A loud roar cut through the air, the sound mechanical and organic in equal measure. Metal grinding. Hydraulics hissing. Something massive moving with terrible purpose.
A huge dark red metal crab claw materialized from the shadows, appendage the size of a human torso. It clamped onto a male servant whose eyes had gone wide with frightened recognition.
The man understood what was about to happen. His mouth opened, ready to beg. To plead. To offer anything that might buy mercy.
But before the servant, whose expression distorted with terror, could form words, the metal crab claw closed completely.
The action was merciless. Efficient. The thin human body offered no resistance, cutting in two like paper under shears. The separation was clean, brutal, final.
Hot internal organs spilled free from the bisected torso. They fell to the floor with wet, crackling sounds. Stomach. Intestines. Liver. Bouncing and sliding across polished marble. Steam rose from the mass, body heat meeting cold stone.
Blood pooled rapidly, spreading in crimson rivers between decorative tiles.
Only then, after the damage was irreversible, did another voice arrive.
"Enough! Uvalov!" A woman's scolding came belatedly, sharp with anger and disgust. "As a Cancer of the Zodiac, please act your status"
Her voice rose, taking on lecturing tone. "That set of armor is not for you to kill innocent people indiscriminately and vent your anger!"
However, before the woman could finish her reprimand, the dynamic shifted.
The terrifying humanoid figure turned. His whole body was wrapped in a set of dark red specialized armor that resembled a humanoid crab. Chitinous plates. Segmented joints. Two massive claws where arms should be. The design was alien, unsettling, wrong in ways that hurt to contemplate.
Only the face of a middle-aged man remained exposed. Pale skin. Bloodshot eyes. Features that might have been ordinary once, now twisted by something beyond sanity.
He squeezed out a nervous smile from the corner of his mouth, lips stained with warm blood still dripping from the servant's bisection. His voice emerged hoarse, damaged somehow.
"Aries Evelyn, when did you become so kind-hearted?" The words dripped sarcasm. "I remember that when you were driven out of the African by the people of Wakanda not long ago, in order to escape for your life, you let Capricorn release a wide range of nerve poison that harmed thousands of people?"
The accusation landed like a slap. Hypocrisy exposed. Moral authority undermined.
At this moment, the air itself seemed to freeze.
A long, narrow and sharp ice cone materialized from nothing. It flashed through the air in the blink of an eye, frost trailing from its passage.
The projectile collided hard with Cancer's dark red alien armor. The impact rang like a bell, ice shattering against reinforced plating. The force was sufficient to drive his tall body backward several steps, armored feet scraping across marble.
"Oh! Why are you so angry?" Cancer's lips stretched wider, almost reaching the base of his ears in a grin that belonged on a corpse. "I just told the truth... What a spoiled shrew!"
He stared at the obese woman not far away. She exuded the slightest hint of coldness, frost forming on surfaces near her body. Aries Evelyn. Ice manipulator. Killer. Hypocrite.
At this moment, inside this ancient palace belonging to the Fortunov family, opulence surrounded madness.
Gold leaf covered walls. Crystal chandeliers hung overhead, prisms casting rainbow light across scenes of horror. Priceless art observed carnage with painted eyes.
Except for the two combatants still trading insults and threats, five other figures occupied the space.
Some sat cross-legged on expensive rugs, meditation poses at odds with their surroundings. Others stood examining alien firearms, turning the weapons over in curious hands. All of them studiously ignored the conflict.
These were members of Leviathan's Twelve Zodiac who had just arrived at Hassenstadt, the capital of Latveria. Only seven are here now, to be precise. Everyone except Gemini, the leader of Leviathan who remained mysteriously absent.
However, just when the fight between Cancer and Aries threatened to escalate from words to violence, when ice and claw seemed ready to collide again, intervention arrived.
A crisp buzzing sound echoed through the empty palace, emanating from unexpected sources.
