Private Weapons Factory. Officially registered as Varmora-7 Complex, also known as Operational Facility PHX-03. Officially deactivated. Property of Powermagi, it maintains illegal practices and unethical experiments involving Dark Arcanes and cyborgs. Currently in clandestine operation, conducting unregistered 6xesta experiments. Overseen by its Head of Security and weapons researcher: the Executor, official mercenary of Powermagi, also known as Mazikin Yegrande.
> "You feel an immeasurable terror take over your body... you've never felt anything like this before... as far as you remember."
— Well, well... the little freak grew up, hahahah! You were just a kid, right? How cute. And that bum I blew up? You were dragging his upper half without even noticing, HAHAHAHA! IT WOULD BE FUNNY... IF IT WEREN'T TRAGIC.
The Executor spoke like a deranged clown. It wasn't arrogance. It was just a broken being playing with corpses.
— SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU BASTARD!
Mana shouted, trembling. She prepared a shot with the EdelZerar. But... before she could blink, the Executor dashed forward — sliced the missile mid-air with his saws and appeared behind them. In the blink of an eye, the EdelZerar was in three pieces. Despair was palpable.
— Ah... is this a copy? Hm... decent product, actually. We were working on 6xesta fusions before you showed up. The next step in evolution... you ruined everything.
Kicking Mana away, Yegrande examined what remained of the weapon.
— Hahaha! You made a copy of the crap that bum built? Got me some expensive psychedelics, you know? He would've used it too.
Mana screamed, drawing her pistols. She fired. The Executor summoned a barrier with red runes that pulsed with pain. Igyris watched, paralyzed. That wasn't a normal enemy. It was chaos incarnate.
— Hah... Naxel's old man, huh? What a shame... I killed my best friend's father. He saved me from execution thinking I still had value. HAHAHAHA! LITTLE DID HE KNOW... I BECAME THE WORST DEMON EVER SPAWNED BY THIS FACTORY! AND IT'S YOUR FAULT, NAXEL! AND NOW? THINK YOU CAN STOP ME BY SENDING A BUM AND A WRETCH? I'M YOUR DAMNED OFFSPRING, NAXEL!
Yegrande moved theatrically. He reached Igyris. Without warning, he drove his saws into the boy. The pain was absolute. Dismemberment in six parts, dirty and ruthless cuts — his arm was torn off. Igyris screamed like a trapped animal — pure, instinctive, ancestral terror.
— You... sewer rat. Naxel dragged you into this? Change, revolution? I used to believe in that. Now? All that's left is to play... in Powermagi's playground.
Yegrande leaned toward Igyris's ear.
— The basement would be fun, but the show already started up here. Hahahah! I hate when people ruin my games... it was so much fun before.
Paralyzed, Igyris watched the delirium take form.
— I love playing with the forgotten. People like you.
Mana resumed firing.
— LOOK AT ME, YOU BASTARD! I'M THE ONE WHO'S GONNA KILL YOU!
— Hahaha... how ironic. The useless little girl giving me trouble.
Yegrande approached Mana.
— Go fuck yourself, Yegrande... I'm going to kill you. For everything you did to Naxes. I'll kill you.
— Oh... you know my name? Was that the bum's name? Hah... hard to remember. Reixys pay well, you know? I massacred a little slum. A kid exploded so beautifully... the guts smelled worse than the place! HAHAHAHA! Now... the council's losing control. I AM the control now.
Mana lunged at him with a retractable blade. She landed some blows, but it was like trying to cut titanium with plastic.
Igyris, trembling, forced himself up. Did he hear "Reixys"? Was she a noble? Didn't matter. If she died, he would too. He tried helping with gunfire, but Yegrande easily raised barriers and slammed Mana to the ground, injuring her.
Igyris jumped, but the Executor grabbed him.
— HAHAHAHAHA! A FEAST! I SPLIT THE BUM HORIZONTALLY... YOU? YOU'LL GO VERTICALLY!
He pressed Mana's head to the ground.
— How many days did it take to wash his blood out of your clothes? Threw them away? Hah... got on your face too, didn't it? HAHAHAHA! What a delightful image.
Yegrande licked his teeth.
— You can almost hear the screams... not my best work, but I have fondness. Deep fondness.
Mana wept.
— No... no...
— Oh? Heard something?
The Executor kicked Igyris away. Grabbed Mana by the hair.
— Satisfying. You're traumatized, aren't you? Splitting your daddy in half was awful, right? Covered you in his blood... you saw it all. Thought you'd kill me? Avenge your little mentor? HA!
