Mass release In honour to the support {5/10}
Annie walked groggily up the winding staircase, her feet dragging against the polished wood steps. Each step felt heavier than the last as exhaustion weighed on her, remnants of the day's chores clinging to her body. She rubbed her eyes, stifling a yawn. After hours of cooking for the entire household, her limbs ached from carrying trays and washing dishes.
Who would have thought feeding so many people could be this draining? she mused, her thoughts hazy. The house had been bustling with life earlier, but now it was quiet, almost eerily so. Everyone had retreated to their rooms, leaving her with the task of cleaning up the remnants of their shared meal.
Annie's goal now was simple: collect her mother's dishes from her room. She trudged forward, eager to finish so she could finally relax. Maybe she'd watch a movie with Mrs. Teras or take a short walk. Anything that allowed her to spend time with her mother was welcome—especially after today. She sighed, comforted by the thought of an easy evening.
Reaching the door, Annie knocked lightly, waiting for her mother's familiar voice to call her in. Silence. Frowning, she knocked again—still nothing.
A knot of unease formed in her chest.
She knocked harder, the echo of her fists against the oakwood louder this time. Still no reply.
"Mum?" Her voice was soft, but there was a tremor to it now. She hesitated for a moment, then twisted the cool knob and stepped inside.
The room was empty.
Annie blinked, confusion swirling as she scanned the space. The bed was neatly made, the curtains drawn halfway, letting the fading evening light pour in. But Mrs. Teras was nowhere to be seen. Panic seized her for a moment. She rushed around the room, opening closets, checking the bathroom, searching for any sign of her mother's presence.
Nothing.
Annie's heart began to pound as her mind raced through possible scenarios. She stopped abruptly when her eyes landed on the wardrobe, where a piece of paper sat, folded neatly. With trembling fingers, she picked it up and unfolded it, her mother's familiar handwriting scrawled across the page.
"I realized how stressed you were from cooking and decided not to disturb you, my little angel. I don't have a phone, so I couldn't send you a message. I'm going out to get some fresh air and pick up ingredients to make the family's favorite dinner. I think I took Axel's wallet by mistake."
A wave of relief washed over Annie, and she let out a shaky breath, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
"Thank God... I thought..." she whispered. But her relief was short-lived. As she lowered the note, her smile faltered, replaced by a grimace of pain.
Axel's voice was calm, almost mocking. "Alcohol affects the brain by slowing down communication between cells, impairing judgment, coordination, reaction time... all those vital things you parasites rely on." He flashed a wicked smile. "Since your kind dominate and transform the brain, a simple disruption in your brainwaves causes a catastrophic failure. In short, you self-destruct."
The room buzzed with whispers, shocked gasps spreading through the crowd like wildfire. Board members, civilians, and S-ranks alike were horrified as they realized the truth. Hendricks—the man they trusted—was a Metorion. And now, his carefully crafted facade was crumbling before their eyes.
But Hendricks wasn't finished yet.
With a swift, brutal motion, he lunged forward, his mouth distending grotesquely as he bit down on the head of a nearby board representative. In an instant, he tore the man's head from his shoulders, blood spraying across the room as the body crumpled to the floor.
A collective gasp echoed through the chamber as Hendricks retracted his jaw, his mouth snapping back to its normal size. The sickening trail of blood dripping from his lips was the only clue to his monstrous act.
Silence.
The board members stared, wide-eyed, too stunned to react. The remaining S-ranks shifted nervously, unsure of what to do next.
Hendricks wiped the blood from his mouth with a smirk. "You are smart, giving everyone alcohol would stop me from transferring into another host, however this little flesh will keep me alive for a while?" Hendricks scanned the entire platform until his eyes reached Seo and this brooded a smile across his lips, "Clever exposing me this way, but all you've done is accelerate my plans."
Axel's eyes narrowed. Plans?
Before he could act, Hendricks pulled a dark cube from his pocket. The room erupted into chaos as everyone recognized the device.
A portal cube.
"He's going to open a portal!" Vicky shouted, leaping from his seat. Axel, Loki, Trisha, and Wukong followed suit, sprinting towards Hendricks in a desperate attempt to stop him.
But they were too late.
Hendricks activated the cube, and with a flash of dark energy, the air around them crackled and shimmered. The ground shook violently as the portal began to open, a swirling vortex of blackness tearing through the fabric of reality.
Hendricks' voice boomed over the chaos, his face twisted with insane glee. "Behold! The end of your world... the perfect CELL!"