grow stronger.