Sa:cryd ZERO

Chapter 12

The woman pulled out a different talisman which was pitch black. The moment she did so, several knight ghouls spawned around her who wielded swords and shields. The knight ghouls didn’t waste a single moment as they immediately sprung at Erica who was holding a dagger and clenching her wounds as she was still bleeding. She used her teleportation to dodge most of their attacks, but the knight ghouls were unreasonably fast and their attacks were very precise. Erica was finding it very hard to escape their attacks as she eventually started to accumulate more wounds. Lexus ran towards the other man and attempted to punch him, but the man’s eyes merely glowed yellow as Lexus was stopped dead in his tracks. Immediately this happened, tentacle-like arms sprung out of the man's back and launched at Lexus, knocking him several meters away. Lexus quickly got up and switched his line of attack as he sought to attack the man from spots where he wouldn’t be able to see him coming. When Lexus saw that he had managed to get behind him, he made a fist in hopes of striking, but another tentacle-like arm sprung out which had eyes on it. The eyes glowed yellow as Lexus was paralyzed again. The man then turned around and kicked Lexus away as he felt that his body was starting to feel sore and heavy. Lexus was finding it very hard to even stand at this point, but he still had to risk fighting or getting captured. Lexus summoned whatever energy he had within him and launched himself at the man from different angles. The man summoned several tentacle-like arms that tracked Lexus wherever he went as a fierce battle ensued. As their battle went on, Lexus heard a sharp scream from Erica as he immediately turned in her direction. Lying on the ground was Erica as she was surrounded by the ghoul knights who kept on stabbing her in the back. “No!!!”, Lexus screamed as he immediately changed targets to stop the woman. Lexus took only a few steps when a tentacle came flying behind him and pierced clean through his chest. Lexus looked at the tentacle sticking through his chest as he coughed out blood and fell to his knees. “Oi what do you think you’re doing? What if he dies?”, the woman asked when she saw what her partner had done. “Not like he’ll die from something like that. He’s not human after all”, the man said as he pulled out the tentacle from Lexus’ body, which fell down with a thud.

Lexus could feel his heartbeat slowly fading away as he lay helplessly on the ground. “Is this it? Am I going to lose here? If only I was strong…? Why are they always after me? What am I...”, several thoughts went through Lexus’ head as he couldn’t even muster any strength.

“I warned you, didn’t I, that death isn’t an option. I’ll have no choice but to step out for a bit…”, Lexus heard the familiar voice in his head once more as he couldn’t help but to feel relieved. “The rest is in your hands…”, Lexus thought as his consciousness faded away. When the man approached Lexus to tie him up, a huge surge of energy exploded from his body which pushed the man away. The energy kept surging for a while until it subsided as Lexus slowly stood up. He looked completely different, as his body resembled that of a humanoid beast. Lexus now had horns on both sides of his head and a tail as he let out a painful roar which shook the whole underground network. The woman now turned her attention towards Lexus as the energy surge was enough to destroy the knight ghouls that she had spawned. She had a wry smile on her face as she spoke. “Oi, who said you could transform? Don’t make our job any more difficult…”, before the woman could finish that sentence, Lexus had reappeared right in front of her as he proceeded to kick her several meters away before she could even spawn her ghouls. The woman was crushed into the ground as her neck was broken and twisted, which goes to show just how powerful that kick was. The man immediately went on alert as Lexus just stood there in a crouching position after the attack. The man wasn’t planning on waiting for Lexus to attack him as he immediately launched his tentacle arms towards Lexus. Just when the tentacles were about to strike him, Lexus just vanished. The man immediately halted his attacks and searched for Lexus but didn’t see him anywhere, only to turn around again to find Lexus standing directly in front of him. The man then felt that he was bleeding from his lips, which puzzled him. He looked closely and saw that Lexus was holding the tentacle arms he had summoned earlier to attack him. Lexus had torn them off so quickly that the man was just feeling it now. Lexus was about to punch the man when the man’s eyes glowed yellow, which stopped Lexus once more. The man felt a bit relieved that his ability still worked but was quickly given another shock when he saw that Lexus was slowly moving even though he was under the full effect of his ability. The man jumped backwards and launched several tentacle arms at Lexus, who chased after him and slashed off every tentacle arm that got in his way. The man used his ability on Lexus every time he got close, but only realized that Lexus was slowly gaining immunity to it. “You monster!”, the man screamed as he sprung forth hundreds of tentacles which all had eyes on them. “Bow before me!”, the eyes on all the tentacles started to glow yellow including the man’s own eyes as a huge surge of invisible power landed on Lexus which pummeled him into the ground and rendered him unable to move at all. Lexus tried to break free but wasn’t able to do that. He kept getting pummeled into the ground as the force kept increasing by the minute. Just when the man thought it was finally over, Lexus slowly got up again and screeched madly as the effect of the attack started to weaken. Lexus then grew two more arms as he brought the four arms together and gathered energy. The man saw that something was amiss but wasn’t able to undo his ability in time, as Lexus was able to gather enough energy to launch a beam of pure energy at the man. The man tried to block the beam with his tentacle arms but wasn’t to as the blasted him straight to the surface with a big explosion. The moon's rays shined through the series of holes that Lexus had opened up in the ceiling of the underground cave. Lexus then turned to look at where the woman lay and realized that she was no longer there. His transformation then wore off as the humanoid beast's flesh disintegrated and the tail and horns broke off. Lexus felt completely exhausted as he immediately collapsed. His mind went completely blank afterwards…

