A new Power is Rising (2/13)
[DAY 73]
In the utter darkness the troops of the Soulless Myriad could be heard marching through the destroyed City of Abeus.
The Soulless had weapons in one hand and torches in the other, while marching through all corners of the City looking for beings to submit to their Master.
Debris after Debris. One destroyed building after another was searched for any Survivors and Undead.
When the Soulless encountered undead they would call a Miasma claw towards them, which would absorb the undead's Soul and then place a Small Soul Shard from Neo inside them, turning them into Soulless of his Myriad.
If they found humans or other creatures, they were often forcibly turned into Undead of the Legion by the Miasma claws that received Neo's blood beforehand. However, some were also turned into the Soulless and thus joined the crusade through the ruins of the City of Abeus.
The humans, but also some Stage 2 Mutant Undead tried to fight against the Crusade of the Myriad and the Legion, but they were completely overwhelmed in numbers and could not keep up with the zeal of the Soulless fanatics.
The Soulless enforced the Will of their Master, The Dark Monarch of Abeus, with utter brutality.
They captured children, women and men alike, knelt them on the ground and let a dark Miasma claw absorb their Souls.
The screams of people having their Souls ripped out and experiencing incomparable pain could be heard across the City.
However, there were still some groups of people who face hell with everything they have and could therefore still resist the Soulless and Undead Crusade.
One of the group of people put up a particularly strong resistance. The group consisted of up to 2,000 Soldiers which were sent back here to Abeus by the Redinker Military Outpost, which has since the Orbital Bombardment happened, already fled the City, towards a Military Safe zone further north from Abeus. The group was sent back to search for supplies and other survivors, and then regrouped in the safe zone.
But when the group of military soldiers arrived here, they were suddenly attacked. But not from an Undead in close combat, but from a sniper who attacked them from the shadows.
Although the soldiers suffered some casualties, were not to be taken lightly. They were able to locate the sniper's position after a while and circle the building he's in.
The soldiers were about to start firing when suddenly a Horde of Undead appeared from the alleys behind them and attacked them.
More than 20,000 Undead attacked them and destroyed some of the vehicles the soldiers used.
There was something odd about the Undead though, they seemed to have some kind of intelligence and their fighting style seemed very calculated.
Large Undead groups dodged grenade throws. Heavy machine guns were the first to be taken out by the Undead and the Sniper continued firing at the soldiers, killing some soldiers in GB1 Battle Armor.
The soldiers were able to keep control against the Undead and barricaded themselves in an old Bank that was located near them.
They then spent three days under the siege of the Undead, who were trying to break through with all their might, but so far hadn't been able to.
Although the amount of Undead has now increased due to the noise, the soldiers had more than enough supplies and ammunition to last a week.
Moreover, they are expected back in two days and if they don't come, the remaining military will send a squad of soldiers out, to search for them and could give themfurther support against the Undead and the enemy Sniper.
But their situation suddenly changed when a strange group of what appeared to be humans found them in the Bank.
...
"Captain Tamea, The Sergeant reports that a group of unknown survivors have took positions at the buildings opposite the Bank." a soldier reported to the Captain who was looking at some documents and maps together with two other officers.
"What? A group of survivors? How big are they, how heavily armed?" asked the Captain upon hearing the Sergeant's report.
"The Sergeant didn't give me any further information other than to see for yourself." the soldier explained as he saluted.
"What? What the hell is that guy thinking? Come on, take me to the Sergeant, quick!" said the Captain as he followed the soldier who hurried to the Sergeant who is on the second floor of the building and was just taking cover with all the other soldiers there behind furniture and sandbags and aimed at the lobby of the bank on the first floor.
"What's going on here Sergeant? How many are there and how heavily armed? Do they have hostile intentions?" asked the captain.
"Captain, stay in cover. This other group of survivors is opposite and has already killed our soldiers on the roofs. They are on the roofs around us and have taken positions in the buildings opposite." the Sergeant explained as he reloaded his gun.
"How can that be? How could they position themselves so well with the Undead Horde outside our door? Was it a trap they set up for us from the start? How many of them are there, Sergeant?" the Captain asked as he was handed an automatic weapon by one of the soldiers and checked it.
"There should be more than 10,000. They are moderately armed and all wear dark clothes and hoods. They suddenly came out of nowhere and started opening fire on us. Strangely, the Undead don't seem to care much about them. We await their next attack in..." reported the Sergeant, when he was suddenly interrupted by another soldier next to him.
