Chapter 48: Battle for Washington

On a hill outside of Washington D.C., Cain and Tai could be seen standing next to one another as they gazed into the city, waiting for their foe to arrive. Behind them, over a thousand special infected stood there quietly, waiting for their time to shine.

The majority of these were Juggernauts, who numbered in at over four hundred. Their faces were lit up with excitement at the thought of being able to finally fight. They were barely able to contain themselves, constantly huffing and puffing with smoke leaving their noses.

On their chests was a brand of a Minotaur, showing everyone who they belonged too. In fact, every infected except for commons had this same brand.

Besides them there were Bone Spikers, Acid Spitters, a ridiculous amount of Ripper Babies and Adults, a few Behemoths that had been forcibly tamed by Cain, and many others. Some even flew in the sky, ready to swoop down and tear their opponents apart.

Even further behind the specials, were tens of thousands of common infected. Since the last time he had spoken to Hiroshi, Cain had doubled his efforts to increase the size of his army and his own personal strength.

However, if one looked closely they would see Cyborg Infected mixed in with their ranks. A loan given by Hiroshi himself to help sway the battle in their favor. Their numbers were small, only being around twenty, but Cain had their creator's assurance that they were new and improved.

'What was it he said again? "You'll see their explosive results yourself." Strange…' Cain had no trust for the intelligent Hiroshi, but couldn't see how betraying him would be a smart choice.

'Perhaps I'm being too paranoid. There's only twenty of them after all. What damage could they possibly do?'

Suddenly, he looked out the corner of his eye and witnessed Tai rubbing her bloated stomach with a loving smile. He couldn't help but join her, excited and hopeful for his son's birth. Deep within his heart, he wished with all his being that his child would become stronger and do better than himself. Reaching a level he himself could never grasp. But that confused him greatly.

'Why would one think that way?' He couldn't understand these new feelings, since he was a firm believer that the strongest should rule. And did he not want to rule the most? However, his mate brought him out of his thoughts.

"What should we name him?" Without hesitation, he replied with pride.

"Grognak The Destroyer! Only a strong name like this suits our child!" He laughed loudly, making Tai put up a fake smile.

'What... an awful name.' She thought to herself, but let Cain have his moment.

Out of nowhere, he stopped and became deadly serious. His eyes glared into the distance, hatred and fighting spirit overflowing from his very being.

Unconsciously, his Alpha Aura unleashed with all it's might, making the infected behind him feel as though a mountain was weighing on their chests. Their bodies shook uncontrollably as a few were forced to their knees.

Tai tapped his arm lightly, snapping him back to reality. He took back his Aura and crossed his arms, looking forward to the show about to unfold.

Deep within the city, inside the bustling refugee camp, everyone could feel the ground beneath them shake, as if something was coming. Objects fell off of shelves and animals began whimpering, running away to places unknown. 

A chill went down their spines, making them gulp in fear. They didn't know what they were feeling, but whatever it was caused them an incredible amount of dread.

President Jones felt the same way, his hands shaking slightly as he looked out the window of his office. He gripped his fists and steeled his nerves, talking into a radio.

"All forces, begin your assault. You need to buy as much time as possible for us to extract the refugees. God speed gentlemen, and thank you for your service. I will make sure you are never forgotten." Suddenly, explosions and gunfire started going off in the distance. Without turning around, he spoke up to the other person in the room.

"How long until the Miasma is ready?" Larry replied to him solemnly.

"Soon sir. The Series Falcon is refueling at the moment and should be in the air within a few minutes at most." Jones nodded, eyes filled with worry and concern as he watched the refugees panic.

They had tried their best to get as many out in the limited time frame they had. But he knew most would die here, and that hurt him deeply. He felt like a failure of a leader because he couldn't protect his citizens.

'The curse of being in charge I suppose.'

"Sir, we should get going. Your family is already aboard and waiting. I tried to tell your wife to leave ahead of time, that it's very dangerous to stay here. Then she smacked me across the face and called me a... pussy." Larry rubbed the side of his face, still remembering the sting.

