“Update me on the status of the project,” Vikram called out as he slowly approached one of the tables holding a corpse upon its surface.

“Executive Arghaust! Uh- sir, everything is proceeding as planned,” one of the lab techs quickly replied.

“Heh, that is good,” he murmured in response, stopping just before one of the tables, “The Dire Project is presenting us with great fruit. It won’t be long until we can begin our other experiments for the greater forces.”

-

The group of five maintained their presence, peaking around the corner of the systems. Sora was the first to pull his head back, followed then by Britt and Caldori, with Rusty being fourth.

“Alright, so-” Sora whispered, “We should probably report in to the General.”

“How are we going to do that?” Caldori questioned, “We’re way below ground and there is all kinds of interference.”

“Should one of us try and get back out do you think?”

“No Britt, that’s stupid, the chances of being caught are pretty damn high. Just use one of your stick gizmos and hack their systems when they aren’t looking,” Rusty growled.

Elise’s eyes narrowed as she stared out. Far in the background of the room stood a tall archway, dozens of symbols carved right into the stone. Panels and lights hung all around, platforms connected to it with wires taboot.

“I’m saying we need to head up top and report in, it would be safe. There’s too much going on here to-”

“Everyone be quiet,” Elise hissed.

“What is it?”

“Someone’s coming.”

Vikram turned his body a full ninety degrees towards another doorway. Two figures moved through the doorway first, both drenched in black with vivid outlines, the only thing visible being a red star pattern upon whatever garments they wore.

Her eyes went big.

The two figures moved into the light, both in long robes of black flashing that pattern. The first moved in, of dirty blond hair long and flowing before the visored mask covering their face- a simple structure of light gray and a large red crescent visor for both eyes. For the other they possessed rigid black hair with a far more stunning mask- a jester mask. A four point star held over the right eye which remained invisible, then to the left a seven sided star revealing a half closed glowing sapphire eye. A smile was carved into the second’s mask, which itself was split in half with a dark gray to the right and a gold to the left.

The four behind Elise poked their own heads out to grant observation of the two.

“Those two are Hive,” Sora mumbled.

Rusty and Britt both looked ahead with shaken eyes, stunned in silence. Elise glanced back, then looked ahead, “Are they Phantoms? Or are they lower in rank?”

“Hard to tell,” Caldori murmured, “I don’t think they are. Judging by the style of robe… and the fact that the Dark Star isn’t upon them, I’d say they are probably Sepcters.”

“Which means that a Phantom could be nearby-”

“Speak of the devil,” Elise growled, “There’s a third one approaching.”

A third figure had begun to approach from the darkness behind the two masked goons, and unlike them a single eye was visible the entire time- a golden sort of amber. Their foot steps echoed as they approached, soon passing from shadows into the light. Elise’s hands quivered, her whole back going stiff. Beside her were gasps, then a shove from a retreating Sora.

“B-but that’s-!”

A trench coat of black and red stars, fur at the tail, fur at the cuffs of the sleeves, and then a gray fur neckband right around the head. Long flowing brown hair with a mild spike to the front, cut short behind- the jacket itself appearing to be sewn up at the front with a zipper amidst the stitching pattern.

“Why- why is he here?” Britt mumbled.

“This- this is not good,” Rusty growled.

“No, it’s not. Shit- retreating might not even be an option with him here,” Elise said with a shake.

“Ah,” Vikram called, “Phantom Lord Leon Sycamore- I am honored.”

Vikram and the Ghouls beside him immediately bowed as Leon strolled out of the darkness with both Specters to his lead.

“I- I must admit I was surprised to hear that you were coming here in person-” Vikram choked out.

“Why should it be that surprising? As the head of the Hive, I have a duty to check in on all aspects of our operation. You’ll do well to learn this, Vikram Arghaust,” he coldly replied.

-

Silence drifted among the five, all ducked far back behind the systems at that point. Sora’s eyes were huge, shaking viciously, his breath increasing rapidly to the point of hyperventilation nearly. Rusty and Britt both sat in silence, their eyes down to their side. Caldori and Elise both looked down with half narrowed gazes, the latter of whom appeared to be lost in thought.

“This is bad,” Caldori whimpered, “I-I never thought Leon would be here, no one could have predicted that.”

“Is… is he really that powerful?” Britt murmured.

“He is the student of Cortez, noted as the Hive’s one-man-army who can fight for days and days on end. His actual strength is unknown but he destroyed General Ezdorth at the Battle of Nospheross supposedly with less than minimal power.”

-

“So Lord Sycamore uh- how can I be of service?”

Leon held his approach near the edge of the holotable, the two in masks moving back behind him, “Exactly how many of your new Dires are ready for deployment?”

“Er- well, from this facility we have about twenty. The uh- the humans of this world are not that good for material.”

“Pity, I would have thought someone of your caliber would have figured that out,” Leon stated, observing as Vikram looked away with a swell of rage spreading across his face, “No matter. I want to know what you have in total. The resistance on Frostosis is getting rather… intense. The South is becoming rather tiresome.”

“Ah I see I see. You don’t need to worry- Lord Arkaza has already spoken to me about how to go about handling Frostosis and we are right on track.”

“Has he now?”

“Yes, he wants to prove our use and position to you Dharkanians in order to properly defeat the Tribe. We have multiple facilities now as you know for experimentation. The only thing is is that I need other species to work on before long, better species. As I said, these humans are fragile and nearly worthless for anything beyond simple grunt work.”

“Produce what we want and you’ll get what you want. If you need something sturdier then you shall have it.”

