Location : ???

        A young man sat idly on a table. He seemed to be in some sort of cafeteria as there were multiple tables around him on which various people sat. The groups of people were engaged in various activities. Some chatting and gossiping about various things, some reading some sort of documents, some merely having their meals, while some were performing maintenance on their guns. Of course, the sight of people performing maintenance on machine guns, sniper rifles or other such things in a cafeteria would certainly be out of place in a normal environment, this environment was anything but normal. This was because they were in one of the secret offices of AEGIS , a special offshoot of the CIA, which stood for
' Agency against External threats such as Gargantuan phantasmals and Inhuman Species ' . The original name was as one could see, was fucking long and atrocious to just look at. So they shortened it some 18 years ago.

        Regardless of the name, their organisation dealt with, as their name suggested, large scale phantasmal beasts like hydras and chimeras which the military wasn't trained to handle on their own. From his seniors he had come to know that they had been active ever since the first world war. One of their last huge operations was the one roughly sixty years ago , in Russia. This was, of course, the disaster the world knew as the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. According to his seniors, a hydra had found its way there. And since at that time, Russians didn't have their own special Agency for fighting against these phantasmal species. As such, they were called to deal with it. After a deal was negotiated, they reached the place and took care of the Hydra, even if it was at the loss of nearly three hundred and seventy eight of their best agents. However, after the Hydra died, it released all its venom in the surroundings, making it inhospitable for life. Luckily, they managed to cover it up under the guise of a nuclear disaster.

       They were also tasked with eliminating rogue cultivators ( the one's not affiliated with the government ) , or as they liked to call them, Inhumans. After all, how could you classify people who could throw tanks in the air normal humans ? Of course, their organisation held a few of these Inhumans at some higher position, as on field agents when the target became too difficult to subjugate. There were roughly four special agents who were at the Grand Magus realm and three at the Dao fusion realm. They were key in America's dominance in the field of mystics.

       Sighing, he took another bite of his meal, a simple peanut butter sandwich, a reminder of the peaceful times. After listening to all these things, one would expect the life at this agency to be an action packed one but the reality was anything but. His real name, before he received a code name from the agency was Lucas. However, it didn't matter now because after becoming a part of the agency, his death was faked in a car accident in his hometown of Langley. For the rest of the world, he had died seven years ago. When he first entered , he had expected an action packed life. And to be fair, had his fair share of assassinations and coup de at's too. His experience of overthrowing the Brazilian government was still fresh in his memory. Still, he hadn't received any assignment other than paperwork for the last two years.

      He was disturbed from his thoughts when he felt someone pat his back to get his attention. It was of course , Percival, or as he had revealed his true name to him, Jonathan. He was accompanied by Beatrice or her old name, Erika . Those two were the only one's he could truly call as friends in the agency. Percival spoke to him in his usual upbeat tone as he said, " What's the matter bud ? You look more depressed than your usual self ! " Lucas sighed as he said, " Ha ha . Very funny. Not everyone can keep an upbeat face like you Mr. Perfect. "
Percival scoffed as he said, " Oh come on! Having an upbeat attitude helps on the field !"
Lucas sighed and said, " Yeah , like that time in Turkey where you accidentally pressed the SOS signal making us all think that you had been compromised and how we were about to blow up the entire area in a square mile. Yeah...... That definitely helped us a lot !"
Percival punched Lucas's arm while Lucas kept snickering and said, " Dude ! You're embarrassing me in front of my girlfriend !"

      Beatrice laughed at seeing their playful flight. She had gotten pretty used to their antics for the last four years. She, Lucas and Percival were an unbreakable trio of sorts in the agency. Sighing, she said, " Come on boys. Behave yourself. You're not kids. " As Percival stopped hitting Lucas, Lucas said , " Yeah , yeah . We get it. This numbskull's antics aside, how was your assignment ?" While Percival shaked his head in dismay, Beatrice replied cheerfully,
" Oh it went fine. Sure , there were a few hiccups when I tried to snipe a few of the target's men from afar, but nothing my trusty sidekick couldn't handle. The target was a Magus of the Senior Magus rank, so we had a few difficulties, but we managed to pull through. " Percival had a look of surprise on his face as he said, " Wait, so I'm your sidekick now ?! "

       Beatrice merely whistled idly while looking the other way while having a playful smirk on her face as Percival kept trying to get her attention. Lucas shaked his head as he wondered how the hell did he get along with them. Sure , they were kind and good natured but his and their skills were literally worlds apart. Percival was the best in hand to hand combat in the entire agency. And with the help of the field suits ( combat exoskeleton ) , he had once taken down a Magus of the Veteran Magus realm. And then there was Beatrice. She was the agency's best sniper. She had a record for taking down a target from 6340 m away , while the official world record on paper was a measly 4312 m. ( AN : Keep in mind the technology of this world is far more advanced than our own ) Those two were truly, the best of the best.

      And on the other side, was him. A completely average agent. He had no notable skills so to speak. No huge assignments to his name. His kill count was average too, neither too little nor too much. He was the definition of the word average. How he had managed to befriend these prodigies was beyond him. Still, he appreciated and cared for their friendship, even if it was not between equals.

     All three of them were suddenly alerted when their comms ringed, signalling that they had been called in the chief's office. This meant one of two things, either they were getting a new mission, or they had somehow screwed up and were going to be fired. Of course, the second one was unlikely, but in this field, you never know. However Lucas was still confused about why he was called along with Beatrice and Percival. It made sense that they were called, after all, they were the best choice for any mission, but why him ?

