《Chimera》 Chapter 1 A female wearing a half rebreather slammed her hand on the table, alerting the guy sitting there. ¡°Alrighty newbie,¡± she said smirking, two other girls stood next to her. Their appearances weren¡¯t quite as extra as the main female. ¡°The logs say¡­¡± One of the two girls at her side handed her a tablet. ¡°Nikos Peres, aged nineteen.¡± She looked up at him ¡°Power, unrevealed. You¡¯re zero and zero right now.¡± Most of his face was obscured by a hood. She couldn¡¯t tell exactly just what his emotions were. ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s me.¡± He said nonchalantly, drinking from a juice pouch. ¡°Around here, you either lose or you win.¡± She said. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the whole reason this place exists.¡± She slammed the tablet on the table. Being angered by the interrupting man. ¡°And since you have no wins or loses. I doubt you¡¯re good enough to have many sponsors backing you.¡± ¡°I have one.¡± He said once again just interjecting. ¡°...Once you lose all your sponsors, you get kicked out.¡± He took another sip from the juice pouch. ¡°I¡¯m aware of the rules.¡± She sighed. ¡°You¡¯re infuriating¡­ Well since you don¡¯t have any battle points. You cannot pay to refuse any challenges. So guess who just challenged you.¡± ¡°Is it the girl on your left? I hope so. She looks kind of strong.¡± The girl with the rebreather pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. Out of anger, she grabbed the juice pouch. She took the straw from it turned it upside down and squeezed, the sweet blue liquid drained from the container. Nikos¡¯ watched in horror as the drink he paid for had its contents dropped over the floor. He stood up to face the offender. She tossed the container to the side of the room. ¡°Ah! Looks like I¡¯m finally getting somewhere.¡± ¡°You wanted a fight, huh?¡± He asked. ¡°Name your setting. You can even make them into your favor. I don¡¯t care.¡± By now the entire room went quiet as the occupants watched the two. ¡°Oh? So you are aware of the rule that the defender gets to choose settings?¡± He did not answer her. So she continued. ¡°Tomorrow. The location will be a simple urban environment. And just for giggles, It¡¯ll be live-streamed. I want to make sure my fans see me eliminate a noob.¡± ¡°No,¡± he said. ¡°It will start today. That¡¯s my only request.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Your funeral. Be ready in thirty minutes.¡± She walked off, but before leaving, he shouted. ¡°When I win. Buy me a new juice pouch.¡± She laughed. ¡°If you win.¡± Nikos sat right back down, a moment of silence was being held for his lost property. That was until someone approached and sat down next to him. ¡°Dude, I know your new and all, but are you aware of who you¡¯re fighting?¡± ¡°No, and I don¡¯t really care.¡± ¡°Amy Williams.¡± The man said. ¡°She¡¯s known to be a very cheap fighter. Since her ability is passive, she often leads her -¡± ¡°I told you. I don¡¯t care, I¡¯m going to win.¡± The man backed off a little. ¡°I like your spirit. If you¡¯re still here after your match, my name is Chuck Bennings.¡± Nikos sat there in silence until the thirty-minute time limit came up.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ~ Two announcers sat behind a desk, with a massive screen behind them. A brown haired man and a blonde haired man. They both wore sunglasses that hid their eyes. ¡°Ladies and Gentlemen!¡± An announcer said. His voice was filled with an enthusiasm that could only he could manage. ¡°Today we have a surprise match tonight!¡± ¡°A surprise match?¡± A second announcer asked. ¡°Yes, my fellow battle caster! A surprise match!¡± ¡°Well, could you fill me and the audiences in with some details?¡± ¡°Certainly!¡± He shouted. ¡°Today at three this afternoon Amy Williams challenged an unrevealed fighter to a match.¡± ¡°Ooh, scary! Can we see some stats for both fighters?¡± The screen behind the announcers turned on and switched to a detailed view of both Amy Williams and Nikos Peres, splitting down the middle. ¡°Wow. Would you look at that? A Zero-Zero fighter taking on a c-tier fighter that has multiple wins. Either this guy has some brass balls, or he¡¯s incredibly stupid.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really care which one honestly I just want to see this new fighter and apparently so do our viewers!¡± ¡°Whoa, would you look at that! For an offseason match. This number of viewers is I.N.S.A.N.E!¡± ¡°Alright everybody, Boys, and girls! We are going to cut to the battle in just a moment as it''s about to begin.