The Amazon

Four days ago, the world was struck by the news of the disappearance of a group of tourists who had went for a guided tour on the Amazon rainforest. Although this was not the first time that this has happened, it was still an uncanny incident. The usual cases of disappearance in the rainforest are mostly due to inexperienced tourists and travelers who venture off established paths and are without the company of experienced guides. But that wasn't the case for this particular incident. The group that had gone missing was accompanied by a tour guide with five years of experience. A very experienced guide who has, not once, ever been remotely associated with incidents like this.

The group was supposedly last seen going for a boat ride on the river. Since their departure, none of the group nor the boat's remains has been located. As a result, the case has been listed down as a "boating accident".

However, the accident did not stop other tourists from pushing on with their respective tours. The following day, another group of tourists was reported to have also gone missing. It was the same case, group of tourists and their guide go missing after going on a boat ride. Being the second consecutive incident, tours on the world famous and largest, most biodiverse tropical rainforest in the world were prohibited indefinitely.

Despite this, a group of conspiracy theorists and content creators on the internet ventured into the rainforest at midnight, sneaking in with hopes that they will catch a glimpse of and hopefully record something, some monster on the Amazon. And that, they did. At the time, an Eden surveillance team was already on the scene and they witnessed first-hand how the disappearances occurred.

Having just snuck in the forest, the group of conspiracy theorists were limited to walking and investigating along the riverside. This was when they saw what they were looking for. From the river emerged a giant, serpent-like creature. More specifically, the giant serpent materialized from the river. It didn't simply come out of the river like an animal in hiding, it materialized from it. The serpent was apparently mixed in with the river, being part of the river itself. The reptile monster wasted no time and devoured every single one of group, leaving nothing. Having no combat prowess whatsoever, all the surveillance team could do was watch from the shadows as the serpent claimed another group of victims.

The last incident was not made public.

Four days later since the first incident, a group of Eden's Inner Circle agents make their way to the snake's lair. The team arrived at the Amazon at dusk, just in time for when the reptile is actively looking for food, leaving the river.

With the destination being a dense rainforest, there was not much land the jet could land on. Alternatively, the jet has built-in amphibian technology and capabilities meaning landing on the vast river would've been a viable option for any case other than this. Instead, the plan was to just fly over a designated safe area and parachute over it.

The team lands over the muddy and clayey soil and into the dark forest, Eva in particular showing immediate disgust.

"Eva, it's just mud," Sean calls out Eva who was cleaning her shoes of mud and was visibly struggling to walk around.

"It's disgusting is what it is," Eva replies with a repulsed look on her face. "And there's mosquitoes everywhere," she said as she was swatting mosquitoes left and right.

Sean approaches Catarina who just keeps walking, complete opposite of Eva, unfazed by the environment.

"Hey, Rina. Why did they have princess here go," Sean whispers to her but not effectively as his voice was still audible.

"Hey! I can hear you!" exclaims Eva who was spraying mosquito repellent all over herself.

"The serpent has poison, we need her in case it gets to any of us," Rina answers.

"Are we going to the river?" asks Izzy who was at the back, following the rest of the group.

"Better we go to it than it goes to us," Rina doesn't answer outright but she pretty much said "yes".

The group stops walking upon hearing loud shuffling of leaves and the snapping of branches and tree trunks. The sounds kept getting louder, it was getting near. A loud thud echoes from right behind them followed by loud hissing. They look behind in unison, facing the giant serpent looking down at them.

The monster resembled a regular serpent with the exception that it was extremely large, about as big as a freight train. Its body was so long that they couldn't even see its tail. Its eyes were glowing red, its body shiny, translucent, almost see-through. With dusk nearly ending and the night time peeking, it was almost hard to see.

"Eve, stay back!" Rina tells Eva who had near zero combat experience and was only there because of her healing ability.

The three pull out their weapons and charge at the serpent, Eva running into the trees to take cover.