Jones chuckled and shook his head. 

"Don't take it personal. Lord knows how many times that woman has whooped me into shape. Wouldn't be the man I am today without her." After a few moments, Jones spoke up once more

"You're right though. What of Fenrir?" They moved out of the Oval Office and headed towards the direction of their ride out of this soon-to-be hell.

"He said he's going to stay back and protect the refugees for as long as he can. Afterwards, he'll meet us at Blacksite Z19." Jones could tell that Larry held a massive amount of respect for the creature. He could understand, as he too felt the same for his heroism.

"I do wonder though. Why is he on our side instead of theirs? It makes more sense for them to be together, with his own kind." Jones shook his head at his question.

"I don't know. He's been very quiet on his past, so perhaps the answer lies there. No matter what his reason is however, his support is a blessing for Humanity." Suddenly, he witnessed Larry start getting angry, a vein popping up on the side of his bald head.

"If only those bastards came down here and helped us! How could they just stand by and watch as we get slaughtered like pigs?!" What he was referring to was obvious. The alien overlords above them outside the shield.

"At least one of them cares, what with giving us the blueprints to make the Purple Miasma." Larry simply snorted, sarcasm in his voice.

"Yeah, real noble. I'll make sure to get on my knees and kiss their feet next time I see 'em." Jones shook his head and said nothing else on the subject as they waded through the chaotic hallways.

Meanwhile, at the origin of the explosions and gunfire, an absolutely massive titan was walking slowly through the city. His large size of 110 meters easily eclipsed every building around him. Beneath his feet, the usual giant infected who towered over humans on most days, suddenly looked tiny in comparison as they rushed forwards.

There was a smirk on his inhuman but human face. His entire body had bulging muscles, making him seem like the best bodybuilder in the world. Contrary to humans, he instead sported four arms that might lack claws, but made up for it with unstoppable punching power.

Right above his butt, a long tail could be seen swinging about randomly. Every time it lightly tapped a building, it would immediately crack and break apart. All along his tail were serrated blades that would occasionally slice anything it touched in half, displaying it's sharpness.

There was no armor present on his body, but he had no need for such a thing. His skin and flesh were durable enough for most if not all attacks thrown his way. As if to prove his point, a tank down the street shot a shell directly at his face. Smoke covered his expression, but everyone could hear his mocking laughter.

"Is this all you have, puny runts?" His voice was so loud the soldier's bones felt like they might break. However, they ignored it and kept firing at both the infected coming closer and the Alpha.

The Alpha Behemoth, who named himself Godfrey, barely felt the attacks from all the weapons being unleashed upon him. The helicopters flying in the sky, the tanks down below, and the soldiers that had rocket launchers. He felt a little bored at the lack of excitement and sighed regretfully.

'It's my fault for expecting anything different. They are lower lifeforms after all. The infection within them dormant, clearly showing their meager potential. This is why we shall win, for we are superior.' He shook his head before grinning savagely.

He raised all four of his arms and spread them wide, making every being at the scene tense up. Suddenly, all his hands came together in one booming clap. His sheer power created a visible shockwave that could be seen with the naked eye, spreading outwards from his position in a 360 degree two miles radius.

The helicopters closest to him were the first to suffer, with the nearest instantly blowing up. The ones further away were a little more fortunate, but were still knocked out of the sky and forced to make an emergency landing on the hellish and packed streets. Even his own flying infected weren't spared.

With a single move, 60% of the human's air support perished, striking fear and terror into their hearts. This didn't seem even remotely winnable.

Godfrey began laughing, which ruptured many eardrums. The sight of all those humans panicking pleased him greatly. But then he heard something fly through the air and looked up. There, he could see six fighter jets coming towards him.

They let loose multiple missiles before firing bullets at him. He raised an arm, blocking them all effortlessly. His upper left hand grabbed onto a nearby building and easily ripped it off it's foundation, holding it in his palm.

