Hunt

"So you're actually back," Cade tells Sebastian.

"Apparently."

Sebastian exhales a large cloud of smoke. "What's the situation?"

"I just scoped out the perimeter. Place is clean," Cade answers and throws his burnt-out cigarette on the ground, promptly stepping on it. "Haven't gone down yet. My orders were to wait for you."

"'Orders'," says Sebastian in a mocking manner, throwing his cigarette as well.

"Boy scout," he tells Cade, again mocking him while making his way inside the building.

"Punk," Cade retorts, following him inside.

The two enter the half ruined hotel. They are greeted by rubble, torn-down walls, dusty pieces of old, abandoned furniture and whatever was left by the people who once populated the forsaken hotel.

"Don't you think they're being a little paranoid sending the both of us just to loot an abandoned lab," Sebastian asks out loud. "I get that it's Crowe's but still seems like overkill."

"Crowe was clever and careful, and they're probably taking that into account. They refuse to believe that Crowe would just leave his labs behind without making sure that he was the only one who could go in and make it back out."

"Hmm. So this place is probably filled with booby traps and we're bait is what you're saying"

"Kind of, yeah."

The two enter a small, underground entryway covered in rubble with Sebastian leading the way. They climb down a fairly long set of rusty metal stairs that led to long, narrow, dimly-light corridor with a rust-covered, metal vault door that was unlocked and slightly open, waiting for them at the end.

"If these walls start closing in, you're on your own," says Sebastian jokingly as he heads further inside to see what the unlocked door is hiding.

Miles away in Redwood Forest, carefully stalking the escaped, super-powered wild animal are Harley and Ghost. Slowly and silently shadowing the deer's movements 30 meters away from both its sides. Just a little over 120 meters in the direction the deer is facing is Rina, armed with what resembled a black sniper rifle while Kristoff was stationed 140 meters behind the deer. The target was covered in all directions.

Their strategy was rather simple. The only challenge in it lies on Rina and Kristoff's timing and coordination. The two were to aim for the deer's head and they would need to do it precisely and simultaneously to ensure that the deer would not survive.

Rina goes down on one knee and starts scoping out the unknowing target, patiently waiting for the perfect window of opportunity. Kristoff's assassination weapon was up in the sky, a small drone hovering over the deer a hundred meters up, following it closely. On his left eye is a wide, screen-like visor which was connected to the hovering device, allowing him to aim and see through it.

"Any time now, fellas," the waiting Harley whispers. Him and Ghost were only waiting for the two gunmen to take down the deer. Until this happens, all they are required to do is to follow it around.

"You got somewhere to go?" Kristoff replies condescendingly.

"You guys, shut up. Kristoff, focus," Rina butts in.

"I am."

The deer stops walking, as if it had heard or felt something and was feeling out its surroundings. This was a time more than ever.

"In 3," Rina alerts her fellow assassin. Now was the time.

"1," she places her finger over the trigger.

"2," Rina takes a deep breath.

The deer runs away, heading north east. It must have heard something nearby, got scared, and ran instinctively. Rina sighs in disappointment.

"Should've pressed faster," Harley eggs on Rina.

"Kristoff, can you do me a favor and shoot Harley instead? Thanks."

"I would love to."

The deer was still running, fast and in Rina's direction. She was now only 90 meters away from the target.

"I might have to re-position," she notices this and starts contemplating moving. Unlike Harley and Ghost who can move around while maintaining their sight on the deer, she had to be in a stationary position.

"It's 85 meters away, you're fine," Kristoff was not about to let a compromise happen. "Maintain position, aim, and wait."

It was a slight risk but Kristoff had a point. Rina complies and holds her position, putting her eye right back on the scope.

The distance between her and the deer is now at 82 meters, it starts walking again. Walk, 81. Walk, 80.

"Next time it stops, we're shooting at 'go'. DO NOT lose aim," Rina was intent on not losing another window.

"I have aim assist. You're the one aiming manually, you say that to yourself," Kristoff replies.

Now at 76 meters, the deer stops again. They both realize the second opportunity almost simultaneously, not wasting even a second.

"GO," Rina presses the trigger and Kristoff presses the remote on his hands at the same time, but each weapon had different firing speeds and points of origin. Rina's bullet of concentrated energy lands between the deer's eyes leaving a hole the size of a regular baseball. The bullet from Kristoff's drone lands three inches below Rina's just a couple of milliseconds after, but this didn't matter as the deer couldn't react to it.

The target collapses, its body hits the floor just a second after the shots land. Harley and Ghost both rush towards the deer as soon as they saw it start to fall down. It took them two seconds to reach the collapsed deer in a bloodthirsty rush, Harley with his glaive and Ghost with two broad, medium-length, silver hidden blades at the top of his forearm hidden under his suit jacket, they jump at the deer trying to deliver the nail in the coffin.

The ancient fragment embedded in transcended humans' hearts is particularly small, only being 3 centimeters large. Wendy's was the same. The only exception is that Wendy was also being directly injected with essence during constant tests and experiments. For humans or any other living creature for that matter, this would be a death sentence. The embedded fragment is already consistently being extracted of essence that is then pumped into the subject's entire system, something that is poisonous for some. Even if a person's body was able to tolerate the essence like in the transcended humans' case, being injected more of it would be overdose and more than likely would be fatal. However, Wendy the deer was a mysterious exception. These several instances of overdosing not only gave the deer several abilities, but each one was amplified as she kept receiving more and more doses. This is the reason why she had a near-perfect camouflage ability, and also why she was capable of not only regeneration but instant regeneration.

"Shit," Kristoff mutters.

The two gunmen who were still locked in on the deer were the first to notice this and they did so too late, the two close-range combatants were already on top of the deer.

