Chapter 102 - The Unknown Alteration
"...!?" Jin breathed in sharply before letting out a frantic shout. "NO!"
"...!?" Selbith and Rogue flinched backwards hard from his sudden reaction. Stepping backwards quickly, they saw him bolt up into a sitting position. Hearing him breathing hard and quickly, he sounded very shook up.
"...Jin...you are awake," Ami spoke cautiously despite feeling relief.
"Are you feeling well to be up?" Renee asked feeling the same. Both took a step closer to him when they saw something that made them stop.
"...?" he answered blinking a couple of times. Moving his limbs a little, he felt less lifeless. Despite a feeling of overly groggy, he somehow had enough energy to move.
"...I...don't know...I feel strange," the male teen spoke with a slight darker tone. Putting his hand to his throat from sounding different, it didn't feel sore or rough.
"You sound...a little different," the thief commented. "There'd be no way that you caught a cold."
"I'm thinking the same thing...but," the sophomore began then looked at them. "After I blacked out...I don't know."
"...!?" both female teens reacted staring at him with widen eyes. Only the gunslinger seemed to know the significance of what they saw. Seeing him blink and the alteration remain, the shooter spoke carefully.
"...Jin...what do you...remember after the parasite possessed you?" Selbith asked in a very cautious tone. The aspect that the former defect reaper had a tone of apprehension made Rogue take a slow step back.
"...?" he reacted with a confused face based on their behavior. Thinking that there was something on them, he didn't move.
"...well...I was thrown into a mental cage...then there were loud blasts...then a massive explosion that made me black out..."
'...what...' Renee thought feeling all the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. 'W-w-what happened to him?'
'...by Hell's domain...his been tainted...he is one of them...' Ami thought. A mental battle was occurring in her mind of what to do: to kill him as quickly as possible or hope he was still himself.
"What happened...after that?" the thief pondered out loud.
"...I...had frantic dreams of wondering if I was dead or alive...why are you two...acting weird?" Jin asked not liking the awkwardness that was between them.
"...Jin...do you feel different?" the gunslinger asked trying to remain calm.
"...is there some...thing on my face?"
"..." both teens shook their heads slowly.
"..." he replied looking at them and not feeling relieved.
Looking back at the bed, he seemed to remember something. Lifting his arm, he froze from seeing fast movement. Both female teens grabbed their weapons then flinched. Feeling somewhat alarmed from their reaction, he slowly accessed his menu while watching them cautiously. Seeing in his preipheral something flickering and flinching, he glanced at it.
Seeing that the settings were in black, red, and white, there seemed to be a psychotic gore theme. Various little segments of the menu glitched and twitched as if represented something demented and corrupted. Looking at the profile tab, he moved his hand toward it while watching them. Not blinking, he saw trepidation in their eyes. Seeing the window change, there was something unnerving staring at him.
Glancing at it, he felt goosebumps flare on his skin. The avatar was of himself, but altered. A remembrance of his evil double came to his mind, but it wasn't the same. Black sclera with frost white irises bored back at him. Seeing that it had no clothes on, its skin was pale with black veins. The muscle structure seemed similar to his though the body fat percentage was dropped noticeably.
In a strange way, the avatar looked weaker despite more definition. Blinking to refocus, he looked at what his level, health, rank, and title. His eyes widen and his mouth opened flabbergasted. What came out was a strange exhale sound that made the three teens feel an icy chill go down their spine. Both Selbith and Rogue felt their fight or flight senses rapidly engaging while trying to remember who was on the bunk.
"...no..." Jin spoke in a lost tone. "...no...no-no-no-no-no..."
"J-J-Jin?" the thief asked feeling herself shaking a little.
"...she...sssshhhheeeeee..." he hissed in a growing aggravation.
"...who...are you speaking...of?" Ami questioned while taking a slow backward step.
"...nnnnnnooooooo..." the male teen growled and clenched his head. His shoulders started shaking and twitching rapidly.
"Jin...please talk to us...calm down," Rene gave a weak plead taking more steps back.
"I #$WILL#$KII#$III#$LLL#$-T-T-THAT #$GGGRRRRRRAAAAAHHHHHH!" Jin screamed monstrously.
Giving a little into the intense emotion, he roared angrily while looking at the two. Both warriors quickly drew out their weapons and pointed at him. Feeling that he was going to be shot at, he pounced hard up. Reorienting himself to be on all fours, he landed on the ceiling with a rough impact sound. Without waiting to see what their actions were, he repeated the movement toward the opening up ahead.
"...!?" Rogue and Selbith reacted seeing how quickly he moved. Following his movements, they lost sight of him when he passed through the secret cavern entrance opening. Feeling relief and giving a mild shaking sigh, the gunslinger lowered down her weapon.
