“You’ve improved greatly. Much better than st time.” Athena uttered with heavy breaths, looking around at the destruction they caused.

  Numerous buildings were destroyed, most fttened due to their power. Deep pits and holes were pced here and there, a couple fires burning as well. Lying on the ground were the corpses of hundreds of infected. Innocent victims who got caught in the crossfire. The range of their battle had extended far beyond the Orion Facility, going nearly four miles away.

  “Yeah? Gd you sound real happy. I still got my ass kicked though.” She turned her head towards her sparring partner, who was pulling himself out of a deep twenty meter hole. With a chuckle, she brushed some rubble off his shoulder.

  “Trust me, you did good.” As Jason mumbled and grumbled to himself, shooing her hand away, Athena thought back to their battle.

  She wasn’t trying to coddle him and soothe his feelings. It was the truth that he was far better than previously. In fact, she found it a little scary at how much he improved in just a single day. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t secretly envious and impressed. It took her a lot more in order to stop him. Despite her being much stronger than him physically, he made up for that gap and still found ways to injure her. In terms of fighting ability alone, she admitted he was superior.

  ‘If he keeps improving at this rate, wouldn’t he overtake me in a couple days?’ Such a thought crossed her mind. Yet, she didn’t feel as bad as she would’ve imagined.

  ‘Hm, I shouldn’t allow him to pass me by so easily. Make it hard for him.’ A cat-like grin appeared on her face, following after Jason who started walking away.

  “Where are we going now?” Jason cleared his throat and wiped the blood off his mouth. Seeing it, he frowned lightly as he silently compined about how brutish she was.

  “To find the other Alphas and properly take control of the city. Michael will take in any healthy survivors still left. Once that’s done, we’ll start expanding outwards.” Athena felt some excitement at being able to fight the others, nearly bouncing up and down like a child. Suddenly, she heard Jason continue.

  “If they won’t bow down and submit, we’ll kill and eat them.” She smiled dangerously, chuckling to herself and speaking with a sarcastic tone.

  “Oh no! Wouldn’t that be such a shame?” Jason looked at her out of the corner of his eye and scratched his chin.

  ‘Should we just kill them all? Not like I really need them. Well, depends on their attitude.’

  Thus, the duo walked along the streets side by side as they searched for their prey. Luckily, they didn’t have to go far before finding one of the Alphas. Suspicious, Jason asked Athena about this and she admitted she controlled their battle to arrive near here. She knew about this one and pnned to fight him ter on.

  It didn’t take the two of them long to find the Alpha and tell him the terms. But unfortunately for him, Jason didn’t like his attitude and cut his head off. After consuming him and gathering up the dead bastard’s forces, they left and came to a fork in the road. Just as Jason was about to go right, Athena stopped him.

  “What?” She had a pyful grin on her face and an almost challenging look to her eyes.

  “Wanna py a little game? Spice things up a bit?” He thought about it for a few seconds before agreeing. If he had to be honest, he was pretty bored.

  “What’d you have in mind?”

  “How about a hunt? Whoever finds the most amount of Alphas in the given time is the winner! The time limit will be two days from now at this very spot.” Suddenly feeling a burst of fighting spirit rise from within him, Jason smirked and smacked her arm.

  “You’re on! Try not to cry so much when I whoop your ass!” Athena chuckled and ‘gently’ smacked him on the arm as well.

  “Yeah right. You’ve never beat me before, but now it's different huh?” Her sarcastic and mocking voice grated his nerves. With a fake smile, he ughed and shoved her a little.

  “Keep being cocky asshole. Can’t wait to wipe that smirk off your face.” She gred at him as he shoved her, yet her happy face didn’t change at the slightest. Not saying a word, she punched his chest with a bit of force.

  “Oh you!” With a growl in his voice, Jason seriously punched her in the stomach and made her slide across the street for several meters.

  The two of them stared at each other for a few moments before ughing at the same time. Suddenly, they both ran at each other and began brawling once more.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  After learning about the Alliance and their overwhelming power, the newly born creature in Hong King Kong felt a sense of crisis far greater than his nemesis. From the memories he received, there was no possible way he could survive against them when they arrived. And he knew they would come soon to wipe out the virus and all infected. As such, he started a feeding frenzy and consumed everything he could get his hands on.

  He didn’t kill everything in his way though and started building up a little force for himself. Purely for convenience since he knew the truth in their hearts. They were not his, not truly. For they served another, something above him. Because of this, he didn’t pce much faith in them and preferred to rely upon his own personal strength.

  Currently, he was standing on top of the roof of a skyscraper, looking down at the trashed city below. He was almost done with this pce, ready to move on towards his enemy. The reason he was so anxious to find and kill him was because of how fast he himself was growing. If he was like this, he was sure his nemesis was just as fast. Perhaps more even.

