THE AFTERLIFE PARADOX

Wallace used the remaining seconds he had to take care of the tentacle creature. His eyes turned dark as tentacles emerged from his back. The tentacle creature could see it and felt dread toward the tentacle; he felt as if he would definitely die if he were pierced by that thing, but there was nothing he could do. The tentacle already pierced into him.

Struggling, he pierced his tentacle into Wallace's body, only missing his heart by a breath. Wallace felt intense burning pain, but he was already in an empty state; he was able to ignore the pain as he locked his cold eyes onto the creature.

The second tentacle creature rushed toward Wallace, trying to assist his partner, but earth rolled around, and air exploded, throwing him back. The armor on his body broke, and his skin broke. Wallace did not even give him a chance to reach as hearts continued to explode, and earth continued to upturn as he tried to buy more time.

The first creature kept shrinking as he felt strength draining away from his body, while the second one was blasted senseless. The first one reverted into a human as its source of power had been absorbed, and the body fell limply onto the ground, dead. The body then started to disintegrate.

The second creature jumped into the air as air blasted. It directed the tentacles toward Wallace, who had a hole in his chest due to the first tentacle. Wallace caught the tentacle as he gritted his teeth, trying to keep it under his control, while metal rose from every part of the factory and shaped themselves into sharp, long poles.

Multiple sharp, long poles rushed toward the creature that had been held in place, piercing into its body from every direction, while nailing it to the ground. Tentacles rose from Wallace's back and pierced into the creature's body, and Wallace felt a warm current enter his body toward his abdomen area.

"Where do you come from?" he asked.

"You will die, you abominable creature," the creature that was already shrinking said.

As if responding to the creature, the tentacles intensified as he intensified the absorption. He soon finished absorbing it, and the creature also disintegrated. He felt the essence roiling in his abdomen area, and "Boom" the essence exploded, and a hot current gushed to every part of his body.

His right heart also started beating, and a warm current also flowed through, complementing the ones from his abdomen.

"Crack, crack" His muscle tore apart, while his bones broke and regenerated, trying to create rooms for more power.

"Clank" the bullet in his body fell to the ground as the muscle squeezed them out.

The warm current went to every part of his body, even till his cells, to strengthen them. The rate at which his cells were working also turned faster. His skin tore, and new ones grew. The process was very painful, and he had no choice but to grit his teeth and endure the pain.

Within a few minutes, the process finished, and the right heart stopped beating. He clenched his fist as he felt the strength flowing through his body. Even though there was a hole in his chest, a mark on his temple, a bullet hole in his stomach, and a cut on his arm, he temporarily forgot about the pain as he felt the thrill of having strength flow through him, then the next moment, he felt weaker considerably, and the pain from those wounds, along with the burning effect, hit him.

His face was still cold as he walked toward the lady, who had already fainted due to her overflowing injuries. He examined her and saw that it looked like she would soon succumb. There was nothing he could do, even if she were at the hospital; she would still die.

"Time to make use of that," he thought, as he closed his eyes and looked for that source of connection

"Immortui," he muttered, as he cut his finger. He soon caught the fleeting feeling and dwelled on it; it soon got clearer, and he saw six dark orbs.

One of those dark orbs flowed through his body like liquid toward the cut; he opened the lady's mouth, and his blood dripped into her mouth, along with the dark orb. Very soon after, he was able to sense the dark orb as it found a flickering flame in her, which was her soul, and it merged with it.

Her soul started metamorphosing as it changed from a flame into a figure, and it turned solid. The soul soon finished its metamorphosis and turned into countless motes of light that merged with different chains in her body.

"Pi pa," she twisted in agony, even in her unconscious state, as it merged with her, and her bones broke and regenerated, along with her organs, muscle, and skin. Everything about her, including her cells, changed.

After some time, the evolution finished. Her face was still pale, and the injuries were still on her body, but her life signs, which were waning, had finally stabilized. He felt a connection with her and felt that her heart was beating faintly, as every activity in her body had stopped. Her body had entered a suspended animation state, as every energy was directed toward her cells, making them work at a speed that superseded before in repairing her body.

He carried her as he staggered out of the factory toward his car. The car opened automatically, and he carefully placed her on the backseat. The secretary, seeing his injuries, looked at him surprised. She was in the car the whole time, so she did not know what happened in the factory, but she still felt the intensity of the fight in the factory.

"You're injured," she said.

"Your seatbelt," he said coldly, as he drove off.

****************************************************

"Hmm," back at the highest mountain on heaven, Arishem opened his eyes and furrowed his brows. Gabriel walked in and bowed.

"Two of your children on earth have been killed," he said.

"I can feel it; I felt a connection in me break and a loss of my power," he said. "The anomaly is getting stronger," he said.

"How many children do I have on earth?" he asked.

"There are quite a lot of them, but they are the weakest," Gabriel replied.

"What about those closest to the ones on earth?" he asked.

"It will take at least a while for the ones closest to earth to arrive," Gabriel answered.

"Let my children on earth come together, band together, and go for the anomaly," Arishem said.

"It's getting stronger, and not something we must underestimate; they must get the Karum before any mishap occurs," he said.

***********************

At around two in the morning, he drove back into his apartment. He carried the lady, and the secretary also followed him. They both entered the house as he placed the lady on the chair before he went inside and carried a first-aid box outside.

Ignoring the secretary, he took out bandages and started to wrap them around his chest.

"You have to treat it first," she said.

He looked at her coldly, and she kept shut. He left the cut on his hand that way. He took the cigarette on the table and lighted it before taking a puff.

"You already know some of my secrets," he said.

"What secrets?" she feigned ignorance.

A remote rose from the table, and "Bam" it landed on Wallace's hand.

"Are you going to kill me so that your secret won't be known to anyone?" she said.

"Hmm," he nodded his head.

She knelt on the floor. "Please, just accept me as your underling. I will do anything; please just don't kill me yet," she said.

"I've not yet gotten my revenge," she muttered underneath her breath, but she did not know that Wallace heard what she said.

"What revenge?" he asked.

"Twenty-five years ago, there were five friends. Two of them were businessmen, one of them was working with a politician, one of them was a fashion designer, and one of them was a policeman. Four of them came together, wanting to start their political career; the one working with a politician got intel that a cartel of drugs worth close to a billion dollars would be entering New York through the sea, so four of them worked against the politician and killed him.

"The policeman got intel and knew that his friends did it. He decided to bring them to justice, and the first point would be confiscating the drugs while he'll also look for evidence to sue them," she said.

"So, the four of them worked together and killed the policeman, and the daughter wants to get revenge for her father," Wallace said.

"They do not only kill the policeman; they set his house on fire, making sure it burns to ashes. The wife and three children are inside. I'm the youngest daughter. There's a compartment in the house that can only house one person; my mother and my two eldest brothers sacrificed their lives for me, but still, I almost died," she said, as she fully undid her shirt buttons. Her breasts were in view, with the bra barely suppressing what's threatening to spill out.