Rina draws first blood using her weapons – two long-barreled black guns resembling flintlock pistols, but with a more modern design. She shoots out a barrage of bright, pale blue energy bullets at the serpent's head while Izzy runs to its body wielding a large and long weapon resembling a macuahuitl, an ancient Aztec weapon. Its shaft was silver and made of metal, embedded with small, teeth-like black blades. He uses the long weapon to hack the serpent's body which was incredibly tough, only piercing its translucent scale for a couple of inches. Any other creature would've been minced. But his attack wasn't done. His weapons teeth start rotating at immense speed, hacking the serpent's scales like a chainsaw.

The giant serpent wails in pain and attempts to hit the man hacking at its body with its tail that was meters away, coming at Izzy at full speed. Sean intercepts its tail by punching it away, both his fists engulfed in bright blue flames. The overgrown reptile is covered in all sides.

"Watch out for the poison!" Rina's voice echoes throughout her teammates' earpiece, warning them of the flesh-eating poison that the serpent spits and secretes.

As if responding on command, the serpent started secreting its poison. Sean who was mainly a hand-to-hand combatant, was forced to back away as to not get poisoned by the serpent that had just covered itself in it. Izzy, although another close range fighter, had more leeway as his weapon allowed him to fight at medium range and not needing to make actual physical contact.

Izzy continued hacking at the serpent's body but at a much more controlled manner and pace as he still has to be extremely careful not to get in contact with the poison in its body. He also noticed that his hits were starting to take less effect compared to before, probably due to the thick, poisonous fluid all over its body.

The serpent decides to capitalize on the two men slowing down on their attacks, now taking its turn to attack. It uses its tail to relentlessly attack and chase after Sean who has no choice but to momentarily play defensively. Izzy notices this and comes to help fend off the serpent's tail. While the two were busy with its tail, the head was focused on Rina.

It spits a large amount of poison at her, avoiding it timely and safely. She has to be extremely careful as a direct splash from its spit would leave her dead in as little as five seconds. Even just a tiny drop would require her to leave the battle and head for Eva as the flesh-eating poison, no matter the amount, will devour one's entire body eventually.

With its mouth wide open, the serpent's head charges right at Rina who successfully jumps out of the way, leaving the serpent with nothing but mud and a tree trunk on its mouth. Even while dodging the attacks, Rina makes sure to still get shots in between, her bullets now going from the rapid shots from before to slower, bigger ones.

Rina's two long-barreled pistols were powered by an ancient fragment inside it. An ancient fragment is a small, gem-like object that is a small piece of a larger material – an ancient heart. An ancient heart is the core of a large, incredibly powerful monster that is dated to have existed far before any of the monsters that Eden and the Circle have been exterminating.

Additionally, Rina's pistols weren't just regular pistols that fired small energy bullets. It was able to shoot off a variety of bullets ranging from small, quick ones to strong large ones that have the capability to topple buildings in one shot. The shot's variety was dependent on the gun's trigger. The harder she presses the trigger, the stronger the shot and the longer it takes to charge up. The gun has four bullet types: fast and small quick bullets that have a high firing rate with not much power, bullets that fire off at regular speed and power one at a time, a large and powerful shot that takes a few seconds to charge up, and a very powerful laser blast that takes minutes to charge up. Both of the pistols function the same and this allows Rina to shoot a combination of shots all at her discretion.

While Rina was unloading shots after shots, simultaneously avoiding the serpent's head, the two guys continue playing defensively, waiting for the coat of poison on the serpent's scales to wear off.

"I have an idea," says Sean to Izzy who was busy swinging at the serpent's tail.

"What"

"I'll be back, just hold it off!" Sean didn't bother explaining, instead just going off and proceeding with whatever it was.

With both of its ends busy, the serpent didn't or it couldn't even try to chase after Sean who left the battlefield and went to Eva.

"Can you put some sort of protective barrier on them to block off the poison?" he asks Eva, referring to his fists.

"I can, but it's not gonna hold for very long!"

"It's fine, I only need it for a couple seconds."

"Are you su—"

"YES!! Do it now while it hasn't put another coat!'

Eva puts both of her hands right over Sean's. A bright blue glowing light starts emanating from her palms, steadily growing brighter.

