Ascenders Rift 172 A Dying Man's Last Moments

He had awoken to an unfamiliar scene, he had found himself in a dark baseman, a spooky and grim-looking place that carried a foul aura. The light from an old lantern, flickering on and off, causing a tinge of uncertainty to rise within him.

Eventually, the feeling that overcame his entirety was non-other than fear; a sharp pain rippled all over his flesh, as he even felt that his body's bones were crushed into bits of pieces.

The sweat running down from his forehead, as his eyes looked around in a panic, forcing himself to forget the terrifying pain. His eyes were drawn to a myriad of unrecognizable corpses.

These persons were once his comrades, but now, they only became victims and offerings to another who was once deemed a mere harmless target.

How did it get like this? Why did it turn out this way? The man thought with regret on his face, but the cold whistle of the brown-haired man who had finished fixing up some odd mechanical tools, loomed over his soul, forcing him to recall the scene a few hours ago.

***

It was the dark of night, a scene within an oddly quiet street with no signs of vehicles or pedestrians on the walkway. Here, a small group of six fragile-looking young adults was slowly making their way home from a night full of activities.

Within a fairly close alleyway, a bald, middle-aged man with a beard and sinister-looking eyes, stared at the party with ruthless eyes as he glanced around at his subordinates positioned at various angles.

"Captain, they are no longer in the company of that Morison and the others, shall begin now or keep them under further observation..." A black-haired woman said with her features shrouded by a cloak as she held long knives.

The Captain looked at the woman and replied, "Upper Command requires that we learn a bit more of their strength, only by doing this can they determine if it is necessary to send out an Elite Task Force. It's said that their Evolution Factor might be different from ours. As such, if we can, we must secure them as samples to send underground."

The woman hearing this nodded as she spoke, "Understood."

The subordinates like the woman also looked at the Captain awaiting his command; the Captain then waved his hand and spoke in through a communication device, "Let's begin..."

Immediately after his words, the Captain, along with his subordinates, bolted towards Evan's party as silent as a cat das.h.i.+ng through the wilds.

The woman tossed a mechanical ring-shaped device into the air which oddly enough, began to emit a strange mist like substance that spread out for the entire region. By the time this happened, they had already surrounded the other party, shrouded by the mists as they calmly looked for an opening.

The other party had long since grown weary as they each a.s.sumed a defensive posture while they looked around at the obscured environment.

The woman seeing this frowned as she spoke to the Captain through a communication device, "Captain, it's as I've reported beforehand, not only the primary target, but the others seem capable of sensing our presence. It might even be related to a genetic ability."

The Captain's face turned sterner at those words; he spoke in a cold tone, "Since that's the case then we don't need to hold back, bringing back one or two of them should be more than enough to glean their mysteries..."

The others also heard the Captain's words; their eyes showed a sinister look as they each emitted a murderous intent towards the party.

At this time, the brown-haired young man spoke with a mocking gaze, "You guys sure are persistent, you've been watching us from that time in Angel's Abode, tell me, is it that Manager Paulson of yours who sent you? Or is this response from some higher chain of command?"

The woman and the Captain's face flickered a bit. Still, they said nothing, the Captain gave the command, and everyone had begun to arrange themselves around the party slowly appearing from the mist as they formed an inescapable net.

The Captain was expecting the opposing party to show fear and beg for mercy, but the resulting scene only made him feel a tinge of unease.

The young man smirked and spoke once more with an expression no different from a devil's, "Not saying anything? Fine, it looks like we'll have to do it the hard way... and let me tell you, I am quite fond of those methods…"

The Captain grew a bit fl.u.s.tered, but he promptly regained his senses. Immediately, he sent a message to all subordinates, "Kill four and capture the rest; I'll deal with the smart mouth brat! Begin!"

"Yes, Captain!" The woman and the others replied as they swarmed the opposing party at high speeds, moving in sync as they showed great experience and teamwork.

