Ugo reached the food court, standing in the panorama of several restaurants grouped together.
A composite fragrance of fatty oils, salt, meats, and fish was in the air. The place was considerably occupied with noisy eaters, most of whom kept their eyes directed at a table furthest away from the masses.
And the young lady who sat alone at the round table was the topic all the eaters had in their mouths aside from the food.
Men mumbled while they ogled at the young lady, ignoring their food, while those accompanied by other women failed to notice their companions trying to catch their attention.
The women grouped with their families or other female friends glared at the young lady. Some even looked at her sadly—wanting so badly to be her.
Ugo felt his chest pang as he got near enough to identify the girl. She looked slightly different, and he couldn’t sense her Mana, but once she aimed her cold silver eyes at him, there was no denying it.
It was her—the Container Specialist.
Ashlin had definitely added more augmentations to her sensual Container. Her face was even more feminine with longer, silkier, curlier red hair that blended nicely with her light pale skin and improved silver eyes, more scintillating than ever.
“Ashlin,” Ugo said, frowning.
“Ugo Morata… still as ugly as ever. I see you didn’t take my advice regarding your Container.” She said in her thick Russian accent and then tilted her head. “No, wait. You changed your hair… not much of an improvement, though.”
Ugo took a seat on the other side of the table. He maintained a relaxed demeanor, keeping his legs open, and leaned back into the chair with one hand on the table. Despite the mental wound she left on the last day of Kian’s endemic still throbbing as if he received it yesterday, showing the scarring to the inflictor was not an option for Ugo.
“What do you want?” Ashlin asked. “I’m working.”
Ugo scoffed. “Working?”
“Look around. This place is a cesspool of potential clients with no self-control.”
“What do you know about self-control?” Ugo said as he leaned forward. “You live in a Container that doesn’t change no matter how much you eat. You don’t even have to exercise to maintain your figure.”
She rested her chin on her palm and smiled. “Poor Ugo is still hurt from our last conversation. How long has it been? A couple of months? So sad.” She glanced back at her watchers, and her smile widened as if she was a solar panel and they were miniature suns radiating power into her. “I can do the same for them and make their lives infinitely better. That’s what I told you the last time we saw each other, correct? I fix God’s mistakes and give people the bodies they believe they deserve.”
“In exchange for money.”
“Nothing is free.” And she spat something in Russian that he believed to be an insult. Ashlin stood up, showing off her towering height, and inhumanly curvaceous figure in her tight, low-cut gray and silver medieval dress with pieces of armor on her shoulders.
Ugo heard some men gasp and make other noises only those of his kind would recognize. She was way past caring about standing out. Her hips were wider, her chest larger, and her waist smaller, as if she had walked out of one of Ugo’s old fantasies.
“You’re still alone, aren’t you?” Ashlin said, bent forward purposefully, trying to dominate him with her luscious cleavage. “You reek of just as much desperation since I last saw you. No… you look just a little more miserable than before.”
Ugo kept his eyes on Ashlin’s, but then her eyes averted. She grimaced, looking at something behind him. Ugo turned and saw Aida stepping right into the fray.
“You?” Ashlin hissed and straightened herself. “But I wasn’t even exposing my Mana—”
Aida tapped the side of her nostril. “I’ve memorized your scent, Ashlin. I ran over here as soon as I noticed it.”
“Ugh, so you’re working with the brothers now?”
“I’ve joined the Providence Infirmary,” Aida said proudly.
“Oh?” Ashlin looked over at Ugo. “You guys got yourself a pet! That makes sense. Every organization needs a mascot.”
Aida growled and neared the table.
“The fact that you’re here and we got called for a case can’t be a coincidence,” Ugo told Ashlin. “You’re working with Gill, huh?”
“I told you that I prefer real men,” Ashlin said, bending her voluptuous body forward again, but it didn’t divert Ugo’s gaze.
“Inseminating a girl with a Rebirth Seed, seriously?” Aida said. “What is wrong with you?”
