Short story 28 (not really short)

Who’s the worst, most despicable person you can think of?

Jeffrey Dahmer? Ted Bundy? Luis Garavito? Pol Pot?

Of course, you could make your own arguments for any one of them, or anybody else for that matter.
Yet, all of these people have one thing in common. They’re human.

Preposterous people trying to act like monsters, either due to lofty, ridiculous ideals or some primal urge to revolt against society as a whole. It’s quite the bizarre phenomenon. Yet, none of these admittedly sick people have truly fallen into the abyss. Perhaps they’ve stared down into it. Dipped their feet in. But none of them have taken the plunge as a whole. Despite their efforts, they weren’t able to separate themselves from their inherent humanity.

But that’s a good thing. That’s they were relatively easy to take down.
The bad news is that every once in a while, ‘special’ cases will arise. In our circles, we call these individuals “the Void people”, or just the “Voids”. Individuals so far gone that they can hardly be considered humans anymore.
The cause behind entities like these? Well, I wouldn’t know. Nobody really does. Maybe they were born with that latent potential. Maybe they underwent some obscure supernatural transformation. Maybe they’re experiments gone awry. Aliens from another planet. Shit, maybe they’re literal demons from hell brought here by some fool who just had to conduct some fucked up ritual. Who the hell knows? The only detail that matters is the fact that they exist. And dealing with them is more than a bitch.

I’m sure you’re familiar with the concept of “Max” security prisons.
Places where drug kingpins, terrorists and prolific serial killers etc. are sent. The places meant to contain the worst amongst humans.
Well, those are a joke compared to where the Voids are kept. At a pair of undisclosed coordinates built in the underground of a tiny island somewhere deep in the Atlantic, there exists a prison unlike anything you could imagine.

We simply call it “The Chasm.” A penitentiary for pure, unbridled evil. A collective evil that would surely yield humanity’s extinction in a couple of months if it were allowed to run rampant in the world.
Let me emphasis this a bit further. The individuals that require being held there are not merely “criminally insane.” They are criminally absolutely out of this universe fucking bonkers.

Of course, you wouldn’t know about any of this. Why would you? The government would probably sacrifice 1000 children before they’d divulge a single detail about the place to a person without high enough clearance.
But you know, that’s just how they are.

Before I came, there were exactly 32 being confined there. Save for two that were still being actively pursued through the Brazilian underground and Russian tundra respectively, that was about all of them in the world. At least, we assumed that was all of them. Can’t be sure about anything these days.

Each holding cell was fortified to hell, specifically designed to counter and contain the respective Void they were holding. If they managed to escape, there were 8 drones armed with Gatling guns, blades, grenades and rockets waiting for them within a larger chamber.
If they managed to break through THAT, then 20 guards in mechanized suits would have to step in.
However, everybody understood the futility of that protocol. Those guards were getting slaughtered in seconds, regardless of the Void they went up against. Maybe minutes if they’re really skilled. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure why any of us regular guards are stationed here at all. Bureaucracy, I guess? Who knows what the government’s thinking.

If the situation were to ever get too drastic, then there was really only one feasible counter-measure in place. A last resort, so to speak. The higher ups would have to call in something known as “Task Force Void Nova Hammer”, or TFVNH for short. I’ve never seen them in action before, nor do I know much about them. Not that I really want to, though. If you ever find yourself witnessing them in person, then that must mean you’re having a bad, bad day.
So why am I disclosing all of this uber-classified information that would either get me killed or thrown in the deepest hole conceivable for the rest of my short life? Well… I’d estimate that there’s about a 90% chance that I’m going to die by the end of today. And even if I do make it out of this fiasco, my life’s never really going to be the same.

So fuck it. Here we go.

My day started out more or less normal.
I was part of the unit guarding somebody named Jim Heninger. Well, that was his real name. Doesn’t evoke a lot of fear, does it? That’s why he had to call him something else.
Since he used to be some psycho surgeon or something, we’ve dubbed him The Surgeon. Really creative stuff, I know.
Standing at 5’7 (171 cm), 135 lbs (61 kg) (We were all required to memorize their physical stats), he doesn’t look like much. However, if you ever find yourself in the same room with him… no matter how big and tough you are… you’re getting dissected or something.

The main danger surrounding him stems from the fact that he seems to be able to teleport on will. One second you’ll be staring at his dark, lifeless eyes, and after one blink, he’ll disappear in a cloud of black haze, only to end up breathing right down your neck. For that reason, there’s gotta be at least ten sets of eyes on his monitor at all times. There’s no way around it. If he’s not being watched, he will escape.
He’s also kind of unkillable. No matter how many bullets you put through his head or blades you plunge into his chest, the guy just won’t croak. And once he gets a scalpel in his hands… oh boy.

Of course, he’s just one out of 32, and comparatively speaking… on the tamer side.

With that said, my guard shift ended without any incident. Routine stuff. Following that, I went on break in the lunchroom with my buddy Sandhu. Our conversations were usually pretty dry, but at least I can talk to the guy. It’s hard to get along with any of the other guards. They’re all just… weird, in one way or another. Anyway, lunch was usually the most enjoyable part of a working day in the Chasm.

What I didn’t enjoy was the blaring fucking alarm and deafening, repeating automated voice blasting the word “BREACH” that went off right as I was about to take my chili out of the microwave.

I could see Sandhu’s face drop at the disturbance. “You’re fucking kidding me.” He mouthed.

Now, I’d only ever experienced one minor breach up until that point, and it was from the Surgeon. I guess none of us were paying any attention that day. He made it about 8 miles off the coast using a stolen boat, racking up a total body count of 145 in his wake. It took 3 full days to wrangle him back, and 4 more weeks to fix all the damage he’d done to the infrastructure.

That was all just one prisoner. If we were dealing with 3 or more, then our combined efforts as guards wouldn't have stood a semblance of a chance.
There had only ever been one major breach in the Chasm’s history, in which 8 Voids had broken out nearly simultaneously. It was also apparently the only time that TFVNH had to step in. This was all around 12 years ago, long before I became a guard myself. The aftermath of that? I don’t have high enough clearance to know. But I’m willing to bet that it was nothing fun.

We did have a breach procedure. It was a lengthy document, outlining exactly what we were supposed to do and where we were supposed to go. I’ve read it before, and its fucking garbage. It’s essentially predicated on the idea that we’re cannon fodder, and that we’re obligated to do whatever we can to contain the prisoners. If anybody actually followed the procedure, they’d die instantly.

“Well, what the hell are we supposed to do?” Somebody asked.

They only got shrugs in response. Except for Sawson, that is.
I fucking hated Sawson. The guy seems to believe that his life’s an action movie and that he’s the invincible main protagonist.

“Are ya’ll pussies or what?” he screamed at the top of his lungs, with a stupid grin plastered across his face. “We never get any fucking action! Let’s fucking go!!!”

Before anybody could stop him, he picked up his rifle and swung the door open like the giant fucking dumbass he is.
Since the alarm was blaring, we could hardly hear anything that was going on outside in the corridors. For that reason, we all rather shocked upon seeing Morgi the Corgi standing right outside.

Imagine some guy walking around wearing a dirty, giant, creepy dog costume. Now imagine that this guy is 7’2 (218 cm), with a voice that’s simultaneously deep, raspy and childish.
That’s Morgi the Corgi for you.
I could see the bravado leaving Sawson’s face the moment he laid eyes on the abomination in person. We’d only ever seen him through a screen before.

”RUFF!!”

I always hated it when people tried imitating dogs. But hearing it coming from Morgi was a bit different and a lot worse.
Before Sawson could even put his finger on the trigger, his head was mashed into pulp. Morgi began pouncing on other guards, effortlessly crushing limbs with his oversized “paws”. He’d switch between running around on his feet and crawling on all fours. The last thing I saw before running out of the break room was Morgi forcing the remaining, horrified agents to play fetch with him using a stray arm.

But of course, it’s not like I managed to escape anywhere better. The entire place was in a fucking tizzy. The squad leaders were frenetic, attempting to scrap together some kind of suppression force.
I couldn’t understand why they were so delusional.
Are we guards supposed to be badass? Fuck yeah. Due to our field prowess, we were specifically selected from the existing pool of CIA agents and military personnel to be dropped into this godforsaken place. Put us up against a trafficking militia, terrorists etc., and we’ll smoke them.

But what we can’t deal with… are things that aren’t supposed to exist in the first place.

We watch creature-features and slasher flicks with the inherent understanding that we’re watching fiction. A type of visual catharsis for our inherent fascination with the dark and grim. It’s not supposed to be real, and we have no idea how to act once we find it standing right in front of our faces. Not even us so-called ‘elite’ agents. Like I said, I’m not sure why they even bothered keeping guards in the chasm to begin with.

These were the thoughts that ran through my head as I bolted through the hellish corridors. At one point, I stumbled upon a crowd of guards leering over some rails. Shockingly, they didn’t seem concerned in the slightest.

“What the hell are you guys looking at?” I asked them.

A guard I recognized as Fenton turned around.

“This is gonna be sick.” He grinned, gesturing for me to look below.

I didn’t even know where I was going, so I didn’t realize that I’d wandered into the level right above the weight room.
It was a sprawling gym with an abundance of the best equipment obtainable. But there was one guard that used it the most…

Branko Petrovic

A Serbian-American whose oversized frame hardly makes any fucking sense. I swear, when I first met the guy, he couldn’t have been over seven feet. He’s around 8’2 (249 cm) now. I’m not quite sure what kind of bizarre experiments they ran on him, but they sure as hell overdid it.
Despite the alarms, he was in the middle of overhead pressing what appeared to be an ungodly amount of weight when one of the escaped Voids wandered onto the weight room floor.

It was Luze, standing at 6’2 (188 cm), 205 lbs (93kg). Like all the other prisoners, the guy was a complete mystery. His mostly bare body was comparable to that of a bodybuilder’s, save for the hundreds of gnarly scars decorating his skin.

The more disconcerting part of his aesthetic was the fact that he only had one half of his face. The other half consisted of his exposed skull, with some kind of red, electrical current running through his cranial bones. He had that same current running through his hands, which allowed him to savagely electrocute whatever organic material he touched, quickly rendering it into a pile of steaming, black mush.
I guess that my fellow agents didn’t bother reading up on the prisoners they guarded, because Branko never stood a chance. It didn’t matter if you were superior to Luze in terms of strength. One touch and you were gone for. The only practicable way to take him down was by using ranged weapons. And even then… that task was easier said than done.
Branko grunted like the dumb meathead he is, before grabbing an Olympic weightlifting plate and chucking it like a Frisbee at Luze. It connected, seemingly shattering his ribs. But it wasn’t nearly enough to take him down. As soon as he rushed forward, the ‘fight’ had been decided. Branko attempted to tackle him, a mistake so horrible that his whole body began twitching as his skin made contact with Luze’s fingertips.

The electricity spread through his giant frame, causing his vitals to shut down within seconds. In no time at all, he was reduced to a heaping mass of scorched flesh on the floor. He didn’t even have time to scream. I could see the respective faces of my stunned colleagues drop as they witnessed what they likely deemed an improbable outcome.

Idiots, that’s what they were. But truth be told, I was also an idiot for even bothering to stay. Not long after, the sounds of cracking bones and heavy footsteps began emanating from an adjacent walkway.
Along with the rest of the agents, my gaze shifted towards what was sure to be another incoming menace. The locked, metal door to the corridor was suddenly dented from the other side. A big fucking dent, mind you. It only took one more blow to blast it off its hinges completely.

Standing at 6’6 (198 cm), 242 lbs (110 kg) and arriving in a haze of blood, guts and limbs was the slasher-flick-esque killer colloquially known as ”WireHead”.

In congruence with his name, his entire head, save for a single eye, was wrapped in rusty barb-wire. He wore a decrepit, old leather jacket and jeans, complete with a large pompadour on top, like an 80s (or whatever) high school delinquent.
Everybody’s main concern was the weapon in his hands – a large, iron bat wrapped in the same barb-wire on his head. If you didn’t die from the impact (unlikely), the subsequent infection would surely get you.
And don’t ask us why we didn’t take his weapon away when we contained him. We did. But somehow… someway… he got it back. These things really can’t be helped.

What the hell is going on?

Breaches happened, sure. But it seemed as if every single fucking Void had somehow escaped. How is that possible?
In any case, I couldn't afford to think deep into it at the moment.
As WireHead began mowing down the mystified agents in his way, I found myself accidentally making eye contact with Luze from below.
I nearly had a heart attack as I began pushing through the crowd. Even though I was implicitly certain of the fact that no other location within the chasm would’ve been much safer, I was still being driven ahead by my fight-or-flight responses, away from the immediate threat.

It was kind of funny. I'd been through so many life-or-death experiences that my reaction to adrenaline coursing through my veins had been dulled. Well, it sure as hell got invigorated today.

I guess that I wasn’t paying enough attention to my surroundings, because right as I was about to climb a staircase, I felt an over-sized arm slam into my chest, knocking me over in the process. I looked up to see another guard – Cade leering down at me.
Sure, I was happy it wasn’t one of the Voids, but Cade wasn’t much more pleasant.

“What’re you running for?” he shot me a smug grin. “This is a breach, isn’t it? Why don’t we do our jobs here and fix it?”

“Oh, fuck off!” I spat at him, before trying to duck past.

No luck there. He caught me by the collar and slammed me into a wall. He certainly had the weight advantage.
Still, I didn’t practice hand-to-hand combat just to be rag-dolled by some asshole. I slammed my elbow down on his wrist, which managed to loosen his grip. I followed up with a knee to the stomach and then attempted to strike his neck.

But then he caught my wrist mid-punch.

“Nice moves!” He said, in an obnoxiously sarcastic tone.

He took his palm and rammed into my chin, nearly causing me to black out. In the meantime, WireHead was getting closer.

“Guess we’ll have to take this up another time,” he said. “Somebody’s gotta work around here.”

I had no idea what he was thinking trying to take on one of the Voids, but I wasn’t trying to see his delusions through in person. Still in pain from his palm-strike, I pulled myself up and began running once more, all while the sounds of carnage escalated around me.

But there was a glaring issue. I had no idea where I was going.
The exits were surely going to be blocked off from the inside.
Do we have some kind of safe room? I thought to myself.
No. Of course we didn’t. We were entirely expendable. They 100% expected us to fight these things head-on, even though there was zero fucking chance of victory on our side.

There was only thing I could do here. Survive until TFVNH showed up. Obviously, that wasn’t any kind of guaranteed reprieve, but my options were slim.
Nevertheless, something rather surprising transpired. Amidst the cacophony of frenetic orders from our superiors, a familiar voice snuck in through my radio.

“Hey… Jason… you… alive?”

It was Sandhu. I picked up my radio and isolated his transmission.

“Yeah. Where are you man?”

“Block C. Got lucky and found something weird. It might save us though. Come on!”

Obviously, there wasn’t much information there. But it was better than running around aimlessly. Thankfully, Block C was fairly close, so I was able to make it without running into another Void.
However, when I got there, it was still as chaotic as ever. I swiveled my head around, trying to spot Sandhu. I yelled into my radio, but his response was drowned out by everything around me. As I searched, I began sensing a perplexing, sinister pressure that made it feel as if I were sinking into the concrete beneath me. I hardly had to guess the source.

It was Dyaxek – 9’5 (287 cm), ???? lbs (????kg).

Dyaxek was comparable in appearance to something you’d see in the corner of your room during sleep paralysis. A hulking, faceless figure wearing a sweeping black robe that jerked around in unsettling motions as he (or she, who knows) walked.
I wasn’t sure how he actually killed people, mind you. As soon as anybody got within a certain distance to him, they’d freeze in place and begin bleeding from their eyes. And then… they’d just stay that way forever.

Obviously, that wasn’t something I was looking forward to. As I looked ahead, I could see some unfortunate guards already getting caught in his death zone. In an attempt to avoid a similar fate, I turned the opposite direction and began running.
And then I nearly shit myself.

Standing about 10 feet away was the Undead Nazi – 5’8 (173 cm), 143 lbs (65 kg).

His name essentially told it all. A man wearing a dirty and tattered SS uniform, with a cracked gas mask covering his face. In one hand, he gripped his signature kampfmesser 42 blade that was inexplicably unbreakable, no matter what the hell we tried doing to it. In the other, he held a flamethrower hose connected to a massive tank on his back, which sprayed out some kind of scorching, black flame that would supposedly yield pain beyond comprehension if you were ever to come into contact with it. You could say that I was stuck in between a rock and a hard place here. The only other way out was taking the plunge over the rail in front of me, onto mass of scrambling bodies fifty feet below.

Before I considered simply saying my prayers, I felt a hand tug at my sleeve from the side, giving me another heart attack. But this time… it was good news. For once. I looked over to see Sandhu poking his head out from what appeared to be some kind of hidden door in the wall.

“Let’s fucking go!” He whisper-shouted, before pulling me in.

He closed the door behind him, plunging us into complete darkness.

“What the hell is this place?” I asked, hardly expecting a detailed response.

Sandhu illuminated his face using his phone’s flashlight.

“Couldn’t tell you. But it’s kinda fucking crazy.”

I could hear the Nazi beginning to spray his flamethrower from out in the corridor. I suddenly wondered whether or not Dyaxek’s “power” would apply to other Voids. In any case, it was better not to be in such close vicinity to them, so I followed Sandhu.

He led me down some kind of hidden hallway. The walk was rather long – maybe around 8 minutes, and I eventually found myself in what appeared to be some kind of surveillance/control room. It was still dark, but there was an array of monitors giving off enough light to comfortably navigate around. But here’s the strange thing… the place looked kind of haphazard. No chance it was being used by the higher ups. The monitors were scattered around, connected by a mess of wires to multiple outlets spread throughout the room. There was also only one chair.

“I guess this is beyond explaining.” I said.

“Yeah. No shit, huh?” Sandhu replied, before gesturing towards the monitors. “Check it out. What the fuck did we just find?”

I took the suggestion, letting my eyes drift over to the screens.
What I saw would’ve been normal… in any other scenario. Each monitor was streaming a different section of the prison, all displaying the utter carnage that was going on outside. The guards were being ripped to shreds. Some tried fighting. Most were running. But what they had in common was the fact that they were all being utterly obliterated by the Voids.

I could see the Surgeon giving somebody a (forced) lobotomy, grinning like hell while doing so. At the same time, Morgi was chewing on a severed head like a toy.
But then I caught something interesting on a screen below.
It was WireHead and Luze, staring each other down. That’s when a rather obvious revelation hit me.
Of course the Voids weren’t only going to kill the guards. They were sure as hell going after each other as well. That much should’ve been apparent from the beginning. I grinned, feeling some kind of obscure hope creeping into my system.
That hope was only bolstered when I saw the Nazi utterly dousing Dyaxek with a relentless wave of black flames, with the latter struggling to move forward as a result.

Guess these bastards can be hurt after all. I thought to myself.

But of course, my hope was merely transitory.
I wasn’t gonna kid myself. Even if only one Void was left standing at the end of everything… that just means it’ll be the strongest one out of them all. And we can’t stay in here forever.
At this point, my future is uncertain at best. Maybe I’ll get lucky. Probably not.
But in the meantime, I suppose I’ll enjoy the show. See how things turn out.

“This place sure gives you the creeps, doesn’t it?”

I couldn’t disagree with Sandhu’s assessment of the bizarre room we found ourselves in. The monitors only illuminated the area up until a certain point. However, we couldn’t see any walls, which meant the place had to be bigger than what could be seen, either by a little or a lot. We couldn't know unless we decided to venture further into the darkness. Neither of us took that initiative, though, keeping it a mystery.

Still… it didn’t feel like anybody was in there with us, so we allowed ourselves to relax a bit. I took the first sitting shift, lying back in the chair and focusing on the monitor that I deemed most interesting at the moment.

WireHead Vs. Luze

Who was I rooting for? None of them. Nevertheless, I was morbidly eager to see these two horrific titans square off. Among us guards, we’d created an unofficial “tier” system, ranking each respective Void in terms of the estimated threat that they posed. (In comparison to each other).

The tiers went as such:

Tornado - (weakest)

Tsunami

Hurricane - (mid)

Earthquake

Asteroid - (highest, imminent death, get the fuck out)

They were also divided into ‘sub-divisions’ (high, low, mid, etc.)

With that said, Luze was around a High-Tornado while WireHead was a Mid-Tsunami. A glaring difference between them, but not enough that would make it impossible for Luze to win.

“Wanna make a bet?” I asked Sandhu, half-jokingly.

He chuckled. “You know my luck's cursed. But I guess if we don’t make it outta here alive, then my debt's null anyway.”

Luze was more of a defensive combatant, so it wasn’t surprising when WireHead initiated the conflict. He twirled his bat around (still with remnants of guard flesh clinging onto it), in a near-mocking fashion at Luze. He was a delinquent, after all.
Luze hardly reacted, of course. That’s just the way he was. In response, he stepped forward, electricity flickering through his hands and up to his forearms. WireHead followed suit, unleashing a big swing at Luze’s head, which he managed to intercept with one of his forearms.
Nevertheless, the wires still pierced his skin. WireHead followed it up with a head-butt. This time, it connected with the flesh-side of Luze’s face, slicing him up rather gruesomely.

But despite his seemingly grievous injures, he remained unwavering. That was the thing about Luze. He was incapable of feeling any pain. Like I said, his exact origins remained a mystery, but the one thing we knew about him for sure was the fact that he hailed from some kind of ancient clan residing in the Arctic Circle. In fact, he was the sole survivor of an “incident” that decimated his village, and he was hungry for revenge against the unknown force that did it.
After taking the head-butt, Luze was now in striking range. He formed his fingers into an arrow-shape and drove them into WireHead’s solar-plexus, before electrocuting his insides.

