Meanwhile, a few moments before Mr. Valen's stunt, Sir Walter and Sir Smith were driving together, their faces grim as they conversed.
"We're both off duty so why don't we have some fun? We could go to the Landry mat," Sir Walter intoned in a bid to lighten Smith's mood.
But then, just as Sir Smith was about to respond, they passed by a certain hotel, and in that moment, he felt a jolt through his system, like his body was warning him of something.
"Screech!"
He stopped the car, almost causing the vehicle behind him to crash, but he cared not; rather, he was looking towards a certain hotel across from them.
Sir Walter, who would be expected to complain, was also quiet, as his eyes were also locked gazing into the same building, with one thought in his mind: "How is a Skilion evolving?"
-----------
Meanwhile, in the hospital, where Lexa was administered, a certain man could be seen seated beside her, watching her sleep.
This man was Sir Vlad, the head of the Viper Family.
At that moment, as though he had sensed something, he stood up, his gaze directed towards a wall. At first, he was quiet, waiting for a few minutes, but then he shook his head.
It was then that he dialed a number which rang a few times before being picked up.
"Hello, sir-"
"Did you feel that?" Sir Vlad asked dryly, his voice steely as he interrupted the other party.
The person at the other end grew quiet at those words, before responding immediately, their voice grim, "Every Witch and Wizard I've spoken to in the last minute seems to have felt it, sir, it's the same feeling we all feel when a gold clawed Skilion has successfully evolved."
"I see," Sir Vlad said before cutting the call, his brows furrowed in deep thought.
After a moment, he finally seemed to come to a conclusion to take action himself.
And with that thought, he walked towards the window with firm, unfaltering steps and, in one fell swoop, jumped out of the six-story building.
-------------
At the same time, in another hotel, Luna, who stood smoking a cigarette on the balcony of her room, could be seen smiling as she observed a replay of Mr. Valen's car chase.
"Haha, I knew this kid would be fun just—" she suddenly cut herself short before frowning, a certain feeling assaulting her.
"Did it evolve so soon?" She asked herself before jumping out of the balcony, a disc-like object forming in the air before catching her mid-fall, taking her away.
------------
Simultaneously, within the sewers of District Forty-Two lay the beast that everyone had thought to be evolving.
And while it was close to evolving, it had not reached that point.
At this moment, it was speaking to the dark skinned, red-eyed Witch beside it, who was injured, its voice raspy, "So that is how a car is made?"
"Yeah it's sort of-"
Suddenly, both parties stopped as they felt the same feeling that had plagued the privileged of the Forty-Second District.
"What the hell," The red-eyed Witch suddenly muttered to herself before saying, "Is there another Skilion on the loose?"
"It's him," the beast suddenly responded before adding with a growl, "I have to meet him."
"Who are you?" the red-eyed Witch cut herself short as the gold clawed Skilion moved like the wind, disappearing into the depths of the sewage system, and just like that, her surroundings grew quiet.
"I-I'm saved," the red-eyed Witch thought to herself, feeling partially shocked.
She wondered if this was all a joke, she had been held against her will, and just like that, she was free, but she was not complaining.
Rather, she staggered to her feet, limping towards a nearby exit as she endured the pain on her torso.
But then, a robotic voice so loud that it could be heard even at these depths sounded out from below.
[CODE RED. UNREGISTERED ENTITY DETECTED. ALL CIVILIANS SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.]
-----------
As all the pieces moved into place, Mr. Valen was busy battling with his body, staggering out of the bed.
The alarms also reached this place, repeatedly requesting that civilians go inside or head to the nearest shelter.
Yet Mr. Velan did not care.
At that moment, he glanced at a mirror and noticed that the white in his eyes was completely gone, being replaced by a deep black that made one's heart tremble.
His canines were also unnaturally long, appearing similar to a beast of sorts.
The edges of his fingers were also pitch black, hardened, each nail carrying with it a certain sheen.
Yes, all his fingers had grown back, and to thank for that was his healing factor, which seemed unable to completely heal the damage he'd caused to his brain as even thinking too deeply caused a deep headache to grace him.
Slithering on his skin was a frenzy of dark veins that appeared and disappeared as the blood pumped through them, and upon noting all this, Mr. Valen was shocked.
"I-Is this me?" He thought as he observed his slender form, reaching out to touch the mirror, but...
"Bam!"
The surface exploded as soon as his fingers made contact, immediately crashing under the pressure, the sudden sound sending a shock through Mr. Valen's senses.
This forced him to step back.