“I thank you sir.”

“We have much to do thanks to the loss of Azala at the hands of that brat of his.”

“Bakuuva? Ha, I assure you, she will be dealt with. Our spies know all about their little Project Stingray. While impressive it won’t produce the fruit they need to stop us. My only concern is that if the Tribe finds out too quickly about our War Pact, they’ll join with some of the systems we’re trying to change.”

“A fair assessment,” Leon stated, now walking around the side of the table counterclockwise, “It will all begin with the South being knocked out of the war. If one world folds, others will surely join us. There are more than enough of us Dharkanians left alive and free to help push everything along; but the key is showing how fragile the Tribe- no, rather the Lightonian Armor, really is.”

Elise maintained her view of the ongoing conversation, eyes slowly drifting back towards the archway. A spark had appeared, followed by yet another, then a wave of sparks. All at once an alarm had begun to sound, blaring loud and repeatedly. A swirling vortex of silvery energy had begun to appear within the archway- quickly expanding out with a burst of energy. Finally a burst of pressure flew out as the silver aura collapsed to become a large void, purple electricity surging along the outside.

“I will show you a demonstration of the power of the Dires,” Vikram announced, pressing a button on a nearby panel.

Another alarm began to blare, a capsule of liquid turning green and then red, bubbling fiercely. Ghouls stationed right beside the capsule stepped back quickly, eyes growing big, “L-Lord Arghaust!”

“Heh-” Vikram chuckled.

SHATTER

Glass exploded from the capsule, flying off in all directions. A loud clang filled the room, a hulking figure dropping down onto the ground straight from the capsule. Eyes big and wide, whites orange and pupils purple- a deafening roar left its mouth as it then howled out. The Ghouls both stepped back, each nervously whimpering.

Another roar left the Undead’s mouth, following which it lunged forth straight into the two Ghouls. Blood quickly flew into the air as the Undead’s hands flew into the two Ghoul’s chests. Both yowled out, their bodies quickly flung aside. A third Ghoul backed away, yelling out, “HELP!”

Figures dropped from above, all in armor and with rifles in hand, their eyes also glowing with the essence of the Undead. Upon landing they all groaned, their weapons raised aimed straight at the Dire. The Dire roared out again and broke into a dash, arms crossed in front of it as it crashed right into a trio of Undead. Said hands then reached out, grabbing hold of two of the rifles as the Undead were sent flying.

RATA TAT TAT TAT

Bodies dropped in no time at all as the Dire roared out, firing on the other zombies. One by one they all dropped until the group of twelve were nothing more than stains upon the ground, fallen to pieces. The last Ghoul backed away, loudly whimpering, hyperventilating at that. More zombies flew in with roars of their own behind the Dire. In a flicker of movement the Dire launched up into the air and spun run, landing two powerful kicks on the heads of both zombies.

Both dropped as their heads spun roar, gurgling and grunting. Shots rang out again, three final zombies unleashing a fire storm straight into the Dire. It didn’t halt, instead charging straight into those three Undead as well. Shots rang from the guns the Dire held, shots that flew right into the squad of Undead.

“That’s enough,” Vikram called out.

The Dire howled one more time, becoming stationary immediately after Vikram’s words. The three zombies collapsed full of holes while the Ghoul themselves fell backwards huffing and exhaling quickly, eyes completely dancing and void of any form of attention. Far back by the panels, Elise stepped back herself, growling.

“How awful- his own subordinates-” Caldori stated.

“This is bad,” Rusty growled.

Vikram turned fully towards Leon, “There you have it sir, a small test. Granted it wasn’t all that but if one Dire could take down so many Undead and my Ghouls with so little effort while receiving hits- heh, imagine what a platoon of Dires could do to the humans.”

“Hmph. You’re right though, Zombies are hardly a suitable test. Their reaction time is slow and they are not as durable as a human. Still, compared to the average Zombie and even most human warriors, that display was promising. Very well. Ship what you have to Frostosis immediately,” Leon concluded, eyes adrift.

All at once another door opened at another end of the room. Capsules were rolled in on large wheeling carts, all pushed by other Undead and Ghouls, all heading right for the archway now alit by a portal. In just seconds, said carts and capsules were then wheeled right through the archway, dozens of zombies and Ghouls following close behind.

“Eh heh heh heh, this will be good, very good!” Vikram laughed.

“Quite,” Leon murmured, “I accept your proposal fully. We will certainly be in touch if this plays out as you have planned.”

Elise ducked back behind, looking at the others, “This is not good. If those things get out onto the battle fields… it’ll be a massacre.”

“We need to report back to Lady Bell and General Ezdorth immediately,” Caldori concluded.

“-and before I go,” Leon continued from the center of the room, “How about we do something about the five mice hiding in the back over there, eh?”

Elise’s eyes split open, her cornea and pupils shrinking as her face choked up. The rest all had similar reactions, stressed instantaneously. Leon’s right arm extended out to his side with a turn of his head towards where the group was hiding. Blackness immediately spread along said arm and sleeve, cultivating right before his palm. Then, all at once, a blast of Dark Energy flew out of his hand straight for the equipment.

CRASH!!

The entire structure blew apart, flames and smoke blew out- as did the five. Elise and Britt flew to the right around the system, while the other three flew left, narrowly evading the blast itself. Elise landed on both feet, eyes glanced towards the explosion and then straight ahead with a glare, locked right onto Leon. Vikram beside said Dark Warrior stumbled for but a second before regaining his composure- while Leon just stood there with his arm out and his head still turned towards them, darkness still flickering.