He hurled her hard against the wall.
— Let's raise the terror level.
Igyris had gotten up. Silence fell. Mana saw it all... and cried soullessly.
Igyris... was impaled.
— Sorry, kid. It's kill or be killed.
The terror was complete. The Executor tossed him aside like a rag. He walked toward Mana, now paralyzed, soul shattered.
— Remember the flames? The buzzing? You hate your sweet family, don't you? I understand. Open scars. We've got plenty... seeing that terror in your eyes... makes me itch... but you're so dull... already accepted death.
The saw roared.
But then... something burned.
— What a horrible smell... what the fuck is this?
Yegrande turned.
Igyris was standing. On fire.
The wounds burned like his very soul was fuel. The destroyed arm burned. The chest burned. Life ignited.
— HAHAHAHA! THAT SENSATION IS BACK! HOW DELICIOUS! NAXEL! I HAVE TO THANK YOU!
He screamed like a possessed man.
— A cursed one? Naxel went far to find you. Let's dance.
The fight resumed. The blade forming on Igyris's arm was explosive. The Executor raised barriers but was thrown back.
— HAHAHAHA! NEVER KILLED A CURSED ONE BEFORE! THIS'LL BE FUN!
Yegrande summoned three demonic hounds. Metallic hybrids, with saw-teeth and spear-tails. Living torture. Relentless hunt. It was four against one.
— YOU SEE THIS, CURSED ONE?! CERBERUS 066! MY MASTERPIECE!
Igyris shouted:
— IT'S NOT ENOUGH, DAMN IT!
Bleeding and cut, he fought. Mana, shooting from afar, gave support.
The battle intensified. Igyris fought like a wild beast.
Yegrande smiled.
— You're too good, boy. You're special. Why do you hang around with these worms?
— I'LL MELT YOU DOWN TO NOTHING, YOU SON OF A BITCH!
— THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! HAHAHAHAHAHA!
He leapt and roared:
— Rend.
An arcane rend engulfed the battlefield. Igyris's flames vanished. He fell. Swallowed by a sea of magical electric destruction. It was over. Yegrande's signature move. The Hellrend. A devastating attack expanding like a red wave of destruction, then imploding — harming only one target.
— Your lucky day. You... are like me. You're rare. You belong at the top.
Mana heard this, horrified. It was an invitation. A trap.
— You were born above. Nature's rules. My scanners saw — the chip in your neck. They control you. But now... now you're free.
An explosion of green flames. The control was gone. Igyris was free. Completely. Yegrande destroyed the device that controlled him, using the residual energy left in Igyris's body from the Rend.
— HAHAHAHAHA! THIS IS YOUR TRUE FORM!
Igyris emerged. A demon, with exposed bones and a deformed skull. A profane god.
Mana stepped back.
— No... no...
Igyris walked. Destroyed barriers with a single gesture. He said nothing, just advanced like a beast, grabbed Yegrande by the head — no room to react — smashed him through the factory. No counterattacks. Igyris vanished, reappearing like a blur, striking from all directions. Yegrande's cybernetic flesh crushed. Life-support alarm blaring. A devastating punch smashed him to the ground. Igyris grabbed Yegrande and tore off his arms.
The Executor collapsed.
— I gave you a chance... Naxel... he's a demon. He'll use you like he used me!
— I've made my decision.
Yegrande smiled.
— You're the greatest evil... heh... HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Igyris burned him. Yegrande still lived.
— Mana... do what you came to do.
She stood, trembling.
— For Naxes... for what we believe in... and for me.
She fired. Yegrande died. But without regret. There fell the lord of chaos, still upright, with a hole in his forehead — and a terrifying smile across his face.
Igyris returned to normal.
— Ok... we're done.
Mana called Naxel.
— Tap your chest three times and come.
— Huh?
— Three taps, silly.
She obeyed. The capsule tube transported them.
They found Naxel, back turned, watching the city. The sun rose.
— Ohoho! You made it. I see you're free, Igyris. Welcome to the team. Get ready... for the spectacle.
Explosion. A force field covers NowaGen. The Powermagi building... disappears.
— HAHAHA! BEAUTIFUL AND SAFE!
Mana approached Igyris.
— Why?
— We're going to destroy the world.
She felt hope.
Naxel smiled.
— Ok, show's over. We're enemies of the world now. How about... "Trash Wolves"? Sounds dumb?
Mana thought: "Yegrande was never the target. Just a pawn. Right, Naxel? You wanted chaos. And you got it. And I... I don't even know what you really want from this world."
The tube vanished. So did they.