“Nothing. Look at me. I am perfect.” She replied, quickly reaching into her cleavage and throwing something off the side. A faint thud was made, and then Ashlin raised her hands to form magic signs. She touched the tips of her ring and pinky fingers against the tips of her thumbs while keeping the index and middle fingers straight and pointing up.
The Container Specialist’s hands glowed cyan blue and energy of the same color collected in the middle of the food court. Ugo and Aida got up and looked to the side.
A tiny doll was on the floor, and it was the source of the energy. The eaters were oblivious to the doll growing and mutating into a massive figure that almost touched the ceiling.
It was another one of Ashlin’s hideous Containers: Two giant women in different colored gowns with decrepit skin, mangled faces, and tattered hair—both missing half of their bodies on opposite sides from each other. They were stitched together by the torso.
Giant white doves sat on each shoulder; their white feathers were blood-tinted.
Then, Ugo realized why nobody was reacting. “The doll is in the Astral Realm but can still interact with the people here, right?” Ugo asked Aida. She nodded.
Both of the monstrous women were missing eyeballs and were barefoot. One foot was missing a toe, while the other was missing a heel.
“Oh, no! That means they’ll be attacked and never see it coming!” Ashlin feigned concern as she pushed her hands onto her cheeks. “It’s a good thing there are heroes around to save the day,” she strutted off laughing.
“I don’t remember her having an evil laugh, jeez….” Ugo said as he raised his hand with his pinky and ring finger pointed upwards.
Aida made the same sign, and the two struck themselves in the chest, entering the Astral Realm as their physical bodies dropped onto the round table.
“Sukunabikona—”
“Rutapexy Samhita!”
The two summoned their Garbs as they dashed toward the monster.
Ugo halted when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It was a middle-aged man in simple street clothing standing still and staring at him with unblinking eyes. Also, the man was in the Astral Realm.
“Ugo?” Aida shouted and then stopped to look at the man.
The man’s face burst open, stripping his skin to ribbons and expanding into a fleshy funnel of mouths.
Red flesh was exposed on the outside like melted licorice with rows and rows of sharp teeth ringed around the edges that got smaller for each row, making it seem like it went on infinitely.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Another doll,” Aida snarled.
The abomination fell on its knees and pushed its palms into the floor, making an eerie sucking sound. The souls of a select few eaters were pulled out from their physical Containers and sucked toward the abomination’s mouth.
Panic finally arose as people took notice of others violently fainting. Aida quickly morphed into hybrid form—her hair turned as orange as the fox ears that popped out the top of her head and the fuzz tail she grew. Aida chased after the souls.
They were all sucked into the abomination’s mouth, but it didn’t stop Aida. She yanked off her mask, jumped, bit onto thin air, landed on all fours, and pulled back with a struggle like an overly excited dog.
Ugo stared in confusion before remembering what Zeke told him about Containers last Winter.
Zeke had read an astral projection book from the Infirmary’s library, motivated to learn more about it after the airport fight. His brother had told him that astral projection separated one’s soul from the mortal body—the Container, granting access to the Astral Realm and interacting with the physical world like a spirit.
The soul tether was what kept a soul connected to its Container. If it were severed, the body would die immediately, transporting the soul to the next phase of existence.
And with the Tainted, the risk was greater. If the Tainted had their soul tether severed, their soul would go to Heaven if they were the Deliverer or to Hell if they were the Damned, and then there was option number three, which no one knows where your soul ends up.
The soul tether took some concentration to see even while in the Astral Realm, which is what Ugo did until he could make them out. They were blue threads of energy connected to the unconscious Containers of the unfortunate bystanders in the area. The other end of the threads were deep within the abomination’s mouth (s). Aida was in between, biting onto the multitude of threads as she pulled with everything she had—her red eyes glowed intensely.
Each person had a limit on how far their soul tether could go across Realms. The longer the distance, the thinner it got until it snapped.
