His gear was heavy, but it was more than bulletproof. It wasn’t a fancy artifact like those upper echelon guys had but it did the job. He jumped out of the van with his group from the combat unit of the Crest family. He had aspirations of leaving the Crest family and moving to The City of Cities but he still didn’t have enough resources to pay his way in. Only those that were above the resonance realm lived there and he was still only touched by his concept.
Either way, he cleared his head as he readied his shotgun and made sure he had all his gadgets where they should be. He took the right edge of the formation as they entered the abandoned warehouse. The team was a well oiled machine as they swept through the warehouse periodically and worked their way towards the back where the scout unit had told them that that's where the CIP was holed up.
They pushed through until they were at a large flat wall that separated the warehouse into two sides. The ceilings were at least 30 feet high. There was a garage door that was the only way between the two sides, probably originally for forklifts. His breathing was quick and he couldn’t calm down. He had a bad feeling that this was a threat that was beyond this team's capabilities. Just from the description he had no idea why it wasn’t classed higher, but he couldn’t go back on orders. Yellow lines that zigzagged in his bright blue irises were glowing as he tried to connect to his concept. He had the concept of screws, while his concept was derivative and a lower form but it still gave him abilities that normal people would call superhuman.
He pulled out a handful of screws in his off hand and was ready to use his concept at the drop of a hat. The person who took the lead moved up to the garage door and lifted it up. But, before it could even get two feet from the ground a mad screech was heard as the building shook from an impact on the other side of the wall. Suddenly and to the team's horror, a steel beam was suddenly shot at the group, going through the wall as if paper and emerging in front of the combat team. He tried to dodge but it was just going too fast as it suddenly impaled him through the gut and he was sent flying many feet backwards while the rest of the group only had the bits of wall hit them but it was rather inconsequential.
He immediately spit up blood as he laid there half slumped on the floor, half of his torso was replaced with a steel beam. He couldn’t breath on account of his diaphragm no longer existing. He was going to die soon and there was no way to undo that. He felt listless at that moment. No great memories flashed before his eyes, no incomplete dreams. What did any of it matter now? His originally lively and glowing eyes were now dark. He looked up and watched as another steel beam shot through the wall and spiked another member of the team. That member instantly died. They had better luck than him, he still had some time left to wallow in self pity.
The CIP, with its deformed body slammed through the wall and attacked the remaining members of the team, instantly killing another. The last remaining member began unloading shotgun shells into the torso of the abomination, but while it deformed the skin and tore off the flesh it seemed to do little to the actual inner workings of the monster’s anatomy. The CIP turned and swiped at the last remaining team member that was unharmed but he ducked and rolled as he got out of range of the monster. He dropped his now empty shotgun and pulled out a handgun from its holster and began shooting towards the abomination’s head as fast as his finger could pull and his arm could recover from the recoil. The body shots seemed to do nothing so he changed his tactic.
After 4 shots the CIP had covered the distance again and while the bullets had done significant damage to the skull it still wasn’t quite enough. The hand of the CIP came down on him and with a strength that shouldn’t be possible for anything living, it slashed through his body as if its long and skinny fingers were claws. That last member of the team fell dead, a mangled body that barely looked human was the all that was left of his valiant effort.
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The man who was first impaled, and had suddenly gotten a moment of clarity at the end and opened his still clenched hand. Inside was a fist full of nails. His eyes began to glow that blue and yellow for the last time as he put all of his conceptual energy into his concept and the nails began to hover from his hand as if from telekinesis.
The nails all hovered there for a moment as the man gathered his energy and flicked his fingers. The nails shot through the air at a speed that couldn’t be tracked by the naked eyes as all 8 nails bored small holes through the head of the abomination in front of him. They exited the skull; they were still floating just a foot behind its head even after causing such damage.
The CIP stumbled slightly before turning to the half dead man, its eyes were like black holes as it devoured all light that came near it. Unnatural is the only word that could be used to describe it. But as it went to step towards him the man once again flicked his hand, this time in the opposite direction and all the nails turned around and again burrowed through the abomination’s head, leaving 8 more holes before the nails once again stopped in midair.
The CIP tried to lash out like last time but before it could take another step it fully died and slumped to the ground. It’s head was now truly unrecognizable. The half bisected man finally relaxed as his mind slipped ever closer to death. He let out one of his final breaths as he muttered to himself, “At least I saved my team.”
He was only semi conscious and his initial shock of being lethally impaled made him miss most of the one sided slaughter. But, as his mind got closer to the end he began to gain clarity again. His brain, oxygen deprived and low on blood, had made one final push for clarity before he died. And that’s when his face truly sunk lower than ever. Everyone was dead. Not just dead, but most were completely unrecognizable.
All his pain, all his efforts, all his accomplishments, all his friendships. Gone like the wind. No one would remember combat unit member 25. The Crest family didn’t care for these people. Only for their precious heirs. No one would carry on his memory either. All the people he was close to were piles of meat and bones on the ground around him. That final push, all his effort, useless.
No one would even remember his name, if they even knew it in the first place.
“The moment we awaken death is only a step behind. We are guaranteed to die. This is no path to godhood. This is a path to hell.” Even without a functioning lower half the no named man pushed out these final words. Sadly, only corpses were around to hear them.
-
Hale watched all this happen, it was over in less than a minute. From start to end he never took a breath. Only until he saw the last man finally go limp did he finally breathe again. His hands shook as he held the binoculars to his face, even with both hands it wasn’t enough to keep them even slightly still.
He was truly too foolish. To think he knew better than this established secret organization, to think he thought himself safe and invincible. If that was him down there then wouldn’t he be dead before he even knew what happened?
This is when something clicked in his mind. Although no one noticed on account of everyone still looking below, Hale's eyes had begun to glow such a bright purple that they could have been mistaken for flashlights. The writing in his irises became even more incomprehensible as he became just ever so slightly closer to his concept. What did Hale realize? Those men, the nameless men whose names would be quickly forgotten in the sands of time, had all died for one simple reason. They didn’t have enough information. Hale needed more information. He steeled his heart to the massacre and promised himself to not end up like them. Dead without even knowing what happened.
Cayden turned to Hale and offered a cigarette again. This time the joking Cayden that Hale had quickly gotten used to was nowhere to be seen as only a stale silence lingered around the group. Even the small animals that would make sound at night seemed to turn solemn and become silent. Hale slowly shook his head refusing the offer, but this time he was much less sure of himself.