The lights in the Aegis infirmary flickered faintly, casting a pale glow over the sterile white room. Machines hummed quietly, measuring heartbeats and Aether resonance levels of the two battered agents lying on the medical beds. Jack's left arm was wrapped in thick bandages, his jaw bruised, and his molten aura still faintly simmering beneath his skin. Kyle sat beside him, his usually calm, frost-colored eyes heavy with exhaustion.
Sophia stood at the foot of their beds with arms crossed, her expression unreadable. Liam leaned against the wall, still half in his transcended form, claws faintly visible as his wolfish amber eyes glimmered under the light.
"Tell us everything," Sophia said quietly. "Start from the beginning."
Jack exhaled, looking up at the ceiling. "Alright… but you two won't believe what happened out there."
Kyle nodded slowly. "He's not exaggerating."
Jack adjusted himself on the bed, wincing. "We were chasing a supernatural. Looked like a college girl. Long black hair, pale skin, and these red chains attached to her body. She was fast, and bit strong too. The kind of supernatural that doesn't rely on tricks just brute force."
Sophia frowned slightly. "A humanoid supernatural?"
"Yeah. Not common, but not unheard of," Jack said. "We managed to corner her near the river but she escaped from the relic and actually didn't withered away but she escaped . She fought like your usual supernatural that's birth through emotion, the supernatural hate anyone and would kill any human being. When she was human or alive, she probably suffered a lot and her hatred must have extended to any people she sees. When we chased her through the woods that's where… I bumped into the puppet."
Liam's brow furrowed. "Was it the puppet in the stream?"
"Yeah." Jack said, nodding. "At first, I thought it was some unusual transcender but she just stood there said a very few words and walked away. It didn't attack though. Its body looked human but you could clearly see it's not when you saw its joints. Creepy as hell."
Kyle spoke next, his voice hoarse. "I didn't detect anything unusual at first. But when I arrived and recalibrated the detector—"
Jack raised his hand, interrupting. "The damn thing went off. Full red signal. It was a supernatural. Not even a faint one, either. The reading was spiking."
Jack clenched his jaw. "So I attacked it right away. Didn't hold back either. But the puppet… it didn't even flinch. Every hit, every swing, just bounced off. It was like punching through reinforced indestructible steel. It didn't attack until we cornered it."
Liam straightened, his expression tense. "It didn't attack?"
Jack shook his head. "No. It just kept on trying to escape, blocked and defend itself. Moved fast enough to dodge Kyle's frost barrage, but it didn't strike back until we both tried to restrain it."
Sophia's tone sharpened. "Then what happened?"
Jack looked down at his bandaged hands. "We thought we had it. Kyle froze the ground and I locked it with molten chains. We were close to figuring out to fully restrain it."
Kyle rubbed the bridge of his nose. "That's when it changed."
Sophia frowned. "Changed?"
Jack's eyes flickered with memory. "Its body started glowing. The cracks along its porcelain skin expanded, like it was burning from the inside. Then its shape shifted. Its limbs became a bit less human, but the chains, the same ones from that supernatural girl we were chasing—started wrapping around its body."
Sophia's expression hardened. "Wait. Are you saying it became similar to the supernatural you were hunting before meeting the puppet?"
Jack nodded grimly. "Exactly that. It looked almost identical to her, except twisted, more refined. Like the puppet… evolved."
Liam's eyes widened slightly. "Evolved? You mean, right in front of you?"
Jack met his gaze. "Yeah. It didn't just change—it got stronger. The moment it finished transforming, we could finally damage it, but whatever wounds we inflicted healed in seconds. Every punch, every cut, gone. Kyle froze its arm off, and it just grew it back."
Sophia took a step closer, her tone controlled but sharp. "Supernaturals that evolve are just legends. We've never recorded a real case."
Jack looked at her seriously. "Well, you can record one now."
Sophia crossed her arms. "No, this isn't just evolution. What you're describing sounds like assimilation. It's like the puppet absorbed that supernatural you were chasing."
Jack frowned. "You think it ate it?"
"Maybe not in the literal sense," Sophia said, "but in terms of Aether behavior… yes. It might have devoured it, then merged its essence."
Liam frowned deeply. "That's not supposed to be possible. Supernaturals can't absorb one another. They can feed on residual Aether, sure, but actually taking in another's core? That's unheard of."
Sophia shook her head. "No one's ever seen this before."