Ugo summoned his surgical knife, and right before he could do something, the white doves flew toward him and sank their claws into his skin. He was taken for a joyride with the birds leaving Aida to deal with both of Ashlin’s freaks of nature all by herself.
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Zeke, just like Ugo, had trained hard with the uses of the Astral Realm. It was a constant mental dance of deciding what you wanted your body to phase through and what you didn’t want it to phase through, including the bottom of his feet.
As people gathered around their slump Containers, Zeke studied Gill and his Healer’s Garb. It was a long black robe with demonic sigils marked down the sides and sleeves. The robe was fashioned over his suit like an overcoat. A black flame mask covered his mouth.
But where had all the weight gone? The height was the same, although the frail young man that stood before looked like someone the Gill he knew could eat for breakfast and still go for extras.
Gill lowered his black flame mask and smirked, taking notice of Zeke’s bewilderment with his new body type and relishing in it.
Zeke shook his head and refocused.
“Where’s the girl, Gill? I’m not going to ask again.”
“Enjoying her last day on Earth,” Gill said and started sprinting. “Just like you.”
He rushed Zeke down with skilled punches and kicks. Skinny Gill moved like a cheetah and hit like an elephant. Of course, every hit was enhanced with Mana.
The nth punch Zeke took to the cheek had him spin back almost all the way. Zeke turned away from Gill and bent over, allowing his veins to wrap around his arm and increase in mass. He turned back to Gill, extending his massive veiny fist.
A hairy monster with a bulbous head emerged from Gill’s Garb and caught the enhanced fist in its mouth.
Zeke cried out as the thing bit down on his enlarged arm. It was long, without any arms or legs, like a snake but massive in width. It had one demonic yellow eye that stared at Zeke as it continued to bite down.
As Zeke tried to pull away, more monsters of its kind grew out from Gill’s Garb, and they munched onto the arm. Zeke detached himself from the veins and fell back, watching the monsters devour the veiny arm.
Once they finished, one of them said in a deep, fiendish voice, “Delicious!”
Another one released a laugh that made Zeke’s ears ring. “Hah! Loser!” It said.
“What the hell…” Zeke muttered.
Gill stretched his hand forward, pointing his index finger back at himself while keeping the others erect—imitating a dog’s face. A black, burning hole appeared on the floor before him, and a pack of hellhounds crawled out, bringing Zeke back to his feet.
“Sick him, boys!” Gill ordered, and the black flaming hounds charged.
Zeke turned tail and bolted out of the bookstore. He dashed through bystanders on the third floor and snuck one look over the shoulder. There were four of them. The burning beasts were ugly and skeletal-like, with charred meat hanging off their bones. They were live summons; Zeke could sense their hellish souls desiring nothing more but to tear him apart.
He returned to looking forward and began making hand signs as he ran. Once he finished, he dropped and slid across the floor. When his palm touched the floor, a trap was conjured. Zeke stopped his momentum and turned over on his stomach to see the hellhounds get trapped in the net of veins. It was a success, and they were pulled up, suspended in the air as the top part of the net closed, and a single string stretched up and attached itself to the ceiling.
Zeke got up and didn’t even manage a breath before seeing more trouble come his way. Gill charged at him, bashed his shoulder into his gut, and wrapped his arms behind him. He lifted Zeke up effortlessly and ran forward.
Several punches from Zeke onto the back of Gill’s head did nothing to slow him down. Gill tightened his grip on Zeke, jumped, and nosedived toward the floor with him.
Gill forced Zeke to phase through the floors with him, a technique he didn’t know existed. Gill halted the phasing when they dropped into the middle of a sporting goods store on the ground floor.
Zeke groaned as Gill got off him and dusted off his Garb.
“Oi, get up. I don’t have all day, mate,” Gill said.
Zeke glared up at Gill and slowly rose. He took a second to scan the area, slightly intrigued with seeing the inside of the sporting goods store for the first time.