"...what...was that...?" Renee asked equally curious and scared of what she saw. "A demon?"
"Worse," Ami answered then looked at her with ambivalent expression.
"Worse than a demon!?" the thief remarked with surprise. "W-What would that be? Isn't Satan the strongest of all Hell beings?"
"...unfortunately...he is...despite him being a fallen Angel," the gunslinger mildly corrected.
"...are you saying that...Jin/thing was an angel!?"
"..." Selbith replied and jogged back to the main basement area.
"Hey! Hey! What are you doing!?" Rogue whispered harshly and followed her. Reaching the opening, both peered carefully around the edge to see if anyone was hiding in the corners. There was no one as dead silence filled the large room. Turning her head toward the junior's, Ami spoke with a serious tone and face.
"What he has morphed into is neither Angel or Devil...he has become a Blighter."
"...a Blighter?"
"A being that is on equal footing with an Angel and a Devil. It is Purgatory's equivalent of them."
"...?" she reacted with surprise. "...okay...if you know about them...why do they cause you fear?"
"Because they can haunt...stalk...torture...and mane any being...in any realm...without rhyme or reason."
"...how...can they do that?"
"...I don't know..." Selbith answered. Pointing the gun into the opening of the basement, she proceeded forward. The thief followed and cautiously scanned around her.
"Did the creators create them?" Renee asked.
"...I don't know...there isn't any ancient text or literature detailing Blighters."
"Then...how do you know about them?"
"I saw one before I was imprisoned by the creators...even in my Grim Reaper state...it was my first taste of immense terror," she described and shivered. "The fate of any being dealing with a Blighter...always ended in gory slaughter. Not eve a being's is safe from them either."
"...that sounds...really messed-!?" Rogue stated.
She was cut off by an ear splitting scream from upstairs. It suddenly went silent followed by something flopping lifelessly to the floor. Hearing other individuals shout in fear, many people started to run. Hearing what sounded like an organic blast, a massive fleshy explosion was heard that seemed to spread over half of the size of the basement. Hearing something with bare feet walking, it seemed to not mind walking over things that made a balloon popping noise.
"..." both female teens spoke while remaining still.
Breathing harder, both visualized what kind of massacre occurred. The hard part was believing that Jin became something more disturbing with a killjoy factor. Before either of them said anything, their "Stalker" skill activated. It only provided an audio of what sounded like many running footsteps followed by someone talking. Both recognized who the voice was.
[Listen my subjects...I want both of them alive...if you manage to contain them without scratching them too much, you may have some fun with them as part of the reward]
"That bastard," Rogue commented feeling instantly agitated. "How many did that slime bag sent?"
"Doesn't matter. If they want an early death, then let them come in hordes," Selbith stated with a frown.
"Seems like they are following our path...and are coming toward the basement doors," Renee mentioned.
Both teens looked at the entry to the outside and got their weapons ready. Just as they did so, something in their immediate environment became dreadful. Blinking, they heard shallow breathing overlapping a slow and low growl. Becoming tense and remaining still, they darted their eyes to the right. Holding any shout and flinch inside themselves to not move, Jin was standing an arm's length away from them.
He was slathered with gore. All of his limbs were coated in red and dripping to the floor. His dead, black and white eyes seemed even more daunting to stare at. Despite knowing that he was still naked, the blood on him almost gave him a skin tight suit appearance. Hearing him exhale, he still emitted malice.
"...w...h...a...t...a...r...e...y...o...u...t...w...o...d...o...i...n...g...?" the altered male teen asked slowly.
"..." the thief replied with remaining still. Curling her lips inward, she pressed her teeth down on them while watching him carefully.
"...we have...pursuers...Jin," the gunslinger answered carefully.
"...p...u...r...s...u...e...r...s..?"
"Y-Yes...t-they were sent...by the one that runs...Trentavila," Rogue spoke hearing her stutter.
"wwwwhhhhhhyyyyyyyy?" he asked while exhaling like a large beast.
"The mortal...player wants us...he hired mercenaries to capture us," Ami answered then lowered her gun pointing forward. "He even stated to them to rape us if we were resisted when getting detained."
"...I see...eee...eee...eeeeeeee" the sophomore stated with a slow blink. Hearing the sound of footsteps at the outside doors to the basement, both female teens felt a shift of the malevolence. Seeing his eyes slowly move to the door, he remained completely still.
"...upstairs...or...stay here..." Jin mentioned then slowly faded out of existence.
"...!?" the thief reacted with shock and took a couple steps back.
"..." Selbith replied with a look of fear and curiosity. "...I...will stay..."
"...t...H...e...N...g...H...o...S...t...Y...o...U...r...S...e...L...f," a vengeful response came from nowhere.
