The Messenger of Death

-Zzzzz!

It didn't take long for Xander to catch up with the rest as they were traveling at a speed slower than the one they were using when they were journeying to the Agelong forest. Speed is one of the attributes of lightning and at full speed, Xander was almost as fast as a late-stage nascent realm cultivator.

Sara, Amelia, and the rest of the teams, all noticed the difference in Alex. The spark and streaks of pink lightning that were being emitted from his footsteps and his eyes stunned them all.

When he used the fire element they deemed it as him using his bloodline ability, but now he was using the lightning element so easily that it resonated with his movements. Now all they had going through their minds was that Alex had a very high affinity with the elements, fire, and lightning.

*Reporting results. The subjects that were scanned all have the same structures as humans. The way their bones are shaped, the muscles and organs. The only difference is that they do not possess the heart organ even when their body's anatomy has provided space for the organ. Their deformed skin and split pupils are most likely due to some kind of mutation caused by an unknown entity.

"No heart?"

['No heart? Then how are they living? Are they undead berserkers?'] Alex thought.

*Though there seems to be a vibration that matches that of a beating heart coming from each one of the subjects scanned, respectively, but it's not coming from their body. It's more like they are receiving heartbeats from an external unknown source that might be close or far away.

In conclusion, the system deems these subjects are humans that had either gone through evolution or mutation, depends on how the user chooses to recognize them. Do you wish for the system to try to track down the source of the vibration?

['Wait, humans!'] Alex was taken aback.

['An evolution? They look more like an abomination than we do.'] Al rejected the notion that they could be considered evolution.

['True. What could have caused their mutation? And why do they need to capture us, to ask for our help?'] Lex reasoned.

['No that would be too naïve. Now I find it very strange that the only animals that were seen from the moment we entered this forest till now, were birds. Animals that could fly, apart from that – even a squirrel wasn't spotted.'] Xander voiced his opinion.

['We are most likely to be what they consider as food.'] Alex uttered.

"Yes," Xander replied to the system.

"Ouch!" Drake cried out.

Due to their limited sight, some of them had been running into braches and tripping on the roots of trees, some had almost fully hugged the trees. Nevertheless, they still had to continue to make a break for the exit.

"It's so damn hard to see!" He complained.

-Blleee!!!

One of the berserkers had almost caught up with them. The one that had almost grabbed Xander.

"If my hypothesis is on point then that berserker should be as strong as you are now Sara, if not stronger. We should avoid killing any of them." Xander mentioned.

"It might be as strong as a late-stage disaster realm cultivator now, but it is not as fa-."

"Goddammit Lenny, shut the f*ck up, your optimism is a freaking jinx here so don't complete what you were about to say." Amelia snapped at him.

"The hell Amelia, I was only trying to say that the berserker is not as fast as us."

"Don't!!"

Amelia, drake, and Emma shouted at the same time. They too believed that Lenny was a jinx.

-Bllee!!

The berserker increased its speed and caught up with Emma, it had a wicked grin on its face as it lunges itself at her.

-Bam!

As if Xander had been waiting and expecting it to catch up, he hurled a kick at its stomach catching it off guard and sending the berserker flying backward.

"That's for the punch you gifted me earlier," Xander mentioned and looked at Lenny. "Please keep your jinxing abilities to yourself and keep your opinions to your mind as well. You are too unlucky to have around."

['I thought you didn't believe in superstitions, Xander.'] Al asked.

['And I still don't. I just think that he needs to keep his mouth shut.']

Before the berserker crashed on the ground, it maneuvered its body and made a backflip, landing on its feet. Xander's kick had done nothing but sent the berserker flying, it wasn't hurt by him.

-Bllee!!

"You. Are. Pest!!" It was outraged by Xander now.

['Coming from the person that is chasing after us for reasons we don't know. I think it needs a dictionary to figure out what a pest means.'] Al stated.

['How do we restrain these berserkers?'] Alex wondered.

['How about traps? But we don't have the time or luxury to set that up.'] Lex thought.

['Traps?'] Alex repeated.

['Traps?'] Al did the same.

['Traps?'] Xander joined in.

Xander looked behind him and saw that the berserker was still after them, but it was chasing them from a safe distance.

