Cycle Broken

Officer Reynold stepped into the portal after a few minutes, already knowing how the General liked to operate. 'Don't want to get stuck in space. No sir,' he thought.

There, as expected, everything was calm, and there was no sign of any danger in sight. Four unidentified individuals, Yarn, Georgie, and two others of the faster ones in the group were on the ground with 1000 yard stares.

Even if they weren't in that situation, they probably would still look as they do now. The muthafucking General of mankind was in front of them, in the flesh. What civilian wouldn't look like them?

Reynold walked up to the General, presenting the salute of Tera.

"At ease, Reynold. When's the technician squad arriving?" the General, periodically sending pulses of mana over the land.

"Last I heard, ETA of 10 minutes."

He nodded. "Sigh… it doesn't seem to be here," the General said. "No mana signatures within 10,000 kilometers of this position match that of an SSS-rank Strand. It's likely on the other side of the planet."

"Possibly," Reynold said. "Though, you never know, it could be hiding itself from you. You and I both know Strands above S-rank have… minds of their own."

The General simply grunted as if to say "Hell will freeze over before I fail to detect an SSS-rank Strand."

This operation was of the utmost importance. As soon as General Henry Cain learned that a technician and officer had potentially detected a planet containing a SSS-rank Strand on it, nearly every secrecy and emergency protocol went into action. Nobody outside of Renolds, him, or the officer of the incoming technician squad knew of what was going on. If the military could successfully gain a second SSS-rank Strand within its personal ranks…

The General could only smile at the prospect. 

.

.

.

In the pit, small energy fluctuations pulsated around Leon. The marble, immediately after he accepted its unfinished proposition, had began to integrate itself within what was left of him.

Soon, the process was finished, and a comparably extreme bust of energy resulted.

Shuah~

Slowly over the next twenty-odd minutes, Leon's lifeless body began rebuilding itself. Once his handsome, scarred body had become whole once again, mana began to flow, and something else sparked within it.

bathump…

…

bathump…bathump…

bathump…bathump…bathump…

Bathump! Bathump! Bathump! Bathump! Bathump! Bathump! Bathump! 

"GASP!!!"

Leon awoke! His hands darted all over his body. 'I'm… I'm alive? I'M ALIVE!?!"

He shot up, only to regret this decision. 'Ughh… what the hell?' A feeling of amazing strength paired with crippling weakness confused his entire being. A new sense was assaulting his brain, doubling his mounting bewilderment. 

'Is that… mana? I can use mana?'

He smiled. "Finally…"

Thump

.

.

.

"Beep~ beep~ beep~"

The rhythmic beeping of medical equipment was what Leon first noticed upon awakening. Keeping his eyes closed, he sighed inwardly. 'Of course, it had to be a dream. I got the daylight kicked out of me, I failed to protect my head, and now look at me. This will put us in debt for another three months…'

'What are you going on about, you disgusting thing?!?!' a disembodied voice said with enough vitriol to melt through steel.

Leon shot up out of his bed, eyes wide. Just as he was about to call out, the door to his hospital room opened. In walked two individuals dressed in military attire, both officers.

"Good afternoon, civilian. I am officer Reynold of the World Military, Tera 1 defense branch, and this is officer Whittaker of the World Military, Tera 1 technician branch," officer Reynold introduced himself and the female officer next to him called officer Whittaker.

Reynold was a sleek, well put-together man of dark skin and sharp, hazel eyes. His hair was cut short and styled evenly across his well featured head. Whittaker was a little more unkempt, wearing a messy ginger bun and big round glasses on her face. They definitely weren't prescription, Leon could clearly tell they were AR glasses, something he had done quite a bit of research into. As someone with no Strand, his biggest dream was to somehow make it in the world, to get his own Strand, and to prove everyone who had tormented him wrong. Becoming a technician was one such path he had looked into.

AR glasses were a staple of the profession.

"I'm Leonidas Mourningstar. Nice to meet you?" he said, a little confused at why two officers were staring him down like he was the second coming of Christ himself.

"We know that," officer Whittaker said matter-of-factly.

Officer Reynold elbowed her, "Yes, we're pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Mourningstar," he said stiffly. We're here to hear your side of the story about the illegal gate you ventured into two days ago. 