¡± The feed changed to a detailed image about the conditions of the map, including the stage, The time limit, and the victory conditions, which was settled as a deathmatch. The timer started at five and began to count down. Once it hit zero the screen cut to a feed with Amy Williams. She was standing at the starting point. A gate that leads to another dimension, a computerized one. Once she went through the computer would record the battle in multiple ways. It¡¯d show a data map that would mark their individual movements, confronts and how long they stayed in a specific area. A miniature air drone flew down to her height. She struck a pose before entering the computer generated city. The feed jumped to Nikos. He showed nothing for them as he went through the gate. Inside the use of drone cameras were prohibited as it was a way to tell the combatants were the other was hiding, potentially disrupting any kinds of plays that they could do. So the entire computerized geography was a computer. It could record from any angle, any height and not impede with any of the combat. Amy emerged from the gate, the entire area was a vast city. The streetlights illuminated the ground, She picked the most useful area for her, which happened to be tight areas and darkness. She rolled open her sleeves and began emitting a colorless gas she walked down the streets spreading as much as she could. Cutting to Niko wasn¡¯t exactly the most exciting. He was just walking. And only walking. He knew where the other gate was so he went in that direction. To save the viewers from any sort of boredom they switched the feedback to Amy, she was already halfway done creating her kill zone. For a second Amy stopped in the middle of the street. The camera showed that Nikos had already arrived at Amy¡¯s side of the spawn. He had appeared in the short amount of time that Niko wasn¡¯t in the frame. ¡°You really are an amateur!¡± She laughed at him. ¡°You honestly just made this extremely easy for me. If you read my file, you¡¯d know that I¡¯m a toxin type. And that the first thing I¡¯d do was make this area unplayable for you.¡± Nikos reached up to his hood, the moment his fingers touched the edges. The camera froze at the side view of his face, cutting the feed short. ¡°Uh-oh. Looks like we lost connection to the cameras. But don¡¯t worry it looks like the battle map is still active!¡± The map showed up in a simplified version of the city. Two arrows represented the players. Yellow was Amy, and blue was Nikos. They stood directly in front of each other. Until Amy¡¯s indicator began to retreat from the side. ¡°Looks like Amy started her lure technique folks!¡± That was until Nikos arrow reappeared in front of Amy. ¡°Hang on. What was that?¡± One of the announcers sounded shocked. ¡°There was absolutely no movement in between when he was standing and moved.¡± Amy¡¯s arrow flew from one end to another at an incredible velocity. ¡°Whoa, what¡¯s going on down there!?¡± The announcer¡¯s voice became heightened. ¡°The logs said that Amy was just thrown forty feet!¡± ¡°Whaaaaat! It seems that this blackout also tripled the number of viewers from the start of this stream! Things have really started to heat up now.¡± Just as that was said, the video cut back in. The screen had Nikos standing twenty feet from Amy. She was cowering underneath a light post. Tears streamed from her face. Her mask was ripped from her face and laid in the middle bridging the distance between the two. Blood was dripping from the top of her head and her mouth. ¡°P-Please...You Win.¡± She coward herself in a ball. Trying to maintain eye contact and as much distance as she could. But she honestly only felt safe in the light. ¡°...Amy lost. Amy Williams lost! I don¡¯t know what happened, but Amy Williams lost!¡± ¡°Looks like Nikos will be taking home a win tonight!¡± On the feed, a medical team could be seen rushing to Amy¡¯s side. Nikos walked out through the gate. ¡°I don¡¯t know about you guys, but I will be watching this newcomer personally.¡± With that, the stream was turned offline. Chapter 2 He walked out of the gate, emergency personnel was running past him with haste. Each just ignoring him as they went by. Bleep Bleep. He reached into his pocket pulling out a black device producing the sound. Pressing the button on the bottom end lit the screen. There had been a notification on the screen, a text message from ¡°D,¡±An Employee of his sponsors, Gene Corp. ¡°Hey, man o/ I saw you had a fight!¡± ¡°I did.¡± ¡°Lucky for you I was able to save the juicy stuff from leaking!¡± ¡°Why should I care?¡± ¡°One word. Marketing. Trust me tho, the boss has more reasons.¡± ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll be more careful.¡± ¡°Speaking of which has your price stayed the same?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s still juice.¡± I know I can¡¯t speak for everyone but, I¡¯m glad you underwent my surgery.¡± ¡°:y¡± ¡°What is that suppose to mean?¡± ¡°You know I really hate it when you do this!¡± ¡°Whatever! Just keep everything under wraps until the season starts!¡± Nikos was once again in his usual place sipping on a juice pouch, the sugary sweetness was the only thing that he could ever taste. When he stopped slurping he had noticed people all around him were giving him stares. Which makes sense considering the fight wasn¡¯t broadcasted fully, and when it did his opponent was reduced to a fearful crying girl. However, there was one person that didn¡¯t give him any stares, and that was because they were trying to talk to him. ¡°Hello, Chuck.