Kain was quite satisfied with his haul so far: he had collected 30 balls of 100x strength and 10 balls of 150x strength from absorbing the hybrids. He could sense the last of the hybrids had fled back to their chambers.
As Kain moved further in, the occasional pinion would fly out from his body and set off booby traps further ahead of him. Soon enough, he reached the first of the prisons he detected.
A grim look flashed across Kain's face as he phased through the prison door. Inside the prison were mostly men in haggard states. They were gaunt and their clothing was in tatters. Kain recognized some of the men from when he went out on his mission to Naren City.
Kain removed his camouflage but kept his concealment while he sliced open the prison door. The men watched on in surprise as multiple pinions flew out from a man concealed in a hooded cloak, who just appeared out of thin air. The pinions seemed to grow minds of their own as each of them zoomed to the chains shackling them to the wall and destroyed them.
"Leave this prison and take a right following the passageway all the way down. Keep going straight and eventually you will run into people who will help you." said the cloaked figure.
The men didn't need a second reminder as they rushed out and to the right. Kain continued to the next rooms and freed the prisoners.
When he arrived at the door of one room, he strangely felt his sixth sense tingling. It wasn't warning him of danger in the room, just that there was someone familiar within.
Kain's eyes widened in shock and anger when he used his detection beyond the door. He immediately broke the door down and rushed inside. Armless and jawless zombies were caged in man-sized cages, or gibbets. These cages hung from the ceiling like bird cages but allowed no extra room for the zombie within to move.
Kain walked past most of the zombies to stand in front of one of the gibbets. He grimaced with sorrow as he looked upon what remained of the face of Jake. Jake's bloodshot eyes held no recognition of Kain.
"I'm sorry I didn't come quicker Jake. I'll make sure to make the bastards pay for what they did to you. Take care…brother."
Kain always appreciated Jake and thought that he could truly be like a brother to him. He wanted to invite him out to drink with Barton and Desmond and was sure he would get along with them.
Kain's eyes flashed red as a curtain of fire rained down onto Jake's body and burned him to ashes instantly. Similar curtains of fire came down over all the other zombies and cremated them as well. He had no interest in taking their powers as it was a form of respect to let them perish with them. They were mostly his comrades and he would get revenge for all of them.
Kain expanded out his detection and noticed the room with the breeding women. His eyes widened and he rushed towards the direction of the room, phasing through wall after wall. Finally, he arrived into the breeding chambers and a cacophony of screaming, wailing, crying, crazed mutterings, grunts, and sounds of flesh colliding against flesh assaulted Kain's ears. Kain immediately incinerated the zombified metahumans as fast as he could, with a focus first on the ones just about to reach the desperately screaming women. Next, he turned his attention to the ones currently copulating with the women.
Tentacle after tentacle flew out of Kain and snatched each of the zombified metahumans and threw them off the women. As soon as they were off, he promptly incinerated them through his tentacles.
Finally, the cacophony of noises was narrowed down to just a few crazed mutterings, crying, whimpering, and a few that were still locked in an endless scream. Kain quickly freed the women from their restrictions and the lucky ones that avoided the depraved copulation hurried to help the women who weren't so lucky.
The ones who were still sane looked with gratitude towards Kain for saving them from a fate worse than death. Kain smashed open the door to the chamber.
"Hurry out and take a right. Follow the passageway all the way down and you will meet with friendly forces that will assist you." said Kain.
Some of the women dropped to their knees and thanked Kain profusely, before moving out of the chambers while helping those less fortunate alongside them. Kain sighed and wondered what would happen to the ones who were too far gone to help.
Using his detection, he saw that there were no more prisoners. The next closest objective were the 10 hybrids huddled in their enclosures. They may as well have been sitting ducks for Kain.
Arriving at the enclosure, multiple tentacles shot out and captured a few hybrids and started to suck them dry. In the end, not a single hybrid was able to escape and all of them were converted to balls of radiation of 150x strength.
Checking what the next target was, Kain's eyes flashed with hatred when he recognized an old adversary wasn't too far from him. Kain smiled in anticipation of sweet revenge as he faded away from view.