WireHead quaked in pain as he swung his bat in a frenzied rage, just about demolishing Luze’s ribcage. No reaction from him, though. Instead, he took his other hand and wrapped it around WireHead’s neck. Any normal person would’ve succumbed to Luze’s electrical shocks after a few seconds. But of course, WireHead was no normal person. Despite blood pouring out from chest wound and the skin on his neck beginning to bubble, he picked Luze up by the torso and slammed him over the steel railing.

He fucking broke his back. Even without sound, the mental audio of a spine snapping reverberated throughout my mind.
Unsurprisingly, Luze didn’t bat an eye. WireHead went in for the kill, tossing Luze’s body onto the ground before smashing until it resembled nothing more than a mess of bloody pulp and broken bones.
But somehow... he was still alive. Among the gruesome pile, I could see an eye blink.

Once WireHead had exhausted himself from his relentless swinging, Luze took his chance. Using his one arm that hadn’t been smashed to bits, he crawled over and grabbed WireHead by the foot, before scaling himself up to his neck.
Once there, he drilled his fist into WireHead’s forehead, utterly shredding his own hand in the process.
In the end, it was worth the sacrifice. He was able to electrocute WireHead’s brain, finally causing the behemoth to drop.

“So… I guess he won?” Sandhu said.

“I... guess?"

I had my own reservations about calling Luze’s performance a “victory”. By the end of it, all of his limbs and his spine had been shattered, and not an inch of his body wasn’t hosting a series of deep cuts. The good side of his face had also been chipped away to the skull, leaving only his eye and half his nose intact.

And yet… he didn’t move with a hint of desperation or concern, calmly crawling away from the scene using his one mangled hand. I could still see the current flowing through it as well, a tell-tale sign that he was ready to pick up another fight.

“Nice. Comeback victory.” Sandhu said. “I don't see him making it far, though. Not as a Tornado-Tier"

“Yeah, but we made all of that shit up. Not like it means anything.” I responded.

Truth be told, I was nearly rooting for Luze at the end there. Something about his resilience resonated with me, as bizarre as it may seem.
I scanned the rest of the monitors. While WireHead and Luze were squaring off, the Undead Nazi had burnt Dyaxek to a crisp.
On another monitor, Morgi playing around with a Void corpse that I recognized as Death Shadow. (He chose his own name).

"3 down..." I muttered to myself.

“Fuck, we got a big one coming up.” Sandhu announced.

I followed his eyes to a monitor near the bottom of the room. He was right. This one was gonna be good. Standing at opposite sides of the kitchen were:

Trench - 6’3 (190 cm), 330 lbs (150 kg) and: Senju - 5’10 (177 cm), 148 lbs (67 kg)

Trench was a silent entity dressed entirely in ancient-looking deep-sea diving gear, except for the head, which remained without a helmet. However, you couldn’t get a glimpse of its face regardless. That was due to the fact that his features were completely distorted, so much so that if you tried focusing on the details, all you were getting was a nasty migraine.
On top of that, he was invisible in person.

Let me explain:

If he were standing right in front of you, you wouldn’t be able to see him. The only way to get a glimpse of him was through “secondary” means, (Cameras, mirrors, etc.), which made him all the more dangerous.
As for how he killed people - it was either by brute force using his monstrous strength or b his “Death Aura”, as us guards have dubbed it. Similar to Dyaxek’s “zone”, once you were in his close vicinity, you’d feel an astronomical amount of pressure and get crushed on the spot, comparable to what you’d feel standing at the bottom of the ocean. But that’s only if Trench wills it. Sometimes, he'll turn the aura off and simply punch somebody’s head off.

For that reason, he was in the Mid-Hurricane tier.

As for Senju… well he was basically a psychotic, demon-possessed martial artist with supernatural levels of speed, strength and agility. He apparently trained in the “Wraith Style”, or the “technique beyond human comprehension”, whatever the hell those were supposed to mean.
When he gets serious, his eyes will roll into the back of his head and black veins will begin bulging out from underneath his skin. At that point, he’ll be moving so fast that his motions become impossible to keep up with visually, and a single punch from him will be enough to completely vaporize a human head.
But in all honesty, he’s one of the least malicious Voids out of the bunch. If you’re weak (like us guards), he won’t even spare you a glance, granted that you stay out of his way. The only thing that he’s really looking for are “strong opponents” to fight.
But… when he can’t find one… he starts to get antsy. And then problems emerge.

We’ve pegged him at a Low-Hurricane.

“Can Senju even see Trench?” Sandhu asked?

“I… guess so?” I responded.

The question was worth asking, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if Trench’s Aura/invisibility simply didn’t work on him at all.
That seemed to be the case, since Senju decided to strike first. He rushed forward at an unfathomable speed, directing what must have been hundreds of strikes in succession at Trench.
However, none of them fazed the obscure diver. I could see Senju’s lips curling into a psychotic grin at the fact. He certainly found what he was looking for.
The floor beneath him cracked as his eyes turned white and his grotesque veins began bulging. If we couldn’t see his strikes before, it was beyond impossible now. He rushed forward, unleashing a maelstrom of lightning-like punches, elbows and kicks against Trench.
This went on for about 5 seconds before he was stopped in his tracks. Trench had grabbed him by the throat, still not looking any worse for wear in the process. I could see Senju mouth something to the effect of “what the fuck” before he was tossed into a metal fridge.
It certainly appeared as if Trench was too much of a tank for him to handle.
Nevertheless, Senju got back up and cracked his shoulder into place while blood leaked from his mouth. And then he seemed to let out a shriek.

Crazy fucker, I thought to myself. What the hell did it take for somebody to become like this?

At that point, he’d seemingly given up on technique entirely. Instead, he grabbed a handful of kitchen knives and began chucking them at Trench. While none of them pierced the suit, one of them managed to stick in his distorted head, which evidently dealt some damage.
Trench flinched, before taking the knife out and throwing it back at Senju, who in turn caught it effortlessly. At this point, he was howling in what I assumed was some kind of fucked-up sadomasochistic jubilation. He’d found the weak point.
Senju rushed back at Trench, knife in hand, before slashing away at its face. Spurts of vicious, dark-blue blood stained the kitchen floor, along with Senju’s own face. Soon enough, the knife snapped, and Trench threw a desperation punch at Senju’s temple. He managed to block it with his forearm, although I could see his bones cracking from the impact.
He leapt back as his arm hung limp to his side, dodging a follow-up haymaker. Throughout everything, a grin remained plastered on his face. His veins were bulging out so hard that I found it hard to believe they weren’t going to completely burst altogether.
With one arm, Senju lifted a metal table and swung it into the side of Trench’s head, nearly taking it off in the process. He wasted no time, grabbing a large frying pan and pouncing at his incapacitated opponent, knocking them both over in the process.
He then took a position atop Trench’s body, furiously slamming the pan onto his face.

“Martial arts, eh…” I could hear Sandhu mutter.

After what must’ve been 250 blows, the pan broke. On the ground. Trench’s head had been obliterated no less than 50 strikes prior. Senju tossed the scrap metal aside and looked up at the ceiling, presumably screaming his lungs sore in sheer, combative delight.

“Well… looks like our Tier System means fuck all.” I chuckled.

Despite the morbid scene unfolding in front of us, Sandhu shared a laugh with me. We were at the point where the absolute absurdity and danger of the situation was beginning to fade from our senses. Hell… I suppose we were enjoying ourselves, as fucked up as that may sound.
We kept watching as Senju got up and stumbled around, evidently disoriented from both his injuries and successive fits of fighting-spirit induced rage-euphoria. He took about 4 steps before his head exploded, throwing the two of us watching for quite the loop.

Another figure stepped into the frame, whom we recognized as Satan-Bot - 6’11 (211 cm), 535 lbs (243 kg).

I felt a shiver crawl down my spine upon seeing him, somewhat snapping me back into reality. Despite his comical name, Satan-Bot had to be one of the most frightening Voids out there.

I just… couldn’t understand what the fuck he was supposed to be. His body appeared to be robotic, but moved in ways that were too fluid for even the most sophisticated android. Like legitimate metallic flesh. It was honestly maddening to look at.
On top of that, he literally resembled the fucking devil himself. Reddish-black scaly skin/metallic shell, a mouth full of exposed, razor-like teeth, rectangular, slanted crimson eyes, a pair of large, mechanical wings and a long tail ending in something that resembled a 3-pronged spear to boot. For whatever reason, he also had a rocket-launcher atop his right shoulder and a Gatling gun connected to his left hand. No, these were not mechanical modifications. They were literally connected to his body.
He was unanimously considered one of the most dangerous Voids residing in the Chasm, rated at a High-Earthquake. Even if Senju was at his full-strength, he wouldn’t have stood a chance.

“Oh shit,” Sandhu commented. “I was hoping he didn't escape.”

“Well… let’s not worry about him for now.” I said, turning my attention to another monitor.

What my eyes landed on next was an utter massacre. Sitting atop a pile of guard bodies that must’ve eclipsed 6 feet was Hugo Wright, AKA The Brutal Bishop - 6’2 (189 cm), 200 lbs (91 kg).

Like his name indicated, he was dressed in a traditional Vicar Priest outfit. The only difference was the fact that the cross he wore around his neck was fashioned out of blades. The man himself had long, sweeping black hair and about fourteen bags under both of his dead, blue eyes.
It was unclear to us what his real motivations were. It’s not like he really followed the rules of any religion on Earth, despite his outfit. He just went on long rants about “the sin of natalism” and the “futility of existence”, and how “to reach a state of sanctity, we must first reach a clean state.” Basically, he wanted to kill every sentient being on Earth, and then himself. He wasn’t all talk, either. He was certainly strong.

We rated him at a Low-Hurricane.

After praying to whatever fucked-up deity he worshiped atop his pile of corpses, he slid down and began stalking the corridors for some more victims to fulfill his ‘holy’ objective.
Who he came across next couldn’t have been more perfect.

Kael Silva, AKA Vampire Cop - 5’9 (175 cm), 176 lbs (80kg).

Kael was rather interesting, being that he was one of the most co-operative Voids. In fact, he was the only prisoner that willingly turned himself in.
His backstory was interesting as well, and of the few we actually knew about. He used to be a prolific, merciless Brazilian cop who patrolled the most dangerous parts of Rio. It was so much so that he earned a reputation amongst the criminal underground as “The Reaper”.
But… he was still only human. During one fateful mission, his entire unit was massacred during an ambush attack by about a dozen distinct gangs who were all unified under the same goal of taking him down. He was the only survivor, but was captured in the process.
After being brutally tortured in a warehouse for about 5 hours, the lights suddenly went out.
During this period of darkness, the only sounds entering his ears were those of carnage. Every single gang member was being obliterated by some unknown force. At the end of the bloodbath, he could hear footsteps slowly approaching him, before a deep, raspy voice whispered something into his ear:

”There’s potential in you. Allow me to bestow you with an opportunity.”

He felt a sharp pain hit his neck before the hidden entity spoke to him again.

”Fulfill your duty.”

And then he passed out.

When he woke up, he found himself in his bed, with all the wounds from his torture session just about healed. All wounds expect for one – a bite-mark on his neck. His appearance had also changed drastically.
Pale skin, dark eyes and fangs. He’d heard about the stories, but could hardly comprehend that he’d become one himself. While he couldn’t handle being exposed to the sun anymore, he found himself with superhuman strength and regeneration, which he used to brutalize criminals at night as a vigilante.
However, it didn’t take long for him to go too far. One night, he went into a frenzy, breaking into the house of a suspected rapist and killing everybody inside. Everybody including the rapist’s innocent mother and daughter.

His resolve in regards to justice had never wavered, remaining strong no matter what he went through. For that reason, he could hardly live with guilt on his conscience, and walked to the police station he used to work at, turning himself in to his former colleagues that all thought he was dead. Of course, the news spread quickly. That’s when the CIA stepped in and transferred him over to the Chasm.

He put up no resistance. In fact, he deemed the Chasm a place where he 100% belonged.
Safe to say, he was a rather bizarre case. We still put him at a Low-Hurricane, same as Hugo.

On the monitor, I could see Kael’s lips moving. Wanting to hear what he had to say, I began looking around to see if I could get some audio. It didn’t take too long for me to find the volume control panel, which was located right under the middle desk. Thankfully, whoever set this weird place up took the liberty of labeling each switch with its respective monitor.

I turned the volume up right in the middle of Kael’s spiel.

“…dangerous scum. I’m gonna have to dispose of you all before it’s too late.”

Hugo’s face remained expressionless.

“Scum… an apt description of the ones residing in this place. But I understand that you’re also a man wrought with unforgivable sin. I’ll treat you no differently.” He responded.

Kael chuckled. “Wouldn’t expect you not to,” He took a provocative fighting stance. “C'mon, Englishman. Let's settle this.”

Hugo put a hand on his blade-cross, before muttering another prayer to himself. He looked up at Kael, his eyes now a deep crimson.

“The atrocities I commit are only in the pursuit of ultimate holiness. I hope you can understand that.”

Kael grinned. “Yeah. I get it. Crazy people are crazy.”

As he finished the sentence, he rushed forward in a quick blur, sinking his fangs into Hugo’s neck.
In turn, Hugo grabbed Kael’s head and twisted, snapping his neck in what had to be the most gruesome manner feasible, before plunging a fist into his chest.
For the first time, Hugo grimaced.

“What’s wrong with your heart?” He asked, before retracting his hand, revealing severe burn marks.

Kael twisted his head back into place before shooting Hugo a bloody grin. “I couldn’t tell you, buddy.”

They traded blows for a few more minutes, pummeling each other into oblivion. While Kael was certainly more skilled and had more “tools” at his disposal, Hugo possessed more raw power.
Eventually, it came to a standstill. Kael had suffered upwards of 20 fatal injuries, forcing his regeneration abilities to the brink. Hugo was bleeding all over, had about 6 bone fractures, an eye gouged out and an ear ripped off.

“You’re… pretty fucking annoying, aren’t you?” Kael rasped out.

Hugo bent over, coughing up a mouthful of blood. “Likewise.”

In the meantime, their confrontation had drawn an audience. Coming in from an intersecting corridor was Infernal Gladiator - 6’7 (200 cm), 285 lbs (129 kg). He was a High-Hurricane.

Imagine an extremely buff zombie that was perpetually burning, clad in ancient gladiator gear. That was him. In one of his hands, he gripped a gigantic, flaming sword. In his other, he held two leashes, both holding respective Voids at the neck, crawling at his feet like dogs straight from hell.

One was The Freak - 6’10 (208 cm), 253 lbs (115 kg), a slouching, humanoid monster with strange, flickering eyes and a grin that wrapped around its entire head. The other was The Human-ish Centipede - 6’4 (193 cm, standing height), 372 lbs (169 kg), a centipede-like creature that had a vaguely human face covered in 6 eyes, with an iron muzzle obscuring the mouth area. It crawled on 10 colossal, veiny arms.

They were both Mid-Tornado Tier. Not incredibly powerful. They were merely simple, aggressive beasts that possessed nothing but primal bloodlust and strength that was comparable to 3 wild bears put together.

For that reason, they were easily converted into disposable weapons by the much stronger and more intelligent gladiator.

“Fucking hell…” Kael said upon seeing the trio. “That’s fucking disgusting.”

“Bloody abominations,” Hugo added. “Nothing but creatures that stain this Earth.”

They both looked at each other and nodded, an explicit sense of mutual understanding between them. I suppose that a few of the Voids teaming up should've been inevitable.

“Oh boy, this is heating up.” I said, turning towards Sandhu.

He didn't respond at first, instead looking as if he were trying to focus on something that wasn't the screen.

“What the hell's the matter” I asked him.

“I think… there might be somebody else in here. Don’t turn around. Just keep watching. Pretend like you didn’t hear it.” He replied, hardly above a whisper.
It’s not like I had to pretend.

Hear what? I thought to myself.

Nevertheless, I’d never Sandhu more serious. I turned my attention back to the monitors, while forcing my ears to be alert.
About 10 seconds later, I heard it.
It was soft for sure. I wasn’t surprised that I hadn’t noticed it up until that point.
Somewhere in the darkness behind us, somebody was definitely trying to contain a giggle.

Just ignore it.

It was a job easier said than done. And honestly, was it even a good idea?
In my head, I ran through the list of potential Voids that could’ve been lurking behind us.
Of course, none of them were really ideal. Especially not The Rowdy Clown, whose laugh sounded hauntingly similar to the one we were hearing behind us.
And then we heard it again, louder this time.

I muttered a barely audible “Fuck…” in response.

Realistically, if it did turn out to be one of the Voids, putting up some kind of resistance would’ve been pointless anyway. We were as good as done for. With that logic in mind, I turned my attention back to the monitors, hoping that whatever the hell was behind us would stay put for a bit longer.
In the meantime, Hugo and Kael were about to fight the Gladiator and his minions.

“Hey Englishman,” Kael said. “You regenerate quickly?”

Hugo sighed, stretching his neck out. “First of all, don’t call me that. It's rather crass. And no, not much faster than the average man. But no matter. God has ordained me a holy commission. He won’t let me die until I’ve fulfilled my duty."

Kael just laughed. “You’re a real piece of work British-Boy. Let’s see if your god helps us make it outta this.”

”You two aren’t who I’m looking for,” the Gladiator bellowed, before releasing both leashes. ”Take out the trash.”

The Freak ran about 6 steps before having his face caved in and neck subsequently snapped by Hugo.
In the meantime, the Centipede began crawling towards Kael.

“Who the fuck created this thing?” He asked, shuddering slightly.

The Centipede lifted itself up, swiping two of its arms at the visibly disturbed vampire.

“Shit, don’t touch me!” He shouted, before kicking its face, removing its muzzle in the process.

He regretted that decision instantly. The centipede had 4 or 5 rows of spike-like teeth, with a horde of flesh-covered tentacles squirming out from its mouth. One of them grabbed Kael by the leg, dragging him down.

“Goddamn it!” He shouted, attempting to squirm out of the appendage’s grasp.

Nevertheless, Hugo came to the rescue, turning the Centipede’s head into mush with one vicious stomp.
He shot Kael a cold gaze. “Take his name in vain again and our temporary alliance is over.”

Kael shook the tentacle remnants off of his leg, his face still utterly disgusted. “Yeah, yeah. Holy fucking shit, this is nasty.”

And then they both stared at the Gladiator, who was grinning something malicious.

”Congratulations. You two have earned the privilege of being my combat slaves.”

“I would literally rather fucking die.” Kael responded.

“I submit myself to God and God only. Diseases like you shall perish at his will.” Hugo added.

The Gladiator drew his smoldering sword, which must’ve been the size of a person.

”Then so be it.” He roared.

The two rushed him simultaneously, attempting to bury the burning menace with a flurry of quick strikes. But that wasn't the best idea. They couldn’t even touch the Gladiator without suffering from burns themselves.

Kael sighed. “Some asshole just had to dig this fuck up, didn’t they?”

The Gladiator stepped forward, unleashing a big swing that singed a few hairs off of Hugo’s head.

“Bastard!” He shouted, before sending a hard cross at the Gladiator, shattering his chest-plate armor in the process.

“You’re pretty strong there, Brit. We just might win this one.” Kael grinned.

“Like I said… God will give me enough strength to overcome these trials.”

Hugo moved towards the Gladiator with a seemingly unwavering resolve, his eyes shining a bright crimson. His face was wrought with such intense, stoic determination that I nearly forgot his ultimate goal was to commit global genocide and began cheering him on.
The Gladiator sneered at the challenge, swinging his blade once again. This time, Hugo deflected it with an elbow, cracking the metal while doing so. He followed up by directing a flying hook kick at the Gladiator’s jaw, managing to rip it off completely.
Kael followed up by biting into the Gladiator’s shoulder and tearing a large chunk off, burning most of his face in the process.

“Ugh…” he said, spitting out the charred, undead flesh. “Not my cup of tea.”

“Are you alright?” Hugo asked, staring at his scorched face.

“Yeah… should heal up in no time.”

However, the Gladiator was relentless, letting out a frenzied roar before bolting towards Kael.
He managed to dodge most of the Gladiator’s blows, only taking the full brunt of his last punch. Still, that one blow was enough to form a deep, fleshy crater in his torso while also sending him flying into the steel rail, causing it to bend.

“Fuck…” Kael stammered out, staring down at the unsightly wound. “Nope, that's not good. Gonna take longer to heal.”

Hugo exhaled. “The situation has become bothersome..."

He went back after the Gladiator, sending a ruthless barrage of strikes his way. There was an evident skill gap between the two Voids, with Hugo landing about 90% of his attacks. On the other hand, the Gladiator only managed to land 3 or 4 clean hits of his own.
Nevertheless… each of one of them dealt far for damage than any of Hugo’s. After about a minute of fighting, Hugo’s left arm was completely mangled, his right ribcage had been shattered, and the entire right side of his face was burnt.
The Gladiator had also taken a fair amount of damage, but not nearly enough to even slow it down.
Kael groaned as he attempted to insert himself back into the fight. But that task wasn’t an easy one. He could hardly move with his torso just about completely destroyed.

“I suppose… this must be my final trial.” Hugo said, somewhat solemnly.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Kael asked, still groaning.

And then... for the first times since we began watching... Hugo smiled.

“God wills it.”

Using his good arm, Hugo removed the upper section of his robe, revealing a pale, mutilated, scar-ridden body beneath. He muttered another prayer, before looking up at the ceiling, tears now swelling up in his eyes.