¡± He said calmly. Chuck sat down across from him. ¡°Hey! You got your first win!¡± He leaned back in his chair gaining a casual look from Nikos. His appearance had become noted, moderately long black hair, brown eyes. ¡°Although, I wish I actually saw it¡­¡± Chuck sighed. Nikos continued to drink. ¡°Speaking of seeing how¡¯d you even see me with that hood over your face?¡± Nikos stopped drinking and paused for a second. ¡°There isn¡¯t a hood.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Chuck was taken back by the answer. ¡°Are you making fun of me?¡± The clacking of boots came from across the table, a female with flaming red hair approached the front of the table that the two were sitting. She pulled out the chair and sat down without a word. A second female accompanied her, however, she didn¡¯t sit down she stood at the side; presumably, they were apart of a team. The approach of the lady silenced the conversation of the two. Her blue eyes went from Nikos to Chuck then back to Nikos. ¡°What did you do?¡± She crossed her arms in anger. ¡°I agree what did you do?¡± Chuck joined in but was immediately was silenced as a knife was stabbed in front of him. Her stare contained an intensity that directly sent him into fight or flight. Slowly, she let go of the handle, leaning back in her chair. Her elbow leaned on the chair¡¯s arm, The knife she stuck into the table was so embedded in the table that it stood on its own. She looked back to Nikos. ¡°It¡¯s not that I personally care for that cocky bitch but, since we have the same sponsor, they keep pestering me for answers.¡± She leaned forward once more towards him. ¡°What happened during that fight.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. He took one last sip from the juice box. Before crushing it in his hand not out of anger but just because it could be done. ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask Amy?¡± His voice had a very dry tone as if the conversation already bored him. ¡°I tried.¡± She said, her eyes squinting, anger appearing. ¡°Every time I try, she gets all glassy eyed and tries to change the subject, or she starts screaming.¡± ¡°I¡¯m contractually not allowed to tell you.¡± He got up and began walking away. ¡°Wait!¡± she yelled causing Nikos to stop and turn her way. She threw him another juice box. He caught it then swiftly pocketing it for later. ¡°Then why did you spare her?¡± ¡°She begged.¡± He turned back around and walked. Chuck whistled. ¡°Wow, edgy.¡± He looked over to the red-haired female. ¡°Well, Leona. What¡¯s your plan now?¡± She sighed also leaving the table. The knife that was embedded into the table began to shake violently like it was being pulled by an invisible hand. It flung itself in the air in the same direction as Leona, she caught the incoming projectile without the slightest bit of trouble or even looking. Chuck was now entirely alone, ¡°So she¡¯s a telekinetic type, huh.¡± *** The sun had already set, and the city lights were at full blast. Niko¡¯s was walking away from the arena, The massive battle dome that was the source of the gladiator sport that pitted humans that were genetically modified commonly called evolved. Against one another in bloody deathmatches. No one ever spoke of how inhumane this was because all participants for whatever reasons agreed to all the terms they were subjected to as athletes. He continued to walk away from the amphitheater. The rest of the city wasn¡¯t all that great either, crime was rather rampant considering most of the inhabitants were rogue evolved or just plain gangs as police were typically rare, why waste valuable manpower when the evolved can take care of themselves. ¡°Help! HELP!¡± A female yelled from an alleyway, a blonde haired woman came running from the darkness. Her shirt was tattered and left her heavy breasts exposed to the open air. She immediately clung to Nikos the moment she saw him. He looked to the general direction she came from, seven guys came out carrying various weapons. Metal bats, chain whips, brass knuckles, all the usual thug weapons. One of the thugs spoke up, his face was thin, and his proportions were lanky. ¡°Hey sir,¡± He smiled wickedly, his yellow teeth made him quite undesirable to speak to. ¡°Could ya kindly hand over tha'' girl? She¡¯s got something we want.¡± Nikos looked over at her, she was much taller than he was, his arm that she clung to went perfectly into her cleavage. He went back to thugs. ¡°What does she have?¡± The thug laughed. ¡°What¡¯sit to you?¡± ¡°What if I wanted a portion?¡± He responded dead serious. Nikos¡¯ response caused her to gasp and take a step away from her. The thug laughed again. ¡°It¡¯s money, Hahah.¡± This caused the entire group to join in. ¡°I¡¯m in.