A blinding light flared in Sylar's eyes. The next instant, he found himself standing in a radiant and wondrous place. Clouds rolled endlessly beneath his feet, glowing softly with ethereal light. Streams of starlight rose from the ground, weaving into shimmering arcs that danced through the sky. It was breathtaking, beautiful beyond measure.
But what struck Sylar most wasn't just the sight; it was the feeling. Peace. Warmth. For the first time in what felt like ages, the pain and agony that had consumed him were gone. Here, there was only calm, the kind that seeped into his soul. He felt… whole.
"Sylar."
The voice echoed softly across the expanse, yet it made Sylar tremble. He knew that voice — a voice he had believed he would never hear again. Slowly, he turned.
There she was.
A young girl stood among the clouds, her figure glowing faintly, her white hair flowing like moonlight, her golden eyes filled with warmth. She looked older now — sixteen, perhaps — but there was no mistaking her.
"Joi…" he whispered, his voice breaking.
Without hesitation, he surged forward, sprinting across the clouds, his arm outstretched. But before he could reach her — before his fingers could brush her hand — everything shattered into darkness.
Sylar gasped awake, a mask covering his mouth as he was submerged in a strange liquid. The initial drive from before still remained, so he forced himself forward, muscles straining, and burst through the pod, taking the gate with him.
He stumbled out, drenched and disoriented, collapsing onto a cold, metallic floor. A wave of nausea and dizziness hit him, and for several seconds, he couldn't tell which way was up. His body felt… wrong. Heavy. Different.
When his vision finally cleared and he was able to stand up, the reason struck him. His field of view was higher — much higher — than it had been before. Glancing down, his confusion deepened. His body had changed completely. He was taller, broader, his muscles sculpted and corded with power. His limbs seemed nearly twice as long as before.
"How long… have I been unconscious?" he muttered under his breath.
Before he could make sense of it, the door to the chamber slid open. A massive figure stepped inside, a towering man who resembled a bear.
The soldier froze for a second, eyes widening at the sight of the shattered pod. "Goddamn, boy," he rumbled, "do you have any idea how expensive those things are?"
He shook his head, sighing heavily as he moved toward the wreckage. But then his expression sharpened when Sylar suddenly shifted into a combat stance. His eyes flared, and the air around him shimmered with heat.
"Who are you?" Sylar demanded, his voice low but steady.
He could tell the man was one of the super soldiers — the strength and presence were unmistakable — but everything else felt off. The dream that didn't feel like a dream, the strange new body, the raw energy burning under his skin… it was too much to process.
The massive soldier smiled faintly at the defiance in Sylar's tone. "So, the pup's got fangs," he said, amused. "I'd love to test that strength, but maybe get some clothes on first, yeah? Besides, I need to fix your mess."
He pointed toward a neatly folded set of black training gear near a mirror and turned away, grumbling as he inspected the mangled pod.
Sylar hesitated for a moment, still wary, but the discomfort of standing naked won out. He approached the clothes carefully, keeping one eye on the soldier, and slipped into the outfit.
When he finally looked at himself in the mirror, his breath caught.
His reflection was… unrecognizable. His body was solid, lean, and muscular — like a weapon forged by nature itself. His height had shot up to at least 1.80 meters (5'9''). When he had lost consciousness, he'd looked like a twelve-year-old boy. Now, he seemed like an overdeveloped sixteen or seventeen-year-old young man.
He blinked, then chuckled softly to himself. "So I took an old man's serum and woke up taller and buff? Great deal."
The humor was forced, but it helped. A small joke to ground himself in the madness. After taking a slow breath, his expression hardened again.
"How long," he asked, "have I been unconscious?"
The massive soldier glanced up from the wreckage. "First of all," he said, his tone gruff, "I'm Lieutenant Birk, you reckless brat. Second — about six months. Maybe a few days more."
Sylar's eyes widened. Six months? His mind raced. That meant he had been asleep — transforming — for half a year.
"I have changed so much in so little time…" he whispered.
Birk didn't seem interested in elaborating. He returned to his work, muttering to himself as he examined the twisted remains of the pod. "If you've got questions, go find the Captain," he said without looking up.
That surprised Sylar. Before he had blacked out, he'd been explicitly told not to leave his room. The fact that Birk was casually allowing it meant something had changed.
Maybe he had finally earned the right to walk freely among them.
Sylar took one last look at the shattered pod, then approached the door. He pressed the small panel on its side, and the heavy metal gate slid open with a soft hiss.
