In the classroom, with Mr. Isaac's corpse not that far away, the students looked at each other, unsure of what to do next.
Katie sat in her chair with her legs crossed. She had a lot in mind at first, but all that changed when Caitlin leaned up to her ear and whispered something to her. After that, she simply sat back and enjoyed the show.
"Anyone?" Facing the lack of responses, Kyle raised his voice once again. He first turned to Eric, the wannabe leader of the class.
Eric was acting rather odd after leaving the Masonville Hotel. After Wednesday last week, in fact, when Abigail was accused. He no longer clashed with Kyle, at least not publicly. In fact, some would even say he was obedient toward the man. Seeing Kyle's gaze, he took a deep breath before standing up.
Even as he did so, he gave Katie a quick glance.
Eric didn't hate Katie, even after Abigail outed Katie as just another supernatural being. In the early days of the games, Eric keenly recognized the value Katie possessed. While others panicked and cried and screamed, she was practically struggling to contain her laughter. As such, he placed quite the investment on Katie, paying and befriending her on the very first days. He even invited Katie to his parties.
Across the later games, his alliance with Katie was only strengthened. In the mission with the goo, Katie worked with him to bring down that monster and bring the game to an early conclusion. In Masonville Hotel, she and Caitlin followed his reign, however short that was.
The two held no grudges. If anything, he owed Katie his life. But...but Kyle had something that he couldn't risk letting exposed, and he was willing to do anything to keep that hidden. If it was exposed, he was a dead man.
Now, in most cases, pissing off Katie would result in the same conclusion, but not this time. This time, Katie was no longer the scariest one in the room.
"Yes." He declared, turning away from Katie and Caitlin in slight embarrassment. "Katie is a threat. She tortures and kills for her own pleasure. She is not even human, and…it's just a matter of time before she turns on us. I...I know it!"
Did he believe in what he said? No, but in the moment of life and death, he didn't hesitate to throw Katie under the bus to save himself. After all, honor and credibility meant nothing to a dead man. That was what he was taught since childhood.
Caitlin bit her lips at the cruel yet not unexpected betrayal. Katie's face twitched. Just slightly.
Kyle smirked, satisfied at the response. Without waiting for another second, he turned to the rest of the class. More specifically, he turned to Terry.
"Terry," He hissed. "do you still remember Brian? He was your friend, and because of Katie, he was cut in half. How long did it take him to die, Terry? How long did he spend crawling across the ground, screaming and begging to be put out of his misery?"
Terry bit his lips. Yes, in the early days of the games, he would've slain Katie the moment he could. In fact, Katie herself almost shot him dead right in the classroom in front of the whole class. He was well aware of Katie's danger. But...but she also saved him! When Kyle blackmailed him and demanded that he kneel before him, everyone else sat back and watched, and it was Katie that prevented that from happening! Now, could he team up with Kyle and stab the girl who saved him from humiliation in the back?
"Can you even remember his face, Terry?" Sensing his hesitation, Kyle took another step forward. "Can you still remember his cries? Wasn't he your friend? I mean...you were too weak to avenge him before, but now...now you have the chance!" He glanced at Katie thoughtfully. "The chance to bring a monster to her knees. Don't you wanna see that?"
"Someone had to die that day, Terry!" Caitlin raised her voice, not necessarily because she needed to protect Katie. She merely wanted to see what Terry's decision would be. "It was Brian or me! Katie only helped her friend. You would��ve done the same if you were in her position!"
The entire point, the four Section U Agents just stood by and watched in silence.
Terry took in a deep breath. He turned to Katie and, staring into her deep blue eyes, said something.
His decision has been made.
"I'm sorry, Katie, but violence is in your bones. When Brian died, I remember seeing you smiling at the bloody sight. You...you may be fine for now, but your nature has been sealed. You...you are a monster...and you should be dealt with as such!"
Katie tilted her head. Monster, huh? You have seen nothing yet...
"Well said." Kyle grinned. He turned back to the Section U Agents before suddenly remembering something. Once again, he returned his attention to the class. "Now, who thinks otherwise? Who thinks Katie deserves a chance to prove herself? A chance...to live?"
Many classmates bit their lips. Caitlin scanned across every single one of them. More specifically, she was looking through the classmates that Katie helped save.
"Aaron!" Her eyes suddenly settled on a boy. Aaron was from a rather well-off background. In the gladiatorial games, Aaron paid Katie $2,000 and had her replace him in the fight against a horde of zombies. He would've been killed most likely if Katie didn't intervene. "Katie saved your life! You owe her this!"