¡± The thug stopped laughing, his seriousness was brought to the surface. ¡°Right, if¡¯n yah wanna talk business, all yah gotta do is come over here, The female tried to run away but was stopped when she felt a force tug on her arm. With a grip like that, she definitely had a zero percent chance of running. She could feel herself being pulled into the alley with the boy. She struggled but nothing she did ever broke his grip. The group split open for the three to enter the alleyway. In there they followed the lanky thug into a building. It was a standard loan shark building. A small little laundromat front and an extensive complex in the back. The two were taken into a bare room with concrete walls. The two were left alone as the door slammed behind them. The girl was sobbing at this point. The entire escape that she had was now nullified by a simple greedy little man. ¡°Stop crying,¡± Nikos said. ¡°Shut up, Asshole!¡± she yelled bluntly. ¡°It¡¯s because of you that I¡¯m stuck in this situation again!¡± Momentarily three men walked in, one with a baseball bat and another with brass knuckles. Another was wearing a suit, he smelt of smoke. Apparently, he was a heavy user of tobacco. The smokey man spoke. ¡°Thank yah kindly, sir. But because of the amount of debt that she¡¯s accrued, I cannot pay you a single dime.¡± ¡°Then this was a waste of my time?¡± Nikos asked. ¡°Not entirely, If you ever need anyone favor, you can contact any of my men, and I¡¯ll have it done!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t trust you enough for you have me leave empty-handed. I¡¯m taking this female with me. She belongs to me now.¡± The female wanted to say something. But what Nikos was saying could still be a way out for her, she stayed silent. The smokey man frowned. ¡°...I¡¯m not a man of great patience, take it or get the hell out without the girl.¡° ¡°Neither am I, that¡¯s why I¡¯m leaving. With what I now own.¡± The smokey smelling man snapped his fingers, the baseball bat minion swung at Nikos connecting the metal with his jaw, he remained on his feet only his head had turned. ¡°Girl, close your eyes.¡± And she complied. Once he saw that she followed he turned his head back to the thug who hit him. A large vertical eye opened on Nikos¡¯ chest. The pupil dilated once it focused on the target. Chapter 3 ¡°What the hell?¡± The bat-wielding thug took a few steps back. Nikos¡¯ arm started to shift ripping through his hoodie. His index and ring finger conjoined making a single digit. The skin color became sickly looking and reptile like. He seemed entirely like a monster of nightmares. His body continued to shift, break and reform elsewhere. Two of his ribs snapped off and reappeared from his knuckles effectively giving him a piercing weapon. Nikos hood fell off revealing his real face, surprisingly it was bare except for a mouth, but, even that didn¡¯t stay normal for very long. A small incision on both corners of his mouth continued upward towards his ears. The moment he opened his mouth was when the true horror appeared. His unhinged jaw opened up revealing a prehensile tongue almost like a tentacle. Before the other two thugs remembered that running was an option, they heard the door slam and lock behind them. Their boss yelled behind the door. ¡°If either of you makes it alive I¡¯ll double your paychecks!¡± regardless of whether they wanted to fight or not they were stuck in here. Unfortunately one of them pissed Nikos off with that bat swing. They got back into their combative nature. The thug with the bat swung again. The hit connected with his face again making a loud ping. A small splatter of blood appeared on the bat. His partner, the thug with brass knuckles, took a stab at also swinging at his face, the punch connected. ¡°Get the fuck off!¡± He tried to pull his fist back but couldn¡¯t. Nikos¡¯ tongue was firmly wrapped around his forearm. ¡°H-Hey! Help me!¡± The thug cried out to the other. The bat minion swung again, only this time the bat was caught by Nikos¡¯ transformed arm. Nikos reeled his tongue in taking the thug¡¯s arm with it and bit down. Blood sprayed everywhere, it wasn¡¯t a clean bite. It went through the skin and muscle but was unable to break through the bone resulting in a disgusting mangled severed hand. The bat was crushed and thrown to the side. The thug that had been bleeding was too busy screaming about how much pain he had been in. The now weaponless thug was screaming and banging on the door to be let out. Niko grabbed the back of his skull and pulled it back to face him, somehow the eye looked as though it got angrier. He smashed the thug¡¯s face into the door effectively knocking it down. On the other side, Nikos could see the startled looking of all the gang members. There had been five guys waiting outside the door. Two had handguns, and the rest were melee weapons. And luckily for them now that they¡¯ve seen his power the goal was no longer to find an exit. But to kill all witnesses.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°It¡¯s a goddamn evolved!