       Regardless, all three of them made their way into the chief's office. Once inside, they waited patiently for the chief to brief them. While Lucas was nearly a nervous wreck due to him rarely if ever being summoned here , Percival and Beatrice were calm and relaxed, probably due to this being a regular thing for them. Lucas snapped from his thoughts when he saw the chief himself enter the room. As all three of them greeted him , he only responded with a silent nod.

         He then began to brief the three as he said, " I've called you three here for your next assignment. You three are going to be part of an assignment not from me, but from general Michael. As you may know he is one of the highest ranking military personnel in the nation. And he has specifically requested me to assemble a team of three people. So I expect you three to not disappoint me. Any questions ? "

       Lucas asked in a slightly hesitant tone,
" Um, sir ? I can understand you choosing
Per- I mean Agent Percival and Agent Beatrice for the task , however may I ask why you have chosen me ?..... Not that I'm doubting your decision or anything ! "

      The chief , who's code name was Agent Galahad, raised a brow before answering ,
" While it's certainly true that Agent Percival and Agent Beatrice are some of , if not the best agents we have had for years, their field records while mostly being impressive, is inadequate for lack of a better term in certain regards. The thing I'm referring to is the ability to follow orders. Both of them have displayed a severe lack of respect for commands from higher ups. "

     On hearing this, Percival scratched his head sheepishly, either not paying attention or not caring for the glare that chief Galahad was giving him. Not minding him , chief Galahad spoke up once again and said, " You on the other hand are a different matter. While your stats, your track record and past accomplishments are only average, your ability to follow orders to the letter is definitely exceptional. And I guess that's the problem with natural talents like these. They need someone to rein them in since they have a tendency to try to do things their way, even if the situation doesn't require it. As such, I'm going to make you the leader of this operation."

       While Lucas had a look of shock on his face, Percival interjected and said, " So you're going to make him our nanny ?! " Galahad had a genuine smile on his face as he said, " You could say that. I'm sure Nicholas would crawl out of his grave if I let something happen to his son , even if it was his son's fault in the first place. That bastard was always like that, even during his time here....."

      Upon hearing about his late father, Percival too smiled. His father too was an agent and a good friend of Galahad. It was Galahad who had introduced him to the agency. He was snapped out of memory lane when Galahad spoke up and said,
" Now , if there are no more questions, General Michael will be arriving soon. "

      After waiting for a few minutes, an aged man made his way inside the room. He was wearing a military uniform with numerous medals adorning his chest. The man had a single circular scar just below his left eye. Lucas knew that this type of scars were indicative of bullet wounds. However, looking at the scar, it seemed to be quite old. The general greeted agent Galahad with a firm handshake. Lucas and the others saluted him to which he responded with a simple nod.

        The general seated himself next to Galahad. Lucas and the other agents stood at attention by Galahad's side, in front of the General. The General spoke up and said, " As Galahad may have informed you, you three will be on a special mission. The details of this mission are extremely confidential and except for me and a few scientists, not even the president is aware of this. Before that however, I think that you should take a look at these files. "

        Saying this, the general took out a small tablet like device from his briefcase. On the device was the image of a blue haired boy who seemed to be of Asian descent . Aside from his photographs, there was data about him. The general spoke up again and said, " The child you're seeing in front of you is no ordinary child. His name is Shido Itsuka, a seemingly ordinary resident of Tengu city in Japan. Relatives include an adopted sister, while both adopted parents are deceased. "

       Galahad had a curious look on his face as he asked while skimming through the reports , " The boy shows no signs of being an Inhuman ( Cultivator ) . So may I ask why are we discussing about a seemingly ordinary citizen ? "
The general smiled, before saying,
" You see, we have received reports that this boy was spotted multiple times, as a matter of fact, nearly over a hundred times around spacequake incidents. As you may know, spacequakes are caused by spirits . And we know that even most Inhumans can't survive the close proximity of a spacequake. So a seemingly normal human surviving it is out of the question. Not only that, our undercover agents also got images of him trying to interact with the spirits out of pure coincidence. As such, we theorise that he has some connection to them. As a result, we are planning to extract him from Japan and bring him to us. "

        Galahad had a thinking expression on his face as he said, " I see. So you wish to send our agents to get him. It certainly makes sense for us to get him. Perhaps through him, we could get our hands on the spirits and try to experiment on them. " The General sighed and said, " No , I don't think it's necessary to send these three. I'll send a few of my own agents behind him. He's definitely a normal human, but has someone strong backing him up. I thought that it would be better to contextualise the need for our further actions. These three are going to be part of something different, and perhaps much more important."

         While Galahad raised a brow, the general placed his briefcase on the table. The briefcase had along with a few documents, some random assortment of things and syringes , four large vials filled with blood red liquid. The General grinned as he said,
" These are something that our top scientists have developed. However, I'll need a volunteer from you three . It'll only be slightly painful as will be the experiment after it, but it'll be quick. So which among you will it be ?"

          Before either Percival or Beatrice could say anything, Lucas stepped forward and said that he would accept it. Part of the reason was because he genuinely didn't want his friends to endanger themselves. However another reason was that he wanted to try it just for the thrills. He wanted to do something different, at least once. So he chose it.