Sure...Katie was always going to get into the fight and Aaron just got lucky, but the fact remained that she saved him. One of the other boys, Bob, ended up being turned into a zombie. Aaron likely would've suffered the same fate if he stayed.
In the crowd, Aaron silently looked away and ignored Caitlin's words. Did Katie save him? Sure. Was he grateful? Sure. But...but speaking up now was alienating himself from the rest of the class. Even with the games gone, he still didn't want to piss off a group of individuals who have gone all too familiar with violence.
Caitlin's heart sank as the girl turned to another familiar figure. "Vivian! Katie saved you in that RCTV building, remember?"
Vivian bit her lips. For a moment, she really wanted to stand up and defend Katie. She wanted to get up and tell these Section U Agents that Katie had a good side. That her violence and power could be controlled as long as she was given the opportunity.
But just like Aaron, she turned away. She loved life too much to lose it defending someone else.
In the end, the room was silent, and the decision was made. Kyle turned to Katie and made a final statement.
"Ancient Chinese proverb. Those who are not our kin are sure to have a different mind, and you, Katie...you are not our kin. Whether you like it or not, you are our enemy. All your attempts to convince yourself you are still human...they are meaningless. I truly hope you have seen it now."
Caitlin lowered her head and sighed.
Now that that was settled, the four Section U Agents who have been watching all this drama unfold took a step forward. Two of them walked up to Katie, but not to kill her. Instead, they took out a pair of handcuffs, shining in blue light, and used them to restrain Katie's hands.
"Are you not going to kill her?" Eric frowned. Panic arose in his heart. If Katie survived this day...he would be doomed!
"No." One of the Agents replied quietly. "Don't worry. We will handle her."
Before Eric could protest, the Agents escorted Katie out of the room. Uncharacteristically, Katie didn't resist. She simply had a wide smile on her face as she walked. Caitlin quickly followed her and three of the four Section U Agents as they left the room.
"Our backup personnel will come over and clean this mess up. Wait here patiently."
The last Section U Agent instructed briefly before leaving the room.
The rest of the class sat there. Many of them still couldn't believe what happened today. One moment, they were ready to die horrific deaths! And now? Mr. Isaac, the monster who has haunted them, night and day, for weeks, was dead! The games have come to an end! They were saved!
As cheers and cries filled the room, Vivian found herself frowning. At first, in the heat of the moment, she didn't realize it. But now...now that she had some time to process it, she realized some things just didn't add up. The so-called Section U Agents...and how Caitlin and Katie reacted to them! This...what the hell was going on here?
---
A black SUV drove away from Riverside High School. Inside the car, Katie and Caitlin were sitting in the back. In the driver's seat in front of them was a single Section U Agent. The other Agents remained in the school, leaving just one of them, their leader, to escort the two to god-knew where..
Katie didn't mind the car ride. The handcuffs on her hand didn't stop her from leaning against Caitlin and rubbing her head against Caitlin's side. Not the most entertaining, but it was a type of pleasure of its own.
The car went into the rural area before coming to a stop in an open field.
That was when Caitlin spoke up for the first time in the car.
"That was quite an elaborate play you set up back there, Mr. Isaac. Then again, it makes perfect sense. After all, what's despair without hope?"
For a second, nothing happened, and then the Section U Agent in the front let out a smile. "Keen, Caitlin. Except...you've got one thing wrong. I am not the individual you refer to as Mr. Isaac."
This caught the brunette by surprise. Well...just a little. "So...you're one of his puppets? Or are you one of the other teachers?"
"Aren't those the same thing?"
"I…" Caitlin's eyes widened...wait, did that mean...the other undead teachers in the school were also puppets of Mr. Isaac! That was good news! Well...it wouldn't change the fact that they couldn't kill Mr. Isaac at all, but one of them was better than a dozen of them! "So...what are you?"
The Agent tilted his head, and Caitlin found herself a little concerned. After all, why would he answer her questions...
"You can consider me as one of Mr. Isaac's colleagues, though that may not be completely accurate."
Ok...Caitlin raised her eyebrows. Never mind.
"Mr. Isaac said he has informed his superiors, seeking aid to kill me." Katie cut in, calling back to what Mr. Isaac told Caitlin yesterday. "I assume he was talking about you."
The Agent turned back to Katie. His eyes flickered. "Your assumptions are incorrect, Ms. Lockwood."
"Ms. Lockwood? I like the sound of it..." Katie raised her eyebrows at the name as the Agent continued.