---
The front line was bolstered by reinforcements from the void emblem and there were over 200 defenders standing behind barricades. Most of the defenders were the cream of the crop as well, with 50 templars from the Lavaris faction, 30 Velyon battle suits, and 70 from the Grandia Brigade. Various sniper units were positioned on makeshift towers.
The front line was within the gigantic chambers where the hybrids were fed the zombified babies. There was only one passageway in and it was booby trapped and triggered to explode if the negotiations failed to bear fruit.
On top of an elevated platform overlooking the defenses, knight captain Rengar of the Templars was having a heated conversation with Bartock of the Grandia Brigade.
"Who cares if women were being impregnated? It was for the greater good of Bastion. Their sacrifice is necessary to push our capabilities to the limit." argued Rengar.
"Are you fucking kidding me? You aren't outraged at how human beings were being treated down here? Why don't you have your loved ones sacrifice for the greater good and come down and get impregnated by zombies?" shot back Bartock.
The two were about to come to blows, but a heavy presence locked them in place as a figure merged out of the shadows. Both Rengar and Bartock were shocked because they couldn't move their bodies.
"Gentlemen, we shouldn't be fighting among ourselves. Victory will soon be at hand, now that I have arrived on the field. There is no need for any 'settlement' because the opposing forces will either accept our demands or face annihilation."
The shadowy figure finally transformed into Gerris just as he finished speaking. Rengar and Bartock felt the pressure release and they found they could move again.
"Bartock, if you are so sick of what went on down here, you can keep your forces back from engaging. However, in doing so, you will get on my bad side and I will have to have a word with your commanding officer. Most likely you will be demoted if it comes to that. I don't see why you have to be so flustered about those women. They are the enemy and have no rights in my eyes. Besides, did you honestly think that the military didn't have their own dirty little projects? I'll have you know that the higher ups in the military are just as bad when it comes to women." said Gerris.
Bartock had a sinking feeling that Gerris was right. He thought about the mysterious occurrences that have been occurring to the many women in the military. Many women were discharged from the military after they were found to be pregnant. Word was that the women were sluts and slept around, but Bartock knew a few of the discharged. The ones he knew were bright and had great potential. One of them was a daughter of a friend and she was chaste and conservative. She didn't even hang out with men, even though her beauty caused many to court her.
The night before she was discharged, she had come to him upset and confused. She was in tears as she could barely walk and she was bleeding through her pants. Showing him the damage done to her private area, Bartock was convinced she was sexually assaulted. However, she was adamant that she was using the bathroom and no one had attacked her. Yet, after leaving the bathroom, this was the state she found herself in.
Bartock had his hands tied and couldn't help his friend's daughter. After hearing Gerris' words, he knew that someone used their power to take advantage of not just his friend's daughter, but all the ones who mysteriously got pregnant. Realizing that the culprit had to be high up the chain, Bartock made the decision to leave the military.
"I will be leaving with my men. If I get demoted, then so be it." said Bartock, as he turned around to leave.
Suddenly, Bartock crashed onto his knees as he felt immense pressure force him down.
Shaking his head, Gerris said, "Do you think I will let you embarrass me by leaving with your men? I planned on revealing my ascension into the tier above Genji today. I am the first to break through in the entire world! As the first, I will call the tier above as King tier…for I will be a king that rules above all."
Gerris walked up and grabbed Bartock by his throat and lifted him into the air.
"Unfortunately, you made the wrong decision and made this king angry. For that, you will be the first to experience my new power. The world will tremble at my…"
Before Gerris could finish his words, the arm holding Bartock was sliced off and something stabbed into Gerris' right eye. Howling in pain, Gerris clutched at the pinion stuck in his eye with his remaining left arm. Suddenly, a figure appeared and smashed a fist into Gerris' face, launching him from the platform and sending him flying.
"King my ass." said Kain, as he lowered his fist.
"ENEMY ATTACK!!" yelled Rengar as he retreated a few paces back.
The defenders cried out one after another as they all congregated and surrounded Kain. The snipers trained their sights on the lone figure.
Kain had just kicked the hornet's nest.
He didn't give a damn.