¡± one of the thugs yelled. The three melee users came at Nikos not that it mattered to him. He pierced the abdomen of the closest one to him and severed the head, biting through it. He tossed the corpse into another that was merely just standing and watching in shock as a monster just ¡®ate¡¯ through his comrade. The last was grabbed and pulled close as the gunmen began shooting. They went through an entire magazine before they were forced to stop shooting due to reloading. Nikos dropped the body and charged at the first gunman severing him in half. The upper half was caught and thrown, The body was used to block any gunfire that would have been used, but Nikos followed very closely behind it and managed to skewer the torso and the other gunman. He approached the first guy who was left untouched. He was struggling to get his comrade off of him. Nikos approached him, his tongue wrapped around his face and pulled back into his maw. He walked to the top of the man and looked down. It just wouldn¡¯t have been right if he was the only one not brutalized. He reached into his mouth and pulled toward him. The top of the head was removed from the bottom half of the jaw. If Nikos remembered there was still one witness left, perhaps there¡¯d be even more. His disgusting face cackled as he went looking for the boss. Around five minutes later the girl opened her eyes for a second, and she nearly screamed. She saw the carnage that was left behind. The man bleeding out on his knees gripping his missing hand did not help. This was a nightmare a total nightmare, she must¡¯ve fallen asleep. The screams and gunshots she heard were undoubtedly a result of her imagination beginning to run wild. She was a big girl though if she wanted to make it out alive now was the chance. She took the first steps but immediately froze as a head was rolled into the room. She let out a tiny scream. On the contrary to her belief it was Nikos, he walked in drinking a juice pouch. ¡°Your debt is now with me,¡± Nikos said tossing her a jacket no doubt stole from the thugs. ¡°Did you do all this?¡± She asked He turned back around to leave. ¡°I told them, I¡¯m not leaving empty-handed.¡± Chapter 4 The woman wiped the mirror clear of the condensation. Her wet face was revealed, she just couldn''t dispel the disbelief of what she had witnessed only a few hours earlier. It wasn¡¯t just the room that was nightmarish. The laundromat was a bloodbath, intestines were hung across the ceiling like some sort of sick joke. If she knew what kind of horrors had awaited her, she¡¯d have just accepted being turned into a drug addicted sex slave. She shook her head, even if she was going to be mentally scarred from this she could still say that she escaped from a life on the run and is mostly debt free, but that mostly still entailed the person that was currently in the living room of her apartment. She opened the door from her bathroom to peep. He¡¯d never said anything since they¡¯ve gotten back to her apartment. He certainly was creepy considering he also never moved from the couch. She¡¯d properly address the matter concerning him a little bit later. She closed the door and got dressed. She emerged wearing shorts and a tank top. Very little had been left to imagination, after all this was her more modest wear for being comfortable. She looked to the couch and he was gone. Her eyes opened wide, ¡°Oh no.¡± she audible said and ran to the scene, she checked under, behind and double on top just to make sure her eyes weren¡¯t playing tricks on her. But yup, he was nowhere to be found. In her head she wanted to cry badly, losing sight of him was akin to losing the spot a poisonous spider ran off to. She probably wouldn¡¯t feel safe sleeping tonight. That was until she heard heard a noise coming from the kitchen. She sprinted to the area using the wall to stop her. Before she had a chance to ask her first question he said something first. ¡°Do you have any juice?¡± ¡°Huh? Uh no.¡± ¡°Fruits? Apples, lemons, anything?¡± She reached over to her countertop keeping her eyes fixated on the boy. ¡°Here.¡± she tossed him an apple from a nearby bowl. He took it and took a bite. She watched him in suspended disbelief. The boy innocently focused on eating an apple was the same one that caused a massacre. She shook herself out of that thought so that she could figure out whether or not she¡¯s a prisoner in her own apartment. ¡°You¡¯re an evolved, right?¡± ¡°Yes, I am.¡± ¡°I heard that evolved crave things that their bodies stop producing, is that why you need fruits?¡± ¡°I lack glucose, but that is correct.¡± She decided that if he¡¯s willing to talk about his body like that he¡¯d have no problem with her asking the blunt question. ¡°Why¡¯re you here and not at the arena?¡± ¡°They were asking me too many questions.¡± He replied plainly. Her mind screamed. This was a bad idea to ask him questions. She wanted to go to bed and forget this night ever happened.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°My name is Nikos, by the way.