When Jason had broken out of his cocoon, finalizing his evolution, every single infected on the pnet and beyond stopped what they were doing. Whether it be the random common infected about to take a bite from their meal, or the slumbering mutated beasts under the ocean.

  All of them had turned their heads in the same direction. Something had changed within them, they could feel it. The smarter ones like Hiroshi could accurately tell that the virus had somehow… evolved.

  "What… is this." Hiroshi said, looking at the bck veins appearing across his body. They pulsed lightly, filling him with power. Despite getting stronger, no joy could be found within him.

  "Something like this isn't always a blessing." He muttered, before feeling a presence try and worm it's way into his mind. However, he was able to hold it off from doing anything.

  "If I'm like this-" Suddenly, he got up and walked out of his b.

  Eventually, he came to his factory, where his Cyborg Infected were creating more like them. Just like him, they had all stopped what they were doing, causing more than a few subjects to die in the midst of surgery. Bck veins were across their biological body, their heads all pointing towards the same direction. The veins also seemed to fuse the mechanical and biological parts of the Cyborg together to near perfection.

  A frown appeared on his face, feeling the control he had over them waver for a second. They were still his, but almost not at the same time. Like there was a higher master they served. A dark and dangerous look appeared in his eyes. Not being in control, was something he hated very much.

  Halfway across the country from Hiroshi, Godfrey stood up with wounds across his entire body as the bck veins pulsed away. His breath was heavy and bored as the blood flowing from him slowed with each passing second. Currently, he was waist deep in the ocean, his opponent dead in water.

  He was a good 30 meters rger than his attack on Washington, curtesy of Cain. After their fight, he thought none were his match any longer. That he was the strongest. But this strange shark said otherwise. It was a very dangerous fight which had almost cost him his life.

  However, none of that mattered at the moment. He pced a hand over his beating heart, a sense of wonder on his face.

  "Incredible…" Unlike Hiroshi who was suspicious and didn't trust this new sensation, Godfrey found it exhirating. It was as if the curtains on his life had been drawn back, giving him a sense of purpose and meaning.

  "I need to find it." Saying that, he grabbed the shark by the tail and pulled it with him as he walked towards Nuke Isle City.

  Meanwhile, a certain Cult Leader looked at his hundreds of Apostles and Lower Worshippers with a bnk gaze as they cheered. His eyes were completely white, save for a bck Ouroboros in the center of them.

  "It's finally here! Our savior!"

  "The Messiah has arrived!"

  "We are saved! Our Ascension is near!"

  "Why can't I feel it?!" Was I not worthy?!"

  A few even suddenly bowed down, spping their foreheads against the ground so hard their skulls cracked open. And yet, their faces were full of worship, without any pain. Unfortunately, the healthy humans were left out. An overwhelming depressed look appeared on their face as they wailed at the injustice of the world. They thought they were being left behind due to not being devout enough.

  The Cult Leader, although emotionless under his white mask, was sweating inside.

  'It was all real? The nonsense I made on the spot?' What he had spouted endlessly to these deranged lunatics was that their Savior would soon arrive. A Messiah chosen by the virus to lead them towards Ascension! The only problem, was the fact he was full of shit.

  He too could feel it inside him, worming it's way through his mind. Though, he was able to easily ward it off. Never before did he believe in the things he preached, only using them to gain control over his followers.

  However, a little seedling of interest sprouted within his cold heart as he continued to think about it. Unconsciously, he began thinking about his sermons he would preach every so often.

  Within Chiina, underneath the surface of the street in Hong King Kong, the giant cocoon pulsed away like normal. Inside, still floating in the yellow liquid, was the mystery figure. His body shook, almost as if he was struck with something.

  Unconsciously, a low growl came from his chest, simir to a cornered animal. In the deepest part of him, he felt threatened. Like an apex predator had their sights on him. Suddenly, his blood red eyes snapped open.

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  "By our calcutions, over half of the popution is gone. Whether through being eaten or infected." Menie said, bringing the room's mood down with dire news. Unfortunately for them, she wasn't done yet.

  "Europe is all but destroyed by the Rat Emperor Alpha. Engnd is trying it's best, but our experts predict they will fall in a few days. A week at best. Reports show that he might have originated in Pond before his conquest."

  "The rats under the control of the Emperor consumed all in their path, whether human or infected. Because of this, in addition to the country I just mentioned, France, Spain, Belgium, and Germany are considered Dead-Zones. No healthy human or animal life left."

  Larry snorted, a depressed look to his face. He leaned back in his chair and watched the big screen in the room. It showed the map of the world, with multiple spots that were red, indicating a Dead-Zone.

  "Is there even a point in fighting anymore?" Someone spoke up, nothing more than a whisper. However, in this quiet room, it was deafening.