The various gold ornaments decorating each Zodiac member, jewelry and accessories they'd thought merely decorative, suddenly activated. From rings and bracelets and necklaces, a cold male voice emerged.
"Stop it!!"
The command carried absolute authority. No room for debate.
"Now the Leviathan is facing a huge crisis! If you agents are still in the mood to fool around, then I will let you try the consequences of disobeying orders now!"
The threat was real. Everyone recognized it. Gemini didn't make empty promises.
Sure enough, the words of the Leviathan leader echoing in everyone's ears produced immediate effect.
Originally, the five Zodiac members who had not been concerned about the conflict between Cancer and Aries, who had even planned to enjoy the entertainment, suddenly moved.
They rose from seated positions. Approached the combatants. Some offered words of comfort. Others physically positioned themselves between the antagonists, bodies serving as barriers.
Reluctantly, through combined pressure, they persuaded Cancer and Aries to stand down. The immediate threat of violence faded.
When the atmosphere among everyone returned to something approaching peace and tranquility, though tension remained like electricity in the air, Gemini's cold voice once again echoed inside the palace.
"In recent times, we have lost the Taurus agent Magnum, the Virgo agent Butcher, the Sagittarius agent Nitro..." The litany of casualties continued. "And even the Leo agent Titania is missing. Judging from the severed arm she teleported back, it's probably more likely she is in a bad situation."
A pause. Then admission. "I am the first to admit that sending agents to contact The Guardians of Terra without authorization was a very wrong decision, which caused Magnum and others to pay a heavy price for it."
The confession carried weight. Gemini rarely acknowledged mistakes.
"But the attack on Titania means that The Guardians of Terra have launched a war against our entire Leviathan organization!"
His voice hardened, taking on edges. "Furthermore, because these things happened so close together, I even suspect that the behind-the-scenes supporter of the Latveria resistance is The Guardians of Terra!"
Connection made. Pattern recognized. Threat identified.
"This is one of the reasons why I hurriedly transferred you back from all over the world!"
The explanation continued, building momentum. "The existence of Latveria not only provides our Leviathan organization with rare profit income, but the foundation of our Leviathan existence is here!"
That caught attention. Several Zodiac members exchanged glances. Foundation? Here?
"Now that the situation is urgent, I won't hide it from you." Gemini's tone shifted, becoming almost confessional. "The location of the base where you usually teleport is actually deep on the coast near Latveria!"
Revelation. The teleportation coordinates they'd used countless times suddenly made sense.
"And the teleportation technology controlled by our Leviathan is just an advanced technology that was accidentally cracked on an immovable alien spacecraft!"
The words landed like bombs. Alien spacecraft. Not human innovation. Stolen technology.
"Even the set of alien armor worn by Cancer and the alien firearms in Aquarius's hands are just abandoned equipment left behind by the former owner of this alien spacecraft!"
Everything they'd thought made them special, made Leviathan powerful, was merely salvage. Scavenged remnants from something far greater.
"This is a precious asset that we must protect! Whether it's for Leviathan or for yourselves!"
Gemini's voice took on desperate intensity. "So, Hassenstadt City is not allowed to fall! Latveria must also be under our control!"
Then came authorization that sent chills through even hardened killers.
"When necessary, I allow you to let go and let loose! I will find a way to deal with all the consequences and troubles caused by this! Do you understand!"
Permission for atrocities. Sanction for slaughter. Whatever it took.
At this moment, Gemini's cold words stopped abruptly. The communication cut off, leaving silence.
Several other Zodiac members, including Aries Evelyn, suddenly looked at each other in confusion. Eyes meeting eyes. Seeking answers in companions' expressions.
As the second generation of Zodiac agents, these people had never heard of the secretive events involving the organization's true origins. The foundation myth had always been vague. Intentionally obscured.
However, at this time, one person remained unsurprised.
Uvalov, the Cancer agent with the longest experience, never replaced since Leviathan's founding, couldn't help but let out a sneer full of sarcasm.