“Thank you…” he muttered.

Along with his eyes, the scars on his body suddenly began glowing a deep red.

”Tricks won’t be enough.” The Gladiator thundered, before swinging his blade at Hugo’s neck.

I don’t think that I managed to catch exactly what happened next. However, I was certain that I was about to see a head rolling.
Instead, the Gladiator’s blade shattered into what looked like a million pieces.
At first, I didn’t even notice the gaping hole in the Gladiator’s chest.

”How did you…?”

The Gladiator was interrupted by his neck being brutally cranked to the side.
As the flaming behemoth dropped, so did Hugo. By then, Kael had regenerated to the point of being able to walk. He stumbled over to the near-comatose Bishop.

“What the fuck was that?” He asked, half-grinning.

“I… detached myself from my Earthly limitations. An egregious sin. But… I needed… to… fulfill my holy mission.”

“Well, shit. That’s pretty cool, I guess. Not your psycho mission, but the whole detachment thing.” He held out his hand in an attempt to help Hugo get up.

However… Hugo shook his head in response. “This is far as I go. Not something I can recover from. I only have judgement to face now.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up,” Kael said, picking up Hugo’s limp body and lumbering it over his shoulder. “We’ll find you some painkillers and then you’ll be back on your feet in no time.”

“Why would… you help me?” Hugo asked. “You understand what I'm after, don't you? My ideals?”

“Well, I don’t think I could’ve handled the Gladiator on my own, so I guess I owe ya, you crazy fuck,” he looked over at Hugo and grinned. “And who knows… maybe you’ll learn something. Yeah, there’s a lot of scum in the world. But… there’s also a lot of beauty. We don’t have to destroy it all.”

“That’s…”

Hugo passed out before he could finish his thought. Still carrying him over his shoulder, Kael took off running down another corridor.

I did a quick sweep of the other monitors. Satan-Bot had taken out 2 more lower-tier Voids, while Morgi was engaged with a High-Hurricane Void named The Mechanic - 6’5 (196 cm), 270 lbs (122 kg). Like the name suggested, he was a large, burly man in a mechanic outfit that enjoyed obliterating skulls with blunt tools. Real ruthless guy.

On another monitor, the Undead Nazi had just finished slicing the shit out of the Devil Nurse, who was a Mid-Tsunami.

*So that’s 12 down,*I thought. 20 left. The shitshow wasn’t anywhere near done.

“Check it out,” Sandhu said. “There’s still 4 Voids who haven’t escaped yet.”

Sure enough, he was right.

First off, there was The Titan - 15’7 (475 cm), 1438 lbs (652 kg).

A colossal entity with destructive capabilities that were nigh-impossible to deal with. It was humanoid, with an immensely muscular frame further accentuated by the fact that there wasn’t an ounce of fat on its entire body. Its harder-than-steel skin was reddish and cracked all over, with a road-map of razor-like veins bulging out at every square inch. And then there was the face. It had six sets of glowing blue eyes and a mouth full of fangs with exposed gums that were caustic to the touch.
His “holding cell”, (if you can even call it that), was a bit more fortified than the rest. I’m under-exaggerating, of course. It was fortified to goddamn hell. No electronic locks connected to a central system either, which is probably what caused the breach to begin with.

Good thing too. He was a Low-Asteroid.

The next one up was The Warden - 8’7 (261 cm), 435 lbs (197 kg). Ironically enough, this guy apparently used to run a prison of his own. What kind of prison that might be was beyond me. He had pale white skin, shadow-like eyes and long, slicked back silver hair. His trench coat was long and perpetually bloody, sweeping the floor as he walked.
I’ve heard stories about the guy. Supposedly, he killed upwards of 700 prisoners during a breach at his prison, managing to come out unscathed from a devastating explosion afterwards. He was as dangerous as a Void could get without being considered “Asteroid” tier, being a High-Earthquake.
Funnily enough… his cell was wide open, with guard bodies and destroyed mech suits littering the space. But instead of getting up and walking out, he simply sat, expression devoid of anything at all, like it usually was. Obviously, he was up to nothing good.
The next one was quite the doozy. The strongest Void in the entire Chasm, in fact.

It went by a simple moniker:

The Calamity of Earth, or just The Calamity for short.

Its gender was unknown. Height and weight unknown. Appearance unknown to everybody expect for the top officials overseeing this entire fucking operation.
Hell, we didn’t even know where it was kept. The only thing we had to monitor was a simple panel containing 3 lights:

Green – Safe, still contained.

Yellow – Breakout in progress. Evacuate immediately.

Red – Breached. Too fucking late.

What did we know about this thing? Nothing, save for the fact that a breach would most likely result in a global catastrophe.
Of course, it was a High-Asteroid. The only High-Asteroid, in fact.
And then there was the last still-captive Void. But unlike the 3 overpowered monsters I’ve already talked about… he was a lot different.

The Kid - 5’6 (168 cm), 142 lbs (64 kg).

As his name implies, The Kid was just that. A kid. From his appearance, he couldn’t have been much older than 16. 17 at most. The only thing we knew about him was that he apparently had “extraordinary”, undisclosed abilities. Abilities he used to slaughter his entire village back in Kerala, India.

But… who the hell knows what actually happened. To me, and nearly every other guard, he just seemed like your average, meek teenager. In fact, we rarely ever exercised caution around him. Unlike the rest of the Voids in here, he just did as he was told, always with this incredibly sullen expression on his face. I suppose that I can’t blame him, given the circumstances. We didn’t even bother putting a threat level on him. Nevertheless, we were instructed to keep him there.

There’s a lot of stuff going on here in the Chasm that us guards don’t quite understand. I make no reservations about that. I know for a goddamn fact that not everything we’re not doing any saintly work here. Do a lot of Voids in here deserve to be locked up? Not even. They deserve to be wiped off the face of the Earth. I never understood why we bothered holding the more malicious ones, using taxpayer money just to keep them alive.
And then there were the ones who I wasn’t quite sure belonged here at all. Did they even do anything wrong? Who knows. But one thing was for sure. They were different. Exceptional, I guess. The subjects of state curiosity.

I always tried suppressing these thoughts. I mean, who the hell was I? Just some random fucking guard. Not some arbiter of morality. Still…
Fuck it. This is not the time. So let's see... what happened next...
I turned to face a random monitor, trying to take my mind off of the Kid.
I caught what appeared to be the middle of a fight, with the two combatants being:

Jack the Ripper - 6’1 (185 cm), 170 lbs (77 kg), the infamous serial killer. Apparently, he’d performed some arcane ritual while on death’s door that granted him an extended lifespan and superhuman strength in exchange for what was left of his already dwindling humanity. He hardly resembled a human when we caught him. With a mouth full of sharp, rotting teeth, eyes sunken beyond reason and a face riddled with cuts, burns and various infections, he was quite the sore sight to behold.

At that moment, he was once again on death’s door. The person who put him there?

Bella Voclain AKA The Bloody Painter - 5’5 (165 cm), 122 lbs (55 kg). Despite looking more or less like a normal woman, she was a brutal assassin that wasn’t too concerned with the aftermaths of her jobs.. After killing her target, she’d paint a bloody picture on the walls. Sometimes she’d supplement her art with a few organs.

She wasn’t incredibly strong, but that didn’t matter all too much. She had this obscure ability where she could summon blades out of thin air at the tips of her fingers and then use some esper-like ability to shoot them off in rapid succession, almost at a machine-gun-like rate of fire.
She had no problems reducing her targets to mince-meat. The ones she really disliked, that is. When we finally captured her, she maintained that she only killed “the ones that really deserved it”. However, any chance of appeal (not that there was a chance to begin with) was shattered when she punctured the throats of 4 guards. She still claims that it was an accident to this day.

Do I believe her? Well, it’s about 50/50 with me.

Like I said, she had Jack on the ropes, with what must have been over 100 blades planted firmly within the killer’s body, including both of his eyes. Still, he had yet to give up as he swung WireHead’s bat (he must have picked it up) blindly and wildly around him.
Bella wasn’t unscathed herself, though. It looked as if she’d taken a couple of pretty bad hits to her ribs and thigh. In addition to that, she had a gnarly bite mark on her hand.

Nevertheless, she smiled as she pointed her finger like a pistol at the frenzied Jack.

“Profiter de l'enfer.” she said, before blasting the killer to shreds, finally ending his grim legacy.

Once she was done with that she let out a loud sigh, clutching her ribs and wincing in pain. Unlike most of the other Voids, she wasn't capable of taking too much punishment. After walking for a bit, she came across Luze.

While still badly mangled from his confrontation with WireHead, he was walking again. I didn't even know that he could regenerate that quickly.

The two stared at each other for about half a minute before Bella stuck out her hand and smiled.

It was a risk, for sure. But while Luze didn’t reciprocate the smile, he co-operated, accepting the handshake without electrocuting her. Another team-up, and one that I wouldn't necessarily have expected.
I did another quick sweep of the monitors. Morgi had taken out The Mechanic, although he was limping now. And his next fight wasn’t going to be an easy one. He was a few steps from coming across Satan-Bot.
In the meantime (and funnily enough), the Undead Nazi was about to square off with The Sadistic Soviet - 6’2 (187 cm), 215 lbs (98 kg), Low-Earthquake tier. Instead of being zombified like the Nazi, he was... more mechanical. More specifically, he was about 60% robotic, with his human bits slowly beginning to rot away.

The Surgeon was engaged in a bloody duel with Spider-Man - 6’9 (206 cm), 225 lbs (102 kg). Unlike Peter Parker, this guy was basically just a large tarantula with human skin and a half-human head.

Kael and Hugo were in the medical center, with the former tending to the latter’s wounds.
I thought about everything for a second, trying to run the numbers through my head. There were 4 more Voids who had definitely escaped that I hadn’t yet seen on any of the monitors. But I was really only concerned about 2 of them.
You see, within the chasm, there were 4 Asteroid-Tier Voids in total. Only 2 of them were still contained. The problem was rather obvious.
Beyond that, there were now 14 Voids dead. 4 Who still haven’t joined the fight. 14 currently active. All 4 Asteroids still in play. 3 High-Earthquakes as well. TFVNH likely on their way.

Holy fuck, I thought to myself. The real fight hasn’t even started yet.

A bout of sudden, raucous laughter nearly gave me a heart attack. I looked at Sandhu, but his face was dead serious.
That meant… shit. With everything that was going on, I completely forgot about the elephant in the room.
But sure enough, they were finally ready to reveal themselves.
As footsteps began emanating from the darkness behind us, I braced myself for whatever horrific entity we were surely about to encounter.

But instead of that…. It was an unfamiliar guy that looked to be in his mid-20s with messy, dirty-blonde hair dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts. He was probably around 5’10 (178 cm), 130 lbs (59 kg) soaking wet.

“What… the hell?” Sandhu said upon seeing him.

The man continued laughing as he strolled towards us.

“Oh… man,” he blurted out in between chuckles. “There's shit in both of your pants right now, isn't there? Don't lie to me. Well, the joke's gone on long enough.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Sandhu asked, sounding somewhat agitated.

The man put his arms up in an ostensibly defensive manner. “Relax. I’m just an observer here. But…” his bloodshot eyes seemed to bulge out as they wandered over to the monitors. “It looks like the preliminaries are over. Time for the good shit.”

“I’m so sorry, I forgot to introduce myself.”

The man stepped towards us with a gaze that I can only describe as volatile. Perhaps, in the moment, he had no ill intent. But there were volcanoes behind his eyes. Volcanoes that looked ready to erupt at any damn point. For that reason, I found myself slowly backing away.
But not Sandhu… for whatever reason, he stood his ground, facing the strange man without reservation. I suppose it also helped that he was 6’4 (193 cm) with a considerably larger frame.

“The name’s Adrian Nyquist.” He said, his voice nearly shaking with some kind of obscure excitement. He held out his hand but neither of us bothered with the niceties of the introduction.

He sighed. “What, is it me?” he lifted his shirt collar, taking a whiff. “Oof. You gotta shower more, Adrian,” and then he started laughing again. “But can you blame me? I’ve been busy-“

“Who the fuck are you?” Sandhu insisted. “And don’t just tell us your name again.”

“Okay,” Adrian said, smirking. “Big guy. Scary stuff, really. What’d you bench? 3 plates and a bit?”

Sandhu opened his mouth again, but was interrupted.

“It’s fine, though. I'll go ahead and explain myself. I mean, the whole situationis kinda weird.”

“Yup,” I responded. “Just kind of.”

Adrian sat down on the floor and let out a big puff of air. “I don’t really wanna go too in-depth here. I don't enjoy talking about myself. So let me drop the bomb on you first. I caused the breach.”

I nearly swallowed my tongue.

“What? What the fuck do you mean?”

“I meant what I said. I let all the prisoners out.”

“But.. what… how?” I stammered out.

He tilted his head back and groaned, before pretending to type on an invisible keyboard. “Just a little hacking, man. Nothing crazy. And they say that you’ll never use the skills you learn in school in real life. Pfft.”

“Hacking…" I responded in disbelief. But why?”

“Well, that’s where it does get a little crazy. Now, have you ever hopped dimensions?”

“Have I ever fucking what?”

“Alright, I see you’re un-initiated with the concept. Well, unlike hacking some corny lock system, the logistics there really do get complicated. I’ll admit that I don’t 100% understand it myself. But… I understand it just enough to have some fun.”

I was at a complete loss.

“I’m a jumper, that’s what they call us,” he chuckled somewhat goofily. “Still a novice, but at least I’m out there doing it. Living life, you know? Anyway, the multiverse is massive, obviously. A lot of crazy worlds out there, just waiting to be explored. But…”

He paused.

“I made a mistake last month. You see, I was watching some brutal big stakes fighting tournament called The Evisceration Championships on a planet called The Hellscape. Real fucked up place, but drugs laws are mostly unenforced there, so you know… it’s alright, I guess. Anyway, I’m up in the stands, 12th row, just blitzed out of my fucking mind on Astro-Coke. It’s like regular coke if regular coke was actually good.

He blew his nose into a disgusting handkerchief.

“But… sometimes you make some bad decisions when you’re a juiced. I guess school taught us something else, huh? Long story short, I made a deal with some fucking sketchy intergalactic gang leader named ‘Bones the 4th’ that I’d provide him a fighter that would guarantee him a win for the next tournament. But obviously… I was just talking shit. Not sure why the guy believed me, an Astro-cokehead, of all people.” he burst out laughing again. “I’ll never understand the rich."

“Ok…” I responded, barely comprehending what I’d just been told. “Assuming that what you just said is all true and that you’re not completely fucking bonkers… why don’t you just tell the guy that you don’t have a fighter?”

“Well,” Adrian made a "whoopsie" gesture with his hands. “The guy paid up front. A metric fuckton of intergalactic currency and about 22 kilograms (50 lbs) of Astro-Coke.”

“Then… just go to him and give it back.”

“Alright, Mr. Self-control, teach me your fucking secrets. Look, I’ve blown all the money. I still have a few kilograms of coke though, for a uh… rainy day. I’m not sharing, by the way”

“So… what the hell? This whole thing’s some fucked up tournament to you? You’re just gonna drag the last Void standing to fight in these Evisceration matches?”

“Well, it’s less of a tournament and more of a haphazard free-for-all. I’m no logistics expert, after all.”

I didn’t know what the hell I was supposed to say to the guy.

“If you’re behind this breach, then you’re responsible for the deaths of hundreds of guards. Hundreds of good men.” Sandhu coughed. “Most of them good men.”

Adrian rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay. Real loss, huh? I’m just trying to live my life here, man.”

“You’re insane.”

“Look, did that comment get us anywhere? You feel better now after stating the obvious?” no reply from Sandhu. Adrian sighed. “Look, can we just enjoy the show now? What’s done is done-

He was interrupted by Sandhu trying to tackle him to the ground. The man did know his jiu-jitsu. But no luck. He couldn’t even get Adrian to budge. I saw the veins in his forehead bulging as he apparently exerted all of his strength trying to subdue the strange, lanky man.

“Shit…” he said, through gritted teeth. “This guy’s strong.”

Adrian simply pulled out a pack of cigarrete, looking completely unbothered. “You know, I’ve taken a lot of strange drugs from a lot of different dimensions. One of them was bound to be a steroid. Also,” he began grinning like a maniac. “I’m no stranger to training. Wouldn’t survive out there if I was weak like you guys.”

He picked Sandhu up by the collar and gently tossed him back.

“Given the circumstances, I’ll forget that you just tried attacking me. Now… why don’t we just sit tight and watch.”

I held up a hand. “One last question, if you will.”

Adrian rolled his eyes and groaned like a child. “C’mon… we’re missing the good shit. But fine, hurry up.”

“The last Void standing… they’re bound to pretty strong, right?”

Adrian nodded.

“Stronger than you?”

“Well… no shit. I’m not trying to grab some chump.”

“Okay. So how the hell are you gonna convince them to come with you? These prisoners aren’t exactly reasonable.”

Adrian stared at me with just about the stupidest look on his face for around 10 seconds.

“Well, you know what they say,” he cracked his knuckles. “You just gotta live in the now.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Would an idiot get this far?”

The idiot had a point. If he really was the mastermind behind the breach… then the guy had some wicked skills. But at the same time… his common sense was close to non-existent.

“Whatever, I’ll figure it out when the time comes," he said. "In the meantime…”

He shot us both a rather menacing glare. “Let’s enjoy the damn show.”

I locked eyes briefly with Sandhu. I understood why he was angry. I was too. However… the situation was really beyond helping. We could only as we were told.
While we’d been talking, the Nazi had defeated the Soviet, although he did suffer gruesome injuries from the bout. A portion of his gas-mask had been shattered, revealing a rotting jaw underneath. In fact, his entire body had been pummeled to a near-pulp as he struggled to limp along the rails.

Adrian grunted. “Great, we missed the world war 2 rematch. I hope you guys are happy with yourselves.”

The guy really was like a child. A really capable, psychotic child.
In other news, Satan-Bot had blown up Morgi (along with an entire corridor), while the Surgeon had a made a surprise “discovery” after disemboweling the spider’s abdomen.
It was filled with about 200 smaller humanoid spiders that began swarming him. It was hard not to shudder at the sight.

Bella and Luze looked like they were still trying to find a way out, while Kael and Hugo had encountered The Rowdy Clown – 7’8 (234 cm), 177 lbs (80 kg).

Rowdy really was something else. His appearance didn’t just make you fear clowns and the carnival. He made you fear life itself. An impossibly tall, skinny and pale ghoul-like humanoid dressed in a bloody, dirty 1960s clown costume, with twitching, twig like fingers and cracked, red lips enveloping a mouth filled with sharp, sticky black teeth. And then there was the fact that he had no eyes and two thin, bleeding slits for a “nose”. I really do wonder what kind of God could’ve created such an entity.

But… he wasn’t terribly strong, only being a Mid-Tsunami.

Rowdy spat a mouthful of dark, gooey spit at Kael, dissolving the right side of his face.

“Ugh…” Kael muttered, trying to wipe the ungodly substance away, only to pull apart bits of his flesh and muscle in the process. “Just nuke this fucking place.”

Rowdy began cackling like the hellish fiend he was, swinging a lead balloon attached to barb-wire right at the still-injured Hugo’s head.
However, Kael managed to intercept it at the last moment, breaking his own hand in the process. Suddenly, a pair of giant bat-like wings sprouted from his back. He flew towards Rowdy, before drop-kicking his head clean off.

“That seems like something you should’ve used earlier.” Hugo remarked nonchalantly.

“You know, I would, but doing so makes me feel pretty gross.”

I decided to check back on the Surgeon. But he was gone.

“Oh, fuck…” I muttered, as I began seeing the black haze around me.

I felt a cold hand on my shoulder, followed by a high-pitched, slimy voice that oozed its way into my ears.

“You got me out of a real sticky situation there.”

Hesitantly, I looked up at the Surgeon’s cold, dark gaze as he grinned like a maniac down at me.
And then his neck was twisted a full 360 degrees.
As he dropped, Adrian let out a big breath of air, stretching out his knuckles. “Guy broke the rules. No running from a fight. Besides… he was weak. Wouldn’t have stood a chance in the evisceration matches anyway.”

“Is he… dead?” I stammered out, looking down at the limp Surgeon.

“Uh… yeah.” Adrian responded.

I shook my head in disbelief. “But… we’ve put sniper bullets through his temple… how did you…?”

Adrian shot me a smug grin. “Like I said… ya’ll are just weak. Now keep watching. Things are getting interesting.”

A few moments later, the Nazi came across the remnants of the spider and its ‘hatchlings’, torching them to ashes without hesitation, allowing me to breathe easier.

Immediately after taking out the spider, he crossed paths with The Chattering Man - 5’11 (180 cm), 145 lbs (66 kg), Mid-Earthquake tier.

As much as I hated sympathizing with Nazi's, the guy couldn't seem to catch a break.
Resembling a horribly slouched humanoid, the Chattering Man was the kind of creature that parents told their kids about in an attempt to scare them into being good. Each and every one of his limbs were jagged and contorted, covered by thin, borderline translucent skin that was still inexplicably bulletproof.
His eyes were covered in a damp, bloody and dirty cloth while his long, black, matted hair swayed wildly as he twitched around.
And then there were his teeth. They were giant – about twice the size of a normal human’s, and coinciding with his name - rapidly and constantly chattered like hell, yielding one of the most disturbing sounds imaginable.

Adrian slammed his fists on the table in excitement. “Yes! This is a match-up I’ve been waiting to see!”