"A request for aid was filed by Mr. Isaac, but it was rejected. The Dark Pantheon has limited resources. The superiors felt like Ms. Lockwood doesn't warrant reinforcements. He was lying."
"Wait…" Caitlin's head was spinning from the sheer information. "The Dark Pantheon?"
"That's what we call our faction. We are members of the Dark Pantheon." The Agent affirmed. "The entity posing as Mr. Isaac is a member of the Predator rank. Predators are...they are sort of the foot soldiers of the Dark Pantheon, but Mr. Isaac is one of the strongest Predators."
"That's good to know...but why are you telling us this?" This time, even Katie found herself confused. Which type of operative just goes around spewing top-secret information like this? That was like a US Colonel or something flying to Somali or Iraq and starting broadcasting military files and transcripts on open channels. Aren't you afraid of court-martials or something?
"Well…" The Agent paused briefly, unfazed by the question. "I'm sort of a competitor of Mr. Isaac. I am doing his deeds and helping out with his plan because I am assigned to aid him, but that doesn't mean my loyalty is with him. And if you're worried about foul play, note that you two have nothing to lose, and there is nothing for me to gain by lies."
That makes sense. Caitlin thought darkly. The girls really didn't have a choice simply due to a lack of power and knowledge alike. Either way...Mr. Isaac really needed to find himself better colleagues. With allies like this, he barely even needed enemies!
At the same time, if the Agent wanted to use the grls, he only needed to tell them the basics and they still would've complied nonetheless. So why the history lessons? He was giving out a bit too much information if he simply wanted to use the girls to take down his competitor...
"By the way, in case you are wondering. He doesn't have Spiers around here. What is said here will stay here." The Agent informed the girls before continuing with his explanations.
"The Dark Pantheon is led by an individual that calls himself Lord Horen. There are three main ranks in the Pantheon, Predators, Dominators, and Lords. Predators are the minions, Dominators are the officers, and Lords are the commanders."
"Members of the Dark Pantheon focus on deriving powers from negative emotions such as pain and despair, and using that energy, we manipulate souls as well as summon beasts, known as Chaos Descendants, from the Chaos Domain to do our biddings."
"Wait...the Chaos Domain?" Katie suddenly raised a finger. "Is that like Chaos and the Warp in Warhammer 40K?"
Caitlin almost coughed at the question. From evil real life organizations to games, that's quite a twist, even for Katie... "Wait...as in the fictional universe?"
"Yeah!" Katie shrugged casually. "What? My dad was a huge fan of the universe. I read a few wiki pages about it. Know the basics."
"Hmmm…" Surprisingly, the Agent has heard of it as well. "It's actually a funny story, but our members got really horrified when they discovered WH40K...anyways, it seems to be no more than a coincidence. There are no gods or daemons in the Chaos Domain, at least not ones powerful enough to rule the entire Domain. Nor does the Chaos Domain reflect all emotions of sentient beings."
Once again, Caitlin found herself speechless. She could even imagine a bunch of evil entities on the power level of Mr. Isaac and above running around, clutching to their heads and wondering the meaning of their existence. It was an amusing idea that she tossed out of her head as the Agent continued.
"The Chaos Domain is known as the garbage field of the endless worlds out there. At first, it was just an ordinary world with a little too much negative energy. But as time passed on, more and more of those negative powers were dragged into that world until it corrupted the world itself, transforming it into the Chaos Domain."
"The very theme of the Chaos Domain is, well, chaos. It is said that every single second, numberless Chaos Descendants are formed by the Will of the Domain, projected by the fears and suffering and anguish of a trillion worlds. The hatred of a world torn by battle tanks and planes may project into fleets of mechanical horrors in the Chaos Domain. The fear of undead monsters may forge zombie hordes. Even the instinctive fear that people have of the sea may create legions of under-water abominations."
"For the vast majority of these Chaos Descendants, their first second of existence is their last. A three-kilometer tall monster may be formed, only to fold onto itself because it lacks the muscular strength to support its height and size. Nonetheless, the Chaos Domain remains a hellish place, overridden with beasts, many of which were capable of consuming worlds at will."
"What we, agents of the Dark Pantheon, do is summon these Chaos Descendants into this world and bind them to our service. Ms. Lockwood…" The Agent turned to Katie. "you have faced multiple Chaos Descendants in combat and emerged victorious. Chaos Hounds. Dashers. That's quite impressive."
"Thank you." Katie gave the Agent a small smile.
"Ok...but what is Mr. Isaac actually trying to do?" Caitlin couldn't help but ask the question she has been wondering for weeks. "Is it related to the Chaos Domain? Maybe he's somehow harnessing our suffering?"
