3 Chapter 3

Demon slowly got up from the floor. He was surrounded by the corpses of both his enemies and friends, his brothers and people. Emerging from the warehouse, he ran his finger along a wall to his left, leaving a deep scratch in the concrete.

"Light, what have I done?" He asked rhetorically, looking down at the bleeding man with a severed arm. Somewhere in the square, down the street, there was a battle full of raging gunfire and explosions. Demon looked around. Now, above each body, he saw a magnifying glass icon.

Man, recruit, dead. Experience points received. No useful equipment, the first message said. Just like that: dead, no useful equipment. The man had neither a name nor a proper funeral or burial service.

Demon approached each of the corpses in turn, closing their eyes, ignoring the multitude of pop-up messages and tips. A few one-leveled brothers ran past as he went about his business. Then he didn't see but rather felt one of the seniors approach. His presence made the world noticeably warmer and lighter.

"What are you doing, brother?" The senior brother asked. He glowed so much that it hurt to look at him.

Lancelot, Immortal Protector, level 41, the inscription above his head read.

"I'm bidding farewell to them and absolving them of their sins."

The Protector frowned. "You must forget these rituals. You aren't a human anymore. The Mind has touched you. Do you remember what that means?"

Of course, he remembered. It was the Light. The intolerable Light and omniscience. He knew and felt everything that tens of thousands of his brothers knew and felt. Finally, he was right where he belonged. He killed without regret or remorse, because there were no shadows in the Light of the Mind.

"I can't leave them this way. It isn't good."

"Oh!" Lancelot roared, suddenly coming closer. "How have you managed to take the 'Primal Self' when reaching only the fifth level? This perk should only be available to be taken when your 'Intelligence' is no less than 70!"

"I've pumped it up," Demon replied calmly. "I fit the necessary stats."

"I see," the Immortal said, examining him carefully. "You're the first one I've met in two months who put all their points into 'Intelligence'."

"For two months? Did you regain consciousness two months ago?" The surprised Demon looked at Lancelot, squinting under the glare of his bright Light.

"We all regained consciousness at that moment. But some of us pumped badly or didn't pump at all. Instead, giving the experience to the others. You must be one of those." The Protector glanced back over his shoulder. "Well, the battle is still ongoing. I have no time for this. Come with me, I'll explain everything on the way."

Before the former clergyman answered, Lancelot rushed forward, and Demon had no choice but to follow his senior. Lancelot moved much faster than he did, but he looked back regularly, slowing down when necessary to allow Demon to catch up. More and more brothers joined them as they went.

They approached the scene of the battle in a large group, which contained mostly first-leveled brothers and sisters, but there were also several second- and third-leveled ones present. Demon and Lancelot were the most senior. The Immortal rapidly rushed ahead, leading his small army into the fight. Demon ran after him, but seeing what was going on in the square, he stopped abruptly. He knew he must have seen a lot in the last sixty days, but he remembered only what had happened in the past twenty-four hours, and most of that was still hazy. So, this was all new to him.

A group of old tanks and armored personnel carriers rested against a collapsed building, stuck fast in the ruins. People shielded themselves around them, armed with guns, shooting back in all directions. They were surrounded by hundreds of brothers and sisters of the Light. The tanks fired at the relay station repeatedly, but the distance was about five yards too long.

To their cost, the people had chosen the wrong time to attack. His brothers, led by the Light, saw no worse at night than they did during the day, regardless of their 'Perception' level. The people were able to see only what was in the light of the chemical lanterns scattered throughout the square.

"Brothers, rejoice. Soon victory will be ours!" The voice was coming from inside his head. "Let's destroy the invaders and murderers with their own weapons. Shooters, ready, fire!"

Bullets rained down on the people from all the surrounding buildings. The enemies were out in open view, and they knew it, but they didn't expect the return fire. After a few seconds, most of the men were killed or wounded, and their commander ordered them to retreat. The people hid in their APCs. But it wasn't a part of the Light's plan.

A crowd of the first-leveled brothers pounced on the vehicle, then retreated back quickly as an explosion went off. The tank turret flew up and then fell down. In the crowd of the retreating first-levelers, Demon noticed a woman. Her light was dim and barely visible.

Kris, Ghost, level 24, he read above her head.

