Chapter 53: Beginning of the End (1)
After hearing what Lily said, Jason immediately bolted towards the wall. Though she was shocked at first, she followed after him as fast as she could.
"What in the…" The workers were slackjawed at seeing Jason scale the wall by jumping over it in a single leap.
Lily tried to keep up, but by the time she climbed to the top of the containers, he was already way off in the distance. Despite that, she tried her best to follow after him. Unfortunately, she soon lost him in a under a few seconds with him going out of the range they could sense one another.
"Fuck!" Lily was infuriated at her weakness and inability to help out, lashing out at any nearby objects. Suddenly, a voice sounded right next to her.
"Do not fear Mistress, we shall stay with him." Asura appeared out of seemingly thin air next to her. When he noticed Jason's abnormality, he knew something was wrong. So, he gathered the six strongest and fastest infected to track him down.
"Well?! Hurry it the fuck up!" He could understand her feelings, so he didn't take her outburst personally.
"Of course. Let's go!" The group rushed towards Jason's direction and began tracking him. Asura already had a faint guess where he was going. If not for that, they would never hope to be able to catch up to him.
Meanwhile, the man himself had already arrived at the clothing store. Even though his mind was a mess, he was still thinking clearly.
"This is her last known location. There has to be something! Some fucking clue I'm missing!" It was as if he was the Flash himself as he blurred around the entire area, searching for even the smallest of hints.
Suddenly, he found something. A massive claw mark that went up the side of a nearby five story building, almost as if something had climbed it. In an instant, he knew they belonged to a Night Hunter or at the least had similar claws. The reason he thought this, was because his were a near perfect match.
The only problem? The sheer size.
"Based on how long each mark is, it's full size should be… twenty something feet? Maybe thirty?" Without turning around, he spoke up as if speaking to thin air.
"I want you to find every living being in this area and beyond. Bring them back to me alive." Asura and the others, including the mostly healed Lone Wolf, who had arrived behind him bowed their heads. The tone of his voice was commanding, leaving no room for questioning or rejection.
They immediately left and got to work while Jason climbed the building. When on top, he saw a few more scratches that abruptly vanished.
"Did they jump or something?" He whispered to himself as he visited the nearby buildings.
As he arrived on the sixth one and found another mark, the Lone Wolf arrived in front of him and dropped a half-dead Acid-Spitter. Without hesitation, Jason roughly searched it's memories as the Lone Wolf quietly left.
Over a period of a few hours, Jason had searched through the minds of over three hundred infected, special and common alike. Though he was full of wrath and wanted nothing more than to slaughter these things to soothe his mind, he kept his rationality and dominated them instead.
Unfortunately, none of them had seen a thing and the lead with the buildings had gone cold. He had followed the marks to almost ten miles away from the store before they suddenly split up randomly. Jason reasoned the kidnapper was covering their tracks. Still, at least he had somewhat of a direction.
"Master, we found another." Asura threw a wounded Night Hunter to the ground. When they tried to run, he forcibly held them down on their knees.
With a growl, Jason's tendrils dug into the poor victim's mind.
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( Jason )
Nothing. Hours upon hours of searching, led to jack squat. The longer time went on, the more my worries increased. Was she being tortured? Was she already dead?
I had no idea. But I wasn't going to sit around, wallowing in sadness and inaction while she suffers. During my memory reading, although I failed to find any information on Alice or the bastard that took her, I had grown my numbers by a fucking ton.
As of now, my forces had reached the 2500 range. However, this wasn't enough, not by a long shot. But I'll worry about that in the near future. I've already got a plan to increase their numbers tenfold. There was something I had in mind, but I feel as though I'm missing a crucial step. No matter how close it seems to be, it's out of my reach for the moment.
The number could have been a lot larger, but I can't slack on my own personal strength. Definitely a luxurious life though. All I have to do is sit around and wait for my horde to bring me dinner. And since I keep increasing their numbers, it snowballs very fucking hard.
