Today was another peaceful lazy day. Alexus was sitting down, watching T.V. with the crew, when Marcus came storming in with a giant smile. He slammed the papers down in front of them, blocking the T.V. His eyes raised, curious about what he was making all the commotion Marcus was making as he leaned forward to look.
“I succeeded,” Marcus replied with a proud grin.
“Succeeded with what?” Timothy snaked his head to the side, trying to get a better view.
“Our group name, Infinite Corp, and the plan to start Demon Hunting.”
“Wait, what?” Jones gazed up at Marcus, stupefied. Even Simon and Crystal turned their heads towards Marcus in complete shock. “Did I just hear you correctly, Demon hunting?”
“You heard me correctly, demon hunting, and we’ll be doing some public service to the community to bring up our image to a more positive light.”
“Woah, Woah, Woah. Backup.” Jones motioned his hand in front of him, “Demon hunting? They’re allowing us to publically eliminate actual people.”
“If you say it like that, you make us sound like murderers,” said Timothy, displeased by Jones’ words. “Did you forget that they are not humans anymore?”
“That’s how the normals will see us as mass murderers. If we publically go around killing demons, all we will have to show is their human corpse.”
“I might have a solution to that problem.” Timothy smugly looks around the group. His hands twitched in anticipation as he twirled a pen he was using to doodle on his notebook that he had lying in front of him. Alexus didn’t get a good feeling for some reason when Timothy gave them a smug look that screamed for him to watch out. “I have found a way to force them to show their true form even to the normals.”
“How?” Jones crossed his hands.
“That is what we are going to do. We need a field test to show the higher-ups that what we see isn’t a lie. If we succeed in our first demon hunt, we will have a lot more missions thrown at our feet.”
Jones groaned. He didn’t like what he heard at all.
“You think this will work?” Crystal asked. “The higher-position demons might even attempt to stop us, you know.”
Marcus shook his head, understanding what Crystal said. “I know, but it becomes a demon hunt when ‘normals’ are afraid. Nobody likes demons, and I sure will tell you that the hysteria will catch on quickly.”
“That is an interesting way to counter the demon populations.”
“I thought you wanted to stay low,” said Jones, quizzically looking at Marcus. He was surprised that Marcus was taking the initiative to start a war with the Demon themselves. It was unheard of to go into war; physically. More so, people would call the priest in the hopes of deterring them away.
They were physically going to go in and trample them.
“This is a perfect time to move. We can’t be cooped up here all our lives?”
“Well, no, but still….” Jones scratched his chin, quite surprised that Marcus brought up such a topic.
“This is our ticket out of here later down our life. Right now, playing it safe is over.”
“What’s with the sudden change of mind?” Simon asked. He leaned forward, took the paper in hand, and started reading what was on the paper. The others were curious as well about his change of heart. They knew that Marcus was very hard to change his mind.
“The Myth type demon that we faced. I have reported that there are more of them cropping around the world. At the rate that this is going, our existence will be compromised if we don’t get stronger and fortify our defense. Our priority is scouting new Ouroboros, making a solid base, and countering the demon problem. At this rate, in the next one hundred years, our kind will be close to extinction.”
Jones gulped, and Alexus felt very bothered by what Simon had said. More Myth types Demons? That in itself was a whole slew of problems that could spell disaster to what little manpower that they had. Right now, they were the little ducklings that would be swallowed up by the predator in one fell swoop if they didn’t get stronger anytime soon.
“It states here there are five Myth types that have been found. Type 01 and 02 are here in the U.S., while Type 03 is in China, Type 04 in Japan, and Type 05 is somewhere in Europe.” Simon ruffled the paper in his hands, not liking the idea that there were five demon types out there.
“Make that one more, Type 06 in Egypt. They found another one crawling around the pyramids.” Marcus spoke with a sigh; his hand was on his hips, while the other was on his forehead, trying to calm his raging mind.
“Type 01-06? Do they have names?” Timothy asked; his hand stopped jotting down whatever he was writing on his notepad.
“Yea, Type 01 is Sloth, the unmovable. She’s been stationed in California, sleeping even to this day. Type 02 is Gluttony, the voracious swimming in the deep ocean water near the Gulf of Mexico.”
“Wait, what? Did you say Sloth and Gluttony?” Alexis's words were half disbelief mixed in with a squeak. They were still alive? No better yet. He shouldn’t even be surprised.