He raised his hand slightly, eyeing the trajectory that the jets were flying and chose one of them as his target. Just as they turned around, he threw the rubble in his grasp with all his might at the target. As if he had vision of the future, the unlucky jet was hit directly and spun wildly in the air, crashing into a second one.

As Godfrey laughed once more at his prediction ability, the human forces on the ground had already come into contact with the infected horde brought by the Alpha. Their first clash had left them with severe casualties. The special infected were tough, but it was actually the common ones that caused the most damage.

They moved quickly and had little concern for their own well-being, directly throwing themselves at the enemy. From there, all it took was a single bite and their life was over.

However, the humans dug their feet into the ground, grabbed their courage with a firm grip, and began fighting back the unrelenting horde. But they knew they wouldn't last for long. Luckily, they heard the order to retreat to a safe distance and started backing up.

"Oh no you don't." Godfrey took a single step forward, the ground underneath him breaking into pebbles and sinking a few meters deep. His two right arms started raising and were soon cocked back behind him.

When he let loose his punch, even though he was more than three miles away from the humans, it created an air wave so powerful everything in it's path turned into dust. Buildings were uprooted, hovering in mid air for a split second before falling back to the ground.

The remaining helicopters in the sky were either blasted away or directly destroyed. On the ground, nobody was spared from the air wave's destructive blast. Both humans and infected were torn into bits, many exploding into blood mists.

The wave continued on for a couple miles before losing strength and disappearing. Godfrey looked around, seeing the few humans still remaining and decided not to bother with them. Instead, his eyes gazed far into the distance, spotting The White House refugee camp.

Hatred flowed through his very being seeing those healthy creatures running around. He despised any who were not infected down to his very core.

Just as he was about to rush towards them, a booming sound could be heard from a distance away. To Godfrey, it sounded similar to a jet, but far more powerful. From the origin of the noise, he saw a massive black plane flying through the clouds. It's speed was fast, easily breaking the sound barrier at Mach 2.

Suddenly, it launched two missiles directly at him. Godfrey thought nothing of it, even though they seemed much different than the other ones. He did the same as before, raising an arm to protect his face.

However, when they landed, a purple gas exploded outwards and enveloped his entire arm. Before he could react, it seeped into his pores and entered his body. A few moments later, Godfrey screamed in pain as he kneeled down. Purple streaks began popping up across his body and head, pulsing lightly like a heartbeat.

While Godfrey seemed to go through excruciating pain and a period of weakness, Tai tapped Cain on the arm.

"Good luck. Come back to me safe and sound." He kissed her on the forehead, promising her he would be fine before turning to his horde.

"Forward! Kill all who stand in your way! Rip and tear them apart until nothing remains!" It was a brief speech, but roused their fighting spirit all the same.

The entire horde roared at the same time, the noise traveling towards the city and alerting everyone of their presence. They charged for Washington and the refugee camp as Cain rushed ahead. His speed was so fast he left clear afterimages of his form.

Godfrey, sensing the domineering Aura of Cain, gritted his teeth in rage and barked out towards his remaining eight thousand infected.

"Go! Destroy the camp and kill his forces!" They obeyed immediately, rushing for The White House. Just as he got back to his feet, something happened around him.

"It's time! Rail Gunners!" A Sergeant ordered in his radio. From nearby still intact buildings that weren't caught in the air wave or clap, massive four meter Rail Guns appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

The Sergeant, standing next to one such gun, sighed regretfully. Only five had survived out of the initial twenty three. It was either the flying infected brought by the Behemoth, the brutal clap, or the destructive air wave that ruined the others.

"Alright boys! Let this bastard feel the might of us 'puny' humans! Fuck this asshole up!" At his words, the five Rail Guns began powering up, creating a low humming sound that increased as time passed.

After twenty seconds, they were primed and ready to fire. The Sergeant looked through his binoculars with one hand and brought the radio to his mouth.

"Fire!" The Rail Guns all fired at once, a mini shockwave created by the force of the round.