The Chattering man stared the Nazi down, his teeth rattling together like a frenzied, demonic drum. The Nazi responded by abruptly engulfing him in a sea of flames.
However, The Chattering Man simply walked through it completely unscathed. I could see the Nazi clench his jaw in apparent frustration. He drew his knife and rushed in, attempting to engage him up close.
The chatterer was surprisingly fast, dodging each slash, before biting down on the Nazi’s flamethrower tank.
The subsequent explosion flung them both into the air, destroying a good portion of the Nazi's back in the process. On the other hand… The Chattering man only suffered a few cracked teeth.

“Holy hell…” I muttered. Truth be told, I’d never actually seen the Chattering man in action up until that point. Perhaps we'd been low-balling him on the threat-scale.

The Nazi let out a hoarse scream, before rushing back towards his disturbing opponent. He managed to sink his blade into the Chattering man’s shoulder, before being blindsided by a swipe to the face, completely shattering what remained of his mask, revealing his full, zombified visage beneath.
The Chattering Man surged his head forward, biting a large chunk of the Nazi’s face off, causing spurts of dark-green blood to explode everywhere. He followed it up by ripping an arm off, before savagely beating the undead solider with his own appendage.
The Nazi attempted one last stand, grabbing the knife that was still lodged inside the Chattering Man’s shoulder, carving a large gash that extended down to his ribcage.

Nevertheless, his admittedly impressive run was finally over.
Not seeming to acknowledge the wound at all, the Chattering Man plunged two bony fists into the Nazi’s chest, before ripping his torso in half.
Quite the gruesome display, for sure. But Adrian seemed to revel in it. He let out a raucous cheer for the victor.

What the fuck is wrong with this guy? I thought to myself.

Tossing that thought aside, it became apparent that things were beginning to come down to the wire. Kael and Hugo had found themselves within the vicinity of The Dancing Guy - 5’7 (170 cm), 155 lbs (71 kg). He was an ordinary looking, albeit racially ambiguous man in his mid-20s with short, light brown hair and a perpetual 5'o clock shadow dressed in a plain white t-shirt and track pants. He always wore a pair of unbranded earbuds connected to an mp3 that never seemed to run out of battery.

And of course, he never stopped dancing.

He was a Mid-Asteroid. The 3rd strongest being within the entire Chasm. Hell, it’s entirely possible that he actually is the strongest. We’ve never seen him fight against the top 2, after all. So just how the hell was such an ostensibly innocuous man so dangerous?
Who the hell knew. Like most of the prisoners, he was truly beyond explanation.
If I had to classify him, he’d 100% be chaotic neutral. He had no conception of good or evil. No sense of right or wrong. No goals. No ideals. The guy just wanted to dance. And he sure as hell was a menace while doing so.
Yet, he would never go out of his way to bother you. You just had to stay out of his.He could disintegrate people just by touching them. He’d simply dance through your body, leaving nothing but shreds of flesh and blood behind.

And if you ever tried stopping him… oh boy. You see, his eyes were always closed when he was dancing to the music funneling into his ears. If that music ever stopped… then he’d be forced open them up. And then all hell would break loose.
He’d go on a rampage until he got those earbuds back, and nothing could take him down in the process. Nothing. For that reason, it was better to leave him undisturbed, allowing him dance to his heart's content. For that reason, his holding cell was the largest, giving him plenty of room to do so.

(Fun fact: He listens to many genres, but his favorite is EDM, specifically melodic trance and hardstyle).

But now he was out. Bad news for everybody, and Kael knew it.

“Shit…” he muttered. “We’re not dealing with that.”

“Why?” Hugo asked. “Is he strong?”

Kael nodded. “More than you know.”

“Then that’s all the more reason why we need to eliminate him.” Hugo said, attempting to crawl towards the Dancer.

But before he could make the biggest mistake of his life, Kael scooped him up and began running the other direction. “Let’s not do that.”

“YEAHHHH!!! THE BIG BOYS ARE COMING OUT!!!”

Adrian’s abrupt shout nearly shattered my eardrums. I glanced over to see which monitor he was looking at. And then I understood his excitement.
Satan-Bot had come across his next opponent. But it wasn’t one he was going to have such an easy time with.
Standing opposite of him on a walkway on the very top floor was Long Wu AKA The Mechanical Menace - 6’9 (205 cm), 375 lbs (170 kg). He was a Mid-Asteroid, right in between The Calamity and the Dancing Guy in terms of estimated strength.

He was actually a special case. You see, he was Originally held in the Chinese equivalent of the Chasm, known as “The Well”. However, as a political ‘favor’ (a complicated exchange, mind you), the US allowed the PRC to transfer Wu over. This was shortly after he'd killed 400+ guards and nearly escaped entirely. They just really didn’t want to deal with him anymore.

He was also interesting in the sense that he wasn’t born with any supernatural abilities or superhuman prowess. His danger came from his brilliant, but unhinged mind and his obsession with the concept of trans-humanism and being “the change that shifts humanity into a new, technological age.”
His original, progress-driven ideals could’ve been deemed noble at some point. But then he went off the deep end with power and decided to prove just how much better we could be once we’d fully integrated ourselves with technology.
And how did he decide to do this? By trying to kill anybody and everybody he saw.
His power came from his suit, which he’d apparently semi-fused with his own body. It was comprised of a dark, unidentifiable metal that had so far proved to be unbreakable. With it, he had a vast arsenal of devastatingly overpowered weapons at his disposal. Machine guns, shotguns, explosives, knives, you name it. Both of the eyes on his helmet were also capable of firing rail-gun blasts.

But his most powerful weapon was something he called “The Singularity Blade.”
That weapon was where the science ended and the fucked-up shit began. Being about 5 feet (152 cm) long and glowing a deep ember, this sword was an enigma. I’m not sure how he made it or what he did to attain it, but it sure as hell wasn't the result of any kind of engineering.
Any time that he swung it, a sharp, earsplitting roar could be heard from everywhere and nowhere at once. And then, from the tip of the blade, some kind of ghost-like serpent-esque entity would emerge, utterly annihilating everything in the area with its flames, fangs and claws. You could only see it for a about a second, and most guards were under the impression that it didn't even exist. But it does. And it’s haunting.

“They’re gonna destroy this place.” Sandhu said.

Adrian pulled an old-looking pack of peanuts out from his back pocket, stuffing a handful in his mouth. “You got that right!” He shouted, spitting crumbs everywhere.

Wu took the first offensive, unleashing a typhoon of bullets from a chain-gun that jutted out from his chest. Satan-Bot managed to dodge every shot, closing the distance between them in the process. Both of their movements were incredibly hard to follow, of course.
Once he got close, he attempted to strike Wu with his tail, only to have it blocked by a large shield that abruptly materialized from his forearm.
Wu attempted to slice the tail off with a large axe, but Satan-Bot managed to evade the blow at the last second.
I suddenly understood why he was so dangerous. Unlike Satan-Bot, who's weapons were already fixed on its body, Wu’s suit was capable of adapting to any situation, morphing its robotic appendages into whatever weapon was best suited to countering his opponent.

“Jesus Christ…” I muttered at the realization. “This guy’s a fucking monster.”

Even though Satan-Bot had managed to dodge that strike, the next one would prove more difficult to evade. In a borderline flash-like movement, Wu threw a Muay Thai kick at Satan-Bot’s side, piercing it with a spike that protruded from the tip of his foot. He finished the combo by transforming his fist into a tool comparable in appearance to a meat-grinder, drilling it into Satan-Bot’s shoulder, tearing an arm off in the process.

Adrian groaned. "And here I thought the Devil robot was gonna put up more of a fight.”

But he spoke too soon.

After taking the hit, Satan-Bot was already on the counter, whipping his tail around to strike the side of Wu’s head.
Wu recoiled slightly, still managing to destroy one of Satan-Bot’s knees with a rail-gun blast as he staggered.
He was about to finish the job when a large cannon materialized from Satan-Bot’s torso. A hidden, last-stand weapon, I suppose.
From the barrel, it fired out an immense, blast of purple energy that Wu barely had time to dodge as it scorched the side of his helmet.
It blew a gigantic fucking hole in the fortified ceiling, causing sunlight to leak in. Keep in mind that we were also about 100 feet (30 meters) underground.
But Wu didn’t give Satan-Bot any more time to reveal any further tricks, blasting its body to bits with a brutal spray from an automatic grenade launcher.

It seemed as if Adrian was about to pass out from the excitement. “THAT’S MY BOY!!!” he shouted. “FUCK BONES, WE’RE GONNA WIN THIS WHOLE TOURNAMENT OURSELVES!!!!”

What I hadn’t noticed was Bella and Luze watching the whole encounter from behind cover. Bella’s eyes lit up upon seeing the hole. A rather convenient escape route.
She ran out from her hiding spot, before leaping an extraordinary distance into the air, right towards freedom.
But then… out of nowhere… a massive, armored hand grabbed her by the neck.

From the surface, a gigantic man dressed in a streamlined mech suit of a model that I wasn't familiar with dropped down, landing hard on the walkway.
He continued to nonchalantly strangle Bella as he surveyed the scene.

“What a mess…” his booming voice reverberated through the monitors. “It’s time to enforce justice.”

If Adrian was giddy before, he was off the rails now. “They’re here! They’re FINALLY here! It’s time for the semi-fucking-finals!!!”

“Who the hell is here?” I asked, already somewhat knowing the answer.

“The alpha boys and girls. The apex predators,” he responded. “Task Force Void Nova Hammer.”

Task Force Void Nova Hammer

Most of the guards I knew were just dying to see them in action. I was the odd one out in that regard.
Well, they were here now, and those guards were too dead to see them.
I’m sorry, that really was a distasteful joke. I guess Adrian’s presence has rubbed off on me just a tiny bit.
Speaking of Adrian, he was feverishly fumbling around in his pockets while keeping his eyes glued on the monitor. After a few moments, he tossed a bag of white powder onto the table.

“Astro-Coke?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Nah, just the regular stuff. The show’s not at its climax yet. Gotta pace myself.”

He snorted the whole mound in about half a minute.

“YO!” he grunted, wiping his nose off. “You fellas want to hear a secret?”

I don’t think we had a choice.

“Task force… Void Nova… whatever… how do you think the members get recruited?”

I shrugged. “Dunno… some kind of test, I guess.”

He guffawed. “Nah! They’re Voids as well!”

My mouth dropped.

As he went on to explain, TFVNH was a constantly rotating team comprised of Voids (save for a few exceptions) who were a reasonable balance of both powerful and sane. In fact, different countries occasionally lent their own Voids to one another to use for their respective forces. In exchange for their service, the members would be allowed to live freely amongst society, although they were monitored heavily while doing so.

“You sure know a lot of confidential stuff,” Sandhu said to Adrian. “Just who the hell are you?”

Adrian sat back in the seat. “Ahh… nobody. Just a dabbler. A jack of all trades, master of a good handful.”

He sure was insufferable. In any case, I put my sights back on the monitor. As Bella struggled against the seemingly insurmountable foe, she tried blasting him with a blade-spray. But before she could even raise her hand, it was broken with a single, firm grasp.

“Fils de pute!” She spat, the life draining from her breath with every word.

As Adrian would go onto tell us, this particular TFVNH member was:

Kentay, “The Guillotine” Sanders - 6’6 (197 cm), 287 lbs (130 kg).

Supposedly, he was a real hardass. An abnormally powerful man with an incredibly skewed (and strict) sense of justice. To him, the word ‘nuance’ meant nothing. Rehabilitation was a joke. Second chances were an alien concept. He was a man whose worldview was utterly black-and-white.
To him, the laws that landed himself in prison didnt constitute legitimate justice. His ideals were the only ones that mattered. Cross his sensibilities and you were a criminal in desperate need of execution.

“He’s got a pretty notorious reputation in these parts,” Adrian continued. “He’s captured at least 7 of the Voids in here himself. Nearly killed all of them as well. Honestly, I’m not rooting for him to win. Gonna be too hard to wrangle in afterwards.”

Just as Bella looked about ready to pass out, Kentay was blindsided by a sudden rush from Luze.

Well… I guess blindsided wasn’t really the right term. Kentay blocked his strike with relative ease.

“There’s revenge customer numero uno,” Adrian said. “The big guy wiped out Luze’s entire village before dragging him into this place. No wonder he’s pissed!”

For the first time, Luze had a fierce expression on his face. He let out a rage-laden shriek, before digging both of his hands into the only exposed part of Kentay’s body – his neck, lighting up the area – and his face, with sparks.

“Oh boy, that ain’t gonna work.” Adrian muttered, grinning.

Kentay grunted, seemingly taking the full brunt of the excessive shock without going down, before grabbing both of Luze’s arms and slamming him into the floor. He dropped Bella in the process, who immediately ran off with her life.

“Tch,” Adrian clicked his tongue in disdain. “She’s not even helping him out. Guess that’s women for ya.”

Sandhu and I kind of just glanced at each other awkwardly following the comment.

Unfortunately, Luze’s rage just wasn’t enough for him to fulfill his revenge. While still on the ground, Kentay stomped on his head, crushing it like a watermelon. Quite the gruesome sight to behold.

Afterwards, he set his sights on Wu, who’d been observing the whole exchange.

“Finally,” Adrian said. “The strong are going at it.”

For a moment, Wu and Kentay both seemed to acknowledge each other’s power, hesitating for just a moment. And then - in a flash, they rushed each other simultaneously.
Both of their opening moves were kicks, catching each other’s respective legs mid-air, causing the walkway beneath them to crack underneath their combined pressure.
On top of possessing overwhelming strength, they were both apparently skilled in martial arts as well. A terrifying combination. But Wu possessed another, more devastating aspect on top of it all:

Actual weapons.

Wu dropped his leg, opting to blast Kentay with a flurry of shotgun rounds instead. It was enough to send him flying backwards, breaking apart the torso section of his suit. And he didn’t give him a second to breathe.
Wu rushed forward immediately after, grabbing Kentay’s helmet and slamming it down on his knee, shattering it completely. He attempted to decapitate him on the spot with a saw, but Kentay caught the slash before it could land.
He looked up at Wu, his dark eyes twisted with rage. He broke the saw in half, before delivering a powerful-looking right cross to Wu’s stomach that splintered a portion of his suit and sent him crashing into the rails.

He managed to crack the damn thing, I thought, astonished at the fact. That meant at a minimum, Kentay’s punches packed more stopping power than an M203 grenade.

“Ooohhh, he’s getting serious,” Adrian smiled. “You know what they call his striking technique?”

“What?”

“The Pulverizing Fist. He twists his knuckles at the last moment, grinding flesh to a pulp. With his strength, it’s like drilling through wet toilet paper. But that’s only for regular people. Doesn’t work on big boys like Wu.”

The armor covering Kentay’s knuckles had shattered upon the impact. He winced in pain as he cocked it back, preparing to deliver another strike.

“You’re an impediment to justice,” he said through gritted teeth. “Prepare to be executed.”

But before the two could clash again, five more figures jumped down from the hole that Satan-Bot had created, landing in succession around Kentay.

“Looks like the whole gang’s arrived.” Adrian said.

He began giving us a rundown of the other TFVNH members. First off, there was:

Ken, “The Fugitive”, Ryo – 6’2 (188 cm), 165 lbs (75 kg). A Korean-American from Brooklyn. Not a super malicious guy. He kinda just did whatever the hell he wanted. Problem is, a lot of those things happened to be illegal. (And unethical, let’s be honest).

He was nonchalantly chewing tobacco as he leaned on the rails.

His “ability” was rather interesting. Even Adrian had a hard time explaining it. Physically speaking, Ken was more or less average. However, he had the ability to “summon” portals from which obscure-looking but terribly powerful entities would emerge and tear apart his opponents.
But at the end of the day, all that he really wanted to do was escape. He hated being monitored.

Next, there was Nassar, “The Bloody Twister”, El-Rafih - 5’9 (174 cm), 168 lbs (76 kg). He was a loan from the Saudi Arabian government. He possessed the ability to transform into a whirlwind comprised of a glass-like material, moving at speeds upwards of 120 miles/h (193 km/h), along with being able to blast out deadly streams of shards at multiple targets at once. It was quite the gruesome way to go out.
He was also a real weird guy. While nearly every other Void assigned to TFVNH had relatively clear ambitions, his were an absolute mystery. But he probably wasn’t up to anything good.
His eyes were darting wildly around while a gigantic, mischievous-looking grin was plastered across his face.

Next up, there was Callista, “The Beautiful Demon”, Taylor. - 5’11 (181 cm), 121 lbs (55 kg). She was a former fashion model based in Australia. Her career ended at the ripe age of 23, when she ended up suddenly murdering four of her fellow models, along with the police force sent to detain her.
Supposedly, her abilities had been latent from birth, gradually building up to a point where she was unable to keep it in any longer. In her “Demon” mode, her mouth would fall abnormally agape, dark rings would form around her pupils and her body would be engulfed in cold, grey flames.
At that point, she’d become intangible like a ghost and drift into her victim’s bodies, causing them to bleed profusely from every orifice.
But that only worked on humans. For most Voids, she’d have to resort to physical brawling using her razor-like fingers.
Her ambitions were fairly explicit. She just wanted to kill everybody, Void or not. It begged the question as to why they’d even assign her to the force to begin with, given the fact that she was so damn volatile.
Whatever. I’ll never understand these people.
She was staring intently at Nassar, but without any real emotion behind her gaze. It kind of just looked like she wanted to kill him for the sake of it.

Continuing on, there was Clint, “The Normal Guy” Rockwell - 6’1 (185 cm), 180 lbs (82 kg). Like Nassar, he was also a mystery. Supposedly, he’d never been a Void at all. No otherworldly powers/abilities. Just a regular - albeit capable, guy.

Adrian didn’t know much about him. Only that he was a “special case”, granted access to confidential information and a spot on TFVNH due to a “recommendation” from an unnamed higher-up. In order to compensate for his lack of physical abilities, he was granted an oversized power-suit dubbed “The Behemoth”, along with the “God-Slaying Cannon” – a heavy duty automatic rifle that fired explosive rounds at 600 rpm.
He stood still with a rather determined expression on his face, as if he had his mind set on a singular, concrete objective.

Rounding out the bunch was the de-facto leader of the force – Jack, “The All-American”, Barnes - 6’0 (183 cm), 200 lbs (91 kg).

Like Clint, he wasn’t a Void either. Born in Oklahoma and belonging to a prolific family, he was an inexhaustibly skilled soldier-turned-Government agent that managed to work his way up to the top (with the help of some nepotism). Eventually, he was chosen as the inaugural subject of a project dubbed “The Paragon Trials”, in which government scientists would attempt to genetically engineer superhumans.
Well, he wasn’t actually the first, but that’s what he was told (for peace of mind). In any case, his trials ended up working out in the end. I guess the 8th time really was the charm.
As a result, he was basically Superman, save for the flight. (Genetic engineering hasn’t advanced that far yet.)

“Man, look at those blonde curls,” Adrian commented. “How the fuck does he get his hair like that?”

He had an arrogant grin on his face as he strolled to the front of the pack. It only took me 5 seconds of looking at him to reach the conclusion that he was probably a giant asshole.

“What’s the rush, Kentay? Let’s not get too excited here,” Jack said. “Remember who’s giving the orders, yeah?”

“Your arbitrary orders mean nothing to me,” Kentay responded, still staring vehemently at Wu. “The only thing that matters is justice..”

I could see a large vein bulge out on Jack’s forehead from the opposition.

“Okay…” he muttered, before seemingly composing himself. “Let’s finish the task at hand,” he directed his gaze towards Wu. “C’mon, big guy. You lost your chance at a fair fight when you decided to become a robot psycho.”

While Wu may have been a match for Kentay by himself, taking on the entirety of TFVNH at once was a rather tall order. I guess he knew this himself, as he jumped over the rails, landing on a lower floor.

“I’m going after him,” Jack said, stepping forward. “The rest of you take out the riff-raff. They want the Voids alive, but I’m gonna be sorely disappointed if you don’t bring me back some fuckin’ minced-meat.”

That was one thing him and Kentay could agree on.

“And remember,” he said, turning back. His expression was suddenly teeming with fury. “You’re all scum-fuck piece-of-shit Voids as well. You try to escape… try to fuck with me… and you’re gonna be begging for me to end your pathetic fucking lives.”

He pointed at Ken. “You stay here. Make sure nobody tries escaping through the roof.”

Instead of acknowledging the order, Ken just spat his tobacco into a plastic bottle.

“Hey! You listening to me you fucking Jap? Remember when we beat you in the fucking war?”

“Isn’t he Korean?” Clint muttered.

Ken just raised an eyebrow at the remark. “Dude, I don’t even know how to respond to that.”

“Look, whatever, just fucking listen to me, alright!” Jack screamed.

Ken grinned sarcastically and made a defensive gesture.

“Okay boss.”

Jack’s forehead vein bulged out even more. It was really starting to look pretty gross.

“Alright, let’s fucking go then!”

After finishing his motivational speech, he jumped down, presumably going after Wu.
Save for Ken, the rest of TFVNH followed suit, scattering throughout the Chasm in search of the remaining Voids.
The strong were finally about to converge on one, bloody path.
As dark, weird and gruesome as the whole situation was… I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little bit excited to see what was about to transpire.

“God, I can’t even keep my eyes still.” Adrian said, beaming at the prospect of utter carnage ahead.

My eyes ended up drifting towards the Dancing Guy, who was jubilantly performing the shuffle along a 2nd floor walkway.
Soon enough, he crossed paths with Nassar, who was grinning like a madman.
Without much hesitation, he stepped forward, heading right towards the Dancer.

“Well, I guess it’s over for him.” I said. I had yet to hear about anybody being able to inflict any kind of damage against the Dancing guy. The only thing that we could really do was contain him, and I severely doubted that things were going to be any different here.