"The enemy, they are attacking, look!" yelled the soldier as he pointed his finger into the Undead Horde.
The soldiers then all looked over there and found a dark figure, a man in a dark robe, who was walking past the Undead Horde on the street like he didn't care about the Undead at all. The man was recognized mainly because of the gun he was carrying. A grenade launcher capable of destroying an armored vehicle with multiple grenades.
Behind him, suddenly more figures emerged from the shadows, all dressed in dark clothing and wielding heavy weapons, which where walking all through the Horde of Undead heading towards the front doors of the Bank as well.
The Undead Horde always had the possibility to attack the people in the group, but they did nothing and let the people pass completely calmly.
"What are they up to?" the Captain asked himself with an uneasy feeling in his stomach.
The Captain then watched with horror as his bad feeling was becoming reality.
"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"
Made the grenades, which were fired by the enemies in black, that hit the bank door and destroyed the barricades behind it.
On the first floor there were some soldiers who had taken cover, but still some were hit and injured by the fragments of the shells that hit the main door.
But their problems were far worse than their wounds, especially since the barricades that protected them from the Undead Horde that had been outside are now gone.
With nothing stopping the Undead anymore, they quickly stormed the building after the barricades were down and began eating the wounded soldiers and the rest of them on the first floor.
Some Stage 1s with the Agility Trait jumped onto the second floor, which was openly connected to the first floor, and attempted to attack the soldiers behind the defenses.
"FIRE!!!" yelled the Captain and Sergeant and all the soldiers on the 2nd floor started shooting at the Stage 1 Undead, which pounced on them.
They opened fire on anything that came towards them and some soldiers in their panic also hit some of their comrades on the 1st floor.
It didn't take long before everything was dead on the 1st floor and the undead began to storm the stairwell and go upstairs and downstairs, where there are also a handful of people.
The enemies in black, meanwhile, gained entry to the building and began shooting at the soldiers on the second floor.
They only tried to wound them and not kill.
"Fight and die for the Dark Monarch!"
"ALL HAIL THE DARK MONARCH!!!"
"FOR THE PURPLE EYE!"
Such and more screams were heard when the Soulless of the Myriad opened fire on the soldiers.
...
A few hours ago, the Soulless found a large portion of the Undead Legion that survived the orbital bombardment which was attacking the soldiers hiding in the bank and therefore joined their comrades in the fight.
They have already placed troops at the back exit and the Soulless on the rooftops have already eliminated the enemy troops on the rooftop of the bank.
As they want to obey their Master's Will and conquer the city of Abeus, adding all beings to the Legion or the Myriad as their Master has commanded.
The resistance against the soldiers was quickly broken with the help of the Soulless and in the end most of the soldiers had become undead and joined the Legion.
On the other side, a small group of soldiers tried to escape from the back exit.
Among them were some civilians previously hiding in the bank, as well as the Captain and a handful of his soldiers who survived.
The Soulless disarmed the humans and took them outside the bank to a small ruined field.
"No! Please don't sacrifice me! I'll do anything you want!" shouted one of the women among the civilians.
But the Soulless reacted with silence and ignored the woman.
"Do what you want with me! FUCK ME, HIT ME! Just please let me live!" screamed the woman with tears in her eyes as she despaired.
The Soulless again didn't react to the woman and also to some of the screams of the other humans, they were completely deaf to.
Only after the Soulless brought the people to the field did their behaviour change.
The knelt all the humans on the ground side by side while two Soulless took one of the soldiers and carried it a few feet away from the others.
It then took a few minutes, but then suddenly the people could see a strange silhouette in the darkness.
It was a huge claw that glowed dimly and then grabbed the soldier who was separated from the others.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH" the soldier screamed as he went through unimaginable pain.
Suddenly the people could see a bright light that left the man and then went into the dark claw and disappeared.
The group of people watching became completely dizzy. An instinct in them screamed to run away as fast as possible.
And so did some of them, but they were quickly stopped by a shot in the heart by the Soulless and an Undead that was in the vicinity began to eat the dead mans organs.
After a short time, the dead mans began to get up again as Undead.
The other humans then lost the courage to get up and run, and in the end all were put through the process of having their Souls absorbed by Neo's Miasma Claws.
Afterwards, they were all given a small Shard of Neo's Soul and they became part of the Soulless Myriad and began to stand up again.
Their fear and despair were suddenly gone. Anything but serving their Master seemed utterly indifferent and irrelevant to them. Therefore, they set out with the other Soulless and Undead to obey the command of their Master.