Complying quickly, she enabled "Sneak" and looked for a place to stand. Seeing the corner with the supplies, she quickly headed over there. Seeing a translucent individual moving alongside her, it was Rogue. Reaching the corner and pressing their backs against the wall, they still couldn't find where the Blighter was. As if answering their question, two black-white eyeballs appeared right in front of them.
"#$D%#O#$N$O#$T#$S$#P#%*E #$A#$K#$%" he told them in an airy whisper. It made both of their blood run cold. The eyes slowly faded away as the doors were opened by the pursuers.
'...please don't hurt me Jin...please don't hurt me...' Renee closed her eyes and repetitively prayed in her mind over and over.
"..." Ami reacted feeling breathless.
'...it feels like it did back then...' she thought feeling her vitals increased a bit from the building apprehension. At the same time, she was looking forward to see what would happen. When the sounds of multiple voices were coming down the steps, the thief and gunslinger held their breath.
"Hello?" one male called. "Damsels in distress rescue squad is here."
"We won't hurt ya ladies. It just the big boss wants ya to reconsider his offering," another said sounding a bit smug.
"You can trust us on this. If you accept his deal, then all your worries will go away. The Count takes care of you and all of your wants and needs," a third added in. When all of them came down, the last one closed the doors. Reaching the basement level, there were six men in total. Four of them were NPCs while two were actual gamer avatars. Spreading out a little in the basement, all of them were mildly looking around.
"It's dark in here man. Where are the lights?" the first mercenary asked then clapped his hands twice. Nothing happened.
"Hey fire-starter. Give us a lit will ya?"
"Yeah yeah. Give me a second," the third man stated then put out his arms.
Saying a spell, a few fire orbs materialized. Giving illumination in the room, the group looked around and froze. All the walls had crimson stained words written crudely. Not one inch was left out of having some message filling the space. Looking at the floor, it was in the same state as the walls. The two players and one NPC looked suddenly uncomfortable.
"What the hell...is this?" one asked feeling unnerved. "I thought the Don stated that this was just some factory with workers. He didn't state there was some cult thing going on down here."
"Why would the girls come down here? Are they looking to be raped and killed by some crazies?"
"...hey...l-let's just get out of here and check upstairs," a wizard player stated looking scared.
"Awe...a little creepy blood writing is enough to scare you off?" one mocked.
"..." the swordsman player spoke looking like he was shaking. He grabbed onto his necklace and clenched it firmly.
"Even Blader here is getting the whillies," another one pointed out with mirth. "Hey Mack, tell these two to chill out."
"...hmmm...yeeaah..." the melee NPC agreed sounding a little slurred. "Nothinngg to ffeear down...heeerre."
"Are you drunk again?" the fire-starter man asked with a smirk and turned toward him.
With the fire orbs illuminating him, everyone froze in horror. Only the man's head and neck remained inserted into a tall candle lit stand. The rest of his body was ripped to pieces and piled neatly around the based of the fixture. The pool of blood was slowly spreading from the remains which meant that he was just killed. The eyes of the man rolled back as his tongue fell out of his mouth and splatted on the floor.
"...what...the..." one man whispered in instant fear.
"How did he...what the hell!?" the fire-starter reacted flinching back.
"...!?" the wizard and the swordsman player responded with horror on their face. Immediately, both headed toward the stairs that would lead toward the level above the basement.
"H-Hey!" the first man stated hearing them run away. Getting out his curved sword, the other two got out their weapons.
"Damn cowards. Come out and face us like a man you demon!"
'...oh my god...' Rogue thought as quietly as possible trying not to breathe.
'...I take what I said back...' Selbith said in her mind and pressed herself more into the wall.
"Do an inferno!" one stated out loud. Answering the call, he was set a blaze with black fire. It sizzled and blistered his skin to bubble and burst everywhere on his body. His screams of agony were short live as death came quickly.
"Do I have to do-!?" the lead began then was caught off by a loud bone crunching smack.
It sounded so loud and hard that it seemed to rattle the ground a little. Turning his head to the wall of the impact, his fire spellcaster was hanging from the wall. Dangling with lifeless limbs, his head had been flatten. It had burst blood and brains out from his forehead and the back side of the head. Seeing that he was the only one remaining, cold sweat was dripping down his face as he started backing up.
"Get away!" he barked. Hearing a sound, he flinched and turned to that direction. Seeing nothing, he took a step back.
"Y-You don't scare me...fear is for chumps."
"*#I#$S%*E#$E(%" a distorted voice responded.
"...!?" the man let out a painful gasp.
Coughing up blood and spilling to the floor, he looked down. A pale bloody hand had ripped through his chest and grabbed his heart. Without hesitation, it was clenched into a fist and made the organ explode. The arm pulled out quickly sending an icy cold draft inside his body. Unable to say anything, he flopped to the ground dead with blood pooling out of his open chest.
