Ascenders Rift

At the center of a series of islands, the main island for the Body Shifters headquarters rested at ease as if unaware of the startling changes that recently occurred around them. Yet, that was but an illusion, as if one peered at the depths of this seemingly ordinary landmass, they would feel a tense atmosphere.

At this moment, a squad of humanoid Body Shifters was patrolling the woods of the surface, each of which wore combat suits with grim faces.

"Hey, what do you make of the recent rumors?"

"Che! They sound like shit if you ask me, how can humans even grow to such an extent that a small team like that can best a single base, much less the other hideaway? If anything, I think it's likely those High Elders banding together to plot something."

"Like what?" One of the body shifters asked curiously.

The other looked around carefully before he replied in a whispering tone, "Well, I've heard strange stories as of late; they say that the Generation Project had been usurped by that ancient awakened one."

"Huh? You're kidding me, right? Are you talking about Valoz? How's that even possible? Even if he's that character, he's only recently awakened and his strength is nothing compared to its standard in the Primal Ages. Those elders would rather die than hand over such a thing to him..."

"Well, that's what I've heard, as for those elders, I hear that they've all encountered---"

One o the body shifters was about to say something, but the strongest amongst their group glanced at them and spoke, "That's enough chatter! Focus on your duties, or I'll enforce punishment for such gossip."

"Yes, captain!" The other Body Shifters replied in unison as they doubled their efforts in surveillance.

The captain shook his head at this, he once more inspected the area and was about to direct the squad towards the different location, but suddenly, his eyes widened as he saw a familiar individual walking towards them while limping.

'This... it's High Elder Klaz! Isn't this fellow the leader of the nearest base? Who could injure him to such a state?' The captain thought in alarm while observing the limping figure that carried a large number of grievous wounds.

The others also shared similar thoughts when they saw him. They didn't even feel an aura from his body as if he was near the point of death.

"Yo.... you fools, don't just stand there! Hurry and escort me to the base commanders, I... I don't have long left!" High Elder Klaz said in a weak but commanding tone.

The captain soon got back to his senses, he hurried and commanded, "What are you idiots doing? Hurry and escort the elder to the command room, forget about scouting and leave it to me!"

The other Body Shifters that were hesitant nodded their heads and replied, "Yes, sir."

Following their words, they hurried over to High Elder Klaz and grasped two of his many arms as they quickly carried him towards the mountain area. Soon, they had arrived before a rocky wall that had abruptly opened to reveal a descending stairway.

While being escorted down the stairs, High Elder Klaz would occasionally touch the walls on both sides with his fingers, but those escorting him gave him odd looks before returning to normal. They didn't dare to question the action of a High Elder.

After traveling down pass a series of high-security checkpoints guarded by powerful Body Shifters, they had arrived at the base level of the entire base.

Here, one would see many underground facilities guarded by experts of level 10 and above, each wearing helmets and combat suits. Their genetic blood energies were rich and could cause many other lifeforms to falter.

By now, the two scouts had guided High Elder Klaz towards one of the rooms, an area that was well sectioned off from the others, showing its importance.

After a series of notifications and verification procedures, the mechanical door opened, showing a path that led towards a far-off entrance connected to a new room.

High Elder Klaz nodded at this as he glanced at the two Body Shifters and spoke, "You...you've done well, I'll make it on my own from this point onward, return to your stations."

The two Body Shifters made a court bow at those words as they spoke, "We thank the High Elder for his praise."

After saying those words, the duo then left the path as the automatic door behind High Elder Klaz closed tightly. Now, Klaz stared at the path before him with a strange glint in his lifeless looing eyes as he continued to walk forward.

While moving, he occasionally patted the walls with his fingers, pressing tightly before continuing forward as if nothing happened. Eventually, he arrived before the large door and halted for a moment before he opened it.

With hardly any sound, the door finally opened in full, revealing the scene of a large room with a series podiums. Looking at them, one would see that three important-looking individuals sitting behind them as they conversed in angry tones.

"That bastard has almost fused with the Generation Project, how can we let this happen? Must we stand by and allow that ancient to take what we fight so hard to preserve for the current generation? I hate it, Elder Liz, you think the same, don't you?" A bulky High Elder said with a bald head and a giant spike at its center, he stared at a female High Elder that sat opposite to him, garbed in a battle suit and a helmet.

"Elder Hornz, Valoz has always been rumored as a greedy ancient, its very reason we had awakened him much later than planned. I still didn't think he would be able to influence us, but who would have thought that Pira would take his side. Even if we do go, we can't change anything, not since after she recovered her past strength," High Elder Liz said she slammed her podium, causing the room to shake.

High Elder Hornz shook his head before he glanced at the third High Elder, a strange-looking figure with a large skull garbed robes as he spoke, "Elder Psy, what do you think?"

High Elder Psy frowned as he thought for a moment, but before he could give a reply, he soon noticed that someone was watching them.

"Huh? Is that you, Klaz? When did you get... hmm?" Elder Psy said he was about to greet Klaz, but he soon felt something was off using his observant abilities.

Thoroughly inspecting him, one would notice that Klaz was in no way different from a walking corpse as there were no signs of life from his body.

"This... what's going on here? Who the hell are you, and what have you done with Klaz?" High Elder Psy exclaimed in anger, his murderous spirit rising as his body glowed in multi-colored lights, causing many scattered objects to levitate.

High Elder Hornz and High Elder Liz also exploded with towering genetic blood energies. Their eyes shone with murderous intent as they knew full well of High Elder Psy senses and didn't misjudge it by even a tiny bit.

"Intruder, show yourself!" They both shouted with sinister glowing eyes.

After a short while of silence, a light chuckle resounded as the corpse of High Elder Klaz fell to the ground as if it were nothing more than a puppet controlled by an unknown force.

Eventually, the space behind the corpse shone like a mirror covered something before it returned to normal, revealing a human garbed in high-grade fantasy-style armor.

"Your senses are quite good, but even if you've discovered me now, its' already too late."

Evan said with a look of confidence in his eyes; he found High Elder Psy to be a bit interesting.

'A human... so that rumor was true...' The High Elders thought with grim looks on their faces.

High Elder Psy stared at Evan as he spoke coldly, "Human, you truly are gifted, but similarly foolish, have you come to face us by yourself? Do you think that we are as weak as those outside elders?"

Evan chuckled at this with a sharp glint in his eyes when he replied, "Of course, I expect that you're each quite strong in your own right. If I do fight you, I might need to get a little serious to destroy your combined efforts, but sadly for you, I didn't come here to fight in such a battle."

"Huh? Insolent human, you overestimate your capabilities!" Both Hornz and Liz said as they jumped from their platforms and landed onto the ground, their blood genetic energies erupting in full, causing the floor to crack.

High Elder Psy watched this in silence; he was the only one that didn't make a move as he observed each of Evan's actions in detail; for some reason, he even had a bad feeling.

'This human, from where does he get his confidence?'

High Elder Psy thought for a while, but still couldn't get an answer; Evan shook his head at this and smirked while he spoke over the communication device, "Are you guys ready?"

"All set!" The voice of Joe, Layla, and the others said in reply.

Evan smiled and then spoke in an icy tone that caused a chill to rise in the entire room, "Good, then let's give them a light show."

Following those words, a barrier formed around Evan's body as he looked at the elders before him with mock.

High Elder Liz and Hornz had puzzled looks, but as if High Elder Psy detected something, his face sunk as he shouted, "Not good!"

He wanted to say something, but before he could do so, a bright light flashed that soon after shrouded all things.

***

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