The four members of Regent Squadron stood in front of a gigantic steel gate.

"Heya everyone, Ghost here. Your mission this time is more difficult than anything you've faced before, supplies have been provided by the Organisation, they are to be kept safe by all of you, don't lose them. Two gold ranked heroes will be present for this mission, they represent Arhke's best, they will be here shortly. Good luck Regent Squadron. Ghost out!"

From behind a wall, two men appeared, one was dressed in a white, hooded cloak with a gold outline, blonde hair sat beneath his hood. His Limiter was white with a gold outline and insignia. He looked to be in his early twenties.

The other man wore a dark grey and silver cowboy outfit. His hair was black and he wore a cloth blindfold over his eyes. On his waist sat two gun holsters, each housing a strangely shaped revolver, his Limiter had a black bullet painted onto it, below where his gold insignia sat. He looked to be in his late thirties.

The two men nodded towards Regent Squadron as they approached. The man with the blindfold turned to face them and spoke first. "Morning, you're the backup I take it? Name's Blaze, Blaze Hunter, always a pleasure to work with a Regent." He extended a hand to Claire.

Claire shook his hand and nodded. The other man approached the group, he glared at them and chuckled. "So, Regent Squadron comes along, I specifically requested just Claude, the rest of you aren't required..."

Michael stepped forward. "Miss Regent decided Claude would remain with us, we all join or none of us do."

The man glared at Michael and sighed. "Fine, but don't hold me back, there's no second chances outside the city. I suppose I should introduce myself, My name is Julius Silver, however you are to refer to me as my hero name, Ivory Mirage, or simply Mirage will do... let us be off, Regent Squadron, you carry the supplies." He walked towards the gate.

"Not so fast, you're forgetting someone." Albert Moore, the bar keeper, stepped out from a nearby alley. "I was instructed by Ghost to bring one more for this mission."

Moore waved his hand and Charlotte awkwardly stepped out from the shadows, she wore a dark blue Hero Organisation uniform. She didn't have a Limiter. "Y-yes Mr Moore!" Moore chuckled. "Okay Charlotte, I'll see you back at the bar once your mission is complete, good luck." Moore took her hand and placed a small black vial into it. "Use this only as a last resort." Charlotte nodded and placed it in her pocket. Moore walked away and disappeared into the alley.

Charlotte stood to the side, Mirage glared at her. "So, they're recruiting monsters now, the Organisation has fallen far."

Suddenly, Ghost chimed in. "Good, all seven of you are here, I'll open the gate now, once you're outside, you'll need to reclaim an old fortress a few miles out from Arhke, in the past it was used to protect Arhke while it was under construction, once the Monarch appeared many fled behind the walls, however it eventually fell to the Abyssal Forces. Good luck everyone, stay safe."

The gate creaked and slid open, the sunlight seeped into the lower city. Mirage walked forwards into the light, Blaze waved the others over, he lead them out into the light.

The group walked through a large forest, the trees stood tall, obscuring the sunlight, they casted long shadows over the forest floor. Mirage lead the group, Blaze followed behind, Claire, Claude and Michael close behind. Mei and Charlotte trailed at the back of the group.

As they walked Ghost activated the mental link between the group, Claude spoke to Blaze. "Blaze Hunter, that's an interesting name, if you don't mind, why is it you wear that blindfold?"

Blaze turned his head towards Claude. "Suppose there's no harm in explaining, I lost my sight some years ago, Abyssal Corruption is no joke, my power allows me to sort of detect the outline of souls, which is how I'm able to see you in a way, that and my senses have sharpened a lot since losing my sight."

Suddenly Mirage stopped. "Blaze, several Hive Class monsters spotted, twenty meters north." Blaze nodded. "Understood, let's take these things out."

Blaze and Mirage rushed towards the creatures, they were enormous mutated insects, they had strange pincers and mutated scorpion tails protruding from their backs.

They crawled towards the heroes. Mirage crossed his arms. "Mirror Shards!" Several reflective shards began to float around him. He positioned them in carefully calculated places in the air around him.

Blaze pulled his revolvers from their holsters, they had strange patterns on them. He tossed several bullets into the air and opened the barrels, he caught the falling bullets in the revolver barrels, closed them and spun them around. "Alright, my turn."

He pointed the revolvers at the shards in the air. "Spirit Shells, slice through your foe's souls!" Blaze pulled the triggers back with a click and the bullets flew from the revolvers, they hit the shards and bounced around them, they sped up as they bounced from shard to shard, gaining momentum.

Light shone down on the shards, illuminating them a bright white colour. Both Mirage and Blaze shouted out. "Spirit Mirror!" The shards tilted, launching the bullets directly at the enemies, the white shards reflected light into a central point, the light concentrated and launched in a radiant white beam, the bullets circled around it as both impacted their foes, decimating the nearby land and all the monsters, leaving charred husks of insect exoskeletons. The shards fell to the ground and shattered as Mirage released the beam.

