The so-called domain shattered into pieces when a first struck Hana's face, and everything returned to normal, or what was supposed to be normal.
The tall trees in the surroundings were burned to the ground, the ground head turned black from the intensity of the fire, the robot bodied prototypes were nowhere to be seen, the hatch still had, lit flames burning within while its metal parts were bright orange, as if they were going to melt soon.
Third degree burns were seen on Katline, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, Jiwoo, Charlie, Samuel, Bert, Garrick, Richard, and Bobby. Violet was doing her best to heal while drinking mana replenishing potion like water, they weren't burnt to death thanks to Violet casting barriers, mana shields, reinforcements, and strengthening spells quickly.
Since her support class type differed from a normal kind's, she didn't have resistance spells, with healing spell in its place. If she had resistance spells the current outcome could have been different, though since it had been like that from the beginning with her, it wasn't time to fret over it.
They didn't even glance at Hana, who was at fault, meaning that they trusted her enough to know that she wouldn't things like that intentionally. This was a kind of trust Hana was grateful for, but that didn't mean she wasn't feeling guilty for losing control.
It happened too quickly.
Everything happened so quickly that she hadn't even realised what she was doing except for willing for her flames to burn more and more strongly and fiercely.
And,
All these observations and thoughts took place in Hana's consciousness in matter of seconds. Which wasn't able to continue, due a fist flying at her from her right, this time she was awake enough to dodge the incoming punch.
BAM-!
A ring of wind pressure exploded when the fist came to an abrupt halt in front of her face, her gazed snapped to find the source and found Charlie in his dragonoid form with unfocused eyes gazing at her as if she was his archenemy.
STEP-!!!
SLAP-!
And, an abrupt slap resounded throughout the area. Violet, who had rushed towards them, slapped Charlie across his face, who in turn froze, before clarity returned to his unfocused eyes, which began to gaze around with a deep frown adorning his face, when he found Violet glaring him, he under stood the situation and lowered his head in shame.
"I lost control, again." Charlie muttered with a regretful and tired sigh.
FHUMP-!
Violet hugged him when she heard his sigh and ruffled his hair, kissing his neck before she pushed him back and gazed into his eyes.
"It's alright, you snapped out of it sooner this time, there is much improvement, cheer up." Violet said, sweetly.
Looking at them like that, the guilt bubbling up inside Hana got bigger and heavier, she bowed extremely and
"I'm sorry." She apologized, she knew that an apology won't fix what she had done in daze, but it was something she had to do because she made a mistake, whether she was forgiven or not is an entirely different matter.
But, instead of receiving an earful, as what one would expect at moments like this,
"..... Are you alright?" A tone filled with concern was what sounded in Hana's ears.
After a few seconds, Hana breathed heavily and stood straight, looking at them with a not understanding gaze.
"I do not know....." Hana said. The matters about the prototype had left their minds as the concern for their friend garnered the most priority, it was involuntarily and subconsciously done, but even if the situation has reversed where Hana was hurt due to them, a similar scene would have unfolded, it definitely was an heart-warming scene, if only it wasn't for the hindrance.
"....Huff, please, heal us too...." Samuel and the others, who weren't yet healed muttered, gasping for air.
"Ah, right....." Violet muttered under her breath and rushed towards the code members of the Black Rain Order.
*
A pair of hooded figures, who stood atop a tall tree, were gazing at the scene unfold at a distance, where the Gifted and the Black Rain Order were talking about their follow up plans.
"Pity. I can't believe they interfered so soon." A hooded figure muttered under his breath, which almost sounded like growling.
"T-ture. B-but, wouldn't "they" know that we are behind it? I-If "they" know, then this time, it'll be an end to our lives!" Another, rather timid, hooded figure voice his concerns.
FHIP-!
The hooded figure snapped his head to face the timid hooded figure and glared at him under the hood. His crimson blood dyed eyes glimmered with killing intent, making the timid figure shudder subtly, but the glaring hooded figure knew that the timid figure wasn't shuddering due to his killing intent.