“Yea? What about it?” Marcus was confused at Alexus' sudden voice of concern. He glanced toward him, waiting for him to answer his question.
“Who gave them those names?” Alexus tried his best not to furrowed his brows too deeply.
“The higher up, though, Type 02 seems to already call himself Gluttony.” Marcus thought it over, then he had an epiphany. “I remember you calling him Gluttony.”
“We need to stop giving them names.” Alexus quickly spoke, trying to cover up his mistake.
“Why not?” Timothy asked, not quite understanding where Alexus was going with this. “It’s just a name, right?”
“No. It’s not just a name.” Alexus shook his head, folding his hand in his lap, so it wouldn’t shake. “Once you give a demon a name, especially a Mythical Type, they evolve. So the person who names them usually gets killed by them.”
“Ah, shit.” Jones groaned. “Who was the idiot who named the other demons?”
Marcus frowned; he raised his hand to rub his ball head. “Too late for that now.”
Already telling everyone that someone did name it and possibly something happened to them.
“What’s the other named Myth type Demons?” Alexus asked in half-whisper; his breath was held in, waiting for Marcus to speak.
Everyone was silent; only the blaring loud sound of the T.V. continued to play until Timothy reached over towards the remote and turned it off. After that, the whole room became unbearably quiet; the sound of their breathing could be held unusually louder than before.
“Type 03 is Greed the unquenchable, Type 04 is Lust the Sensual, Type 05 is Wrath the Acrimony, and Type 06 is Envy the Prejudice.”
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“Now we need Type 07, Pride-” Timothy half-jokingly stated but was suddenly interrupted.
“The Ego,” Crystal finished off his sentence. “This is bad. Bad.” Her lower lips were bitten, while her eyes were cast down onto the ground, thinking over what she had said. Alexus had to wonder what was eating up her mind to make her look distraught.
“Why the damn seven deadly sins? People need to be more original, for Christ's sake. Why couldn’t it be the Bunny Terminator or the Giant Troll Foot.” Timothy was getting annoyed at the sudden tense air in the room. He clicked his pen a couple of times until he clipped it onto the notebook. “Explain, please. We don’t have telepathy here.”
Crystal breathed in deeply and let out a weary sigh. She glanced up and gazed across her companion, her eyes locked for a brief moment for each person. “I’m not clear on what’s happening, but we need all seven of them dead.”
“How do you know it’s going to be seven?” Timothy asked; he crossed his legs underneath him and stared at Crystal, unsure if what she said was true.
“I know.” Crystal snapped. “I have dreams, and my dreams come true at most 95% of the time. With that being said, if any Named Myth type demons come together, we will have a catastrophic event in the making. The city will be leveled, terrains changed, and especially the increase of demon possessions. Right now, Chicago should’ve been leveled, but it seems that it hasn’t happened yet.”
Everyone gaped at what Crystal had said; even Alexus couldn’t believe what he was hearing. More demon possession and demolition of a city? That was insane on an astronomical level. What the hell did he fight back one hundred forty-nine years ago? Gluttony wasn’t that powerful on such a scale that he would wipe out a city.
“Damn it.” Jones swore under his breath. He plopped backward, hitting his head on the sofa. “You gotta be kidding me.”
Even Alexus couldn’t help but feel the suffocating air around them, thinking about the problems laid up ahead in front of them. Although the challenge was astronomical, they weren’t the kind of superheroes one would see in the movies. Instead, they were just advanced humans that had some form of special power.
“That’s not all,” Marcus spoke, breaking the heavy atmosphere.
“Please, no more bad news.” Jones groaned. He shook his head back and forth, throwing a tantrum.
“We might have a couple more Myth-type demons that aren't named soon.”
“What?! How do you know about this?!” Jones bolted upright into his sitting position. Even Alexus was teetering on the sofa's edge, about to fall off. More Myth types? How the hell is earth even going to survive?
“Timothy.” Marcus directed his focus towards Timothy.
Timothy sighed. He placed his notepad on the table and cracked his knuckles. “I have been working on creating a demon energy finder. You guys could call it D.E.F. for short. It’s half complete, and so far, I could make it work on occasion. It’s still in progress, but once in a while, it can pick up high-level demonic energy. Sloth and Gluttony have been in the same spot, unmoving, but there are small pockets of demonic energy increasing around the U.S. and the world. It can pinpoint at least a thirty-mile radius of the power source, but that’s it. The power reading of a Demon is too weird, and getting a good pinpoint accuracy on where it might be is difficult.”
