23 2AM Snack Gets Interupted by a Hybrid...

The man was at a loss for words. Throughout his entire career he had seen some strange stuff, but this was undoubtedly the most strange. It got even stranger when Axel explained what he knew of the Blood Codex project.

The man quickly realized the gravity of what they had found. "-... This... I will be over in a moment, this is a matter of utmost importance...-"

The next second, the transmitter closed.

About a minute later, there was a spacial rift that formed next to Axel. The man who was on the communicator stepped out of the rift with an imposing aura. Similar to Axel, he was a space attribute mage. In fact, he was actually the one who taught Axel.

The group of eleven stood lined up and greeted him with the salute of the Dralos Kingdom.

The man, who's name is Gramm, just nodded in response. "Everyone except for Axel is to guard the premises."

Gramm walked to the crystal with Axel following close behind. The others left to go patrol around, if Gramm only wanted Axel there then there was probably a reason.

Gramm placed his hand on the large crystal, he intended to inject a little mana to get an understanding of what was going on.

'What the hell!?!'

He recoiled his hand fast enough to produce wind currents. The moment he had placed his hand on the crystal, ice and shadow mana leaked out trying to kill him. His hand had a layer of frost on it and the veins had turned black until they faded back to normal about half way of his forearm.

If he had even touched it for a second more than he might have actually died! He was a Stage Six, and he had nearly died just from touching it! He shook his hand and forced the hostile mana out of his system.

He turned to look at Axel, "Under no circumstances are you to touch it." The only thing he had gained, was a small understanding of the crystal. Gramm continued, "To think that the Agrius Kingdom had something like this... The Blood Codex, a truly fascinating but horrific project."

Axel was sighing with relief. He had witnessed what had happened to a Stage Six from touching the gray colored crystal, and he was relieved he hadn't touched it. Gramm's views were strange, but he agreed as well. "To think that they were trying to make an elite soldier with not one, but two mythical bloodlines..."

Gramm shook his head and let out a nervous laugh. "You seem to be mistaken, they weren't trying to make one... They did make one. That opaque crystal, it's alive. It's absorbing the two mythical creatures' and combining their bloodlines."

Axel just silently stared until he processed what Gramm had just said. "... ... ... eh?"

Ignoring Axel's confusion, he said continued with his explanation. "What is really perplexing is that it isn't absorbing the woman. Only time will tell the reason. Either way, we can't let the Agrius Kingdom get their hands on this... Thing... If they do, then calamity will befall our kingdom."

Gramm was thinking about the future, if the Agrius Kingdom actually completed their Blood Codex project then said kingdom would have an elite force capable of destroying a nation in a single night with ease.

Just by going off the bloodlines in this one lab, he could guess that the others six laboratories would have something equally if not more frightening than the ones currently here. He made up his mind that they couldn't let that creature fall into the hands of their enemy. Better yet, they could use it as a weapon against the Agrius Kingdom. It was killing two birds with one stone.

Months went by while the twelve militants observed and patrolled the Rime mountain lab.

Fortunately, nothing major happened. Every so often a small unit from

the Agrius Kingdom would try to get there, but either the Dralos people

or the Frost King would wipe them out until eventually they just stopped

sending people. This allowed them to focus more attention on their observation and research.

At first they didn't notice, but with every passing day the two myth's would become more transparent while the large crystal continuously got smaller. Even the tendrils started to recede back.

Axel was more or less there for moral support and to make sure Gramm didn't do something stupid by accident at this point. He didn't have the connections or ranking required to find the information relating to the Blood Codex. That didn't mean he wasted his time though. He was already close to reaching Stage Five, and after a few months he had successfully broken through and advanced.

Gramm had been more productive, information-wise at least. He continuously went through the royal library of the Dralos Kingdom finding anything that would give him a hint towards unraveling what was going on.

After several months of searching through history, he had found... absolutely nothing apart from what he had already known.

Gramm just sighed and put the archive artifact in his pocket.