The sight that greeted him was both intimidating and awe-inspiring.
The hallway stretched endlessly before him — stark, angular, and metallic. Everything was shades of black, gray, and white, illuminated by the cold glare of fluorescent lights.
The floors were polished, the walls lined with exposed framework and reinforced panels. It was pure functionality — no art, no warmth, no individuality. Every corridor, every room, was a part of a larger machine built for war.
Sylar nodded to himself. This was what he expected from a force locked in eternal battle against intelligent monsters — cold efficiency.
He began walking down the hall, his footsteps echoing softly against the metal. His newly heightened senses picked up faint life signatures far in the distance, and he followed them, confident he was heading the right way.
But as he moved, another thought stirred within him.
His eyes narrowed slightly. "System," he murmured.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
NEMESIS SYSTEM INTERFACE
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[HOST STATUS]
───────────────────────────────────────
• Designation: Sylar Bright
• Species Line: Homo Ascendens
• Rank: 1 – KINDLER
• Titles: Bane of Necrasys
• Level: 20
• Vault Capacity: 15.5 / 60 TP
• Entropy Debt: 5 % (Caution)
• Free Points: 30
• System Access: Basic – Status | Quests | Vault | Mutation
───────────────────────────────────────
[CORE ATTRIBUTES]
───────────────────────────────────────
STRENGTH (STR) 58 --> 77
AGILITY (AGI) 91 --> 99
VITALITY (VIT) 55 --> 81
COGNITION (COG) 50 --> 56
INTEGRATION (INTG) 15 --> 44
WILL (WIL) 20 --> 33
ADAPTABILITY (ADP) 16 --> 49
Derived Values:
• Combat Efficiency Rating (CER): 199
• Evolutionary Potential (EP): 93
• Survival Index (SI): 124
• Cognitive Feedback Threshold (CFT): 89
───────────────────────────────────────
[INNATE ABILITIES]
───────────────────────────────────────
• Mutations: - Super Strength (Grade +4)
• Mutations: - Echolocation (Grade -3)
• Psychic Power – Magnetism Manipulation (Grade +2)
• Genetic Power – Heat Vision (Grade -2)
───────────────────────────────────────
[VAULT DATA]
───────────────────────────────────────
Vault Tier: 1
Capacity: 60 TP (Grade 3 entities max)
─ Stored Entities ─
▫ SYMBIARCH [MYC-Σ03] (15 TP)
▫ THRALL [MYC-Σ04] (0.5 TP)
───────────────────────────────────────
[MUTATION SLOTS] 1 / 3
───────────────────────────────────────
• Metabolic Surge (Grade +3) [5% ED]
───────────────────────────────────────
[FUSION SLOT]
───────────────────────────────────────
• Fusion system locked until Vault Tier II.
───────────────────────────────────────
[SUMMONING SLOT]
───────────────────────────────────────
• Summoning system locked until Vault Tier II.
───────────────────────────────────────
[ENERGY RESERVES]
───────────────────────────────────────
• Bio-Energy (BE): 100 % (Recovery +7.4 %/h)
• Vault-Energy (VE): N/A
───────────────────────────────────────
[MISSION LOG]
───────────────────────────────────────
▫ No active missions
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Sylar's eyes widened as he studied his physical stats. They had risen immensely after the Omega Compound, and that wasn't all. His other attributes had also increased considerably, especially Integration and Adaptability.
"I guess my transformation wasn't just on the outside," he murmured. "It changed my genome as well."
A wave of satisfaction washed over him as the stronger he was, the sooner would he be able to fulfill that promise. Other than his physical stats and genetic adaptability, his Willpower had also grown, likely due to enduring the agony of the Omega Compound. But the surprises didn't end there.
His mutations had evolved as well: Super Strength had risen to +4, granting him an even greater physical boost, while Echolocation reached -3, enhancing his perception and awareness.
He then noticed the Threat Points associated with the entities in the Vault. Each had diminished slightly, revealing that the stronger he became, the less influence those internal forces held over him. The same applied to his Mutation Slot, where the Entropy Debt had decreased.
Finally, his focus shifted to the newest addition on his list.
Heat Vision.
The memory of that searing power still burned vividly in his mind. It was incredible—raw and destructive—but he also recalled the exhaustion that followed. Using it for only a few seconds had drained him completely. It clearly demanded an enormous amount of bio-energy, far more than his body could sustain for long.
As he finished reviewing his stats, Sylar stepped into the chamber where the super soldiers rested. One by one, they turned toward him, eyes gleaming with curiosity and recognition.