["The Terrorists strike again."]

["This time, their victim is a famous mercenary group that's been operating in the Southern Biome for over a decade."]

["There were no survivors."]

'Terrorists?' Leon was puzzled as he looked at the TV screen in front of him.

He suddenly felt like making a joke. 'Watching terrorists, is that also a culture of the Geneforge Clans? Just like their lab meat, is this their form of entertainment?' Though he enjoyed the meat, he was still bitter that he had to spend 10 pounds for it.

As he joked, from the female Geneform reporter that was previously reporting the news, a video took over and started playing on the screen.

Leon looked at it with a curious expression on his face.

There were 15 people in the video and all of them forced on their knees while standing behind them were 5 eye-catching people wearing masks.

The 15 people on their knees had looks of fear and horror on their faces as they stared at the camera.

Feeling their fear even through the screen, Leon frowned.

The masked man standing in the middle of the video finally broke the silence. "I am the Demon of Ozempic".

Hearing that, Leon's lips twitched as he suddenly felt second-hand embarrassment. 'Seriously bro? Is that the best you could come up with?'

'Demon of Ozempic? Really? Parasite was far better than you'.

He continued watching.

"People call me Demon, but I prefer to call myself Angel". The masked man looked into the camera. "I'm an Angel with the divine mandate to reconcile this sinful generation with the divine blueprint".

"This generation has forgotten its divine roots, we've forgotten what it means to be human. We've embraced sin, we've tolerated cosmetic surgery, DNA transplanting, body modification".

"This is heresy!"

Leon's lips twitched again. 'Don't tell me this guy became a terrorist just because of cosmetic surgery'. He suddenly felt like laughing.

The video continued, clearly not hearing his thoughts.

"The divine blueprint is humanity!"

"It is our duty to strive towards it, not away from it!"

"A.I Constructs are heresy".

"Synths are heresy".

"My brothers and sisters out there, pure Geneforms are the only beings allowed in God's kingdom".

"Let's rise up together to return to the divine".

"It is time we put an end to heresy".

The man pointed at the mercenaries. "We caught a few heretics today, lost souls who've engaged in willing DNA and extensive body modifications. Lost souls among Geneforms that need to be purified".

Hearing that, Leon frowned. 'Don't tell me…'

But before he could react, the man closed the distance to the mercenary right in front of him, grabbed his neck and with his dagger he cut without batting an eyelid.

Spurt!

Leon's eyelids twitched at how ruthless this man cut the throat of the restrained and defenseless man in front of him.

He sat straighter, his face becoming serious as he watched the video.

Not just the man in the middle, the 4 men and woman beside him also moved as they began slitting the throats of the people before them.

The video soon turned into a bloody and gory spectacle, and as they committed murder in cold blood, they chanted.

"Gud er større!"

"Gud er større!"

"Lovet være Gud!"

Leon's frown deepened as he watched this video. 'Who are these people? What does those words mean?'

And then, the man in the middle finally pulled off his mask.

Leon saw his face: a face that was once handsome but now marred with horrific scars, a neck covered with snake tattoos, dual-colored eyes, he also noticed the calm but dangerous gleam in those eyes mixed with a dose of religious radicalism.

With those eerie dual-colored eyes, the man looked into the camera and with religious fanatism, he raised both his hands in a worshipping manner.

"Humanity will rise again, built from the ashes of this sinful world".

Hearing those words, Leon felt his skin crawl.

At that moment, the words also attracted the attention of the passenger sitting beside Leon. Once he saw the TV screen, the young Geneform hissed. "It's that terrorist!"

"You know him?" Leon looked at his seatmate.

"Everybody knows him!" The man snarled, revealing a look of anger and helplessness. "He's the new leader of the Extremist Movement".

"Extremist Movement?" Leon asked, showing his lack of knowledge.

The man looked at him. "It seems like you're new to the Southern Biome".

Leon nodded sincerely.