Godfrey heard something and turned to his right. Before he could even react, he was struck five different times all across his body. He groaned in pain and staggered a little. Looking down at his stomach, he saw three bleeding holes. Luckily, they weren't deep and barely did any damage.

Still, such an attack surprised him. He never imagined the humans were capable of actually injuring him. Hearing them power up again, he growled and raised his arms. He sent another air wave towards the direction of one of the guns, turning the building it was on and the ones behind it into rubble.

"Dammit! As soon as you're ready, fire at will!" Twenty seconds was a long time, plenty enough for Godfrey to destroy another two guns before they could fire.

Unfortunately, he couldn't destroy them all in time and suffered another attack from the remaining guns. He growled in both rage and pain with gritted teeth, raising his right arms at the direction of the Sergeant who had wide eyes.

But before he could let loose, he sensed Cain behind him. He spun 360 degrees towards his direction, punching with his full force at the flying Minotaur looking Alpha who also had an arm raised for a punch.

Both of their fists collided and produced a massive visible shockwave that spread throughout the city, knocking nearly everyone on their ass and flattening over a hundred buildings. The two monsters were blasted backwards with Cain being sent flying due to his smaller size and Godfrey falling onto his back.

Godfrey shook his head as he got to his feet, surprised at how strong his opponent was. 

'Very powerful. This will not be easy.' His expression was solemn as he watched Cain emerge from the rubble of a collapsed building he slammed into unharmed.

Without a word, Cain immediately bolted for him with an insane amount of speed that he could barely keep up with. Just as he was about to attack, he was interrupted by a burst of pain coming from his back, making him stagger forward a step.

'Damned humans!' Once more, the remaining two Rail Guns had blasted his unprotected back. Before he could turn around and deal with them, he noticed Cain was right next to his leg, who then proceeded to punch his kneecap.

Godfrey groaned, falling onto one knee as he saw the bastard jump up in an attempt to hit his jaw. But he was no pushover, using his lower right hand to push him back into the ground. Gripping him tightly, he flung him as far as he could and watched as he flew miles away.

Just as he got to his feet, the Rail Guns made their presence known once more, producing yet another two holes in his back. With gritted teeth and white hot rage pouring through his mind, he turned around and punched towards their direction with all his might.

When the Sergeant saw the instant killing air wave coming his way, far bigger than before, he simply sighed.

"Damn sha-" His body, along with the other soldiers, were turned into dust as the buildings around them broke into pieces.

Godfrey smiled at their death and looked at the camp. The humans were either dead or had fled, and his forces had engaged the bastard's. Though, there was one anomaly there fighting against both groups, protecting a few humans before retreating with them.

But he ignored that weakling and focused on Cain who had already recovered and was close to him. His two left arms tried punching him, but missed and landed on the road, producing an earthquake that rocked the entire city.

Meanwhile, Cain leaped up and used all his strength to punch Godfrey in the chest, making him take a few steps back. As soon as he landed back on the ground, his mouth opened and shot out dozens of large 18in teeth towards his face.

Godfrey, seeing the attack coming, didn't underestimate it's lethality and dodged out of the way. However, the teeth made a 90 degree turn and followed him like homing missiles. Seeing that dodging wouldn't work, he raised all four of his arms to protect his face.

Once the teeth landed, it was like they had a mind of their own as they drilled inside his flesh as far as they could. When they couldn't go on any longer, they immediately exploded, sending shrapnel throughout his arms.

"Bastard!" He yelled out angrily, his arms in a massive amount of pain as acidic blood flowed onto the street below.

Unfortunately for Cain, he couldn't use such a powerful attack again for a while. Watching Godfrey throw another haphazard punch from his two right arms, he easily stepped to the side to dodge it. He had to be careful due to his nigh unstoppable strength.

Although he seemed unharmed from their first collision, even now his arm was still vibrating and a little numb.

