Sitting Duck

The scientists ran from the lab, unable to bear the sight of Morphis' suffering. Most importantly, they had no idea what was going on or if it was transferable.

They could only hope that he would survive the ordeal.

Hitting the lab containment button, heavy metal slid down, covering the doors and walls of the lab, stopping anything from breaking in or out.

All they could do was wait. The lab had no cameras due to security reasons, with humans' versatile kind of ability.

It isn't strange for one with technomancer-related ability to show up or even try to steal information from the lab, so everything is done the old-fashioned way.

As the energy from the ring continued to flow into Morphis' body, he felt like he was being torn apart, cell by cell.

He was in excruciating pain, and he could feel his very essence being changed.

And then, the pain stopped.

The energy in the ring threatening to destroy everything resided and returned to normal, first in the sword before the ring.

But he wasn't the same anymore; he isn't the Morphis he used to be.

A strange look lingered in his eyes as he took in everything around him, assessing his body as if he found himself in a strange body.

After a while, he looked at the ring sitting quietly on his hands, he slowly brought it up like a priceless treasure and he wore it on his middle finger.

As if the ring had auto-fit, it resized itself to fit on his finger properly, and at the same time, he could feel it, and he could hear it.

The energy coursing through his body, the power unlike anything he had felt before.

If he were to compare the power he is feeling from the ring right now to what he used to feel from it, it's like a shallow stream compared to a bursting sea.

He couldn't believe this thing held such an amount of power all this while, and he had only been able to scratch the tip of it before now.

Just then, the heavy metal door slid up, revealing the door and walls as the scientists stood at a distance away, checking if it's safe to open the main door or conceal the lab once again.

Seeing Morphis looking just as fine as he always looks, they breathed a sigh of relief. Just to be sure, they still asked a few questions they knew only he knows the answer to.

Morphis gave satisfying answers that reassured their trust and eased their minds.

They all walked into the lab relieved, but they failed to notice the glint that flashed past his eyes as they drew closer.

"Kill them, and cover up your secrets, don't you want power?" these were the words echoing in his head, eating up his feigned sanity.

The voice was slowly growing louder in his head that he had to frown. "Shut the hell up," he screamed, startling the scientists.

"Are you OK, Sir?" one of the five scientists asked, seeing Morphis breathing heavily, his body leaning against one of the test tables.

"I'm fine," came his reply, turning to give the lady a chilling smile.

Before she could register what that smile was, her sight blurred as her vision began to rotate a full 360°.

Morphis had beheaded her, shocking the rest of the group.

The rest of the scientists were frozen in terror, unable to move as Morphis turned his attention to them. "You saw nothing," he said, his voice low and threatening. "If you tell anyone about what you saw here, I will find you and I will kill you. Do you understand?"

The scientists nodded, their eyes wide with fear. "Yes," they said, their voices shaking. "We understand."

They knew if Morphis decided to kill them, there was hardly anything to help them survive, after all, he is the strangest human on earth.

Morphis smiled, a cold and calculated smile that sent shivers down their spines. "Good," he said. "Now get out."

The scientists turned and fled from the lab, but before they could get out completely, a flash of golden yellow light ran past them, severing them in two clean halves.

"What a joke. I never intended to keep any of you alive before now. You know too much about my secrets; your purpose ends after the research, which just so happens to be now." Ignoring the bodies bleeding all over the lab floor, he instead had his eyes glued to the ring on his finger.

"You mentioned power," he spoke seemingly to no one, as he was the only one left in the lab.

While Morphis was busy at his end, the source of this whole chaos, the ping-pong-sized energy forcefield and beam-shooting sword were still ongoing. Covering the whole place for miles into the snow and ice land, the temperature was extremely cold; it would be difficult for one to live in such an area.

The sky rained down snowflakes and ice dust, ice whirlpools formed in the cloud, spreading out far and wide. As if losing its energy source, the sword finally stopped, falling to the ground as it pierced itself deep into the ground, creating mountain-level ice spikes and pillars that spanned wide, becoming like an ice castle or something.

As for the ping-pong-sized energy forcefield, its stability began to waver as it shrank smaller and was about to disappear, only for it to stop halfway as if something was holding it back, wanting to force it open once more. The struggle continued for a little while until a hand could be seen, forcing the small forcefield wide open until a figure shot out of it, landing skillfully on silent steps while the wormhole-like energy forcefield faded out of existence.

