Inside a strange cave, a large red ant could be seen devouring a beast. While it was eating, a smaller ant was approaching it.
"Mother." The ant said, bowing. "Brother Marcus hasn't returned. You sent him on that mission to find out what the King had attacked."
The mother ant stopped eating and stared at the small ant, confused. She had a massive family and didn't have the best memory when it came to remembering her children but she did remember sending one of her children on a mission.
"Marcus hasn't returned? Now that you say that, my connection to him is severed." Mother said, realizing what her child meant.
"Shall I go looking for him?" The ant asked.
"Yes. Take a few of your brothers as well."
After getting permission, the ant went to a massive room and thousands of ants could be seen working. The ant proceeded to walk around the room while thinking about what its mother had said.
'Take a few of my brothers? Does mother doubt my capabilities?' The ant thought.
"Brother Neo! What did the mother say?" Another ant asked, approaching Neo.
"She said her connection to Brother Marcus has been severed. She wants me to take a few of our brothers to find him."
"Take me! I can help! We can also take Brother Darius, Zane and Xavier." The ant suggested.
"Great! Go gather them and meet me at the exit."
Once the ant left, Neo left to the exit and didn't seem too happy about it. Before, he would be sent on solo missions and always return unscathed but this time, mother wanted him to take a few of his brothers.
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"Where do you think you're going!?" Sebastian shouted at a monkey.
Slash!
The monkey fell to the ground and tried to crawl away. It didn't know why this person had attacked it out of nowhere. It didn't even provoke and attack the person, and yet he came at it like a madman.
"Unfortunately, you happened to be the beast I am hunting. You see, one of your kind had the ability to suppress one's rank and I found it unique."
Soon, the beast's arms turned numb and noticed it couldn't move anymore. Slowly, it could hear the attacker approaching and cursed him internally.
Stab!
Finishing the beast, Sebastian grabbed the beast by the head and partially transformed his hand before piercing its hide, and pulling out a crystal. After discovering the beast's ability to suppress its target's rank, he took interest and wanted to make chains out of its crystal.
"That should be nine crystals. Just eleven more to be able to create my chains." Thinking about chains, he looked at his arms and noticed the molten-looking chains attached to his arms.
Ever since becoming the Apostle of the War, he found out he could become stronger after experiencing a near-death experience. However, he found the chains to be a nuisance. They were a dead giveaway about him being the Apostle of War and he would often need to wear baggy clothing to hide them.
Most would be happy about becoming an Apostle but some Apostles were shunned such as, the Apostle of Darkness, War, Slaughter and a few others. These were mainly shunned since they went against the morals of everyone, though some were accepted since it benefitted their kingdom or people who were evil.
Staring south, he felt a couple of beasts on the move and noticed they weren't any ordinary beast.
'Special beasts? They feel awfully weak but I guess it wouldn't hurt to check what kind of beast they are.' He thought.
Running in their direction, he arrived at their location and noticed they were ants. They looked similar to the one that had attacked when he first arrived.
'Are they hunting beasts or are they looking for the one Carlos had killed? I should follow in case they find our base.'
Hidden in the trees, Sebastian followed the ant and it seemed like they knew where they were going as they arrived at the mountain. On the mountain, a dead ant with a metal spear through its head could be seen.
"Brother Marcus!" An ant named Zane said.
Rushing over toward the dead ant, they pulled the spear out and inspected his body. From their analysis, he didn't have any injury other than the spear through his head.
"Let's follow his pheromones. They'll lead us to his attacker." Neo said.
'It seems that one is the leader of the group.'
Staring in the direction of the base, the ants started to move and soon they arrived at the base, and noticed a few people were sparring.
"These humans killed Brother Marcus." Neo whispered.
"We must avenge him." Zane whispered back.
"No! We must report back and inform our mother about the situation. There is a strong one among them and even I won't win against them."
Slowly walking backwards, the ants made sure to make no noise while leaving. Sebastian himself was unsure what to do. He obviously could continue to follow until they arrived at their colony and kill them before they could enter it. The only problem would be the pheromones attaching to him.
'Hmmm… I doubt these ants could overpower them so I'll just see how it works out.' Sebastian thought.
Although he still continued to follow to find their colony in case he needed to get rid of them in the future. He was confident in fighting a thousand of them with his strength and body alone.
A couple of minutes passed and Sebastian noticed a few things. As he followed them, he noticed there were a couple other groups of ants and they seemed a bit more powerful than the leader.
"You four go on ahead. I got some business to settle." Neo said
"Alright, but don't be gone for too long."
After they left, Neo turned around and started to approach Sebastian's hiding spot.
"I know you've been following us, human. They may not have been able to smell you but I can."
Surprised, Sebastian took out his giant black sword and lunged forward, out of the trees. The ant stuck its hand out and slid back before stopping the sword.
"Did you think I would be easy to kill?" Neo said.
A quick jab struck Sebastian and blood began to leak out his shoulder. Surprised, he took a defensive stance and focused on the ant's movements
"You're fast for your rank." Sebastian stated.
"That's because I'm lowering my presence to feel like a low-ranking beast." Neo replied as his presence started to increase.
