Within an underground subway tunnel, a dark silhouette treaded down the train tracks.
A hundred meters ahead of it, were the figures of two girls.
One was a pink haired girl with grey eyes and the other was purple haired on with deep purple eyes. They were Aurora and Violet.
The two had an expression of despair written all over their faces as they stared at the sight before them.
"There's no path..." Violet muttered, her voice slightly trembling.
A dead end. The path ahead of them was blocked off from the walls and parts of the celling having collapsed.
Aurora stayed quiet, she slowly glanced back as the sound of approaching footsteps grew louder.
"Dang it... If I wasn't so exhausted, I could have moved all of this with telekinesis..."
She looked to Aurora wondering what they would do next, but Aurora simply stared off into the darkness behind them.
"It's too late." Said Aurora.
The temperature around her was dropping, it was so cold that even her breath was visible when she puffed.
"We have no choice but to fight..."
*Step* *Step*
Hearing those words made Violet even more nervous. But she knew just as well as Aurora that now wasn't the time to be feeling that way.
*Wham!*
Violet slammed her hands together as she turned to the direction Aurora was facing.
A purple aura began radiating from her body, her hair was slowly rising upwards. They had managed to get some of their energy back and were feeling more confident than before. They had faith that they'd at least manage with one more.
"We managed to recover a bit.... Let's see how we..."
*Step*
Both Violet and Aurora's eyes widened as the figure suddenly appeared in their line of sight. They could barely see even in the darkness of the subway tunnels thanks to Aurora's crystal ice gem.
It glowed brightly lighting up the place, lighting up the figure perfectly.
What they saw sent chills down their spine. Any confidence they might have had was instantly evaporated leaving behind nothing but fear and regret.
A figure both human and animalistic. Long sparkling scaly skin, around the legs and arms and a tail protruding out from it's back.
From one perspective you could say it resembled the types of demi-humans you'd see in fantasy or fairy tales.
But it was completely different.
His eyes were soulless, there was nothing but darkness before them. His shadow shape was constantly shifting as if his existence itself was an illusion.
The shape it had taken was that of a large monster spiky monster, it covered the entire tunnel.
"...What is that...?" Aurora asked.
"It can't be the enemy race.. Another race? Or perhaps... A new level of mutation for the mutated zombies or monsters?" Violet added.
The figure didn't reply, it just mindlessly took a step in their direction.
In that instant, a slash mark appeared above them, plunging their hearts into despair as it just so barely missed them.
They had barely seen it... In a split second, or even less. The monsters arms extended out of it's body and slashed at them like a whip. It ended up missing just like that.
It's expression remained still as it's arm contracted back into place. It had done so in order to prepare for it's next attack.
"...Now I know how it managed to kill all the zombies without so much as making a sound." Said Violet with her body trembling.
Aurora nodded.
"It took them out just like this without them being able to make a sound... We have to stay away from it." She continued.
Gray walked through the first inner section of the base.
The pale looks on the people's faces, the sound of belly grumbling... The depressed air filled with despair, it all shook something even within him.
Memories of the past came flowing in, forcing a bitter expression on to his face.
Gray's change in expression was a surprise for the guards. They couldn't really tell what he was thinking but the last thing he expected was for him to have a soft side in cases like these.
As they walked amongst the middle of the section whilst making sure they avoided the crowd not a single word was muttered amongst them.
A child who was running around ended up bumping right into Gray.
*Thud*
The kid dropped to the floor whereas Gray didn't seem to even budge.
Short dirt orange hair, with a Band-Aid under his right eye. Both his arms and legs were skinny showing how malnourished he had been yet even still, he looked like he was having fun before bumping into him.
The guards sent the kid a glare whilst he remained still and shocked on the floor. What he had done still hadn't sunk in.
But once it did...
"S-SORRY!!!" The kid quickly apologised, his voice stuttering as he shivered in fear.
He quickly grovelled on all fours before Gray with tears flowing out of his eyes. He looked like a criminal being charged with a death penalty in court, begging for his life to be spared.
Gray made a pained expression as he looked at the kid, before simply walking past him.
"It's fine." He responded as they walked through.
The guards were surprised by Gray's action. Just a while ago he looked like he was sympathising with them, had they misunderstood?
They had.
The root cause of Gray's pained expression was that seeing all of these helpless people in the way that they were, and all the despair in the room all forced him to remember the time where he too was powerless.
He was disgusted at his previous powerless self.
He was weak, stupid, stubborn and a coward.
'I've changed...' He thought inwardly with a cold glare. 'I'm not the guy I once was.'
Some of other guards and people in the room were watching Gray's action, they didn't recognise him.
Just as Gray had asked, the guards didn't mention anything about who he was nor did they make any announcements, he wanted to avoid any troublesome attention for now.
Still, it was rather clear he was an important figure. Especially with two high ranked guards accompanying him.
They were silver designed badges on their uniform, making it clear that they were higher ranked than the average individual. That and they were guarding the outside entrance.
Gray had recently realised this but didn't believe it.
'They're way too weak to actually be high ranked... But I didn't see or give them a chance to activate their ability so it's fair game.'
As Gray watched them from behind, he couldn't help but wonder just how strong they really are.
"Are you hungry, supreme commander?" He asked as he pointed at one of the only food stalls around.
It was a large white stall with lots of pans and quite a few chefs cooking at the back. In front there was a line of countless hungry people.
Based on what they could see, they all each had access to a ration per person. Just one, nothing more.
They were really saving up and keeping the cost to a minimum.
The one handed the food out was quite the hard working girl. It was her and there others, but she stood out to Gray.
She had a sympathetic look on her face
"Are we low on supplies?" Gray replied.
"W-Well about that..." The guard seemed troubled to respond.
"I'll take that as a yes. That's fine. Keep walking."
The lack of supplies was expected. He wasn't surprised.
The three carried on, ignoring the stares on their backs until reaching the second metal door.
The guard pressed on the green button to the right, there was no card needed for the door to be unlocked. They were in the inner section's it was all full.
*Clunk* *Chunk*
The gears turned and with a green beep, it opened.
Through the open doors, Gray could see it.
Another large room exactly like the one he was in. Full of people being depressed and cues of people standing at the stalls waiting for their meal.
After staring for a few seconds, they stepped into the new room and watched as the door behind them shut.
*Katchunk!*
A bit of steam was released upon it's closing but it all went past Gray's mind.
After all he was focused at the single figure hastily walking around before him.
Short with long dark hair, green-and yellow-coloured eyes. Before him was his sister, being accompanied by two guards.
[Spatial Manipulation: Storage.]
[Spatial Manipulation: Teleport.]
[Spatial Manipulation: Storage.]
She was in the other end of the room, constantly teleporting back and forth while helping out the guards with the labour.
She was helping set up more stalls and moving out large boxes from her storage while teleporting them into the directed areas.
She was building more stalls and an entertainment facility.
'...Wow.'
Gray watched quietly without saying anything, he could see how seriously she was taken it based on her expression.
She was nervous but still pushing forth. He was proud, genuinely proud.
She would occasionally teleport to person to give them reply to certain questions on what they should do.
Gray's eyes widened when he saw the person's face.
Never would he have expected for them to have lasted this long or for him to have seen them again.
"That's..."
