Chapter 349 The Nightmare

"This is a project I've been secretly working on." The Creator stepped through the large metal doors. Nicole followed the Creator through the doors. Large glass containers were filled with purple liquid. There were many different types of creatures in these containers - humanoid and monster, alike. "I've been quietly working on this ever since the Biohuman serum officially made its debut over twenty-five years ago." The Creator spun around. They had reached the middle of the room and Nicole could see some humans in the containers.

"Why did you bring me here, sir?" Nicole asked. "What does this have to do with anything? Shouldn't we be making sure Lee Seng is fine?" She didn't understand why the Creator would bring her here. She had heard he was spending less and less time in the laboratory and going somewhere else. She didn't think it was an underground facility.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to test this out on someone who hasn't been constantly fed this serum." The Creator motioned. "Plus, I want to see what will happen if the Eleventh serum and this serum mingle. Will the next line of the Biohuman evolution occur?" The Creator turned and stared at the male human nearest to them. An adult male was asleep in the container. He had a mask covering his nose and mouth so he could breathe. To Nicole, he looked like a normal person.

"We'll keep my son asleep for longer than expected. If tests go well, enough, we'll have to initiate Phase 2." The Creator told Nicole.

"Phase 2 is what exactly, sir?" Nicole asked. He turned and smiled at her.

"After wiping all of the Academy, you'll wipe the city's memories." The Creator replied.

"Sir, you do know that—"

"Yes, that's why if the tests with Lee Seng work, you'll take it and be able to wipe their memories of everything insignificant about Lee Seng. Even alter them so much that they won't be able to remember a damn thing. He'll get to think he's lived a wonderful life around me and I get to study him. It's a win-win situation."

"And what if someone finds out, sir?" Nicole gulped. The Creator stepped straight up to Nicole.

"Then you'll face the consequences, Number 1." The Creator breathed onto Nicole. "Got it?"

—

The secretary nodded. Nicole let out a sigh and pushed her hair backwards.

"No one was able to remember other than those who know. It's only been a day since he's been back, do you actually think he would re—"

"I know, I know." Nicole raised her hand. She took a shaky breath.

"Ma'am?" The secretary took a step forward as Nicole raised her hand. Her eyes glowed as she held her hand up.

"I'm fine… I just need to…" Nicole began to slow.

"Ma'am I think you need to take your meds." The secretary moved forward. Nicole immediately threw her hand out and froze the secretary in place. She squeezed the secretary as her wild eyes looked into the scared secretary's eyes.

"I told you… don't move." Nicole threw her through the door, shattering the wood as the secretary landed. The whole entire room began to shake as Nicole grabbed herself to make it stop. "I'm fine… I'm fine… Just a side effect…" Nicole huffed. She sloppily pulled the draw open and fished for her meds.

The sounds of pills rattled as she fished through many bottles, pulling out black bottle. She popped it open and let loose two pills before throwing it into her mouth.

Her staccato breaths grew loud as she grabbed her cup of water, spilling some as her hand shook towards her lips. She downed the water and slammed the cup onto the desk. She gasped as she felt everything slip back into place.

'Remember, Number 1, there are side effects to using this drug. It could very much alter you if you're not careful.' The Creator's voice echoed in her head. 'If anything happens, come to me.'

'That serum may have worked perfectly on his son, but it didn't adapt well with me…' Nicole grasped her head. 'And now I'm suffering from all these side effects…'

—

The identical version of Lee Seng stood in front of him. A silver light glowed, above, between the two of them as the identical version of Lee Seng stepped into the light.

"I'm…" A loud static noise went over the identical version of him as he told Lee Seng his name. "Don't you remember?" His voice distorted and a sinister smile grew on his face. Horns grew out of his head and the Dark Matter suit grew and crawled up his cheeks, connecting with his tear ducts. Tendril fleshy masses appeared all around the identical version of him. His white and gold hair turned pitch black as he began to laugh.

"Just give into me like they all did." The sinister version of him spoke. "I devoured *pssh* and now I'll come for you next!" The demon's laughter grew louder as the strange light started to fade. The demon rushed at him as Lee Seng shot out of bed, screaming.

"What? What?" Garcia shouted as he jumped out of bed and ran towards Lee Seng.

"Lee! What's wrong?!?" Sara asked. She grabbed his hand as Lee Seng looked around. He was in his room and Sara knelt beside his bed. Manny flicked the lights on and his childhood friends looked at him with concern.

"Are you alright?" Manny asked. "What's wrong? Have a nightmare?" Sara pushed a cup to Lee Seng's lips and he reluctantly took a sip of it before she set it back on the nightstand.

"D-demon." Lee Seng stuttered. "It was coming for me. I-I saw it! It was, it was." Sara stood up and wrapped her arms around him.

"Hey, you'll be fine. Everything will be fine. It's just a dream." Sara brushed the back of his head. "It's just a nightmare. It isn't gonna get you. You're safe here."

Hours Later

Lee Seng on his bed, leaning against the wall as he scrolled through his phone. It was 9:46 am. Both Manny and Sara had convinced him maybe it was too soon for him to come back and he should rest as much as possible. He contacted the Academy about it and was excused for the remainder of the week. They had told him to go to his bi-weekly check up and Dr. Valentin would determine if he would return or not the following week.

He didn't think he would sit in the dorm room all day.

"You should rest." Sara told him. "No training. No exercising. Nothing but rest, alright?" She wagged her finger at him and she honestly reminded him of her mom, Scarlet. She would do that to him all the time when he got into trouble.

"Fine. I won't do anything." He grumbled.

"Rest. I'll be back when I can, alright?" She gave him a peck on the cheek before leaving.

Lee Seng sighed as he randomly tapped his messages.

"Oh, crap." Lee Seng whispered. He was about to exit the messaging app when he noticed the last text was in November. "Huh? N-November? I was talking to Ritsuka last?" He moved his finger over on Ritsuka's name and hovered over it. "Should I?" HE looked up. "It could jog my memory, right?" His finger quickly tapped it and he slowly removed his hand away from it.

Ritsuka: I know you probably won't see this, but I hope you're alright. They told us you're in the hospital. They wouldn't give anymore details, but I hope you'll recover fast!

Lee Seng scrolled up. He skimmed through the text history.

'Everything seems normal.' Lee Seng thought. He stopped when the normal conversations he had been reading suddenly became… odd.

Ritsuka: When are we going back?

Lee Seng: You want to go back there? :P I didn't think you'd want to after almost dying.

Ritsuka: Well, if we go for a weekend, again, we can get more training in, right?

Lee Seng: You're not wrong.

Lee Seng: We could go after the Field Group test.

Lee Seng: That way we can just focus on training.

Ritsuka: Awh, okay. :(

"What were we even talking about?" Lee Seng asked. He scrolled higher for a little bit and realized that Ritsuka and him didn't talk about 'going back' before and after that specific point in time. "It's so cryptic. We either didn't talk about it on purpose or this was just a one time deal… Where were we gonna go over a weekend after the Field test?"

"Would he remember what we talked about?" Lee Seng asked himself after a long moment of silence. He shrugged and shut his phone off, setting it on the night stand. "I'll ask him after school's done… I'll go shower and find some food. I'm hungry." He pulled the covers off of him and wandered into the bathroom. He grabbed his towel and turned the shower on.

"I've already devoured them." The demonic voice whispered. "I'll come for you next." Lee Seng dropped the towel and turned quickly. His reflection was grinning at him. The lights flickered and purple eyes stared at him while horns appeared on his head. "The Protocol is no longer in control. And that annoying virus is gone. It's just you and me now, Lee Seng." The demon chuckled. "Let's see how long you last."