Jack exhaled heavily. "Whatever it did, it changed. After that, it started overwhelming us. The damn thing was faster, stronger, smarter. The puppet started to use abilities similar to the supernatural girl but more powerful."
Kyle looked away. "If it wanted to kill us, it could have. I'm certain of that."
Sophia's eyes hardened. "Then it chose not to."
"Yeah," Jack said softly. "It knocked us both out cold and disappeared deeper into the forest. We lost track after that."
The room went quiet. Only the beeping of the medical monitors filled the silence.
Liam finally spoke. "This puppet is becoming more confusing by the day. It's something else entirely."
Sophia nodded. "Whatever it is, it's changing. And if it can absorb other supernaturals, that means it can grow without limit."
Jack looked up, his expression grim. "So what do we do?"
Sophia turned toward the door. "We find it before it grows any stronger. If that thing keeps evolving, we might not be able to stop it at all."
Liam pushed himself off the wall. "Where was the last place it was seen?"
"North of Frostveil," Jack said. "Deep in the woods. But it was moving fast. It could be anywhere now, maybe even across the city border."
Sophia didn't hesitate. "Even so, we start from there. Liam and I will hunt in the forest tomorrow. If it left any Aether residue or traces, we'll find it."
Liam gave her a side glance. "What about the Monarch?"
Sophia paused for a moment, then said, "Like you said earlier, it'll probably just pass by like the others. Monarchs have no reason to stay near human continents, and besides that monarch won't pass by our country."
Liam frowned. "Still, we're taking a risk."
Sophia gave a small smirk. "Every hunt's a risk."
Jack groaned from his bed. "Be careful, you two. That puppet isn't like anything we've seen before."
Sophia nodded once. "We'll keep that in mind."
As she and Liam turned to leave, the lights flickered again, and for a brief second, the air in the room grew cold.
---
The forest stretched endlessly beneath the cold moonlight. The trees stood tall, their branches weaving into dark silhouettes. Frost clung to the ground, glimmering faintly like shards of glass.
Hina moved silently through the canopy, her porcelain form gliding from branch to branch with inhuman grace. The red glow beneath her skin pulsed in rhythm with her heartbeat. Chains dangled loosely from her wrists and ankles, barely making a sound as she leaped.
Her eyes glowed faintly crimson. "Still nothing."
Her voice was soft, calm, but there was an undertone of irritation. She landed lightly on a branch and scanned the dark horizon. Her senses stretched far, searching for any trace of Aetherium life. Nothing responded. The forest was eerily still.
"Nash..." she whispered, though he wasn't there to hear her. " told me to capture one but how can I capture what doesn't appear?"
She sighed, standing upright. The forest around her was too quiet. Even the wind seemed to avoid her presence.
Then, faintly, she felt it. A pulse. A small flicker of Aetherium, distant but distinct. Her crimson eyes narrowed.
"There you are."
She crouched low, then dashed forward. Trees blurred around her as she ran, each step leaving a faint shimmer of scarlet light on the bark. Her movement was fluid, elegant, almost like a shadow skipping through moonlight.
The pulse grew stronger the closer she got. The scent of moss and wet earth filled the air, mixed with something… fungal.
When she stopped, she stood before a clearing filled with glowing blue spores drifting through the air like lazy fireflies. At the center of it, something stirred.
It was bipedal but hunched, covered in damp moss and clusters of luminescent blue mushrooms. Its eyes were cloudy white, and a grin stretched unnaturally wide across its face, lined with small, wooden teeth. Each of its fingers dripped with a glowing blue sap, and with every movement, it left behind a trail of bioluminescent spores.
Hina tilted her head slightly. "A toad-type standing like a human. Environmental birth, perhaps?"
The creature giggled, a wet, eerie sound that echoed around the clearing. The mushrooms on its back glowed brighter.
It blinked slowly, its milky eyes focusing on Hina. Then it grinned wider and hopped once, releasing a puff of spores into the air.
Hina's lips curved into a small smile. "Finally."
She flexed her fingers. The chains around her wrists began to glow crimson. "You are most certainly a supernatural."
The creature tilted its head, confused by her calm tone, then screeched, a horrible croak that rattled the trees and lunged at her with both clawed hands.
Hina met it midair, her chains whipping forward in a blur of red light.
The clearing exploded with sound and motion.
And as the moonlight dimmed under the cloud of spores, the forest trembled once again.