¡± His calmness got her caught off guard, perhaps he understood that she wasn¡¯t trying to invade on him, either that or she dodged a landmine. ¡°Lily. Short for Lilith. She said remaining on the far side of the kitchen. An awkward silence arose between the two Lilith being too scared to really try anything. And Nikos who had the social skills of a brick. But, she knew this for a fact if she didn¡¯t ask now she doubted that she¡¯ll be able to sleep comfortably tonight. ¡°If you hold this debt over my head...what do you want with me?¡± Nikos stared at her not producing an answer. She was sure not even he was thinking that far ahead. It was silent for only a few seconds though. ¡°Nothing?¡± he questioned. ¡°Nothing?¡± she repeated. The two once again stood there in silence. With such a great exit last night surely he had something that was worth killing for. Maybe this kid was just a psychopath. ¡°I¡¯m going to use your couch until the season starts.¡± He said walking up to her. That was more than enough of a reason for her to not stand in his way. She also had no reason to object well, more like she had no means to oppose. Nikos laid down across the seats. It really wasn¡¯t long before he was grasped by the black hands of slumbers. *** Nikos stood with a paper in his hand, it was a medical document containing everything of his medical history, past diseases, blood type surgeries within the last twelve months. He approached a receptionist area. A male with glasses and hair slightly covering his right eye. He held his hand out to receive the documentation. Sweat fell from his face. After all the success rate for surgeries to become an evolved was far lower than anyone would hope it to be. The man with glasses looked up from the paper with a genuine smile. A smile that said everything that and frankly, this made Niko uncomfortable. The receptionist stood up and shook Nikos'' hand. ¡°Welcome to Gene Corp. you¡¯re just the patient we were looking for.¡± ¡°Fuck,¡± he muttered underneath his breath Nikos was happy to have been accepted into the program, but acceptance was the easy part, compatibility with the surgery was the real deterrent. But he still put on a smile and shook the man¡¯s hand. ¡°Nikos. My name is Dale, but you can just call me Dee. I¡¯ll be your butcher today.¡± he let out a laugh. Nikos wasn¡¯t entirely amused by the joke. Dee picked up a tiny sign that read ¡®closed¡¯ not that it was needed, Nikos had been the only person in line. ¡°Now that you¡¯re gonna undergo genetic modifications through Gene Corp. I¡¯ll let you know a company secret¡± Dee began guiding him towards a back room and behind a pair of double doors. Behind those doors was a glass case containing a meteorite shard. ¡°This is what we will be putting in you tonight!¡± The meteorite glowed faintly. Nikos squinted for a second. ¡°This doesn¡¯t look like a normal shard.¡± ¡°Good eye! Yes, this isn¡¯t a normal shard. Honestly, we don¡¯t know why it¡¯s different. But we do know that we had to find a person that was at least eighty-two percent compatible.¡± ¡°Where did I stand?¡± Dee didn¡¯t say anything, he just smiled and slammed the doors behind them. Nikos woke up, it was morning, and the sun bled through the blinds, he touched his face he could feel the cold sweat, a reaction he hasn¡¯t felt in some time. Chapter 5 Nikos walked into the kitchen, Lilith was already there scrambling eggs and frying bacon. She must¡¯ve gotten used to the chilling presence of Nikos a little more as she didn¡¯t react negatively. He didn¡¯t make a noise as he grabbed the apple from the basket. When he took a bite the crunch was the start of a conversation. ¡°Hey uhm, would you like some eggs or bacon...or both?¡± Lilith asked still cooking. Looking over in his direction. ¡°No.¡± He said plainly. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t bother me if I have to make more.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like eggs or cooked bacon.¡± ¡°Oh that¡¯s a shame, being a vegetarian must be hard.¡± there was a ¡°Wait you eat raw bacon?¡± Nikos took another bite from his apple. Bang Bang Bang. Thunderous knocks came from the front door, Lily stayed silent for a moment. Thought rushed past her head. Just because the area of operations was destroyed for the gang, just because one of the heads were cut off doesn¡¯t mean everything else would curl up and die. She looked back to Nikos, he was virtually unphased like he never even heard the noise. She peered around the corner. Bang bang. Another pair of knocking came. Slowly she etched to the door and looked through the peephole. Her already sinking stomach dropped even lower as her blood ran cold. Three men with matching blue uniforms and bulletproof vests. She opened the door just a crack enough only to show part of her face. The first to talk was the officer closer to the door. He was void of any kind of expression. ¡°Lilith Wilkens?¡± ¡°Uh yeah?¡± She tried to sound as confused as possible to avoid any reason for suspicion. ¡°Mind if we come in to have a chat?