CH3: HALLOW'S POINT.

Hallow's point was located underneath Neveah, making it an ever-dark area at night. Since no one dared to conduct business there, thugs, gang wannabes, thieves, drug dealers, and smugglers would always hang around in that area. Also, since today was New Year's Eve, there were more of them in the street, making it a death wish for whoever walked that path.

As Dezhong ran past a couple of thugs, he witnessed the sorry states some of them lived in and almost felt sorry for them. Some of them were drinking, smoking, senselessly shouting, and having a good time while others hid in corners as they cursed their lives and the world around them.

Dezhong's heart began to beat even faster, as he feared getting the attention of these people but unfortunately for him, he was seen running with a large bag, making him a huge target.

"Hey pretty boy. Why are you running? Come back, I just wanna speak to you."

"Hey, he's got a ski mask on."

"We've got a wannabe. AFTER HIM."

Dezhong said his final prayers and ran as fast as he could, hoping and praying internally for the men not to catch up to him. As he was running, he caught a glimpse of blue, red, and yellow twinkles falling past him, followed by a dark, large figure which intentionally stood in his path. Although he thought of changing directions, there was nowhere else for him to go. In front of him was what looked like a creature from the underworld and behind him were men who wanted to do the unspeakable to him.

Even though he was cornered, Dezhong didn't give up hope. He held the bag tighter and planned to slide right under the dark figure's legs the second he got closer to it. However, as he ran toward the figure, it too started running toward him at a scary speed. With the blink of an eye, the figure already caught up to Dezhong but instead of attacking him as he thought it would, it jumped over and started beating, biting, clawing, and devouring the other men that were chasing after him.

Dezhong stopped running for a quick second and looked back at what the figure was exactly. To his shock, it seemed to have backward-bending knees, thick fury legs, and a tail. The place was too dark for him to see its face but he was able to catch a slight glimpse of its facial outline.

It had a large, dog-like muzzle and long, pointy ears that stood erect on its large head. Dezhong's heart froze as he thought of what the creature was. 'Is that...a mutant?'

The figure beat and mauled at the thugs that chased Dezhong earlier, making sure that none of them escaped. Dezhong wanted to run away as fast as he could but the intense fear coursing through his veins paralyzed his legs and kept them glued on the ground while his eyes focused on the beast.

After all the screams were no more and the bodies stopped moving, the figure stood up in all of its majesty and turned its gaze towards Dezhong. Its sharp, deep blue, glowing eyes stared deep into Dezhong's soul. Even though Dezhong was a boy who lived for the thrill of life and loved dangerous ventures, this was unlike anything he had ever seen.

Right now, he was staring into death's eyes and his body still refused to move. The figure slowly walked to Dezhong as it growled and puffed steam angrily. Sweat dripped and soaked Dezhong's clothes as his heart beat uncontrollably. His head began to pound painfully as his vision became blurry.

'What's happening to me…W-why can't I run? Why're my legs not moving?' He wondered. 'I have to get out of here. The others are counting on me. I can't afford to lose.'

As much as he wanted to move, fear in his body held Dezhong in place and soon, pain began to take control of him as the adrenaline from earlier began to wear out. The figure crouched and was only inches away from Dezhong's face. The boy felt its breath blowing against his face as they locked eyes.

In a blink of an eye, the creature clawed Dezhong's face, and ripped his head apart. The smell and taste of iron filled his nose and mouth as His left eye rolled onto the ground as blood gushed out like a pressure pipe. The beast slashed again, only this time, it went for his chest. With one powerful swing, the beast broke Dezhong's chest apart and pulled out his heart.

The most peculiar thing about this was as the beast was ravaging away at him, Dezhong was still alive to witness all of it. He saw the beast hold his heart, felt his blood gush out, and saw his lungs struggling to take in and release air, but he wasn't dead…yet.

*HOWL*

With a mighty howl, the beast took a large bite out of Dezhong's head and finally killed him on spot before it literally sunk into the shadows of the ground.

A few minutes passed and a police crew arrived. However, they were all welcomed to a gory sight of dead, mauled bodies emitting the most foul stench of death known to man that some of them vomited. One thing they noticed was a ski mask with large tear marks on it, but its owner was nowhere to be seen.

"Report this back to Captain Prince," One of the police men ordered. "Seems like we have another mutant serial killer on our hands."

"Wha—another? We just brought one down last week?"

"Seems more of those blasted mutants have escaped their territory and made their way here. We have to deal with them as soon as possible, but first….we take care of this one. I've got a bad feeling about it."

"Could it be a shadow clone?" Another policeman asked while observing the distinct claw marks on the corpses.

"The shadow clone's were nothing but myths. There's no such thing. Let's get this cleaned up before anyone else sees and causes a panic."

'YES SIR!!'