The union, first floor.
Currently holding up against a barrage of attacks from a massive crab, one that was five meters in height, she looked for signs of her comrades.
'Alright, calm down, I should look for Erika first.'
She began looking around the whole floor, hoping to find at least Xander or Andre but there was nobody here, literally.
'Did they leave me behind?'
Aceso quickly discarded that possibility, afterall, she just saw Erika a few moments ago, there was no way Erika was actually that fast.
She wasn't staying in one place though, as a massive crab was attacking her. Fortunately, it seemed slower than even some of the grade II's she had faced before. But that only meant one thing: its ability was strong enough that it had side effects.
When faced with a Zirtue of the third grade or above, the first priority behind staying alive was to find out about the creature's ability. Most of the time, they'd have something related to speed. And that wasn't the case for this one.
Having only 4 fingers left, 2 on each arm, Aceso couldn't even attack the Zirtue, she didn't even have a weapon. So, what to do?
If she ran away, there was a chance that it would target Iris. She continued dodging the attacks while searching for clues on the crab's ability. Each moment felt more draining, running for 13 hours and healing Iris already put a massive toll on her.
An attack then grazed her shoulder and she let out a pained groan.
'Think, Aceso, think!'
'This one is slow, doesn't have any strength related abilities, so what's left?'
'Duplication? No-'
She suddenly tripped on a piece of material which made her fall. The crab tried to utilise this opportunity but Aceso just rolled away.
Getting up and catching her breath, she looked around the whole floor. Numerous Zirtues appeared in her vision, she was lucky that they didn't group up on her.
'Wait.'
Upon closer inspection, she saw that all the Zirtues were just standing there, not moving an inch. However, she stared a little too long and failed to see the attack coming her way, she tried to dodge but the attack cost her her whole arm.
However she thought that she was still very close on figuring out its ability. She then looked upwards and that was when she saw warps on the ceiling, the same thing that would happen when you wrap a map onto a sphere.
'Isn't this 'Dome'?, no mind control at all?'
Immediately after conjuring that thought, the dome disappeared along with a glass breaking sound. The Zirtue bled and fell on the ground.
Remembering how Jean killed a grade II, Aceso rushed towards the Zirtue and tried to flip it over. Lifting up something that weighed more than a semitruck with one arm was no easy task but she did it anyways.
She then tried to tear off its abdomen but couldn't, it was just too flexible, so she just created an opening big enough for her to crawl in. The Zirtue retaliated hard but by the time it got on its feet again, Aceso was already inside.
Inside the grade III, she could feel the Zirtue wreaking havoc everywhere, so she had to make it quick.
Now, to find the brain and the core. The brain was easy to locate and only took her 2 minutes of burrowing around, but the core was exceedingly difficult.
You could kill a grade III or above by destroying its brain but if you did not take out or destroy the core, the Zirtue would turn into a mindless zombie, which made it harder to fight.
Fortunately, the core was near one of its joints. Taking it out, Aceso felt the Zirtue stop moving. Which was good news, she then got out of the crab through the abdomen again.
Getting out, she checked Iris' room, it was in normal conditions and looked untouched. She then looked around her and contrary to what she saw in the dome, there were less Zirtues and they weren't any more grade III's.
And most importantly, she saw people again. The people were quite successful in killing the Zirtues, so she left it up to them. Looking down at her arm and fingers, she realised they were all healed, her arm regrown, she had an inkling as to why but left the thinking for later.
She went into Iris' room, saw her burrowed into her pillows then stayed there, comforting the child.
***
The sea that was still, began receeding even further, creating a black wall of liquid that was at least a dozen meters tall. It was trying to escape, but immediately after the grade V touched the water, as if popping a bubble, all the water began flowing back with tremendous speed.
The water, although black, was clear of any creatures. Seeing the crab not attack them, Anastasia wanted Jean to run away.
"Jean?"
However, Jean was silent yet again and simply shook his head. He then walked to the anterolateral teeth of the crab and jumped down, onto to the raging waters.
'Are you serious right now?'
Anastasia wasn't going to replicate what Jean had done and went the other way, to the shore. Though the opponent was incredibly strong, she had trust in Jean, and in his Adaptation.
Throwing her maggots in the air, she quickly flew back to land, and immediately ran away without looking back. Reaching a safe distance of 7 kilometers, she got on high ground and looked back towards the dark sea.
The crab continued walking, each moment making it less visible, hidden by the water. Seeing this, she just left to return to Kazakhstan, she didn't have to stay in Aktobe anymore, the grade V was in the Baltic sea, but she still needed to inform her followers.
Reaching the very depths of the Baltic sea, the crab began to soften, soft almost like a jellyfish. On its head appeared a circular air bubble which glowed with intense light, brightening the dark waters, like a halo.
Its eyes protruded outwards, eventually snapping off, regenerating, merging together and creating thousands of Zirtues. Its halo began to spin wildly, creating a powerful vortex that sucked in all the water.
All to fix a small crack on its carapace which was now soft.
The water began to enter the wound, quickly closing it up, when it suddenly stopped. Its halo stopped spinning, its glow diminished, the halo disappeared. And in its place was a towering man, Jean.
He looked a lot slimmer and his legs were replaced with fins, there was a layer of oil covering his whole body. And fused in the palm of his hands were blades made of bones.
He dived down towards the giant Zirtue aiming to strike in its wounds. Thousands of Zirtues moved in unison and blocked his path, creating a dense wall full of chitin. He sliced them, killing some Zirtues but the wall's structure remained firm.
The blades in his hands suddenly dropped to the endless depths. He spread his arms wide and he brought them together, or in other words, clapped, with immense speed.
The force generated from the clap boiled all the water that surrounded him and killed hundreds of Zirtues, destroying the chitin wall. However, while his sight was blocked, the grade V disappeared.
His body suddenly grew to the size it was before and he braced himself for the worst, he then saw the crabs in front of him grow and on their heads, appeared halos of myriads of colors.
'Huh?'
As he was observing the halos, his eyes suddenly bled. The blood flowed out like spring and then hardened right on his eyes, blinding him.
He then felt something burrow under the skin of his arms, they felt hard, round but sharp. Before he could get rid of them, both of his arms got cut off and he felt a massive force hit his stomach which flew him a good distance away.
Growing two eyes at the back of his head and two more on his cheek, he saw an unspeakable sight.
His arms, which were a few meters away had small human heads with a look of terror on their faces and in front of that was a gigantic humanoid figure.
The crabs were no more, those thousands, were just gone, the grade V was nowhere to be found, but he knew, instinctively that the being before him was much worse.
'I was too late, it...evolved.'
The being then looked at him and he felt a massive pressure bear down on him. The being was even taller than the Crab-V, stronger than the Crab-V.