One thing I've noticed is the sharp increase in power of my charisma aura, or whatever I decide to call it in the future. The more I take in, the stronger it grows automatically. For example, the range seems to have expanded by a couple hundred meters and I've gained mental commands. Now I don't have say anything and can just think it. But sometimes, it's a lot cooler to order them aloud.
I also took in a couple Behemoths and learned something interesting. They don't come in the form of only humans. In fact, this applies to all special infected. I just haven't come into contact with them yet.
For example, one of the three Behemoths I have is in the form of some kind of bird. I have no clue what it's previous species was, but it looks extremely fierce and badass. It's height was almost 22 meters tall, but the wingspan was a massive 55 meters. I could easily stand atop it's back, looking down on the world like a God!
Flying through the air and letting the wind smack my face is a wonderous experience. And it actually gave me the idea to create my own wings. If I can get used to them, they would boost my combat effectiveness greatly. Though, I have no idea where to start, so that's a project for future me.
There was also an Acid Spitter pig that looked absolutely ugly as shit and stood on his back legs like a human. But his acid was unusually strong, so it all works out for him in the end I guess.
It hasn't just been me that's getting more powerful however. I've ordered my horde to bring every living being they can find to me alive. After searching their memories, I either add them to my ranks, consume them myself, or hand them off to my minions. Of course, I take the lion's share.
At the moment, I was already back at camp to meet with Lily. My forces, led by Asura and Trixie, were already doing their best to search the previous area I had found before. The reason I'm not there right now is to comfort Lily. To let her know I'm getting somewhere, then I'll head on back.
But returning to the Docks, I was in for a little surprise. See, the Noah's Ark Storm has arrived in full swing. The sky had no trace of the sun left, as if it abandoned the world and was replaced by an eternal night.
The clouds were the darkest I'd ever seen as lightning flashed across them. Hopefully those don't land in the camp. It's not that I care for their well-being, but they're precious 'research materials'.
Anyway, when I arrived the wall was getting pounded by a half a dozen Night Hunters, around two hundred Common Infected, and some random Special Infected. Did I help out? Of course not. They're big boys and girls, I'm sure they can handle it. And if they can't? Well, there's still Michael's Safe-Houses as a handy dandy backup.
Instead, I headed inside and pushed my way through the chaotic crowds. Everyone was hustling and bustling as they rushed for their respective post. Or whatever it is they needed to do. All of them had weapons, even the ten year old who had camo makeup on and a pistol in his shaky hands.
However, just as I was on my way to my metal shack, a familiar face filled with shock appeared in front of me.
"Hey there Zach, you're looking good. Been a little bit huh?" Jesus, looks like my disciplining wasn't in vain.
He was pretty normal now, nothing like his previous discord-esque physique. Sure, he still has a bit of chub, but he's probably shed up to 150lbs. Impressive! I should do this personal trainer stuff professionally!
"U-Uh, yeah." He was looking off to the side, not daring to meet my eyes. Hiding something from me are we?
"Everything okay?" His body shook and his voice was high pitched. Almost like a cat who had their tail stepped on.
"Yes! Everything's fine!" Dear God. He is a terrible liar.
"Uh-huh. Tell me the truth, or face my wrath!" I placed a hand on his neck and squeezed, making his face scrunch up in pain as he bent over.
"Ow ow! Okay I give! Uncle!" I released him, feeling quite smug at how fast he broke.
"Tsk, weakling. Now spit it out." And thus the canary sang. Turns out, these bastards have been colluding with each other, with the main mastermind being Bill.
They think I'm insane? Out of my mind? Dangerous? How dare these filthy inferior bastards dare to conspire against me?! I let them live so graciously and even wanted to transform them into a higher species. Yet they do this? Spit on my outstretched hand? I'll show them a thing or two.
"At least you are sensible enough. Good work Zach." He smiled and sighed in relief, like a burden was removed from his shoulders. Though, how would he react when he learns he just caused their agony filled deaths?
"So what's going on with you?" Zach asked as we began walking towards my metal home. I didn't conceal anything from him and told him what was happening with Alice.