¡± ¡°Now isn¡¯t a good time. But you can come back on another day. Okay bye.¡± She began to close the door when a hand stopped the movement. It was the officer furthest from her. ¡°Yah don¡¯t have a choice, this is a murder investigation, and you¡¯re a suspect.¡± The first officer spoke again this time with a slight smirk. ¡°Please?¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. She was speechless, she looked at each of the officers and opened the door fully, her face read nothing but defeat. She stepped to the side and gestured for them to go inside. ¡°Please make yourself at home.¡± The first and second officer walked in without saying a word while the last one took off his hat smiled and gave her a nod. *** The officer who first spoke introduced himself as Blakely, and stood directly in front of her, the other two remained unnamed and appeared to be observers, probably as back up if need be. ¡°Miss Wilkens, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware of the murders that occurred last night?¡± She crossed her arms, she was reluctant to answer. ¡°And what if I¡¯m not?¡± ¡°Then unless you have a twin, we have video evidence of you being at the scene of the crime.¡± ¡°If you had evidence from the start, why did you even ask me?¡± He smiled, ¡°Confirmation assurance.¡± She folded her arms a little tighter. ¡°If you¡¯re here to arrest me, then do it.¡± ¡°Miss Wilkens, if we arrested all of our suspects in all investigations. We¡¯d never catch the right criminals. We are here to gather information¡­ so would you kindly tell us what happened?¡± She shuffled a bit if she told them what happened the blame would all be put on Nikos, and she had no idea how he¡¯d react to police in this situation. But that answer wouldn¡¯t take long since he walked into the room. ¡°I killed them.¡± Lilith¡¯s eyes lit up wide hearing the voice behind her. The surrounding officers put their hands on their guns preparing to draw. ¡°Could you say that again?¡± Mentally Lilith was screaming, crying and wishing for an escape. She wasn¡¯t ready to witness another massacre happen before her eyes especially in her home. ¡°I killed them,¡± Nikos repeated his words as dry and plain as before. Upon hearing the repeated confession, the officers drew their guns and aimed. ¡°Alright, come over here slowly with your arms raised.¡± Nikos looked to them as if it offended him. ¡°I go where I want. And I don''t want to go with you.¡± ¡°This is an arrest. You have no choice in this matter!¡± one of the officers yelled. Nikos grabbed onto the edges of his hood when Lilith jumped in front of the two opposing parties. ¡°No! No powers and no gunshots. I¡¯m not having this here!¡± She held her arms out facing both the police and Nikos. She was visually distraught, but it was necessary to save the life of her carpet. Almost in compliance to the woman¡¯s order, the officers holstered their weapons with sighs. ¡°Alright let¡¯s go.¡± Lilith¡¯s arms fell slowly to her sides. ¡°Huh? You¡¯re just leaving?¡± Officer Blakely turned back around after the other two officers left the room already. ¡°Miss Wilkens any crimes involving evolved instantly become above our jurisdiction. Have a nice day.¡± He nodded and turned out closing the door behind him. Lilith stood there unsure of what to do next. Nikos walked past her towards the door. Before he could even open it, she already hit him with a question. ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡± ¡°Going to the arena, prelims are starting.¡± Chapter 6 One of the two sunglasses wearing men had been sitting at the desk.¡°Gooood morning boys and girls! It¡¯s your favorite Arena host!¡± Said the blonde haired one. ¡°For those that don¡¯t know me yet, I¡¯m Number one!¡± He posed to add a little flair to his song after so he cleared his throat returning to a normal mannerism. ¡°Today marks the day of the Pre-elims!¡± He slammed his hands down on the desk in excitement. ¡°For those who are first-time watchers, this is the part of the season where we slim down the numbers! Number one clicked a button and showed a list of names, hundreds of names scrolled in an ascending order. ¡°Oooh, I can see a lot of familiar names here!¡± He sat up in his seat. ¡°This is going to be nothing but HEAT!¡± He cleared his throat once more going back to his normal self. ¡°I also see a name on here that I¡¯m most certainly interested in seeing. And I¡¯m sure some of you know who I¡¯m talking about.¡± He gave the screen a wink. After that the screen was muted, A red-haired girl cleaning glasses. Her uniform was the indication that she was a staff member of a local bar. ¡°God I hate his voice.¡± She said, putting another drink in front of Lilith. Turning around she racked one of the glasses on the shelf behind her, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you drink this much in a long time. Since college?¡± Lilith¡¯s face showed nothing but displeasure, ¡°It¡¯s been a stressful few days.