The Captain also charged towards the young man as he spoke in an icy tone, "Boy, you've got the smart mouth, let's see how it helps you in actual combat."

The brown-haired youth looked at him with disdain before moving his eyes on his party and began to instruct them out loud casually, "This is a good chance, everyone be careful these guys are quite experienced. Though they are weak, they should be the perfect opponents for you to experience human coordination tactics. Use your full power and crush them without any form of hesitancy..."

"Right," The other young men and women except for a blue-haired young man and a black-haired beauty replied, they now held a few medieval weapons and wore armor that appeared out of nothingness.

The Captain was a bit astounded by their change and the young man's words, but his face turned livid with anger as he shouted, "Brat, you think this is a game! Get over here!"

As the Captain shouted, he had already arrived in front of the young man and stretched his large palms forward to clutch his arms. His face showed a cruel grin as no one, but himself knew of the exact amount of strength he wielded, he could crush a boulder into bits with just his bare hands.

Grip! With a sound of something being grasped, the Captain smirked as he spoke, "Haha, kid, let's start by making you squeal, don't worry, in this mist domain no one will hear you, and no one will ever dare to come to your rescue. Don't worry; when I'm done with you, I'll send you to a 'special place' where you will experience a new h.e.l.l..."

As the Captain spoke, he looked into the young man's eyes, waiting to see a look of fear, but he was disappointed, he only saw a cold and indifferent set of eyes. In fact, the young man looked at him with a smile that was not a smile as he spoke, "Is that it? b.u.mmer, I thought you'd give me more information..."

The Captain hearing this felt a wave of anger he had never felt before, his arm swelled up as his muscles grew more prominent filled with veins, he twisted the muscles around the young man's arm like wringing a piece of cloth.

'Humph! Let's see how you like it when I take you down a notch, and rip the flesh from your...' The Captain was about to say something in his mind, but as he looked at the scene before him, his eyes widen in shock.

He noticed that despite squeezing and twisting the flesh on the young man's arms, his arms couldn't move as if it was bounded by something strong and st.u.r.dy.

"This... how is this possible?" The young man said in a teasing manner as if reading the Captain's thoughts, causing his face to turned embarra.s.sed and filled with fear.

Before he could even open his mouth, the young man spoke again with an icy glint in his sharp-looking eyes, "Don't worry, you'll find out very soon..."

The Captain wanted to say something, but the last thing he saw was the scene of his subordinates dying due to countless arrows, ray attacks, and blurry shadows that danced about everywhere. One fat fellow jumped into the air and smashed down on a group of well-coordinated allies crus.h.i.+ng them into meat paste as a black-haired woman stretched her fingers out causing many threads to slice apart the limbs of many others.

The Captain felt fear as he saw this, but his mind faded when the young man who stared at him chopped his palm onto his neck. It was only at this moment that he knew what kind of monstrous enemy, not only himself but the Upper Command had provoked.

***

"Ahh..." Evan made a satisfying sound as he slowly began to clean the blood from his arms. He hummed while looking in the mirror, staring at the carnage around him and shaking his head.

'This isn't good; I need to do some more meditation. Otherwise, I'll easily fall back into that old state of mine,' Evan thought as he recalled a few scenes, images of him with a blood-soaked Havengaurd in his hands as walked by an empty world of corpses.

Evan shook his head and prepared to leave, but right after, he looked around and saw Layla and the others looking at him. 

He smirked and asked, "You guys, what's wrong?"

Joe hesitated for a bit before asking, "W-we wanted to know what you found out?"

As Evan heard Joe's stutter he sighed as he spoke, "I found out some fascinating bits, come... let's leave here, I'll share these details as we head back home."

Not even waiting for a reply, Evan walked away from this area, Joe wanted to say something, but he halted his words and sighed, he decided not to say anything in the end.

Rick and the others also made a similar agreement, as everyone followed, treating this scene like it never occurred.