"Maybe he wants to destroy the world?" Katie shrugged and just tossed the idea out there.
The Agent coughed, not because he was insulted or anything, but simply because he was amused. "I assure you, Ms. Lockwood, that destroying the world is not as easy as movies make it. There are countless factions in this world, many of whom as powerful as the Dark Pantheon. We all want something, whether it's money, power, or others. Only cultists...in fact, aside from a few cultists that I would usually kill on sight, most of them are also after something."
He snickered.
"If someone goes onto the street of New York City at dawn and says he wants to destroy the world, and he is actually capable of doing that, he'll be dead by dusk. None of us worked this hard just to get killed."
"Ok ok. I get your point." Katie growled impatiently. Ok! Even villains don't want the world to end! Fine! "So what is he after?"
The Agent glanced at Caitlin. "Your friend is correct, Ms. Lockwood. There is power in suffering. We are capable of collecting souls and sacrificing them to the Will of the Chaos Domain in exchange for power, Chaos Descendants, and many more. The more agony the soul has been put through, the more satisfied the Will will be, and the more we get in return."
Oh...now everything makes sense. Caitlin sighed. She has suspected something in this realm, but it still hurt when she heard it. All the students...tormented just so their souls could be sold for a higher price?
"So Mr. Isaac wants to refine us. Make us ready to be harvested? To be sacrificed?" She tried to keep her voice calm and add in a bit of sarcasm. "Honestly, I expected something a little more creative to his motives than just making sacrifices to hell."
"Oh…" This comment made the Agent raise a finger. "Actually...we don't sacrifice to hell. As a matter of fact, the Dark Pantheon is a determined enemy of Hell. In fact...three years ago, a bunch of cultists tried to summon Lucifer in New York City. Doing such might've caused this entire world to be pulled into Hell." He had an intrigued look on his face.
"We actually worked with a number of other factions and assaulted the base of operation of the cultists. The Dark Pantheon took heavy losses to essentially save the world. Two Lords and a dozen Dominators were killed in the battle. The casualties among Predators are beyond count."
Well...Katie honestly didn't know how to answer that. A faction called the Dark Pantheon, with members making deals with the Domain of Chaos and manipulating souls and unleashing monsters against their enemies, saving the world against the forces of Hell? Quite the villain on villain action. "Uh...thank you?"
The Agent glanced at her and moved on.
"Either way, most of the students in your school will be sacrificed straight-up in the form of souls, but ultimately, he will keep around 30 of you alive until the end. These are students with the most resilient but most broken souls, and when everything comes to an end, he will sacrifice those people, alive, to the Will of the Chaos Domain at once...in exchange for an especially powerful Chaos Descendant."
"With the blessing of the Will of the Chaos Domain, this Chaos Descendant will be merged with his soul, making him at least ten times more powerful than he is now. This will secure his ascension into a Dark Pantheon Dominator. Once that happens..." The Agent snapped at Katie. "He still can't kill you, but you will not be able to last a second in front of him."
"In other words, you have to stop him before that."
Caitlin and Katie exchanged a glance. Stop Mr. Isaac? Of course they wanted to stop Mr. Isaac! But how? "I take it you can't beat him?" Katie couldn't help but ask.
The Agent snickered. "I can beat him, but if I am allowed to strike him down directly, then I wouldn't be talking to you two."
"So you can't beat him." That was all Katie got from that reply.
"I…never mind." The Agent gave up.
"What about these so-called Section U Agents?" Caitlin glanced at the Agent's uniform. "Are they just completely made-up, or is Section U actually a thing?"
"Oh, they are a thing." The Agent tapped his sidearm, a large handgun also shining in dim blue light. "Section U is a faction funded by the Government as well as a lot of businessmen and corporations. They focus on using high-tech weapons and superhuman genetic modifications. They do occasionally act as law enforcement, but their influence in New York has been crushed after our forces stormed their bases two years ago. That's also how we acquired these bodies...either way, they will be useless against Mr. Isaac."
"Then how are we supposed to kill him?" Caitlin couldn't help but question. This time, the Agent didn't answer directly. He simply glanced at Katie.
"Just do what you do best, Ms. Lockwood, and you can find a way."
"What sort of answer is that…" Caitlin raised her voice before suddenly going silent. At this moment, she knew exactly what the Agent was referring to.
"As of now…" Ignoring Caitlin, the Agent pulled out a knife from his uniform and handed it to Katie. "How much experience do you have with sawing off heads?"
Behind the cover of his glasses, a shade of darkness filled his eyes.