At first, Roy thought the cabin had sent reinforcements, but when he saw the F.E.A.R. logo on the vehicles, he realized FEAR had finally arrived.
Point Man stepped out of the assault vehicle and greeted Roy.
"Are you Mr. Roy Black?"
The fully armed soldier wasn't mute; he just preferred not to talk.
"Yeah, what took you guys so long?"
In truth, Point Man and the clone squad could've reached the villa much earlier, but the blizzard summoned by the Wendigo King had severely slowed their vehicles.
After Point Man explained, Roy nodded in understanding.
Once the signal jammer on-site was destroyed, Roy finally regained contact with the outside world.
"Lady Elise, are you already in Ravensfair?"
"Yes, I've set up a temporary command base in Ravensfair. What's the situation on your end?"
Roy glanced at the scattered corpses and severed limbs around the villa, scratching his head.
"Pretty much handled. Just… the scene's a bit messy."
Messy was an understatement—it was gruesome!
Only Point Man, FEAR's elite, and the emotionless clones could stomach the sight. Regular FEAR operatives might not have handled it.
"I get the picture," Elise said. "We'll have more—"
Her words were cut off as the sound of helicopters echoed in the distance.
Roy was puzzled. Helicopters already? That was fast.
"Lady Elise, I hear helicopters. You guys are quick!"
Elise sounded shocked over the phone.
"What are you talking about? FEAR hasn't deployed any helicopters!"
Roy and Point Man froze. The satellite phone was on speaker, so everyone nearby heard.
If they weren't FEAR's helicopters, then…
Roy reacted instantly.
"Trouble's coming! Take cover!"
Roy ducked behind the Ashen family villa's wall, eyes fixed on the direction of the helicopter noise.
Four helicopters approached, suspending a cargo container with steel cables, heading toward the villa.
Whatever was in that container wasn't good news. Unfortunately, Point Man and the clone squad only had firearms, no shoulder-fired rocket launchers.
Ironically, the cabin's mercenaries had heavy weapons, while FEAR, a government unit, didn't—almost darkly comedic.
Luckily, Point Man's sharp eyes spotted a rocket launcher and a few rockets among the corpses. He took cover and aimed at the approaching helicopters.
The launcher required manual aiming—no auto-targeting. Point Man waited until the helicopters were about 200 meters away before firing.
Whoosh!
The rocket trailed smoke as it shot toward the helicopters. Point Man swiftly reloaded and fired again.
In just one minute, he launched four rockets, all of them hitting their mark. He'd even accounted for the explosions' impact on each shot.
The last helicopter's pilot, seeing the danger, released the cables and fled, but it couldn't escape Point Man's rocket.
The guy was like a human aimbot, hitting his target no matter how they evaded.
Roy glanced curiously at Point Man, fully covered without an inch of skin exposed. Did he have some ability like Assassin's Heart?
Even with Assassin's Heart, Roy couldn't pull off such precision with a rocket launcher. Rockets were much larger than bullets, more affected by air resistance, altering their trajectory.
At 200 meters, a one-centimeter deviation at launch could mean missing the target entirely.
Clang!
The container crashed to the ground with a loud thud, breaking apart from the rough landing, revealing its contents.
Inside was a futuristic-looking crate, resembling a cryo-chamber.
As Roy and Point Man watched, puzzled, the crate slowly opened, releasing a cloud of white vapor.
Everyone saw a muscular, shirtless man inside the crate.
Oddly, his right hand was a chainsaw, and his left held a classic double-barreled shotgun. His skin was gray.
(Think of this image—hard to capture from a movie, so imagine a poster.)
Was he some kind of zombie from being frozen too long?
But Roy recognized him instantly. This was Ash, the iconic protagonist of the cult classic Evil Dead series, known for his chainsaw hand!
The Evil Dead series was pure cult, especially parts two and three, which had blown Roy's mind in his past life.
Its iconic status led to a remake decades later and even a spin-off TV series.
Fun fact: the first three films were directed by Sam Raimi, a master of low-budget filmmaking. His success with Evil Dead earned him the chance to direct the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man films around 2000.
As the cryo-chamber opened, Ash began to thaw. Roy confirmed his gray skin wasn't from freezing.
When Ash opened his eyes, everyone's hearts pounded, as if struck by an ancient drumbeat, triggering intense palpitations.
Even Ella, with her wooden doll heart, felt it.
At that moment, the Eye of Death around Roy's neck began to flicker, as if sending a signal.
Roy had never seen it act like this before.
Something was very wrong!
Ash's fully gray eyes locked onto Roy. Unlike Roy's Nephilim form, where only his pupils were gray, Ash's entire eyes were a solid gray.
In the next second, Ash charged at Roy with unstoppable force, the ground cracking beneath his steps.
