Chapter 241: A Dark Underworld (1/2)

- Althea -

I held my breath, slipping into the other plane. Stepping onto a string of connected steps, I followed the line leading towards the remaining members in the compound. Phasing back onto our plane, I grabbed the remnant's white hair, slicing clean through her neck.

Pink flesh and the arteries exposed themselves under the fluorescent lights. The body flopped forward, splattering onto the ground. I frowned while turning towards the other scientist. Wearing a medical mask, his brows creased in horror. Instead of running or fighting back, he froze in place. That was something I learned after assassinating many people.

There isn't just a fight or flight response. There was also the freezing option. When faced with a surreal, horrifying reality, most people only lock up. Not wanting to waste time, I pressed my heel against the ground. The sterilized tile beneath my feet cracked, the floor smelling of chlorine and antiseptics.

I bolted towards him before piercing a dagger at his heart. I slit upwards while tiptoeing around him. Like peeling a bloody banana, his face sternum, collarbone, and skull split apart. His blood sprayed onto the ground, none of it touching me.

Bleck, blood was so gross, but it was inevitable in this kind of work. Daniel kind of just wallowed in the stuff. It was rare I hit that kind of bloodlust anymore. Now I just entered this cold state of mind, like nothing mattered.

Around me, the fluorescent lights flickered over tubes of Hybrid research. With each flicker, a pair of red eyes darted further into the facility. I followed it as a shiver raced up my spine. It still stunned me that he could turn into a different person like that.

Opening the door to the next room, the lights flickered as a dozen scientists studied their work. They peered around in confusion as the lights above them went on and off. I watched as the shadows of the researchers came together. A broad figure rose from the umbral well. Hod peered around, the researchers paralyzed with fear.

A tense moment passed as they understood what was about to happen. I wanted to close my eyes, but I kept them open. There was something sickening about watching someone look at death. It was the same stare a mouse gave a cat. They both stay still, knowing what would follow. Neither moves alone. They spur into action together, each of them struggling for life.

That unbearable specific kind of silence stretched on for a few seconds. To its victim, it was an eternity. That infinity passed in the eyes of the researchers. None of them so much as breathed. The most primal emotion, fear, wrapped its cold embrace around them.

At this moment, recognizing their death, they were most alive. The lights flickered, going dark for a second. As flight returned to the room, entrails and blood covered the entire space. Hod butchered them during the lapse in light.

Hod was a natural assassin in that way. Fast, efficient, and quiet, he cleared rooms without needing more than a semblance of shade. I didn't quite understand how his powers worked, but I didn't need too. All I needed was the work he could get done.

He turned towards me, a black flame ebbing from his swollen, muscular frame. Without saying a word, we stepped up to the computers, downloading files and information. We used a cipher from the Overseer developed with a group of researchers. The software let us read the hidden data. Another researcher opened the door before closing it.

He stared up at Hod, who glared at the scientist with eyes lacking empathy. The lights flickered. More blood. More gore. More death.

I shook the chill off, turning back towards the data. We found information, lots of it. The kind of information that really helped the cause. That's what this was all for. I found one of the research facilities conditioning children. Since then, I wasn't about to let the Adair Family off the hook. They'd hang on the noose they made for themselves, and I'd be the hangman.

Er, well hangwoman, but whatever.

Anyways, I sent the data over to Torix before finding an opened file. Skimming over the information, my eyes hollowed, and my stomach sank. I turned away, a bitter taste leaking into my mouth. Hod stepped up, his frame shrinking back to his other form. I took a sigh of relief. He was so much easier to talk to when he was like this.

”Hod not good at read. What thing say?”

I took a breath, ”It's a record of Schema's offenses. It's...ugly. Like, really ugly.”

”Hod wonder what kind of ugly?”

”Uhm, it's hard to explain.”

”Hod willing to listen.”

I dragged my hand across the back of my neck,

”So, it, hm...It's detailing a few of Schema's crimes against the remnants, but it has other stuff we didn't know about. It mentions eldritchifying worlds so that they can glass them later. I...I know that's hard to hear.”

Daniel and I went to Hod's homeworld after it was destroyed for some reason. Daniel mentioned runes or something like that, but it seemed kind of random to me. Either way, Hod lost his home because Schema eldritchified it, so hearing this must of stung.

Hod stared down as he mumbled,

”Ah.”

A silence passed before he nodded, ”Hod understand why Adair Family do what Adair Family do.”

I bit my lip, not wanting to go on with the list of stuff Schema was doing. Hod stared at his winged arms and taloned fingers,

”Hod lost home. Remnants lose home. They want home back. Simple reason. Powerful reason. Hard not to understand for Hod.”

He gripped his hands, ”But Adair Family take Gialgathen home. Adair family ruin other home to make new home. Adair Family ruthless. Adair Family evil. Must be stopped.”

I nodded, ”Yeah. I think so too.”

Hod took a deep breath, ”So what else AI man do?”

I shivered a bit before replying, ”Er, this document is saying Schema has created massive mana battery farms to power the system. There's no concrete proof, but there's a lot of circumstantial evidence here.”