Chapter 2: The Monster (Part 1)

{Magic Corp Laboratories, 32 kilometres south of Apus City}

"Has the shipment arrived yet?" asked one scientist as he approaches a lone man wearing a black uniform whom was standing guard near the entrance to the corridor.

"Yes Sir! It arrived about 5 minutes ago. The rest of the guards are helping the researchers to unload the package Sir!" answered the man as he saluted the scientist.

"Good job soldier. Continue your duties, I'll go and see how your colleagues are handling the specimen" replied the man as he left the saluting soldier.

The scientist quickly heads to the unloading bay with a quick pace in his steps. The shipment they received is an important one and he needs to make sure everything goes well. As he passed by more scientists and soldiers as well as made a few turns along the windy corridors of the laboratory, he finally made it to the unloading bay.

As he went to the observation platform, he could see about a dozen soldiers helping a couple of other scientists to prep the shipment that was sent to them. He was feeling really nervous as he watched them handle the specimen.

"Greetings Kaso. You seemed a bit nervous" asked a mysterious person whom appeared from behind him.

"Oh....it's you Harry. Sorry, seeing them working on a blood-thirsty Morphed surely would give you the chills no?" he questioned Harry.

"Relax! It's on a coma. It can't harm us anyway, we have quite a handful of exceptional soldiers down there helping. They could step in if an unlikely scenario were to happen, so you should calm down a little" reasoned Harry.

"That Morphed down there is no ordinary Morphed. Even if it's stilll a juvenile one, it's an enhanced one which makes it stronger. An ordinary Morphed can't even be compared to the likes of that creature down there" explained Kaso.

"That's true.....still, don't you feel grateful that we get to see such a magnificent creature in the flesh? Such peculiar beings, it's still a wonder how such microscopic parasites could alter humans into such a spectacle!" Harry said in awe, drawing a disgusted scoff from Kaso.

"I don't wanna kink-shame you or anything, but that thing down there is far from a spectacle. A nightmare is what it is. *sigh* If only we had Mr. Moreou with us today. He could've supervised this whole process, made sure everything is 100% safe" said Kaso as he let out a disappointed sigh.

"Let the old man have his break. He's been working hard for three months now. Even with his abnormal strengths as a magician, he's still human. Luckily, we had you to fill in for the role while he's on his holiday" exclaimed Harry.

"Lucky me, huh? The only reason the higher ups chose me is because I never say no to anything. Do they think I'm some kind of fucking push over or something? Though, not much I can do now. Alright.....time to do my job. I'm gonna go down there and make sure they inject more sedatives into the guy" said Kaso as he started walking away from the observation platform and towards the elevator.

"I reckon that there's no need for that. I've already read the reports. According to them, that Morphed had one just 6 hours ago. It would still be asleep for a few more hours" said Harry.

The moment Kaso heard those words, he immediately stopped in his tracks. Beads of sweat immediately trickled down his face. His blood ran cold and he turned to look at Harry with a terrified look on his face.

"What did you say? What did you fucking say?!" Kaso asked him in fear.

"I said it got an injection about 6 hours ago. It would still be in a coma for two more hours. Why? Is there something wrong?" Harry asked his frightened colleague.

Kaso ignored his words and immediately approached one of the officers that was guarding the platform. "Call for an emergency!" Kaso yelled at the soldier.

"Huh?" the soldier was confused as his suddenly behaviour.

"Are you fucking deaf?! Call for an emergency right fucking now! Lock down this entire facility! I need every man you have to come here this instance!" Kaso shouted at him. The soldier nodded and immediately called in an order of emergency. Soon, the alarms immediately blared as the red emergency lights flashed constantly.

Harry who watched the whole scene unfold in a manner of seconds immediately ran towards Kaso. "Kaso! What the hell is going on?!" he asked, the tone of his voice sounded more serious than before.

"That thing down there is an Enhanced Morphed! The sedative injections is supposed to be applied every two hours. It's been six hours since the last injection!" Kaso explained in a rush.

"But....the thing is still unconscious?"

"That because it wants to make us think it's asleep. Harry! I need you to call Mr Moreou now! Get him here! Tell him there's a Level 10 emergency!" ordered Kaso. Harry nodded and immediately ran away from the area to make the call.

Meanwhile, Kaso immediately grabbed a P.A. system microphone near the platform and immediately alerted the soldiers and scientists down at the unloading bay.

"Get away from that Morphed! The subject is still alive and concious. Get out of there!" Kaso yelled, alerting the soldiers and scientists. Alas, it was already too late.

Before they could even react, the creature immediately jumped up from the table. In a split second, it immediately grabbed one of the guards and pierced his torso with it's claws. His blood was splattered on the ground and the creature looked at the bloodbath with glee in it's eyes.

Even with the immense pain of having a sharp object literally destroying your insides, the guard still tried his best to escape the monster's grasp. However, his resistance was futile. The creature smiled sinisterly, enjoying the worthless effort of the human in it's arms trying to escape from his impending doom.

Using it's other hand, the creature grabbed onto the guard's head and easily pulled it apart from his neck. As more blood bursted out of the lifeless corpse of the guard, the creature felt itself getting stronger. The life essence of humanity, the core which gives these creatures it's strength. Yes....it gets stronger by killing and eating humans.