However, just as he was about to counter attack, he looked out of the corner of his eye and saw a massive tail heading his way. It was too late to dodge or even defend himself as he was swatted away. When hit, he was sent flying away as if he weighed nothing, crashing through dozens of buildings before finally stopping.

When landing back on the road, he looked down at his chest to see a massive cut across it. One of the blades had done a good amount of damage, creating a wound so deep he could see bone. Thankfully, his regeneration kicked in and began healing him. Still, a direct hit like thay had done severe damage to his inner organs.

As he looked up, his eyes widened at what Godfrey was doing. His head was slightly raised as a rhythmic humming sound came from deep within him. Cain had no idea what he was doing, but he doubted it was anything good.

'I need to stop him before he finishes!'

With a thought, both of his arms turned into massive black and white blades that struck each other, generating sparks. As he ran forwards, he noticed orange lines appearing around Godfrey's chest. They moved up to his neck, covering up the purple ones, as the noise he produced increased. Their travels continued, eventually reaching his eyes that glowed the same color.

Suddenly, the instincts he honed through countless battles screamed at him. It was… death.

Without hesitation, he rolled out of the way as an orange and unimaginably hot giant beam came out of Godfrey's throat. Whatever it passed through was immediately destroyed and disintegrated. The world seemed to lose all sound and color, save for the orange beam itself that roared in his ears.

He watched with horror as Godfrey turned his head in his direction, making the beam follow his will. Cain cursed the bastard and constantly ran around like a monkey, desperate to escape the beam's all-destroying might.

But he was not a perfect machine and soon suffered a grazing shot on his back. It wasn't much, barely a light tap, however it managed to deal more damage than the tail from before. 

The agony he suffered was insanity inducing, almost like a patch of his skin was sliced off with a dull knife. Yet Cain gritted his teeth, his pride not allowing him to scream out as he dodged as best he could. The properties of the beam also seemed to halt his regeneration, baffling him greatly.

'This is him weakened?! What nonsense!'

After a few minutes of constant running, the orange beam of death finally seemed to be exhausted as Godfrey stopped firing. Smoke came out of his mouth as he growled lightly, his breaths labored. Cain took this chance to approach him as fast as possible before he could fire it again.

His speed increased to the max, leaving nothing but a blur as he saw Godfrey raise all four arms above his head, fists tightened. As soon as Cain got close enough, the big Behemoth suddenly jumped high into the air. Noticing what he was about to do, Cain immediately halted in place and moved backwards.

Unfortunately, he was too late. Godfrey fell back to the ground and at the same time, smashed all of his fists into the street. The immense force created by such an action created an actual earthquake throughout the city and beyond. Even Tai could feel the ground underneath her feet tremble, cracks appearing. 

Cain was blasted back as he tried his best to slow his speed by shoving both blades into the ground beneath him. He slid for hundreds of meters before finally stopping, blood tripping down his nose. He breathed heavily as he watched Godfrey run towards him, every step sending tremors out.

He got to his feet and prepared himself. Yet again, the titan jumped and used his two left arms to try and squash him. He let out a single breath and focused as hard as he could. As soon as the deadly attack was just a few feet from landing, Cain suddenly stepped out of the way by a hair.

The wind from the power of Godfrey's attack threatened to push him back again, but he held firm. Just as the arms started to raise off the ground, Cain put both of his blades next to each other and fused them together, creating a much larger and sharper one that was almost as big as himself.

Using all his strength, he raised the new weapon above his head and brought it down swiftly, completely cutting off the lower left arm.

"AHH!" Godfrey roared out in pain at the loss of an arm. Before Cain could follow up, he had no choice but to jump due to the serrated tail sweeping the street below, destroying any building in a very large radius.

But since he was in mid-air, he was unable to dodge Godfrey's rage filled punch. Cain did all he could to defend himself, placing his blades in a cross in front of him and tensing up his muscles to harden them. When struck, he could feel his organs begin to liquefy as he was sent flying a few miles away, coughing up a mouthful of chunky blood.