      The General smiled and attached the vial to the metallic syringe. He then injected it's contents into Lucas's right arm. In just a few moments, Lucas was on the ground nearly screaming in pain. Percival and Beatrice rushed to his side while Galahad watched him with worry. After nearly a minute had passed, Lucas stopped screaming while his entire body was drenched in sweat. The General handed him a glass of water which he chugged down greedily.

     As Percival and Beatrice helped Lucas get up, the General placed a standard issue of RM - 735 , a general use sidearm used by most of the agents of AEGIS and asked Lucas to hold it. While the firearms range was average at best, where it excelled was penetrative power and durability. The body of the firearm was made from an entirely new element that was created by the US government. As such, it had a Young's modulus ( stiffness ) of nearly 1.5 Terapascals ( or 2,17,55,660 Psi) . Because of this, it was a common joke among the agents that their guns outlived them. And considering the dangerous nature of their job, it was certainly accurate.

       Lucas, having slightly recovered from the pain, tried to pick up the gun. However, the results were something that shocked both him and everyone present there other than the General. Under his grip, the gun had completely crumbled like glass. The material which was termed indestructible at normal room temperatures even by the world's strongest machines, was crumbling in the hands of Lucas. Lucas and the others had their mouths wide open as they kept staring at his hand .

       The General smiled and said, " No you aren't dreaming. He really did crush the gun. This is because he is no longer a normal human from this moment. The serum has replaced his body on a cellular level, strengthening it to absolutely maddening levels. He can even crush diamonds with his bare hands. It has granted him extreme durability, high speed cellular regeneration and overall better physique than normal humans . His genetic code is still of a normal human , mind you. "

      Galahad, having recovered after witnessing the sight in front of him, said, " I certainly see how much of a game changer this can be for the agents ! Is this why you asked me to get only our most trusted agents ?" The General nodded and said,
" Yes. This serum is only for the agents that we can say with hundred percent certainty that won't betray us. As such, I wish to use it not only on the other two agents, but also on you. You have faithfully served your nation and are a trustable man . As such, I think it's fair for you to have access to this power. "

       Galahad nodded and thanked the General. Soon , both he along with Percival and Beatrice had intaked the serum. After intaking it and experiencing the pain, he definitely understood why Lucas was screaming. Still , he managed to suppress his screams so as to not embarrass himself in front of his agents.

        After all three of them had recovered, General Michael took out a small bottle of wine from his briefcase. Pouring it in five glasses, he handed a glass to everyone. Raising his own glass in a toast , he said,
" Here's to a brand new Future. " Everyone joined him in his toast and drank the wine. The wine was of excellent quality and Galahad who considered himself to be a small wine connoisseur of wines could easily tell that it must have been pretty expensive, as in costing more than his mansion expensive. Regardless, it was free wine and it was good wine , so he didn't complain.

       After having drunk the wine, the General placed the glass on the table and said, " With that said, there was one more thing I wanted to say. Or rather, someone I wanted to introduce you to . Hope you enjoy his company ! "

       Before Galahad could react to the General's words , he saw that the General's face had suddenly turned into a red blob of some sort after which it reformed itself into the face of the blue haired boy he had just seen in the documents a while back, Shido Itsuka himself. He was shocked at the sight in front of him but he soon found out that he couldn't move at all. His entire body had frozen still. From the corner of his eyes, he saw that Lucas, Percival and Beatrice were still standing there, unresponsive.

        The boy spoke up with a smile on his face, a cheerful tone which was out of place from the current conditions and said, " Even though you may now know my name, I believe it would be wrong on my part to not reintroduce myself. So with that, as you see, My name is Shido Itsuka ! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance ! " The boy greeted him with a bow , as if showing mock respect. However Galahad found out that he could suddenly move his mouth. He asked the boy in a firm tone, " Who are you and what did you do with the General ?! And what did you add in the wine ?! "

       Shido raised a brow before sighing and said, " Geez, no need to shout. It's not like anyone is going to hear your screams and come here after I've placed a barrier outside you know . But still, to answer your question, well, the general was long dead. Just yesterday as a matter of fact. I have impersonated him by devouring his soul. And as for your other question, I didn't add anything to the wine. I wouldn't dare add anything to such an excellent drink . I'm an asshole, not a monster ! "

       Shido then turned to Percival and Beatrice and placed a hand on Beatrice's shoulder and said, " And as for your agents, sorry kiddo , but they died soon after ingesting my blood. I got their memories after eating their souls and I must say, what a beautiful thing love is ! Together in life and in death ! How romantic ... Oh well ! Nothing you can do about it ! If it's any consolation, they didn't have too painful deaths . Also , I didn't lie to you , you know ? Some of your agents genuinely did get some info on me. However, I killed them before they could inform their higher ups. I even traced their bosses from their memories and hunted them down. So it was a pretty fun experience on my end ! "

     Galahad gritted his teeth and said, " What do you mean by your blood ? And what have you done with my body ?! "
Shido chuckled as he said, " Don't you mean OUR BODY comrade ?! "
Seeing as Galahad kept quiet, Shido sighed and said, " Sigh . Kids these days. Come on man ! You're an American ! You should appreciate communist jokes more than a Japanese like me ! That aside, to answer your question, you see, when you took on my blood, my cells devoured and replaced your cells. And since I can freely control my cells , I can do fun things.... like this !!"