"Our job here is done, let us keep moving."

Mirage turned around. "Claude, with me." Mirage signalled to Claude and began walking next to him.

The two walked ahead, out of earshot of the others, Mirage glanced at Claude. "You have all the others fooled, you don't fool me Claude... I don't for even a second believe that you've lost your memories. The man who forgot his past... I don't buy it, people like you don't forget."

Claude shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about, I know nothing about myself, do you?"

Mirage chuckled. "Naturally, though I don't feel like telling you, you'll have to gain my trust first." He walked away faster, leaving Claude with the rest of the group.

Ghost spoke up. "Heya everyone, things are looking okay, you should be able to make the rest of the journey with minimal problems, for the sake of those who haven't explored outside before, we classify monsters into different classes based on their physiology and levels of sentience, the Hive Class monsters which were fought earlier are all a hivemind and look like mutated bugs, the strongest class we know of are Demon Class, or just Demons, like our very own Charlotte, unlike other monster classes, Demons possess levels of sentience equal to humans, however their bodies are stronger, able to endure the strain of the full power of a soul, as demons also gain superpowers just like humans do. That's all, I'll contact you again if I have more info for you all, Ghost out!"

The group arrived at the fortress, it was overgrown with branches and flowers everywhere, the group reached the main rooms of the worn down fortress, the crumbling walls were stained red with dried blood, the floor covered in human bones strewn everywhere.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"This place is very run down, it'll take a while to clean this place up." Blaze signalled to Regent Squadron to place the supplies on the floor, the group split up and began searching the fortress.

Claude searched a smaller room to the back of the fortress, it was covered in vines and roots.

Suddenly, one of the roots lifted up, it grabbed Claude and wrapped around him, trapping him in place and lifting him into the air. A large flower the size of a small car rose up from the ground, it turned to face Claude.

The flower's petals were as sharp as blades, it thrashed around and shook the building. Claude tried to use his atomic power but it wouldn't work, he couldn't move. The flower pulled Claude towards it, it opened the central part of itself, it had spikes lining the middle. "Dammit, why isn't my power working now of all times?"

Suddenly a bullet shattered the plant's vine, freeing Claude.

Blaze was standing at the end of the room with his gun drawn. "You okay Claude? Looks like I arrived just in time." Claude nodded. "What is that thing?"

Blaze turned to Claude. "It's a Nature Class monster, they're a pain. I'll let you do the honours, your power didn't work because you lost focus, concentrate Claude."

Claude raised his hand and concentrated, the flower twisted and popped, it's leaves withered as it fell and died. "So that's what your power looks like, I've never seen a surge that powerful from a soul before. Anyway, let's return to the main room, we have some cleaning to do."

As they returned to the main room, they could hear Mirage and Claire arguing through the mental link.

Claire glared at him. "What gives you the right to think you can tell Claude what to do? You're just using him, I'm his captain, Regent Squadron is under my command, not yours."

Mirage chuckled "Regent, you'll never surpass me, you don't have the right to bear that name. You will never make gold rank, give up or die. I don't care which. I'll be commanding whoever I wish, as your superior it's only fair." He smirked.

Michael walked up to him. "Don't you dare insult Miss Regent, it's you whose not worthy of being a hero, your attitude will be the death of you." Michael balled his hand into a fist.

Mirage looked at him. "Oh, Regent's useless butler, rush back to your master, be the good little lapdog that you are, unless you think you can beat me in combat? I might just take back what I said if you do." He chuckled.

Michael swung his arm back. Suddenly he felt it stop as he moved it forward. Mei was holding onto his arm, she shook her head. "Don't fight... that's what he wants..." Michael nodded and lowered his hand.

Mirage looked at Mei. "So, you're the criminal's daughter huh? What makes you think you deserve to stand here, in the same room as me. Your power is useless in a real fight and you don't take things seriously... At the rate you're going, your pathetic power will be your death... dreams? heh, I'm so scared... You belong behind bars, along with the rest of that scum of a family." Mei looked down at the floor, her expression blank.

Blaze walked into the room with Claude. "That's enough Julius, we need to focus on making this place liveable before sunset. Let's get to work." Mirage shrugged "Sure, whatever, let's just get this done quickly."

After several hours they managed to finish cleaning as best as they could, the place was at least partially liveable. The group had unpacked the supplies they had brought, making a small camp within the fortress, they pitched tents and built a small campfire, the group was all sat around it.

Mirage stood up. "If we're going to be camping, I want rid of the monster." He pointed at Charlotte. "That Demon was responsible for countless human deaths many years ago, isn't that right, you're a spy for the Monarch."

Charlotte looked a little startled at the sudden accusation and shook her head. "T-that was a long time ago... I didn't have a choice in the matter... please just let me be, I won't hurt anyone... never again..."

Mirage spat at Charlotte. "You don't deserve to breathe the same air as humans, you shouldn't even be allowed the rights you have."

Blaze stood up. "Julius! She's not a threat, that's enough, leave her alone."

