Chapter 10

The monster's skin is green, scaly and scabbed, the teeth sharp and bloody. Its eyes glow red, menacing and unblinking.

West and Alice step back in horror as the creature slowly rises from its resting position. Its serpentine body slithers towards them with frightening speed, and West and Alice can feel their hearts pounding in their chests.

As the creature gets closer, West and Alice realize that they are hopelessly outmatched. They have no weapons and no way to defend themselves. The creature lunges towards them, its jaws wide open, ready to devour them.

But then, in a split second, something strange happens. West feels a sudden surge of power coursing through his veins. His body feels like it's on fire, but he's not in pain. Instead, he feels invigorated and alive, more powerful than he's ever felt before.

With a fierce determination, West charges towards the creature, dodging its attacks and striking it with lightning-fast blows. Alice watches in amazement as West fights the creature with a ferocity she's never seen before. It's like he's a completely different person.

The creature fights back with equal ferocity, but West is relentless. He dodges its strikes and lands powerful hits with incredible speed and agility. Alice can only watch in shock as West continues to fight with a strength she has never seen before.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, West lands a decisive punch that sends the creature crashing to the ground. As it hits the ground, the monster slowly transforms, revealing a human as the monster.

West stands over the fallen human-creature, panting heavily. He looks at the monster with disgusted eyes, glaring at him.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!? WHY ARE YOU DEMONS COMING AFTER ME AND ALICE?!"

West screams out to the monster with a frightening tone.

The human-creature looks up at West, with a maddening face.

"Who…are you?" he asks, his voice filled with hatred.

West takes a deep breath and tries to calm himself down. He needs to figure out who this man is and why he is attacking him.

"WHY THE FUCK WOULD I TELL YOU?!" The Monster replies.

West yells as he raises his fists again.

The man-monster doesn't seem too scared and even laughs.

"You're not strong enough to beat me!"

He quickly moves to attack West, but West dodges his first strike and then counterattacks with a hard punch. The human-creature blocks the hit, but he takes a few steps back.

West lunges forward, attempting to finish the fight once and for all. But then, the human-creature suddenly grabs West. Before he realizes it, the human-creature has West in a choke hold, squeezing the life out of him.

West struggles to breathe and looks at his attacker with anger in his eyes.

"HOW DARE YOU HOLD ME LIKE THIS!"

West punches his attacker, but the man-creature holds on tight, forcing West to land another hit. The man-creature laughs at West as his grip becomes tighter. West keeps punching the man-creature, until he can barely breathe.

Suddenly, Alice appears from nowhere and strikes the man-creature with a rusted pipe that knocks him unconscious. She then turns to West and helps him up as they both recover from the ordeal.

"Thank god!" Alice gasps.

"Thank you Alice." West says.

After a moment of rest, they both look down at the man-creature, lying motionless on the floor.

"Are you alright?" Alice asks.

West looks at Alice with concern.

"I'm fine, thanks to you. Thank you for saving me, Alice," West says, still breathing hard.

"No problem. Are you sure you're okay? You fought well and hard against him, but he was much stronger than you looked. I would have been scared if I was in your shoes."

West smiles at Alice.

"Oh, don't mention it. I'm glad I was able to help. I've never seen someone fight like you did before. I'm impressed!"

As the two laugh and enjoy themselves, the room darkness. Suddenly, they hear heavy footsteps coming towards them.

"You really think that you can take me? Ha! You two should have stayed in the training camp. You couldn't beat me even if you were twice as strong as you are now."

Both West and Alice stiffen in fright as they see the man-creature approaching them.

"You see little ones, I work for The Citadel Association of Time also called the CAT. We are the people that manage everything that happens, and I mean everything! Everything in this reality happens because of our plans and you mindless rats are all a part of it. Every single event in history, every war, famine, disease, death, and even birth happened because of us! Do you understand? And yet, you dare to defy us!?"

The man-creature's voice echoes throughout the vast room as he walks towards the two. He stops right before them, his face red with anger.

"I am one of the strongest creatures that ever existed. No one will stop me from destroying you and your pathetic little world! I will show no mercy!" The man-creature snarls, his voice filled with venom.

West and Alice stare at each other, terrified.

"What do we do?" Alice asks.

West stares at the man-creature with determination.

"I'll kill him, Alice."

West walks up the human-creature, his whole body shaking. But luckily West manages to get his breathing and movement under control.

"This is your last warning! Surrender now or suffer the consequences!" the man-creature growls, his voice echoing throughout the room.

West swings his fist at the man-creature's face, but the man-creature dodges the attack with ease.

"That won't work on me! You see I'm not the only one in the CAT with powers like mine."

The man-creature throws an energy blast at West, but West dodges it easily.

The man-creature then grabs West by the throat, squeezing it tightly.

"Hahaha! Weakling! Get ready to die!"

West feels his vision start to blur as he struggles to breathe.

Meanwhile -

A worker of the CAT walks into his office, painting with a frightening face.

"Sir! We've located the corruption. They are in the woods near the training camp. They are moving towards the military building where we found the book!"

The man is a muscular man with a bald head and a scar running along his left cheek. He looks at the worker with a deep frown.

"How do you know they are headed towards the military building?"

The worker looks at the man with a worried expression.

"Because we followed their tracks with the tracking chip we have in them."

The man sighs in relief.

"Good. Send out a skilled assassin immediately. Have them look for the corruption. Make sure they don't get away."

The worker nods his head and leaves the room.

The man sits down on his desk chair and looks at his computer screen. The man is wearing a black suit and has short brown hair. He looks at the monitor with a bored expression on his face.

The man types a few commands and clicks send. A map of the area appears on his monitor. He zooms in on the military building and sees a black dot moving towards the building. The man then selects the tracking data and opens the file with it.

"Hmm, they're heading towards the military building. That's interesting."

The man smiles as he thinks about the possibilities.

"It's possible that he plans to do something that will threaten the citadel. I have to find out what he's doing."

The man gets up and makes his way towards the door.

Meanwhile -

As West loses vision, he starts to feel dizzy. He coughs and tries to move, but he can't.

West feels himself slipping into unconsciousness.

"Nooooo…" West whispers.