"The Extremist Movement is the radicalist faction of the Reclaimer Church. They've been around for years and they operate all over the world, but this year, they've taken their activities up a notch since their new leader came into power".

"He calls himself the Angel of Ozempic but people prefer to call him Demon".

Leon nodded in understanding.

The man suddenly became even angrier. "Last month, they attacked a cathedral of the Reclaimer Church in my home Town".

Leon was taken aback. "They even attack the church?"

The man nodded hatefully. "They think the Reclaimer Church has deviated from the old ways and are being changed by the world, and they hate it".

"The Reclaimer Church believes that humanity is divine and that every other race is the result of sin, but they're never radical about it".

"They preach and proliferate, urging believers to return in heart, body, and mind to the divine blueprint which is humanity".

"As for the Extremist Movement, they're Devils!" The man gritted his teeth angrily. "They take the preaching of the Reclaimer Church further, they believe that every other race is heresy and should be purged!"

"They say it's their duty to conquer the world back to the human blueprint by force! To them, it's either return to the divine blueprint or die!"

"Devils, the lot of them, Demons!"

Seeing how agitated this man was, Leon tried to calm him down then he asked. "They've affected you or someone close to you before?"

"No," the man shook his head. "But I'm a Priest of the Reclaimer Church. To see them sully the teachings of the divine blueprint and use it for evil pains me to no end, they deserve to burn in hell!"

"I agree". Leon nodded.

At that moment, the priest looked at him again and smirked. "With the way they operate, they'll love someone who look like you very much. You fit their ideologies of returning to the divine blueprint".

"How did you get a body like this? Cosmetic surgery?"

Leon nodded, then he asked. "But won't they also kill me because I obtained this type of body through cosmetic surgery?"

The Priest firmly shook his head. "That's the irony about them, they're hypocrites, bunch of hypocrites!"

"They say cosmetic surgery and technology is heresy yet they use technology, why don't they go back to time before Genesis? Why do they use rail guns, why do they use plasma knives? Hypocrites, all of them!"

Leon nodded heavily. "I agree".

At that moment, the Priest finally leaned back against his seat, breathing heavily. He was still clearly struggling to contain his anger.

Just like him, the video riled Leon up and made him angry but he didn't have any particular emotional attachment to what happened.

In every world, there would always be terrorists and crime.

He wouldn't go out of his way to hunt the terrorists unless they deliberately cross his path or they affect someone close to him.

Leon closed his eyes and leaned back against his seat.

'I wonder how many minutes have passed,' he thought. 'I can't wait to get to Leviathan Quay, I want to see what cities in this world look like'.

Amid this thoughts, his eyes slowly turned drowsy and he slept.

…

Leon had a dream.

He had a dream where he found himself inside a thick forest with ghostly green bioluminescent fog where he was being chased by shadows.

The shadows had demonic faces, laughing in a mad and deranged manner, pursuing him to devour him.

In this dream, he didn't have his Ascended powers.

He was a mundane human.

After running for a long time, sweating, panting, and gasping for breath, the shadows finally caught up to him as they started devouring him.

In that moment, he felt true horror and fear.

In that moment, he couldn't distinguish between dream and reality at all as his body, his mind, his personality, everything was being devoured.

And then, he woke up.

Blink!

Leon squinted his eyes to adapt to the lighting inside the maglev train, and then he looked outside to the left at the rapidly changing terrain.

He frowned. 'What kind of dream was that?'

He didn't think too much about it, he ignored it as he turned his head to the right to look outside.

Nothing happened at first, all he saw was an endless wasteland stretching into the distance. He could see distant dry forests, a massive scrapyard, and a giant mound of sand.

And then, suddenly, he noticed shadows moving in the distance.

'Shadows?' Leon felt a terrible premonition as he squinted his eyes to get a better look and confirm that he was not hallucinating.

He saw…

'Is that…?'

BOOOOOOM!

The maglev train rocked!

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