Watching everything unfold through his drones, Nyx began to laugh. It was sharp and erratic, like a cracked record echoing in a darkened room.
"He really is fascinating, that Subject 357," he murmured, eyes glinting with anticipation. "I can't wait until next time we meet… when I pry open that body of his and finally shatter that mind. That is… if he survives what's coming next."
His laughter rose, louder, manic - delighted by the chaos he'd so carefully orchestrated. Nyx leaned forward and flipped a switch on the console.
Phantom V consumed the capsule, just as he'd predicted. Synthesised using Kai's blood, it was one of his more… promising prototypes. He couldn't wait to see its effects.
"Phase Two… begin."
And just like that, the second stage of his plan surged into motion.
"Congratulations!" Nyx's voice suddenly echoed through the decimated town, projected from hovering drones that now scattered throughout the area like vultures circling a battlefield. "You have completed the first part of my game! Well done, everyone!"
The voice carried an unsettling cheerfulness, as if he were congratulating children after a school play. Static buzzed after each sentence, the distortion only making his words more disconcerting.
"The current MVP is Subject 357, also known as Kai Hawkes."
'Hawkes?' Kai blinked. 'Yes, Hawkes. That's my surname. Can't believe I even forgot that.'The thought passed through his mind like a breeze through a shattered window - familiar, yet distant. But his thoughts quickly went elsewhere.
Nearby, Nadya and Takeshi listened intently while finishing off the last of the lingering monsters. The tension in their shoulders relaxed for a breath, but it didn't last. A heavy silence fell over them as they processed what Kai had already realised.
Nyx had called it the "first part" of his game.
That meant there was another.
And knowing the man behind the voice - the man who treated lives like pieces on a chessboard - it would be something far worse. A new horror that none of them were prepared for.
Almost as if he could sense their growing dread, Nyx's voice rang out once more:
"The second part of my game is much simpler: Survive the Monster!"
A sharp chill shot down their spines.
'What monster?' They all thought the exact same thing in unison, scanning the ruined town with guarded eyes.
They assumed it might be some leftover creature they hadn't caught yet. Maybe some monsters burrowed underground, waiting to strike. But that didn't seem likely.
With Nyx, things were never that simple. He hadn't said "monsters". He said "the monster".
One that was deliberate and specific.
And it was coming into view now - massive, unmistakable, and impossible to ignore...
-
Just moments earlier, Kai had turned his back on Phantom V. The man's body thrashed violently on the ground before falling still, limbs twitching one final time. Kai stood over him with narrowed eyes.
He'd seen this before. Nyx's operatives had a knack for carrying something deadly in their mouths. A poison capsule, usually. Quick. Clean. Cowardly.
So he assumed it was the same - until he noticed something off.
The death spasms were too violent. The convulsions too rhythmic. Like his body wasn't dying… it was changing.
Then came Nyx's taunting announcement, echoing across the battered town like a death knell.
That's when Kai turned and made the connection...
And everything changed.
The "corpse" on the ground suddenly lurched upright, bones cracking and elongating, flesh rippling like liquid over shifting muscle. A distorted screech tore from its throat as its limbs snapped backwards and reformed with terrifying speed. Its entire body began to expand, twitching and stretching grotesquely as its form twisted into something non-human.
Kai's reaction was immediate. Sharp spikes of blood shot out in all directions - fast, precise, lethal.
They landed… but didn't matter.
Every gash sealed instantly. Flesh re-knit before the wounds could even bleed. Bones cracked back into place before shattering again as they continued to mutate.
'It's healing faster than I can damage it,' Kai realised, eyes narrowing. 'While it's still transforming?'
The creature grew with terrifying speed. Within seconds, it had more than doubled in size. Then doubled again. Muscles swelled unnaturally, bone plates jutted from its back and shoulders like jagged armour, and its eyes, once human, glowed with a predatory, yellow light.
By the time it stopped growing, it towered nearly ten stories high.
It looked almost humanoid, but everything about it was wrong. Its arms dragged slightly as it moved, fingers ending in barbed claws that could cleave through steel. Its legs were like pillars, each step smashing apart whatever ruins lay beneath them. And its chest, armoured in thick, dark bone, rose and fell with slow, thunderous breaths.
Kai fired another barrage of blood projectiles. This time, they didn't even pierce.
The attacks struck its skin and pinged off, like pebbles thrown at a tank.
'Great. Now it's not just regenerating - it's a damn fortress too,' Kai thought bitterly, watching the blood blades fall uselessly to the rubble below.
The giant monster's head twisted toward him slowly. Its expression was unreadable, devoid of anything human. It let out a roar that shook the very air around them - deafening, primal, the kind of sound that turned instinct to panic.
'How ironic. The stealth mutant became a monster that is the furthest thing from stealthy.' He couldn't help but think to himself as he looked up at the creature with a mix of awe and horror.
Then it moved.
With a single, casual step, it crushed a row of half-collapsed buildings into dust. The shockwave hurled debris like shrapnel. If there were anyone still alive nearby, they wouldn't be for much longer.
'How the hell are we supposed to deal with this?' Kai's hands clenched, blood swirling around him like a crimson halo. 'Nyx… what the fuck have you done?'