        Saying this, Shido snapped his fingers and soon Galahad began to punch his own face. His punches were strong and firm , and he had even started to bleed from his mouth. Shido , barely holding his laughter, said " Why you hittin yourself ?! Why you hittin yourself ?! "
After having a hearty laugh, Shido eventually stopped Galahad from hitting himself by commanding the clone body. With another snap of his fingers, he healed all the wounds on his body.

        As Galahad was catching his breath, he gritted teeth and said, " You won't get away with this you monster ! You will pay for your crimes !" Shido smiled. Hearing the word monster was like music to his ears. It meant that the target was both afraid yet hated him. And there's nothing more satisfying than annoying a hater . Shido said while smiling, " Oh look ! It's the kettle calling the pot black ! Is being hypocritical a chief qualification for becoming a general or something ?! I mean, you yourself were planning to experiment on my family, the spirits for your own personal gains ? So what's wrong with me killing a few of your people ?"

       Galahad spoke in a harsh tone and said,
" How dare you compare my agents with those Inhumans ! Those Inhumans lives have no purpose. In fact they should be thankful that they could be of use to a great nation like ours !" Upon hearing this, Shido's smile twisted into a frown. Clenching his fists, he gave a mental command to Galahad's body.

       Soon strange animal heads began to arise from Galahad's limbs. They began to gnaw at his torso. His body itself began to twist and contort itself unnaturally, as if some invisible hands were twisting it. His broken jaw hung from his face with a small string of flesh. His eyeballs had popped out , with the nerves still attached to them. His intestines and lungs were exposed, with small parts of his rib cage and spinal cord being visible. However, no screams emerged from his body as his torn windpipe along with his larynx was hanging out of his torn out neck. However, he was not dead, not by a long shot. Shido had ensured that his soul would still be attached and trapped to this body, preventing his death.

       Shido then stepped forward and began to bombard his body with a flurry of kicks. He was barely holding himself back and as such, each kick of his was strong enough to shatter steel and pulverize metals. As a result, Galahad's bones hardly stood a chance. After going on it for a while, Shido took a deep breath to compose himself. With a snap of his fingers, he commanded Galahad's body to regenerate. He then faced Galahad and said, " You know, I really hate it when shits like you say these sort of things ! What I hate more than bastards like me is hypocritical bastards like you ! I mean, if you're going to act like an asshole, own up to your actions ya little piece of shit !!"

       Shido then picked up the bottle of wine and drank it in a single gulp. Shaking his head a bit , he turned to Galahad and said,
" Sorry about that kid. I sometimes kinda get a little pissed off. Oh well. That aside, you know, the human mind is quite the fascinating thing isn't it ?" Galahad , who was still recovering from the experience, didn't say anything. Shido, not caring for his response, continued to speak and said, " For instance, when you were going through that..... Experience, yeah let's call it that, your neurons were firing in your brain, interpreting your sensations as pain. And the thing with neurons is , all of the sensations you humans experience are due to your neurons. As such, they are patterns in which neurons are fired off. And the thing with patterns is , they can be repeated ! So , because of that, I can do this !!!"

          Once again, Shido snapped his fingers. This time however, there was no physical contortion of Galahad's body nor were there any strange animal heads that popped out of his body. However, Galahad still screamed. He knew that there was nothing going on with his body, but he could still feel the same sensations he had felt moments ago. The pain of his flesh being torn, the pain of his bones being snapped, the feeling of warm blood on his face, in spite of not a single drop being shed from his body. This was because, with Shido's command, his neurons had fired in the exact same sequence as a few moments ago. As such, all sensations, right down to the smallest ones were replicated in his mind.

         Shido kept laughing like a madman. And perhaps madman was the appropriate term for the beast that laughed at the torment of his victim. Someone who's mind wandered to creating new and novel ways to torture and torment a person on first meeting them instinctually. A man for whom the world wasn't a stage with the people as actors , but rather a board game with humans as pawn pieces. Pieces he could play with and once he had gotten bored with, discard aside. For him, all humans aside from his family held as much value as a grain of sand on a seashore. In his view, his family was all that mattered. Rest humans were no different from the scurrying vermin on the ground.

        Regardless, he turned around to see that Galahad was still suffering. The same sensations were repeating in his mind. Shido knelt down and placed his hand on his shoulder and said with a smile, " Don't worry bud. I'm going to end your suffering. I'm a kind person. I would wish you a good afterlife but unfortunately, you aren't going to be lucky enough to experience a second chance. Still, I can say this to you for formality's sake ; Sweet Dreams ! " With that, Galahad's soul was dissolved and absorbed. All of his memories, his experiences, his skills, were absorbed by Shido. He had died.

      As Shido was going through the memories of Galahad and his agents , a frown appeared on his face. He had discovered about the plans Galahad had discussed with the higher ups about further actions one they would get their hands on the spirits. And it wasn't pretty. Just hearing about the experiments that would have been conducted on them was enough to make his blood boil with rage. Shido then came to a decision. Cracking his knuckles, he decided that it was time to teach America a lesson. But first, he had to take care of the mess in front of him.

       All the blood on the ground then flowed into his body. Extending his arm forward, two blobs of blood appeared which soon took the form of Galahad and General Michael. The clone of Galahad and the agents would resume with their daily duties while The general's clone would leave out of here. He himself soon transformed his body into a small insect, a housefly which then proceeded to fly out of the window. In a span of a few minutes, four people had been murdered in the room and not a single soul knew of the truth. But for a seasoned criminal like Shido , this was his regular line of work.