“I’m not so sure,” Adrian responded. “The guy’s a wildcard. I think he’s just testing the waters here.”

Before I knew it, Nassar had gotten dangerously close. I held my breath in anticipation.

There’s no way… I thought.

And I was right. Nassar tried to strike the Dancer but was blitzed immediately. I could hardly even comprehend what had even happened. One moment, he was in the midst of throwing a right cross. The next, he was planted firmly within the concrete wall, missing an arm and with a gaping hole in his chest.

“Holy shit,” he spurted out. He looked towards the Dancer, still inexplicably grinning. “Damn, you’re strong.”

“What the hell’s wrong with him?” I wondered out loud.

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” Adrian answered. “I think I’ve found a kindred spirit.”

Nassar pulled himself out of the crater he’d made, displaying zero indication that he was in any kind of pain at all. Suddenly, a flurry of glass engulfed his chest wound and missing arm, reverting them back to normal in a matter of seconds. He stretched himself out before nodding happily at the Dancer and walking off.

What… the fuck. I thought.

I looked over at Sandhu, wanting to see his own reaction. But… he was stone-like, staring at only one monitor in particular. I followed his eyes and realized that for whatever reason, he was focused on the Kid who was still sitting in his cell.

“Check it out,” my thoughts were broken by Adrian’s outburst. “She’s found her prey.”

I looked at the monitor he was gesturing to, seeing Kael and Hugo being hacked away at by Callista.

“Now who the hell is she?” Kael shouted, taking a sequence of gnarly gashes to the chest.

“Evil incarnate,” Hugo answered. Although still severely injured, he was able to move around on his own now. “Look at her eyes. She’s being controlled by the Devil.”

Callista drilled her hand forward, impaling Kael through the solar-plexus. He chopped at her arm before pushing her off.

“Fucking hell,” he sighed. “This is back-breaking work.”

“Are you a match for her?” Hugo asked.

Kael shook his head, exhausted as hell. “Doubt it.”

“In that case…” Hugo said, standing up. “It seems like I’ll have to detach myself fully.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“My constraints were only lifted halfway the last time.”

“You almost died last time as well. You sure you’re gonna make it out this time?”

“I’m not planning to.”

Kael chuckled. “Sorry, but I’m not gonna let you do that.”

Hugo’s eyes began glowing a familiar crimson. “I’ve been ordained a holy mission. I’ll do whatever it takes,” he stared at the rapidly approaching Callista. “Anything to eliminate evil.”

His scars began glowing again, brighter than ever this time, preparing to engage the oncoming enemy.
But before they could clash, Kael stepped in between and tanked another series of slashes before kicking her back.

“Agh…” he grunted. “Fuck, that hurt.”

“What are you doing?” Hugo asked, perplexed. “I told you, this is-“

“Yeah, yeah… your God-given… whatever the fuck. I don’t know buddy. You’re a psycho, but for whatever reason… I don’t really want you to die.”

Kael gave him a bloody grin. “It feels like we’ve been through a lot, you know?”

For a moment, it seemed as if Hugo was at a loss for words. But then Callista stood back up.

“I see…” he said. “But what are we going to do about her?”

Kael looked down and sighed. “Shit. Yeah, that’s the real question, ain’t it?”

Kael clenched his teeth as Callista began charging at them once again.

“Looks like Lady Luck’s on their side today.” Adrian said.

I realized what he meant when one of Callista’s hands were bitten straight off by the Chattering Man, who’d strolled into the fray from an adjacent corridor.

“Well, shit,” Kael said, watching the two suddenly preoccupied with each other. “Looks like God is looking out for us.”

He grinned at Hugo, who simply nodded back. As those two got the fuck out of dodge, Callista and the Chattering Man began relentlessly butchering each other.
Using her remaining hand, she made two quick slashes in succession, tearing open his chest and forehead. In response, the Chatterer bit a good portion of her shoulder off. This went on for a few minutes, until about half of Callista’s body remained and about 90% of the Chatterer’s skin had been shredded off, staining the entire area a gory red.

But even demonic superhumans had their limits. They were both beginning to slow down.
Callista twisted her bloody, knife-like fingers, pushing them into the Chattering man’s mouth and through his throat. While it was still lodged inside, she threw her arm upwards, splitting his head apart. But at the exact same time, the Chattering Man swiped at her head, twisting her neck clean off.
They both fell simultaneously, as combatants who fought to the bloody end.
It was by far the most brutal bout I’d seen thus far. Although… there was certainly some fierce competition for that title.
I decided to check back on the Voids that were still contained. The Titan was still in his cell. The Calamity’s light also remained green. The Kid hadn’t stepped out either.

But then… there was the Warden.

Clint had stepped into his cell, donning the Behemoth suit in all of its destructive glory. Wearing it brought them roughly up to the same size.
Still… he was just an ordinary guy going up against an unfairly powerful monster. Unless he had some tricks up his sleeve, this was about to get really messy really quick.

“Hey,” he said, grinning at the Warden through his fortified visor. “You’ve been chasing me all this time. Thought I’d finally come to you instead.”

“Sounds like they have unfinished business.” Adrian said.

That much was probably true.
Still staring down at the blood-stained floor, the Warden simply let out a deep, lengthy sigh.
When he finally looked up, there was nothing in his pit-like eyes but sheer rage.

“Your death won’t be quick.”

His voice was deeper than the Marianas.

Before Clint could even get his guard up, he was brutally blitzed by a sudden rush. The Warden was moving so fast, he was effectively a blur. Clint was launched backwards, denting a metal wall. The Warden bolted at him again, slashing off pieces of his suit with nothing but his fingers. He launched his fist at Clint’s protective visor, smashing it to bits and cutting his face up with bits of stray glass in the process.
However, Clint managed to push him off before it could connect with his skull, which would’ve been beyond fatal.

“Fuck!” He spat, attempting to unsheathe the oversized blade at his side.

But he wasn’t nearly quick enough. The Warden grabbed it by the edge before Clint could even swing, shattering it into fine dust with nothing but a firm grasp. Then, he grabbed the suit by the arm, slamming Clint hard onto the ground, causing him to spit out blood.

“Shit…” Adrian muttered. “This is even hard for me to watch.”

The Warden proceeded to uncompromisingly wail away on top of him, with Clint barely managing to protect his face with the suit’s wrist-guards. But even those were being chipped away at rather quickly. Just as there was about an inch of suit left covering his arms, he tilted his elbow towards the Warden’s neck, firing off a small grenade that caused the overpowered Void to stagger just a little.
The Warden retreated, touching the small wound that the explosion had left under his chin.
In turn, Clint struggled to pull himself up, with his suit looking like it’d been run over by about a dozen freight trains. His face was covered in blood and cuts, while a blood vessel had popped in his right eye.

Yet, he shot the Warden a gory smirk. “Okay… maybe I deserved that. But the comeback starts now.”

He opened a compartment on the suit’s ribcage, taking out something that resembled a small, white crystal.

“Remember these?” He asked, before using it to cut himself on an exposed portion of his wrist.

The Warden’s face twisted into an unfathomable expression of fury. He rushed forward again, tackling Clint into another wall, before ripping off a large chunk of the suit’s torso. And then… he drilled his fist into Clint’s ribcage.
At that moment, I was 100% sure he was done for. But… to my downright surprise… he managed to tank the punch, grimacing only slightly.

“What’d you think?” he asked the Warden, still grinning. “We ran some experiments. These shards are new and improved.”

The Warden let out an ear-splitting shriek that I was surprised didn’t deafen Clint on the spot, before picking him and tossing him back into the cell. He followed him in, picking his head up and bashing his temple about 10 times into the metal toilet seat, before it ended up breaking from the force.
As a result, one side of Clint’s face was beginning to resemble a bloody mush. Still… I was surprised it hadn’t been reduced to pulp.

What the hell was that shard? I thought to myself.

He also seemed to have picked up a bounce in his step, evading another strike from the Warden and crawling behind him. At that point, the behemoth had effectively been reduced to scrap metal. Clint dove towards the God-Slaying Cannon, which had been knocked loose during their scuffle. He scooped it up and began spraying it at the Warden’s direction.
However, he managed to evade just about every shot, leaving large clouds of smoke and dust behind him as the devastating bullets reduced the place to rubble.

“Fuck, you’re a tough customer,” Clint groaned, as he flipped a switch on the weapon. “Take this then.”

The barrel of the weapon suddenly grew in size, causing it to resemble an actual cannon.
As he pulled the trigger, the monitor darkened for just a moment before a flash of deep red engulfed the area and a high-pitched staccato of wholly unfamiliar noises assaulted my senses.

I kept watching as the recoil from the strange blast pushed Clint’s back into the wall as it completely annihilated the entire other side of the room. The weapon itself was also destroyed in the process.
I guess the God-Slaying Cannon got an upgrade. Cause I sure as hell didn’t know it could do that.
After the smoke cleared, everything was silent for a few moments.

Clint grinned, letting out a big sigh of relief.
And then his face dropped a few seconds later.
As the rubble began stirring, the Warden burst out, with about half of his entire body now charred to hell.
He also had a wicked, psychotic grin on his face. It was the first time I’d seen him make any kind of overt expression at all. I could’ve lived without it, though.

“You took everything from me,” he said, walking ominously towards the nearly-broken Clint. “But I have to admit… this has been a hell of a fun time.”

“Son of a bitch,” Clint groaned, reaching into his pant leg pocket. He pulled out two syringes filled with black and blue liquids respectively.

“C’mon painkillers, don’t let me down.” He muttered, before injecting the blue.

But just as he was about to inject the black, the Warden clutched his hand, crushing it along with the syringe.

“More tricks?” he sneered, his eyes wild as all hell. “I guess that’s what the weak resort to.”

Clint simply laughed. “You’re not so smart when you’re angry, huh? It’s in my blood now.”

The Warden released the grip, revealing Clint’s bloody, cut-up, and mangled hand. However… the black substance was already seeping into his wounds.

“What is that?” The Warden asked.

“A gift from a good friend. Also… my last resort. Didn’t want to use it now, but I guess I’m out of options.”

In a matter of seconds, nearly all of Clint’s wounds had healed up. Along with that, his muscles had become visibly tensed.

“That’s impossible.” The Warden gritted his teeth.

“That’s one thing I’ve learned,” Clint responded, smiling wide as he stepped forward. “Nothing’s really impossible.”

He stepped forward, throwing a hard strike at the Warden’s Chest, sending him crashing back into the rubble. Clint looked down at his fist in surprise.

“Nice.” He grinned.

But he had no time to appreciate his newfound power. The Warden rose back up like a wild animal in frenetic pursuit of its prey.

“YOU’RE WEAK!” he boomed. “I’LL NEVER LOSE TO YOU! NATURE WON’T ALLOW IT!”

Clint chuckled. “You’re right. I am weak. Must suck for your ego, huh?”

The Warden shrieked, before charging back at Clint.
Once there, they engaged in a fierce exchange of blows, rocking the place to its core. While Clint’s physical attributes had been enhanced greatly by whatever serum he’d taken, there was still an evident gap in strength between them, with each of the Warden’s blows ostensibly packing more force than his own.
However, he did have one advantage. He was clearly trained extensively in hand-to-hand combat, while the Warden was an amateur at best.
He dodged a series of haymakers, before countering with a flurry of jabs and kicks of his own. At that point, the Warden’s mannerisms had devolved into that of a feral creature’s, fueled solely by combative impulse. Yet… I could see the same wicked grin creeping in throughout his wild rage.

He was undoubtedly enjoying the adrenaline.

The Warden picked Clint up by the waist, slamming him into the wall and then onto the ground. He then mounted him, unleashing a series of hammer fists that Clint was forced to excruciatingly block with his forearms. Soon enough, his skin was began to tear off from the punishment.
While on the ground, Clint managed to throw a kick that connected with the Warden’s hip. However… he hardly got any reaction out of it. He simply wasn’t strong enough.

Instead, the Warden threw both fists down onto Clint’s ribs. I could hear them crack through the monitor.
He grimaced in pain, but the Warden didn’t give him a moment to recuperate. He drilled a fist right into the side of his face. A spurt of blood and a few teeth flew out of his mouth as his head was cranked to the side.

“He’s gotta be fucking done for.” Adrian commented.

I had to share the sentiment. Clint’s efforts were more than admirable. He sure as hell put a better fight than I could’ve ever hoped to. But even with all of his tools, tricks and skills… he was still no match.
At least… that was what I genuinely believed. But the guy was just full of surprises.
After taking another brutal strike to the shoulder, Clint managed to somehow escape out from underneath. I couldn’t even fathom what kind of move he pulled in order to do so. And then, in a series of moves that would make the most prolific Jiu-Jitsu practitioners light up with glee, he engaged the Warden in a vicious grappling match on the ground.

From his face, I could tell that he was going far above and beyond his own limits.
It was down there where the Warden’s weakness really became clear as day. He had no idea what to do. After an entire minute of relentless, excruciating struggle from both combatants, Clint managed to get the Warden into a beautiful D’Arce choke.
As the Warden struggled feverishly to escape, Clint’s face was wrought with sheer determination. The Warden changed his tactics, opting to pound at Clint’s already-broken ribs in an attempt to cause him to break his hold.
That was a bad decision. It only allowed Clint to get his hold even tighter.
Despite all of the egregious punishment he’d taken, Clint never relented. Soon enough, the Warden’s movements began slowing down. And then… he stopped moving altogether.

Even then, Clint didn’t release his grasp. He held the Warden’s neck in place using all of his strength for about four minutes before he finally let go, all while gasping in accumulated pain and exhaustion.
The guy really looked as if he was going to die on the spot.
But that didn’t matter to him. The fight was finished, and an unlikely victor had emerged. With a tired grin on his face, he raised a shaky fist in victory before passing out himself.

“Well… I’m fucking touched,” Adrian said. “It’s like watching Rocky all over again.”

On another monitor, Bella had made her way back to the top floor. Back to the gaping exit.

“Wow… what a pleasant surprise.” Ken said, standing in her way.

She seemed to share the surprise as they stared at each other.

“Is this a joke?” She responded.

Ken shrugged. “Where else was I gonna see you?”

“Are you going to let me go?” She asked.

“If I did, then American-Boy would track me down and kick my ass. I gotta wait till he dies first. Then we can go off into the sun together,” he smiled. “In the meantime… you want to talk for a bit?”

She sighed. “What do you think’s going on here?”

“I don’t know,” Ken responded. “That’s up to you. You already know how I feel.”

“I tried to assassinate you.”

“You were contracted to assassinate me by a massive dickhead. I’m sure it was nothing personal.”

“Oh my God.” she sighed again.

“Besides…” Ken continued. “I’m still alive. Maybe you really didn’t want to kill me. That’s what I tell myself, anyway.”

“You’re insane if you think anything’s going to happen between us. You think I want to date anybody right now?”

“Well, I never wanted to either. Until I met you.”

A period of silence followed.

“Let’s face it,” Ken spoke up. “We’re bad people living bad lives. Don’t you get tired of it?”

“Speak for yourself,” Bella responded. “You know what kind of people I kill.”

“I’m not talking about that. You want to escape, don’t you?”

“I don’t belong in here.”

“A lot of people don’t.”

“What are you getting at?”

“I’m pretty sure you know. The Kid.”

“Yeah. What about him?”

Ken exhaled. “Look, forget about dating. But don’t you ever feel like doing something good for once? Doing something for anybody besides yourself?”

Bella simply rolled her eyes in response.

“I’m sorry, that came out badly-“

She stepped forward, brushing past him.

“I’m leaving now. If you want to try and stop me, then go ahead. I’ll just kick your ass again.”

There was another pause before Ken shook his head. “You know I’m not gonna do that.”

“Good.” She began walking off.

“I’m not tired of anything, by the way,” she said without turning around. “I’m in control of my own life. And I kind of enjoy that.”

She left Ken looking somewhat melancholic.

But eventually… he began smiling again.

“Of course of you do.”

He took off, abandoning his post. But… I’m sure he hardly cared about that.

“Well jeez, that was a downer,” Adrian said. “let’s get back to the exciting stuff,” he grinned. “The final chips are starting to fall into place.”

Jack had finally found Wu.

“You China’s secret weapon or something?” he asked, approaching the Mechanical Menace, who remained silent. “Doesn’t matter,” he continued, clenching his fists. “America’s always on top.”

“Look up there as well.”

I turned to the monitor that Adrian was gesturing towards, watching as Kentay continued roaming the corridors, still clinching his teeth in ‘justice’-driven rage.
Actually… no. He wasn’t roaming anymore. He was walking towards somebody.
But at first, I couldn’t recognize who it was.

“COME AT ME, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!”

But I did recognize the voice.
It was… Senju, his head now resembling a glowing, floating skull shrouded in a dark haze.

“Didn’t he… die?” I asked, confused.

Adrian chuckled. “Don’t you know anything about the Wraith style? One of its core proponents is the revival technique.

Of course, I thought. How could I not know that?

“YOU KILLED EVERYBODY AT MY FUCKING DOJO!” Senju screamed at the approaching Kentay. “YOU’RE DEAD!”

Kentay bit down even harder, cracking his own teeth. “I simply enacted justice. And I've waited for too long to finish the job.”

“Man, how lucky were we to find this place?” Adrian said. “Crisp fucking front row seats.”

It took me a moment to process the implications of what he’d just said.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked him.

In turn, he looked at me like I was insane. “What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you build this place?”

He shook his head.

“Well, if you didn’t then who…?”

My eyes wandered up to Sandhu, whose attention was still firmly planted on the Kid.

He’s the one that led me into this room to begin with. I do remember thinking it was rather strange, but with everything that’d been going on, I forgot to question it further.
But now, I couldn’t avoid it.

What the hell is going on?


“Now even I’m confused,” Adrian said, before turning to Sandhu. “What’s going on here? Who the hell are you?”

“Yeah… that’s a good question,” I added, also looking in his direction. “C’mon man.”

I’ve known the guy for years. Yet, I couldn’t begin to understand what he was planning here.
Sandhu took a while to respond. And even then… it was less than satisfying.

“It’s complicated,” he finally spoke up. “By the way, aren’t you guys missing the show?”

I wasn’t gonna force the guy to talk. Over the years, I’ve learned that doing so only leads to disingenuous answers.
Besides, he was right. Jack was already rushing towards Wu.

“C’mon Wu!!!!! Show me your kung fu shit! I’ll beat you down with good old American Boxing!!!”

“He really thinks Americans invented boxing, huh?” Adrian muttered.

Instead, Wu opted to blast him back with his hand-shotgun. Jack was sent flying into a support beam, demolishing it in the process. While he’d taken no ostensible damage, there were now holes littered across the American Flag printed on his chest plate.

That sure got him pretty rattled.

“Oh, you fucked up buddy.” He said, a deranged smirk drawn across his face.

For the first time ever, Wu decided to speak.

“What did you think was going to happen?”

In an instant, they charged at each other. Given their respective power and speed, their combined movements were hardly comprehensible. But if I had to approximate the exchange… it went something like this:

Jack Lands a Cross to Wu’s helmet, cracking it slightly.
Wu attempts to stab Jack with a large blade. It breaks on his arm.
Jack presses forward, throwing a flurry of Jabs at Wu’s head. Most of them are blocked.
Wu counters with a kick to the ribs. It hurts Jack.
Wu uses his railgun-eyes, burning the side of Jack’s cheek.
And then the gauntlet is unleashed.

Wu lands a brutal combination with steel-studded knuckles. Wu shoves a grenade into Jack’s face. Wu pounds away at Jack’s ribs with a spiked bat. Wu stabs Jack through the shoulder with an elbow blade. Wu snaps one of Jack’s fingers off. Wu headbutts him. Wu picks him up and executes a hard takedown, destroying the walkway they’re standing on and causing them to fall to a lower floor.

And then, Wu begins strangling Jack.

“He’s got the advantage with his weapons,” I said. “There’s no way Jack’s turning it around.”

Adrian scoffed. “The US didn’t funnel billions into this guy for nothing. He’s got a few tricks up his sleeve.”

And oh boy, did he ever.

“AGGHHHH!!!” Jack was frenetic as he struggled to break out of Wu’s iron grasp.

“F…UCK Y… OU!” He screamed, before his right fist began glowing red. He let go of Wu’s wrists, ramming his knuckles right into his throat instead.

The first significant strike.

I could see Wu’s armor splinter as he was launched backwards, forced to release his grip. Still exasperated from the struggle, Jack pulled himself up, his fist smoldering like hell. At the same time, Wu was gasping for air himself.

“How’s… that,” he said, holding his fist up while grinning like a man utterly unhinged. Suddenly, his left fist also began glowing, the only difference being that it was blue.

“It’s about to get fucking gnarly,” Jack said. “The Stars and Stripes Style is immeasurable.”

What followed was an exchange of blurs. I could hear explosive bouts of clanking metal. White smoke and flickering sparks intercut with flashes of red and blue from Jack’s fists. Two individuals at the pinnacle of power striking each other with everything that they had.
After around an entire minute of hectic, but incomprehensible fighting, both men had sustained significant damage.
Wu’s suit was covered in cracks and dents, with his right forearm and left thigh now exposed. There was also blood leaking through his fractured helmet.
On the other hand, hardly an inch of Jack’s body was unscathed. He was cut and swollen all over, with one of his eyes stabbed out and his right shoulder grated down to the bone.

They stared each other down during their few seconds of fleeting recuperation.
And then they were right back at each other’s throats.