Mirage glared at Blaze. "Fine, this is the end of that for now, but if that Demon tries anything, I'll kill her myself."

The group went into their respective tents, except Claude and Claire. Claire spoke to him through the mental link. "Sorry about earlier Claude, I've known Julius for a long time, he attended the Arhke Academy at the same time as I did. He has this strange obsession with being better than me, being better than a Regent."

"He's also the son of the CEO and owner of the Mirage Corporation, he thinks he's above everyone else."

Claude nodded.

"I understand, thanks for the information Claire."

The two went into their respective tents for the night.

As the sun peeked over the horizon everyone awoke one by one. Mei was the last to awaken, she left her tent with a yawn.

The ground shook with tremors.

"What's that? The ground keeps shaking." Claude looked around

Mirage issued commands to everybody. "These tremors can only mean one thing... We're splitting into teams to find the source of the tremors, Claude you're with me." Claire shook her head. "I won't leave Claude with you, I'm coming too." Michael stepped forwards. "I go where Miss Regent goes, I shall be there as well." Mirage shrugged and sighed. "Fine, that's my team then, we'll meet back here tonight. Good luck Blaze." Mirage nodded to Blaze as his team departed.

Blaze looked at Mei and Charlotte. "Guess you two are with me, let's get moving, sooner we find the source and deal with it out there the better." He departed with his team.

Mei and Charlotte stood next to Blaze as the group walked. "Is Blaze your real name?..." Blaze looked down at Mei. "Strange isn't it, yeah it's my real name, since we're doing introductions, who are you little lady?" Mei yawned. "Mei... my name is Mei..." Blaze looked at her. "Oh, you're the one with the dream power, you know, the non-sentient monsters won't be affected by it, so focus on staying safe out here." Mei nodded and kept walking in silence.

Blaze turned to Charlotte. "You, other little lady, don't let Julius get to you, he's had a rough history with Demons, as I'm sure everyone has, I believe in second chances so whatever you did under the Monarch's command isn't my business."

Charlotte shook her head. "I... I didn't have a choice, The Monarch was somehow able to control Demons simply using his own will... I didn't want to do what I did... I'm sorry..." Charlotte looked down quietly.

Blaze looked at her. "Do you remember anything about The Monarch? Anything that can help us when he comes back?"

Charlotte shook her head. "It was forty years ago... That's a while back to remember, even though Demons live a long time, I've served The Monarch for two hundred years, yet all I remember of him was his dark and dead eyes, staring straight into my soul... as he demanded atrocities of me... my body moving before my mind could process the order." Charlotte fell silent.

Blaze placed a hand on Charlotte's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, you don't need to remember if you don't want to, what matters is you're trying to atone for your past now. We're all victims of The Monarch, you are too."

Charlotte nodded "I'm... a victim too?"

Blaze, Mei and Charlotte walked through a field, eventually they came to a large crater, the three of them began looking around, Charlotte felt a sudden drip on her shoulder, she placed her finger on it and brought it to her eyes to examine. "Rain?... why is it red?... no... this is... Blood... it's... It's raining Blood!!" Suddenly a torrential rainstorm began, the rain crimson red and thick.

Blaze looked around. "Shit, we're in an Abyssal Corruption Zone, we need to find the exit quickly, Abyssal Corruption has some gruesome results if you're exposed to it for too long, best case scenario it kills you."

The ground shook, causing the three to lose balance. Suddenly from the ground rose a gigantic worm, it's mouth lined with sharp spikes, it's body spewing some manner of spore and it was constantly mutating as it absorbed Abyssal Energy.

Blaze drew his guns and began to shoot at the worm, Mei ran to hide, the worm grew a long sharp tail from it's side, it swung it around.

The bullets from Blaze's gun further agitated it, the gigantic tail swung around, it broke rocks into rubble and whipped it's tail at Mei, it hit her and she flew into a pile of rocks. She tried to get up but the worm turned to face her. Blaze fired several bullets directly at the worm. "Over here big boy, focus on me."

The worm turned to Blaze. He drew it's attention as it kept mutating, growing tendrils and spikes all along it's body. It screeched at Blaze, causing him to fall to the ground. "Shit, this thing is strong, the more Abyssal Energy it absorbs, the less of a chance we have of beating it."

Charlotte froze in place, she trembled as she looked at the creature. "I-I can't do this... sorry..."

The worm screeched and grabbed Blaze and Charlotte with it's tendrils, it threw them against a rock and a pile of debris fell onto them.

The worm picked up Blaze with a tendril, it lifted him towards it's mouth, it's teeth rotated around it's throat in circles like a drill, rows and rows of teeth lined it's throat, Blaze dropped his revolvers. "Shit, this thing is strong, run, take Mei and go, hurry up!"

Charlotte looked at the creature looming over her with Blaze in it's grasp, she couldn't move, she stood frozen in place as the creature drew Blaze closer to it's mouth.

The sky went dark and the tremors intensified.