Approximately 30 seconds before all hell let loose on the streets of the Gantz district.
I took a step back when I peered into the storage unit of the DedSect cargo truck.
"What the fuck?!", I exclaimed as I jumped several meters back.
Guillotine and Charlatan who were holding back the law enforcement agencies had confused expressions when they overheard the cry of their comrade.
"Longitude what's wrong?", Guillotine said into the comms as he regained his footing on a black platform.
Charlatan listened for any response but all they heard was static. He glanced at Guillotine then landed on the road. They both nodded at each other and took their stances.
Black mass and energy accumulated around their bodies as stray bullets flew across them. They charged up the form of matter they were creating and forcibly merged them together. The resulting mass warped and distorted everything around it, tearing through the fabric of space-time.
With increasing levels of Occlusion being fueled by their desire to destroy.
They concentrated the mass and aimed it at the law enforcement who stopped in their tracks. They raised barriers and sprayed more bullets but of course against that abomination they were nothing but cannon fodder. Becoming aware of the danger they were in, they relinquished their weapons and urge for justice, turning to retreat.
Guillotine and Charlatan glanced at the runaway cars and said, "Dark Energy + Dark Matter compound: Erasing Bullet."
The moment they completed their sentence, they threw the violent mass towards the stowaways.
WHOOSH!
The sound it created indicated that it was as light as a feathered but the moment it was released, everything in its path vanished.
Bullets, Cars, Stalls, Buildings, the road and even the very air itself was erased, before ultimately detonating the moment it reached the runaways. The mass dispersed violently, destroying everything in its wake.
Guillotine and Charlatan stared at the carnage they had caused with satisfied expressions, just as they were about to breath sigh of reliefs. An ear-piercing explosion shattered their composure. Shaken up, they turned back and raised their guards.
What they saw forced them to break into a cold sweat.
-+-
Amanai and Mari watched the catastrophic scene unfolding and swallowed hard.
On their retina, a reflection of a grotesque beast could be seen. Its very appearance struck fear in the hearts of all who stared at it.
The beast was a body of ever-evolving mass which contained mechanical parts, stone, metal, animal flesh and horrifyingly...human flesh, it stood at 9-feet, and had a core of pure energy which was protected by the many parts it was made out of. Its head had three faces each with a different expression and hollow eyes. In short, it was terrifying abomination and to cap it off, it was overflowing with intense, mind-numbing killing intent.
Amanai immediately instructed Undawn to flee immediately but to her horror, a blast of corrupted Occlusion Energy was released from the monster, striking everything in a 200m radius. Forcing Undawn and many other flying vehicles to come crashing to the ground with relentless force.
The monster moved violently wanting to devour every living thing it lay its void eyes upon. Fortunately for it, the human who had awakened it from its slumber was right before him.
Stricken with fear, Longitude crawled back with quivering legs and a weakened spirit. The previous blast of corrupted Occlusion Energy didn't just harm devices but Occlude and Observers too.
Longitude who had taken the full brunt of the blast was suffering from a severe form of hypersensitive chromesthesia; colors were jumbled up all across his vision given different shapes and sizes. In fact, it was so severe he couldn't even tell which was up or down and to add insult to injury, he's basically lost his will.
What...-IS... - thIS... pAiN?!
MaKe... iT..- STOP!
He cried out as he lashed out violently at his collar while foam spurred from his mouth. He was in an extreme dilemma and all everyone could do is watch. No one wanted to suffer that same fate.
No one... except for one person.
"Amanai!", Mari cried out in bewilderment as Amanai made her way over to the monster in the blink of an eye.
Everyone stared at her like she was a mad woman.
"What is she-?!"
Amanai landed between the beast and Longitude. Staring it deep in the eye trying to decipher its true motive but saw nothing but absolute bloodthirst. She shuddered.
Her body had moved on its own, like it was possessed by someone else entirely. Someone who desperately wanted to save the mysterious stranger from certain death, but after moving that foreign will disappeared.
She snaped back into reality and knew one thing for sure....
Ha...am so fucked...!
Guillotine and Charlatan were frozen in their tracks. They didn't have the will to move despite the fact that currently they were the only ones capable of actual fighting that thing. A strong sense of existential dread forced their foot to be planted deep into the ground.
So, when Amanai broke the ice, their eyes literally popped out of their sockets.
"That bitch is crazy!", Guillotine yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Nah bro, she's suicidal...must have pretty much lost her ability to think due to fear...", Charlatan said as cold sweat trickled down his forehead, he narrowed his gaze at her nicely curved back.
She looks familiar...
Just as he thought that the monster let out a blood-curdling howl, an action which arrested everyone's attention. The ever-evolving mass orbiting its core took shape as a pair of lustrous arms which had incredibly long claws at the end. It swung its arm towards Amanai, threatening to slice her to pieces.
Mari screamed, "Amanai!"
The monstrosity brought down its arm to slash Amanai but right at the nick of time, two men swooped in saving both Amanai and Longitude before retreating back. Guillotine dropped Longitude on the ground, he was in poor shape while Charlatan carefully put down Amanai. He was wearing a mask so she couldn't see his face.
Charlatan glanced at her before turning back to the monster, "Guillotine. Let's take this thing down."
Guillotine gazed at him before taking a deep breath and getting to his feet. He touched Longitude and a black substance began to propagate on it.
They both turned to the Abomination with determined stances and clenched fists, they dove head first towards the cohort of chaos.
The monster sensing their approach stomped on the ground causing a violent blast of Occlusion to be emitted from its core. They protected themselves with a layer of their own Occlusion Energy and entered its range.
Alarmed the monster swung its arms trying to strike them but they were smarter with quick footwork, they evaded their opponent's onslaught. Charlatan capitalized on an opening and used his Ballista to attract the beast's hands to the sides; demobilizing it and giving Guillotine the gap he needed to land an Equilibrium Break.