Wu attempted to blast Jack in the face with his palm cannon, but the American managed to weave underneath the shot, throwing both fists into Wu’s chest, causing his suit to shatter completely at that particular spot.
His vitals were now exposed. Jack knew what kind of opportunity he’d just created, indicative by the wicked grin on his face. In a matter of milliseconds, Jack pulled back one of his fists and struck Wu directly.

Without his armor protecting him, that blow must’ve liquidized his insides. In any case, that’s what I got from his reaction. In an instant, he collapsed in pain, before being tossed over the rails, onto an even lower floor. As he clutched his sides in excruciation on the ground, Jack leapt down and stomped on his helmet, finally shattering that as well.

He’d accomplished something that even the most sophisticated of weaponry would’ve had trouble doing.
In a desperation move, Wu pulled out his shotgun and began spraying it upwards, forcing Jack to retreat. Feeling pain that must’ve eclipsed the boundaries of unbearable, he pulled himself up, finally revealing his cut-to-hell visage through his broken helmet.

“You’re… just a regular person underneath that suit, hey?” Jack said, panting. “How comical.”

“You were too… before the experiment.” Wu responded.

Jack scoffed. “Is that what you think? That I’m just like you? A regular fucking guy?”

“Yes,” Wu responded. “We weren’t born special.”

Jack shook his head. “Why does that matter? Look… I’ll give you one thing. You’re strong. Hell, you even gave me a bit of a hard time. But your attitude is fucking bullshit.”

Wu had trouble responding to that.

“Sure, we weren’t born special,” Jack continued. “But we’ve changed ourselves. Clawed our way up to the top,” he paused for a moment. “No… you’re not just a regular guy underneath that suit after all. And I wasn’t just another fuck in the crowd before the experiment. They just don’t choose any random asshole, you know? These are things that we’ve accomplished ourselves. Things that nobody else could do. Why don’t you fucking understand that?”

Another pause followed.

The silence was broken when Wu reached over his shoulder, pulling out a terribly large red-orange sword.

The Singularity Blade.

“Jack Barnes…” he began. “You seem unintelligent on the surface, but you’ve almost said something profound just now.”

Jack smirked at the pseudo-compliment.

“You’re strong as well,” Wu continued. “I’ll show you my respect by cutting you down with my ultimate weapon.”

“I’m touched,” Jack responded. “I guess I’ll have to show you the same courtesy,” he closed his eye for a moment, before opening it back up, revealing nothing but white underneath his lids. The red and blue radiating off his fists began extending up to his forearms, before quickly enveloping each side of his body entirely.

“You should be honored. I’m about to crush you with the full force of my American spirit.”

Two tremendously strong men, both now at the pinnacle of their own power stood across from each other in full acknowledgment of each other’s prowess. An Earth-shaking clash was about to ensue.
Wu went first, swinging the blade and releasing an obscure serpentine entity from its tip. It rushed forward with torrid speed, latching its claws onto Jack’s arms and attempting to bite his head off.
Jack responded by drilling his fist down the creature’s throat. It bit down, puncturing his arm but shattering its own teeth in the process.
Jack and the creature fought brutally and relentlessly, with the latter seemingly growing in size as the battle endured.

However… Wu himself was standing still.

“What’s he doing? Why isn’t he going after him?” I thought out loud.

“He can’t,” Adrian responded. “Look closely at him.”

It took me a second, but I understood. The punch that Wu had taken to the chest had essentially put him out of commission. In fact, at that moment, he was struggling to even stand up.
He was relying on the singularity creature to get the job done.
After some minutes, the beast had grown to an ungodly size, resembling some kind of colossal, ghoul-like dragon.
It bit down on Jack’s arm once again, taking it clean off this time. Jack shrieked in endurance-fueled pain, headbutting one of the dragon’s eyes out in response.

It roared in pain as it whirled backwards, utterly annihilating its surroundings. It even took out a few cameras. Jack took the opportunity to reel in the frenetic beast, jumping up on its head and bashing away
Despite having half of its face caved in, the dragon still managed to fling him into a wall, ramming what remained of its head into his torso moments later. A wave of blood busted from Jack’s mouth before his lips curled back into a sadistic, unrelenting grin.
He punched the creature’s remaining eyes out before getting on top of it and rendering the rest of its head into a ghostly mush with nothing but his remaining fist.

Just like that, the battle was over.

As the dragon died, the blade shattered with it.
Jack leapt down, back in front of Wu. He half-chuckled, half-groaned as he limped towards him.

“Lost an arm… lost an eye… you really put me through the gauntlet, hey?”

Wu’s expression was stone for a while.

But… it eventually tuned into a grin. No malice behind it. He was simply acknowledging the interminable fighting spirit that Jack had put on display.

“Well… looks like my fate’s been sealed.” He said.

Jack reciprocated the grin, breathing heavy through his teeth. “Gotta say… you weren’t a pushover. But in the end… America always wins.”

He finished Wu off with a quick strike to the head. As the mechanical menace dropped, Jack’s body stopped glowing and he began staggering away, his movements strained and delirious.

In any case… he didn’t make it too far. He dropped about ten paces from Wu.

"That was... fun." He muttered, slowly drifting off into the darkness.

Even in death, his grin didn’t waver.

“Fucking hell,” Adrian said. “Did they both have to die? Well, let’s see if one of these other weirdos can make it out alive.”

I’d been so invested that I nearly forgot about the other fight that was going on. I turned my head, watching as Kentay effortlessly strangled Senju.

“I killed your master with three strikes, and you’re even weaker than him. Your effort is an insult.”

“I’m…. going…. fucking… kill…”

Kentay struck the side of Senju’s jaw and slammed his neck onto the ground, interrupting his sentence. I guess we’ll never know what he was about to say. A real mystery there.
But despite the overwhelming power gap, Senju kept rushing back at him, only to get abruptly beat down every single time.

“FUUCK!!” He shouted in frustration, after taking another punch to the chest.

“Stop evading justice,” Kentay said. “Your time’s done.”

But then an unexpected figure arrived on the scene.
Hugo rushed into the frame, directing his own rush of blows at Kentay. However, he reacted to them in the same way a regular man would’ve reacted to a mosquito bite.
Hugo was subsequently knocked back, without much explicit effort on Kentay’s part.
His scars were glowing like hell as he pulled himself back up, his eyes pursed with piercing fury.

Why’s he’s so pissed off? I thought to myself.

Kael arrived moments later, yelling after Hugo.

“What the hell are you doing??? I know you’re crazy, but what the fuck!” He shouted.

“He’s the one that killed my mentor,” Hugo said, his voice shaking. “The last good man on this Earth, destroyed by the same evils he attempted to help. But… he was foolish. There can only be response to the sin in this world.”

“THIS FUCKING ASSHOLE KILLED MY MASTER AS WELL!” Senju said, turning to Hugo. “LET’S BURY HIM!”

Hugo sighed, clearly not excited at his prospective ally.

“Man,” Kael said, staring up at Kentay. “This isn’t fun anymore.”

All three of them tried attacking at once.

No luck.

Kentay tanked each blow, before striking each of them down in rapid succession. He grabbed Kael by the neck, before tossing him at Senju, sending them both crashing into the wall.

“Shit!” Kael yelled as he struggled to pull himself up. “Yo Priest! What level of detachment are you at?”

Hugo exhaled. “99%”

“Damn.” Kael muttered, looking up at the steadily but menacingly approaching Kentay. “So we’re fucked.”

“Not necessarily. I’m about 10 times stronger at 100% than I am at 99.”

“I’m not sure the math checks out there.” Hugo said, before taking another strike to the stomach.

“No matter,” Hugo said. “One of the biggest evils stands before us. Every measure must be taken.”

“You’re gonna… fucking… die!” Kael uttered, being kept on his toes by repeated blows from Kentay.

Hugo’s eyes flickered a deep red. Almost like a literal fire was behind them.

“We’re going to die regardless.”

Kentay turned away from Kael and turned to Hugo. He squinted.

“Now I remember you…”

Hugo threw a cross so hard that it seemed to split the air molecules in its path.
Despite managing to block it, Kentay was still blasted backwards. Skidding to a stop, he held his arm up, which had been badly mangled from the blow.
He sneered at Hugo, his eyes growing crazier with every second that passed.

“Evil… must be eliminated.”

“You’re in no position to make that call.” Hugo responded.

They bolted at each other. The two traded blows, with Hugo slowly but surely overwhelming Kentay. Kael could only watch in awe.

Senju on the other hand…

“YEAH!!! KICK HIS FUCKING ASS!!!!”

But the more damage that Kentay took, the more wild he seemed to get.
Hugo landed a one-two to his jaw and temple, drawing blood from his head, before finishing the combination by drilling a knee into his liver, nearly causing Kentay to buckle on the spot.

“Why did you kill him?!!” Hugo spat at Kentay in between strikes. “He was the last chance at salvation that this disgusting world had!!”

Now bruised, bloody and battered, Kentay dropped to one knee. Hugo stepped in for the finishing blow.

Or… what I thought was going to be the finishing blow. Kentay managed to catch the strike, surprising just about everybody watching.
His forehead veins bulged as he looked up at Hugo, his face twisted in an inconceivable expression of demented wrath.

“I killed him… because he stood in the way of Justice.”

In a split-second, Hugo was knocked backwards, having his chest completely caved in.

“What?” he wheezed out as he bent over, trying to funnel air into his lungs. “He’s… stronger. Be… caref-“

Kentay picked him up and Judo slammed over the rail before he could get the sentence out. I never cringed as hard as I did while watching his spine get instantaneously bent into the worst possible shape.

“Hugo!!” Kael yelled, charging at Kentay.

A valiant, but fruitless effort. He was picked up and brutally rag-dolled into the walls and floors. Kentay finished the ruthless display by slamming his back into the wall. Kael crumpled like a pancake, with every bone in his body just about broken. Recovering from that was going to be a tall order.

“Fu…ck…” he spurted out, unable to make another move.

Suddenly, Senju was back on his own, heavily injured and looking far less confident than he was before.

“We can’t let him win.” Sandhu said, his expression a combination of frightened and resolute.

“Oh, you’re not watching the kid anymore? What a surprise.” Adrian said.

I shook my head. “I mean… what the hell are we supposed to do?”

Instead of answering my question, he just brushed by me, before abruptly sprinting out the door.

“What the hell man??” I called after him. No use. He was already gone.

I fumbled around in place for a moment. On one hand, I really didn’t want to go out there. But on the other… he was my friend. And I as much I wanted answers... I also wanted to make sure he didn't do something he wasn't going to have the chance to regret.
After a few moments of frenetic contemplation, I found myself chasing after him.

“Where fuck are you guys going?” I could hear Adrian calling out from behind me.

At that point, he was the least of my concerns.
Chills ran down my spine as I traversed across the blood-stained halls decorated by the mangled corpses of my former guards. It was a sight that I’d experienced in my nightmares before. I’m sure just about every guard had. Seeing it in real life was… jarring, to say the least.

It sure had been one hell of a day. But the inevitable dusk finally seemed to be closing in.

“SANDHU! What the hell is going on?”

My shouts were in vain as he pressed ahead, traversing through the blood, guts and gore left in the wake of the Voids without a second glance.
I chased him for what must’ve 15 minutes before he halted to an abrupt stop.

“What… are you… ?” I gasped in between breaths. But then I saw who we were standing in front of.

The Kid. He was still sitting tight in his cell, his eyes remaining glued to the floor. Sandhu just stood there for a moment and stared at him.

“…Ajay.” He finally muttered.

The Kid, whose name was apparently “Ajay”, shook his head. I could see tears falling from his face as he did so.

“No…” he choked out. “I can’t.”

Sandhu smiled, tears beginning to well up in his own eyes.

“I know that I said you wouldn’t have to but…” he began. “I’m sorry. I promised that I’d get you out. Before, I had no idea how. But there’s a chance here. We can’t avoid it now.”

Ajay looked up, utter fear pervading his expression. “I… can’t face him.”

Sandhu slowly approached him.

“It’s okay.” He said.

Ajay seemed to recoil at the seemingly innocuous statement.

“It’s okay,” Sandhu repeated, kneeling in front of him. “Your gift is your own. Your right to use.”

Ajay continued shaking his head. “You remember… what happened-“

“That wasn’t your fault.”

“But… it was.” His voice was beginning to quiver.

Sandhu grabbed Ajay by the face, looking him dead in the eyes.

“You’ve been lied to by bad people. Those same people are here with us right now. The ones that killed the people you loved and trapped you in this place. Anybody at your age with your ability would’ve made that mistake. It’s not your fault.”

Ajay wiped a tear from his face.

“If I let it out… everybody’s going to die...”

Sandhu shook his head. “No. You’ve been practicing. And I’ve been watching. Better and better every day. Now… it’s time to be strong. Your father would’ve wanted that, no? He would’ve wanted you to face it head on.”

Ajay remained hesitant.

“I’m sorry, but we’re out of options here,” Sandhu's tone had gone more serious. “The man who killed your family wants to kill you as well. I can’t stop him. Nobody can. It's all up to you. What are you going to do?”

Despite still looking at the floor, Ajay suddenly clenched a fist. I’m not sure if it was my imagination or what, but I could’ve sworn that there was a spike in the air pressure around us. Some kind of intense, overwhelming aura emanating from the kid’s general vicinity.
Or maybe I’d simply seen too much that day.
Soon enough, Ajay was standing. Sandhu looked both proud and utterly terrified. He took a deep breath before turning to me.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you all about it later. But what’s about to happen…”

He lowered his voice.

“It’s going to be dangerous. You don’t have to come with us. Just hang back. Then after all of this is over… we can all leave together.”

It was a vague warning, and one that didn’t fill me with the highest degree of confidence. I could’ve told you myself that things were about to get dangerous. That much was obvious. I’d been watching that danger unfold over the course of an entire day. But now I had a decision to make.

Did I really want to be in the thick of it? Did it even matter? Truth be told, I’d been feeling the prospect of death looming over me ever since the first alarm sounded out.
I didn’t have too much time to think about it, though. Before I knew it, Ajay had taken off sprinting, a furious beat in his step. Sandhu hastily followed after, leaving me standing there with a million thoughts racing through my mind.
I didn’t want to be alone in that place. And I sure as hell didn’t want hang out with Adrian anymore.

So I followed them.
The kid was kind of running blindly, so Sandhu had to direct him towards where Senju was about to make his last stand against Kentay.
I was more or less certain that nothing but a gruesome scene would be waiting for us.

And I was right.

Once we got there, Kael was still a pile of flesh and bones against the wall, while Hugo could do nothing but lie still, his life undoubtedly hanging on by a thread.
Along with them, Senju was flattened against the floor.Well, I'm fairly certain it was him. It looked like somebody had been run over by a steamroller.
Kael and Hugo looked both beyond sullen, their faces wrought with bitter and painful defeat.

“You… guys come to finish the job?” Kael asked us, before letting out a short chuckle. “Well, nothing’s stopping you.”

“Uhh… no.” I stammered out. “Are you guys alright?”

Stupid question.

“Top condition, pal. Never been better.” Kael responded.

“Where’d he go?” Sandhu spoke up.

“The big psycho dick? He took off,” he stretched his neck out, gesturing towards the walkway on the other side of us. “Guy didn't even look human when he turned buddy over there into a pancake. Muttering shit about ‘finishing the job’ and ‘executing justice.’ What a fucking clown.”

“Thanks.” Sandhu muttered, before turning to head off. Ajay was also starting to look a bit antsy. Something had certainly changed in his demeanor. Something dark.

“Wait, hang the fuck on! Are you going after him? Aren’t you guys like… guards or something? How’s that gonna work out? And that kid... isn't he...? What the hell's going on?” Kael called after us.

“Well, it’s a bit complicated," I responded. "But I think it’ll work out.”

I wasn’t so confident in reality.

Kael scoffed/chuckled. “Right. Of course. Well... it's not like I want you guys to lose," he smirked. "Go and kick his ass."

I smirked back and nodded.

"But before you leave, do me one favor. Is the priest still alive? He hasn’t said anything in a while, but I think I saw him twitching a bit.”

I looked over at Hugo. Despite his dead expression, he was still blinking every now and then.

“Uh… yeah.” I responded.

Kael rested his head on the wall and nodded.

“Okay. Good to know.” Was all that he said.

After that short exchange, we were off running to face the insurmountable wall known as Kentay.
While we were looking for him, he was sure as hell looking for us as well.

As we moved, I tried gauge what Sandhu was thinking. It wasn’t terribly clear from his expression, but I could tell that his conviction in that moment was less than strong. Given what I knew, I could’ve viewed the situation from a lot of possible angles, many of which would've lead to Sandhu acting as a less-than-moral party.

But there was lost context here. I knew the guy. And unless he’d been acting all these years, there was only one conclusion I could’ve reached myself:

For the sake of the kid, this was something that we had to do.
Hell, I never believed for a second that he was malicious in nature.

My thoughts were running too fast. Before I knew it, we were standing right in front of Kentay.

His suit had been damaged pretty badly and he had dried blood caked all over him (although I doubted that most of it was his own). But besides one of his forearms, he wasn’t injured in the slightest, meaning that taking him out was going to be a tall order.

But then again… I had no idea what the kid was capable of either.
Kentay sneered as he walked towards us, his bloodlust seemingly transferring into the physical atmosphere around us, putting a dark, sinking feeling in my gut.
But all of his attention was on the kid.

”I FOUND YOU” He snarled.

Sandhu looked at Ajay and nodded.

“Ajay. It’s time.”

No response. In fact, the kid was frozen on the spot, his eyes enlarged in sheer terror.
I was afraid something like that was going to happen.

“Oh, shit.” Sandhu muttered, before shaking Ajay’s shoulders. “C’mon, he’s coming towards us. Ajay? AJAY!!”

His voice was getting exponentially more desperate. In reality, this whole move was likely a big gamble. Nevertheless, it was a gamble he was definitely aware of beforehand.
With their backs against the wall, Sandhu stood firm in his promise to protect the kid. He exhaled, before shielding Ajay and getting himself ready for a valiant (but futile) stand against Kentay.

“You think I won’t kill a guard if they stand in the way of justice?” Kentay boomed.

Sandhu scoffed. “No… I think you’ll kill just about anybody, you big fucking psycho.”

An oversized vein bulged in Kentay’s neck as he tensed his arm, ready to deliver a head-shattering blow. At that moment, I was simply frozen.
I knew that there was nothing I could do.
However, as Kentay put one foot back in preparation for the strike, a dark, ghost-like hand wrapped itself around his calve before pulling him down and dragging him around.

I looked over at the perpetrator – a nightmare-inducing entity resembling a distorted gorilla with bulky, oversized arms.
It dragged Kentay around on the floor, slamming him through a gauntlet of rails and pillars in the process.
The gorilla-creature didn’t have the upper hand for long, though. Kentay let out an unworldly shriek, before chopping one of the creature’s arms off and ramming his fist through its head.
As the entity fell limp, some kind of portal opened up underneath it, pulling it through.

From the shadows of an adjacent corridor, Ken stepped out.

“You’re not gonna make this easy for me, are you buddy?” He said, grinning.

“I always knew you were evil,” Kentay growled. “I just… have to… ELIMINATE EVERYBODY HERE!”

He was slowly but surely devolving into an overpowered, primal, rage-driven beast.

“Ken… why are you…?” Sandhu spoke up, sounding reasonably confused.

Ken just shrugged. “A promise is a promise. Remember?”

More lost context. Just what the hell had Sandhu been doing over the years?

“Look out!”

Sandhu’s warning had arrived at an opportune time. Kentay had stepped forward, launching one of his colossal fists straight at Ken’s head. Luckily for him, he managed to summon a creature to take the blow for himjust in time.
He dove out the way of a follow-up strike seconds later.

“Fuck,” Ken muttered. “This is gonna be annoying,” he looked up at Ajay. “C’mon kid. I know what you can do.”

“I… can’t…” he muttered, cowering down and visibly trembling with fear. “I’m gonna… kill…”

“We’re gonna die if you fucking don’t!” I found myself shouting. “Listen to Sandhu, huh? There’s no other options here.” My outburst probably wasn't all too helpful, but it was my own instinctual fear speaking for me.

During the split-seconds where my attention wasn’t trained on Kentay, he’d gotten within inches of me. Before I knew it, I was feeling his iron grip around my right forearm. I could feel my bones being crushed in an instant, before I was tossed hard into the wall.
My vision faded for just a moment, before all of the pain hit me at once. If I was useless in the fight before, I was entirely out of commission now. I could hardly move as my body slid down the wall, flopping onto the floor.

“…Fuck…” I spat out, a wave of blood arriving with the word.

I could only watch now.
With the kid still being scared shitless, there was really only one person capable of fighting.

Ken opened up about ten portals in a circle around him.

“Ugh…” he winced, his forearm veins pulsating like hell while a stream of blood began flowing down from his hairline and his nose. “God, I hate doing this."

All at once, a petrifying roster of esoteric, incomprehensible entities emerged from each one. From what I saw, there was a dark blue, human-sized eagle that seemed to be composed of ice, some kind of colossal, demonic samurai with a flaming sword, a six-legged creature with large jagged blades jutting out of each corner of its body, a zombified gunslinger seemingly left over from the old west, carrying giant revolvers made out of writhing, grey flesh, and a ghoulish humanoid with 4 horns, 5 eyes, 6 arms, and a giant, glowing green eyeball on its torso, amongst many others.

Ken sighed upon seeing the unsightly creatures he'd summoned.

“Why couldn’t I just have been a telekinetic or something?”

He'd assembled a horde that would’ve made even the strongest man’s knees tremble.

