2 A Regular Mission Gone Bad

The Fenrir Operations Group had traveled deep into the second level of the station. They had encountered Gamma tier Chaos Beasts that posed little threat. Cyrus managed to take down a couple with his agile frame and short blade. Its function coming in handy to finish off Gamma tiers with minimal issue. He had thought about using his pistol, but knew with his income he could only supply 4 basic magazines and one explosive type. Captain Graves had led the charge in taking out the majority of Chaos Beasts. Using his Beta wolf as he was the lead summoner of the group, he had taken out some just on his own.

Cyrus had to be careful with conserving his energy, his training from childhood allowed him better flexibility and nimble movements to get around and strike his foes. However, he had to use his energy once when a Delta tier Wolf had managed to sneak up on him. Using his power to double and hold the creature off without becoming its lunch. This allowed another soldier to kill it with a blast from a shotgun. With a helping hand he stood up and sighed.

"You know Cyrus, you didn't need to participate in this mission." The other soldier said, not meaning for it to sound like Cyrus didn't belong. More of trying to tell him that its dangerous without being able to use his full strength.

"But I did, no needed to be here," he shook his head and checked his weapons and armor. His chest piece was scratched, but mostly undamaged. His helmet had fallen off though from being knocked down and attacked by a Delta. His ashen colored hair had fallen down to just rest below his chin. His eyes were that of cloudy grey with a reasonably handsome face. The soldier in front of Cyrus looked at him, then patted him on the shoulder.

"We should rejoin the others before the Captain blows a fuse." With a quick nod, they rejoined formation. They were about to head to the rifts third floor, the air coming from the stairs leading down was almost nauseating. Cyrus not having his helmet on got the worst of it, causing him to vomit off to the side. It wasn't too uncommon for a rookie to be sensitive to the energies that a rift created when getting closer to the source. However Cyrus was able to feel like electrified needles had entered his body from just standing at the top of the stairs.

Jack Graves looked at Cyrus, "If you can't stomach the feeling, go home. You will not be welcomed back into Fenrir if you turn and run with your tail tucked between your legs." This was the only warning Cyrus would get from the Captain. He knew the man was right, if he left now and couldn't control his senses, he would be exiled from the organization. So after wiping his face and spitting to the ground, he turned and readied his weapons. Jack nodded in approval, "Good, now forward we only have a little left to go."

Their steps echoed down the hall as they traveled down, the stairs seeming to go on for a little longer than expected. That is when the soldier's lights had to be turned on as the rift was causing the lighting in the station to go out the further in they got. Their lights fixated on bodies of Chaos Beasts and humans alike. All seeming to have been partially eaten, which was worrying sign. Cyrus saw Graves hold his hand up telling them all to stop. They had reached the connecting room to the bottom of the stairs.

The smell of gnawed flesh and rotting meat filling the room. Graves ordered the wolves to go first and then the forward unit. They exited the stairs onto a platform that was still not covered in blood. They knelt down which allowed the rear unit to move up and get into position. Covering one another they were looking about the room with their lights. Then Cyrus caught the sound of something eating in the distance. Since the others were not Standards, their hearing wasn't as sharp when they changed into a specific type. With Cyrus being the only one, he pointed his light towards the sound, the others followed his light as they began to see the creature that was eating a large Chaos Beast.

The creature stopped eating as it had been illuminated by the soldiers. Graves knew it was trouble, "That... That is an Alpha. How could that thing be here?" Seeing an alpha in such a short rift meant it had come through a special tear to kill the original Chaos Beast. This allowed it to become the host of the rift and take control. It is what Graves realized why there were beast bodies as well as humans. However, the problem with this Chaos Beast was it didn't look like an average Alpha Wolf would.

The lights were showing it had weapons sticking in its back and seemed to be releasing a slight steam. It also looked like its fur was tipped with flames that licked the air around it. Before the soldiers could think of firing, it howled, the sound reverberating inside the large station. What worried Graves most was that the beast had just summoned more wolves. The wolves seemed to burst through tears of flames. All their eyes trained on the soldiers.

Cyrus couldn't help but feel frozen in place as it was a scene he knew he had seen before. It then clicked as this was what had kept him up the previous night. A beast with eyes that seemed to peer into the soul of those it looked at. Purple flames seemed to be the last thing he could remember as Graves gave the order to take aim. This snapped Cyrus out of his frozen state for Graves seemed to think it was the best chance to see if his own summon would evolve.