"!!!"

Leon was stunned. 'Two days ago?!? What happened-'

"""..."""

'Oh, yeah.'

Their presence was enough of a hint to figure out what happened. First, his dream wasn't a dream. He really did enter a gate illegally. He really did narrowly avoid being consumed by a horde of innumerable proportions. He really was chased by monsters until he leapt down a seemingly bottomless pit. He really did nearly die… or actually die? 

He really had absorbed a Strand. 

He felt it.

Mana.

And he had been caught. Seeing no way out, he told no lies. From the moment he got the offer to the moment he lost consciousness, save for the voice he heard, he explained all he felt was prudent.

The two nodded, Reynold intensely focused on his words, while Whittaker was messing with the tablet in her hands at a blinding speed. "That matches up with what we have… uncovered," Reynold said. The underlying implication being "we already knew everything". "Thank you for being honest, Mr. Mourningstar."

"That's all well and good," Whittaker interjected, "but let's get down to business. Mr. Mourningstar, give me your hand."

Prick

When he did, she pricked his fingertip and took a sample of his blood. "As expected, the blood scan matches up with the mana scan."

"Are you referring to the rank evaluation of my Strand?" Leon asked. 

"Precisely," she looked at Reynold. "It's D-rank, we're done here."

With no courtesy or fan-fare, she vacated the room. "Sigh, and I'm usually the curt one. Well, can't blame her…"

"Why?"

"That's classified," he snapped. "Oh well, tough luck kid, and good luck."

Slam

"...that was… weird."

Leon looked down at his hands and squeezed. He felt power- more power than he could ever hope of achieving through natural means- coursing through his veins. His mind was sharper than it had ever been, his sight clearer, hearing more detailed, smell more honed, and feeling so good he could discern the individual strands on his hospital gown. Even his reaction speed had improved noticeably! If he were to compare it to before, everything was as if he had been controlling a puppet on strings, and now he was the puppet– no strings attached. 

His ticket out of poverty had landed in his lap, and all he had to do was to kill himself. 

'YOU FILTHY ANIMAL! ACKNOWLEDGE THIS SUPERIOR BEING WHO HAS GRACED YOU WITH HIS PRESENCE!!!'

"WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?"

Leon literally stood up on his bed, nearly tearing out the IV drip from his vein. Frantically, he looked around the room for whomever said that before his eyes landed on something. It was small, maybe about the size of his hand, but it was there. 'A… fairy?'

'FAIRY!!!! YOU INSOLENT… CRETIN!!!!!'

It flew up right in its face and began to hurl a flurry of insults so vile that they can't be written down. For almost three minutes straight, this bundle of hatred berated Leon into utter silence.

The two stared at each other for an uncomfortable amount of time after that. The fairy-looking thing was handsome-looking, with long bright-green hair, piercing green eyes with a + shape, proportionally enormous horns protruding from his head, extremely fair skin with not a single blemish, pointed ears like the Elvish race, and blackened claws protruding from his fingers. He flew with a pair of wings that grew from his shoulder blades, and had a tail that swayed back and forth.

'U-umm, sir? What are you?'

The little thing harrumphed, puffing its chest out in pride, 'I, you lower life form, am a proud member of the demon race! The highest and most noble of lifeforms in the entire universe!'

""...""

'O-oh, right… a demon. Well then, Mr. Demon-'

'My name, in your filthy tongue, is Beelzebub! Right hand of the Overlord of the demon race! Lord しυᄃίҒદR ㅆ०rnίn૭ន✝વR! The greatest and most powerful demon of all time!'

'I see… well then, Sir Beelzebub, I am Leonidas Mourningstar, pleased to make your acquaintance?' Leon introduced himself, slightly confused at the situation. Continuing to attempt to appease this uppity individual, Leon decided to go on with formal speech. 'If I may ask, why is it that I can see you? And how can you hear my thoughts?'

'Hah! It seems your lowly brain cannot comprehend the great gift my Lord, and most begrudgingly, I, have bestowed upon you- you revolting BUG!'

Leon sat down, intent on understanding what the hell is going on despite the insults being thrown his way. Honestly, he probably was the best person in the world, maybe in the entire universe, at doing so. Taking insults, that is.

