New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

His brain flashed to images of two cold metal tables. Bodies with long white sheets, covering them aside from their faces.

His parents.

He had been called in to make sure it was them, and also to confirm their deaths. Back then, he had been so out of it that his body had moved on its own, barely nodding, not a tear coming out of his body.

His mind snapped back to reality as Kary breathed out a loud sigh, readjusting her position. Seeing her breathe and move, washed away the gloomy images lingering in his mind.

'My parents wouldn't want me to remember them like that.'

He instead brought his mind to a memory of their breakfasts together, smiling and laughing, as they enjoyed their idle banter around some bacon and eggs. A smile stretched his lips, as melancholy wrapped around his heart.

But it was short-lived.

A sudden rush of adrenaline took hold of him as the hair on his neck stood up.

'Something is coming!'

Turning around, Alex heard the alarms go off inside the facility. The loud blaring woke Kary up from her sleep, and she jumped to her feet.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked him.

"I don't know yet, but we'll find out soon. I can feel something getting closer. And its mana signature is no good!"

The mana he was sensing through his mana senses was something familiar to him. It was almost the same signature as when he fought that possessed maid inside New Eden.

'This can't be… David said there wouldn't be any possessions for another year. Was he wrong?'

Bursting through the floor in front of him, a familiar teen suddenly stood a few meters away. When his head turned toward Alex, an enormous grin spread across his lips.

"Youuuu. This soul hungered for youuuu."

Alexander's mind raced. This wasn't the Demonoid from last time.

It was much stronger. The mana it gave off was enough to make its clothes flutter to an invisible wind.

In Alex's vision, the dark red and black mana oozing off of it was the only sign he needed.

He immediately called on his mana, melding with White's soul fragment. As his hair turned white, and his eyes silver, he turned his head slightly toward Kary, never taking his eyes off the possessed teen.

"He isn't human anymore. Get everyone out. If he goes at you, you fight to kill. Don't hesitate."

Kary's eyes went wide. Her stomach dropped at the thought of taking a life.

But the fear climbing in her throat was rapidly pushed back by her will to help. She nodded to Alex, even though her hands were trembling.

Kary walked slowly around the teen, keeping her eyes on him. The demon looked at her walk away, not reacting.

'Good. That means he wants only me. For now,' Alex thought.

"Hey, eyes on me! If you want me, then let's tango!"

Alexander dashed at the demon, trying to set his pace in this fight. He had beaten the demon last time in New Eden.

Even if he couldn't kill it, he could hold it back as long as needed. But he was rapidly disillusioned.

He was much less powerful here than in New Eden, and on the first strike they exchanged, he understood the demon was not restrained by the same issue.

He punched the demon in the face with all his might, expecting it to go flying. But the demon only turned his head slightly, his grin widening unnaturally.

The skin of its face was ripping apart, as the smile widened literally to its ears.

"Is that all you can do, mortal? This soul was calling out to me, wanting revenge on the one that had him imprisoned and powerless. Seems you are nothing more than a bug."

Turning his head back toward Alex, the demon punched at lightning speed. It aimed the punch at Alexander's stomach, and the latter felt his body wrap around the fist, before blasting away backward.

His internal organs felt like they had just been slammed into by a cannonball, and he spat blood. Alexander blasted through the cement wall that separated the rooms from each other and collided with the next one before coming to a halt.

His head jerked back, impacting the wall behind him. His vision immediately became blurry, and his body started feeling woozy.

Collapsing to the ground, blood started trickling from the back of his head to the floor. His vision was shaking from left to right.

His mana senses screamed at him, as he felt the demon getting closer, but there wasn't much he could do.

'How am I so powerless? I should be one of the strongest humans right now. Why am I losing to him?'

The demon stopped in front of him, grabbing his collar and lifting him to his face.

"You are resistant. Good. I will enjoy breaking you over and over until desperation makes you wish you were dead."

Alexander could feel his stomach pitting. He was feeling fear.

Seeing his eyes widen, the demon cackled maniacally.

"Rrakakakaka! Yes! Fear! Despair! Let the emotions feed me!"

Rearing his other arm back, the demon was about to punch him again when something crossed in front of him from the left, blazingly fast. His arm that was holding Alexander was suddenly gone, as was the man.

Looking to his right, the demon watched as a small child put Alexander on his feet close to him. On his right arm, a blade of wind a meter long was whistling wildly.

Tilting his head to one side, the demon opened his mouth to speak.

"Another bug? I will enjoy this even more! Entertain me, mortals!"

Alexander's head had stopped spinning, and his face was now a mask of anger.

"Don't call us bugs, vermin from hell!" he shouted, before howling loudly.

*Awwooooo!*

The demon felt his body jerk to a stop momentarily, but that was enough for the child that had been standing there to disappear from his sight.

'Fast, for a mortal,' the demon thought. 'But not fast enough.'

Jonathan had spun around the demon, intending to catch it from behind, but with a loud crack, the demon's head turned a hundred and eighty degrees in his direction, its grin still as wide as ever.

"Peekaboo!" the demon said.