['It is capable of catching up if it wants, but why hasn't it done that? Is it waiting for us to get tired?'] Xander thought.

A few seconds later…

['Traps!!!'] Alex and his alter chorused.

"Everyone be careful. Most likely there are traps laid down in this forest. The berserker can catch up if it wants to, but why hasn't it? Why is it still chasing after us from a safe distance? It might be leading us into a trap or waiting for us to get tired. Either way, we have to stay at maximum alert." Xander cautioned.

['We need to find a way to restrain the berserkers so that we can concentrate on heading to the place where the system had found energy radiating from.'] Alex had started to get impatient.

"How do we restrain the berserker?" Xander thought out loud.

*System has a suggestion. Would the user like to know the system's suggestion?

"Yes."

*Previously, when the user kicked the creature. The spark of electricity that had been emanating from the user, shocked the cells of the creature and put them in a momentary pause. In other words, with a higher voltage of electricity, the creature could be restrained for a certain period.

['So that's why it hasn't approached us again, it's being wary of Xander's lightning'] Lex said.

Xander smiled and chuckled. "This is what I'm talking about."

"And what is it that you are talking about?" Adrian questioned with a confused look on his face.

"You can guys can go on ahead. I'll stay behind and restrain the berserker, although the possibility of traps being set has reduced, you still need to be careful on your way out."

"Huh, why? Alex are trying to sacrifice yourself for us?" Amelia asked. "At least your guilty conscience still works. Suit yourself, no one is going to try and stop you from committing suicide." She added.

Xander only smirked at her, he wasn't the type to participate in pointless bickering. He started to slow down and so did Camron and Sara.

"What are you doing?" Xander questioned the siblings.

"Alex do you really have a way to restrain them?" Camron wasn't concerned that Alex wanted to sacrifice himself, even if he had a protector in the shadows, Camron still didn't feel good leaving his friend behind.

"Yes, I do."

"Then how about you let us help you with it," Sara suggested.

"No, the two of you will only be a nuisance to my plans."

"If it wasn't for your protector in the shadows I wouldn't agree to this reckless suggestion of yours. Next time I wouldn't agree to leave you behind." Camron was angry, but not at his friend, at his uselessness and weakness.

['I guess the royalty lie has its ups and downs.'] Alex stated.

Nonetheless, Xander was touched by his concern. It brought an innocent smile to his lips. "Don't worry, I won't do anything detrimental to my safety. Now go on."

Just as he urged them to go ahead, the number of lightning streaks that were being emitted from his eyes increased. He stopped in his tracks and watched the two siblings rush to catch up with the rest of the team.

-Zzzzz!!

Pink lightning slowly started to dance around Xander, from his head to his toes.

-Shh!

The berserker had stopped in its tracks too, it looked at Xander with caution in its eyes.

"Now don't tell me that you are scared of a little electricity?" Xander chuckled as he mocked it.

-Growl!!

The berserker showed its sharp sets of canine and growled. It was about to charge forward when it was stopped by a streak of lightning the size of an adult's arm, that traveled from where Xander was to a tree that was beside the berserker.

-Boom!!

The lightning struck the tree and left a huge, burnt scar on the tree. Smoke started to rise, as a little fire caused by the lightning had slowly started to burn the tree.

"My advice would be for you not to move, yet." Xander flashed a smirk at the berserker.

['Why did you miss? put the damn thing to sleep!!'] Alex complained.

"It's not nice to start a meal without the rest being present is it?"

-Zzzzz!!!

The sound of the lightning started to increase, it got louder and louder. Xander had been charging himself up, increasing the voltage contained in his lightning.

['I'll put 50% of my strength in this attack. It should be able to knock them out for at least 20 minutes. We just need to wait for the rest of the berserkers to arrive.']

He stared at the berserker that had been standing there looking at him. It planned to also wait for reinforcement so that it could use them as shields and get by Xander.

-Bllee!!

The reinforcements were almost there, the sound of their shriek could be heard by Xander.

The berserker that had been there with him cocked its head to the side and said;

"Pest."

Right at that moment the reinforcement arrived and charged at Xander without thinking twice.

"Welcome," Xander uttered.

-Zzzzz!!!