"Haha... our dear leader still likes to paint a rosy picture for you newcomers."
The laugh was bitter. Knowing. Carrying decades of disillusionment.
Evelyn, who looked like a middle-aged woman despite her powers, actually changed her previous confrontational temper. Strategy replaced anger. Information mattered more than pride.
She looked at Cancer Uvalov with a gentle expression on her chubby face, the shift almost comical in its transparency. "Uvalov, as the Zodiac who has joined Leviathan the longest, how much inside information do you know? Now that we work together to protect the precious wealth of the organization, why not reveal it to us?"
Manipulation. Flattery. Whatever worked.
At this moment, the other Zodiac members also focused their attention on Cancer's alien armor. Waiting. Curious despite themselves.
"Haha, since you all want to know..." Uvalov's voice carried resignation. Exhaustion. The weight of terrible knowledge.
"Twenty-five years ago, Nitro, Gemini, and I accidentally discovered a long-sunken alien spaceship at the bottom of the Black Sea in order to avoid the constant pursuit of the SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve)."
The story began. Origin tale delivered with gallows humor.
"According to the time we calculated later, this spaceship arrived and crashed on the bottom of the earth's sea about millions of years ago. Yes, the human race at that time was still a group of stupid monkeys!"
He paused, then added with dark amusement, "Although we later found that our reckless behavior was not much better than that of monkeys in ancient times..."
Self-awareness without redemption. Understanding without wisdom.
"You must be wondering why Gemini never stepped out of the so-called Leviathan Base, that is, the interior space of the alien spaceship?"
The question was rhetorical. Everyone had wondered. None had dared ask.
"That's because he can't leave that hellhole at all! With his energy-related superpowers, he was forced to merge with the alien spaceship, and the alien spaceship squeezed out the energy needed to maintain its operation for many years!"
Horror delivered casually. Torture presented as fact.
"Do you think Gemini is trying to protect Leviathan's wealth? No, he is actually trying to protect himself! Today's Gemini is that alien spaceship!"
The revelation crashed over them. Their leader wasn't human anymore. Hadn't been for decades. Was a fusion of flesh and metal, consciousness spread through alien systems.
"As for me and Nitro who went with him, you have already seen what happened to us."
Uvalov's voice grew quieter. More personal. "Nitro has become a time bomb, and everyone thinks that this alien armor is the source of my often unscrupulous power..."
He raised the massive crab claws, examining them as if seeing them for the first time.
"But this is a mobile cage that I can't get rid of! I can't take it off since the first day I put on this armor!"
The admission hung in the air. Twenty-five years. Trapped. Unable to remove the very thing that granted power. Flesh merged with alien metal. Man becoming monster one cell at a time.
The words of Cancer just fell. Silence stretched. Then something broke.
He couldn't help but grin wildly at the corners of his mouth, the expression spreading across his face like infection. He quickly drove the alien armor to jump, servos screaming with sudden activation.
Uvalov waved two huge dark red metal crab claws and pounced on the trembling servants and direct members of the Fortunov family cowering around the palace's edges.
"Are you pitying me? Are you mocking me? You monkeys deserve to die!"
The words emerged as shriek. Madness given voice.
Instantly, the palace transformed into abattoir.
Countless broken limbs scattered across the floor. Arms. Legs. Heads. All separated from bodies with mechanical efficiency. Scarlet blood splashed onto the magnificent floor, coating gold leaf and priceless marble.
The sounds of begging for mercy and screaming were almost endless, echoing all around. Pleas cut short. Terror sustained. Wet sounds of tearing flesh.
The rest of the Zodiac members watched with varying reactions.
Some frowned and closed their eyes, unwilling to witness but refusing to intervene.
Others stroked their foreheads and fell into states of contemplation, processing revelations about their organization's cursed origins.
But no one stepped forward to stop the slaughter. Not one.
This Zodiac sign Cancer had been crazy for many years. Everyone knew it. Everyone accepted it.
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