He looked back at the crystal. The two mythic beings were as transparent as a piece of glass. Gramm stood up and dusted himself off. It was currently two o'clock in the morning and was still dark out. Granted it was always dark out in the Rime mountain range, but that was besides the point. Gramm hadn't eaten anything in half a month and was starving.

For a normal person that would be insane, but for a Stage Six it was just like skipping breakfast.

Making his way to a temporary, that was now more or less permanent, building, Gramm went to the food stores and got his favorite food. With his favorite food in hand, which was something that looked similar to peanut-butter toast, he sat down and prepared to eat.

He raised it to his mouth and was about to bite down... until he got interrupted.

The door was flung open by Axel who appeared to be in a hurry. "Come quick! something is happening!"

Gramm put down his 2AM snack and rushed out behind Axel.

He entered the warehouse and was immediately greeted with a large influx of mana.

It was like he facing down the brunt of a storm, he could barely even step forward. He kept struggling deeper and deeper, getting closer and closer tot he crystal.

He was close to the crystal when the mana influx abruptly stopped. Suddenly, all the mana in the surroundings was being sucked up and absorbed. Even some of the mana he had was not spared. It was like an abyss.

The strangeness of the mana stopped.

When Axel and Gramm reached the crystal, there was nothing there. What should have been a large dark-gray crystal, was now one small opaque, black-crystal and Tricia who was now clutching said crystal. The two mythic creatures were gone, their bloodlines were fully absorbed into the black crystal.

Gramm sighed, "With that, a monster will be born. A hybrid of two creatures that were legends..."

Gramm needed time to think. If the Agrius Kingdom found out about their success, they would spare no resources to reclaim it. They might even send their powerhouses out to get it back.

'There are too many spies to hide it, it would be found if we put too much effort in... Hmm wait, that could work.'

If they hid it in plain sight, they would be able to hide it right underneath the Agrius Kingdom's nose. They wouldn't expect it to be located right on the border. The location he thought of, was the soul stone mine. It was a mine on the border and no one would expect a national level secret to be out in the open, "Perfect! They would just look right over it!"

Gramm turned to Axel, "I'm sure you already realized the importance of this, but I'll say it again. This could decide the outcome of the war, but only if it is grown up. If they get their hands on that hybrid, then they will brain wash it to be loyal to their king and then we will have to deal with a calamity level threat."

"As such, we need to keep it hidden. I'm going to send your team of eleven to go to the eastern soul stone mine and hide out there with the hybrid and that woman. You eleven will be stationed as guards meant as 'reinforcements from the capital', and the woman will be posed as one of the slaves. Depending on what comes out of that crystal, it will also be one."

Axel merely nodded in response. He understood some things that Gramm said, but not all of it. He was only a gold rank so he didn't have a whole lot to go off of. His job was just to listen to orders and manage a few people.

Gramm was sick of the frigid environment, so once they had what they wanted he wanted to just leave. "Alright, tell your team to pack up. We will leave in an hour or two."

After the twelve packed up, Gramm opened up a rift large enough for a few people. With a flash of light, the group and the two special existences left the mountain range.

-=-=-

Andrew, after listening to Axel's story, was a little overwhelmed, but didn't see the connection. "So what are you trying to say?"

Axel understood that it was a lot to take in, "That kid... He is the hybrid."

"Well... That's certainly a shock." Andrew quickly got over it. This information didn't change how he viewed Cage. If anything, it only elevated it. He still had a question though, "I need to ask, but why doesn't he have the appearance of a beast?"

Axel just shrugged then gave a somewhat half baked answer. "We aren't sure why, but we think that the black crystal took the physical appearance of who ever was in proximity and adapted it to be the most suitable. He is quite literally, a monster in the skin of a beast-man."

With nothing more to say, Axel went to go back to his duties. Right when he was about to leave, he heard Andrew say something amusing.

"If he came from that crystal, wouldn't that make him born from an egg? Hahaha!"

Axel left with a smirk on his face.