                  -------------X-------------

Location : An Aircraft , 34000 feet above sea level

        Rebecca placed the meals on her cart. She was slightly tired after multiple back to back flights. On top of it, the passengers and their noisy kids didn't make it any better. Truly, the job of an airhostess wasn't an easy one. Still she loved her job, so she shrugged her troubles off. She looked around and saw Kate wasn't there. She thought that perhaps she went to the washroom. Where else could she go ? They were literally in air. However, her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a voice near her feet. Hiding under the table was a small kitten. The cat seemed to be wounded and covered with bruises.

       Rebecca gently picked up the kitten and carried it in her arms. She pitied the small animal and thought how such a poor thing had gotten hurt. She was still curious how it had managed to slip on the flight , but that could be left for later . She noticed that there was a small tag on the cat's neck. Expecting it's name and perhaps the contact info of the owner, she expectantly took a look at the tag. However, on the tag were the only words, Memento Mori . She recognised the words as they decorated the profiles of every edgy thirteen year old. The phrase was Latin . Slightly confused, she spoke aloud the meaning of the phrase and said,
" Remember you must die....."

      As soon as she spoke, something completely unexpected happened. The cat smiled. That would have been strange on its own, but the smile was a terror inducing one ; with sharp teeth like those of a shark and a large grin stretching across its face like that of the Cheshire cat. The cat's mouth then opened like the lid of a container, with the upper portion of its head dangling from the jaw half. The inside of its mouth was as terrifying as the outside. Lined inside the mouth seemed to be like a pitch black tunnel. However, with the small light overhead, one could see that the throat was lined with multiple rows of sharp barb like teeth.

        Witnessing the horrific sight in front of her, Rebecca wanted to scream. However, before she even had a chance to call for help, large tentacles emerged from the mouth of the cat , completely wrapping her face and torso. As she struggled helplessly, the tentacles pulled her into the mouth of the cat whose jaw had become even larger and was as large as a manhole cover. The cat's head seemed ridiculously large on top of its small body and if not for the strange actions of the head, it would have even seemed comical.

        Once the body of the poor girl had been dragged inside the cat's mouth, she was dissolved and devoured in her entirety. The cat then turned into a red blob before taking the form of its unfortunate victim . Rebecca, or rather Shido in Rebecca's body smirked. Torturing people was fun and all but assassinating unsuspecting prey was the real best part of his job. He let a small blob of blood appear from his hands which turned Kate, the girl he had killed right before Rebecca. She herself was useless for him, but he needed her dead body to be present afterwards for further plans. Pushing the cart, he stepped out and made his way towards the cockpit .

       In the pilot's cockpit, one could see two men in white uniforms at the wheel. In front of them was a panel with multitudes of colourful buttons that would make anyone's head spin. Still, both of them were focused on their job. Rebecca soon entered the cockpit with her cart and placed a hand on one of the pilot's shoulders and said, " Mr . Hall, I think it's time for your and Mr. Bernard's meal. "

  
       The pilot, now identified as Mr hall, had a look of realization on his face as he said,
" Oh ! Thanks for reminding me Rebecca. Geez, I wonder what we would do without you. " Rebecca smiled gently and said, " It's part of my job sir. " Hall then got up from his seat and took out a small appetizer package before seating himself back . Bernard on the other hand had placed the plane on autopilot. The autopilot could handle all operations of the aircraft other than takeoff and landing, so they were free to have their meals in peace.

       Suddenly, Rebecca placed her hands on both of their shoulders. Before any of them could express their confusion at her actions, their bodies turned into red blobs. They had died before their bodies could even register the sensation of pain . After their souls were dissolved, the blobs reformed themselves into the pilot's bodies. The two clones of the pilots seated themselves and began to change the direction of the plane. The clone body of Rebecca in which Shido's soul was currently in stepped out of the cockpit.

        As soon as Rebecca stepped out, an announcement rang in the plane . It said,
" Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We're going to experience slight turbulence, so please strap on to your seatbelts. " Upon hearing the announcement, some of the first time flyers were slightly nervous. However, a small group of well dressed business men seemed lax and simply put on their seatbelts without any concern as they were used to this by now. A child on one of the seats was busy fiddling with his seatbelt worriedly asked his mother, " Mom, are we going to be okay ?" Rebecca kneeled near the child's seat and put his seatbelt for him. With a gentle smile she said to the child , " Don't worry. Everything's going to be alright. " She then got up and went towards the other sections.

Location : ???? , Pentagon

        A man hurriedly ran through the hallways. In his hand was a small file and what seemed to be a communication device. He then rushed inside a room which seemed to be a cabin of sorts. Inside the cabin was a middle aged man who was smoking a cigar. The smoker raised a brow and before he could say anything, the man with the file said, " Sir , flight A- 3526 has diverted 60 miles from its expected course . It has cut off all contact from the airports. We fear it may have gone rogue ! "

      The smoker got up with a look of terror on his face. He quickly snatched the files from the other man's hand and took a look at the flight's planned course. After looking at it, he seemed to have an epiphany. It was crystal clear what the plane's target destination was. There was only one large scale monument in its path. Grabbing a hold of the other man, he said with a stern yet terror filled tone , " Dispatch F-16 's and take down that aircraft ! Now ! "

     The other man, most likely lower in rank than him , asked while slightly stuttering ,
" B-But S-sir , shouldn't we contact the higher ups before taking such drastic steps ?" The smoker shaked the other man furiously and said, " We don't have time for that ! Those bastards are trying to target Mount Rushmore ! I'm not going to have another 9/11 on American soil ! Go ! Now !"

