MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN
Dr. Elias Montgomery stood up slowly, adjusting his coat as if he were finishing a lecture rather than standing in a ship drenched in blood and piled with corpses. His expression remained disturbingly calm—emotionless, almost bored.
He lifted one hand with surgical precision.
"Death," he began, voice low and academic, "is simply collapse, The same principle a black hole follows,matter crushed into a single point, an event in which existence folds inward. And if you can control that collapse, even momentarily…"
He snapped his fingers.
"…you can erase anything. Instantly."
The hybrid stared in horror at the stump where his hand had been—cleanly, perfectly severed by something he could not see, touch, or comprehend. Around him, the place where his brothers stood, nothing was left behind"
"First, they struggled against something and then vanished.
I Couldn't process what had just occurred before my eyes"
"Their bodies folded inward, collapsing into the monstrous shadows twisting from Montgomery's , No ! I saw hands coming off him, and then no scent. No sound. No energy. Their existence had been consumed completely.
As if they had never lived"
Fear struck the hybrid for the first time in his life.
Raw.
Violent.
Paralyzing.
"My brothers… erased. I can't sense them. I can't sense anything. My hand is gone. Father lied—this wasn't an easy mission. This man… this thing… is death itself"
Panic tore through him.
His body convulsed as he forced himself to mutate. Bones snapped, bent, and reshaped. His remaining arm folded inward with a sickening grind. His right leg twisted backward, joint shattering before re-forming. From his back burst a pair of jagged, malformed wings—short, veined with black, their membranes torn like scorched leather. Bone spikes pushed through their edges, dripping dark fluid.
The wings twitched violently—alive, desperate, starving.
With a single frantic thrust, he launched himself into the air and fled as fast as his warped body could carry him.
Dr. Montgomery did not move.
Hands clasped neatly behind his back, he simply watched the creature escape into the clouds.
He didn't need to chase.
Death—his death—always caught up.
-
DRACULA'S MANSION – LIBRARY
The Dracula Mansion was a cathedral of shadows. Towering windows suffocated under black curtains, refusing a single drop of daylight. Endless shelves of ancient books stretched toward the ceiling, filled with tomes bound in cracked leather and etched with symbols that pulsed faintly with forgotten magic.
Cold drafts curled through the aisles, carrying the scent of dust… and old blood.
Tony paced near a long table, hands trembling.
"Let me get this straight, China… you want to go there? Unannounced? They'll rip your bones out of your freaking body. These are people you don't mess with."
Sophia stared blankly.
"You mean they'll rip your bones out. I've done nothing to them. Looks like you're the one on bad terms."
Victor lounged atop a wooden table, claws tapping rhythmically.
"We're talking about Tony," Victor muttered. "He stirs trouble everywhere. Honestly? I should've killed him the moment he showed up."
"But if it wasn't for this bitch he showed up with, the moment I looked into her eyes, all he saw was endless void—black, cold, consuming"
"What is she…? I've fought monsters, demons, hybrids—but that woman? She's something else entirely. If I said she was on the same level as Dracula, people would call me crazy… but that's exactly what it feels like. She's ancient—ancient like him. And she has no idea what kind of power she carries."
Tony turned to leave.
"I'm not doing this with some hybrid mutant psycho. I owe you nothing. I'm out."
Sophia sighed.
"Victor, earlier you said you were going to rip Tony apart… which honestly sounds reasonable."
Victor grinned and extended his claws with a metallic whisper.
In a blur he lunged—claws inches from Tony's throat.
but Sophia intercepted him, grabbing him and tossing him across the library like he weighed nothing.
Tony froze.
"What the—?!"
Sophia stepped forward.
"You have two choices. Help me find Dracula… or die here."
Tony swallowed hard.
"I should've just walked past you in that damn alley…"
"Too late," she said flatly. "Now you owe me."
Victor rose slowly, dusting himself off. Fury twisted his features. His claws clicked together in rage.
Before Sophia could speak, he charged.
His attacks were vicious—wild slashes that tore cracks across the floor. Sophia blocked every strike effortlessly. The library shook with each impact, shelves splitting, books flying.
"MOVE, SOPHIA!" Victor roared.
She didn't.
She kicked him so hard the floor cratered.
Books rained from the ceiling. Shadows shivered at their power.
Then—
A sudden surge of information slammed into Sophia's mind. A shape, a signal—alien, powerful, overwhelming.
Her eyes went wide, Her breath shattered, She collapsed to her knees.
Victor froze— then smirked.
He lunged, claws aimed directly for her heart.
But her body burst into black smoke.
Victor's claws sliced through nothing.
The smoke curled behind him. Solidified.
"Sophia's cold voice whispered into his ear:**
"Too predictable."
Her hands clamped onto his skull. One on his jaw. One on his crown.
With a swift, merciless twist
SNAP.
Victor's neck broke cleanly.
His body collapsed to the floor, lifeless, eyes still wide with shock.
Sophia stood over him, emotionless, breathing steady.
The mansion fell silent again.
---
THE OUTSIDE WORLD
Stepping out of the mansion, Sophia blinked against the blinding morning sun. The street was alive—far too alive. People bustled past, laughing, arguing, living. A sharp contrast to the suffocating darkness inside.
A newspaper boy hurried past them.
"You stop," Sophia said.
He handed her the newspaper, took his money, and continued down the street on his bicycle, shouting headlines as he pedaled away
The headline screamed across the page:
UNITED STATES NAVY SECURES DR. ELIAS MONTGOMERY
IMMORTALITY RESEARCH UNDER PROTECTION
Sophia's eyes narrowed.
The date made her heart drop.
Three days had passed.
But she and Tony had only spent only some hours inside the mansion.
Something was horribly wrong.
Without speaking, she ran back inside.
Tony followed—and froze.
The mansion was gone.
Not destroyed.
Gone.
The grand halls, the library, the curtains, the magic—
everything had been replaced by a decayed ruin.
Cobwebs covered every wall.
Dust coated the floors.
Wood rotted.
Silence suffocated the air.
As if the mansion they walked through had never existed.
Sophia stepped back out, waved down a passing taxi, and climbed in. Tony followed silently.
"Where to, ma'am?" the driver asked.
Sophia didn't look away from the window.
"Take us to the closest port."
The car drove off, leaving the forsaken building behind.
---
ON THE SHIP –
Samuel bolted upright with a gasp, gripping his head. Pain throbbed behind his eyes. The room spun violently.
"I just had the worst… dream," he whispered.
Images slammed into him
The hybrid.
The screaming.
The corpses.
The ship ripping apart.
Dr. Montgomery's
His heart pounded.
"Dr. Montgomery!" he shouted.
A calm voice answered.
"I see you're awake, young man. What was your name again?"
"Samuel, sir!"
Montgomery's expression remained unreadable.
"Samuel… do you remember what happened?"
Samuel hesitated.
He remembered everything.
But it couldn't be real.
He looked around.
The ship was intact.
Sailing smoothly.
No bodies.
No destruction.
Nothing out of place.
Was it… a dream?
But something felt wrong.
I don't remember falling asleep…
"Samuel," the doctor said again, slower.
Samuel turned toward him.
Montgomery's eyes were cold.
Dead.
Ancient.
His voice dropped to a chilling whisper.
"You are already dead."