"How dare you.. HOW DARE YOU?!"

  Abraxas screamed in rage, as the last of the women were teleported away, leaving just the two of them and the flesh abomination in that room.

  "Aww.. Don't be sad. Most of them will liv-" Before they could finish speaking, weapons made of blood and darkness pierced their body.

  Meanwhile, Abraxas's body was glowing red from rage. Every shadow in the room was shaking violently even the one inside their body, essentially throwing them around like a ragdoll.

  But they kept smiling, knowing full well that Abraxas wouldn't kill them as 10th is still alive.

  "Ahh.. Blood Weapon, Rage and Memory Manipulation.. A splendid combination of blood arts, if you ask me.. Only if you could utilise it like this body," They spoke before a dozen spears of Blood pierced their abdomen.

  It was no longer a fight. They were just waiting for the hunks of metal that came out of the women to take shape. Meanwhile, they were taking all the hits from Abraxas, though all of them were missing the vital organs.

  They were smiling at Abraxas's attempts to stop the chimeric flesh from fusing as he was stabbing the chunks with his blade, slowing them down but not enough to warrant urgency.

  This went on for a few minutes, at the end of which, they smiled. "It's about time we end this. All of your attempts at destroying my body has been futile.. I can see you struggle," They spoke arrogantly before the smile vanished, replaced by screams of horrors.

  "Lord Fifth.. I.. am sorry.." 10th, who had just regained his consciousness was now collapsing under the weight of their existence. But the pain that brought him to death slowly receded and he lost his consciousness before falling on the ground.

  The shroud of memetic blockers that was covering his appearance until now also dissipated, revealing his appearance. His seaweed green coloured were covered in blood, his face was no different as it was completely covered in blood.

  "Don't be sorry.. You don't have my permission to die," Abraxas said with a smile before a crystal of darkness embedded itself in 10th's forehead and teleported him away.

  Just then, the flesh began to fuse rapidly and what followed was fear. It was present to the point that one could see it coming out of the body that was formed by that flesh.

  The Sword of Darkness fell from Abraxas's hands as the fear seeped into his body, reminding him of the day he gained the knowledge of something like this. His pupils dilated, his hands shivered as he grabbed the sword once again.

  By then the flesh in front of him had fused completely, and what stood in front of him was a seven foot tall monster. A body of half flesh and half metals of various compositions. It had no eyes, no mouths, no ears or skin.

  Even its fingers were just sharpened metal pieces and in a teasing fashion, it lifted its hand and used its blade-like fingers to carve a smile on his face, which near instantaneously formed a mouth and in mere seconds, they could speak.

  "This body is so much better than the one I had.." Their words made Abraxas instinctively point his sword at them, but the fear overwhelmed his senses.

  To overcome the crushing fear, Abraxas bit his lips hard enough to bleed before he drank his own blood. It was a taboo among the vampires to drink their own blood to awaken the primal instincts.

  And breaking a law rooted so deep within the community was also detrimental, making him experience pain equivalent to being shot in the liver.

  "You are really strong, Justifia's Proxy.. I'll savour your blood and incorporate you in my flesh. That is the highest honour I can give you," They spoke before stabbing their face, developing eyes and vision just as fast as speech.

  "To think you were smart enough to destroy some of the Angelic genes in my body.." They spoke as they read the DNA sequence of their body, checking for any defects before breaking out laughing at Abraxas's pitiful attempts of destroy the body.

  It was not surprising to see why he was taking so long to destroy the body. He was not trying to, he was just destroying selective DNA sequences to cause fatal defects but that plan had failed.

  Though he did save 10th's consciousness from crumbling under the weight of their overloading existence. But was it worth it over having a chance at destroying their body?

  But they had seen this hundreds of times, mortals willingly saving their friends and losing their chance to fight them in a less unfair manner.

  "All done.. Tell me, how do you wish to di-"

  Before they could finish their sentence, a kick to the abdomen sent them flying through the room. As they hit the Dark walls surrounding the Research Centre, everything shook.

  Despite their considerably stronger body, the wall didn't budge and they broke a few pieces of their body but the flesh covering the metal repaired it almost instantly.

  "A near perfect union of flesh and metal.. I can see why you call yourself 'The Machine God'.." Abraxas spoke while he bled through every portion of their body.

  He knew their name but they did not know.

  ___________

  Below the basement of the Techonia Research Centre,

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Deum was trying his best to shut down the reactor but ever since the wave of fear began to fill the air, the machines have been malfunctioning.

  In spite of the worsening conditions, he completely shutdown the reactor and used the barely working mechanical arms to move the Uranium Fuel Rods into isolated chambers for storage.

  One minute passed,

  Two rods were stored and the ground was shaking a bit less.

  Five minutes had passed,

  All but one fuel rod had been stored and shaking had gotten violent.

  33 seconds later,

  Just as the last of fuel rods had been contained, the ceiling broke and Abraxas fell down while they seemed to be unharmed.

  "Sire!" Deum shouted but he quickly covered their mouth when they looked at them.

  "Quiet. You'll die soon," They said with a creepy smile on their face, spanning from ear to ear.

  Just then, the dark crystal in Deum's back activated and right as he was being teleported, he shouted. "Their name is —"

  Deum's word cut short as he disappeared in the shadows, leaving behind a puddle of blood and they were angry.

  'Was he trying to say my name?' They thought to themselves but were quickly interrupted by a kick to the face.

  And without even flinching, they swung their hand at him. In that instant, hundreds of Shadow tentacles wrapped around their arm, trying to stop them but it was not effective.

  The swing could not be stopped and though Abraxas tried to dodge the swing aimed at his head, swing that was near instant, he couldn't dodge it completely and their fingers slices through the left side of his face.

