Deep in the southernmost regions of the West Coast, alarms blared within an underground facility hidden behind the mountains. Sirens reverberated through the pale walls, chiming in eerie glee.

Inside the underground facility, soldiers marched towards the breached sections of the installation as scientists ejected their databases of any vital intelligence.

"What's happening?" One of the scientists questioned as several of his colleagues collected their files and placed them into briefcases.

"A Breach... It is the third one since a couple of days ago." His colleague responded after closing their briefcase. "The executives are terminating this facility."

"We have to evacuate or we'll become one with the rubble."

"What about the subjects? Should we leave them behind?" He questioned, prompting his supervisor to reply. "We don't make the same mistake as the former two facilities."

"The children will be purged to not leave behind any more traces of our work."

"I see..." The scientist went quiet before walking towards his table and taking out a briefcase from the cabinet. "Our research mustn't be forgotten."

"After all, it is the only chance humanity has in this damned world." He muttered under his breath as all of them walked through the hallway, heading towards the evacuation point.

Behind them, gunshots rang as screams of soldiers echoed from the corner. The scientists felt chills run down their spines as they sped up.

In the distance, soldiers waited for them as their eyes lit up with hope. But before they could reach the soldiers, their supposed saviors pointed their rifles somewhere.

All started shooting as something struck them while they cried out for help. The scientists widened their eyes, dread seeping into their hearts.

Without any hesitation or delay, they changed directions with silence creeping into their minds. The blaring alarms faded into the background.

None of them could hear anything but their heartbeats.

The scientists considered themselves the brightest minds of humanity, willing to push progress forward so that humankind would regain dominance over the New World.

It didn't matter how many sacrifices had to be made to reach the summit of existence. However... Had they sacrificed anything of themselves?

Or did they use others to be their sacrifices?

The walls of the hallway rumbled as an explosion echoed from the distance. They needed to leave the facility as fast as possible.

Otherwise, when it self-destructs, they would come down with it.

"What should we do? The evacuation point has been compromised!" A scientist asserted, her voice trembling as she bit her lips in anxiousness.

Her colleagues halted, turning their eyes towards her. The same question kept echoing in their heads. How would they leave the underground facility alive?

Either those vigilantes would kill them, or the self-destruction of the installation would bury them alive.

"There is a hatch in the bottom floor of the facility. I heard that it leads to a lake nearby." One of them affirmed, earning the hopeful gazes of the scientists.

"Then, we head down and get to that hatch." Their supervisor stated, earning the approving grunts of the surrounding scientists.

However, another scientist remarked. "The bottom floor... Isn't that where the subjects are kept?"

After he finished his words, there was nothing more but silence for the group of scientists. He was right. The bottom floor of the underground facility was where the children were kept.

It would be the center of the storm, and perhaps it could be the safest.

Fiery determination glimmered in their eyes as all of them walked towards the elevator. Along the way, they saw the corpses of mangled soldiers alongside the bloodied walls.

Their faces were disgruntled, some even puked, unable to contain their disgust at the mangled corpses. Quite peculiar for professionals who were proficient in human experiments.

It didn't take long before they reached the barely functioning elevator. All of them entered its metallic interior, and when the doors slid, they saw eyes peering at them from the darkness.

Chills...

Their heart pounded as they lowered their eyes, not wanting to meet the gaze of whatever that was. Cold sweat dripped from their foreheads as the elevator descended below.

"W-What was that?" One of the scientists stammered, leaning onto the metallic interior of the elevator. "I-I don't want to die!"

"I-I think that was the Vigilantes. I heard that most of them are monsters. Their leaders are two young people much stronger than they are."

"One was a young man with white silver hair and sapphire-like eyes, the other was a young woman whose eyes were like amethyst and hair as dark as obsidian."

"Neither of them ever appeared in our database. It was as though they emerged out of nowhere and started targeting our underground facilities."

The supervisor amongst them frowned and asserted. "The problem isn't their existence, but how they manage to discover our installations. Not even the SIGIL has gotten a whiff of us."

"Do you think it has anything to do with the massive cyberattack a few days before one of our facilities was breached?"

One of their colleagues proposed, earning the approving nods of everyone. Since the destruction of their first targeted installation, they were suspicious about the correlations.

Even though the underground facilities were hidden away from most of the government, no such things could be built without proper paperwork.

Besides, they needed to record their progression to report to those high above them. After all, the results were what those people needed.

And the results they gave.

When the elevator reached the bottom floor, its metallic doors slid open. Beyond the confines of the elevator was nothing but destruction.

Ceiling lights lay across the shattered floor, pale walls crumbling as dust danced in the air. Darkness pervaded the bottom floor, together with the eerie silence.

The scientists coughed, covering their faces with their arms as they peered through the dust-shrouded floor. The situation was much worse than they had expected.

"We have to keep going... The hatch is merely in the left corner." One of the scientists uttered as most of them nodded in agreement.

It wasn't far, and the bottom floor wasn't difficult to walk through.

As all of them exited the elevator, they steadily marched towards the hatch, their steps silent. Holding together, they ensured none would be separated from the group.

Their breath was kept tight; not a single whisper escaped from their lips.

"I can't see anything." The scientist in the front muttered, squinting his eyes while pointing a flashlight forward. Pitch-black consumed them as darkness pervaded from every corner.

"Continue moving... It should be up ahead." The supervisor ordered, prompting the front scientist to move forward.

The more they stayed in this hellhole, the more dangerous it would become for them. They needed to be quick and leave this place.

A couple of steps forward, they finally reached the hatch. Sighs of relief escaped their mouth, but before any of them could celebrate.

One of the scientists was snatched by the darkness. The flashlight in his hands fell onto the crumbled floor as his screams became distant.

Everyone trembled at the sight, circling the hatch and gazing into the pitch-black. None dared to look away, afraid that the one grabbed by the darkness would be themselves next time.

"Cover me, I'll open the hatch!" The supervisor commanded, wanting them to be in his back as he opened their final way of escaping the hellhole.

The scientists nodded, each standing behind the supervisor. They peered into the darkness, observing it with dreadful scrutiny.

Each movement the supervisor made to turn the hatch echoed outward as one of them uttered. "Open it quick! Otherwise, we will all die!"

"I know! I'm doing everything I can!" The supervisor roared as he turned the hatch; the metallic latches hummed as it opened. Hope filled their hearts as he gazed into what was behind the hatch.

Behind it was the same darkness that surrounded them.

His eyes quivered as he felt a pull into the hatch. He grabbed one of the scientists as both of them got dragged into the darkness. "NO!!! HELP!!!"

Both the scientist and the supervisor cried out, their voices becoming distant by the moment. The remaining scientists watched in horror, clutching their briefcases tightly.

There was no doubt that their death was inevitable. Their necks have already been shackled above the blade of the guillotine.

"I-I don't want to die!" A scientist cried out, dropping her briefcase and clutching her head together with her knees. Like the others, she was dragged away by the darkness.

A mere shriek escaped from her lips as she faded into the pitch-black.

Only four scientists remained, their backs pointed at one another. "I am not afraid of death. But dying in this place, our work forgotten... I just can't!"

"Calm yourself! If we want to get out of here alive, we must be calm." Another scientist roared, gripping his briefcase. "Whatever it is. We are its playthings, to be enjoyed and played with."

On the other hand, embracing the darkness was a summoned monster belonging to Oberon. A One-Star Paranormal Monster: Shadow Hound.

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