  A frown to his face, the monster looked down at his newer and rger body. He had been thinking of something for a little bit now after consuming the rogue scientists.

  “I need a name. A sense of self. But… what should it be?” Suddenly, he remembered something from one of the strange looking blue aliens. About the deep reverence they had for one of their greatest warriors. It seemed like the perfect name for him.

  “Craxis. I like it.” Smiling to himself, the newly named Craxis felt the future was looking very bright. It felt like he was no longer just the random monster running around and savagely sughting everything in sight, but instead an actual being.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  ( Jason )

  It’s been a few hours since I separated from that insufferable and annoying twat. She might be beautiful, but fuck me if the asshole doesn’t get on my nerves. After our little brawl which thankfully didn’t turn into anything rger, I swiftly ran through the city like a man possessed. I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t care if I won or lost. Damn straight I wanna beat her at her own game. Rub my victory in her face!

  In preparation for my fights against the Alphas, I consumed quite literally everything in my path. Whether they be healthy or not, animal or pnt, everything ended up in my belly. And if I had to be honest, it was addictive. Not only the power increase, but simply the feeling of consuming them is like crack. It’s not a problem though since I could stop at any time...

  Ignoring the concerning addiction building inside me, my travels had proved to be quite troubling as finding these Alphas has been a little harder than I thought. I could sense them, but it only gave me a general location as to where they were. Because of that, I had to search around myself like some bumbling fool. However, persistence eventually rewarded me with one juicy sp of meat. An Alpha Behemoth in the form of a mutated rat and human hybrid. It was by far one of the strangest looking infected I've ever seen.

  “You get it though right? She’s been such an asshole for some reason. Wait a second!” I patted the head of the half dead Alpha Behemoth underneath me, looking into his two remaining eyes. Used to have ten, but I decided for his sake he didn’t need them anymore.

  “Does she… like me? I’ve always loved romance manga, and sometimes the girls there bully the guys they like. Is it the same thing here? Nah, that’s way too arrogant. Even for me. What do you think chum?” I looked towards my shrink for answers, but he tried to crawl away. The nerve!

  Changing my arm into a bde, I jumped off his head and sliced off every remaining leg the inconsiderate bastard had. Ignoring his groan of pain, I huffed out and consumed the legs to heal my damaged body.

  “And here I thought we were becoming fast friends. I even confided in you like a therapist. Tsk, can’t trust anyone these days!” I shook my bloody head side to side, watching as my friend’s eyes started to lose the light in them. Hm, probably from losing so much blood. I mean, he is missing half his body with his entrails lining the streets after all.

  “Alright I’ll let you go. Got more of your kind to kill. Busy bee I am tely huh?” Whilst consuming his rge body, I did have half a mind to keep him around. The bastard was a lot stronger than I thought and gave me a real run for my money. Stronger than the Angler to be sure, but he still fell under my fist!

  However, I didn’t really want to keep him that badly. Instead, ever since I learned about reproducing my Horde, which I’ve already ordered to start, I’ve been more inclined to consume and grow my personal power. Because of this, I’ll outstrip Athena very soon. In our next meeting, I might very well be more powerful than her!

  “Heh, can’t wait to see her face when I beat the shit out of her! Hmph, I’ll show her…” My muttering was interrupted as I finished consuming my prey. I sighed in relief as the power rushed over me, boosting my abilities much further than before. Like I was being reborn.

  God, this never gets old. But I can’t sit here and bask in my high. Gotta get a move on and find more Alphas if I want to beat Athena.

  “Wait, did she ever say what the prize would be? Meh, oh well.”

  Following this, I acted like some deranged and starved animal looking for his next sb of meat. I practically tore the city apart, consuming everything in my path to the next Alphas. And I swear, these bastards can sense their coming doom or some shit. My evidence for this is when I caught up to the next one. Bastard was trying his hardest to hide himself away like a little rat. Didn’t stop me from ripping his head off and swallowing it though.

  After that, I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off. Tried my damndest to find any other Alpha, however I had only found some massive eagle type creature with red feathers. Honestly, the fucking thing seemed like Rodan from the Monsterverse. Even has fiery attacks which is super badass. As such, I decided to keep her around despite the absolute hell she put me through. Girly is pretty strong, so I’m thinking of making her the leader of my air forces. She’ll be the one ripping through The Alliance’s fighters!

  “You up for it?” I asked her as she flew through the air with me on her back. She turned her head towards me, no emotion in her eyes.

  “For what? You’ve been standing there in silence for the st two minutes, mumbling to yourself like a fool.” Ah, right. Forgot she had a bit of a mouth on her.