"That's awful! I'm so sorry Jason, I know how much you care for her. You must feel terrible!" A few tears threatened to escape their prison in his eyes. Not even I have reacted like this yet. I knew he was always a bit of a crybaby, but come on now…
"Let's not talk about this depressing shit anymore. How about you? Things going good with the workshop stuff?" Without hesitation, he immediately became super excited talking about this topic.
He went on and on into vivid detail about his time there. Truthfully, I couldn't be bothered listening to his techno mumbo jumbo. Instead of using my dust covered brain, fighting and kicking the shit out of an enemy is more my style.
But a few things caught my attention. The BBNG and Flesh-Render Gun were the main two. Based on his description, these weapons were actually pretty powerful.
Hm, I should get rid of them quickly before they can arm everyone here. I don't think the Docks will be an actual threat with them, but better safe than sorry. Also, the two tanks were ready to roll out and were out of the warehouses on standby, just in case any strong bastard came.
However, Zach's face became a little red when talking about Meira.
"Oh~? What's this now~?"I teased him lightly as the blush on face deepened a bit.
"We, uh, are s-seeing each other!" He gathered his confidence and grit his teeth! What a warrior! But then deflated right after, just like a balloon. What a disappointment.
"Are you fucking yet?" Suddenly, Zach coughed loudly and looked away, his blush upgrading and transforming him into a Tomato Man.
"N-Not yet. I don't want to rush things yet."
"Zach, bud, you do realize it's the end of the world right? Just do it and have no regrets. You don't want to be lying on your death bed saying, 'Wish I would have done that!'. Never know when one day-" My claws came out and at a speed he couldn't react to, arrived in front of his eyes.
Sweat dripped down his forehead as he stared at his own reflection in my shiny and spiky claws.
"You'll get that head of yours cut off." I took them back and kept walking.
"Make the most of your life, do all the things you want. Live a little." I took a peek behind me and saw how enlightened he was. How kind am I? To push my… friend… to have sex! Sigh, my benevolence knows no bounds.
Eventually, after a good little while of catching up and such, we met with Lily. She must have sensed me coming and came to meet us ahead of time. Anxiety was all over her face as she brushed past the poor Zach, who tumbled over due to her strength, and grabbed my shoulders rather hard.
"Well?!" I could see a bit of hope in her eyes. Not gonna be good when I have to squash it.
"I'm sorry Lily. I haven't found her." Yup, watching that hope die out felt something awful. I quickly hugged her.
"But don't worry, I'm hot on the trail. I've got a couple clues and an area to search. I wanted to come back first and let you know about what's happening before heading out." She seemed to brighten up a little as I explained where I was searching and what I had found out.
"Let me come with you." Based on the look she was giving me and that tone in her voice, I didn't have a choice in the matter or I could kiss my smooth ballsack goodbye.
"Of course. You know, I can't even imagine how much she's suffering. What level of pain she must be enduring! It pisses me off!"
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Inside of the warehouse controlled by the Alpha Night Hunter, Athena was off her throne and laid on her side on the floor, one hand keeping her head up. A happy smile was on her face as she gazed at Alice in front of her, she too laying down.
Surprisingly, the two of them were becoming fast friends as they continued talking for hours. Athena had already given the necklace back, which pleased Alice. They had no idea they were so compatible with one another.
Off to the side, one could see a pile of humans bones, teeth marks on them. The number was clearly more than one or two, reaching close to over a dozen. During her stay here, Alice had quite the feast. According to Athena, these last few were her reserves. It was getting harder and harder to find them in the city.
It was actually her first time eating human and she had to say, it wasn't too shabby. Now she knew why the infected loved them so much. It was certainly much better than anything else she had consumed. However, she knew they would become a rare delicacy in the future.
'No way humans can win against the infected.' Alice shook her head. Just this one place alone had a powerful Alpha and hundreds of Night Hunters under her control. How was humanity suppose to deal with them?
Suddenly, Athena asked a question after hearing about her bragging about Jason. Again.
"Is this, sex, really that good? I thought such a thing was only for reproducing." She was confused on why Alice praised it so much. In her mind, there was no need for it besides the reason she stated.
"Have you done it before?" Alice asked, which made her new friend shake her head from side to side.
