I sprinted across the scorched fields, barely registering the chaos around me as anything more than a distorted blur of destruction. Every attack that flew my way simply passed through my intangible form, like I wasn’t even there. The landscape was unrecognizable. Fires burned unchecked, their embers dancing against the thick plumes of smoke curling into the sky. The ground was torn apart, craters and wreckage littering every inch of space as if hell itself had been unleashed.


    And everywhere I looked—


    It was all Vinico.


    His duplicates swarmed the battlefield like an unstoppable plague of identical bodies, filling every empty space with wave after wave of himself. He was everywhere. Fighting. Flanking. Overwhelming. His numbers were in the thousands now—maybe more.


    I scratched my head, stunned. What was his limit? Vinico alone had taken care of ninety percent of the villains.


    Truly a one-man army.


    I shook my head, both in awe and disbelief. For a fleeting second, I considered something insane—Jumping on one of his clones and riding it to the warehouse entrance. But Vinico might not appreciate being used as personal transportation, so I reluctantly curbed the thought.


    From the corner of my eye, I noticed Gina catching up to me. She was running at full speed, her expression focused. She was wearing a black nylon suit and her hood was like a monster mouth with red teeths covering half her head and face. A half hero costume, then.


    Yet, something clicked in my mind. I hadn’t felt any déjà vu yet.


    Which meant—


    She hadn’t rewound time at all.


    But another thought struck me as I watched her move effortlessly through the wreckage. Her meta nature had to have limitations. Surely, she couldn’t rewind the entire universe back ten seconds. It had to be something localized. Maybe just her immediate surroundings. It was a fascinating thought, but there was no time to dwell on it. Gina flashed me a grin, carefree and unbothered, as if she were actually enjoying herself.


    I stared, baffled. Was she mental? She wasn’t even looking forward.


    "When were you able to phase through things?" she shouted, curiosity in her voice.


    “What?” I shouted back, unable to hear her clearly over the battlefield.


    And then—


    In the blink of an eye—


    Everything changed.


    A missile slammed into her.


    Direct hit. She didn’t dodge. Didn’t react.


    Didn’t even get a last word in. One second, she was there. The next—She was gone.


    Her body disintegrated instantly. Chunks of flesh and blood sprayed into the air, painting the ground, the debris, even me. Some of her landed on me.


    I froze, my thoughts blank, my body numb. Did she just fucking die? Just like that? I couldn’t even process it. She had been talking to me—And then, she had been blown apart. Not even a scream. Not even a moment of struggle.


    Another projectile screamed toward me, closing in, but it phased harmlessly through my intangible body, detonating behind me, sending dirt and shrapnel into the air. But I was still processing her death.


    I felt…


    I felt a little sad.


    Well…


    That sucked.


    Then, suddenly, the world lurched. That strange, familiar sensation of déjà vu flooded my senses, the hairs on my arms standing on end as time was wrenched backward with almost unbearable force. Everything reversed. The dials of reality spun backward, undoing moments that had just been carved into existence.


    The explosion—gone.


    The blood—rewound.


    The death that should’ve been permanent—never happened.


    I snapped back into my body, suddenly a hundred meters away from where I had been. My mind reeled from the jolt, the world still spinning around me as I adjusted to the shift. And there she was. Gina. Alive. Smirking. Like nothing had happened. Like she hadn’t just exploded a second ago. Like she hadn’t just died. I gaped at her. Then my gaze snapped forward, and there it was—the projectile streaking toward her once again.


    The same moment. The same attack.


    But this time, Gina abruptly changed course, veering sharply to the side. I sucked in a deep breath and followed suit, dodging the missile entirely.


    Her meta nature truly worked in mysterious ways. I couldn’t help but marvel. She must have died before, perhaps even a lot to not even flinch.


    And yet…I couldn’t shake the thought: What kind of person grins moments before their own death, even knowing they’ll come back?


    Maybe Gina was mental after all.


    I locked onto the man who had fired at me, dashing toward him before he could react. His panic was palpable as he stumbled back, eyes darting wildly. In sheer desperation, he shoved his blaster against my chest and pulled the trigger. The shot fired. Passed through me. Like I wasn’t even there. His expression twisted in horror as I tilted my head slightly, watching the realization set in.


    He couldn’t hurt me, but I could.