  "Even the Purple Miasma is losing it's effectiveness. Should we just end it all now? Seems easier than standing around, twiddling our thumbs and waiting to die. Horribly at that." Another said as he downed the whiskey in his hands.

  Everyone felt their morale drop heavily. It didn't seem worth it to keep fighting a losing battle. A few even considered ending their life by their own hands. At least they could go out, on their terms.

  "You fucking pussies!" Larry's loud voice broke them out of their thoughts, shocking everyone there. He abruptly stood up, veins bulging out of his bald head as he roared angrily.

  "WAHH! WAHH! All I hear is a bunch of babies whining! Aww! Is it too hard for you cupcake?! Want me to rub your feet and whip you up some coffee?!" He smmed both hands on the table.

  "Are you gonna just y down and die?! Roll over and say "This is the end!", like a fucking coward?! Man the fuck up and keep fighting!" His eyes gnced around the room, full of disdain and fighting spirit as he spit on the floor.

  "You make me sick, and ashamed to be human. I haven't given up yet, never will. But you have? Pathetic! Where's your pride and courage?! Or-" A mocking tone came from him as he sat back down and spread his hands.

  "Are you content with bowing your heads and washing your necks? Waiting for your masters to come along and sentence you to death? Tsk, fuck this." Clicking his tongue, he got up and left through the door, leaving a room full of ashamed and humiliated people.

  "Okay, moving on-" Just as Menie was about to keep going, President Jones held up his hand to stop her. But instead of her, he talked to someone else.

  "Fenrir? You okay?" All eyes turned to the werewolf-like infected sitting in the corner. His form was slightly rger than before, but still small enough to fit in the room.

  Bck veins sprouted up across his body, pulsing in tune with his heart beat. They saw him grit his teeth, as if holding back against something. But then he sighed in relief, letting out the breath he didn't know he had.

  His animalistic eyes opened, a hint of exhaustion within them. When he opened his mouth to speak, the people there could tell it had taken it's toll on him.

  "The virus has changed greatly. My power has increased a bit, and it even tried to take over my mind. It's influence wasn't strong enough to overwhelm me however. Alphas, or one that has the mental capacity of one, could fight it off."

  "Changed? What do you mean?" Jones said seriously, a solemn expression on his face. But Fenrir didn't answer him for a few moments, instead choosing to look in a direction.

  "A monster was born. One which influenced the virus itself..." His whisper sent chills down everyone's spine.

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  Far away from Theia, near the center of the Milky Way Gaxy, an extremely rge pnet slightly smaller than Jupiter could be seen. The surface was green and full of life, with massive Hive Cities spread all throughout that could be seen from orbit. It was one of the Core Worlds of The Alliance, known as Norriban.

  Spaceships of all sizes were coming and going, visiting the Space Needles orbiting the pnet. Once cleared, they would go past the atmosphere to nd inside one of the Cities.

  The Space Needles were giant space stations the size of moons. Ships would dock there for all sorts of reasons. Perhaps one was a bounty hunter, picking up their next contract. Or maybe one of them simply needed to cool off and visit a brothel before heading off once more into the lonely vastness that is space.

  In one of the most popur and poputed Hive Cities, the Headquarters of the Vaar Corporation was found here. Underneath of the main building, unknown to most employees except for the top brass, a massive underground secret facility was running to perfection.

  The hallways went on and on, full of rooms conducting secret experiments. Some of which shall never see the light of day. If one were to go deeper into the facility, they would find a portion not even known to the workers and scientists here.

  Security here was beyond anything else on the pnet, with multiple checkpoints full of stone faced guards geared with the newest and most powerful weapons. Flying in mid-air next to them were hovering mechanical eyeballs, constantly on the look out for anything.

  "Creepy. Are they even alive? And what's with all this security? Is our work really so secretive?" A grey colored Centipede Hatitia said. He was shorter than the average one, looking quite weaker with his thin body.

  Next to him was a Lorkin in a b coat that walked beside him, shining his I.D. at the guard. They took and processed it as the duo waited.

  "Alive? Not really. They're androids. And unlike the others up on the surface, have zero emotions. Like puppets. As for our work?" Even though he couldn't smile, the Hatitia knew he was doing just that.

  "Very important. You'll see so shortly." Taking his I.D. back, the two were finally allowed access after being checked for any weapons.

  While making light conversation, they walked through the never ending hallways, the walls becoming more and more advanced as they went on. Eventually, they arrived behind a group of alien scientists, all looking through a rge gss window.

  At the front of the group and clearly of higher status were a few tall, but nky white aliens dressed in luxurious clothes. Behind them as bodyguards were six, four meter tall and extremely bulky mechanical robots. The Hatitia whispered to his friend quietly, shock in his tone.