But Kentay was hardly human anymore. He didn’t hesitate for a second.
He darted forward in a flash, pulverizing every one of the creatures that stepped up to face him, taking only a few small cuts and insignificant strikes in the process.
That was, until he got the horned guy with the eye in his torso. That one managed to catch Kentay’s punch with one of his many hands.

“…EVIL CREATURE!!!” He snarled, before throwing a cross with his other hand. It was caught again. While Kentay had run out of hands, the creature still had 4.

It landed a quad-combo of devastating punches to Kentay’s face and upper-chest, causing his head to snap back, blood spurting from his eyes and nose.
However, his head came back as quickly as it went, drilling into the eye-creature’s temple and destroying two of its eyes.

They were both pissed now. They synchronized primal roars, before blasting each other with a series of catastrophic strikes.
Neither of them bothered with any defense, or even any kind of strategy for that matter. They were simply out to deal as much damage as possible, hitting each other with everything that they had.

During the exchange… I began noticing something strange about Kentay’s appearance. He was taking a metric fuckton of damage for sure, but the difference didn’t only stem from his wounds.

He was… changing. His veins were beginning to squirm underneath his skin. Almost like trapped snakes trying to burst out.
On top of that, he seemed to be getting bigger. In fact, he’d been getting bigger ever since he fought Wu. I just hadn’t quite grasped until that point.
He’d towered over Sandhu, whom he was only supposed to have 2 inches on. Now, he was even dwarfing the eye-creature, who’d been a comparable size to him mere minutes ago.

“What the fuck is this guy?” I wondered out loud.

Sandhu had undoubtedly noticed it as well. I could see his eyes widening in terror at the sight.
The creature lowered its head, before rushing at Kentay horn-first. It rammed all four of them into his abdomen, managing to dig each of them about an inch deep into his flesh.

Kentay’s roars had also changed. They’d lost any sense of humanity. He was truly in the process of transitioning into a legitimate, bonafide monster.
He'd begun drifting away from conventional martial arts. He stuck his fingers out, thrusting two of them into the creature’s eyes, before gouging them out in a bloody, slimy mess. Without giving an inch, he followed up by sinking his teeth into the creature’s chest, tearing out chunks of pulsating green flesh.

He finished the deadly combination by drilling his knee into the creature’s torso-eye, taking it out while dissolving his own flesh and bones in the process. As he began to collapse, he grabbed the creature by the neck and took it down with him, putting it into a brutal, one-legged guillotine choke.
He’d exerted so much pressure that its head popped off completely after a few seconds.

Ken was starting to look very worried. With blood still dripping from his nose, he summoned another portal, in which a humanoid squid-creature emerged.
No use. It was taken out by one swipe from Kentay, who blitzed it from a one-legged crawl-run hybrid.

“Oh, fuck.” Was all that Ken managed to get out, before being picked up and slammed savagely onto the floor.

That would’ve been the end for him as well, had he not summoned another portal underneath his back at the last moment, allowing himself to land on the soft body of some kind of slime creature as opposed to the hard metal. He rolled away, hardly managing to dodge a follow-up stomp that not only decimated the creature, but the floor itself.

Now wheezing and bloody all over, Ken looked up at Sandhu, his face twisted in fearful desperation.

No… not at Sandhu. He was looking at the kid.

“C’mon…” he muttered. “I know you can do it.”

The kid’s expression didn’t waver. No spark returning to his frightened eyes.

It’s hopeless, I thought to myself.

Do your memories really flash before your eyes when you think you’re about to die?

Well… some of them do. The ones worth remembering. An attempt to justify the way that you lived. The decisions that you’ve made.

You come to one daunting realization:

You were there, in the midst of the mystery known as life itself.
And now, it was all about to fade.

As another tear began rolling down the kid's cheek, I could feel one rolling down my own.

Ken sighed. “I know you’re scared, but… we don’t have any time here. Please-“

Sandhu put his hand up, stopping Ken mid-sentence. He had a stone-like expression on his face.

“It’s happening.”

Ken looked confused.

“What?”

I wasn’t quite sure of the answer myself, but I got the gist of it.

Ajay’s body was beginning to visibly vibrate, or something to that effect.
It started out slow enough, but seemed to intensify drastically with every passing second.
Before long, his body had become a dark, formless, stationary blur. From within that blur, two sharp, burning red eyes surfaced.

And then... I could feel the floor begin to tremble around me.

“Shit.”

It was the only word that I could muster out upon encountering the incomprehensible pressure that had just filled the space around me.
The kid… wasn’t himself anymore. I was starting to understand. It wasn’t his own power that he had a hard time trying to control. It was something residing inside of him.

As his metamorphosis continued, he’d become only about a head shorter than Kentay. His form was also fluid, while remaining solid at the same time. Like a floating, gaseous form that vaguely resembled a human.
Afterwards, his original dark-grey color quickly began morphing into a blinding, golden light. After about 5 seconds, his dynamic body finally settled on a concrete form. There was only one word I could really use to describe it:

A warrior.

Tall and lean, with thick, flowing hair that extended down to his shoulders. He held a lance seemingly composed of sheer light, along with a complementary shield. He had armor on, albeit minimally. Just chest/shoulder plating, along with a pair of knee-length shorts.

The potential origin of such an entity was lost on me. The mere presence of it evoked a sense of awe, danger and beauty all at once.

Surprisingly, Kentay began smiling at the sight of Ajay’s transformed state. A bloody, ear-to-ear grin devoid of any humanity at all.

LOOKS LIKE THE EVIL'S FINALLY COME OUT! He bellowed, before bolting at him.

Ajay’s warrior form managed to counter all of Kentay’s initial attacks, before delivering a brutal sequence of his own.
He slashed Kentay across the stomache, creating a deep gash, before impaling him through the torso and smashing him through a metal side beam.

Still… I couldn’t get too excited. The whole situation seemed oddly familiar:

Kentay encounters an enemy initially more formidable than himself and gets beat down at first, only to end up massacring them in the end, regenerating nearly instantly, while also getting bigger and stronger in the process.

We were going up against rapid evolution, which was one of the worst powers you could possibly hope for in an opponent.
In any case… it seemed as if Ajay was intent on finishing the job early, which was really the only option here. He took his lance and swung it with inhuman speed, slashing Kentay more times than I could possibly count.

It was a gruesome sight as blood gushed out from every inch of his body, staining the metal beneath him red. Ajay went for another stab, but this time, Kentay managed to deflect the blow and close the distance between them.

“GOT YOU!!”” He screamed.

He was wrong.

Ajay took his palm and rammed it into Kentay’s neck, causing him to spit out what looked like a gallon more of blood. Ajay then took the butt-end of his lance and drilled it into the side of Kentay’s cheek, puncturing it all the way through.

“Fuck..." I muttered at the gruesome sight.

Of course, Sandhu didn't seem too surprised. He’d seen this before.
But at the end of the day, the only thing that mattered was getting rid of Kentay right then and there.

Ajay grabbed his lance and pulled it down, creating a massive gash down Kentay’s cheek down to his jaw, ripping through his gums and breaking teeth in the process.
But even that wasn’t enough. Kentay howled like a maniac and managed to grab Ajay’s neck, ripping a good chunk of his flesh out.
Ajay reeled, but was still able to thrust the lance straight through Kentay’s torso once again.

Still not enough.

Kentay swiped at Ajay’s head, twisting it around completely.
At that moment, I was sure that he was dead. But Sandhu didn't seem all too worried yet.
Another blinding flash of light burst from Ajay’s body, before he seemingly morphed again, taking on a new form entirely. This time, he resembled an archer atop an armored horse, still with the golden aura surrounding him.

I remembered something. Each Void had an official description assigned to it for database purposes. Most of them were a few paragraphs long, save for Ajay’s.

His was short and vague, containing only one short phrase:

The Warrior’s Spirit

I never knew what to make of it before, but I was starting to understand now.

Ajay directed a flurry of arrows at Kentay, sticking him with about 6 of them. However, that form was also quickly obliterated as Kentay dragged him down from the horse and stomped his head like a watermelon. Another flash of light. This time, I closed my eyes.

Upon the death of one form, he began cycling through others, manifesting into various warriors from throughout history. A hulking, powerful Viking. A skilled, relentless Zulu solider. A fast, unyielding samurai, etc.

With each transformation, he dealt Kentay more and more damage.
But that was the problem. Kentay just kept getting stronger as a result, and Ajay couldn’t seem finish the job. After 5 cycles, Kentay was bordering on the size of a house, with his veins resembling steel pipes.

He picked up another of Ajay’s warrior forms by the neck and began taunting him.

“I know evil. I’ve seen it. And I’ll never lose to it.”

Using a single arm, he lifted him up and slammed him into the ground.

“Years of destruction and rebirth. Forced evolution. Surviving the abyss that lies before death over and over and over again until enlightenment is forced onto you.”

To the uninitiated ear, that might’ve sounded like the ramblings of a madman. But to me… it yielded a daunting realization. Sandhu recognized it as well. I could the horror in his eyes.

Throughout history, humans have done too many cruel things to each other to possibly count. And for what reason? Well, that list is unending.
But even amongst the dark sea of bloodshed, warfare and torture… there’s one brutal practice that stands out from the rest.
The true origins of it are a mystery, both in date and location. Some believe it was developed by the Aztecs. Some by the Spartans. Mongols, Ming dynasty, Roman Legionaries, Nazi Germany, some even claimed that some modern militaries still made use of this practice.

The only thing that we know for sure was that it existed. And it sounded horrific.

I’m sure it goes by a lot of names, but the one given to it by the Government is:

”The Evolution Ritual”

In my opinion, that name doesn’t do its sheer brutality justice.

I’ll try to paint a picture:

Imagine an empty, medium-sized concrete room devoid of any windows, illuminated only by a few dim lightbulbs above. Fill that room with about 25-50 men specifically selected due to their exceptional combat prowess. (Fighters, soldiers, mercenaries, etc.)

Now, seal off the all exits and inform the “subjects” that only the last man standing will be afforded the right to leave. Leave them to fight to the death. Conduct hundreds (or however many) of these deathmatches at once. Next, divide the winners into smaller groups and repeat the process until only the last men amongst hundreds, or possibly thousands are left.
Next, seal those men off into a dark, confined space for 50 days. No food, water, or any kind of stimulus.

The ones that managed to survive all of this are the "successes".

The conjecture went as follows:

If an individual’s mind and body managed to endure such a torturous gauntlet, they would’ve eclipsed some kind of threshold. Undergone some type of rapid evolution. These were the men with exceptional latent potential. The ones who possessed something more than conventional strength and willpower. Under such drastic circumstances, their minds will have tapped into a reserve of power beyond human physical and mental limitations.

I’m gleaming over some details, of course. But that’s the gist of it. Sounded like bullshit science to me, but hey, what the fuck do I really know at this point?

Sandhu and I learned about the existence of this ritual following an internal breach of information that was even classified for us. We also learned that some time after world war 2, a unit of soldiers and intelligence officers came across the aftermath of one of these rituals in a large, remote and decrepit building somewhere in the Thar Desert after the White House received some kind of obscure “message” containing a pair of coordinates.

Inside, there were upwards of 1100 human skeletons, all scattered throughout various rooms in the structure. The strangest part? There was a set of small chambers at the center of the building, where 6 emaciated, horribly scarred men where shackled to the walls.

However, while certainly dead, they hadn’t even begun decomposing yet.
Well, except for one, that is. One man was still alive.

This mysterious figure was dubbed “The Unkillable man”.

To this day, we have no idea what kind of organization conducted the ritual, or who sent the coordinates. And the biggest question... "why?"

I'm getting off-topic here, though. We also couldn't figure out who this mysterious unkillable man might be. And although it was by no means definitive… we now had a clue.

Before Ajay could get another word out, Kentay “killed” him again.

By this point, I’d regained some movement in my limbs, which allowed me to crawl over to Ken and Sandhu, who was now certainly looking worried.

“Sandhu…” I said. “How many… transformations… can the kid go through?”

He just shook his head. It looked as if he knew the answer but didn't want to say it.

I looked over, watching as the kid – who’d now become some kind of centurion, tried desperately to put Kentay down.
Now, I’m not sure if the kid was getting weaker, or if it was Kentay who was getting way too strong, but the problem was obvious here.
At that point, the kid was only delaying the inevitable. Something else needed to happen soon, or we were done for.

“I know what happens when he gets pushed to the limit," Sandhu spoke up. "What he’s really scared of. If that happens then…” he trailed off for a moment. "I didn’t want it to happen. I thought… this was gonna be enough.”

“Don’t like the sound of that…” Ken muttered.

Kentay killed the Centurion by strangling it. This time, the kid transformed into a Hulking Templar Knight. I could see Sandhu visibly gulp.

“That’s it,” he said. “This is the form he takes before everything goes to shit. If Kentay takes kills this one then… God, I fucked up.”

At that point, Kentay had become so durable that the Kid’s attacks hardly fazed him. Yet… he didn’t even attempt to stand down. I suppose that was the so-called “warrior spirit.” Fighting even in the face of impossible odds. At the same time... all we could really do was watch.

But before the two could engage in their penultimate clash, we could hear whistling from just behind them. Everybody turned around at once, seeing Nassar casually strolling towards us.

“Wow. When’d you get so big?” He said, his eyes wide in awe.

“Have you become evil as well?” Kentay growled.

Nassar put his hands up in a defensive gesture. “I’m just here to have fun, big guy.”

"What does that mean?"

Almost like an answer to his question, we could hear a set of booming footsteps approaching. From behind Kentay, a colossal figure was barreling towards us.

The Titan had arrived, and from the way that Nassar was grinning, I could only assume he was the one that released it.
As primal logic would dictate, the Titan went after the biggest guy in the area.

Kentay – who was now around the same size as the Titan, crouched into a defensive position.

“I won’t let evil-“

He was cut short by an abrupt headbutt. For such a big thing, the Titan was disturbingly fast.

Their exchange was short, but utterly brutal.

The Titan slashes at Kentay’s chest, tearing a large gash through it. Kentay strikes the Titan’s jaw, dislocating it. The Titan rips off Kentay’s left trapezius muscle. Kentay gouges all of the Titan’s eyes out. The Titan crushes Kentay’s right hand while swinging blindly.

Kentay drills his fist into the Titan’s crotch area, demolishing its “goods”. In a fit of blind rage, the Titan grabs Kentay’s head and slams it into the wall, planting it deep, before dragging it along and tearing through the metal like butter.
Kentay grabs the Titan’s head from behind and drags it down hard, causing the bones from its neck to snap, piercing through its flesh.

I could’ve sworn Kentay had grown 3 feet from that exchange alone. As he tossed the Titan aside, he looked back at us, half of his face now torn to the skull.

Nassar looked like he was about to pass out from excitement.

“FUCK YEAH!!!!” He shouted, jumping up and down. “THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!!”

Kentay silenced him with one punch, essentially vaporizing him.

There wasn’t much hope before, but there was even less now.
Sandhu’s warning had been vague, but I was doubtful it was any kind of exaggeration. The kid readied his sword. A vain effort, considering the fact that he was about to go down. And then we were all screwed.

Or so I thought.

The time that the Titan had bought us was about to prove more than valuable.
As Kentay prepared a blow that likely would’ve finished the kid on the spot, a stream of projectiles hit his face, causing him to flinch just slightly.
I turned to face who’d done it, and to my surprise, it was Bella. For one reason or another, the bloody painter was back.

”YOU!” Kentay roared.

Ken was happy to see her, of course.

“You came back…” he began, before his face dropped. “But… now you’re gonna die.”

“Have some faith in me, won’t you?” She said. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have a plan.”

“A plan?”

Kael suddenly appeared behind her.

“Well… I guess you can call it a plan. Didn’t have much time to put it together, though.”

In any case, we were hardly in a position to protest. Kentay barreled past the kid, nearly foaming at the mouth as he rushed Bella with overwhelming killing intent on his face.

I’d like to say that Bella looked unfazed herself, but that was far from the truth. She narrowly dodged his tackle, hardly looking calm and collected in the process. Kael attacked Kentay from behind, attempting to sink his teeth into his skin.

His fangs broke immediately upon contact.

“Oh, fuck this.” He said, before being tossed into a wall. However, he’d managed to distract Kentay long enough for Bella to make a move, running to an adjacent, intersecting hall and looking down it.

“Shit!” She said, before looking back at us. “Distract him! 30 seconds, that’s all I need.”

30 seconds might as well have been an hour. Before Kentay could rush back towards Bella, Ken stepped forward, forming a couple of portals on the ground, in which two crocodile-like creatures emerged from. They were destroyed in 4 seconds.

The kid went after Kentay next, which posed another problem.

“No!” Sandhu shouted. “Don’t let Ajay get near him!”

Kael groaned, pulling himself back up. “Well, alright.”

He jumped in between Kentay and the Kid, pushing the latter backwards, before blocking a punch from the former with his arm. That arm was obliterated as he was launched back once again, but he managed to buy about 3 more seconds while doing so.

Ken opened up 3 more portals, blood now pouring like a fountain from his eyes, nose and temple.

“God fucking damnit…” he mumbled, shaking as he forced his ability to the limit. But then he smiled. “I guess I trust you, though.”

Two of his creatures attacked Kentay, while the other one kept the Kid occupied. That move managed to waste another 7 seconds. I looked back over at Bella. She was holding up 10 fingers. 9. 8…

But Kentay was already on the move. He’d reach her in about 3.
To tell you the truth, I can’t say that I’ve done a lot of heroic things in my life. Sure, I stood up for a kid that was being bullied back in the 4th grade. Intimidated a guy out of breaking into a parked car once. Broke up 2 bar fights before.

But nothing that had actually put my life on the line. Truth be told… I was never really willing to do so. I'm sure it's a sentiment shared by most.

And it begs the question: If you knew that your inactivity would lead to death regardless, would it really count as heroic in the end?
But knowing that I didn’t have much time to think, these thoughts were racing through my head as my feet were already moving.

“HEY ASSHOLE!!” I screamed.

As I got to within about a meter of him, Kentay turned to face me.
I nearly shit my pants on the spot.
I had no plan. No set strategy. I wasn’t even planning on throwing a strike. That would’ve been pointless anyway. There was also no way that I was going block/dodge any of his attacks. I suppose that right then and there… I was fully prepared to die. Maybe I hadn't even realized it myself.
But then... the luckiest thing that had ever happened to me happened right then and there.

I always prided myself on having good balance. Rarely skidded on ice. Never swayed on boats or trains. Always pretty good at sports. However… in that moment… I slipped on a patch of blood. And by some miracle… it came at the exact moment Kentay’s fist was about to connect with my face. Instead of my skull being pulverized, his knuckle only grazed the side of my cheek, ripping a large gash through it as he did so.

Sure, it hurt as hell, and I wasn’t going to be talking to any girls for a while… but I’d managed to buy enough time.

Bella shot another stream of blades at the back of Kentay’s head, turning his attention away from me.
The next few moments went by rather slowly in my head.
I watched as Kentay darted forward in a flash while Bella scrambled like hell out of the way. As she was doing so, a figure had stepped out of the adjacent hall behind her.

I didn’t need to wonder who it was. His moves spoke for themselves.
It was The Dancing Guy, shuffling cheerfully along. Kentay himself even hesitated for a moment. But it was too late for him.
As they collided, the Dancing Guy’s mp3 flew out of his hand.
For a moment, time seemed to stop. The Dancer froze in place for what must’ve been 10 seconds. During that time, even Kentay couldn’t seem to bring himself to move.

It was the calm before the storm. For a split-second, the Dancer’s expression contorted into something that I’ll likely never be able to get out of my head.

It was an indescribable look of sheer, otherworldly rage. I blinked once and when my eyes opened back up, I was met with a wall of red mist and flying limbs. One of Kentay’s oversized arms even flew at me, nearly dislocating my shoulder as it did so.
The man that we’d previously deemed an immovable, insurmountable wall had been demolished in less than a second.
Now dripping in blood, the Dancer strolled over to his fallen music player and plugged it back in. All of us watched in stunned silence as he shuffled off and out of sight towards the opposite hall.

Kael was the first one to speak up afterwards.

“I'll be honest... I was 99% sure that wasn't gonna work.”

Bella let out a laugh of half-relief, half-disbelief.

I looked over at the Kid, who was still in his Knight form. However… he looked confused. Almost as if his reason for existing had suddenly vanished.
Soon enough, he reverted back to his original, human state. Ajay fell to his knees, coughing up blood in between sobs. Sandhu quickly rushed over in order to tend to him.

Is everything done? I thought to myself. Save for Clint, TFVNH was dead. So were all the Voids, except for the Dancer, and the still-contained Calamity.

I guess its over, then.

“That was ballsy, man.”

I looked over to see Kael grinning at me.

“Running at Kentay like that. Fucking hell.”

I let out a slight chuckle, hardly able to believe it myself. “Yeah. I guess. How’s Hugo?”

Kael shrugged. “Guess some things can’t be helped. I think I gave him a good send-off, though.”

In the meantime, Bella was talking to Ken.

“I’d help you out, but…” she said, wiping some of the blood off of his face, which was entirely covered with it. “I don’t… I don’t know what to do here.”

“Yeah. It’s more of an internal pain. Looks kinda badass though, doesn’t it?”

“Looks kinda gross, actually.”

They both laughed.

“That was… great. What you did there.” He said.

“Let’s call it lucky. Thanks for trusting me there, though.”

“Thanks for coming back. I really apprec-”

"Oh, shut up, you guilt-tripped me into it you asshole."

Before he could speak again, she pulled him in for a kiss.
Not wanting to make things awkward, I directed my attention back at Ajay, who was beginning to settle down.

“He alright?” I asked Sandhu as I walked over.

