Marcus woke up, eyes wide open, his breath heaving heavily. He quickly stood upright, feeling his chest where the lightning had struck him deep.
"Am I still alive?" He asked himself, confused. "Did he..." he voiced, knowing damn well how naive that fool was. "Damn you, you should have just..." he said, trying but failing to finish his own sentence.
He looked around. His watch was blinking again and again, a call from the higher ups trying to ask if the job was done. How could it be done, when what he was dealing with was no simple human.
"What the hell was that, in God’s name?" He questioned, remembering that burning scene. Ethan’s eyes glowing like some god, as lightning crackled all around his body.
"Is he some mutant?" He whispered to himself. "No, we had our blood checked at the same time. We both came back positive." He said, looking around, seeing the C-grade beast he had brought in, now a half-mesh of meat. Not just meat. Burned meat. The smell scratching at his nostrils.
Beep. Beep.
His watch kept beeping again, but he ignored it. He had spotted footprints in the muddy ground.
"You had your own secrets, huh, my old friend." He said, checking his watch as he scanned the surroundings. The footprints came into view, heading toward the mountain nearby.
"I don’t know why you left me alive, Ethan, but you should have just done the deed." He said, those words coming out a bit hollow. "You are screwed one way or another. The empire will never stop." He said, as he started to follow the tracks.
***
In the faraway army station in the middle of the forest, many monsters and beasts were hauled up in large trucks, slaughtered and butchered by the army there, the logo of the empire plastered on their backs like a symbol of pride.
Building upon building, block upon block, creating a small city of its own. A quarter thriving on resources through mining and hunting.
From the top of the bunker, the chief of command, watching everything, pressed the button once more, trying to reach the man on the screen. Blond hair and yellow eyes. A lower-rank soldier by the name of Marcus. But the cadet was not answering him.
"Haha, I thought I saw promise in you." He growled, fixing his hat. "But it seems we were both wrong."
He backed away, pressing another button, connecting him with another group of soldiers.
"Leviathan crew, are you there? Over."
"Yes, chief. Ready as always. Over."
"New mission for the crew. The details have already been mailed. Analyze and thoroughly complete the mission, pronto. This is now a B-grade mission. I repeat. This is now a B-grade mission. Over."
"Mission received. Over."
And just like that, from the nearby bunker, a heavy chopper began to lift off, its power engine glowing blue, propelling the craft higher and higher before blasting away into the forest.
The chief smiled. "Let’s see if you can survive this, son of Zeus." He said.
***
Meanwhile, at the edge of the cave, Ethan yawned as he came out, looking around at the view of the jungle. His eyes rested on the horizon, where smoke was rising.
"I guess I never had an option." He said. "Haha... you’re cruel, oh system of mine." He said, checking the option again.
[Do you accept the mission?]
[Yes] or [#$#$#]
He had obviously chosen no, but right after, tons of error messages came. And in the end, the option blurred, as if it had simply been wiped away. But nonetheless, he smiled. He smiled brightly, in fact. He wanted to be angry that he hadn’t been given a choice, but in reality, he didn’t mind it at all.
"This is destiny, I guess." He said, when another pop-up came before his eyes.
[New mission alert!]
[Defeat the Leviathan crew]
[5/5 B-grade soldiers]
[Reward: +120 Exp points]
"The Leviathan crew? Marcus, you bloody coward. You must have talked your way out of it. Otherwise they wouldn’t send such an elite team after a cadet like me." He said, gritting his teeth.
He checked his charge, which was already at [100%]. He still didn’t know what he could fully do with this lightning. But he knew for a fact that what was coming was far more dangerous than the powers he currently held.
The Leviathan crew consists of level 25 individuals. Trained to the core, to adapt and press on until the target is neutralized...
"Haa, I need to be ready. They will find me one way or another." He said.
Roar!
The bear walked out as well, yawning. Ethan patted his head. "What do you think I should do, Bear-kun?" He said.
The bear looked at Ethan, confused, its eyes saying: what the hell are you even talking about.
"Haha, I guess you won’t understand what predicament I am i—"
AAArrr...
The bear suddenly growled. Ethan tensed up as well, looking toward where the bear was staring. The bushes before them rustled slightly.
Are they already here?
He thought, crackling a bit of lightning in his palms. "Come on. I thought the Leviathan were an assault group, not cowards hiding in bushes." He taunted, blasting the lightning all over the bushes, hoping he got someone.
"Wait!" A familiar voice came.
"Marcus?" Ethan called.
From the bushes, he stepped out, hands raised high. "It’s me, it’s me. Can you chill?"
Ethan still pointed his finger at Marcus. "Did you chill when you tried to kill me, chasing me with that nightmare?" He said, his eyes brightening again.
"Wait, wait. I have info. Precious info."
"Info about the Leviathan crew coming to kill me? Yeah, thanks a bunch for that. I really should have killed you."
"What? Wait, I didn’t!" Marcus shouted, his expression showing genuine surprise, and Ethan could tell. He had been close with him. Too close.
"Are you sure?" Ethan asked, still crackling his lightning, ready to fire. And Marcus knew that hit would fry him dry. Even though he hadn’t died before, the burning sting was still fresh. It had still felt like hell.
"Ethan. You know me. I don’t know... how to lie."
"I don’t care, Marcus. I stopped caring when you pointed that gun at me and chased me for hours and hours." He said.
"I was following orders. That was it!" He shouted back.
"No, you jealous fool. You wanted me dead!" Ethan shouted as well.
"Then if I did, why didn’t you kill me?!" Marcus shouted out loud, his voice echoing clearly.
Ethan couldn’t reply. He just couldn’t. Those yellow eyes staring at him. He had asked himself the same thing: why hadn’t he just burned the traitor to ashes? Why had he let him live?
Should I just say I wanted him to run away? Ethan thought.
But this idiot came back to me again, knowing full well I could kill him. This damn idiot.
"Why didn’t you run away? You should have just gone back."
"I’ll be direct, as I always am."
"Yeah, tell me. Just tell me. You thought you were gonna luck out and ki—"
"No!" He cut in. "I am not targeting you. All I can say is, I don’t know what I’m doing myself. I just followed you. No plans. Nothing."
"..."
Ethan lowered his hand, his eyes returning to normal. He patted the bear, who had been growling this whole time. "It’s okay. He’s okay." He said.
Marcus lowered his hands as well. "I’m sorry." He finally said.
Ethan scoffed. "Apology not accepted." He said. "I still don’t trust your sorry self."
Marcus smiled, nodding. "Yeah, yeah. I deserve that much." He said, coming closer.
Ethan looked around once more, cautiously. "So you really weren’t the one who called the Leviathan crew?"
Marcus shook his head, simply showing his watch and the full comms history. "So they are really after you, it seems."
"You just shut up."
Marcus smiled and sealed his lips, miming a zipper. Ethan sighed at his casual attitude.
"You really have nerves of steel. I’ll give you that." He said.
[Mission starting in 5 mins.]
"They’re already coming?"
"Who? What?"
"Your teammates. The Leviathan crew, genius."