      Hearing this, the other man rushed out to relay his orders. The smoker took a deep breath and held his head, silently praying that this situation would be resolved. While the passengers on the flight were doomed, they didn't have a choice. It was a necessary evil. Still, it was a good thing that it was a normal hijacked flight. This meant that there was no way that it could pose a threat to multiple F-16's . However, unbeknownst to the man, Fate and more specifically, a certain blue haired boy had ordained a different plan.....

Location : Keystone Airspace
Altitude : 34,000 Feet
Estimated time of impact : 1 minute and 48 seconds.

        Three F-16's made their way towards the flight A - 3526. They had a single goal, to shoot it down . At the base, everyone had their hearts racing, eagerly waiting in anticipation for the results of the mission. One of the jet pilot's messaged the base and said , " This is Falcon 1 , rapidly approaching target. Falcon 2 and Falcon 3 are in position. Requesting permission to engage. "

       With a heavy heart, the commander in chief at the base said, " Permission granted . You're free to engage. " Upon hearing the orders, Falcon 1 readied the targeting system. Taking aim at the aircraft, he was going to hit it with a standard air -to -air anti-aircraft missile. However, before he could launch the missile, he saw something in his sights.

       He quickly contacted the vase and said,
" I have a visual on an unknown aircraft ! The aircraft is unknown in origin and rapidly approaching ! " Hearing this, a thousand thoughts raced through the mind of the commander. Who did the unknown aircraft belong to ? Why had it made its appearance now ? And most importantly, how did it manage to evade their radar systems ? He knew that their radars were the state of the art, best in the world. Even stealth technology was useless against them. So how did this one aircraft manage to deceive it ?

       Before the commander could give further instructions, a voice resounded from the speakers belonging to Falcon 1 . Falcon 1 said in a distressed tone , " The aircraft is making some strange movements ! It seems to - "
Before he could continue, his voice was cut off. Barely a second had passed since getting a visual on the unknown aircraft and one of their own jets was already down. The commander hurriedly switched to Falcon 2's line. Falcon 2 hurriedly spoke, " Falcon 2 to base ! Falcon 1 has been hit ! Our anti-territory weaponry has no effect on the aircraft ! It's maki- "

      The line too was suddenly interrupted. This meant that Falcon 2 was lost too. The operator tried switching to Falcon 3, but as they feared, Falcon 3 was down too. Quickly switching to the telecast from one of their observatory drones near mount Rushmore, they got the visual of Flight A - 3526. Surrounding it were two aircrafts of unknown origin. They had a design like they had never before seen. The drone was at quite a distance from the mountain and it was only a normal drone with no onboard weapons. As such everyone could only watch in horror as in just a matter of seconds, Flight A- 3526 collided with the face of the mountain. The mountain quaked and trembled. A large crack went up the face of the mountain, bringing down large chunks of the rock. The unfortunate tourists who couldn't escape the falling rocks were immediately crushed and buried under the monument which stood as a mark of pride and glory of their nation. A monument which was no more.

      Before they could react to the sudden development, they received a strange broadcast from an unknown frequency. Switching it on , a voice resonated through the command room. The voice had a heavy Russian accent and it said in a mocking tone,
" Greetings from mother Russia ya bastards ! Did you like our gift ?! Don't worry, we've got more coming ! But for now well... What do you Americans say ? Ah yes ! That's all folks !"

      The transmission ended abruptly in the same way it had begun. From their drone , they witnessed that the aircrafts , now identified to belong to the Russians, took upward flight, as if they were a rocket and disappeared from view. They knew that there were certainly some tensions between them and Russia , they didn't expect Russia to take such drastic steps. However, one thing was clear. That with this act , Russia had declared open war against the USA. However, what they didn't know was that this was only the first of the three troubles that was about to befall their nation......

Location : An oil rig, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean

      On the oil rig, one could see multiple men being engaged in various activities. Some were operating some complicated electronic panels near the drills, while some were handling the barrels of crude oil. Some others were having a simple meal, albeit with their dirty hands . Not that they seemed to mind it, working in such an environment, one often got used to it.

       What did seem out of place was however the presence of multiple armed soldiers on the rig. They were deployed due to escalating tensions with Russia and the government feared that they would target the 27 offshore oil rigs off the coast of America and its surrounding coastal areas. Still, the soldiers were pretty lax, as they believed that no nation would be foolish enough to enter the maritime boundaries of another nation , thereby intentionally provoking a war.

      However, all the soldiers were alerted when they suddenly saw an unknown face in front of them. The person seemed to be a blue haired teenager, in casual civilian clothing. The soldiers, alarmed by his sudden appearance, cornered him and pointed their guns at him , as the boy was caught between the soldiers on one side and the ocean on the other. The boy raised his arms, as if surrendering and said with a smile, " Woah ! Woah ! No need to be so trigger happy ! I come in peace ! However, there's one thing I need to do ! "

     Saying that, the teen snapped his fingers. Suddenly, almost out of nowhere, two more teens looking identical to him steeped from behind him. At the same time, a strange song began to play . The song had the distinctive tone produced exclusively by disc records, indicating it was being played on a disc recorder as opposed to a digital one.