  "Are those Maer?" The Lorkin nodded, keeping his voice down as to not draw attention.

  "Yeah, they were invited to watch the test experiment. No idea who they are, but must be high on the food chain. Not everybody can command the Omegas." Nothing more was said between them as they silently watched through the gss.

  Inside, they could see an open room, with a ceiling height of fifty meters. The walls were damaged, as if struck by something hard. Not only that, but one could see psma burns clearly shot from a gun.

  Across those same walls, but mostly on the floor, were the blood from multiple species. The Hatitia even saw his own race's blood, a dark acidic green spshed about. Before he could continue thinking about what goes on here, a massive door suddenly opened within the enclosure.

  Once fully opened, a set of footsteps could be heard as someone walked through the darkness. Stepping into the light, their form could clearly be seen. An 11ft Lorkin prisoner, chains on his arms and legs as he stopped in the middle of the strage room. The restraints were far rger and thicker than what should be required. He looked around curiously as a voice spoke up from a speaker.

  "Please take the syringe in your right pocket, and pce it on your neck. Then, inject yourself and expin what you feel." The Lorkin did as the voice asked, rumbling around his prisoner outfit. It was tough due to the chains, but he eventually got it out.

  "Should have given me smaller ones. Dumbasses." He muttered, holding the syringe up to take a look.

  It was all in all, a normal and average syringe that could be found anywhere. However, the one difference between this one and the others, was the bck liquid swishing inside. The prisoner felt a little fear inside him watching the 'medicine' he was going to inject himself with.

  'Looks… almost alive.' He thought to himself, but ignored his worries. If he did as he was told, his sentence would be reduced and he could finally see his daughter again.

  Pcing the needle against his skin, he took a deep breath and pressed the button on the top, instantly injecting himself with the mysterious bck liquid. He waited for a few moments before sighing in relief.

  "Nothing happ-" Suddenly, he roared out in what seemed to be extreme agony.

  His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell to the ground, his body shaking uncontrolbly simir to that of a seizure. The eyes in his skull began to bleed blue blood, and his bones started cracking. It was as if they were constantly breaking and rearranging into pce.

  "Ugh…" The grey Hatitia hated the sight of such a scene. Looking to his friend, he saw how emotionless he was. As if it was another afternoon. Taking a quick peek, he noticed all the other scientists were the exact same. It was certainly frightening to him at how little they cared.

  Suddenly, a deep and guttural roar made his attention return to the prisoner. Their body was beginning to swell up, muscles enrging massively as the chains broke in half. The snapping of bones continued as his height increased dramatically, his form becoming less and less like a Lorkin's.

  His fists smashed into the ground, creating small dents into the metal. He thrashed around wildly, like a wild animal trapped in a cage. Eventually, after gaining an additional 32ft of height, the Lorkin prisoner stopped transforming.

  He looked nothing like his previous self besides a slight resembnce of the face. First was the lower jaw that had formed, dozens of new teeth had grown in. Each one deadly and sharp enough to tear metal apart. The dreads on top of his head had gained their own pointy and lethal edge. They swung around randomly, each seemingly having a mind of their own.

  The four arms had become far more muscur than before, and his hands were repced with small curved bdes. Instead of three legs like a normal Lorkin, he had four that would allow him to move far quicker.

  The monster looked around with his new fully white eyes, nothing but pure madness inside them. He roared out and ran towards the wall, smming into it with enough force to dent it by a few feet.

  "Such a beast would work well against the Varnids. Impressive strength, despite just being turned." One of the Maer said, no emotion in his voice. A female standing next to him nodded.

  "Quite. But if it cannot be controlled, it is useless. Send in the guards." She said to the Pran'hu next to her, who bowed deeply and spoke into his wrist.

  "Send them in."

  Suddenly, the door that had closed the monster inside opened once more, gathering his attention. From the darkness, a dozen Android Guards walked in, powerful guns in hand.

  "Can you understand what I say?" The voice in the speaker said. But the monster acted like he was enraged at the sudden voice.

  His huge, tank-like form charged towards the guards like a battering ram, who raised their psma rifles in defense. They immediately opened fire, green and blue energy flying through the air. When they nded on the monster's skin, he groaned in pain as patches of his flesh were bsted open.

  However, he simply ignored the pain and swung his hand bdes when close enough. Most of the guards dodged, but three were directly sliced in half. Despite such an injury, and their fake organs falling out, they still managed to fire at him. Only when he destroyed their heads did they stop moving.

  Meanwhile, the other guards who had dodged never stopped shooting at him. The monster raised his arms to protect himself, but it did little to help. He ran to the closest one and tried to cut them apart. As they jumped back, his dreads suddenly shot forward and impaled themselves into his opponent's head.