    My hands phased through his chest, slipping inside his body as if I were a ghost entering a shell. His heartbeat slammed against my palm, frantic, terrified. I wrapped my fingers around the wildly pulsing organ. He gasped. Twitched. His knees buckled.


    Then, my hands became tangible again.


    And squeezed.


    His heart burst like overripe fruit, a sickening squelch echoing in the air. His mouth opened in a silent scream, body spasming uncontrollably before he collapsed.


    As my body turned tangible again, a horrendous smell hit me like a wall. It was vile—so pungent, so dead, that I couldn’t stop myself from retching. “What kind of meta nature is that?” I spat, gagging. The stench reeked of death and decay, almost as if his body had weaponized rot itself.


    Shaking it off, I glanced upward. The warehouse door wasn’t far now. I dashed toward another man perched atop a nearby jeep, firing desperately. The moment he saw me coming, unscathed and relentless, his composure cracked. He banged frantically on the jeep’s window, shouting at the driver to get moving. But before they could make their escape, a sleek, razor-sharp disc sliced clean through the gunner’s neck. Blood sprayed as his lifeless body slumped over. From the other side, Alex was already moving. Fast. Blindingly fast. Before the driver could slam his foot on the pedal, Alex crashed into the jeep like a human battering ram, a force of nature wrapped in golden air. The impact was cataclysmic. The reinforced military vehicle didn’t just flip—it was sent end over end, tumbling like a wrecking ball across the battlefield. Metal screamed. Glass shattered.


    By the time it came to a stop, both the driver and gunner were unequivocally dead.


    Alex grinned, brushing off the dust as if he hadn’t just flattened a vehicle with his bare hands.


    He glanced at me. “Warehouse’s in sight,” he said, cracking his knuckles. “Ready to finish this?”


    I exhaled, shaking off the last remnants of unease.


    One by one, we regrouped in front of the warehouse door. The massive metal structure loomed over us, solid and imposing.


    The sky was covered in dark clouds, heavy and looming, as if the rain would come any moment now. We stood there in silence, catching our breath. The air around us felt strange, heavier somehow, with an eerie stillness that made my skin crawl. There was something about this place—the darkness seemed to gather unnaturally around the warehouse, clinging to it like it didn’t want to let go. We could all feel it in our bodies.


    The wind howled softly through the fields, the only sound breaking the silence, making the moment feel even more unsettling. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    It wasn’t just quiet—it was the kind of quiet that gets under your skin, the kind that makes you second-guess everything. It felt like we were being watched, even though there was no one in sight.


    Henry broke the silence first, his voice barely above a whisper. “What do you think is inside?”


    He looked at Lore, whose calculating gaze was fixed on the door. If anyone could hazard a guess, it would be her, but she shook her head, her breath still uneven. “Your guess is as good as mine,” she said, sounding drained. Her usual sharpness was dulled. I wondered if she had pushed her meta nature too far earlier. However, the gang members'' numbers had exceeded our original expectations by many folds.


    From the corner of my eye, I caught Vinico sneaking glances at me.


    His clones were still scattered across the battlefield, scouring the area for anything that might give us any info on what was going on here. When I met his gaze, he looked away quickly, his discomfort evident. Odd, but it was not the right time to dwell on it.


    Lore’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Vinico, anything?” she asked.


    He paused, his face grim as he processed the information his clones had gathered. “A few dead bodies,” he said, his voice low. “Mostly women. They were holed up in some of the houses nearby. Looks like the gang… kidnapped them, used them, then killed them.”


    A heavy silence settled over the group. Everyone’s expressions darkened, a mix of anger and disgust flashing across their faces. If there had been even a shred of sympathy for these gang members, it vanished in that moment. Whatever hesitation anyone might have felt about killing them was gone. They weren’t just criminals—they were monsters.


    Killing them was justice. A cleansing of filth.


    “Let’s get into position,” I said, breaking the stalemate.


    I turned to Alex, who was already clenching his fists, his knuckles cracking audibly. “Think you can break it down? Whatever is inside shouldn’t have any effect on you.”


    He didn’t hesitate, nodding. “Easily,” he said, his tone confident but not cocky.


    If there was one person you could rely on to get something like this done, it was Alex.