'In that hole on the decrepit planet you were on just days ago, my soul and my master's strand sat in wait for millennia. Long ago, that EVIL WORTHLESS ORGANIZATION OF LESSER BEINGS THAT CALLS ITSELF THE GALACTIC FEDERATION– ahem, the Galactic Federation, persecuted our race for simply being superior! Hah! The gall!'

'Hold on, the Galactic Federation! Your race is fighting against them too?'

'DO NOT INTERRUP- wait, your race is against the federation! Interesting…'

He looked Leon up and down, 'I can't see why… your race doesn't have innate mana, nor some impressive feature that would make you any particular threat… what would they want with your race? Gah! That's beside the point.

'Our race was hunted down for centuries on end, from planet to planet, all until our Overlord, in your rotten tongue, Lucifer Morningstar… hmmm… not unlike your name…'

Again, Beelzebub looked Leon up and down (comically so) before continuing. 'With his abilities, he was able to give us a home outside of the reach of that FILTHY Federation, yet eventually, he couldn't hold out. Billions upon billions of Federation scum threw themselves at our Lord, and we could sit on the sidelines no longer. We fought, destroyed, and killed countless lesser beings until all that was left was my Lord and me.'

He wiped a single, black tear that fell on his cheek. 'It was the end of our race, but ever the glorious and perfect genius, my Lord had a solution. He poured all his soul, all his being, all his demonhood… his entire strand, extracted. With my help, we hid it away on that desolate planet. In order to avoid the relentless crusade against our race, I even had to give up my physical body and hide alongside my Lord's Strand for a successor. Sadly…' he scoffed, 'something like YOU showed up.'

'Hold on, hold on, you're telling me that the Strand I absorbed was one pulled from a being that could fight the Galactic Federation on his own?!? How is that possible…'

Leon thought for a good few minutes while Beelzebub went on and on about the genius that was Lucifer Morningstar. 'Really, how is that possible? They evaluated the level of this strand at D-rank.'

'What does that mean you silly thing?'

'Humans, which is what I am, rank Strands- and most things for that matter- on a scale. F is the lowest of the low, followed by E, then D, C, B, A, S, SS, and finally, SSS, the pinnacle of all ranks. If this Strand truly is from someone that great, then how was it ranked in the third lowest category?'

'You… INSOLENT-'

He took a while to vent at the fact that Leon even suggested that Lucifer Morningstar wasn't as great as he described him, if not greater. Eventually, he answered the question.

'The reason is because it is a Demon's Strand, useless human. Demons are born with Strands, that is why we are the superior race! Every demon starts their journey an Imp. Imps are categorized by their lack of horns mainly, and only have access to the most basic of Demon abilities, the [Eternal Flame]. Such an ability is also our life force, acting as what races like your own refer to as a heart and blood.'

He paused, acting surprised Leon was both paying attention and seemingly following what he was saying. 'Thus, as you have inherited my Lord's holy and most wondrous Strand, you are now technically a demon… though it is odd how you have not taken on the traits of an Imp…'

He flew around him, inspecting every nook and cranny of Leon. 'You have the face of a demon, most noble and handsome, yet every other part of you is… shiver, repulsive! No tail, flat and dull claws, teeth of an omnivore, unpointed ears, round pupils… UGH!'

Leon smiled at his insults. 'I see, well, I think I know the problem there.'

He had felt it long ago. When one absorbs a Strand, at least when humans do, they gain an instinctual understanding of the basics. Thus, he could feel within himself the core of his Strand. 'It is a transformation type.'

Closing his eyes, he revisited the research he had done on the subject. 'One must do as their instincts say…

'Your mind will take care of the rest.

Shuah~

The feeling was uncomfortable. His eyes felt strange, his ears grew heavier and… longer. All of his senses were dialed up to eleven. His strength and reaction speed– even greater than before. Opening his eyes, he was shocked at what his hands looked like. Each finger narrowed down at the tip into razor-sharp claws, blackened like they were made of obsidian. His skin had grown multiple shades paler, and-

Whip

'A tail…' as dark as the claws on his fingers, tipped with an extremely sharp looking bone protrusion with red highlights.