Deviant: No Longer Human

This ancient whale, a relic from a time when the earth was wild and untamed, set its course with unerring precision toward Jan Mayen Island, where Seraphine, Wang Xiao, and Ericka found themselves trapped in their own situations.

This was no ordinary blue whale; it was the same monstrous creature that had once attacked the ship bearing Wang Xiao as a captive, casting him adrift to a desolate island.

Now, as if drawn by the threads of fate that connected it to Wang Xiao, the leviathan seemed to home in on his presence.

______

Splash!

Emerging from the chilling embrace of the glacier, Wang Xiao found himself unceremoniously deposited onto the icy expanse.

His feet skidded across the frozen surface, a stark contrast to the fluid danger he\'d just escaped.

"What the hell was that!?" His voice cut through the eerie silence, a mix of incredulity and frustration marking his tone.

Swoosh!

He spun around, scanning the horizon for any sign of the abnormal orcas, when a new sensation crawled over his skin.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

"Kekkekeke..."

"Kekekekkekekkkekekekekekekekekkekekekkekekekeem"

One by one, the orcas surfaced, their heads breaking the icy water\'s plane, emitting sounds eerily akin to deranged laughter.

Beneath Wang Xiao\'s feet, the ice trembled, threatening to fracture under the weight of the unseen chaos within.

The numbers of these omnious orcas swelled, an unnerving sight that defied logic and reason.

"How?! Why are there so many?" Wang Xiao muttered to himself, his gaze fixed on the growing assembly.

The situation was spiraling beyond his comprehension!

[I... Have no idea...] Yin Yue\'s voice echoed in his mind, tinged with concern.

Even she, with her vast knowledge and abilities, found herself at a loss.

She attempted to delve into the essence of these creatures, seeking an anomaly, a clue to their intentions.

Yet, their forms, while mimicking orcas, revealed nothing but an mysterious void.[They look like orcas, yet they\'re not. What drives these creatures to purse you with this dedication ?] she pondered aloud, her thoughts mirroring Wang Xiao\'s bewilderment.

Wang Xiao, standing above the cracking ice, faced the gathering storm of laughter and shadows. "Is this some game to them?" he mused, a flicker of anger mingling with his confusion.

The laughter of the orcas, now a symbol of madness, seemed to mock him, pushing him further into a puzzle that defied solution.

_________

"Hm? Did you hear that?" Ericka\'s voice echoed against the biting cold, her tone laced with curiosity rather than fear.

"What?" Seraphine\'s response was a mix of skepticism and amusement. "Ericka, are you starting to hear things now?" She couldn\'t suppress a chuckle, but Ericka\'s sharp glare quickly wiped the smirk from her face.

"Be serious, Sera! It\'s coming from over there!" Ericka insisted, her determination pulling her towards the source of the noise.

\'Ugh! This idiot!\' Seraphine cused Ericka inwadly , the frustration bubbling within her. \'Why does this snow angel have to be so clueless? Can\'t she see the danger in wandering off the path?\'

Despite her irritation, Seraphine couldn\'t deny the truth: she too had heard the noise, and it was unmistakably clearer than she cared to admit.

But years of watching horror movies had taught her one thing—if you followed such sounds, you were likely signing up for a starring role in a tragedy.

"Hey, Ericka, wait! I need to tell you something—" Seraphine\'s voice trailed off as she hurried after Ericka, desperate to prevent her friend from unwittingly kickstarting a horror movie cliché.

But as she caught up, she found Ericka had already halted, standing at the edge of a precipice. "Phew, thank God you realized," Seraphine gasped out, relief flooding her as she mistakenly believed Ericka had come to her senses.

That relief was short-lived.

Ericka wasn\'t pausing for a breath or a moment of reflection; she was transfixed, her eyes locked onto something in the distance, something that had rooted her to the spot.

"Hm, Ericka!?" The concern in Seraphine\'s voice was evident as she followed Ericka\'s gaze, her heart pounding with anticipation and a hint of fear.

And then, she saw it.

!!

Whatever lay before them was enough to halt Ericka in her tracks, to turn the ever-curious, fearless adventurer into a statue.

And now, Seraphine too found herself caught in the same trap, her body rigid, her mind racing.

_______

Puchi!

"Bastards are never-ending!" Wang Xiao\'s voice reverberated with frustration, his eyes ablaze as he surveyed the crimson-stained waters.