One of Gill’s yellow-eyed monsters stretched out from the side of his Healer’s Garb, grabbed a basketball off its rack in its mouth, and stretched upward.
Bystanders looked up in horror as the monster arose with the basketball.
“Oh, my God, it’s floating!” One middle-aged woman shouted and pointed.
Zeke looked back at the growing frightened and befuddled crowd as he pulled down his mask. “Gill…” He glared at his opponent while baring his teeth. “What are you doing—?”
A flying basketball to the lip interrupted him. The crowd dispersed in a panic and went for the exit, including employees save for a couple of curious minds who stayed behind and observed the ball as if it were a new creature.
More monsters stretched out from Gill’s Garb in different directions grabbing tennis rackets, soccer balls, and a bike, and then hurling them at Zeke.
Zeke quickly had his veins coil around his arm, and he swatted the incoming projectiles out of the way. The remaining bystanders now ran out of the store for their lives.
“Stop that,” Zeke shouted.
“Why?” Gill stopped and asked. “It’s like you’re worried about maintaining order as if you were an angel. You like them, don’t you? I bet you’re trying to help them. The angels hate you, hate us. Why are you trying to help the ones who only want you dead—”
Zeke punched him in the mouth. “Shut up!” As Gill staggered back, Zeke had the veins unwrap from his arm and add to the ones around his hand, having his fist grow to a massive size.
He then gave his other hand the same treatment. “You know who I want dead? You and every single other Tainted Generation member who makes the world a worst place for everybody!”
Zeke began the rushdown.
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AJ walked with her fist balled and pulled down as she did her part in the operation and scouted the ground floor of Cold Phoenix Mall.
She tried to warn her friends that she wouldn’t be able to sense the Mana energy surge if they engaged any of the culprits, but maybe they didn’t listen on purpose and wanted her away from the action.
AJ was dumbfounded to find herself feeling just like she did back then when Violet was still with them. She was the only plain one. Just a boring, white girl, and now, she was the only normal one with others capable of pulling off amazing, God-like feats.
A chorus of groans stole her attention, and she looked at the source—a long line of dissatisfied people craving sweets stretching from an ice cream kiosk.
AJ peered at the front of the kiosk, and the sleep-deprived worker with a forced smile on her face waited as the one holding up the line browsed the wide variety of ice cream flavors.
The indecisive customer had a group of men and women wearing shades and refined wool suits forming a half-circle behind her.
AJ leaned forward as she continued to peer and made out the young woman holding up the line. She was the one in the photograph the weird blind guy showed them: Kimberly.
Kimberly wore a floral maternity dress and kept one hand over her swollen belly. Bending over, she waved her finger between the many tubs of ice cream before her.
After identifying Kimberly, AJ immediately pulled out her cell phone and called the rest of the Infirmary team.
Several rings later, no one picked up. She texted them in the group chat and waited. Nothing.
After all her efforts, she looked back at the kiosk, and Kimberly was still making a choice. AJ suspected people only let it go on for so long because she was pregnant, or else she probably would’ve been physically removed from the line by the collective behind her.
AJ began to wonder if the suited individuals with her were demons hired by Gill to protect her. Unfortunately, she had no otherworldly senses to tell if they were, just some bad vibes they were putting off, but she resolved to do something anyway. As she put her cell back into her pocket, she began to tremble and walked towards the kiosk.
She wasn’t sure what she would do but convinced herself that she had to do something on her own to help with the situation. After all, she was a prominent member of the Infirmary crew and helped with Naomi’s demon sickness.
Another step forward, and she was pulled two steps back.
All her sensations went numb as she glided away from the kiosk and then saw her body collapsing frontward.
The forceful gliding motion suddenly stopped, and she was pushed back onto the wall. A hand was wrapped around her throat. With so much overwhelming her mind, it took her a while to realize who the person pinning her against the wall was.
“Who are you?” the Russian girl with silver eyes said.