Angel Monarch

This was the first time Cass had to fight actually strong Transcended. Technically, she should've already died in the fight, but these two seemed just as brainless as the zombies.

After seeing them closer, Cass recognized Legion's armor, and the zombies provided another clue of his identity. She didn't understand why and how he became a Transcended, but it made his powers much more terrifying.

The other one, she didn't recognize, but there was only one person she knew of who had the power to block essence flow. She couldn't believe that this person next to Legion was Dwight, but she was also sure of it.

He wore a similar armor as Legion, but also a bit different. The armor could stretch, and that its parts weren't tightly connected.

His weapon of choice was a great sword, which was longer than his height of nearly two meters. Legion, as always, didn't use or had any weapons.

Damien and Cass approached them with caution, and they stopped a few dozen meters away. They stared at each other silently for a few seconds, but Cass grew tired and tried to converse with them.

"What do you want?... Why are you here?... Why don't you leave us alone?" she said with an even voice, hiding her fear.

Legion and Dwight both turned their heads to the side, in a questioning manner, then they said in sync... "Kill..."

Their voices sounded like metal grating against metal, but somehow, it wasn't threatening.

After they spoke, they slowly began walking towards Damien and Cass. The two of them went on high alert immediately.

"Something is wrong with them. I met both before months ago, and neither acted like this. They are even a bit similar to the zombies!" said Cass, her voice sounding more concerned than she wanted to show.

"I agree. Harold must've done something to them, changing them. I will try to draw both of their attention, and you try to attack when they aren't looking," he said in a serious voice.

"That's a shitty plan." She said with a small smile, while looking into Damien's cold eyes. He grinned as well. "You got a better idea?"

Before she could answer, the mindless duo closed in and it was time to act.

Damien and Cass moved with inexplicable coordination. Damien ran straight at the approaching duo while Cass backed off and tried to move around the pair, so they stood with their backs to her.

Neither seemed to care about Cass, and when Damien was in range, they both attacked.

Legion's right hand glowed with a black aura, and he shot out a projectile towards Damien. It was some vile black goo that would've surely killed him since he had no essence.

Luckily, it was quite slow, so he evaded it with ease. He didn't even slow down, and when he was close enough, the giant great sword moved like a guillotine.

With quick reflexes, he rolled to the side, in order to not get cut in two. The sword rose and fall faster than a regular human could've processed. It was close to teleportation for the untrained eye.

It hit the ground with a minor earthquake, shooting dirt into the sky.

Damien didn't wait for him to use the sword again. When he got his footing back, he jumped towards Dwight and kicked him in the head with so much force that the helmet went flying.

Dwight staggered back, and felt to one knee, but Damien had already switched targets and was fighting with Legion.

Cass ran at Dwight, so she could finish him, but when he looked up, it gave her a pause.

His face has changed a lot since Cass had seen him. The burn marks caused by Sera were still there, but they were hardly visible.

The face, which was once handsome, no longer existed. The skin had hundreds of sewing marks, and each piece of skin had a slightly different shade, like they weren't from the same person.

His jaw hung loosely on one side, and his lips were removed. The teeth in his mouth had changed, too. They were jagged and made from some metal scraps. His gums bled with each small movement.

His nose and ears had been cut off, only leaving holes in their places. There was no hair anywhere on his face.

The worst was his eyes. Once she would've described them as starry night sky, but now they were simply black. There was no iris or pupil that she could discern, it was just a pair of black eyeballs.

His mouth moved again, making that awful screeching sound that was similar to speech.

"Kill... Kill me..." he said with desperation, then slowly rose.

His hand gripped his great sword, and he swung towards Cass. Her eyes widened, and she could barely duck below the blow.

She then tried to close in the distance and attack, but she was much too inexperienced in an actual fight.

While evading and trying to attack, she thought of the words Dwight said. It seemed like he had no control over his actions, and he moved like a puppet, dancing to another person's tune.

His eyes were sad and full of regret. They were also broken and ready for the end at any moment. It kind of made Cass feel bad. Dwight was an asshole and a traitor, but even he didn't deserve torture like this.

The fighting grew increasingly more dangerous, both for Cass and Damien. They were getting hopeless, since if they couldn't kill at least one of them, the operation would be a failure.

As their despair grew, a roar shook their bones. Everyone, even Dwight and Legion, turned towards the sound.

The sight was a bit comical, as a woman who looked like a child was sprinting from a six meter muscular gorilla-like man, who wore a mask, with a smiling face painted on it.

Before anyone could've reacted, Kim ran straight towards Cass. She grabbed her hand and continued to run.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

She was still in shock and kept looking back towards the monstrosity and Dwight.

The enormous beast stopped in front of him and looked down with curiosity. For a few seconds, they were unsure what to do, but soon the large man roared again and attacked Dwight.

At that moment, he transformed. His limbs elongated, and the armor moved as well, covering most of his body. Around the sword, a strange blackish energy appeared, and it made small crackling noises.

The huge human changed too. Two large demon-like horns grew on the top of his head. His skin turned pure black and his eyes glowed red. He also became even taller and more bulky, which made him even more imposing.

His roar turned demonic, too, but it got cut short when a black projectile hit his head.

It stunned the monster for a few moments, and in that time, Dwight closed the distance. His great sword cut the air so fast the air exploded. It hit the demon monster's legs, but only left a shallow cut.

Cass and Kim ran until they were at least a few hundred meters away. Damien was close behind, and from there they watched the battle between the mutants unfold.

After giving him a cut, Dwight had to dodge back. Two fists hit the place where he stood, and the earth literally cracked below the fists, creating a small crater.

Another projectile hit him, this time in the chest. The man roared in anger, grabbed a large rock and tossed it towards Legion. He wasn't fast enough, and the rock clipped his right side, making him back away.

Using the attack as a distraction, Dwight moved in again, and this time, he stabbed the sword in his inner thigh.

It done much more damage, and the gorilla fell on one knee. He swiped at Dwight and hit him square in the chest. The armor caved in a bit, and he flew a few dozen meters away.

Legion then peppered the monster with dozen of his goo projectiles. Most of them hit the creature, causing him to lose balance and fall on his back.

With one hand, he tossed another rock, but Legion managed to evade it this time.

Dwight ran towards the fallen gorilla. He jumped in the air and landed on his enormous chest. With a twirl of his sword, he stabbed down using all his strength.

The sword resisted at first, but then it penetrated the monster's thick hide and entered the gorilla's heart.

With a last ditch effort, the monster grabbed Dwight in one palm and squeezed. An ugly loud crunch echoed down the clearing. It was the sound of Dwight's body being broken.

The monster then looked at Legion and threw Dwight's lifeless corpse at him. This act seemed to surprise Legion, and he had no time to evade.

It hit him with so much force that he flew away and landed with a crunch.

The gorilla then tried to get up, but the sword in his heart stopped him. His chest moved a few more times, but eventually that stopped as well.

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Kim, Cass, and Damien stared at the field of destruction for a few moments, unsure of what to say.

"How did you know that the monstrous man would fight Legion and Dwight?" asked Cass, after regaining some of her thinking ability.

Kim just continued to stare at the three dead Transcended, then shrugged... "I didn't know... I guessed, hoped and prayed..."

After this answer, the three of them looked at one another and they collectively burst out laughing.

It took them a few seconds to stop, but they eventually went away to regroup with the others.