Morningstar opened his eyes.
"No," he said.Kofi let out a breath of relief. "I didn't either," he said. "And I think we should get out of here. They're probably going to send more people, and if they outnumber us, they might try to 'persuade' us to join."
He said. Hearing those words, Morningstar frowns as he ponders on the reason for them trying to forcefully recruit them when they clearly state they don't want to join.
_Sigh, humans are clearly literally all the same._ He felt. But being someone who doesn't understand human characters that much, he could only nod and stand up.
"Let's go, shall we?" He said to Kofi. "Um, where should we head to, since we don't plan on joining the Earth Federation?"
Kofi asked, scratching his head in confusion. He knew that finding a safe place would be difficult in a world that had descended into chaos which was why he wanted to know Morningstar's option.
Morningstar thought for a moment, then replied, "I think we should head to the Tyranny of Steel Organization. They operate without laws, so we'll be able to hunt and steal from others without any restrictions. Just like what I read in a novel once, warriors are born from chaos, not from a safe house."
Kofi was shocked by Morningstar's words. He didn't expect him to suggest something so drastic, but on second thought he felt like it was indeed the best idea, The Holy Light Churches seems to forcefully turn everyone into religious fanatics and The Earth Federation stands remain unknown, while The Tyranny Of Steel seems wild and a good choice to fish in it.
"I actually agree with you," Kofi said, "and speaking of weapons, I sold all of the ones we got from hunting mutants. The soldiers and humans here were very interested in them. I also got lots of runes that we can divide between us."
With that, he took off his backpack and upended it, spilling a pile of runes onto the ground. Their intricate patterns gleamed with power.Morningstar looked at the pile, a little shocked by Kofi's quick thinking. He had never considered selling their loot before or to be exact he had but didn't even know how to approach it. "Let's divide them and get out of here," Morningstar said. Kofi nodded in agreement, and the two of them squatted down and began to share the runes. They each picked up a handful and absorbed them, feeling the power flowing through their bodies.Once they had divided all the runes, Morningstar checked his stats, eager to see how much he had progressed. He was surprised to see that his stats had gone up by quite a bit. His strength had increased by 3.3 points, and his agility by 5.2 Even his intelligence had gone up by 5.9
_Wait, I didn't have an intelligence stat before,_ Morningstar thought, a puzzled expression on his face.
_Did the dark power awaken my intelligence? Maybe I'll awaken more strange things in the future._
As he pondered these thoughts, Kofi spoke up. "Are you done? We should probably get out of here." Morningstar nodded, breaking out of his reverie.
Kofi was right, they needed to move on. They couldn't stay here forever, no matter how comfortable it was.With that in mind, they packed up their things and Kofi twisted the door knob open and the both of them walked out of the room into the main hall. Strangely, as soon as they came out of the room they found the atmosphere a little bit off, everyone was so quiet and some were even trembling. Feeling confused, Kofi and Morningstar moved forward and saw the soldiers, five guys from the other hero-like people, Ragnar, Captain Jane and Li Xi who avoided eye contact with Morningstar.
"What's happening here? Why is everyone so quiet?" Kofi barrelled two questions at once towards them. "We are surrounded." The huge Anderson said in a gruff voice. "Surrounded?" Kofi was confused. "Yeah, surrounded," Anderson continued, "but not by people. There are zombies and mutants blocking all the exits. Some of the mutants can manipulate dark energy or spew fireballs. Some can even go berserk. Jackson and Wentworth went outside to hunt, and they were caught by the creatures. I'm sure they're dead now." He spoke casually, as if death was an everyday occurrence.
"How do you know all this?" Kofi asked, still trying to process what he was hearing. "Tsk! You can go outside and have a look, just know that as long as you step out of this door we wouldn't open it again for you." Anderson coldly said. Kofi squinted his eyes at those words. He couldn't help but groan inwardly, why now of all times? Ain't these zombies and mutants' attack timing a bit too coincidently? Just when he and Morningstar were planning on escaping, a damn horde decides to attack.
****
Outside Of The Hall -
The only surviving building was the school hall which stood lonely in this desolate environment. But right now some beasts were surrounding it. Outside the hall, 23-plus types of creatures were milling around the school hall.There were bulls with fire coming from their noses, cats with faint winds or dark shadowy figures swirling around them, zombies of huge sizes, just like the once Morningstar and Kofi fought, birds flapping their wings and making screeching noises, and even crocodile-like creatures covered in scales and horns.