( Play the above song and it's the same dance )

         The teen and his twin brothers , perhaps ? Regardless, they began to dance a strange dance. The dance was made up of exaggerated movements. The soldiers were completely confused at the strange sight in front of them and just kept staring at the strange performance in front of them. However, this action of theirs was nothing short of a fatal mistake.

       The teen of course, was Shido . And Shido wasn't doing the strange dance just for fun ( for the most part ) . No, it had a clear purpose. That being distraction. As any person in show business, especially a magician would tell you , distracting your audience was the first and most crucial part of your performance. And with the dance, Shido did just that. The second part, the actual act , was just about to begin.

      Behind the three kids, unnoticed by the soldiers and everyone, strange red tendrils were carrying some sort of mirrors and a group of lenses. They then began to arrange themselves in place. By the time that the soldiers had noticed it , it was too late. The harsh sunlight that had graced the sea was falling right on the multiple mirrors, all of which were aimed directly at a single , large lens . The Lens seemed to be at least more than a meter in diameter.

       From the lens emerged a single dazzling beam of light. The light immediately cut through one of the soldier's body as soon as it made contact. The soldier barely had time to scream before his body was cut in half, almost like if someone had used a hot knife on butter. Seeing this, the soldiers tried to shoot down the boys and the lens but it was no use. The entire setup of the lens and the mirrors moved and along with it , the Ray of Death moved too.

     The soldiers and the other men screamed, blood spilled, but the beam of light kept moving, slicing through everything it touched. The soldiers attempts at shooting the boys were unsuccessful too as the bullets just didn't seem to faze them in any manner. They continued their strange dance to the music which was playing, almost as if mocking the dying men....

      After a few moments, everyone on the rig was dead. He had made sure of it. The men that were not on the surface of the rig and were working on the lower floors were killed by Shido's clones. None were spared. He then put the lens and the mirrors back in his soul storage. Putting together a setup of mirrors and michtalen crystal lens was definitely worth it. The Michtalen crystal was a special sort of crystal which had the peculiar property to amplify and focus not just normal photonic light , but also mystical energies like mana. As such, a convex lens made out of it was definitely handy.

      He then connected to his other clones which were on the other oil rigs. They had finished their job of killing everyone on the rigs in the more conventional way of dissolving and killing them before they had a chance to call for help. He believed that while it was efficient, his part was definitely more fun . He then took out a small bomb out of his soul storage. The bomb was a small one, as large as a basketball. However, it's explosive power was anything but small.

       Before coming to the present, he had himself designed the bombs on the basis of the Davy Crockett nuke, the world's smallest nuclear warhead. The bomb he had created had a yield of only 10 tons of TNT. As such, the fireball created from it would only be 10 meters in radius ( About 500 square metres of surface area ) Large enough to take out the rig, but not so large as to cause tsunamis near the shore..... Okay , maybe a small tsunami would be created due to 27 of these being detonated simultaneously by him and his clones across all the oil rigs , but it was fine. Only a few people in the coastal areas would be killed. Just a few minutes ago, he had crashed an airplane and it's hundred or so passengers into a national monument killing them and the other tourists caught in the debris. Since when did he start caring about human lives ?

      The bomb had a small cable attached to it. On the other end of the cable was a cylindrical apparatus, a stereotypical handheld detonator, with a red button on top of it. Even though Shido had done this hundreds of times in the past, he still enjoyed doing this. Placing his hand on the button of the detonator , Shido spoke loudly, nearly screaming as he said,
" KILLER QUEEN ! DAISAN NO BAKUDAN ! BITES ZA DUSTO ! " No sooner than he had finished his sentence, he clicked the button. With that , the whole rig , along with the other rigs blew up in a blaze of glory. The news of the blast would soon reach the government in a few hours. Until then, Shido had already shifted his soul to another clone body, ready for the next and final part of his plan........

Location : An underground Volcanic Cavern, Yellowstone Volcano

      Shido stepped forward and made his way towards a large volcanic pool. The hot temperatures from the bubbling lava would have burned away the skin of anyone who dared to approach it from the radiant heat alone, but for Shido , who could control the law of Frost and thereby control entropy of matter as he willed, temperature was hardly an issue for him. He then stood right at the edge of the pool.

     He had special plans for the place. First , let's answer a question, what is a spacequake ? Well, it is an event when space shakes ! ........ Okay, jokes aside, a spacequake was when distortions were created in the very fabric of space. For reasons unknown to him, the dimension in which this world was situated was severely, severely weak when compared to the fabric of space in the other dimensions. As such, if a large enough amount of mana or Qi was gathered and released in a single spot ( say for instance from a spirit ) , it could trigger large scale destructive ripples across the fabric of space, giving rise to spacequakes. As such, theoretically speaking, if two or three Grand Maguses or Warriors at the Return to the Void realm came together and released all of their energy at a single time, they too could trigger a spacequake.

      But since most spacequakes were triggered by the goddesses or as the government called them , Spirits, they used to occur on the surface level. However, what would happen if a spacequake were to occur hundreds of metres underground near a lava lake of an Active Supervolcano ? Well, the pursuit of knowledge and answers Is one of the most noble pursuits a man can embark on . As such, it was his moral duty to obtain the answer to this question !

