14 Neo was trying to fight himself free from the creature that was hell-bent on snuffing out what was left of his life. What's worse, Neo was bleeding from multiple places as blood cascaded down his naked body like a crimson stream. Speaking of blood, upon closer inspection, one would notice that Neo's blood wasn't touching the ground at all. Once close to the ground, it would suddenly turn into a spark of red lightning and dance out of existence. Neo's body also seemed to be undergoing the same transformation. His veins were slowly being replaced by red bolts of lightning as they flickered, and red sparks erupted from and around his body. Then the bolts of lightning made their way around his body, dancing and flickering. Neo's eyes shone a deep red hue as his strength exploded in leaps and bounds. He moved with inconceivable speed, grabbed the Herknidae, and pummeled it with his fists. A huge chunk of flesh vaporized out of existence, revealing the blood-soaked innards of the cre
15 "So uhm, a mutant beast would give me a beast soul, berserk two, and Amok three. The same logic should work for the monsters, devils, and the others I guess." Neo thought, finally alighting from his train of thoughts. Then he moved on.Innate ability— Crimson nebulaeRemarks: You wield a tremendous power; its prowess can only be limited by your mortal body.Neo suddenly paused. The memory of him wreathed in crimson red lightning and the backlash to his body that followed flashed through his mind. "Now it all makes sense."Neo nodded weakly in understanding. He then continued.Reaper's gifts— soul stingerReaper's remark: Energy is the foundation of all things. Perks: You gain great affinity to souls of the living. You can repair or destroy it.Quirks: During each attack, your souls become exposed.Progress— 2Specter— Ten lives per second (soul tied), bone of contention (soul tied), cave mantleSkin-?Phantom-?Neo stared at "[soul stinger]" for a moment, suspecting that it had
## The Years of DestructionRight in the middle of a reinforced alloy hall, was a spherical manifestation of twirling darkness about three meters tall. Its very existence seemed to sap away the light present in the hall, hence it was called the rift. Two concave mirrors were placed on each side of the rift, and a strange crystal cone was placed right in front of it so that its pointed side was facing the floor. Yet the cone stood, not adhering to any known laws.On the other side of the room stood an officer, holding a young man of about sixteen years old, leading him trepidatiously toward the rift with fear and pity written all over his face. The boy had a tired look on his face, the image of the rift reflected in his crimson red eyeballs, that were void of any emotion save for suppressed fear, caged resentment, and stinging anxiety.The rift was greedily absorbing the soft glow of light in the hall, radiating immense, bone-chilling cold in return. Neo was shaking slightly and gritti
Neo stood in front of a mirror, wistful and hollow smile adoring his blood red lips, his vermillion eyes stared back into itself through the mirror, and he slowly turned to a familiar portrait, the words that came out of his lips was barely audible. "I will join you...soon."He took one last glance at the portrait and exited the house, Headed for the rift station which coincidentally used to be their manor. The portrait stood there unchanging, just as it had been for the past six years.save for the fact that the black mist that seemed to be swirling around his parent’s faceless picture was now much thicker, akin to wisps of smoke. "What are you staring at, bastards?" Neo cursed inwardly, throwing deadly glances at the people who seemed to have turned him into a riveting spectacle to feed their eyes upon. Everyone seemed to avoid him like a plague while gluing their eyes on him like a failed work of art. Well, he couldn't blame them though; he was definitely not looking good at all.
"Eliminate the threat," Reaper's voice echoed through the darkness. Suddenly, there was utter silence. But Neo was still shrouded in endless darkness. Soon enough, Neo noticed that something was different. The cloud of darkness he used to be in was the actual manifestation of darkness itself, but the one he was currently in was just the… absence of light. Also, Neo noticed another disturbing fact: he couldn't move! His limbs seemed to be glued to something. "What is going on?" Neo yelled, venting his frustration. "If you don't shut your fucking mouth over there, I swear I will come there and fucking shut it for you." A husky voice echoed throughout the darkness, making Neo flinch. Unexpectedly, another voice, which was unmistakably feminine, sounded again. "Oh, our guest is awake. Cut him some slack, bastard. Those miscreants must have hit him too hard on the head. Stay still, let me help you with the veil and ropes," the feminine voice said, coming closer to Neo. Ne
"Once again, damn you, Reaper!!," Neo said out loud, venting his frustrations."Excuse me, who is Reaper?" Scholar asked, raising his eyebrow."Uhh, it's... it's nothing. So, this door is our escape route, right?" Neo stuttered, quickly finding a way to change the topic."Well, not really. You know, this place has been sealed shut by thick, reinforced metal alloy, and food is being dropped from that hatch in the roof right there. So, since we can't climb up there, I found a vulnerable spot in this room. No need for exuberant explanations, you will understand the big plan soon," Scholar explained, then continued. "Uhh... you might want to step back a bit." Neo furrowed his brow as he quickly found a place to hide himself. Beauty was also hiding herself perfectly under Shitface's makeshift bed. While Shitface went to the fireplace and scooped some soot to mark a spot in the wall, which Neo suspected to be the vulnerable spot. "Ready?" Scholar asked Shitface, with a grim expression on
5 The crew kept advancing forward in fear and trepidation. Sometimes they would meet lifeless walking bodies strolling around aimlessly. They seemed to be oblivious to their presence, but before Neo could make further investigations, Shitface would have pounced upon them and crushed their skull with a heavy metal rod that he found on the floor. But from the little he was able to glean, he learned the virus was even more potent than he thought. According to what Scholar said, they were in the quarantine room for a week, and within that time, all eight hundred members of the Disease Control Center were infected. There was even a probability of the days being lesser since they stopped receiving food supplies three days prior, which meant that the way in which the virus spread was indeed terrifying. It also seemed to make the bodies of its host rot faster, but what was truly bothering Neo was that despite the fact that they were the ones to make first contact with the virus, they were per
As the crew walked back, Neo entered an introspective state for a moment. He just couldn't help but think that the scholar was intentionally stalling for time. Granted, he couldn't have known about the breach in the roof, but there was no way he wouldn't have known about the door situation. The pieces were already connecting themselves—the scholar was up to something. Beauty also seemed to have the same suspicion, even Shitface, who wasn't very much on the brain side, was throwing occasional glances at the scholar. Even he could tell that something was wrong with the unassuming scholar. But there was nothing they could all do. Dismissing or eliminating him was as good as spelling their doom. He was the only one who knew his way around the maze-like structure of the DCC anyway. So they just had to be quiet and watchful.By the time the crew got to the breach in the wall, it was already nightfall. The moon had already chased away its glamorous counterpart dominating the night sky in all