In place of a response, he simply got up and hugged me.

“I owe you. A bit longer and… he’d be… we’d all be…” His voice began trembling.

“It’s alright, buddy," I said. "Don’t worry about it. At least it’s over now.”

He let go of me and looked at everybody else.

“I… owe all of you.”

“Bought time I did something good for once.” Ken responded.

Bella sighed, before smiling. “Yeah. Same.”

“That dickhead killed the first friend I’ve made in a long time,” Kael added. “He had it coming."

A period of silence followed, as we all began coming to terms with the events that had transpired. Not the easiest task.

“Aww… how touching.”

A familiar, but completely annoying voice reverberated from behind me. I knew I'd forgotten about something.
I turned around, seeing Adrian standing right there, wearing his signature, stupid, smug smirk.

“Who the fuck is this?” Kael blurted out.

Adrian ignored the question, looking over at the kid instead.

“That’s a cool little ability you've got there,” he said. “You know where it’d come in real handy?”

Oh, no. I thought. Please don’t say it.

His grin grew wider.

"The Evisceration matches."

How the hell did we get here?

At that moment, it was all that I could think about.

“As fun as this has all been, and it certainly has… jeez,” Adrian laughed to himself. “I almost forgot what I came here for. This coke is deadly sometimes-“

“There’s no way in goddamned hell. Don’t even fucking say it.” Sandhu cut him off.

Adrian raised a brow. “Yeah? Is that so? Look, I get this whole guardian protector role you’re trying to play here. Commendable, really. And I’m sure the kid’s been through a lot but…”

His lips curled into a malicious grin.

“I’ve been through a lot as well. And you know what I’ve learned? This kid’s gonna fucking croak if he keeps hanging out with you. He’s strong, sure. But he can get a lot stronger. You guys got lucky against Kentay. It won’t happen every time. You don’t want that, do you?”

“You literally want to send him off to death-fights on some godforsaken planet. What the fuck are you talking about?” I interjected.

Adrian groaned. “Oh, why don’t you shut the fuck up? Just SHUT THE FUCK UP!!”

As much as I hated to admit it, the sound of him raising his voice caused me to go quiet.
There was a powerful aura surrounding him. Like a switch in his demeanor that would flip instantly and aggressively. In all honesty, my will simply wasn’t strong enough to challenge him any further. Out of everybody there… I was certainly the weakest.

“Look,” Ken said, stepping forward. “I have no idea where the hell you crawled out from, but we kinda went through a lot just now trying to protect the kid. We’re not gonna let him go just like that.”

“Tch,” Adrian clicked his tongue. “I don’t like getting my hands dirty but…”

He moved in a flash, rushing towards Sandhu with startling velocity.
However, his strike was intercepted by Kael at the last moment.

“Shit…” Kael muttered, holding Adrian’s fist back. “How is this guy strong as well?”

Adrian struggled for a moment, before breaking Kael’s wrist and slamming a palm into his jaw. He went back at Sandhu, only to be stopped again by a stream of blades from Bella, shredding his right arm as he blocked it.

“FUCK!” he shouted. “Why the hell are you people so hung up over this kid anyway?”

“Are you an idiot? What kinda question is that?” Ken said, stepping forward. With his caked in dry blood, he looked as if he were about to pass out at any moment. Still, he offered the challenge.

“I couldn’t live with myself if I let a freak like you near him,” he said, before opening up another portal. “This guy’s one of my favorites. Glad he’s still around for you.”

A massive skeleton with bits of charred flesh dangling off of its oversized bones emerged from the portal. It revved up an equally oversized chainsaw, before charging at Adrian.

“What the fu-“

He barely got the words out before he was forced to evade certain decapitation. He bobbed and weaved away from the devastating blades, before eventually taking a few nasty cuts.
At the same time, Kael was back on his feet, giving Adrian further trouble on top of it all. Bella soon joined in, forcing his back against the wall.

“FUCK!” He spat, before leaping into the air and obliterating a good portion of the skeleton’s skull with an elbow strike. Not enough. The skeleton grabbed him by the neck and thrashed him onto the floor. As he struggled to pull himself up, Kael swooped in knocked him back down.

“About time to give up, don’t you think?” He grinned.

Adrian spat out a good amount of blood. “You really don’t want that.”

He bolted up, drilling his head into Kael’s chin, before launching himself head-first at the skeleton’s torso.

“I figured it out!” he screamed. “I just need to get rid of your fucking arms!”

He did just that, snapping both of the skeleton’s elbows at the joints, causing it to drop the chainsaw. He was about to go in for the killing blow when a stream of Bella’s shards hit one of his eyes, blinding him in it. .

“FUCKING BITCH!” he shouted.

The skeleton capitalized on the momentary distraction, kicking him into a wall.
Safe to say, things were not going Adrian’s way.
He looked up as Kael, Bella and the skeleton began converging on him all at once, his expression still rife with frenetic, concentrated rage. However… it didn’t linger. Soon enough, he began smiling.

“Ok, alright,” he said, holding up a hand. “Can’t say that this was a fair fight, but you got me. Damn, I thought I was tougher than this.”

He stood up, the grin still plastered across his face.

“Guess it’s time for plan B.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Ken asked.

“Well… I gave you a hint. You are not going to like this.”

From his pocket, he pulled out some kind of clunky switch wrapped in a mess of wires.

“I’m releasing the big boy. The Calamity.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
Kael began stepping forward, but Adrian held his hand out.

“Are you dumb? You’re nowhere near fast enough to get to me in time.”

He suddenly looked over to Bella, who was visibly itching to spray him with some more blades.

“You too. Don’t even fucking try it.”

“Don’t you know how stupid of an idea this is?” Ken said.

“Ok prof, lecture me some more. I mean, you guys brought this onto yourselves. I had a simple request,” he let out another insane laugh, before abruptly going serious. “Last chance. I mean it.”

Nobody moved. In fact, nobody said anything at all. We were all at a loss for what to do.

“How could you have figured out how to release it?” Ken finally spoke up. “You’re bluffing.”

“Yeah? Well, you’re pretty fucking annoying.”

He flipped the switch before dropping it on the ground.

“I’m a fucking genius,” he said. “I can do anything.”

As Adrian continued to grin with malicious anticipation, the rest of us waited in tense silence for what felt like 5 minutes… but nothing happened.

Ken broke the silence. “You know, when people bluff, they usually don’t go this far.”

Adrian’s face contorted into a confused rage.

”Gimme a fucking break,” he spat out. “All this work for nothing…”

He took a glance over his shoulder.

“Nah… this is bullshit. I’m not an idiot.”

Like a bat out of hell, he took off down the opposing corridor.

“He’s checking the panel.” Ken said.

That’s right, I thought to myself. The panel was the only real way we could confirm whether or not he was really bluffing.

Truth be told, none of us had any idea what the Calamity could’ve been. We all just assumed it was going to be some colossal monstrosity of a creature that was going to be bent on immediate destruction following its release.

But… we didn’t know. Perhaps the danger it posed was more esoteric. Something non-direct.

“We should go see for ourselves,” I spoke up. “At this point, whatever happens is going to happen.”

It didn’t take too much convincing. Ken created another portal, pulling the skeleton back through it. With a fog of demise looming in the air around us, the 6 of us began making our way. The fighting was finally over. The only thing left to do was to confirm our fate.
When we got to the panel, we were met with an unfavorable sight.

The light was yellow. Escape in progress.
Not only that… but a trap door had opened up in the floor to the side, with a set of stairs leading down it. Adrian was right there, leering down into it.

“What’d I tell you?” he said. “I’m not an idiot.”

“Well, what the hell are you gonna do now?” Ken asked. “Go down there and then what? Tame it or something?”

“Tame it… die… we’ll see what happens. Not like it matters anymore. Unless you wanna give me the kid.”

Sandhu didn’t budge.

Adrian scoffed. “I’ll be honest… I was planning on releasing this thing regardless. You can’t just keep something like this all locked up, you know?” His remaining eye was wide with excitement as he said it.
He looked back at the trap door.

“The great unknown, huh?” He muttered, before bolting down the stairs.

“Should we have stopped him?” Kael asked, as Adrian disappeared into whatever abyss was waiting for him.

“I… I don’t know,” Ken responded. “Would there have been a point?”

A long period of silence followed. It could’ve been an hour. Maybe close to 2. But regardless of the time… nothing happened. No giant creature bursting out from the floor. No portal sucking us into hell.
Well, one thing did change. The light on the panel turned from yellow to red.

The Calamity had escaped.

But that happened a while ago.
Adrian never even came up. Safe to say, we were at a loss for any kind of explanation.

“So… what now?” Bella asked. “Do we leave or…?”

“Feels weird leaving it like this, doesn’t it?” Kael responded.

“I guess,” Ken added. “Don’t really know where else to go from here, though.”

“There is one other option.” I said. It was an instinctive outburst. Something I was hardly thinking about myself.

“And what is that?”

I gestured towards the open door.

“We could go down and see what happened for ourselves.”

Ken blinked a few times in disbelief.

“Are you fucked in the head?”

Was I? It was a fleeting thought.

“Aren’t you curious?” I asked. “About what they’ve been trying to contain this whole time?”

Ken laughed. “Well, I never wanted to be here in the first place, so it really doesn’t matter to me. But if you wanna go, then make it quick. I’m sure this place won’t be quiet for much longer.”

I stopped myself for a second.

Is this really what I want? I thought to myself. I didn’t really know. Yet… there was some kind of strange impulse driving me forward.

“Maybe there was never a calamity in the first place,” Kael spoke up. “What if it was just a scare tactic?”

That theory could’ve held some weight, but it didn’t answer the question of what the hell had happened to Adrian.

“Oh, it exists for sure.”

A new voice came from behind us. We all turned around, already on edge from everything that had happened before.
But it was Clint, still bloody and beaten from his bout with the Warden.

“Clint?” Ken grinned at him. “Jeez, you’re still alive? Nassar and I made a bet about whether or not you were gonna survive. Can’t really collect now since he’s dead though…”

“Yeah?” Clint smiled back. “How much you put on me?”

“About 600.”

“God, I’m offended. Don’t you have any faith in me, buddy? I know you’re a high-roller. At least in Vegas…”

“You know, it’s great that you guys are friends and all,” Kael interrupted. “But what the hell were you saying about the Calamity?”

“I’ll tell you, but first you gotta tell me something. Who the hell opened up the door?”

“Uh… this crazy fucking guy. Don’t think you know him.” I responded.

“And he’s down there. Right now?”

I nodded. Clint’s expression turned dead serious.

“Goddamn it.” He muttered.

He drew a handgun from his belt and began rapidly descending the stairs.
The rest of looked at each other in confusion before quickly following after him. It was a longer journey than I had anticipated. It really begged the question of why such a lengthy set of stairs was constructed in the first place.

Once we got down there, we found ourselves in some kind of laboratory, with dusty monitors and haphazard stacks of documents strewn everywhere. At the very end of the lab was a metal door that was wide-open. We could see Adrian standing inside the room that it led into.
I couldn’t really tell what he was doing at first. It kind of just looked like he was standing still. And then I realized… that’s all that he was doing. He paid no attention to us. He was simply staring ahead.

Although… I couldn’t quite see what he was staring at.
At first, that is.

“Whatever you do, do not look inside the damn room!” Clint shouted at us.

He said it just a little bit too late.
I don’t know how I can describe what I was seeing. On the surface, it’s simple. There was a monitor. Adrian was simply staring at a monitor.
But what was on that monitor was tougher to explain. An amalgamation of incomprehensible shapes and figures, shifting and moving in ways completely alien to human perception.

And then… there were the colors. Colors I’d never seen before in my life. Colors that I’m pretty sure didn’t exist. In that moment, I could feel my mind fading. My sense of self dissolving into the void. I was utterly transfixed on whatever the hell was on that monitor. I could feel some kind of strange pleasure overwhelming my senses. But at the same time… I was trying my absolute hardest to look away. My emotions were utterly conflicted, which only worsened the already-perplexing situation.

I was eventually snapped out of it after some unknown duration. I remember jumping at the sounds of multiple gunshots, before feeling a debilitating migraine and experiencing fleeting moments of blindness. I bent over in pain, before blinking a few times and looking back up to see Clint carrying Adrian’s limp, bullet-ridden body, with the door to the room now shut behind him.

As soon as he was done with that, he pressed his back against the wall, eyes wide and breathing heavy like a child who’d just seen a ghost.

“What the hell was that all about? And what the fuck is wrong with you?” Ken asked him.

I guess nobody else had gotten a glimpse of the monitor, because they wouldn’t have been asking that.

I understood why that thing was far more dangerous than anything in this prison could've ever been. It truly was bizarre. The pleasure I felt from watching it was an immediate high. As soon as I was taken away from the stimulus, I was hit with an immediate, jarring low. Not like the come-down that coincides with taking dopamine-releasing drugs. It was like... one moment, it felt like I understood something. As if that thing was letting me in on some kind of forbidden secret.

But for the moments following... it felt as if my comprehension of the world had shattered entirely. As if my brain was trying hard to reject what I'd just learned, putting me in some some state of existential dread.

At least, that's the best way that I can put it.

“That’s… that was the calamity, wasn’t it?” I said, still mentally reeling from the experience.

Clint looked at me and nodded.

“But… what…?”

I could barely get the question out, but Clint answered regardless.

“Some things don’t have simple answers. All that I know is that somewhere out there… in the vast expanse above us… there’s something that we were never meant to see. Something that we cannot cross paths with.”

“But… if it’s up there… then we shouldn’t have to worry about it then, right? What’s with all this shit? And why the hell are we monitoring it?” I asked.

Clint sighed. “Here’s the thing… as soon as we found out about its existence… it found out about ours. In a way, we’re linked to it. Every second that a human eye perceives that thing, it reciprocates that attention. If somebody looks at it for too long… then they’re pretty much inviting it right over to us.”

I could hardly respond to this shit.

“I guess I should tell you all this part as well,” he continued. “It’s already coming towards us. Best ETA’s put it at about around 19000 years away. But after today… it’s probably a lot closer now.”

He looked down at Adrian. “This asshole just shortened humanity’s lifespan by a couple thousand years.”

And then he looked up at me. “I saw you looking as well,” he said. “Lucky I snapped you out of it before you went insane. You probably just cost us about 50 years as well.”

“Okay…” Kael spoke up. “Not that I’m following any of this… but how are we stopping this thing from arriving?”

Clint let out a dry laugh. “That’s what they’ve been trying to figure out. Why they built this fucking lab in the first place. It’s funny though. All of their research probably just brought it closer.”

“Huh,” Ken said. “So that’s the deal with the calamity. Wouldn’t have been my first guess.”

“Yeah, pretty wacky shit.” Clint said as he got up. “Well, we better get the hell out of here. This place is about to be swarmed.”

“Sure, but where the hell would we go? The moment we try getting off this island, we’re getting shot at. Maybe it’s better to just take our chances here and explain the situation.” Kael said.

“No fucking way we’re staying here.”

Sandhu, Ken and Bella responded in unison.

“We better figure out something soon,” Bella said. “Getting out of here’s gonna be tough.”

“It won’t be tough. It’s gonna be impossible.”

“What?”

“The island’s already surrounded, and the cavalry’s ready to pounce on any stragglers. They know about everybody who was supposed to be in here and they’re gonna hunt down the ones who don’t get accounted for.”

He paused for a moment.

“In other words, you guys would be fucked,” and then he grinned. “If I wasn’t here.”

He took out a bizarre-looking cell-phone and dialed a number.

“Hey, I’m done,” he spoke into it. “Come pick me up.”

Before we could ask any questions, a small, blue portal opened up in the ground a few meters away from us.

“So you can do it too, huh?” Ken said.

“Yessir,” Clint responded. “But there’s no monsters coming outta this one.”

Moments later, a well-built man with a heavy mass of a beard who looked to be in his late-20s popped out.”

“What the hell, Clint? Where’s your own fucking transporter?”

“Warden broke it.”

The man laughed. “Oh, right. How was that, by the way?”

“What’d you think, Pete? I Almost died.”

“I’m surprised you made it out at all. That Warden’s a tough bastard. And you brought company, huh?”

He looked over each one of us, before gesturing towards the portal.

“Well don’t be scared. Jump in.”

There were a few more objections, of course. Mostly from Kael and I. Kael was still clinging on to his identity as some reprehensible criminal who belonged in this place, while I was shitting myself at the prospect of jumping into some blue hole in the ground.

However… everybody else was raring to go. I suppose they all had their reasons. The kid looked like as if he was about to pass out, but he really didn’t have a say in the matter. Sandhu was just trying to get him the hell away from this place.

I only ended up jumping in when I heard the sounds of boots on metal from above us.
I’m not quite sure how to describe my journey through the portal. Disorienting, I guess? But at that point, my senses had become pretty dulled anyway.

We were transported to the top of a metal tower overlooking some desert-like expanse. The surface was crawling with ghastly creatures that looked to be some kind of coyote-scorpion hybrid. And they sure as hell were aggressive, constantly attacking, ripping apart and cannibalizing each other.

At the edge of the platform we were on, there was a sniper-rifle mounted with a stool at the bottom. There were also empty boxes of snack cakes and beef jerky packets strewn across the floor.

“Why are you hanging out in this dump?” Clint asked him, looking disgusted at the sight below.

“Target practice,” Pete responded. “Remember the guy we were supposed to kill in Paradise X? Couldn’t hit him for shit, and then I nearly got my dick chopped off-“

“Hold on, are you just not gonna explain where the fuck we are?” Kael interrupted, sounding somewhat exasperated.

“I mean, I thought what just happened was pretty obvious,” Pete responded. We hopped to another dimension. Congrats, you’re a jumper now!”

A jumper. Didn’t Adrian say something about that?

“So, where do you wanna go next?” Clint asked.

“Wait… what’d you mean?” Ken spoke up. “Like… to another dimension?”

Clint nodded.

“Well, I mean… I thought we were…”

“Jeez Ken, I thought you were a little more adventurous than that.”

Ken sighed. “I don’t know. I make my around Earth pretty well, you know?”

“I’m down.” Bella said, causing Ken to whip his head around.

“You’re serious?”

“Yeah. I mean, what’s left to do on Earth? Might as well see something cool while we’re alive. Besides, if you go back, you’re just gonna get captured again. You really aren’t as slick as you think. And what was that thing you told me all those years ago?”

Ken raised an eyebrow.

”I’ll follow you anywhere.” Bella said mockingly.

Ken chuckled somewhat nervously. “I never said that. Maybe it was similar, but it wasn’t that lame.”

“Whatever,” Bella continued, walking towards Clint and Pete. “I know where I’m going. And it’s not back to Earth.”

Ken hesitated for a few more moments before ultimately relenting.

“Jeez,” he said. “This is fucked up.”

“What about you, vampire?” Clint looked tat Kael.

“I’m not sure,” he responded. “I think a vacation’s more than I deserve.”

“Hmmm…” Clint continued. “So you still think that rotting away in a prison’s gonna do anybody any good? Well I’ll tell you something that might pique your interest.”

“There’s a planet named Gehenna out in an area called ‘The Dark Zone.’ There’s no rules there. No interdimensional government has any jurisdiction over it, and any task force they send gets obliterated. And trust me… there’s some bad shit happening to innocent beings over there. Shit that makes your blood boil just by thinking about it. It can’t be helped, I guess. Nobody coming to take out the bad guys and stop the suffering…

He looked Kael dead in the eye.

“Look, you’re not the strongest, but you’re strong enough to make a difference. Not to mention, you can get even stronger. Don’t waste your life. Go and help those people. There’s a militia of vigilantes called “The Deliverance” pushing back against the gangs and traffickers controlling that place. We can get you over there. And then you can go and find them. Join them. Tell them I sent you.”

It took a moment, but Kael ultimately relented to the proposition. Even though he was acting reluctant, I could tell that he was glad. He had a purpose once again.

“Now…” Clint said, turning to face us. “What do we do with you guys?”

Ajay still looked terrified as he clung onto Sandhu.

“Jeez, Clint,” Pete said, as he fired another sniper bullet down into the mass of creatures. “You’re getting kids caught up in your messes as well?”

Sandhu sighed. “Look, I appreciate you getting us out of there but… we need to go back.”

Clint and I both raised an eyebrow.

“What?” They’ll track you guys down for sure. That’s a terrible idea.”

“Maybe so… but it’s out of my hands. I have one more thing I need to figure out,” he looked at Ajay. “One more thing I need to figure out. For his sake. Trust me.”

Clint sighed. “Fair enough.”

“Well… you want me to come along?” I asked.

Sandhu smiled at me. “Nah. This is something we need to do on our own.”

“Well…” I responded. “It’s been a ride man.”

It felt weird saying bye to him like this.

“Yeah. Sure has. But if things work out, you’ll definitely see me again.”

And just like that, everything had been settled. Sandhu and Ajay were headed back to Earth. Their exact destination? Well, I’d rather not say it on here. Kael was headed to Gehenna in order to join the Deliverance. Pete stayed on the Desert-planet in order to continue his shooting. Once Clint had fixed his transporter, Him, Ken and Bella went off to god knows where.

Well, to be more accurate, I went with them as well, but things got complicated pretty quickly and we got separated.

So where am I now?

That’s a long story for another time. I'm back on Earth right now, but I won't be able to stay here for long. The Chasm has been rebuilt and they've appointed an actual head-warden, who's been looking for me. I hear he's a real hard-ass. On top of that, I have piles of unfinished business scattered here and there. If I don't deal with those then... well, they'll definitely be coming back to haunt me.

But… I think things will work out in the end. At least, I hope they do.