“That’s pretty neat.” Finally, Simon spoke. He was interested in Timothy’s contraption.
“It is, though the problem for lower-level demons below Myth doesn’t show up.”
“Then we have to play it by ear.” Simon was deeply thinking about what Timothy had said. “When are we going to go out and start hunting?”
Simon’s words completely took almost all of them off guard, especially Jones, who didn’t like the thought of going outside to hunt down demons themselves.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Jones half-jokingly laughed, though his face told a whole different story. “You want to fight against a Myth type? When did we have our fair share a hundred years ago?”
“Yes,” Simon glanced up, not phased by the intensity of Jones’ look. He pulled back his hair and placed the paper down on the table. “Who else would be able to stop a demon but us?”
“We’re not superheroes! We’re just normal humans!”
“I disagree. We’re more evolved than humans.” Timothy interjected while he raised his finger in front of him. “Supernatural people like us are the only ones who can combat these monsters. Would you like your family or your lover to live in such a dangerous world and possibly get killed?”
Jones went silent, his shoulders slumped, and his head hung low. “I don’t have anyone to protect anymore. So there is no point for me to get stronger.”
“You’re wrong.” Timothy sternly stated. “We’re part of your family, aren’t we?”
Alexus was shocked to hear such words coming out of Timothy’s mouth. The thought of family between those two especially completely boggled his mind. Of course, they were two opposite people who rarely liked each other, but Timothy stated they were more than just enemies and even caught Jones off guard.
“Just because I dislike your annoying self-righteous ass, family-oriented, wannabe normal, and let’s-not-fight attitude doesn't mean I don’t like you. I always saw this whole group,” in a whisper, “excluding Simon.” He coughed a couple of times to cover up his words before increasing his voice, “A family now more than ever. We all don’t have our blood families anymore; all we have is each other.”
His words struck Alexus’ heart, making him feel depressed. Now that he thought about it, his blood families were all dead, probably their grandchildren were still alive, and he knew nothing about them. Even Though he was the loner type, he knew it was a whole different story to be alone in this world with barely anyone.
Who would’ve thought that Timothy’s words made him feel a slightly warm tingle in his heart? Right now, these people in front of him were more of a family than he ever thought he would ever have. They all fought with their lives on the line to stay alive against a Myth class demon and survived. As a result, they group up into their little group more often than before. Still, knowing that these were the people he could count on was a relief to his weary soul.
“He has a point,” Marcus spoke with a deep voice. A small spark wavered in his eyes, telling everyone that what Timothy said was true. “I see you guys as my only family now, going through thick and thin, spilling blood for one another. I don’t think I want to replace any of you guys any time soon.”
“See.” Timothy had a wide grin on his face. “I’m not the only one.”
“You’re right,” Crystal spoke, her arm crossed in front of her, unraveling. A gentle smile erupted on her adorable face; Alexus was enamored by her warm expression that he couldn’t look away.
“Out of anyone I met so far, I don’t mind leaving my back to you guys.”
Jones looked back and forth, unable to say anything. His shoulder slightly shook, and they thought he was going to shout in annoyance or anger for a moment. Even his face was turning slightly red against his dark chocolate skin. Eventually, a goofy grin erupted on his face, and he burst out laughing. They all stare at him, confused.
“You guys crack me up!”
“What is so funny? Do you think I’m making this up?” Timothy was displeased with Jones' tone of voice, his eyes turned to slits, and he seemed to tense up from Jones' words.
“No, it's just funny to hear it coming from Timothy’s mouth.” He wiped his tears with his hand, and he eventually returned to his normal self.
“I’m being serious here,” Timothy grumbled. He didn’t like how he was suddenly laughed at.
“I know. Thanks.”
“You’re so not welcome,” Timothy replied in a half sarcastic remark, but one could still see a corner of his lips in an upwards smile.
Alexus watched the group with great pleasure, but Simon's reaction made him curious. Honestly, there was no reaction at all. Instead, he was a bit absent-minded with an unmoving expression, deeply thinking about what everybody had said.
“Okay, with that being said. We got our first mission.”
“So soon?” Jones back straightened, the light of happiness was wiped out of his face, and everyone else was back to their serious mode.
“Yea, we got a few easy demon exterminations in the next couple of weeks. After that, the higher-ups want us to test our powers and Timothy’s technology, or else we will be subjected to a lab experiment.”