From a backpack, Kris got a large piece of explosive, stuck some wires in it and, becoming almost transparent, rushed forward again. The shielding first-levelers followed, surrounding the woman, but this time she was less fortunate. The APC turned its turret and fired at the crowd with a long machine gun. Several bullets hit her, and the woman fell to the snowy floor.

Demon assumed that the brothers would drag her back, but instead, they fled and hid behind the wreckage of the nearby buildings. Seeing that no one was going to save the woman, he crawled as close as possible. Jerk! He leaned over her, looking into her wide-open eyes. He picked her up and turned around. Jerk! He didn't fully reach a large piece of concrete he hoped to use as a shield, so he had to run the final few yards with the woman in his arms.

"What are you doing, idiot?" She asked as he put her behind the cover. "Why have you brought me here?"

"I didn't want them to kill you," he replied simply.

"You really are an idiot. They wouldn't have shot me if I lay down pretending to be dead," the woman said, pressing her hand against her wound. "I was only a couple of yards away from the second goal."

"But…"

"Now take these explosives and destroy the enemy vehicle before they manage to get away."

"Why would I take unnecessary lives?" Demon exclaimed.

"Because they'll come back to kill more of us or destroy the relay station." She looked at the man carefully, "Wow, a moralfag-cannibal. An idiot who has seventy stat points of 'Intelligence' at only the fifth level. How did you get to be so smart?"

He pondered, Really, how? He remembered very little about his past and even yesterday's events. So, the question sounded rather rhetorical.

"Are you really trying to recall such nonsense?" The Ghost mocked. "Take the explosives and do it. Be grateful that I don't command you by the authority of the Light."

"You can't," Demon said with sudden confidence. "You've pumped everything into 'Invisibility'. Your 'Intelligence' isn't high enough."

"I command you! Destroy these tanks!" Kris said sternly.

"No," he calmly replied and looked around. The people were still shooting randomly at everything they saw. The brothers apparently didn't have heavy weapons, and thus the vehicle was still intact. However, it wouldn't last long. Soon these people would run out of ammunition – if they didn't manage to get away now.

"The Light is coming," sounded in his head. "The Light is coming! The Light is coming! No pain!"

Looking over his shoulder, Demon saw a few light spots approaching the square. He felt a huge surge of strength, as if he had slept and eaten better than ever before. His confidence grew with each step of the Luminaries. His vision began to blur, and he resisted as much as he could.

"The Light is coming! The Light is coming! No blood!" He began to see the world through the eyes of hundreds of his brothers. He felt their body heat and heard every noise.

"No darkness! Only the Light! The Light! The Light!" His consciousness faded. He was everyone and no one all at once. He fired at the APC, then he jumped, caught and shredded the people, tearing their necks with his teeth, and then he put explosives on the vehicle. He was the Light!

In only a few minutes, it was all over. He and his brothers stood in the middle of the square. The lingering taste of blood in his mouth made him sick. Looking around, he saw the first-levelers spreading out to warm houses.

However, everyone who was higher than the tenth level gathered around the final site of the people's resistance. They pulled the enemies' bodies out of the vehicles, sharing nanomachines and Experience with each other. Demon headed towards them.

"Hey, leave some for me!" Kris cried at a man who was twisting an implant free from a corpse.

"You snooze, you lose," he answered calmly. "If you had blown them all up, you'd have got the nanites. But Caesar has done your work for you."

"It's not my fault! Tell him, Caesar!" The Ghost turned to a man who was lying on the roof of the APC.

"Calm down, both of you. I need a rest. My guts are burning because of this attack," the Luminary said quietly. "A human body isn't meant for this kind of work."

Caesar, Blazing Luminary, level 78, the message above his head read. There were two more Luminaries next to him.

Lex, Luminary, level 61

Padre, Immortal Luminary, level 67

"You shouldn't have covered such a big area with your aura then," Padre said dryly to Caesar. "You've pumped all your stat points into 'Intelligence' and 'Connection'. If your 'Stamina' were higher, it would be easier. Why do you need 700 in 'Intelligence'?"

"Just for such occasions as this," Caesar said, turning on his side. "We've won, as a result, and rather quickly I might add." He then looked directly at Demon. "Oh! What the fuck! Guys, we've got a newbie! Come here."

