[The world as you know it has come to an end. The Multidimensional Gods have decided to include humanity in the war against the Chaos Gods and their army of monsters.
You may be scared at first, but understand that this is for a necessary cause. To the number of you that survive the initial impact, support yourselves, choose your heroes and choose wisely. This system shall assist you… Good luck]
That was the message that appeared in front of Lucas as he stood behind the counter, it was a blue floating screen in the middle of the air.
He lifted his hand right through it, and it seemed even more unbelievable.
"What the hell..?" The elderly customer at the other side asked sharply, almost mimicking his movements.
"A-Are you seeing this…" Lucas muttered in disbelief.
As he looked around the convenience store he realized everyone was experiencing the same confusion. Even though he couldn't see anything in front of them, he concluded that they were probably seeing the same thing.
"Young man, is this one of those new devices…?" The elderly man pressed him for answers, "Turn it off this instance!"
A younger woman waiting on the line behind him began to panic. "Oh my goodness—"
A sudden boom tore through the store, sending shockwaves in every direction.
Everyone was thrown off their feet as the windows shattered at once, glass spraying across the floor.
At the center of the store, a black orb materialized, pulsing with a strange, foreign energy.
It slowly expanded, morphing into a large, shapeless mass. A violent surge of force erupted from it, knocking items off shelves and making it nearly impossible for anyone to stand.
In an instant, the convenience store was heavily damaged. One wall caved in and part of the ceiling was torn away, exposing the chaos outside.
Lucas rose from behind the counter.
Some people were knocked down by the shelves and were struggling to get back up, but what he saw outside was worse.
People scattered in every direction, their screams colliding with the deafening crunch of metal as cars slammed into one another in a desperate chain reaction.
"What… is that?" the old man from earlier muttered, his voice trembling as his eyes locked onto the center of the chaos inside the store.
The floating mass had changed.
It was no longer a shapeless orb, it had hardened into something grotesque. A cocoon, right at the center. Nearly six feet tall, its narrow frame pulsed as if something inside was breathing… waiting.
At the far end of the store, one man snapped out of the paralysis.
"Fuck this!"
While the others stood frozen, trapped between fear and disbelief, he ran, bolting straight for the broken gap in the wall.
He didn't make it far.
A sharp crack split the air.
From the cocoon, a long limb shot out. It was fast, and unnatural. It pierced straight through his chest before he could take more than a few steps, lifting him slightly off the ground.
"Ahhhh!!!"
A woman's scream tore through the chaos as blood sprayed across her face.
Panic snapped whatever restraint remained.
She turned and ran for the exit, her legs moving on pure instinct… but she barely made it halfway.
Another limb.
Another body.
This time, it punched clean through her torso, stopping her mid-stride holding her lifeless body in place.
That was the breaking point. All hell erupted.
People surged toward every possible exit, trampling over one another in blind terror. But the cocoon responded.
its surface splitting open as multiple tendrils burst outward, writhing like living weapons.
They struck without pattern, or mercy.
Piercing and killing.
A few lucky ones slipped through the chaos and managed to make it outside, but most weren't fast enough.
One by one, they were caught… impaled by the writhing limbs of the cocoon
It continued until the only people that were left behind were the ones that had not tried to escape.
The old man that Lucas was attending to right before the impact, held steady to the counter afraid of getting knocked down by the people rushing out, while some people were only saved because they were knocked down.
Logan on the other hand didn't move an inch.
He watched as their bodies went pale, the thick tentacles draining the energy from everyone that it had impaled.
It was hard telling just how many people were still alive, but other than the groans and whimpers of the dying, there were other small sounds and movements coming from different corners.
'What just happened?!' Logan wondered, trying to process everything.
'Am I… going to die?'
his eyes remained fixed on the murdering cocoon with multiple limbs stretching out from different angles, pulsing with energy.
He glanced at the door and back at it, as his heart pounded inside his chest.
'Maybe I can make it if I sprint for the door…' he told himself, but something stopped his body from moving. He was far too traumatized to do it, instead he stood and waited for death.
After draining them of all their energy, two more tentacles burst through the top of the cocoon, tearing it open from within. The shell split apart in wet, peeling strips, folding back like rotting petals.
Something stepped out.
It resembled a praying mantis, but different. It had four forearms, each one long and blade-like, layered with jagged spines that clicked softly as they shifted.
Its lower body wasn't a body at all.
A mass of thick, writhing tentacles spilled downward, anchoring it to the ground like roots. They flexed and coiled, lifting the creature slightly as if it were hovering rather than standing.
It let out a loud screech that threatened to bust their ear drums, forcing them to cover their ears in agony.
[Defend yourself from the Necro-mantis]