"Peak-E rank… That's gonna be a problem. Are all ants the same rank or just you?"
"I'm not gonna answer that question!"
Neo lunged forward and threw a quick jab with his finger straight. Sebastian moved fast and quickly grabbed Neo's hand while partially transforming his arms.
"You're a werewolf?"
Shaking, Sebastian's arms were struggling to hold back the ant. That's when he finally realized it. This ant wasn't a peak E-Rank but a beginner D-rank one.
Removing one of his hands, Sebastian dodged and tried to use his claws to pierce the ant but it just slid across its endoskeleton.
'This ain't good.'
Bang!
A fist to the chest sent Sebastian flying through the air until he slammed into a tree. His presence was finally released as the outfit couldn't suppress it any longer.
"A mere Low E-Rank trying to kill me? Your kind always seemed to be the type to challenge those stronger than them."
'It's been a while since I ran into someone with a high-ranking physique.' Sebastian thought, blood leaking out of his mouth.
Standing up, Sebastian activated his auras and Flames of Rage, and a surge of strength entered his body. Sebastian then pulled out a green vial and injected it into neck.
His body began to get slightly bigger and Neo noticed his rank jumped to Peak E-Rank.
"Do you think that increase in strength will help you?!" Neo lunged.
Bang!
Catching Neo's fist, Sebastian was surprised. He felt like he could go toe-to-toe with the ant.
"Impossible! You shouldn't be able to stop my fist!"
"Ha! Haha!" Sebastian chuckled like a madman
'What the hell is this feeling!? Why can't I shake off this bloodlust?' Sebastian was worried. It's been a while since he last felt this and didn't know how to feel.
"I refuse to believe an inferior being like you could match my strength!" Neo shouted, angered.
A quick swipe had struck Sebastian's thigh and made him fall to his knee. Another swipe could be seen incoming and struck against his face.
Sebastian was confused. He couldn't move his body and felt a strange paralysis overcome his body as if his body couldn't hold the sudden burst of energy within his body.
"What's the matter? Scared? Ha!" Neo laughed.
He then threw another swipe aiming for Sebastian's neck and as it was about to strike, a spear came flying through the air and struck Neo across the face. Angered, Neo looked toward the throwing location of the spear and stared.
Not long after, an earth spike rose beneath him and skimmed across his chest. Two boys appeared and grabbed Sebastian before leaving.
"Those rats!" Neo said, following in pursuit.
Running in a random direction, the two boys felt the ant hot on their tail. Soon they arrived at the mountain side and turned around, and saw the ant.
"Did you think you could escape?"
"Escape? No." One boy replied.
"We just gave our friend some time to get the paralysis effect out of his system." The other boy said.
Behind the boys, Sebastian finally stood up and tilted his head side to side, cracking his neck. Slowly walking forward, he was getting closer while the two boys followed a short distance behind.
It was then the ant noticed, Sebastian was slightly taller than it and the two behind him were Peak F-Rank. In its mind, it giggled at them for their futile attempts to combat it.
Bang!
A quick hook had struck the ant and its consciousness blacked out before returning. Putting its guard up, the ant was now cautious of Sebastian as his strength didn't match his rank at all.
"Don't you know? I'm not like any ordinary werewolf, I'm a primordial werewolf. An evolution that excels at everything." Sebastian said.
Another quick hook skimmed across the ant's chin as it barely had time to dodge. Suddenly, a spear flew by and struck its shoulder, slightly cracking its shoulder. Feeling the ground vibrate, the ant dodged and an earth spike rose from the ground quickly.
Sebastian suddenly appeared in front of the ant with a sword by his side and quickly unsheathed the blade, which slid along its scale. Throwing an attack of its own, the ant expected it attack to land but another sword appeared by Sebastian's side and quickly pulled the sword halfway out of the sheath.
Bang!
A smile appeared on Sebastian's face as the attack landed against his sword, and an uneasy feeling entered the ant's mind and body. Soon, a hundred small strikes were felt on its scales and some fell off.
Bang!
A kick landed against the ant and caused it to slide back. Another uneasy feeling entered its mind and body again, and looked toward Sebastian to see what he would do next. In an instant, Sebastian disappeared from its vision and a painful feeling was felt around its achilles .
"Now!" Sebastian shouted.
Carlos flash-stepped in front of the ant and did an uppercut with his iron gauntlets, which flung the beast into the sky. An earth spike rose from the ground and the ant landed at the tip of the spike.
From the ant's vision, it saw a figure in front of the sun wielding a war hammer as it descended upon it.
Bang!
After the war hammer had struck the ant, the earth spike pierced its back as it was pushed further into the spike. Black blood ran down the earth spike and a giant spike was in the torso of the ant.
"You bastard!" The ant screeched, shattering the spike inside its body.
Before the two boys could react, the ant appeared in front of one of them and swung its claws down. Just as it was about to slit one of their throats, Sebastian's eye flashed as a reddish black wave of energy left his body and stopped the ant in its place.
Soon the ant fell to the ground while Sebastian dropped to one knee, holding his eyes.