  The beast turned around, dodging the psma shots coming straight for him. He rushed to the closest ones who were backing up. But their speed was nothing in comparison to his. With his bded hands, he cut off both of their heads.

  Suddenly, a searing bst of pain erupted from his back, forcing him to his knees. Turning his head, he was just in time to see the remaining guards bst his head open, sending blood and brain everywhere. His body fell over, completely dead.

  "Ahem, it seems we have yet to perfect the Super Serum. But-!" The Pran'hu, leader of this underground secret facility, stopped speaking when seeing one of the male Maer raise their hand.

  "Enough. We have given you copious amounts of funds, whatever materials you have asked for, and yet you have shown nearly nothing for all your efforts."

  "T-That's not true! We created Life Rejuvenation!"

  The Life Rejuvenation was a miracle medicine developed by the Vaar Corporation through experimenting with the virus. It kills off most other diseases and heals minor wounds. Not only that, but it also increases one's lifespan by ten years.

  However, it is in very short supply to the public due to the difficulty in it's creation. Usually, most are bought up by the big wigs and rich aliens of society as soon as they appear. Thankfully, scientists were able to make a lower version named Lesser Spring. This one was still expensive, but much more avaible.

  "Yes, that might be true. However that's all you've done. Our rival, Torr, has been developing a new prototype that will take the market by storm. Our resources are spread thin as it is and might be better used elsewhere."

  "As such, we have decided to pull the plug on this operation." Everyone there was shocked, except for the Maer. The Pran'hu stuttered as he spoke hurriedly.

  "Y-You can't do this! We-"

  "Not only on this program, but the other as well. There have been changes to the virus, which I'm sure you've seen as well. It's been making us… uneasy. As such, we've decided to eradicate every trace of it."

  Suddenly, an ominous feeling began growing in everyone's chest. Especially when the Omegas started moving towards them and the Android Guards they thought protected them, blocked their escape route.

  "Like I said-" The Omegas raised their arms, hands shifting into giant cannons that hummed menacingly.

  "Every, trace."

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  As screams erupted all across the facility from the purge, the deepest part was left untouched. A single and unassuming room, with a few tools and bottles of liquid. Suddenly, an Omega followed by a few Android Guards passed by. It's eyes lit up with a blue light and scanned the entirety of the room.

  Finding no living beings, the Omega moved on to continue it's search. However, secretly hidden behind a wall was a long hallway unknown to even the Maer. After almost a mile, it widened into a massive area full of all sort of strange devices. Labs and stations could also be seen, all of them abandoned.

  Floating in water, inside of a gss container, were the bodies of all kinds of aliens. Some were even clearly alive, their chests heaving up and down slightly. But each one was unconscious through the use of heavy sedation.

  At the end of this gigantic room, was a 7 meter figure ying on a table. They were shackled with chains seemingly made of white energy. Inside of these strange shackles was an unknown liquid being poured into their veins, keeping them docile and weak.

  Surrounding them and the table was a box made of a blue energy, rippling slowly. It acted as a shield and a wall, keeping them contained. Despite the situation, the figure's eyes were devoid of emotion.

  Suddenly, the lights in the room shut off. The shackles binding them to the table and the blue shield keeping them contained were depowered. For the first time in years, emotion returned to the mysterious shocked figure.

  On closer look, they resembled a Lorkin. However, their blue skin had bck and purple lines going across it. They were simir to a tattoo with how they were designed, but they also moved constantly. The dreads across her head were clearly weaponized, with extremely sharp bdes at the end.

  Her naked body cked armor, but the skin was slightly scaled like a lizard. Just like the monster, she had four legs in pce that were much better than the prisoner's. Her feet and hands were repced with lethal cws. On her back were two pairs of rge, boney wings.

  As the mysterious dy struggled to get off the table, weakened due to the drugs pumped through her system, she grinned.

  "About time. Ugh!" She colpsed onto the floor, but gritted her teeth and rose up. She needed to get up and leave, before they find her.

  As she got to her feet, her head turned towards Theia's direction. An interested look was on her face.

  "So odd. The virus has actually changed. However, such a thing never happened when the Near-Perfect Vessel was born. Unless-" She paused, understanding what had happened. A small bit of horror could be seen within her eyes.

  How could she forget the Devil? The unstoppable monster which had ravaged their Worlds and beaten their greatest Super Soldiers. If even that 'thing' was so powerful, what about something which seemed to eclipse it? This would spell the end of their civilization. Perhaps even the others if they were left unchecked and given time to grow.

  A complicated look was on her face as she moved forwards. A sigh came from her a she shook her head.

  "If it was before, I would have stood on your side once more, against the coming tide of darkness. But now-" Her expression turned venomous.

  "I will make you suffer! You should have let me die in peace!"