"That is the last I could read of the story... then I got transported here." Carmen looked over at Milo, contemplating something. "So tell me, what happened to me?" The blue light coming from Milo slightly dimmed.
{You died, pretty gruesomely from the sounds of it}
Carmen nodded, his face obscured under his visor. Milo didn't even need to see it; the tension in Carmen's shoulders said everything about how he felt currently. Milo looked outwards, towards the busy plaza of the fortress. Milo shook his head; he needed to meet up with his cohort first and foremost. He looked over at Carmen.
{I need to find my cohort, nothing will happen while I'm gone, right?}
Carmen nodded, taking off the helmet of his armor. He seemed eighteen at most. A sincere look was on his face. Milo couldn't imagine handling a situation like that; it was foreign, resigning to one's death.
"Take good care of Eva, she seemed pretty kind and sincere. Also funny, you should've heard some of the things she said to Nether." Carmen chuckled at the memory and jokes only he and Eva could recall. "I'll let you use the forest as home in this Nightmare. Now go and find your cohort before some terrible monster kills them. Not everyone is lucky like you to receive my blessing." Carmen added, a cocky grin on his face.
Milo nodded, his body whirring as it broke into a mad sprint. It was surprisingly fast; however, Milo did note that if it was this quick, its armor likely wasn't impressive. Milo could not alter the body much; he did note that it seemed to have some sort of system that would break down nutrients from... blood... of all things into iron and other sorts of metals that could replace the armor or limbs if broken.
Milo suddenly halted. Something was following him. The Prototype came out with a shing as he unsheathed it, and he raised the red arm of his left hand. Milo looked around the high grass he was sprinting through; it was silent except for the brushing wind that waved the grass around.
FWOOSH
Milo threw his head back, four jagged claws swiped through the air where it had been moments ago. Milo let out a surprised beep. The Nightmare Creature had landed in the grass blades a few meters away. The creature was a hunchbacked-looking alligator, with pale green dots that flashed through the night in Milo's optics. Despite being hunched over. It was still about three meters in length. Dark green scales covered its body from head to toe, and it had tattered rags over its back and waist. The tail behind it flapped against the ground in fury. It let out a low hiss.
Milo raised the Prototype, and the scaly monster charged at him. Milo dodged a snap of its jaws aimed at his arm and blocked a vertical slash from its claws. Milo pushed its claws to the side and threw a slash at its chest. The monster threw itself back.
'Why couldn't you just die? Why did you have to be intelligent?!'
Milo let out a drawn-out and low-pitched beep, followed quickly by some fast beeps. Milo charged forward, jumping into the air and slashing down. The monster evaded it easily and hurriedly moved to chomp down on the now immobile Milo in the air. The monster chomped down at nothing but air.
Milo's wings flared as he used his double jump. He was backwards in the air behind the monster. The Prototype thrust through the air, piercing the monster directly in the chest. Milo landed and heaved his arms upwards as it sliced from the chest all the way to the snout of the terrible monster.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Mirelord Soldier]
Milo wiped the blood of his Prototype on the inside of his elbow; the seams of both Carmen's Masterpiece and his body opened, greedily swallowing the blood before closing up again. Milo felt slightly refreshed, if that was even possible in his new body.
'Neat... what a strange source of food, as if I'd actually need it, however.'
Milo scoured through its body, finding the soul shard, and crushing it in his hands.
[Your system grows more advanced]
Milo looked around. Then, for good measure, he allowed his Fly Scout to scope out the area. He saw nothing on the visual feed, so Milo pressed forward.
***
It had become morning by the time Milo reached the rendezvous point. The once ruined cathedral was now restored; however, it was abandoned. Milo opened the creaky wooden doors; the inside was riddled with dust particles visible thanks to the sunlight pouring through the colored glass. Only one person was sitting in the cathedral, a scruffy man in his twenties with a long beard and a scar across his eye. The man stood up, halberd pointed at Milo.
'Shit, I can't talk. Please don't attack me, Elias.'
Milo let out a few high-pitched beeps. He hurriedly summoned the Coil Gun, showing it off to the man. The man relaxed at the sight of it. He stood up and gave Milo a big hug.
"You are a sight for sore eyes, Milo."
Milo let out a few beeps, his blue light glowing with recognition. Elias looked behind him, likely expecting others to be with him, but to no avail.
