[30 Minutes Earlier - Inside the Transport Vehicle]
Ren sat in the back of the armored Hunter Association transport, hands cuffed in front of him. It was not like the cuffs would do anything if he wanted to break them, as he could feel his new found power humming under his skin.
Salvatore sat across from him, arms crossed, watching him like he might explode at any second. Salvatore Holt, one of the strongest S-ranks in existence, a terrifying giant. Ren turned his gaze from Salvatore, trying to think about anything other than his fellow hunters that had died gruesome deaths.
Then the voice came back.
"We need to talk."
Ren closed his eyes. "Great. You again."
Salvatore's eyes narrowed. "What?"
"Not you," Ren muttered. "The voice in my head."
"Focus. You need to understand what happened to you."
"Oh, I'm all ears," Ren said aloud, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Please, mysterious voice, enlighten me. Tell me why I'm suddenly Spiderman or whatever the fuck this is."
Salvatore leaned forward, some veins on his face popping. "Who are you talking to?" Ren waved him off. "Shh. The dead guy in my brain is trying to explain things."
"I'm not dead. Not entirely. And this is serious."
"Sure it is," Ren said, laughing bitterly. "I died, came back to life, killed a guy with glowing hair, and now I've got a roommate in my skull. Totally normal Tuesday."
Salvatore was staring at him like he had lost his mind. Which wasn't so far-fetched. The giant extracted a pair of earbuds from his pockets, and blocked his ears with them. There was no way he would listen to the ramblings of a mere F-rank that was clearly losing his mind.
"Good, he can no longer hear us. Listen to me," Kyrenth said, his voice sharp. "Those weren't monsters."
Ren's smile faded. "What?"
"The creatures that came through the gates. They're not monsters. They're Ascenders."
"Ascenders?" Ren repeated slowly. "Like... what, people?"
"Yes. People from the upper floors."
"Upper floors of what?"
"The Tower."
Ren blinked. "The tower. Right. Cool. Makes total sense." He looked at Salvatore, whose ears were still plugged. "Do you hear this shit?" He asked anyway, knowing the giant wouldn't even hear him.
"Earth is Floor One," Kyrenth continued, ignoring Ren's deflection. "The bottom floor of a hundred-floor system. What you call 'gates' are portals from the floors above. And the beings coming through? They're here to exterminate humanity."
The transport hit a bump, and Ren's stomach twisted.
"That's... that's insane," he said quietly.
"It's the truth. Humanity has been lied to for twenty years. Gates aren't random. They're coordinated. The Ascenders are following orders from the upper floors. From the gods on Floor One Hundred."
"Why?" Ren's voice cracked. "Why would they want to kill us?"
"Because of what you're becoming."
Ren's hands clenched. "And what's that?"
"Calamities."
"What?"
"When humans awaken, you're not gaining powers. You're transforming. Slowly becoming the very thing the prophecy warned about, world-ending abominations that will devour all existence."
Ren shook his head. "No. That's... we're not monsters. We're defending ourselves. We're—"
"Look at your hands."
Ren did, seeing the purple veins. The faint glow under his skin.
"That's the transformation. Every awakened human is on a path to becoming a Calamity. The stronger you get, the closer you are to losing yourself completely. At one hundred percent transformation, you become mindless. A beast. The very thing the Ascenders fear."
"So they're killing us before we turn into monsters," Ren whispered.
"Yes."
"And you?" Ren's voice hardened. "Where do you fit into this?"
"I was Floor Eighty-Seven's Third Commander. I discovered the truth, that the prophecy isn't ancient. It was fabricated by the current pantheon. Humanity WAS created as weapons by a dead god who ruled before them. The current gods feared what you could become, so they wrote a prophecy claiming you would destroy everything. They've been using it to justify genocide for twenty years. I tried to warn my people. They branded me a traitor."
Kyrenth's voice grew quieter.
"I came to Floor One to find proof. To help humanity. But I was hunted apparently, seeing as Xaelic followed me. And when I was struck, you were my only option. The fusion was... a last resort."
Ren stared at nothing, his mind racing. Fifteen people. Dead. Because they were seen as threats. As monsters-in-progress.
"Show me," Ren said. "What?" "Show me the... the system thing. The fusion. Whatever."
A pulse of energy ran through him, and suddenly, text appeared in his vision.
[SOUL FUSION COMPLETE]
[WELCOME TO FLOOR 1, HYBRID #001]
[CALAMITY INDEX: 0.02%... RECALCULATING...]
[CALAMITY INDEX: 61.3% - STABLE]
[WARNING: DUAL CONSCIOUSNESS DETECTED]
[ASCENDER MATRIX: ACTIVE]
[HUMAN CORE: ACTIVE]
[ERROR: THIS SHOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE]
Ren's breath hung in his throat. "Sixty-one percent?"
"Your transformation was accelerated by the fusion. But it's stable. Locked. You won't progress to one hundred percent like other humans. The fusion created a... balance."
"So I'm stuck at sixty-one percent monster."
"You're stuck at sixty-one percent power. Without the risk of losing yourself."
Ren closed his eyes as his headed pounded. He was tempted to throw Kyrenth's claim out the window, but with all he had seen so far. Kyrenth helping him kill Xaelic, the power that now flowed through him… With this new information… humanity wasn't fucking winning. They were cattle being culled before they could become threats, and every "hero" was a ticking time bomb.
"You're angry," Kyrenth observed.
"Of course I'm fucking angry!" Ren snapped. The buds weren't enough to stop that, and Salvatore jerked upright, hand on his sword. "Are you insane, F-rank?"
Ren ignored him. "Fifteen people died today because they thought they were protecting their home! They had no idea they were the bad guys in someone else's story!"
"They're not the bad guys. Neither are the Ascenders. Both sides are being manipulated."
"By who?"
"The gods. The ones on Floor One Hundred who have been watching this play out like a game."
Ren laughed, but there was no humor in it. "So what, we're supposed to just... climb? Fight our way to the top and punch god in the face?"
"Yes."
"That's insane."
"It's the only way to end this." As if on cue, the transport slowed. Oh yes, they were arriving.
~
After speaking with Mr Kane, and accepting Salvatore's duel, Ren rubbed his hand.
"Kyrenth?"
"Yes?"
"When I fight Salvatore... do you need to take over?"
"I can. It would be safer."
Ren shook his head. "No. I'll do it."
"You're not trained. You'll struggle."
"I need to learn." Ren's jaw set. "If I'm going to climb a hundred floors and fight gods, I can't rely on you forever. You said you're fading. Two, maybe three days. After that, I'm on my own."
Kyrenth was silent for a moment.
"You're braver than I expected, Ren Ashford."
"I'm not brave. I'm pissed off." Ren stood as the transport doors opened. "And I've got a lot of people to prove wrong."
The interrogation room was waiting.
And so was Salvatore Holt.