    We moved to the sides of the massive front door, each of us taking cover behind whatever solid surface we could find. The main door was thick—reinforced steel, by the looks of it. It wasn’t going to go down easily, but Alex was more than capable of dealing with it.


    He approached it with deliberate steps, rolling his shoulders as if warming up. Then he took a deep breath, his muscles tensing as his golden aura flared around him, faint but undeniable. He struck the door with a thunderous blow, the impact sending a deep reverberation through the ground beneath us. The steel groaned and dented inward. But it held firm.


    “Damn,” Alex muttered, shaking out his hand like he was loosening it up. He glanced over his shoulder at me, “Quite thicker than I thought.”


    I didn’t reply immediately, my eyes scanning our surroundings, searching for any signs of movement.


    “Hit it again,” I said evenly. “Whatever’s inside, it’s not expecting you.”


    Alex grinned, his confidence returning. “One more should do it.”


    He stepped back slightly, adjusting his stance, then lunged forward with all his strength. This time, the blow was devastating. The door buckled under the force, its reinforced hinges snapping as it caved inward with a deafening crash. A thick cloud of dust and debris billowed outward, momentarily blinding us.


    Strangely, there was no movement from inside when the door was blasted open, as if the entire warehouse was abandoned. It felt wrong—too quiet, too still.


    Alex motioned for us to follow, and we moved cautiously into the darkened space.


    The air inside was thick and suffocating, pressing against us like a physical weight. And the smell…A sickly, musty scent clung to the air. Rot. Decay. Stagnant blood. It coiled around us like an invisible shroud, sticking to our clothes, our skin, our lungs.


    Lore’s voice was a low murmur. “Stay close.”


    We spread out slowly, flashlights cutting through the gloom. The beams revealed unsettling details that made the place feel even more sinister with every step. The warehouse was devoid of life. But the absence of people only made it feel worse. The concrete floor was streaked with dark, viscous stains—some old, long dried, others fresh, still glistening under the glow of our lights. Metal tables stood in chaotic disarray—some overturned, others lined with surgical instruments, their edges crusted with dried blood. I stepped closer to one, my breath calm as I took in the details.


    Not just surgical tools. Restraints. Straps and cuffs, stained and frayed, as if something had fought against them.


    Vinico’s voice was low, almost mechanical. “This wasn’t just an execution site.”


    I didn’t have to ask what he meant. It was clear as day.


    People had been experimented on here.


    My flashlight flickered across the far corner. And then it stopped at a large cage sitting ominously. Not empty. But broken. The thick steel bars were warped and twisted outward, like something had forced its way free. Something inhumanly strong. Scattered across the floor were the remains of animals, their bodies decaying and mangled beyond recognition. Interspersed among them were human corpses, grotesquely misshapen, half-transformed into forms that defied nature. Their features stretched and warped as if mid-mutation, leaving them caught somewhere between human and something else entirely.


    Whatever had happened here wasn’t just inhumane—it was horrifying.


    The work of a meta-biologist, I suspected.


    A scientist who played god.


    “What the hell…” Henry whispered, his voice trembling as he scanned the room.


    Vinico’s duplicates fanned out, sweeping the area with an eerie efficiency. “No heat signatures so far,” one of his clones called out. “It seems deserted.”


    But it wasn’t just deserted—it felt abandoned in a hurry, as though whoever had been here left the scene incomplete.


    Alex reached a table and picked up a jar filled with a sickly yellow fluid. Floating inside was a malformed creature, its grotesque body a disturbing blend of human and animal features. The thing’s face was vaguely humanoid, but its eyes were unnaturally wide, its mouth stretched too far to accommodate jagged teeth. Its arms ended in twisted, clawed hands.


    “Jesus,” Alex muttered, his voice barely audible.


    He set the jar down carefully, as if even touching it felt wrong. His usual confidence had been replaced with something else. Something close to fear.


    Lore knelt beside a workstation.. She seemed to find some scattered pages of notes.


    Her eyes narrowed as she scanned them, then she murmured, “Experiment logs.”


    “They were mixing human and animal DNA… trying to create hybrids.”


    Gina gagged audibly. “Why? Who would even think of doing something like this?”


    “They weren’t just thinking,” Lore said grimly, holding up a photo.


    It depicted a monstrous hybrid mid-transformation, its body distorting violently. “They were succeeding.”


