8 Life is sometimes funny, isn't it?
Few hours prior, Shitface had made his mind. Together with Beauty, or even probably Scholar, to use Neo as bait if… or when the need arises. When Neo woke up, Beauty had said that it changed nothing. If anything, they would have been happier, given the fact that they wouldn't have to carry the bait around. It's like leading a ram to the slaughter, but the ram this time was Neo. And about Neo defending or launching an attack himself, that would have been the least of their problems – actually a swing from Shitface's metallic rod would have done the job. For all he knew, his presence must have been the reason the rambunctious muscle glory was holding the metallic rod amongst other things. But eventually, he ended up being made wraith bait by his most trusted companion. Talk about the irony. Neo would have laughed out loud if he wasn't too weak. Breathing was enough stress though. But that wouldn't make him stop thinking about what just happened. What happened between Shitface and Beauty was not a preconcorted betrayal scheme of some sort, it was just a calculated action that was most likely executed on the fly by Beauty. Neo might have done the same… most likely. Shitface had already been infected by the bite. He had lost himself already. Beauty already knew that, she was the one who treated his injury after all. It was only a matter of time before he turned to one of those mindless wraiths lunging at the crew in their most vulnerable state, so Beauty had to kill two birds with one stone, use his body to buy them some time and then prevent future calamities. All in all, it looked like an ingenious twist of fate. Well...not really. Although most of the work had been done by the elusive abstractness "fate" and it's distant relative named probability, the rest had actually been done by Neo himself. When he was on the roof, alone, he had noticed half-dead --or half-alive-- wraiths snapping and convulsing around . It took him a while, but he eventually discovered that they were snapping at him. That made him the first of the crew to discover that the invisibility they were enjoying was waning, so Neo kept observing the environment, pondering as he walked, but if anyone was nearby, they would have noticed that his pace was not a chaotic mess of steps, instead it was decisive and coordinated as if driving at a certain goal. Actually, he was. He was hiding those half-dead wraiths in the deepest of shadows where it would be the hardest to notice them. It was quite an easy task for Neo, the invisibility was still there then, albeit weak, so he would use himself to lure the wraiths into the shadows. So, if he increased his pace a little, they would lose his scent to the cloaking might he enjoyed, staying put within the confines of the shadows casted by the pale moonlight. Neo had hoped that the elusive Beauty would be the one to fall to his cryptic machinations, but it seemed her luck was as good her looks. Her boisterous lover fell instead. All in all, Neo was quite proud of his achievements, although eliminating Shitface was not his primary plan, but that way, there would be lesser potential threats that he would have to worry about, thereby granting him the luxury to concentrate on his prime suspects. Also, he found out that eliminating anyone that wasn't the threat didn't actually count as a failure, which put him in a little bit of relief, but that was not to say that he was out of the woods yet. In fact, the real battle had just begun. Neo was resting on the floor, his chest rising and dropping heavily. His breathing was labored and it was hell painful. He would wince from time to time if he inhaled too deeply. It was quite the torture. Beauty was right beside him on the floor. She was in a slightly better state, but not in good shape still. Scholar was perhaps the worst of all. He was leaning on the door, his hands dancing across the control panel of the door of the defense HQ. He was trying really hard to override the security protocol and barge into the building, but his efficiency was diminished as a result of his weariness. His eyes were closing on themselves constantly, as if he was having a tug of war with sleep in his mind. Right behind him, helping him with the rope, was the instinctual will to survive, but on the opponent's side was the mental weariness that kept assaulting his mind. The only iota of relief was that there was a semblance of safety available. Utilizing the time that Shitface's corpse had bought them, Neo dragged his body along, trying to keep up with Beauty's dashing figure. The defense headquarters was already in sight. The defense headquarters was the section of the DCC that controlled everything defense and safety, just as its name entailed. So, it had a barricade of its own, fencing round the whole DHQ, which was built in the shape of a pentagon, giving off a military vibe. But Neo didn't have time to admire the structure. Shitface's body, despite being almost twice Neo's size, didn't hold down the horde for long. He could only imagine if he was the bait. Neo glanced back to see how far from the horde he was, but he quickly forgot why he looked back when an unnerving sight caught his attention. Shitface had lost all his skin to the fangs of the wraiths. What was left of the muscle-packed man were cleanly picked bones and intact innards. The dead heart suddenly picked up, slowly at first, then it started to beat faster and faster. Rotten flesh and viscera started to grow around bare bones. Suddenly, it looked like the dead man was back from the dead. His huge rotten body sprang up and joined the horde in chasing the crew, their eyes burning with corrupted fury. "Curses!!" Neo sucked in a hoarse breath as he looked forward. Although the DHQ was quite close, it felt like it was a mile away. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, the crew finally got to the DHQ, but they weren't free just yet. The horde was still hot on their heels, but fortunately, the last crew to beat a hasty retreat closed the barricade around the DHQ but didn't lock it. So, Scholar was able to pry it open before the horde got to them, and there they were, resting and tentatively safe. A crackling sound could be heard not too far away from where Neo was resting. He raised his head only to meet a smirk plastered on Scholar's face. He had finally cracked the lock. Scholar staggered inside, his steps unsteady. Suddenly, Beauty's voice came from behind. "Follow him, he needs your help." Neo hesitated for a while and then finally obliged. The reason behind her words was clear. She wanted some privacy. Neo didn't really care about what the hell she wanted, but he also wanted to find out Scholar's motives, so he obliged. The adrenaline seemed to have resisted the weariness somewhat, so Neo was able to stand up without looking awkward. "Now let's find out what that bastard's up to," Neo thought, his frail figure swaying as it disappeared into the building.9 Neo entered the building, glancing around to find his way. It didn't take him long to find the light source, likely triggered by Scholar. The whole place was pitch black because there were no windows. Even the oxygen seemed thin. The security was... admirable. And best of all, it made tracing the light source much easier. Neo suddenly entered the room, making Scholar tremble. A dry smile appeared on his face as Neo walked up to the control deck to check out what Scholar was doing. What he saw made his eyes widen. There were two buttons beeping red. They seemed to be working on some kind of separate energy reserve, so the energy shutdown on the DCC didn't affect them. Beside both buttons were written: ... INITIATING NUCLEAR DECONTAMINATION ... INITIATING PERMANENT SHUTDOWN Neo's fist tightened as he stared at Scholar with murderous intent. His face demanded an explanation. Scholar's lip suddenly trembled, and he replied, "Fine… fine, now that you have found out, I gu
10 "Ahah!! I see you have killed him, now we are even," Beauty said, a disturbing giggle escaping her lips. "Yes, I did. That should tell you just enough about me," Neo said placidly, attempting to play the formidable and dauntless assassin. He was already on his last legs. It would be unfortunate if she chose that moment to attack, so he had to put some contingencies in place. "You should understand that there's strength in numbers, right? So why did you kill him?" Beauty said, staring daggers at him. Neo tilted his head. Beauty's understanding of "strength in numbers" made him shiver. Her concept of strength in numbers meant wraith baits, most especially the ones that would transport themselves to the point of slaughter. "How sinister." Neo cleared his throat and replied, "He tried to kill us all, so I killed him first." He tried to maintain his elusive behavior. Beauty walked up to the corpse, confirmed its death, and with her usual sinister smile, she replied again. "Now tha
11 A monster stood gallantly, its back turned to an open gate a few meters away. It looked like it was playing "eeny meeny miny moe" to decide which of the two humans before it would taste better. One of the humans, Neo actually, was struck by an epiphany in the middle of impending danger.-How timely- He had finally realized the reason for their weakness and lethargy. Since the vaccine's effect was waning, the virus was trying to take over their consciousness. He already had quite a similar experience during his test for allegiance trial so he was quite sure of the feeling. But it was of no use anyway; they were a few seconds away from being monster dessert. Speaking of vaccines, Neo had one of them stashed away in his pocket at the moment. At that moment, Neo suddenly had a crazy idea. What if he took it to suppress the virus, making Beauty—the most virus-infected—between them? The caution only said he might die; it didn't say it wouldn't work, so it was a fifty percent chance,
12 "You are on your way to the afterlife." Neo grinned, as the cloud of darkness receded gradually, the faint light of dawn piercing his eyes. He was in a cave; there were crystal cones protruding from the roof and the floor. Neo knew they were called stalactites and stalagmites, but he didn't know which was which, not that it mattered anyway. His happiness had been quenched by the sight in front of him. One look was all it took for him to know that he was not in a human settlement; in fact, he was far from it. The entrance to the cave was in sight, the visage of a glowing white sun towered above the world. "Where is this place?" Neo mused, walking towards the entrance of the cave. He felt something thin press against his pale skin. Neo looked down to check what it was, before he could recover from the shock that he was stark naked; an arrow pierced through the air with insane speed and lodged itself firmly into his shoulder. The force sent him reeling to the ground. Al
13 Neo checked out the skin and phantoms, and they were unsurprisingly empty. They were supposed to be extremely scarce anyway, so he didn't bother himself too much about them. As far as being cool went, skins and phantoms were also considered top-notch, albeit not as cool as specters, but in Neo's own opinion, they were as cool as specters, even much more so. The usage of skins and phantoms was rather simple. A skin will provide the wielder the ability to transform into a creature for a specific period of time. The usage time and cool-down period is dependent on the level of the creature. Phantoms work in an almost similar manner except for the fact that the wielder summons the creature whole without having to transform into the said creature. As for the perks and quirks, Neo already had a probable explanation for that. "[Bone of contention]," "[ten lives per second]," and Neo's second ability "[soul stinger]" were all Reaper's gifts, and they all had perks and quirks, so that pr
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 nebulae Remarks: 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 stinger Reaper'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— 2 Specter— Ten lives per second (soul tied), bone of contention (soul tied), cave mantle Skin-? Phantom-? Neo stared at "[soul stinger]" for a
16 It was a mural. There were three people, and two heads were missing. Neo stared at it in bewilderment, straining his eyes to make out its shape under the light bioluminescent insect lantern placed in the center of the room. After studying it for a while, Neo discovered the mural was only quite familiar with the portrait in Neo's house, but it was definitely not the same. Neo and his elder brother's head was intact in the portrait, but their parent's head was faceless, for a reason Neo would kill to find out. And strangely enough, as far as Neo knew, that was the only portrait that survived the fire. But the mural in front of Neo contained only three figures: two headless tall people, and a relatively short person with his/her head intact. It was just a bogus cave wall painting made with makeshift colors after all. So Neo couldn't quite figure out the gender or the facial features of the short person. Neo studied the mural for a while, but he couldn't figure out anything s