However, the amount of enemies they faced, seemed to be an issue that needed to be addressed first. "Soldiers of Fenrir, we shall not fall prey to an enemy such as this, we will prevail and bring change to the world of Earth." That is when Cyrus noticed the large wolf's ears perk up, not just from what Graves was saying, but he could have sworn it moved Graves said "Fenrir". That is when Graves and his summoners had sent out their wolves. Which now began the fight, as Chaos Beasts came charging at the soldiers.

Soldiers fired their weapons to bring down as many of them as they could. The spectral wolves had collided with other wolves of similar size to their own. Meaning that there were some Betas in the mix of the large Alpha's side. They all decided to take out as many of the Gamma Beasts as quickly as possible. The Evoker of the group had enhanced the weapons of every member to add an attack boost. Cyrus could feel a surge of power rise in him, he didn't get a similar buff to the weapons like others. For whenever he got a buff it mainly effected his body. But a time limit was put in place. They had to end this fight quickly or the time limit would end and they would suffer fatigue.

The Soldiers advanced as some ran out of ammunition for their rifles. Drawing swords, hammers, axes, or even a quarterstaff. They went in to attack the wolves. The fight was brutal, soldiers were dying left and right, as the wolves had surrounded a soldier and tore him to pieces. But he would pull a pin of a grenade that blew himself up along with a large portion of the wolves. Cyrus noticed a wolf to his left that had been circling the side of them. With a quick turn and rush forward from the group he shot at the wolf's feet. Making it move back he charged forward pushing it back to the wall.

The wolf growled and decided to attack instead of being pushed back any further. Leaping into the air to attempt to grab Cyrus' head. This prompted Cyrus to allow another burst of energy to erupt from within him. He decided to slide against the ground, focusing the energy to his eyes and brain. This allowed him a temporary improvement to cognitive analysis and reflexes. Raising the berretta to place four equal shots into the wolf's forelegs.

Cyrus managed to roll out of the way out of the slide as the wolf came crashing to the ground. It tried to catch itself upon landing, but the wounds in its legs completely snapped upon touching the ground. This caused it to roll over and collapse, looking at Cyrus with anger in its eyes. Cyrus however, didn't waste any time as he took out his short blade and stabbed the wolf in the head. When he did, the creature began to fade as it dissolved into mist. leaving behind a Chaos Crystal, it was a Beta quality one. Picking it up he pocketed it quickly and returned to the fight. But looking up from the crystal, he saw a sight he didn't think would happen.

The Alpha came walking up from darkness as the lights began to kick back on. The sound of a scream could be heard and just as quick as it came, it was silenced. The wolf had a soldier in its mouth. "How did it get over there and back to there?" Cyrus thought, just as Graves had frozen.

"That isn't a normal Alpha Chaos Beast..." He would then begin to see its eyes as they shined with a blazing purple color. The lines on its paws and body flared up as flames started to dance along its body. "That is an Aberrant!" He turned around, attempting to flee, "We must get out of here before its too la-" Before he could finish his sentence, all he saw was the exit covered with some strange sigil and the open mouth of a beast. He didn't even close his eyes as his body was ripped in half. Captain Jack Graves, had died to the power of a Aberrant Chaos Beast.

Hearing the words that the beast was an Aberrant, the soldiers all panicked, shooting wildly at the approaching beast. The bullets only seemed to phase right through it. Cyrus could hear it moving but the sounds seemed overlapped. It was just moving too fast for the soldiers to notice. Then just another soldier died, in the group, being bitten in half like Graves. While it seemed to just be walking towards them. Cyrus though with his heightened perception could just barely make out the movement. It had rushed over and bit the man in the torso before retreating back to its original spot. Like it was toying with the soldiers.

Cyrus saw the healer get knocked to the side away from the group landing right next to Cyrus. The other soldiers just kept dying one by one. While the healer had crawled over to him, "Cyrus, are we all going to die? I don't... I don't want to di-" And just like before, the man had his head ripped off by the Aberrant. In front of Cyrus the man's blood poured out of his body like a fountain. That is when he noticed that he was the only survivor of the team. His eyes had looked at the Aberrant who had stopped moving and just looked at him.