He did not expect that to happen, and that surprised him, but he had to act fast; he had to think of a way to prolong his life, yet anytime he tried to think, that headache hindered him.
"I'm powerless," he muttered in shock.
"For once, I don't know what to do. Is this how normal people feel?" Mr. Valen felt his world falter, "I hate it," he thought as he flung the frame of the mirror before him with so much force that it crashed out of the floor-to-ceiling windows and onto the street below.
Anytime he tried to think too deeply, his mind would plunge him into a very painful headache, essentially turning him into a normal human being, he was no longer a genius.
At that moment, as he reeled in anger, he could not control, he heard footsteps from the outside, something—supposed to be impossible since the room was soundproofed.
Immediately, he registered the existence of another being close by, Mr. Valen felt his control waver, his body succumbing to pure instincts as his mind went blank.
-----------
Meanwhile, outside a man could be seen approaching the door of Mr. Valen's suite, his expression focused as he moved faster, his steps quickening.
The man was quite good-looking, a young person with sharp features, a slender figure, and curly brown hair.
He seemed to be a member of the security staff of this hotel as he was wearing their uniform, which consisted of a pair of boots, black pants, and a white shirt; his brown eyes were focused and uncertain.
In a moment, he reached the doors and pushed them open, revealing Mr. Valen's room, which was now a mess.
The first thing to hit him was the smell, a mix of ash, bodily fluids, and medicine, which certainly did not smell good.
Brows furrowed, he walked closer to the bed, and as he got closer, a sudden cold feeling enveloped him as the miraculous instinct of self-preservation kicked in.
But he ignored this feeling and walked closer to the bed, observing the polythene film which was stained with a black substance that smelled like blood and ash.
He had a job to do and he couldn't go back with a blank report.
The polythene film was scratched and torn in some parts, seemingly as a result of someone scratching and clawing at it.
"What happened here?" The man's eyes narrowed as he glanced through the strange medical set-up before noticing the shattered window on the side.
Immediately his frown deepened as he muttered, "what the fuck happened here."
By now, his instincts were basically begging him to get out of the room, and so he prepared to, but then he caught something from the corner of his eye.
It was a certain reflection on the glass table that stood out prompting him to look up immediately.
Swinging on the chandelier, was a man, or a being with a mixture of human and supernatural features.
Short black hair that dropped because of gravity, a slender form, and humanoid arms that dropped like his hair.
And from there, a profound sense of the uncanny valley washed over him. What was it?
Was it his pitch black eyes that observed him, following his every movement?
Was it how the tips of his fingers were also black, radiating a large amount of danger? Or was it the fact that this thing he was looking at could be the cause of the blaring alarms outside?
Whatever this thing was, it looked carefree at the moment, observing him while it hooked its legs on the chandelier above swaying slowly.
"It's alright, Mike, don't panic, just back off slowly, back-shit!"
Mike yelled because the moment he blinked, the thing moved, launching itself towards him at too fast a speed for him to react.
The moment its feet touched the floor, it turned into a blur, and suddenly from Mike's point of view, up became down as his body was brushed from the ground with a single stroke from the thing's leg, bones cracking in the process.
"Argh," Mike groaned in extreme pain wiggling his body to try to land in a safer position, but then the thing jumped.
Mike's world twisted again, and suddenly, he discovered much to his horror that he couldn't move, an overpowering pressure contracting around his legs and arms.
Then his whole body began to sway, and he could see himself in the reflection of the table below.
Both of them were upside down, yes, but his legs were tucked into the thing's thighs, as it hooked its calf on the chandelier.
Around his body, its two arms hugged tightly, its sharp teeth grazing his neck.
"Badump!"
"Badump!"
Mike felt his heart beat in his chest as he whimpered, feeling lightheaded from the pain of being held so tightly, and of course, the blood rushing to his head.
But nothing could prepare him for what was to come next.
"Switch!"
A sickening sound could be heard as the thing bit into him, but it wasn't painful, not in the way he expected; rather, he felt nothing.
In fact apart from the thing biting into his neck, he felt nothing, the thing wasn't sucking his blood, or eating his flesh it was just still.
But this thought was not entertained for long; rather, Mike started to feel something. From the first few seconds, it started small—a dryness in his throat that rapidly spread through his entire body.
Then it transitioned to a burning sensation, as his body became dryer and dryer, and then he realized that though this thing was not sucking his blood, it was consuming something vital to his existence.
And yet this realization came too late as his body paled and stopped moving, his eyes dimming before he was let go, hitting the floor with a sickening thud.