The largest of them, over 4.5 meters long and 3 meters tall, stood at the back of the pack. On the back of the largest creature sat a figure, his face pale and his eyes were half-black. He looked at the army of powerful beasts he was able to create within a short period with a wide grin plaster on his face, revealing blackened lips and a row of sharp white teeth. In his left hand, he held a bony spear and on the right was an apple. If Morningstar was to be here he would have recognized the person, since it was Jayden.
As he bit into the apple, Jayden's eyes flicked to the hall, a mischievous grin on his face. "Mmm, this apple is soooo yummy," he said, his voice dripping with excitement. "It's good for my health, you know. I wonder if my cousin has eaten yet. Hahaha! Oh, well, there's no need to worry. I'll send him a little gift."
With that, he tossed the half-eaten apple to the ground, watching as it rolled towards the creatures gathered below. "Here you go, my pets." With the eager enthusiasm of a child, Jayden pointed at one of the zombies, his grin wide. "You! Come here!" he called out, his voice full of glee.The zombie he had pointed to shambled forward, staggering like a drunkard as it approached him. Jayden watched with amusement, like a child with a new toy."There's a good boy!" he cooed.
The zombie's eyes were blank as it stood waiting for its order.
Jayden reached into his pocket and pulled out another apple, holding it out to "Today's your lucky day!"
Jayden exclaimed, clapping his hands together.
"I want you to go to that door over there," he said, pointing to the door of the hall, "and give the phone to a man named Morningstar. He'll love the video I sent him, hehehe!" He put a finger to his chin as if pondering for a moment. "What do you say, he will love it, right? Oh well, I forgot you can't talk till you reach a higher level."
The zombie swayed from side to side, its blank eyes staring blankly ahead. It made no response, no sign that it had even heard Jayden's words. "..."
Without uttering another word, he gave the zombie the phone to which it dazed, held it and turned towards the hall, with staggering feet it moved forward. "Is that your best speed Bug guy?" Jayden yelled but the zombie kept moving at such a slow pace. "Tsk, I hate slowpokes," Jayden muttered. "Hey, Catsy!" he called out, pointing to a lion-sized cat with faint winds swirling around its body.
"Go get that bug guy and bring him to the door, will you?"At once, the cat pounced, snagging the slow zombie by the neck and throwing it towards the door at lightning speed."Whoa- watch out!" Jayden exclaimed, but it was too late.
The zombie slammed into the door with a resounding thud, falling to the ground with black blood dripping from its head. Jayden grimaced at the sight.
_Ouch, that gotta hurt._
He thought as he watched the injury quickly heal up. The zombie placed its hand on the door, and dark energy started to swirl around its palm. It touched the door where its hand was, and the door began to rust, the metal corroding right before their eyes. No one inside the hall was aware of what was happening.After ten minutes, the zombie pulled its hand away and clenched it into a fist. Then, with a light power, it punched the door part which was the most affected part of being rusty. With a groan of strain, the spot where the zombie had punched the door gave way. The spot was at the bottom of the door, so the hole was small and not immediately obvious. Without a moment's hesitation, the zombie reached through the hole and gently tossed the phone into the hall, sending it sliding across the floor. With a delighted laugh, Jayden called out, "Morningstar! It's me, your loving cousin! I've got some great movies on that phone that you can jerk off to, well, you know. It's nothing, really. That's what family is for, after all! Hahaha!"
****
"Mmmm?" Feeling confused, Morningstar looked at the phone and cautiously walked towards it.
"Do you know the owner of that voice?" Anderson asked as he also looked at the phone. "I guess so, it is my cousin,"
Morningstar muttered as he picked up the phone, he felt his gut telling him not to watch the movie but curiosity got the better of him as he then turned on the phone and immediately went towards the movie part. Suddenly, Morningstar's expression changed from curiosity to coldness, his eyes hardening and his brow furrowing.
A notification suddenly appeared in his vision.
"Morningstar...?" Kofi called out, his voice trembling. Everyone else had taken a step back, their eyes wide with fear.
It wasn't just the sight of Morningstar's eyes which had turned bright yellow.
It was the palpable air of danger that seemed to emanate from him.Morningstar was barely aware of their reactions.
A dark mist was rising from his body, swirling around him like a dark, ominous cloud. This was his ability, Darkness, which he hadn't even known he had. And now it was activated unbidden, responding to his emotions.
"Jayden..." he growled, the words coming out slowly, one at a time. "You...will...die." He felt a deep hatred toward Jayden, but also a deep pain. It was like a searing wound, and it was only getting worse.
(✯ᴗ✯)