The ancient fragments at Eden's disposal are not only utilized in weapons, they are also used to give humans certain supernatural abilities. When an ancient fragment is embedded in one's heart, some of its essence gets extracted and pumped out in very little doses. This essence flows through a person's veins, granting them unique abilities. People who have such abilities are known within Eden as the transcended, such people being Sebastian, Eva, and Sean. The transcended are considered special people as not everyone is able to survive the fragment-embedding operation. Only two out of 10 people on average survive the operation itself while only one out of 10 survive having the fragment on their heart as for most people, the essence poisons their entire body. This is the reason why Eden, despite having the means for it, cannot employ the use of an entire army of superhumans.

Eva's powers allow her to use a variety of healing and protective abilities. Sean's plan was to have her put a coat of healing aura on his fists that will automatically heal any damage that they will receive including the poison. But this coating, like Eva previously said, will not last for a long amount of time. The coating will only counteract the poison for a very few amount of hits and will also be dependent on the amount of contact he will make with the poison. If Sean is not too careful, the coating might dissolve without him noticing and his fists would be engrossed in the serpent's poison.

"KEEP AN EYE OUT ON IT," Eva couldn't emphasize it enough. "That's not much but it should last for 10, 15 hits."

"Thanks," Sean's fist ignites again. This time, the inner flame being a darker shade of blue. It would serve as the coating's indicator.

He rejoins the battlefield, now able to go back on the offensive.

"10 hits, huh. Let's make it count."

Sean decides to target the serpent's defenseless body. Despite the appearance of flames, Sean's fists aren't actually engulfed in burning fire. Instead, it is a representation of his ability. Every consecutive punch that Sean lands empowers his next one. The flames on his fist absorb the impact and energy from each hit, getting bigger and making his consequent punches stronger. The larger the flames, the stronger the punch.

One is a large left hook. Loud thud. Second is a right hook. Third is a left straight. Every hit faster and stronger than the previous. Four, five, alternating hits. Six, seven, the serpent wails. Eight puts a hole on the serpent's body, blood and poison gushing and spraying out. Sean immediately backs away.

"SEAN!!" Rina calls out to him out of concern.

The last hit was stronger than he expected. The coating on his fists have dissolved and he couldn't even make it to 10 hits. His knuckles made direct contact with the poison and it is now slowly burning and eating away at his skin. "Shit."

Anyone else would've ran to Eva in a flash, having a flesh-eating poison slowly consume their hand. But not Sean. Sean's thought process was different. "I'm already compromised, what's the harm in a little more" is what he thought.

Not wanting to waste the large flames on his fist, Sean goes in for more, continuing his barrage on the serpent now more unhinged than before. Poison getting on his fists and some even flying to his face, he didn't care. He just kept punching the serpent with a smile

His teammates knew they couldn't stop him. They could keep screaming at him telling him to go away with all their lungs and they knew he wouldn't listen, so they just continued distracting the serpent while he was going crazy with its body.

The serpent lets out a loud wail, right before Sean lands the strongest hit so far. A loud thud followed by the sound of flesh being torn. He punched a hole right through the serpent who is now wildly writhing in pain.

This is when the serpent decides to use its trump card. From its entire body, smaller, white snakes the size of a green anaconda start to fall one by one. One after the other, smaller snakes pop out from the giant serpent. Aside from being able to mix in with the river, it also had the ability to split itself into a thousand smaller snakes – an ability that they are only discovering now. The serpent split itself in an incredibly fast rate. The smaller snakes all immediately slithered towards the river, trying to escape into it and recover. Eva and Izzy tried to exterminate the smaller snakes but neither of them were able to keep up with them due to their sheer number. They tried killing whatever they could but it is not nearly enough, the serpent had escaped with still around 90% of its body, its strategic retreat a success.

Eva runs towards Sean, fists and head having several infection points. If this was any other regular person, they would've been dead minutes ago. But Sean's ability grants him a degree of physical toughness above the regular person. This allowed his body to resist the infection for a much longer amount of time than the usual.

"At least this gives us some time to heal you up," Eva points out the silver lining of the serpent retreating.

"Both of us gets healed up," Sean was unhappy with what happened. "Not good."

"Sean, this was dumb," a subtle lecture from Rina. "You didn't have to rush like that."

"Eh it's what Eva's here for anyway," Sean just shrugs it off.

"What do we do now?" asks Izzy.

"We heal up Sean. And we wait."