His speed accelerated, breaking the sound barrier with a piercing sonic boom when he was less than 50 meters away.
Roy felt locked in place by an overwhelming aura, like heavy shackles slowing his movements. He could only raise his executioner's blade to block.
Clang!
The sharp clash of metal caused severe tinnitus in those nearby. Roy, overwhelmed by Ash's unmatched strength, was sent flying, crashing through the villa's wall.
Ella watched in horror. Roy's combat prowess was already terrifying to her, yet this gray man was even more so.
Roy was equally shocked. With 81 strength and 93 constitution, he'd lost in a direct clash against someone his size?
What a joke!
The last being to overpower him like this was the King of Wrath at 50% power!
Was Ash possessed by some powerful entity?
Meanwhile, Point Man, witnessing Ash's terrifying strength, ordered the clone squad to open fire and radioed Ravensfair.
"Lady Elise, we've encountered a powerful enemy. Mr. Black is being overpowered!"
"What's the situation?"
Point Man saw bullets bouncing off Ash like pebbles, completely ineffective.
"The enemy has terrifying strength and high defense. Bullets don't work!"
Elise was stunned. She knew Roy's strength well.
In terms of raw physical stats, even her Uriel vessel couldn't match Roy now.
An enemy overpowering Roy in strength was unthinkable.
"Point Man, hold them off as long as you can. sauces
"Understood!"
As the call ended, Point Man watched the clone squad get torn apart like paper, the bloody scene making Ella's legs tremble.
Since the clones' firearms were useless, Point Man's gun likely wouldn't fare better. He began searching the ground for more rockets.
Fortunately, as long as Ash wasn't attacked, he focused solely on Roy, ignoring everyone else.
This gave Point Man time to gather rockets.
Elsewhere, Mr. R watched the battle unfold from the mountain.
"Heh, didn't expect FEAR to show up. Perfect—this is a chance to settle the Crystal Lake score!"
The Crystal Lake incident was the biggest failure of Mr. R's career, costing the organization a multi-billion-dollar research base, priceless data, and test subjects.
The cabin only found that unique entity at the bottom of Crystal Lake, and Silent Seeds were exclusive to that location.
Only because other bases had stored some Silent Seeds could Hookman use them for Mary Shaw's doll.
This failure led to Mr. R being questioned by the cabin's board, nearly facing internal punishment.
The cabin's internal competition was brutal—not just toward outsiders but even harsher toward their own.
Researchers had some leniency, but administrators like Mr. R walked a tightrope.
One mistake could mean internal "disposal."
Luckily, before the board suspended him, Mr. R personally captured the man they'd just deployed, regaining their trust.
Amara had moved from the passenger seat to the back, cozying up to Mr. R, her ample assets pressing against his shoulder.
"Mr. R, who is this guy?"
Mr. R glanced at the curious Amara.
"Didn't I tell you? Know what to look at, what not to; what to say, what not to."
Amara realized her mistake and lowered her head to apologize, conveniently revealing her deep neckline.
"Sorry, Mr. R!"
Amara: I'm too eager to improve!
Seeing her assets, Mr. R's expression softened. Wanting to improve wasn't a big flaw, so he explained.
"No harm telling you. He'll be my key project, and you'll learn about him eventually. His name's Ash, codenamed Gray Knight. I found him in a Minnesota mental hospital. He claimed he traveled to the past, then to an apocalyptic future, and back to the present."
Amara's eyes lit up with interest.
"Is that true?"
"It is. We got the Book of the Dead from him. Our mental health experts examined him multiple times—no mental illness, no signs of lying."
Amara's eyes widened.
"So he really traveled through time?"
Mr. R nodded with a smile.
"Yes. Our physicists, historians, and philosophers confirmed he likely traveled to a parallel universe."
(Evil Dead 3 director's cut ending)
"A parallel universe? Like in Back to the Future Part II?"
The 1989 sci-fi film Back to the Future Part II explored parallel universes, and Amara, having seen it, had some grasp of the concept.
"Exactly."
Amara grew more curious.
"How'd he end up like this?"
"Ash was the first person we found who completed time travel. To study its effects on the body, our scientists ran tests. During one, a gray energy surged from him, causing massive destruction, nearly wiping out the Minnesota base!
Luckily, our liquid nitrogen freezing tech was advanced enough to freeze him with massive amounts of it. I planned to build a secret test site in the Rockies to push his limits, but running into Roy Black was the perfect test case."
Mr. R's expression was smug, clearly pleased with his impromptu plan.
Amara, catching on, showered him with admiration.
"Mr. R, you're incredible!"
Mr. R's mood brightened further. Amara might not match Erica's work skills, but she excelled at boosting his ego.
A fair trade-off.
But as Mr. R basked in his triumph, the laptop screen showed a new development.
read my new story Naruto I Have an Attribute Panel