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± She turned around and went face to face with Lilith. ¡°Tell me about it.¡± Lilith took a large gulp. ¡°Shut up, I don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡± She slightly turned away from the bartender. The bartender pulled back from the countertop, ¡°You don¡¯t? But I do. If you don¡¯t I¡¯ll find someone else to talk to.¡± ¡°Go ahead, just leave me to drink then.¡± The bartender smiled with intent filled with malice as if she was expecting that answer. She turned her head and at to the very first person she saw. A burly looking biker. ¡°Hey! Big guy! want to hear some stories about college girls being wasted?¡± Lilith nearly spits out a mouthful. ¡°Velm! Stop! I¡¯ll talk!¡± She snickered, ¡°I knew you¡¯d break. So what happened.¡± ¡°Last night I met a guy.¡± Velm interrupted her, ¡°Yeah, that¡¯ll just look at your body. It¡¯s absolutely sinful.¡± ¡°Shut up. It¡¯s not like that¡± Lilith said before continuing her story. ¡°I have no idea he was an evolved.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see the problem, in my opinion, I think that¡¯s actually better.¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Ignoring her Lilith brought up another topic. ¡°You remember that shady business three blocks away?¡± ¡°With that fat dude?¡± ¡°Yeah. I owed him quite a bit of money... I don¡¯t owe any more.¡± ¡°So wait, You met an evolved and he paid off your debt? Sounds like a guy I¡¯d give a chance.¡± Just remembering the night made Lilith shudder a little. ¡°He killed them, He killed every single one.¡± ¡°Oh. So that¡¯s why there had been a lot of cops. I had thought they finally fucked up and left evidence to get busted.¡± Lilith took another drink, ¡°When I¡¯m around him I can¡¯t help but feel extremely nervous.¡± Velm took the bottle from the biker and replaced it with another one, this one full. ¡°So where is this knight in silver armor. I wanna know how deep you¡¯re in right now.¡± Lilith did nothing but pointed to the TV screen. Causing Velm to turn around fully to the screen. ¡°Oh?¡± She unmuted the screen. A hooded boy with nothing too striking of features stood with his hand in his pockets. He stood directly in front of his opponent. A man with an extravagant costume and red dyed hair, a common practice for Arena fighters, usually something used as a means for merchandise. They were both inside a tiled dome. ¡°You¡¯re the one who fought that annoying as hell poison user, aren''t you?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± He laughed. ¡°Just because I don¡¯t have to fight her this time around, I¡¯ll give you a chance quit now and I won¡¯t hurt you.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°What was that? I¡¯m gonna need you to speak up!¡± He cupped his hand around his ear. ¡°...no.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mistake my kindness. I will humiliate you, I¡¯m not a weakling like Clarice or whatever her name was. I don¡¯t need to hide behind cheap tricks.¡± The dome fell revealing two things, The start of the match and the scene they¡¯d have their fight in, today it was a heavily forested area. In that instance, over twenty balls of condensed heat were shot into the ground where Nikos stood, for an added measure he launched another twenty, and just for the hell of it, he blew up the surrounding area. Velm whistled, ¡°Whew looks like your boyfriend didn¡¯t even stand a chance against. Ablazing.¡± Ablazing spoke up. ¡°I gave you chance, should have taken it, kid.¡± Out of the smoke catching Ablazing off guard was a large three-fingered hand that stretched almost twelve feet, The first two digits of the hand wrapped overtop his torso while the lower thumblike one secured the grip. The hand pushed out pinning him against a tree. The force of the slam was enough to knock the wind out of him. ¡°W-what.¡± The arm slammed him into another tree, causing blood to spurt from his mouth. The cracking of bones was covered up by the snapping of tree trunks and branches. Nikos lifted him five feet into the air and released him. The resulting fall left him on the ground sputtering out blood. It was unknown if he was still breathing. Nikos who had still been in the smoke emerged without a single wound. ¡°I win.¡± Said, Nikos, as he turned to walk away. ¡°...c...m...ch..il..dev..¡± A whisper like voice sounded from the back of Nikos'' head. He turned back around to see nothing had changed. But the voice sounded like it was coming from the body of his opponent. He stepped closer to find that the voice became clearer. ¡°Ch..ild...de..vour.¡± The voice was clear in what it wanted. But Niko found himself unable to break away from the trance of this voice. In fact, it was almost like his body wasn¡¯t his, his arm became smaller but changed to being more claw-like, With surgical precision, he tore the fragment from the body, it dissolved into the very skin that held it. Velm looked at Lilith with a worried expression.