"No male has been good enough, or has impressed me. They are all too weak." Alice sat up a little and leaned closer to Athena's head, her tone was one of excitement.
"Well let me tell you! It's fucking awesome! One of the most amazing things I've ever felt!"
"Even better than torturing? I doubt that very much." Suddenly, Alice's face becomes lewd as she described her experiences with Jason.
As she went on and on, Athena felt some sort of heat rise from within her chest. The heat traveled down below and was completely foreign to her. However, this wasn't necessarily a bad feeling. Alice saw this happen and grinned.
If she had to be honest with herself, she actually did consider Athena a friend, despite only knowing each other for a few hours. Alice found her to be so much fun to be around and wished she could join their merry band.
Besides, she thought Athena's strength would be of great help to Jason. As for joining him in... another way?
'Let's not get ahead of ourselves now.'
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( Jason )
"I know! It must be horrible for my sweet poor Alice!" Lily agreed with me as she tightened her arms around me, probably wishing to skin the kidnapper alive.
She broke the hug and grabbed my hand, pulling me along with her.
"Come on let's hurry it up! I don't want to wait any longer!" Without looking back, I waved my other hand.
"See you later Zach." But after a couple seconds of walking, nothing came. Odd. Knowing him, he would have said something like 'Goodbye' or 'Good luck' like the goody two shoes that he is.
"Zach?" I stopped and turned around as Lily did the same. It seems she could sense something was wrong as well.
Our eyes both widened at the same time at the scene. Zach was standing there with bloodshot eyes as four sharp fingers went through his chest and stomach. His mouth hung open, trying to scream but nothing came out.
I could see something there as well as behind him, extremely faint and just barely visible as long as I focused. A second very large hand covering his mouth, neck, and chest. Behind him was the creature's massive body. It reminds me almost… of a chameleon?
Suddenly, before I could react, the hand moved and allowed Zach to scream for a split second. Then, it punctured his chest and tore him into two pieces vertically!
His organs fell to the floor as both sides of him were tossed aside, revealing a bloody and grinning face. My breaths were heavy and my teeth clenched as I spat out a single word.
"Scarface…!" He simply chuckled, savoring the sight of me before flashing forwards. He was fast! Faster than anything I had come into contact with!
However, I was still able to grab his wrist before it made contact with Lily's head. With all my strength, my punched him in the face. He grunted, sliding a few dozen meters back before stopping.
"Not bad. More fun this way." A finger went across his lips, wiping away a bit of blood. He began cackling madly as my armor and claws appeared.
"Catch me if you can little bitch!" Saying that, he bolted in the opposite direction as I followed.
"Go find Asura Lily!" I shouted to her as she started to come with. I saw her pause for a split second, before doing what I said with a frown on her face. She knew she would only hold me back. Her strength wasn't enough to interfere with a battle like this.
Within just a second, Scarface had already reached the container wall. However, instead of jumping over he rammed it like a battering ram. It crumpled under his power, creating a massive hole that the infected used to swarm inside as I charged through them effortlessly.
We ran down the streets, buildings flashing by showing how fast we were moving. This bastard was so fucking quick for some reason! But not faster than me. After a minute of running, I finally caught up to him by shooting my webs onto his back, making him stagger for a brief instant. That was all the time I needed.
He turned around just in time to see my right claw about to swipe his waist. Unfortunately, he managed to block it with his arm and counter attack with his other hand. But I stopped it in it's tracks by grapping his hand. While in a deadlock, he chuckled.
"You-" No time for villain monologues! I jumped up and immediately dropkicked him in the stomach. He was shocked and unprepared, flying backwards a good distance away, smashing into the side of a semi truck and ruining it forever.
When we both got to our feet, I saw a slightly peeved expression on his face
"Aw, is the little baby upset?" His expression didn't change at my taunt. Not saying a word, he flashed away.
"Can't get away that easily you fuck!" I rushed after him with full speed. This bastard has to pay for what he's done!
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Asura stood on the roof of a building, overlooking this part of the city when the Lone Wolf came behind him and dropped something off.
"Hm?" Turning around, he was shocked to see Lily.