Just as he landed, a low humming sound could be heard. Gritting his teeth, he got off the ground with a struggle and immediately rushed for the charging up Godfrey. He could see the orange lines travel up his chest to his neck, showing he didn't have long.

When close, he jumped as high as he could and shot out another barrage of teeth to halt the process. But Godfrey didn't care, letting the explosive teeth shred his chest wide open. Cain was almost there, just thirty meters away when he noticed something.

Out of the corner of his eye, and pulling his focus, he witnessed as the Cyborg Infected given by Hiroshi started attacking his own forces from the back and pincering them. They were truly new and improved, cutting down both special and common like wheat with their blue plasma rounds.

Even when they were killed, they self-destructed and took a sizable portion of infected with them. The unexpected ambush had caused his soldiers to fall quickly. 

'You'll see their explosive results yourself.'

"You son of a bit-!" The pure rage Cain felt at the betrayal blinded him to the dangers in right in front of him.

While still flying in mid-air, his eyes widened when remembering Godfrey. Looking over, he was just in time to see an orange beam take up his entire vision.

Godfrey watched with joy as Cain was hit by his ultimate attack, being sent into the ground and disappearing into the light. He moved overtop of his position, firing directly downwards as he increased the power in the beam to the max, widening it by a few meters.

Over on the hill, Tai watched on with both hands over her mouth, nearly paralyzed with fear. Heartache and sadness rocked her body, dizziness overtaking her.

A few minutes later, Godfrey was forced to stop his attack, making them beam fizzle out. Smoke trailed out of his mouth as he looked down at the one hundred meter deep by twelve meter wide crater. Down at the bottom, he saw the charred body of Cain. To Godfrey's surprise, he was still alive.

His upper right hand reached into the hole and pulled him out, holding the near-dead bastard in front of his face.

"You were the strongest opponent I have ever faced by far. You may die with pride in knowing that." But Cain didn't focus on him, looking off into the distance at a hill.

When following his line of sight, Godfrey saw Tai rushing their way with fierce determination. Based on her pregnant stomach, it wasn't difficult for him to know the situation. He forced Cain to look at him in the eyes.

"You have my word, I will not harm her or the child within. This, I promise." Hearing that, the life he held onto seemed to drain away, his body going limp.

Just then, Godfrey noticed the frail looking Hiroshi approach him. Large, powerful looking Cyborg Juggernauts were on either side of him, protecting him like a bodyguard. No surprise or shock could be seen on Godfrey's face as he watched the smiling Unique Infected.

"You did well, all according to plan. Though, he was a little more powerful that I originally assumed. By the way, shouldn't you get rid of those?" He motioned towards the purple lines across Godfrey's body, still pulsing away.

With a snort, they vanished all at the same time, as if never there in the first place. To him, it was nothing more than an illusion, a trick that he picked up after killing an Alpha Mimic. In the first place, the Purple Miasma never affected him because he already gained a resistance towards it beforehand. And the person who made that happen, was Hiroshi.

Godfrey still remembered the day he approached him. The sheer confidence he exuded despite being in the presence of something that could kill him with a literal finger flick made Godfrey gain a bit of respect for him.

They got to talking a little, with Hiroshi coming up with a plan to take down a very powerful Alpha Juggernaut and split the corpse 50/50.

First, he gave him a portion of the Miasma to consume. The weakness Godfrey felt terrified him for the first and only time in his life.

The gas seeped into every single pore within his body, causing an extreme amount of pain that dropped him to his knees. Instantly, his combat prowess was more than halved as the gas ravaged his body. Thankfully, it only lasted thirty minutes before being consumed by the virus within him. 

Afterwards, Hiroshi gained Cain's trust and would lead him to Godfrey. They would lure him in with a false sense of weakness and would mess up his mental state with the betrayal. Then, the rest was history.

Suddenly, he saw Hiroshi step forwards a bit towards him, having to crane his neck up to look him in the eyes.

