1 Prologue

Dr. Huxley fumbled frantically with the lock, shaking hands whipping out his key card from the depths of his white lab coat. The echoes of magical blasts carved themselves into his mind. It was likely he was going to die here, in Hy Industries' secret underground lab, the last bastion of humanity.

The monsters had arrived – he didn't know if a mole had tipped them off, or if they had somehow found HQ by themselves, but they were here, and they were blasting spells off the laboratory walls. Humans, who had little to no magical ability, could only use their wits and their technology. Unfortunately, monsterkind had outlawed the production of guns and bullets, and in the dozen or so scientists who remained in hiding, not a single one of them were able to reproduce them.

They were defenseless, just regular, powerless human beings, doomed to rot away in an underground lab, forgotten and alone. However, Huxley had one final trick up his sleeve. It wasn't one with a very great chance of success, but it was something. He and his coworkers had dubbed the project Last Stand.

Huxley brought out the card and swiped frantically. A small beep sounded and the doors opened with a rush of stale, chemical air. Steps descended into a deeper layer of the lab. Huxley stumbled forward, taking the steps two at a time. He swiped the card again and the door closed behind him, leaving him in utter darkness.

He pressed his thumb against a pad against the wall, but nothing happened. The monsters must've caused a power outage with the destruction. There was no heating, and no light. Huxley rolled up his sleeves and pressed a button on his watch. It lit up, and he pointed it forwards to light his path. He continued downwards, his heart pounding in his chest as he heard a scream that was barely human permeate through the rock, accompanied by a particularly violent explosion. Huxley shivered when he thought he recognized the voice.

Eventually the narrow passageway opened into a chamber, its walls covered in barely-liquid moisture, almost frozen. Eight pods lay in two rows of four, facing each other. Ominous, artificial blue light emanated from each of the pods' circular glass surface. In the eight beds lay eight human bodies, all young. They lay supine, like corpses in coffins. Attached to them were several wires, and each of them had masks with blue liquid coursing through tubes into their unconscious mouths.

The eight of them had volunteered to go into sleep at a very young age. It had almost been a decade since the extermination started, and in the face of the mounting human bodies piled up in the streets, these eight brave youths had given up their present lives to be humanity's last resort. They were still the same age as they had been a decade ago, just on the cusp of adulthood. This was essential, as if they were to survive and carry on humanity's legacy as a species, they would need to have as much time as possible to reproduce and grow.

Hy Industries, and Huxley personally, had put them into their sleeping state. Huxley had just been appointed then. Now he was a veteran scientist, in charge of overseeing Last Stand. Now was the time for a decade of preparation and planning to finally pay off.

Huxley and the scientists of Hy Industries had attached eight mana crystals to the pods, one for each youth. The mana crystals had been systematically drained over the course of a decade, fed through the tubes that flowed into their mouths. It was what had kept them alive for so long.

Mana crystals like these were incredibly expensive, rare, and valuable, and dozens of people had died to obtain them. Huxley could only hope that all those deaths, including those of his fellow scientists, would not be in vain.

Praying, he took the ninth mana crystal out from his coat pocket. It was one he had saved for this very occasion. Focusing his eyes on each of the eight pods, he began chanting a spell. It took everything he had to keep his voice from shaking as he repeated the lines he had rehearsed over and over again over the years.

"With the blood of nature and the blood of my line, I, Huxley Mac'Millan, request group teleportation. Entities are Rekka Amiri, Silas Sylvannister, Saya Brookes, Macy Marianette, Jasper Greene, Julia von Markov, Evelynn Violet, and Axel Ford. Destination, 48.45478920224007,-123.4979009298252."

These were the numbers that Huxley had recited in his sleep. They were the coordinates of an oasis in the Badlands, which Huxley had chosen specifically, as it was a safe place that could easily be transformed into a base of operations. It was essential that he get the numbers correct. As soon as he finished his sentence, he felt a great tug on his hand as he held out his mana crystal.

To cast such an advanced, powerful spell like group teleportation, it took all of the mana crystal and all of the little mana Huxley had in his frail human body. Feeling as if every ounce of energy had suddenly left him, adrenaline clouding his vision and sense of perception, the doctor collapsed on the floor. Looking up, he saw that every single one of the human bodies had silently disappeared without a trace, their masks lying flat on the white beds of the pods.

A door opened in the distance, heavy footsteps alerting Huxley to the presence of monsters descending the staircase. They had broken through the locked door and were about to find Huxley in his weakened state. There was no doubt that Huxley would die in this room. He smiled to himself as he barely registered the echoing foot and pawsteps.

"It's over, Huxley," a stern female voice sounded, muddled and distorted to Huxley's exhausted ears. He made no move to get up and look at the speaker. But he didn't need to; he knew exactly who the voice belonged to.

"I must admire your fascinating choice in a hiding spot. You humans truly think of everything," the speaker drawled, voice dripping with contempt. "And that is your downfall."

Dressed in a sharp dark blue business suit, a monster woman looked down on Huxley's disheveled figure. Nobody knew her true name, only that she went by "Leviathan". She looked every bit the part. The name itself was enough to strike fear into the hearts of many hapless humans, but very few had the opportunity to see her in person.

Her bright tail swished menacingly behind her. Burgundy curled horns shot out of her head and twisted like gnarled tree branches. Her slit pupils were snakelike and stern. Protruding from her arms were a pair of bright orange, glowing dragon wings. They weren't functional, but they were fearsome nonetheless. Leviathan just thought they got in the way. They fluttered behind her as she stalked towards Huxley and leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"Today is not your lucky day. As the ringleader of this operation, you've been chosen to live. Which you've spent so much energy trying to do, of course, but soon you'll regret trying to survive." She grinned bitterly, no joy in her smile.

"You should have just laid down and died like the others. It would have been so much easier for both of us. You've caused Wyvern quite a bit of stress and anguish with all your childish antics. That's something I will not tolerate. I will make sure you have the most gruesome, cruel experiments performed on you at RimTech."

Leviathan laughed, the irony in the situation almost making it funny.

"This time, it will be you we perform experiments on."

She raised her weapon, which was not a gun or a sword, but an electric whip that could be activated by a button. She brought the cable down hard against Huxley's exposed back. It quickly curled around his body, wrapping it in a cruel embrace. Leviathan pressed the button and an intense electric shock coursed through Huxley's veins. He stiffened but was too drained to scream. Leviathan looked disappointed. It was obvious she wanted a reaction.

"Pathetic," she spat. "You can't even suffer properly."

"Did you kill them all?" Huxley asked, bleakly. If he were to be taken in and experimented on, there was still one last thing he could do to save humanity.

"Of course," Leviathan stated bluntly, as if talking to a kindergartener who didn't quite get a concept.

"Then… I'm the last human." Huxley said, lying through his teeth. If Leviathan and the others thought that they had won, then they wouldn't look for the eight young humans who would no doubt be waking up very soon.

"Yes," Leviathan said, a satisfied smile spreading throughout her draconic features. "We've won, Huxley. Humanity is gone, crushed under our feet like the dirt it is."

"Yes," Huxley said, echoing her words absentmindedly. His consciousness was slipping.

"I surrender."