    Vinico’s clones continued exploring, their collective voice echoing through the warehouse. “The cages weren’t meant to hold animals,” one clone said, pointing at another reinforced cell lined with claw marks. “This must be to hold something far bigger.”


    Suddenly, Vinico’s voice was drowned out by the sound of something crashing down from above.


    It fell from the roof with a bone-rattling thud, its glowing red eyes slicing through the darkness like twin embers.


    The warehouse shuddered under the impact. The creature’s body was covered in thick, matted hair, its fur wet and clumped, like it had been drenched in something sickly and viscous. At first glance, it resembled a wolf, but its proportions were grotesque. Its stomach was caved in, sunken like something had hollowed it out from within. Yet, its massive chest heaved violently, its breathing erratic, as if its entire existence was fueled by suffering.


    Then, It moved. Faster than my eyes could catch up. In the blink of an eye, it ripped through Vinico’s duplicates, its elongated clawed limbs slicing through them with a ferocity that made the air tremble. Dozens of them were erased in an instant. Their bodies burst into nothingness, but the sheer efficiency of the slaughter made it clear—Had those been real people, they wouldn’t have stood a chance.


    Finally, I saw its face. Its skin was split down the middle, like someone had tried to peel it open, revealing a gaping maw lined with jagged, misaligned teeth. Thick, pulsating veins bulged beneath its distorted flesh, and bones jutted out from its joints at unnatural angles, turning its entire form into a weaponized horror.


    What kind of monstrosity is this? I wondered, my mind racing.


    That familiar sensation hit me.


    A wave of déjà vu slammed into my skull, making the world reel backward.


    Gina had died.


    Again.


    This time, the moment Gina sensed danger, she reacted immediately. With no hesitation, she shoved Alex forward as the bloody abomination dropped down again. The impact rattled the ground, the warehouse groaning under the force. But Alex, unlike the rest of us, he wasn’t fragile. His body absorbed the force effortlessly, his muscles coiling with inhuman precision.


    The air of invincibility surrounding him flared, and before the creature could react, Alex’s fist connected with a devastating blow.


    The impact was instantaneous and brutal.


    The creature’s entire body whipped backward, slamming into the concrete wall with a sickening crunch. The entire warehouse trembled as the crack spread across the surface like a spiderweb, stretching out in every direction.


    “What the fuck was that?” Alex demanded, gripping his glowing metal rods tightly as he readied for another strike.


    We immediately snapped to attention, forming a tight circle, each of us scanning the darkness for movement.


    Whatever this thing was, there might be more of them hiding in the warehouse.


    “Movement,” one of Vinico’s clones called sharply. “The thing is still alive.”


    A low, guttural growl echoed from the shadows, sending a chill down our spines. The sound of something massive shifting in the darkness was accompanied by heavy, deliberate footsteps.


    There were two of them.


    The second one stepped—or rather, dragged itself—out of the shadows. It dwarfed the first creature, which was already towering at eight feet tall. But this one… this monstrosity didn’t even resemble the wolf-like abomination. No, its grotesque form was something else entirely.


    “What the fuck?” We all exclaimed, “what is that?”


    “What were these people trying to make?”


    It reminded me of the bloody demon rats Jade and I had fought in the train tunnels. Except this thing was far worse. It had no skin left on its body—just an amalgamation of flesh and exposed bone, a mangled heap of body parts melded together. Human faces, twisted and distorted, were embedded in the mass, their mouths frozen in silent screams. It rolled across the floor like a living hill of flesh, moving not on legs, but on dozens of long, grotesque arms that shifted unnaturally around its body. It was as if it defied the laws of physics entirely. But then again, these creatures weren’t bound by physical laws. They were products of meta nature, a perversion of science and nature combined.


    Much to our surprise, the flesh-mountain monster didn’t attack. Instead, it let out a low, pitiful growl.


    And that’s when it hit us—the thing still had some semblance of human consciousness trapped inside. This… thing… was likely made from the very people who had been abducted. Their bodies weren’t just killed—they were melted together, fused into this horrifying monstrosity without dying. They were trapped in this nightmare, their human consciousness was still lingering within the mountain of flesh. The cruelty required to do something like this to living beings was unimaginable. Even for someone like me, who had seen my fair share of horror, this was different.


    This felt beyond human.