The world was dark and loud.

Everything felt so painful, so dark, so hot.

'Wait, hot?'

Blink!

Leon's eyes snapped open and instantly the heat became overbearing, scorching his eyes as he instinctively closed them again.

He coughed violently.

RINGGGGGGGGGGGG!

There was a loud ringing sound in his ears that dug into his head like a dagger was stabbed into his brain and was being ruthlessly twisted repeatedly, again and again till there was a hollow tunnel in his brain.

Leon staggered and lost balance, falling to the ground.

"Ugh!" He groaned in pain and then he heard it.

WOM! WOM! WOM!

The loud siren of military trucks reverberated.

Leon struggled to remember where he was. 'What happened? What is going on? Where is there fire?'

"Help me!" He heard people screaming.

"My leg, it's gone! Arggh! Help me!"

He held his throbbing forehead as countless fragmented memories swirled through his mind like a movie reel.

He saw ancient scenes and images, he heard voices.

'SpaceX… Project Genesis… Parasite… Extremists… Demon of Ozempic…!'

Leon finally remembered and instantly, his eyes snapped open again as he shot back up to his feet.

His whole body ached from the burns, and he was bleeding from his forehead but he didn't care about himself at this moment as he looked around in a fluster. 'Daren, where's Daren?'

He finally remembered what happened.

'Daren! He pushed me!'

He looked around in panic.

Everywhere around him, all he saw was soot, ashes, mutilated flesh, and people who were wailing and crying for help.

Blood flowed through the street like a lake, dying it red.

Many people on the ground were already dead, and yet some still stubbornly clung to life.

A young Geneform laid limp on the ground, his body from his waist down was gone! He was crying blood-red tears with one eye because his other eyeball now dangled from his eye socket like a pendulum bulb!

He was in a world of pain.

Leon saw the military trucks and the soldiers who were armed to the teeth, searching for the terrorists but there was no one to apprehend, no one to shoot at, just casualties. The soldiers were helpless.

At this moment, even the extremely powerful formation of military transports in the sky were rendered helpless because there was no target.

The terrorists were already dead, they committed suicide.

In that moment as all these scenes settled in his head, Leon finally realized. 'This is their plan'.

'It doesn't matter how many soldiers and how many war weapons the Gene Army mobilize, what use is an army if they can't distinguish between friend and foe?'

In that moment, Leon felt a chill run down his spine as a name rang in his mind. 'The Demon of Ozempic'.

He understood better why they called him Demon.

His clenched his fists tightly as rage flooded his brain, but then he remembered. 'No-no, Daren first, Daren!'

He looked around, flustered. "Daren!" He called desperately.

And finally, he found his friend.

The explosion separated the both of them, flinging Daren in another direction entirely.

Daren laid in a pool of his own blood.

"…!"

Leon felt his heart in his throat.

Terrible burns were all over his body, leaving him bleeding all over. His originally tanned skin was now blackened. Leon felt like his whole world was turning dark till he saw Daren's chest heave faintly.

"H-he's alive!" He stammered and ignored his injuries as he rushed forward.

He grabbed Daren's body and confirmed that he was alive. In that moment, tears that Leon didn't know he was holding back flowed.

Awakening in this world, Leon had no family but he had friends. And of all his friends, the Wraith Cell-9 crew were his closest friends.

He'd been with them the longest.

Rex's death already pushed his fragmented mind to its limit, he could not afford to witness the death of another close friend.

What saved Daren's life was his physique as an Ascended Cyber Gladiator and the scales covering his body from his lizard DNA.

Leon hugged his friend before quickly carrying him off to the soldiers.

A few seconds later, ambulances started arriving at the scene and Daren was one of the first people to enter the ambulances.

Leon joined the ambulance to the hospital.

As the ambulance drove off, he looked outside at the scene of devastation and death caused by the suicide bombing.

The once bustling market was now in a state of commotion, mourning and tears. From this distance, he could see the badly burnt corpses left in the scene. In the street where he previously stood with Daren, multiple people also died.

There was a man walking his daughter through the street, both of them were burned to death on the spot.

Another man was riding an electric bicycle when the bomb detonated. Alongside his bicycle, they were burnt beyond recognition.

Leon took in all these sights and looked at Daren's blackened and burnt body again in silence, he also remembered the twin babies who died horribly in the flames then he felt something snap inside of him.

He felt his biology change, his emotions spilling into his body and becoming a raging volcano inside.

His blood boiled, his heart beat faster, his senses were heightened to the limit even as his black eyes glowed with an eerie red gleam.

"I'll kill them," he muttered to himself, then his shoulders shook as he laughed like a deranged man. "I'll kill them all, I'll kill every single one of them!"

"I won't stop till they're all dead!"

…

[06:23pm]

[BREAKING NEWS!]

["Suicide Bombings in the City!"]

["The Terrorists strike again but this time it's through series of suicide bombings that took place at the same time around Leviathan Quay, catching the soldiers off-guard."]

["Clearly, Major Roshfield didn't prepare for a scenario like this one."]

["Till now, we've yet to receive any official reports from the army regarding the identity of the suicide bombers."]

["Witnesses have come online claiming that some of the suicide bombers today were close friends and relatives. They reveal shock and terror, claiming they don't understand how their family and friends became part of a terrorist organization."]

["There's a 23 year old girl, Amanda, whose father took part in the suicide bombings in Compton District. She's still in a state of shock. According to her, they're just normal devout believers of the Reclaimer Church."]