"Guys, get back!!" Rina exclaims as she witnesses the bullet holes they left on the deer's head now nearly closed.

Just based off the sudden warning, the two had already deducted that something had went wrong and their decision turned out to be a mistake, but it was way too late.

The spots on the deer's antlers start glowing, a bright blue ball of light starts forming in the middle of it. This was the deer's beam, it was coming and everyone knew it.

Harley and Ghost both knew at that moment that backing off was no longer an option, and so they decide to fully commit on their attacks. Harley impales the deer's body to prevent it from getting up while Ghost went for the head, detaching it from the rest of the body.

The deer gets decapitated before it could fire off the concentrated energy it had gathered. But this now uncontrolled mass of destructive energy was not going to go away just because its host was no more. It glows brighter and larger and explodes, Harley, Ghost, and the deer all caught up in the blast radius.

Kristoff sends down four of his smaller drones to check inside the large cloud of smoke and to finish off the deer if it had still survived. Harley and Ghost jump out of the smoke, some minimal tear and dust on their clothes but no signs of any severe injury whatsoever.

The two couldn't afford to go back in and approach the injured deer, it was too risky. The dust and smoke clears, revealing the severely injured, headless deer who was barely up on its feet. It had severe burns on its entire body, particularly on its front legs. It couldn't even stand properly. With the amount of essence in its system, the deer was now bleeding blue.

For monsters, cutting off the head was a sure-fire way of killing it. Seeing the decapitated deer still standing was baffling for everyone. This is the first time they had ever witnessed a target still survive despite losing its head. But like Rina had pointed out earlier, Wendy the deer was no monster. And by this point, the fragment embedded in her and the fatal amount of essence flowing in her veins was keeping her alive. Cut off her head, her legs, she would just grow everything back. And that is exactly what is currently happening.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," Harley was annoyed and in utter disbelief upon seeing the deer regenerate its legs and at the time, about half its head.

Meanwhile, Ghost had no time to feel such things. Although the deer was regenerating at rapid speed, it was an easy target. It can barely run, it had no means of attacking back, and for whatever reason, it wasn't turning invisible. Ghost took this as an invitation for attack.

He rushes towards the deer who was only six meters away from him and Harley. As soon as he took a step, Kristoff's small drones rain fire on the deer who was getting visibly hurt and tries to run away but its front legs weren't fully healed yet and it had to practically limp away slowly. Add Rina who was also shooting alternately between its head to keep it from fully regenerating and its legs to hinder its movements.

Despite the situation working fairly well for them, everyone was wondering why the deer won't just go into stealth mode and heal uninterrupted. Unbeknownst to them, despite the deer having a plethora of abilities, it could only use one at a time. They had prepared for the deer using stealth and either healing or attacking them but they had no idea that the deer was not capable of this.

Ghost cuts off the deer's two sets of legs, its body plops down on the ground. The deer stops regenerating its head and instead, focuses on its legs so it can stand and run away. Ghost pays no heed to this and starts stabbing its entire body, specifically the chest area to distract it with wounds to regenerate before going for the heart.

Prior to being inserted into the Circle to hunt monsters, not much about the Ghost is known. His real name, what he looks like, his entire personal history is a glaring mystery that no one in the organization knows, not even Benedict. The only bit of information anyone knows about him is that he was and still is the world's premiere hitman and assassin. Eden, the CIA, the government; you name it, Ghost kills for it. With the skills, instincts, and experience of a sought-after, veteran assassin, locating and stabbing the target's heart was just part of the regular nine to five for good ol' Ghost.

He plunges his hidden blade on the deer's heart, it stops moving. Wendy the deer is dead. But Ghost wasn't done. He slices open the deer's chest, locates the heart, now bright blue, to make a second stab. Just to make sure.

"Jesus Christ, this guy is hardcore," Harley was slightly disturbed with what he was witnessing. They all were, Rina and Kristoff just opted to watch in silence.

The dead deer's blue heart starts glowing faintly. The Ghost takes a second to observe it, trying to confirm whether what he had seen was real.

"Ghost? What's wrong?" Rina checks in on the situation.

The heart glows again. And again. The next one stronger than the previous. The deer's heart emanating a pulsating glow and emitting a faint smoke.

Something was coming and Ghost could tell that it was bad. He immediately attempts to stab the heart but his strike was interrupted. Inches away from the heart, the deer's body which he had sliced open instantly closes off. His blade was blocked by an incredibly thick layer of flesh. The other parts of its body not only starts regenerating, but it continued growing past its former size.

"Why won't this fucker die," Harley whispers before running to help Ghost finish off the deer who refuses to give up.

The deer's front right leg grows into a long, skinny, pale gray arm and forcefully swats Ghost away. Rina and Kristoff continuously shoot at it but its regeneration was now significantly faster than before. It was healing the wounds as soon as it receives it.

Harley jumps at the seemingly evolving deer but it easily kicks him away with its now overgrown hind legs.

The deer was evolving and they couldn't do anything about it. It starts to get up, the normal-looking white deer from before is now a different 12-foot monstrosity. It grows back its head last, only its skull and antlers.

The new monster, now fully regenerated, evolved, and standing upright, hunches down and goes on all fours. Its back slightly hunched upwards. It had pale gray skin and thick, gray fur going down from its skull and flowing down to its back and upper torso. The evolved deer had a slim frame, its arms were long and thin, and had five, long, and sharp fingers on each hand. Its torso was wide, asymmetric to the rest of its body. Some of its ribcages were partly visible. Its waist was particularly thin in contrast with its torso. Its hind legs still resembled that of a deer but longer and thinner.

"We are heavily undergunned for this," says Kristoff.