  “Why I oughta... eh. Whatever. I’ll just upload my memories into you. Oh, take us down here. I can see Athena from here.” She did as I asked and made us nd on the ground. Course, her massive sixty meter height and giant wingspan crushed the nearby buildings. Oh no, I can hear the wails of dying infected. How tragic.

  Jumping off and nding in front of her, I beckoned that pretty head of hers closer. Once I pced my hand on her forehead, my tendrils got to work and began uploading most of the memories I received from the previous virus.

  “That’s what we’re fighting against ter. So, start building a decently sized aerial force and imagine your enemy as those fighter ships. Name it whatever you want. Like Fiery Squad or some shit. Got it?” She seemed a little out if it, probably still going through the memories. Definitely a little overwhelming to be sure. Thinking you’re the top shit when in reality, they could wipe us out with a small sized fleet.

  “Yes…” Eventually, she did answer me back and got ready to fly away. Just before she could get lift off, I patted her on the head.

  “By the way, your new name is Phoenix. Like it?” My newly named fiery Alpha gred at me with anger.

  “Liked my other name just fine. But you’re the ‘Master’ after all.” What a bitch. Before I could retaliate with a good whooping, she smirked and flew off. Ah, a sudden burst of murderous rage is filling my heart. And the voice which followed after certainly didn’t help cool me down.

  “My oh my, seems you found a couple Alphas huh? You seem a good deal stronger.” Turning around, I witnessed the arrogant and teasing face of Athena.

  “Eh, not bad I guess. But if we’re talking about getting stronger, I suppose you did fairly well?”

  This asshole was a good 5ft taller than before and had this smug look to her face as she looked down on me. Also, it seems she went through some kind of Saiyan Zenkai Boost or something. She's definitely more powerful. How annoying.

  “Meh, could be better. So, how many did you snatch up?” She asked, raising an eyebrow with an insufferable smirk on her face and arms crossed under her stupidly rge chest.

  “Ladies first.” I bowed and motioned her to go with my hand.

  "I thought that was what I was doing?”

  “Haha. Hirious. Really got me with that one. Don’t worry, I’m ughing on the inside.” We stared at each other for a few minutes before I huffed and went. By the look in her eyes, I 100% knew she would let this go on forever just to spite me.

  “Three. I killed two of them and took her under my control.” I pointed behind me to where Phoenix was previously. Even now, the ground almost seemed melted from the heat of her body. Hearing my answer, Athena’s smirk seemed to lose a bit of power as she sighed.

  “What a shame. I got three as well. Though, I killed and ate them all.” Based on the look of joy on her face, I highly doubt that’s all she did. Poor souls must have suffered badly before finally passing on to the other side.

  “By the way, I don’t think there’s anymore left in the city.” I nodded my head at her words, agreeing with her. Besides the pure asshole in front of me and Phoenix, I can’t sense another Alpha in the vicinity of this city. It seems Asura is scking a bit!

  “A draw then? What was the prize anyhow?” With a grin she bent down a little and almost shoved those sizable assets pretty close to my face. It's not my fault. I'm basically forced to look at them.

  “Anything the winner desired. A shame, isn’t it?” This… seductress! Succubus! How dare she do such a soft and bouncy act of disrespect!

  “You know, I think it’s time to change the rankings a bit. Make you know your pce.” Athena backed up, excitement pouring out of her. She cracked her knuckles and growled deeply.

  “Well? Come on then. Unless you’re a pussy of course. I’d understand, given your two st beatings.” Dear God who art not in heaven any longer, this woman shall be the death of me through the sheer act of pissing me off.

  “Okay then. Let’s take this out of the city just in case we run into Alice or Lily.” At my words, she became a little serious and nodded. Seems she cares for the sisters a bit more than I thought. Well, I suppose she isn’t so bad.

  "Come on, I know a pce where I can beat your ass so your pretty little girlfriends won't see you face first in the mud." Scratch that. She's a bigger ass than I originally thought.

  Saying her annoying piece, Athena turned and started running in a direction. Not wanting to be left behind, I followed after her and kept pace. Suddenly, she picked up her speed a bit to get ahead.

  "Seriously? We're not even there yet and you pull this shit?" This bitch had the audacity to turn her head at me and tilt it innocently.

  "Pull what? Not my fault you can't keep up. Shall I slow down for you?" She spoke in a somewhat baby voice, clearly trying her best to piss me off. I am not ashamed to admit, it is working wonderfully.

  Not saying a word back, I too picked up speed and overtook this bastard. She harrumphed and tried to do the same. Thus, before we even arrived at our destination to battle, we were already fighting.

  But goddammit, I wish I could say I hated her. She's just so much fun!