The wolf seemed to just be staring him down, like it was waiting for him to stand. But Cyrus was frozen in fear and couldn't move an inch of his body. He could only feel like the dream he had of this event happening all over again. A monstrous beast that looked to devour the world. Not just Earth, but others as well. Then he looked at it again and still saw it standing there, normally the Chaos Beasts would just finish off whatever was in their dens. But this thing was waiting for him to move.

He begged his body to move, pleaded for it to move so he could at least go out fighting rather than being a coward. His arms and legs finally began to slowly move, his heart was beating in his ears like he was at a concert. He could feel the buff he had received earlier slowly wearing off. The timer was almost up. If he wanted to do something he had to give it his all and not waste a single ounce of energy. The Aberrant saw this and took a step forward. He readied his berretta but this time loaded the explosive rounds. His short blade in his right hand braced his left arm.

That is when he began to unleash all his energy to every part of his body. Doubling the output of everything inside him. His speed, strength, reaction time, durability, all doubled. The wolf lifted a paw and for that split moment, Cyrus focused his energy again to read the movement of the Aberrant. It had come to his right side, it was very fast, but with his body fully enhanced he was able to react and jump forward. Diving out of the way of its first attack, everything else just seemed to slow down. So much adrenaline was pumping though his body his heart was beating at an abnormally fast pace.

Pulling the trigger of his berretta he managed to land a few shots on the beast's hide. But the bullets just barely broke through and caused it to bleed. Breaking just the surface of its skin, he was then knocked away with a quick swipe of its paw. He was only barely able to block it, but the blow was still too powerful. He felt like three of his ribs broke, as he looked up at the wolf again. It was now moving towards him at that same normal pace.

But he could just see it barely as the Aberrant seemed to be blurry. He knew he was going to die, but he still had just enough energy left for one last attack. Pushing himself up from the wall he had slammed into, he holstered his pistol and held onto his short blade. The wolf stopped, looking at the banged up human in front of it.

"I only got one good attack left in me," Cyrus panted, he was short on air as he could feel his left lung was causing him difficulty breathing. "I plan at least to give you something to remember me by..." His arm was shaky, the he saw the wolf lower its body like it was ready to pounce. Its eyes were telling Cyrus that somehow it understood him. It wanted to see if he could do something to it, wanted to see his determination and drive for survival.

Without a word the wolf vanished, but Cyrus had just reacted. He knew he was willing to sacrifice anything to get a good hit in. That hit was all he needed, it was to prove to himself that he was strong enough to grow even a little. As the wolf reappeared, Cyrus leapt forward all his energy into his right arm. The Aberrant opened its mouth to attempt to eat him whole, but Cyrus had expected it. He twisted his body just enough to where his right arm was the only thing the wolf could grab onto. And that is exactly what had happened.

Cyrus then had his moment, with his arm reinforced by his energy as a Standard he managed to keep it attached just long enough. However, the muscles were torn and destroyed as the wolf bit into him. But as it did, his short blade had been shoved right through the roof of its mouth. The Aberrant growled in pain as he tossed Cyrus around, taking off his arm now that his energy had worn out, slamming him into the wall again. But that wasn't the last of it, he had just given his arm up to fall limp in his grip. With the release of the special trigger inside a massive energy burst was released inside of its skull as electricity coursed through it.

He then saw as the Aberrant had collapsed to the ground next to him. The electricity he had decided to overload with holding the trigger for so long. This caused the Aberrant to twitch and jitter. Cyrus had believed he had killed it, his eyes slowly closing. Knowing he wasn't going to see his older sister again, he smiled.

"At least I did something... but I wish I could tell her to her face." That was when a blue holographic screen appeared in front of him.

[Aberrant Beast Defeated: Fenrir]

[Would you like to absorb its power? If you do not, you will die in the next .1 seconds upon declining.]

[Yes?] or [No?]

Cyrus looked at it, and thought to himself, "Sure... Why not..." As he lifted his left arm to click the "Yes" on the screen it vanished and a new screen popped up.

[Congratulations, you have acquired the soul of the Chaos Beast: Fenrir.]

[Regeneration started]

[Bound item: Shackle of Fenrir acquired]