"Mistress? What are you doing here?" He went forwards slowly and bowed his heads a little, his voice gentle. The look on her face was one of sorrow and wrath.
"Jason's chasing after some asshole and he told me to come here. Now, have you found my sister yet?" Asura shook his head, but was more concerned about Jason.
He wanted nothing more than to chase after him and assist in the battle. But if he did that, Jason would kill him for abandoning his task. Although he hasn't shown it yet, he cares for Jason on a deep level. Of course, he had his reason for this.
Seeing him shake his head, Lily frowned and was about to say something when Asura beat her to the punch. One of his fingers pointed down.
"Trixie has returned from her area. She might have found something." He offered a few hands, which she took, and together they jumped down to the street below.
Although she couldn't really say anything yet, Trixie roared out at Asura. Lily was baffled as they seemed to have a conversation.
"Mistress, we have found something. Trixie said her group can sense an Alpha. It's likely this is the one who took her." Lily smiled brilliantly and immediately ordered them.
"Well?! Let's go!" They began following Trixie to the location. However, Asura was concerned. He was worried they didn't have enough forces to battle the Alpha and at the same time protect the two Mistresses.
It's unfortunate he has never met one before, so he can't gauge on whether or not he's as powerful as one yet. Within just a few minutes of running and gathering as much of the scattered horde as possible, they had arrived at a warehouse, over a hundred Night Hunters all around. Asura frowned with all three heads.
He could sense it inside, and it made him feel weak for the first time in his life. Sure, he might be able to put up a slight fight, but he had no delusions about winning against the monster hiding there. Then there were the Night Hunters watching them.
Their tongues licked their lips, no fear in them despite being surrounded by over a thousand infected, including himself. The supreme confidence they had made him frown even harder. Suddenly, Lily spoke up excitedly.
"She's here! I can feel it!" Ever since she had sex with Jason for the first time, all three of them could sense one another. The distance was short, only around fifty or so meters. According to Alice however, this range was increasing.
"Then it seems we will have to fight our way in!" Asura said loudly, his voice making the infected roar out. He wasn't worried about these Night Hunters at all, only the Alpha.
But before both sides could lunge at each other, someone walked out.
"Alice!"
"Lily!" The two sisters rushed for one another, immediately hugging. The Night Hunters were startled and didn't know what to do, since this was their Queen's guest. But when they saw Athena coming, they all bowed their heads.
When she appeared, every infected felt suppressed. They could instinctively tell they were in the presence of a superior being. Asura was different as he was much stronger than the rest, but his faces were solemn.
'We have no chance against her.' That was his first thought when seeing her armored 30ft form. It was worse than he originally thought. Even if him and Jason worked together flawlessly, they would only last a few minutes at best.
"Is this your sister?" Her voice was deep and booming, able to send chills down one's very soul. Alice excitedly separated from the hug, but still wrapped her arm around Lily's.
"Yup! The best sister in the whole world! Lily, this is Athena!" The older sister glared at the Alpha Night Hunter and tried pulling Alice away.
"You mean the one who kidnapped you?" Alice was a little sheepish.
"Well, yeah. But it's all good! Athena's really cool and my new friend! Trust me, you'll like her."
Hearing the praise, Athena puffed out her sizable assets and raised her head. It felt good to hear such kind words from her Bunny. Just as Alice was about to continue, Lily stopped her.
"We have a problem. With Jason."
"Huh? What do you mean?" After explaining Zach's death and Scarface's return to the spotlight, Alice was horrified.
"We have to go help him! Athena, can you come with us? Please?" She begged her friend, using her full power Puppy Dog Eyes Technique.
Athena thought for a moment before agreeing with a grin. This Scarface character was more than likely the new Alpha she sensed. Besides, she was also curious about Jason since Alice loved to go on and on about how amazing he was.
"Of course I'll help you." Her agreement sent Alice over the moon as she thanked Athena.
Suddenly, Lily interrupted.
"Uh, Alice?" Turning to her big sister, she was confused as to why Lily looked at her weirdly.
"What's with the choker?" Hearing that, Alice's ears turned red.