Demon took a step back but found himself resting his back against a big man, smiling down at him with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. The man was easily two heads taller than Demon and much wider.

"What's the matter, man?" The figure took hold of Demon and slightly raised him above the ground. "Haven't you met a Goliath before?"

Jack, Immortal Goliath, level 58, flashed above his head.

"Get off him." Lancelot came up to them. "He was only born today, you might say."

"Oh, right! Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Jack put Demon back on the ground. "Nice to meet you." He smiled, like a shark, "I'm Jack, Goliath."

"Nice to meet you. Demon," he muttered softly.

"Come here, both of you!" Caesar called them. "Jack, I need you to go through the streets and collect all the leveled-up brothers – so I can explain to them what's going on here. Take Kris with you. She'll check the skyscrapers."

"Why me? Let me at least take a level-up!" The woman grumbled, pulling another man out from under the APC. He was still alive, but, without regret, she snapped his neck in one motion and then twisted the implant free.

"Because your 'Dexterity' is about 200," Caesar explained. "So, you're fast, unlike Jack. No offense."

"I know, it's true," the Goliath said. "But I can beat and overtake any of you. The infinite 'Stamina' is my forte."

"It's not infinite." Lex grinned. "I'd like to see you try to run away from me."

"Fuck you." Jack frowned. "Come on, Kris. I'll let you take all the Experience points we find."

"Oh, that's different." The woman got out from under the APC, dusted herself off and ran in the direction specified by the Luminary.

"Well, Cannibal," Caesar said, addressing Demon and sitting down on the edge of the APC, "while our Goliath is away, you can ask whatever questions you want. General questions pertaining to what's going on I'll answer when our other brothers come here. So, ask me something different."

"Sorry if the question isn't tactful," Demon started, hesitantly, "but why have I lost my composure? I'm not first-leveled, and I have seventy stat points in 'Intelligence'."

"Good question, newbie. You benefit from your high 'Intelligence'." The Luminary chuckled. "Don't worry. Under my song's control, I get everyone who is under level 40 or has an 'Intelligence' of less than 100. Even Lancelot and Kris." Saying it, Caesar frowned. "But Lex is a little bit different. Even though he can control no more than ten men at any one time, and the radius of his song is small, he's able to control and buff everyone who is below the sixtieth level and has an 'Intelligence' less than 200. And for as much time as he wants. I only have fifteen minutes."

"That means pumping your 'Intelligence' higher than two hundred is futile if your level is still low?"

"Right." Caesar nodded. "In a normal scenario, you are supposed to get to around seventy points of 'Intelligence' only around the fifteenth level, no less. When the rest of the stats are also around 70. The 'Primal Self' is often taken at the fortieth level – as the perk is only useful for pumping above or specializing in the 'Luminary'. So, you're screwed."

"What if I want to be a Luminary?" Demon asked, looking at the three Luminaries standing nearby.

"It's your choice, of course. But it's a road to nowhere, at least, in the beginning," Padre said dryly, interrupting him. "The Luminaries below the fiftieth level are all weak, frail and slow beings. Some of them even after the seventieth level are the same. Therefore, we go everywhere constantly accompanied. It not only attracts attention, but it also bothers a lot. So, I'd strongly encourage you to pump up something else at first."

"Oh, now that you mention it, why don't you take him under your wing and pump him as much as you can?" Caesar asked his friend. "Till the twentieth level?"

"Sorry, I can't. I already have three protégés. Better to give him to Lex, he doesn't have anyone right now."

"Don't even ask me about it. I have a lot to do." Lex shrugged. "I'm heading northward now. Do you want me to take him with me? I'll have to protect a whole block there."

"Great. Take this young and promising brother with you. You'll use his unusual talents to the maximum. You are the best at this, after all."

"Promising, you say? Let's check shall we." Squinting, Lex looked at Demon. "You have one talent that only the most temerarious and crazy usually take. Let's see what you can do. Ready to obey?"

"It depends what you want me to do," Demon responded, sensing a trick.

"Oh, it's very simple. Go and collect the experience from all of your fallen brothers."

Not understanding why the Luminary spoke to him in such a mocking tone, the Cannibal looked around. It would be possible to get the implants from many bodies – the first-leveled brothers had fought desperately, and most of them had been killed.