      Extending his arms forward, he began to gather mana at its ends. He had infinite mana due to his ability to draw power from the collective unconscious, so the amount of mana was hardly a problem. He had also calculated the amount of mana necessary to create a medium sized spacequake as while he wanted to create an eruption at Yellowstone, he didn't want to create a supereruption . If a supereruption occurred, a large number of people would die and the climate of the entire planet would be affected. He was okay with a lot of people dying, but he still had to preserve Humanity as per the contract between him and Nyarlothep in exchange for returning to the present.

     Soon a spacequake began to form . The spacequake shook the surroundings as the land above too began to tremble. The cave had started to collapse and the lava had started to bubble. With that , a large explosion occurred which caused the lava to shoot up the volcano which destroyed Shido's clone body. He didn't mind of course, he just shifted his soul to another clone, back in Japan , as his job here in America was done. The eruption would spew ash and soot which would kill a large number of people in the surroundings . And since it had happened so abruptly, there would be no evacuations. In the span of a single hour, Shido had inflicted three grievous wounds on America. His actions had quite literally, shook the Nation......

Location : Itsuka residence, Tengu city
Time : Early Morning

      Kotori made her way towards the dining table. She was joined by tohka and yoshino. While it was early in the morning, they still had no reason to slack off. She saw that the other spirits including kaguya and Yuzuru, origami, kurumi, natsumi and mukuro were already waiting at the dining table. Nia wasn't exactly an early bird, so she must have still been asleep at her home. Miku had her own mansion and due to media concerns of her changing residence suddenly, she was required to stay at her own home instead of the spirits mansion. Reine and Ellen still preferred the Fraxinus, so they would most likely join them at school.

       She saw that Shido was still in the kitchen, preparing the lunch boxes for everyone . While they weren't as extravagant as yesterdays , they were still large by regular standards. She still didn't understand how her brother managed to do all that. Given how good he was at conventionally feminine accepted jobs like cooking, sewing etc , she sometimes wondered whether her brother was a girl in disguise. She chuckled internally at her own joke.

      Before seating herself, Kotori placed a chupa-chup in her mouth and switched on the TV. Sgido too had stepped out of the kitchen and was placing the dishes for breakfast on the table. Her and everyone's attention was suddenly drawn to the channel when a horrifying news headline was displayed on it.

       The anchor announced and said, " Last night we received a tragic news story from America. Flight A - 3526 was hijacked and crashed into Mount Rushmore. The crash killed all 104 passengers and the four member crew part of the flight. More than 173 people died due to the rubble of the mountain crash. Nearly 200 people are reported missing as rescue operations to search them from the rubble are underway. Along with it , all of the offshore oil rigs off the coast of the USA were targeted and destroyed simultaneously. The pentagon has released an official statement that it has evidence of the Russian involvement in the act of terrorism. Russia however has denied all accusations and instead claims that they themselves were hit with a large terrorist bombing in Moscow. According to them, America is trying to falsely accuse them to hide their own actions in Moscow. Regardless, this incident has further escalated tensions between America and Russia, which were already at an all time high excluding the cold war. Experts fear that this could soon turn into a full scale war between nuclear superpowers. Man made disasters aside, the Yellowstone Volcano at Yellowstone national park erupted suddenly, killing more than 200 people who were caught under the eruption's sudden lava flow. The combination of Soot , volcanic gases, ash and deadly CO2 resulted in hundreds of people in the vicinity succumbing to their deaths due to suffocation. Rescue operations and evacuation efforts are underway . It is - "

( AN : Keep in mind that there is a 13 hour time difference between America and Japan )

      The TV was suddenly switched off as Shido stood in front of it with a heavy expression with the remote in his hands. He said with a pensive expression, " Come on now , we don't need all that gloom early in the morning. "
Kotori sighed and said, " You can't control everything Oni-chan. Just because you have stopped the problem of spacequakes by sealing all the spirits doesn't mean the world is suddenly going to become a better place. You just have to accept that. "

     Shido scratched his head and said " I know. Still , I can't believe what sort of monster would take the loves of so many innocent people..." Saying this, he sighed and made his way towards the kitchen. Once he had left, Kotori felt slightly sorry for him. Her brother was perhaps too empathetic of a person. Feeling pain over others pain, sometimes she herself wished that her brother would change and stop putting the needs of others before his own.

      Inside the kitchen however , where no one could see Shido, Shido held his hand on his face as he had a maniacal smile on his face. Too see humans squirming in misery and despair, it truly was a hilarious sight to behold. He loved when things went according to his plans . And he didn't exactly lie to Kotori . Only a monster would do something as horrible as these deeds. And the thing was, he was that monster. He was a beast cloaked in the skin of man. Other than his family, humans were little more than toys for him. Because of this, he didn't go around committing too many acts of terrorism in Russia, only a single one. After all , what good is it if you break all your toys at the same time ? You have to do it slowly, savouring each small instance. Humans may not be the best species, but one thing was certain. Humans certainly are such interesting toys....

         
                    ------------X------------

And with that chapter done ! As you might have noticed, this chapter is really important considering it sets up Shido's uncaring charecter. How he's willing to literally commit acts of terrorism. He isn't a good guy. He isn't supposed to be. Not by a long shot. The story isn't going to be centred around a paragon of virtue, but a literal Demon God and his mission to just save his family from impending doom. With that, if there are any questions criticisms or suggestions, feel free to say !

Word count : 9453 words