…Where are they?!...Our forces can’t hold them back much longer sire...What have you done?! You monster!!...Retreat! retreat!!...Mother? Where are you? Mother...Now you know how it feels…I’ll keep you safe no matter what…We can’t hold them back any longer…You came for me…It’s time to say goodbye. Go and live a better life…

Several voices came rushing through Lexus’ mind as he felt he was floating in deep darkness. Lexus tried to see if he could recollect any memories where he might’ve heard those voices but it was all blurry. However, Lexus definitely remembered that he knew the voice of the woman that told him to go and live a better life. Lexus kept pondering about the voices until he finally remembered the fight with the strange man and woman. “Erica! Vanessa! What happened to them? Are they okay?”, Lexus thought until he finally woke up.

“He’s awake!”, a nurse shouted as Ezekiel and another guardian entered the room. Lexus slowly got up and realized he was lying on a bed in a hospital room. He had tubes connected to him as he was covered in bandages. “How are you feeling buddy?”, Ezekiel asked with a concerned look. “I’m…okay”, Lexus spoke as he felt that his voice was very raspy due to the long sleep he had had. “What…happened?”, Lexus slowly asked. “Thanks to your efforts. Backup was able to make it in time to rescue Vanessa and Erica. Erica is in critical condition but she’ll live. Vanessa is also being taken care of as she had a few broken bones”, Ezekiel answered. “I see…that’s…good”, Lexus felt relieved as he sat up. “How long…was…I…asleep?”, Lexus asked. “For a month. I’ve never seen anyone sleep that long. We thought you’d never wake up”, the other guardian answered. “Who?”, Lexus asked. “Oh, I’m Leonard, the fourth captain of the combat unit”, Leonard answered. “I…see”, Lexus felt like his head was going to split open due to the headache he was experiencing. “Lexus, I know you just woke up but can you tell me what exactly happened? When we got there you were quite a mess, as were both Vanessa and Erica”, Ezekiel asked. “I don’t…really remember…but we were…attacked by two…people. They…wanted to…capture me…so I…stopped them? nngh!”, Lexus felt a sharp pain in his head after he replied. “I see. I was right. It was them”, Ezekiel said after he heard that. “Hmm, they’re a nasty bunch after all. No wonder they’ve taken an interest in you kid”, Leonard spoke. Ezekiel then drew closer to Lexus as he then spoke. “Lexus, you have to remain very calm as I tell you this”. “What…what happened?”, Lexus asked, quite disturbed. “It’s about your big sister Alice. She was kidn*pped…”, the moment Ezekiel spoke those words, Lexus reached out and grabbed him by the collar. “How the hell…did that happen? You told me…that you guys were…going to keep her safe!”, Lexus raised his voice. “I know and I’m sorry, but the situation was beyond our hands. You have to calm down first”, Ezekiel said as Lexus looked very angry. “Yeah, you need to stay calm. It’s not like we left her defenseless. We stationed some of our elite guardians to watch over her 24/7 but the day she was kidn*pped, all of them were killed. They were good men”, Leonard spoke in a bitter tone. “Who did it? Was it them?”, Lexus asked as he let go of Ezekiel’s collar and relaxed a bit. “No…it was Adierra”, Ezekiel answered. “We found traces of his energy around the scene when we went to investigate”. “So, it was him. he’d do anything…to get me back. I have to go…”, Lexus said as he tried to get down from the bed. “And where do you think you’re going?”, Leonard stopped Lexus from moving. “He’s right. You’re in no condition to go out and to even fight at this time. You need rest…”. “I need…to SAVE my family”, Lexus interrupted Ezekiel as he still tried to fight his way out. “Listen to them. You’re a complete mess. If you went after Adierra in this state you’d be practically handing yourself over to him”, a man spoke after entering the room. “Chief guardian Francis!”, Lexus exclaimed. Ezekiel and Leonard immediately got up and bowed. “We’re sorry we couldn’t handle the situation better, but we’ll do all that we can to track him and Alice down. What you need to do is to rest up. After that there’s a group of people who want to meet you”, Francis said. “Surely not them, right?”, Ezekiel asked with a wry smile. “Yeah. The captains of the southern branch want to meet you, Lexus. You need all the strength you can get in order to survive whatever they have installed for you. Ezekiel, make sure he’s fit in time for the trip”, Francis spoke, then left. “Yes sir”, Ezekiel answered. “Who are the people…Francis was…talking about?”, Lexus asked. “You’ll find out soon enough. For now, get some sleep. We have a lot to do”, Leonard answered. “Sure…”, Lexus said, as he immediately fell asleep. He was already at his limit just from getting up and talking for some time.