But it has no time to feast on this body. However, it does have time to kill. "What are you idiots doing down there?! Shoot it! Kill it!" yelled Kaso.

The guards knew they had no time to mourne over the death of their colleague. Without wasting anymore time, they immediately charged in to the creature.

"Fire Ball" one of the guards immediately conjured a ball of red flames and launched the attack towards the Morphed. To his dismay, the Morphed easily side-stepped from the attack.

"We need to restrict it's movement" suggested one of the guards.

"Yes! Proceed to plan B! We need to lock it in place first!" ordered their leader, the female officer that was leading the counter-attack.

11 soldiers against 1 Morphed. It was possible. Following their plan, three soldiers immediately casted a force field together, caging the Morphed in a spherical energy field.

The Morphed knew their plan and began attacking the force field from the inside to break it. "Lightning Magicians, hurry up! We can't contain him much longer!" said one of the three soldiers, trying her best to keep the force field together.

Two more soldiers stepped up and channeled electrical energy directly towards the Morphed. Without missing a beat, they immediately shot a yellow beam of lightning, hitting the Morphed square on it's body. Upon impact, the Morphed immediately yelled in pain. And what's better, it immediately felt it's body getting stiff due to the electric spell's paralysing ability.

Now, the Morphed was no longer trashing about, instead it was standing stiffly as a rock. "Time to finish it up! Fire Magicians! Cast Fire Ball spells on it together!" ordered their leader.

Simultaneously, the remaining magician soldiers including their leader fired multiple fire balls towards the creature. Without being able to resist, the Morphed was bombarded by the sheer number and magnitude of the attacks. It shrieked loudly as it's body was enveloped by hot flames, completely burning it inside out.

After the flames dissipated, all that was left was a charred corpse on the ground. "Did we kill it?" asked one of the soldiers.

"We must have. All our spells had hit it. There's no way it could still be alive" replied another soldier.

Throughout the discussion, the commander stood silent. Her eyes wandered around the area with high alert. "Don't lower your guard soldiers. It's still alive" warned the commander.

"That's impossible!" exclaimed one soldier.

"Every time a Morphed is killed, it's energy dissipates into the surroundings and will be absorbed by our bodies. Do you feel any energy aura of sorts soldier?" asked the commander.

She was speaking the truth. No aura was present in the area, which could mean that the creature is still alive. "But, what about the corpse?" asked the soldier.

As soon as he asked that, the corpse immediately shattered into crystal pieces. "Shit! That was a crystal clone! All that effort was for nothing!" the leader cursed while slamming the ground in frustration.

"If it's not dead, then where is it?" asked another soldier.

The commander started looking around, hoping to find a clue on the whereabouts of the creature. As she scanned throughout the destruction, she found something that might pose as a lead. But a terrifying one at that.

"Look up" she stated.

As the rest of the soldiers turned their heads upwards, they could see a part of the roof of the loading bay was cracked open. It was then that they finally understood what their commander meant.

"The Morphed escape. Tch! We need to inform the local authorities. That creature needs to be terminated ASAP!" ordered the commander.

[Meanwhile, with Max]

{Max's House}

Just a few minutes ago, Max was playing ball with his grandfather outside. But now, he's sitting in his room because his grandfather wanted to talk about something with his mother in private. He knew it must be something important, and also something he shouldn't be listening to.

However, he was also very curious about it. "Ugh, mom told me to stay in the room. I guess it technically wouldn't be wrong if I just opened the door a little bit and listen" said Max. Carefully, he tip-toed across across his room, being extra light with his steps, hoping that the wooden floor boards underneath his feet won't creek anytime soon.

As gently as he could, he turned the door know and pushed the door opened slightly. However, he was still too far away to hear their voices. "I can't hear them! I need to get closer!" he said internally. Max immediately crawled forwards slowly until he reached the top of the stairs. Now, he can hear their conversation more clearly, thought he needs to be careful not to be spotted.

"I'm guessing you have to go to the lab now, huh?" asked Lucina.

"Yeah! It's a Level 10 emergency, an asset out of containment. I swear to god, these tech guys don't know how to handle those creatures" said Max's grandfather, clearly sounding really frustrated.

"A level 10...do you think it might come here?" asked Lucina in concern.

"I don't know..... it's highly unlikely though. It's a 25 km distance from here to the lab. Even if it can run fast, the authorities must've already placed security measures around a 10km radius from the lab. Still, I need you to make sure Max doesn't leave this house for his own safety. You too Lucina. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling in my stomach" said Max's grandfather.

"Yeah, me too. Stay safe dad. Be careful out there" Lucina said as she hugged him.

"Heh, you worry too much. I'll be fine, I'm a Lightning Magician, nothing is too fast to catch me off guard" exclaimed Max's grandfather as he suddenly disappeared in a flash of yellow light.

Lucina covered her eyes from the blinding lights for a moment. After she uncovered them, he was no longer in front of her.

"That cocky old man" stated Lucina as she giggled slightly. Suddenly, Lucina heard little footsteps from the stairs scurrying away. And she knew what it meant.

"Max...oh dear" she sighed.