ETERNAL NIGHT STRANGER

Apostles

The door of the research institute slowly opened in front of the four, and the full extent of the underground test area was nakedly displayed in front of everyone.

"Wow! It turns out that there is such a large space underneath the Authority." Suzy exclaimed.

The four of them walked into this huge underground test area, and the surrounding high walls were covered with all sorts of complicated pipelines and instruments. A bizarre black pyramid towered in the center of the test area, emitting a disturbing aura. The surface of the pyramid shimmered with a dark red light, seemingly harboring some unknown power.

"What is that?" There was a hint of caution in Zero's voice.

"I don't know, I haven't been here before because I don't have enough access, but this thing, it doesn't look like an ordinary facility, it should be some kind of important device." Megan said, her twin guns gripped tightly in her hands as she scanned the surroundings warily.

Lilith's gaze locked onto the front of the pyramid, where a familiar figure was operating something at a rapid pace. She looked exactly like Zero, but Lilith knew that it wasn't Zero.

"Intruder." Lilith whispered, a flash of anger in her eyes.

The Zero figure didn't stop what it was doing because of their arrival, but rather sped up.

Megan quickly fired towards Zero, while Zero blandly said, "Don't waste bullets, Ms. Deputy, you know that won't work on me."

"Or do you want to kill your executive officer so badly?"

"You're nothing but a fake, even if you could steal his bio-information, you can't replicate his true power, surrender! Mimetic infected." Megan responded.

"That 'deed' is indeed tricky, but with this face, there's still something I can do." Said "Zero", pressing his hand on the operation panel, the system then activated. The gentle female voice sounded again:

"Identity confirmed - Zero, Norn Crisis Management Authority S-Class Enforcer - Permission loaded - Access License-. -"

The top of the pyramid cracked open, forming a narrow door, and the intruder stepped through. At the same time, a huge figure stopped the four of them.

"Holy s**t! What kind of monster is this?!" Suzy shouted.

Lilith, along with her black shadow, blocked Zero's face

"I'll come back for you guys when I finish the job at hand, until then, just let my little pet accompany you to relieve yourselves." The intruder gradually disappeared from everyone's sight.

As the intruder's figure faded out completely, the gazes of everyone on the scene locked onto the sudden monster in front of them. The monster that hadn't fully revealed its form just a moment ago, now began to gradually become clearer after the intruders left.

This monster was almost as tall as a three-story building. Its skin was a dark black color that seemed to be able to devour the light around it, sporadically reflecting a faint cold light. It was half-sitting, half-standing, with its thick limbs propped up on the ground as if it was a shaky wall. Two eyes radiated a crimson light in its skull, full of hideousness and killing intent.

Its back was covered with dense black scales, and a purple glow vaguely flowed between the scales, making it appear even more sinister and undetectable. The ends of the monster's limbs seemed to hide sharp claws that were like scythes reaping life in the darkness.

Every breath it took seemed to carry an invisible sense of oppression, and the air around it seemed to be distorted by the huge force generated when its lungs were inhaled, making the entire scene shrouded in an eerie atmosphere.

Megan took the lead in shooting towards the monster, her precise marksmanship making every bullet hit the monster's head. But it didn't have much effect. Not even a trace of it was left behind.

With Megan's continuous shooting, the huge monster seemed to be enraged, its pair of crimson eyes staring at Megan, a terrifying anger coalescing around it. Suddenly, the monster lunged at her with astonishing speed, displaying an agility that was disproportionate to its huge body.

Its huge mouth snapped open, and from its abyssal throat came an earth-shaking roar, which was mixed with energy fluctuations, as if a substantial force had surged out with it, and pounced straight at Megan. The ground roared under its impact, cracks spreading rapidly like spider webs.

With excellent reaction speed and agility, Megan staggered back before the huge and searing wave of energy.

"Enki! We need support here! The intruder's threat level far exceeded HQ's prediction! Help me analyze with the real-time screen, what exactly is this monster in front of me?!" Megan shouted into her comm gear.