The figure that emerged from the wormhole-like forcefield was a man with a well-built body frame, long falling dark hair, dressed in ancient royal fashion clothing. His hair was dark purple, one would mistake it for being dark, and his eyes were a piercing deep purple too.

He looked around, taking in his surroundings, and his gaze settled on the ice sword buried halfway into the ground encased in ice. He raised his brow when he saw the sword as he could feel a strange sense of familiarity in it. He couldn't place his finger on where he had come across this energy before.

Failing to recall where he might have come across this energy before, he let it rest, ignoring the sword at the same time as he had other important things to think about. He took a deep breath as if he wanted to devour the air around him in one go, after which he frowned.

"The energy level dissipated greatly. What are those annoying old hags doing all the while I'm away? Did they seal the word energy away too just to keep me locked up?" he muttered to himself thoughtfully.

This figure was none other than the same one sitting on the throne made of bones; he had somehow crossed over. With nothing else to do and no idea of the timeline he had dropped in on, he decided to explore what was left of the Aerendil base.

No matter how chilling and strong the ice spikes and pillars were, they posed no threat to him as he easily broke them down while exploring the whole place. In no time, he had a relative idea of what time it was.

"So a thousand years had gone by so soon," he spoke as he gazed at the date on the wall calendar. He hissed in annoyance, kicking the ice spikes around him as they all shattered like broken glass. He breathed out to calm himself as cold air streamed out from his nostrils.

"This chill seems to be increasing with each passing minute," he added, having noticed the further drop in temperature.

Just then, he raised his head to gaze past the wall of ice surrounding him as he noticed the arrival of an intruder.

A playful smile broke on his lips as he couldn't wait to receive his guest.

Outside the ice castle were more than a hundred, if not more, battle fleet and warships surrounding the entire place with their energy blasters aimed at the ice castle.

On ground level, some skillful engineers were working on a teleportation device while drones and mechs took cover for them.

In simple words, they were all out for whatever it is that's to come out from the ice castle.

And more ships were still coming in, ships from other races, using a one-way teleportation to cover distance and arriving on the scene as fast as possible.

A few media drones and ability users who had abilities suited for such situations were also on standby, telecasting a live broadcast.

The world was apprehensive to this sudden occurrence and was preparing for the worst.

Especially with the world traitor on the loose, there was no telling what he intended to do as this had already been tagged to be his doing.

The whole place was rowdy with activities, many precautions being taken as they awaited patiently for disaster to break out from within.

Surprisingly to them, a portion of the ice wall melted down and a single figure walked out of the ice castle.

His hands behind his back as if everything before him didn't exist.

His appearance was the most striking thing about him, his long falling dark purple hair, firm body build in ancient Royal fashion clothing.

And most importantly, his eyes, a deep purple with no white showing, its edges lined with thin, jagged outlines and a vertical slit in the center.

Whoever his gaze fell upon felt their deepest secrets and desires reveal, their soul recesses seen through.

Those deep purple eyes were like a stormy night sky. They seemed to swirl with a power that was both terrifying and mesmerizing.

But there was also something else in those eyes - a deep, insatiable hunger that could never be truly sated.

It's this look that sent chills down everyone's spine; they forgot to even breathe, talk more of attack.

The figure slowly scanned through the wreckage called defense, his gaze sweeping over the area with an unnerving calm.

He seemed utterly unaffected by the people and machines of destruction that surrounded him, as if it were nothing more than a slight inconvenience.

"What a mess you all have made," he said, his voice a low, gravelly growl. "And all in the name of progress."

The soldiers could feel the air around them growing colder, as if a shadow had fallen over the sun. They felt a deep sense of dread, as if they were facing something worse than a nightmare.

"What an unpleasant way to welcome back your king," he spoke, snapping his fingers and draining the energy in all the devices and machines in an instant.

Flowing towards him and he absorbed them like a hungry wolf, everyone dreadfully took a step back in fright.

This was unlike anything they were prepared to battle against. If this figure was around during the first invasion, Earth would have had no hope. Right now, they were all drained of mc points, weapon energy, and all, becoming sitting ducks before the figure they were meant to fight.