  The area just above his left eye and ear was sliced open and though the Armor of darkness closed the wound as soon as it happened, part of his brain was sliced and it made him stumble back.

  Only for a second were his defenses down, but he was thrown from the bottom of the basement to the top floor

  through layers of concrete.

  His body was twitching mid-air before they appeared above him before smashing him downwards, the motion similar to martial artists breaking bricks with a punch.

  "That was a useful skill.. Ahh, memories of this world are sure useful," They spoke before they broke out laughing, still floating in the air.

  Three minutes later,

  Abraxas's body was lying on the floor, beaten to a pulp barely being kept alive by the armor that was acting despite him being unconscious.

  And even after all of this, the barrier isolating the Research Centre didn't budge. It made them sigh in disappointment.

  'I was expecting more from you, Proxy.. But it seems you are no different than a normal Vampire. You are even weaker than the vermin I took over,'

  Right as they lifted Abraxas by his head, something in the air changed. All movements were restricted, all of time slowed down until one breath took a minute to exhale.

  And hE beGAn tO smIlE.

  __________

  Northern Camp,

  Deum appeared out in the middle of the camp, bleeding from his eyes, ears and mouth.

  The camp immediately responded to his injuries, medics rushing to help him but nothing seemed to work as he kept muttering..

  'Their name.. Their name..'

  Just then, Elaira came up to Deum and slapped his face. "Get a hold of yourself.. You will kill someone if you try to say it here,"

  The slap broke Deum out of the daze, making him look around before he coughed up even more blood, receiving another slap from Elaira.

  "Get. A. Hold. Of. Yourself.." She spoke with an annoyed look on her face.

  This surprised everyone around as Elaira's behaviour had changed. And even since the Research Centre began to emit fear.

  8th was keeping an eye out for Elaira ever since she stepped out of her tent. Though Elaira could have stayed in and no one would have questioned her, she consciously made the decision to help Deum and Remu, the founders of Techonia Research Centre.

  "Remu did say you are a worrywart.. Stop thinking of their name and take care of the other one.. He was worried about you," Elaira spoke before she closed her eyes and a bright white light covered Deum. His wounds began to heal but the guilt remained.

  "But Madam.. Sire needs to know this.." Deum spoke as the white light dispersed, leaving his body healed but very weak.

  "He will decrypt it if he needs it.. He knew about you two, didn't he?" Elaira said as her words calmed him down.

  He opened his mouth, wanting to speak but then he stopped. Abraxas was the only one who figured what they really were.

  And hearing that from the High Priest of Justifia gave him hope. It was that hope that made him smile. "Thank you, Madam.." Right as he said, he lost consciousness.

  "Transport him to the camp with Remu.. Then shut down all operations and focus on defence. This is a lockdown.. Pass this message to all camps," Elaira ordered the soldiers, who passed down the message to other camps.

  The camps became lively again as every member of Iron Wolves maintained their position. Their goal was to protect the people of Techonia while making sure to not be harmed themselves.

  Just then, 8th came up to Elaira. "Lady 6th.."

  "Don't worry, 8th.. I am fine now. Thank you for looking after me.." Elaira spoke with a smile, maintaining her calm and authoritative appearance despite shaking internally.

  "Lady 6th.. That's not what I was talking about.." 8th clarified before she took a deep breath and asked. "Why did you declare a lockdown all of a sudden?"

  Just then, time began to lag. It affected everyone except Elaira, who looked up at the Research Centre.

  "Please.. win," She said while everyone around her seemed to be panicking. The real battle had just begun.

  __________

  Just then, Eastern Camp

  14th looked at the Research Centre, unaffected by the Time Lag before turning his gaze to 10th, who was in coma ever since he was teleported here.

  "Would you look at that.. It seems everything is where it is supposed to be. Now all we can do is pray," 14th spoke before sighing, while everyone else around him were panicking.

  Meanwhile, Olecumbra was calm and actively guided the members of the Corps at the Eastern camps through comms.

  And Morel was trying to do the same, but he wasn't immune to the time lag like Ole which made it a bit harder for him.

  __________

  Western Camp,

  "This reminds me of the bad days," Rina spoke as the Doom Flower was protecting her against the time lag.

  "Do you want to go in?" Austin asked calmly as an invisible layer was protecting him, likely being the Authority of Regressor.

  "No.. I have a hunch I'll die if I did," Rina replied, as beads of sweat streamed down her temples whenever she thought about it.

  The things in her guts were screaming and telling her to stay away, and for once, she was listening to them.

  __________

  Southern Camp,

  The Delta Force and Corps were working as per their leader's orders but the random moment of slowed down times made it hard for them to react to anything.

  But they held their ground while Elfana guided the members of Iron Wolves from all camps. Maintaining communication at such a pivotal moment was key.

  She did not want to lose the members of her family again. Because of Abraxas, she was able to see her scout team again but she did not want to depend on him forever.

  She did not want to let down Lady 4th nor Lord 5th. So she braced herself and issued an ultimatum, "No one is allowed to sacrifice their lives.. Fight until the end, no matter what we face,"

  And her words made every member of Iron Wolves scream with joy. "Yes, Lady Elfana! Glory to the Iron Wolves! Glory to our mother, Lady 4th! Glory to the Matriarch!"

  __________

  Inside the Research Centre,

  "Surprise~" Abraxas's voice was like sharp glass scratching their eardrums as the shadows began to mold into impossible shapes.

  Even their insides were turning themselves inside out, they had no control over their body as all meaning of normal ceased to exist.

  Just then, the wall of darkness crumbled and a dome appeared over their head and began covering the Research Centre, enveloping them in darkness, a battleground perfect for Abraxas.

  And just as it covered them completely, blocking all light, Abraxas laughed cynically.

  "Complete Manifestation: Hellscape"