["She refuses to believe that it's her father, she believes that her father is being framed yet all evidence points to the fact that it's her father who committed suicide for a religious cause."]

["At the time of reporting, there have been over 530 confirmed deaths with hundreds more injured."]

["We're still waiting for the army to give their take on the situation."]

…

In the morning, Major Roshfield's speech brought the civilians in the city a measure of confidence and security but by evening, this illusion of security was torn apart by the suicide bombings across the city.

Leviathan Quay was now in a state of unrest.

On the psionic network, it was a digital explosion as frightened civilians repeatedly tagged the army and Major Roshfield, demanding support, protection, and military action.

What they didn't take their time to think about was if the military moved, who exactly where they going to attack?

The Demon of Ozempic was playing an extreme game of chess but instead of ceramic chess pieces, real lives were the cards on the line and at the moment, he just put his target's King in Check.

In this concept, his target's King was the very foundations of Leviathan Quay.

Now, it was up to the army to react.

In the hospital, Leon's smartphone buzzed repeatedly.

Ring! Ring!

[Incoming call from Sergeant Tyla…]

[Incoming call from Lieutenant Johnmark…]

[Incoming call from Mr. Dave…]

[Incoming call from Mr. Paul…]

Leon ignored all the calls as he numbly sat on a bench outside the room where Daren was kept and being treated, waiting for the verdict of the doctors.

Time moved in a blur for him, having lost track of it completely.

Leon remembered that Kain said the best Doctors in the world were in the territory of the Geneforge Clans, he dearly hoped for the elite doctors to prove their competence this time with his friend.

At some point, Sergeant Tyla with her military connections found his location and visited the hospital where he was but Leon didn't even realize her presence due to how anxious he was.

Only when she pulled his head into an embrace did he finally react and flinch.

"Shhhhh," she shushed him before he could say a word, gently caressing his black hair, not minding the blood that stained it.

"It's ok". She whispered. "It's ok now".

Around 6:50pm, the Doctors updated Leon who was Daren's only representative at the moment, asking for his consent that Daren needed surgery.

Apparently, he suffered numerous internal injuries due to the explosion. According to the Doctors, the only reason why he was still alive was because of his immense vitality as an Ascended Cyber Gladiator.

Leon didn't hesitate to sign the consent form as he knew that Daren needed the best treatment as soon as possible, then he grabbed the head doctor's hand and pleaded with him. "Please Doctor, save my friend".

"Do whatever it takes, money is not a problem".

The Doctor held his hand and calmly nodded. "I'll do my best even if you didn't ask," he smiled. "You don't have to worry about the money, the army is funding all medical expenses in this disaster".

With that, he left and Daren was wheeled away for surgery. The surgery was scheduled to take 4 hours.

Leon couldn't relax, he was anxious but Sergeant Tyla kept him company.

After some time, she managed to convince him to also take treatment for his injuries after which she brought him food to replenish his energy reserves.

After all that, Leon regained some energy as he rested on the bench outside the Operating Room.

Seated beside him, Sergeant Tyla suddenly smiled. "Have I ever told you how I got into the army?"

Leon looked at her and shook his head.

She pouted and shook her head in disapproval. "No one is here, you don't have to maintain that your public persona here".

"No". Leon finally answered in a hoarse voice.

Satisfied, she nodded then she said. "Actually, I wanted to be a lawyer but my Dad is a famous specialist Doctor and his dream is for me and my 2 sisters to be Doctors too. He forced us into medical school when we came of age".

"My 2 sisters are currently practicing Doctors, but both of them are not happy. Spending every day in a gloomy hospital was not what we dreamed of as girls".

"Me?" She smirked. "I have my certificate but just to spite my father, instead of practicing, I secretly joined an army recruitment boot camp of the Gene Army".

"I was one of the best, 1 of only 10 soldiers picked out from my batch".

She grinned at Leon. "You had to see the look on my controlling father's face when he heard that his daughter is now a soldier. Ah," she smacked her lips contentedly. "That's still one of the most memorable moments of my life".

"The Gene Army is sovereign. Even with his influence as a famous Doctor in Sprawl Delta, he couldn't stop me from becoming a soldier".

"In hindsight, being a soldier is not too bad. At least, it's not as boring as staying in the hospital all day long".

"I get to fight crime, I get to travel, I get to adventure, and I get to meet interesting Ascended like you". She smiled.

Leon looked at her. "I never saw you as rebellious".

"You don't know me". She laughed, then she looked him in the eye. "So, tell me, what's your story?"

'My story?' Leon was suddenly tongue-tied.

"Um…" just as he thought of what to say, his smartphone beeped.

BEEP!

[NEW! Unread Message from Unknown]

'Unknown?'

Leon frowned and clicked on the message.

Click!

It was a simple and straightforward message.

["Time: 8:00pm. Venue: Megabase 023."]

Through its contents, Leon immediately understood where the message came from.

He looked at the time; it was already past 7:30pm.

He looked at Tyla and though she didn't see the message on his phone, she understood the look in his eyes immediately.

She nodded. "Its fine, you can tell me another day. Go, I'll stay and wait for him while you're gone".

Leon finally smiled, his first real smile since the suicide bombing. "Thank you, I owe you one for this".

"Buy me a drink when all of this is over".

"Deal". Leon grinned and stood up to leave.

As soon as he turned his face away from Tyla, his face became cold as his eyes gleamed with murderous intensity.

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