"Support is ten minutes away from arriving at the Underground Research Institute, and is parsing and matching the target through the real-time screen ......" a gentle female voice came from the communication device.

"Match failed unable to parse ...... Target creature not recorded in database."

"Damn it, is it a mutant species Deadpool? Can it be killed with a Dark Crystal Bullet?" Megan trailed off.

"The creature's appearance matches the Deadpool by less than 30% ...... Biological structure analysis requires sampling and analysis, and it is currently impossible to determine if the Dark Crystal can damage it." The female voice replied.

"Then what to do! Are we supposed to wait here to be eaten by him?!" Megan roared as she dodged the monster's attacks.

"We ...... can't kill it ......" Lilith's sudden vocalization interrupted Megan's communication with Enki.

"Can't be killed?" The crowd looked at Lilith with puzzled gazes.

"Because it's already dead ......," Lilith stared straight at the huge monster in front of her with a hint of sadness revealed in her eyes.

"It's already dead? What the hell? You can't be scared silly and start babbling! You're so powerful, hurry up and use your Black Shadow! I don't want to become its dinner here!" Suzy crouched behind the cover towards Megan.

The monster swung its sharp, sharp claws, each strike carrying the power to destroy everything. Its sharp claws left a terrifying trail in the air that seemed to tear even the air apart, creating a sharp whistling sound.

"It's an Apostle." Lilith said in a single word.

"Apostles? How is that possible, didn't those guys fall 100 years ago? Even if it was, Enki would have been able to match it from the database." Megan shook her head thinking Lilith was mistaken.

"That's why I said it was dead. And the remains of it seem to have been eroded by something and turned into what it is now. That's why your AI didn't match them."

"You mean that intruder is controlling what's left of the Apostle?" Megan asked.

"I don't know." Lilith replied faintly.

"Hey hey hey! What's the point of discussing this when it's so late, if we don't stop this monster, this place is going to collapse, and then we'll all be turned into mincemeat!" Suzie pointed a finger up.

Everyone looked up, only to see that the dome of the test area began to crumble under the monster's continuous destruction and ramming, and large chunks of debris and dust poured down like a torrential downpour, making it seem as if the entire space was about to collapse.

"Quickly dodge! Zero!!!" Megan suddenly shouted towards Zero.

Zero was hiding under the stone pillar and listening to Lilith and Megan's conversation with full attention, not noticing in the slightest that the top of the stone pillar had long been shaking under the impact of the monster's terrifying power.

Just at the moment the stone pillars broke, Lilith instantly released Shadow to wrap around the broken pillars, slowing down their descent. Megan rushed over and dove at Zero, pushing him out of harm's way.

The commotion created by the stone pillar smashing into the ground attracted the monster's attention. It lunged at Zero and Megan, its sharp, sharp claws slicing a cold light in the air. Zero quickly dodged sideways, but still felt a huge sense of oppression. At that very moment, Lilith moved.

Her eyes became unusually focused, and the light around her seemed to be attracted by an invisible force that began to gather towards her. It was as if her shadow had come to life, slowly extending and expanding, eventually forming a huge dark domain that surrounded the entire test area.

"Shadow Domain - Confinement!" Lilith chanted in a low voice, and with that, the entire space seemed to be covered by a curtain of darkness.

The monster suddenly sensed the changes around it, and its movements became sluggish, as if an invisible force was pulling at its body. It roared angrily and tried to break free from the force, but to no avail.

"Don't even think about moving!" Lilith's voice echoed in the darkness, and her shadow began to morph into countless black chains that quickly wrapped around the monster's limbs and torso, holding it firmly in place.

The more violently the monster struggled, the tighter the chains bound it, and its crimson eyes were filled with unwillingness and anger. However, under Lilith's control, the monster gradually lost the power to struggle and eventually fell to its knees powerlessly.

"Wow! Too cool!" Suzy watched in disbelief, she knew that Lilith's ability was strong, but witnessing this overwhelming power with her own eyes still shook her.