All but the former Captain of the soldiers. He decided to give Neo relevant information about the military evacuation and the Earth Defense Force that he had.
Also, another character that Neo hasn't seen in a long time ventured out of the shadows of a building.
"My Lord, as incredible as ever. I should report to him quickly, but first I should assist the Legion in killing the rest of the humans." said Aaron who has survived so far and is looking forward to meeting his Master in the near future.
...
As this all happened that day, Neo set about exploring his Trait and his new Abilities and their potential.
"I feel like the Soulless are perfectly connected to me no matter how far away they are. It's really incredible." Neo said as he awoke from his meditation and opened his eyes.
"All right, let's start experimenting, Emily." said Neo with a smile on his lips.
Neo loves experimenting with new discoveries or his skills. Investigating such interesting powers as the virus and his own Soul, which is something very new and abstract for him until long, and the fact that he becomes stronger as a result, only makes things all the better.
I mean, he was a scientist by passion before the apocalypse happened. Of course he loves experiments and exploring the unknown. Even if it is difficult and sometimes long.
"Okay, where do I start? Mhmm... preferably with the SOUL ABSORPTION ability?" thought Neo as he issued an order to some Soulless.
Shortly thereafter, some Soulless came to Neo, their Master, with some sacks over their backs, in each of which was a captured human which they knelt before Neo on the ground and took the sacks from them.
Altogether more than 30 people, young and old, women and men and also a few children, knelt in front of Neo.
The Soulless held them at bay while Neo approached one of the humans.
The human captives all froze at the sight of Neo, who now looked like a complete Demon.
His body has literally become armor and his demonic and black appearance didn't make things any less menacing.
In addition, there were also the two huge dark wings on his back.
People were completely paralyzed with fear and couldn't do anything but pee on themselves and stare frantically at Neo.
Neo, on the other hand, ignored them and instead concentrated on feeling the Soul of one of the woman in front of him.
It didn't take long and he could perceive the Soul. Afterwards, he stretched out his right hand and tried to command the Soul to become part of him.
But it wasn't until Neo touched the person's body that the Soul began to react.
The human's Soul tried to fight Neo's Soul but it was completely hopeless, Neo's soul is a LOW STAGE 2 SOUL and the human's Soul was not even a MID STAGE 0 SOUL.
It ended in a few seconds and Neo then absorbed the Soul. He noticed that the Soul wasn't completely absorbed, if Neo had to speculate, only 1/3 of the Soul was absorbed. The rest flowed over his hand into space itself and dissolved.
Neo wondered why this was happening and tried to absorb the remaining part of the Soul. But he quickly realized that it is incredibly difficult and mentally exhausting to get his Soul to absorb more. Therefore, he decided not to try again for the time being.
At the end, Neo absorbed the rest of the Souls of the 30 or so people and all the bodies were just lying Soulless on the floor.
They were still alive, but without a Soul, they seem to have no consciousness controlling their bodies. In a way, the person who existed before was dead. But also not in a different way, especially since when they become Soulless they still have their memories.
Neo also turned some of the bodies into undead, but their still was no Soul and the Undead was just a Soulless to and didn't act.
"Sigh," Neo sighed at his realization.
He felt that his Soul got a little bit stronger, but it won't be over the LOW STAGE 2 for a long time. For that he would need many more Souls and he needed time to calm down his own Soul by meditating.
The SOUL ABSORPTION ability helps him improve his Soul faster, but at the same time it throws his Soul into a turmoil that Neo has to meditate on to get rid of.
With this knowledge, Neos decided to continue with his experiments after a short pause...
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UMI CHANGES:
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NEW: SOUL SUBJUGATION ACTIVE ABILITIEY: SOUL ABSORPTION (Explanation: Neo can absorb the Soul of all beings that have a Soul and are an entire SOUL STAGE under him. Neo's Soul grows stronger with each Soul he absorbs. The weaker the Soul is compared to Neo, the less is absorbed and the lesser his Soul gets stronger. The more Neo absorbs in a row, the more turmoil arises in his own Soul and he can only calm it down with meditation and time. Caution: This ability kills the being's consciousness, creating Soulless which can't progress anymore and are stuck in their current Stage)
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UNDEAD LEGION STRENGTH:
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LEGION COUNT: 56,904 -> 68,917
ELITE OF THE LEGION: ?
PREFECT: 1 (Aaron)
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SOULLESS MYRIAD STRENGTH:
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SOULLESS COUNT: 1,042,049 -> 1,131,214