'...Jin is much more than the first one I saw...' she thought.
Watching him release the crushed organ, it splatted to the ground. Remaining still, his eyes slowly looked up toward them. It caused both females to flinch and press their backs harder to the wall. Seeing him blink, he turned around. Calmly walking forward, he headed toward the stairs that the other two players ran to.
"..." the male teen commented.
Reaching the base of the steps and stopping, he turned his head slowly toward them. His white eyes pierced through the dark and death smelling basement. Expecting him to say something to them, he didn't. Looking back toward the stairs, he began to climb them. Once he was out of sight, Rogue let out the air that she was holding.
"W-W-Who did that to him?"
"...amazing..." Ami remarked pushing herself off the wall a little. "To think that Jin would evolve into a Blighter."
"H-Hey!" the thief reacted with a harsh whisper. "He freaking slaughtered them! Without us being able to detect him or hearing him!"
"Far more than the first one I witnessed," the gunslinger continued. Feeling hands grip her arms, she was shaken a little. Focusing on who did that, Rogue looked disturbed.
"Earth to bonehead."
"Shut up," Selbith stated and brushed her hands off.
"How can you be excited from what happened to him?"
"He has become something beyond being a mortal. And is now a being that rivals Hell Commanders and Archangels of Heaven," she explained looking like she became his fan.
"That's not him! He isn't some death machine that goes around massacring people!" Renee argued.
"His mortal self...yes...he is rather docile until you press his buttons," Ami stated then grinned at her. "Tell me...have you seen any instances of him suppressing the urge to hurt another...to the point of inflecting self harm to combat the intensity of that urge."
"..." Rogue answered with giving a blank look. Stopping herself from answering and thinking, a couple of moments came to mind. Suppressing her head shaking side to side, she tried answering as normal as possible.
"...no..."
"Don't lie to me Renee," the gunslinger commented and leaned closer to her face. "You know...you have seen...you've witness him bleed...especially in the proximity of your mate."
"..." the junior replied with crossing her arms over her chest. Scowling at her, Selbith smirked and crossed her arms over her chest.
"You know I am right."
"Shut up! I don't care," she stated irritated. Walking away from Ami and heading toward the stairs, there were following footsteps.
"Decided to stop being scared?"
"Keep going bonehead and I'll ram this knife in that thick skull of yours," Rogue threatened and climbed the stairs.
"Heh heh heh...that sounds more like you...imbecile," Selbith mocked and went up the steps.
"Alright...let's start there and see where it leads to," Rodger stated.
Both Bill and John nodded their heads and went to their stations. Hearing everyone trickling back to their work space at the end of the break, the lead programmer made a general announcement. Informing about the change of plans, all the workers were in favor of the change. A couple offered a few nuances that they found that appeared to be open holes in the game. To their belief, they pushed a possibility of those openings as being created as extraction points.
"That sounds like something we can work with," Rodger said with a nod. "John and Bill will be the leads in their roles. Monitors go to Bill and report any possible gateways to either get players out of the other realms or a way to escape E.D.E. Coders go to John and complete tasks he gives out for either creating extraction points or pathways to get players to safety."
"As a result of this change of plan, the virus corruption rate will increase from us not containing it and fixing bugs created. So time is of the essence. Until Adam gets here and gives a different direction, we will continue with this," he continued. Looking around the room, everyone gave nods.
"I know we have been grinding on this since this morning...if we can't get a breakthrough, we run the risk of endangering players more than they already are."
"Everyone know where they are going?"
"Yeah/Uh-huh/Yes/Yup," the employees replied. Seeing the lead programmer nod, he turned and nodded to Bill and John. With them nodding, the new operation commenced.
Reaching to the top of the stairs, both Rogue and Selbith peered around the wall cautiously. Seeing that the lights were on, they could see further down the room they entered. Appearing as an office space, there were sprays of crimson haphazardly on the walls. Looking at the floor, there were a couple of guards that were ripped to pieces gruesomely. Though Ami was fascinated by it, Renee cringed her face in disgust.
"Looks like the footsteps lead out to the main factory floor," the gunslinger pointed out quietly.
Seeing the other nod, both walked slowly to the access door. Seeing it smeared with bloody handprints, the knob was stained heavily. About to reach for it, the door slowly opened by itself without a sound. Stopping pass 45 degrees, something stopped it. Glancing down, a decapitated head was the door stop.
"How deep does his savageness go?" Ami wondered then looked at the other female teen. "Aren't you curious?"
"No. You are just sick," Renee answered. Not wanting to stay in the slaughter room, she sidestepped through the door. Selbith followed while remembering when she acted like this before. It was when she and Jin were in Pandora's Box. The memory of the battlefield and the killing of the soldiers.
'I wonder if this means we will do that together again,' she pondered with a genuine smile.