"I haven't seen anyone else since I got here. Saw a nasty group of creatures moving in that direction, a jumbled mess of flesh and bone. Blood was dripping off of them, disgusting things."
Milo and Elias shared a glance, and Elias sighed. Summoning a set of brown leather armor with metal pauldrons and kneepads. Countless straps and belts held them to his body, and a pair of fingerless gloves appeared on his hands.
"Just our damn luck, isn't it?"
Milo let out a single tired beep. Unsheathing the Prototype once again. It wasn't like he needed sleep, but it was still a pleasure to have some rest. The two set their eyes out onto the swampy marshland that was a long walk away. So the two began walking.
***
Awakened Elias, or Agent Elias, had a healing aspect. It was related to nearby objects; however, Elias could migrate the vitality of living beings into that of others. It was very limited, as it took a bit of time to set up. However, if it is set up properly, Elias can serve as a pseudo tank or even buff one of his own cohort members. Any damage done by the enemy would simply take some of their vitality and restore the wound. It was like putting an invincible barrier of thorns around the affected person. His awakened aspect allowed him to enhance non-living things with this effect. However, he could not draw the vitality of non-living things to a living thing, because they had no vitality to begin with.
Milo and Elias stopped at the edge of a desperate battle. Milo recognized the losing side; it was the army of Nether, the saints. Eva was most likely among those soldiers; however, the flesh piles were beating them second by second.
Milo pointed towards the army of Nether, drawing an A in the mud. Elias nodded
"Ally"
Milo gave a confirming nod and then set out with his Prototype. Ready to cut down the abominations of flesh. Milo then inwardly grimaced as he noticed something. One of the flesh piles sported a head near its leg, which looked awfully similar to the head of Agent Quill.
'Damnit'
Milo slashed at the leg of the abomination. The Prototype is struggling to cut through the mass of flesh and bone. His legs and arms whirred as he put all the hydraulics to work. Eventually, the mass came crashing down. Its head, which was an amalgamation of limbs and multiple eyes, stared at Milo. A giant club of an arm came his way, and Milo dodged out of the way. Jumping into the air, Milo stabbed it directly in its head.
[You have slain a Fallen Beast, Flesh Cluster]
Milo looked over at Elias, who was working quickly to kill another. His halberd was a fury of hacks and pokes. Milo then looked at the Saint army; they were losing terribly.
'They probably have a commander in their ranks.'
Milo looked over at the gatherings of flesh. They began to gurgle, and eventually. Small masses of flesh and bone broke off from the bigger bodies, rushing towards Milo, Elias, and the Saint army. Milo grimaced as he cut one down; no notification came from the spell.
'Devils gain a special ability... meaning that the remaining masses must be devils.
Milo had failed to notice the speed at which a colossal mass of flesh approached Elias. A terrible scream sounded through the air, and Milo barely managed to turn around before Elias was ripped to bleeding pieces before Milo.
'Shit! Fuck!' Milo began to panic internally, and he looked at the Saint army; only one soldier remained. A Stone Saint
The Stone Saint looked back. A familiar voice rang out
"Milo?"
The colossus that killed Elias rushed over to Eva, and despite her desperate attempts of hacking, the flesh didn't budge. It raised her by her helmet, it could talk... the fucking thing could talk. It was a distortion of the vocal cords it had stolen from countless other bodies. The sound of metal cracking and stone breaking rang through the air. Ruby dust flowed from the colossus's hand, and what followed was a pain-filled screech. The colossus chuckled, but it came out more like a raspy mix of breaths and pants.
"Pop goes the Eva."
It dropped Eva's ruined body to the ground. Milo scrambled over to it, picking it up in his arms. He could hear the shrill intake of breath coming from the helmet. Did a body of stone even need oxygen? He could ask later.
Milo's wings flared as he dashed through the air, taking Eva and running away. All while the colossus screamed
"Run... little mortal." Its combination of voices harmonized into a single shrill cackle. Milo could hear Elias in it, along with the other members of the military cohort that had been selected for the Second Nightmare.
'Damn it! I'll kill that thing with my own hands!'
Milo promised he would tear that thing limb from limb as he ran back to Carmen's Respite. Eva's breathing was slowing.
'I won't make it in time...'
Milo did not stop regardless of that.