Despite his efforts to turn the tide with their blood, the relentless onslaught of these creatures showed no signs of abating.

"When would they end?" He spat out the words, a mixture of anger and despair evident in his tone.

His body hovered above the fractured ice, a crimson halo surrounding him, while the orcas, with their mocking laughter, emerged from the icy depths, their menacing stares fixated on him.

With a grim determination, Wang Xiao unleashed a barrage of explosions, each blast painting the scene in a deeper shade of red as the river of blood flowed endlessly.

Yin Yue, [...]

She hesistant to speak, only to be silenced by another voice that pierced the air like a thunderclap. "Hey! Stop that!"

"Who dares!?" Wang Xiao spun around, his gaze piercing through the newcomer with narrowed eyes, a sense of divine wrath emanating from him, causing even the unbeliever like Ericka to quiver in fear as she stood frozen in place, unable to move under the weight of his oppressive aura.

Hovering above the crimson river, Wang Xiao cast a shadow that seemed to merge with the dark waters below, his eyes mirroring the deep red of spilled life, a clear reminder to the power he wielded.

Ericka, witnessing this, was reminded forcefully of the chasm that lies between the mortal realm and the divine.

The man before her, an entity capable of devastation on a scale unfathomable, stood as a living monument to that divide.

Her initial impulse to protest was swallowed by the gravity of the moment, her words emerging as a faint whisper after a tense, heavy silence.

"T-they aren\'t trying to fight you..." She approached the quieted orcas with a cautious step, their predatory eyes following her every move, yet holding back as if awaiting her touch.

Reaching out to caress the faces of these creatures was an act of audacity, one that could have spelled her doom under different circumstances.

Yet, as her fingers made contact, a realization dawned upon her. \'This is unbelievable!\' The thrill of potentially discovering a new species electrified her, gratitude flooding in for her timely intervention that may have spared these beings from annihilation.

"S-See... These seem like some new species of dolphins, they aren\'t really harmful," she called out to Wang Xiao, her voice carrying a mix of hope and assertion, trying to bridge the gap between his perception and the reality she believed in.

Wang Xiao, suspended in his judgment, watched silently.

The puzzle of their behavior still echoing in his mind—why then had these creatures seemed so intent on his destruction, pushing him deeper into the abyss?

"What is that?" His attention snapped to a new anomaly, a rapidly approaching dot in the distance, its speed and direction unmistakable.

!?

As his focus honed in on the rapidly approaching figure, the world around him seemed to slow, every detail magnified.

The figure\'s features became clearer with each passing second—a person of undeniable grace, with long, flowing blonde hair that seemed to dance with the wind and eyes of a piercing, crystalline blue that cut through the distance like shards of ice.

[Carefull!] Yin Yue\'s voice pierced his concentration, a stark warning that barely had time to register before—

Booooooom!

The air exploded with the force of the collision.

Bam!

Wang Xiao, caught off guard, was sent flying, his body a mere projectile launched by the formidable power of the newcomer.

Boooom!

He crashed into the ice wall with a thunderous crack, shards of ice cascading around him like a shattered mirror.

"Hahahaha! Is this the 8th Prince? So weak!" The air was thick with mockery as Asmodeous stepped forward, his figure emerging from a swirling icy mist, his laughter echoing ominously across the frozen landscape.

Gasp!

The next moment froze Ericka and Seraphina in horror. In Asmodeous\'s hand was a severed, bloody hand, the droplets of blood painting the snow beneath a stark, beautiful red.

The horror of the sight, coupled with the realization of its possible owner, sent a wave of shock through them.

"... h-hand...?" Ericka\'s voice trailed off into a whisper, her gaze locked on the trophy Asmodeous flaunted with such casual cruelty.

Seraphina, her usual composure shattered, could only stare in disbelief, her mind crashed at the implications of what this meant for Wang Xiao.

Asmodeous, basking in the terror his presence invoked, turned his sharp gaze towards Ericka and Seraphina, a sinister smile playing on his lips. "Ah, witnesses to my triumph. How delightful," he taunted, his voice a cold whisper that seemed to leach the warmth from the air.

From above, his laughter continued to echo, a haunting the moment. "You all are fools," he taunted, his gaze sweeping over Ericka and Seraphina yet again, with a look of utter disdain. "Did you really think you stood a chance?"