“Are you serious?” Alexus couldn’t help but voice his opinion of concern; being a science experiment wasn’t what he wanted. “Why so suddenly?”
“It’s not sudden,” Marcus let out an annoyed sigh.
“It’s the paperwork,” Simon said, “it states that upon one hundred years have passed, forced experimentation will be conducted if no favorable results are shown for humanity. In which case, they’ll be doing inhumane science experimentation.”
“One piece of bad news after another,” said Crystal. “Marcus, are you sure this will stop them if we do what you said?”
“Yes. We have a couple weeks to get proof that demons are real.”
“That’s not going to be easy if they'll appear and disappear at the moment of death.”
“Like I said, don’t worry about it. I got it covered ”
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Jones replied, and even Simon had a brooding expression that expressed more than words alone.
Even Alexus couldn’t help but wonder what Marcus had in mind, especially this new technology that Timothy was talking about.
Time flew by, days quickly became weeks, and their training with hand-to-hand combat was intensifying. There was no room for resting; Alexus took every opportunity he had when he didn’t train to watch videos of different fight scenes of the past one hundred and forty-nine years.
Many things have changed since then. The United States was still standing, but they were part of a bigger group that they had never heard of before, just like some kind of U.N. group, but instead, it was called the United Nations of Earth, U.N.E.
U.N.E. had multiple Nations that comprised all of the past United Nations in Europe, America, Japan, Korea, Egypt, and China, which is completely surprising. How was this possible? He didn't know, it didn’t make sense, but it happened.
The leading cause was some kind of religious cult-like group called the Third Transcendents that had been sweeping up different nations. For some reason, major power-holders are somehow associated with this group as the players of the U.N.E., and they were the ones who were behind the monumental peace treaty with all nations the past fifty years ago.
From reading behind the news on the internet, they are quite a bit of glorification for the Third Transcendent, but with it came conspiracy theories. Some say the devil hides behind the major leaders, making it that one person rules the whole world behind the shadows. Others stated that Ouroboros's work has changed the face of humanity as a whole, and they are the cause of everything going wrong.
Alexus noticed the number of ‘hateful’ words shone about the Ouroboros even one hundred forty-nine years from now. However, the number of Ouroboros appearing these days has still slowly increased. Right now, they are at 659, which accommodates their growing population.
Alexus has found out since their cold sleep that new Ouroboros would just spontaneously appear in front of the Seventh Sanctum’s doorsteps during the past hundred years as if they were called to this location. Every single one of them would enter the Garden without a single question and sleep until the time they woke up on that fateful day.
Nobody knew why they were all being ferried and called into the Garden, but any Ouroboros that survived the trip would end up in this building.
Alexus even heard that half of the others even came from different nations, in which he knew that the journey was exponentially dangerous. The chance of the Ouroboros making it here from a different nation was a lot lower, and one could die from meeting a demon.
If they made it here, they were a lot more of a fighter and a survivor. Seventh Sanctum still made it a priority to go around finding as many Ouroboros as possible and still does today. This building is now filled to the brim with Ouroboros on every level.
It was surprising that once people started to join in on their little training session, words got around that Simon and Marcus were teaching, and people started to flood in on the classes. Classes were quickly divided into three different teachers, all led by martial art experts.
Marcus was one of them who taught hand-to-hand combats, but he usually pushed it all towards Simon and Crystal. Then they got Sarah Monte, no.456, a professional marksman in all types of guns. Learning from her was easier, and seeing her shoot was amazing. Then they got the weapon expert and already skilled at controlling magic named Zhang Wei, no.359, who was a Xiaolin Monk. Learning from him is quite an experience, is all Alexus could say; Xiaolin was a
monster in his own right.
Each of the three top instructors would have a couple of sub teachers to help out with the classes. The week was divided. Monday and Wednesday were Marcus' class, Tuesday and Friday were Sarah’s class, Thursday and Saturday were Zhang’s class, and Sunday was everyone’s off day.
The most surprising thing about this whole outcome was the approval that Marcus could get from the higher-ups to even allow all this to happen. The only problem was that they didn’t go into magic control as much as they would like. So Zheng pushed them towards meditation during this past week, saying that they won’t get the results they wanted if they didn't quiet their minds.
Alexus had a hard time coping with this schedule, but it was still a life worth living, and he was excited about it every day.