"Now, would you do the honors of cutting him in half? Or…" He trailed off, the two Cyborg Juggernauts behind him powering up their weapons. Godfrey snorted and used all three of his hands to grip Cain's body.

"Relax. A deal is a deal." In truth, he wanted to kill this little weakling right now and take it all for himself. However, he didn't know what this devious and cunning bastard had hidden up his sleeve.

Besides, he had seen the power of the Common Cyborg Infected. Although their attacks would bounce off him, it's the self-destructing he was worried about. If they were so strong, what of these stronger Cyborgs? In his opinion, it wasn't worth the risk. Especially since he was severely injured at the moment.

'I need to hurry before those bastards take advantage of this opportunity.' Off in the distance, he could sense the Aura of a few Alphas that were in the city. In truth, he was putting up a confident front as using his ultimate move twice in a row had exhausted him greatly. If any of them called his bluff, he may very well die here.

Seeing Godfrey holding Cain's body in such a way, Tai ran as fast as she could to save him. She didn't believe he was dead, because he promised her he would be fine. That he would be safe. But then, she felt something. A little kick in her stomach that brought her back to her senses.

She stopped in place, gripping her fists and gritting her teeth so tightly she made them both bleed. She wanted nothing more than to go up there and fight with the bastard, probably die in the process. However, she knew Cain would want her to live on. To give birth to their child and raise him as a strong warrior.

Looking at Hiroshi, hatred and venom poured out of her eyes as she promised to get revenge. With one last look, she turned around and ran away.

As for Hiroshi himself, he watched her bolt off with no concern within him. He expected something like this, which is why he had all his forces set up a trap beforehand. As Godfrey began the process of tearing Cain in two, he closed his eyes and focused on the leader of this group.

Soon, his eyes opened again, but what he saw in front of him was a completely different part of the city, a mostly undamaged one. The leader, an unusually intelligent 12ft Juggernaut named Zero One, felt the presence of Hiroshi.

'She is heading your way, prepare to ambush her with the prototype weapon as the others hold her down.' Zero One heard Hiroshi's voice in his mind and immediately followed his orders.

'Yes, Master.' He walked over to the side of Chunky Dunky Cheese and picked up a massive gun. This thick monster wouldn't fit inside the hands of a human and would force them to carry it on their shoulder, albiet barely.

It seemed to be expertly crafted out of mostly steel, titanium, and a little aluminum. A dark blue line could be seen across the majority of the gun, going from the end of the barrel all the way to the stock. This was a brand new weapon that Hiroshi had created recently, just a day ago to be exact.

There was only one field test done and it had impressed him immensely. To put it simply, it was basically a grenade launcher that would shoot out whatever was placed in the barrel at a much higher speed than anything else ever created. 

The ammo for this gun was a specially designed bomb that was extremely similar to the core powering the Cyborgs. The core, which the original two that fought in the arena didn't have, was the source and battery that kept the Cyborgs running. It increased just about everything from their basic attributes, to the lethality of their weapons.

This was also how the self-destructing worked. The infected would detonate the core within them to produce such a massive blast that it could kill anything below an Alpha. Unfortunately, the Cyborg Infected were mainly composed of common infected and thus had little room to improve.

That's where the special infected Cyborgs come in, boasting a much higher degree of power in combat and having more work done on them as their body could handle the procedure. The cores within these ones were far more advanced, something he had made out of pure luck. In fact, the ammo for the gun was created based off this design.

One thing Hiroshi found unfortunate is that he didn't have much time to build up his forces, only having a meager twenty Common Cyborg and an even lower two Special Cyborgs.

Eventually, their prey had arrived. Even now, sadness mixed with anger could be found on her face as she ran down the street with an incredible amount of speed. However, she was forced to halt due to the thousands of infected blocking her path.

The majority were commons, while the fifty or so were specials. Hiroshi had no delusions that they would even be able to make Tai break a nail, but that wasn't their goal. All they had to do, was hold her in place for at least a few seconds.