"You are but a mere pawn. You do just as I said, just like you did before. Do not question anything, this time, I'll kill "them" before they even know what struck them!" The figure growled literally this time, yet his voice only lingered around them, no matter how loud he spoke as if some kind of strange force was holding their voices in place.
'You'll die by my hands of I put my mind into it, you dare think that you can kill "them?" they say ignorance is bliss, but I didn't think that there would be somebody with his ignorance defining his existence....' The timid figure thought inwardly and
"Heh!" Scoffed at the growling figure, who instead, gritted his teeth as his killing intent intensified. Again, the force didn't leave the strange blob-like power surrounding them, and the timid figure, who was shuddering at a mere thought of "them," stood unfazed as he faced the strong killing intent that surrounded them.
"I'm sure, he is looking at us from somewhere, laughing his a*s off." The timid figure, who trembled at the thought, commented.
Sounds of teethes grinding fell into the timid figure's ears, who grinned under his hood and shifted his attention back to the groups' discussion.
"We'll attack in a few days time." The timid figure stated, turned around and disappeared from the spot he stood. The growling figure gazed at the spot where the timid figure stood and at the groups' discussing, back and forth for a few times before disappearing with a grin and an enlightened look plastered on his face.
*
In an abandoned facility.
A young man, who seemed to be in his twenties, was standing in front of a series of monitors, the most noticeable thing about the young man was another pair of arms beneath his arms which were present like how they were supposed to be. The name he gave himself was Prototype-Z26.
Or,
Ecrirn, which was given to him by those that birthed him.
Ecrirn gazed at the rows of monitors in front of him with a frown, with Prototype-X26 standing next to him.
"Prototypes, Y7, Y12, Y16, Y19, Y24, Z1, Z15, Z19, and Z25 have been exterminated." Ecrirn muttered under his breath. As a frown flashed on his, now, young face. Though he wasn't showing it openly, he was quite dissatisfied about the fact that his creations lost,
But still,
A few losses were acceptable.
But it still left a bad taste in his mouth upon noticing that the alphabet "Z" had died, and that too at the hands of mere mortals.
"X-26! Activate "Hive Mind!"" Ecrirn, or, Prototype-Z26 commanded Prototype-X26, who nodded in response before activating hive mind as commanded. The memories of those that died at the hands of the mortals, their fighting techniques, and their ki control flashed in the minds of all 53 of them, and they could see it as if they themselves had been in the fight, and in matter of minutes, they learned those techniques, to improve themselves.
It seems like they are immortal and can grow indefinitely, doesn't it?
You are wrong if you think so.
Because, their bodies still follow the natural laws of the world and within a year or two, their bodies would begin to decay, no matter how desperately the ki circulation and life preservation takes place, and they have to go through the process of exchanging their consciousness' from one body to another would have to continue, again after reaching their time limits.
But, there were a few exceptions.....
The method of replacing consciousness was hard, much harder than Ecrirn thought, and you could say that currently, Ecrirn wasn't really "living" in the body of his prototype or anything, he was just suppressing the consciousness of the body he possessed to get adjusted to the new feeling, and if his mental strength is drained, he would wake up in his own, old body.
And that wasn't something, he, who got the taste of how he could finally achieve his dream of living as a perfect existence, liked. At this thought, Ecrirn's gaze shifted towards a certain direction, where a humanoid body with four arms was seen floating in an humongous cylinder, which had greyish liquid filling to the brim.
That body was named Prototype-Ace.
A PERFECT body for Ecrirn. If he had that body, he knew for sure that he would stand on the apex of the predators in the apocalypse. A battleground made for him to play around and get stronger indefinitely.
A body that didn't age, just like Prototype-X26. He had studied and improved with each and every new prototype he created, hence, the bitter taste when he found out that the alphabet "Z" were dying, the expectations he had on them led to a let down, so he knew that he would have to change the way he approached his enemies,
So....
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om