In space, a dark pool of inky blackness appeared outside Earth, forming a massive expanse that covered an area of several kilometers. From within it, a brooding, anomalous presence lurked, a sinister aura perpetrating throughout space like a coming plague. The first to notice this anomaly was, of course, the ark who after the altercation with Joyner intruding in their base, had doubled their efforts in monitoring Earth and the surrounding space around it. As soon as the dark pool appeared, it immediately triggered several alarms inside the ark, alerting everybody inside of the pool’s presence. But before the ark could even analyze what was going on, a haunting pressure suddenly caused everything to stop, as if being frozen in time. The dark pool appeared like a one-dimensional flat surface of black water, like a screen made of ink both sides of which could be seen. But looking into it exposed an abyssal depth hiding unending terrors and monsters. And from within this abyss, one such
Inside the ark, a chilling silence perpetrated. Nothing moved as all — human or none — existed in a perpetual state of stasis. It was like death, ephemeral yet more real than anything.Everywhere in the ark, the humans remained in their last state of motion before the appearance of the Amalgam. Be they sitting, moving, or standing in half-motion, everybody remained unmoving, their faces twisted horrifyingly in distorted proportions of pain reminiscent of a never-ending nightmare.And a nightmare they were in indeed because no sooner had they heard the roar of the Amalgam that they had fallen under its influence.Its roar like a howl of a banshee possessed the power to consume the minds of the weak-willed, pulling them into a nightmarish world where reality was twisted into the most macabre horror.Essentially, while the humans in the ark assumed they were awake, they had never truly woken up. As such they didn’t notice the distorted shadow of the Amalgam walking through the halls of t
Sable, Pamela Bernard, and finally Arran left the underground room for the surface. As soon as Arran appeared, his face changed as a slight frown creased his brows.Noticing this, Sable asked, “Is there a problem?”Arran answered immediately.“The humans in the ark, I can’t sense them anymore.”Arran’s reply caused everybody to angle their heads upwards to space in the direction the ark was positioned.Unlike Arran, neither of them possessed his powerful senses so they couldn’t detect the traces of the ark or the humans directly. The only thing they could perceive was the powerful aura of the Shade engulfing their entire senses.Even across thousands of kilometers and through Earth’s nomological barrier they could still feel that powerful aura so they couldn’t be blamed for not noticing anything else that was off.“So you’re saying that the ark and the humans in them are in danger and under attack?” Pamela asked.To this, Arran shook his head, denying her words.Frowning she retorted.
The mood between the quartet was somber for a moment, following Bernard’s words. But in no time, things changed as Bernard let out a loud shout.“Who the fuck is responsible for this shit? Come out at once and receive death!”Bernard’s shout like the roar of a mountain tiger resonated throughout space, creating waves of ripples that stretched into the distance. It was so loud it was basically an attack of its own. But I’m classic Bernard fashion. He cared not for anything, including his companions, who bore the brunt of the assault.But no one had the time to complain because they sensed a movement coming from within the ark.Their enemy had finally been drawn out.Suffice it to say that in the face of the gruesome exterior of the ark, there was no hope of anything being alive in the ark except for the culprit, their enemy.The ark's body showed no signs of forceful entry, but with everything covered up with human skin, one couldn't be sure.Just as the group contemplated how their en
Booooom!A massive explosion burst through space, leaving a firework of sparks flaring brightly. A wave of shocks impacted the sparse atoms in space, causing intense vibrations and high-pitched sounds to affect everything around them. Arran and the others were forced to cover their ears to block out the sounds, but an even high-pitched scream that couldn’t be blocked physically hit them even more forcefully.It was like the sounds of countless tormented souls screaming out for help, for someone to save them. But it was also the sound of celestial rage caused by an angry deity.Anyone weak in spirit upon hearing this sound would lose themselves in agony, running the threat of losing their souls.Arran’s spirit was sufficiently tough, having already evolved with parts of his soul being fused with the imprints of the world's laws. So he wasn’t affected much by the agonizing scream. Same could be said for the others.Still, Arran’s face displayed shock as he processed the aftereffects of
Matter collapse!Bernard charged once more to the newly formed blood pool, striking out with a punch to deliver a fatal blow. But things were different this time.Before Bernard could reach the blood pool, it boiled and erupted, spraying multiple droplets of blood into the surroundings at an incredible speed. Each blood droplet was like a high-powered geyser taking unpredictable turns around Bernard like they had a mind of their own.I’m the next moment, the blood droplets concerned again on Bernard in the middle, hoping to skewer him from one side into a kebab.At this point, Arran felt that it was too dangerous for Bernard to fight alone. It was clear that the enemy no longer looked down on Bernard and saw him as a real threat to it, so it was planning to deal with him first. But before he could go to help, Sable calmed him down.“No need to worry. This much is not a problem, so let’s just see how he handles it. Our job is to detect a flaw in the enemy's attacks that could help us b
The moments just before a final attack lands usually spelled the end for an opponent. Bernard, now unable to move, was at the crossroads between life and death, with the end seemingly coming for him.But before Bernard could be impaled by the blood skewer, his voice rang loudly in a frenzied roar of anger.“Shut the hell up and get out of my head, you inferior beings!”This was followed by another shout coming from behind him.“Pamela now!”“You don’t have to tell me twice.”In the next moment, a blinding green light burst out from behind Bernard, shining like flames on a glooming night to chase away the darkness.As soon as the green light appeared, the screams stopped, and Bernard regained his mobility. In the next moment, Bernard threw a punch at the approaching blood spear while simultaneously moving his body to dodge.This was the first time Bernard had ever avoided an attack headed directly at him and the results that followed showed that this was the right thing to do.The bloo
The situation had taken a strange and confusing turn. Only Sable and Pamela probably understood what was going on. Arran certainly didn’t.Just then, Bernard arrived beside Arran and the others having retreated from the battle center. His arm hung limply beside him, blood dripping from his fist. To be able to break through Bernard’s defense and injure him severely, it was clear how powerful that final attack had been.But transcendents were very tough so this much wouldn’t affect him.Urgh!Groaning slightly as he supported himself, Bernard spoke.“What’s the situation? Someone care to explain it to me?”In response, Pamela shunned him swiftly.“Shush! Be quiet. You don’t want to draw their attention to us.”Her tone serious and tense Pamela possessed a certain severity that forced the usually belligerent Aeth to stifle the retort he was about to utter.Feeling curious, Arran cautiously whispered a question to her.“Can you explain what is happening? What did you do?”Pamela didn’t an