And that's exactly what they did. The entire horde rushed for the Alpha, the mind control from Hiroshi letting them flat out ignore the Aura emanating from Tai. Furious, she immediately used her fist in a sweeping motion, directly killing nearly 20% of the horde with one attack that shattered the nearby buildings.

'Incredible as usual...' Hiroshi never stopped being amazed at the sheer power Alphas contained. This was only a singular attack, one that was weakened due to her pregnancy.

Despite literal death being in front of them, the horde ignored it, lunging on top of her body and trying to cause as much damage as possible while holding her down.

'Do it now!' Hearing the firm but slightly anxious voice of his Master, which confused him greatly, Zero One lifted the grenade launcher and aimed down the sights.

After a brief half second, he pulled the trigger. Immediately, a massive circular and smooth ball that was twice as large as an American Football shot out of the barrel at a speed a human eye couldn't follow. The grenade was completely white with five vertical blue parallel lines running across it.

However, at the same exact time, the giant gun Zero One was holding exploded into pieces. He was blasted back, violently crashing into the Chunky Dunky Cheese. His right arm was gone and the vast majority of the right side of his body was heavily damaged.

'Hm, it seems some tinkering is needed.' Hiroshi could sense Zero One was still alive and would be for a few hours, so he switched his view to another while ordering a few infected to grab his body.

This time he found himself high in the sky, overlooking the battle below through the eyes of an eagle. With it's incredible eyesight, which is being boosted by the virus, Hiroshi was able to see everything.

Within just a second of it's firing, the grenade landed on Tai's chest who had basically killed off the entire horde using that short time frame.

Tai, who just finished crushing the head of two Bone Spikers, looked down when feeling something touch her. Her deep and primal instinct warned her of danger, prompting her to grab it and throw it away.

Unfortunately, it was stuck to her hand with some sort of green sticky substance and she was unable to remove it in time. A moment later, the grenade exploded into a giant blue light that enveloped her entire form and then some.

The ball of blue light kept expanding, eventually reaching the nearby buildings not destroyed by Tai and turned them into rubble due to the power of the bomb. After a few seconds, the light lost it's strength and disappeared, letting Hiroshi see the aftermath.

Inside of a six meter deep hole, Tai kneeled down on one knee. Her breaths were heavy as her left arm covered her stomach to protect it. However, her entire right arm was gone from the elbow up. Her chest and face were ruined, turned black due to the heat of the blast.

'I…' To say Hiroshi was shocked was an understatement.

'I knew the Special Core was powerful, but not to this extent! It can actually injure an Alpha!' Excitement poured out of his very being, but then it all drained away when Tai stood up and ran away, as if nothing happened.

There was no doubt she was injured, that much was sure. But it would take another dozen of those to actually threaten her life. She didn't mind the loss of her arm as she could regrow it easily enough with a minute. All she cared about, was getting her child to safety. Luckily, her quick thinking in protecting the baby had saved it's life.

As Hiroshi watched her run out of the city, he sighed and ordered the eagle to follow her as long as possible. His vision returned to normal, just in time to see the bottom half of Cain's body land in front of him.

"A pleasure doing business with you." Godfrey, holding the top half, said as he walked away. He could sense that consuming this would make him hibernate for a period of time. A grin appeared on his face imaging the power he could obtain.

"Grab the body and follow me." Hiroshi turned around as the Cyborg Juggernaut's did as he asked. As they walked down the street, a solemn look was on his face.

He had lost much in this battle. Nearly all of his forces were depleted, only having a small reserve back at his base and the two behind him. Then there was Tai. He had already experimented with having two common infected reproduce.

The child from them was much more powerful than it's parents and had the potential to reach a special's level. It's growth was also extremely exaggerated, being on par with that of the Ripper Babies.

The offspring of two Alphas? He shuddered at the thought of such a spawn. But he simply shook his head. There was nothing that could be done about it now. At the moment, he needed to rebuild his forces and consume his prize.

"If only I had the top half." He sighed regretfully, but soon put it out of his mind.