#and I can't fathom why. This guy is Malice with a pulse.

[blue-kyber]

Chapter 25 edited.

Here's a part of it.

The introduction of the bad guy with powers, Vitiate Scarin.

(this is Vitiate Scarin, btw. - his face and collar was made a couple of years ago in artbreeder, and then the mask and cowl added, and the eyes repainted in photoshop to be purple. The mask is a mass produced plastic one that can be bought on etsy, and the hood is from a generic picture of a hoodie I recolored and darkened the crap out of and added texture to. I never said I was good. The weapon he uses is called an arclight. It has no power pack. The user IS the power source. I has only an ena crystal in the grip at the center with some tech inside it to focus and amplify their energy into a ring -an arc. Hence the name.)

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A harsh fear scraped its abrasive nails through Yune's insides from head to toe in an unrelenting aggression.

He’d faced the Regents countless times before. He should not be feeling as though a wire of cold terror coiled around his spine, and one tug would sever it.

Curious as to the reason why, he fought that fear to peek out the viewport once more.

That reason strode in tailing the elite soldiers. 

Yune’s thoughts shattered. 

The athletic man clad in black and red carried no weapons. He wore a cowl pulled over his head, a matte black mask hiding the lower half of his face, leaving his bright blue eyes stained with purple visible to pierce through anyone who dared to look at him. His clothing, deep as the night sky, cracked with hints of red as though bleeding beneath. Forearm protectors clamped above his gloved hands, and shin protectors over his knee high boots were the only signs of armor.

A short ebony metal bar like a handle with a grip at its center pulled Yune’s eyes to lock onto it. The handle clipped horizontally along the right side of his belt to make it easy to grab - like how Yune kept his all-purpose tool. It didn’t look sharp, or long enough to be used as a blunt weapon. When held, it looked to extend a mere inch or two from either side of a closed fist. 

Yet despite its non-threatening appearance, it threatened Yune. The glint of light off its scratched and marred surface sent his pulse racing with anxiety. He didn’t have a clue as to what it could be - only something to avoid. 

The stranger carried the air of a being in full control of his abilities, enough to make anyone believe he didn’t need weapons. He moved with the strong, unyielding confidence of an iceberg. The tar-like iniquitous aura oozing out of him mirrored that apathetic fridgidness.

Despite being a couple of inches shorter than the commander, his presence darkened the room, dominated every living thing in it, and made him a dangerous force larger than life. 

This was no ordinary man. 

This was a demon of suffering carved from the deepest depths of the Void. 

Yune quickly ducked down before they could spot him. 

He automatically scooted under the console and pulled his knees up. 

His breathing increased to hyperventilation as his pulse pounded hard, painful, and fast in his chest. A pressure quickly formed behind his heart - one he’d felt many times before - but instead of beginning as a subtle feeling that grew, it shot straight to the edge of threatening to explode. A cold sweat beaded his brow, numbing his thoughts. A rapid flood of adrenaline injected him with the powerful urge to run. Panic clawed through each breath. 

Where the hell did this random trauma reaction come from?

He felt a chill in his soul like it knew - he knew - that this man meant bad news. He didn’t know why, he just did. He knew if he stayed in this location, he would die. And his death would not be quick or painless.

A dissonant sense from the constant presence with him agreed.

They shared an instinctive, primal fear of this stranger. 

Their conversation occurred in a quick succession of impressions, thoughts, and emotions between them. 

Who the tak is that? he managed to get a clear thought through the static in his mind.

The presence answered, ‘Stay down. Hide. You have to hide, now. Don’t let him see you.’ 

Yeah, no kidding.

He wiped the sweat away from his brow, noticing his hands trembling, and clenched them. What is wrong with me? Why did he feel like this? Why did he react as though he were in mortal danger? It made no sense. He’d never met that being before in his life. He had zero reasons for this to whiplash him back to being a kid enslaved on the dark side of the wall, to every instance he was yelled at, punished, locked away - this man revived the abrasive emotions of every traumatic experience he could remember. 

It froze him in place.

Rarely had anything terrified him so much that it paralyzed him while his body simultaneously screamed at him to run.

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